brosen1

6 hours ago, CalTrojan said:

I too will be on the Dec 19 cruise, so I sure hope they do so!

You might be interested in the Viking Vela Dec 19 board:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2990140-malta-morocco-the-mediterranean-december-19-2024/

Lovetosew - I set up a Viking Vela roll call "Malta, Morocco & the Mediterranean December 19, 2024". So far only two of us there, but if we get enough people on the roll call we might be able to get Viking to host a Meet and Mingle get together.

We booked this cruise for December 19 2024.  It includes Christmas in Val and New Years eve and day in Seville and Granada.  Now we're wondering we made a mistake - we found out that Alhambra is closed on New Years day - a big disappointment. Is everything closed on those holidays?

18 hours ago, tamadig2001 said:

I stumbled on this thread a couple of days ago and I'm so glad I did. This is truly a wealth of information not only on water levels of the Danube but also on so many aspects of river cruising. I have learned a lot thanks to everyone's input, particularly notamermaid with her regular updates. My husband and I and two other couples will be cruising the Danube from Budapest to Bucharest on the Avalon Passion from September 16 to 26. This will be our fifth river cruise, two of which were on the Rhine and the Danube in the fall and we never had issues with water levels. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that our coming cruise will not be adversely impacted, and I'll be following this thread closely over the next few months. Once again, thank you everyone and keep the info coming!

 

Monica

We just arrived in Budapest from Bucharest. The weather was great, although it often rained when we got back to the ship. Water levels were high, up to the river banks, but never a problem. Hope you have a great trip. 

Or to rephrase, Rosens are thorny!

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

am intrigued, why have you got a German saying on a sign in your avatar, if I may ask?

 

My name is Rosen. We were on the Viking Paris to Zurich cruise last year when I saw the sign for a festival in Zurich that said Ohne Dornen keine Rosen. Without thorns there are no roses. So appropriate!

Right now we're on the Viking Ullur in Bulgaria. Water levels are excellent as is the weather. 

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I am not familiar with the countries beyond Austria. Generally speaking, the current and the conditions change in flooding so this affects all ships and for safety, also for protecting the embankments as I have read, a ban on traffic in very high water makes sense.

We're leaving Friday for the Bucharest - Budapest cruise.  Does anyone know if there's any problems with water levels in Romania to Hungary?  Thanks

Thanks very much for pointing that out.  We thought that the bus went only to the central station, but stop 14 is only 0.1 mi from our hotel. 

12 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Are you using the FlyBus service from KEF into Reykjavik?

We booked a shared van from the airport to our hotel for $117 for both of us https://www.viator.com/tours/Reykjavik/Airport-Express-Premium-Door-to-Door-Transfer-from-KEF-Airport-to-Reykjavik-City/d905-2970P108 . It is slightly more than the bus, but we don't have to get from the bus terminal to our hotel.  One less thing to worry about after flying al night.

On 2/13/2023 at 10:53 PM, LibertyBella said:

I booked a Viking cruise eight months in advance with free air, and my flights have already been changed five times, including to a completely different carrier on my return.  Each time I had to go into the MVJ  and reselect my seats. None of my flights are on my frequent flyer carrier of choice.

We are on the May 24 Viking Ullur Buch to Budapest with pre- and post- extensions.  I thought that I would try to get seat assignments.  It took me nearly two hours to get seat assignments on our Austrian Air flight from Palm Beach International to Newark to Vienna through Viking Air!  We were booked to Bucharest on United, and the flight to Newark was easy to get seats on the United site, but it turns out that the Newark to Vienna to Bucharest are Austrian Air flights.  First I tried to get seat assignments on both the Viking Air and United web sites without success.  I called Viking Air, who told me that they couldn't make the seat assignment because the flight wasn't booked yet but suggested that I call Austrian Air (800-843-0002). Austrian told me that I would have to pay 100 euros for advanced seat assignments, which I found outrageous considering how much we spent for premium economy. But they said that the 2-4-2 cabin was almost full, and the only way to get the 2 seats was to buy it now.  I reluctantly agreed, but when they tried to charge my credit card, it wouldn't go through, again because the flight wasn't booked yet.  Next I called Viking again and was connected to Viking Air Plus.  The agent said that I hadn't paid for Air Plus so she couldn't help me even to connect me to regular Viking Air unless I paid for Air Plus first!  Then I called Viking back and asked for regular Viking Air. That agent was able to get me seat assignments on the Austrian Air flight with no trouble and no cost.

Then I tried to get seats for the return on American through Amsterdam and Philadelphia to PBI.  I had no trouble doing that on the American web site. But then that flight disappeared, and we were coming home on Delta through Paris to Altanta to PBI.  Luckily I'm a 2M miler on Delta, so they were happy to give me seats.  Of course none of these reservations are actually booked yet, and everything could still change. 

We have another cruise from Iceland to New York later in the year. After this experience, we decided to book the tickets ourselves with Iceland Air rather than go through all of this again with Viking. We were actually able to book business class on Iceland Air for less than Viking was going to charge us for what was supposed to be Premium Economy on Delta but turned out to be just economy plus (which are not much better than economy).  The only reason I can see to use Viking Air is that they take good care of you if there are cancellations or delays and provide airport transportation.  So we booked Iceland Air a day early.  The hotel and airport transportation is a little costly, but we get an extra day in Reykjavik.

