CDNPolar

Even in indoor areas, you can tell the difference between those that are heavy footed and those that are not. Some people just walk with more force in each step and any kind of limp will cause a sound just walking too.

We have used Airalo three times now - I think - but only data. Anyone with experience adding voice using your home number and not a temporary number?

I don't have any experience, however just want to say that with insurance you should always be shopping around for better deals, extended coverage, etc.

I believe that if you log into your Nexus account it will show renewal pending. It should also tell you that your current card is valid - with all privileges - during the renewal period. As long as you have started the process your current card will work as it always has.

One of the main countries that I support in my working life is Australia. Australia is dealing with Covid as anyone else is now. There are no entry restrictions, no tests, no quarantine, etc. Just make sure you have your appropriate Visa or ETA or whatever they call it for Australia.

I personally don't have a preference. There are probably flight schedule differences from your home city to the port city when flying weekday to weekend? Never really considered this before, as we just sort of pick the cruise itinerary and the embarkation day is what it is. I hope that folks explain why they choose one or the other to see if there are any reasons to reconsider our dates.

It does. We did not hear joggers, we heard people walking. You could tell by the pace and the noise level. There are some very heavy footed walkers. It was almost like there was give in the deck right above one spot in our cabin because this was the only place that we heard the footstep, and it repeated every 2-3 minutes in the same spot as the person completed the round. Would this have awakened us? Not sure. I am up by 5am anyway and it was usually around 6am that I was hearing this.

No personal experience with that cabin, but have been on 8 Viking Ocean cruises and know the ships well. You are good in a mid-ship cabin for motion. Occasionally Viking will do an evening show on the pool deck on Deck 7 but this is rare and not every night. The only time we experienced that was when we were on the ship over Canada Day July 1st and there was a show that night with music and the Viking Band. It also did not go late - I think it was closed down at 9pm. The only things late on Viking are Torshavn on Deck 2 and the Explorer Lounge on Deck 7. Nothing loud from Explorer Lounge, and you are enough away from it, so you should be good.

Wow... well, if this is the case, probably the situation is that there are not many direct flights to Quebec City and many more to Montreal. You would likely have to connect in Montreal to Quebec City. Perhaps it was cheaper to bus people from Montreal to Quebec City and more time efficient.

What cruise line and what city do you dock? Do you end in Quebec City or Montreal? Quebec City and Montreal are a 3'ish hour drive between them. I don't think that it is a coin toss which you will fly out of. Both are on the St. Lawrence River, so whatever city you end in will be the city you fly from. There is no way that you would disembark in Montreal but fly home from Quebec City.

We go up on the sundeck often in the early morning hours as early as 5am and we have never been stopped from going up there. We don't necessarily walk the track, as we are up there to take videos and pictures, but we walk the ship from bow to stern and no one has ever suggested that we cannot be up there.

Right or wrong, good or bad, I think that to tip or not to tip is a personal decision whether on a mass market cruise line or a luxury line. Yes, the USA (and Canada) have blown tipping culture out of the water and it is out of control when I now see tip %'s up to 30% when paying at a restaurant.... But, I also know that many of the crew on these ships work very hard - often without days off and 10+ hours per day. They are from lower income countries and they are away from their families for many months at a time. They make this sacrifice willingly because they make more money away than they would at home. BUT, they are still not paid fairly in my opinion. Not every cruise line pays them well and often they have to pay the cruise line for Wifi to keep in touch with home, they have to pay for their own flights to and from their contract ports, etc. I think that it is a personal choice and not a right or wrong or you should or should not.

We buy very little when we travel and more often than not we bring back nothing at all. On the rare occasion that we do buy something - bought a bracelet on this last trip - this of course went in my backpack for carry on. If we buy clothes, they go in checked luggage, but I think that today, with delayed luggage, lost luggage, and potential theft that can happen while your luggage is behind the scenes, if you have something in your checked luggage that you cannot part with, then find a way to get it in your carryon.

We see no value in being on a higher deck. However, we don't book the Submarine/Aquarium class cabins on river cruises now. We have in the past but since the onset of Covid, I decided that I never wanted to be stuck in a cabin without an opening window. Not a balcony necessarily but a window for fresh air and to reduce claustrophobia in the case of being confined to a cabin. Agree totally. We are in the cabin to sleep, shower, and change. And again special note to the OP about sailing overnight and not having a view during the day other than someone else's balcony. This is going to get me some angry comments, but I will say it anyway. For some - not all - there is a status to being on the higher deck. On a recent Viking River Cruise, I heard people actually asking others if they were "odd or even" on deck three. The only thing this question would accomplish is knowing if you were in a suite verandah or a regular veranda. The odd numbers were regular verandah and the even numbers were the suites.

