Day 2–Getting Lost, The Met, Lincoln and Mincemeat

by | May 3, 2026 | Uncategorized

This is my typical walk in NYC. Start one way, figure out it's the wrong way, go another way, no, that's the wrong way, and do it all over again.

Our day started with me walking. And as I write this on the morning of day 4, I can definitely say I have gotten older since the last time we were in NYC. I just can’t get my bearings. We have been here four times, and in the first three, I had no problem finding my way. Now I wander around like a lost child, looking for his mommy. Or my friend Mike and I wandering around Singapore pre-dawn. Yes, I could use a maps app on my phone, but I swear, when it says start route, I NEVER know which way to go. Supposedly, if I look at the little dot on the phone, it shows the direction I am going. But the buildings here seem to mess it up, and I will get half a block away before it tells me I have gone the wrong way. This morning I walked half an Avenue block (the long ones) before I realized I was going uptown instead of downtown, where I wanted to go. I know where I want to go; I just can’t seem to get my head in the right place. Check out this screenshot of my route. It’s nuts. I walk up a half a block, then back, then up the same block another way, then back and then a different block. The truly funny thing is that I get messed up when I go find these places in the morning but when we go out as a large or small group, everyone expects me to be the guide.

At any rate, Friday, after my walk, I went out and brought a small breakfast back to the room. We ate, then met the group for a "luxury motor coach" ride up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On the way, we stopped at the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park for a quick walk and talk led by our excellent guide, Hardy. I need to say here that it would be really nice if Break-Away Tours invested in Whisper devices that let you plug the guide directly into your ear. With 41 of us in a crowded outdoor space, it is sometimes very difficult to hear the guides.

After our stop in Central Park, we continued uptown (I think ?) to the Met. It was PACKED! But we had a private tour arranged that lasted a little more than an hour. Our guide told us that seeing all the exhibits would take about three weeks' worth of 24-hour days, so he gave us a highlights tour of what he thought we might like to see. We saw Tiffany glass, African art, European portraiture, British sculpture, and Greek statuary. I have to say, our guide was very good. He shared things I had not heard before (I never took an art appreciation course) about the paintings. I truly enjoyed it. When he was done, he released us into the wilds of the museum to catch lunch (which we did) and then to wander for about an hour. At this point, Kathleen had walked more than she had in a long while, so I got her an Lyft (thanks for the freebie, Chase) and sent her back to the hotel for a nap while the rest of us moved on to tour Lincoln Center. I told Kathleen later that she made the right choice, as the Lincoln Center tour was the lowlight (so far) of our trip.

Our guide was new and didn’t know much. It was kind of sad. People would ask him questions, and he would say, “I will have to look that up for a future tour,” or “That wasn’t in our training.” Since we had split into three small groups, our group had just picked the short straw. We saw the other groups doing a lot more interesting things, and the reviews from those groups were great, but we just got the wrong guide.

After our tour at LC, we returned to the hotel for a brief rest before heading out to dinner on our own. Kathleen and I had made reservations for six or eight (depending on the night) at nearby restaurants. That night, we were dining with six other Trilogy friends at the famous Sardi’s in the heart of the theater district. This is where cast members (and a lot of famous people) come to have dinner or drinks post-show. Their walls are lined with signed (by the subject) framed caricature portraits. Some are easily recognizable, while others we had to go up to and read the signatures, and depending on how bad their handwriting was, we still don’t know who they are.

The food (like the previous night’s at Tony’s DiNapoli) was fine. I had lasagna because it hadn’t been part of the feast the night before. The menu leaned a little toward Italian cuisine, but there were other options. But you don’t go to Sardi’s for the food. You go for the history. It’s been there for 100 years. And it’s one of those places you need to go once. We did the same thing when we went to The Ivy in London two years ago, before a play in the West End. Good food, but you are there for the history.

