CDNPolar

We were originally booked on Viking for the Nile. We were booked on one of Viking's new ships and 6 months before our sail date, the ship had not even been water launched. We anticipated that this cruise would be delayed, canceled, or whatever... We already had flights booked, so we went looking for another line that had same dates... So we went with Uniworld and at the time, we saved thousands moving over. We got an incredible deal, but part of this was the payment discount, and the extras that we got based on the big box TA that we used. All in all we saved over 10K by moving to Uniworld - at that time which was 1.5 years ago.

Clay - have Viking implemented the pay for internet and the included internet? I remember reading about this somewhere...

Viking's price increases are getting to the point where we are looking at other lines. We have been Viking loyal to this point with the exception of one cruise. We especially feel that for the increase in price, they need to up their game. Not only on the ships, but on the land resources as well. Most of our interactions on the phone with Viking are good, but when they are bad, they are really bad.

@Clay Clayton I hear your frustration. We have more recently been purchasing Airalo e-SIM's and the data only kind. They are so cheap compared to what our Canadian cell packages charge us for roaming. I have had this same challenge onboard with spead, UNTIL, I decided to turn off the WiFi and go with the data only on the e-SIM. Then the speed is great. BUT, you have to be in range of shore for the e-SIM to be active. If you are sailing and away from shore, it does not help, and having both the WiFi and the e-SIM active will default to the WiFi depending on your settings. Now I only have WiFi enabled on the ship if we are sailing. (Ocean as for River, you are often close enough to the shore)

OBC that we receive from our TA is applied to the SSBP if you buy it pre-sailing or onboard. There are other credits from Viking that do not apply to anything prior to sailing. This is in Canada anyway. But to answer the OP's question, in my experience there is never a deal, and in actual fact it can go UP from the published price when you booked to when you pay in full. We used to get the SSBP on every cruise - ocean or river. We don't any longer. We pay for the odd drink we have outside of lunch and dinner, have accepted the house wines, and we are never even close to the cost of the SSBP now. In Canada the USD price for the package translates to $34 CAD per night per person. Too much. We just removed the SSBP from a future cruise and the discount was $952 CAD. This will pay for a few optional excursions.

I thought Porter were the Bees Knees when they first came on the scene but now I have not flown them in probably a decade. They just seemed to continue to decline in my eyes.

So happy to hear that the good outweighed the bad, and that you would go again. Your comments about people watching you don't surprise me. Anyone today that does not immediately conform to what a certain group of people would consider the traditional male/female "look" are going to be stared at and comments made. It is just the way it is. Good on you for having the strength and courage to do it and come through the experience positively. I wish you many more cruises. This is certainly our preferred way to travel.

Maybe this is a difference country by country, but on 10 Viking cruises, both river and ocean, every invoice we receive from Viking and then subsequently our TA (if we used one) have the ship name on them. We travel with friends and family occasionally and that is one of the first things we check when the booking is complete. We consolidate the invoices and make sure we are on the same ship, same dates, and same direction.

We only did two optional excursions with this itinerary. All the rest were included. You can always break away from an included tour, especially if it is a walking tour, or very close to the ship. Just always let your tour guide know that you are not going back with them, so they are not waiting or looking for you. It is harder for me to really comment on this because we went during extremely high water levels when some of the traditional Viking docks were flooded, and we docked at alternate locations. Some were a bus ride away. This is where the Uber app can be your best friend. I always price the city centre to the ship in advance on Uber just so that I know what the cost will be in advance. If you don't have the Uber App, I highly recommend it because your ride is tracked, billed directly to your credit card, or through PayPal as I have it, and you don't have to worry about cash or paying by card to the driver. You also don't have to worry about language or addresses. You can also request drivers in Europe that speak English. Sometimes, if we are within walking distance to the city centre - which often you are - we come back to the ship and have lunch and then go back into the city. Again, just be mindful of the back on board time. This was our first time on Viking River with a tap on and tap off the ship system, so Viking are aware if you have not made it back to the ship.

Yes, not just on the ship, but you can walk into a restaurant and they seem to have lots of tables open, but cannot seat you and that is typically because they don't have enough staff to cover the tables. I am not aware that Viking are lacking the serving staff, but it could be. Clay - I am sure you have, but have you tried booking on the Voyager App? We have always had better luck with the app over Guest Services or the Restaurant directly.