1) - Yes, they can. We actually were told very sternly on the first night port talk and briefing that the track on the sundeck is a WALKING track and NOT a jogging track. The emphasis was explained because those on deck three would assume a herd of elephants overhead. I would say that no one jogged when we were on the ship, but we did hear heavy footed walkers... 2) - To us there is no difference other than you are on lounge level when in an A and dining level when in a B. I would not typically pay the increased cost for deck 3 on a Viking River cruise, but the last one we were on in December we only booked 2 weeks before departure and that was all that was available in cabins. Veranda vs. French Balcony. We personally book the French Balcony because other than getting fresh air, we don't ever sit on the balcony/verandah. On a river ship, you risk in port being docked beside another ship and then not being able to see anything anyway. On our recent Rhine Amsterdam to Basel, we only sailed overnight and then we were docked during the day. Often we were docked beside another ship and had no view anyway. We were often docked two or three ships deep. The balcony/verandah was a waste for us. It also can depend on the time of year you are sailing whether cold or warm. But for us, we pass on the verandah and go for French Balcony.

From what I have investigated, Airalo has good deals and after using three times now we have been satisfied with the eSIM product.

I now "shop around" and ask in advance what a TA is offering. I am not subtle about it. If the TA does not offer anything I move on. I go to the one that will give us the best deal. Our experience is that the OBC may be different if it is a 8 day vs. a 10 day vs. a 15+ day cruise. Like it has been said, your TA is under no obligation to give you anything. We have had recent experiences where the TA wanted to upfront charge us $300 just to make the cruise booking. Sorry. I will use a TA that gives me nothing, but I will not use a TA that must charge me to bring my business to them. Most TA's now won't book air because they get nothing for doing so. And then they are potentially hours on the phone if there is a problem.

For Canadians the TD Visa Infinite and some others cover the cost of renewal of our Nexus (Global Entry Similar).

One thing that I do, is purchase far more data than I seem to need. It is much cheaper than paying roaming on Rogers, but still I am spending more on the eSIM than I need to. I bought 30GB of data and was in Europe for 12 days and used my phone constantly for email, maps, Google, etc, and did not quite use 5GB. I would have only saved about $10-$15 bucks, but still, next time I will buy less. With Airalo you download the app and you can watch your usage and add more if necessary.

But the internet package on the ship does not give you regular calling features unless you are set up for WiFi calling or using WhatsApp or other App that enables data calling.

Agreed. Many times on an ocean cruise, when you are too far from land the eSIM or physical SIM is useless unless it can connect to a land tower. The only true full-time connection is if you have Satellite calling.

Physical or eSIM - which do you need? Also, you know that during transatlantic period no SIM is going to give you service. While you are that far at sea, you will only have the ship's WiFi and WiFi calling or WhatsApp through data and WiFi.

I cannot comment on anything other than if you are using a Canadian Credit Card and paying your onboard bill with Princess at the point of disembarkation, then the exchange rate that you will pay is your credit card's bank rate either the day of the charge, or the day that the charge processes onto your CC statement. It would then be up to you to know if your Canadian CC charges you a fee for "foreign transactions" which would be in addition to the exhcange rate. Some CC's do and some don't. This is my understanding and how my CC works, so if I am misleading in any way, I apologize. But, we see any foreign charge as being calculated at the rate of our Canadian bank the day that it is charged and would have nothing to do with what arbitrary rate a company like Princess would have for exchange. Also, as a note, when you are paying anywhere in the world and the CC machine asks if you want to be charged in local currency (Euros, USD, Rand, etc.) over CAD we always choose the currency of the country, because then again our bank is going to apply the bank exchange rate of the day. If you choose to be charged in CAD at point of sale, some conversion is happening in the bank of that country or the store itself, and guaranteed it will be to their advantage.

Do you need a physical SIM or you want an eSIM? Physical SIM, I have never purchased, but I believe you would have to buy on the ground in whatever country you are travelling to. You probably can buy in the airport when you land. For eSIM, you just buy online and scan the QR code, make a few setting adjustments and you are done. We use Airalo for the last three times we have purchased eSIM's and they have worked well and saved us hundreds of dollars. https://www.airalo.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAkp6tBhB5EiwANTCx1KEvoK7ML3LAjGkQrh-PAd5GJoFYO7yaDam7lYOPVs0DcwKU2MeUuRoCPtgQAvD_BwE

You could absolutely forward your Canadian home cell/cell to the temporary phone number BUT if you answer a call then you are paying for that call from Canada to wherever you are. The eSIM will be registered to a country in Europe or wherever and so when you forward to that number, and answerthe forwarded call, then you are paying for an international call.