CDNPolar

Sorry, I don't want of offend you, but I don't see this discussion as "shaming" anyone, but an honest discussion about the demands of certain countries and the excursions that are offered. I am not suggesting that you are calling me out, but from my perspective, I am purely sharing what I have seen and observed. My heart actually goes out to those that are mobility challenged on the average excursion because I want them to be able to travel and see what I do, but there is the desire on the side of the individual to participate and then the reality that it may be more challenging than they thought. I have seen far too often those that part way into the excursion ask the guide if they can sit the rest out and have the guide circle back to escort them to the bus. If any of my comments have caused you to think I am shaming anyone, my sincere apologies as that was not intended.

Not sure that I completely understand, but I think you are asking this: If you hold a booking and make a deposit TODAY, can you then cancel and book something new if in two days February offers come out and there is a better deal? Yes, but in cancelling the booking you would lose the deposit based on the rules for cancelling. And you may lose the cabin that you chose. The other thing to do is if you book TODAY, and then February offers are cheaper, then you can call Viking and ask to modify your booking (keep the same booking number and deposit) and move to new dates with the new offer. You may still have to in effect cancel and rebook, but we did this with a cruise that after paying the deposit, we saw sometime later that they offered same price cabin but with free air. We had to call Viking but they forced us to modify the dates of our sailing to get the free air but we did not lose anything and we kept the same booking number. So, in essence, yes you can do what you want to do... but it may be a hassle and you may also get different information from different Viking phone agents.

Another Canadian here and I thought that I personally was the one that had to worry about pre-existing conditions, but now it is my other half as well. Thankfully we are not travelling again where we will need cancelation or medical insurance until late this year, so it gives time to "digest" the policy language and really understand the stable period and pre-existing conditions. The one piece that I have plaguing me is a procedure that has been recommended by a specialist, but my decision to do or not in the end. I have decided not to go ahead, but this recommendation of the procedure is still on the books so to speak. For me, it is stable period, but also when an insurance company is digging for medical history, how far can they go back? In my case the recommendation was there and I declined. Does anyone know what is my standing in front of the insurance company in this situation? Again - Canada. Many US insurance requirements are very different.

Having done an Antarctic cruise with 48 hours in the Drake Passage - both ways - with 11 metre or 36 foot waves - we were free to move about the ship as we wished. Glass water carafes were removed from the dining tables as were stemmed wine glasses, and the elevators were often shut down and the stairs were the only option, but we were never restricted.

BA is not the only airline doing this now and I think that we will see more and more of this. Even with the first level status on BA, you still cannot choose a free seat until 7 days before.

I am probably going to meet some resistance and pushback from this comment, but I think that a river cruise is a river cruise is a river cruise. They all do the same excursions in every port. The cruise lines rarely design or curate a new excursion, they are all out of the box in each city and country fun by excursion tour companies. For us it is about level of service from the crew and food on the ship. I love the "ABC" statement - never heard it said that way before... I would recommend that you book your excursions through Viator or a company like that as you can often choose something that is not offered by the cruise line and if it is, it is generally cheaper. As for entertainment, most of the river lines are going to bring on local entertainment or it is the crew themselves. We love Viking, but I cannot say that they are any better or different than Uniworld frankly. Viking are not going to love reading that comment, but we love Viking for very specific reasons.

As a Canadian, and not ready even here to expose my political leanings, I will say that I have American cousins and friends that have split our family and friendships apart over the past number of years because some of them cannot have a sensible and respectable conversation about their politics. They have a viewpoint and that is the only viewpoint acceptable. Not that there are not Canadians that will fight their viewpoint to the death, but we as Canadians have not become so polarized over our politics that we cannot have respectful conversations, with family, friends, and neighbours. I also feel that Americans (this is just my opinion and observation and not intended to offend) are more ready to speak politics and take a particular side than any other culture that I come into contact with globally. More like the weather is an ice breaker, so now has political talk become an ice breaker. (again, this is my opinion and observation and not intended to offend) We love Viking Cruises and we know that 70+ percent of the guests on Viking will be American. We love to meet others on our cruises. We NEVER bring up politics when we meet people. We never bring up religion when we meet people. To me these are two subjects that are good to remain under the covers, especially in a new friendship or a casual encounter that will last for a dinner or two. If we meet people that want to talk politics, we suffer through that encounter and then distance ourselves from them. Plain and simple. So, my answer is NO, dinner conversation should not include politics. We are on a cruise to a place we have never been before, lets discuss culture, food, what we saw today, what we are going to see tomorrow, where we have been in the past, etc. There is so much more to discuss.

