LIVE from the Viking Neptune World Cruise includes FTL and LA

[LunaSeaRetreat]

9 hours ago, Wavetripper said:

Excursion tickets showed up tonight in the stateroom for the segment Cochin to Cape Town. No surprises in excursion selection choices. First choice given for all ports at this point. 

We received our second choice in Richard’s Bay. The tours were the same price and length so we’re happy. Received our first choice in the others. 
Cynthia

[LunaSeaRetreat]

17 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Where is everyone??  Ok, I have to report that Lois and I are departing Neptune in Singapore.  All things considered it works best for us.  Viking has been very generous with forward cruise credits and with rearranging air.  If we hadn't just had a fabulous land tour in Africa last summer we would be going for the ones Viking worked out.  Anyway, loved meeting so many of my Cruise Critic pals and now it is up to BobCatter, Wavetripper and everyone else who has participated in this WC thread.  I look forward to keeping up with the rest of the cruise. 

We haven’t met yet but I always enjoy your posts. I’ll try to post more when you leave and help keep the thread going. I might even learn to post photos. 😳

Cynthia

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

Sky captain just announced that Neptune will be waiting for us to leave pier at 12:30.  I’ll be waving!

 

Hope y’all have as good a time in Vietnam as we did. 

[Jim Avery]

Hope we looked as good as yall did.

[Clay Clayton]

Ya did!  Video available on Instagram of the horn battle. #WishItHadOfBeenOvernight

[Clay Clayton]

Short Video-full length on Insta.   

[Hockeyump]

Can someone on board ask them to fix the camera please! It's pointing skywards and those of us lurking are missing the views.

[Liz Masterson]

On 3/7/2024 at 12:35 AM, Jim Avery said:

Where is everyone??  Ok, I have to report that Lois and I are departing Neptune in Singapore.  All things considered it works best for us.  Viking has been very generous with forward cruise credits and with rearranging air.  If we hadn't just had a fabulous land tour in Africa last summer we would be going for the ones Viking worked out.  Anyway, loved meeting so many of my Cruise Critic pals and now it is up to BobCatter, Wavetripper and everyone else who has participated in this WC thread.  I look forward to keeping up with the rest of the cruise. 

I’ll miss reading your posts! But of course your decision is yours and for what it’s worth makes total sense to me.  
 

I started reading all these WC posts and blogs a few years ago when I was laying in bed with a broken ankle. Fun way to travel vicariously! 

[Twitchly]

On 3/6/2024 at 3:18 AM, vslparis said:

Hope this comes out OK. 

Looks tasty but not especially Filipino. The tomatoes, for one thing. (When I lived there, nobody had them; they have to be imported. They make ketchup out of bananas.) I don’t recall much in the way of cilantro or quails, either. Ah, well. At least there’s seafood.  

[Twitchly]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:04 AM, Clay Clayton said:

No and no.  It’s fusion-nothing traditional.  You can see the menu and photos over on the menu thread.
 

But I did get a promise that he would try to have halo halo served onboard sometime. 🤞

I would love to hear how Viking would make halo halo! Thanks for posting the menu.

[BobCatter]

Hi Chi Minh City:

 

[BobCatter]

That middle one is titled 'Saigon at Night'.

[BobCatter]

Ealy morning boat traffic, Ho Chi Minh City

[UWDawg]

While we were in Saigon/ HCMC, my favorite excursion was a 3rd party Back of the Bike Tours excursion (www.BACKOFTHEBIKETOURS.com).

 

This was a foody excursion.  They picked us up at the hotel at 6:00 pm.  We hopped on the back of their scooters and then were escorted through the frantic city traffic to 5 different food stops.  IT WAS A BLAST! ... And the food was fantastic.  We finished up around 10:30... back to the hotel maybe 10:50 or so.  

 

I definitely recommend it.  There were three of us from the Viking Sky and we joined up with another dozen or so folks at the first food stop.  Our drivers were Chau, Thao and Phung; three delightful young women.  My driver, Chau, spoke English very well and was very communicative.

 

At no point did I feel unsafe in the hectic scooter traffic... it just flows.

 

If you're in town and have the evening free, DO IT!

Edited March 9 by UWDawg

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, UWDawg said:

While we were in Saigon/ HCMC, my favorite excursion was a 3rd party Back of the Bike Tours excursion (www.BACKOFTHEBIKETOURS.com).

 

This was a foody excursion.  They picked us up at the hotel at 6:00 pm.  We hopped on the back of their scooters and then were escorted through the frantic city traffic to 5 different food stops.  IT WAS A BLAST! ... And the food was fantastic.  We finished up around 10:30... back to the hotel maybe 10:50 or so.  

 

I definitely recommend it.  There were three of us from the Viking Sky and we joined up with another dozen or so folks at the first food stop.  Our drivers were Chau, Thao and Phung; three delightful young women.  My driver, Chau, spoke English very well and was very communicative.

 

At no point did I feel unsafe in the hectic scooter traffic... it just flows.

 

If you're in town and have the evening free, DO IT!

