CDNPolar

Did not think of this... but how true. We will be eastbound so we will arrive home adjusted to the time. I guess that our biggest challenge will be manually setting our iPhones and iWatches to the time change as at sea they will not pick up the change from any tower. Not like we will miss the all aboard time, but we may be late for dinner!

Very good point @gnome12 , I was not thinking this. I don't remember how many times we have left a River ship in one city/town but returned after excursion to a different city or town. This can happen frequently and I know for certain that it happened more than once on the Douro River in Portugal. There can be a scheduled period to go through a lock or many other operational issues that causes the ship to move while you are out on excursion.

This is what most do... some book local private tour guides, but I have never myself come across anyone renting a car to venture further afoot.

I have not done the research to where you are going, but you can do whatever your heart desires after the ship docks as long as you are back on board before she sails again. You can rent a car, hire a driver, hire a private tour guide, whatever you want. The question is whether there are cars for hire close to where the ship dock. There are always tours that you can buy... You will just have to look at how long you are in port for and if that is enough time. Hopefully you will have an overnight in a port that would afford you more time.

So, how about the OP's original question? Simple answer is no. Included air, but will a deviation fee guarantee us non-stop?

Note too that Viking's policy is that the scooter must be kept in the cabin and not in the hallway. Not sure what the "administrative fee" is unless it is to do with the scooter request? I don't pay any "administrative fee" when booking, just a deposit. Agree that if the deposit is $25.00 then you are not risking much. Additionally, if the scooter is necessary for all movement, then you have the gangways to deal with as they are often stairs. Not easy to get a scooter down stairs.

To expand on that, our first expedition on Hurtigruten was this hike... Viking's landings and hikes were all level ground - from what I have heard of those on Viking. Also our snowshoeing was very demanding. The climb up this first "hill" took over 45 minutes switch back or zig zagging. My understanding is that Viking does not do this kind of expedition as it is too demanding. The snowshoeing below was also very demanding and kept us - quite in shape - out of breath for most of it.

We are Viking loyal BUT I am going to speak against Viking on this one... We actually went to Antarctica on Hurtigruten. We looked at Viking but we also found that Viking's excursions were less demanding than those of Hurtigruten. We would have been disappointed with Viking's excursions. Remember that Viking is organizing for an older crowd than the average Expedition seeker.

I do bet that cruisers wanting to use the toilets are a frustration for many restaurants and shop keepers.

We often have found more options in the World Cafe or different options than what is on the menu in The Restaurant. We have never missed a show because of eating in the Restaurant, but then we eat at 6pm sharp each night. Eating for us is clock based.

Looking forward to your review of Virgin. Have fun and travel safe!

Love what @spunks has shared as we are about to do our first TA cruise. BUT, this time without excursions and wandering time in cities and towns also opens you up to spending more time eating and drinking.... we will definitely work to control this....

I live just outside of Toronto so I don't see what tourism does to this city on a daily basis - especially in the summer and on the weekends - and there are more ships coming to Toronto now... What I do know is that as someone that works in the downtown financial district of the city - which is also tourist area, that when you are rushing for the commuter train and you are constantly being blocked by groups of people taking pictures and stopping in their tracks to look up, it can get frustrating. I get this in many cities and countries. As Cruisers, we do NOT spend money in most countries that we visit. Not on souvenirs, not on coffee, not on an ice cream. We do our excursion and go back to the ship. Occasionally we will stay on shore for a lunch, but that has to be for some authentic cuisine that intrigues us. Our dollars are being added to this country's economy by taking the excursion and the tour company and tour guide are the ones that are benefiting.

Call Viking Air department and lay out your conundrum and see what they say. If they say no or don't have a great answer, don't commit to anything that they offer unless it meets your needs and what you overall want to accomplish. This is when you call back and talk to someone else as not every Viking agent - air or reservations - is 100% in the know of what is possible. In my mind, why would they not let you, but as @Peregrina651 says, it may not meet Viking's contract rates and obligations with the airlines. If impossible to do, then you have no option but to decline the Viking Air and book and pay yourself. I think however that they will find a way, you just have to find an agent that can do what you want.

Mary - glad to see you are giving Viking a go... I echo you on the "want to still be talking to each other when we embark". We are great planners, but we have differing views... I sometimes think that we can do it cheaper, but my other half thinks we will not get the knowledge we would gain from the guides if we were touring on our own. Additionally, the transfers, the hotels, etc., are all an additional headache. Lots to learn about Viking and hope your upcoming adventures are great!

