CDNPolar

This is odd that they would put meat on a plate with fish. Often people are picking the fish for dietary or religious reasons and would not want other land animal meat on the plate. Odd.

As Deb92 said, you can wait until your flights show up in MVJ which is about 90 days before sailing, BUT, if you are going this route, you want to inform Viking Reservations now that you want to come in one day early so your flights are properly selected in advance. You don't want tickets selected departing on the 15th and then have to change them. If you inform reservations now that you want to fly in one day early, then your flights will be selected accordingly. You will however pay a diversion fee of $100.00 per person for this. You will pay this if you inform them now or later because you are flying outside of contract rate dates that Viking have. (The majority of Viking passengers land the day of departure) You can opt to add Viking Air Plus NOW, to your booking and pay a fee (either $100 or $150 pp) and select your flights in advance. These will immediately show on MVJ and you have them locked in. (Airlines can still make changes, but you have your basic schedule locked in) You will by doing this forfeit Viking transfers from airport to your hotel and then from your hotel to the ship. These will be your responsibility.

I am sorry.... I just looked. The port times are listed on our future Viking Ocean cruises, but not on the River cruises. I thought that they were on all cruises.

We saw this for the first time recently - December/January - on Treasures of the Rhine. If it had been offered in the past we were not aware. On this cruise I think that there was a significant group that took this tour daily. We thought it was a great idea as we have seen many struggle to keep up with some guides. We have had some guides that are in general too slow and some that are not self-aware as to how fast they are moving. It is all over the place. I think that you might want to also ask on boarding if this is going to be offered. Kind of "remind" them that it is needed.

Was going to say.... there has been another whole discussion about sparkling, Prosecco, Cava, and Champagne. We don't love the included sparkling but we drink it at lunch as a starter. It seems to open our palate a bit before lunch. Kind of cleanses the morning excursion dust out of our mouth.

Photos to follow!

Exactly. You might see me using a napkin to hold the tongs when I serve myself and you may also see us go wash hands again, especially with the washing station at the entrance. You are right - we are never going to change the behaviour of others. All we can do is protect ourselves. Although we cannot protect ourselves if Norovirus was transferred to the food from staff, we can protect ourselves from Norovirus transferred from other guests not washing their hands by washing and rewashing our hands.

Our experience is that Viking keep their ships up well. The ship is not your deciding factor, the itinerary is, IMO.

Not suggesting that you are not aware of this, but your card is only a max rebate of $100.00 But I agree, even if I have to pay out of pocket in the future above what TD will cover, I will still renew my Nexus.

Our TD Infinite Privilege Visa gives up to $100 rebate once every two years for Nexus. I was curious when Nexus was only $50, but this was likely to accommodate the cardholder and one other person in the household? Guess we are almost covered for cost. I am ok with the cost for the value. We would not want to do without our Nexus cards. For us this is like Hwy 407 for those in Ontario. We only drive it occasionally but still have a transponder. Cost vs. convenience is what we look at and convenience generally always wins.

My general rule is don't object, don't question, just answer calmly and carry on. The minute you start to show anything other than compliance is when you are more exposed and in danger.

If you have your Viking invoice, usually around page 3 are the ports and the tentative arrival and departure times. Also you can look at the map as the map legend indicates if the ship is in port overnight usually with a hollow dot over a solid dot. I say tentative because times may change for a host of reasons, but this will give you some indication. We have experienced early departures at 5pm from ports but also as late as 11pm. Depends on what is going on in excursions. Often there are dinner or evening excursions.

We embark on our first TA cruise this October. Looks like I can go with a carry on only for this cruise. A couple pairs of cutoff shorts some tank tops and flip flops and I am good to go!

Agree - I have learned so much from my time here and continue to learn. The members here that share their experiences are invaluable to all of us!

I understand that there may be a concern about losing your main cards, but I fear that pre-paid cards may be more challenge than you want. If you Google using a pre-paid card in Europe, there are general statements that a pre-paid Visa is accepted anywhere a Visa is accepted, but you are now dealing with something that is finite and you will have to carefully keep track of the balance. Where pre-paid cards have broken down for us in the past locally, is when you have $23.58 left and you need to pay for something that is $30.00 it can be difficult. On top of this you are now dealing with a conversion of currency. Credit cards today are so easy to block if you do lose one that I would not worry. We each have a personal card and we share a joint card, so we always travel with three cards. If one is lost or stolen we still have the others. The other advantage of your credit cards is that most of Europe, if not all of Europe is very card friendly. We don't even get local currency. We use our cards for everything. You just need a good safekeeping strategy for your wallets and cards. Purses - IMO - are not the strategy. These can be pickpocketed in crowded areas easily, or just pulled from you and they run off.

We last travelled in late December which traditionally has been a fairly safe time, but the rains were relentless and the rivers were high and flooding everywhere. Risk with this of not sailing because water levels too high.

