ericosmith

1 hour ago, FlyerTalker said:

Stopover is a function of the airline involved, as a stopover "breaks" the through fare into separate components unless there is specific provision for it in the fare rules.  And it changes the dates from your "given" itinerary, so that's a deviation.  I am going to assume two fees for two different services (in the eyes of Viking).

 

I was told by my agent who checked with Viking that the stopover included the deviation fee:

Viking has verified that only the higher of the two fees would apply, so if you’re doing the stopover for $300 per person any date changes within 30 days before departure and 30 days after disembarkation would be covered under that fee as well.

15 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

The issue for me is not just willing to accept the risk, but to accept the stress as well.  Why go on a cruise if it ends up a hot mess?

 

I generally book an overnight stay in Fort L after the cruise and fly out the next day.  We lounge about until last call for disembarking passengers, saunter through immigration, and either roll our bags to the Hilton or the Embassy Suites on 17th.

 

No stress.  We arrive home rested and ready for the next adventure.

I've often found that the next day flights were less expensive and the difference paid for the hotel room.

I'm curious if my thinking is really valid... When I research flights, I look at seat availability on the airline website before booking (while at least some of them show this).  If the flight is lightly booked I may wait a bit.  If however there are quite a few sold seats I won't wait.  Yes, I know that availability doesn't show all of the bookings but at least it seems like a partial guide to where pricing may go.

I just walked up and purchased.  But then it was a reasonably short walk from our ship.  Not as short from Royal.

On 11/2/2023 at 5:17 PM, mitsugirly said:

When I look Mountain Top up, it looks like just a place to go up with shopping and drinks and just a picture opportunity or is there more to it?

Nope, a huge junk store, overpriced drinks, but a porch out back with a great view.  

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

And will be removed or adjusted at the guest's request.

 

For your consideration: Viking has chosen an "opt out" program; it is spelled out in the FAQ (which is linked to below). Right now, not enough people are opting out of the program for them to consider changing how they are doing things. As long as most of the guests are happy, the policy will stand.

 

 

 

 

What is the tipping policy?

 

 

 

       Our onboard staff is dedicated to providing you with the best cruise experience possible, and it is customary to give gratuities in recognition of their service. How much you choose to tip is a personal matter and completely at your discretion. To save you worry over whom to tip and how much, we automatically add a discretionary hotel and dining charge of $17.00 USD per guest per day to your shipboard account, which appears on your final invoice at the end of your cruise. This charge will be shared among the onboard staff who helped support and provide your cruise experience, including the waitstaff, stateroom stewards, buffet stewards, galley staff, laundry staff and others. Should you wish to make changes to the gratuity amounts or pay in cash, stop by Guest Services at any time. You may also wish to tip your local excursion guides and/or drivers; we suggest doing so in cash at the end of each tour. For your convenience, you can pre-purchase gratuities at our standard recommended rate in My Viking Journey. This charge will be shared among the onboard staff who helped support and provide for your cruise experience, including your Program Director, waitstaff, stateroom stewards, galley staff, nautical staff and others.

(accurate as of the date posted on CC)

 

I find it interesting that the list of staff definition is different between the automatic charge and the pre-paid gratuities.

Rent a golf cart...

15 hours ago, Joebucks said:

Just go to Google Flights and compare options

Just keep in mind that the fares change often.  I have Google tracking a flight to FLL and I get an email of a changed fare almost every day. And that's for the same flight on the same airline.

14 hours ago, JulieEscapes said:

Included wine and beer tips:

 

So where are the beer tips?

 

You also need to consider the number of ships in port that day.  Large numbers will slow everything down at the airport.  Airfares there are highly dependent on ship arrivals and departures.  I've found that the difference in airfare can more than pay for the hotel room on certain days.

5 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

It may be the simplest, but then...why don't you use a travel agent that actually knows something about travel?

Are there really travel agents anymore who care about booking air?

On 10/9/2023 at 6:06 PM, Globaliser said:

 

Just don't make the mistake of using it.

