CDNPolar

I think that we all have sympathy for the OP. Most of us have learned the hard lessons in a similar way. Time, age, and experience teaches us the lessons of checking the fine print. I think that what most are trying to point out is the original post was pointing the finger at Viking as being the bad guy, when all that happened was laid out in the terms and conditions of sale. There was no surprise if you read the fine print - so it is called. Viking cannot give in to one no matter how compelling the story is or they would have mounds of law suits going after them even though their terms say different. Many on CC are still confused with vouchers and if travel insurance covers them or not. We recently (Canada) approached our trip interruption insurance provider because we are using $3k worth of vouchers, and their immediate response was NO, we do not cover vouchers, but when we pressed, they came back saying that it depends on how we got the vouchers. The insurance companies don't even know and they could not tell us if we received our vouchers in a way or for a reason that they could be covered. In the end we insured the trip minus the voucher amount understanding and accepting that we would lose the voucher portion if we cancelled. (We know that these vouchers once applied to a Viking sailing cannot be moved to another sailing.) If I have sounded less than gracious, please accept my apology, but I read the other posters as showing that Viking is not necessarily the bad guy here and that sometimes we have to accept our personal responsibility when we enter into a contract. Read everything, ask questions, don't accept the first answer, call back and ask someone different the same question. Was there a better way out of this? Maybe. Oh, and having a "beef" with what the travel insurance did or did not cover has nothing to do with Viking. And for the record, I am NOT standing up in defence of Viking. I have my own issues with Viking and things we have been told and incorrect information and how they manage things... the reality is that my issues are covered in Viking policy. I just disagree with them, but I have to accept them or move to a different cruise line.

I think that there may be some "language" challenges here. I went online and applied for my Visa, but I believe it is also referred to as an ETA. My Visa is an Electronic Travel Authority (Subclass 601) Visa. My visa includes a paragraph on "What you can do on an ETA" Go to this site. This is the official site to get your entry information for Australia. https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/entering-and-leaving-australia/entering-australia This is where I got my ETA Visa. I think that they are one in the same.

I just came back from Australia - return trip from Toronto - Canadian citizen. I had to have a Visa to enter Australia. Done online quickly, pay the fee, and you get the Visa.

Ok. Fair enough. Thanks for the explanation.

Can I ask why you have come to this decision? This Norovirus could happen on Azamara or Oceania as well? You said several times it was not Viking's fault or that of the crew, so why would you move cruise lines? Were you dissatisfied with Viking in other ways?

If I am not mistaken the ESTA is a USA requirement that Canadians with a Canadian passport do not need. None of the countries on your list would have a requirement tied to a US ESTA?

I believe that the ESTA would be listed in the Canadian Travel Advisory site too. Where did you get the idea that any of these countries would have an ESTA requirement?

I would contact the cruise line and/or your TA if using one. You have so many destinations that it is not an easy answer. I have been to most of your destinations on or off a cruise ship and never needed a Visa to enter any of them. Again - contact the cruise line - they will know. They will always say that it is your responsibility but they don't want a ship full of people who are ineligible to enter any country. If you want to research yourself, don't just use Google, use the Canadian site that will give you entry requirements for any country that you are travelling to. This is your best site for any country globally that you want to travel to. This is the travel advisories site that will tell you the state of affairs in that country as well as Entry and Exit Requirements. Choose your country, then hit GO, then go to entry and exit requirements link. As a Canadian this site will tell you everything you need to know. https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/advisories

This is not going to be a popular response, but I am happy that the menu is changing. Let's try new things and find new food experiences. I have not been enthused with Manfredi's the last few times because to me the menu is boringly the same old same old... One of my favourites was dropped a couple years ago, but you know what? I tried something different and was surprisingly pleased.

If you bought your ticket as one ticket from your point of origin to the final destination, then luggage fees should be ONCE at the point of bag drop off. If you have purchased two separate tickets - one to Amsterdam, and one to Bergen - which is unlikely that you have done this.... then yes, you would pay to luggage fees.

This is exactly what we do. We want the land side, so we look at the direction of the ship and choose accordingly.

I would expect that if you clear CBSA in Halifax then you would not need to clear again in Montreal. If there has not been a stop on the US side between Halifax and Montreal, then why would CBSA have to clear you? Same as flying to Canada from the US. If your first airport of arrival is Halifax, CBSA would clear you there and then on your connecting flight to Montreal, you would simply walk off the plane and out to the street.

Scams and scammers are everywhere and Viking passengers are not necessarily exempt from shady ways. Personally I use Viking WiFi without a VPN, but I would never ever go to a banking site, or a credit card site on WiFi anywhere in the world. I only access these sites on land when I am off WiFi and on data roaming. It is just about being careful. You could be on the dock side of the ship and comfortably surfing the internet while in port on Viking WiFi. It could be a dock worker that has hacked into Viking WiFi that is stealing your information. Does not have to be a Viking guest or crew.

This is why you should use Air Plus and choose your routes, airlines, and seats.

Well, perhaps that is country specific, because we have move $1000 deposit to other cruises and modified dates more than once. In Canada, they certainly will move that deposit because they don't want to lose your business by allowing you to just cancel and walk away. The key is you don't "Cancel" the booking you amend the booking that you have. When you do that you even keep the same booking number.

