Love cruises and I would love to hear your feedback on Viking. We’ve done 20 cruises with
DCL and are now just deciding to branch out and cheat on the mouse. We do have the Panama Canal in 4 months and the Wish Maiden Voyage booked in June as the last of our planned Disney cruises. Next month we are going to try out the adults only Virgin Scarlet Lady and late next year will be our first cruise with Celebrity as we have the all suites Flora booked for a Galapagos cruise. I’ve been on one Carnival and one RCCL cruise before and wasn’t especially impressed. I thought the service and food was way better on DCL. Since you sound like an experienced cruiser, your thoughts on other lines would be appreciated
This will be our first cruise with Viking, so feedback on them will come once we return. We know a lot of experienced cruisers- and one recently went on a cruise with them and said they blew away Celebrity and Crystal- so we are excited to try them. Out of our next 6 already booked cruises- 5 are with Viking. The Panama Canal next week that ends in Ft. Lauderdale (followed by 2 weeks doing Orlando/Tampa theme parks and the beach- woohoo), France river cruise in May, Grand European river cruise in October, Egypt in December, and one of those long Mediterranean cruises late spring 2023. After the France cruise- which is the southern part of France- we will take a train to Paris and spend a week there before coming home. The Egypt cruise is on the Viking Osiris- and it is the first river boat they have built with the Explorer Suite in the front, so we are looking forward to having an ES in the front on the river boats. ES on their ocean vessels are both forward and aft. A lot of people like it aft, but we prefer the front. Since Viking’s biggest suites are in the back on most of their river boats we will stay back there when necessary- as the engine noise doesn’t compare to that of a big ship steaming flat out over the ocean. The Egypt cruise was supposed to start in a couple of weeks- but the boat isn’t finished being built due to COVID so we had to put if off a year.
We are Platinum Plus with NCL. That's as high as you can get with them except Ambassador- and that level takes like a gazillion cruises. We met one of the Ambassadors on a recent cruise- apparently there are only a handful of them- so doubt we will ever get there- but never say never. Anyway, we do a Baltic cruise with NCL shortly before the Grand European with Viking. That will allow us a few days in Copenhagen after that cruise, and a few days in Amsterdam before the Viking one starts. After the Viking ends- we will spend about a week in Venice. Viking does a post in Prague, but instead of a 5 1/2 drive to get there, we will hop on a plane in Budapest and go to Venice instead since it isn't part of the Mediterranean cruise- and that city is higher up on our list than Prague. We are leaving a spot next year for what my wife calls ‘the wild card trips’- and we will just decide at the last minute to go somewhere, make arrangements- and go. She is more spontaneous than me- I am the planner- so she likes to take a trip now and then without plans to take me out of my comfort zone, and they work out just fine.
So- onto why we like NCL. We are debt free- and are grateful for those that came before us and left a legacy, and we plan to do the same. I don’t usually talk about this kind of stuff- but it is relevant here. NCL is ‘freestyle cruising’. Although we have money- we aren’t country club type of people (although we live in one). There’s nothing wrong with that lifestyle-it just isn’t us. We like to stay in suites and have a butler to meet our needs- but we want to do so hanging out in our sweatpants if we want to. We also don’t like dressing up for formal nights- or to go to dinner. I will wear a collared shirt and some Tommy Bahama stretch linen pants to dinner- but the last time I wore a blazer and tie (don’t own a suit) was decades ago for the Chef’s Table at V&A. We don’t go to the ‘meet the captain and crew’ socials either- just not our thing. By the way, those Tommy Bahama stretch linen pants will change your life- highly recommend them. For any guys reading this, try Bonobos stretch pants in various styles- excellent comfort with a dressier look. Back on track… We are both mostly vegetarian, so despite having access to a private restaurant in the Haven we often eat from the buffet. Some of the time we will go to the buffet to get a bunch of fresh, grilled, and/or steamed veggies and take them up to the other restaurant and order something else to go with them. The specialty restaurants are quite good for the most part, and when we feel like something other than vegetables we will head to the Brazilian Steakhouse for their unusual cold bar, specialty soup, and a small taste of some of the different meats they present tableside on a skewer. Their signature French restaurant is quite good, too, and the quality far surpasses those at Disney. For a change, we eat a vegetable stir fry and some spring rolls at the Asian restaurant - or go to the Teppanyaki Grill for a vegetarian meal and a show. Since we are pretty high up their loyally totem pole, we get a lot of free wine and champagne and whatnot. Since we don’t drink, for whoever happens to be our neighbor it becomes their lucky day. We are very casual people that like to travel in comfortable, somewhat casual clothing- and NCL fits that bill. Viking will be a bit different, but their dress code is minimal so we are OK with the compromise. We have also been assured that they can meet our dietary needs despite not having a salad bar or buffet.
We both do some work from home- but for me it is more to stay busy that anything else. My wife writes, and is publishing some books next year- so her work goal is to make a positive impact in that way. I have taken a lot of travel writing coursework- and miscellaneous fiction, non-fiction, romance and memoir writing courses to learn how to write in those styles- but as yet have done nothing with them. Have a press pass, recorder, etc.- but with travel writing it is a whole different experience than ‘just being a tourist’. Have to do lots of research and interviews and spend time writing on the trip, so haven’t wanted to look at the world with that perspective yet. I always head out the door with my stuff and the intention to do so, though. Emailed Conde Nast yesterday to shop an article on our upcoming trip- if they are interested may finally take the plunge. Our businesses also legitimize business card acquisitions- and since my wife writes a cruise blog and is writing a book on cruising, occasionally charging a chunk of a cruise to a business card is helpful with MSR since the threshold with business credit card charges is ‘business related’- not tax deductible. So, that’s a little bit of my take on cruising- writing any more and this post would take up a page- lol.