ericosmith

In my experience Emerald includes everything that Viking does and last I knew included gratuities where Viking does not.  My experience on Emerald was that the usually had superior docking locations to Viking and were also less likely to be rafted.  

1 hour ago, br111 said:

I wonder what will happen the AQV river ships which certainly seem to be in good shape. The press release says they'll try to sell the business...

 

"In connection with the agreement, Hornblower's overnight cruising business American Queen Voyages ("AQV") will be sold or, if a sale cannot be achieved, its operations will be wound down. Hornblower is taking this action because of the underperformance of AQV, which has not rebounded from the pandemic."

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hornblower-group-to-be-acquired-and-receive-significant-new-equity-investment-302067034.html

I take this to mean that it couldn't be sold since the operations have definitely been wound down.

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Their recent communications were nothing but obfuscation.  'Updating the payment system' when the truth apparently was that they were locked out of it by the credit card networks?  February cruises suspended because they "encountered an occurrence" – when the truth apparently was that they didn't have any money to buy gas?  This looked exactly like the slow spiral around the drain that Vantage went through last year, and here we are.

I think there's a big difference here.  AQV is is not a family company but is owned by Hornblower.  That's a company that's been expanding rapidly throughout the world.  By their own numbers they own over 252 vessels 130 private rail cars and a bunch of other travel related assets including a recent big entry into Australian market. Once they took over the day to day management of AQV they obviously decided it wasn't important to their long term goals.

I'm about 120 days out from when I'm looking to book a one way ticket Flam/Myrdal.  There is a very large cruise ship in town that day and all of the times on Norway's Best are sold out.  Will there still be tickets available on VY.no in another 30 days when they open for booking or do I need to be looking at alternate plans?

It's not a great app but it's worth downloading.  Most of the information is on paper once you board but you can look at the various stops and maps and learn about them ahead of time.  At one time it was useful for tracking the busses but the last cruise I was on it was practically useless for that.  

You can book the cruise and bus yourself from norwaysbest.com.  I'm not sure about the church.  That's about an hours drive each way so time could be an issue to do both.

My experience is not with Silver Spirits but with shore excursions.  I booked some using my credit card.  Then a couple of weeks before the cruise my travel agent released the on board credit somehow.  That resulted in an immediate refund to my credit card for the shore excursion charges.  

I've canceled Viking air a couple of times both before and after booking my own.  I've had a refund posted the next day.

12 hours ago, njhoo said:

a deteriorating onboard experience

Can you expand upon this a bit?

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I don't think the late payment is so much policy as simple math. I fear they don't have the money, and they're paying what's owed as money comes in for new bookings. Plus they have money tied up in two ships that they aren't sailing. They didn't own Navigator and Voyager for very long, not long enough to make back the cost of the ships. And with all the troubles those ships had, I doubt anyone but a scrapper will buy them. 

Well, AQV is owned by the Hornblower Group, a worldwide company that's expanded rapidly.  Hornblower Group is owned by Crestview Partners, a private equity firm.  I don't think the issue is the lack of money as much as it is the willingness to do the right thing.

Lol, ok, I'll go hide in the corner now.  You must have had a much easier time scheduling an interview than I did.  I'm curious how that is done since the interview is with both US and Canadian agents.  Is it at Canadian airports that have US clearance in place?

On 1/25/2024 at 8:41 AM, Z'Loth said:

My belt triggered the metal detector though. 😞

That's where a small investment in a belt with a plastic buckle pays off.

3 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

NEXUS is available to US and Canadian citizens, as well as legal permanent residents of both countries.  Living close to the border is not a prerequisite.

I didn't mean to imply that it was a requirement.  My point (not well stated) was that the closest interview locations for US residents are in border cities.  Nexus wouldn't be very practical for someone living in Florida.

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

Well, all I can say is that for Canadians we have Nexus which is your Global Entry.  With Nexus in most Canadian airports, we don't cut in line, we have our own line that is 5 people vs. the 500 that are in the regular line for security.  

It's not just Canadians that can get Nexus.  If you live someplace close to the border in the US you can get it also.  It's good in both countries with both Global Entry and PreCheck benefits at half the price. 

22 hours ago, Critically Cruising said:

Those CLEAR people paid for that privilege to "cut" the line.  Don't like it....sign up for it yourself.

Nope, don't like the idea of paying for privilege.  At least not for the privilege of cutting in line.

On 1/22/2024 at 12:08 PM, 1982CruzStart said:

I agree wholeheartedly with you on this. We used to travel more but now it ends up being only a couple of times a year and the $50USD every 5 years for Nexus is worth every penny. 

Not just the time saved but not having to take out the laptop or the liquids, keeping the shoes and jackets on and being in a line with people who mostly know what they are doing.  What's annoying though is those Clear people who keep cutting in line in front of you.  When considering the length of the line you have to take into account the fact that there are really two lines going to the same funnel in an airport with Clear.

From what I can discover this port is tender only.   However, my invoice seems to indicate that it is docked.  Any recent experience here?  I know, recent is certainly going to be last year.

11 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

In my experience, PE has no middle seat. That alone makes it worth it.

Particularly if you can't sleep on planes which makes the more expensive lie flat seats useless.  

On 1/1/2024 at 9:08 PM, Heidi13 said:

The size of a ship has no bearing on how a ship handles heavy weather. How a ship handles seas is based on the design, as the ocean liners I worked on were slightly smaller than the Viking ships, but handled rough seas better than any current ship, with the exception of QM2

Is there a limit to this?  With the advent of yacht like ships carrying around 100 passengers can they be as stable as traditional cruise ships?

Also what is the impact of the new bow design that most of the newer ships have migrated to?  I do find it interesting that Viking doesn't seem to be moving in that direction.  

One of my favorite pictures of the south shore taken around dinner time on Labor Day

6 hours ago, travelbuds said:

Regarding cabin location for this river trip, do you know if the scenery is nicer on the south side or north side of the river?

IMHO it's better on the south side.

I kind of like going east bound against the flow of current.  You spend more time on the river that way.

On 12/9/2023 at 9:09 PM, SantaFe1 said:

 

Yes!  It doesn’t just appear.  I always ask for it to post as soon as we make final payment.  Otherwise it sometimes doesn’t appear until you board.  I like to use it to pay for shore ex.  But I bet there are as many stories here as there are travel agents.  

I've never booked a cruise on any line without getting a written quote from the travel agent first.  That quote should include the amount of onboard credit that they are going to offer along with any other incentives.  

I switched to Uber because I was tired of being ripped off by the taxis.  

5 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

And I've arranged such transfers as well and have done so before leaving home; that way it is taken care of and one less detail to fuss with -- or forget to do. 

 

As long as your flight departs on disembarkation day and you have arranged your own flights, Viking will sell you transfers to the airport.  If you work with a TA, they can add the transfer for you.  Or transfers can be added via MyVikingJourney, the guest interface/self-service portal.  

Where might I ask is the guest interface/self-service portat?  I don't see anything about adding transfers.