CDNPolar

Not our experience at all. We have had great variety of breads especially in the Chef's Table and Manfredi's. Not sure what the World Cafe offers in bread for lunch and dinner because if it is not served to my table, I don't go looking for it. Our experience was crusty outside and soft/chewy inside. Sorry to hear this.... There are other comments here and there about the quality of Viking food declining, perhaps this is also an area of concern?

Yes, what @gnome12 said, and because it is part of Global Entry, if you are returning to Canada and you are transiting through the USA to get home, your transit through whatever airport you land in the USA will be quicker and easier too! Essentially this is the same as returning from the USA when you get to Canada, but without the Nexus you would be relegated to the standard customs / immigration lines when landing in the USA for your connection.

I take both prescription and OTC medications. I generally ONLY travel with these pre-sorted in daily pill organizers and have never been questioned. However, it is really not security in any country that you are concerned about, it is when you get pulled out of the line for more extensive search that you could have to justify what the pill is. This is going to be with the deeper customs search where they are looking for things that are not allowed in the country you are in. I feel very confident because we never get pulled out for additional inspection, but now that I have said that it will likely happen! haha. My opinion. Do your OTC meds have to be in their original bottles? No. Take a picture of the bottle label with a pill beside it and keep these pics in your photo favourites. This is what I do. If you were stopped it is about being able to identify the pill and these customs agents in all countries use websites that show pics of pills. In reality even with the original OTC bottle you could have anything in that bottle. (I do the same with all my prescription meds too) RE your liquid. I have had this issue before and you have two options. Put it in a good strength ziplock back and pack in your checked luggage, or what I have done in the past is buy a travel size (100ml) bottle - or 2 or 3 - and pour the liquid in one or more of these bottles so that you have the amount you need. Just take a sharpie or permanent marker and mark the bottle for its contents.

There are so many discussions about this subject all over CC. Should I book direct or book with a third party - travel agent. Most of the discussions end in a very similar way. Half say that they prefer control over their booking and do it themselves, and the other half like the advice, experience, and guidance of the TA. The other benefit of the TA is the potential of OBC or other perks. We book direct with the cruise line and get everything we want lined up first and then we transfer the booking to one of a couple/few travel services we use. Depending on the cruise line and length of cruise we get different deals with different agents. Once we have booked, transferring the booking is purely what can we gain from the TA. (Note that cruise lines have a time limit for you to move your booking to a TA - miss that time line and you cannot move it)

Everything said above I agree with. Our personal experience... Many people think that the included tours are just superficial city highlights, but we find that walking alone we see things and don't know what their significance is. On the included walking or bus tour, you get a running commentary of the history and the significant sites, monuments, and culture. We learn so much from the included tours. Optional tours we do as well, but they have to be of very specific significance to us to pay extra. The other thing about the optional city walk or bus and shopping/free time, is we will often then separate from the tour and stay in the town or city and return to the ship when we have had our fill. Often the tour shows us what we want to see in more detail. Just be sure to let your guide know if you are separating from the tour so they are not looking for you or waiting for you.

Interesting! The Douro was our first River Cruise and it made us fall in love with River cruising and specifically Viking's river cruises. (We had already done VO) We have had a few diets over the years and on this cruise specifically we were hard core Vegan for perceived and and anticipated health benefits. We were terrified of the food portion of this river cruise because we thought we might be eating salads, potatoes and tomatoes for our complete meal plan. We emailed Viking in advance and got a vague "we will try" answer from them with a disclaimer that they do vegetarian but not vegan. We spoke with the restaurant manager on embarkation and he introduced us to one of his Chefs who specialized in vegan/vegetarian cooking. This was some of the best food we ever had on Viking. The Chef would modify for us or would cook something special for us each night. We most often went with the Chef's offering and we were never disappointed. We cruised with 6 others and they were regular menu and they loved the food. What I saw on each plate looked spectacular and they said it tasted great! We were all pleased with the food. We are not vegan now because too many of the countries that we travel to (APAC region specifically) don't get vegan...and it is just too difficult to travel.

What I love about this discussion is so many people make such great arguments for both cities that I would not know what to choose myself...! Haha. I think that you won't go wrong either way.

