SantaFe1

Oh how I loved the Ahwahnee! Do you remember the Bracebridge dinners at Christmas? We went one year and had a ball. I started going to Yosemite as a child, and went several times a year until we retired and moved. I would love to go back again one of these days. However, I’m NOT staying in any tent cabins! But, I’m sure I can manage two nights in Denali Park Village, as long as it isn’t dirty and noisy!

Well, yes. I spent years going to Yosemite while in college and first married and staying in the tent cabins. They didn’t even have bathrooms, just a communal mens and women’s bath building. I still remember when I went to the women’s bathroom, took out my contacts, which rendered me virtually blind, and all the tent cabins looked alike. I had to stand out there in the woods and quietly call my husband to come and get me. But that was 40+ years ago. On my husband’s 40th birthday we splurged and stayed at the Ahwahnee and never looked back. I didn’t expect or want to have to rough it on this trip!

So, why on earth does Viking continue to use this place? ( This is a rhetorical question, as I know the answer).

You know, this cruise was originally scheduled for 2020 and was, of course, canceled. When I rebooked it, I just shot for the cruise that coincided with our anniversary. It wasn’t until about two weeks ago that I realized that put us there squarely over Memorial Day weekend! Oh well…

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Linda. I know you lived in Alaska.

Thank you so much for this!! I was just starting to dread it. We’ve never had a really bad extension from Viking. I will continue to look forward to a bucket list destination!

We are booked on the Denali Explorer pre-cruise extension for our Alaska and Inside Passage Cruise. We fly to Anchorage next Thursday, May 25. Denali has been on my bucket list for years. We have done an inside passage cruise 18 years ago. But my question is this: the Denali Park Village hotel sounds just awful! Everything I read about it gives it a one star. Filthy, noisy, no food options. I am VERY picky about hotels. I realize this is in a National Park, and I am prepared for that, it doesn’t have to be a Four Seasons. But this just sounds so bad. Not much I can do about it now, but at $3300 pp I would hope for better. Anyone done this extension? I don’t think I would book it again if I knew what I know now. TIA.

We are doing Viking’s Pacific Coastal Explorer cruise in April 2025, which includes San Francisco as a port of call on the way to,Vancouver. So, Viking does go there now, I guess, although there are only three such cruises scheduled. We are looking forward to the “spectacular arrival and departure.” We’ve been to SF many, many times as native Californians, but never approached from sea.

Usually about 120 days before embarkation. Covid changed this, but for the most part Viking us back to that timeframe, at least for the two cruises I’ve done this year. They will list prices and also times.

We booked a PV1 guarantee room and were assigned 6095. And yes, we heard scraping of chairs, mostly in the early morning about 5 when they were setting up for breakfast. Also, the side wings of the terrace stick out over the balcony and block the sky view. I hated that cabin! And I’ll never book guarantee again!

This really saddens me. I’m sure you didn’t come to this decision lightly, but I hope you reconsider.

Viking won’t let you book excursions that are too close together. They usually require an hour to 75 minutes, so I am surprised to see you could book that close together. I always try to do the included excursions in the afternoon, after my optional ones, so if anything gets bumped it is the included one. If that isn’t possible, then I don’t do an included one.

Over the course of the pandemic, I have found that I can keep the policy and change the dates from those of a canceled cruise to the dates of a new cruise. And if I had booked timely and had pre-existing condition coverage, that transferred with the policy.

Well, I stand corrected. I must say that different ships have have more or less restricted rules. But on our Med cruise in Feb-March, we were t able to choose, and could only get one bottle a day. I must get more assertive! We board Orion on May 30. We shall see!

See, I knew I could t have been the only one. I’ve been trying to think where I did this. I think it was in Iceland in 2021, mid-Covid and so very strict.

They will bring you a full bottle of wine, not the little ones. But except on the WC, we have not been able to get the wine of our choosing for the fridge. They would only bring us a bottle of the generic red or white they serve at meals if you don’t have the SSBP. And only one bottle at a time. So not great if one wants red and the other wants white. We really didn’t much like the generic wine, and ended up just bringing back a glass to the room from dinner, or a bar, during the day.

Well, clearly, you’ve never met anybody as pathetic as I am. I used my card to get off the ship and then somehow lost it. The port authorities wouldn’t let me back on. So my husband had to go onto the ship, while I sat in the port building, and tell Viking my predicament. They were very nice, printed me a new card, and brought it out to me, so they could verify who I was. I was chagrined, is who I was!

Peregrina, with all deference to you, and maybe I am misunderstanding the question, but Viking discloses disembarkation times the day before. Latest is usually 9:00. If not using a Viking transfer, I would have a car or taxi etc. waiting for me about 9:15.

Just for another experience—I had three cut/colors on our 2019 WC. The price was just a tad lower than what I pay here. The stylist was excellent! My mani/pedi every two weeks was the same as I pay here, except they charged $20 for a gel soak off, which is always included in my mani/ pedi price here. So if you do gel, beware the up charge! I’ve never used the salon services on a shorter cruise ( 2-3 weeks).

We had the door/window combination on our WC for 148 days. We never went back. Sliders for us ever since. Just hate squeezing into the corner behind the desk to get out. And we experienced the same thing as Linda in some rough weather. But, to each their own.

Check your invoice. It will give you all the arrival and departure times. Of course, any of these times could change depending on many factors. But generally right on target.

Oh boy, I beg to disagree. We had never been to either and chose Herculaneum. It was the worst excursion of our Med trip this spring, although we had a bad guide. I have wanted to go there forever, and I was just really disappointed. So wish we had gone to Pompeii. But, as always, the guide is the deciding factor!

I was curious, so went to the website. Here’s what I found. Currently no timed tickets for anything.

You know Linda, I too was there for the first time in the 70s, living and studying in London for a year, and remember just taking the boat down the Thames and going in. And many times after that. Then about 20-25 years ago, I remember special, I want to say timed, tickets to get in to see the Crown Jewels. We didn’t go at the end of our WC in 2019, but we will go next spring. It will be interesting to see what is up.

I really don’t know as we have always had the package. But I should think a person could upgrade on their own. I’m sure someone on here can give you a concrete answer.