During our combined 46 years of service in the US Army, we were fortunate to visit so many places around the world. After after another eight years serving in education, we fully retired and now our full-time occupation is to follow our dream of seeing as much of this beautiful world as we can.
The purpose of our channel is not only to share our experiences, but also to provide a resource to those who want to travel the world through cruising. Whether you are traveling to the blue seas of Caribbean, the history of the Mediterranean, or exploring new cultures and peoples in Africa, Asia, and South America, cruising is a great method of travel to get you there.
We will not only bring you information about the different cruise ships that may take you to these locations, but also give you an insight into these beautiful and interesting destinations.
Thanks for coming to our channel, please continue to travel along with us! Keep on Traveling!
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Get a larger cabin! Problem solved.
The room was one of the things we liked.
Looks like an amazing experience.
Thanks so much. It was.
Should just change the title to “Don’t go to Great Stirrup Cay”. No match against Royal’s Coco Cay
We haven’t been to RCCL’s island. We did enjoy our time on Great Stirrup Cay, however. Thanks for watching and caring enough to comment.
Welcome to our tiny island state❤. I like your video Sir, its so different from others.
Thank you so much. It means so much to us to hear from Singaporeans that we showcased your country in a manner it deserves.
Welcome to our tiny island state❤
I loved Ushuaia and this brought back such good memories. I'd love to do an Antarctica trip...one of these days! How exciting! Atlas looks really nice and the room is lovely.
You should! Jan is editing the video of the experience we had in Antarctica right now and we are falling in love with this experience all over again. Atlas is the perfect sized ship as you will have 2 landings or zodiac cruises each day. It is hard for ships with over 150 passengers to be able to do so as you can only have 100 people (passenger + crew) on the sites at any given time. Spoiler alert for our upcoming review: It was the best travel experience (land or cruise) we have ever had--even beating out our safari in Tanzania which was pretty awesome.
Great video! We're going on the World Traveler at the end of the year so its great to see what we can expect. And we are in room 602, right next to yours, which is a bit scary since if we get the Drake Shake it is maybe the worst place to be!! So very curious to hear how you found the motion of the ocean in 604. One question - how did you pay the taxi driver?
Thanks so much! We were on the Traveler last year (we have a room and ship tour of that cruise on our channel). The rooms are pretty much identical as the Navigator, however for some reason the Traveler does NOT have the shelves in the closet. We'd recommend bringing some hanging shelves that you can put in the closet or hang from the ceiling with some magnetic hooks. As far as location, yup you will be pretty much by the bridge up forward. With that said, we don't think that on a ship this small that it has as much of an impact--you are going to be feeling the Drake Shake pretty much anywhere on the ship. However, we used patches for the first time on our crossing and didn't have any issues. We'll recommend to use a 1/2 patch as a full patch gave us really bad cotton mouth. (And no, neither of us are doctors, so use that advise accordingly. In Buenos Aires there is a central kiosk in the airport after you come out of security where you can arrange for a taxi. Be advised that they only took cash. We think we paid in US dollars, but cannot completely vouch for the authenticity of that memory. Have a great time! We are booked to be back on the World Navigator to cruise around the southern part of South America--including some more time in the Drake Passage. We're looking forward to it.
@@janandtraceytravels Yes, that is my thought as well that in such a small ship it isn't going to be very different no matter where you are, but I did see a video recently where the person was shown to his cabin at the very back of the ship and the crew member said something like you are so lucky being back here rather than at the front. Either way, all part of the experience and looking forward to it immensely. Thanks for the tip, we will definitely bear that in mind.
Thanks again for this nice informative video kiddo's !!! We sailed on Princess's Pacific Princess (another R class ship which has now been bought by Azamara I think) -- and the Pacific P. had an exquisite library !!! With many days at sea, we spent a lot of mornings having coffee and enjoying the space, layout and gorgeous painted skylight that expanded the entire space ! Can you comment on the library on the Regatta ? Many thanks !!! Marcia
Ha! It's been a while since someone called us "kiddos"! :-) We really like the library on the Regatta. While the Oceania Marina's library has that cozy feeling with small little sub-rooms, the Regatta's has an open feeling with windows and is really comfortable. It doesn't have the painted skylight that you referenced. If you want to see what it looks like, we have a ship tour that includes the library: kzread.info/dash/bejne/iWqomtmnXcnAgso.html Thanks for watching and for the kind words.
