dottythecat

Thanks for the travelogue, Clay. We board the Sky on May 6 for the British Isles cruise. Save me some pistachio buns! I am bringing LRC and have asked our traveling companions to bring some $$.  Barb

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Cruise Mapper is a 3rd party website that frequently provides erroneous information. If you don't believe the cruise line's information, may I suggest checking the Port of London website.

Thanks, Heidi13. We received docs yesterday confirming Greenwich.

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Cruise Mapper is a 3rd party website that frequently provides erroneous information. If you don't believe the cruise line's information, may I suggest checking the Port of London website.

Hi Sky World cruisers. I have been happily following along with you. We are picking up the Sky on May 6 for the British Isles cruise. The Viking schedule shows us departing from Greenwich; however, Cruise Mapper shows the Sky in Tilbury on May 6. Can anyone confirm where you will be docking on May 6?  Thanks.

16 hours ago, deec said:

We were on the Jupiter with I Made this Spring.....40 days of great cocktails.....he explained his were the Best because they were made with "love"

 

I Made and Von were two of the Living room bartenders on Homelands this spring. They were such a delight. We had our regular seats every "happy hour" for two weeks.

Garry,

I have so enjoyed your blog, and was pleasantly surprised when you continued on to the Homelands. We embark on Homeland on Wednesday on Jupiter.

You and Arlona have been great guides through your journey. I will look for her "quarantine period" artwork. I already miss your daily selfies together. Hopefully only a few more days.

We are also Floridians from Michigan-originally Traverse City, now Venice.

We are on Homelands May 19 sailing ending in Stockholm. We are staying 2 extra nights at the Courtyard Stockholm, not Viking's post-extension. Any thoughts if we were to test positive on the 24 hour Covid test? Is there a particular location at which we would have to isolate? Stay where we are? I am Googling around making sure we have a Plan B.

I worked for an incentive travel company for  many years. We booked contracts for the groups so we were sure to be able to get large numbers of passengers in/out on the same day. If the guests wanted to do something different (deviate) they were offered a  a $ amount up to the value of the bulk air rate so they could book their own flights. This option was usually chosen by guests who were FF with particular airlines and wanted to upgrade. If they wanted us to book flights outside of the group dates/airlines we charged a fee. If the guests arrived/departed on the designated group dates they were transferred.

Here is the payment/cancellation info for Alla.

Full prepayment for your tour(s) is required 1 month prior to your first port with us or within 72 hours after you receive a confirmation letter from your personal manager, whichever is later. You are more than welcome to make it with the help of our online payment system. We accept only Visa/MasterCard; no foreign currency conversion fee will be applied if you use a card in US dollars and/or Euros. Once the booking is completed, we will provide you with the necessary instructions.

CANCELLATION POLICY
(1) 100% refund if the ship doesn’t call into a port;
(2) 100% refund provided that you cancel your reservation in writing at least 72 hours prior to your arrival at the port;
(3) 75% refund will be made if the cancellation is received within less than 72 hours prior to your arrival at the port;
(4) No refund will be made if the cancellation is received within less than 24 hours prior to your arrival at the port;
(5) No refund will be made for any theatre performances (Ballet, Folk Show, Russian Musical Seasons) once your ticket is purchased by Alla Tours;
(6) No refund will be made for the Sapsan high-speed train tickets once they are purchased by Alla Tours.
Note for points 3 and 4: While we, unfortunately, cannot reimburse you even in case of a medical or any other emergency, we will gladly assist you with a letter to your insurance company (per your request) stating that you did not participate in the excursion although it had been paid by you in full.

Thanks for the replies. I'll check with Alla. I hope we can still go to St. P and Tallinn, but if not we will still have a great cruise.

For those of you who have already booked Alla or TJ tours-- Is a credit card deposit required? How much? Is it refundable? Any other payments before the tour? I would much rather take a private tour.

21 hours ago, GKTV32162 said:

World Cruise Day 38/152 - Sea Day - Fooood...and football

 

https://kolbsontheroad.blogspot.com/2022/01/world-cruise-day-38152-sea-day.html

Love Arlona's Michigan tee shirt. We are from Traverse City, now living in Venice, FL. I am enjoying your blog. We have been on two river cruises. Our first ocean cruise is Viking Homelands this May (postponed from last May.

21 hours ago, GKTV32162 said:

World Cruise Day 38/152 - Sea Day - Fooood...and football

 

https://kolbsontheroad.blogspot.com/2022/01/world-cruise-day-38152-sea-day.html

Thanks, Heidi 13. I also saw you on the Crystal site. They all have a mess on their hands today trying to get home. Is the crew left hanging?

I am feel so badly for the guests and crew.

20 hours ago, mediawise said:

We are about to embark on the July 14th R/T Malta (first of many) Cruise on the Viking Venus.  Due to the current travel situation, this is not your usual cruise experience.  We have many questions yet to be answered in the few days before departure.  This video and the ones to follow will help our fellow passengers as we solve the problems that will crop us during this cruise.  We'll share so that your cruise will be a better experience.  We have no affliation with Viking, a travel agency, or the travel industry.  This is simply a passenger to passenger exchange.  Please leave comments and suggestions.

Hi Ken & Martha.  Loved your video even though we are not on this itinerary. We are booked on Viking Homelands, May 19. Love the Michigan tee shirt, Ken. We lived in Traverse City for many years--now in Venice, Fl.

