thdave

I'm looking to book a replacement trip for our May, 2020 river cruise to Russia.  My wife and I like several Viking trips in their brochure and searched those on Cruise Critic to no luck.  It's best to search new cruises and put in Viking and the departure port in the menu, but still, as I enter Viking Shores and Fjords, I see many South American Fjords and other Norway trips that don't include ours.  I also want to research pre- and post-trip packages, including Iceland, Oslo, and Amsterdam.  I just don't see good responses to my search within cruise critic and find better results if I search in Google.  Any advice?

It's too early to apply for a Visa anyway.  You need to wait until about 60 days before your trip.

Very innovative, Cool Cruiser!   I'll give that a try.

My May trip to Russia is cancelled and I'm wondering if, given that the cost of my trip is more than typical, if I can, with my 125% credit, book two cruises.  Is that allowed?

On 3/15/2020 at 11:19 AM, Arubamoose said:

We are booked on the Romantic Daube scheduled to depart Nuremberg on May 17th. 
 

Heard rumors that they have suspended operations for 60 days. 
 

Trying to find info......any news??

Where did you hear those rumors?  I have not seen nor heard a thing about this.  We have a Russian Cruise in mid May and I'm interested in rescheduling right away.

How did you go about this?  What was the cost?

I plan to use Viking for that.  We don't live near a Russian Consulate.  It looks like it will cost us $590 for the two of us.  Sure glad we got the $1K overcharge reimbursement.  

Viking is awesome!  They gave us this credit. We are very pleased and we are looking forward to the Waterway of the Tzars.  

Original Poster here.  I wish I had stayed up on this thread...not doing so may have cost me $1000.

I called Viking last week and told them that i was concerned about going to China and that the real issue is that we can't reschedule my wife's time off.  So, if Viking canceled the trip at the last minute, we'd get the refund but not get the vacation .  Furthermore, the other options we were looking at, namely the Waterway of the Tzars and the Elegant Elbe, were almost filled.  I told them that we wanted to spend our money with them and enjoy a trip.  They said we'd have to put down money on the other trip and then, if the trip to China was cancelled we'd get the China trip money back.  I said that this is not realistic and asked to speak to a supervisor.  They came back on the phone 5 minutes later and switched my trip to the Waterway of the Tzars.  I was very pleased to do so.

Until I checked back in here to see the $500 offer.  I'll call Viking and see if I can get that credit.  Geesh!

We leave for China in May and stop in Wuhan on May 26, 2020.  That’s the city this Coronavirus started.  Does anyone have insight as to what Viking will do?  What should we do?

We're looking at the Jeep excursion, too, but haven't booked and sail next week. Are you stopping in Costa Maya? What did you book there?

I can't speak about AMA, but my wife and I absolutely loved Viking. The food, the included tours, and the service was better than that of any other trip I've taken in my life.

I would expect AMA is also great, based on some of the comments I've read here.

The cost difference for us was significantly more than $400, once we included the airfare. Viking's airfare was priced very low.

May God give peace to the families and friends of the two lost sailors. How tragic.

We sailed a month ago through that same bridge on a Viking ship. On the Captain's tour of the ship's bridge, two items the captain addressed, because people asked. One was a level that the captain bought and placed on a sill in the front of the bridge room. He used that to make sure he knew the ship was level from port to starboard. The other item was a water bottle he placed on the top of a beam above the Aquavit Terrace. He said that was there so he could tell there was proper clearance under a bridge--that if the front of the boat cleared the bridge span and the bottle didn't tip over, there was no issue.

Given the seriousness of this collision, Viking needs to permanently install levels and a front sensor above the terrace to ensure the crew in the bridge have all important information to aid navigation.

Our trip on Viking was, simply put, outstanding. I trust they will come back from this with improved safety, to honor the two sailors who died.

Any update on the Danube or the Rhine river water levels?

We sail Friday (July 22, 2016) out of Budapest. Very high anticipation. :)

Looks like sunshine through Friday and rain Saturday-Monday.

Dave

For ships without bicycles, does anyone know if the typical stops between Amsterdam and Budapest have convenient bicycle rental locations to the ship docking?

My wife and I love exploring cities on bikes and would like to do it once or twice on this trip.

Thx.

Dave

Still have my cruise documents and info book from a recent Budapest to Nurem' Viking trip

 

it says wrt tipping: "Tipping on board is at your discretion."

