CDNPolar

Really!? Never knew that. CC is the only one I have ever known and spent time on. Guess I picked the WINNER from the start!

We are cruising with a family member for the first time this coming November. I know that this particular individual is very picky eating and just adverse to trying anything that she does not know and has not eaten before. I asked my brother how this would go over at meals, and his response was, as long as they can offer breaded chicken fingers, fries, or a burger, she will be fine. I actually look forward to the experience as we eat and try everything. I will just be experiencing my own amusement in my head as she watches the wonders of food that we will be eating.

There ARE insurance companies that will insure vouchers. They are few and far between and you have to search but they are out there. I know of 2 in Canada, but they don't insure Americans.

Interesting discussion. I have flown Toronto to Sydney, Tokyo, Beijing, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Hawaii, and far too many to mention European destinations. These all on many, many airlines that are Canadian based, American based, European based, and APAC based. I have never been offered PJ's on any flight in Business or First. Never even knew that this was an option or that you might ask for them. My first thought is where do you change? In the lavatory? That is such a tight space and as a self-proclaimed germ-a-phobe I don't know how you would change in there and emerge in sanitary enough condition to actually lay down and sleep. We have found over years of travelling clothing that is what I would call "dressy looking" but so very comfortable for flying and sleeping in, that does not wrinkle and looks as fresh when you get off the aircraft as when you left the house. I only wear what I would call restrictive clothing or something like jeans on a 2-3 hour flight. Anything overseas and 6+ hours is gonna be our travel clothing for sure.

This response may be way off base and irrelevant but... Ships creak and crack and make noises. We prefer older ships - at least a few years on the sea - because they are "broken in" and not as creaky in rough waters. We were on a new ship in some rough water and had maintenance in our cabin day after day until they finally moved us because of a creaking sound at the sliding doors to the balcony. Not a something that was a minor annoyance, this was a noise that you would never sleep through even with ear plugs. On the older ships we have sailed, there are always creaks but none like this one we experienced.

I know that this is an old discussion but it may be of interest as there are many folks doing TA cruises in the coming months. We are going mid-October from Barcelona to San Juan. Similar situation. We know the ports around Spain, Morocco, etc., what the weather will be - or hopefully be. (Remember that typical weather patterns now are not as dependable.) For this TA portion of the cruise we will have a few options in our luggage: 1) We have very light weight down jackets that pack down to a large ziplock bag and take virtually no packing room or add any weight. (You are from Michigan so you may likely have the necessary gear.) 2) We pack a very thin water resistant, wind resistant jacket with a hood (Eddie Bauer) and this again takes no packing space. 3) We pack a couple (each) cashmere sweaters that are very light weight that can go under either jacket above. Again very little space taken in the luggage and lighter than a typical heavy cotton sweater. 4) One neck scarf or neck tube each 5) We can often take one wool under-layer as well, but that is more for the colder destinations. We anticipate that the weather - without storms and wind - may be very warm on the crossing, but we almost always travel with the above gear as we often cruise and travel in off seasons when the weather is changing. There have been times we have been grateful to have this gear and other times we have not used it. Last year my brother and wife went on a European River Cruise in early October expecting very mild temperatures. They did not pack for colder temps or rain resistance and they were caught out and had to buy gear in port to survive.

We use Viking Air Plus often. Free flights and flights with a cost associated. Very often we have had non-stop flights to our destination. I think that non-stop depends on where you are flying from and to. We know that non-stops are typically more expensive than connections, and hence why Viking is more likely to put you on a connection. This is likely two fold as well.... one, they don't want to advertise the non-stop price because it will increase the overall price of the cruise, and two, non-stops are not available for all. We fly out of Toronto YYZ and most all of our Europe destinations are non-stop for us. One shot and we are there. Most of our embarkation ports have been a non-stop for us. There is no connection airport for us out of Toronto if we are flying to London, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, etc., etc. Oh, and never had to pay extra for the non-stop. We don't have connection options out of Toronto...

Is there not a risk to not being able to get the excursion you want if you wait until you are onboard? I know you said you had no problem getting the excursions you wanted, but we have always booked in advance to ensure we get what we want. Many times on cruises the excursions are sold out before boarding.

Our TA sends an updated invoice from Viking immediately after any changes.... Just contact your TA as someone is receiving the updated invoices.

We are travelling with family for the first time ever in November/December. This is immediate family and in-laws to them. We will see how this goes.

