CDNPolar

We are looking at Gate1 for river cruises for the reason of the value in pricing. We have been Viking loyal in both river and ocean since we started cruising and we have done some 10 cruises with Viking now. In other places that I have followed, we have seen nothing but positive reviews of Gate1 river cruises. We know that there will be differences in some of the amenities, but we have seen only positive reviews of crew and food. The fact is that now prices seem to climb all the time, and as much as we like Viking, the main reason we love river cruising is that you unpack once and get to see many ports in one country with some overnight. If shore excursion options are not as intriguing then we would book privately. There are always ways to improve the experience without boosting the cost too much.

We have a friend that took her granddaughter on a river cruise as a graduation gift and there was an older but close age range young adult male on the cruise which she connected to and they went clubbing in a couple of cities where they were docked overnight. I personally questioned the reasoning of letting this 18 year old female club with a 22 or something male that they just met. Just because he was on the cruise does not mean safety in my mind. Personally, I think before you try to count on whether there are other young adults on the ship you should really assess if your grandchild would be content on a river cruise if there were no others in the same age range. Just because there are others in the same age range does not mean an instant connection and that they will band together. On a recent river cruise - Treasures of the Rhine - there were many 18-25 year olds, but they were all with families, and I did not see any real mixing of the family young adults. Sorry - just some random thoughts.

Both of our future booked Viking cruises - one ocean and one river - have gone up. River - $1,500.00 per person Ocean - $2,500.00 per person I agree with others. We look, and we price, and we decide if there is value for the price and then book or not. If I did see a huge price decline, and I had not made final payment, I would first try the cancel and rebook option and if that was not available, we might cancel all together and book something else. It is kind of a circular challenge, because other itineraries may be higher priced.... Did this when free air was offered on a booked cruise. It worked, but for some reason Viking were allowing us to do this switch, but NOT for the same dates and cabin. We had to move the dates which we did by 2 weeks. For the savings I did not argue the point with them, we just changed the dates.

I don't know if this would apply here or not, because this was not expedition but VO. We booked paid our deposit and then later Viking offered free air on the same cruise. For us a savings of more than $4,000.00 CDN. Significant. We called, cancelled the cruise we had and rebooked and got the free air and paid the same for the cabin as original. Viking have strange policies that allow you to cancel and rebook but not just hand you the savings because it is now available. We were also recently told by the Hotel Manager on a VR cruise, that buying the $100 for $200 vouchers on river cruises CAN be applied to currently booked cruises, but you must call, cancel, and rebook the same cruise and then ask for the voucher to be applied. Seems like a silly system.

You be you is the only way to live. There is NO advantage to being something or someone that you are not. (But, I do say that there are times and places that you may have to tone down who you are a bit....)

We have tracked Viking pricing since we started to sail with them in 2017 and every year there is a price increase and it tends to be based on the popularity of the itinerary.

Insurance is a messy subject and it depends on where you live (USA / Canada / Other part of the world) as you don't have in your profile your country of residence. Typically cancellation insurance covers anything that you have paid for at the time of cancellation that is NOT refundable or given back to you as a credit in some form. The only thing that insurance will not cover is what you paid for the insurance. If you have CFAR (cancel for any reason) then this typically is only back to you as a credit or voucher for the amounts paid and NOT in cash. If you have typical cancellation insurance without CFAR then you will have to have a valid reason as stated in the policy for cancelation and then typically this would include anything that is not refundable in some form. In general, you need to read your policy language very carefully and ask a lot of questions.

I know you made this post a long time ago, but will a simple tea light with a battery last for 10+ days and 8 hours a night? How many replacement batteries do you have?

The only thing I will say is that you might hear the door open and close, but it is a very soft close is allowed to close on its own. The other thing is that the laundry is very popular and to get an open machine people do start very early and also do laundry very late. My personal experience is that you will not be bothered. We find the Viking cabin's very soundproofed

I beg to differ.

We have done far more ocean cruises, and often had excursions available to us before the published date.

