dd57

I am very sensitive to fragrance with my asthma (bad enough that I avoid elevators in case there was someone with too much perfume in it) and the soap fragrance is light enough to not bother me. But the problem is the odor left in the dryers by people bringing their own dryer sheets. A quick sniff before putting the clothes in can help, but since the dryers are above the washers, you have to be really tall for that to work. I've given up and send my laundry out.

And the ones on the Seine are shorter to make one of the tight turns in Paris.

We did something similar. We had an ocean cruise booked and decided to add a river cruise later. We were responsible for getting between the two but Viking merged the two bookings into one and arranged the air at both ends, only charging us for one air booking. Our travel agent arranged this with Viking. Your situation is even simpler. @Peregrina651 gave good info; send email to that address if you don't have a travel agent that deals a lot with Viking.

My comment was for @sharkster77 who asked about connecting to cell towers while at sea.

Your phone might decide to connect to the ship instead of the land tower if the signal is interrupted by an island. Large charges could ensue.

If you ever watched the movie Some Like It Hot, it was filmed at that hotel. And then for military buffs, there is the USS Midway also nearby. So much to do in San Diego.

The Safari Park is pretty amazing, but it is about an hour out of town. If you don't want to spend all that time getting there, some other options would be the San Diego zoo, which is also pretty famous, or some of the museums in Balboa Park. They are much closer to where the ship will dock downtown, about a 15 minute ride.

We stayed at the Bergen Bors last year. Very nice hotel in a historic building with an incredible breakfast buffet. Very close to many restaurant options with a flat easy walk. It is a very short ride to where the ship docks. Some of the rooms have a few stairs between them and the elevator. If you decide to stay there I would contact the hotel and ask for a room with no stairs between it and the elevator.

If you are going to be in Amsterdam at tulip season and you like flowers, I highly recommed checking out Keukenhof Garden. You can take a bus to get there, or take tour. It is capacity controlled with timed entry. The flowering gardens are really beautiful.

The short answer is it depends on circumstances on your specific cruise. People have reported getting their cabin assignment months in advance. We got ours when we checked in at the dock.

We were there several years ago and went on a small group tour arranged thru our roll call that took us first to Knossos and then took us to the museum where we had 1.5 hours on our own. Even though I studied Minoan history, art, and architecture in college, the tour guide's talk as we went through Knossos added a lot to the experience. I don't remember seeing much signage. Unfortunately as we did not arrange the tour, I don't remember what company was used. But there is probably someone out there still doing that.

And carry the ship's phone number with you if you aren't on a Viking tour.

One other point is it is really important to understand that river conditions and lock traffic can change timings and plans for the ship on any given day. The staff onboard will tell you the day before what the schedule is for the next day.

It varies by the day. In Bordeaux you dock right next to downtown. We didn't go to Libourne when we went due to water levels (they said) but the description says you dock town. Bourg is a short bus ride away. And an awesome place. Blaye you dock in town. The Medic & Margaux day involves riding a bus between locations. The included excursion includes a dinner not to be missed. Cadillac is a short bus ride away. We really enjoyed this cruise.

One more suggestion - there is a lot of walking on Viking river cruise excursions, more so than ocean excursions in my experience. Sturdy, broken in walking shoes are recommended for the many cobblestone streets.

It could have been just that one washer. If it only needed cleaning that's an easy fix.

I had a problem with odor using the free laundry on Mars last year. It smelled like there was detergent build up in the washer and it needed a good cleaning. I told guest services about it and they comped sending my laundry out. I hadn't had a problem on previous trips. I haven't mentioned it before because I thought it was a one of. Wonder if it happens to others....

Like any legal document, you have to read every word. Different policies are structured differently, so there isn't a straightforward answer., but try looking in the cancellation section. I would ask either the insurance company directly or your insurance broker whether your policy covers it. If you are asking in general and don't already have a policy, well, that is the advantage of using a broker - to get a policy with the coverage you want. Insurance policies are regulated at the state level, so not all coverages are available in all states. For example, one policy we looked at covered pet emergencies in her state, but not in mine so if she had to cancel I wouldn't get any payout, even though we insured with the same company. Steve found us one that works in both states.

I would at least look at the pre cruise extensions to see if any appeal to you. Some like the ones that travel further into an area like in Alaska and Tuscany get rave reviews and include experiences you might like. You don't have to use Viking Air with the extensions and you still are met at the airport and get a transfer.

I agree that the description leads to a whole lot of questions. While I haven't been on this extension, I have been on 5 other Viking extensions and can't imagine this one would be significantly different (ok, other than that "when you assume" saying). The tour described will be done before taking you to the hotel. The phrase "the rest of the day is yours to explore" has always meant after arriving at the hotel. Sometimes your luggage travels with you in the belly of the bus, but it could also be sent separately. It sounds like a great way to use up time before you can check in at the hotel. We did a similar guided tour in Istanbul and those listed sights are wonderful.

My friend, who lives on the east coast, and I, who lives in a mountain state, are cruising together in 2025. We had to find an insurance policy valid in both states (not all are), and that covered cancellation due to a pet emergency (her cat is very old). Once found, we bought the same policy so that there is no issue of one insurer pointing fingers at another. If either of us cancels for a covered reason , the other is covered for not only cancellation but also any single supplement charges. We went thru Steve at the trip insurance store. Luckily I've known my friend for over 50 years and we aren't going to flake out on each other.

I got mine on Amazon. They aren't a name brand and are probably from China. But they are well made (I always read reviews and only buy something that at least 1000 people have bought) and have lasted thru many trips. I wanted pure silk so that they would pack very small (carry on only!) and at the time didn't find anything thru normal sporting goods stores.

I would switch some leggings for silk long underwear. It is incredibly warm when it needs to be but comfortable when it is just cool. And packs very small. I'm allergic to wool too and wore my silk long johns in Alaska, Iceland, and Norway under hiking pants.

I know from reading posts here that the answer varies depending on circumstances. We found out at the port.

I have an Android phone and I don't know if an iPhone works the same, but while on the ship you want to have the phone in airplane mode. This turns off the cellular connection and avoids big charges. Then turn on wifi. You can test this out at home. Be sure to do it in that sequence: turn on airplane mode then turn on wifi. You might have to turn on a setting to enable wifi calling. Most phones have little symbols at the top of the screen that shows which connections are active and have different symbols for cell, wifi, and Bluetooth. The symbols vary from phone to phone but if you try this at home you can figure it out.