aflitzy

56 minutes ago, m41475 said:

When you dock are you able to disembark and explore on your own and how do I find out how long the boat is in port. Doing my first river cruise departing Paris in Sept. TIA

Go to My Viking Journey and it should list day by day with the times

Wow !!! Thank you for the details and beautiful pictures.

Tulok, I have been to Paris in my 20's a college student backpacking!!!!  I am sure that this will be a very different trip.  I have not been to Normandy or Monet's Gardens.  

We are looking forward to our Viking cruise - Paris and the Heart of Normandy August 24th.  We are doing the pre-in Paris.  Appreciate any tips on the destination.

Thank you

I am scheduled on the Nov. 5th Heart of the Delta.  At the time we booked (over 2 years ago) , Oct. 29 was the first sailing. It was announced as the first sailing and filled up immediately.  There are 12 of us going so more difficult to get 6 cabins in the cabin class that we each wanted.  We had to pay in full almost 2 years in advance. This payment term was unique to the Mississippi.

 I was amazed when suddenly many earlier sailing we scheduled.  I was really amazed that the ship building schedule was able to be moved up by several months to accommodate these sailings.

It seems to be management error to suddenly open up earlier sailings and then have to backtrack.  I understand that this is the first time in the USA and with a new ship building company.  The uniqueness  should have made management more cautious.  The earlier available dates did fill up fast.  This means a positive cash flow.

Currently the schedule is back to Oct. 29th as the first sailing.  All '22 sailings have been sold out for months.    Just wondering if Viking will need to back track again and cancel all of '22 sailings.  Would appreciate any information regarding the building schedule.  Any updated information appreciated.

Personally if cancelled I plan to take the cash.  

I have Paris and Normandy with Viking scheduled in '23 so still happy with Viking.  

I understand money better than vouchers.  I would rather have cash in hand.  

We did the 2 day St Petersburg and the evening Folk show via Alla and they were beyond excellent.  It was easy to meet them when we got off the ship.  The tour was personalized.  Alla handled the Visa in Russia.  Included more than the Viking 2 day tour and less expensive.  

We did the Molli train tour will Alla vs Berlin.  Again I really would recommend.

Thank you I really pushed Viking today and finally had a supervisor state that as long as the other tour company meets us at the dock we do not need a seperate Visa. I really do appreciate the feed back on ALLA . Seem less expensive and most important we are a group of 12 so private tour seems great! Thank you for reply

We used Alla tours for Saint Petersburg and LOVED it! It was phenomenal. We started piecing together Viking Excursions to compare price and stopped when the price was double what we paid Alla. Because they were local, we never waited in line and they adjusted our itinerary to the weather, tourist flow etc as we went. Had we known then what we do now, we also would have booked Alla for Berlin. The Viking train ride to Berlin was fine but after a very very brief drive around the city, we were dropped off in an area that could have been any big city in the US. Alla groups are small ( we hd 12) and all people from your ship. Their trip advisor reviews are stellar which is how we decided on them and their communication us excellent. You don't even have to pay anything until the end of the first day

We are planning this trip May of 2019. There are 10 of us going. I have been looking at another tiur company for Saint Petersbur, but concerned as I heard that you need a special Visa. Is this true. Was it easy to co-ordinate. Thank you.