Mich3554

Only a single review?  Did you bother to look any further?

58 minutes ago, deec said:

have you done the Mekong River? ...we did not do it with Viking ( they have new boats now so we would choose viking today) .  One of our absolutely Best Trips!

Not yet, but it’s on the list.  We are booked through May 2025, and I’m wanting to see what the 25-26 world cruise goes.

1 hour ago, deec said:

Angkor Wat and surrounding temples are truly amazing if you have any interest in Temples.  We are scuba divers and unless Bali has something very unique no comparison.

DH dove Bali on the world cruise.  He said diving there was fabulous (he’s hooking up with the same dive company who took them earlier this year, and wanted to go back).  One of our trips each year is a dive trip,  This is really the only time we have, and the few times he dove on the world cruise wasn’t a sufficient fix for him.
The visa issue complicated things by needing to apply for 2 visas, so that made the decision for him. We are already going in 3 weeks before the cruise.  Angkor Wat’s going to have to be another trip.  

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

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....

This is the way GenVisa explained it to me for what I wanted to do.   We would be looking at entering Cambodia on 3/20.  On 3/24, flying back to Bangkok and getting onto the ship on 3/26.  I think the ship gets into Cambodia either 3/27 or 28 (don’t remember, but it’s a 2 day stop).  You need 2 visas.  They only have single entry visas, so you need 2 (and of course, pay for 2).  Supposedly, you can’t have 3/20-29 on a single entry visa if you are leaving the country….which we are, going back to Thailand.
DH decided he’d rather scuba dive in Bali than go to Angkor Wat so we ditched that idea. 

4 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

That plus every cabbie, uber driver, tour group operator, car service, etc. keep up with clients ship berth just as they monitor airline arrivals. 

They actually do!  We had a cab in Amsterdam and the cabbie said he knew the locationS where Viking docks.  We went to the scheduled location, looked and the ship wasn’t there.  Cabbie said onto Plan B.  Ship was there.  He also said he had a Plan C and D.

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

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.

In case you do not know, Cambodia has only single entry visas available.  If you are leaving Cambodia and re-entering Cambodia on a different date, you need to apply for another visa with different dates.  I found this out with a very lengthy conversation with GenVisa last month as we had plans on doing this ourselves.

I have applications filled out and ready to be sent for both Cambodia and Vietnam on my desk.  Need to get pics.  

All of the information on MVJ (and more) gets sent to as a PDF in the e documents file you get sent by Viking about 2 weeks before you sail.  You can either print this info out from the PDF, or just have it accessible to you in your email on your phone or tablet.  
 

When you get onto the ship, all of this info is also programmed into your tv under excursions and dining, other than your flights/hotel info after for extensions.

On 11/15/2023 at 4:57 AM, TayanaLorna said:

Last May I booked a cruise under a really good promo code, got the stateroom I wanted, and the $25 deposit.  My TA had to ask for the 6 month final payment date.  It was not given automatically.  Theoretically March 2024 would be the 6 month payment date for a September cruise since you have an upcoming cruise on the books.

This is something new.  We use the same Viking agent for all our cruises, and he knows we have several booked when I recently booked both a river cruise and another ocean cruise.  I had to specifically request the payment date being 6 months out, and he told me without telling me that I had to ask for it.  It was kind of a weird minute or two until I caught his drift.   I think this was in July.  
I know the conversations are recorded, so am wondering if something about this has shifted in the LA home office?  Always before when I’d book something, he’d say ‘of course, since you have cruises already booked you’ll get the 6 month payment date’.  .

On 11/14/2023 at 10:59 PM, notjaded said:

OP here. Love all the information presented here. Was surprised to read here that, like Seabourn and Silversea, Viking allows one to bring their own alcohol aboard.

 

So, I Googled alcohol import allowance for Great Britain, where we are picking up our cruise, and found:

---------------------------------

Alcohol allowance

How much you can bring depends on the type of alcohol. You can bring in:

• beer - 42 litres
• wine (still) - 18 litres

You can also bring in either:

• spirits and other liquors over 22% alcohol - 4 litres
• sparkling wine, fortified wine (for example port, sherry) and other alcoholic drinks up to 22% alcohol (not including beer or still wine) - 9 litres

You can split this last allowance, for example you could bring 4.5 litres of fortified wine and 2 litres of spirits (both half of your allowance).

---------------------------------------

 

Looks like we can easily bring a case of a favorite wine with us and my favorite Wino will be pleased.

 

Thanks again for your help with this pressing problem! 🙃

Oh, man!  I think that by the time we left UK, we had over a case of wine we had picked up along the way and 8 bottles of scotch that DH had picked up some in duty free shops, but most in Scotland..  We managed to get the wine drunk before we got to NYC, but the 8 bottles of scotch were safely packed away in our luggage.  We were not asked about alcohol, so we said nothing.

We had a window/door on the world cruise.  Only had sliders in the past, so figured we’d get to try them both.  take home message for us, it doesn’t matter.
 

22 hours ago, millybess said:

I think you are on the same cruise as CurlerRob and his DW and me and my DH. The 4 of us join the cruise in Hong Kong. 

We are leaving early and stopping in Bali first before proceeding onto Bangkok.  DH found the diving in Bali incredible while on the WC, and wanted to go back.  It was easier (and cheaper) to tack on 10 diving days for him on the way to Bangkok than make a separate trip there.  So we fly out on 3/7, but don’t join the ship until 3/26.  