After dinner, we walked about half a block to the theater to see Operation Mincemeat. It was quite the show. Five actors, 54 characters, about a thousand costume changes, some great songs (sung way too fast ?), some very poignant songs that brought a tear to my eye, and some hilarious laughs. Not my favorite show I have ever seen, but pretty darn good. And it’s based on a true story. Check out the description in my pre-trip post.

After the show, we were DONE! It was back to the hotel (thankfully only three blocks away) and bed. I was so tired I didn’t even bother to walk the next morning…which was OK since we walked a ton more the next day. More about that in my next post.

Photos are below. If my gallery module works, they will look good and work well. You can click them to enlarge. Hope it does. Sadly I can't figure out how to drop them between my paragraphs so today they are all at the end.

The fact that I even get in Broadway shows is, to me, still amazing, but then to win a Tony was just incredible.  —Jane Krakouski

Less than a week to go

by | Apr 26, 2026 | Uncategorized

Our home-away-from-home in NYC, the Westin Times Square

We are almost off to NYC. Our home base will be the Westin Times Square, which is less than three blocks from all four theaters we will be attending, as well as most restaurants and many tour destinations. So I just thought I would give you a quick update on everything we are doing. Tours, shows, restaurants and all the other stuff you do when you are taking a “Broadway Tour.” (It also gives me a chance to send out one more post to make sure everything is working here on the website before we go.) As I mentioned in my last post, we will be seeing three musicals and one straight play. For those of you who don’t know what a “straight play” is, that means it’s a drama or comedy that’s not a musical. Here are the shows we are seeing:

The Plays

I had seen an article in the New York Times about all the plays currently on Broadway, but I somehow lost it. Thankfully, Kathleen (the master of the internet) found it for me again. Since the NY Times is behind a paywall, I grabbed their blurbs about our four plays, and here they are. Keep in mind that the links to the reviews are behind the same paywall, so you won’t be able to read them without an NYT subscription. But you can click the play’s title to see its page.

Maybe Happy Ending

This is the show that tiptoed onto Broadway and quietly took the 2025 Tony for best musical. Robot neighbors in Seoul, nearing obsolescence, tumble into odd-couple friendship in this wistfully romantic charmer of a musical comedy by Will Aronson and Hue Park, starring Darren Criss (through May 17), a Tony winner for his performance, and Hannah Kevitt. With Tony-winning direction by Michael Arden (“Parade”). (At the Belasco Theater.) Read the review.

Operation Mincemeat

A sneaky compassion lies at the heart of this caper of a show, a deliciously eccentric London import that won the 2024 Olivier Award for best new musical. Now with an American ensemble, it’s a riff on a bizarre true story from World War II, when British Intelligence, keen to misdirect the Germans, dressed up a dead man as a Royal Marine major, planted a fake invasion plan on him and dropped him in the sea for the enemy to find. Beware the emotional ambush hiding inside its poignant standout number “Dear Bill,” sung by a proper, middle-aged secretary who has been through war before. (At the Golden Theater.) Read the review.

Oh, Mary!

Channeling the deliriously outrageous, emphatically queer downtown spirit of Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatrical Company, this arch comedy by Cole Escola (“Difficult People”) was a fizzy Off Broadway hit. The title character is a sozzled, stage-struck Mary Todd Lincoln— a very loose cannon largely ignored by her husband, the president (John-Andrew Morrison), who is occupied with assorted sexual exploits and the bothersome Civil War. Maya Rudolph (from SNL, Loot and more) plays the teacher he hires for Mary. Maya Rudolph makes her Broadway debut in the title role from April 28 through June 20. Sam Pinkleton, a Tony winner for this production, directs. (At the Lyceum Theater.) Read the review.

& Juliet

With a song list full of pop hits, this frolicsome musical comedy imagines — with an assist from Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife — what happens when Juliet goes on living sans her Romeo. (At the Stephen Sondheim Theater.) Read the review.