Lovely video ! Your upbeat positive voice makes me want to burn rubber to book a Viking Cruise !!! May I ask how soundproofing was in your stateroom in as far as foot-tread from the above public area and also from your side neighbors ? We like our peace and serenity while cruising, so this is an important point for us. I look forward to discovering/watching more Viking and other cruise line videos on your channel ! Cheers ! marcia
Thank you for such kinds words. I know that others have noted issues with the sound proofing of the rooms but we didn’t notice any issues. Thanks for watching!
How did you get that deal?
We had a different cruise on the Splendor booked for 2020. So when COVID canceled that, we were looking for another cruise and found this one…discounted due the chaos of the pandemic.
Nice Video. So you have 1 day less for the Cruise? Or the cruise will return to the port 1 day later ? Or they refund a portion of fee by either the insurance / curise line...? Waiting for your next video :)
Thanks for the kind words. We apologize for not being a clear as we should have. What happened was we spent the night in Ushuaia as opposed to making our way out through the Beagle Channel to the Drake Passage and on to Antarctica. This is the reason we were filming the second day in Ushuaia. As a result, we had one less day in Antarctica because we arrived a day late and still needed to return as scheduled. As far as a refund. No. And to be honest we fully understand and accept it. One of the things that we've learned over our 300 days at sea is the weather is always in control and changes to the itinerary are expected. This is certainly true of an Antarctica cruise. During our initial briefing--and we think we used the clip in our video--Jonathan explained the 3 rules of an Antarctica cruise which are 1. Flexibility, 2. Flexibility, and 3. Flexibility. The reality is that although we were bummed by losing a day as we were in Ushuaia, by the end the time we were returning to Ushuaia from the 7th continent, we had such an amazing experience we really didn't even think about it. Jan is sitting at his computer right now editing our footage to bring you this experience hopefully next Sunday. Thanks for watching.
In January we went on a Celebrity cruise to Antarctica, it was amazing
Fantastic! I would imagine that crossing the Drake was a bit more manageable on a Celebrity ship as opposed to the 10,000 ton ship we were on. Although we wouldn't have traded our experience for anything. Thanks for watching.
@@janandtraceytravels it was rough crossing the Drake, but I’ve been In worse. The captain and the guest lecturer both said we had amazing weather for our trip. It was clear, no rain or clouds and the wildlife was plentiful.
Celebrity uses the Equinox for their Antarctica cruises, right? It's got to be a bit more steady than our small expedition ship. To put things in perspective, the Equinox has a tonnage of 122K tons. The Atlas ships have a tonnage of just 10K tons. Our cabin was on deck 6 and in the evening, we had waves splashing over our veranda! Unfortunately, no footage of this. That being said, we managed without any real issues or even sea sickness--thanks to the patches. Your overall sentiment seems to echo our own, however. A cruise to Antarctica is a magical experience. Thanks for watching and caring enough to comment. Next video is on our editing software being edited right now!
@@janandtraceytravels it was the Eclipse!
Ahh...that's the same class as the Equinox, no? We haven't tried Celebrity yet. Although we have our first cruise on the line booked for next September. Thanks again for watching and commenting!
Great video! Were considering a Regent cruise (though on older Voyager) but reconsidering that as I saw your comparison of Splendor and then this one with Marina. We sailed the sister - Riviera - a couple years ago, and just recently on the brand-new Vista, with a transatlantic booked on Vista in 2025. We found the same things you did on Marina, especially the food. Only a couple minor "misses", but everything else outstanding. For now I think we are sticking with Oceania. Again - thanks for posting this! :)
Thanks so very much. We did a transatlantic on the Vista a couple of months ago and loved it (restored our faith in Oceania after a rather shaky cruise on the Regatta). The videos for the Vista are upcoming--we have the very happy situation that we are traveling faster than we can edit and get videos out. We have always loved Regent and it is a great line. But for the money, it has pretty much priced us out of the market and didn't provide enough over Oceania to justify--to us at least--the additional expense. Thanks again and we hope to run into you on an Oceania cruise in the future. We have two booked in the next 12 months!
