farmecologist

Absolutely NOT true, in my experience. I couldn't find any acceptable flights through myvikingjourney.com that were acceptable for our pre/post cruise deviations. Choices were extremely limited, and those that were available were at a substantial upcharge. It was only when I added air plus, and talked to an agent, that I was able to find flights...with NO upcharge. As with anything...YMMV, I guess?

Hmm so what are you looking for the AirPlus to get you? Usually people add it when they want advanced itineraries and/or pre/post cruise deviations. I'm not sure you will get a "better" initial flight itinerary just by having AirPlus... But just to give some context, our initial "free flight" itinerary was a Delta itinerary. I went to Delta and did a dummy booking for the same itinerary and the flights were extremely expensive. Viking gets preferred contracted rates, of course, but I was shocked at how much these flights would have been if we would have had to pay for them!

Haha yep, we flew NCL's BOGO air a while back and yeah...you get what you get. Viking is waaaayyyy better than that. They are a premium cruise line and it shows. Our original itinerary was quite good ( see posts above ). However, we decided to extend pre and post cruise if we could. I was on the line with the Viking air agent for literally an hour and a half, checking different alternatives. Originally, I was trying to fly us into Amsterdam, have a few days in Amsterdam pre-cruise, and *then* fly into Basel, Switzerland ( our original itinerary had us going straight to Basel ). The problem was that the flight times didn't work out nearly as well if we would have done that ( very long layovers, etc... ). So we just decided to fly into Basel a few days early, and then have a few days in Amsterdam after the cruise. Long story short, the point is that I was very impressed with Viking air Plus...Extremely good service. Edit : I had the same question about the functionality on the Viking site. The rep said it was fairly limited...and that is what I found as well. It was much better talking to someone.

@HSBC @classy_cruiser The AirPlus fee is $100 per person. This allows you access their live staff, allows you to make as many changes as you want, have complicated itineraries, etc... However, note that you MAY have to pay more if the changes result in the flights being more than their "contracted rate". For us though, we just extended the original itinerary a few days before and a few days after the cruise, and didn't have to pay anything extra ( other than the $100 AirPlus fee ).

I was ticketed long before I added AirPlus ( which I just added recently ).

@bundtkate Interesting. I guess we lucked out on our flights. I hope everything ends up working out! @paul21 Thanks for the info in post #11 above. It looks like we have all the air travel info we need for now. Now to find hotels! @SM77 Yes, we are aware that transfers are not included. Not a big deal. In Basel, you can take the bus for free from the airport to the train station ( provided you have a hotel reservation in town ). I checked with Viking and they said the ship will almost certainly be docked at the "St Johann" terminal area. I'll check again closer to the cruise date. In Amsterdam, it is a super easy train ride from central station to the airport.

Ok...attempting to paraphrase here based on previous responses as well as this one. You are saying that in Paris (CDG), we will take a bus from terminal 2E to 2G, then we will clear immigrations (passport control) and security screening before boarding the flight to BSL. Then in BSL we clear customs...and won't need to declare anything. Any checked bags should be checked through to BSL because this is a delta-only flight. There is a slight worry here about the connection to BSL because of the short layover. On the way back, we clear immigrations in AMS (passport control), and then clear customs in MSP. We will have to claim and recheck any checked bags for the flight to Rochester. Not worried at all here as there is a longer layover before we board the flight to Rochester. Is that about correct? I guess I need to do some more research on it. For instance, I'm not sure what "eGates for exit only" are at AMS. Thanks for the help!

Yep...same here. The price of the flights alone is staggering compared to what we paid for the cruise ( we did take the cheap, lower level, rooms on our cruise though ). 👍 That free airfare deal was an exceptionally good deal, and they threw in the 'silver spirits' drink package for free as well. However, we likely wouldn't have booked it if we didn't get a deal like that. Yes, I did book the seats on HOP. Just go to Air France USA ( https://wwws.airfrance.us ) and use your main booking number ( Delta in our case ), it was as simple as that. Credit goes to @paul21 for that tip! It has been a while since we have had an international itinerary. So how will 'customs' and such work with our itinerary? In other words, on which legs of the journey will we have to go through customs, etc...? I'll have to do some research on it...but if anyone knows for sure, thanks in advance!

@sharkster77 @paul21 @Gourmet Gal Update: Just got off the phone with Viking air and ended up getting "Viking Air Plus" for a small fee. Their agents are pretty good. After looking at a LOT of options, we decided to just fly into Basel a couple days early to shake off jet lag, etc... This is our first international travel trip in quite a while, and didn't want to get too crazy with the itinerary. 👍 Here is the revised air schedule ( Cruise dates are : Basel to Amsterdam : July 28 – August 4, 2023 ). - Outbound - July 25 : Rochester, MN (RST) ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP) : 1:34 PM - 2:30PM (Delta Air) Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Paris, France (CDG) : 4:45 PM - 7:55 AM+1 (Delta Air) Paris, France (CDG) ->Basel, Switzerland (BSL) : 9:35 AM - 10:40 AM (HOP Air) - Return - Aug 7th : Amsterdam (AMS) ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP) : 3:25 PM - 5:35 PM (Delta Air) Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Rochester, MN (RST) : 10:55 PM - 11:38 PM (Delta Air) So we will get into Basel at 10:40 AM on July 26th. They told me the ship doesn't' leave Basel until the evening of July 28th, so that gives us quite a bit of time in Basel to explore and shake off jet lag. We left the return flight as-is for now...which give is 3 days post-cruise in Amsterdam from our previous deviation. Still contemplating extending another day in Amsterdam at the end though...and air plus should allow us to easily do that if we wish. BTW - this seems like a pretty decent itinerary for free flights. I looked this itinerary up on the Delta site and it is quite expensive ( to us anyway ). Viking has contracted rates though, of course.

