CDNPolar

On the Nansen we were in an Arctic Superior with Balcony - XTD Category. We chose this because of the shape of the room and the wider windows and wider balcony. This gave us all the basic privileges on the ship, and I think that if you were in a suite, that you could have your meals in the specialty restaurant. The rest of us had to reserve and pay extra for that option. We looked at the menu a couple of times and did not see the value, so other than size of the cabin, I am not sure that there are other advantages to a suite?

You are welcome... and I hope you find the information that you are looking for about the Maud. Unfortunately there is not the same activity in the Hurtigruten forum as there is for outer cruise lines and it is difficult to get direct information. We used a travel agent to book this cruise that knew Hurtigruten well and also Antarctica expedition cruises. Mostly however it was because she had a direct connection to a Hurtigruten Rep that answered all our questions. Perhaps you can find - no sure where you are located - a TA that specializes with Hurtigruten? It is about the Expedition Team, and I am certain that Hurtigruten would not skimp on this, but also look at the total number of passengers on the ship because that will have an impact on whether you land once, twice, or can do more than one excursion in a day. Also will determine your time on land.

If you look at the deck plans - this is the Nansen - see the wide cabins mid-ship. The cabin layout is true to the deck plan.

What are ways that you enhance your airport experience? I read about Concierge services, and lounges, etc., but how do you enhance your experience? Are there ideas and things to do that I am missing? How do you deal with a 5+ hour layover? Credit Card lounges - in my experience - are not what they are cracked up to be, and often small, and dirty, and less than mediocre food. Please post ideas and the cost (lounges, concierge, etc.)

Pretty much every airline today will have earbuds available if you forgot yours, the question is if you have to pay for them or not. I know that United Premium and Business/First provide noise cancelling headphones that cover the ear, but I travel with my own because you don't know how these are sanitized. I have never flown economy on United, so I went to their site and found this:

Just looked at the MS Maud video on Hurtigruten's website. It has all the features that our ship - The Nansen - had, but a slightly different layout. To us, although you want a comfortable ship, which I believe Hurtigruten ships are, you are on this cruise for the experience not the ship. Don't know if any help for you, but we sailed the Nansen and below in my signature is our YouTube Channel and you will find our Antarctica experience. The Fridtjof Nansen was a very comfortable ship, and the food was great, and the crew were great, but the spectacular part of the entire voyage was the Expedition Crew. This is why we picked Hurtigruten over others because of their history in these waters and their reviews.

We went to Antarctica on Nansen. I do believe that their ships are similar. Look to my signature, there is a link to my YouTube Channel with our cruise videos. One of course is the Nansen and Antarctica. There is some of the ship on this one. We had two days both directions of 11 metre waves in the Drake Passage, and I would estimate that only 1/3 of the ship passengers were down for meals. All the sick bags were gone from the dispensers. We were fine with 2 seasick pills a day, other than we wanted to nap in the afternoon. For stable cabin, choose mid-ship and lower deck. We were deck 8 mid-ship - 829 to be specific - and we were fine, but we were fine in general. Once you are around the continent, the seas will not be like in the Drake Passage. We specifically chose the cabin we did because it was wide instead of the typical narrow cabin... we had a much bigger balcony, but we did not have glass railing on our balcony, but much wider windows. We both agree with. 7 continents and over 50 countries now, this was our and probably will remain our favourite trip ever.

We have now been on 6 Viking Ocean cruises. I disagree with anyone that is giving Viking a poor review based on food or the bed quality. I have a lot of back issues and Viking beds have never caused any flare ups. We find the beds, and the linens, to be wonderful. I would like to know what these reviewers consider good food and exceptional food if they find Viking's food "poor". We travel the globe and one of our passions is food. I can say that not every meal that we have had on Viking is Michelin Star rated, but we continue to sail Viking because we find their food quality, variety, and creativity to be very high standards that surpass many of the on-land restaurants that we have tried in many cruise destinations. You will find on CC may very loyal Viking customers that will most likely agree with my thoughts here fully. Often, as a closing remark, in my opinion, those that post really poor reviews have something else that prompted them to tear something apart. I would love to see this review - would you post the URL?