Thanks for taking the time to post this video. We're excited to be sailing on Marina next month. We sailed on Oceania Riviera twice in 2023 and loved it. I hope they upgraded the Wi-Fi as part of the refurbishment last month. I'll report back. Rumor has it that they added the Aquamar Kitchen restaurant to Marina as of June 2024.
Have a great cruise. We’ve heard the internet has been upgraded as well. The internet in the Vista was good when we did a transatlantic cruise on her a couple months ago (still getting through content to get those videos out, ugh). The Vista had the Aquamar which Tracey enjoyed. However, with the Waves Grill on the other side, Jan couldn’t resist eating there for the burger and malts! Thanks for watching.
could the loudness be less of the ships fault andd more from the home port's boisterous people? or does the ship need carpeting and wall tapestries
Nope. Don’t think we could blame this in the wonderful people of Galveston. We chalk it up to the size and design of the venues.
Are there multiple usb plugs in the room?
Actually, there were no USB plugs. We try hard to point out all of the outlets in our tours--there were no USB outlets to highlight.
Just curious if you checked both sides of the buffet? Lack of selection is something I’ve never noticed, but many don’t realize until late (or never) that the selection is different on each side. The fresh seafood and sushi every night, the gelato bar, the best paella I’ve ever had, and many cook to order options we had on the Sky makes me wonder what the big changes are.
Yes we did. There was one evening in which the special was lobster and they made a rather big production out of it, but for the most part, we found it wanting. Of course, this is an experience where N=1, so maybe we hit Viking not at their best. Although, outside of the food we greatly enjoyed everything else.
You should try the French cruising ships. They are so nice cose and for me as a European the french food is nice.
We’ve looked at Ponant and friends of ours have sailed on one of their ships and enjoyed it. Maybe one day. Thanks for watching.
What is the needlepointing activity? Do we bring our own?
Great question. Every sea day in the morning--check the Currents for times--one of the crew (sometimes its the asst. cruise director or one of the production cast members) will host needlepointing. Usually there are at least 20ish guests there. The ship will provide needlepoint kits that you can choose from. The only caveat is that you have to complete one project before they will allow you to select a new kit. It's held in the Horizons Lounge which is a wonderful venue and is a great way to meet other guests.
@@janandtraceytravels thanks! I used to love to needle point
Super cruise msc
I have cruised with NCL a number of times and have noticed that our american friends often pronounce the name of the irish pub as O'Shee-Hans. If you pronounce it the english/irish way, it is O'Shee-ans, which allows you to get the joke in the name. O'Sheehans = Oceans. I have just booked an aft suite (deck 9) for next year and have enjoyed the information in your video. Thank you.
Wow. If we would have know that from the beginning we would have never mispronounced it. We now wonder how we should be pronouncing The Local 😎. While we didn’t like the forward suite, we did love the aft suite. Have a great trip. Thanks for watching and great information.
@@janandtraceytravels speaking as a Brit, I would call The Local - Pub! ;) :)
Ha!
Oceana Regatta is the identical ship to those of the Azamara fleet. Their pricing structure (like that of Viking) makes no sense. They’re older ship with relatively smaller state rooms yet they charge hefty prices. You get so much less than you do on Azamara, I wouldn’t choose to cruise on them. Atlas & Explora are excellent options with newer smaller ships similarly priced. Viking ships hold Almost 1,000 passengers, only include alcohol during meals, do not include gratuities, and charge an arm & a leg.