Oh, and another reason that I mention this, is because I want to fly Singapore Airlines direct and non-stop to Singapore, but there is not that option from Toronto Pearson. You must fly to London LHR first from Toronto. Flights for me to NY are expensive but not nearly as much from Buffalo. For ME, this would be worth it for the experience. I almost would not consider this a connecting flight.

This is an option for me but may not be for everyone. Flights from Buffalo to NY are significantly cheaper in most cases than flights from YYZ to NY. Don't know why you would be suspicious of this. My brother lives in London Ontario and he often flies from Buffalo because it is significantly cheaper even when it entails a hotel night and parking cost.

Also look at going through New York and you can get the new direct flight from New York to Singapore. 19 hours direct, non-stop. This would be my choice. This is a significantly reduced passenger count for the long flight and the lowest category of seat on this flight is Premium Economy. There is no Economy. I have looked at pricing for this and it is not significantly more than any other airline. AND, you are in Niagara, so you could hop to Buffalo and get a cheap flight to New York.

This is specifically a question to see if anyone knows whether in Canada, we can claim a cancellation or interruption through both a purchased insurance policy from someone like Manulife, AND then any residual through the Credit Card, which in this case is a TD Infinite Privilege Visa? Why we are asking this is that when we have 2+ trips in a year, it is significantly cheaper to purchase cancellation / interruption insurance on an annual plan. Our challenge is that we are hedging our bets here because most of the annual plans available to us only pay max $5,000.00 CDN per person. Our trips are often significantly higher or even double that per person. We recently just got a new Credit Card (TD Infinite Provilege) that offers cancellation of $2,500.00 per person and in the process of applying, we asked our banking person, if we can do this and her response was that we MUST submit the cancel/interruption claim to the Credit Card FIRST, and then anything they don't pay to the insurance company after. We have not verified this further as this was a Branch employee and we must contact the CC division) She said that if we submit to the insurance company first, the credit card will not accept a claim for the residual amount. Anyone know anything about this? Our first experience with cancelling was just a month ago where we had to cancel a complete trip for a covered reason and it was a smooth experience, but the one policy covered the entire amount paid out and we did not go to the credit card.

We were on a Europe river cruise December / January and when we boarded one or two people were actively coughing all day... A few people were masked. By the end of the cruise, at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the guests were coughing and most of these were wearing masks. I am a believer that masks should be worn when you have symptoms to help prevent spread and are not as great at prevention, because not everything is airborne and some is picked up by touching surfaces and then hand to face contact. We always travel with masks but don't always wear them. I was one of the lucky one that got sick on this cruise and as soon as my first symptom happened, I wore the mask except when eating.

These people are me and my husband. We are excited and cannot wait for the day to begin. We were in bed asleep by 10pm and up and waiting for the buffet to open an hour before it opened. We have already had coffee and we are talking and planning and discussing what is in store for the day. Sorry that you are looking for a quieter room..... but you had fun the night before and that is all good!