The Food

I can’t believe I almost forgot to mention the food. We have three group dinners and one breakfast included. Break-Away is taking us to Tony’s di Napoli, Marseille, and Bond 45NY. Since our three other dinners are on our own and right before our plays, and some are on Friday and Saturday night, we wanted to make sure we had reservations for those nights. We are eating at the world-famous Sardi’s, a tapas place called Boqueria, and a Greek place on another night called Kellari. We have rounded up some friends and friends of friends to join us at dinners. You will, of course, have complete reports on all of them.

Lots of places to go and lots of things to see!

Tours

Besides the plays, we have numerous tours scheduled for us by Break-Away Tours, the travel company that is taking us to NYC. These include tours of Carnegie Hall, the Top of the Rock, Radio City Music Hall, a private tour at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a tour of Lincoln Center and a theater workshop with someone (director, writer, actor) from one of the plays we are seeing. All that, along with a harbor cruise, the 911 Museum, the Museum of Broadway, Whew, I am tired already, and we haven’t even left yet.

I think that about covers it. Expect posts starting on Friday morning from the Westin Times Square, our home for those six nights. We can’t wait.

There’s no place that communicates as much – and as quickly – as Times Square does. — Jan Vogler

Expectations Exceeded!

by | Oct 12, 2025 | Uncategorized

We have never sailed on American Cruise Lines (ACL) before. When speaking with people who have experienced it or reading reviews online, the results are typically mixed. Some love it, others not so much. One member of our Trilogy Travel Club really dislikes them, while another has taken three cruises with them and loved two of them and is going again. So, expectations were not high, but I came into this with an open mind.

As I write this, we are moored in Kalama, Washington, where 99% of the passengers will disembark to see Mt. St. Helens. Kathleen and I have decided to skip the three- to four-hour ride on the “luxury motor coach” and stay on board. We have been to the Mount St. Helens visitor center several times, and the weather is VERY rainy and cloudy (typical Pacific Northwest weather), so photos would look pretty dull. This led us to stay on the ship.

By the way, since I have been on board for almost a full day, I have decided this is a ship. It’s much too big to be a boat. We are on board the American Harmony. That’s her photo above that I stole from their website because I don’t feel like getting off and getting too soaked to take one myself. Hope that’s OK. I promise to get one myself later on the cruise, maybe when the weather improves in Eastern Washington.

Now, back to the trip. When you sail with ACL, you get an extra night at the hotel included before your cruise. At the hotel, everyone was informed of the departure time on Saturday morning and that their luggage should be ready to go by 7:00 am. Strangely enough, we were told to leave our luggage in the room, and they would come to pick it up—not outside in the hallway like on other cruises we’ve been on. There were then two options for departure. Some of the people taking the cruise would do a free pre-boarding excursion to Multnomah Falls. Since the six of us had visited the falls earlier in the week, we left the hotel at 11:00 am. We’re very glad we did because the ship carried more than 135 people; when we visited earlier, there was hardly anyone there. My photos from that day clearly show how great we had it. I think that other than the six of us, there were fewer than 20 people there.

Since most people were taking the falls tour, when it was time for the rest of us to head to the ship, there were only six of us and one other couple left. So, we got a really nice Mercedes Sprinter van for our 45-minute drive to where the ship was moored in Stevenson, Washington. We had originally been told we would board much further downriver, in the northern part of Vancouver, Washington, but the river levels at the edges were low, which meant we had to go further upriver, where dams controlled the water levels.

Once we arrived at the dock, it was a quick (but wet) walk to the gangplank, and we were on board. Since they had picked up our luggage at 7:00 am, it was already in our room (which was nice), so we could unpack and head to lunch. Here’s a quick look at our stateroom. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. Feel free to look at them on your phone. These aren’t meant to be art, just informational photos.

