Twitchly

When you log in to MyVikingJourney.com, look at your calendar. Each day will show port arrival and departure.

The reporter of this piece starts out with: “If you plan a trip with another person — a spouse, a companion, a friend — and if your travel partner has to cancel, you could be stuck with thousands of dollars in extra charges. “We don’t mean losing the money paid for the person who can’t take the trip. We mean extra charges, just for traveling as a single.” And then she goes on to paint Mr. Anderson as a victim of Viking’s rapaciousness for charging a single supplement, something common in the cruise industry. After Viking offers him additional vouchers, Mr. Anderson decides that’s proof Viking is corrupt: “I believe the fact Viking is willing to give me vouchers worth twice the value of my requested cash refund indicates they recognize that they have done something wrong.” Damned if you do … To be clear, I’m not a big fan of the business side of Viking for a variety of reasons. But this article is just irresponsible (and ignorant) journalism, trying to create outrage and cast themselves as Fighters for Justice Against Evil where none exists. Meh.

Thanks to advice from this group, when it comes time to book, rather than putting a bunch of excursions in my cart I select the excursion I want most and pay for it immediately. Then I select my next-favorite excursion and pay for that. And so on down the line. That has worked well for us.

I’m a bit confused. It looks like the man’s travel partner had to cancel and got a voucher after canceling, and when the man decided to take the cruise without her he was charged an additional $10K to travel solo. That sounds like normal Viking procedure. What am I missing?

Which one do you have? And what made you choose Monos over Away?

One more question (for now) for you AWAY carryon owners, or other hard-shell luggage folks: Do you miss having a pocket on the outside? I’m wondering about inconvenience pulling out my bag of liquids or my laptop in the security line. I assume you guys must keep those in your personal item rather than your carryon? I see that AWAY does make a carryon with an outside pocket, but that model doesn’t expand. Hmmm.

Does it always fit sideways like that, or are you ever able to store it with wheels going in first?

Away really, really needs to bring back that bright red carryon. So does anyone here own the TravelPro Platinum Elite 21” carryon? I keep hearing good things about it, but it’s expensive — and currently only available in black.

Nice. What cruise was this?

What did you think of that excursion? Is it worthwhile/interesting if you don’t plan to buy anything? We’re signed up for it next month, mainly to get out of Bergen a bit and see some countryside, etc.

Transfers are usually (always?) included with extensions. Unless you’ve arrived before the extension date.

We had to find our own transportation. But we wouldn’t have been eligible for Viking transfers in any case since we like to come at least a day or two before the cruise and depart a day or two after.

Then you might consider heading up to the Explorer’s Lounge in the wee hours. The view should be wonderful from there.

According to MVJ, on our September BIE cruise we leave Shetlands at 5 pm and arrive in Bergen at 8 am. On our last cruise to Bergen, I got up as soon as the sun started to rise (about 4:30 am), bundled up and sat on the balcony to watch as we went up the coast of Norway. It was a highlight of the trip for me. Our cabin was on the starboard side, which was perfect.

Threads like this cement my resolution to just book our own flights.

On non-expedition ships, you do not have to make reservations to eat at the main restaurant (called, creatively, “the Restaurant”). Just at Manfredi’s and Chef’s Table.

We’d be happy to look after your house while you’re gone! Always happy to do a neighbor a favor. 😄

For what it’s worth, last winter Viking waited until two weeks before our departure date to tell us the Israel portion of our Holy Land cruise was canceled. I imagine they waited until as late as possible in hopes Israel would change its policies in time. I believe they did something similar with their Hawaii cruise, which turned into a Mexican voyage as I recall.

Oddly enough, I don’t think he was around. I’ll have to check my Very Close Personal Friend Karine’s video message again …

How kind … Karine Hagen herself just wished me a happy birthday. (Via Vimeo.) I guess we’re BFFs now! 😄

Boy, I hope somebody on that cruise shares a daily blog!

Can’t remember if I mentioned this already, but I’ve been lately enjoying a fabulous, summery take on my usual gin and tonic: add muddled strawberries and muddled mint leaves, with a wedge of lime. A local dive makes this in a tall glass with ice, and I’m addicted! Perfect on a hot, sunny day. 🍓

We’re west of you. Lovely summer we’re having!

It’s a term that covers a variety of small flies. Like black flies and no-see-ums in the US, and Highland biting flies in Scotland. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midge

I can’t remember which BIE cruise you’re on, but according to the Invergordon Port Authority, Mars is docking on 9/24 at one of their piers (Quay West). You can check here for your cruise: https://pocf.co.uk/cruise/