CDNPolar

Gotcha.... obviously mis-read.... sorry.

DOB if asked, otherwise current age. Same for insurance.

This is where "Pre-existing" comes down to definition. What was "pre-existing" when you bought the policy. If you buy the policy today, and lets assume that everything that you have pre-existing or not is stable. If in two weeks you have symptoms, go to the doctor, and a new condition is diagnosed then you are 100% covered for cancelation before the trip leaves. Anything can happen after buying, it is what is in your medical records before buying. If that condition that was just diagnosed was found as noted in your medical file 6 months prior, then you would be in trouble. If brand new, you would be covered at least for cancellation.

Sorry for your loss, but solid advice. Take the trip when you can. My husband and I are a fairly large age difference. I am about to retire and he won't for another 10+ years. We are travelling now as much as possible in case we/I cannot later.

That is quite outside our experience. We are amazed if it takes 2 days to have them answer.

For us, this train time was worth the 7 hours time that we had in Berlin. We had no idea when we might be back with the option to visit Berlin AND Viking had about 400 or so passengers going on one of I think three excursions in Berlin and Viking chartered a train just for Viking. We have made the decision however when travel is 1.5 + hours each way and you only get 2-3 hours in the destination that it was not worth it.

Both Clay and kctwin are correct. This includes travel time. This is important for us because we then calculate if the excursion is 8 hours but we know that the bus ride is 90-120 minutes each way, then we decide if we want to do this excursion and spend as much time on the bus as at the destination. For instance, with Berlin on the Homelands cruise, there is a 2.5 hour train ride each way on a 12 hour excursion which gave us 7 hours in Berlin. This to us was worth it.

I think that the thermal spa is open on embarkation days. This is my memory anyway, but email tellus@vikingcruises.com to ask. Don't call reservations, email this address and ask.

This takes the discussion slightly off topic, and although I understand you not feeling safe venturing out on your own and not on a tour, but for me, this is just the culture of the Egyptians and how they make their money and approach tourists. If you have been on a River Ship in Egypt you see how aggressively the rowboats pull up to the ships and try to sell to you on your balcony or on the sun deck of the ship. As much as I can understand your feeling unsafe, I see this kind of situation in many countries as walk tall, proud, confidently, don't make eye contact and don't engage and they leave you alone. We saw so many tactics in Egypt even on tours where sellers were calling "Hey Linda" then "Hey Susan" then another name.... the same guy. They are just hoping someone in the crowd is Linda or Susan and going to interact. My husband is Chinese and he even got called to with broken Mandarin phrases.

I connected with Princess in Canada and the response was that if you want or need flights outside of the 5 day window on either side of your cruise contact an EZAir supervisor and they can make it happen.

This is epidemic proportions in my experience. I just look the other way because this is everywhere. Both the lack of common sense and negativity.

On our over Christmas and New Year cruise this past year, there were several couples that this was their first cruise and / or also their first Viking cruise. I don't think that they were obvious at all, but they self-identified and we were happy to help them with the ins and outs of the ship we were on and how to do things that we learned over time.

Good question. Looking forward to answers as we do our first TA cruise in October with 6 consecutive sea days.

We have many friends that have had Covid several times in the last year and we seem to be hearing of many cases again recently and in the last few weeks. Some have been travelling and some have been home doing regular day-to-day stuff. I personally believe that many of these things - not just Covid - but all the colds and flus are transmitted hand to face. I believe that many people have relaxed their hand hygiene and this is one reason. We have maintained our hand hygiene and are rigorous about it, and have been free of any kind of cold or covid for over 2 years now. We have a cruise coming up in October and also in November. We will wash our hands after serving at the buffet and before sitting down to eat. We always wash our hands after touching a menu in a restaurant and after ordering. I am not as personally concerned about people coughing provided they are maintaining at least a modicum of respect to how they cough of sneeze, as I am about transferring these bugs hand to face.

I agree with @GeezerCouple on this one that it is not overt age discrimination, but perhaps a limitation on the excursion providers insurance liability. I know not the same, but this to me is like height restrictions on amusement park rides. Remember too that Viator is only an aggregator and not the tour provider. Viator is at the mercy of the tour providers restrictions. I think that this does really suck since you are advanced open water certified... but....???

