CDNPolar

This is nice to know... If we know our bus number we prefer to go to the pier and wait outside instead of being staged. On the river cruises, we are always outside way before when they call our group.

We have already booked beyond summer 2026 on Viking... I have not looked at all the schedules, but there certainly are cruises open for booking through 2026.

From our experience, I don't think that you will find tour companies and guides waiting at the dock for passengers looking for private tours. I think you will have to book all this in advance. The advice of going to other discussion forums on CC is good too. Viator.com is an aggregator, not a tour operator, and they are owned by TripAdvisor. We have great luck with them globally, and just a quick look at tours they offer, I don't feel they are expensive, but I don't know what your level of expensive is. We as travellers have translation Apps on our phones (need data for these to work) and we are not afraid to venture off ourselves and master the local transit or subway system. The subway system in Tokyo was daunting, but no more daunting than the London Tube. Without a translation App that you are comfortable with however in a country like Japan, you may find yourself completely lost. We did find however that ticket machines have an English option, but if you are going to the ticket window, you need the translation app because otherwise you probably won't find an English speaking clerk. Just make sure when and if you book private tours that you make the back on board time, or that is a whole other conundrum. Just as a note, my husband is from China, and speaks fluent Mandarin, but when we travel to China, we do often hire a guide and a driver for private tours that speak English for my sake. We don't find a full day in a private car with a guide and driver to be that expensive but again, it depends on what you consider expensive. When we cruised around Japan, we only did the included or optional tours offered by the cruise line, but we did do significant self-exploration too.

Now this is just based on a one-way home from SJU, but we don't it expensive from this perspective. We have just booked a trans-atlantic from Barcelona to San Juan, and the whole multi-city flight YYZ-BCN / SJU-YYZ is under a thousand bucks CDN. (Economy) To me that is a good price, it is just for us the limitation of airlines that fly from SJU to YYZ and the schedule times that are not optimum. As FlyerTalker has asked - what do you consider expensive?

Viking tend to "stage" the guests in the Star Theatre before disembarking for excursion. It is not a free-for-all rushing the gangway. You get your daily excursion tickets when you board the ship - usually the first night during evening cabin service. The Viking Daily tells you by group letter or number where to go, and at what time. Then you are staged, as I said, in the Star Theatre. Some may be directed to go directly to shore side depending on the excursion. In my experience it has usually been the performance team of 4 that do the announcements in the Star Theatre and they call you by bus number or group number to leave the Star Theatre and migrate to the gangway. If you were planning to explore on your own or you hired a private tour, you would just move to the gangway when it was necessary for you to do so. Viking do tend to corral everyone so there is not a massive mob of people rushing the gangway all at once, but when that number is called, everyone does move pretty quickly.

But then did you have to clear Canadian Customs when landing in Ottawa with your bags? That was I think the reason that you collected your bags in Toronto as then you are on a domestic flight to Ottawa that would not entail customs clearance? I always thought you cleared customs only after collecting your bags as they have the right to search all bags.

Read the policy inclusions and exclusions. Travel insurance is not - in my opinion - about getting the cheapest price, it is about covering you for what you need to be covered for. As we age, we are subject on some policies to answer medical questionnaires and with other companies, we are not required to. Questions to ask yourself and then apply to the policy language: 1) Do you have pre-existing conditions as outlined by the policy as pre-existing? 2) Do you meet the stability period and the stability requirements for a pre-existing condition? 3) Will the policy cover the pre-existing conditions if you don't meet the stability period? 4) Can you risk travel without medical coverage if a pre-existing condition is the reason for medical attention? These are not exhaustive, but again, it is not the price of the coverage, it is what the coverage is. I find that this is a very competitive market out there for insurance, and in my opinion if one company is significantly cheaper, there must be a reason - which translates to less or more restrictive coverage.

If you want an eSIM, then many on CC have had great luck - us included - with Airalo. Note that Airalo is going to work IN PORT, or when the ship is close enough to a port to connect to local cell towers. If you have no tower connection you only have ship's wifi to work with. Airalo offer packages of European countries - you just have to ensure that the package you get covers all the countries you are stopping in.

Checked through - if that is possible - would be the least hassle for you, however, I personally with a 9 hour layover would prefer to get my bags and check them again after the layover. That will however require you to wait at baggage for your bag and that is typically a long time at Pearson and then recheck them after the layover. This is going to take some considerable time out of your sleeping time. I am thinking however that customs would be Toronto, so there may be a requirement for you to collect your bags, then drop them after customs to the connecting flight? You may have to play a role in this. I see people doing this all the time, but living in Toronto I have never had to so don't know exactly how it works. I don't think however you can clear Canada Customs without having your bags with you.