I have thought of this many times.... I am not transgender, I am a sis gender gay male. I don't particularly look gay, so I enter the men's restroom without thinking and have never had any issue. Not sure it is the same for anyone transgendered. I am however a huge supporter of non-gendered restrooms everywhere. Give me a toilet behind a closed and locked door and a communal sink and I am happy!

If you are going to Antarctica, DON'T underestimate the ships movement that you may experience in the Drake Passage. Our cruise line taught us to walk low and slow (feet wide and knees bent) and never take your hand off a railing or a wall. Stairs were the hardest to navigate as the elevators were often not working in the Drake Passage.

We were 17 hours into the Drake Passage on route to Antarctica, when a passenger fell from the 11 metre swells, and broke her hip. We were too far from the coast for a helicopter and the initial intent was to get close enough to land to have a ship to ship transfer, because the winds were too high for a helicopter. It turned out that we could not even do the ship to ship as the winds and waves were too high so we had not option but to sail back to our initial port and transfer to an ambulance. Funny, that there was talk on the ship about helicopter evacuation but most did not realize the distance from land factor or the winds which ultimately made it impossible. It opens your eyes to what can happen.

Now knowing when you are travelling.... Personally I would not venture that drive in the winter unless I was allowing for several days advance arrival in case of bad storms. Even when we are flying out of Toronto that has very low incidence of closure in the winter, for a cruise we always fly in at least one day early to ensure that weather delays don't put a damper on our arrival. Personally, I would GO to Union and Porter to the US - but at least one day early and stay overnight in New York.

I would say that my husband and I are introverts for the most part. We will engage if you engage us, but we rarely start conversations. We are comfortable and good just doing our thing, with meals at tables for two and finding spots alone when we move about the ship. My experience in general is that very few people actually approach us. If we do engage with anyone it is because we have been with them several times on an excursion and that familiarity has prompted a hello from their side. I think that it will be the vibe that you throw off that will lead the way - or not. Don't think that if you go on a cruise, you are suddenly "on stage" and have to talk to everyone. I have gone days on a cruise ship not actually speaking to anyone but crew and my husband. The big question here is if you don't want to engage, and you find yourself on a ship that does not have tables for two at lunch or dinner, then you may be challenged. On our last River Cruise, there were not tables for two, and even though we had a couple that we tended to sit with, there were often others that would sit at the table and other than nod a hello when sitting down, would not engage during the meal.

Having done this drive many times, I think that they only route unless you want to have a leisurely scenic drive and stay over a night or two is to cross at Buffalo and take 1-90. (See attached below). This alone will be an 8-9 hour drive without stops. Regarding the car? What do you mean leaving the car? Are you boarding a ship? How long will you be gone?

There are luggage storage options at the Cruise Port and at the Airport. Just remember that wherever you leave it, you have to get back to that point. Personally, because the airport is so close to the cruise port, I would jump a shuttle to the airport and dump the luggage there in storage and then go out for the day. Then you ONLY have to worry about getting back to the airport on time and not a side trip back to the cruise port first. You could look at a private day tour that you arrange to pick you up from the airport after dropping the luggage and then returning you back to the airport.

Go Mom go! Haha. Love it.

I am Canadian and live in Canada. We are not without angry people in Canada, but it is not on the same level as the USA. (Or how the media portrays it in the USA) I spent 17 years driving my Mom to Florida where she would spend the winter and I would fly home. Her community had weekly breakfasts at a local restaurant and I was SHOCKED at the type of prejudiced, bigoted, and openly discriminatory conversations that went on during these breakfasts. No shame, no filter at all. There was one time I flew in just before Christmas and we went for breakfast. I was sitting across the table from my mom. One of the most vocal of the group walked in and boomed out the most racist statement I think I have ever heard. My head immediately flipped in her direction and my mom kicked me under the table. Not lightly. She looked at me and said quietly: "I have to spend the next few months here...." Which basically meant DON'T SAY ANYTHING. Because I would have. I am sorry, I don't like to generalize any people, political party, culture, race, or kind of "identifier" but Florida for me is not a state that I would feel comfortable in, or spend my money in today. Lucky for us, our focus is anything but the itineraries that leave from Florida so there is little to no chance that I will ever go there again.

