CDNPolar

Direct mail works. We moved and then noted that "another company" was sending the past owners of our home brochures. (Primarily a land based tour operator) So many came, we started to take note and look at them, and we have now booked our first tour. Viking have a marketing budget. They spend it where it works and I am certain that there are discount codes and things that they track. They know where they send this "junk mail" and no company the size of Viking spends money without some justification that there is a return.

Money does not always equate to good sense, taking precautions, or caring for anyone other than themselves... Don't hate on me - I added the word "always"...

The world has moved on. Unless you are still not going anywhere outside of your home, you are no different on a ship to in a shopping mall or grocery store. Practice good hand hygiene always and you will have a measure of protection.

Have you nothing better to do than make useless comments like this? Really?

Your best bet is to always carry a power bank. I am going to say no the train did not have outlets, but not 100% sure.

It should be there at lunch too. I have been known to walk there from the World Cafe and get 4 pieces on a plate for our lunch table. They are always very agreeable to let me take it back to the World Cafe.

If memory serves, the day to Berlin was 12 hours in total. Leave 7am and arrive back 7pm. The train ride was 2-2.5 hours each way which left us with 7 hours in Berlin. So, if you want to do your own thing, you have 6+ hours to get back to the train station. We took an optional tour as we did not want to curate our own sightseeing.

Our TA gives OBC after we book and send to her. We like to book direct so that we talk to Viking and get the Cabin we want and then once the initial invoice comes through we email to our TA and she takes over.

Generally speaking "non-refundable" means that you cannot get your money back. Generally speaking however if you cancel a flight within the airlines cancelation window - which may go up to just prior to the flight boarding - then you will retain the value of the fare for one year subject to change fees and increased fare. Change fees can be high and moving your fare to another destination may jump the fare considerably. You must read the cancel / change rules and look for the fees for canceling, changing, and so on... I think with Air Canada VACATIONS it will depend on if you are just booking a flight vs. booking a full holiday. This is where it gets confusing. Here is your full list of terms: https://vacations.aircanada.com/en/terms-conditions

Wow... only 30 days in US to transfer? In Canada we have 60 days from the booking date. Wonder why the difference?

I am in Canada - and recognize that there can be differences with your country of origin when booking - and in Canada we have 60 days from booking a Viking Cruise to move that to a TA whether we book online, on the ship, or over the phone.

You absolutely can book on board and when you leave the ship move the booking. Because we have an agent on our record, the last booking we did on board, the agent moved the booking directly to her when we completed the booking. No worries at all... Just ask for it to be moved if you have his/her email, or do it yourself when you get home. You have 30 or 60 days or some length of time to move the booking.

Specifically what credits are you speaking of? Cruise lines give different credits for different reasons and in the same philosophy, different credits can be used in different ways. For instance, we received a % credit because of the alteration of an itinerary that was specifically an OBC and could not be used until we were on board. If we cancelled we would not have received the value of that credit as it was only valid if we boarded the ship. Other credits can be issued by a TA that can be used in advance to either reduce your fare or apply to a shore excursion. What is the credit that you are asking about? Best thing is to ask the cruise line - what are the rules around this credit and why.

Unless you are actually canceling all together, you can move any deposit to another cruise and there is no charge for that... If for any reason you cannot go on the cruise you put the $25 on, or you change your mind to a different cruise, just amend the booking and move the deposit. I would say however that if I paid $50 bucks for two of us to sail and I wanted to cancel all together, then Viking could "whistle" to get the extra $150 in cancelation fee from me. I don't care what the contract states. Send me a bill and see if you get payment.

We are considering Alaska for the future and Hurtigruten is one of the lines that we will consider. Interesting however is that we have come from a series of ocean cruises on Viking and are used to more offerings on the ship - including more dining options, more lounging options, and some entertainment - that Hurtigruten does not offer. We did Antarctica on Hurtigruten and I do consider this a true "expedition" cruise. I don't personally however consider Alaska an "expedition"? Perhaps I am wrong...? Therefore I might be looking for more than the Hurtigruten Expedition ship offers? We were more than comfortable on our Antarctica cruise. The ship was beautiful in its own right. As you consider, I did write a review of our trip to Antarctica on Hurtigruten. You may want to look at that. There is not a great deal of activity on the Hurtigruten forum so you have to take what you can get. Thanks however for posting this as it will help in our search for an Alaska cruise provider. Here is my review:

On Homelands - even the included ones had the cobblestones. They were everywhere.

All I will say is that many of the streets in many of the cities are cobblestone. You are NOT walking / rolling on smooth surfaces. This is where you are walking, not just where the cars are driving. We had one man on our excursions that complained on several excursions that "these cities should pave over the cobblestones and make it easier for us to walk". There were also stairs on several excursions. Not sure that this will be easy for you.

There are others that offer the same type of service, but for us it was simply no kids. That was one of the major draws for me. The fact that you can hear yourself think at the pool without screaming all around you.

I personally don't think that this is necessarily the case, but I do think the following: they suffer from a severe lack of consistency in their training of customer service and reservation/air plus agents Their policies - some of them - need some flexibility I also think this... when you look at the demographic that Viking attracts - the largest part of their demographic - is aging fast and won't always be there. (No offence intended to anyone) Like the job and career market - there is a large void of middle management and age groups. There are not enough people taking the place of Viking's largest demographic for them to remain viable in the market that they currently do well in. Viking will have to start to appeal to the younger cruising market to stay in business. Think about this when you are on a Viking cruise. We don't see the younger market yet on a Viking ship. Viking don't have a loyalty program, they increasingly tick me off when I have to call about something, and they are not the only ones in the market. We started our cruising craze with Viking and were loyal for a few years. Now we are not loyal. Perhaps they are too big for their britches.

That is all well and good to say but more than once my husband and I have mixed up our sail cards and security never noticed that we were not who we were supposed to be leaving the ship, and we went out at different times... This is not a failsafe method.

My experience with Aeroplan and Air Canada / Star Alliance, is that until I submit missing miles, my flight miles don't show on my Aeroplan. Anyone else experience this? It makes me think that unless I am monitoring every flight, I may not get the miles credited.

Don't know if you have already booked and paid for this cruise yet, but is there not an Alaska cruise that you can book that does not stop in Canada? Problem solved?

Here is the link to the article. It will give you more and also contact informtaion. https://deniedentryintocanada.com/denied-entry-to-canada/travelling-alaska-criminal-inadmissibility.html

Here is the thing... there is no physical barrier to you leaving the ship. Once CBSA "clears" the ship, there is nothing to stop you from getting off. This is where my thought process is that they have the passport information of everyone on the ship and they run all of that... they will find you and potentially escort you off.

Please let us know what you find out.