loriva

I can't answer the question about the area, but I can provide Viking's outline for the stop in Bad Schandau from our upcoming "Christmas on the Elbe" cruisetour. It appears there may be limited time to explore unless one skips the tour to the Bastei as the itinerary from Viking has us docked at Bad Schandau only for the timing of the tour--1400-1730 hours. In December, of course, about half of that time will be after sunset (1558 hours). "This morning, cruise through the magnificent, soaring rock formations of the Saxon Switzerland region and partake in a festive cookie demonstration. Dock at the spa town of Bad Schandau and set out on an included tour to the famous rock tower known as the Bastei (bastion), formed by water a million years ago, to enjoy stunning panoramic views of the Elbe. Return on board for dinner and evening cruising." As always, @notamermaid, thank you for the interesting information. I'll make a note of it in our travel itinerary in case we do have some time for a little side trip. I wonder if they bottle the beer from the brewery mentioned and offer it for sale in Bad Schandau if we do not have an opportunity to travel to Schmilka?

We were on the same cruise as @Jimmcdanieland DH and I each took a CAC. They were scheduled from 1600-1800 hours for the afternoon classes. Mornings were 1000-1200 hours. Depending on the ship's itinerary, there may only be an afternoon offering--except on sea days when two are offered. I echo Jim's comments that the classes take up the full two hours and more if you want to enjoy what you've cooked. Also, while you cannot take the food out you can invite someone IN starting 10 minutes before the end of the class. DH and I took classes solo and then the other came in to enjoy the products. The other thing I'd caution--given the length of classes--is to select the days of your classes carefully depending on what other activities you want to do afterwards. We missed the Captain's Welcome Party since the class did not end until after the party started although, according to the scheduled times, there should have been time to make the latter event. (We missed something else after the second class, but I'm forgetting what it was.) When we mentioned something on our mid-cruise comment card about the need to deconflict timing, the CD told us it was because the CAC are run by the Destinations team not her Entertainment department.

This was included in one of the documents from Viking regarding our upcoming "Christmas on the Elbe" cruisetour, which also includes an extension: "Should you choose to tip your local Viking Host, Viking Representative, local guides and/or drivers, we recommend doing so in cash. We suggest €2 per person per day for local guides and €1 per person per day for drivers. Please be aware that if you are taking part in an escorted pre- or post-cruise extension, the Tour Director escorting you is not included in the onboard gratuity. We suggest €2 per person per day."

Yes, we had St. Petersburg, Helsinki, and Tallinn in the original itinerary we booked.

Yes, that's where I looked and saw nothing, sparking my question.

DH and I will be taking our first voyage with Viking Ocean on a "Viking Homelands" itinerary in May 2023. Viking, of course, modified the itinerary after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It provided an OBC in compensation for the changes. The OBC shows on the invoice sent by our TA but not on MVJ. We'd like to use the OBC potentially to book optional excursions when booking opens in 2023. Has anyone had experience with this? Should the OBC show on our MVJ? I thought they would show up when we made final payment in July, but no change. Do I need to call Viking (or have my TA do it)? Many thanks,

A slight clarification on Beth's observation. It depends on the kind of magnets you use. A magnet you would put on a refrigerator would--as Beth noted--work only on the small walls surrounding the bed. We took along some stronger magnets--rated to hold 25 pounds of weight--on our Splendor cruise in September. They worked on all of the walls, including the ones by the desk where we like to post the itinerary, invitations, and other reminders. I think it is the wall covering Regent uses. It is textured, which seems to reduce the ability of magnets to stick to the metal under the covering. A stronger magnet does the trick, however.

We have used "Just Airports" car service for years for airport pick-ups and transfers. They have always been reliable. We used them last month for a transfer from LHR to Southampton and again this past Sunday for hotel to LGW for a flight.