So many vulnerabilities to think of today when travelling and cruising, and we never know when the next conflict will pop up. It is also hard to know how to plan and book a future cruise or segment of a cruise. I just wish everyone safe journey that is on a cruise that is in an area of conflict.

We use one of the Chinese Banks in Toronto area to do our Visa. My husband is a Canadian citizen, but from China, and we have family and friends there. We have 10 year entry Visas. I know that there are Chinese Bank locations in the USA, but don't know if they exist in Colorado. You might see if you have a Chinese Bank branch in your city and check with them.

Is that anti-gay if there are not flags?

Where are you located/live? Resources may be different depending on where you are unless you only want online options. In Toronto Canada we have in-person and online options.

No, we are not all compliant in North America either. For one issue, in many parts of Canada, we may be public transportation accessible during spring, summer, and fall, but put snow in the mix and those that have mobility concerns are stuck at home. Wheelchairs especially, or they have to call for special transit. We don't clear the snow adequately enough for wheelchairs to navigate the streets. I have a friend that is blind and he and his dog is constantly challenged in the winter because sometimes they cannot find where the sidewalk is.... I am travelling now as much as possible because I anticipate one day that there will be things that I cannot do, and I want to get that out of the way before I can't. Once I can't I will likely still cruise but mostly warm destinations and I will spend my time on deck and just relaxing and go ashore where it is easy and convenient only.

Best if you can put that in your profile details with your screen name, so that everyone can see where you are from. This is an oversight on a lot of profiles, and I have seen so many misdirected conversations because we are answering as if you are from Canada, or the US, vs. Australia, or UK. We all know that there can be so many differences from insurance, to deposits, to payment terms, and cancellation. It all depends on where you are from.

This has been said before, but European and Asian destinations are not at the same standard that we expect in Canada and the US for accessibility. We have traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Baltics, Scandinavia, and APAC region, and it is clear that what we have come to expect in North America is just not a standard in these regions. Things like: * railings on stairs in public and indoors * ramps to public buildings and stores * Wheelchair curbs that ramp from sidewalk to street * Stairs that are a set height and width and in good repair * Potholes in streets, sidewalks, that go without repair and are a danger if you are not looking where you are going * Cobblestones everywhere (which are history and beautiful) but very unkind to those that have mobility concerns * Bathrooms that are properly outfitted for those with mobility concerns and in some APAC regions we are still using squat toilets especially in more remote areas on excursion. (Even huge airports like Beijing have squat toilets that outnumber western toilets in public restrooms) In Canada we have high standards for those that are in any way disabled to ensure that they have equal access to all services and essentially anything that I can access as a person with no mobility or access challenges. This is not the case in these other countries and regions. We expect this in North America and feel that this is the right of the individual if they in any way need some form of accessibility and this is the how it should be - in my opinion. The sad part is what we expect at home in North America is not how it is in these other countries and those that have mobility needs especially, you must realize this. I agree with Roz above saying that the TV ads show everyone languishing on the sun deck watching the castles and beautiful scenery flow by... We found Viking because of these ads on TV on certain shows that we watched. We have rarely been on a River cruise where this was the actual situation, and we do regularly see those that are mobility challenged suffering and or left behind.

I don't think I mentioned this before, but we became friends with a woman who was travelling with her 90 year old mother. On the first day, we were on excursion together and although "Mom" kept up, it seemed at times that she was struggling a bit with the pace. Next day daughter decided to sign them up for the Leisurely "L" group. The next day they were back with us because Mom insisted that they were too slow in this "L" group. Mom did great for the rest of the trip and she managed to keep up anytime we were on excursion with them.

Happy that you have full knowledge and won't get caught... better to know in advance in my books!

Great attitude and outlook. You WILL find people that will openly welcome you to their conversations, meals, and activities. Just be your positive self and all will be well. Can't wait to hear back from you! Enjoy and travel safe!

