CDNPolar

Don't be shy with the insurance company, meaning, tell them exactly what is happening and what you are doing. Holding back information that is later uncovered if you have a claim could void your insurance for everything and anything. As Fouremco said, it may not prevent getting insurance, but could limit coverage if there is an event tied to the clinical trial or medication used in the clinical trial. You would then be eligible for coverage for instance for a broken leg or the like, BUT, holding back information once they delve into your medical background and then find the clinical trial, you may not have coverage because you did not disclose.

This is certainly something to consider. We typically cruise with Viking Ocean and River. We will transfer the booking to a TA after we have made all the arrangements directly with Viking including Viking Air. With Viking Air we can call Viking and sidestep the TA which is what we like. Also with Viking Air if something goes wrong, we deal directly with Viking and they monitor the situation. We don't have to work with the TA. We also book air on our own if it is advantageous such as cancellation for a small fee, etc. We don't tend to book our air directly through a TA for the reason I am quoting here. Stated before, we enjoy the process of research and booking, but transfer to the TA for the financial perks.

I only listen to books... have not picked up and read a book or magazine in forever! Books - audio Magazines and news - online

I think that this is great advice. I constantly hear people moaning about a flight delay, a cancelation, poor service, or my personal hated favourite - this is not the way it is at home.... You cannot control delays, cancelations, poor service, or why it is not the way you expected it to be at home. This is all part of the experience today of travelling, and you must embrace and accept that #$!# happens... Regarding my personal favourite - if you want everything the way it is at home, stay at home.

We recently did Antarctica and although we have never been seasick, we were concerned with the Drake Passage and what it would do to us. We went to our doctor, and although he was willing to prescribe a patch - don't know what it was called - he advised that we should avoid it if possible. What my message is here, is, that our doctor knew of and would prescribe a patch to us if we wanted. The one you are looking for by name may not be available, but there is a seasickness patch certainly available in Canada.

I think that if you are a Cyprus citizen, then you need some advice from another Cyprus citizen, OR call your cruise company and ask them. Please call your cruise company to confirm. It is YOUR responsibility to get all the necessary paperwork, but they should know what you require. I may be WRONG, but I don't think you get an exit stamp when you board the ship in Athens. You will get an entry stamp when you arrive in Athens but not an exit stamp when you board the ship. SOMEONE please verify this for me. Looking this up on the internet can be confusing, but from what I have found here are a couple of clips of information:

We feel there is too much fuss sometimes about dining reservations in advance, and way too much fuss over the specialty restaurants especially if there is an additional fee to eat. We tend to sail on Viking Ocean, and we have NEVER had an issue getting our specialty (included) dining reservations once on board the ship. (So many stress about not getting what they want in dining reservations) We generally always go one day in advance, especially in the winter, because even if you live in a place where winter weather does not impact you, it could impact where your flight is originating from, or where it was supposed to fly in from the day before. We tend to dress nicely when out for an excursion or on the ship for dinner, and we don't do formal or formal nights, so, to reduce clothing, you can consider that before dinner you freshen up (shower) and then put on a new outfit, go for dinner, and then wear the same outfit the next day for your excursion and make your wardrobe change again before dinner. If you are going to use the ships self-laundry, make sure that the clothes are dryer friendly so that you can tumble and go...

Would not want my name on the door. No way.

Sometimes if you are connecting to partner airlines, the seat assignments are available on the individual airline site using (usually) the same booking number. I booked a flight with Air Canada and United from Toronto to Sydney and the AC portion showed the seat booked for AC, but I had to go to the United site to book my seats for the second leg from LAX to SYD. Neither airline ever showed my seats all the way through, even though they showed the flights. Confusing.

9 days! Exciting! Enjoy

You are correct - India - NO Visas for Canadians currently, and Egypt, you have to show in person at the Egyptian Embassy - no online Visas now.

We watched PBS and saw Viking ads constantly. We had never been on a cruise as a couple. We went on our first Viking cruise and loved the experience and Viking would still be our only cruise line if there was not a problem with the launch of a new ship on the Nile, and our dates were canceled and we went on that cruise with Uniworld. So - a whopping TWO, but in future we have booked two more with Viking. I think we will have done 9 cruises with Viking with what is booked now. I am one that if I like something, I will stick with it. I don't need variety. There are restaurants I have been to many times and only eaten the dish that I ordered on the first trip there, and never tried anything else. Why spoil a good thing! We love Viking and plan to stick with them.