We travel with folks that we really like, but that does not mean that we want to spend every minute with them. We are quite a solitary couple in daily life and although we like having folks we know on a cruise with us, we still like our time alone.

But a good thing that Nexus allows the use of the existing / expired card until the replacement arrives. You are set now to go whenever... My renewal was pandemic related but I was over 2 years travelling on the expired card and no issue anytime.

I find online a couple of options that say they insure voucher value, however one thing that is likely a need to know is where are you? Assuming you are in the US that will change what is available.

We made our decision and we are the following: Air Canada Business YYZ to DEL Air India Economy DEL to BKK Home is LOT Business BOM to WAW LOT Business WAW to YYZ Never flown LOT before, but despite the fact that the configuration of business is not pod style, the reviews seem to be pretty good. We know the AC business product well and it is good for our 15 hours to DEL.

You should not lose visibility of payment deadlines because you are working with a TA. Your TA should be sending you any revision to the Viking invoice as changes or additions are made, and on the top of page one of the invoice is the final payment date. This is always visible regardless of whether you are working with Viking directly or through a TA.

Thank you so much for this!

In early 2025 we are doing Across the Bay of Bengal ending in Mumbai. We are going to stay a couple nights extra in Mumbai on our own, not with the Viking post-extension. Looking for hotel recommendations that are good location in Mumbai for first timers to India. Like more luxury level hotels. Viking put their extension guests at the Taj Mahal Tower close to the cruise port. We have looked at the Oberoi which is in a similar area. Is this not too far out from the centre of Mumbai?

Good advice. I do know that some pre-pay their gratuities for the echeck option of saving 3.3%. Personally that is not enough of a savings for me to consider, and we put everything on our credit cards for the airline points.

Awesome! Thank you.

It can be Wac-A-Mole for sure. We want to buy an annual policy, but the stability period (Blue Cross) is 90 days prior to the effective date of the policy - or the purchase date. Essentially any travel during that year is based on whether you were stable during the 90 days prior to purchase, even if the condition becomes unstable after purchase.

@gnome12 sorry - lazy and don't want to go through the post. Is this coverage you have with TuGo?

With both of us dealing with pre-existing conditions now, it is kind of a nightmare to navigate the insurance companies and select what you are going to buy. It is the stability period. Assume that any condition that you currently are taking medication for (exception being diabetes if well managed) that it is a pre-existing condition. What is the stability period for pre-existing conditions on your policy? If you medication changes that makes you not stable. I have been stable for 3 years and taking a medication for that condition, and my doc stopped a medication because it is no longer needed. I am now not stable until 3 months after the stoppage.

We have sailed with Viking 10 times now - Ocean and River - and have 4 future cruises booked. We find they have great food, exceptional crew and service standards. Viking's most extreme dress code is "elegant casual" for evenings but this is more no flip flops and cut off shorts in the dining venues at night. Relaxed dress code. Clean and covered is what I call it. Viking is not a party environment, however folks do have fun. No casinos, no chain by the inch, etc. Viking seems expensive when you first look at a cabin price, but when you consider what is included, it is worth it. We would spend more on a mass market brand for a lesser experience if we included everything we got from Viking.

We have never found the guest cabins on the "aquarium level" to be any noisier than on deck 2 or 3.

No offence intended by this statement, but I don't understand why you are having this problem as we have used Air Plus on now about 8 Viking cruises - river and ocean - and had a great experience. First question - are you calling the Air Plus department or general reservations? Call the Air Plus, or they should be connecting you to Air Plus from the general reservations department. Here is how we do it. 1) We book and pay for Air Plus 2) We start to look at flights 270-300 days out from the cruise. We look at Google Flights and direct with airline websites and start to pick our first, second, and so on choices. 3) We decide if we are going to have a deviation on either side of the cruise. 4) We call Air Plus and give them our booking number. Now it seems that you must pay for Air Plus and Deviation fees at the time of booking the flights even if this is before final payment date. 5) We give our first choice to the Air Plus agent. We wait for their comments back and sometimes the flights we choose are in Viking contract rates and sometimes they are not. If not then we give our second choice or look at options that Viking offer. 6) We choose and we book, pick our seats and we are done. 7) We ask for our chosen flights to be ticketed as soon as possible. We then move to the airline website and manipulate our seats if necessary. This won't happen until your flights are ticketed. I don't understand why you are being told to wait until your flights are published on MVJ. If you wait for this you don't have to pay the Air Plus, but you will have to pay the deviation fee if you are not going with their per and post cruise dates.