longterm

I received an email from one of our tour providers (Odyssey) this morning; this may be helpful to some on this forum: ——- As you may be aware, beginning in 2024, certain European countries will require non-visa travelers to apply for a new travel authorization form called the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS). Originally, many outlets reported that this meant Americans would need to obtain a visa to travel to Europe. I’m happy to report that this is not the case. The ETIAS is not a visa, but rather a travel authorization for short-term stays – similar to the U.S.’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) required for folks who travel here from other countries. It will only take about 10 minutes to apply online and will cost less than $10. Quick Facts About the ETIAS: Starting Date: The official 2024 starting date of the ETIAS is not yet known; it is expected to be announced at the end of 2023. If you are reserved on a tour on which you will need to obtain an ETIAS, we will contact you once the starting date is determined. Requirements: The ETIAS will require such information as biometric data (e.g., name, gender, date of birth, etc.), passport information, health information, criminal record, and previous EU immigration history, if applicable (see a full list of requirements here). Format: The online form will be digitally linked to your passport. Who Should Apply: All travelers from visa-exempt countries (including the U.S.) who are entering current European Union and Schengen member countries will need to obtain ETIAS authorization prior to entry. Fee: A fee of 7EUR will be charged for applicants between the ages of 18 and 70. All applicants outside of this age range will not need to pay a fee to obtain the ETIAS. Application: The online form will take about 10–20 minutes to complete and most applicants will receive a decision within minutes of submission. Validity Period: The multi-entry authorization will be valid for a period of three years or until the date of the applicant’s passport expiry, whichever is sooner. A valid ETIAS entitles you to stay in the applicable countries for up to 90 days within any 180-day period.

That may be true with TripMate (I don't know for sure), but definitely not true with other travel insurance. We use a different company and always book within 2 weeks so that we can get CFAR, and the cost ends up being about 10% of the trip cost for both of us.

We live about 45 minutes north of Dallas, and it's really nice where we are; we have our families and our house and life is good. We try to ignore the crazies, avoid road rage at all costs, and most of all, spend lots of days planning and dreaming about our next trips. 🙂 Now if I could just win Megabucks, we'd get to all the trips on our list.

I started wearing them 6 months ago, even though my hearing's not THAT bad... but having spent about 40 years in the music business and going through the rock band era in the 70s, I discovered lots of upper hearing loss. At any rate, I've learned in the last 6 months to take them out at baseball and football games; so far, it's been okay at concerts, but in a noisy restaurant, they go right into my pocket.

That's totally okay, because if it weren't for our 3 grandchildren, we'd be living elsewhere. 🙂

I have 2 like the ones used on ocean ships, and 3 others as well; river ships don't use room Nespresso machines, but the large machine that is always available and is automated, and which uses powders, is actually made by Nespresso. According to Nespresso's site, Ristretto pods are a strength of 10; I don't know anything about the decaf pods because I've never tried them. I don't know of any Nespresso branded pods that are black and have a strength of 4, which would be really weak; perhaps Viking gets some custom-made, but I seriously doubt it. I asked on one of our cruises if they ever got other pods, and was told that the 2 that they provide are the only ones they stocked; I assume this is still the case.

No, they have only the black caffeinated pods and the decaf pods; I think the caffeinated are more like a strength of 7 though, not 4, but of course I could be mistaken. In the original Nespresso line, the strongest pods are black and are Ristretto, which are a strength of 10. The ones on the ship are black, but I don't *think* they're Ristretto. I've been using a Nespresso since the early 90s, and my favorite pods are the Roma, which are a strength of 8. I always bring a few sleeves of Roma pods, and I also tell the room steward not to leave any decafs since we won't use them. We're headed on the Grand European river cruise in 3 weeks for our 2nd time, and sadly there won't be a machine in the room. The ship has a huge Nespresso machine that uses powders (someone opened it to show me how it works), and they're not at all the same; fortunately, the bar has an espresso machine though, and I was never charged.

Grandkids. On balance, worth it!

That's the problem! (We, unfortunately, live in the quagmire that is Texas)

I come from a large family--there are 7 of us, 5 boys, 2 girls--and a lot of us are big talkers. Some of us, including me, tend to be a little loud sometimes, and it's cacophony when we all get together. But when I go to a restaurant, I keep my conversation down, because nothing annoys me more than a table full of loud talkers. Alcohol often plays a huge part in it too; we were at a nice place the other night, and a table of 6 was whooping it up, having lots of cocktails, and they really ruined our experience. Could the manager have gone over to them, and if so, what would he say? He'd have to say that someone complained, and of course that would have singled us out, since we were the closest table. It's a lose-lose situation, unfortunately, and all one can do is try to ignore it, which is often impossible. Had the restaurant manager said something to the two women, he might have faced their wrath, so what to do? One thing that we can all do, is politely request a different table away from the noisy one; that's what we try to do when this happens.

