CDR2001

I agree with Lew. Not knowing the price you’re paying for Viking Air, I’d certainly book for myself, and look for a better price with flights on my schedule.

You won’t find zip lines or white water. Other than Reykjavik and Akureyri, the ports are very small with few tour options locally. If you can spend extra time in Reykjavik, you might find adventure tours here. https://adventures.is/ We booked several tours through them for our 4 extra days. Viking offers kayak tours and some ATV tours and horse riding in some ports. We did not do any of these, we were more into waterfalls and hiking.

I like early ticketing because I have control to upgrade seats. We usually use Delta and I can upgrade with miles or money. Viking only allows upgrades at their rates, I’ve found it best through the airline. Once a friend had a complete change of airline with Viking Air. If you’re ticketed, any changes will be on the ticketed airline, not to a new carrier. I do expect changes, and check the airline website daily….yes a bit compulsive! We use Viking Air plus when it’s a really good deal. Otherwise we book for ourselves.

I agree, call Viking Air plus. There is a charge, about $100-150 pp for Air plus. We’ve had it, selected flights, then found better options on our own. All Viking air fees were refunded promptly, as we were outside of the 121 day mark and flights had not been ticketed. Don’t delay, as once the flights are ticketed no changes allowed without big fees. BTW, once you get Viking Air flights you like, request that they be ticketed. You may get push back from Viking if it’s early, but they will ticket the flights for you around 100-120 days out. Then I only deal with the actual airline for any issues or upgrades if available.

We had a great experience with FlyBus. When we arrived at the airport, we easily got our tickets at the FlyBus desk, along with a color coded ticket for our transfer to the smaller van. We spent longer at the airport than expected so we were glad that a timed reservation wasn’t needed. (lost luggage..)

I’ve had success 4/5 times! I think the confused agent in my case thought I wanted the actual excursion list for my exact cruise dates, which wasn’t available. Keep chatting until you get results!

You can get an emailed PDF of excursions for a recent cruise via the Chat on MVJ. Explain that you understand that the prices and tours may change by next year. Only once has the chat agent not known how to send this, so try another time if you don’t have success.

We toured with Your day tours, but saw Nice vans at the same sites. The guides of both companies seemed to be friends. I’d not hesitate to use Nice or Your day tours. We enjoyed South coast tour, golden circle and Snaefellsnes day tours in 4 extra days in Reykjavik before our cruise. We did not visit Blue lagoon.

Seair Sorry, no advice about the glacier lagoon as we took the Viking included walk, which we really enjoyed. Djupivogur is a very small town with limited tourist resources. Good luck and I’m sure you will enjoy Iceland!

I feel your pain about the “Guarantee”. We just returned from an Iceland cruise, and here’s how we got Manfredi reservations for 4. As soon as you board and complete the safety presentation, go to the port side of World Cafe where the dining reservation host will be. ( it’s the right side as you enter the cafe.) I couldn’t get what I wanted that first day, but I constantly checked every time we entered the World cafe. I got my 6:30 time after a few tries. I think the problem is for this 7 day cruise, they don’t have enough spots for the entire passenger list. I was told they book 120 guests each day. Viking needs to change the advertising, or limit the more expensive cabins to one reservation per venue rather than two on shorter cruises. As far as your excursion, we had fabulous tours with independent tour companies, much smaller than the Viking bus, ( we did this by choice.) May I ask what tour you are looking for? I may have a recommendation. You can also keep checking with the shore excursion desk on deck 1, as we made changes onboard. Lastly, keep checking MVJ as we saw new excursions and dining reservations availability a few weeks before the cruise.

I’ve been able to get a recent pdf for my cruises by using the Chat function on MVJ.

Last year, well before 120 days out, we changed one Mediterranean itinerary for a different one, and the insurance transferred, with a price adjustment. We did not “cancel” the first cruise. I’m not sure how it worked but it did. You or your TA can ask the Viking agent who booked the Nile cruise for you and see what can be done. (Name and phone are on your invoice.) Good Luck.

We are booked for mid October this year, 2023. My brother cruised Athens to Venice on another line last July, and temperatures were around 100 degrees in many places. We also live in Florida, but he was miserable. The heat was stagnant and he said there was no shade or breeze around the many ruins. My sister teaches in Italy, and she said she won’t work in the summer due to the heat.

Correction to post #3…We’ve sent our bags “FROM” the hotel to ship, and found them in our room after boarding much later.

We’ve sent bags to the hotel twice, and stayed in port. We needed to arrange our own transfer to the ship…Hop on boat worked great in Stockholm. I’d wait to ask the Viking hosts at the hotel for options, landside staff has told me no for several situations and the on site hosts then said Yes! From our experience, the bus transfer occurs around check out time, 11am.

For my previous cruises, I request an excursion PDF using the chat function on MVJ. They will send you a document from a current cruise, so the dates and details won’t match your trip. It will help you plan. Heads up, once the chat agent didn’t know what I wanted, so I signed off and tried again…..success. Sounds like you have a fabulous trip planned!

Use the Chat function on MVJ. Ask for a recent PDF of excursions for your cruise, not date specific. They will send one via email, the dates won’t be for your trip but it will give you an idea of times and prices. Once I had to end the chat and try again as agent 1 said she couldn’t do that. However, I’ve gotten a list for 5 cruises that way!

It should be in the final documents email PDF’s that you get a week or two before sailing. Lots of pages to read, but do look over it all.

A few years ago, we had an air issue with delayed flight….upcoming connection would be missed. I took care of it with Delta at the airport, then called Air plus and the emergency number to report it. They already had the update from Delta, and arranged private transfer upon our later arrival. Air plus said it was good that I worked with Delta immediately as there weren’t many options left.

On your invoice, a Viking agent is listed. I’d contact that person by phone since they helped you before. If you have a TA, they can help with the upgrade. Yes, it is easy if a cabin is available!

You can request ticketing about 120 days out. You might have to be persistent. We always do that so we can select upgrade seats via the airline app if offered.

We’ve been next to elevators on deck 3 and 4. We’ve never had a noise problem, in fact we never saw a crowd waiting for the elevators either. The elevators are very quiet. We have 2 upcoming cruise cabins near elevators.

Cruiseworks.. “We were surprised to find there are no seat assignments for two of our three flights to get to Prague and every time I contact Viking I get different information. Now it appears we are not able to get seat selection until 23 hours prior to departure” Are your flights ticketed? If so, I’ve always been able to get seats directly with the airline. I use the App but my friend calls the airline. If not ticketed yet, Ask (insist) that VA ticket your flights now. They will tell you that ticketing means any changes you request will have a hefty fee.

What are they up to? I believe VA is trying to cut back on the many phone requests for changes. Guests can look at options and do it themselves. However, we use Air Plus often for same reasons as CDN. We also book our own flights sometimes. Even with Air Plus, we have seen other options for flights on MVJ. They include a price adjustment PP……and the options and prices change often due to the airlines fluid pricing. My brother changed a flight easily on MVJ.

Referral credits were explained to me this way by my Viking agent. I have previously sailed with Viking, or I have cruise booked, not necessarily paid in full. My friend will need to mention my name as they book a Viking cruise for the first time in order to get the referral credit. The policy states that the friend needs my guest number, but I don’t even know where to find that, and have never needed it for referral credits in practice. Here’s the policy from Viking. There is a PDF here too. https://www.vikingcruises.com/about-us/referral-rewards.html?gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwyeujBhA5EiwA5WD7_YMcygJjsrYlk00ZG7qCIml1VtAGcUhJC10eaSVsALja0ust9BQ3WhoCmcsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds