World Cruise Miami to LA

LA Stopover

Our “World Cruise” is broken up into eight segments, with the first, Miami to Los Angeles, being called the “pre-cruise” for some reason. Regardless, our overnight stay in Southern California ends the first part of the long trip. About 350 cruisers just went from Miami to LA, with a similar number replacing them for the duration.

While the port is called “Los Angeles” we actually dock in San Pedro, 30 plus miles and up to two hours away by car, depending upon traffic.

Carol and I decided that our best course would be to take a taxi to LA, stay in a hotel and spend the two days there, rather than taking a group bus tour or going back and forth twice. I thought that I would get a head start on re-qualifying for Platinum status at Accor, so I booked a room at the Sofitel, Beverly Hills, where we stayed some nine years ago.

Our friend, Michael Cimarusti, is chef-owner of one of Los Angeles’ best restaurants so we booked a table for dinner and figured we would spend our free time with light sightseeing.

The line at the Immigration interviews on the ship curled around the whole of Deck 2, but we are able bodied and had no particular agenda so were much less bothered than some of the other passengers. After about 40 minutes we had reclaimed our passports and been given leave to depart the ship.

Once outside the dock area, we found a taxi and 1:40 and $100 later, were at the door of the Sofitel. Of course, the room wasn’t ready at 11:00 so we took a cheaper taxi ride to Grauman’s Chinese Theater and spent a couple of hours traversing the Hollywood Walk of Fame, checking out the stars and remarking on how many honorees were unknown to us. We wondered if they had been quite famous and now less so or if they were given stars due to their press agents or for other reasons.

Both Carol and I were amazed at the number of classical musicians whose names we found along the way. From Enrico Caruso and Robert Merrill to Igor Stravinsky and Eugene Ormandy, their stars were interspersed with those of The Marx Brothers, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Marilyn Monroe.

When we returned to the hotel, the room was still not ready, so we enjoyed our free glass of wine that rewards our frequent guest status and then went to CVS for a bit of shopping. Finally, we were told that they had a nice suite on the Penthouse Floor and up we went. Unfortunately, instead of viewing the “Hollywood” sign, we saw only Bloomingdales, but the spacious suite was still lovely.

After some rest, we got cleaned up and dress for our meal at Providence. We arrived and were greeted and shown to a nice table where we were immediately given a glass of champagne and were told that Michael was going to cook our meal himself! When they asked if we would just place ourselves in his hands, we were overjoyed to say yes and to await the tasting menu that would follow.

Soon Michael came out and greeted us warmly, taking us back to the kitchen for introductions and a photo with his staff. Then we went back out, eagerly anticipating the meal. It commenced with spider crab in a daikon radish “dumpling” followed by several more amuse-bouches.

When they brought out different wine glasses, we knew that more courses were on the way. Each course was intricately conceived and carefully presented. It was like a theatrical presentation, with the servers removing the used plates and replacing the utensils and wine glasses just in time for the next course and its wine to be served.

Michael even came out to spoon the sauce on one course and a nitrogen frozen horseradish on the live scallop course! Black truffles, golden osetra caviar, lobster and foie gras were part of this amazing meal, which took over three hours to experience.

The servers and managers all took a turn in presenting the various courses and wines. I took some brief notes on my iPhone and tried to photograph each course, but I felt it was more important just to savor each dish to the fullest.

 

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As it was only a few days into 2018, this was obviously our best meal of the year and is likely to end up being the most memorable. While the food on the Viking Sun is quite good, it could never compare to the dinner we had at Providence.

I had arranged a late checkout as we didn’t have to be back on the ship until 16:30 so we slept until about 8 and then got dressed for a walk to Farmers’ Market, a collection of food stalls, restaurants, shops and fresh food vendors that has been in existence since 1934.

We began with espresso and then wandered about before deciding on hand carved corned beef sandwiches at 10:15 am! At least we had a 1.5 mile walk each way to work off some of the calories!

This concluded our activities in LA and we took another taxi back to the port, boarded the ship and waited for the reception where the President of Viking, Torstein Hagen, gave a toast and informed us that a) there would be fireworks to celebrate the beginning of the cruise, and b) the ship would leave three hours late as two(!) passengers were delayed in arriving from Chicago. While we were listening to the piano music of our friend, Grego, who was unexpectedly summoned to fill in for his colleague who had a family emergency, the ship finally pulled out and we are off on a week of sailing until we reach French Polynesia, our first port.

