Tas353

On 12/28/2023 at 11:47 AM, formernuke said:

We took this cruise In October 2021 and had great weather throughout. Only a bit of rain one day. Other days a light jacket was the most we needed. But that was then…

Do you have any recommendations regarding excursions?

Thank you very much. Yours is the one I saw but I  couldn’t find it. I really appreciate it!

I read someone’s post that they reviewed this cruise. If course, now I can’t find it. We are cruising from Venice to Barcelona in late October. I am interested in any information on excursions and recommendations. Thank you!

I meant the ship is at Chiogga

We arrive at the airport at 4:15pm. I’m wondering how long the bus ride is to the ship. 

On 2/6/2024 at 3:18 PM, snookie1 said:

We will soon be able to book our excursions for our BIE cruise on May 1st.  I am trying to line up the excursions we would like to book so when the time opens up for us, it will be a quick task.  I've run into a couple of questions that maybe some of you who have done this cruise before can help me with:

Is the Tower of London a worthwhile excursion?  Or can we do the same thing on our own in our 2 pre-cruise days in London?

In the included Canterbury excursion from Dover, do you get to go into the Cathedral?  Maybe on your own afterwards?  Can you walk from there back to the ship?

We are looking at the Walmar Castle and Sandwich excursion from Dover, and the Caernarfon Castle excursion from Holyhead, but we don't want to do a bunch of castles.  Is one of these better than the other?  What would you recommend?

We are interested in the Beauty of County Wicklow excursion from Dublin.  Has anyone taken this one?  Would you recommend it?

DH loves trains and would like to take the Ffestiniog Railway excursion from Holyhead.  Is it worth the 8 hour trip and the $209?

 

This is as far as I've gotten so far; I am sure I will have more questions as I continue.  I think the best source of information about excursions is the people who have been on them, so thank you in advance for any advice you can offer!☺️

Just now, Tas353 said:

I did this on our tour. The drive was spectacular. Sit on right side of bus as you are driving along the water. When you reach the glens you can do as much walking as you want. They serve tea and scones and then you are free to walk around. It was not difficult. You can do as much as you want or as little.  We had a beautiful day and the scenery looking into the valley and the water in the distance was everything I thought Ireland would be. It was my favorite 

I did the homelands tour last year 4 months after my knee replacement. I was able to manage fine on all the cobblestones. This is easy trails. Like I said -you can tailor it to your ability. 

On 2/7/2024 at 5:19 PM, snookie1 said:

Thank you all for your excellent advice.   I am getting a better idea of what we should do in all these wonderful places.  Another question:  We would love to do the Coastal Drive and Glens of Antrim in Belfast, but I am concerned about the rating of "demanding" that it is given.  Has anyone been on this excursion?  What makes it demanding?  It says there are trails but you go at your own pace.  How far did you walk?  I love to walk, but I have a new knee (Dec 11th), and am not sure how it will fare.  Of course I have another 3 months until the cruise, so hopefully I'll be nearly back to normal.  Any advice??😕

I did this on our tour. The drive was spectacular. Sit on right side of bus as you are driving along the water. When you reach the glens you can do as much walking as you want. They serve tea and scones and then you are free to walk around. It was not difficult. You can do as much as you want or as little.  We had a beautiful day and the scenery looking into the valley and the water in the distance was everything I thought Ireland would be. It was my favorite 

On 1/19/2024 at 3:13 PM, Mameypeak said:

Any comments on this cabin?  Noise?

Also was in 6045. No problems/issues

On 1/19/2024 at 3:13 PM, Mameypeak said:

Any comments on this cabin?  Noise?

I’ve been in 6063 and 6040. We loved that level. Easy to walk up to world cafe and explorers lounge. Never any issue with noise. 

I am planning to go on a cruise with my daughter. Want to keep the price down. Looking at a DV5 on deck 3. In the past I've done a DV2 because of the earlier date to schedule excursions. We will probably be doing the included excursions.  These rooms seem fine to me. Thoughts? or your experience? Thanks!

11 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

I'm another one who does not use what Viking offers for insurance. The plan is cheaper because Viking "self insures" the plan, giving future cruise vouchers instead of cash -- and if I have to cancel, I want my money back.

 

I've heard of the TripInsuranceStore (they are an insurance broker, and represent many insurance companies) and I probably should at least price compare each time we book a cruise but the one time I did, everything was more expensive than what my current company was offering. Still, I really should check each time.  But, I've been using the same company for over 20 years now; I'm comfortable with them -- it helps that they are the same company that my travel agency has a relationship with.

 

IMHO, at my age and with aging parents, the most important coverage I need is "existing conditions."

Thanks for sharing. Nice that you are working with someone you have experience with. Makes all the difference.

12 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

That's exactly what we do.  Get the minimum insured quickly (usually $500 pp) and then we get that pre-existing waiver, and don't have to pay the rest until final Viking payment in April 2025!  We use Steve Dassios at the TripInsuranceStore.  He's been great for us and had a couple forums on Cruise Critic (one still current).

Thank you for sharing your experience. It helps to know from someone that has experience with this.

16 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

We had previously used Trip Mate but our next cruise isn't scheduled until 2025 so I looked elsewhere. As long as you take a minimum coverage amount within X days of you first deposit, you are covered for pre-existing conditions. Unlike Trip Mate, which insures the entire cost upfront, you can then increase the coverage on your policy when you make your payments for the trip.

