CDNPolar

We use Viking Air Plus often. Free flights and flights with a cost associated. Very often we have had non-stop flights to our destination. I think that non-stop depends on where you are flying from and to. We know that non-stops are typically more expensive than connections, and hence why Viking is more likely to put you on a connection. This is likely two fold as well.... one, they don't want to advertise the non-stop price because it will increase the overall price of the cruise, and two, non-stops are not available for all. We fly out of Toronto YYZ and most all of our Europe destinations are non-stop for us. One shot and we are there. Most of our embarkation ports have been a non-stop for us. There is no connection airport for us out of Toronto if we are flying to London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, etc., etc. Oh, and never had to pay extra for the non-stop. We don't have connection options out of Toronto...

Is there not a risk to not being able to get the excursion you want if you wait until you are onboard? I know you said you had no problem getting the excursions you wanted, but we have always booked in advance to ensure we get what we want. Many times on cruises the excursions are sold out before boarding.

Our TA sends an updated invoice from Viking immediately after any changes.... Just contact your TA as someone is receiving the updated invoices.

We are travelling with family for the first time ever in November/December. This is immediate family and in-laws to them. We will see how this goes.

We travel with folks that we really like, but that does not mean that we want to spend every minute with them. We are quite a solitary couple in daily life and although we like having folks we know on a cruise with us, we still like our time alone.

But a good thing that Nexus allows the use of the existing / expired card until the replacement arrives. You are set now to go whenever... My renewal was pandemic related but I was over 2 years travelling on the expired card and no issue anytime.

I find online a couple of options that say they insure voucher value, however one thing that is likely a need to know is where are you? Assuming you are in the US that will change what is available.

We made our decision and we are the following: Air Canada Business YYZ to DEL Air India Economy DEL to BKK Home is LOT Business BOM to WAW LOT Business WAW to YYZ Never flown LOT before, but despite the fact that the configuration of business is not pod style, the reviews seem to be pretty good. We know the AC business product well and it is good for our 15 hours to DEL.

You should not lose visibility of payment deadlines because you are working with a TA. Your TA should be sending you any revision to the Viking invoice as changes or additions are made, and on the top of page one of the invoice is the final payment date. This is always visible regardless of whether you are working with Viking directly or through a TA.

Thank you so much for this!

In early 2025 we are doing Across the Bay of Bengal ending in Mumbai. We are going to stay a couple nights extra in Mumbai on our own, not with the Viking post-extension. Looking for hotel recommendations that are good location in Mumbai for first timers to India. Like more luxury level hotels. Viking put their extension guests at the Taj Mahal Tower close to the cruise port. We have looked at the Oberoi which is in a similar area. Is this not too far out from the centre of Mumbai?

Good advice. I do know that some pre-pay their gratuities for the echeck option of saving 3.3%. Personally that is not enough of a savings for me to consider, and we put everything on our credit cards for the airline points.

Awesome! Thank you.

It can be Wac-A-Mole for sure. We want to buy an annual policy, but the stability period (Blue Cross) is 90 days prior to the effective date of the policy - or the purchase date. Essentially any travel during that year is based on whether you were stable during the 90 days prior to purchase, even if the condition becomes unstable after purchase.

@gnome12 sorry - lazy and don't want to go through the post. Is this coverage you have with TuGo?

With both of us dealing with pre-existing conditions now, it is kind of a nightmare to navigate the insurance companies and select what you are going to buy. It is the stability period. Assume that any condition that you currently are taking medication for (exception being diabetes if well managed) that it is a pre-existing condition. What is the stability period for pre-existing conditions on your policy? If you medication changes that makes you not stable. I have been stable for 3 years and taking a medication for that condition, and my doc stopped a medication because it is no longer needed. I am now not stable until 3 months after the stoppage.

We have sailed with Viking 10 times now - Ocean and River - and have 4 future cruises booked. We find they have great food, exceptional crew and service standards. Viking's most extreme dress code is "elegant casual" for evenings but this is more no flip flops and cut off shorts in the dining venues at night. Relaxed dress code. Clean and covered is what I call it. Viking is not a party environment, however folks do have fun. No casinos, no chain by the inch, etc. Viking seems expensive when you first look at a cabin price, but when you consider what is included, it is worth it. We would spend more on a mass market brand for a lesser experience if we included everything we got from Viking.

We have never found the guest cabins on the "aquarium level" to be any noisier than on deck 2 or 3.

No offence intended by this statement, but I don't understand why you are having this problem as we have used Air Plus on now about 8 Viking cruises - river and ocean - and had a great experience. First question - are you calling the Air Plus department or general reservations? Call the Air Plus, or they should be connecting you to Air Plus from the general reservations department. Here is how we do it. 1) We book and pay for Air Plus 2) We start to look at flights 270-300 days out from the cruise. We look at Google Flights and direct with airline websites and start to pick our first, second, and so on choices. 3) We decide if we are going to have a deviation on either side of the cruise. 4) We call Air Plus and give them our booking number. Now it seems that you must pay for Air Plus and Deviation fees at the time of booking the flights even if this is before final payment date. 5) We give our first choice to the Air Plus agent. We wait for their comments back and sometimes the flights we choose are in Viking contract rates and sometimes they are not. If not then we give our second choice or look at options that Viking offer. 6) We choose and we book, pick our seats and we are done. 7) We ask for our chosen flights to be ticketed as soon as possible. We then move to the airline website and manipulate our seats if necessary. This won't happen until your flights are ticketed. I don't understand why you are being told to wait until your flights are published on MVJ. If you wait for this you don't have to pay the Air Plus, but you will have to pay the deviation fee if you are not going with their per and post cruise dates.

We fly one or two days early depending on the time of year. In winter months (North America) where weather can impact flight reliability, we go a day or two early. During the summer months (North America) and flying to Europe, we fly to arrive the day of the embarkation.

Yep - they are in fact that. If you wander down the stairs to the lower deck you will see a crew only door that leads to these cabins. You don't see crew coming and going all the time from this door as they have an access also from the front of the ship.

Or make a bunch of bookings at the Spa for massage or whatever and spend it that way. We never pay our gratuities in advance because we never know if we will end up booking onboard or if we have other OBC still available. We also do our ship board bookings near the beginning of the cruise so that we have time to use those OBC's. I have seen some people that book 1 or 2 days before the end of the cruise and then they are in the shop buying stuff they probably don't want or need.

In our experience, and we have done this several times, you can transfer any deposit to any cruise at any time before final payment. Once you make final payment then you may run into challenges. I rather doubt that Viking are going to negotiate less than 6 month terms with you, but you can try. Since you are working through a TA, all of this must be done with the TA. I would choose a future date for the same cruise if you are committed to that Itinerary, however note that if the cruise is more expensive in the future date, Viking are not going to honour the price you have now.

Thanks for your words of wisdom. These are just AC points, but what we have found is the great deals in point redemption come this far out. As we look at closer dates, the point requirements go up and the partner airlines that offer better points deals disappear because they are sold out. It is what we thought about Air India and the schedule and that we would never be able to count on the upgrades in time. We are now looking at a potential Air Canada to Delhi and then Air India from Delhi to Bangkok, and then on the way home LOT from Mumbai to Warsaw to Toronto. On this we can get business class all but the Air India Delhi to Bangkok.

Thank you for your reply and the tips on the stability.