H2Otstr

Last year we did Viking's Castles and Legends and there were several young people, mostly female teachers, traveling on this cruise. They blended in with everyone else, older or as young as they were, on the trip.

We leave tomorrow for Budapest via Frankfurt. Originally we were scheduled to go directly to the ship and have two nights on board in Budapest before cruising. Well, that changed.

 

The bad news is, Mr. Murphy got involved and our GCT ship needs a new engine. The good news is that GCT chartered a ship, MS Sapphire (TravelMarval line) and we will do the complete itinerary as scheduled. The bad news is the ship won't make it to Budapest on Friday for us to board. The good news is we will stay in the Marriott for two nights and then board the ship on Sunday to complete the cruise as scheduled

 

Here's hoping the Sapphire arrives on time and that the trip goes well. This is one of those times I'm glad that GCT uses multiple Progam Directors for their cruises . . . all the added hassles of this situation would really stress the one cruise manager that many lines use.

 

Hopefully we'll have good wifi and I can post as we go.

I hope everything works out well with no further glitches. The Marriott is in a great location for touring. Have a wonderful trip.

The only line that I have traveled with for river cruising that does not offer a gentle walker's group is Grand Circle. From personal experience, AMA offered the best deal. They arranged for van transportation to the top of the hill where the Melk Abbey is located, a choo choo train ride through the vineyards on one of the very hilly towns, etc. There were about 8 people who were physically challenged on our last trip with AMA and they didn't miss anything.

Cormike 1, I hope you start a new thread with your thoughts, tips, etc for those of us who will be traveling in the upcoming year.

How long did it take to get your visa? Approximate cost? Did you use a service?

LOL. This is getting seriously OT... Still, I can't resist this oldie but goodie...

 

"Here lies what's left of William Dough,

With us, he is no more.

For what he thought was H2O,

Was H2SO4!

 

***

 

I don't know much about other lines, but Uniworld gives out a pleather luggage tag (one each), which attaches reasonably securely to your suitcase. You have to fill in your info on the card within. They make decent luggage tags even after the cruise is over. They seem to be sturdier than they look, but not fancy by any means.

 

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Cute poem. I have never seen that one before.

Did you all put those large, metal Avalon luggage tags on your bags? I think I might just leave my red, leather Viking tags on mine :D.

We leave on Sunday and are getting very excited.

Thank you for that info. Will have to visit the Monoprix before we set sail.

A nice touch: Ama gives each lady a beautiful scarf at the beginning of the cruise. That's one less scarf for you to take!

 

Allyson

And on our cruise the same scarf was given to the men :D. We had one man traveling solo that got the scarf. He didn't quite know what to do with it since he had no one to give it to.

FuelScience or maybe I should call you VOC man (science joke), is the minibar onboard a refrigerator type bar ? Also, is there a charge to use the minibar?

Fuel Science, we visited Valhrona chocolate store in 2006 when we did a similar cruise with Viking. They gave us lots of samples then, too.

Don't know about southbound, but going north this spring, Avalon loaded the luggage onto a truck before we left the ship in St. Jean de Losne and delivered it directly to the hotel. We only had our hand luggage on the bus/train. i suspect that luggage will be handled the same way going south. You will probably put your luggage outside your door and then "identify" it in the lobby before it's loaded onto the truck. It should be in your stateroom when you board the ship.

Thank you for this reply. We will be headed Northbound in two weeks. That certainly makes the trip a lot easier if we don't have to lug around our heavy bags.

We were supposed to get an upgrade, if a room was available on our AMA trip. It is a perc from traveling with them several times, but our PD wanted to charge us $1000 extra, and then on the next to last day he told us we could upgrade at no extra charge :o. A couple rooms were unoccupied. Not worth packing and repacking for one night.

We took the Viking Carthage optional tour while in Tunis and felt very safe. There were armed drivers with us the whole time. There was one lady, a writer for Cruise Critic, who took the taxi into town by herself. She also said she felt very safe.

Wow... I certainly need to read more threads like this one. We are from San Diego and I have never heard of some of the products you all are mentioning. Do have a nice down coat and fleece tops, etc. but need to add some more cold weather gear.

 

Going on Christmas Markets cruise this December and have the worst problem finding shoes - even sneakers - since I have really wide feet and size 11 womens. It is very hard to find something that fits and has good support. Anyone have this problem?

 

Are the wool socks thick? Aren't wool socks itchy? I don't own wool of any kind... haha

If you think the wool socks might be itchy you can get sock liners for underneath. The liners create a layer of air between the liner and the sock. Also, the Smartwool socks are not pure wool, but are a blend. They are very warm.

Did you use your onboard credit for gratuities on a Viking Ocean Cruise?

 

I know that we were not able to use our onboard credit on a Viking River cruise for gratuities.

OBC cannot be used toward gratuities on ocean cruises, either.

Yes you can bring wine on board. You can shop along the way and bring local wines on board.

Depends on the configuration of the dining room. Even if there are tables for 2, they are usually close together

Enjoy your trip. Pat

As Pat said, the tables for two are just inches from each other. They were part of the bench type seating, not the round tables.

Hmmmm. Maybe I'll bring a pack of name tags and a few marker pens with me that folks can use as they enter. Looking ahead to our Panama/Central America cruise on the Sky January 2018. Whaddya think? [emoji16]

 

 

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We were on the maiden voyage of the Sky and had maybe 10 or 12 people at our M&M. I bought name tags at Office Depot and brought them for our get together.

What are the choices for the included wine on Viking? We're looking at the Prague-Paris itinerary and will be traveling with friends. One friend only likes sweeter wine, like Riesling. Are there many choices in the included wine with dinner? Or is it just a choice between red or white table wine?

Also, if we buy wine in town, can we bring it back and have it with dinner?

 

We're new to river cruising and I read the stickies but didn't see this covered.

Yes, and there is no corkage fee. We visited a winery in Germany with Viking and so many people bought wine that Viking had everyone's purchases taken back to the ship so we wouldn't have to carry the bottles around with us. They encourage shopping at the local establishments.

Well . . . as Rick so famously told Ilsa: "We'll always have cheeseburgers."

And I had a good one last night ;p:D.

As far as I know they do not use budget airlines.

We fly from Raleigh and it has always been on either Delta or AA.

Grand Circle does. Their ship, the Corinthian, holds 90 people.

QUOTE from Suite Traveler:

My expectation on a cruise is that the food should match the area in which you have spent the day. I would never expect nor want to have any American foods on any cruise in Europe or Asia or anywhere except America.

Almost everyone on the ship ordered cheeseburgers and fries when we saw that on the menu during our 21 day China cruise. :D

But sometimes you won't. So it's always good advice to buy something you REALLY want when you see it, as you might not have another chance (due to selection, timing, whatever)....

So very true. Buy it when you see it :D.

Budapest was at the end of our cruise and by then my suitcase was full and I saw several things there that I had not seen at the other markets. I did purchase 1kg of loose Hungarian candy at the market and had fun giving some to family and friends for Christmas.

Shiraz 49, if you see something you like in Budapest be sure to buy it. They have things there that the other markets don't have. You will see many items at the other markets that are the same and have similar prices.

I also like the sleek, Scandinavian style of Viking, both river and ocean cruise ships. I have traveled a couple times with Uniworld and the décor doesn't bother me, but I find the furniture in the lounge to be very uncomfortable. It's nice that we all have so many choices of who we want to travel with since one size does not fit all.