One of the benefits of being on Deck 4 is that both the River Lounge at the front of the ship and the Sky Lounge at the back of the ship are on our floor. The River Lounge is where performances, lectures, and other fun activities take place. Last night, our entertainment was a very funny guy named Kevin Neil. His performance was called “Cowboys and Curmudgeons” and, as I said, was hilarious in a dad-joke kind of way.

Here’s a merged panoramic photo of the River Lounge. Unlike the ship photo at the top of the page, you can click on the panoramas, and they will enlarge to fill your screen, allowing you to see the details if you want.

The Sky Lounge is a really nice space that combines a mini buffet, living room, game room, and snack bar all in one. It offers chairs, couches, and snacks available around the clock, along with complimentary drinks, including both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options. I am currently sitting on a very comfortable couch, enjoying a large glass of lemonade while writing this post. Here’s another panoramic shot of the Sky Lounge. On the far right in the back, you can see a bar that serves drinks throughout the day and evening, and it also serves as an alternative breakfast spot if you prefer to skip the dining room for that meal. We dined there this morning, and I had some really good lox and bagels with all the toppings, plus an excellent blueberry scone. By the way, the coffee on this ship is excellent, which is saying a lot because I am very picky about my coffee ?.

Behind the Sky Lounge is an open deck area with a few places to hang out when it’s not raining, as well as an alternative food option if you are not feeling like what’s being served in the dining room for breakfast or lunch that day. It does burgers, hot dogs, wraps for lunch and oatmeal or a breakfast sandwich in the morning. There is also a large deck for outdoor seating when the weather is better. Much of it is covered, but so far it has been empty due to the cold. Here’s a shot of the Sun Deck and the Back Porch Cafe.

That’s about it for Deck 4. Deck five above us only has staterooms and a little-used sun deck. But it is a great place to go and take photos when it’s not raining. For instance, I took this merged panoramic from up there as we headed west. It’s the “Bridge of the Gods.” We had seen it near Hood River last Wednesday when we drove out this way.

Deck three consists solely of staterooms and the pilot house/bridge, although decks 2, 3, and 4 feature a special alcove that we will discuss in a minute. On deck two aft is the gym. It’s a somewhat unusual gym/exercise area because, while one side features a variety of workout equipment, the other is equipped with tables and chairs that can be used for playing cards or enjoying drinks. Not sure I want to do that while I smell the sweaty folks working out, but you do your thing, I’ll do mine ?. Here’s a pano of that interesting room.

Deck two also has the laundry. Essentially, this consists of three stacked washers below three dryers in a small room, roughly the size of our closet at home. It is nice to be able to do some laundry, especially when we have already been on the road for six days and are trying to limit our luggage so it fits in the fan. It has been really busy until this afternoon. Strangely enough, the washer/dryer units are exactly the same ones Viking Ocean ships have. And since there is one laundry room on every deck on Viking Ocean ships with 950 guests and just one room on this ship with fewer than 200 guests, it’s really not that bad.

Another thing I really appreciate about this ship is the elevator that stops at every floor. Not for me, since I usually take the stairs on a cruise, but for Kathleen, who has knee and hip issues. I also like that around the elevator on decks 2, 3, and 4, there is a small, cozy room with couches, chairs, and tables. These are great spots to play games (with many options available), assemble a jigsaw puzzle (many are provided), or simply read a book (they have a small library). Here are pictures of each one.

I think that about does it for today. I just wanted to give you an idea of what the ship looks like. YIKES! I just realized I don’t have a shot of the dining room. A room that truly exceeded our expectations. It’s big, there is a very large amount of space between tables, and our waiter (and others) only have two tables to deal with each, so the service is amazing. More about that and the food tomorrow. Here’s a photo I took with my iPhone from just before lunch yesterday.

To sum up and conclude the headline…so far, American Cruise Line is far exceeding what I thought I would get. Except for a few small glitches (to be detailed later), I am totally impressed.

