Mich3554

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

The issues experienced are more for Ocean cruises where booking windows are different for each cabin level. River cruises open up to all and months in advance. 

I am not talking about river cruises.  I am talking ocean cruises and experienced this in the last month or so.

Twice, I have found that I have booked DH and not myself on an included excursions.  As soon as I found the mistake (after we were on board and had received tickets), I went to guest services and was told they were sold out so I was waitlisted for the included tour.  I got tickets BOTH times.  
 

This was my goof.  When I went back to my final e document, my included excursion was not listed for me.  In my defense, I was booking excursions for 138 days.  I should have double checked before checking out, my fault.  However,I went to guest service to get it rectified ASAP.  

Also, we booked Karnak plus the Valley of the Kings when we booked.  Afterwards, we realized we wanted to do Karnak and the Kings and Queens.  When I went back to MVJ to make changes, it was sold out.  A few weeks after we got on board, I got us waitlisted for the Kings and Queens and a bit later we got notified that we got it, so dropped Kings.

Have you looked at your booking itinerary they sent you when you booked your cruise?  I’m looking at one I recently booked a month ago, and on page 4 the ports and the times in port are listed.  It’s probably not definite, but it’s pretty close.

1 minute ago, CCWineLover said:

Wow!  

Congratulations.  You may indeed hold the record!!  Outstanding achievement.

I think you might have tried them all, particularly if you were on a World Cruise.

Curious as to what your favorite few were...

(Note:  we also love CT and also thought the British Menu wasn't that great).

We have had a few new menus on the WC.  Favorites were those where Viking brought in a special chef.  They did for both Indonesia and India.  I think we have only gone 7 times, CT really isn’t DH’s favorite.

On 3/29/2023 at 8:08 PM, cadburysmom said:

I'm considering an Viking Ocean cruise this summer which includes free air.  I prefer Delta SkyTeam as I can usually swing an upgrade and am wondering if they are preferred partners with Viking Air?

 

Also, as Viking Air is included, if they book flights for me and later I find a better deal on my own and cancel Viking's flights, will I be penalized?  I know I wouldn't receive the included transfers but wondering if Viking will charge a flight cancellation fee?

 

Yes, Delta is a preferred airline, but not all routes and seats.

For instance, last year a group of us flew from SEA to AMS.  DH and I were flying business class, Viking Air.  At the time, the cabin we were in offered us a $1999 fare, which we took. Normally we fly direct, but that flight was not available for business class so we flew via MSP.  However, the others we traveled with did get those seats on the direct flight in economy.  When I questioned this, we were told we could get those flights, but it would be a $2000 pp surcharge on the flight.  We passed, as we had no problem sitting in the lounge for a couple hours.

I research options first and determine whether or not we will accept Viking’s offerings.  We have only used it a few times, when it benefitted us financially.

When I booked our WC, I started refilling my 3 month supply of BP meds as soon as I was eligible (which is 2 months out).  As a result, I had sufficient supply for 6 months.  
DH just told his doctor he needed a 6 month supply and the doctor wrote it.  I think he had to pay up front for his meds, for the second 3 months.

You can get it in Explorers lounge in the morning, otherwise request it other places.  No charge.  You can also request fresh squeezed grapefruit juice.

9 hours ago, millybess said:

I’m curious as to whether you were able to book dining reservations as if it were 3 separate cruises; i.e., your allotted dining on 1 cruise X 3? 

I was, for our back to back of London to Reykjavik after the WC.  I have 4 settings available for both Manfredi’s and CT and haven’t bothered to book any.  
I did book reservations for Manfredi’s during the WC, about every 2 weeks.  Really wish I hadn’t, as we have canceled about half so far.  I think I prefer to play it by ear, and gone other times.  

11 hours ago, millybess said:

We booked Mediterranean Odyssey during Covid under the RFG.  A couple of months later, still under the RFG, we booked Empires of the Mediterranean -- a b2b cruise. There were 2 booking numbers.  A couple of months after that, Viking combined the bookings under 1 booking number.  We didn't really want that to happen because if we wanted to cancel one, we would have to cancel both.  In the end, we were able to book both dining and excursions for the whole voyage on the same day that these opened for the first cruise.  

