ABOARD THE VIKING SKY — Last year, just about the same time of year, we sailed for two weeks in the Baltic Sea aboard the Viking Star. So it was lovely that when we boarded the Viking Sky for this cruise that we saw so many familiar faces. There were our two favorite bartenders, Natasha and Igor. The restaurant manager Jon. The cruise director Aaron. Several of the entertainers. And others, whose names we did not recall …
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – For two days we were busy exploring two great cities in Canada, Montreal and Quebec City. So, it was a nice break to sail into the Saguenay Fjord yesterday and to check out a more rural and quite beautiful part of Quebec. When you get to the region of Saguenay, it seems like you are in a very remote area but actually it is only a 2-1/2 drive from Quebec City. But …
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – After a tumultuous first two days, our next two were more normal. Thank goodness. On Tuesday, we were escorted around historic Quebec City by Caroline Tetu who works with the port promoting cruise tourism. Of the 5 million tourists who visit QC each year, only 200,000 are from cruise ships so this aspect of tourism has great growth potential for the city which will have over 130 cruise calls this season. However, …
ABOARD THE VIKING SKY – We are here. That seems like a simple statement but making it happen took a lot of trouble. So here is a recap of the past few days. Note in black italic some lessons learned during these misadventures. Our travel travails began Friday when we arrived at Traverse City airport in Michigan in the morning for our short flight to Chicago where we were to connect to a flight to Montreal. We …
In two days we will set off on another cruise adventure, and part of this trip visits a region that I haven’t visited by ship before: The Canadian Maritimes. We will be traveling on a 12-day itinerary called the “Eastern Seaboard Explorer” on the new Viking Sky. This will be our third trip this year with Viking. Last year at this time we spent two wonderful weeks venturing around the Baltic Sea on the line’s first ocean …
Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line and MSC Cruises have all canceled sailings while other itineraries have been shortened, extended or revised in the latest Hurricane Irma changes. Irma is a large, ‘potentially catastrophic’ Category 5 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. MSC Divina’s current cruise is being cut short and the ship is heading back to Miami, to arrive Thursday morning, ahead of the port’s expected closure on …
Big news in the luxury sector of cruising. One of the biggest names in luxury travel is starting a cruise line. My friends at Cruise Industry News reported it this way: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, which operates 94 luxury hotels, announced that is entering the cruise industry with a small ship operation catering to the luxury market. The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection will launch in time for the 2019 cruise season with its first ship coming in with …
ABOARD THE VIKING HLIN – Thus far on our river journey, we have focused on both sides of the river. Thus, France to the West and Germany to the East have pretty much received equal attention. But yesterday and today that all changed. It has been all about Germany. In truth, I have never traveled extensively in Germany so it has been quite interesting to get some deeper insight into the culture which is not all brats …
ABOARD THE VIKING HLIN – Last night’s party was certainly a rousing good time and I believe even Chet enjoyed it. It was an optional excursion ($69 each) and 30 passengers from our ship and 55 from the sister ship, the Viking Kara, participated in dinner and dancing at the Rüdesheimer Schloss restaurant. This village, which we also visited last year, is one of my favorite stops on the Rhine. You can walk on and off the …
ABOARD THE VIKING HLIN– The past couple of days have flown by. What with some 19 hours of traveling, getting accustomed to the ship and taking the first set of tours there hasn’t been much time to digest it all. But today we slowed the pace. This is our first trip on Viking River Cruises and we find the port-a-day pace a tad daunting. So today, while most passengers were touring the castle at Heidelburg, Germany – …
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