Exactly - this is information that I would like to know in advance. We are on West Indies to Iberia in October this year. Our excursions have not opened for booking yet, but are there to study. This is the FIRST TIME that I believe that I have seen this in an excursion description. The bus time is 4 hours total (approximately) with 3 hours in Seville. This would make me question some excursions if I want to do them or not. It would depend on how excited I am to see Seville. Spend the day exploring Seville, the capital of Andalusia, at your leisure. You will travel approximately two hours each way. Moderate - Walking portions may be long and somewhat challenging with occasional step-ups, stairs and inclines. Total time walking or standing normally ranges from 1.5 to 3 hours.

Was not privy to the whole conversation.... haha

I believe that this is an issue for both River and Ocean cruisers that we will have to deal with as time marches on. I am most afraid of protesters that may in the future (as they have been known to do already) start to protest at cruise docks. This could become like union strikes and trying to cross picket lines. We love cruising but if this starts to happen we will rethink our travel strategy.

Bergen to Barcelona you want to be on the left or Port side of the ship. Moving south you will get most coastline views with the exception of Portsmouth and Flamouth. This however never guarantees you a view of the port when you dock, just shoreline when sailing.

This is a case of call back until you get someone that is "playing nice in the sandbox". We have booked many cruises that we forgot to question the payment terms and then called back and Viking immediately changed our payment date. Viking's issue of late is that the shore based services are not as up to par as the onboard crew and service. We have found that one Viking Rep says NO and the next says YES. I would call complete BS on what you were told. Viking need to be better at these things.

Gotcha... Our first Viking Cruise (of 10 now) was an Ocean cruise. We fell in love with Viking from that cruise. Our second Viking cruise was also Ocean. We did not try Viking river until the third cruise. The two "products" are so different yet similar but in very different ways. If I could only go on one more cruise and you offered me ocean vs. river, I would choose Viking ocean. Viking's river ships are very nice, and the river itineraries are more intimate and "inside" a country or region than the ocean itineraries are. But, the Viking ocean ships have more space than passengers. They are quiet and sedate and the experience is just so much more. With specialty restaurants and entertainment and choice of lounges for a drink. The Thermal Spa, the option of massages, etc. To me you cannot compare Viking River to Ocean or in fact any River to Ocean cruise. They are different. I guess I would need to know what you did not like about your Viking River experience.

I have suggested to my husband magnetic hooks and he always looks at me and asks - when have we ever needed them, and that is just more junk to pack. He is right - we have never had a need. I read here and think wow, what a great idea which fuels a "want" without a "need". I do understand why some would need them.

Most cruises we "live" on deck. We spent hours on deck in Antarctica every day. We spend time on deck in rain, snow, and beautiful sun. Now, with Antarctica there are icebergs and other beauty to see. On the TA there is only water, but we will be on deck listening to music or reading. This is one reason that we always have a secret stash of a down coat, or a wind/rain resistant jacket and a sweater. We like the opportunity of a 360 degree view on deck - even if all you can see is water. On our upcoming TA cruise, it is with Viking and we know their ships well. There is always a corner of the upper deck you can snag a chair at that is wind protected.

We were on a Nile cruise and there was a woman on this cruise that was nicknamed Cleopatra and the reason was that everyone awaited every change she made during the day including the wide brimmed hats that she always had on. Now I would say that we saw one or two hats more than once, but never the outfit twice. On the Egyptian night she arrived at the lounge with the most beautiful "costume" of anyone on the ship - of course. This woman apparently had the cash. Never saw how much luggage she brought, but we were in a carpet store and she wanted to buy the $50K USD carpet but her husband refused her the opportunity.

Thanks... We have worked it all out with the hotel - Taj Mahal Tower - and are now booked directly with them. Thank you for your information... here is something that saved us several hundreds of dollars. Two years ago we were in Buenos Aires and we thought that we would be paying in USD and that is what we budgeted for. This was the Sheraton. We found out during our stay that the bill would be converted to ARS. We were coached by a few friends that had been to Argentina more than once that we should get USD before leaving home and convert there to ARS. We were instructed about the bank rate, the hotel rate and the blue rate. We were uncomfortable with going down the street somewhere for the blue rate, and found that the hotel rate was okay for us. Better than the bank rate. We underestimated the amount of USD that we needed to convert to ARS and ran out of cash. We thought without doing our research that dining would be cheaper in Buenos Aires. We did some investigating how to get more USD cash to buy ARS and this is what we found: The Western Union rate of exchange for CDN money to ARS was better than the hotel rate that we had settled on. AND, for us if we converted to USD then to ARS, we were actually paying much more than we thought in exchange. The only problem is you must go to a Western Union outlet and the amounts of cash we were getting we felt like we were robbing a bank with the stacks of bills we were putting into our backpack. We actually exchanged in the beginning only enough for a couple of days of restaurants, but then figured out that we would save a lot if we paid our hotel bill in ARS cash. So in the end, we paid our hotel bill in ARS CASH, and we calculated that we saved over $300 by the time the credit card would have converted the amount to CDN at the rate that they used.