We essentially research and book everything ourselves, and then turn it over to the TA for the financial perks. If no perks then we hold the booking ourselves. We are not retired, but we LOVE the process of researching and booking, and often have 2-3-4 bookings in the future that we are working on at various stages. We have 4 trips - 3 cruises - booked now into 2025. I get why some don't like the research and booking process, but we enjoy it.

You can still book your own excursions - we do. All information in MVJ is available to you except not your invoice, only the TA can see that on MVJ. We use both local and online TA's - whichever offer the best benefits.

Anyone with experience renewing their passport in-person in MISSISSAUGA Ontario? Is your experience anything like ElizabethS above? This all seems very reasonable in time and efficient.

A good plan... My Rogers plan is $15.00 per day roam like home. You can also, as we did, send an email to those likely to call you (friends/family) during this time and suggest that for these dates to call via WhatsApp. This way you may save the buck 50.

I am not sure that I understand if you have a question here or if you are making a statement? I have a 10 year Chinese Visa and I did not use CIBT. In fact I don't know what CIBT is? I do know that requirements have changed to get a Chinese Visa, but from what I see online for CIBT, they are a service provider. We got our Visa directly from the Chinese Consulate. If you have your Chinese Visa affixed in your Canadian passport, you are good to go. Is the Visa actually affixed to one of the pages of your passport? Just know that if your passport expires before the Visa does, your Visa expires with the passport. If you renew your passport, then you must also renew the Visa.

Not to scare you, but hopefully your connection time in Munich is 2 hours or more? If you are a non EU passport, the lines for passport control can be long. We have found the two airports that we want at least 2 hours if not 2.5 hours are Munich and Frankfurt. These are two airports that we frequently arrive to as the first Schengen country. You want that connection time because the likelihood of your flight being delayed in departure is high.

I have not pursued this yet, but have friends that have booked a cruise as a referral from us and the silly part is that one referral credit was given to one of our friends and my husband's name on our booking but the other credit has not been issued to the second guest and to me. We also - as we had in the past - given our friends our booking number and they were told that has no use to Viking, they need our individual customer numbers? We did not even know where to get those. We have referred twice in the past and the application of the referral bonus was done efficiently and quickly and without hassle. Now, this just confirms that there are problems inside Viking with more than just this program. I am NOT going to spend my time calling or emailing Viking for a measly $100. It is just not worth my time. Viking now have some repeat guests from our referrals but my referrals stop when I have to chase them for something that they should be executing quickly and efficiently. This is supposed to be a "Thank you" for referring someone, not something that I have to chase for. IMO Viking should be considering a loyalty program - that is retroactive - for their repeat guests, rather than this $100 pp referral bonus.

Exactly - the hauling suitcases is one thing for sure. How many times have we been forced to pick up our rolly bag carryon and carry it down jetway stairs instead of a connected jetway. How many times has an escalator been down and we have had to carry bags down or up stairs. All of this can be a workout in itself.

We did not explore on our own in Bucharest, but rather only what Viking offered. Sorry, cannot be of more help, and hopefully someone else will have more advice for an extended pre stay in Bucharest. One tip is look at what Viking do on their Pre in Bucharest and look to that as your itinerary and create it yourselves.

Unless a new addition for newer ships, the answer is no. There is not a shaving mirror on Viking Ocean. The mirror in the bathroom is large and well lit however, if that is any help.

We purchased online. This is not a physical SIM, but just scan a code from the online site after purchasing.

I don't dispute anything you say here. I agree that there are some - and I say SOME - great TA's that are professional and great at what they do. We have also come across many that are no more knowledgable than we are ourselves and they also charge a fee. One that we have used, wanted a $150 fee to start the research into our trip. It was booking a Norwegian Coastal Cruise. What research am I going to pay her $150 for? Obviously she has nothing to bring to the table in knowledge if she has to do the research and we have to pay for it. We chose to do the research ourselves and then we transfer the booking to a TA for the cash perks that we get through another TA. Most travel we do however we have found it easier to do on our own, but we totally get why some rely fully on the TA to do all the booking arrangements.

Haha... I am doing everything I can to not be the guy that cannot do stairs, walk, and enjoy travel and life in general. Also recent studies show that the more sedentary you are, the higher risk you have of dementia.