CDNPolar

Hope the passenger is ok. The passenger is very lucky you were not three days into sailing. Not that this could have been avoided, but this is a reminder if you are doing any trans-ocean cruise or an expedition cruise that you can be days away from medical help, and evacuation cannot be done past a certain range. If you have known medical issues, the ship can only deal with so much. How fortunate for the passenger that the evacuation was able to happen.

For Cambodia, is this the case even if the second entry is within the valid days of the Visa? We only enter Cambodia the once and don't reenter, but I did not catch this information when I was researching. Shows that there are always details that can be missed....

Very simply from our use of Air Plus - which we always add to our reservation - if you change any date flying in or out that is a deviation and you will pay the (minimum) $100 pp. If you want control of the airline, routing, and schedule, you will pay the Air Plus at (minimum) $100 pp. However, you may want something that is outside of Viking contract rates, and that could and will have an additional fee for you to secure. Also be aware that because it is free air, Viking have some incredible rates from the airlines, and upgrades may either not be available (to premium economy, or business) or at a very high premium additional charge because they are outside of their contract rates. I don't know the stopover rules because we have never done that. If this were me, because I want to have control over my air, I now only use Viking when the air is free, as in your situation, or I book the air myself. In this case I would pay all the fees and get as much control over the booking as I could. I would then ask for early ticketing to lock it all in, but then note that if you ask for early ticketing and you want to change anything there will be change fees. Also locking the tickets in early does not guarantee that schedules will not change, or aircraft, seats, etc.

As Peregrina suggested you have your invoice and pre-purchased items that will list the dates, and ports, and any pre-purchased items such as included or optional excursions. When you board, you will receive an envelope of all your shore excursion "tickets" day-by-day that will outline what you are doing and when. Not everything that is on MVJ is on the Viking Voyager App anyway... What specifically are you looking for in information?

I agree with the above answers... It is your responsibility to have all the Visa and entry requirements before you board the ship or you could be denied boarding for the entire trip. Viking may guide you, but it is up to you to get them. We are doing a land based Cambodia and Vietnam trip in January and both these countries require Visas. One thing to note, and I think it is Vietnam, that if you are entering Vietnam more than once, then you need a multiple entry Visa rather than just a single entry Visa. Not sure if your cruise is stopping in more than one city in Vietnam. Be careful with the Vietnamese Visa as it is only valid for 30 days from issue, so you have to get it online close to your trip and ensure that the 30 days from issue covers your entry date or dates. Not sure about the rest as most online EVisas are good for 90 days or more.

I think that this is one of the most engaging discussions, and I have read far too many policies and had far too many discussions with insurance companies around the pre-existing condition thing... Pre-existing condition can go a step further to something that is undiagnosed, or rather in the process of being diagnosed. If you have a recommendation from your doctor for a certain procedure or surgery or treatment and it is scheduled for the future, this can be the reason your insurance will not pay out. You may consider yourself stable, but the fact that this test is ordered can knock your claim out from being paid. For example a friend that travels extensively had an arrhythmia 3 years ago and not another one since. Has been treated with beta blockers for rate control since and not had one issue in 3 years. A year ago his doctor suggested ablation to correct this from ever happening again, but a date was never set. This recommendation however is on his file. In calling several insurance companies that do cover pre-existing conditions that are considered stable, because of this future procedure recommendation they will not insure him. Basically they said he needs to have the procedure and be stable for 6 months and then they will insure him with a pre-existing condition, but with the outstanding procedure on his file, NO GO. You have to disclose everything to the insurance and understand what "Stable" means and that is not the same definition for every insurance. We often think that being able to stop a medication is a good thing but stopping that medication needs to be disclosed for the stable period too. The insurance company will find any way possible to tie to something that will allow them to not pay out.

