#Viking Cruises

[captainmartinisblog]

So Many People, So Much Traffic!

Monday 24th June 2024 – New York.

So here we are, finally chilling in the Greenwich Business-class Lounge at John F Kennedy Airport and it’s been ‘a bit of a day’!

Viking Star began her progress up the Hudson River around 5am with the approach to the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, opened in 1964.

It was the longest suspension bridge in the world until the Humber Bridge in 1981 and its towers are 693 ft high.

We passed the Statue of Liberty around 6.20am. Gifted to the United States by France in 1886 it was the first thing that immigrants saw as they arrived, looking for a new life in the ‘New World’ (roll Dvorak and the ‘Hovis theme’!) but I can’t help thinking that it’s just as well it is on its own island because it would otherwise today have been dwarfed by the skyscrapers of modern New York, as is the Empire State Building in this next picture!

Disembarkation began not too long after 8am and we were smoothly through the most polite and swift Immigration check we’ve ever encountered! (The Department of Homeland Security must have been reading my Blog!)

Once aboard our transport, there was some initial confusion about our transfer arrangements because we had been told on board that we would be dropped ‘Downtown’ to do our own thing while our luggage remained on the bus and we would be picked up again at 2pm to go to the airport. However, the dispatch supervisor seemed to think our pick-up was 12.30 (hardly enough time to do anything) saying that the airport transfer could be 2 hours because of traffic. After some ‘negotiating’, we agreed with the driver 1.30pm!

It was a lovely day and our original plan was to try for ferry tickets to Liberty Island because Sally had never been there. But when we got there, we were accosted by so many ‘false’ ticket touts and Battery Park was surrounded by construction works, it was looking dire. Indeed, by the time we fought our way to the genuine ferry ticket office, we were told we would have to queue for well over an hour to get on a ferry! There were so many people - until we got on the ferry; then there were loads of seats because everyone else was outside doing ‘selfies’ as we passed the Statue of Liberty!

In the end, we found our way to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal and took a free ride to Staten Island and back instead! And we got to see the Statue of Liberty again.

But it wouldn’t be a visit to New York without a Hot-Dog bought from one of its ubiquitous street stalls! Today, mine was Chilli & Cheese (at least Detective Columbo would approve!)

As predicted, there was horrendous traffic for our transfer to the airport and although it ‘only’ took 1hr 20min, it’s just as well we left when we did because now we are at last relaxed again for our overnight flight home.

[emperornorton47]

[chaemericsights]

[kreuzfahrttester]

Viking bestellt zwei weitere Kreuzfahrtschiffe und erweitert Optionen für die Zukunft

Viking Cruises hat einen weiteren bedeutenden Schritt in Richtung Flottenerweiterung gemacht. Fincantieri, eine der weltweit führenden Werften, gab bekannt, dass es Verträge für den Bau von zwei neuen Kreuzfahrtschiffen mit Viking unterzeichnet hat. Diese neuen Schiffe basieren auf den bewährten Designs der bisherigen Viking-Flotte, die ebenfalls von Fincantieri gefertigt wurde. Die Auslieferung…

[ourxcountryadventure]

August 10, 2023: Barcelona, Spain 🇪🇸

[rarund]

Sony A7C with Sony 24-105 f/4 - Moon setting over the Dead Sea. October 2022.

[expphot0]

Don't Use Viking Air

Don't Use Viking Air

Don’t let Viking Cruises book your Airfare! With all calls to Viking and AA, totaled more than 10 hours due to Viking playing middle man. Viking Caused a Duplicate Booking

[jpegoftheweek]

Jpeg Of The Week #1,207 - "Viking Polaris", Royal Viking Cruise Lines, on its maiden Voyage to and from Cleveland, pulling into Cleveland Harbor at sunrise.  378 guests, Crew: 256, Length: 665 feet, Beam: 77 feet, Class: Polar Class 6, Year built: 2022 -- Flag, Norway 🇳🇴

[diablo1776]

[captainmartinisblog]

First People Step Aside!

