Live from the Viking Sky (Ft Lauderdale to London) December 20, 2023 - May 6, 2024

[cruising denise]

Glad to hear good things about the Viking snorkel trip!  I also would highly recommend the Great Adventures Great Barrier Reef Adventure (don't sign up for Green Island).  Highly recommend the Guided Snorkeling Tour add-on which really enhanced our snorkeling.  And book it ahead of time to be sure you get it.  They will book you with a Marine Biologist.  Our guide, Trent, was wonderful.  The snorkeling area is quite large, but it is cordoned off so people don't swim too far off from the pontoon.  There are two lifeguards keeping an eye out.  The snorkeling area also has 4 or 5 "rest stations" - square flotation devices, about 4' on each side and empty in the middle - that you can hold onto in case you need to adjust your mask or just take a break.  They provide all the equipment:  masks, snorkels, flotation vests, fins, and anti-sting suits.  Although those suits were a bit difficult to put on, they were well worth it and you shouldn't ever swim in these waters without one, due to the jellyfish, which can cause quite a dangerous sting.  Trent took us to the shallowest parts of the reef so that we could really see, up close, the wonderful varieties of coral that were growing there, as well as deeper areas where different marine life lived.  I think he said there were up to 600 varieties of coral but don't quote me on that!  We saw many.  All so different, and beautiful in their own way.  Many, many fish.  He pointed out different fish, giant clams, sea cucumbers and the different types of corals.  He'd tell us about them above water and then he'd dive down and point them out so we could see everything.  Wally, the Napoleon Wrasse fish, who is quite large, swam around us everywhere at the times we were near the pontoon (apparently he just hangs by the pontoon all the time!).  He was so curious about us he would swim right up and brush against us!  

 

The whole excursion was very well organized.  Some people didn't want to snorkel but they went out on the semi-submersible sub, which went out periodically.  The first time out we didn't see all that much, as it had rained and I think it murked the water up a bit.  We only went once since we were snorkeling but a few people went a second time and said they saw much more.  There is also an observation window where people told me they were able to see pretty well.  We had a couple of downpours as the boat (very large enclosed boat) was cruising out, and once while on the pontoon eating lunch, but it was covered.  When we got in the water, the sun came out and the rest of our time there was wonderful.

 

I'd recommend that if you really enjoy snorkeling and don't need to wait for the guided tour to get comfortable, snorkel as much of the time there as you want to.  Even if you sign up for a guided tour, you can snorkel any time you want before or after.

 

I might not recommend this tour if you don't snorkel, as the whole experience really is once you're in the water and exploring the whole area there.  

 

A lifelong memory for me and Eddie!  We didn't get washed out to sea by a strong current (it was very calm, with no current there), didn't get eaten by sharks, or stung by jellyfish!  A great day.

[Clay Clayton]

An all around wet day in Thursday Island but most enjoyable. 
 

This morning it was hot and humid and therefore my clothes were quickly wet as I “glistened” as my southern mother would have said (“ladies don’t sweat, they glisten”-I was glistening like a pig!😂

 

Then after the included program we had a typical tropical downpour-for 20 minutes or so. 
 

The port talk prepared us to have very low expectations of Thursday Island but they didn’t prepare us for how warm  and friendly the people here are.  It started for us this morning at breakfast when we chatted with the Pilot Captain who is from here. His big recommendation was to go to Mona’s Boutique which has been there since he was a child. We went and bought a shirt for Mike. They also had some pretty fabrics at good prices. Throughout the day, I chatted with people welcoming us and interested in our thoughts on their home. 
 

The performance was enjoyable. Not terribly dissimilar to the one we saw at the Kiwi groves in New Zealand except this was performed by a group of high school students. My videos can be seen on Instagram. We had a great time chatting with them afterwards-they were interested in learning where we were from. The most interesting thing was one young lady who said she wanted to have a grilled steak-said she had never had one and sees them on tv and they look so good.  We discussed NC whole hog bbq and discovered they have something similar here. 
 

While most folks waited out the rain, we decided to just get wet-it felt so nice to not be hot, and head back to the tender pier. Due to the rain, we had a wait and by the time they had restarted, there was a long long line so glad we did. 
 

It’s now after 3 and it appears we may be getting underway about an hour late.  Next stop, Dragonville!

 

Will try to upload photos separately 

[Clay Clayton]

Thursday Island (on Friday) 

[Clay Clayton]

These of the kids didn’t upload the first time

[PeabodyMa]

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 23 by PeabodyMa

[Clay Clayton]

LCR tomorrow (Saturday) at 3:30 pool bar-unless it’s too hot then we will be at Explorers’ Lounge. 
 

As a reminder, we play each first sea day after a port, come join us-it’s a great stop on your way to the Ladies’ A-Z sessions!🍸🍹🍺🍷

[cruising denise]

9 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

An all around wet day in Thursday Island but most enjoyable. 
 

This morning it was hot and humid and therefore my clothes were quickly wet as I “glistened” as my southern mother would have said (“ladies don’t sweat, they glisten”-I was glistening like a pig!😂

 

Then after the included program we had a typical tropical downpour-for 20 minutes or so. 
 