 

The best seat maps currently available are on aerolopa.com. Although you have to work out for yourself what the advantages and disadvantages are of each seat, the accuracy of the seat maps means that most of this is pretty obvious. (Anything that SeatGuru said beyond the blindingly obvious was usually worthless, anyway - leaving aside the inaccuracy of its seat maps.)

Perhaps an unusual question but are the window locations on these maps accurate in relationship to the seats?

5 hours ago, jazzkat44 said:

Dining takes place either at The Dining Room or The River Grill. The Dining Room offers a more traditional dining experience, with set seating at dinner (either 6 p.m. or 6:45 p.m.), while The River Grill is more casual, with no set time. Both are open for all three meals each day.

If I'm not mistaken this quote comes from a review on Cruise Critic and not from the line itself.  It doesn't even make sense if there are two dinner seatings

I'd like to know what website you found a 6:45 dining time on.  There is no American Countess rep or website.  That time is pretty much impossible for any boat or ship that has two fixed dining times.  What you were told represents the dining times available on our Countess cruise.  

You might also look at what terminal you're departing from.  There is more than one way into the port and if you're leaving from terminal 2 or 4 you can avoid the security checkpoints.

Better yet, take Uber.  My experience with cabs in FLL is not good.  For some reason their meters never seem to work and they claim it's a flat rate trip.

maybe 2 blocks

Or...you can use a password manager that will automatically fill forms with your credit card info and your name and address.  Usually two clicks and it's done.

2 hours ago, zumbagold said:

Hello. I have seen suggestions to use the water taxi to spend a few hours before going to the airport after disembarking. Our ship offers luggage, transportation to the airport, so that would not be a problem. How do we get to them and what do they cost? Are they hop on hop off?
Thank you!

I'd be a little careful and allow plenty of time to get to your flight. They can tend to get bunched up and then leave large time gaps between taxis.  Last trip for us we boarded at the Doubletree and then couldn't get back there because there was a wedding charter boat blocking the dock.  

5 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Which was what I said too. However, it seems that the question was not really about converters, it was whether plug ADAPTERS would be required on Emerald, which was answered by @MrDogDad, that yes plug adapters would be required. 
 

I would add that the 110v outlet with North American plugs in the bathroom is only to be used for an electric shaver. 

Well, I know it says that but I've always used an led nightlight in that location.  

I'm not sure how common this is but my only Viking cruise so far ended with me having to cancel the day prior.  However, I had paid for shore excursions with a credit card and when my travel agent released onboard credit a few days before the cruise, Viking refunded my credit card charge.

Thanks for the advice.  I went ahead and booked a night at Flåmsbrygga Hotell .  It looked like there were only two choices in the area of the train and docks.  I guess we'll enjoy the balcony in the evening when we're not looking into somebody's cruise ship balcony.

Planning on doing a self booked Nutshell tour round trip Bergen next summer. We can do it in one day or we could stay overnight in Flam and then take the railway to Myrdal and then back to Bergen.  That would provide the opportunity to relax a bit as well as take a trip to Stegastein viewpoint.  My concern is the early arrival of a 4000 passenger MSC ship the morning we are to take the railway.  Is that going to cause enough crowding to disrupt our departure or cause us to regret staying?  It's not an inexpensive place.

I don't recall the price but they had transfers to both the airport and to the hotel they used.  We had an interesting experience in that the transfer bus we were scheduled on had a tire go flat in the parking lot.  This was on Labor Day a couple of years ago and there was no place open to get it fixed.  They sent people in taxis, limos and whatever means they could find to make their flights.  In the meantime they put together sandwiches, snacks, and opened the bar.  They really went all out to make the best of the situation.  

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We play with this kind of thing all the time.  If air is free then we will go through Viking - and pay the $100 for Air Plus.

 

If we can get air at a better price, or just be fully in control, then we do the air ourselves...  but that comes with some cost sometimes too... we will tend to go a day ahead, because if we are doing the air ourselves and there are delays, cancelations, or issues, then we are on our own to get to the ship, whereas Viking would assist if they do the air.  So, we now have a hotel night to pay for, but that is also part of our piece of mind. 

 

It is always a balance of cost vs. benefit.

If you go early isn't there also a deviation charge in addition to the air plus charge?