We just came off this cruise a month ago, on the same ship. See my responses in RED BELOW: We're taking our first cruise in Feb/March - Treasures of the Rhine on the Viking Alruna. I've been reading lots of posts here and have read practically everything on Viking's site, but I still have questions. Any answers/insights would be great! 1. I'm confused about how gratuities work: The Viking website says there are two options, but they sound the same to me - I am clearly missing something. Is it typical to tip in addition to the standard that the cruise "charges"? (I know it's in our discretion, but I'm trying to get a sense of what the crew might be expecting.) Since the cruise is in Europe, I assume the crew would prefer Euros? Viking calculate a daily gratuity per person amount that is payable in advance before you cruise or it is added to your account and payable on the ship. There is really no difference between pre-paying or paying on ship, EXCEPT, if you pre-pay you are paying in the currency you booked the cruise in, and if you are paying on the ship you will pay in Euros in your case. Gratuities are a commonly discussed topic on CC and whether to give more is really up to you. The Crew is not expecting more from you. You may choose to reward one or two crew members with a gratuity on the side for exceptional service, but again, Viking Crew are NOT expecting this. Typically you can tip Viking Crew additional in either USD or Euros, just never in coin form as if a crew member is not from a Euro country, coins cannot be exchanged to another currency. Gratuities are encouraged for your tour guides and drivers, and we take enough USD $1's to cover this. We typically give $2 to the driver and $4 to the guide. 2. Do you typically have the same folks helping you the whole cruise, or is it more like a hotel where housekeeping might be done by one person one day, and a different person another day? Typically the same person every day. We have always had the same Cabin Steward, but we were surprised on this cruise that one day we had someone new. Viking Crew on this cruise had one full day off every two weeks and that was the day we had someone different. River Cruise Crew counts are low.... 40's to 50's in crew numbers. You will see the same crew every day in the lounge, the restaurant, and Guest Services. 3. How small are the bathrooms/available "storage" space in the bathrooms? I'm having a hard time telling from the photos. On the Alruna there are two open shelves above the sink and two open shelves below the sink. The area beside the sink is limited. The bathrooms do lack storage space. You kind of have to keep the most used stuff out and perhaps a ziplock bag on the lower shelf with the less used stuff. That is what we do. 4. I've seen some comments about packing magnets, decorations, tape... all kinds of weird stuff. It seems to have to do with the walls being magnetic (??) or something to do with the doors on the cabins? Honestly, i have no idea if this is something I'm supposed to be thinking about. The walls are all metal, and if you take magnets you can "pin" up your daily activities, or map, or calendar. We don't bother with that. I have also seen people who have found incredibly strong magnets that will allow them to hand the ship supplied robes and their coats. Viking Guests don't decorate the doors. In 10 Viking cruises, I have never seen this. This is more of a mass market cruise line thing. Don't worry about this on a Viking ship except and unless you want to somehow decorate your cabin to your taste. 5. What's the one piece of info or advice you'd give someone who's never done a river cruise (or any cruise!) before? I like to know what to expect, so even if it's info I can't really act on, it would be helpful. We love river cruising. 160'ish people on board. Very intimate. You get to know many many people on a river cruise. There is only one dining venue (save for the Aquivit Terrace) and one lounge. There is only one open sitting for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You don't reserve tables, and tables on the Alruna are 6 or more. There are not tables for two. Breakfast is open for 2'ish hours and has a small buffet and omelette station or you can order off the menu. Lunch is open for 2'ish hours and people come and go at different times in the open window because of different times that excursions leave and come back. Dinner is essentially eveyone sitting down at the same time. You go to the lounge for the Port Talk and whoever else is talking which is right before dinner and then everyone "runs" to get their table. You will find some groups sit together every night, and some folks will switch it up each night and sit with others. Sometimes it is who you talked with on excursion that day or who you sat with in the lounge before dinner. Read the Viking Daily every night and know what tomorrow offers and the timing of everything. Take a picture of the Viking Daily front page to know the location of the ship and the ship contact information in case you have to get back to the ship on your own. If you are exploring on your own know the back on board time as the ship will not wait for you. This was an enjoyable cruise for us and we would love to hear your review after. Thank you!!

I have not had this particular situation, but with Viking, it would seem that sometimes fixing things does require the cancel and rebook. Now that is where you need to ensure a couple of things... sometimes this is "language" with Viking. You may not want to "Cancel" because there are fees, but you would "Modify" your booking, from one side or the other to the same ship. You just want to ensure before you do it that Viking will confirm: * No cancelation fee charged * Same price for same cabin category on the other ship. (It is possible however that this is not available depending on what is available on the ship you are moving to) * Ensure that your bookings are linked as this was probably not done before or you would be on the same ship. (When we book with others, we always provide our booking number and have them give that to Viking so they ensure we are on the same ship. On many River cruises, there are too many boats going back and forth and some departing the same dates it is easy to get the wrong ship.) This may be what you have to do....

Here is an opinion.... I am not one that enjoys sending something back, because if you are at a larger table, and not just with your spouse, it can be seen as rude, or arrogant, or something the like... I know people that would rather leave the restaurant and go to bed without dinner than send something back because it was not acceptable or what they expected. BUT, if you don't send back a medium steak that was ordered medium rare, then the Chef(s) will not realize that they cooked something incorrectly. I agree with you Clay that thin steaks are very hard to cook to a rare or medium rare temperature, but then they should not be cutting them that thin, and there should not be inconsistencies with the thickness of the steak. This is both a quality of the prep and a quality of the cooking issue. If this is not highlighted, then this grill chef is never going to know that they did not meet the guests expectations. Also, the prep cooks that are cutting the steaks need to know where they messed up. Or, if the steaks arrive to the ship already cut, then they have a quality issue with the supplier. I personally think that a Grill Chef is a real skill. They have to be able to know the heat of their grill, the cut of the meat, the time on the grill, the resting time, and the time to your table to get the temperature of the meat exactly right. If there is an issue with the thickness of the steak and the thickness is inconsistent with the same cut, then tit is really difficult to get this right. I think that we must raise attention when something like this is amiss, and I do believe that we can do it quietly and politely and in doing so we are helping Viking and the Chef(s) put out a better product. I know I focused on the steak, but this is for everything that comes out of a Viking kitchen. Just an opinion about Chef's Table... My husband and I LOVE tasting menus and we have been known to spend a lot of money locally at home on blind tasting menus that there is no menu and you are at the mercy of the Chef for each course. We Love this. Chef's Table is a unique product, and do I think that it belongs on Viking? Yes and No. For us we love it, but we also note that on ocean cruises we have been on, there have always been many tables available. This translates to me that many Viking guests either do not like the menu, or the focus of the menu is off for them. We hope the Chef's Table lives on as it is, and although I understand that someone does not like seafood, I would not want to see that focus taken away. Tasting menus are just not everyone's cup of tea. In reality, we don't try to get reservations at Manfredi's as we don't love Italian food, and pretty simply, the Manfredi's menu really does not appeal to us. We like a couple of things, but we would eat at the Chef's Table every night even duplicating menus over eating at Manfredi's. To each their own taste. This is just opinion and not to offend anyone or their tastes.