@paul21 Great info! Thanks. Yep, it is the CDG->BSL connection that worries me a bit..especially with the bus ride. However, I looked on the Delta site for other dates with the same itinerary and all of them seem to have exactly the same schedule. So I'm assuming it will be 'ok'. Thanks for the HOP seat info. Delta has very little info on what to do...except to "visit HOP to select seats". Looking into it a bit more, the HOP planes look decent as well ( 2 by 2 seating arrangement, etc...). @Gourmet Gal As for Rochester, we live in Rochester, MN so we wanted to fly out of Rochester ( plus, we live near the airport ). Flights out of Rochester are usually quite a bit more expensive than Minneapolis, but these flights are 'free', so it will be a treat to fly out of Rochester for once, even with the longish layover in Minneapolis on the way back. 👍

Hi all, We booked a Viking river cruise from Basel to Amsterdam ( July 28 – August 4, 2023 ). The airfare is 'free'. We have also paid the deviation fee and currently have three days in Amsterdam at the end of the cruise. However, after reading around here, we are thinking it might be good to attempt a deviation at the beginning of the cruise as well. Here is our current air itinerary : - Outbound - July 27 : Rochester, MN (RST) ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP) : 1:34 PM - 2:30PM (Delta Air) Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Paris, France (CDG) : 4:45 PM - 7:55 AM+1 (Delta Air) Paris, France (CDG) ->Basel, Switzerland (BSL) : 9:35 AM - 10:40 AM (HOP Air) - Return - Aug 7th : Amsterdam (AMS) ->Minneapolis, MN (MSP) : 3:25 PM - 5:35 PM (Delta Air) Minneapolis, MN (MSP)->Rochester, MN (RST) : 10:55 PM - 11:38 PM (Delta Air) Now for some questions. I'm a bit concerned about the flight from Paris to Basel. Will there be enough time to make the connection? Also, what is 'HOP'? I also can't select seats for this flight...which is a bit problematic for us. The flights back seem ok, except for the long layover in Minneapolis. We will have 3 days in Amsterdam after the cruise. I was thinking it might be worth looking into a day or two somewhere before the cruise as well...not necessarily in Basel. As anyone done this? How easy is it to get to Basel via train...etc? Is Viking air willing to work with you on this type of deviation? Another odd thing is that I tried looking at alternatives via Viking air "change flights" and nothing whatsoever shows up. Is the site supposed to work for this? If so, any 'tricks' to get alternatives to show up? Note that we *did* pay the $100 pp deviation fee. Can I look for flights on the Delta site and then call Viking and have them make the changes? Thanks in advance!

Yes, I agree...that Viking deal was amazing. However, Viking is playing a dangerous game...many of us will now be 'expecting' deals like that going forward. 😁 On the topic of cruise pricing....of course we could get a "better price" on a Caribbean cruise. However, we wanted to try HAL and like their itinerary. And with the entire industry pushing 'perk packages' now, it is extremely difficult to get an apples to apples comparison these days. Basically, you need to have a feel for what a good base value cruise is on all cruise lines, then factor in the value of the perk packages on each line, etc... Some perk packages include gratuities, some don't, and the list goes on and on.... Researching cruises has just become really exhausting compared to the past! 👍

Exactly! I think all of us 'old timers' can agree that cruise pricing has went up an astounding amount. Too many comments seem to be folks remembering past pricing ( including myself ). I'm not convinced current pricing is going to come down any time soon. Too much 'revenge travel' still going. Additionally, post pandemic, the cruise lines seem to be attracting a NEW set of cruisers who truly do think current pricing is a 'good deal'. If they can get away with that, pricing isn't coming down... After reading the comments to my post above, it seems like early booking bonus HAL is a "good deal" in today's pricing world if you will take advantage of the perks. On the flip side, when you book that far out, you are betting that pricing won't come down. I'm not sure I'm willing to take that chance. With that said, the early booking HAL bonus has a "price guarantee" and someone also mentioned that the deposits are fully refundable up to a point? Has anyone ever taken advantage of the "price guarantee" on these early bookings?