Personally I would file immediately - if your intent is to cancel. Is your intent to cancel regardless of the outcome of father-in-law's health? Are you cancelling based on how he is now? You will need doctor's letters, diagnosis, and all that jazz, but if a covered reason is your father-in-law's health and it is precarious then I would do it NOW. Don't underestimate what they will require from doctors and you will have to get the docs to fill the necessary forms and possibly supply reports of diagnosis too. We just recently cancelled a trip and we did so on the day that the diagnosis was made because we were cancelling regardless. If you wait, and father-in-law's prognosis improves later, they may not accept the cancellation and you are now out the money. I hope others chime in too!

This is all based on itinerary by itinerary. We are booked on Grand European Tour in November of this year and we picked and paid for both included and optional excursions 2 months ago - more than 12 months in advance. We personally have found that sometimes the excursions are available to book and you don't even have an email telling you so...

Yes, that is absolutely the way that it should be, but what you are doing is not common practice by everyone. I am simply stating that if you are travelling solo, you have a certain responsibility to your own enjoyment of the cruise or tour you are on. I am simply stating that as a solo traveller you must be comfortable putting yourself out there.

We just came off a Viking Rhine cruise where there were three wheelchairs on board. We had some disembarkation from the top sundecks and quite steep ramps down to the ground, and then of course the busses. Viking crew often helped, but I cannot say that they were always there. Some disembarkation from river cruises can be quite challenging especially when the boats are docked side by side and you have to travel through - or across - several ships to get to your ship. Also the added issue that the elevator often does not go to the sun deck if you are embarking or disembarking from the top deck. I would say that you have to be very confident in what you are booking and where you are docking. The other part of it is that so much of Europe is cobblestones. They are everywhere. On our recent Rhine trip I would say that the pain in my calf muscles was from the cobblestones and the uneven surfaces because I walk miles and miles everyday and never experienced this kind of discomfort before and the only difference was the cobblestones.

You can start this practice in the World Cafe at Breakfast and Lunch. We often find travelling as a couple that the tables for 2 along the windows are always taken, so we just take a table for four. We have had many times singles, and couples come and ask if they can sit with us and then strike up conversation. We have never said no to anyone. It does however take YOU doing this to make it work. Too often I have seen a single cruiser come in and search out a table for two where they can sit alone, when they could have sat with us.

Funny... I was just on a river cruise, and the Hotel Manager told us during a port talk that we could apply to any booking that full payment had not been made. I questioned this and this because a topic of intense conversation between the Guest Service Crew. The end result was that - NO, you cannot apply to anything already booked, BUT we could call reservations, cancel, rebook the same cruise, same dates, same cabin, apply the voucher and all is good. To us, this was not worth the hassle because you would call reservations and get different people with different opinions. We did not buy the vouchers. For us the option to save $100 / $200 was not worth the potential hassle of cancelling and rebooking. We have Viking cruises booked through 2025 and I will not give Viking that money to sit in their account until we decide what we are booking for 2026.

Viking River

We consider the added gratuities to our bill as part of the cost of the cruise. We budget for these on every cruise. We also freely tip directly to our cabin steward(s) and servers that go above and beyond.

We use the Viking Voyager App the moment we are on board and we always get the reservations we want at both Manfredi's and The Chef's Table. We have never booked in advance of arriving at the ship.

That is odd... we just came back from a booking that we made two weeks prior to sailing, we paid the cruise line in full, then transferred to our TA. We got OBC and a rebate from our TA for this booking and all this happened days before sailing.

Curious to know this too. I use Tripit and it often gives me the gate information when I am sitting in a lounge long before the airline departure boards show this information. And, it is rarely incorrect.

We find cruise ships today want to be accommodating where possible, but don't leave it until you board the ship to address food allergies, sensitivities, or restrictions. Start long before boarding. Note also that you likely want to go further than the reservations team. You want to ensure that your food concerns have been sent in advance to the ship's Chef and Restaurant Manager. Ask for the email address of these people or to the Guest Services desk on the ship itself.

My only comparison so far was one Nile cruise on Uniworld vs. 4 Rivers on Viking. To date I prefer Viking, but The Nile was not a good comparative option in my opinion. I still need to experience Uniworld on a more mainstream river itinerary to be sure.

What city is the bike ride in? If Porto it is a hilly city. I would think that if bike riding is not a daily / weekly activity of yours at home and in hilly areas - not just flat - then probably not for you. "Strenuous" is a bit more descriptive than "demanding" and I would pay attention to that.