CDNPolar

Should not be hard to find the buses, but in Ft. Lauderdale for the Panama cruise, the bus was a 10 minute walk from the luggage area following the Viking Rep. I would venture to say that you would not find these busses if you were not in the group. Also the busses are not Viking Branded, so again, not a given that you will find the buses.

Did I mention anything about wanting to pay a year in advance? NO.

If you have an existing Viking booking and you book a new cruise - at home, not on board - you can get the 6 month payment option. You have to have at least one booked cruise to get this. Viking don't always just give this to you without asking. It is on our list of points to check before we let the reservation agent off the phone. We have had to wait for supervisor approval more than once. For this reason, we never go on a cruise - if the only one booked - without a future cruise booked as well. This is especially easy and cheap to do when the $25 deposit is in place. Also, this option may not be for every country.

Is there not a cost for you to get back to the airport and is the hassle of going back to the airport and meeting Viking and then doing the transfer worth all that? Just asking. Seems like a lot of bother to save 50 or 60 bucks. Also to my experience, generally Viking are at the luggage carousel before you exit that area. You may not be able to get back into the luggage carousel area to meet them?

Good question, but medical I think (my opinion) would still cover this. I am covered medically for the trip and I may venture off the ship on my own or in a taxi or with a planned excursion. I have never asked this question of my insurance broker but will now. I feel that this would be covered UNLESS, any of the excursions fall under the less known clause of extreme activities or sports. You are generally not covered for bungee jumping, parasailing, zip lining, kayaking, scuba diving, etc. Does not matter what the circumstances are for any of these types of medical emergencies, you would not be covered. Not a typical Viking excursion but... On Panama we went tubing in the caves. I did not check with my insurance BUT I would bet that if one of us were injured while tubing in a dark cave, we would not have been covered. Insurance companies will find any reason possible to not pay out.

We always book deck 3 and mid-ship and have been on both port and starboard. We have never had any noise issues with any of these cabins. The only time we did have an issue was when we were deck 3 forward and I think in 3025 we were in the cabin early and heard the Star Theatre music in the background. I think that some folks are much more noise sensitive than others but from our experience of 7 different cabins on deck 3 - go for it - we can analyze too much sometimes.

I don't know of any formal plan of Viking's for this but please consider these two options - of which I would select #2. 1) If you are booking this yourself, you can go into MVJ (My Viking Journey) site anytime and make a partial payment. You in essence could create your own monthly payment plan. If you are working with a TA then you would have to do this through them. 2). Take the money that you would pay monthly and save it in your own savings account and pay the full balance when due. ALSO with this option you could take advantage of the E-Check option and save 3.3% on the final payment. Not sure you can do that if you were paying in installments. I personally am not a fan of giving anyone money before it is due.

We did not have to check anything out of the ordinary at online checkin. We have our vaccine paperwork printed out and that is all we have printed. Everything else is electronic.

Just note that what you define "Plant Based" and "Vegan" can be very different. Don't go on a label only. Plant based tends to take into consideration eating whole foods which would cut out pasta and breads - even if prepared vegan - as it is made with processed flour. We are not Vegan now, but have been on Viking both River and Ocean. As instructed above, contact tellus@vikingcruises.com and give them an overview. Give them exactly what you will and will not eat. Best is to tell them what you don't want to eat. Immediately on boarding the ship ask to speak with the dining manager - who should already be aware of your requirements. You will work it out from there. Viking have been incredibly accommodating with us in the past, but don't expect a range of options everyday. They will do their best but the selection may be limited. You will get a menu daily at your stateroom, you will circle what you want to eat and they will reimagine the dish to a vegan or plant based option.

We just went AC round trip and arrived back last night. Did the attestation, and had all paperwork with us but were never asked to prove anything.

We currently are or have used both TD and Manulife. We find both to be competitive in pricing. What is important to us now is the Covid part of cancelation or interruption. Both seem to have reasonable coverage to send you home, but if you have to stay in the country the coverage for hotel and meal cost is limited.

Interesting question. We have an account for a long time and often send money overseas to family. We never pay any fee. We transferred smaller amounts three times while in BA Argentina because we did not want to get stuck with Pesos at the end. The first two times they did not charge us any service fee. The third time they charged $15.00 CAD and even with that it was a better deal on exchange. One additional thing about exchange... We stayed at the Sheraton and in our online booking the total cost of our 4 nights was $980 USD. This would have been the equivalent in pesos charged to our credit card, converted to USD and then to CAD. We asked for our total charges in Pesos, and it was $172,000.00 pesos. This in CAD funds was $700.00, so we saved $280 + the exchange to USD. In total we saved about $600.00 when all was said an done by paying our hotel bill in Pesos converted from CAD.

We just came back from Argentina and we were first suggested to take USD for exactly what the poster above is saying - taking advantage of a "middle" and / or "blue" market. When we were there - this is only an example and not necessarily exact: Bank Rate Home: 1 USD = 150 Pesos Middle Rate at the Hotel: 1 USD = 280 Pesos Blue Rate on the Street: 1 USD = 320 Pesos HERE IS WHAT WE FOUND: We took too little USD and ran out. We only used the Hotel to exchange because we did not trust the blue market and the risk of counterfeit bills or being short changed. We started to transfer - online - through Western Union CAD money to Argentina. The transfer takes 5 minutes online and it is complete and you can pick up immediately with your passport for ID. Once you take into account the exchange cost from CAD to USD, then to Pesos, we did better with Western Union's exchange rate from CAD. We got 250 pesos per Canadian dollar which when you do all the math was better than the double conversion of CAD to USD to Pesos. Western Union offices were like Tim Hortons. They were everywhere.

