Heidi13

It's also many years since I worked out of Rupert Harbour and we rarely, went ashore. I recall the shops are up the hill from the cruise ship berth, on the main street (Yellowhead Hwy). I never docked in Prince Rupert when working Alaska cruises, but after my cruise ship days, at times we did steam up the harbour while waiting for a berth. I recall seeing a few buildings around the dock and on the hill, but don't recall a mall down at the waterfront. Mind you the memory isn't as good as it used to be.

In addition to the Viking Shore-ex and hiring a cab, I'll suggest checking out a couple of local vendors. Here are a couple of suggestions for the port of Livorno: RomeCabs - https://www.romecabs.com/ Italy Tours EU - http://italytours.eu/

Can't compare prices between Princess (Elite) and Viking (1st cruise) in Alaska, but I can compare the 2015 Princess World Cruise to the 2020 Viking World Cruise. The base fare on Princess was about 1/2 of Viking's base fare, but at the end of the cruise, the cost per day was identical, with the Viking experience vastly superior. This is applicable to our cruising style and is highly dependent on how many of the extra services you use on Princess. Had we not been Elite on Princess, the additional wi-fi and laundry costs would have resulted in Viking being cheaper.

They dock in the inner harbour up by the Pacific Mariners Park. It is a little after the downtown area, so a short walk.

I am finding significantly less countries are now stamping my passports. On final departure from the Schengen Zone, I expect the passports of non-EU/Schengen will be scanned. When we did a Baltic cruise in 2017, when UK was still in the EU, the ship kept DW's Canadian passport, but did not require my UK passport. I suspect her passport was scanned upon entry and again on departure. She didn't get any stamps. Entering the US, you may not get an arrival stamp. I haven't used my UK passport to enter the US for many years, but with my Canadian passport, it is never stamped. Even driving, at the booth, they run the passport through their scanner and it provides them information on previous visits. Passport stamps haven't been useful for tracking days for many years, hence the reason I have a detailed spreadsheet for days in the US.

Once you depart the final Schengen Zone port, you should not have to count any further days. That is the system I use to count my days.

Not aware of any budget hotels downtown that have shuttle service to Canada Place and nothing out in Richmond will provide that service. Without knowing what you consider affordable, your best bet downtown is checking out the YWCA on Beatty Street. It is about a 1 mile walk to Canada Place, or you could walk about 1-block to the Skytrain, or book an Uber/taxi. Lots of cheaper options out in Richmond, some of which have shuttle service to/from the airport, where you can Skytrain into downtown, or get a fixed rate taxi.

I have tendered in Sitka, back in the days before they had a berth. I have also seen tendering in Ketchikan and Juneau, when the number of ships exceed the number of berths. In Skagway, I haven't followed the repairs to the Railway/Princess Dock (closest to the mountain), so if that berth isn't operational they may require tendering.

Sorry, don't know anyone at that level😁

When you book a cruise with a TA, they are Viking's customer and you are the TA's customer, so it is normal for all communications to only be conducted via the TA. Note 1 - when I use our TA, I normally make a provisional booking then hand it over to my TA to confirm and make the deposit. In this circumstance I have found Viking may converse with me directly, but they should not make any changes to the booking, without them coming from the TA. Note 2 - some agents will use their discretion and get into gray areas. Viking's pre-cruise extension is really expensive. You can book the Crowne Plaza or Doubletree for significantly less money. Yes, you need to arrange your own transit from LAX to San Pedro, but that is easy. We booked an Uber Black, which picked us up outside arrivals and cost about $100. A regular Uber is cheaper, but you have to lug bags to the taxi/bus zone, catching one of the LAX buses. The Crowne Plaza is downtown with lots of restaurants nearby and is about equidistant from both potential berths. The Doubletree is by the outer harbour adjacent to the alternative berth. Affirmative, if you arrive early, Viking still pays the air, but charges a deviation fee. You could request your TA to negotiate removal of this fee. Might be possible, might not, but no harm in asking. Check the roll calls of previous cruises for potential arguments. We arrived 2-days early, stayed at the Crowne Plaza and met a number of our fellow pax, who we had met on the cruise critic roll call.

RCCL were one of the 7- cruise lines that were awarded contracts commencing 1st October 2019. They withdrew/declined at some point, prior to awarding of permits to access the 2 ships slots per day. https://www.nps.gov/glba/learn/news/glacier-bay-issues-new-contracts-for-cruise-ship-services.htm

I find that I am increasingly not getting stamps in my passports, which makes it tougher to track days. May I suggest using a spreadsheet, similar to what I do for managing our days in the USA. I track every visit to the US, notating date/time and border station for entry and departure. I then calculate the number of days and create a running total. If I still lived in UK and made frequent trips to Europe, this is how I would manage my Schengen Zone days.

