CDNPolar

Actually, we are very much to each their own. We don't make "the first move" 99.9% of the time. If someone approaches us we are happy to talk and interact, and if not, then we just stay to ourselves. But, as I mentioned, when you are on excursion and you are spending 3 hours, 5 hours, or longer on a bus and in and out of sites, sometimes the conversation just starts because of the time and closeness of the situation. We will take a table for 4 in the buffet but rarely does someone approach to share. This has only happened a couple of times when the seating was extremely full. For dinner, if we are travelling alone, we ask for a table for 2. On an upcoming River cruise, we understand that all tables are share of at least 4 so we will be forced to interact. Let's see what happens! (Don't mistake the "forced" to interact comment, we are happy to)

For us, what we have found to be the best time to "make friends" is either sit by someone at the bar, or on an excursion together. When you are walking and wandering during an excursion, it seems to be the best time and place. The other thing that sometimes happens on a Viking Cruise is they have an LGBTQ+ get together one night, and I would assume that anyone that attends that would be open to meeting and chatting. We have never attended, and Viking does not always host one automatically. I think you have to ask for one to be scheduled.

Here is the deal... We have often seen other gay male couples and female couples on the ships that we have been on. We all know what Gaydar is and with some of these couples the gaydar is screaming off the charts! Haha. But we have found them "pretentious" to the point where when we have (or I have) started to make a recognition move, they will divert their eyes and move the opposite direction! To me it was obvious that they were not interested at all in talking or even making contact of any kind. You could watch them moving in and out of breakfast and lunch in the buffet area and to me it looked like they were intentionally avoiding any kind of eye contact. Fair enough... you don't want to talk, I don't need to talk to you. On our Antarctica cruise last year, we met a lesbian couple together for 30+ years and had some nice conversations with them. We chatted with a lesbian couple a few times on our recent Egypt Nile cruise, but we were in a separate excursion group with them so only came across them at the port talk or evening event sometimes.... We have made contact with many straight couples on almost every cruise that we have been on and some of these relationships have continued past the cruise, but so far no gay couples. I don't know what it is, but maybe they feel they will be more "obvious" if they are associated with other gay guys? Heck, they were screaming all by themselves.... And, I don't think that we are hidden in plain sight, but we are not obvious because of our difference in age and cultural background and we are pretty "quietly gay". Haha

We have cruised almost exclusively on Viking - both River and Ocean. We find the crew and guests very open and welcoming. We are not the party couple by any means, and although I understand those that want to travel and interact with other LGBTQ+, we don't care if we are the only ones on the ship. We have made some good and lasting friendships from Viking cruises. We generally see other gay couples on our Viking cruises as well. I will look at BrandG as I am curious now. I have never heard of this company. Last time however that I brought up with my husband travelling with an LGBTQ+ tour, his question was "What advantage would that bring us?" However, know that he is the furthest from a gay culture guy that you could possibly meet. For him, travelling with a gay based group - even if it was just a segment of the total population of the ship - would have to have an advantage to what we were going to see, experience, eat, etc., which it probably wouldn't, therefore he would probably poopoo the idea. Again - don't get me wrong, as I understand the desire to travel with a group of like minded individuals. I personally have never been on a chartered gay cruise, but have had many friends that have and from what I know of them, I don't think I would go on one even if you gifted me the full trip and it was in the Butler Suite section of the ship. Just not my thing. I am far too old now in my body clock and am generally in bed by 9:30pm as the days are so busy and full and packed with wonder of the sights and food during the day that I am exhausted by nightfall! Hahah.

You are quite sensitive. I am just stating an opinion and if you think that was a lecture, then you were mistaken.

That is what you say, but then as I said, we as seasoned travellers AVOID street food. Stick to restaurants and recommended restaurants. With out land based tour next January, we will have a local guide that will recommend restaurants that are not tourist but where our health is safe.

Street food is never recommended unless you really know what you are getting yourself in for. Often you will end up with some kind of "revenge". It might look good, but even as seasoned travellers, we avoid street food and go to a reputable restaurant.

we won’t be eating in places the cater to tourists. We have travelled all over China and Japan, and only eaten in restaurants off of back alleys and not in the middle of tourist town.

We opted for a land based tour next January through Cambodia and Vietnam. We were going to do the Mekong River Cruise, but we really wanted to experience the real and true local food in these countries. NO, it won't be as luxurious as travelling on Viking but, we will get the real food. We love that you can unpack on Viking once and just enjoy, but too wish that there could be a higher level of destination inspired food.

All I can tell you is that if your entrance to the canal is at 5:30am or 6:00am, get up at least one hour earlier and get yourself a spot on the open deck of the Explorers Lounge. You want to be front and centre for the approach with the lights before dawn and you want to experience the whole thing. The approach is slow but the view is beautiful.

Thanks for your comments! My husband produces all these on our return home. He (We) do it only for our own enjoyment and memories of the trip. We have never intended these to be "commercial" but we do now share them to a wider audience as our travel vlog. One short movie is so easy to sit and watch especially when we return home - between the two of us - with in excess of 5000 still and videos combined. I know that sounds like a lot and it is, but consider when you are taking a shot, we often take two or three to ensure we have the best to choose from. Part of it is slimming down the selection and removing duplicates and triplicates first. In the Douro one, there was in fact a Drone, but there are so many legal complications to travelling with an using a Drone that this was our first and only use of it. We had to get permission from the Portuguese government and then know and follow the rules in every area of the city and in every square... it was difficult. We had to have permission from the ship's captain too. Just about to embark on a River Cruise through Eastern Europe so the video generally takes about 60 days from our return before it is done... so end'ish of October? Oh, and other than the one with the Drone, these are ONLY iPhone stills and video. We don't use anything else. https://www.youtube.com/@lktraveljournal4554

This comment I find interesting, but perhaps because we have only sailed Viking. We are very happy with the food on Viking and we pride ourselves on our knowledge of food. We have obviously had an occasional less than adequate food item on Viking, but in general we find the food quite enjoyable and of high standards. (Especially The Chef's Table)

Not knowing for sure where the OP is from but because you mentioned Medicare, assuming you are from the USA...? I am from Canada, and we do take as little as possible in our wallets, but we have to take our Provincial Health Care cards with us as our out of country medical coverage always (in Ontario anyways) requires us to have a valid government health care number. This would need to be verified and this is always suggested that we carry the actual card and not a picture of the card. My question would be, does your out of country medical coverage require you to carry your Blue Cross or Medicare card?

