Live from Viking Sky April 20 - May 7 Venice to Istanbul

[PasadenaDave]

44 minutes ago, austinetc said:

I discovered we needed visas for Turkey only on Sunday. According to Viking, then the Turkey website. Did it online. $50. My wife, holding a Japanese passport, doesn’t need one. We also need two days of recorded temp checks. Viking has four stations on board to do this. 

I read that persons arriving by cruise ship can stay 72 hours without the need for a visa

[hbtraveler]

1 hour ago, PasadenaDave said:

I read that persons arriving by cruise ship can stay 72 hours without the need for a visa

For this particular cruise, there are 3 stops in Turkey which, with the disembark day, would be more than 72 hours.

[austinetc]

It irks me when written guidance is issued, then an official of the organization that wrote the guidance says it's not correct. Our disembarkation guidance states that "Visa required nationals must also carry a printout of the E-visa." Nevermind the insanity of needing a printout of a deliberate e-document. I checked with customer service and the representative immediately said that an image on my iPhone would be fine.

 

I still have extreme doubts that I needed an evisa at all. Yes, we entered Turkey yesterday. But we also left it yesterday. We will do the same today. So tomorrow we enter and 30 hours later we fly away. That doesn't count as 72 hours in my book. We'll see how things go.

 

Transiting through any international border is troubling enough without having doubts that the transit may not be smooth. Viking needs to spent more time in their own research and interpreting that research for us.

[austinetc]

Wednesday, 5/4. (May the Fourth be with you.) Arrived in Kusadasi for a short visit to the ruins at Ephesus. Full of history. There were several tour options but we choose the Included one. My foot is hurting a lot, so it's just as well.

 

The guide was excellent. Lots of humor and anxious to answer questions. I particularly liked how he’d stop talking for a few heartbeats once in a while to allow me to process what he was saying. The reconstructed library facade was the high point. Many pieces of Ephesus are in Europe's finer museums, some legally, some not. The theater was also very impressive. However, I think what struck me most was that Roman engineers dug a canal from the ocean to the city to improve commercial activity. The canal is no longer visible, but that they both thought of it and then did it is remarkable.

 

On returning to Kusadasi we expected to be shown the various shops near the ship. But the guide took us to his favorite local carpet store, where we got a briefing on how silk is produced and how carpets are made. Then, after being offered drinks and a snack, they rolled out many demonstration carpets. Then the sales pitch began. Interestingly, the Turkish government reimburses carpet showrooms 100% of shipping fees, so there are no added costs to the buyer. We had no interest in carpets, so we left.

 

On the return walk to the ship we were treated to the traditional hard sales efforts. A glance at anything resulted in an immediate salesman talking into your ear. For once there’s an advantage to being deaf in one ear. But I wonder if they’d ever been advised that their enthusiasm discouraged visitors. We very likely would have spent more time in town if we weren’t barraged by their noise.

 

Went to Manfredi’s again. Excellent food.

[PasadenaDave]

8 hours ago, austinetc said:

It irks me when written guidance is issued, then an official of the organization that wrote the guidance says it's not correct. Our disembarkation guidance states that "Visa required nationals must also carry a printout of the E-visa." Nevermind the insanity of needing a printout of a deliberate e-document. I checked with customer service and the representative immediately said that an image on my iPhone would be fine.

 

I still have extreme doubts that I needed an evisa at all. Yes, we entered Turkey yesterday. But we also left it yesterday. We will do the same today. So tomorrow we enter and 30 hours later we fly away. That doesn't count as 72 hours in my book. We'll see how things go.

 

Transiting through any international border is troubling enough without having doubts that the transit may not be smooth. Viking needs to spent more time in their own research and interpreting that research for us.

That was my interpretation that arriving by cruise ship unless a stay off ship of72 hours no visa necessary, but I have been shot down for my interpretation before.

 

1 1/2 mile walk in Frankfurt today gate to gate

[Queenie1603]

On 5/3/2022 at 9:20 PM, austinetc said:

To be truthful, we’re a little tired of ruins. I’m very likely to Google the places we’ve visited. But the visuals are beginning to run

 

On 5/3/2022 at 9:20 PM, austinetc said:

Tuesday, 5/3. Heraklion, Crete, Greece. First impression was of bad air. Visibility was poor in an unusual way. Later we were told that dust storms from Africa is not uncommon. 

 

Our Excursion was for the palace of Minos, which is the origin of so many myths. The site is full of reconstructions done by the original archeologist, which is illuminating on one hand, but confusing on the other. We couldn’t tell what was fact or fancy. They did show us what’s likely the first “road” in Europe. That it had no traffic, I had some doubt that it was an actual Grecian road. (Haha.)