Sure I've Been to Mexico!

The first segment of our World Cruise a/k/a precruise, will come to an end in Los Angeles in two days. We will be spending the time in our hotel of choice, Sofitel Beverly Hills, and dining at Providence, an amazing restaurant owned by our friend, Michael Cimarusti.  Some ask why we would stay in a hotel when our stateroom is already paid for.  First, the port in LA is at least an hour away from town so we would be spending a lot of time on buses, assuming we were to visit the city on both days in port.  Second, it will be a respite from ship life, plus a beginning on our Platinum hotel status for 2018.  All in all, it seemed the best course.  We will use LA as a point of restocking any cosmetics, toiletries or articles of clothing we may think we may require, as well as any US Dollars for the final 121 days.  We will tip locals in their own currency but anything we may give to our crew members will be in USD.

Our final port before LA was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  Carol and I keep a list of countries that we have visited and had an asterisk next to Mexico as our only visit was to Tijuana, a shlocky border town that others say should not count.  When we landed in Cabo and took the tender to shore, we were confronted with a strip around the harbor containing cheap souvenir stands and restaurants that led us to ask "If Cabo counts, then why not Tijuana?"

We spent about an hour strolling the strip, graciously declining the offers of jewelry, pottery and boat trips.  I have no problem buying food and drink on shore, notwithstanding the fact that we can have it on the ship at no additional cost.  The
only proviso is that it needs to be something that is of some quality or else the timing is wrong to get back on board.  We won't interrupt time on shore merely to get back for lunch.  In this case, there was nothing that attracted us and we had enough of Cabo so re-ran the gauntlet of souvenir hawkers back to the tender and the safety of the Viking Sun

 

 

Central American Survey

After passing through the Panama Canal, we turned north towards Los Angeles, the end of the first segment of the cruise.  Three not-so-interesting ports would finish up the Central American part of the journey.  Of course, anyplace has something of interest but none of these were on our bucket list.

The first stop was Puntarenas, Costa Rica.  The ship was once again docked in an industrial port which makes it unappealing to just walk about on our own, so we took the included excursion.  These tend to be bus trips during which your guide gives you background on the country and the scenery as you travel.  Neither Carol nor I are big fans of riding on a bus for 1-2 hours to have a 45-minute stop and then return to the ship.  Still, it beats sitting on the ship or walking amongst the shipping containers.

Our guide was engaging and spoke good English.  He encouraged us to ask questions, so I asked if Costa Rica had a national bird.  He pulled out his mobile phone and showed me a photo of the Clay Colored Thrush while imitating its call.

The scenery was pretty with bright flowers and fields of sugar cane.  We disembarked at the town square of Esparza(Sparta)
where a small market had been set up for us to browse.  A group of children dressed in bright costumes entertained us with some dances, culminating in the “Broom Dance” in which a solo dancer is given a broom which he or she must hand off to another person until the music stops, making the holder sort of an old maid.  Carol was called into the circle but fortunately wasn’t left with the broom, sparing her the extra attention that befell one of our shipmates.

After the show, we took a quick look at the goods on offer, bought some Costa Rican coffee beans and spent a few minutes in the cathedral before boarding the buses for the ship and our farewell to Costa Rica.

Nicaragua was our next stop.  After Haiti, it is the poorest country in Latin America and once again we docked in a container port.  Carol and I had signed up for the Historic Leon tour and had an uneventful two-hour bus trip through drab countryside until we reached the main square of Leon, the first capital of Nicaragua.

There is a market in the square and the Cathedral of the Assumption which is the largest in Central America.  After we visited the sanctuary, where Ruben Dario, the revolutionary poet, is buried, our guide invited us to the rooftop, where there are some interesting domes and some decent views of the city and the hills beyond.

