pontac

See second post in this thread

I book direct with Viking and get promotional emails and letter from them. Also when booking direct with them I have been offered money off and the Silver Drinks package that hasn't been advertised

Viking supplies hair dryers in every cabin; as others have said European hotel rooms also have hair dryers. See Viking FAQs on the website under My Ship Is my stateroom furnished with amenities that I do not need to pack? All stateroom bathrooms are equipped with premium bath toiletries. A hair dryer is also provided, and laundry and pressing services are available. Also in FAQs is link to a prohibited on board list which includes Any electrical device that produces heat You may want to bring face cloths (not sure what they are called in the USA). Though supplied in your cabin, many Euro hotels don't have them.

Thanks Tim, but I'll need the airline booking reference to check in, and the hotel chit(?) to book into the hotel, plus details of when the car is due on outbound and where to meet driver on arrival back in UK. I 'spose with the disruption at Heathrow they need to leave it to later to confirm when and which flight we're actually booked on.

Have you browsed the River Cruise Ports sub-forum of this forum?

I can't see I have the option to subscribe to newsletters, this is what I see if I click on Newsletters in my Profile

No.

Tours can differ depending on the cruise you are on. The included tours tend to give you an orientation, and are walking tours or bus & walking tours. How difficult the walking is depends and is rated on the Viking website. Sometimes they go into buildings The Viking website give a clear indication of how difficult the walking element is, and the tours are fully described there. We went on included tours in Budapest and Vienna when we took Romantic Danube I think the Budapest included tour - which is coach & walking covers a lot of ground that you couldn't do in the time - on both sides of the river - plus you get an explanation from the guide. On that tour you enter Matthias Church. As one now has to book the included tours on MVJ I recommend you do so, you can later decide not to go on them. The excursions should be described the evening preceding by the Programme Manager in the lounge before dinner As the included tours take only half the day you can do your own thing the other half.

We're due to depart on 16 August, five weeks from now. Not heard anything from them about travel to/from airport or booking ref for flights/hotel. So will report on this. But another thread said Scenic were no longer using their long term partner in transfers; I cannot recall whether that was because they'd gone out of business or other.

Not by the English 😁 But apologies as my humous comment obviously offended. The EU did want the UK to convert to the 2/3 pin European plug; it's one of their few demands that didn't happen. I remember when the square 13 amp system came in; my parents had to convert their house from 15 amp round sockets and plugs* to the square system The 15amp round sockets were just the right diameter for crawling babies and toddlers to push their fingers in. They can't do it with the smaller square holes, plus the two live holes are closed until the earth socket is pushed open, which is why the earth pin is longer than the other two. *still in use in South Africa

OK, Apologies, I understand now

🙂 you're getting confused because you think England is in Europe.

Err - haven't you answered your own question? If there's a charge if you don't have the package, it implies there is no charge if you do have the package.

I guess you're thinking of Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick(LGW), but while Gatwick serves London it isn't in London. The other airport in London is London City, which has a short runway and wouldn't take transatlantic flights, though you could fly there by changing planes at somewhere like Amsterdam or Frankfurt. Both Heathrow and Gatwick are well connected by train services - there are stations at both airports. If your cruise departure is from Greenwich, the Thameslink train from Gatwick stops at Blackfriars station which is on a bridge over the River Thames and there is a river taxi dock by the stations north exit that will take you to Greenwich. https://www.thamesclippers.com/plan-your-journey/route-map

I'm based, like you, in the UK. I've taken 10 river cruises, all with Viking, and no ocean cruises. But from reading this board I think you'll find that river cruising is nothing like ocean cruising except that you're on a boat. The size of that boat is governed by the size of the locks ab height of the bridges on the river. So you may find the cabin smaller and a lack of entertainment found on ocean cruisers,. But every day there is land based entertainment. When the boat is moored you're free to just walk off and explore. No tenders. As you rightly say, there are no 'sea days', every day is a see day - i.e. there's something to see on both sides of the boat and you're never out of sight of the land. You don't say where in the UK you are, but if one of the major airports is near you then you are only a short flight to/from the start/end point. The river cruise companies like to sell you a hotel based land extension at either end. I don't think they are good value, as you are not far from wherever they suggest you can make your own visit there anytime. I like to arrive at the airport, be taken straight to the boat and unpack once. There are a tremendous number of river boat companies, so you have a wide choice of costs and offerings. On travel agents - you'd have to find a specialist in river cruising - high street ones are no use. I have always booked direct with Viking. Most people on this board are in the USA and the offerings and terms there differ from the UK - they seems to be less advantageous, so take note where a poster is if they're talking about booking terms. If you are willing to book at short notice and flexible with dates there are often bargains to be had, so its worth getting on mailing lists of companies that interest you by asking for their brochure. Viking operate about 70 river boats, and market different ones to the USA, Australia nd the UK. IF a boat is not fully booked they open up bookings to other markets at a discount. I've gone several times on trips on dates not listed in the UK brochure/website; I don't know whether other companies operate like this but if you don't mind being one of the few Brits among Americans and Canadians it's worth calling the company and see if they have a sailing coming up soon. I wrote a review of the Rhine Getaway trip we took in April - it's here https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=687006

Something grabbed my interest. The part schedule posted above shows port arrival at Holyhead at 08:00 and Ffestiniog Railway at 08:15. It's cut-off the full name which is Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland Railway. I believe you must be departing Caernarvon on the Welsh Highland Railway for part of the way, as the full route to Porthmadog takes 2 hours 15 minutes. But there's no way you can get to Caernarvon from Holyhead in 15 minutes even if the coach departs at 08:00 - it'll take at least 30 minutes, the two are about 30 miles apart. I guess you are having a private non-scheduled train. WHR has steam engines with full sized carriages on narrow gauge tracks and runs along the edge of Snowdonia National Park. The line is operated by volunteers. Mount Snowdon and the rest of the mountains will be on the left. I am assuming the coaches will meet you at a station along the way to bring you back to the ship. https://www.festrail.co.uk/about/