@SailorPaulH -- Thank you for a wonderful review so far. Looking forward to reading the rest when your time permits. We are doing this itinerary on the same ship in May 2023. It will also be our first time on Viking Ocean--we are doing our first Viking River cruise in December 2022. Two questions, please: --When did Viking post the available shore excursions for your cruise? Ours have not posted yet although Viking says they should be available for review (not booking) a year out. --Sorry if I missed it, but what category was your cabin, please? Many thanks,

We were looking forward to the fancy brunch on a Sunday sea day. Instead we’ll have a day in a port we know nothing about and will have to scramble to find something to do. Anyone know what are the interesting tours out of La Havre?

Thanks, Beth. We fly tomorrow and looking forward to joining you on Saturday!

For those currently on Splendor who are continuing with the British Isles itinerary departing this Saturday: --Has anyone talked with Destination Services about what is happening with the shore excursions next Monday, 19 September when we are scheduled to be in Edinburgh? King Charles III has declared a public holiday that day for the state funeral of his mother, so all public offices--including tourist sites like Stirling Castle--as well as many businesses will be closed. Are shorex still on or have the local operators cancelled them completely? Are shorex with public sites that will be closed being modified to include something else? --Who is the CD? Many thanks and see you soon,

Using a reusable water bottle or reading the daily program on your TV or phone (presuming the internet is working well enough to allow the latter) is a matter of personal choice. Seeing a "magical" Champagne bottle--where a bottle has a level higher than when marked as @pontacreported is something else entirely. Refilling a wine bottle--with who knows what, presumably not what's on the label as opening a new bottle would be much easier--is an act no cruise line should be doing. Bartenders on @pontac's cruise also seemed to go out of their way to withhold promised Champagne or substitute something lesser. This seems particularly absurd on a cruise that is marketed as wine centric. As I noted in my "live from" and review of the Scenic Jade's Rhine sailing in June 2022, the experience was inconsistent--which is not the mark of a line that bills itself as luxury. This may still be the remnants of coming back from the COVID shutdown, but it's also telling that two recent reviews--this one and the one by @English Tim--continue to reveal the same issues with service.

Your wonderful descriptions and photos of the sites visited has led me to add this itinerary to our travel lists. We've only done two river cruises so far--the Danube with Crystal in October 2021 and the Rhine with Scenic in June 2022--but looking forward to more. As people on the River Cruising thread say, it is easy to become addicted to river cruising! Thank you again for a very thoughtful and thorough review.

DH and I sailed Scenic on a Rhine cruise in June 2022. Your observations and conclusions--would sail Scenic if the itinerary and price are right now that we know to factor in the hyperbole--are very similar to ours. We'll be on Viking for a Christmas markets on the Elbe trip in December. Looking forward to making our own comparisons--including Viking's marketing hyperbole--then as first timers with both lines.

So, how was it now that you are back and have had a chance to reflect? Who was the CD on your sailing and is he/she staying onboard for a while? We'll be boarding in Southampton in 13 days. Looking forward to our second cruise with Regent.

Princess will send you an email when it ships your Medallions and it will contain a tracking number. Ours came USPS, but not sure if Princess uses other shippers as well.

My review of the Scenic Jade has been published for those looking for information on one sailing in 2022: http://click.email.cruisecritic.com/?qs=a87331feb516c1812ba85f7cd4a2393fe11c74b4b0e628dab91a9e7a7f316c561cc6219fc5388ad0433fbc03b5989cf7a9c22ef435183556e6f48b7954763477 It is largely based on my "semi-live" thread, but with a few things added from perspective. Offered in hopes it helps someone in planning a river cruise with Scenic.