We haven't sailed on Azamara (yet), but friends of ours have and loved their cruises on the line. However, we were under the impression (perhaps erroneously) that the fares on Azamara and Oceania were rather comparable. We were very close--reservations were even held--to doing a series of B2Bs on Azamara that went from Miami-Miami circumnavigating the whole of the South American continent. But backed out when we learned that unlike most other lines there was no discount on doing B2Bs and that specialty dining was an additional fee. We've done one Viking ocean cruise (so far), and with the exception of that one cruise's food, thought it actually had a great deal of value--especially when you figure in the included thermal spa--which we thought was the best at sea--and included excursions. Where we do agree with you is Explora and Atlas. Our Antarctica trip on the Atlas World Navigator was amazing. We are still putting together our review on that trip and are having difficulty beyond the Wifi package on coming up with our 3 downs. We will be on the World Navigator again in October going around the southern portion of South America. Atlas might be our favorite cruise line. We also enjoyed the Explora 1--review on that is also in the works--and thought that it has the potential of being a real contender in the luxury segment of cruising. We do worry that when the ship begins to sail at full capacity whether some of the venues are big enough to handle additional guests. We are booked on the Explora 2 this upcoming January. Anyway, thank you so much for not only watching, but being passionate enough to provide your thoughts. We'll have to give another look at Azamara.
I hoped you enjoyed Sydney.
We loved Sydney! Although not on this cruise because we had to fly out that morning. But we spent 2 days there during our world cruise!
Really appreciate the use of the deck plan as you took us around the ship!
Thanks so very much. We are glad it is helpful.
My wife and I tried Regent twice before COVID. Our experience was very much the same as yours. There was a certain blandness to the whole experience. However, this may have been a cultural thing as we found Regent to be less cosmopolitan than the other ultra luxury lines we’ve tried.
We had 5 Regent cruises before COVID (Regent/Raddison was actually our first ever cruise) and we’re blown away with them. We do want to go on Seaborne and Silverseas, though. Thanks for watching!
We completed 3 out of the 4 month world cruise but we got off early because of the issues in the Red Sea. Viking was not only amazing while we were on the cruise, they were very accommodating for those of us who chose to leave early rather than choosing the alternate itinerary. Viking flew us home with a stop along the way to allow us to extend our cruise with independent travel. We have 2 more cruises booked with Viking and look forward to getting back to Viking. I found the food to be great. The main restaurant was fine and the wine stewards made the meal excellent.
When we were on the Viking Sky, we talked about how perfect their ships would be for a WC. Sorry yours got cut short. Glad to hear about the food.
@@janandtraceytravels Viking was excellent. The sea days with the spa and enrichment lectures were great. The many spots on the ship to sit and relax were wonderful. My wife did art classes, I joined the choir and played baggo and we made many new friends. I highly recommend Viking for a world cruise if you can do it. Because everything is included, when the wine steward recommends a particular wine to go with your entree, it is because it is the right wine, not because he/she is trying to sell you a high priced bottle. We had cruised with Crystal before they had issues. We found Viking to be a modern version of the Crystal we enjoyed previously. We have a 28 day Baltic cruise planned in 2025 and a 14 day Asia cruise with Viking in 2026. We are considering an Oceania transatlantic repositioning cruise in the fall of 2026.
Like we said, we would love to do a WC on Viking. We did the 2023 WC on MSC as it was achievable on our current budget. However, in a few years we will be old enough to begin taking fund from our IRAs and the math changes a great deal. Thanks again for the comments and safe traveling! Sounds fun.
We are big fans of Viking Ocean but are considering a repositioning cruise with Oceania in the future. I think it will be a good fit for us as the quality and experience seems familiar to our Viking cruises. We prefer smaller ships and like getting to know the entertainment staff through the daily activities.
We enjoyed our Viking Sky cruise and look forward to sailing with them again. We did like the small size of this ship however. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for the reviews. We're looking for the best ship to do an Asian cruise in 2025
We loved sailing through Asia. Enjoy and thanks for watching. A review of our Oceania Regatta from Singapore to Sydney comes out tomorrow!
@@janandtraceytravels wonderful I can't wait to see it!!!
Did not experience the issues with the internet on our cruises on the Marina and Riviera.
We didn't have these issues on our recent Oceania Vista cruise, either. I believe that Oceania upgraded the Marina with Starlink after we sailed on her which might be the difference in experiences. Thanks for watching.
Traveled on Regent Explorer May 2024…..everything was excellent! Loved Chartruese!
Glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for watching
You seem to make a complaint about most everything about the Prima... what a negative review!
