Yes, my husband was looking at an Antarctica cruise and the $$ are crazy - have a lot of other touring to do first!
Unfortunately we can’t, not for the reasons we cancelled. We all had cruise insurance too, still not able to use it. Lost about 5K to the cruise company, but it could have been worse.
I was looking at those too, crazy expensive. Holland America had some interesting ones that direction that were pretty decently priced, but they were too long for me. Atlas was another halfway reasonable company.
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@busdriver11 maybe start a new thread? That might get folks who are experienced ocean cruisers to weigh in. The title of this thread, River Cruise, may draw a different crowd.
For all I know there may be an existing ocean cruise thread on this site.
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Nah, I’m not going to start one, I have no idea when the next cruise we’re going on will be, and I don’t want to get interested again. Really a bummer, since I very much want to do a river cruise. There are so many interesting ones, I’ve looked at many in Europe, the Nile, the Amazon, Vietnam and Cambodia. I probably shouldn’t even go on these forums because I don’t see this happening for me in the next couple of years.
There’s probably a couple of ocean cruise threads on here already.
OK, I see your point, but am confused—was your problem with a river cruise or an ocean cruise? I understood ocean, but maybe I mis-read.
It was an ocean cruise, but the same issue could happen to people on a river cruise. The issue is getting visas, in particular for Vietnam. There are amazing river cruises through Vietnam. So if you’re saying that it’s irrelevant to bring up something that happened during an ocean cruise on a river cruise thread, you are missing the point.
I changed the title to encompass ocean and river cruises.
We are thinking of trying an ocean cruise for 2025. Our preference is for the Mediterranean in fall 2025.
Will probably pick Viking again as we like the product. Want an adult cruise and we aren’t gamblers. Viking fits our needs.
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And as it stands, I don’t know if I’ll end up taking my mom on any sort of cruise, river or ocean. Her dementia can be dealt with, but she has zero desire to go anywhere out of her neighborhood. I don’t think I can change that.
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My parents just wrapped up a 33 day Viking Ocean cruise out of LA. Did Hawaii and Polynesian Islands. The are in early 80’s and still active but they said a lot of seniors with walkers on the boat. The cruise was a little too hot for my mother but I could have told her that beforehand!
We just booked a Norway/Iceland cruise for this summer out of Copenhagen. I wish it was longer than 7 days. We are going to spend a few days in Amsterdam beforehand and then do a quick flight to Copenhagen the day before the cruise.
I have been groaning with the costs of the excursions for Iceland - and I really don’t want to pay $300x4 for a 4 hour excursion to see some things. We’ve done Alaska at least 4 times so I’m used to excursion costs, but Iceland is on another level.
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Oh, no, no—I was not implying that posting here was irrelevant at all. I was simply trying to help you get info. Please, no snark was intended, we’re all looking to help each other out!
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Hey, I’m all into snark, though I save my best stuff for the political threads.
Didn’t mean to be crabby, I just feel disappointed. I was looking into so many options for my mom, nothing seemed to work, then my family trip cancelled, no cruise in sight. I’ll just have to live vicariously through the rest of you for awhile.
My brother and his wife are Sea Dream Yacht Club members and can’t say enough about how fantastic this type of cruising is with approximately 100 passengers per ship with 100 crew. The access large yachts have to places cruise ships can’t go (even small cruise ships) is pretty cool. Fun things in the Med like dropping the back of the ship and deploying Sea Doos for you to ride around and all sorts of fun (and expensive) type water toys in really cool places. The food is supposed to be incredible as well. Sorry, just a plug for something I’ve never done but my brother does on a regular basis. We are looking at some of these after we return from our river cruise next year.
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That sounds fantastic!
My only concern is feeling out of my status - could be a little snobbyish (my brother hasn’t said that but then again, he’s a little snobby). Seabourn or Silver Seas may be closer to my style. But we’ll definitely check this out more after our return next year
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Yeah, snobby would bother me too. We’re Seattle casual, most people around here are laid back, no bragging about wealth or status. Definitely would not fit in with snobby, even dressing up too much is uncomfortable for us.
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My dad passed away unexpectedly in August from a massive heart attack. He was 79. He was a fanatic about his health; perfect cholesterol, blood pressure, heart rate, perfect weight, did not drink, smoke or eat crappy food. Widow-maker, silent heart attack. Left artery was 95% blocked. No family history…Needless to say, it has been devastating for my mom…and of course for my brother and me. My parents were big travelers, traveled all over the world. I know she wants to travel again and I think doing a river cruise would be a great way to “baby step” her way back to traveling. She likes programs such as Tauck, but is nervous about traveling by herself. She’s very active and is always up for a new adventure. I ( and my husband) will do some traveling with her once my daughter is off to college, but that won’t be until the fall. We both want to do one of the Christmas market river cruises! In the meantime, I would be grateful for any river cruise recommendations (or other solo travel ideas for her) We are in Cali.
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Tauck is very nice - they were the first I looked at but more expensive than Viking. I think it may be Avalon that waives the single/solo supplement charge regularly - she may want to look into them as well. My mother was an Elder Hostel traveler. She was a student nut, loved, loved, loved learning and enjoyed staying at different universities and learning about history and art. I don’t recall the name but I think another company has now merged or purchased the Elder Hostel group as it goes under another name. Mom was a solo traveler and they link up with other solo traveler and can agree to share a room with another solo or just have their own. My shared (price goes down) and met some wonderful ladies and future traveling companions.
Great tips, thanks so much. I’ll pass this on to her.
Tauck waives the single supplement on certain cruises on their lowest category cabins. Would make it cheaper than Viking where you mostly pay double as a single.
I would see if your mom can find a river cruise travel agent who can help pick out the best cruise for her.
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