The problems began when the guide took us up to the rooftop. Carol doesn’t like heights, so she stayed below while I scaled the roof.  I turned to take a photo and the guide had disappeared.  He also stopped broadcasting on the “squawk box” so I had no idea where he might be!   I was able to follow the path and get down and out of the cathedral but with only about ten minutes until we were to be at the bus, I couldn’t find him, and I couldn’t find Carol either.  I went racing to the bus: no Carol!  I went back inside the cathedral: no Carol!  I even searched the market though she is not a shopper, but she was nowhere to be found.  Finally, a woman asked if I were looking for my wife and told me where she was.  Still no Carol!   I finally located her standing in the shade near the stairway that led to the roof.  Whew!  We got back to the bus and eventually to the ship.  I’m never coming back to Nicaragua!

From Nicaragua, we progressed to Guatemala and Puerto Quetzal.  If you are guessing that it is an industrial container port, you are right!  Still Guatemala is above Nicaragua both in economy and in beauty.  Our trip to the coffee and macadamia plantations was quite scenic and we could see several of the country’s many volcanoes, some spitting smoke and lava.  Unfortunately, we never go a “photo op” and, rather than taking photos through the windows of a moving bus, I just enjoyed the views.  Next time perhaps they will stop and let us get out for some proper shots of these natural wonders.

At the macadamia plantation, we had an informative tour that showed us how these nuts are grown and nurtured, harvested (picked off the ground when they fall!) and then sorted, dried and packaged. 

We enjoyed some macadamia pancakes, which are made from macadamia flour but don’t have nuts inside, but they had zero nuts for sale, only some chocolates with nuts and some facial products made from the oil.  It was a bit disappointing, but the visit was still worthwhile.

The coffee plantation was a short drive away and we again had some nice views of the volcanoes.  After a walk among the coffee trees and some commentary, we were able to purchase items in the gift shop, including coffee! 

There was a small museum of Guatemalan musical instruments which we viewed before boarding the bus for the drive back to the ship and a farewell to Central America.  While this was not a bucket list item for us, it was not totally without interest and we are not sorry to have seen it.  This is one of the plus sides of a cruise: stopping at lesser ports for short stays and a bit of insight into these countries.

The first segment of our World Cruise will end in Los Angeles, after five sea days, broken up by a stop in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  After LA, the real cruise begins with seven days at sea, then the South Pacific!

Jamaica Me Crazy

When Viking couldn’t get permission to dock in Havana
they scrambled around and wound up changing our itinerary to give us two nights and three days in Cienfuegos, Cuba, and a night in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, which meant we would no longer stop in Belize and Honduras, costing us two more countries on our list of places we have visited.

Adding Jamaica may have been the company’s best option, but we were not amused.  Carol and I were in Jamaica some 40 years ago in a beach house that my family rented.  We have not returned since which probably sums up our feelings for this island nation.  We have nothing against it, but there was nothing drawing us to return.

Since the ship was docking in Jamaica, we decided to take the included tour to Dunn’s River Falls, Coyaba Gardens and the inevitable shopping.

The falls are not spectacular, especially when compared to Niagara or Victoria Falls, but they are pleasant to view, and you can get up close to them.  If you wanted to, you could even climb the falls though the slippery rocks might make it difficult. 

We sent about an hour looking at the falls and watching the climbers and waders cool off in the water.  There was a small craft village through which the exit route was cleverly placed so that we had to be confronted by the various vendors before we found the have of the bus.

Our next stop was a small botanical garden where we wandered among the endemic plants and trees of Jamaica before going through a small non-petting zoo where some of our fellow cruisers were photographed with an iguana and a red macaw.Fortunately, our time was running short, so the shopping was kept to a fifteen-minute stop at a schlocky shopping center with a few souvenir ships.  Some people purchased the famed Blue Mountain coffee but I was not certain of the provenance and decided to give it a miss though the prices were less than expected. 

We reboarded the Viking Sun in time for a light lunch and a quick workout before we sailed towards Costa Rica, our next port on the World Cruise.

Cuba Libre

Our cruise was originally scheduled to dock in Havana, but something happened along the way and we were anchored at Cienfuegos instead.  This was known far in advance so at least Viking pacified the passengers by staying over two nights in Cuba and making all shore excursions included.  They also gave each passenger $500 in onboard credits so, while we would have preferred to be in Havana, we did get some perks to soften the blow.

Cienfuegos is several hours by bus from Havana, so we were happy to book the “Havana Sojourn” which included a night in a “5 star” hotel, meals, sightseeing and a visit to the famous Tropicana nightclub.