We have never sailed on HAL before. However, I was sent a mailing for the "Have it all early booking bonus". So I looked up an interesting itinerary ( "7-day tropical Caribbean" ) for early December, 2024. The Final price with taxes and port fees was $3198. The kicker to get you to book is the "have it all" bonus, of course. However, after reading this thread, I'm not sure these prices are a "good deal" at all..even with the perks. Thoughts? 3200 seems high to me compared to what we used to pay...even with the great perks. And it is a LONG way out in the future. Do any of you book these "early booking" deals? I'm hesitating on this because we are value based travelers...and my gut is saying $3200 is too much for a 7 day Caribbean cruise. I think we are spoiled though as we were able to book Viking river cruises *with free international airfare* for a little over 5K...and they threw in their drink package as well. Given the free airfare, that is an astounding deal to us. Sorry for my rambling...but just wanted some thoughts on the HAL "have it all early booking bonus" deal and wanted to provide some context. 👍

Yep...the 'wet coughs' coughs increased daily and by the end of the cruise it was very noticeable. We did 'sensible' things to avoid catching whatever it was ( masking, no elevators, staying away from crowded venues as much as we could, etc... ). However, sometimes it was unavoidable...like the muster. And yeah...there was literally nobody masking except for us and a few other 'brave' souls. Nobody cared at all about our masking though...other than a few strange looks. I just winked at 'em...haha. 🤣 Happy to say we are still 'whatever it was' free! So it seems like our precautions worked...as I thought they would! 👍 Also reading some rumors that NCL may return to e-muster. Given our experience, that would be welcome as the muster is and always was a 'superspreader' event for 'whatever is is' that is out there. e-muster just seems like a better way to go...in our case it was in the huge auditorium and it seemed like very few were paying attention...

Wow...and I thought we drank a a lot when we were on the Joy a few weeks ago! Good work! Haha... What bar did you hang out at the most? We absolutely loved maltings. Awesome bartender there!

Interesting that bar choices were so limited. For a high end cruise line, that is quite concerning. In contrast, we were on a Norwegian cruise a couple weeks ago, and everything was quite plentiful. Norwegian is a 'budget' cruise line compared to Viking, so keep that in mind. Have you tried a Viking river cruise? I'm wondering if that might be more to your liking.

On the Joy recently we scouted out all of the bars and found that Maltings ( the "whiskey" bar ) was the least busy...followed by the Cavern and "sail and sustain" bars that are outside on the waterfront level. Maltings also had by far the best bartender...so go figure. It was a real hidden gem! As for tipping, most *are* already tipping by paying the daily gratuity fee for FAS. We only do additional tips for exceptional service ( like at Maltings ).

Frank, We were on the Norwegian Joy recently and our room steward seemed extremely unhappy and overworked. Other room stewards were in similar spirits. We actually felt quite bad for them....which has never happened to us on a cruise before. I understand changes have been made in this area. Room stewards are the NCL employees passengers see the most, and the fact that they are now unhappy certainly isn't a good look for NCL.

We were on the Joy recently. Pretty good overall...about what we expected. However, our poor cabin steward did not ever look happy and look extremely overworked. We actually felt quite bad for him. Other room stewards seemed in poor spirits as well. This doesn't make a good impression at all...and since the room stewards are who passengers tend to see the most, it isn't a good look at all for Norwegian.

Back from the Joy Feb 12-19th sailing. The muster was "in person"...our muster station was in the theatre. Yes, we had to sit there for around 15-20 minutes. We did "learn how to use a life jacket"...but not sure we would remember everything in an emergency. All in all, It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be...considering all the gloom and doom here ( I'm guilty of that as well...haha ). However, we DID mask up during the muster, and also masked up a lot on the ship, per other discussions on here. Very few were masking, I'd say 5 percent or less...as expected. The ship seemed to turn into a bit of a petri dish towards the end of the cruise ( more and more people with a wet cough ). We seem fine so far...so maybe masking actually worked!

We just got of the Joy on the Feb 12-19th sailing. 12 litres of water were in the room when we arrived. 👍

Just back from the Joy on the Feb 12-19th sailing. We tried almost all the bars...We liked Sugarcane the best the first couple days. We tried nearly all of the Mojitos...the Jalapeno Mojito and Ginger Mojito were our favorites. And then we discovered Maltings. Wow...what an awesome bar! The bartender there is stellar and truly seems to enjoy her job. Truly an upscale experience even though we only had the basic drink package. Never really busy either, which was surprising...a hidden gem on the ship, for sure. The Matador was our favorite, with the Woodford Old Fashioned and Negroni close behind. On a couple slow evenings, she even made us a "smoky old fashioned", a Mezcal Margarita ( nice smoky flavor ), and also made us a couple unnamed drinks of her own creation. She even gave us a couple "tastes" of a couple upscale liquors...I forgot which ones they were ( definitely not Louis VIII though 🤣). The only thing we missed is not having a dedicated martini bar on the ship, but Maltings more than made up for it. 👍 I was able to get an Espresso martini in the atrium bar though ( which was upcharged, as expected ).

Sounds like a No Reservations / Parts Unknown episode. 🤣

Thanks! I have a hunch my mini hotspot won't work with such a goofy system like that...