Thank you....this is great information

38 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

You just stated the main reasons people who don't use Tripmate don't use them.

We switched to good 3rd party Trip Insurance.  Reasons:  More Flexible, More Reliable, Less Cost.

What's not to like.

Plus I don't like to have all my dollars in one company (Viking) and like to keep the components separate  (you'll pay to have them together):   Airline, Cruise, Insurance.

Think I'll start investigating....thank you!

1 hour ago, longterm said:

Which port did you have to skip? We're really hoping to get to see the Orkney and Shetland Islands, but my impression is that these 2 are probably more likely than most to be at risk of a port skip.

I did this cruise last September We did stop in Orkney. It was amazing. We missed Highlands- Ullapool due to weather and missed the Shetland Islands also due to weather. The Ullapool miss was a sea day and instead of the Shetland Islands we went to Stavenger, Norway. 

I know I've seen this topic before but can't seem to find it. If using the $25 deposit and not having to pay the balance until 6 months prior to departure- trip mate has to be purchased with 14 days to be covered for pre-existing conditions. It's also not refunded if cruise has to be cancelled for any reason. Before I start searching, do most people use trip mate if they use trip insurance?

Thanks

I think I answered my question from reading another thread

Do you use local travel agents or a travel agent specializing in viking cruises? Are you able to get better rates with travel agent opposed to calling a speaking to a viking agent?

Yes, that's true. I was just curious what the cruise was like in late Fall. THanks

Looking for information from anyone that took this cruise in late Fall. Wondering if there were any issues with weather affecting ports  I saw postings about problems with Venice but that was a spring cruise.  Any comments in general about the cruise would also be helpful. Thanks

Thank you for your responses! We arrived home from our cruise on Sunday night the 2nd. We thoroughly enjoyed it. All our flights both ways were on time and most arrived early. The ship was great. We were able to access our staterooms early. We didn’t do the silver spirits this time. My husband noted that the menu of premium scotch whiskeys was significantly better to our British isle explorer and Alaska cruise last year and he would have enjoyed the silver spirits on this trip.  The bartender told him they had just upgraded them. I found the included wines to be much better also. I usually drink a Cabernet and most were a red blend that I found very smooth and good.

We enjoyed Copenhagen on foot. Had a good guide. The evening canal cruise was great 

I didn’t do Aarhus on foot but my husband did and enjoyed it.

Berlin was a highlight.    Very easy walk to the train. Room service delivered a gluten free sandwich etc for me to take along at 6 am. Everyone got a donut on the train. We had an excellent guide in Berlin. We also did the check point Charlie add on and she walked us around and was very informative. During our free time we visited the Berlin Wall and museum of terrors ( something to that effect). Train home served beer and wine. They gave me a gluten free option which I can’t remember for the life of me what it was…..but I do remember it was good! Staff greeted us lined up on both sides of the walkway to the ship with music, dancing and clapping. It was so nice. Dinner that night was delicious German food in world cafe. 

I did included panoramic Bornholm. Our tour guide was a high school student that was excellent.   Very enjoyable. My husband did the bike tour. He said it was beautiful but the tour guide was significantly lacking. We walked back in the afternoon and enjoyed walking around the town including the old area. 
 

We did do Karlskrona on foot. We had an enjoyable guide. The naval base was interesting. 
 

Stuttholf concentration camp and Gdańsk. Our guide was Elizabeth and she was excellent. We did the camp first. It was sobering. Drove to gdansk  and ate  lunch in a little restaurant along the river. It was very well done. We were the only ones there. The meal was pierogis. She asked about allergies on the bus and called in before we arrived. I was given a salad and assumed it was my meal ( people always give me salads) so was waiting to eat it until the rest of the group was served. To my surprise the waiter said that was just my side salad and I was given a delicious fish meal with potatoes.  Everyone else got a large piece of cake and I was given mixed fruit for dessert. Beer and wine was included. This was very well done and everyone enjoyed it. The walking tour of Gdańsk was the last part of the excursion. It’s a very pretty city. 

Visby on foot was our included excursion. There was a political event going on so the island was very crowded. We had a large group and our tour guide walked fairly fast. Some had difficulty keeping up. There was a steep set of steps to walk up to view the city. We lost some people from our group on the way down going back to the ship. This was rated as moderate but I think should have been listed as demanding. If anyone had walking issues it was difficult. The island was beautiful. 
There were flowers everywhere……beautiful roses. It also included a walk through a botanical garden that was stunning. 
 
My husband did Aland islands by bike. He said it was great. Better than the previous bike tour. The guide was excellent. I did the bus tour. Our guide was good. Interesting history. 

Last but not least Stockholm. Guide was excellent on our panoramic Stockholm. This included coffee and cinnamon roll at delightful cafe. Again, it was well done. We were the only ones there and the service was excellent. Nothing for me here but I enjoyed the coffee. Had no idea Stockholm was a series of islands. The archipelago as we sailed in was beautiful. 

We were fortunate to have beautiful weather every day. It rained once while we were sailing. 
 

Azulann- I read all your posts on your trip as I wa preparing for ours. Thank you!

Looking forward to reading your trip report - thank you for doing this!

17 minutes ago, Packman1000 said:

I'm not sure what "final documents" are, but when we took a selfie on the Viking app and uploaded it, we got an email with our boarding passes.  We're almost 4 weeks out from our cruise.  We got our luggage tags a couple of weeks ago in the mail.  Should we be receiving something else?

You will get an email with your booking summary and list of your excursions.