34 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

It’s been reported on these boards that Viking caps the incentives that an agent can provide a customer at $150 pp for a cruise of 7 nights or less, $300 pp for a cruise of 8-14 nights and $500 pp for a cruise of 15 nights or more.  This has been our experience with our TA who provides those amounts as refundable shipboard credits which we use to cover gratuities and our bar tab-whatever is left is sent to us via a check from Viking a week or two after the cruise. 

Thanks.

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

IMHO, it shouldn’t be “some”’it should be Viking’s max allowable, otherwise find another TA. 

Hi Clay. Can you expound on OBCs? How much/what to expect when booking direct? When booking with TA? Thanks.

12 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

OK...time for Dealing with Irops 101.  (Irops = Irregular Operations)

 

The first step happens before you even leave home, and is actually best done a few days before your flight.  Time to make your contingency plan for what happens with either a flight delay or an outright cancellation.  Plan on how to utilize the same airline, then on using other carriers.  Look at alternate routings.  Look to create your own alternatives -- do not just put in cities in the airline website as if you were buying a ticket -- go to the actual schedules of the carrier and/or a resource like ITA Matrix.  Why? Because even if a flight is sold out, you want to have it in your list of options.

 

Next - be sure that you have both the airline app on your phone AND the airline phone number on speed dial.  Also, note the airline's twitter handle and set yourself up to direct message through twitter.

 

As soon as you wake up on the morning of your flight, check the flight status through the app.  Keep checking, including on the drive to the airport.  And if you do notice an issue, get a phone call in.  Probably will get a call-back, which is actually good, as you won't have to wait on the phone and can do other things.

 

Now to the other things.  Use your pre-planned list of contingencies to figure out what you want to do next.  You will ALWAYS do better by offering a suggestion to the agent (both flight numbers, cities and times) rather than saying "well, what can you do for me?"

 

Send a message to their social media team through twitter or through an app chat function.  Often, response times are faster with twitter/chat, because these channels aren't for the "new bookings" that eat up phone agent's time.

 

If you are already at the airport -- while pursuing both the phone and text options above, get in line at the customer service counter.  Now you are on three parallel tracks to getting your situation resolved.

 

When you reach an agent, in whatever channel, give them your record locator first, so they have some reference in front of them to start with.  Give them your first suggestion.  And know - they will NOT bump another passenger just to make room for you.

 

A couple of other tips: Don't insist on being in the same class of service that you originally had.  If the choice is coach and getting to your destination and business the next day, which do you really want? Be prepared to have your party separated.  For example, if Delta has one seat via Detroit and another via Atlanta, take them.  Better to be going to your destination separately than sitting and waiting for two seats on the same flights.  (And the same with seats on the aircraft itself - sitting next to each other is NOT the hill to die on).  Be prepared for your luggage to follow on other flights - would you rather be at your destination without your luggage or still at your origin with the bags in the same city?  Take pictures of your luggage on your phone, so you can show them to agent to assist in getting them rerouted as well.

 

That's most of it.  Remember that flexibility and adaptability is the key.

All great suggestions.

2 hours ago, Floater67 said:

We are on the May 20, 2022 Homelands cruise. As many know, pax either use the “ship’s visa,” and take Viking Excursions, or must obtain the costly and complicated Russian visa to take independent tours or self-explore…Does anyone have a list of Viking excursions on previous cruises to help evaluate which is the better choice?

 

I’ll appreciate any info.

We are also on the May 20 Homelands cruise. We plan to book a 2 day tour with Alla for our group of 6. Please note that a Roll Call has been started for this cruise.

Our good friends booked the Grand European Tour for October, 2017, and called to ask if we wanted to join them. Not being crazy about large cruise ships, this sounded great. On embarkation day we met a couple from Houston and enjoyed cocktails and dinner with them every day. We all decided then to buy the travel voucher for a future cruise. We booked France's Finest for travel in May 2019. What a great trip this was. That fall our Houston friends invited us to visit them. We had a great time we had. We all decided then to book Viking Homelands for May, 2021. You all know what happened to that. Before they even canceled us, we moved our sailing to May, 2022. Then we said, what the heck, and booked Portugal's River of Gold for May, 2023. I guess you could say we like Viking!

We were booked on Viking Homelands for May 2021. In November our little group (6) decided that the chances of it sailing were 50/50 and that with all of the COVID precautions we may not get the experience we were expecting. Also in looking forward, it looked like 2022 was already booking up. We re-booked our cruise for May 2022. Then after we got the new January brochure we decided to plan ahead and deposited on the Portugal River Cruise for 2023.

We will travel to St. Petersburg on Viking Ocean cruise in May 2021. If we hire a private tour company for a 2 day tour do we need a visa?

The Lumieres show was a highlight for me.  In Lyon we took the day off of tours and booked a wonderful lunch at Le Sud, owned by 3 star chef, Paul Bocuse. You can walk there from the ship. Enjoy.

We did the walking tour in the morning, although we were not that impressed with the Pope's Palace. If I did it again I would just walk around on my own. We also did the optional tour, Chateauneuf-du-Pape. We enjoyed winery, had a short stop in the town, but mostly we enjoyed the beautiful countryside drive.

I agree with philw1776. The St Germain an Lay tour well worth the visit.

Hi, Cool Cruiser. I'll be in Michigan, too, in a couple of weeks. Hope you can stop in Traverse City. I lived in T.C. for 35 years. It is a great place.(Now in Venice, Florida.) Another beautiful spot is the Les Cheneaux Islands in the U.P.  Happy sailing.