CDNPolar

For me Nexus is not about going to or from the USA. It is about international travel in general. Nexus gives me a faster - sometimes - security line leaving Canada. If I happen to transit through the USA on the way home, then it helps if I have to go through customs/immigration - this has happened before. When I arrive in Toronto it allows me to bypass the huge long immigration lines and go to the machine. Nexus has removed the "date" that my card is good for from the original renewal date. Perhaps they are now just extending indefinitely? I personally don't think that I should have to drive 5-6 hours and into the USA to be renewed, and frankly would give up the card before doing so.

No. To my knowledge, since Covid, we have no way to contact anyone?

My closest location is a 2 or 2.5 hour drive each way + a border crossing. The earliest appointment is end of February 2023. They have my $50 application fee from the original application. I wish that there was a way to cancel the renewal application and start over, even if I had to pay the $50 again.

Yes, I saw the article about the need for US agents to be armed and that this is not working for the Canadian side....

My partner and I had the same expiry date. He was renewed online no issue. I was informed that I needed to have an in-person interview.

My card expired August 2020. Way in advance of the expiry I went to renew and I received notification that I must present for an in-person interview to renew. Okay... no worries. I booked that in-person interview at Toronto Pearson International Airport, then covid hit and all in-person appointments were cancelled. I have been waiting and checking to rebook since. I visit the site approximately every 2 months to see if anything has opened up and all Canadian sites within reasonable travel distance for me are still closed. The site used to say that my card expiry would be extended a certain time frame, now it just says pending renewal, without any dates on it.... I have traveled several times in the last 12 months and it seems to still work at the airports... I would like to get this renewed but don't understand why most every business is operating like pre-covid not but the government is not?

We have learned that mid-ship and lower deck is best for us because of motion. We have also learned that we spend so little time in our stateroom, other than to shower, change, and sleep, that we are good booking the lowest category of stateroom. We don't need the extra square feet that is really only walking space. On a recent cruise, we were quite forward - perhaps 6 cabins from the front of the ship - and we were hit some high seas. Not only were we bounced around, but the WHAM/SLAM of the bow when it hit was too much for us to consider sleeping. This wham/slam was being heard in the Star Theatre too. The ship was not full, and so we asked to be moved and thankfully they had a mid-ship stateroom. We heard from the people in the suite on our floor and they were in misery with the motion and noise, but there were no other suites available, AND they tend to be bow or aft anyway. We have learned that motion is amplified with the higher you go in decks, and front or aft as well. We choose a mid-ship and although I would be thrilled with an upgrade, we would only accept it if mid-ship which in a lot of cases knocks out what we might be upgraded to.

I am looking at UniWorld Nile River Cruise, and the fine print says that house wine and beer are served with lunch and dinner. There does not seem to be a package that includes alcohol at other times other than at lunch and dinner? Can anyone help with this? Is there alcohol for purchase in the evening? I cannot find much information about this. I know that Air Egypt for instance, does not serve alcohol on their flights...

The OP asked: "Are we able to use US dollars in Canada?" which is a broader question than can we tip using US dollars. Yes, tip in US dollars, but in my opinion, don't calculate any exchange - tip the 18% or 20% that a restaurant server expects against the CDN total... don't tip less because you are tipping in USD. Can you "use" US dollars in Canada. There is no general rule yes or no. Depends on the port, how far you are from where American tourists commonly travel, and every store or merchant will have their own policy. Some will and some will not.

You can see in the picture below that there are two bases to the bed. They will separate these two beds but you can also see that there is limited space that will be available between the beds when separated. Perhaps 18 inches? The beds still have to fit against the headboard wall in and not go beyond.

If you go to the Hurtigruten site and find the ship, when you look at the cabin types, all cabin listings say the same thing: "flexible sleeping arrangements with double bed that can be divided into two single beds" When you request twin beds, they separate the larger bed into two. There is generally a very small space between the beds and that depends on the size of the cabin.

I agree with Jim. In our most recent cruise - Homelands - most excursions that were sold out prior were open to booking onboard. We also noted that busses that held 50+ people were only running 25-35 people. Unless the particular excursion has a meal or something that needs a strict number by a date or time, in my opinion, sold out now does not mean sold out onboard.

My experience is that not many join roll calls... There will be a few, but you are far too early for most.