This may be the difference between Canada and the USA, because our insurance is separate, but in Canada there are plenty of options for trip cancellation / interruption alone that is not packaged with medical. I know because I have very comprehensive medical for travel through my employer and only need to buy cancellation / interruption insurance. Yes, it will have pre-existing condition attached to it if you are cancelling for a medical reason tied to your reason for cancelling.

If you are buying cancellation insurance, then it usually includes trip interruption as well. I am not sure what other insurance you would want or need, since you have your medical taken care of.

For us in YYZ Terminal 3 the machines were all new and working.

Is this Viking? What itinerary for January 2025? We have booked a few on board, but if you are being offered a 3K drop now, I would say take it. The onboard bookings generally give you better payment terms, an onboard credit on the cruise you are on, and an on board credit for the cruise you are going on. The only discount that I have seen onboard is whatever current price reduction is available to everyone online.

Anywhere in the world today has it's safety concerns. Go. Enjoy PV. Be diligent about your personal safety. You will have a good time.

The unfortunate thing is that hate is everywhere and it is directed at so many today. Kudos for you to stand proud and not get caught cowering in a corner somewhere! Have fun - glad to hear you are traveling with a large group of gays! Sounds like a blast!

Pardon my comments as they are not intended to be offending in any way, but I think the fact that you are 6'3" as a female will garner staring eyes in itself. My experience with Carnival is years old now, and I don't know what reception you will receive... I think that it will depend on where you are sailing and the demographics of the ship. If there is a good gay population on the ship that you can attach to then perhaps you will at least have a "peer group" to be around. You did not mention if you were travelling solo, or with your gay men friends? I think that you just do you and that is all you can do. What I would like is that you report back after to let us know how your experience was. There are some more posts like this creeping onto CC that are asking similar questions and I don't think that we have enough real and true experience around this yet. Your experience will help others.

We are a label driven society and yes, Sir, and Ma'am are labels too... Miss, Ms, Mr. are all labels. But this is all driven by culture and history. For some this is just so ingrained it is hard to shake it off. Unconscious bias is a big thing as well. We don't realize the unconscious bias that we have and we are promoting as long as we continue to use these gender identifiers. But again, other countries still don't even accept gay, so how will we manage to get them to acknowledge trans, and anyone that is gender queer. We have come a long way - in my lifetime anyway. I lived through AIDS in the 80's where many of my friends died. Where we could not attend a Pride celebration without fear of violence, and we were attacked on the streets on a Saturday night going to a club. My city, my country is not a place where I live in fear any more, but there are many places in the world that we still must be fearful of just because of who we are inside.

It is all about personal preference. We pay for what we believe we want and need. On ocean ships, I don't see the value in paying more money for the identical cabin one or two decks higher, but that makes a lot of people happy and is their preference.

Understood.... as we are Viking loyal (to this point) we have a friend that we want to cruise with and they will ONLY cruise on Oceania. They won't budge to try Viking. I think that we will try Oceania in the coming years!

I see it as a management role and a necessary role that heads all the entertainment and to a certain part too, guest relations. On Viking Ocean ships the Cruise Directors are actors/singers themselves and often are part of the show at some point on the itinerary. The ships that I have been on these folks are very talented. I also see them all around the Viking ships and they stop and talk and interact always. We have happened on three Viking Ocean cruises and quite by chance had the same Cruise Director that immediately recognized and greeted us on the 2nd and 3rd ship.

Early mid sixties here... haha... agree - just have fun and do what you want to do. I guess I don't today understand the need for 'us' to group together. I don't need to meet other gay men on a ship to enjoy myself. We have made great friends cruising and none of them are gay.

The balcony on a River Cruise I feel would be a waste of money. Why? We find that most River Cruises - that we have been on anyway - if they are sailing in daylight, we prefer to be on the top or sun deck to have a 360 view that you cannot get from the cabin. Additionally, if you are unlucky when docked to be between two ships, then if you went on your balcony you would be sitting a foot away from your neighbour in the ship docked beside you. We made friends with a couple that were on our Eastern European Cruise just recently that had a balcony cabin and they never sat on it once.