Exceeding expectations is where satisfaction ends and loyalty begins.  —Ron Kaufman

Portland Day 1-It’s All About the Food (tour)

by | Oct 8, 2025 | Uncategorized

Our first full day back together with the rest of the October bunch was all about food. We had booked a walking food tour with Secret Food Tours. Kathleen and I had toured with them quite a few years ago, and we are happy to report that they still do a superb food tour. That’s the whole crowd at Deschutes Brewery (but more about that later) above.

We started the day with a free breakfast at our hotel (Embassy Suites by Hilton-PDX), and it was fine. It gave us enough to get us to the tour. We were to meet up with Ken Lin from Secret Food Tours at 11:00 am beneath the Umbrella Man sculpture in Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland. And, not to be too political here, I can tell you that Portland is NOT AT WAR. It is NOT DANGEROUS. We saw no crime, just a beautiful day and a lot of really nice people out enjoying the sunshine in the heart of Portland.

I took some shots around the Square before we met up with Ken. Just some interesting architecture, people, and the aforementioned Umbrella Man statue. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. And PLEASE…don’t look at my photography on a phone. Please…

Once Ken (at right) arrived, it was off on the food tour. Our first stop was a food pod. We had never been to a food pod before, but it turned out to be a really nice, fenced area with numerous food carts lining the edges, seating, and a stage in the middle. BTW: we were told that these were carts and not food trucks because they have no engines, thus they could not go anywhere. They are there permanently. If you can’t find something to eat or drink there, you aren’t trying. We got to try the Cubano sandwiches from Stella’s Sandwiches, which were drop-dead delicious. Never had one with pulled pork before (always just sliced pork) and it was amazing.

After our food pod experience, we took the longest walk of the day from downtown into the Pearl District to visit Deschutes Brewery and sample their wonderful pretzel with cheese sauce and mustard. All I can say is that it was wonderful. Not quite up to our favorite at Valley House Brewing near us in Duvall, WA but still really good.

Next up was Nong’s Khao Man Gai. It’s an interesting place that is renowned for just this one dish. As you can tell from the name, it is an Asian restaurant. When you order the Khao Man Gai, you get chicken, rice, soup, cucumbers and one of the most amazing sauces. Truly delicious.

From there it was on to Grassa, which is predominantly a pasta restaurant. We got to sample their Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. Absolute decadence might be a good way to describe it. Just amazing.

The last spot and the last course were, of course, dessert. We went just down the street to Petunia’s Pies and Pastries, the home of some truly delicious marionberry pie. If you have no clue what a marionberry is, think of a blackberry without all the annoying seeds. The pie, despite being gluten-free and vegan ?, was amazing.

During the entire tour, I took some street photos, mostly of neon signs, which I love, as well as others of interesting buildings. They are a good way to wind this up photographically.

That about did it for Kathleen and me. She was exhausted from all the walking, so we dropped off Steve, Jamie, Mike, and Cathy at the Portland Rose Garden, and I took Kathleen back to the hotel to rest before going back to pick up the other four about an hour later. The traffic sucked, and that’s kind of what we get for staying in an airport hotel. We had reservations for dinner at Andina, a Peruvian restaurant Kathleen and I had visited before. However, everyone was still so full from the food tour, that I called and rescheduled them for Thursday.

Tomorrow is a trip up the Gorge to visit Multnomah Falls, Hood River and see Mount Hood. Should be fun. I will let you know on Thursday.

Portland is quickly becoming one of those lovely, lush Third World countries where kinda-rich people retire with their money. Here, they can live like kings, generating only service-industry jobs and jacking up housing prices.  —Chuck Palahniuk

 

 

Once again…Let Me Sum Up

by | Nov 5, 2024 | Uncategorized

Whew! We are home, but to be honest, I am still having a hard time remembering what day it is. Hopefully, I will get over that soon. Jet lag is pretty much over, but real life is intruding into my travel life. It’s so much fun (sarcasm here) getting home to more than 200 emails I had been just throwing into a folder in Mail to be read when we were home. Now, I have to read them and respond to them. I want to go on vacation again.

