CDNPolar

We still get the red Viking stickers, but we don't put them on... We scan the airport area while waiting for luggage and then on exiting the luggage hall for folks wearing RED with clipboards and have always found them in the first 30-45 seconds. Many folks do put on the stickers, but I kind of feel like I am on a school field trip and waiting for someone to pass me the rope to hold on to as we walk to the bus. I feel that the Red Leather luggage tags that Viking send are enough.

It is hard to go hungry on a Viking ship - yea, kind of true - but I am a very early riser. I want tea or coffee at 4:30am to 5:00am. That is difficult on a Viking Ocean ship. I won't use the in-cabin coffee maker at that hour because the noise it makes could and will wake the dead, and my husband. I have tried room service with a note on the door hanger menu to "knock ONCE ONLY" but they will come and ring the buzzer several times and wake my husband. The best thing for me is to slip out the door - does not wake my husband - and go to the World Cafe. This is a fine choice but I have so many times found the coffee machines there in cleaning mode, being restocked, or whatever and therefore not able to get a coffee or tea. Viking Ocean need a station for folks like me to self-serve early. River has it and I LOVE River for this fact.

There is a discussion somewhere on comparing cost of one cruise line to another. It is very difficult because they are not apples to apples. A recent post - could even be on this discussion - a poster suggests comparing two cruise lines where they say that the itineraries are "similar" but not the same. This makes it difficult to compare. So, increasing Viking fares to include gratuities (in Canada and the USA) or lowering other lines fares to not include gratuities is not the answer - I don't think. I think back to the original discussion, we vote for what we know. Those that are voting Viking as number one, are doing so because they like it. Others look at this when they have had a sub-standard experience on Viking and wonder why Viking ranks so high. It is because annually - somehow - I get the email or the survey asking me to vote. I vote for the experience that I know which is Viking.

I think somewhere on the left hand panel, mine said that the card would continue to work until the new one was issued. It was not a prominent message.

Hmmmm... I guess that I applied before actual expiry so mine was honoured during renewal process. Perhaps someone else knows? If in this case the card HAS expired, is the expired card invalid and you have to wait until the new one is issued?

Since you have done your flights through Viking you have transfers included. There will be a Viking Agent at the airport either at the luggage carousel, or just as you exit the luggage area. Viking will send you special luggage tags - this is when you want to apply these. (These are temporary ones that indicate your Viking cabin number) Viking will take your luggage and take it to the cabin - you don't have to do anything with your luggage other than claim it at the airport. If you don't want to deal with your carry ons then tag them as well and leave them with Viking. Find your Viking Rep - always in Red and often more than one. You will be taken to the ship pronto - we have never waited more than 20'ish minutes and it is always because they have several people to pick up. You will typically board the ship at that point and you can go to the restaurant even if your cabin is not ready. We went to the Guest Services desk and were issued a temporary card with the intended Cabin number on it and asked to keep that visible on the table wherever we were. On our most recent River Cruise, we arrived about noon to the ship, we went into the restaurant. I believe that it was a buffet offering. Not a full typical lunch. There was however hot and cold food options. After lunch we went up to the lounge and sat there and had a drink and met some folks. Viking crew came looking for us as the cabins were ready and accompanied us to the cabin. You could leave if you wanted, but probably better to just wait for your cabin... We just wait on board.

Looking forward to seeing this! We would love options for included excursions. For our upcoming Ocean cruises, we don't see more than one included tour, but this is just on the itinerary part of the main site. The excursions are not listed or open yet in MVJ. Fingers crossed that this will be a regular thing!

Check online. If you have started the renewal process, it should at least tell you that your existing card is valid until the new card is issued. For interview or no interview, that is roulette. My husband and I have our Nexus cards, passports and China entry Visas all aligned so they expire/renew at the same time. When we did our Nexus renewal just prior to the pandemic, his was approved online and card promptly sent with no interview. Mine indicated an interview, I booked it, and with Covid all the centres closed to in-person and the interview was cancelled. When everything opened again, (more than two years) I had to do both the Canadian and US interviews.