Our experience onboard is that Guest Services and Shorex will do what they can to get you on that excursion. Certainly check back before the cruise, but once onboard, go to Guest Services and express your interest. If you are not added by the day before, then after the port talk approach the Shorex Manager after the talk. People regularly cancel or drop out. Note that Viking have a 48 hour rule for cancellation, so your best chance to get on the excursion is 48-72 hours before. If all else fails, we have seen people put on the excursion at the point of boarding the bus. The one type of excursion that may NOT be easy to get on is one that includes a meal where an advance reservation number was given to the restaurant.

Hmmm... possible... Have to look at this. River or Ocean ship? Must be talking River right?

Yep - this was exactly the incident. The daughter of the couple came to our table after orders were given and passed her business card to me. They have a business and wanted to send us product as a thank you. I never followed up because I did not move tables for a payoff, I moved because crew asked but if I had others joining us, I would have stood my ground and stayed at that table.

We have done it - just recently - but unfortunately we didn't take pics of the menus... Perhaps we will start. We are doing West Indies in October (ocean) and Grand European in November. We will take pics of all the menus and archive them.

Yes - this is all very interesting to say the least. We have been Viking loyal, but are not opposed to looking at other lines. We really cannot blame any company for wanting to ensure growth or market share, and sometimes for companies to grow they will disappoint some while enticing others... I only think that at the speed that the prices have been going up, and the quality starting to decline that public shareholders are going to want more profits which means squeezing margins where we don't want them squeezed. I think I also feel that the price point that Viking is at now, we expect the same or more in service and quality. That is where their downfall will be. Viking however - in my opinion - don't have the facilities for the mass market. They would have to take out the Planetarium and install a water slide and where would they put the smoke filled casino?

@pontac thanks for the "correction" and why I put "I might be wrong" and always happy when someone comes in and gives a better account of reality. Cheers! I have read that change of Chef does impact sometimes... and that modifications happen from time to time.

Wow... so sorry to hear this... Not a good review for Virgin or solo cruising.

I believe that the menus are always changing. We had a different menu each lunch and dinner (other than the always available) and then there were the locally inspired dishes each day. I think it also depends on the Chef onboard. I might be wrong, but don't think a menu from this year would be any indication of next year for so many reasons.

Viking runs different promotions at different times all year.

I have not done this pre-cruise extension but our first time in Budapest was late last year and we had two days there. We are going back this year and ending our river cruise there again, and I cannot wait. Budapest is an amazing city with so much to discover. Go for it.

The first thing I would do is EMAIL tellus@vikingcruises.com and indicate in detail your situation. Give them the type of wheelchair, the size of wheelchair, whether you also have and use a transfer chair, etc. Why? Whether you are sailing on Viking Ocean or Viking River, the first obstacle is getting that wheelchair on and off the ship. Very few gangways are flat or ramps. Many are stairs and can be quite steep. I agree about posting in Disabled Cruise Travel forum, but first let's make sure you can get on and off the ship before investigating the cruise ports. You may have significant issues as ships do not conform to the same accessibility standards as we expect in many countries around the world.

Nexus is absolutely about "comfort and convenience" for us. No doubt about it. We would pay much more than this new 5 year fee as long as they keep the speed of passage the same. Actually the price increase may well keep the membership numbers low enough for the speed of passing to remain the same!

Too many stories about this.. we were also told by a Cruise Director that they could be applied before final payment, but we would have to call reservations and effectively cancel our reservation and rebook. Good Luck with that! We opted to not even try. We all know that this would never end well. Understand that the vouchers are for future cruises and they do not expire. Keep them for later if that hundred bucks is that important to you.

Totally agree, but I think "management" today is afraid to offend anyone because of the potential social media attacks...

Know that in the World Cafe, you can walk up to the cooking - hot food section - and get a steak grilled to your liking anytime. There may be "hidden" options. Also on some ships around the back of the World Cafe across from the bar there is (on some ships) a cooking station there that offers options too.

We have always gotten the included tour even if it is sold out in advance. Not to worry.

It is not like China is not accustomed to large numbers of people.

I believe that cruise ship departure times from ports and sailing times can be a complicated thing to understand. It could be many reasons, one of which what time they can dock in the next port and the sailing time to the next port. We have been on many cruises where the departure time has been later than posted and never asked anyone specifically. Is there a reason you are asking this?