Bookworm114

We are on the Aug 24 sailing and luckily are coming in several days early. We have booked two bus tours before we go into the Viking bubble. Does anyone know the Icelandic protocol and testing for public bus tours? How do they contact trace you and test on  tours through agencies like Reykjavik Excursions and the like? Would they contact us several days later when we are on the ship? We are trying to maximize our “free” time. 

36 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

I can’t imagine Viking would put them on a bus to the airport unless they had cleared this with Iceland authorities ahead of time.

Anybody know what airline they are using? Gotta get my frequent flyer miles. 

24 minutes ago, Bookworm114 said:

Us too. Kevin and Lisa. See you on board. 

We are on 4 also so just down the hall 

35 minutes ago, KarNog said:

Hey, hang in there. What's your cruise date? I'm going on the 8/21. I think we're gonna be fine. If I have to sit on the balcony all day and drink wine/eat lobster, then I hope you're on the balcony next to us.

Us too. Kevin and Lisa. See you on board. 

What a wonderful idea! 

I always always always plan for the worst and pack food onto a plane. My family used to mock me until they were hungry with no food in sight. My kids actually flew last Sunday (or planned to fly rather) thru Dallas and got caught up in the American cancellations. They ended up spending the night at LAX airport for 10:30 am connecting Dallas flight on Monday after leaving LAX at 1:30 am. You bet they were glad of my picnic lunch then. 

On 7/7/2021 at 4:01 AM, Snit13 said:

Sorry to hear that.  We booked the end of May and  the drink package was included.  Totally wasted on me as I am lucky to have one drink a week.  Is there any real advantage to prepaying gratuities on Viking?  I normally pre pay on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.

How important is it to bring the insect head covering as many have posted?  I saw on WalMart site they are much cheaper than on Amazon.  I have experienced how nasty the sand flees can be in FL and the  deer flies in GA and FL and I really prefer the netting over my head/face.  Did you take netting with you?

I guess since most are reporting good weather the waterproof boots aren't essential.  Your opinion please,

I am not a big drinker either but I do love a cold   non-alcoholic seltzer water. I was tossing back 6-7 a day. I even got one in the World Cafe in debarkation day that was coveted. Can’t say for sure but I would think juices and non-alcoholic drinks would be covered also. Smoothies anyone?

Culture Night is coming. 

https://visitreykjavik.is/reykjavik-culture-night

For those cruisers who will be in the country there is a huge once a year festival that takes over central Reykjavik on Saturday Aug 21. People come from all over the country for the event. Art galleries,  museums, music venues will be open and free of charge.  It ends with fireworks at 11:00 over the harbor. 
 

I have never been but I spoke with a US Guide who said it was wonderful and not to be missed. We travel shoulder seasons and always seem to miss events so I was excited to see this one. We are coming in early and just stumbled on it. 

On 7/7/2021 at 4:01 AM, Snit13 said:

Sorry to hear that.  We booked the end of May and  the drink package was included.  Totally wasted on me as I am lucky to have one drink a week.  Is there any real advantage to prepaying gratuities on Viking?  I normally pre pay on Celebrity and Royal Caribbean.

How important is it to bring the insect head covering as many have posted?  I saw on WalMart site they are much cheaper than on Amazon.  I have experienced how nasty the sand flees can be in FL and the  deer flies in GA and FL and I really prefer the netting over my head/face.  Did you take netting with you?

I guess since most are reporting good weather the waterproof boots aren't essential.  Your opinion please,

I am not a big drinker either but I do love a cold   non-alcoholic seltzer water. I was tossing back 6-7 a day. I even got one in the World Cafe in debarkation day that was coveted. Can’t say for sure but I would think juices and non-alcoholic drinks would be covered also. Smoothies anyone?

16 minutes ago, shipster60 said:

I have always prepaid gratuities on other cruise lines, but on one of the VO threads someone gave a reason for waiting to pay them at the end of the cruise. I remember thinking that it was a logical reason, but now I can’t find the post. Of course, I always give a little extra at the end to servers, cabin steward, etc.  is there anyone reading this thread that remembers that discussion?

If you are referring to my post here is our reason. We had prepaid the gratuities. When we booked a second cruise onboard we were given a cruise credit good for the current cruise only and it would have been good for the gratuities but had already paid them. We ended up getting something in the shops just to use the credit. 

On 7/3/2021 at 3:04 PM, DJVKN said:

We took a taxi from city center this morning. Taxis are readily available and hotel can arrange for one. It’s about a 10 minute drive from city center to the port. We checked in with Viking onto the ship at 10:50. Stateroom was available at12:30ish. 

DJVKN - do you mind sharing the cost of the taxi? We will be doing the same thing as carld. 

Reykjavik Culture Night, 21-Aug 2021

https://culturenight.is/
 

Is anyone familiar with the Culture Night Festival? We will be in the city and I am wondering how busy and crowded things will be. 

Taste of the Nordic

The google drive images (THANK YOU FOR THOSE!!!) of the Daily for Day 7 lists a special event in the World Cafe called “A Taste of Nordics.” Could someone share details of what was offered? 

Clean Ships
 

I found an interesting blog that mentions that Viking Ships are some of the cleanest, if not the cleanest of the ocean vessels. Blogger includes a link to the CDC site for the text reports. 
 

https://www.cruzely.com/the-cleanest-cruise-line-according-to-cdc-inspections/

On 6/5/2021 at 9:26 AM, Doc who loves to travel said:

Question about gratuities. Can we pay gratuities with a credit card onboard or is it cash only gratuities onboard?  Wondering benefits of prepayment? It’s our first Viking ocean 

We prepaid for a cruise. When we booked another cruise on the ship we got a shipboard credit good for that cruise only. We had to scramble to find a way to use it. Agent suggested gratuities was one way. BTW, Husband loves his headphones. We won’t prepay again since there is no discount.