CDNPolar

Interesting... I have not seen this before. Something that you did not apply to the bags yourself. Interesting.

Hope you have had your Canadian interview first and already? You must do that first before the US interview. The actual interview is going to have a range of time based on if there are any "issues" that they want to discuss. I had a discrepancy in name from Nexus to Passport that they corrected - FINALLY. They also questioned me about travels to North Korea when I had not been there, but had travelled to South Korea. I question if that was a real error in my record or if they were testing me? I don't know why they would test that, but in any case, because of these two things, I may have been a longer interview. I think in total I was 10 minutes in front of the agent. It is pretty straight forward. The only factor may be how backed up they are, and how long you might wait to get to see an agent.

I hesitate to say this but someone very close to me went and took swimming lessons before their first cruise. To them, this was a requirement for self preservation and safety in case of a disaster.

I may have already posted this, but in case I have not: Larger size bandaids for the unexpected heel blister. The ones that I carry are fabric and about 3 inches by 2 inches. They are a live saver if you get a heel blister.

We leave Friday and just checked and even our final documents don't show port times just dates. I agree with all the above here and we never book outside tours on a River Cruise unless there is a very generous cancellation policy.

Agree and we get it. I can stomach most all types of clothing and do for the most part, but that does not stop me from looking at some folks and ask myself silently if they looked in a mirror before leaving their cabin, and wonder how they thought what they were wearing was even remotely appropriate.

...and remember to apply the voucher at the time of booking. You cannot apply one of these $100 for $200 vouchers on a cruise that is already booked. This is why we don't buy them because at any time we have one or two Viking cruises booked into the future... we would be giving Viking that $100 per voucher for a couple of years at least.

Great story for the information you shared and that AC was willing to "accept" your location data. We were dealing with BA on this where the same suitcase on the way to our cruise and the way home both times was stuck in Heathrow, and when we told BA we knew where the bag was, their response was "good for you but we don't have access to your data, so you will have to wait until we locate the bag and then we will contact you." I don't envy the 3 hour Uber ride that you did, but so good that you located the luggage and were able to get it.

We leave this Friday for Treasures of the Rhine and because of the time of the year - on the ship over Christmas - I hope that the dress is elevated from Sweats and t-shirts at dinner. I will comment back after the cruise, or during... I frankly don't care about breakfast and lunch, but I personally feel that dinner should be elevated somewhat...

Have not seen any caffeine free drinks... but that does not mean that there are not. Email tellus@vikingcruises.com and discuss with them. They will likely advise you to contact them about the specific sailing and ship 60-90 days in advance and request what you are looking for. Viking will always say however that the product you are looking for must be available in the country/ports you are visiting. We requested Kefir and we were only told that they would stock it if available. When we got to the ship they knew nothing about it and they did not have it. Does not mean that the request did not get to the ship, but no one we talked to even knew that there was a request. They most likely have a standard supply of the diet/zero cola drinks but not necessarily caffeine free.

What I want to see is a loyalty program better than what exists now. The free air and other reduced pricing rarely hits what and when we want to travel. As we are approaching 10+ Viking cruises, we would like to see something that is of benefit to us booking in the future - regardless of the other promotions that could be there.

I say to the OP - Wow - I am shocked at this and how this man reacted to your concern and right to be in a non-smoking area. You were completely within your rights to say what you did and you should expect that the passenger would appreciate the situation and put the joint out. However - with all due respect - what I have learned in the last few years (or more) is when there is something happening that is against the rules or just plain wrong, I leave the area and don't say a word. I just up and leave. We don't know today how anyone will react. We have violence happening all over the place today. This man obviously felt entitled and you challenged his entitlement to be there smoking a joint. I understand and appreciate your situation and your desire for retribution, but next time, please, just walk away and protect yourself.