Careful with the rucksacks too! They may weigh and measure those too! That would be your personal item and many of these carriers have size and weight restrictions to the personal item. Even if your carryon is within weight and size restrictions, the personal item may not be. We are more used to getting past a lot of airline checkin and boarding counters with luggage, carryon, and personal items that may not meet the published standard, but some of these internal carriers in other countries, are very strict and don't miss anything. We also see some passengers that have the carryon, the personal item, AND another bag of sorts. This also may not fly in some countries and the internal airlines.

I did not state the citizenship or country of residence of the individual, and the post did not say he was American on purpose. Looks alone don't tell you where someone is from or where they were born, but accent generally does and if I were to say where this gentleman was from the accent would confirm it. It is not about where the person is from as any country has people that are ignorant to other cultures, their history, and their ways of life - even my own country Canada has these folks. It was just about the fact that he did not appreciate the history and the beauty of cobblestones in a country that probably designed and built these cobblestone streets and sidewalks centuries before he was born. He just wanted the countries that we were visiting to pave the history over so it would be easier for him to walk. And, perhaps I should not have brought this situation into this discussion, but it was to build the point that for those that may be mobility challenged, even the Easy excursions can be challenging. I was impressed however in our recent (December 2023) Treasures of the Rhine Viking River Cruise, that they had a new level of excursion group for those doing included excursions only. So we were assigned to our excursion groups and busses as normal and they were "A", "B", "C", etc., but then they added a new category they called "L" or "Leisurely" and you signed up to be in this group. In the "L" group they would. move at a slower pace and be more aware of the mobility challenges. This is the first time I had seen this group offered on Vining and I was very appreciative of the fact that Viking did this and I hope that they do this on all included tours across the fleet, as I have seen many times on included "Easy" tours those that cannot keep up at the same pace as the guide.

Well, all I can say is that for Canadians we have Nexus which is your Global Entry. With Nexus in most Canadian airports, we don't cut in line, we have our own line that is 5 people vs. the 500 that are in the regular line for security. On arrival back in Canada, we have no line for customs and immigration and again the folks that choose not to buy into Nexus wait. I think it is the same concept only we don't cut, we just have our own lines.

Here is a question that I need to ask.... This is Viking specific because I don't have experience on other ships in the same way... Do the Cabin Stewards have an electronic board in the crew area on each deck that shows the status of the cabin? Such as, is the room door double locked, is the key card in the slot or not? Why I ask is that we can take our key card at 7am and go to breakfast. This was our most recent River Cruise, but has happened on all of them. No crew in the hallway at all - I have checked - and then 30 minutes later we return to our cabin and it has been made up. On Viking Ocean, almost like clockwork, within 15 minutes of us arriving on embarkation day to our cabin, the Cabin Steward is there knocking on the door. Again - no one in the hallway when we enter. How do they know?

I will clarify a bit here. When we were rafted and 4th I think from the dock and had to go over the sun decks of these ships, there were Viking Crew that moved between each ship crossing and were there to help guests across the bridge type thing. They did also on a couple of occasions on the very steep gangways help guests down the gangway that were using canes or a bit unsteady on their feet. Regarding the wheelchairs - I was shocked to see crew helping with this too, but they did on the most steep gangways. Most of the time however, on the typical gangways, it was the family members travelling with the individual in the chair that did the work.

I always check the internal airline requirements, and they can be smaller and less weight than other international airlines that we are used to flying with. The question as to if they are enforced, you will only know if and when they enforce their restrictions on you. We do a lot of international travel and we typically use the same set of airlines and know their luggage requirements. BA for example allow the carryon to be up to 50lbs or 23kg. The same as a checked bag in weight. This is also not typical on most airlines for a carryon. We were flying EVA Air for the first time and the carryon weight was only 15lbs or 7kg and we asked friends that have flown them before and they told us that there is high probability that EVA Air will weigh our carry on and if over that weight force us to check it and potentially pay additional fees.

This one gentleman was in several of our included excursions on Viking Homelands, and he always walked right beside the guide on each excursion. Through the QuietVox we could hear all his questions and without fail each new day, each new excursion, and each new guide, he asked why they did not pave over the cobblestones. Generally the response was - this is our history and we love it.

Agree with others, I don't like this format. I don't think that I would post a question on this style of forum, now do I want to contribute. However whatever CC decides to use is up to them. Personally I will just avoid this forum.