Our trip home was pretty decent. The airports got the wheelchair stuff for Kathleen correct this time. British Airways surprised us with two decent Indian meals on two flights. We stayed overnight at a Terminal 5 hotel (Sofitel) and found that we liked the Terminal 3 hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) we had stayed in last June a lot better. Our flight was on time, our luggage showed up quickly, we looked at the camera in passport control, and we were out of there in less than 15 minutes from when we got off the plane. Our Welcome Pickups guy grabbed us, and with the light traffic after 7:00, we were home in no time. Kathleen was off to bed. I got the mail, watched the Dodgers win the World Series and then hit the hay. A good end to a great trip.

Madrid

Going back to the very beginning, we liked Madrid a lot. We stayed at the Hotel Preciados in downtown. As you may recall, we toured for three full days: one in Toledo (our best day), one in Segovia (another great day), and one in Madrid itself, which could have been better. Read all about those in previous posts. The summary of Madrid was that we had a great time, and we’ve now been there and done that. It’s now crossed off our list, and we won’t be going back. A nice city, but it was no Edinburgh or Amsterdam for us—but we are glad we visited once.

Lisbon with Viking

The next stop was Lisbon before our Douro River cruise. As soon as we got there, we met Marianne, who was amazing. She was not only the person directing our pre-cruise stay in Lisbon but also the Program Director on our entire river cruise. She proved to be one of the best parts of the whole 10 days we spent with Viking. Her laugh, her sense of humor and the fact that she was always UP and always FUN made her someone we will remember for quite a while. More about Marianne later.

Sadly, as you have read, when we were touring Lisbon with Viking, Fatima, the worst guide I have ever experienced, ruined the entire experience for me. Not only would she not shut up, but she insulted me, too.

Our Douro River Cruise

OK, this is what you have been waiting for—how was the cruise? In a quick word, it was awesome. We love river cruising. We really didn’t discover how much we liked it with our Christmas Market cruise on the Danube last winter because it was so darned cold. So, if you have done a Christmas Market cruise, go back and do a warm weather cruise like the Douro and see what you missed.

One of my absolute favorite things about this cruise was seeing the cruise. By that, I mean that on our Danube cruise, most of the movement on the river was accomplished either at night when we were asleep or during the day when we were on an excursion. My absolute favorite part of our Douro River cruise was sailing on the river. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I could do this cruise again and never get off the ship. Seriously, my favorite days were the ones where we spent the majority of the time sailing on the river and watching Portugal go by.

Shore Excursions

Don’t get me wrong, the shore excursions were just fine. If I had to rate them, I would put Salamanca, Spain as #1 because it was like going back to what Europe used to be in the early 2,000s before over-tourism started. I also enjoyed the short visit to Castelo Rodrigo. I mean, the castle was nice, but the best part was that it was brief. We sailed most of the day and then did about a three-hour excursion to a somewhat interesting place. Probably my third favorite was the second half of our first day when we visited the Mateus Palace. What snoozer. But the second half of the day was to visit the Sandeman winery, where they make their wonderful port wine, and be shown around by a guide who really knew what she was talking about and made the tour fun. That was it. The rest of the days, the excursion was either blah (Favios), or we didn’t go (Lamego).

The ship/boat

I really have yet to spend any time discussing the ship itself. Unlike the Viking Longship, we sailed on the Danube, the Douro River boats (you can put a boat on a ship, but you can’t put a ship on a boat, and I think you could put a Douro River boat on a big ocean-going vessel) are smaller due to the smaller locks they must get through. So, instead of carrying up to 190 passengers like the Danube boats do, the Douro River boats carry a maximum of 106, and ours only had 99. That makes so much difference. It’s much more intimate. You get to know most of the crew because there are only 36 of them. And they all do all sorts of jobs. One of our favorite people onboard was Mitra. His official title (on his name tag) said, “Bar Chef.” He was the best bartender on board, and he really kept things going in the lounge. But he was also the sommelier in the dining room and helped out waiting on tables or restocking the buffet as well. Our favorite server in the dining room, Ovi, not only served us dinner but also was the crew member who walked us to our stateroom on embarkation to show us how everything worked. She often worked in the lounge serving drinks. The lady got around.

