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travelingman

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  1. i have not taken a Christmas Market river cruise. But from what I remember reading about them on these boards is that the ships still do their regulars excursions and what time is left over is time you can go to the Christmas Markets, which may not be much, if any since some of the stops do not stay much longer past the excursion time. of course you can always skip the excursions and go to the Christmas Markets, if they are open while you are there. You would need to check each town to see what time they open up. with all that said, another option to is fly into a goo Christmas Market city, such as Vienna, and spend several days there prior to the cruise. That will give you plenty of time to see several Christmas Markets. Vienna has somewhere around 15 of them. Some are big, such as the one at the Town Hall, and some are relative small. They are all different and each has there own mug for the mull wine. Wife ended up collecting some of them to use as coffee mugs to replace our old ones. so make sure you have enough room in your suitcase ore bring a tote bag to carry all of your purchases home. I have heard of people having to buy another suitcase to have enough room for everything. i will admit we had to do this (small carry on) after a 15 day cruise to Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Israel. Stan
  2. If you look at your booked cruise under "Manage My Bookings" it should show your included excursions. Stan
  3. In the daily that Viking puts out the night before you will find the contact info for the "dock" and for the ship. Viking has been known to drop off at one dock and pick up at another. This is something you need to inquire about if you are going to depart the ship on your own. Stan
  4. I'm not an expert. I was quoting what a cabin attendant said that is on a ship that has recently converted to the "once a day cleaning" policy. Stan
  5. It's all about the money. By only cleaning the cabins once a day they can cut back on the number cabin attendants. Unfortunately, the remaining attendants have to work much longer hours cleaning almost the double number of cabins, with some of the cabins not being cleaned until late in the afternoon. Your cabin attendant might show up to clean while you are taking your afternoon siesta. This also means the cabin attendants can not go on shore because of their, now, long work hours. Stan
  6. Viking has pretty much cut out everything except for the luggage tags. And all "paper work" comes on line now. Stan
  7. We traveling in November 2022 which was shortly after the "new" policy was put into effect. We purchased under the old policy and had the "original" packages that were offered when we booked. Stan
  8. @Host Jazzbeau - My understanding is that Hurtigruten has a 25% ownership of Metropolitan and has a lease on the Santa Cruz II ship. When I was looking at the cruise the main thing I noted was that Hurtigruten costs more than Metropolitan but is all inclusive with the only add on being for drinks (alcohol or soft drinks) ordered from the bar. Drinks are included with meals. Metropolitan was less expensive but charged for some items such as wet suit rentals and WiFi. Not sure about any other items. Don't know how this would work on the ship since Hurtigruten is the one actually doing the cruise, even though Metropolitan employees coordinate with Hurtigruten. Metropolitan shore employees also work with Hurtigruten on any land portion of the cruise such as meeting travelers at the airport; the included tour in or around Quito; getting the travelers to the airport; showing them where to go at the airport; and meeting them at the airport on the return flights through Quito. There is smooth coordination between the two. Only way you might know they are Metropolitan employees is if you see a Metropolitan polo type shirts under the Hurtigruten windbreaker. I am sure there are some nuances to this relationship I am not aware of. But from what I saw on my cruise on the Santa Cruz II there is a very good relationship between the two and most people might not even notice they are not one in the same because they operate that way. Stan
  9. @Alice Anne I might question - "Put a color copy of the photo page of your passport in each suitcase, just in case." I actually used to do this but then someone pointed out that if someone got into your suitcase and took that copy of your photo page they would have your identity. I now put a copy of our itinerary in the suitcase and the outside pocket of the suitcase - in case it gets lost the airline will at lease know where we will be each day. We do make address cards for everywhere we will be staying during the trip and change out the address card in the luggage tag holder each time we get ready to move to another hotel, ship, Airbnb, etc. This only takes a few minutes to do.
  10. I agree on the laundromat or a cleaner in Prague. Should be less expensive than having Viking do the laundry. That is my plan for our post cruise Prague visit. Stan
  11. For anyone interested I came across a good review of a cruiser's trip to Machu Picchu and Galapagos from May 11 through May 28, 2022. Here is a link to the review - http://www.thepreismans.com/Peru_1a.htm. The Galapagos portion of the trip begins on "Page 3, Day 10 - Fly to Quito. They were there a few days prior to flying to the Galapagos. thought there was a lot of good general information even if it isn't with the particular company or ship you will be on. Thanks Mike for the review. Stan
  12. @stitchinthyme9. I have used tripinsurancestore.com for a number of years. They deal with 9 or so insurance companies that have vetted. They have always been happy to work with me on moving insurance on a booked cruise to a new cruise. As far as the vouchers, they only insurance the amount of the original cruise cost and not any credits the cruise company has added on as good will. If the cost of the new cruise is more than the original cruise then you will have to insure the additional cost also. Good luck. Stan
  13. Has anyone done a solo on Hutrigruten to Galapagos? I have booked their 1/18/23 cruise on the Santa Cruz II. Stan
  14. Hi Hank. We will be in Prague in June 2023. Can you mention the name of the hotel? Stan
  15. We got off Celestyal Crystal a couple of weeks ago and they were turning away people at the main dining room that had on shorts (except for some children). Short sleeve shirts were find as long as they had a collar on them. I wore a polo type shirt several nights. The buffet restaurant was good for shorts and t-shirts. Stan
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