Viking Homelands 2022 Season

[duquephart]

6 minutes ago, Kellybc said:

The shore excursions for our July 12, 2022 sailing are available for booking!

 

Including Mariehamm?

[Eastporter]

The July 12th sailing doesn't visit Mariehamm.   It goes to Karlskrona plus all the normal Homelands adjusted itinerary stops.  And shore excursions are bookable for Karlskrona (and all other ports) as of this am (for PV and above).   Viking said excursions would be bookable as of Noon PDT today.    They were available this am EDT.  

[duquephart]

Still no Mariehamm for 6/22.

[umbrellagirl]

On 4/11/2022 at 10:40 AM, duquephart said:

 

Nothing up yet for my sailing. Which one sold out?

We are on the July 23 cruise on the Viking Mars.  I have been reading that there are problems signing up for the optional tours.  What about the "included" tours.  Will we have a chance of going on those?  We have been on several Viking river cruises and never had a problem signing up for tours.  This is our first ocean cruise and we didn't realize that it was so difficult to get on a tour. We will be on a river cruise around the time we should be signing up for tours on the ocean cruise, so the change in time zones and the weak internet on the river cruise might make it difficult to sign up for anything.   Do you think we will have a chance of getting even an "included" tour?  thanks

 

[umbrellagirl]

We are on the July 23 cruise on the Viking Mars.  I have been reading that there are problems signing up for the optional tours.  What about the "included" tours.  Will we have a chance of going on those?  We have been on several Viking river cruises and never had a problem signing up for tours.  This is our first ocean cruise and we didn't realize that it was so difficult to get on a tour. We will be on a river cruise around the time we should be signing up for tours on the ocean cruise, so the change in time zones and the weak internet on the river cruise might make it difficult to sign up for anything.   Do you think we will have a chance of getting even an "included" tour?  thanks

[lkear]

6 minutes ago, umbrellagirl said:

We are on the July 23 cruise on the Viking Mars.  I have been reading that there are problems signing up for the optional tours.  What about the "included" tours.  Will we have a chance of going on those?  We have been on several Viking river cruises and never had a problem signing up for tours.  This is our first ocean cruise and we didn't realize that it was so difficult to get on a tour. We will be on a river cruise around the time we should be signing up for tours on the ocean cruise, so the change in time zones and the weak internet on the river cruise might make it difficult to sign up for anything.   Do you think we will have a chance of getting even an "included" tour?  thanks

We are on the May 6th sailing.  It was very stressful as we choose our SE late but were able to get everything we wanted. then having most canceled with the changes to the trip.  I can tell you we almost cancel because of frustrations and even when they put-up the SE they came out a little at a time.  We were able to get everything we wanted, and we even got 2 that were not avail the first time that were added later.  I know this is a pain, but I highly recommend you check MJV at least twice a day if not more.  I felt like when the SE were added it was in the afternoon PDT, but that only what we observed.

Again check at least twice a day every day!!

[Kellybc]

Our excursions were supposed to be available for our July 12 cruise on April 26 at 11 PM ET. On Monday, when we were coordinating our choices with our friends in Colorado, I said the chances were slim they’d be available that day. Tuesday morning, after my DH left for work, I logged on to MVJ and, much to my surprise, they were ready for booking. All worked well (unlike the Iceland fiasco in 2021 of trying to book all cabin categories for over a half dozen cruises at the same time). 
I got everything we wanted and was done before 7:30 AM. Good luck. 

[janetcbl]

2 hours ago, Kellybc said:

Our excursions were supposed to be available for our July 12 cruise on April 26 at 11 PM ET. On Monday, when we were coordinating our choices with our friends in Colorado, I said the chances were slim they’d be available that day. Tuesday morning, after my DH left for work, I logged on to MVJ and, much to my surprise, they were ready for booking. All worked well (unlike the Iceland fiasco in 2021 of trying to book all cabin categories for over a half dozen cruises at the same time). 
I got everything we wanted and was done before 7:30 AM. Good luck. 

