Canberra601

Quick question - when you refer to "upgrading", does this mean from the Premium Package to the Ultimate Package? If you do this onboard, do you only pay the difference between the price of the two packages?

Our offer is also very clear that it applies to our upcoming cruise:

So did we on the Saturn earlier this month.

Does the premium package include cocktails, or do you need to upgrade to the ultimate package?

And link to the AUS/NZ; AU_CORP_SilverSpirits-AllProduct-2023-A4-R02.pdf (viking.com)

Here it is for Australia and NZ:

We went to Cape Sounion in February this year. We originally booked an excursion to Delphi, but it was cancelled at the last moment due to heavy snowfall in the mountains. The Cape Sounion excursion was the only one available that really interested us. Despite a snowy and blustery day, I really enjoyed the trip. A really lovely bus ride to the site, and the site itself was well worth seeing.

We planned to go to Delphi in February this year on a Viking excursion, but it was cancelled due to heavy snow in the area, limiting access to the site. It has been on our bucket list for some time, and after seeing these photos even more so now!

I think that is the key - Viking has different rules for each country in which they make sales and we all have to be conscious of the rules as they apply to where we have made the purchase. I know that the rules vary significantly between the USA and Australia.

Also depends on which country you purchased your tickets. In Australia you lose your entire deposit if you cancel 121 days or more prior to departure. The following is the cancellation schedule for a 7 night cruise which required a deposit of AUD1,000 per person.

We face a similar problem living here in the Philippines. We have to use either the US, UK or Australian offices. Only the US office appears to not require an address in that country. As Berlin Bear states, this can be quite complex due to the different pricing structures and associated conditions, not even mentioning the need to take into account foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Slightly off topic, but we had some issues with refunds associated with two paid excursions that were cancelled whilst on board earlier this year. The issue related to being refunded in USD to our on-board account, when we had in fact paid in AUD. When converted to AUD the exchange rate used for the refund was significantly lower then the rate that was current at that time (and had no relation to the exchange rate at the time that we paid for the excursions). When I queried this at the client service desk, the person could not explain why the exchange rate used was so different to the current rates. He tried to explain that Viking takse a forex fee/commission out, but this made no sense. I asked that either Viking refund me the actual AUD I paid, or the USD based on the exchange rate that the USD was credited to my onboard account. It was not a huge amount of money, but was a matter of principle to me. The matter was resolved and I was credited with additional USD that night, but then the same thing happened two days later when a second excursion was cancelled. So do be aware of this potential issue if any of your excursions are cancelled when you are on board.

We did this trip in January/February this year, and the weather was mostly ok. We had to leave the port at Haifa on the night of the first day due port authorities requesting the ship to leave due to an expected storm and associated winds. The result was that our final day in Israel was cancelled and replaced with a sea day. We also hit a snow storm in Athens which meant that our scheduled trip to Delphi was cancelled. Despite these two incidents, the trip was great and worthwhile.

We recently did an ocean cruise that included Haifa. The World Cafe opened early on days when there were early tours. If I recall correctly, they opened at 5.30am on one day.

We have just booked the Azamara Italy Intensive cruise for October 2024 for the same reasoning. It goes to ports that we have not been to, and are not included in Viking's med itineraries.

This is great information, thank you. Do you book the transfers through MVJ or through your agent?

We will not be on this cruise, but have cruised with Silversea previously. It was very LGBT friendly, and pre-covid they organised LGBT get togethers early in the cruise. Not sure if they are still doing these but they were a good way to meet people. I am sure you will have an enjoyable time.

Same issue here in the Philippines, we have to book our cruise either through an Australian agent or a US based agent. The big issue for us is that we are unable to get travel insurance through Viking or other Australian/US insurance companies as we are not resident in either of those countries, and the travel insurance available here in the Philippines is really inadequate.

We have also done one Viking Ocean cruise, and scheduled to do our next one in January 2023. The vibe on Viking suits us well.

I tried to deposit my paper GBP notes in my bank account here in Manila, and they rejected more than half due to small stains, ink marks etc. They also rejected my Scottish notes because they are not legal tender??? Money changers here are also no longer exchanging paper GBP notes. Unfortunately our next trip to Scotland is in mid October, so we will probably need to post them to the Bank of England when we get there. Does anyone know if I can simply deposit them in my Scottish bank account after 1 October when we get there?

We have stayed at the Electra Palace several times and will be returning in January next year. You just can not beat the location.

We are sailing January 2023 and final payment due September (four months before sail date). I suspect that this is probably due to where we live...... Nevertheless grateful that we do not have to pay a full year in advance.