Embarkation/Disembarkation

Speaking of embarkation…those of you who have suffered through a three-hour embarkation as we did in May 2023 to get on Koningsdam in Vancouver or anything like it will LOVE embarkation on a river cruise. Especially this one. Since we had spent two days with Viking in Lisbon before we boarded the boat, they had everyone on one of four “luxury motor coaches,” and they staggered their morning departures, which meant that each of the “luxury motor coaches” made it to the ship about 15 to 20 minutes apart. So when we arrived, we went up the gangway, and they asked us our names. We were escorted (us by Ovi) to our stateroom, and our luggage arrived minutes later.

Disembarkation was just as efficient. We were given a list of when every stateroom would be getting off (we had been asked in advance how we would be leaving the ship) and told to put our big luggage out in the hallway outside our rooms 15 minutes before we would get off. Then, at our appointed time, we got up and got off. Simple as that. It really pays to be on a smaller boat.

Our stateroom

Our stateroom was a suite. There, I said it. We splurged and booked a suite. It wasn’t that much more, but it got us some things we really wanted. The first was an actual extra room. We had both a living room and a bedroom. Not to mention a walk-in closet and a smallish bath (smaller than on our Danube cruise). So when I would wake up really early, I could sit in the living room and work on photos or on a new post without waking up Kathleen or needing to get completely dressed and go to the lounge.

The other reason we LOVED this suite was…free laundry. Yes, folks, we could send out as much laundry as we wanted, and it was included. On our Danube cruise, we had sent out a few things because we had already been in Lisbon for a few days, and then we did Prague and Nuremberg as a pre-cruise extension, so when we got on, we needed to have some things washed. But the prices were OFF THE CHARTS! As I recall, I got one pair of jeans, two pairs of socks, and two shirts, and it cost me $20. On Viking Torgil, we got to the ship with lots of dirty laundry from four days in Madrid, two nights in Lisbon and a single suitcase each. We immediately sent out all our dirty laundry (they gave us two really nice-sized bags to send it out in) and had it back early the next day. From that point on, I pretty much sent out laundry every day. Whatever I wore the day before, send it out! And it got to the point where it would come back on the same day.

If you would like to see photos of the suite, you may have to wait. I suddenly realized when we got home that I had never really taken any pictures of the suite. I had a couple (the bedroom and bathroom) but missed the living room. But never fear; you will be able to see a whole bunch soon because Mike and Cathy had the same type of suite we did, and Mike always does an awesome job of taking ship/boat/stateroom photos. His review of the cruise with all those photos should be out soon (HEY MIKE—is the review done yet? ?). When it is done, I will post about it, and you can find it right here at www.thepreismans.com. In the meantime, here are a few photos I took of our room.

The Food

Everyone wants to know about the food on a cruise. We have found that Viking does a “fine” job of food on its ocean and river cruises. By that, we mean we like the food. It’s not gourmet, and it doesn’t hold a candle to Oceania. But our most memorable meals on this trip came when we were off the boat (lunch in Toledo and lunch in Cascais come to mind).

On board Viking Torgil, we had a wonderful British chef named Michael Bee Venet. I say he is wonderful less for his culinary skills than for his wonderful personality. Every night, he would preview the meal at our pre-dinner destination talk. He was hilarious. He also regularly stopped by everyone’s table. At breakfast, he would often come around with a special baked good and serve it to us himself.