We appreciate you watching and the thoughtful comment. Good news, though. This was simply a first impression of our first day in the ship. Our review should be coming out in 2 weeks. Also, while we were disappointed with the atrium and the main dining room, we liked the food court and love the Ocean Boulevard. In the review, you’ll hear our impressions on the specialty restaurants which-save for one of exception we really enjoyed. Stay tuned.
I have a question. It looks like y’all have been on several different cruise lines. Which cruise line is your favorite?
We have been blessed to have been on 10 cruise lines--we have 3 more booked in the next 18 months that will be new to us. We think that cruises are like clothes. What you wear may not fit us and what we wear may not be your style. When we were younger and had kids in the house, we loved NCL. In fact, it is the cruise line that we have sailed on most (and have 2 more cruises booked, sans-kids ). Carnival and MSC receive lots of angst from cruisers. But for families or those on a budget, they are lines that are good fits. Although we love the Yacht Club and think it's probably the best value at sea (spoiler, we just got back from the MSC Seascape in the YC and will be bringing those videos soon). We've sailed once on Royal Caribbean in an Owners 1-bedroom suite and thought it was a fantastic deal. However, as we are now in our 50s, we are gravitating towards smaller ships. Our one cruise on Viking Ocean was fantastic (less the food) and look forward to finding an itinerary where we can sail on them again. They have perhaps the nicest (free) thermal spas and the ships are gorgeous. That they include excursions in every port is definitely a plus. We sailed Explora Journey's Explora 1 and have the Explora 2 booked and were blown away. Our only concern is that when this new line begins to fill up to 100% capacity, we worry that some of the venues might become too crowded. Regent was the first cruise we ever did on our honeymoon years ago have taken a total of 5 cruises with them. They are probably the best cruise line, but have pretty much priced us out of the market. So, to (finally) answer your question. It probably comes down to Oceania and Atlas. We've done three cruises on Oceania and 2 of the 3 have been amazing. Our Oceania Regatta cruise had plenty of ups, but something just wasn't quite right on that cruise. That cruise review comes out next week (fingers crossed). We did Atlas twice including our Antarctica cruise which was the best trip of any type we've ever taken. It's a small expeditionary ship with only 150-190 passengers. We just loved the vibe of cruising with a small intimate group of active, well-traveled passengers. Sorry to wear you down with a long answer. But it's a question that we find to be very involved. Thanks for watching!
Awesome!
Thanks!
Great video, as a retired sailor (USN) I found it very helpful. The wife and I are booked on "The Trade Routes of the Middle Ages" departing Bergen 9 Sept 24. We've done two Viking River cruises and are really looking forward to our first Viking Ocean. cruise
Well, from two retired Army Soldiers, let us first thank you for the kind words and also wish you Fair Winds and Following Seas!
I enjoyed the Sky Feb 2022. Looking at doing 77 days on 5 b2b later this year.
Wow! Are your B2B's on the Sky or what other ship is it? In September 2026 we are nearly doing 5 S2Ss. We'll have a night between the 3rd and 4th cruise and 4 days between the 4th and the 5th. Cruises 1-3 will literally be getting off at one terminal and having Uber pick us up and taking us to another terminal. 77 days sounds fun. We assume you've done something like this before? If not, we'll tell you from our experience of being on the same ship for 118 days straight--it truly is the first 30 days that are the hardest. Enjoy and thanks for watching!
@@janandtraceytravels same ship. I have done b2b before on same ship and on different ships. When it was different ships I got off in Barcelona HAL and got onto Costa, Costa was right behind us so I was able to walk in about 5 mins and that was easy. I don't book far out, I'm solo and watch for the $0 or low single supplements. Plus I don't want to book that far out too many opportunities or appts could come up.
@@kirareed1865 Well, have fun! We suffer--should we even be allowed to use that word?--from filling up our calendar. We made a mistake though, our 5 cruises are in September-October 2025, not 2026. However, we have 1/2 of 2026 already scheduled.
Perhaps a bold suggestion to visitors from the Lone Star state… but the 1-star Burnt Ends is a pretty good BBQ joint… 😜
Hear ya. Going Ncl Prima may 22 2025 Reykjavik departure despite review But yes this ship plan not best Worry about northern Ports as outside seating 40-50f
You'll love Reykjavik. Iceland is wonderful! There are things that are to like about the ship. Make sure you go to the Palomar restaurant on-board!