Interesting. We are on the combined Into the Midnight Sun/ Baltic Jewels(Homelands) 6/26-7/23. No excursions available. We have been told many times, “We’re working on them”…very frustrating, especially since others seem to be able to book on trips leaving about the same time.

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Interesting. We are on the combined Into the Midnight Sun/ Baltic Jewels(Homelands) 6/26-7/23. No excursions available. We have been told many times, “We’re working on them”…very frustrating, especially since others seem to be able to book on trips leaving about the same time.

This has been said before, but one thing to consider is that the pandemic has caused many tour companies to close or have limited options available.  In some cases Viking may be contracting new excursions and new companies.

 

In our past sailings with Viking - pre-pandemic - we never had these issues with booking excursions.  And for our June sailing and our cabin level on Homelands, our excursions were open on the day promised and we had no issue booking them.  Not sure why some are.

Edited April 29, 2022 by CDNPolar

[umbrellagirl]

17 hours ago, jrkear said:

We are on the May 6th sailing.  It was very stressful as we choose our SE late but were able to get everything we wanted. then having most canceled with the changes to the trip.  I can tell you we almost cancel because of frustrations and even when they put-up the SE they came out a little at a time.  We were able to get everything we wanted, and we even got 2 that were not avail the first time that were added later.  I know this is a pain, but I highly recommend you check MJV at least twice a day if not more.  I felt like when the SE were added it was in the afternoon PDT, but that only what we observed.

Again check at least twice a day every day!!

 

[umbrellagirl]

Thank you so much for your advice to just keep checking, more than once a day. I will hope for the best.

Have a safe journey.

[davidlothe]

Booked on the Homelands cruise leaving Bergen on June 28th.  Looking forward to hearing from folks on the earlier cruises as to how Viking is handling everything!  This will be our first Viking cruise, so not sure what to expect.  Safe travels everyone!

David

[Weddlefour]

Do you recommend getting cash in foreign currency before the trip? I thought it might be easier (and a better exchange rate) to get cash from an ATM at each port but are their ATMs at the port? I don't want to have to search for an ATM. I know most places will be fine taking a credit card but if there's a small market I'd rather have cash. And for tips too. Look forward to your responses.

 

[oldgeez]

9 minutes ago, Weddlefour said:

Do you recommend getting cash in foreign currency before the trip? I thought it might be easier (and a better exchange rate) to get cash from an ATM at each port but are their ATMs at the port? I don't want to have to search for an ATM. I know most places will be fine taking a credit card but if there's a small market I'd rather have cash. And for tips too. Look forward to your responses.

 

As you say, the rate will be better at a local ATM than at a Maryland bank. If we're on a trip through countries using the euro, I'll usually accept the exchange rate hit and minimum transaction amounts and buy euros before traveling. 

However, on this trip we will be in countries using SEK, DKK, PLN, EUR, and NOK. (Our trip starts in Iceland, so we'll also need ISK.) I'm going to rely mainly on the credit card and whatever small amounts of currency I might have left over from prior trips. 

BTW, on a trip to Spain last month just about everybody I saw was using credit cards for the tiniest purchases. Felt odd using the card for an ice cream cone but using cash would have made me the outlier!

 

[Still have to figure out how to tip. I hate to tip in anything other than the local currency.]

 

[duquephart]

Euros seems to be the way to go.

[CDNPolar]

Many of the countries we are visiting are not part of the European Union and do not take Euros 

[duquephart]

4 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Many of the countries we are visiting are not part of the European Union and do not take Euros 

 

According to much info here the guides and drivers will be happy with Euros.

[Heidi13]

54 minutes ago, Weddlefour said:

Do you recommend getting cash in foreign currency before the trip? I thought it might be easier (and a better exchange rate) to get cash from an ATM at each port but are their ATMs at the port? I don't want to have to search for an ATM. I know most places will be fine taking a credit card but if there's a small market I'd rather have cash. And for tips too. Look forward to your responses.

 

 

Prior to every cruise, we order a small amount of each country's currency from our local bank, before departure.

