sharkster77

Interesting---while our TA was on the phone with Viking booking our 2025 ocean cruise, the rep offered the final payment for 180 days out (we sail on rivers next month). Was going to have her ask for it---wasn't necessary.

We sailed with Viking in 2019 and will sail with them again next month. In both cases we were not able to book airfare ourselves for as cheaply as Viking could. Couple this with airport transfers, and it was a no brainer both times. By pairing for Air Plus we were able to suggest flights and Viking found them amenable.

Speaking of Viking recipes, on our Rhine cruise 5 years ago, one evening's dinner menu listed "New England clam chowder"---being a born and bred and resident New Englander, I had to try this. It was delicious, but did not remotely resemble any NE clam chowder I had ever tasted---a less tactful New Englander would have confronted the chef and asked him to "step outside"!! (Never mind, he was built like a defensive end and would have obliterated anyone who did dare challenge him, haha!)

Hmmm, we have a Capital One Venture card that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. Which card do you have?

We're the opposite of what some have described---we NEVER use an ATM at home, but have Capital One accounts with debit cards strictly to get currency abroad. We get about 100-200 euros/pounds/etc. at the start and often get by for 10 days with just that. If we need more we'll get a little more from an ATM. Much easier than trying to predict from home how much we'll need for an entire trip beforehand. As I mentioned in an earlier post, withdraw funds in the local currency--let YOUR bank at home do the conversion, usually in your favor. Similarly we have 2 credit cards with no foreign transaction fees--we use these abroad, and leave any other cards at home.

Also when you pay by credit card, you have a choice of paying in local currency or your own. Always choose local---let your bank/credit card company do the conversion, they will give you a better rate than the vendor's bank. We started travelling internationally 7 years ago---we find that we need much less cash on hand than when we started---COVID accelerated the move to mostly cashless societies--Europe is more cashless than here in the US.

On the Viking website there are both book and movie suggestions for most if not all itineraries.

One side of my dad's family came from Verviers,which is only 33 km from Liege.

We always assumed that both sides of my family came from French Canadian Quebecois. But dad always spoke about being visited by 'Belgian uncles', which we always wondered about. My sister and I have researched our genealogy and found out that both of my paternal grandparents were descended from Belgian, not Canadian immigrants--dad did not imagine those visits! It turns out Belgians were recruited to help run New England textile mills--they had experience, and spoke French, as did the Quebecois workers. So my tulip river cruise next month spends a few days in Belgium and that will have special meaning as a result---going to have a nice Belgian beer somewhere and toast my ancestors! Unfortunately, they were from Wallonia (the French speaking area)--Walloons were (and still are to some degree) treated badly by the Dutch-speaking Flemish. One example is that even though a big chunk of Belgium speaks French, French is not recognized as a national language and all government business must be conducted in Dutch. Brussels for some reason is a French city smack dab in the middle of Flanders.

If we rebooked, I'd be afraid of someone swooping in and taking our sold-out post cruise in Alaska. Thanks for the info--knowledge is power!

Thanks to all for the replies. So the answer is that any vouchers purchased in a couple of weeks cannot be applied to our ocean cruise whose final payment is due in December.

We will be on a Viking tulip cruise next month. We recall from our previous cruise that one can buy vouchers on board that have double value when used to pay a future Viking cruise. There is a limit, of course ($400 --> $800 per couple maybe?). We have a Viking Ocean cruise booked for 2025. Could those vouchers if purchased by applied to paying for that cruise, or are they good for new bookings only? Don't want to ask this on board, get a wrong answer, then be sitting on them until we book again.

I've never sailed on other ocean cruise lines, but from what I have heard, what Viking does at its port talks is nothing like the constant selling the other cruise lines employ. Viking will never have an 'art lecture' that is really a 'please buy these paintings' session.

The only sales pitch I recall from VR port talks is that one ONE day, the vouchers were mentioned, explained VERY briefly, and anyone interested was referred to the front desk at their leisure. Nothing else.

With the demise of American Queen, there is one less competitor on the Mississippi. I wonder who will benefit, Viking or American Cruise Lines? ACL owns its own shipyard, which may put them in a better position.

Even if your cabin isn't ready yet you will have access to both the dining room for lunch and the lounge to hang out. When your room is ready someone will find you. It's that simple. When we checked in for our cruise in 2019, someone just asked for our names. Nobody even looked at our passports to verify we were who we said we were. I believe we were free to come and go as long as we were back for a 4:30 safety drill.

We found it interesting that in the Basel train station, males paid less for the rest room if they "stood rather than sat", if you get my drift. Wife thought that was unfair--we had a good laugh over he feigned indignation.

Agree 1000%, we do this for land tours as well. Just makes things more relaxing, having a day to chll out. Also agree re: cruises, we are not arriving early for our tulip cruise next month, because the ship does not sail until the late day 2 or the early day 3 (day 1: arrive, day 2: tour Amsterdam, day 3: sail)

The new itinerary bypasses Ghent, which is a slight disappointment. I believe the ships used to dock in Ghent, and passengers were bussed to Bruges for either a half day or full day. We had hoped to spend a half day in Bruges and see Ghent for the other half. Having recently discovered my Belgian heritage, I hoped to see as much of Belgium as I could. Oh well....

OK, I just didn't get the 'landscaper' reference---have never paid much attention to what they wear, not many of them in the rural area where I live--I know that when I do yard work I don't wear my Sunday best! I would say that the 'preppy' look of chinos, oxford shirts, maybe a sweater, mabye with a sports jacket, has stayed somewhat in style and is accepted pretty much universally for casual office wear, in-classroom wear, etc. I have seen that style in the 70s and still see it today. I find that look for men totally appropriate for dining on a Viking river or ocean cruise. I 'think' you do as well, but it's tough to judge one's tone in a message post.

Also, the choice of included excursion is either a walking tour of Nijmegen or a visit to Arnhem, which includes the Airborne museum and Operation Market Garden. The is a more in-depth tour dealing with Operation MG, in the afternoon (optional, at additional cost).

At a work-related conference, sitting down to lunch, we all introduced ourselves--one man added to his intro, "I have to let you all know (the US president at the time, will not name him here) is a communist!!!!" OOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKKKKK, I then stayed as far away from this guy as possible for the rest of the conference.

Agree totally with you. Big jump though, from "you can't make me wear a suit" to wearing a robe w/o pants in public! I'm often amazed at what folks wear to church, TBH.

Aquarium class may be 150 sf, but some of that is the bump-out under the windows, which creates horizontal storage space but no floor space (unless you are able to walk across the top of the bump-out!). I think in a French balcony, the floor space just in front of the balcony window replaces the bump-out. If the floor plans of the two rooms are drawn to scale, the actual floor space (interior) in both rooms appears to be about the same.

Are the men's pants that you're referring to chinos/khakis? I find that chinos with an oxford shirt, and maybe a sweater totally appropriate. I don't find that to be egregious at all. If not, what kind of "landscaper's garb" are you talking about? Just looking to understand. When I want to be dressier than just wearing jeans, I get a pair of chinos out--I wore them for teaching for 40 years.