id est

Viking has very competitive cruise and air prices for the low season: e.g. March, Christmas market cruises...

Conjecture based on a fact Ukraine and Russia are almost at war now.

I've never seen a cruise from Miami to Venezuela or Cuba or let's say from Taiwan to China.

By the way Taiwan and China also had very strong ties and even speak the same language.

Though I still hope the situation will be resolved in a few weeks...

We have reservations for a Kiev to Odessa cruise in May. Final payment has been made. We haven't (yet) been told the cruise is cancelled. It's still over 2 months away and who knows what will happen by then. Stay tuned.......................

I can only guess. However if the situation remains as is which the most expected scenario then either Viking will substitute Sevastopol and Yalta with other ports of call or shorten the cruise to 7-8 nights. They won't sail to Crimea that's for sure because the boat is operated by Ukrainian company.

My suggestion also. :)

Folks are correct: it is not Germany. However there are castles. Here is a quote from Viking website:

---------------------------

DAY 6

LES ANDELYS & CONFLANS

Enjoy a leisurely morning cruise to the small town of Les Andelys, known for its imposing castle, Château Gaillard, built in 1196 by Richard the Lionheart. After lunch, join a guided walk to this fatally flawed masterpiece of Middle Ages architecture.

---------------------------

We had a tour of it. I have to admit it is not very well preserved. However it is a castle and it has pretty interesting architecture.

Constanta is in Romania: nothing to worry about.

I guess even if Crimea peninsula goes to Russia the only drawback'd be: need to get a russian visa for Ukraine cruise.

I'd recommend Delft tour as well. Although we haven't done any others. :)

Looks much better. Thanks. However I'd get rid of Ports section all together so folks would be able to read/answer all threads in 1 place. Or maybe create a general threads for europe ports etc.. and keep those threads on top if it is doable...

So far we did 3 Christmas markets cruises with Viking and had a great time on all of them!

Ironically the only one summer cruise we did was the least enjoyable.

Do you usually book air with the river cruise agent? Or do yourself? ...

It really depends on a time of year. Viking runs a very good air deals in spring/fall with the transfers included. In summer though it sometimes makes sense to do it on your own.

The May Viking's prices start from $2706 in the lowest category. We sailed in December when the pricing was significantly lower: from $1356 pp

Just a few words about the room. IMO for a river cruise it does not matter at all and you're right you'll hardly spend any time in there. During the day you'll be either on an included tour or exploring the city. Especially if it is Paris :)

http://wikitravel.org/en/Main_Page

IMO the best source of a travel info.

Kinda paints a familiar picture of booking with Viking.... I just can't understand how a company can shoot themselves in the foot like this??? It would be so easy to provide "excellent customer service" and create good will. Rather than unhappy or angry customers before they even begin their trip!...

My guess is all Viking's customer service works on a sales commission basis. It explains why when you call to book a new cruise they talk very nice and ready to help with everything. However it is totally opposite when the help is needed on an existing reservation. Just my 2 cents.

Thanks to their Customer Relations team though. Without them we'd not be able to resolve anything.

It really depends...We just got back from Paris and I've never seen so many crowds. Maybe it is related to the Christmas, do not know. However I was told by locals the August would be the best and least crowded time to visit it.

In Europe July (summer) is the best time for a cruise. Not only a river one.

Please clarify what do you mean by "low price"? And what cruise and cruise company are in consideration?

You may need to try "Tulips and windmills" from Amsterdam. There are marvelous towns along the way e.g. Hoorn, not to mention Antwerp, Ghent, Brugge...

Let me make an assumption: it was "Danube Waltz" cruise and let's go from there:

1. The Munich -> Budapest Air Canada flight arrives in 12.30 pm. From there they'd need a taxi to the train station and a train to Bratislava which is fairly easy to catch or a bus. Altogether about 4 hours.

2. "Danube Waltz" departs late after dinner (around 9 pm) from Bratislava. So they'd catch that cruise even if no transfers were provided: no doubts here.

However and this is the most important question: does it make sense to catch a cruise in Europe for 4 days only instead of 7? In my opinion: No.

But if it was "Grand European Tour", which is 15 days - definitely Yes.

Air canada has been known to cancel flights on what appears to be a whim..i never book with them...

It is very subjective. In 2010 American Airlines canceled one of our flights and the other was 5 hours delayed due to mechanical failure. Pretty much the same happened with us this summer and it was United this time.

... They just concisely, or not so concisely, restate all the info you already have. We didn't use them anywhere. The Viking luggage tags that were included helped the driver spot us at CDG for airport to hotel transfer.

I agree. So here is the next question: is emailing them in a pdf file ever considered as an option?

Btw, we already have 10 such luggage tags. So do not even need those.

Apparently our documents were yesterday reprinted and mailed to us this time. I just got them about an hour ago. Thanks to Viking for taking care of it and I totally agree with nana541: something needs to be changed. The reason of sending them to TA is still behind my understanding.

No response from Viking so far. What is really shameful: out travel docs were sent to TA only the day before yesterday, 12 days before the cruise! :eek: I found it out by tracking the FedEx #.

How it corresponds to "30 days before departure" website promise?

And why when I called Viking a week ago I was told it is too late to reroute the package. It just has to go to TA regardless of anything.

Thanks. I'll try to call Viking again.

It is not only TA's issue though. Few days ago I already called Viking and asked them to mail travel docs directly to us which they refused to do motivating they are required to mail them to TA even if he is not available.

I am under impression Viking's customer service is absolutely unable to resolve anything due to over-regulation. That's not going to do any good to them.

Btw, we use different TA for our cruises. Just had to deal with this one since the cruise was booked more than 1,5 years ago.

Our trip begins December 21st and it looks like we'll go to France without Viking's travel docs and flight info. They mailed them to our TA only a few days ago. Our TA should receive them in a few days but won't be able to mail them to us before Dec 14/15th since he is on vacation. Considering it'll be a week before Christmas I am very doubtful about receiving them before we leave.

Just wondering if anyone ever traveled without Viking docs?

In fact it is a new cathedral rebuilt from scratch in 1999.