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Is Viking providing maps to the towns at the service desk?

Thank you for the great info.

Minka, how cold has it been? What kind of clothing have you been wearing on your excursions?

I just booked an excursion through MVJ and when it came to payment type the only option I had was paying with a credit card, so I canceled the transaction. I will try to book once we get on the ship. Not sure why some people are able to do this but others aren't. My OBC amount does not show upon MVJ.

I know that in the Oceans division they have now set up the MVJ payments to take from your OBC. I do not know if that has trickled over to the Rivers side as well (and I do not want to guess or speculate).

How does one go about doing this? I have a sizeable OBC and would like to do this.

Minka34, thank you so much for the great reviews. We are getting very excited for our July 14th sailing.

Exactly the same on Ocean!

 

 

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That is good news. I have sent so many post cards to the US from Europe and so many have never arrived. I am never sure I am being sold the correct postage. I was in a hurry in Egypt, ended up paying the equivalent of $15 for two post cards and they never arrived. The man who sold me those post cards and stamps knew he was ripping me off. I just didn't have time to argue with him since the tour group was leaving. I'll neve buy post cards in haste again; lesson learned.

Suspaul, this price list was also in our room on the maiden voyage of the Sky.

Can't say I've ever had a problem with the Global Entry machines. Stick in your passport, put your fingers on the scanner, smile, answer 'no to all' on the question page – and you get a receipt that powers you right through to your luggage. Easy peasy.

I always have to put my fingers on the screen three or four times because the sensitivity is never right. We have had machines not work after entering all the info, too. Attendant had to shut the machine off and move us to another.

Sharon

 

What specifically would you like to know about the shore excursions? Today in Tromso was the first day Viking offered shuttles. In Geiranger we tendered in and in Molde we ere right in town. The shuttle today took about 10 minutes to the drop off point.

 

In general the included shore excursions are the most popular. Today’s had 8 groups (which equates to 400 guests/50% assuming the buses are full). It seems the more active excursions are not well booked and, like ours yesterday, are subject to cancellation.

Thank you for all the replies. RE, excursions, I was wondering if they were drive by's or walking tours. Your info about tendering and shuttles is a big help. I am making notes on my trip summary page that I printed :D.

How was the temperature in Molde?

We stopped at Tunis on the maiden voyage of the Sky.

I don't think it is bait and switch.

Ahhhh, let your journey begin. Glad you got your luggage in a timely manner, too.

Can you also report on what the weather is like at each port.

Have a wonderful cruise.

Will be following. Our cruise is from London to Bergen on July 14 on the Star.

I am most interested in hearing about the shore excursions, how far the ship is from town, are shuttles provided, etc.

Have a wonderful trip.

G. Girl, we often order half portions for our meals. We don’t like to waste food either. The portions are just a little larger than half size.

We ate at The Restaurant several times, too, and the only time we could not get seated right away was after the early show in the theater let out. There must have been 20+ people in line so we just went to The World Café and ate there.

I bought a small Skagen leather purse that I use all the time. They had some nice bags and purses.

This will be our first cruise with Viking. Our TA gifted us some OBC in conjunction with our booking.

When I log into myviking.com, I do not see it listed.

Is this normal?

BTW the Viking website is awesome!

I have never seen mine on MVJ, either, but it is listed on a paper which is placed in your room.

Most of the water that comes from the faucets on the ships is reverse osmosis (R/O) filtered water which is purer than distilled water. You might be able to just use that.

I did the Nile with Uniworld in January. Our flight to Abu Simbel did not leave early enough to see the sunrise but the excursion is not to be missed. Well worth the cost.

Our flight didn’t leave till later, either. And I agree with you about doing this optional. Amazing site.

Since Grand Circle is getting rave reviews here I will comment further.

--IIRC their three 48 passenger boats were custom built in Croatia (Split I think) about 10 years ago. There are references to them as 50 passenger boats, but the 2 single cabins are generally assigned to the 2 Program Directors, but possible this varies depending on what has sold. I think they originally sailed under Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT), a wholly owned division of Grand Circle Travel (GCT). A few years after being built they and other boats were designated as Grand Circle Cruise Line (GCCL). When I was on Arethusa June 2017 I was under the impression that they were being re-designated OAT. None of this seemed to change the quality or the experience, but might be confusing.

--These boats have no elevator.

--Most (not all) GCCL boats offer only twin beds. I have been in Category A, C and D cabins in the Croatian boats. Most recently in Cat D and I'm sure that it had twin beds; I think the other categories did also, but might be wrong.

--GCT and Vantage are owned by brothers, both sell only directly (no Travel Agents), the brothers seem to sue each other regularly.

 

None of this would keep me from using GCCL boats again in a heartbeat, but most of us do not like surprises so I am attempting fuller disclosure.

 

Thom

We have travelled three times on the Corinthian. On our last trip we were in room 506 and the room was huge and the twin beds were put together. The fist time we were on the 4th floor and there were twin beds that were separated by a night stand. The room was still a nice size.

On the Croatia to Venice trip on the M/Y Harmony G yacht, with Vantage, there were only 46 guests. The rooms were all very small as was the whole yacht. The Corinthian holds 98 passengers.

Cole,

 

I've been eyeing two Croatian cruises on Vantage's La Perla, a 26-passenger yacht. No one else appears to do anything similar. They're not river cruises because you're sailing up the Dalmatian coast, but definitely small ship cruising. There's also an optional add on to Slovenia. Maybe I'll get to see the First Lady's birthplace. ;)

 

Roz

We did this cruise and it was wonderful, one of the best trips we have ever taken. We also did Lake Bled prectrip and it was worth it, too.

What hotel does Viking use for this pre/post extension?

Anubi, we just returned from Viking's Nile cruise and at no time did we not feel safe. Both buses were escorted by a police car and a private, armed security guard was with us at all times on each bus. He went every where with us and made sure that no one bothered us.

We had some free time to wander around the sites on our own and again, never felt unsafe.

I csn't speak for Roothy but we got the equavalent of $200 in local currency (conversion worked out to about 1,566 Krone/NOK) at the ATM in Tromso and that was all we got for the whole time in Norway. Almost everywhere will take credit cards or debit cards. We have a special small balance account with a debit card for use overseas.

 

We carry very little cash. ATMs are everywhere and we try to use only ones associated with a bank.

We do, too. Thanks for that information.

We booked with Lofoten Lights and our contact and guide was Claudia.

 

Be sure she knows you dock at Leknes as she will customize a tour going South and west toward the Atlantic for stunning beach scenes Also, Viking does not always stay in port the same number of hours.

 

We did one that lasted about 6 hours. If was 950 NOK per person and max number of pax is 7 (we bad 6).

 

We wenf fo Nusfjord, FLakstad, Ramburg, Sakrisoy (also squeezed in Reine on return), and A with the little "o" over it. I think fhe beach areas were near Haukland and Uttakleiv.

 

They have good reviews on TripAdvisor but we booked indeoendently with them on their website. Also contact email is:

 

contact_us@lofotenlights.com

 

We paid at the end with credit card.

Roothy, how often did you find that you needed local currency and approximately how much did you get/use from the ATM?