Why would you assume that I am not concerned about my own hands? You are incorrect, as I am concerned with washing my hands. Washing in your cabin does not mean that you don't touch other things on the way to the dining room. I know that others don't care which is why I protect myself by washing my hands. Breakfast especially where buffet is normal, the tongs and serving utensils are the area of concern that you are touching those and then going back to your table. I want to MYSELF wash my hands after this. Think me crazy or paranoid - whatever you wish - but we wash our hands at every restaurant we go to after ordering and touching the menus and before the food arrives. We wash our hands still the minute we arrive home from anywhere out of the house. Thank you to those that see this as something serious and sharing the location of the restrooms near the restaurant.

Did I say anywhere that you were not?

Here is our channel - growing slowly. https://www.youtube.com/@lktraveljournal4554

It could be that the seats were booked through United and they don't show on the Lufthansa site. Similar situation recently when I booked for Australia, I booked the flights on the United site, but there was an Air Canada segment. (Air Canada and United are Star Alliance as are United and Lufthansa). United showed the seats for all segments but Air Canada did not show any seats. If you can actually see the bookings on both airline sites, then I would call each airline. What ended up happening for me is that I was careful to only book seats on each site for that airlines flight and not the other. This worked for me. HOWEVER, there is a poster here that is saying that Lufthansa requires payment for seats. You should take this up with Viking Air. We have found that sometimes the Viking Air reservationist is not knowledgeable and thinks they have booked your seats when they have not.

I searched and have not found anything on this topic. It has been pre-pandemic since we were on a Viking River Ship and I don't remember... Do the River Ships have hand washing stations outside the dining room? Not just hand sanitizer, but actual soap and water stations? If you read about Norovirus going around now you will also note that hand sanitizer does NOT kill Norovirus - in fact it does nothing. You must wash your hands with soap.

I am not the one that you are asking, but my husband and I are the same. We like the small ships and look for others to meet and interact with that are looking for a fun trip too. What is a fun trip for us? Meeting good and nice people that are interesting. They don't have to be gay and in fact we have only met one gay couple on a Viking smaller ship and frankly they were so pretentious that after sharing one lunch with them we avoided them for the rest of the cruise. Fun for us is much more quiet than perhaps for others. We are a very quiet couple.

Regardless of the comments here, Viking do this as a Celebration of US - their guests. They are welcoming us back on board. We personally have been disappointed on some Ocean voyages when it has not happened. Our Cabin Stewards told us they love doing it and they were thrilled when we spotted them and called out to them. To each his/her/their own and I can understand if some don't enjoy this. Some have made it sound like it is exploitation of the crew. That I don't think is the case. That is just my/our opinion.

Personally I don't understand the hype around Manfredi's now or in the past. We prefer the Chef's Table and on any cruise we will book every menu - regardless of the theme - in The Chef's Table. This is going to bring on the haters, but we are not on Viking to eat "North American" food. I know that Manfredi's is Italian, but it is what we have all over North America. We are on a cruise in a different part of the world to experience different cuisine not eat the same as we do at home. Steak, pasta, and seafood prepared for a North American palate is not what we are after. The fact is that Manfredi's menu is too static for our tastes. Again - don't know the hype. We try to eat in Manfredi's once during a cruise but don't care if we miss it either.

I am only sharing what I was told by the US Agent this past weekend. My Nexus is now renewed, and my passport expires in 2026. He said very emphatically that I MUST go in person to a land border crossing or an air crossing when flying through the US to update my passport information in 2026. I asked - can I not do this online - he said NO, I must do in person. What more can I say?

My husband was renewed automatically online... I was informed that I had to present in person for interview. It may happen to you. But, note, that when you renew your passport, you must now update your Nexus and this can only be done in person - I was told this yesterday by US agents.

My Nexus expired in 2020 but with the Pandemic shutting down the centres in Canada for renewal, were we are three years later. I finally completed my Canadian interview at the Fort Erie border crossing, crossed into the US and completed the US side interview. I have been approved again for 5 years. What I just learned which is just another pain in the butt, is that when my passport expires in 2026 and I get my new passport, I either have to: Drive to Niagara Falls and cross the border and on the US side have the passport updated to my Nexus by both the Canadian and US offices, OR Do the Fort Erie thing again with both the Canadian and US sides, OR Have a flight to or transiting through the USA and after passing security and US Immigration visit the US desk at the airport to update. This apparently cannot be done online, and must be done in person. AND, now that I have the new passport, I cannot use the Nexus line at the airport, or at the drive through border because my new passport is not yet synced to my Nexus and I will get stopped. (Just this first time through with the new passport) Canada is issuing the new passport, and verifying that it is me, can they not link this to the Nexus and be done with it? I know, first world problems, and kind of a rant. I am just happy that I finally have a renewed Nexus card after all this time.

Have you written Viking about this? Expressing your opinion here is one thing but if you want to see this stop, then you must inform Viking of your distaste for this practice.