Norwegian sky was originally commissioned for European Costa cruises there of the European plugs in the cabin ;)
True. However, unless I'm (Jan) mistaken, the Sky has always operated under NCL and had previously been refurbished at least once. Additionally, as we noted, we've sailed on MSC which, like Costa, is an European cruise line largely focused until recently on the European market and our European cruises on the line had more 110 outlets. It's not a deal breaker or even a hard negative--just an observation. Thanks for watching!
@@janandtraceytravels so what did you think of MSC beyond the yacht club is it too crowded and pushy on the nickel & dimei
We actually just got home from a cruise on the MSC Seashore which was at 118% capacity. Still putting together our thoughts for our review, but our initial thoughts were that while parts of the ship can get very crowded at certain times, overall we found it no worse than the other mass market cruises we’ve been on and more tame than a few
@@janandtraceytravels GREAT i will wait for that then ;) keep up the good work !
We leave in two days on the Sky. We will give you an update when we return. After watching this, wish us luck. Lol.
Have a great cruise. We’re interested in hearing how it goes. We have generally noticed that in 2024 that things tend to be gradually returning to how we remember cruising. Take care and thanks for watching.
What a beautiful room and love all the outlets, important and lacking in a lot of cruise ship cabins. Even the regular room has a nice bathroom. I like the french veranda, at least you can see the ports and get some fresh air. Great share, enjoyed seeing the room!
We really need enjoyed the room. Thanks for watching!
The food can be really good on their ships. From my understanding it all depends on the head chef and how much of the staff changes over between itineraries. With the included excursions, it's hit or miss how good they are. I have been on some that were phenomenal, and one where I thought it was a waste of time.
I find this interesting, since if you go to the NCL website the Spirit is the lowest ranked. But I guess anything for clicks right?
Nope. We state that we were looking at the cruiser rating average from Cruise Critic. At the time we filmed this, the NCL Prima had an average of 2.8-the lowest of any NCL ship. The Spirit btw has an average rating of 3.8.
Hope you're having a great time
Very informative, you must have done some research. Was it your first visit to Singapore? Keen to see your cruise. I'm am cruising from Australia to Singapore next month. Very excited. I hope you see a bit of Australia. Was the MRT easy to navigate?
Thanks. We were there for a day last year on our world cruise. The MRT is just like any other metro. Pretty easy to navigate. We paid with our iPhones. You just have to use a different card for each of you (if we remember right).
Singaporean here, welcome to singapore. Hope you had a good time!
We did! Thank you.
What a wonderful video
What a wonderful comment! 😎. Seriously, thanks.
The food and the crew make the cruise.
Why do the authority keep renovating the bigger merlion?
We know we said renovating. It could also be a routine schedule of cleaning.
thank you for the wonderful videos We will be cruising from Istanbul to Athens in July on Viking Jupitar, we have only one morning and afternoon in Istanbul, can you tell me if it is easy to walk in and out the ship into the district of Higas Sophia and Blue Mosque. I heard the security in entering the Port is very tight, I just wonder if it is very troublesome. Thank you again.
The port is about 7km from the area where both the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque is-but it is in the other side of the strait. So, I think your bet is to either take a taxi or even the metro. There is a metro station about 300 meters (ish) from the port Tracey took the metro in to the spice market and said it was easy. The security when we were there wasn’t any more severe than most any ports. Have your ship card (don’t remember if we needed our passport also-take it along in case. ) Once you get to the Haggai Sophia and Blue Mosque lines can be long. However there are always your guides in the area drumming up business and the can get you in (including the Cisterns which are also nearby) without much wait. Be aware of the times of prayer as you will not be allowed into either mosque while they are going on. You can stay inside-as we did-if you are already inside, just cannot enter. Have a great time and thanks for watching.
@@janandtraceytravels Thank you very much for your information.
my jaw fell to the floor when I saw that u went to noodle story and didn't get any noodles 😢
Ha! But the wanton soup was SO good!!! (We actually did, but didn’t show it). Thanks for watching.