The port talk prepared us to have very low expectations of Thursday Island but they didn’t prepare us for how warm  and friendly the people here are.  It started for us this morning at breakfast when we chatted with the Pilot Captain who is from here. His big recommendation was to go to Mona’s Boutique which has been there since he was a child. We went and bought a shirt for Mike. They also had some pretty fabrics at good prices. Throughout the day, I chatted with people welcoming us and interested in our thoughts on their home. 
 

The performance was enjoyable. Not terribly dissimilar to the one we saw at the Kiwi groves in New Zealand except this was performed by a group of high school students. My videos can be seen on Instagram. We had a great time chatting with them afterwards-they were interested in learning where we were from. The most interesting thing was one young lady who said she wanted to have a grilled steak-said she had never had one and sees them on tv and they look so good.  We discussed NC whole hog bbq and discovered they have something similar here. 
 

While most folks waited out the rain, we decided to just get wet-it felt so nice to not be hot, and head back to the tender pier. Due to the rain, we had a wait and by the time they had restarted, there was a long long line so glad we did. 
 

It’s now after 3 and it appears we may be getting underway about an hour late.  Next stop, Dragonville!

 

Will try to upload photos separately 

Clay, I couldn't agree more.  Thursday Island exceeded my expectations, which I will admit were set kind of low following the port talk.  I loved this little island and agree that the people were so friendly, and the kids were so curious.  They were truly incredulous when they asked where I was from, and I explained that we lived in the northeast part of the United States, where it is winter right now, and we have snow on the ground!  They were very engaging.

 

Reminded me of the vibe of Key West back in the 70s; I am sure they would like to encourage and benefit from more tourism but I hope they don't become like one of the Keys in current times, and can continue to preserve their heritage.

[UWDawg]

Revised itinerary for the Viking Sky:

 

March 18
Phuket (Patong Beach), Thailand
March 19 & 20
Scenic Sailing: Bay of Bengal
March 21 & 22
Colombo, Sri Lanka
March 23
Sail the Laccadive Sea
March 24
Cochin, India
March 25 - 29
Sail the Arabian Sea/indian Ocean
March 30
Port Louis, Mauritlus
March 31
Le Port, La Réunion, France
April 1 - 3
Sail the Indian Ocean
April 4
Richards Bay, South Africa
April 5 at sea
April 6
Ggeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa
April 7
Sail the Indian Ocean
April 8 & 9
Cape Town, South Africa
April 10
Sail the South Atlantic Ocean
April 11
Walvis Bay, Namibia
April 12 - 18
Sail the South Atlantic Ocean
April 19
Dakar, Senegal
April 20 & 21
Sail the North Atlantic Ocean
April 22
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
April 23 & 24
Agadir, Morocco
April 25
Casablanca, Morocco
April 26
Tangier, Morocco
April 27 & 28
Lisbon, Portugal
April 29
Leixões (Porto), Portugal
April 30
A Coruña, Spain
May 1
Sail the Celtic Sea
May 2
Cherbourg, France
May 3
Paris (Honfleur), France
May 4
Dover (Canterbury), England
May 5
London (Greenwich), England
May 6
London (Greenwich), England

[Bob Bruce]

Thanks Huskies fan!

[SJD117]

It’s interesting that Viking includes Dakar in your revised itinerary. Some months ago, the company dropped Dakar from our Barcelona to Buenos Aires TA in Oct-Nov 2024 and substituted Cape Verde instead. There’s been no move back to Dakar to my knowledge.

[Bob Bruce]

I wondered about that too. Senegal has been unstable for at least a year. Cape Verde isn’t much in my opinion. We diverted there last year when Dakar was determined to not be safe.

[UWDawg]

[Hanoj]

Any options being given guests with the altered itinerary?
 

[Bob Bruce]

I certainly hope that they offer more than an option board $250 ship credit. This change is huge. The whole Mediterranean portion is gone. It was the primary reason that we booked the Grand Passage Cruise in the first place. Some of Southeast Asia was eliminated too. I hope they offer significant trip credits, refunds, etc.

[UWDawg]

33 minutes ago, Hanoj said:

Any options being given guests with the altered itinerary?
 

They told us they are still working on the list of excursions (included and optional), but they plan on providing a full complement of excursions.  They noted that everyone would have the opportunity for an INCLUDED safari at one of the South African ports.

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, UWDawg said:

We did much of this on our 2019 WC, going across the Indian Ocean from Australia.  We really enjoyed Africa and our two day Safari in Kruger.  Only place we didn’t enjoy was Dakar.  Glad they finally told you!

[cruising denise]

Hi all,

 

I've already individually polled a number of my friends onboard.  So far, it is 100% staying the course.  Eddie and I are a bit mixed.  I'm leaning more to staying, though western Africa looks uncertain and a lot of sea days.  I calculated that it is 4 more sea days than our original itinerary from Singapore forward, so not that big a difference though they are pretty compacted to western Africa.

 

Very interested to hear from my other Sky fellow passengers - what are you planning to do?