I don't mean to offend anyone with this comment, but even if the cruise line provided a lanyard, we would not use them. I want to downplay that I am a tourist as much as possible, and if I am off the ship, the last thing I want is a lanyard advertising my vulnerability to pickpockets. With Viking if we "escape" the walking tour to return to the ship on our own, the first thing that goes off the neck and away is the QuietVox. I am not suggesting that I would not exhibit other behaviours that say I am a tourist, but I don't want to advertise the fact. Our cruise cards just go in our front pockets.

Good luck and all the best to you both for this trip! Take your time, and do what you can. For me, just getting away would be better than staying at home, but that is me.

We were on a Viking River cruise leaving out of Amsterdam and docked behind the Movenpick hotel. There was a shuttle that went back and forth to just short of the train station which for us was less than a 5 minute walk. The walk to the old town was three times that from where the shuttle dropped you off. Shuttles with Viking is hit and miss. Sometimes there are and sometimes there are not.

My experience is that TA's don't offer cheaper rates. I find - in Canada anyway - what I buy online myself is the same price as through a broker as through a TA. With MY annual plan, if I renew when the renewal date comes up, I don't have to do the health questionnaire again and I also am saved from price increases. (This is Canada...so may not be the case with you). I did the math on this because my renewal was in April and our next travel date was September. My agent gave me the rate if I let my policy lapse and it was significantly higher than renewing.

We were in Amsterdam and looking for the "street urinals" for men. We were pointed "in that direction" for them and never found them. We ended up in a Starbucks and we did not need a code. Also the next day did the same thing with a McDonalds. So, we have experience talking here which is great, and now even I know that it is not always the case. But, I am also ok with buying a water or a coffee and getting restroom access. What I feel very uncomfortable with is going into a restaurant or cafe where I have no intention of buying and trying to use their restrooms. I don't mind in a Starbucks or McDonalds, but not the independent small restaurant.

Just think this way. Any medical condition that you have, controlled or not, can be considered a pre-existing condition. What is key is understanding the stability period that is required for your medical or cancellation insurance to be valid with a pre-existing condition. You may have a heart condition that you take a beta blocker for and you have been taking the same dose and same medication for 3 years and you are perfectly stable in that condition. This is nothing to worry about - you go - you travel - and all is good. This heart condition can become an unstable pre-existing condition in the eyes of the insurance company if: 1) There are new symptoms and you have talked to your doctor about this 2) There are tests ordered or scheduled, or results are pending from tests 3) Medication is increased, decreased, or stopped 4) New medication is prescribed that you have not taken before There are so many elements to pre-existing conditions including some very vague language such as: "at the time of booking it was not reasonable to believe that something would happen medically" and many other statements like that. Consider that you buy insurance both medical and cancellation. Before you are set to go, something happens to you medically and you cancel, the insurance company is going to get your medical records, and if they can prove that you bought the trip with an "unstable" condition and it could have been reasonably expected that something could or would go wrong, they won't pay out. Just buying insurance at the point of making your first payment does not always cover all pre-existing conditions under every circumstance. Every insurance company policy is going to be different.

Sorry - thought you were indirectly quoting me. Misunderstanding.

We have met solo's on Viking, but I just mean by percent Viking is not really the line that attracts solo travellers. They were declined? That is not cool. We often sit at a four table in the WC because we want to be by the window. If any other couple want to join, and this is not unusual for us, we certainly welcome them. But I don't see much table sharing on Viking ocean.

I was in Monaco and Nice last year for business and had a couple of days. These are the tours that I booked through Viator when there. The guide that runs this Nice tour is really good and knowledgable, he will also custom build anything for you. The guide is the guy in the lower left of the picture. His name is Nejib Belhassen and his company is: www.nice-idealtours.com I plan to return to Nice again in the future and will contract Nejib to build a custom tour for me. Monaco is such a small city, you can walk it in no time, but the hop on bus will at least take you to the most iconic areas.

Viking is not a cruise line that has a lot of solo travellers or "strays" as you call them. Most of Viking guests are couples and small groups of friends. Manfredi's is also a specialty restaurant that you must book a table, you cannot - generally speaking - walk in. I think your best option is to approach the host at Manfredi's when you board and ask if there is a share table available any night.