Frustrated trying to figure this out. Bought TripMate cancel for any reason insurance when booking the cruise. We are way ahead of full payment, so only deposit on file. We cannot go - for personal reason - on this date on this cruise. We want to revise our itinerary to a new date and possibly the destination because of the change of dates. We know that we can move the cruise, and deposit, BUT can we also move the TripMate insurance to the new cruise, or is that money paid and lost? Note: We are not really exercising any cancellation - we are revising our itinerary to a different cruise before any penalty. Your experience and thoughts appreciated.

No. I am a fan of talking to the source, and in this case Viking directly. They will not disclose how or even when tips are distributed. I asked if an individual receives tips by cruise, or by contract, and they would not disclose that either. It is a carefully guarded secret apparently. The crew probably have a non-disclosure clause in their employment agreement. My feeling on this is this: If Viking included this in the cost of a cruise, then fine. It is part of what I have to pay to get on the ship and I would not question it, because gratuities would not even need to be mentioned. BUT, because they are putting this on my invoice, and I physically have to go and ask for it to be amended or removed if I don't want to pay it, I think that I have a right to know where it is going if I do pay it. We will continue to pay this as we feel an obligation to these hard working people, but as I have said in previous posts, we also tip ad hoc here and there to people that impress us with their service, and always the cabin stewards. There is a quieter unspoken side of me that wants to NOT pay it unless there is more transparency, but not going to go there.

I don't say anything against Michelin restaurants as I do appreciate the talent that is required, but personally - just my personal opinion - Michelin is never true authentic local cuisine. I have had many opportunities to choose Michelin over local basic very well prepared cuisine, and will always opt for the latter.

We were told by a private tour guide in Barcelona to avoid any restaurant that has their menu outside on an A-frame. This is a tourist restaurant. If you want to eat real Tapas, then look for restaurants down the side streets - in the Gothic Quarter (and other areas) that don't have menus outside. I know, this is not intuitive to us, but try it. We did and we have amazing meals.

I have not cruised solo, but we have met several solo's on Viking. Our experience from their comments are that if you are outgoing then you will meet people and have a great time, but if you are not willing to put yourself out there then you may feel isolated. Ask at the dining room if there are share tables that you can be seated at. Engage with folks during excursions. Excursions are where we have met the solo travellers that we have spent time with. It is my experience on Viking Ocean that people are creatures of habit. If they eat on the Port side in the World Cafe, they will typically always eat on the Port side. Keeping structure like this will put you in front of the same people more often. Not that everyone goes at exactly the same time, but we have found that we recognize more and more people as the days go on. This will allow you to strike up conversations with the people sitting near you.

In my experience with Viking Ocean the night before disembarkation, there is no "special" dinner - it is just dinner as usual. Generally speaking there is a Captain's farewell in the Star Theatre but that is generally two nights before disembarkation. There is generally not a show on that last night either as you have to get your luggage in the hall by 9pm. If they had too much going on, then people would miss their luggage deadline. Personally, I would go ashore, find the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona and eat in a square there.

My experience with Viking Ocean and River is that we have done some cruises with Free Air. Viking offers Air Plus for $50 bucks per person, and you get to choose your airline, the schedule, upgrade if you want, and the seats. We research the airlines, and the schedules, call Viking and book our air. Yes, it is still free when you do this but you pay for any upgrade. The next free air that we got is to Bucharest and home from Budapest, and we upgraded to Premium Economy, and are paying $1,200 CAD per person which is equivalent to the upgrade cost if we were buying the tickets ourselves.

Why are you not doing the upgrade on AC with Viking Air? Would this not guarantee you the class that you want? We have regularly upgraded to Premium or Business through Viking Air? Doing the upgrade with Viking Air gives you the upgrade, because I agree with other posters here, that upgrading after the fact may not be possible because of the original class booked. You may be out of luck.

The lack of general announcements in the cabin has been a pet peeve of mine, because although we don't spend that much time in the cabin, the first morning announcement is often just before we leave the cabin, OR, it is when we are in the World Cafe and people are so boisterously noisy in the morning you cannot hear it. We just came off of another cruise line and we loved their system. You could hit a button on the phone in the cabin and all general announcements came through the speaker on the phone. They did have a set schedule of hours that this would happen, and I think that it was 8am to 8pm. If these hours did not suit you then you could toggle it on and off as you pleased. This was so helpful and welcome.

DV3 5107 is a "standard" Viking cabin. It is the same size and layout as the majority of cabins on Viking, but you have earlier embarkation, dining reservations, etc., etc. As far as a review, I have been in this very cabin on all my Viking cruises but have never actually stayed in #5107 if that makes sense. This cabin is 270 sq ft and the identical layout and furniture to the cabins I have stayed in. Very comfortable. As for the pack lighter comment, we don't pack light and we have never been without enough space to fully unpack. Sometimes, what may normally go in a drawer may end up on a shelf, but for us it all fits. The only thing that I can review that is different is that you are right at the aft, so you will get more motion if you have rough seas, but other than that, it is like all other cabins, very comfortable. We prefer mid-ship to minimize motion, but some love to be aft and some love to be forward.

Yes, there are only a few on each deck and just off the elevator lobby. We were very happy with ours as we have always had the traditional deep cabin, this was a nice change.

Yes, check with the cruise line. We required a negative test for a cruise line on December 28th.