Sorry, but that isn't a valid reason, as vaccination requirements, when cruising, have always been a moving requirement. If you don't have the required documentation, the cruise line has the right to refuse boarding, as per the Terms & Conditions. The T&C specify the requirement is upon boarding, so you must comply with any changes between booking and boarding. Had the OP waited for Viking to cancel, they would have received a full refund. Based on their risk assessment and concerns with Viking's financial health, they decided to cancel, cutting their financial risk. We all make decisions and we should live with the consequences. Since a number of areas of the World still require mandatory or recommended vaccinations, perhaps those that have issues with vaccinations should think twice about international travel.

Yet again, being devoid of facts, this is simply a highly subjective personal opinion. Compared to what I experienced, I also don't consider Viking a "Luxury" cruise line, but I also don't consider Crystal, Regent, Seabourn, etc as being "True Luxury" cruise lines. In my experience, in the North American market, "Luxury" is most often associated with "All-inclusive" and what is important to us and our expectations. To put it in perspective, some newbies even consider Carnival & NCL, as a luxury experience. When we experienced "True Luxury" the pax responded in the evening by being properly attired in tuxedos/dark suits and gowns, every evening, except the first and last nights. This standard of dress was throughout all public rooms and dining establishments. When I researched the "Faux Luxury" Boards, I just shook my head with pax espousing luxury, but questioning the dress code. DW and I thoroughly enjoyed formal attire every evening, for the experience of a true luxury dining experience, but these days, I'll stick with the smart casual and more than adequate Viking standards and options. I look forward to reading what criteria you consider makes a cruise line designated as "Luxury".

Without knowing your country of residence, I can't provide a definitive answer. In North America, Viking World Cruise benefits normally include: - Business/First flights: The domestic portion to LA will be First or Business depending on the airline. Air Canada has proper business class on the Vancouver - LAX flights, but many US airlines have First/Business that are minimal improvement over cattle class. Purchasing Air Plus can help get your preferred airline. For the return flight you would get a trans-atlantic business flight. - Visas: some Visas are provided by the ship, upon arrival - Jordan and Egypt are often examples of this arrangement. Viking use Generation Visa in Washington DC for acquiring Visas. If you are a US citizen, they can normally provide all required Visas. If Canadian, some embassies refuse to provide Visas to non-US citizens - China is an example. For China, we had to acquire our own Visas, but Viking re-imbursed us with OBC, when we submitted receipts for the Visas and reasonable travel costs. When using GenVisa, you complete forms, then send your passports to them. - Luggage shipping: Viking contract with Luggage Forward to ship 1 - 50 lb case from home to the ship. You can ship additional cases at your cost. You can also ship cases home, at your cost. - Transfers: only included if you fly in/out on the day of embarkation/disembarkation - Wifi: Included on all Viking cruises - Gratuities: Included - Silver Spirits: Included Please check your pax statement carefully, as these benefits are all noted on the statement. You will also have the OBC you will receive. Lots of information is available on the roll calls for previous World Cruises. Check out the 4 roll calls on Viking Sun (2018, 2019, Ultimate and 2020), the Viking Star (2021/22), and the current ship Viking Neptune. I note the current World Cruise roll call has over 8,600 posts.

When Viking cancels your cruise, you are entitled to a full cash refund. Unfortunately, when pax cancel a cruise, the cancellation fees outlined in the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to, by paying the deposit, are applicable. Since you only paid $14K, I'll assume you were on a short cruise of under 35-days, so the cancellation terms were: - Prior to 120-days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of $100 pp - 120 days to 90 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 15% - 89 days to 60 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 35% - 59 days to 30 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 50% - 29 days or less: NO refund Based on these terms, which you agreed to, I am having difficulty understanding why you believe you are entitled to a full cash refund, since in your original post, you stated you cancelled the cruise, not Viking. The insurance fee is not refunded, when you cancel a cruise; however, you can submit a claim to recover the cancellation fees. Even if you had the risk free guarantee, those cancellations were always refunded entirely with vouchers. When you cancelled, you had a choice of the cancellation terms or the RFG. Please provide the details of how many days prior to the cruise you cancelled, as based on your posts to date, Viking have actually been very generous in providing vouchers in lieu of the cancellation fee.