But we thought his food was oversalted. Sometimes, it was just finishing salt. Some soups were fine when you got down below the surface, but those first three spoonfuls were very salty. We also thought the food was better at the beginning of the week than at the end. It wasn’t bad, just not as good. On a scale of one to ten, it was an eight when we started and a six when we finished.

By the way, when you take a Douro river cruise, you eat all your meals in the dining room. It is totally casual. I think we only saw anyone in anything dressy twice. OMG— people wore shorts in the dining room. We wore jeans and tennis shoes. On our Danube cruise, there was a small buffet area at the front of the boat, but not on the smaller Douro boat. It was the dining room or hunger.

All in all, the food was good and plentiful, and we had nothing to complain about…or wait! I want to complain about the bread. It was too good. Seriously, it may be the best bread I have had on any cruise. Delicious—and I ate way too much of it. Oh, and there were fewer veggies than we would have liked as well. Kind of like our ocean cruise on Viking Venus in June; there was a lot of red meat, which we try to avoid at home. Here’s a gallery of some dishes we ate on this trip. I will try to tell you where we ate them, but if you like great food, check them out. All were shot with my phone, so feel free to look at them on yours. Remember, you can click them to enlarge them and scroll through. I’ll start with some photos of where we all ate.

I almost forgot the “Steve Test.” For those of you unfamiliar with the Steve Test. I call this the Steve Test because my brother Steve came up with it. I think it’s brilliant. This is the entire test: If you eat in a restaurant while traveling, and if that restaurant is near you once you get home, would you go there again? If it were in your hometown, would we eat there regularly? For this trip, the places that passed the Steve test were Clandestina in Toledo, the Lebanese restaurant behind the TimeOut Market and a few of the meals on Torgil, but the ultimate A+ on the Steve Test went to the Chicken restaurant in Cascais on the day we toured Sintra. I know my brother believes it’s the best chicken he has ever had.

Entertainment

If you have been reading my stuff for a while, you know we have kind of given up on shows. Besides, they really don’t have shows on river cruises. However, they did have some great entertainers come on board while we were in ports, and Mike will have photos of those, I am sure. He can stay up later than we can. But I did want to mention two of the best entertainers I have ever seen on a ship—river or ocean.

The first is not really an entertainer but a server in the restaurant. He was kind of in charge of singing Happy Birthday to anyone celebrating one. He also was a total clown. He has a great voice, but what really makes him GREAT is his face. He can turn it into the absolute funniest looks you have ever seen. Here are a few shots of our buddy Agus doing his thing.

He was so special that I am going to try to add a video I took of him. If it works, it’s right here. IT WORKED!

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The other amazing performer on the ship was our wonderful, incredible, marvelous, fantastic Program Director, Marianne. We had heard that she was going to sing one night after dinner in the lounge. We were both pretty tired, but I persuaded Kathleen to go, and were we ever glad we did. She was all those adjectives I put up above and more. It might be the best show I have ever seen on any ship or boat. For sure, it was the most fun. And now that I got the Agus video to load, here’s a little bit of Marianne’s show.

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Besides being the best Program/Cruise Director we have ever sailed with (35+ cruises), she is one of the nicest and most caring people you will ever meet. We would take a cruise she was on just to sail with her.

To Sum Up

How much did we enjoy this river cruise? For the first time in more than twenty years (since we took our first Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity’s Infinity in 2004), we don’t have an ocean cruise booked, and we don’t think we will take one in the foreseeable future. We have booked a Chobe River cruise in Africa, a Columbia River Cruise, and a Great Lakes cruise, but that’s it. We can’t think of anywhere that big-ship ocean cruises go that we still really want to see. We aren’t saying we wouldn’t go if friends wanted to go together, but we have been there and done that just about everywhere ocean cruises go. I guess we are now river cruise people.

WAIT! I almost forgot the best part of the entire trip—getting to travel once again with Steve, Jamie, Mike and Cathy—our October gang. We will all do it again next October when we cruise the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.    —Heraclitus