steverhodes

I know what's comfy for one person may not work for the next but I bought these for wearing during our winter river cruise last December knowing it would be wet and maybe icy. They worked out fine, not the most attractive but with good wool socks they were nearly perfect.

 

https://www.rei.com/product/105903/merrell-coldpack-ice-winter-shoes-womens

 

Enjoy the Christmas markets! So magical.

 

 

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They have them in men's too.

But darn no wide widths.

Can "independent" passengers on a Europe Viking cruise exit the ship whenever they want upon arrival at the disembarkation port?

 

Thanks.

On our first trip we stayed until after 4pm. Enjoyed breakfast and lunch and some sightseeing of stuff near dock.

Demeanour - that's right. As a tourist one tends to look at buildings longer, up facades, etc. And tourists tend to give the impression of having more time. Unless I really want to take in what a place is about I try to not walk leisurely. In Budapest I could not help it and lingered, really lingered, at the British embassy. They have a nice emblem outside and I wanted to take a photo but one of those street sweepers' vehicles was in the way. So by the time I had taken my photo I had caught the attention of the security guard at the front door. Oops! When I noticed that I tried to look reassuringly like a harmless tourist. Come to think of it, at that moment I was probably as safe as one can get as regards pickpockets.

 

I have heard that the famous clock in Prague is a perfect place for pickpockets as there are so many tourists looking at the clock when it strikes.

 

I wonder if a local supermarkets plastic carrier bag would be a good disguise for photo equipment? In France Carrefour springs to mind, you know, in the style of walk fast with your shopping, as if you want to catch the bus? But then again one is probably spotted and followed for a mile before being "approached".

 

 

notamermaid

One thing I always try to do is learn some of the language and use it as we travel. I can order, ask for directions, greet people, etc.

I do this it to have fun and to be polite.

I've gotten pretty good at German without personal refresher lessons. But I also learned and used:

French

Italian

Portuguese

Spanish

Serbo-Coatian

Russian

Japanese

Chinese

Dutch

However, I soon forget these after the trip although a few random words remain in my brain.

Is there is black market for big cameras any more? Mobile phones, credit cards and cash so much easier to recycle for financial benefit in these nasty people.

Perhaps. Don't know. I would assume since camera and lens cost over $4,000 new, they could sell it for a lot. Certainly, they could get $2,000 on Ebay. But who knows, cash and credit cards may be the go to items for thieves.

Sounds exhausting to be "acting" while out in public everyday. Also exhausting to avoid public transportation which is quite often the fastest way to get around.

Back to my original point. I am of the camp of enjoying trips and doing what I like and not overly fretting about some low probability bad thing that could happen.

My hobby is photography and I always carry a big camera and lens over my shoulder where it is comfortable for me. If I carried it over my neck or across my body, walking would not be fun. Yes doing so would decrease the probability of theft, but it's not a trade off I am interested in. We taken almost 50 foreign trips. I always carry my camera that way. It is easy to shot quickly that way and avoid missing shots and it has never been scarfed.

One of the absolute best parts of the trip was the optional Taste of Lisbon excursion with great music (and some acting and dancing too).

We did the tile museum on our own. It took us about an hour.

The best walking tour was the one on the Lisbon preextension since it was all walking whereas the one on the regular tour was a nice bus tour that stopped for sights with a small walking tour at the end.

We took this trip last September and had a fantastic time.

You can see 200 or so of pictures of the trip, as well as five other Viking voyages on my pictorial website:

http://www.RhodesVacations.com

And you can read my review of the trip here:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=552010

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steverhodes,

 

With the purse just on the shoulder and the wallet in the back pocket.... Congrats! You´ve been lucky!!

 

The basic advise for men is: Have nothing, absolutely nothing in your back pocket! Everything has to be in the front pockets - cell phone or wallet. That´s where you can put your hands on when it gets crowded (or uncomfortable in any way).

 

Purse over the shoulder and on the side... No go!! The strap of the purse has to cross over your body and the purse always has to face the building side of a sidewalk (never the street side). Even better: Move the purse to the front of your body! That´s where you can put your hands on... see above!

 

The rest is ... common sense! No blinky watches or jewelry... no high priced purses... (gee, it took me half an hour to tell my DD not to take her MK purse to Paris)...

 

I was lucky so far... app. 30 years ago I´ve been to Rome and we watched pickpockets... we started out shouting immediately... they dropped the wallet and were never seen again. So if you ever watch such a scene just shout out loud (doesn´t matter what). If you feel uncomfortable because someone is coming too close just start shouting! There are several well known methods like dancing around you, kids rounding you up, showing you a map and blocking your view, stain your clothes with anything (ketchup, mustard...) and trying to help you with the clean up... say "no" or shout out loud!