Sorry if my response is offensive to you as it is not intended to be. Like Don, I am going to stay until I am finished watching and seeing what I want to see. For the Panama Canal crossing, I stood from 5:15am until we were through the canal completely. I did not move from my spot. I wanted to experience the entire canal crossing. This is what I was on the ship for. I was there at 5:15 and the Resident Historian was there at that point too. There were perhaps only 5 or 6 others that arrived at that time. Most people arrived when we were already in the canal locks. I was on this ship for the Canal crossing - nothing else. I made sure that I was up in plenty of time to get my spot. How is this different from me lining up to get tickets to the most sought after concert? What if I choose to be at the front of the line even if it means that I am standing/sitting for 12 hours? I am not going to let others in because the line is now so long... Again, sorry if this is offensive to you, as it is not intended to be.

Look into annual for sure. We have annual medical through our employer, so we don't go looking for that, but often we find (in Canada anyway) that many of the annual plans include a medical portion as well. We are most in the market for cancellation and interruption insurance. Here is how I calculate the risk. In Canada, the average annual plan ONLY covers $5,000.00 per person cancellation insurance. Interruption is a totally different thing. I am focused below on cancellation only. This is also NOT cancel for any reason (CFAR). On our favourite cruise line we have 6 month (180 days) payment terms. This means that we have to pay in full six months before sailing. However, if cancelling before 120 days, the only penalty the cruise line applies to us is $100.00 per person. We have paid in full, but would get all back but $200.00 if we are cancelling for any reason at this point. There is nothing to prevent us from cancelling nor any reason required before the 120 day point. (Hope this makes sense) At the 120 day mark penalties kick in. This is also the point that we buy cancellation insurance. We buy it usually a week before the 120 day mark. Above is the cruise line's penalty schedule for cancelling. Forgive the second column from the left as that is % not $. Hope this makes sense as this is my brain working... This is based on having a reason for cancelling that meets the annual policy requirements and the annual policy pays 5K max per person. * Cruise fare of $14K per person - cruise, air, everything non refundable. * Cancel for a covered reason at 89-70 days and we are basically break even. Cruise line keeps $5,003.95 and we claim that from the insurance. * Cancel at 50 days + and we start to lose per person above the 5K paid by the insurance. Basically we hedge our risk with an annual plan that only pays $5K per person. The hedge is based on the following: * At 121 days or more, we can cancel if anything looks like it is going to interfere with our travel. * If we get into the penalty period, and we actually have a covered reason to cancel, then we are good until 50 days out. Beyond 50 days we are losing even with a covered reason. This however can be the difference for us with three trips in a year of paying per trip at $1,200.00 ($3,600.00) for 100% coverage vs, one annual plan that is $1,200.00 once.

Our advice is whatever insurance you decide on, READ THE POLICY CAREFULLY. Understand what it covers. Understand what it does not cover. Understand the cancel reasons. Understand what constitutes a pre-existing condition and the stability period. Above is very good advice, but every insurance policy and company offers a different product and (IMO) their goal is to NOT pay out. Read and understand and don't just think you are covered because you bought a policy.

You are welcome! We are not necessarily the "Expert of Record" for Viking Air Plus, but we have learned a lot of lessons over the years, and many will laugh at me but the air travel portion of my cruise is almost as important as the cruise. I am very particular about the airline, the route, the flight times, the connection times, and the seats that we book. I spend a lot of time on this portion of the trip. I am not comfortable with the cruise line issuing me tickets that are a mystery until they pop into my email. We are also very much about points and so we try to contain our flights to three groups, with a focus on Star Alliance. Outside of Star Alliance, we fly Delta, KLM, or BA.

We have only been on one Uniworld cruise and we were 25 people every day on excursion with only one guide.

We generally find that when you are two days in a port, the one day offers the included excursion and the second day only offers optional. If both days offer included, then it is the same one. We personally have never seen two different included excursions in any one port. This is our experience after 10+ Viking cruises - I am not saying that there could or would never be two included options. In the end, regardless, you are only entitled to book one included excursion in any one port.

I don't think that these "awards" or accolades that are given by various publications and magazines are a reliable source because everyone who loves Viking votes for Viking. We have only sailed Uniworld once and our experience was not as good as Viking. Every other cruise we have done was on Viking and we are at 12 or so now. When these voting surveys come out I vote for Viking because we have loved Viking enough to sail on them over and over. I have no other experience so the vote is not objective, it is subjective. These #1 awards are marketing tools.