Often expedition cruises have a much more relaxed dress code.

If you are referring to a cruise like Viking Homelands, then no, there was no passport control at the various ports. If there was any checking done it was behind the scenes and did not involve us physically. For Homelands, we did not surrender our passports, we had them in our control through the whole cruise.

As I think we see with a variety of things that it depends on the Viking Crew and Supervisor that are involved what the outcome is. I will say that you will likely not achieve purchasing for one prior to the cruise, but once onboard, if you talk the right way to the right people, it is not impossible to achieve. Remember however that you have access to anything that you want at anytime by paying for it so you must be drinking more than the cost of the package per day or it is not worth it.

Exactly what we do... two max and then pay, go back and do the next.

I have been of the last bags with priority orange tags. It is almost like it is done on purpose.

I know what you are saying. I see Nexus advertising here and there on social media to increase membership, but that would only slow us all down. The only thing with Nexus and arriving back into Toronto, is there really is no time saving because Toronto is so SLOW at bringing luggage, by the time the luggage shows the whole aircraft has come through customs/immigration. Nexus gets us to the luggage hall in minutes, but then we wait for 30-40-50 minutes for luggage. Hope it is better in Montreal.

I have said many times before, we know what we want, cabin location, port or starboard, so we book and work out the details direct with the cruise line, and then we move the booking to our TA for the OBC, coupons, and cheque at the end of the year. Our preferred cruise line Viking, does allow us - if we pay for their Air Plus program - to still call ourselves to arrange our air, and we do without the TA being involved. For everything else, because we know Viking so well, we really don't have any issues that come up, but if we do, we email our TA and she deals with it.

Absolutely.... Our American friends talk about the cost of adding TSA and then I say "That is included in my $50 bucks every 5 years!" Nexus is a great deal for us Canadians. I did not realize at first as we typically do not transit through the USA, but the latest couple of times we did, the Global Entry was so quick and easy. Did not realize that we could use that.

Sometimes, not always, but sometimes, when you use a discounter, and you have a problem, it is harder to remedy.

On one of our cruises, the cabin crew could not get their cart past a scooter that was always parked in the hallway AND plugged in to a wall socket. A couple days into the cruise we never saw the scooter again, so I assume they were instructed that they had to keep it in the cabin. I am all for inclusion and everyone should have the same opportunity to travel, but not at the expense of the health and safety of everyone else on the ship. Ship hallways are not built as scooter parking lots, and although I see both sides, I support the cruise line mandating that the scooter must fit in the cabin. Some cruise lines don't allow electric scooters at all.

What GeezerCouple said. Costco in Canada use Manulife for travel insurance, and we have gone online with Costco and Manulife directly and not found any significant different in the cost. It is all about the policy inclusions and exclusions. What pre-existing conditions do you have including recommended tests or procedures for the future. What is the stable period for any condition. There is so much to consider outside of price for insurance and every company has different language and inclusions and exclusions. As much as I appreciate the comment that you should only take a recommendation from someone that has filed a claim - or attempted to - this is only a valid statement if your cancel or medical reason is the exact same. Everyone's need for insurance can be vastly different.

Our latest river cruise - Treasures of the Rhine - we were on the ship at 11am, but did not get our cabin until almost 3pm. Lunch was a buffet in the dining room and we were given a card to keep face up on the table wherever we were as crew came around looking for you as your cabin was ready.

We have found Viking Ocean ships well regulated in temperature. I am always hot, but also know when it is over air conditioned. Viking Ocean seem to do well in our opinion. Viking River is a different story. We find the dining room and lounge on River Ships to be far to warm. The last three River Cruises we have been on, I have left the lounge in the evening early because it is just too hot.

Am I correct that you are saying that the South African agent is a VIKING agent? If that is the case, you don't have to deal with that agent. As lovetosew says, just call Viking and talk to anyone. In our experience we have never had luck with any Viking agent being around for follow up questions.

Pre-registration will not help. For both included and optional (paid for) excursions, when you choose them you must go to the cart and pay for them at the time you book them.

I would ask the question - respectfully - if the country does not use Euros, how is tipping in Euros any better or worse than tipping in USD? They would have to go to the bank to exchange either.