For some it may be a financial decision to choose the "basement" or "aquarium" class, but for us after we did that the first time and then a year later Covid happened, we decided that if ever again - whether something like Covid or even Norovirus - we would not want to be confined to a cabin without a window that opens.

Hope the passenger is ok. The passenger is very lucky you were not three days into sailing. Not that this could have been avoided, but this is a reminder if you are doing any trans-ocean cruise or an expedition cruise that you can be days away from medical help, and evacuation cannot be done past a certain range. If you have known medical issues, the ship can only deal with so much. How fortunate for the passenger that the evacuation was able to happen.

For Cambodia, is this the case even if the second entry is within the valid days of the Visa? We only enter Cambodia the once and don't reenter, but I did not catch this information when I was researching. Shows that there are always details that can be missed....

Very simply from our use of Air Plus - which we always add to our reservation - if you change any date flying in or out that is a deviation and you will pay the (minimum) $100 pp. If you want control of the airline, routing, and schedule, you will pay the Air Plus at (minimum) $100 pp. However, you may want something that is outside of Viking contract rates, and that could and will have an additional fee for you to secure. Also be aware that because it is free air, Viking have some incredible rates from the airlines, and upgrades may either not be available (to premium economy, or business) or at a very high premium additional charge because they are outside of their contract rates. I don't know the stopover rules because we have never done that. If this were me, because I want to have control over my air, I now only use Viking when the air is free, as in your situation, or I book the air myself. In this case I would pay all the fees and get as much control over the booking as I could. I would then ask for early ticketing to lock it all in, but then note that if you ask for early ticketing and you want to change anything there will be change fees. Also locking the tickets in early does not guarantee that schedules will not change, or aircraft, seats, etc.

As Peregrina suggested you have your invoice and pre-purchased items that will list the dates, and ports, and any pre-purchased items such as included or optional excursions. When you board, you will receive an envelope of all your shore excursion "tickets" day-by-day that will outline what you are doing and when. Not everything that is on MVJ is on the Viking Voyager App anyway... What specifically are you looking for in information?

I agree with the above answers... It is your responsibility to have all the Visa and entry requirements before you board the ship or you could be denied boarding for the entire trip. Viking may guide you, but it is up to you to get them. We are doing a land based Cambodia and Vietnam trip in January and both these countries require Visas. One thing to note, and I think it is Vietnam, that if you are entering Vietnam more than once, then you need a multiple entry Visa rather than just a single entry Visa. Not sure if your cruise is stopping in more than one city in Vietnam. Be careful with the Vietnamese Visa as it is only valid for 30 days from issue, so you have to get it online close to your trip and ensure that the 30 days from issue covers your entry date or dates. Not sure about the rest as most online EVisas are good for 90 days or more.

I think that this is one of the most engaging discussions, and I have read far too many policies and had far too many discussions with insurance companies around the pre-existing condition thing... Pre-existing condition can go a step further to something that is undiagnosed, or rather in the process of being diagnosed. If you have a recommendation from your doctor for a certain procedure or surgery or treatment and it is scheduled for the future, this can be the reason your insurance will not pay out. You may consider yourself stable, but the fact that this test is ordered can knock your claim out from being paid. For example a friend that travels extensively had an arrhythmia 3 years ago and not another one since. Has been treated with beta blockers for rate control since and not had one issue in 3 years. A year ago his doctor suggested ablation to correct this from ever happening again, but a date was never set. This recommendation however is on his file. In calling several insurance companies that do cover pre-existing conditions that are considered stable, because of this future procedure recommendation they will not insure him. Basically they said he needs to have the procedure and be stable for 6 months and then they will insure him with a pre-existing condition, but with the outstanding procedure on his file, NO GO. You have to disclose everything to the insurance and understand what "Stable" means and that is not the same definition for every insurance. We often think that being able to stop a medication is a good thing but stopping that medication needs to be disclosed for the stable period too. The insurance company will find any way possible to tie to something that will allow them to not pay out.

This may be the difference between Canada and the USA, because our insurance is separate, but in Canada there are plenty of options for trip cancellation / interruption alone that is not packaged with medical. I know because I have very comprehensive medical for travel through my employer and only need to buy cancellation / interruption insurance. Yes, it will have pre-existing condition attached to it if you are cancelling for a medical reason tied to your reason for cancelling.