CasaM

Thank you fbgd...and sorry...my brain wasn't in the right gear!

Flyer talker....thank you for the clarification... I did not realize there was a difference...what is the difference?

6rugrats....once Viking cut the tickets I had a locator number and could bring up my reservation on the airline online and make seat changes.

Thank you all for your replies....last trip we were on Lufthansa...the cruise line booked the ticket and we then went to our reservation online and bought an upgraded seat.  That's what I'd like to do.  The flights thru AA are really the best timewise for us, so I'll probably give it a shot.

We're planning a Fall trip, into Cdg and out of ZRH.  We have free air thru Viking.  In the past, we've had our ticket cut early and then bid on economy plus seats. The best flights look like AA, which we've never used. Can you bid and pay for an upgrade....all the research I've done indicates you need frequent flyer status.

We just returned from the Nov 7-14 Viking cruise from Passau to Budapest.  Passau to Vienna went as planned....then we were told the ship could sail no further.  The next day we were bussed to Bratislava (hour and 20 min each way) and had our tour. 

The following day, we packed our luggage and had the bags outside our room by 7:30, then boarded the bus at 8:30 for the 3 hour trip to Budapest.  We were put on a Viking ship that was docked in Budapest and had already finished it's year.  We had lunch on the ship and then proceeded at 2:00pm for the tour of Budapest.  So basically you miss a half day in Budapest and all extra excursions were cancelled.

So, the final verdict for us was that it was not ideal, but the river has been low for months now and there is nothing the cruise line can do about that.  The weather was milder than normal, but very foggy. Our day at the Gotweig Abbey you couldn't see any of the views or even buildings unless you were right next to them.

We are currently on the Viljhalm in Vienna and were just told we can not sail any further.  We will be bussed to Bratislava tomorrow, then bussed to Budapest with our luggage on Tuesday, which will be a 3 hour drive.  We'll have lunch onboard another ship, the Bragi, which is in Budapest and then do our tour in the afternoon.  Of course it gets dark very early, so the tour won't be the same as one done in daylight. Then we spend the night on Bragi before disembarking Wed. All optional tours are cancelled and money refunded.

There was no mention of any credit for the inconvenience or disruption to our sailing.  

We fly out tomorrow, and embark Viking Vilhjalm on Wed.  We've just been notified by Viking that the ship will remain in Vienna after our day there and we will be bussed to Bratislava the next day for our tour and return to Vienna.  The following day we will disembark and bus to Budapest for our tour.  That night we will stay on a sister ship docked in Budapest.  

That's great news...hope you have a great trip.  We leave from Passau to Budapest on Nov 7, so I'm hoping we can do the whole trip also.  We did get an email from Viking today explaining the troubling water levels and that our trip could be impacted, but that's probably standard procedure to cover themselves if we hit any trouble.

2 hours ago, iwannacruz said:

I would be really interested to hear from anyone who recently got off a Viking Danube waltz cruise. What hotels did you stay at or how many nights did you spend on the ship? What was the food arrangement if you had to go to a hotel? Did you have much time at the different cities to do you own thing since is seems bussing takes up a lot of time?

Just trying to prepare myself and my family for what kind of vacation we might have in a few weeks.

Thanks

I am interested in hearing answers to these questions also, as we are scheduled to get on the ship Nov 7.  When we did this same cruise about 7 years ago, we had to leave the ship and be bussed to Budapest and stay in a hotel...it was the Corinthia...which was a nice hotel but far from any sightseeing. I'm disappointed to face the ship swap, bussing, hotel situation again.

We are on Viking leaving in 3 weeks, Passau to Budapest.  And while I know conditions can change in that amount of time, we wouldn't enjoy being bussed around.  We did this same trip about 8 yrs ago, and did the ship swap...bussing... staying in hotel in Budapest and missing alot of the city.  Bad luck for sure if we have to do this again.

My question is:. Does Viking ever just cancel when conditions are so bad, like some other lines do?  

I just received my 2 pairs of these pants in the tall....they fit great and the quality looks good, but I haven't washed them yet. I'm 5'6" and the tall gives me plenty of length. I usually don't wear pants other than black but ordered one in the wine color and like it. Thank you Debbdo for posting this... I never check QVC site anymore.

I have 2pairs from this line from quite a few years ago that I still wear around the house...the quality was very good. So I'm thinking of ordering these. I don't like ankle pants so I may order tall so they are long enough.

What are the new fabrics that are wicking? I usually takes cotton, but also layer with a sweater. We mostly do fall or spring cruises. I'd like a black mock turtleneck to wear under sweaters.

The comments on seat guru mentioned boxes on the Boeing 777, so I'm inclined to go with the Airbus. Thank you all for your comments!

The Boeing 777 is United Flight 106.

The Airbus is United Flight 8854, which I think is a Lufthansa flight.

I did check seat guru but didn't see where it would tell about the floor boxes.

We're selecting flights for Nov....in economy...trying to decide between Boeing 777 from IAD to MUC....or Airbus 350-900 from ORD to MUC. We'll be connecting to these from our flight from SCE.

Mainly concerned about equipment boxes under the seat where my feet should go... I can't sit for 8 hrs with my feet to the side throwing my hips out! Also general comfort as best as you can have in economy.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Don't lose hope. Last October, we were on the "may be affected" list and our trip went without any problems.

Are there taxis from the port to the station in Greenock? DH has some walking difficulty so a 20 minute walk would take us much longer.

Thank you FlyerTalker, and yes, you are right. After that experience, I started looking at not only times for my future flights but which aircraft was scheduled, and then doing research on that. You learn so much on CC and I appreciate everyone's input for sure.

Sorry GC....I knew I wasn't answering your exact question, but when I heard dreamliner, it reminded me of our bad experience and I thought I would share it just as a point of info for anyone else reading about the dreamliner.

Of course, now I know I am completely out of my league in even commenting about specific airliners....I didn't even know, as waterbug points out, that there were differences. In any event, the airline we were on was British Air in 2015. I will now bow out of the conversation and let other more knowledgable folks take over!

We were on the Dreamliner, but in economy so I can't comment on the seats you are asking about. But let me tell you, the economy seats are horrible....no padding...tight....entertainment boxes where your feet should go, which causes you to have your feet and hips out of alignment. DH and I said it should be called the "nightmare liner" not Dreamliner.

You could get some good info on the seats you are investigating at seatguru dot com. Good luck.

Wondering if anyone has any update on the wines by glass available on Jade.

Thank you both!

We have the beverage package but no specialty dining package. If we eat at Cagney's or Le Bistro, will our wine, cocktail, or after dinner drink be covered under the bev.pkg. and we would only pay a la carte for the food.

Thank you John B..... I will commence to do some research and post a new thread if needed. You are indeed a gracious, helpful person!