OneSixtyToOne

Others have posted on this forum that they reserved a hotel room for one or two nights. Seeing Venice at night after the tourists have left is magical. As a side note, when we docked at Chioggia, we were told that it can only handle one ship at a time. That is why you’ll see some sailings docking there and some in Fusina. Fusina is an industrial port and you need to be shuttled in and out. They drop you off at the old cruise terminal in Venice. Large ships are now banned from entering the lagoon. The local Italian tour guides told us how lucky we were to be in Chioggia instead of what they call “the ugly place.” The downside is that Chioggia is very far away.

Fair point. I guess I should not have used “never.” I was attempting (rather poorly it turns out) to emphasize you may be throwing money away because, in recent years, MVJ has been revamped to allow you make your own modifications to flights without having to purchase Air Plus. If however you have very specific needs then only you can decide if it’s worth the extra cost. Deviation is another matter. If you plan to arrive before your departure day and do not have pre-extension booked then the deviation fee is required for using Viking Air. It however doesn’t guarantee you’ll get exactly what flight you want. There also have been postings about people insisting on a particular flight or airline and additional costs over and above the fee were incurred because Viking had to acquire tickets on the open market. As the saying goes “ the cheap is sometimes expensive.”

Not necessarily. Viking Air doesn’t work for everyone. They have contracts with some air carriers so their inventory of available seats is not the same as you can find doing a search online. Paying the extra fees doesn’t necessarily mean you will get exactly what you want. If your requirements are that specific you should first see what the cost will be if you booked it yourself. Free Air can sometimes be expensive. We use Viking Air all the time but I live relatively close to 2 major airports and can usually find flights that are acceptable. If you do use Viking Air, never purchase Air Plus until you see what Viking has booked. Without it I’ve been able to change my carrier and my airport without the additional costs. If it doesn’t work out, then it is the time to inquire about Air Plus and deviation fees.

We also received an email and letter about the deal that contained that language but this promo was in a message in MVJ that I never saw before. It explicitly states you can book from the website and it has a link. I tried the link and it indeed had the code pre populated on the booking page.

It’s a complex question above my pay grade. I suggest contacting the folks at the Trip Insurance Store. They can answer your question as they did mine. I believe the minimum coverage is for $1000 and is sold in $1000 increments. You need to insure whatever your initial out of pocket cost was. Ours was only $50 but I had to buy the minimum (1K of coverage) to ensure pre-existing coverage. You can also purchase optional CFAR (Cancel for any reason) that will cover any out of pocket loss. It tends to be expensive (30% of the trip?) and the standard coverage cancellation reasons are fine for us. There are also other optional coverage items like increased baggage coverage, increased medical, rental car, etc.

Curious if you were able to book your excursions with no issues.

Even with preexisting conditions you can find plans to insure you for that if you just buy a minimum amount to cover the deposit and then increase coverage once you pay the balance. We did this for our Japan trip next year. All you need to do is take out coverage within X days of your initial payment and you are covered. The minimum coverage cost us about $100 so if we need to cancel, we only lose that. Check out the explainer at TheTripInsuranceStore

I clicked on the link in MVJ and it populated the promo code in the booking screen. Maybe the link is required.

They will also extend the payment date if you book another cruise in the interim. We had no plans to sail in 2024 but had a booking for late 2025 that we made late last year. When a great deal came up this year we called and got our 2025 cruise payment moved from June of this year to 6 months out and booked a 2024 cruise for this August.

We have had the SSP included twice and even then only had wine at lunch less than half the time. Wine and a meal before an afternoon excursion and I’d be sleeping on the bus. Prefer to be caffeinated.

For some reason I decided to prepay in December ‘22 for a January ‘23 cruise. Viking increased the gratuities and SSP price in January’23 so we actually saved money by accident. Even a blind squirrel occasionally finds an acorn.

The tour of the town was on a Sunday morning and I remember at the end having to wait outside the Vinothek for a few minutes. We had time to visit the chapel of the old hospital then we entered Vinothek and had a short orientation, were given a glass, and let loose in the cellar. We didn’t feel rushed, sampled several wines, and walked back to the ship unattended in time for departure. Maybe they have changed their departure time or maybe it was a special opening time. I’m not sure.

Do you lose any tripmate insurance you might have purchased? I thought I’ve read that is not transferable.

I’m curious that if you booked onboard why your payment date isn’t 6 months out? It should be due 12/31 or thereabouts. That is one of the perks to booking onboard or having an existing booking. To answer your question definitely, it’s best to call Viking and see what your options are.

This is exactly the experience of our daughter and her husband. They took their first ever cruise earlier this year on a Caribbean mega ship and absolutely hated it and vowed never again. After hearing us talk about Viking they were surprised by their negative experience. BTW another couple talked them into going, we had no input. We have no desire to cruise the Caribbean on any line.