We've always had the little milk chocolate bars--not Toblerone, but we only started doing Viking Ocean in 2021. We make sure to remove them every time they're replenished, so by the end of the trip we have quite a little stash; they're really good.

We've got an Indonesia>Australia>NZ cruise on our list; could you share why you didn't like the cruise that you did, and which it was?

Talk to a sports fan, and often you'll hear their strong opinion on how the team should be managed. I loved what Jeff Fisher, former coach of the Tennessee Titans, said years ago when asked about fans' opinions on who should be leading his team: "When I start listening to what the fans are saying, that's when I'll be sitting in the stands."

SO I guess the "Straights of Gibraltar" are hetero. 😄

We have some Away suitcases, which are really great; after traveling all over Italy and bouncing down cobblestone streets, my bag has held up amazingly well. The only issue I've had is that the pull-up handle started sticking; I contacted Away, and they told me they didn't have one at the moment for my carryon, so they sent me a whole new suitcase. Got it in about 3 days! What a great company; that kind of customer service is so satisfying.

We do the same--we only use the red Viking tags for Viking cruises. What I was really needing were the paper baggage tags that help baggage crew get our bags to our stateroom. All good, TA is forwarding my wife's tags, and I think Viking's sending us a new package anyway. Somehow, when we added the TA to our booking, Viking changed the mailing address for me, but not for her. No biggie.

Thanks! This will be our 2nd time on the river cruise, this time in the opposite direction from Budapest to Amsterdam. Also, we're going a month earlier than last time, when it was rather chilly and rainy. I'm looking forward as well to be traveling with 2 of my brothers and their wives, so the 6 of us will have a great time.

Thanks, what a kind offer; we have a bunch of them as well. I agree about the stickers, but like the lemming that I will be in that situation, I'm sure I'll stick it to my shirt. 🙂 They don't give away those nice brown pouches any longer; we have several of them, which are great for packing.

Figured it out... we booked the cruise, then transferred it to a TA. Apparently, Viking neglected to change the mailing information for my wife, so they mailed her luggage tags to the TA rather than us. They're going to re-mail them, to us this time.

We leave for the Grand European River Cruise in about 4 weeks; today I got our Viking travel package, but it only included 1 red leather baggage tag and 2 paper bag tags, and only 1 of the red paper stick-on tags that we're supposed to wear when we get off the plane. In the past we've always gotten 2 leather tags and 2 paper bag tags per person, and one round stick-on paper tag for each of us; do they ship them separately to each passenger now, even though we're both part of the same booking number? Seems odd...

I was thinking the same thing; this doesn't sound like an included excursion, but rather a paid optional excursion--and some of them definitely do fill up. As a general rule, the free excursions aren't rated as "demanding."

I had forgotten about these; question: We're headed on a river cruise in a month; we're also booked on the BIE next summer. Our plan next summer is to book a 2025 ocean cruise. Please tell me if this is right: We can use up to 2 vouchers on any 1 cruise; I can buy 2 for $100/each, and use these as a deposit on the cruise that we book next summer; My wife can buy 2 as well. Is that right? Can we each buy 2 vouchers, or is it somehow tied together per booking, meaning that we can only use 2 TOTAL if we book as a couple? My guess is that you can only use 2 vouchers per booking number. If anyone knows the answer, please let me know, thanks.

That happened to us; we had a Caribbean cruise planned for December 2020. The day before the cruise, we were offered a longer cruise, $1500, and upgrade to a Penthouse Junior Suite, so I took it. Then, Covid. Our replacement cruise, which was supposed to be February 2021, was canceled; when I called to find out when we were going to actually go, the rep told me they wouldn't give me the upgrades that we had been promised. After a frustrating and irritating hour with 3 or 4 different reps, the last one recommended that I contact the "move-over" department, who offer and arrange the upgrade offers. I did so, was told we'd get our upgrades, but if we didn't go (or if the cruise got canceled AGAIN), we wouldn't get the upgrade. We held our breath, and did go on the cruise in December 2021, got our suite, had a great trip. So if it's a popular cruise that you want (sounds like it is), you might be lucky and someone takes advantage of an upgrade offer.

I hadn't ever looked at that cruise--looks really good. 🙂

OH. Well, that's not Viking then, but that's why we like it. I worked in casinos for years, and grew to loathe them, and production shows--unless they're first-rate--leave me cold. So that's why we personally prefer Viking (plus the lack of kids onboard, and we love kids--just not on a ship). I know lots of folks on here love transatlantic cruising, which we've not done; I would be willing to try that, but I personally wouldn't choose that as someone's first Viking experience, since a lot of what I value in Viking cruises is the ability to get a first peek at lots of ports, that I might want to revisit at greater length (Venice, Naples, and Sicily all did that for me).