 

Never, never ever put your cell phone on the table in a café or any other outdoor seating of a restaurant... someone is coming up with a map, a newspaper or whatever blocking your view and another person takes your phone... you can´t even look that fast...

 

Just some last words... you´re basicly safe along the rivers... Big cities like Barcelona, Rome, Naples or Paris (which is also a river town) are the hot spots... Here in Munich it´s pretty safe but there are "seasons" where you should keep an eye on your belongings like the Christmas markets or the Oktoberfest... and ladies, make sure you have a purse which can be closed with a zipper!!

 

steamboats

My point is this. Stop worrying about this stuff, go enjoy yourself. Don't go into contortions. Do what is convenient for you. And, if you are going to worry, just modify your behavior on the places like crowded subways where pickpockets are likely to be a problem. Statistically the chance of you being robbed is quite low and even if you are, the cost is not that much anyway. Back to my point. Go have a good time.

A recurring theme are pickpockets and how best to prevent being pickpocketed.

A lot things could go wrong on a trip, falling and hurting yourself, traffic or pedestrian accidents, etc. ... and someone could steal your wallet.

My wife and I are careful when going on crowded subways but other than that we do what is most convenient for us rather what is most likely to thwart pickpockets.

She carries a purse over her shoulder with her wallet and iPhone in it. I have my wallet in my back pocket and my iPhone in my front pocket. This is what we normally do and is what most convenient for us.

I looked it up, we have spent 674 days on foreign vacations including 6 cruises. We have never been picketpocked and so far as we know no one on our 5 river and 1 ocean cruise were pickpocketed. However, many have fallen and hurt themselves, including my wife. If I am going to worry about something, it's falling.

And even we are pickpocketed, we only lose the cash plus the inconvenience of canceling our credit cards.

I once tried a money belt for a day. I hated it.

On the other hand, if you have a different opinion or approach, I respect that.

Taking a Rhine Getaway in October 2018. Do we put our luggage in the hallway the night before we leave the boat?

Yes

I brought disposable (one use- 10 hours) hand warmers- the kind you activate by shaking. I've also seen foot warmers of the same type but have never tried them. Look in a camping or hunting store for them.

Did you have any trouble getting the warmers through security and did you pack them in checked luggage or did you carry them with you into the aircraft?

Viking just booked us in the Art Nouveau Palace hotel in Prague. They said the Corinthia typically over books.

 

 

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We were going to be in the Prague Hilton but our group of high school classmates traveling together on the preextension to Prague in July of next year on the Viking Egil was so large that we need 57 rooms, so they switched us all to Art Nouveau Palace. I like the looks of the hotel quite a bit so I was pleased. Love old world style hotels.

NotStressedAnymore,

 

sorry to hear about your experience. A note on the Viking comment "snow melt": snow melt normally has an impact on the water level in the way that makes the water rise - sometimes quickly. Viking must have meant something slightly different for a July situation. Not enough snow having fallen that melted to get the water level high enough to get the river well through the summer heat would have been more accurate. But that is also a little to easy - several factors play into such a low water situation. I think such a statement does not sound convincing to someone who is sitting on a non-moving boat in July.

 

Your situation was somewhat typical of what people have reported here on CC and elsewhere and what I have seen on German television. Viking informs people at short notice as river levels on the Elbe can change within hours depending on rain fall - see posts above.

 

For myself - I know I am repeating this - I can only say that there is another company which also operates on the US-American market. If I ever decide to sail the Elbe I hope CroisiEurope will be able to sail for longer in low water (there is every reason to presume so) and that communication, especially for US-American customers who need to fly in, is - let us say - more accurate.

 

I hope all those having booked for the Elbe have insurance but I hope even more that it will be not needed and that all sailings will take place from now.

 

I shall keep watching the river level over the next few weeks.

 

Dresden is at 81cm right now. For what that implies see post #3 to #6 of this thread.

 

notamermaid

Some day we would like to do the Elbe tour. Is there a time of the year or times of the year when the Elbe is generally ok to cruise on and water issues are much less likely?

Are the certificates good on any price that might be available at a given time. For example, if there is a promotion on a particular cruise is the certificate still good?

Yes

Would a solo traveler get to use two certificates or still only one?

 

 

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One

If one person bought $500 worth of certificates, would they be worth $1,000 off a future cruise?

 

 

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They would be worth $1,000 off of 2 1/2 future cruises. Can only use 1 pp per cruise.

you can buy a cruise certificate for $100 that is worth $200 towards a future cruise.