Booking a back to back under one number has its advantages and disadvantages.  For our back to back last year, we were able to book excursions all the way through from Athens to Buenos Aires.  
The disadvantage is when we booked another back to back extending the WC, Viking canceled half and our whole itinerary after London got canceled.  As a result, we lost the ability to stay in the same cabin for the whole trip.  We were able to rebook, but we also lost all the perks we were given by booking on a ship when Covid was still an issue.  Needless to say, I was not happy.  We still have to move when we get to London, and we did get a lot of the perks back we lost, but it was not easy.  My Viking rep really went to bat for us and got us back about 75% of what we lost.  My rep is also keeping an eye out for whether or not our cabin is going to be released.  As we are now less than 120 days out, I don’t have a lot of confidence it will be, so we move.

Yes, I just went yesterday.  This is the third class I attended on the WC.

They only happen on sea days, and if your cruise does not have them, they may not happen.  On this cruise, there was not the possibility of booking them before the cruise, KT tickets are released at the beginning of each segment.  For us, it has been $59pp.  All 3 classes I have taken have been the same price.

21 minutes ago, RexMesiter said:

Thanks.  Would I need to make sure my ACH info gets added to my Viking account? That seems to have been deleted when I made the booking transfer.

I don’t believe Viking keeps these numbers.  They do keep our credit cards on file, but every time I have done an ACH transfer, I have had to provide the info again.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing.

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

In other words, you have to do the math. It is a complicated decision with many factors to be considered.

Yep.  We chose to do what was easiest.  Have all the balance to send to them in one fell swoop without making 7 payments leading up to need to be paid in full by the assigned date.  

9 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Then to avoid that all you need is a credit card that charges no foreign transaction fee.

Also, it depends on your credit limit.  
 

We use(d) a Costco Citibank card, which has a healthy credit limit, but not healthy enough to pay for a World Cruise.  We got a little bit more back by doing an ACH transfer once rather than doing multiple charges up to our paid in full date.  The difference was the 3% we’d get back from Costco vs 3.3% from Viking.  
 

1 minute ago, mstadleraz said:

It is a matter of perspective and understanding a country. For us, being new to India, we preferred a tour company. For an overnight and economy for 2 was about $800 through Memphis Tours. This included all transportation, hotel and breakfast. Viking provided a boxed lunch for the trip to Dehli; however, the meal on the airplane was fairly good if you like spicy food.

I had never been to India either, but we did something very similar in Turkey several years ago, again on our own.  Someone else set this up and let us piggyback on his, which only took over my need to choose a flight or hotel.  

 

8 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I've been to most of the World's ports before, some of them many times. With respect to Sydney, in the past 45 years, I have probably spent about 30 days in Sydney, but still find new places to discover and enjoy visiting old haunts.

 

If I didn't return to the same ports, I would never cruise again.

I know we have only scratched the surface of what there is to see and do here in many ports.  When we did the South America cruise in 2019, then again in 2021 we never overlapped anything there in what we saw.  The time we spend in port never is long enough.  
There are some places where I’d like to go back to, but not next year.  There are other places and things we want to do, but are looking at doing this again in maybe 2025-26.  

20 hours ago, mbviking2023 said:

 

 

One of our friends did the Taj from Cochin.  Flew to Delhi, then had three days in Delhi with the trip to Agra in there.  Much less stressful for them, and they seemed to enjoy it.  I don't remember the company they used though.  I can ask if you want.

We didn’t use a company.  We booked flights and hotels ourselves, and scheduled tours and car pick ups through Viator.  It worked well this way, it was a bit more work, but about half the cost from a tour company.  I think our 3 nights/2 days, including business class flights ran us about $1600 total for the 2 of us.

3 hours ago, flowsue said:

We just did an up and back excursion (24 hours) and after doing it would not do it any other way.  We flew out early in the morning, Mumbai to Delhi, drove to Agra, saw the Taj Mahal and Fort Agra, had a delicious buffet lunch and got in a little shopping.  Drove back to Delhi and flew back to Mumbai.  Got back on the ship almost exactly 24 hours after we walked off. It was helpful not having luggage to check or carry.  We understand some in other overnight groups had their luggage delayed.  Hopefully, you will hear from them. Sure we were a little tired for a day, but we had a great day with no issues.

The reason we did not do this was because it did not leave a lot of wiggle room if there was a snafu.  By planning on getting back into Mumbai the day the ship docked, it gave us 3 days to get there before the ship left.  Then we’d be looking at 5 sea days and needing to fly into Jeddah (which I suspect is more difficult than most airports).  It’s important to look at where you’d need to go if all doesn’t go according to plan.

Just a word of warning, despite being gone 3 nights/2 days, we had only carry on bags.  I bought spices and wound up needing to check my bag.  A friend also bought spices and since she didn’t have time to go back and check her bag and the spices she bought at the spice market got confiscated.  This is NO WHERE in any of the listed contraband for carry on luggage at any airport.  