Don't quote me on this and I cannot find the Viking information now, but Viking Ocean ships have the PCR labs onboard. They are still testing crew and they will test guests on request or if crew recommend testing. They have always been willing to provide a PCR test for disembarkation for your return home. I would email tellus@vikingcruises.com and ask a very specific question about this. Reference your booking number and ensure that you have your contact information including phone number. We have had great luck with tellus@vikingcruises.com and generally get a phone call back from someone within 48 hours to give the response. Then ask for the response in writing. Although great advice comes from the responders here, because situations change with Covid all the time, get this response from Viking directly, or you will have to find another method. There are video type tests that you can do that are sometimes acceptable. You should also find out directly from Windstar what they will accept in tests.

The Captain stated in both the welcome his final address that there were 710 on the ship. 540 is the amount of crew. Your cabin guy was wrong or you were not listening to the Captain. I put my bet on the Captain.

We just recently returned from a Viking Homelands cruise. We had 710 guests and 450 crew. The ship holds 930 guests. We were told by crew that the ship would be full to capacity with guests on the sailing after we disembarked. I personally don't think there is any intentional limiting happening now.

Yes and no. Depends on where you are. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal - probably most places will accept them, but don't automatically expect exchange rate. There is no requirement to give you exchange, and you will only ever get Canadian money as change. Also, don't just routinely expect that all stores or coffee shops will accept them. They may not. There is no universal rule. Canada is proudly not the USA or "America".

We have air for our next three cruises booked that go out to March of 2023. Flights booked, seats booked. Sometimes there are schedule changes, and sometimes you have to call the airline to readjust the seating, but in general, we don't experience issues having flights booked well in advance. If you wait, you won't get the flights or the seats that you want. Yes, you must "manage" this over time, but it is easier than being disappointed closer to the date. TA's don't want to do anything this far out because they have to manage it. This is why unless I am booking Air using Viking Air - which I will be on the phone to Viking with the TA - then we book our own air. TA's have no interest in dealing with airfare in my experience.

I am certain that Viking are not going to leave you stranded. If they move the flight before SAS cancel there will be cost. If the flight is ticketed, there will be a cost even for Viking to move it. I am certain that they have contingency plan for you. This is the landscape of flying today. SAS aside, the number of airlines cancelling flights and the airline is not on strike is ground breaking. We disembarked Homelands the day after SAS went on strike and not all flights were cancelled and those that were, Viking got them to where they needed to go.

I feel you pain, but you don't get ticketed immediately when you use Viking Air. You are ticketed when somewhere under 60-75 days from the actual flights. I would not immediately blame Viking or Viking Air. Obviously your original routing changed or cancelled and the re-routing happened. If you were originally flying BA then something happened to your return flights with BA that caused the change. I don't believe that someone is sitting at Viking Air wanting to mess with you so they change the flights - this would be initiated by the airline and Viking move to reroute you so you have flights. We often book way out, but in that booking way out, there can be many flight changes before the actual flight. Sometimes, yes, it is frustrating because we carefully chose our routes and in some cases even the aircraft type that we were flying and we end up with a totally different itinerary from what we originally booked. First things first - if you used a TA go through them, but be on the phone with the TA when they call Viking Air Plus. Find out what happened. Before that search the flights YOU want again yourself. When you are on with Viking Air Plus and the TA, outline the flights you want and have them change them. Before the flights are ticketed, you can many any changes you want.

Correct, with some of the "special" shows running 15+ minutes longer. The longer shows will be one or two only on a 14 day cruise. Our dancing under the stars on the pool deck 7 went probably 30 minutes longer....

The above comments re battery life are good advice. I have found that turning off the WiFi when leaving the ship helps, and also some folks will go into camera mode and leave it on as you are walking around. This eats through battery too as the screen and camera remain ON while you are walking around. With the iPhone, because you have the little camera icon at the bottom of the screen that you can access without keying your password, the camera is always readily available.

Some did make comments, but that never ends well. You end up looking like the "Karen" for making teh comment and sometimes looking worse than the offender. You never know how someone will respond, so we just very obviously stood up and moved.

The one thing I will say is that I never saw anyone on this cruise enter the World Cafe without being "forced" to wash their hands. The Greeter stood conspicuously with his/her back against the sanitizer station and asked everyone to wash their hands. This does not mean that they were not immediately coughing into their hands and then using the tongs at the buffet. We did see some people go and wash their hands again after getting their food before eating. Covid or not, there is still Norovirus that runs rampant on a cruise ship.

We were on Homelands, and no we did not catch Covid. Luckily.