 

We are considering staying on until Capetown, assuming we don't stay till the end. We do have two more cruises yet to be paid for, to which we could apply any and all remaining refundable credits, so that, too, is a consideration for us.

[cruising denise]

4 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Any options being given guests with the altered itinerary?
 

They are also being flexible in where we disembark, should we choose to do so.  However, they were clear that they cannot guarantee business class, especially in some of the smaller ports where even international air is limited or unavailable at all.  They mentioned the options of disembarking in Bali, HCM or Singapore as the largest cities with most flight options.  We assumed that Capetown would probably be large enough to also offer some good air options, and we would miss the long west Africa stretch.  But also the Moroccan stretch, in which I am kind of intrigued.  Until we see the revised excursions, I don't think we can decide.  We also don't know what kind of flight options they will give us if we departed from Capetown, for example, vs Singapore. 

They did tell us that if we decided to disembark in Singapore or Capetown, we could stay on the ship for the first day in port and disembark the second day.

We had already been to most of the Med ports previously, but not all.  For us, the middle east was a huge draw and obviously that is off the table completely for the foreseeable future.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, cruising denise said:

They are also being flexible in where we disembark, should we choose to do so.  However, they were clear that they cannot guarantee business class, especially in some of the smaller ports where even international air is limited or unavailable at all.  They mentioned the options of disembarking in Bali, HCM or Singapore as the largest cities with most flight options.  We assumed that Capetown would probably be large enough to also offer some good air options, and we would miss the long west Africa stretch.  But also the Moroccan stretch, in which I am kind of intrigued.  Until we see the revised excursions, I don't think we can decide.  We also don't know what kind of flight options they will give us if we departed from Capetown, for example, vs Singapore. 

They did tell us that if we decided to disembark in Singapore or Capetown, we could stay on the ship for the first day in port and disembark the second day.

We had already been to most of the Med ports previously, but not all.  For us, the middle east was a huge draw and obviously that is off the table completely for the foreseeable future.

Mike and my thinking is similar to yours.  My biggest disappointment is the way the information was rolled out. First the technical glitches and then having to wait another “four or five days” to find out about the possible excursions or other options.  I sincerely expected that given how long it took for Viking to give us any information that it would be complete when we heard it.  
<climbs down off his soapbox>

[Mrs Miggins]

May 1st - Celtic Sea ?  Sounds lovely - however I think they mean The Bay of Biscay which is not quite so glamorous.

[Clay Clayton]

Thank goodness for the great show from “Voices of the Sky” last night to bring some joy to an otherwise frustrating day. While happy for the confirmation of our diversion, the lack of information about the details of the new excursions, how we will book them (some folks have said they will camp out in the Living Room😳-how luxurious is that?), and no discussion at all about the options made for a pretty miserable day with most on board in a daze and the constant question of “what are you going to do?” Usually followed by, “don’t know as how can I analyze something for which I have so little data.”  
 

So the guest choir was a bright light that packed the Star Theatre-literally standing room only.  Bravo and looking forward to future performances!

 

 

Edited February 25 by Clay Clayton

[cruising denise]

44 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Thank goodness for the great show from “Voices of the Sky” last night to bring some joy to an otherwise frustrating day. While happy for the confirmation of our diversion, the lack of information about the details of the new excursions, how we will book them (some folks have said they will camp out in the Living Room😳-how luxurious is that?), and no discussion at all about the options made for a pretty miserable day with most on board in a daze and the constant question of “what are you going to do?” Usually followed by, “don’t know as how can I analyze something for which I have so little data.”  
 

So the guest choir was a bright light that packed the Star Theatre-literally standing room only.  Bravo and looking forward to future performances!

 

 

Thanks, Clay, for capturing yesterday so well.  It was indeed a very depressing day.  It was such a joy to see all our friends who had worked so hard for this performance.  They did a wonderful job and I hope I am still onboard when they give their next performance.

 

The Liar's Club gave some much-needed humor, too.

[aungrl]

17 hours ago, cruising denise said:

Thanks, Clay, for capturing yesterday so well.  It was indeed a very depressing day.  It was such a joy to see all our friends who had worked so hard for this performance.  They did a wonderful job and I hope I am still onboard when they give their next performance.

 

The Liar's Club gave some much-needed humor, too.

I love the idea of a guest choir! What kind of music did they perform?

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, aungrl said:

I love the idea of a guest choir! What kind of music did they perform?

Showtimes-Oklahoma, Sound of Music, South Pacific…. Video clips are available on our Instagram @claynmike

[Clay Clayton]

Another amazing brunch today aboard Sky as we sail past some of the 17,000 Indonesian Islands. The chefs did a great job of recreating the Great Barrier Reed out of vegetables and fruit for the smoothie station. It was only topped by the beautiful carved and pulled chocolate Phoenix that loomed over the dessert table. There were other stations with pastries, eggs, Asian, seafood, vegan, and sushi. It’s incredible how hard the whole kitchen staff works everyday but then to put on a show like this on top of all that is truly stupendous! (And appreciated!)

 

I’ll try to post photos in a separate post