 

The last night we got some 'departure information' and it was again stressed that tipping was not required BUT if you wished to tip there WAS a recommended amount and if you wished to add it to your ship account (aka charge it), just stop by the desk. I did it took two minutes .... I don't remember what the amount was other than it was less than what I typically tip on a Carib' cruise (and what Cunard recommended)

 

 

 

we tipped the tour guides a few euro each stop ... this too was mentioned in the daily brief about the next stop.

Tipping the guides and the program director a few Euros a day is reasonable, but the 12 Euro recommended tip per traveler per day for "Onboard Staff" is more than I expected.

You have a choice. There ARE river cruise lines that include all gratuities in the fare: APT, Avalon, Crystal, Scenic, Tauck. [Did I miss any?]

You missed the fact that I'm going on the cruise in 10 days. Why muck up the conversation???:confused:

I guess that makes sense, but it bothers me that the cruise director is working in countries that have wage laws requiring them to be paid decently, such that tips aren't required to make a living. Yet they are not paid accordingly.

I'm not sure why I'm so concerned with this as I know I'm going to tip them as recommended and won't give a hoot. After all, I'm there to enjoy myself and feel good about the trip and short changing the crew serving us is not part of that.

The issue is that the tipping seems contrived by the cruise lines given the countries we are visiting.

If the practice in Hungary and Germany is to not tip, presumably because there wage laws to provide a decent income (unlike the wage laws in the USA), then is the recommended tipping by Viking and perhaps others there to create more profit for the company?

Thx for the detailed itinerary. We are on the same cruise departing Budapest on July 22.

Family will be in Nuremberg the same day we are and I was hoping to get together with them. However, I see we won't arrive until the afternoon and then get on the tour right away and don't return until 5. I called Viking and they said that our visitors can't pay for the tour and join us. So, the best option is to join them in the evening. This is a bummer as that was the one evening the entertainment looked ok.

Thoughts?

Does you know where the ship docks in Nuremberg?

You can't predict the water level more than a few weeks in advance, so there's no telling what conditions will be like in July 2017. The best you can do is book a cruise on a river ship with very shallow draft, like AMA [that's why they were able to keep sailing the entire length last year except for a few days when the Port of Budapest closed]. Viking, on the other hand, stopped sailing first because of the design of their longships.

Viking stopped sailing? I doubt you meant to say that. :confused:

When I read the Cruise Critic reviews of the Viking river cruises, they all say that with water level issues the Longships still cruise but that Viking will dock the ship and bus you around the short/high water issue and then put you on another ship to continue your cruise. The reviewers consistently state that this is a minor inconvenience and that other river cruise lines do the same thing.

Thank you, mimmy, for your beer tour review. It looks like it's just a beer tasting at different old pubs, which is perfect for us. :)

We are interested in perhaps one of the following excursions. Any recommendations? Do any of these sell out?

This is for the Grand Euro Tour.

Excursions:

Mozart and Strauss Concert

Cologne's Beer Culture Dinner

Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

Salzburg Highlights

Imperial vienna

Behind the Scenes at the Vienna Boy's Choir

Thank you!

Funny, I just picked a high interest rate to more dramatically show the costs of the lost value of money by paying far in advance. That said, there are municipal bonds in Ohio available that are paying ~4%. Also, stock market returns have been averaging >5% per year.

I'm not sure about travel agents--but ignoring that and ignoring whether or not you are comfortable pre-paying to such a large extent-- to put this pre-pay issue in proper perspective you need to calculate the value of the money tied up for that period of time, assuming you have the money in the first place.

So let's assume a cruise costs $10K, close to what my wife and I are paying for the Grand European Tour (15 days) we just signed up on Viking, which was $9,923 for the trip, with air, from Cleveland, OH, for the lowest category. Viking will have this money for 8 months (it's a July trip). Avalon would have the money just 3 months.

Let's assume the money would earn you 5%, which is $500/yr or $208 for the five extra months you have the money at Viking. The similar tour offered by Avalon is $11,200 with air, $1220 more than Viking. This is why I went with Viking.

I've been shopping for a cruise and confirm that Viking requires full payment by the end of this calendar year for a 2016 cruise, or you pay the full price of the cruise. The full price is on their website--it is the crossed off price next to the smaller price. Viking insurance is $612 each. Note that changing one of the persons in your party is not allowed.

If you've had a health scare in your life, like I have, you have to question the reasonableness of Viking's payment requirement. But, the devil is in the details. I looked in their Passenger Ticket Contract and found some good news--you are entitled to a refund of all but 15% if you cancel within 90 days of the trip.

Avalon does not require payment until 3 months before departure, and their deposit is only $500 each.