We are not bus tour people by any means but there was no way around this one if we wanted to see Havana.  Cuba was one of the selling points of this long cruise, so we packed a small hanging bag and my backpack and got into the bus.  The prospectus indicated that the trip would be 4.5 hours but, mercifully, it was only a bit more than three.  The bus is not a real luxury coach, so we were weary in body and mind after the ride and the constant barrage of information that our guide, Miryles, threw at us.  I realize that they have to inform us about history, geography, politics and daily life, all in a short period of time but the number of dates and people that we heard about was staggering.

The check in process at the Hotel Melia Habana was surprisingly smooth as was the money changing at the front desk.  Since CUC’s (convertible pesos) are only good in Cuba, I decided not to exchange too much as most things were already covered.  We did spend 5.25 CUCs for a Cristal beer and glass of Argentine chardonnay before our ride in a vintage American car to dinner.

Havana is full of American cars from the ‘40’s and 50’s and their owners use them as a source of income by ferrying tourists around the city.  Carol and I got to ride in a 1952 Chevy along with young “Nancy” a Chinese crew member who was along on the excursion.  Although the restaurant where we were to dine was close by, the caravan drove around for about 20 minutes to give us a chance to appreciate the feel of riding in a convertible through the streets of the Cuban capital.

The restaurant was spacious enough for all the Viking cruisers and we enjoyed a family style meal of assorted appetizers, chicken, rice and black beans, washed down with Cuban beer to the accompaniment of a band that strolled around the restaurant.

After the meal, we were driven to the Tropicana, a nightclub that has been in business since 1939 and which was once run by Meyer Lansky and his mob cronies.  They give a huge show, with dancers in elaborate costumes, a live orchestra, singers and even some amazing acrobats. 

We were at a table with others from our Viking cruise.  When we begin chatting, it is always obvious to us that nearly all of them are much closer to the 1% than we are, yet the conversations make it seem as though we are in their financial league!  We travel often, stay at some nice hotels and eat at the same or better restaurants than they do.  I guess it’s a matter of what they have left over after spending on travel.

Included with your ticket to the Tropicana show, every gets a Coke and there are bottles of Havana Club Rum placed strategically around the table together with ice buckets and tongs.  I seemed to be the divisor between the “wets” and the “drys” as nobody to my left had any rum and the bottles to my right were all empty.  I did indulge a bit but wasn’t going to make myself ill.  Our tablemates grabbed the bottles that were left, which our guide had told us was OK, but neither Carol nor I are fond of rum plus there is unlimited drinking on the ship so why stockpile it?

Our hotel, the Melia, was not luxurious but the rooms were large and comfortable enough.  Our group was scheduled to depart at 8:00 so breakfast began at 7.  The elevators ran very slowly, and some didn’t move at all, but we finally got down to the basement, where the breakfast restaurant was located.  There were lines to get seated and the staff were very slow cleaning tables so we had very little time to eat.  When we left, the lines were so long that I can’t imagine those people got to their buses on time.  We had to go up to the room to retrieve our luggage with five minutes to spare.  The phone was ringing but I didn’t answer as I knew it was our guide trying to find us.  The elevators were so slow that we walked down eight flights of stairs and were able to board the bus at 8:02!

Our first stop was at the studio of a famous female artist.  Much of her work was large sculptures made from auto parts and the like, which reminded us of the work of our friend Zoila Perry, who fashioned bumpers, steering wheels and hubcaps into quirky statues.

From there we embarked on our walking tour of Old Havana.  An MSC liner was docked at the pier, which made us wish that our ship had been able to do that as well.  We stopped at Revolucion Square where we learned a bit of Cuban history and saw the statue of Jose Marti, the poet who wrote “Guantanamera” and was one of those who headed up the war for independence from Spain.  There were buildings with likenesses of Che Guevera and Camilo Cienfuegos, a revolutionary in whom Castro trusted, though the famous quote “vas bien Fidel”(you’re doing fine!) seems to indicate that he didn’t exactly tell the unvarnished truth to his leader.