I think that you might find some "similarities" between ships, but if you have a ship that is currently only sailing in the APAC region, and another around South America, they are restocking locally and in many cases picking up more local wines. Not every wine that Viking may want to stock would be available in every region and part of the world. When you watch the restocking of the ship in any port, there are pallets and pallets of wine and beers being brought on board and these choices are up to the Beverage Manager on the ship and they are coming from local suppliers. I guarantee you Viking is not flying wine stocks around the world so that the wine menu is the same ship to ship. Viking print all this material - menus etc., - on the ship, so a wine menu change is easy.

You have to consult your travel doctor, but, I have been on the Panama Viking cruise, and been to Roatan twice in the past. Vaccination not required. Where you are going on the cruise and the excursions you are going to take, you are not in the high risk areas. I would also think, that if this were a REQUIRED shot for the cruise, Viking would let you know that or 90% of people would show up without it. We travel to many parts of the world where this kind of threat is there, but when you get into the travel advisory web sites and sites like the CDC, you find that it is mostly in rural areas, and away from cities and for people that are going for extended stays. Often the country is highlighted as a risk, but not specifically where you are travelling to. Argentina for instance, parts of the country are a risk, but if you are just travelling to Buenos Aires, you are not at risk. Not that you will ever be 100% without risk, but... Personally, my opinion, you have nothing to worry about.

Also, you don't have to lose anything... if you are before penalty, you can move that deposit to any other cruise in the future and not lose anything. The end result is you won't go on the booked cruise for whatever reason, but you don't have to lose anything. We have moved deposits or just the dates of cruises many times in the past.

We have asked for a bottle of SS included wine before on Ocean, because we are easily going to drink that and more, and were told it was only available to us by the glass.

Everything is available to everyone regardless of SS. If you don't have SS you pay for it. BUT, everything on the list is not available to SS - bottles are not included in SS, and anything over a certain price per ounce or drink. But - everything is available to everyone - you just have to pay for it one way or another.

True... this has always been the case... but now we will drink the included wines and beers with meals and pay for a wine of choice in the evening rather than buy the SS package. I think one of the cruises that we just recently booked it worked out to $80 per day for both of us - perhaps more - I know I was shocked at the cost when in the past it was $15 or $18 per day pp. We would not drink that much to get value from it.

With no offence intended, I find this an interesting question? In fact if you go on a land tour - that is organized - it does not give you more privacy, it puts you in the middle of a small group every minute of the day. We have and will do this as this is a choice. Our recent Nile cruise we were a ship of 70 people broken into 3 groups that traveled everyday together on the excursions. We chatted with people but did not come off that trip with any ongoing contacts or connections. We go to shopping malls and are surrounded by hundreds of people but don't target people to talk to and make friends with. We go on cruises - Viking specifically - because we enjoy unpacking once and visiting many destinations that we would never fly to directly. We also enjoy the fact that we know the level of "luxury" we will have with our cabin and we love this. We enjoy cruising for the service and - again Viking - for the resident historians and the learning that comes from this type of cruising. We go on cruises for the food and knowing that everything that we need is included. We cruise to get a taste for certain destinations that again, we would never fly to directly, but then may decide that yes, we want to go back there to dig into the destination more... I think that everyone cruises for different reasons, but our primary reason is not to meet others. That does not make us monsters or outcasts, it is just not our primary focus. We have met many people over the years cruising... a few we have kept in partial touch with via email, and one couple we have traveled with many times since meeting them. For us, if it happens, it happens. We however don't get up each day and spend our days networking around the ship.... Hope that answers your question.

I don't care, gay, straight, or somewhere on a fluid spectrum, if you are snobbish or angry or whatever, then I just discount you and move on. I don't feel that anyone needs to, or must be nice with me and especially because of both of us are gay. My husband and I likely come across in poor light because we will "interact" if you approach us but we are not necessarily warm and fuzzy about it. It has nothing to do with you, and it has everything to do with us, in that we are not overtly social people in this kind of scenario. We just like to do our thing and we are not on a cruise to make lifelong friends - although we have done that before... We have never made gay friends on a cruise, but we have met some nice solo travelling women and a straight couple from the USA. We are good with chatting on excursions and maybe sharing a dinner table together, but that is the extent. We have seen lots of gay couples on our cruises, but we never signal them out and approach and we have never been singled out and approached either. Just and opinion and observation.

I have all the Viking Daily for Empires of the Med, but they are from 2017, so don't know if anything would be the same. As far as a "seafood night" that is not a standard necessarily that falls on a particular night. The Restaurant (non-specialty) usually has a lobster night? The Specialty restaurants - Manfredies is the same menu throughout the cruise, and the other one the Chef's Table the menu is unique every three days. Neither of these really have "special nights".

Here is the full answer: As per your request, kindly find the answers to your questions below:- Can these be applied to already existing reservations for future cruises? Onboard Vouchers can only be redeemed on a booking that was made after the voucher was purchased, booking date must be after the voucher issue date. These vouchers cannot be redeemed on a booking that was booked prior to the voucher purchase.- If they can be applied, and we decide to move to a different itinerary, can we move the voucher to the new itinerary? If you are revising a reservation, the voucher will roll over to the new itinerary.- How many vouchers can we apply to each future cruise? Only one voucher per guest may be applied to the reservationAdditionally, please find other vouchers terms below:- Guests may purchase up to ten onboard voucher certificates while onboard.- Onboard vouchers are issued per individual guest name but are transferable and may be gifted.- Onboard vouchers have no expiration date.- Onboard vouchers are non refundable.