I didn’t know you did a scooter foodie tour also. I know the five who did the XO Foodie Tour had fun, glad you did also!  Wish I met their weight restriction 😂

[Clay Clayton]

Neptune World Cruisers

Our niece is meeting us in London for her long delayed (damn covid) high school graduation present (she graduates from college on May 4th) and we plan on going to Greenwich at some point. If any of you have interest in having a pub lunch in Greenwich in your first day there, let me know and that’s when we will plan on being there 🍺🍺🍺

[Wavetripper]

18 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Neptune World Cruisers

Our niece is meeting us in London for her long delayed (damn covid) high school graduation present (she graduates from college on May 4th) and we plan on going to Greenwich at some point. If any of you have interest in having a pub lunch in Greenwich in your first day there, let me know and that’s when we will plan on being there 🍺🍺🍺

We are interested and may take you up on the pub lunch, we are going to check our booked  Greenwich excursions and get back to you. This could be a very good time after the cruise and before the homeward flight to meet up, review the highlights over a  brew or two. 🍻🍺🍺

Cheers 

[5thDimension]

On 3/8/2024 at 1:42 PM, Twitchly said:

Looks tasty but not especially Filipino. The tomatoes, for one thing. (When I lived there, nobody had them; they have to be imported. They make ketchup out of bananas.) I don’t recall much in the way of cilantro or quails, either. Ah, well. At least there’s seafood.  

Hmm..Of course there are tomatoes in the Philippines but they're not use  for ketchup. The eggplant/salted egg salad from the menu is close to what I had growing up, and my family used cilantro on most dishes.  Quail eggs which I'm allergic to, are commonly sold by street vendors. 

[Twitchly]

21 hours ago, 5thDimension said:

Hmm..Of course there are tomatoes in the Philippines but they're not use  for ketchup. The eggplant/salted egg salad from the menu is close to what I had growing up, and my family used cilantro on most dishes.  Quail eggs which I'm allergic to, are commonly sold by street vendors. 

Interesting. I lived there a long time ago, in a remote area. Never saw any of these things. (I would’ve loved to have tomatoes, but the only ones I found were imported and too expensive.) Maybe we just lived too remotely. In our village, the only street vendor eggs I knew about were balut (fertilized duck eggs). 

 

Sounds like there is a world of Filipino cuisine I missed!

Edited March 11 by Twitchly

[5thDimension]

2 hours ago, Twitchly said:

Interesting. I lived there a long time ago, in a remote area. Never saw any of these things. (I would’ve loved to have tomatoes, but the only ones I found were imported and too expensive.) Maybe we just lived too remotely. In our village, the only street vendor eggs I knew about were balut (fertilized duck eggs). 

 

Sounds like there is a world of Filipino cuisine I missed!

I was born and raised in Manila, Philippines.  Each region will have their own specialties, and it will be specific to what's available, but I always assumed that tomatoes are available all over. Now I'm curious where did you live in the Philippines? I didn't like balut, I just had it once, and that's about it for me.

[Jim Avery]

Returned from Mekong overnight last evening.  Hot and tired but a fun outing.  Not exactly as portrayed in the written itinerary or in the pre talk in Torshavn but still learned things and had a few laughs.  Examples of different.  Lunch to be at Noon first day.  Actually happened after 2pm.  Arrive at luxury resort and have free time, 3pm.  Actually arrived after 6 very hot and tired.  Dinner at 6:30pm.  Pushed back to 7:30 and actually served after 8pm.  We were so hot and tired we did not bother changing but wanted to go to the beautiful open air bar for a cocktail or two before dinner.  Several others did the same.  A very nice high end resort on a private island in the river.  Way cool.  Amazingly no bugs!  And after us slathering on bug stuff.  Hah, we still met up with folks at the bar.  Met the general manager and he assured us the ice was safe to drink.  The ice is made in "loafs" for lack of a better term.  Maybe 2" square by 6" long.  They have a routine worth mentioning.  Manually cut off a length making an approximate square then the barman proceeded to cut off all the corners with a knife.  All the time turning the cube six ways or so with bare hands.  Then with considerable flourish picks the cube up with tongs and deposits it in the drink.  Gotta trust he washes hands in good water.  😳  So far no issues.  One more bar story than a couple of pix.  The next day we skipped the small boat ride to the floating vegetable market and enjoyed the resort.  Just before checkout we decided a Bloody Mary might hit the spot.  The same barman was totally mystified by Bloody Mary.  He got on the phone and soon came back and said he regretted no Bloody Mary as they were out of cherries.......  Whaaaa???  Ok, forget it.  Anyway, lots of bus time but still a good trip.

That monster picture was lunch at a Mekong village.  The lady tore chunks off and rolled it with veg in rice paper.  Ok if you don't mind a bone or two and some deep fried scales...

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

This excursion wasn’t to my knowledge offered to us on Sky-the only overnight we recall was one in HCMC. Yours appears (at least the island resort) to resemble the “private excursion” that the Owner’s Suite guests took. 
 

How much was the overnight?

 

#NeptuneGetsEverything

[Jim Avery]

3 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

This excursion wasn’t to my knowledge offered to us on Sky-the only overnight we recall was one in HCMC. Yours appears (at least the island resort) to resemble the “private excursion” that the Owner’s Suite guests took. 
 

How much was the overnight?

 

#NeptuneGetsEverything

I believe it was $649 p/p.  

[Jim Avery]

Finally made the Elephant Encounter today.  Had to cancel this on the Inaugural WC 5 years ago due to me catching the head/chest crud that was going around to everyone. Back then the Encounter info included pictures of elephants being ridden.  Anyway the new version is a rescue center and no rides.  The waterfall just next door does offer elephant rides but only a few in the morning and a few more in the evening.  Union rules... Probably didn't need to put my back through such a ride.  Did the camels at the Pyramids so there.  And whoever said the Pad Thai was good was spot on.  All the dishes provided were very good.  Loved feeding the elephants.  When I fed one a banana I thought I would lose a couple of fingers to the trunk suction.  Way fun.

 

 

[BobCatter]

Snake Pagoda, Koh Samui 

 

IMG_0336.dng