lkear

We just got back, and yes. They had a map for all the cities we stopped at.

I you use Google Maps and put in "Viking, Rue Jean Gorodiche, Arles, France" it will show you the exact location.

We are currently on France's Finest and yes we docked at the new Viking Dock in Arles.

Thank you for your review, my wife and fly out this Wednesday to do France's Finest with a pre in Nice and a post in Paris. This is our first river cruise and we are looking forward to it.

Yes, Viking provides a shuttle from Dun Laoghaire to Dublin and back. Yes, you can stay in Dublin after your tour, we were not able to because of fog our tour started late and we only had less than an hour before the final shuttle back so we decided against it. We had a great Italian meal at Fumo https://sancarlofumo.co.uk/restaurants/fumo-london/ We also had a great French meal at Palm Court Brasserie https://www.palmcourtbrasserie.co.uk/

My experience on when Ocean Shore Excursions can be seen from the previous 3 cruises post-COVID is that they show up around 120 days before you sail.

We did the May 2023 BIE on Neptune from London to Bergen. We decided to spend 3 days on our own in London, staying near Piccadilly. It was great as we went to play, booked some great tours in London along with surrounding areas, plus some great meals (happy to give you any recommendation of restaurants or tours as London is one of my favorite cities in the world). The cab to Greenwich was super easy; you do have to tender to the ship. As for Pre with Viking, we talked to a couple that did Churchill’s Britain, and I was very jealous that we didn’t do it, but it is always a trade-off. We did not dock in Dublin, but Dun Laoghaire, which is just outside of Dublin, also had to tender. We did have a fog issue and could tender into port till 10 AM, so Dublin was cut short by 2 hours. We did not have to skip any ports. We prefer to fly into London and out of Bergen for couple of reasons. First, I like to spend time in London before the cruise, second I would rather get to Greenwich early and tender on the ship, fixing any dinner reservations or SPA appointments, then spend the afternoon walking around the charming town of Greenwich and the Maritime Museum while our cabin is getting ready then try to tender off ship early in the morning to get to the plane, and third sometimes because of weather getting in and out of Bergen isn’t as easy and I would rather have at the end then causing me to miss part of cruise or vacation. We have been delayed twice in and out of Bergen. If you want any more info regarding our cruise or copies of Viking Daily please let me know.

Thank you for all the help … I am on the Neptune and want to book 2 more cruises but the want tell me the promo codes. I found a link but because we are in Europe in sends me to the UK site that won’t work we want to book far eastern in Oct 2024 and Grand European in September 2025 any help with codes would be much appreciated just throw them out and I will try and give them to on board agent as Kim possible said … please and thank you I had a daughter and watched to much of her shows

Also, anyone knows of any promo codes for the Far East Ocean cruises

Anyone know of any promo codes for grand European tour?

I totally agree they do not expect tips we did Homelands last year and a few older guides didn't want tips. But either don't tip or tip in their currency (It isn't that hard to get them). My wife and I chose to tip but that was because we wanted to, not because it was required. Our experience was a lot of tour guides were young college students and I thought how much $5 dollars would have been nice for my children in college and we could afford it. But that was a personal decision. The only thing I personally believe is if you want to tip take the effort to get local currency (think about your children getting Paso or Canadian dollars and what they would do with them). FYI all the local currency we had left over we gave to our favorite crew personnel (as they go back to these ports and can spend) at the end of the cruise. We did spent around $400 USD equivalents on tips for Homelands and still had a few strange currencies left over for the Viking crew. It was very easy to go to a local bank and order the smallest denominations of each currency, the only requirement that Wells Fargo had was that the total order be more than $250.

Next time you out to eat at your favorite restaurant, try tipping in Euros to see how you are treated. I bet they are less nice than they are in Europe .. lol Also, I bet you have sales tax instead of VAT. The best advice is to treat people how you would like to be treated, but I know that is a strange concept for most people.

I always tip in local currency. All I have to do is think would I want to be tipped in a foreign currency?

We have found TA's to be an unnecessary middle person. It is harder to make changes and you will et more advice on this board than you will ever get with a TA. We have booked directly by phone, on the ship, and with TA. We booked with the TA because we would get on-board credits the little extra $$ didn’t make up for the frustration of not being able to call Viking customer service direct, so not enough financial benefit to putting up with the frustration.

Thank you