Sorry that this is happening to you but unfortunately this is and may continue to be a reality in our world moving forward. Conflict is happening or is possible just about anywhere. When we book cruises, we book 12-18-24 months out. We have cruises booked for 2024, 2025, and 2026. We book our air about 300 days out and although we do pay higher fares, we book air that has a cancelation for a small cost. A recent $7000.00 air fare for two of us had to be cancelled and we were only on the hook for $200 per person. We got back $6,600.00 (Cash not voucher) from the airline. What we have found in doing this is that the increase in airfare is roughly (sometimes) the equivalent to buying cancellation insurance. But, in your case the insurance does not cover the reason, and in this case we could cancel for any reason. We also do book air (sometimes) through our cruise line, and if the cruise line cancels the cruise, then the air is also refunded or added to the voucher. We had friends recently have a very similar thing happen, and they turned around and found an alternate land destination that the airline flew to and booked the same dates on land. Perhaps this could be what you could do?

Very good advice. I would absolutely use Arch Insurance again because they were very easy to work with and the cheque/check came very quickly.

Because we travel so much and find ourselves on various airlines, we have two sizes of carry on and two sizes of checked. We have been "caught" before when we have flown an airline countless times and all of a sudden we were singled out, or they were checking everyone. Not only for dimensions, but weight. We have noted that BA allow the carry on to be up to 23KG but EVA Air only allow a carry on to be 7KG. There can be vast differences in weight categories too and we have had out carry on weighed at the bag drop. Not that we have not chanced it many times, but my larger carry on is naturally a bit wider but will squeeze into the thingy at the gate if we compress it. If that bag is packed full, it will not compress and will not fit. Then we are the one that is struggling to get the bag out of the thing. My best advice is that if you are chancing it, then ensure that you have a shoulder bag or something else to put critical items into in case your are forced to check that bag. You don't want medications and other critical items checked.

We use Viking Air when the air is free, and we have just booked our air for the 15 day Grand European leaving in November of this year. We typically get either Air Canada, Lufthansa, or British Air when we fly through Viking. List all your possible frequent flyer numbers so you don't have to do that later. We also typically do Air Plus which is $100 per person, but you can search and book the flights of your choice. For us - November 2024 - we chose an AC direct non-stop to Amsterdam, and then on the return home a KLM from Budapest back to Amsterdam and AC from Amsterdam to Toronto. We got the AC direct non-stop YYZ to AMS, but the KLM and AC BUD to YYZ were going to be $153 per person more as they were out of the contract rates. To stay free, they booked us home on BA from BUD to LHR, and then BA from LHR to YYZ. We like BA so we were good with that. Our flights are already booked and as soon as we do final payment we will ask the flights be ticketed - so 120 days out. In the mean time we watch them and if aircraft changes and our seats change, we can modify as we go. We typically always book this far out as well - at least 270 to 300 days as it gives you the best options for routes, times, and connections. If you leave it for Viking to do then you will see your flights 75-90 days out and then you have to deal with what you get and understand that based on booking class you might not have much option to change things.

More often than not, the binoculars that are supposed to be supplied have not been in our cabin.

Some cruises, there are 2 shows, one earlier and later. Not on every cruise. Dining reservations are not necessary for "The Restaurant" which is the main dining room. You can walk in anytime.

We feel we DO have control of the flights with Viking when we use Air Plus. Another thing is that Viking Air department will work tirelessly for you if there is a delay or cancelation and get you rebooked. Yes a TA would do that if you book your flights through the TA... If however Viking is not offering free air - which in 12 cruises now we have only had twice - you are free to book your air yourself and we often do. We often find that we can get flights the same price or cheaper so we do.

Canada falls under the US Terms as well and gratuities are not included for us.

I am not blaming the cruise lines for this, because costs are up everywhere, but I am finding now that where beverage packages are available, they are incredibly expensive. The one thing that seems to be a misconception - with some, not all - is that if you do not take the beverage package you don't have access to certain brands or wines. Not true. You still have access, you just pay per drink. We have reconsidered our use of liquor/wine packages overall. We are not even considering them now. On our favourite cruise line the nightly rate for the beverage package is $34CDN per person. We would never drink $68 worth of wine or liquor in a day, especially when the lines we tend to sail include wine and beer with lunch and dinner - as Hurtigruten does.

Keep moving. Just keep moving. I watched my aging mother go from an agile active individual to someone who struggled with 2 or 3 stairs at the front door. She lived on one level for so many years and never did the stairs again. She took escalators or elevators instead. Keep moving. I live in a three level townhome and probably move from basement to second floor at least 10 times a day. I walk 45 minutes to an hour each day as a minimum. You have to keep moving. Good on you both!