Both members of a couple can buy up $500 each on a cruise. On future cruises you can each use one of the vouchers thus a maximum savings of $200 per trip. We always do this.

FYI - there are transferable to others and never expire.

I dress more "formally" than most men on Viking cruises.

He should feel comfortable. Anything pretty much goes for day tours. T-shirts common. Collared shirts common. Shorts common. Jeans everywhere. Most men do NOT wear chinos on tours. Jeans.

Evenings I wear a collared shirt and slacks, HOWEVER Viking does not require this and many guests do not "dress up" that much. Polo shirts for dinner would be common. Your husband will fit in well dressing as he wishes and enjoying all aspects of his wonderful cruise.

 

 

Conclusion: Viking guests in the majority pay little attention to dress.

I find my memory is fallible so rather than try to remember I looked at the pictures of the groups on the tours of our 6 Viking trips. I noted two things about the men on the tour.

1. They would wear shorts in wear that is too cool for me to wear shorts comfortably. I had forgotten that. We've taken trips in May, July (2), September, October and November. However some days everyone would wear shorts and other days none would wear them.

2. Among the men not in shorts it was a mixture of chino and jeans but always with more men wearing chino than jeans.

So Viking is offering free airfare with the 15 day Grand tour cruise, is this really a deal or like the 2 for 1 deal, not really a deal? And, what's with wanting the full fare 6 months ahead? I like to book my own air to control length of layovers, flight length etc. because husband has PD. Not sure I'll have much say in those things if I take the free are fare. Haven't asked if they will adjust the cruise fare if I don't want the free air. So what do you think folks? Thanks, Pat

Last year we got a free airfare deal with Viking to Russia. Worked great and they went out of their way to get us just the routing we wanted.

Not all hotel changes are bad. We just had, in my opinion, a good one.

As I've told the story here before, last January my wife and I booked the Romantic Danube cruise on the Viking Egil for July 7 of NEXT year (2018) and invited any high school classmate friends of ours to join us. In less than 2 months, we had sold out the longship and had a waitlist. We were blown away. We expected 2-5 couples would join us.

My group really went for the 3-day Prague pre-extension, which, I'm told usually requires Viking to book 10-15 rooms. Our group needs 56 rooms, so they had to switch hotels from the Hilton to the Art Nouveau Palace Hotel, which is a old hotel with a lot of charm that I much prefer. Now, we just have to wait over a year for the trip. We are all very excited.

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We have not cruised with Viking as nothing about the line or their vessels appeals to DH and I. We have toured several and find them to be cold and generic. Historically, they do not handle high/low water issues as well as some other lines, due to their design.

Ah, beauty, as always, is in the eye of the beholder.

We love the sleek modern Scandinavian look of the Viking longships. Many of the other lines, based on their posted pictures, we find quite gaudy.

There is no right answer. I would suggest to original poster that they look at the pictures of the public rooms and bedroom and see line which best matches their tastes.

One benefit of Viking is the large number ships operating make ship swaps much easier in case of localized low or high water issues.

Unless you are traveling with hand-luggage only there really is no point in printing boarding passes as you'll get them when you check-in your bags at the airport...

Haven't printed them in advance in a decade.

I want to ask them to print boarding passes, which I heard they won't do. Are they more likely to help before I give the tips??? Or after??? :)

 

Good idea about drinks, thanks.[/quote

 

With the exception of a single guide on our Russian River Cruise, I have found the staff on our 6 Viking cruise to be always willing to go out of their way to help and to be full of genuine friendliness.

I just wish they could figure a way to do it other than having to wait in line on your last cruise evening.

We never wait in line. Just go at an odd hour like 10pm.

We like doing unusual stuff in our free time or when we are staying over after the cruise for a longer period of time. We had a great time in The Prater in Vienna after dark for example.

And while we love the traditional sights of Paris

We like the less traditional too.

Which brings me to my question. Have any of you gone to Disneyland Paris and if so do you have any thoughts to share?

We visited it once in the 1990s when our son was 6. He is grown up and doesn't travel with us any more but we are still big Disney fans. We have an extra week plus in Paris on our own. We look forward to spending a day at the park.

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The cruise director will also discuss at the final evening talk....or at least did on our Passau to Budapest cruise last year. We were able to put it on our account or in cash. My only complaint was that EVERYBODY had to stop by the desk to deal with it and close out your account. I would have much preferred for it to be automatically added and only folks who had an issue have to line up and wait at the desk.

I like it the way it is. Tipping should be optional.

Give more if better than average and less if it isn't.

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