Exactly - if you don't ask you won't get. If you don't like what is on offer say this and they try to accommodate. The "house wines" are not cheap bottom of the barrel wines. They are and can be some decent wines.

Yes, I did not want to bring that up, but I have walked past these chairs many times and only 50% are occupied and the rest are waiting for someone to lounge... I have heard people say that I was in the chair early and went to lunch and wanted the chair after lunch... I don't personally thing that is fair. If you are gone longer than to go to the bathroom, then relinquish the chair. We are doing our first TA cruise this October and I hope that this is not the case with these chairs but if it is, I will quietly go to the open deck and find a wind resistant place, or go back to my cabin and sit in my window there.

We often book our air 270-300 days out using Viking Air Plus. We research the flights we want on GoogleFlights and then have a couple of options when we call. Most of the time the flights we want are included in Viking contract rates as we fly from Toronto and most often we fly Star Alliance airlines which are typically in Viking contract rates. Occasionally we have to make an adjustment like an upcoming flight where we fly Air Canada to the cruise but British Air home. Both were acceptable to us. If we wanted Air Canada on the return too, we could have had it for about $150 more pp. Sometimes, but not always are upgrades available. It depends on the contract rates. If the contract rate is rock bottom then upgrades are not available. Many airlines don't allow upgrades on the lowest fare paid. We have successfully upgraded to Premium and Business with Viking but also had times when economy was the only choice. Sometimes when it is not an option at booking it is available at the airport from the airline. Viking Air Plus will tell you all this. Typically now upgrade to Premium is about $1,200.00 pp which is about what it is for most online. Some think that Viking are phasing out the Air Plus, but what has happened is now you can wait for your flights to be populated in MVJ, and then make your own changes inside the site, OR you can then add Air Plus. The beauty of paying for Air Plus further in advance is schedules are more open. Waiting until July to add Air Plus may not give you so many options. You can also ask for flights to be ticketed as early as when you do full payment, but note that once flights are ticketed then any change incurs a change fee, but we do this because we are good with the flights and we just want to secure them.

If you don't opt for Viking Air Plus when you are booking your cruise then you must wait until they book your flights. (July expected date) When your flights are populated in MVJ, then you have time before they are ticketed to look at alternate flights and even upgrades. If you don't like what you see and you cannot alter to what you want, then you can add Air Plus and call and ask for the flights you want. If you want to not deal with all this waiting, pay for Air Plus now and call and ask for the flights you want to be booked. Note that the fights you want may not be inside Viking contract rates. Also CDG - 1 hour 15 is NOT enough time. If this is your first entry to Schengen then you will have passport control and security again. If your flight into CDG is on time, you may make it but if you are 20 minutes late leaving your home airport than you could be in trouble. We personally do not book any connections in Europe less than 2.5 hours. Our experience has proven that less time than this is dangerous.

I am with you!

We were told on a river cruise in September last year that these vouchers were being phased out for sale sometime in 2024, but that they don't have expiry dates and will be honoured by Viking for use at anytime in the future. On a subsequent river cruise we did this past December, we asked and they did not indicate that they were being phased out and that they were still available. So if you want them and have the opportunity to buy them on your Douro cruise, go ahead and buy them as you will be able to use them in the future on Ocean and River.

Welcome to Cruise Critic @bcmurray Re the water levels, what @Nippy Sweetie said. To me river cruising can be impacted by water levels at any time of the year. I personally believe that you have to be mentally prepared that water levels can impact your cruise any month of the year. What is the best time of the year for the Grand European Tour with Viking? We like to go off season or shoulder season for two reasons - temperature and crowds. If you look at Viking's sailing schedule, you will notice that Viking does not sail this itinerary in December, January, and February. Our thinking is that a lot, not everyone, but a lot of people want to sail in Europe during the warmer months and you will also see prices be higher in the summer months. For this reason we choose to go in October/November or March/April for a cruise like this. Viking will fill the ship, but you may not have as many tourists on the ground in general. HOWEVER, we are going on this cruise this year departing November 24th. We chose this because the Christmas Markets will (should) be open especially as we sail through Germany. We booked this specifically to see the Christmas Markets. So - going late November - I think the last cruise date that does not interfere with Christmas, we will see great crowds at the Christmas markets for sure, but this could also be as much local residents as tourists. In short - if you are not looking for the Christmas Markets, and you don't mind the cooler temps, then October or March. This however does not free you from water level challenges. Whatever is happening with the climate globally, the weather patterns now are more unpredictable than ever. Your guess on water levels is as good as anyone elses.

Yeah... many people don't like sharing tables on River ships, but you are right about the tables for two in The Restaurant and even the row of tables for 2 or 4 in the World Cafe - you are so close, that you might as well be sitting with the other people.

Love this reason. We have never experienced a time on Viking personally where we could not get a chair at the pool, or on deck. Now we may not get a chair looking out the side windows at the pool, but there is always a chair. The only time on Viking that can be a challenge getting a chair is in the Winter Garden for Tea at 4:00pm if you are not early enough.