What is apples to apples FOR ME, is that when I price a cruise I don't look at the price per night necessarily, I look at my total cruise fare. Is it in my budget? 15K for two on Viking I know I don't have to spend more if I don't want to and I have a lot included. Yes, it might be baked into the cost, but I know the price. If I get on another ship and my cruise fare may be 12K, but I have to pay for this and that and the other thing, then in the end it may cost more than Viking where I know what I am going to get. We just like the pricing model of Viking because we know what we will get. This is interesting... We have looked at Oceania and have always dropped back because we felt that to get our Viking value, it would cost much much more and we are not convinced that Oceania is worth more...

You need to interview your TA's before you give them your booking. I am NOT saying that a TA does not deserve their commission, nor am I suggesting that any TA should give up any of their commission, BUT, some do. We cannot talk about specific TA's or companies here on CC, but know there are many TA's that do give credits and benefits for doing business with them and many that do not. You have to ask. We book different travel arrangements - cruise or land based - with different TA's because they offer different things. We have also had TA's that want to charge us an upfront research fee even to talk to us about an itinerary. The range of TA's is huge now. Before you book your next cruise, call and interview some TA's and then decide where you want to drop your booking. We ONLY use the TA for the cash or OBC value, as we book directly with the cruise line first and get everything in place that we want, and then transfer the booking. We book our air ourselves, we book our shore excursions ourselves too.

There are so many products on the market that I am sure there are pros and cons to other lines as there is for Viking. I am often criticized by my husband as I will eat the same thing in a restaurant over and over because I liked it the first time. For food he is different, but with Viking we both liked it and therefore continue booking.

... and the PV water supply is safe throughout the city in the restaurants and bars... This is a plus for us.

We have priced other lines, but to date all our cruising - River and Ocean - except one River Cruise (Egypt Nile) have been on Viking. Why? We just like the product. Simple. I know that this might get debated here, but we really like the almost all included pricing of Viking. We know the ships, we know the product, we like the service. We do price around but so far have not jumped on anything. We tend to fall back to Viking. For Ocean we do want to look at bigger ships, but we LOVE the no children on Viking so if on a bigger ship we would look for an adults only section / concierge section of the ship. (Off topic) And back to topic - Viking do fill their ships and for those that don't like the deposit and payment policy, they don't have to book, but Viking are not suffering because of this group not booking. I look at this perhaps from the wrong lens. We are not wealthy, but we save well in advance for our travels. I can pay the full fare if necessary one year out, but as I have stated, we have always been 6 months payment because of future cruises booked. I know that if you are paying 12 months out that there is interest lost on that cash over that period if it was in a bank or an investment, but in reality it is not that much loss - in my mind. AND, there are no penalties until 120 days out except the $100 pp if you cancel outright. Which means cancel before 120 days and get back your full payment. To us, we are ok with this.

PV is in my mind the Gay Mecca of Mexico. It is the only destination in Mexico that I care to travel to. We have been there 3 or 4 times now, cannot remember, but not on a cruise, always an all inclusive resort. You can walk openly in the streets holding hands and no one cares. You have "zones" in PV North Zone Nuevo Vallarta Marina Vallarta Hotel Zone Downtown Puerto Vallarta Romantic Zone - Old Town South Zone I would suggest you target the Romantic Zone which is the most populated gay area, where the gay beach is and most of the hotels that cater to the gay clients. This is is also where all the restaurants, and shops and interest is in my mind. We stay at the Sheraton Buganvilias Resort (Google Map it) and then we walk south daily into the Zona Romantica and focus our time between the Sheraton and the Old Town. To us, this is where all the fun and interest is. We love Polo's Seafood Restaurant: https://mariscospolos.wixsite.com/polosrestaurant. The seafood platter for two is amazing. Have fun! You will likely want to return for a week at a resort.