We then visited a cigar store where I bought a couple of Romeo and Juliets for my brother and me to smoke on our next family gathering.  The prices were not so high, and the provenance was better than if I shopped in Europe or Asia.  I once smoked the odd cigar but am not intending to get back into the habit so the purchase of two was just right. From there we went to a restaurant for a lunch that began with mojitos then progressed to assorted appetizers like plantain chips and small fried tidbits, followed by a plate of pork, beef and chicken in lightly spiced sauces with black beans and rice.  The setting was a small room in what was once an elegant private home and we had an enjoyable time trying various Cuban-style dishes before we hit the road for the infamous Bay of Pigs.

While we were all old enough to have lived through this crisis, most were hazy on the details.  I did know that this was probably the low point in JFK’s administration, as the US sponsored an attempt by Cuban expats to overthrow Castro.  When it failed, the so-called missile crisis regained a bit of American mojo, but it was still not a great moment for our country.

We drove a couple of hours to the scene of the coup attempt and visited the museum that commemorates it, from the Cuban point of view.  The museum exhibits are all captioned in Spanish, but we got the gist of what they were saying.

After our visit to the museum and a quick walk down to the nice hotel by the beach, we rode the bus over some tricky back roads to the pier where we boarded the tenders to return to our ship.

As the ship was anchored in Cienfuegos, the only option for our final day was to take a tour around that fair city.  We opted for the walking tour which took us to the main square of the city.  It has an attractive theatre and some buildings that are in pretty good repair.

We then visited a cigar factory and watched the (mostly) female employees sorting leaves, cutting and rolling the various cigars and putting them into curing racks.  I wouldn’t enjoy groups of tourists watching me do my work, but I don’t believe the Cubans have a lot of choice.

When we had a bit of free time in the town center, Carol found a small wooden maraca player for only $3 USD so that we had something for our shelf to commemorate our visit to Cuba.  I’m not really planning to return but I’m happy that we had the chance to visit this land of mystery that lies just 90 miles south of Florida.

Sailing

Our flight from Harrisburg left in 20 degree weather.  Our driver is a math teacher at our local high school and he got us to the airport in plenty of time and helped us bring our many bags in to check in.  They actually emptied and scanned our Miralax and vitamins, but let them all in.

The flight to Charlotte got us there in plenty of time and our connecting flight got us in to Miami at 11;30 so we arrived at the hotel before the rooms were ready.  Of course, three minutes after we started walking away, they called us to tell us that a room was ready!

After we checked in and organized ourselves, we embarked on a walk through the famed Art Deco District of South Beach.  There are a lot of lovely buildings that are mostly small hotels and cheap restaurants with Happy Hours and 2 for 1 meals that don't look particularly appealing.

The walk finally landed us at Joe's Stone Crab, a vintage restaurant that specializes in stone crab claws, a pricey, but delicious appetizer.  We had long thought that, if we found ourselves in South Beach, we would dine at this classic place.  We began with an order of the large claws, followed by fried oysters and crabcakes.  With wine, the dinner was pretty expensive but tasty and worth the visit.

We then got to the American Airlines Arena for Jewish Heritage Night and a game between the Miami Heat and Portland Trailblazers.  There were a lot of Chanukah celebrations and a back and forth game that eventually ended up with the Blazers pulling out a win.  We couldn't find an Uber but there were taxis near the arena so we got back in pretty good time. 

With the big World Cruise upcoming, I felt it would be proper to spend the day in Miami Beach retracing the "Grah Route"  where my grandmother lived between 1969 and 1977.  We eventually found her building, which was being renovated and got a few pictures before heading off to Lincoln Road Mall where we got a gelato and rambled among the various shops before finding the beach and strolling back to the hotel.

After a brief rest, we put on our bathing suits and walked down to the beach.  After dipping our toes into the rather chilly Atlantic, we observed sea birds known as skimmers and enjoyed the ambiance of the beach before returning to the hotel.

Dinner was at an oyster bar that I found on Eater.  We loved a dozen fresh oysters each then followed up with popcorn conch, grilled octopus, golden beets and red cabbage.  It was quite good though a bit pricey, especially as it had zero ambiance. 

After a night of sleep and a quick breakfast, we took a taxi to the Cruise Terminal and embarked on the Viking Sun World Cruise. Five of our six bags got the the room, a lovely Explorer Suite with wraparound balcony.  We had a quick lunch, unpacked and got the lay of the land.  It was pretty easy as the Sun has the same setup as the Star, on which we sailed last year. 