For a great wine tasting experience be sure to take the BERNKASTEL HISTORY & WINE excursion. You’ll visit an enormous wine cellar that is run to promote Moselle wines. Every vintner in the region has a bin of their wines. You’re given a glass and you are free to wander about and taste as many wines as you like. Tasting bottles are placed on top of wine barrels and there are over 150 wines to sample. It’s pretty amazing. https://en.bernkastel.de/gastro/vinothek-at-the-wine-cultural-centre

We did Geneva to Paris and it was excellent. The Glacier Express from Zermatt across Switzerland is fantastic. IMO Switzerland to Paris is a better option. On our way to Zermatt we stopped for a snack at a winery on the banks of Lake Geneva, overlooking Montreux. It was a great experience touring the cellars and tasting wine on the terrace above the lake. Not sure how that fits into the schedule going the other way. We took the trip in late July and the weather was great except for one day of rain that unfortunately occured on the day we went to Kleine Scheidegg on the Highlights of the Alps excursion on our day in Zurich. Visibility was near zero. Word to the wise, do not book Highlights of the Alps if you are booking the Zermatt extension. It's redundant and a very long day. Because of weather we missed the sailing out of Basel and had to catch the ship at a dock in the middle of nowhere in France. Our bus driver got lost and we were on streets too narrow to pass. We almost missed dinner aboard. We saw nothing of Basel. One thing about late July, it put us in Paris in August. The big upside of Paris in August is it's much less crowded with locals and the traffic is much better. The mom and pop stores may have closed for the summer but all the main attractions are still open. The access road (now a pedestrian walkway) along the banks of the Seine is transformed into a beach club, with sand trucked in and chaise lounges. A great experience walking along the river from Notre Dame to The Louvre. Aside from bad weather, this was one of our most enjoyable cruises, river or ocean. I highly recommend it.

You should at least try a river cruise that includes the Middle Rhine. It’s a whole day of vineyards and castles as you cruise by. If you select the right excursions you can avoid the tourist shops. Paris to the Swiss Alps B-A along with the Zermatt pre cruise extension was one of our favorites. Taking the Glacier Express across Switzerland was fantastic. Also, the Chilean fjord expedition cruise is on sale now. If you’re a fan of pristine natural scenery and you’re not up for Antarctica, this is the cruise for you.

This is one reason I enjoy river cruising. It’s less about the ship and more about the destinations and view. Not a fan of sea days unless they involve scenic cruising like the Chilean fjords.

This message appeared in MVJ today. First time I ever saw this. Promo FV424, usable on website if you already have a booking.

If you are flying from Toronto, myself and others have horror stories about that airport and Air Canada. I avoid both.

One more point. If you read your invoice, Viking states the air itinerary is selected about 150 days out. They ticket about 100 days out. You have between those two milestones to use MVJ to change your flights, cities, etc. After ticketing you can change things like seat assignments. As stated in another post, Viking is using contracted seats. These may not correlate to seat availability that you see when searching an airline’s website. They are essentially a different inventory of seats. Even if you pay Air Plus, if you want a different flight, there may be an up change because Viking may be purchasing those seats on the open market.

This has been covered extensively on this forum by @FlyerTalker and others. Airlines use placeholders for what they “think” their scheduled flights will be. Everything is subject to change. At 5 months out nothing is in stone. I am 100 days out from our next trip and just had an equipment change that altered our seat assignments. We also have had 2 schedule changes. On our last trip back from Europe, Lufthansa stop flying into our destination city on Sundays. This occurred while we were in the middle of a cruise about 10 days out from our return. It required an insane return route to get us home. Instead of a non-stop from Munich we had to go through Frankfurt and make connections in the U.S. This added 9 more hours to our travel. Viking doesn’t actually ticket and lock down your trip until about 100 days out. You and Viking are operating at the mercy of the airlines.

So you dock in San Diego on the 18th? Sounds like I have a photo op to take a picture of the ship. What excursions are you looking at? Pandas are expected to be back at the zoo later this year. Was just there last week. They are refurbishing the enclosure.

We toured The Alhambra with Viking and here are a few things to be aware of. It sells out within minutes. Be sure you try and book as soon as reservations open. Book and pay for it immediately. The Alhambra restricts the number of busses allowed by cruise lines to one single bus per day per line. Admission tickets must have the passenger's name printed on it. Because of this, even if there are cancellations onboard, the seats will not be resold. You are subject to random ID checks during the tour at checkpoints. You must carry your passport and the name must match what is printed on the ticket. It was an awesome experience that has to be seen to be believed. Celestial ceiling