PasadenaDave

Clay, I had a similar conversation with one of my children the other day who was considering a trip to Iceland to see the lights, He lives in Washington State. I saw the Northern Lights a few times growing up in Maine and one in College near the 45th parallel I saw them amazing one night. I suggested to my son that rather than a trip to a location with moisture that he research the best time to view the aurora in Fairbanks, Alaska. Being in the interior and far north one would have a better chance of cloudless nights. While I have experience both temperature measures meet at 40 below, an ocean cruise in the dark cold does not sound like my preferred experience. Having said that I do understand the lure and thrill of this cruise. Enjoy

My best sleep on an airplane was lie flat business class with my CPAP in use!

State university where it was easier to enter but harder to graduate, but that was when the average GOA was 2.7 not 3.9

Warning this is light-hearted I purchased some nice sweat paints to sleep on my flight to Tokyo. Business class lie flat so I can use my CPAP. I find pants with belts troubling when sleeping. The sweat paints are actually Athleisure wear and the price exceeded what my blue jeans cost. They are nice looking and my question is, Can I wear them in the main dining room? I will add that I am not a doctor of any type, whether that be MD, DO, DC, DDS, EDD, phD, DV, or DVM.

Correct on that point. Flying American Chicago to LAX in Premium Economy we were on. 777 which originated in London. Premium Economy on a 777 International setup exceeded the experience of Business domestic. As always your mileage may vary

One thing that I always pay attention to is which segment of travel am I on? LAX is our local international airport, which is easy going to Asia/Australia. The European destinations are another story and why going to Europe we are less inclined to use Viking Air. We have seen Viking Air route you on the long segment on the return landing on the east coast or Chicago. If one books business class then you might have coach on a fairly long domestic flight when you are most tired. As an example, Viking Air wanted to route us Barcelona-Chicago-LAX, our routing for less money and better schedule Barcelona-LHR-LAX

I have to laugh reading your post because you sum up what we feel about long flights especially when paying for business class but not getting it on the domestic portion. I like being at the stage of life and saying I've earned it, I have it and I am going to spend it on quality. The young people (and yes I was probably one of them) who say that they won't waste money on anything that is not through a cheap consolidator and how people (sheep) to check bags and that they have the best travel hacks around. What they don't tell you is about how many airports they have slept in and how long they go between good food, a shower and good sleep. The number one item of your post come in early enough and leave late enough to allow sufficient slush in case of issues.

I echo this advice. You will see more on your own with a private guide if wanted and the price will be half of what you pay Viking for the same hotel. London is easier to navigate than most US cities and they speak a language similar to US English.

Kent, Outbound American to Haneda and return on United. Tokyo is sufficiently foreign to us that we are not going early. I know that I hear so much great information about Asia, but for us, I think that we will see enough cultural temples etc. that we will see enough without the need for extra time. Having said that friends were there in March and said it was the best trip ever. When we booked the cruise onboard last December there was no capacity for spring 2025 on this itinerary (reverse) and limited in 2025. I think I read that one of the new ships will sail in this area in the future, but we are stoked for this cruise.

Spot on with your answer which follows our experience. We tried to use Viking Air next May for LAX-LHR four days in London and then LHR-Lisbon and then return Barcelona-LAX. Viking had no opportunities to fly London to Lisbon and returning from Barcelona we were to be routed via Chicago. Much better flights on our own and less money.-LAX. Next month we fly LAX-Tokyo and then Hong Kong-LAX. We used Viking Air and had better pricing than on our own. As always Your Mileage may Vary.

Last Christmas I had taken a book about Shackleton's adventure on the Endurance with me on our Auckland to Sydney trip. I agree, an interesting subject (shipwreck) on a cruise ship. While looking at books in the Living Room I found another book with the same title Endurance which was a collection of adventure stories. Both books completed before arriving in Hobart.

I think that is how I got the bookmark....the chocolate wrapper was what I was using as a bookmark

I pulled out a book which I have not read for a few years and look what I found. Sadly this was a wrapper from a chocolate from a refrigerator in a Viking cabin. I guess I know where I was the last time I read this book.

Central Coast Wine Lover summed it up. What we truly notice with Viking is more often than other places or companies, there are fewer people demanding to be first and unwilling to wait. I am at the stage of life in which I have no issue paying for a great product and if I don’t get seated first, or see a show or get an excursion that I want, no big deal. The journey is enjoyable. I’m not reserving a table at the known restaurant in the port, it is more enjoyable to discover an unexpected find. If I don’t like it, there is tomorrow.

95% of booking capacity for 2024 is impressive

FlyerTalker, I don’t disagree and so much about flying issues are associated with your typical routes. I’m not a huge flyer, probably about 1,000,000 miles in 35 years. Few issues comparatively speaking. Only two snow issues, Boston December 26 and Newark October 31, yes heavy snow Halloween. Crowds and carry on luggage are my pet peeves

Flight challenges are one of the reasons why we generally don't fly during June, July, and August, unless they are one leg flights such as Burbank to Sacramento or Denver. But then again we are mostly retired and have flexibility when we travel.

John5166, if you use Air Plus, it is sometimes better and sometimes worse than booking on your own, always at the first opportunity go to the airline app and confirm seats etc. This doesn't guaranty anything, but you will get notifications of changes directly from the airline.

There is another factor that goes into the cost of flights, government subsidy. Five years ago we did a last minute booking Vancouver to Los Angeles on Princess, The flights to Vancouver on Air Canada were $39! I suspect that had something to do with the last minute to fill the ship and perhaps mass purchased tickets which would go empty. There might have been a subsidy to get tourists to Vancouver in September and that we were going to spend two nights in hotel. Today, given the depressed Yen, the Japanese government might subsidize flight to get Americans to come to Japan to spend money.

I believe that Dr Koob covered leaving Viking for a few nights in Venice in one of his exceptional posts.

This is common given holidays. The port is likely closed with no staff or services to dock a ship

I don't know where the first customer service person was located but the air person to whom i was transferred after more than 35 minutes was located in South Africa. I was attempting to book LAX-LHR, layover a few days, then LHR-Lisbon and then Barcelona-LAX. I don't like to fly say Coast to Coast and then over ocean as you don't get business class on domestic. The call lasted one hour and 3 minutes and they could not help with the London-Lisbon leg and the flights were not our preference otherwise. I took time to calm down and later booked our preferred routing on British Air for an amount $500 more than what Viking would charge if we flew to and from the Viking portion of the journey. The actual cost was $1200 more due to giving up the $700 discount for air from booking on ship. But remember that we would have needed to book the air London to Lisbon and pay for Air Plus. The time spent booking online which included comparison shopping on American for the same flights only $900 more than BA was 10 minutes. I spent another 10 minutes to cancel Viking Air which I could not do via email or chat. Has chat gone away? Again, we love the on ship service.

I have been on the phone with Viking for 25 minutes now trying to book LAX-London, London-Lisbon, and Barcelona-LAX. I have provided the legs and dates four times already. They came back saying that they don't have any flights London-Lisbon. I asked if they could provide pricing without the London-Lisbon and she put me back on hold. This is to see if Viking can beat independent travel pricing...I am doubting it. I understand why Andy aka Heidi has left Viking due to poor stateside customer service. I love the Viking product and have two and soon three trips booked, but unless you are going from major airport to major airport with no deviations, their flight department is challenged.

understood