The specialty drinks use a lot of fresh ingredients like fruit and herbs. These are not delivered from the kitchen--at least not on the Sky in February--until somewhere between 1630 and 1700. Thus, as MouseBerry said, you cannot get the specialty drinks until after that time. And never via the app. We also found some other drinks on the app could not be delivered depending on where you are. There were some that were specific to the SeaView Bar and, after about a 30-minute wait, a waiter showed up to say that drink was not available. I never received a full explanation for that, but maybe as prmssk said, the order goes to the closest bar to where you are and that determines what you can get. As you'll discover, the OceanMedallion app is not perfect technology. The GoodSpirits bar is, however, a positive addition to Princess. We really liked the spicy drinks--one with watermelon and one with fresh ginger. And great to know they are still priced within the Plus drinks package!

One of the surveys we filled out for Scenic after our Rhine cruise in June 2022 included the following email address that I do not recall seeing for Scenic anywhere. Perhaps it is another option if people are still having trouble reaching Scenic. customercare@scenic.com.au

I called my TA (big box store) yesterday to ask for an updated invoice for the same cruise the OP is on. They logged into the Princess portal to generate one and came back and told me it was showing a final payment due of a large chuck of change. As TA knew we had been fully paid since the final payment date in mid-May, they called Princess to try to resolve. After 2.5 hours on hold (TA on hold with Princess) the Princess rep told my TA she was new, could not figure out the problem, and had to refer it to a supervisor or the resolutions team. TA stayed on the line with Princess but said I could hang up and would receive a call when it was resolved--in 5 to 10 minutes, according to the Princess rep. Ninty minutes later I received a call from my TA that it had been resolved. Somehow one of our FCCs (from when Princess cancelled this cruise in 2020 and again in 2021) had fallen off the accounting. (But that really did not explain the difference in cruise fare that had shown up on the invoice generated initially during the call.) Point being, the Princess reps dealing with TAs are also new and struggling. I'm not sure any use of tech would have helped resolve this sooner as I needed to work through my TA. (I was grateful for the speakerphone option on my cell!) I would recommend @cruzsnoozefollow one of the suggestions to reach out to the Customer Relations director, Colin. I did that back in 2020 when Princess first cancelled this cruise and my FCC accounting from the cancellation and rollover to the 2021 cruise (subsequently also cancelled) was all messed up and numerous calls by both TA and myself could not get them straightened out. He responded and assigned an experienced customer services agent who got the math right and credits applied. Good luck!

Interesting they now show a price for the specialty coffees in the Suite Breakfast dining venue. I do not recall being charged for them before when we did not have the drinks package.

If you haven't already, you may also want to check out the reviews of the ship on which you'll be sailing on the main part (not Boards) of CruiseCritic. You can also look at the other ships sailing your same itinerary (you can find that information on Scenic's website) to get a sense of the ports -- or check out the River Ports subtopic here. The most-relevant information will be on the last few reviews or the last few pages of the Roll Call thread. Lots of things have changed on cruise lines since they resumed sailing after the shut-down for the pandemic so information from even three or four years ago may no longer hold. We've noticed changes large and small on the three ocean and two river cruises we've sailed since October 2021 on lines we'd sailed before the pandemic or heard of changes from experienced cruisers on lines new to us. Things will likely continue to evolve until the war in the Ukraine, labor shortages, and supply-chain issues go away. Thank you for your kind words. I discovered CruiseCritic when DH and I started cruising 18 years ago and found it provided a wealth of information that made our cruises better. I try to provide as factual information as possible on my experiences to pay back the help I've found here. I also work to delineate direct observation, observations from others, and commentary to allow people to judge on their own what is what. Enjoy your planning and your cruise. If I can help with any questions, please ask.

We traded our mini-bar for a bottle of Zolo Malbec. So, if someone has a current price list, they could advise the price. That's no guarantee Princess has raised the cap if the price of that wine increased, but maybe it would give us a sense.

Only those in full suites or elites receive a complementary mini-bar set-up. Mini-bars in other cabins, for non-elite-level passengers are either empty or have items you need to pay for. So, yes, the option is only for elites and/or full suite passengers. The only exception I can think of--but have never heard of--is whether a travel agent could purchase a mini-bar set-up for a client. Anyone know if this ever happens?