We are on the Pacific Explorer next year that leaves out of Auckland to Vancouver.  We are not getting on until Bangkok.  Excursions for do not open up until Jan 9 for us, so imagine that there will be some sold out excursions when we get to schedule them.  We will be getting on the ship a little less than halfway through. 

3 hours ago, RobEsson said:

Those bottle prices are really not too bad - I would judge them as tending to be less for nice wine than one generally pays in an onshore restaurant. Having said that, I agree with you @CCWineLover that bringing one's own on board is likely the best route. Do you remember (admittedly far back in 2019) where in Valparaiso you might have sourced your wine for the Chilean Fjords trip? I'm doing that in December and I think I may have found an ok wine shop, but you may well know better!

When we took this trip, we took a wine tasting tour as we went to our ship in Valparaiso from Santiago.  We wound up bringing almost a case of wine on board with us.  I think we had 2 bottles left we took home.  

41 minutes ago, notjaded said:

This is our first Viking cruise. While I don't drink, Ms. Notjaded loves quality red wine. We will not be purchasing a drink package. If one is a lover of quality red wine, would one be disappointed with Viking's complementary selections?

 

Many thanks!

You have got a few choices.  First, already mentioned, you can buy wine and bring on board.  Depending on where we have cruised, we have done this from vineyards we visited in Italy, New Zealand and Chile.  Second, we try the offered wines.  If we don’t like them, we go to the Explorer’s lounge and sample a bunch of different wines, choose a few to drink and at dinner will either bring a glass of one of these wines from the bar, or request a glass of a particular wine during dinner. 
 

Wines by the glass are pretty reasonably priced.  

On the cruises I have been on with many sea days, there was a bridge instructor that taught both beginning and intermediate bridge in the morning.  After lunch, social bridge was scheduled.  Sometimes duplicate bridge depending on how many were interested.

On 10/30/2023 at 1:32 PM, rmalbers said:

I've wondered about ES vs PV myself.  I've been thinking the only benefit for me for a ES would be for in room dining, having the table would be nice.  In certain climates, the larger balcony would be nice, I think, but for the price difference on cruises I've done and looked at I can't really justify it (for me). 

I agree with this.  There were 5 days where I got to have room service for all my meals.  Eating at the desk meant I needed to clear things off before my meal arrived.  Eating at a table would have been nice.  There was only twice we had room service where I was not room bound.  One was our last morning on the ship and the other was after we returned from a late night from a show at the Sydney Opera House.
However, I think we have found our happy spot with the PV.  

We are doing this route, only leaving from Bangkok, next spring.  At least for us, it only means one flight out.  

On 10/31/2023 at 6:22 AM, FetaCheese said:

On both TA December 2022, and Greek Odyssey December 2021, there was no Met broadcast, nor local entertainment brought onboard.  

 

V advertises that these are on every voyage.  (We read Currents thoroughly each evening -- was not listed.). Unfortunately, I never enquired as to why not.

 

 

The Met broadcasts IME tend to be on sea days.  We have gone on 2 TA and the WC.  ON the WC where there were a lot of sea days, there was only one broadcast.  I suspect it has to do largely with the cruise director.  One CD was an opera singer, so there were a couple of Met broadcasts.  However, this is just my small sampling of this, so this may or may not have had an impact on the entertainment.  
 

Sometimes.  However, it’s best if you hit up the Explorer’s desk as soon as you board and ask about it.

58 minutes ago, deec said:

I would NOT start with a Transatlantic until you experience a Viking Ocean Cruise and can determine if you will like sea days.  We are doing British Isles in May and I am so disappointed that there is only one sea day!!!

This is funny, we started cruising with a trans Atlantic and fell in love with Viking because of the sea days!  When I booked the cruise in 2018, a TA was the only cruise where there were cabins available about 3 months before the sail date.  
Like you, we like sea days.  

Ok, I just made a liar out of myself.  We are booked on the Circumnavigation of Australia in 2025.  We booked on board at the beginning of the WC so we got some perks from that.  The price for the cabin I booked is about $6000 less than it is on the website today.  

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Absolutely! 
the house sparkling worked just fine!  
remind me Lorna, it was the real deal French Champagne that Viking leaves 1 bottle of in the refrigerator for the PV’s when you board (we haven’t been further up the chain), right?

We had a bottle in our PV.  In fact, I think I have a pic of the bottle somewhere intending on looking it up.  I do remember noting it was champagne, not sparkling wine, Prosecco or cava.

Getting back to the original question…on one of our cruises, we took a wine tasting tour on the way to the ship.  By the time we got to the port, a case of wine was added to our luggage to be hauled to our cabin.  
 

The only restaurant or bar we did NOT haul a bottle to was Chef’s Table.  No corkage fees.

I book cruises I want and just don’t look back at what the price might be later.  Some go up, some down.  I suspect it evens out in the end.  
 

I do the same for flights too.  Once I find flights that are acceptable price, time, connections 8 book and stop looking.

12 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

 

If you give me some specific "problems" you are facing, I can give some suggestions.  First off, be sure to know that for USA domestic flights, buying a first class ticket does NOT come with lounge access except on Alaska Airlines.

 

 

Not only that, buying such a ticket for ‘international destinations’….like Belize or Mexico….also do not come with lounge access.