9 minutes ago, Pushka said:

From another blog it sounds like Viking put on a Mela for passengers which looked wonderful.  Indian food in India is so much better than Indian food in other countries. 

It was wonderful.  Viking did a fabulous job of entertainment, up to the point where I got to watch 8 men pick up and move a car that was parked where it blocked the bus (not scheduled entertainment, but amusing anyway)!  It ended way too soon.

We had to get ‘permission’ to make sure that there were no visa issues for doing this.  I called the WC desk before I booked our trip from Cochi to New Delhi to Mumbai.  
As we stayed within India, it wasn’t an issue.

5 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Viking does freeze MVJ transactions about one week prior to embarkation.  This is when the data gets sent to the ship.  We have to make any additions or cancellations before that point -- and that is what the email mentioned in the first post is about. We can read what is on MVJ at that point but we can't make any changes.  

 

Moreover, the booking will be removed from your  MVJ account on embarkation day.  If there is anything there that you want to save for future reference, save it before you leave home. 

Everything in MVJ winds up in an e-mail that is sent to you as part of your e documents when boarding.  As long as you have this in your email, you have access to everything you booked.

10 hours ago, Cathyvee said:

Isn't Cochin where you check in for India immigration though?

Yes, but you don’t have to leave the ship’s terminal.

1 hour ago, Margaretwelker said:

I’ve called Viking to get a copy of what their excursions are like but no luck there. They said they would be released to me about 30 or 60 days before the trip. I am a single traveler, so entry-level cabin. Can anyone please take a photo or send to me an example of what the excursions are like? I imagine the free excursions are just a bus ride around the city. Would this be correct?

No, included excursions are not only bus rides.  Some have been on boats.  A few nights ago, there was Mumbai Mela, which was an extravaganza put on by Viking that was on the roof of a hotel.  It included dancers, music, turbans and henna, bracelet making and sari wrapping.  Appetizers were passed and there was a huge, buffet line.  It was a free excursion, but had been planned for a few years.  

Here is a pic of the excursions in Egypt.  
 

6 hours ago, Cathyvee said:

Those of you who are on Neptune for this world cruise - could you mention a few excursions offered by Viking that you found to be exceptional - and - a few disappointing ones? They can be included ones or for fee. Thank you. Going on Neptune w/c in 2023-2024.

I wouldn’t even try.  The reason being (that I discovered early on) is that excursions that I have enjoyed immensely have been panned by others. Opinions are based on outside influences like weather and tour guides, so one group going out earlier might miss crappy weather going out later.  Another example just happened recently where we had an authentic Indian meal.  It was fabulous.  The woman across the table picked at it, saying she’d prefer McDonalds.  I don’t think she had a very good time….in fact, I know she didn’t.
 

My suggestion is to do what YOU enjoy.

12 hours ago, Margaretwelker said:

This is Margaret Welker. I am following the blog because going on a WC starting in January  ‘24. I noticed you mentioned your flight. I guess this is obviously an extra trip that you arranged? What are the details?  Very beautiful  photos and a place I definitely want to visit.

When Viking released their excursions, there were none for Agra and Taj Mahal.  We had a different itinerary than others, getting a flight out of Cochin and flying to New Delhi.  The following day, we had a driver pick us up from our hotel and drive us to Agra.  There were 10 of us.  That was a very full day.  The following day we had another private tour of old and New Delhi.  This was another full day.  The following day, we flew to Mumbai, getting in about the same time as the ship.  

By doing this, we missed Cochin (I wish we had an earlier flight as we got to our hotel at 2 am from an 8 pm flight).  Next day was a sea day, which we missed and we missed Goa.  By doing it this way, it gave us a lot of wiggle room if something fouled up along the way.  
Our package was put together independently, by another member so we had to make flight, hotel, car and tour reservations ourselves.

I called Viking WC desk and didn’t really get a satisfactory answer as to why they didn’t plan a Taj excursion.  However, we likely got a much better tour for less.  I want to say our business class flights, hotel (thankfully, NOT in a chain which Viking tends to favor), tours and car service was less than $1600 for both of us.  I suspect Viking would have cost about $5000 for what they put together.  

6 hours ago, Cathyvee said:

I think it was due to weather conditions making tendering difficult.

Yes, that big storm that hit CA was blowing in, and as Santa Barbara was a tendering port, chances are there would have been no way we could tender safely.  
We did a U turn leaving LA, going waaaay south to avoid it and even then the seas were pretty rough until the storm moved and we were further away.  It was a disappointing decision for us, but an excellent decision made b6 the captain.