Voyage of the Vikings is a popular once a year sailing offered by Holland America. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years. Now that I’m retired and we’ve settled in our new home it’s time.
Because of it’s popularity we booked this cruise 18 months out for the best pricing and cabin selection. It also gave me time to prepare but more about that later.
Itinerary
What is unique about Voyage of the Vikings? It’s a 35 night round trip cruise sailing from Boston.
The itinerary includes visiting seven different countries not including the US. These are Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, Netherlands, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.
What all these places have in common is Viking settlements and/or invasions in the past hence the name of the trip. We started making plans for the ports a year in advance and adjustments were being made up to the last week thanks to changes in ports, times and going from docking to tendering.
As we leave there are two ports that I would like to book shore excursions but am on a waiting list for one (Cobh) and delaying until onboard for the other (Halifax) since I can get a private tour if it doesn’t work out.
Booking Perks
Our booking included what Holland America calls “have it all”. Sometimes the packages change but ours includes:
- Three specialty restaurant meals (two in Pinnacle Grill and one in Cannalett0)
- $300 in shore excursion credit
- Crew gratuities
- Signature Beverage Package
- Surf Wifi Package
We have a large amount of onboard credit as well.
- $225 each for booking this sailing onboard
- $250 shareholder credit
- $100 military credit
- $375 each from travel agency
Some of the onboard credit is going towards purchase of the unlimited laundry package.
Additionally our travel agency offers this as a hosted cruise so we have liaisons on board in addition to hosted cocktail parties, gift and a complimentary shore excursion in Rotterdam.
Ship
This year this voyage sails on the MS Zuiderdam which is a Vista-class ship built in 2002.
Her double occupancy is 1916 passengers and I don’t think we’ll exceed that by much as not many people will additional persons in their cabins on this length of cruise.
Although over 20 years old, the ship has been updated without losing the elegance we love about Holland America vessels. Earlier this year there was a new library opened. She is scheduled to have Starlink internet system installed and I hope it happens before we sail or while onboard.
Preparation
As you can imagine being away for five weeks involves a lot of planning involving a plethora of details.
Pet Care
I was worried about Annabelle getting lonely while we’re gone for so long so wanted different arrangements than the usual once a day visit for food and litter box cleaning. Fortunately, one of my friends has contacts that would love to stay for weeks and so we have two shifts of sitters.
The first one will stay two weeks and we’ll hand off to her. Then the second shift is coming for the last three weeks. I created a four page document with household details including lock codes, wifi password, remotes, etc.
Shore Excursions
With 19 days in port, there was a lot to plan and then buy. None of these countries are inexpensive and I bought more than usual through the cruise line due to the limited availability and timeframes.
The upside to this is that we get credit for Mariner days for every $300 spent which will help getting me to four star status and the free laundry perk.
Travel
The easiest to arrange was travel arrangements. We’re flying to Boston a day early and staying in a downtown hotel, Renaissance Boston Waterfront, with a harbor view room.
I used American Airlines miles for one ticket to Boston and then Chase ultimate reward points for the hotel. We had some Delta airline credit I used towards our return flight. The biggest expense may be for checked luggage since we’re taking three larger bags and one carryon.
Due to the Sumner bridge closure Holland America warned us about, we decided to book a limo to the hotel upon arrival.
We can use Uber to go to the cruise terminal on Saturday and then booked cruise line transfers back to the airport when we disembark.
We are very much looking forward to what I hope will be come the first in many long voyages. It changes cruising from vacation to traveling.
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