leenieweenie

Unfortunately, I can not access this document! I am very interested in hearing about your adventures in Egypt as we are booked for this coming January. Would you consider posting again?

Just the info in my original post on this thread. We did Imperial Jewels of China, so I can’t speak to your itinerary. But I can say that you will be surprised and amazed at China. Have a wonderful time and don’t stress beforehand. Viking makes it all doable and worry free. Enjoy!

We went in May of this year😀 Have a wonderful trip!

Maybe you can’t do the transfers thru Viking Air, just thru your regular booking that gives you options ( for example for insurance, optional excursions etc).

Oh , one more thing. Our flight home was a little later in the afternoon, so Viking arranged a late check out for us,so we could stay in our room till the shuttle arrived for us. Lovely customer service. We had an absolutely wonderful trip with Viking!

Sorry I replied using a travel agent reference! I will try it again,lol.

We booked our own flights so we could fly business class also. We gave Viking our flight info and purchased transfers from Viking. They met us at the airport after we got our luggage and we went by shuttle van to our hotel with a few other Viking passengers who were on the same flight. For the trip home Viking arranged our shuttle to the airport based on our flight home times. It couldn’t have been any easier! I don’t remember the cost, but it was reasonable and so worth it.

We had a wonderful time and the timing of our port stops was not an issue. We saw the most amazing sunset in Mykonos and Santorini was great! We enjoyed the cruise ship immensely.

This is on our bucket list as well! Please continue to share your journey with us😀

We were able to use credit cards in the larger stores such as the Jade factory and some others we stopped at on the tour. We took US dollars with us and were able to exchange them into yuan at the hotels. Your guide will tell you where that service is available. We pre- paid our gratuities and the drivers and local guides were happy to accept dollars or yuan as tips. Same for any ship personnel that we wanted to tip extra- dollars or yuan.

Definitely be prepared to bargain- street vendors expect it! We had so much fun negotiating with the vendors who would line the streets on our excursions. Just remember this is their livelihood — you can get a great deal and still be fair😉 And listen to your guide, they know the best place to buy and when to pass. Our guide was Tom and he was excellent.

Lack creativity, that is smart! We only had lost luggage once in our travels. And it was all my DH clothes. Luckily we had travel insurance and were able to shop to replace his stuff while in a port. We usually pack at least one change of clothes in our carry-on bag, just in case!

For us, it was a very casual vacation. Even dinners in the dining room were not “formal”! We were so busy on excursions and such that we didn’t worry about clothes. We kept our suitcase weight to 44 lbs so that we could bring home souvenirs without worrying about overweight luggage. We did hit the 50 lb mark on our return flight. Worked out perfect! This was the first time I used packing cubes and I must say I am a convert to them now. I packed everything I wanted  and still had room in my suitcase. A first for me, usually I have to take over part of my DH suitcase,lol.

We did not ! We packed plenty,and of course you could pay for laundry on the ship. Again, we did not use this service,as we had enough clothing for the whole trip.

We have just booked our Egypt sailing with Viking for January of 2021! There are not many cabins on these ships so I can understand how they can be sold out very quickly. Super excited about this trip! This will be our second Viking experience. We just returned from their China cruise down the Yangtze River. It was amazing

We are doing the 4 night Aegean in October. We agree with you that we will take the ship as she is, just for transportation around the islands. My main concern with this tour is the timing of our arrival into Mykonos and Santorini. I am worried that we get into port late and will have darkness descend on us and spoil our excursions or free time at these ports. Any insight for this issue? Thanks in advance.

We are doing the 4 night in October. I am concerned with our timing in getting into port at Mykonos and Santorini. Will darkness interfere with our excursions there since we don’t port until 5:00 at one and 6:00 at the other. Do you think we will be able to enjoy these 2 wonderful places based on our timing?