 

Our guide’s audio transmitter failed off and on, so many in the group choose to adjust their audio boxes to receive another guide’s lecture. We did that. But our guide was devastated by the failure, in tears. I felt very sorry for her.

 

To be truthful, we’re a little tired of ruins. I’m very likely to Google the places we’ve visited. But the visuals are beginning to run together.

 

The next stop was a village museum. Beautiful flowers and some excellent displays of historic homes and professions. Tried some local liquor. It wasn’t Ouzo, thank goodness. 

 

My feet were really bothering me, so upon returning to the ship I spent a lot of time in the various hot tubs. That helped a lot!

 

Dinner was at “The Chef’s Table.” A set menu and wine pairing. I felt the pairing suffered from having a limited selection of choices for the ship to choose from. “Sweet Potato Chips” was two exceedingly small mouthfuls of a chip loaded with sour cream (tasted like blue cheese). Crab Cakes on a bed of avocado was fantastic. To calm the palate we had frozen Moscow Mules, which was interesting. The seared halibut was marvelous. Desert was some kind of mandarin orange cream sorbet. 

 

The Explorer’s “Thank you” party was interrupted by technical problems, so they relocated to the night club, my normal hangout. I had to relocate.

 

I had to go online to get a $50 visa for Turkey. Yoriko, holding a Japanese passport, didn’t need a visa. We both need to have our temps checked today (and tomorrow) to gain the authority to go ashore tomorrow. The ship’s facial recognition system is disturbingly accurate and fast.

 

For photos, http://dlajourney.net/

 

On 5/3/2022 at 9:20 PM, austinetc said:

To be truthful, we’re a little tired of ruins. I’m very likely to Google the places we’ve visited. But the visuals are beginning to run together.

 

Thank you for your Blog. We are doing what was your  first leg of your cruise as our second 7 days in August so all feedback really useful. My husband and I love Crete and would highly recommended the Heraklion Museum, it is full of all the amazing Artefacts from the Minoan culture found at Knossos. Truly amazing.   It’s possible to walk up to to the Museum  from the Cruise Terminal or it’s a shot taxi ride. If it’s a tour option it’s well worth doing. Otherwise Book in advance to avoid the queues but very spacious and air conditioned inside.https://heraklionmuseum.gr/language/en/home/

 

[austinetc]

Thursday, 5/5. Troy. I expected to be underwhelmed by the experience and I was spot on. It’s so confusing. There are eight (or nine?) layers of Troy, meaning that to research Troy #1, one has to desecrate the remaining Troys. Touchy work. A smart guy did realize how confusing it can be and placed signs on a slope, labeling several ages of Troys. But there isn’t really much “there” there. Also, there’s a lot of reconstruction, so I wasn’t sure that what we saw was what it was, or what archeologists think it was.

But, hey, I’ve been to Troy. Check that off the list. Other than one bus that took people across the Dardanelles to visit the battlefields of Gallipoli, Troy was where everyone went.

 

Afterwards we spent some time in the port city of Canakkale. The Trojan Horse used in the recent movie is on display. The waterfront was busy but no one was trying to sell us anything, so it was a nice stroll. The actual port used by the ship is butt-ugly.

 

In the evening we passed under the “1915” Canakkale Bridge, which, in spite of its name, opened just a few months ago. It’s now the longest suspension bridge in the world. The center span is 6,600 feet long, 2,400 feet longer than the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s quite a sight.

 

Surf and turf again for dinner. Had seconds of surf. Yum.

 

Photos at: http://dlajourney.net/Wordpress/

 

[austinetc]

Friday, 5/6. Istanbul was a sort of a bust. We did the Included tour. A ride past the city walls, then stopped at a medium sized mosque with beautiful blue tiles. No, not the famous one. A little walk through the bazaar. A boat ride north, away from the Hagia Sophia. We sat in a nice spot to see the sites, but couldn't hear a word of the running commentary from their poor speaker system. We were dropped off at the ship pier, which is a brand new facility. Lots of shops and restaurants, though the walk through the terminal is long and winding.

 

We had lunch and took a taxi into the old city. Big mistake. It was Friday, their version of Sunday. Massive crowds. We quit the quest early due to that and due to my foot getting more and more sore. So we didn't see the Hagia Sophia. Big diasppointment. 

[lackcreativity]

austinetc,

I appreciate the time you have taken to provide this thread. We recently returned from the Barcelona to "Venice" portion of the trip, and are coming back for the Venice to Istanbul part in October. I am sorry that your visit to Istanbul was disappointing. Do you recall if Viking offered an optional tour of Hagia Sophia? It is too soon for our excursions to be listed, but I am interested for our planning purposes.