Although my bag hadn't been retrieved before we sailed, all was well as they had it in the Cruise Director's office, the tag having fallen off during loading.  So we were able to go to the Chanukah candle lighting and dinner before retiring for the night as the ship made its way towards Cuba.

With so much time before us, we managed to visit the gym for a quick treadmill session, then cleaned up for a light lunch at Mamsen's, the Scandinavian spot at the Explorers' Lounge, before trying our hand at Trivia.  While we don't expect to win by working alone, we prefer it to the team approach.  We got 11/18 while 14 won the day so we are ready to try again on the next Sea Day.

There is a female trio or flute, violin and cello that play light classical music in the Atrium so we opted to listen to them before attending the Chanukah candle ceremony and the Captain's reception where we are introduced to the ship's officers.

While there are many dining venues, we always enjoy the Chef's Table where they serve rotating tasting menus with wine pairings.  tonight's was a Mexican dinner which bore no resemblance to Taco Bell.  The menu was innovative and relatively light and a good ending to our first full day on board.

We then returned to the cabin to prepare for landing in Cienfuegos where we will disembark for our Havana Sojourn, a one and a half day trip to the capital with food, drink and entertainment.  this is the first of our ports and one of the key moments in the trip!

 

 

Countdown

Only about 16 days until we go to Miami for the sailing of the Viking Sun World Cruise.  This week we can finalize our shore excursions as they close for two weeks before boarding.  Of course, once on board we are able to tweak the itineraries so I suppose that is the best course.

I stopped weighing in on Cruise Critic Roll Call as the people seem to be, shall I say, not PLU!  They are into minutiae and personal details that are not at all helpful to me.  I imagine we may meet a few people onboard that are, if not compatible, at least not the sort from whom we will run screaming to our cabin.  Hey, at least there is 24 hour Room Service!

I have already booked two hotel rooms and may do another one or two depending upon price and where the ship winds up docking.

We are now in the real final stages as we will sleep at home from now until our early morning flight to Miami.  I have a schedule and a task list so we will see what happens.  I guess we will miss some holidays and perhaps other events, but we ain't flying home for any funerals!

For now, it's time to focus, whatever that entails.

 

Advance Planning

With six months between the final payment and the sailing of our World Cruise, we have a lot of time to peruse the itinerary and then look at the potential shore excursions.  

Viking generously includes a shore excursion at each port, as well as offering several optional excursions at various prices.  Depending upon your stateroom category, you are permitted to book these excursions about 5 months before sailing.  On a cruise as long and expensive as this World Cruise, Viking offered a number of incentives, especially for early bookers.

One of the perks for us was a substantial onboard credit to be used towards optional shore excursions.  At first it appeared that we would have to wait until embarkation to use the credit but, after a number of inquiries from passengers, they permitted us to use them from home, which is certainly a help.

The Viking website allows you to log in and see your entire calendar for a trip, including times in and out of port, excursions and spa treatments booked and a "wishlist" where you can store tings that you may want to purchase.  Unfortunately, the site is slow and many things will not load.  My guess is that there are so many visitors that it can't keep up with demand.  

I went over every day's shore excursions and put the ones that we favored on to the wishlist so that I would be ready when they opened up for booking.  Unfortunately, the work was mostly in vain as the wishlist would not open up.  I contacted Viking and got the usual,"we are so concerned and will do everything we can to rectify the problem," but I had to go back day by day and search the excursions.  Fortunately, the optional (paid) excursions did show up as having been added to the wishlist even though it was inaccessible.  After booking the most desirable trips, I found that we still had quite a bit of credit remaining so now we will spend that once we get closer to the date.  As we have booked a suite, we were first in priority for shore excursions, which may be helpful as some may sell out.

I did make one big mistake: signing in on the website "Cruise Critic," a site where you can access forums and boards about cruises in general, as well as read people's critiques of particular cruise lines, ships or voyages.  You can also sign up for a "roll call" which deals with the voyage on which you are actually booked.  I thought it might be useful but all it did was put me in touch with people who are interested in forming friendships and getting acquainted prior to the cruise.  Most seem to be caught up in minutiae such as whether or not a shore excursion is sold out months before the cruise, whether Viking provides currency exchange(they don't, as it clearly says in the specs) and what they are going to pack.  After some exchanges, I became certain that these may not be the people with whom I would interact past quick comments on the weather.  I should have listened to Carol on this one!