 

We do this for a couple of reasons:

• Time in port is limited and we do not wish to waste time trying to find an ATM on our network. We also do not use 3rd party ATM's, only ones at an accredited bank
• Mostly we use credit cards, but the cash comes in handy for markets, small vendors, tips, etc.
• When we tip a guide/driver, it is for providing great service. Yes, they will accept any currency, but if the guide has put out the effort to make the tour memorable, the least we can do is provide a tip in a currency they don't have to exchange. Note - some countries will specifically request a specific currency, but Homelands no longer visits Russia.
• We are not overly concerned with rates, as the amount of money is minimal and due to the length of our cruises, exchange rates can vary significantly over 4 months.

[duquephart]

2 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Prior to every cruise, we order a small amount of each country's currency from our local bank, before departure.

 

We do this for a couple of reasons:

• Time in port is limited and we do not wish to waste time trying to find an ATM on our network. We also do not use 3rd party ATM's, only ones at an accredited bank
• Mostly we use credit cards, but the cash comes in handy for markets, small vendors, tips, etc.
• When we tip a guide/driver, it is for providing great service. Yes, they will accept any currency, but if the guide has put out the effort to make the tour memorable, the least we can do is provide a tip in a currency they don't have to exchange. Note - some countries will specifically request a specific currency, but Homelands no longer visits Russia.
• We are not overly concerned with rates, as the amount of money is minimal and due to the length of our cruises, exchange rates can vary significantly over 4 months.

 

Can you get a "small amount" and what is a small amount. What does one need, realistically, for a half day in, say, Poland?

[Weddlefour]

Thanks for the great responses! Food for thought.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

 

Can you get a "small amount" and what is a small amount. What does one need, realistically, for a half day in, say, Poland?

We get about $20 in local currency. Just enough for tips, a coffee, or a postcard.

[duquephart]

1 minute ago, Heidi13 said:

We get about $20 in local currency. Just enough for tips, a coffee, or a postcard.

 

Thanks. I wonder if our bank will let us get that little. Any knowledge of what minimums might be at the local ATMs?

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, Weddlefour said:

Do you recommend getting cash in foreign currency before the trip? I thought it might be easier (and a better exchange rate) to get cash from an ATM at each port but are their ATMs at the port? I don't want to have to search for an ATM. I know most places will be fine taking a credit card but if there's a small market I'd rather have cash. And for tips too. Look forward to your responses.

 

 

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

 

Thanks. I wonder if our bank will let us get that little. Any knowledge of what minimums might be at the local ATMs?

Unlike Andy, we haven’t bothered to get currency before arrival in each country. We have our money at Charles Schwab and they don’t charge a conversion fee and reimburse us for ATM fees. So we don’t have to hunt for a particular system. We used it exclusively for our two years of living nomadically and since the pandammic we have used it once it twice when we were away from our credit union’s (where we also have an account) ATMs and then in Iceland last July. . Our experience on minimums is that you can get something approximate to $10-20 of local currency. 
 

One other thought, verify that dollar bills aren’t the preferred currency. When we did Buenos Aires to Valparaiso in 2010 (not on Viking), most of our independent guides and lots of markets preferred crisp US currency rather than their local.  I seem to being nervous until we got to the ship (and the inroom safe) as we had $1,500 or so in cash on our person for the various excursions.  

Edited May 4, 2022 by Clay Clayton

[CurlerRob]

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

One other thought, verify that dollar bills aren’t the preferred currency. 

Clay, your point is well taken. Politeness aside, there are places in the world where a US $ commands much more on the local exchange market than the formal bank rate. Argentina was one of them when we sailed there are well.

 

In addition, we were strongly warned about the prevalence of counterfeit bills - the A1000 peso note was a prime target. It was suggested that we neither use nor accept them.

 

That minor irritation aside, it's a spectacular country! 🍺🥌

[lkear]

We are off to the first Homelands sailing. Thank you everyone for your advice. We will try to give updates on how it is going.