We just got back ! We left May 6  and flew home May 19! The weather in Beijing was warm. Upper 70s, perfect for the Forbidden city and Tiananmen Square which both days have a lot of walking.  Once we were on the river it was   Still warm and very humid. We had rain two days but it didn’t ruin any of our excursions. Shanghai was in the 80,s  and again perfect for strolling around the Bund in the evening.

I had so many questions before our Viking China river cruise. I thought I would share my experience. First of all, relax! None of the things I fretted about were an issue at all. Food...I am a picky eater and don’t eat any seafood, so this was a major concern for me. The food in our hotels was awesome and there was so much variety that I could always find lots to eat. Same on the ship- always something available that I liked. My big concern was the Chinese lazy Susan lunches, but again...not an issue. Our guide made sure I knew what dishes had sea food in it and there was always rice and veggies and chicken. I was fine with it. If you are a more adventurous eater, you will be able to try all kinds of things! Money... We debated on getting Chinese yuan before the trip, but decided to wait till we got there. We took 2 credit cards and some  American cash. We were able to convert our cash into yuan at our hotels and we were able to use our credit cards at the larger shops we went to. The market vendors preferred yuan, but many would accept American. They also would bargain and we had a lot of fun with that! Squatty potties... Always have toilet paper and hand sanitizer with you. There was usually one western toilet available ( marked for the handicapped) but the lines for that one got very long. Most of the tour stops had western ones available, I only had to use the Squatty ones twice the whole trip and that was because I didn’t ( couldn’t) wait in the longer line. Hotels... Exremely impressed with our accommodations.All our rooms were above and beyond my expectations. The rooms on the ship were acceptable. The humidity was very high on the river and things were a little damp. To be expected. No complaints about the service on the ship.

Be prepared to be on the go... we saw and did so much on this trip. We really loved it. This was our first Viking trip and they did a great job. From meeting us at the airport, to having one guide take care of us for the whole time, we couldn’t have asked for better customer service! Any questions, I will try to answer. 

I bought one in 2013 for $5 (actually bought it in Colombia) that I I still use on tropical cruises. :D

 

You look great in the hat!! That is just what I am looking for!

Thanks to all for the info. Sounds like we will be able to find one reasonably priced in a few of our ports.

Will be on Panama Canal cruise. Was looking to buy Panama hats for dh and I. Wondering how much cash we would need to have with us to buy them. Thank you.

You can bring on unlimited soda. Has to be in carry on or hand carried at sailing port.

Does it have to be cans or are bottles allowed?

We purchased a 12 pack of water thru the fun shops for $4.50 no tax added. It will be in our room when we arrive. I bring Crystal Light packets with me and can enjoy my beverage whenever I want. It is really convenient and a good deal too, I think.

We definitely needed our rain gear in almost every Norway port in July. The temps were not bad but the moving ship made it feel colder out on deck. Regardless, you will LOVE this cruise. We spent a lot of time bundled up out on our balcony to take in the gorgeous scenery while cruising the fjords! It is by far one of the most scenic. And just to be clear, it didn't rain every port, but it was misty and foggy and we wore our raingear just in case.

How cold was it the first 2 sea days?

What kind of excursions were there in Port Orlando?

How was the weather and traffic when you got back to Baltimore-the news was bad for the day before with all kinds of traffic accidents and icy weather!

Did you make Freeport?

Hope you had a good time!

We were on this sailing also and ran into this problem. We went early to get our tender ticket only to be told earliest available time was 1:30. Our private excursion was leaving at 12:30! Sorry, nothing could be done! We went to guest services and after some back and forth-we got tickets for the earlier tender. Many others had this same scenario. Luckily for all we did not have to tender,(for some reason) and so it became a moot point.

I would have been so upset if I had to miss my excursion because of this "new" procedure! Hopefully things will straighten out on future sailings. But as said by op, please make sure to go early as possible to get tender tickets!!

By the way--we loved the ship and had a great cruise!

Thank you! I feel better now--don't stress- Hal has it covered!

RJbean4 see you on board!