While we have traveled a lot, nearly all of our trips have been independent so a cruise takes some adjustment.  The best thing about a cruise is that you don't have to keep packing and unpacking and you get to visit lesser know places for short periods of time, the logistics of which would be impossible on land.  The negatives are the group excursions, often involving buses and the possibility of interacting with people with whom you don't get along.

Cruise ships dock at a variety of ports, some right in the center of town and some a couple of hours away.  Many frequent cruisers have a "neighborhood" mentality, as in they are in Asia so will visit Angkor Wat or the Great Wall, despite being hours away by plane.  On a previous cruise, we skipped Paris and Berlin as we visit those cities often and don't wish to travel 2 or 3 hours each way to spend 5 hours in the city.  We did go to Rome as there was nothing to do in the port.  On this World Cruise we are sticking to the excursions that are close at hand, with the possible exception of Bangkok.  We have visited Bangkok many times but, since there is nothing to do where our ship docks, we will likely take the two hour ride into the city and go about on our own.

With over 20 weeks until we depart, I think we have done as much detailed planning as is necessary.  Some ports may change, some new excursions may open up or we may just change our minds.  We have the excursions that we most wanted so for now I will lay this aside and pick up again closer to the sailing date.

 

 

 

What Are We Thinking?

Carol and I have always enjoyed traveling.  In our younger days, we took many road trips, some to play tournament bridge, some to visit baseball stadiums and some just to see the country.

In those days, we cut corners by staying in cheap motels and driving 14 or more hours to save an overnight.  I once booked us into the Conoco Motel, not realizing that a motel attached to a gas station might not be so wonderful.

Our first trip to Europe was in 1984.  I planned the entire thing, in the pre-Internet days, flying on a charter and enlisting a friend who was a travel agent to help me look for hotels.  We got a Eurailpass and traveled from London to Paris, Lyon, Strasburg, Brussels and Amsterdam.  Some hotels had no elevators and no air conditioning but we saw sights all day and went to plays and concerts at night.

Over the years, we became a bit more savvy and were able to stay at slightly nicer hotels.  We still took driving trips, visiting all 50 states, still driving long distances to save on overnights.

Using a "Circle Pacific Fare" we had our first Asian trip, landing in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Bali, with a stopover in Hawaii built in so we could cross that state off of our to do list.

We had friends and acquaintances who took cruises, but we felt that cruises were for old people, families with young kids and people who couldn't or wouldn't take the time to plan their own trips.  Also Carol is not a fan of boats so the thought of a watery grave deterred us.

In 2006 we finally gave in and took a luxury river cruise on the Irrawaddy in Myanmar.  We actually enjoyed it very much.  Of course it was a small ship, with a French chef and spacious accommodations and you could see both shores at all times.  It certainly didn't make us sign up for a trans-Atlantic voyage.

As fans of PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre" we began to see commercials for Viking River Cruises.  I loved trying to imitate the broad British accent of the pitchman, no doubt designed to make Americans think taking a Viking cruise would make them lords and ladies!

Finally, though we are dedicated independent travelers, we booked a Viking River Cruise to Bordeaux.  It looked like we could visit some places that are difficult to reach on one's own and also drink some nice wine.  My brother and his wife wound up booking the same cruise and we had a generally good time, although river conditions forced the ship to stay docked in Bordeaux for several days, transforming the excursions into bus tours.

As compensation for missing out on some cruising days, Viking offered everyone a voucher for a future cruise.  We enjoyed Bordeaux enough that we decided to try to find a suitable cruise on which to use it.  Our theory of cruising is that we prefer to go somewhere that would be difficult to access on our own and which is not filled with wonderful restaurants and cultural activities.  The plus side of cruising is that you don't have to pack and unpack more than once and you don't have tricky logistics such as infrequent flights or trains.  A cruise enables you to visit someplace just for one day and then move on.

The negatives of cruising are: inflexibility, you can't decide to stay another day; other people, who can alter your experience; superficiality, as you don't spend much time in any one place so can only get an overview.