I believe that Viking has a target net return on every cabin/cruise and however they price the offer, they still get what they want/need. I have taught sales and negotiation for most of my career and I teach sales people to create options for their clients but every creative pricing strategy gets us to the same net revenue in the end. It is all about what will appeal to one vs. another. SSP appeals to one and OBC appeals to another.

We only use a Canadian card anywhere in the world, and if the option comes up at the point of purchase to pay in CAD or local currency, we always choose local currency and let our bank make the conversion.

The insurance companies are going to "make you" buy the CFAR insurance at the point of booking, or usually within 10-14 days of booking because, refundable deposit or not, as you get closer to the departure day, full payment date, and penalties that may kick in after full payment, you may have found a reason that you want to use for cancellation and that is the sole reason you are now purchasing the policy. They want your money for that 6 or 9 months or more before you take the CFAR for any reason option. This insurance is such a game and gamble. CFAR when coming from the Cruise Line, is a voucher for future use, and generally not a refund. CFAR from an insurance company is generally a percentage payout of the full fare, if there is a cash back option and not the full fare. None of us want to have a covered reason that is required by most insurance policies to cancel, because that in most cases is not a good reason. We look at it this way because we often book 12-18 months out for most of our cruises, and we are not paying an insurance company that much that far out as we would likely be paying $1,200.00 for the both of us for the value of each cruise. We can have 2 or 3 cruises booked in the future at any time. That could mean that we are out of pocket 3-4K with money sitting with insurance companies. Just as a note, we don't buy medical, and only cancellation and interruption insurance. We have medical through work. Our typical scenario: * Refundable deposit - great * Full payment due 6 months out * First penalty 4 months or 120 days from sailing This means that 121 days before sailing we can cancel and get all back but $100.00 per person with Viking Cruise lines. This may be different with other cruise lines. What we do is we make a final decision at 121 days out that other than an actual covered reason that qualifies under the insurance policy, we are going. If there is doubt at all, then we would cancel and forfeit the $100 per person. Hope this makes sense. This is why we don't purchase CFAR.

This is specifically a question to see if anyone knows whether in Canada, we can claim a cancellation or interruption through both a purchased insurance policy from someone like Manulife, AND then any residual through the Credit Card, which in this case is a TD Infinite Privilege Visa? Why we are asking this is that when we have 2+ trips in a year, it is significantly cheaper to purchase cancellation / interruption insurance on an annual plan. Our challenge is that we are hedging our bets here because most of the annual plans available to us only pay max $5,000.00 CDN per person. Our trips are often significantly higher or even double that per person. We recently just got a new Credit Card that offers $2,500.00 per person and in the process of applying, we asked our banking person, if we can do this and her response was that we MUST submit the cancel/interruption claim to the Credit Card FIRST, and then anything they don't pay to the insurance company after. She said that if we submit to the insurance company first, the credit card will not accept a claim for the residual amount. Anyone know anything about this? Our first experience with cancelling was just a month ago where we had to cancel a complete trip for a covered reason and it was a smooth experience, but the one policy covered the entire amount paid out.

If Viking do or did offer a credit, I have never been aware of this. @Squawkman confirmed that Viking don't offer a rebate/discount in the US if you don't take the free air. I have a cruise on the books now for later this year with Viking that is free air. I am going to ask if that discount is available. Being in Canada, it may be different.

Thank you.