Haha!! Not a problem, as the 5' tall, 80 lb locals armed with a 6' stick will (might) save you. Personally, I use the same logic as Jim, just make sure you aren't the slowest runner 😁😁

The bottles are mostly CO2, with a small amount of nitrogen added to prevent freezing. Immediately after inflation, the valves and fabric are extremely cold, which is why the gas enters the raft in a diffuser to protect the fabric. The gas is contained in multiple bottles, which are secured pockets below the floor. Air is used for the annual recertification, as it degrades the fabric less. I believe CO2 is used as it is cheaper and is stored at lower pressures. @chengkp75 Hopefully the Chief can contribute his engineering knowledge.

My reference to automatic inflation was for inflated rafts for topping up. There is no automatic system for topping up the chambers, as all gas from the cylinders is used during the initial inflation. For initial inflation, rafts can be manually inflated, or automatically inflate depending on the manufacturer and type of raft. In general, the CO2/Nitrogen bottles are armed with a pin, which is secured to the painter line. When the painter is pulled, the pins are removed and the gas inflates the raft. The old traditional "Throw-over" liferafts have a number of bands, which are intended to keep the cannister together when impacting the water. To inflate, pull the remaining painter out the raft, then give a sharp tug, which removes the pins and commences inflation. Any remaining bands are severed by the rapid inflation. When stowed in cradles, the painter is attached to the ship and the raft is secured with a hydrostatic release. Should the ship sink, the raft is released and when the painter is full extended it triggers inflation. A weak link separates and the raft rises to the surface. Davit-Launched liferafts are stowed in a similar manner and operate the same way should the ship sink. To inflate these rafts, they are attached to the crane, swung overboard, bowsing lines attached and then the painter is pulled out then given a sharp tug. Marine evacuation systems vary by manufacturer. The RFD Marin Ark is a self contained system with 4 rafts and 2 vertical shutes. Each entire system is installed into each compartment. It is activated normally using stored pressure to push a sledge over the ship's side and the entire system falls into the water. All 4 rafts inflate automatically. Multiple hydrostactic releases are installed should the ship sink. Additional over-capacity rafts are remotely or manually released to the water. These are normally inflated manually by pulling the painter. Viking Lifesaving - haven't used their system in over 20 years and they have an updated MES, which I have seen on film, but not attended a deployment or servicing. Memory is vague, so I can't guarantee accurate info. Lifesaving Equipment Australia - slide systems that have the slide and initial rafts inflate automatically, once activated. Additional capacity rafts are released manually or remotely and do not inflate once in the water. Painter is pulled to inflate. Hope this explains the systems fully. If not, feel free to ask any questions.

Are you visiting any other Schengen Zone ports on the itinerary. If you depart Barcelona and do not visit another Schengen Zone port, you should only need to allow for the 1-day in Barcelona. However, if you stop in additional Spanish ports or Madeira, then you need to count all days from arrival Barcelona to final departure from the Schengen Zone. Even partially crossing the Atlantic to Madeira, if you departed a Schengen Zone port enroute to Madeira, you are still considered in the Schengen Zone. Stamping, or not stamping the passport does not impact the number of days. If you need further assistance, can you please post the itinerary.

Assuming you are referring to COVID vaccination requirements, these are normally cruise line specific, so best check with specific cruise lines you are considering. Other vaccination requirements vary depending on WHO recommendations and the requirements of local health authorities. The best resource for these is a specialised travel doctor. Our preferred cruise line is Viking Ocean and they are maintaining the mandatory COVID vaccine requirement, which is the expectation of the majority of their pax.

Posted on behalf of Deb & Munro and Alison & Ron, who sailed with us on the Magical Mystery Tour in 2020. Here is a picture of the Captain's Table, when they dined with Captain Lars on a recent sea day.

On our Visa statements, we receive notification of the charges in the foreign currency, so I can verify the amount. It then shows the exchange rate used to convert it to CAN$. If all you are seeing is charges in US $, I'll suggest the vendors have converted the costs from local currency to US $, and charged you a fee. Unfortunately, unless you specifically request billing in the local currency, a number of vendors will automatically do the currency conversion, as they make more money.

Royal Caribbean were awarded permits in 2019, but have declined to use them. I'm not sure how the permits are distributed to ensure only 2 cruise ships per day are in Glacier Bay, but if they are assigned to specific cruise lines, my best guess is that they must be used by that line's ships. However, I have no definitive answer, as a lowly Deck Officer, I wasn't involved in that process.

These are new Zodiac Hurricane Mil Spec boats designed for military and commercial use. The inflation collars are substantial material that is degraded by UV light. These boats reside in an internal garage when not in use, so are only subjected to UV when in use. I have operated many boats from the same manufacturer that we over 20 yrs old and the tubes passed annual inspection. They could always have a manufacturing defect, but being low pressure a rapid deflation is hardly explosive.