At the time we were considering how best to use our vouchers, Viking expanded into ocean cruising.  Although neither of us was wildly enthusiastic at first, we began to consider a 50(!) day cruise from Istanbul to Stockholm.  Although it seemed a bit ambitious for our first ocean cruise, we liked the fact that it went to ports and countries that we had not yet visited and that it would be difficult to reach.  While we had been to Istanbul some years before, we had never visited other parts of Turkey and we thought it might be interesting to stop in Croatia, Montenegro and the Greek island of Santorini.   The itinerary was actually four separate cruises, so only about 100 of the 900 passengers were with us for the entire 50 days.

The middle two legs were Venice to Barcelona and Barcelona to Bergen, Norway.  This was a Mediterranean cruise that included Monaco, Naples and Bordeaux.  During this time we were able to go to Pompeii, which wouldn't have been so easy on our own, without committing a lot of time to reach Naples and other points in Italy.

It was very interesting to meet some of the other passengers.  We are not extremely social, as we are used to traveling with just the two of us, but we don't mind the odd conversation over drinks or when seated next to others at dinner.  Most of the people tended to be "cruisers" who travel mainly on cruise ships, though many of them have gone independent or at least tacked on other destinations before or after the cruise.  I'd have to say that we didn't meet many who have traveled the way we have, but they were mostly knowledgeable and had done at least some research into our cruise destinations.

Carol and I, together with a Swedish friend, did take an Alaska cruise on Princess and, although the scenery was spectacular, the cruise was everything we had dreaded: cramped quarters, thousands of other passengers, many dressed in matching t-shirts, swarms of people at the buffets touching things with their bare hands and everything a la carte, from drinks to excursions.  There was even a charge to sit in the "quiet area" away from children.

This Viking cruise was much different.  We booked a suite which was quite spacious, but visiting smaller cabins we found them not too confining.  All staterooms have a balcony.  There is an included excursion at each port. Dining in specialty restaurants is included as is beer and wine at meals.

The final leg of the cruise was Scandinavia and Baltic Sea, so we got to Helsinki, Tallinn and St. Petersburg in addition to Bergen, Copenhagen and Stockholm.  While it was only an overview, it made us feel that we might wish to return and explore in more depth.

We did interact with a lot of crew members, who helped me learn a few words in Serbo-Croatian and Bahasa Indonesian.  We also struck up a friendship with Grego, the pianist.  Most evenings we would listen to him play a set or two and he often challenged us with musical games.  I also spent a good bit of time at the Explorer Desk, where the Guest Services staff was very helpful.

While we were onboard, there were several pitches about Viking's first ever World Cruise, a 141 marathon with stops on 5 continents and passage through both the Panama and Suez Canals.  The thought of being shut up in a ship for such a long time was not really so attractive so we didn't really consider it, despite many of the crew telling us we should sign up.

The idea of spending over four months on a ship was not something we ever thought we'd be doing, especially with over a third of the time spent cruising.  We did listen to the private sales talk and were told that signing up early would bring several attractive perks.  Still, it would be quite expensive and that is a LONG time to be cooped up.

Over the next couple of months, we got emails and brochures and actually began discussing the possibility of signing up.  It would truly be a once in a lifetime trip and would include Australia and New Zealand, which we have previously avoided, Cuba and also Jordan, with a visit to Petra, which we have long wished to do.

After several months of going back and forth, we finally put down a deposit, which we could get back if we cancelled within a few weeks.  Once we did that, we looked over the perks: a generous shipboard credit towards optional excursions, spa and shop credits, beverage package including nearly all alcohol, not just at meals, gratuities included, saving about $30/day, laundry and even round trip business class airfare!  The cost was quite high, but booking through a travel agent saved another 10% so we finally decided to go all in!  I also pointed out to Carol that we get 3X points on our Chase credit card so can get a lot of free travel in the future.

Each month I put more money down on our credit card, once using new cards to meet minimum spend and earn 100,000 bonus airline miles until finally the trip was paid off.  We did purchase insurance which gives us the option to cancel and receive our money back in the form of Viking vouchers but we are definitely in the mood to go!

Soon it will be time to book shore excursions, spending our credits when we prefer optional excursions to the included ones, and to give ourselves a couple of days pre and post cruise.  I hope it won't be like reading Proust, where having done it is more enjoyable than actually doing it.