2 hours ago, emileg said:

We were scheduled for the February 15th sailing of the Octantis to Antarctica. We arrived in Miami for the overnight at the Sheraton, but Monday morning one of us tested positive. We were put in quarantine for five additional nights at the hotel and arrived home today. We are both in good health and showed absolutely no symptoms. Very likely either a false positive or asymptomatic case. We were very devastated at first, but now accept the loss.

 

Krys and I wish all of you wonderful expeditions ahead on Viking. We hope to do try again in two years.

Emile, so sorry, but try again! Good luck, Barry

2 hours ago, miami mama said:

Thank you for reposting Brosen1. Nice pix. What happened with the golf balls you hit?

Don't worry, I didn't leave them on the glacier. They're in my office next to my hole-in-one golf ball. 

Sorry, but I'm not sure if my slide show pdf successfully attached to my previous post, so here it is again.  Open in full screen mode in Adobe Acrobat for best viewing.

1137108679_Antarcticaslideshow.pdf

Just read on FB that the submersibles are defective and sent back to manufacturer.

Here's some pictures from our January 23rd inaugural cruise in a large pdf file - open in Adobe Acrobe in full screen for a slide show.  In one picture I "played" golf on a glacier with a collapsible putter and NASA golf balls. It was the culmination of my bucket list to play golf on every continent:  1) North and Central America (US, Canada, Mexico, Belize, Panama. Bahamas); 2) South America (Brazil); 3) Europe (St. Andrews and other Scottish courses); 4) Asia (Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, India), 5) Africa (South Africa), 6) Australia and New Zealand, and - finally - 7) Antarctica! In other picture we picked up some sea ice, melted it, brought it home in a coke bottle and refroze it into ice cubes for a cocktail with glacial ice.  Everyone - enjoy your trip!
 

Or they just want you to call:

Possibilities:  1) someone bought out the ship; 2) they want to limit the number of passengers; 3) it's being cancelled; 4) none of the above

On 1/8/2022 at 11:36 AM, Hazard10 said:

Thanks Emileg!

 

I am on the cruise before the first public expedition on the 23rd Jan.

 

I do not think there is a roll call for that.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip when the time comes.

We're on the Jan 23rd cruise (roll call //boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2787200-viking-antarctic-octantis-january-23-2022-roll-call/).  We're curious - what is the cruise before the first public one?  A shakedown cruise?  Or a replacement for the cancelled inaugural cruise?  Have a great time and let us know about your experience! 

5 hours ago, deec said:

I know where that is!!!  Just know it as Grayhaven...we have a sailboat and belong to Bayview.  My great uncle lived across from Garwood when I was a little girl...endless hours playing in the "secret" passageways from the days of Prohibition.

 

Right!! Shorepointe Village was build on Grayhaven Island to replace the Garwood Mansion.  Each house has a 40-ft slip, and we kept a Sea Ray in our back yard for Lake St. Clair.  Lots of fun for the few months/yr we could use it. On the other hand, I get to play golf 52 weeks a year now.  Sorry we won't meet you this time, but enjoy your New Year's cruise!

On 12/7/2021 at 2:58 PM, deec said:

I don't know where Shorepointe Village is? On Jefferson? Florida is a definite plus this time of the year!!

On the water just off Jefferson a few blocks before Grosse Pointe, 178 Keelson Drive https://www.google.com/maps/place/178+Keelson+Dr,+Detroit,+MI+48215/@42.3570383,-82.9472275,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x8824d51ecc0cf0f5:0x9dc8c3560e8586a0!8m2!3d42.3570383!4d-82.9450388.  We build the house there but then moved to Florida

We moved to Florida from Shorepointe Village in Detroit, a few blocks from Grosse Pointe Park. 

Enjoy New Years in Antarctica!

EZE, not EZA - sorry

My travel agent just got off the phone with Viking.  He said that we will have no problem making our 9 pm flight on Feb 4th (our last day).  Viking has multiple shuttle flights to EZA during the day, and passengers can get on depending on their departure time from EZE.  In fact, he said that people will get there so early that Viking is arranging sightseeing in BA.  A big relief! 

Viking will administer a PCR test the last day that can be used for the airline.  The COVID test is good for the entire next day, not just 24 hrs from administration.  That means that if Viking takes a test early on the last day, it's still good until midnight the next day, so you might not need another test if you're in that window.  If you do need a COVID test, Glenn at Secrets of Buenos Aires is very helpful https://secretsofbuenosaires.com/covid-19-measures-traveling-argentina/.  If you email him, he'll give you very good advice.  He offered to make reservations for us at his favorite tango show as well.

We will (hopefully) be back before you leave, so we'll tell you what happens.

Sorry, but I'm having trouble with simple arithmetic.

If you arrive on the 14th and stay o/n, then your charter flight is on the 15th.  Does that mean that the charter flight is later than 5 pm on the 15th?

If you cruise ends on the 26th, and you fly to BA on the 26th, then how can you departure flight be out of BUENOS AIRES be 12:01 AM or later on the day of February 26, 2022?