Saturday 22nd June 2024 – Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The city of Halifax was founded in 1749 when Lt General Cornwallis arrived with over 1,100 settlers and enough troops to set-up a garrison. This action was in response to the French establishment of Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island (where we were yesterday).

Arriving in Halifax today at 8am, Viking Star ‘parked’ opposite the Georges Island Lighthouse, which happens to be an identical twin to the Louisbourg Lighthouse that we never got to see yesterday on our excursion (a) because there wasn’t enough time and (b) because it was shrouded in scaffolding!

Today though, we had booked the ‘free’ Hop-on-Hop-off sightseeing bus.

However, far being the usual ‘Big Red Bus’ type of tour, ours turned out to be on board a fleet of original 1960s London Routemaster buses, all different colours, running at 15-minute intervals all day, exclusively for Viking passengers! We had all been to Halifax before but it was a lovely, almost nostalgic tour with an on-board guide giving the narration.

They make much of the ‘First Peoples’ thing nowadays and about how the land is shared with the local Mi’kmaq peoples, blah, blah, blah – but well they might because that original settlement by Cornwallis back in 1749 was itself in breach of an earlier agreement with the Mi’kmaq actually living here and yet today the population of the city is more than 500,000. I wonder what the Mi’kmaq think about that.

Anyway, after doing a full 90-minute circuit, we headed for a coffee shop and then Sally went shopping while Andrew, Angie & I went to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

It was an excellent museum, with some fine ship models, including this one of the first Mauretania in her 1930s cruising white.

There was also a featured section on the massive explosion in 1917 that destroyed a vast section of the city when the SS Imo, a Belgian relief ship, collided with the SS Mont-Blanc, a French munitions ship loaded with 4,000 tons of high explosives.

The resulting explosion was the biggest man-made explosion at the time, killing over 2,000 people, injuring over 9,000 and laying waste to a huge area of the city.

It was also by ships from Halifax that, in 1912, the largest number of bodies were recovered and following the sinking of the Titanic. There’s a section in the cemetery here where they are buried.

There were many recovered artefacts on display, including this deck-chair.

A pleasant walk can be had along the Boardwalk from downtown all the way to the Cruise Terminal and there is a wealth of bars, restaurants, shops and ‘playgrounds’ for kids and adults alike.

This private yacht ‘Samsara’ also arrived today and on looking it up, I discovered that the owner is none other than Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling! Available for charter, Samsara sleeps 12 and will cost you $1.1m a week including the crew of 28!

[eristourandtravel]

VIKING CRUISE LINE!

Offering FREE AIRFARE and $25 DEPOSIT (Per Person)

CONTACT NOW FOR FREE CONSULTATION!

[cruiseplan]

Attention curious travelers: Viking is celebrating its 25th anniversary in epic fashion, with deals on destination-focused journeys across all 7 continents. Whether you set off to explore Antarctica or sail along the historic rivers of Europe, every Viking cruise is an experience, and every destination is an adventure. Don’t miss your opportunity to travel in comfort this year!http://www.cruiseplantravel.com/deals/Viking25#NationalShopforTravelDay #Antarctica #VikingCruises #Viking #cruisevacation #2023travelgoals #rivercruise #specialoffer

[chaemericsights]

[kreuzfahrttester]

Viking dominiert Europas Flüsse, jetzt kommt die Hochsee...

Viking Expansionspläne – Bis 2030 soll es 10 weitere Hochseeschiffe geben. Dazu sollen Sie größer werden und ein Teil soll in China eingesetzt werden. Laut Torstein Hagen, dem CEO des Unternehmens, plant Viking, bis zum Jahr 2030 zehn weitere Meeresneubauten zu errichten, darunter auch einige für den chinesischen Markt. Ab 2024 werden die Neubauten von Viking, beginnend mit der Viking Vela,…

[thetravelspy]

An often asked question from people who have never taken a river cruise.

[rarund]

Panasonic LUMIX G9 with LUMIX 100-300 f/4-5.6 - Moon in the Clouds over Norway. March 2019.