I stayed and worked (contract supplier) in many upscale hotels when I worked in the industry, and it was not a case that you "needed" to bring your own sheets or pillowcases... it was a thing I feel that some people just were not going to trust any hotel no matter the star level, and they wanted their own. Just made them feel safe and better.

Great review - thank you for posting!

Others have posted here receiving compensation for missed a missed port. We were on the same cruise as one member that claimed to receive $1000 voucher, but we did not complain / call so we got nothing. Not even an email, just an announcement by the Captain that the winds were too high to dock. All you can do is call or write and see what happens.

Superb airport restaurants are the same scarcity in Canada. Toronto Pearson - I was excited to the opening of Lynn Crawford and Susur Lee's restaurants, but they are just cafeteria style food with their name on it. Quite disappointing in my opinion. But back to the OP! 90 minutes may not give you time to visit Tortas Frontera but definitely put on your list for next ORD experience if you cannot make it this time.

I am also very curious as to what led to this incident? What caused a total stranger to spit in your food in the first place? I am very interested in the whole discussion especially around jurisdiction, but also I personally would have pushed this as far as I could on board with the crew and security. In no way is this acceptable, but knowing what led to this would be helpful to understand the full situation.

Never heard of this place before, and don't often fly through ORD, but will definitely put it on the list of things to check out!

I thought that this discussion was to mention the "Misconceptions" not debate them. If one feels that fresh fish is not available on a ship then that is their misconception to own whether correct or not. I think that food is a major part of people's misconceptions because food is so subjective to culture, upbringing, exposure, and personal taste. Just my opinion and with no offence intended to anyone.

We have never had noise issues on a River ship. The Viking guests are not loud and boisterous in the hallways in our experience. Also the River ships tend to roll up the sidewalks early as there is nothing but the lounge after dinner and that seems to empty pretty early. Back to sboh OP question - on the lowest level, the cabins are the same on both sides. No difference.

The cruise line should be more specific about evacuation insurance.

I agree with you fully on what you are saying. Yes, some ships have helipads on them, but you are only able to evacuate within flying range of the ship to South America, and only if weather permits. The typical distance a helicopter can fly from land for evacuation is about 200 miles. Where we typically cruise in Antarctica there is no airstrip close enough to manage an evacuation. With our evacuation, they first wanted to evacuate the passenger by helicopter but the winds were too high. Then they were going to try ship to ship and the waves were too high. We had no option but to return to Ushuaia.

The only point I was trying to make here is medical evacuation is impossible until you are in helicopter range of South America so it does not matter what insurance you have. Oh, and to the best of my knowledge, all ocean going passenger cruise ships are required to have body bags and a morgue capable of storing a body for minimum of one week.

Please, this comment is made with all due respect. You may have all the insurance that is available to humankind but if you or your travel companion suffered a serious heart attack that was sudden and with no prior history or concern, and you were currently alongside the Antarctic Continent, there is NO medical evacuation when you in that geographical position. The ONLY option the ship as to save your life is to turn around and go back to the Cape at the very least. This is not just about elderly or disabled, this is about anyone that can have a serious unexpected medical event. We talked about this with our travel agent before paying our final payment. She has much experience with this type of cruise, and she warned us that our cruise could be cut short because of a medical emergency and we rationalized this and decided to accept it. Our cruise did turn back because of a fall and broken hip 17 hours into the Drake. Because of this the ship altered it's planned course and we started in the north instead of our planned southern start. The first day there were no landings because of weather. Instead of 5 days of landings we only got four. We could blame that lost day on the fact that our itinerary got turned around because of the injury. We will never know. Regardless, there may be people that lie on their medical forms and doctors that sign them with lies, but there can also be a sudden and unexpected medical event that no one planned for. With expedition cruising, I personally think that this is something that you must accept. It is not about whose vacation/cruise was ruined, it is about saving a life regardless of the circumstance.

You are going to be fine as long as your first flight is on time as stated above. You have nothing to do but move from one gate to another and ORD is very good at moving people if you have to move concourses.