Thanks.

[austinetc]

Saturday, 5/7 (and conclusion). This was an ordeal. Leaving Turkey required an entry stamp at the terminal, which was silly, since we'd already entered the country. The airport required three xray checks, including two post-xray physical inspections of my backpack. Our passports were checked three times at the ticket counter line. Overall, passports were inspected at least eight times. They even performed an old-fashioned Q&A to make sure we had our stories straight. 

 

14 hour flight was fairly straight forward.

 

The high points of the cruise were, as usual, the excursion destinations and the face-to-face interactions with the crew. The food was a high/low point. It was superb, but it became clear that the menus have a decidedly vegetarian tilt. Meatless pasta sauces and meatless pizzas were the overwhelming theme. Why they couldn't serve naked pasta and offer a variety of sauce options escape me. And the complexity of the choices seemed made to be complex. There's a reason why "chocolate chip cookies" are America's favorite, without added incredients. The sushi bar was extraordinary. 

 

I have an unbalanced anger at the wine options. ALL by-the-glass wines were $6. Granted, some of the wines had a retail grocery store price of $20, so a restaurant price of $6 was a steal. But for someone with a taste for only very good wine, I was extremely disappoointed. None of the wines were better than just ok. (Sorry, but I can't get off this rant.) They had excellent ($11+) whiskeys that certainly made the Beverage Package worthwhile, but . . .

 

The inevitable cattle-call routine of the excursions was tiring. Slow people (kudos for their desire to travel), dense people (guides explaining for the fifth time when we'll regroup), number of people (about 30) all took a toll on the enjoyment aspect. To be fair, I'm used to small-group tours of 15 or fewer people. So I have unreasonable expectations.

 

There were some noteworthy failings of the Viking organization which detracted from the experience. 

I'm not sure the high points counteracted the lows. I think, overall, we've just tired of ocean cruises. We are booked for one more ocean cruise and after that maybe we'll focus on the river cruises.

 

 

[austinetc]

16 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

austinetc,

I appreciate the time you have taken to provide this thread. We recently returned from the Barcelona to "Venice" portion of the trip, and are coming back for the Venice to Istanbul part in October. I am sorry that your visit to Istanbul was disappointing. Do you recall if Viking offered an optional tour of Hagia Sophia? It is too soon for our excursions to be listed, but I am interested for our planning purposes.

Thanks.

I know there were driving tours around it, but don't recall any that planned to enter it, which seemed strange. I was told by our guide that, at the moment, the interior is full of scaffolding. But he used that to explain why the mosque we visited was a better overall experience. Perhaps he was just rationalizing.

[PeabodyMa]

7 minutes ago, austinetc said:

I know there were driving tours around it, but don't recall any that planned to enter it, which seemed strange. I was told by our guide that, at the moment, the interior is full of scaffolding. But he used that to explain why the mosque we visited was a better overall experience. Perhaps he was just rationalizing.

For reference, optional excursions are listed in your Journey Summary document.

[LindaS272]

37 minutes ago, austinetc said:

I know there were driving tours around it, but don't recall any that planned to enter it, which seemed strange. I was told by our guide that, at the moment, the interior is full of scaffolding. But he used that to explain why the mosque we visited was a better overall experience. Perhaps he was just rationalizing.

Photos from Gary’s blog on the WC showed tour of Hagia Sophia. I don’t think it was private.

[PasadenaDave]

We are on the return trip now, Istanbul to Venice.  We did pre excursion which did the Blue Mosque and Haghia Sophia on Friday, the ship tour is called Panoramic Istanbul.  Friday was a zoo due to it being Friday plus it was the end of most everyone’s 14 day holiday that went beyond the end of Ramadan and there was a major street demonstration that closed major streets.  The big Mosques are really a sight to see.

[KTRaveller]

On 4/25/2022 at 7:41 AM, MarkTapley said:

Doug,

 

Enjoying reading your posts here.  Not sure what Viking has for “hold music,” as our TA has to endure it.  LOL  However, Viking commissioned a piece for their 20th anniversary called “The Traveler,” by Debbie Wiseman.  That may have been what was played during tea time.  They did a feature on its composition for Viking TV.

Glad you mentioned that Viking.TV piece, MarkTapley.  I found it fascinating and Debbie Wiseman impressive and just very warm and nice -- but I do get a little tired of it on hold!  Doug -- thanks for your posts.  We are doing an overlapping cruise in 2023, so I am reading your whole blog with interest and enjoying your writing style.