longterm

I totally agree; my wife and I both have Away carry-ons and have been very happy with them. Mine's about 4 years old now and is in perfect shape even after all the trips we've taken in the last 4 years. I'm a big believer in packing light, especially on ocean cruises where there are laundry facilities on almost every deck. My Away rolling bag has a backup battery in it for charging phones and iPads; I forgot all about it until the last trip, when I charged my phone while waiting for a flight. The new Away 22" carryon expands as well, which is really nice.

Well said. Loyalty pays off for merchants, whether they're travel agents, car dealers, or realtors (our realtor gave us a 2% discount when we sold our last house).

I respectfully disagree. 20-30 hours? I think not. With any of the cruises for which we transferred to a TA, they've spent almost no time after our transferring the cruise to them. I'm sure there *are* those cruisers who beat their TAs to death with phone calls, but I would venture to say that's the exception rather than the rule. Furthermore, if a TA uses OBCs as an incentive to use their service, that's just fine, and, just like looking for a car dealer who will offer me an incentive or discount, I'll be more inclined to go where the deal is best--provided the service that goes with it is up to the standards that I expect. It's not "ripping off" a business person to take advantage of onboard credits that they offer, any more than it's "ripping off" to accept an offered discount on any product or service. Example: we just added some automatic shades to our outside pergola; I could have searched the market for the cheapest deal, but instead I used 2 criteria: a) the dealer we'd used before who did great work, and who also offered us a nice past-customer discount. Since this is now the 4th time we've used this company, it shows that our loyalty to this company (and the referrals we have given) more than offsets the discounts they've given us. Did I "rip off" the company by accepting the discount? Of course not! I might not have bought the shades WITHOUT the discount. Lastly, it is up to every business person to decide if a discount works in their business model, and I respect any person's right to refuse to offer discounts or kickbacks. It works in some industries, not in others. I've got a TA now that offers OBCs when I transfer a cruise to them, and I'll continue to go back to them so long as I get decent service. Not being a needy client, I doubt they'll hear from me at all for our next cruise because I'm booking flights myself with points. Sheesh.

I booked a cruise just this morning, and confirmed with the Viking phone rep that he'll get his credit for booking our cruise, even when we move the booking to a TA (which we'll do). We'll get $300 each in OBC, on top of the past-guest credit that we already got.

I don't believe that is accurate, because if you booked a pre-extension, they meet you at the airport when you fly in, move your you and your bags to the hotel; then on the day of embarkation they pick you up and transfer you and your bags to the ship.

There are some routes that can be improved upon by booking oneself, but the ease of letting Viking do the booking, then having them meet you at baggage claim, is a big plus. We've not booked our own flights for Viking cruises, so I have a question: if you book your own flights, do you still get transfers to and from the airport, or do you have to find your own?

No, we went from Dallas (DFW) to NY (JFK) to Rome on American Airlines, then on the way back, from Athens to London to Dallas (British Airways). I asked about a nonstop but was told that there were none available; I *think* I looked on my own as well, and didn't find any from DFW.

Yes; we flew into Rome and flew out of Athens; the first was 5 days before the cruise, so we used Viking Air.

$10 a pound

Some years ago, I booked a tour in Japan,(I’m a professional musician) and only had two weeks before we were to leave. I used the service where a person walks your paperwork across the street to the passport office in Washington DC, and then overnights the passport to you. Took 24 hours, and I think it cost me about $125. Well worth it. I don’t remember the name of the company, but I’m sure it can be found by googling.

I stand corrected; we got the booster on 3/31, and then went on a trip to France in late April, and that was the trip we were double-boosted for. So when we got Covid we’d only had one booster.

My wife and I were in Athens on a Viking post extension in late March. On the 3rd day we went on an excursion to Delphi. When we got on the bus, we were told that the drive was something like 90 minutes to 2 hours; I wasn't happy about that at all, and recall that at the time I said I would have passed on the excursion had I known the drive time. Having said that, I'll say now that it was an incredible excursion. It was really cold that day (March 23rd I think); snow started falling on the drive up, and by the time we got there, it was coming down pretty hard. Even with the snow, the visit was amazing, one of our favorites on the entire trip. The drive is worth it to see the area; the small museum is excellent and I enjoyed it immensely. My advice would be not to let the drive time deter you; Delphi is an excellent site. We also had excursions to the Acropolis and the Parthenon, which was great to see in person; I lived in Nashville for 34 years; there's a perfect replica of the Parthenon there, built for a World's Fair in the early 20th century, complete with a statue of the goddess Athena in its center (which the original Parthenon had long ago); seeing the original was a great experience, despite the strong cold winds in late March. On the 3rd excursion we visited Mycennae, which was another great ancient site and well worth the drive; in the afternoon the same day we visited a 2nd site whose name escapes me now; it was interesting as well, but not on a level with Delphi, Mycennae or the Acropolis. My wife and I both felt the cost of the post extension was well-justified with the hotel and 3 excursion days, and I'd recommend it highly.

My wife and I got COVID in February; we were both double-vaxxed, double-boosted. My wife tested positive on a Wednesday, and when I started feeling bad the next day, my doctor told me to assume I had it as well. We were both immediately prescribed Paxlovid; by Saturday I felt fine, and on Monday I tested negative. I can't speak for others, but I only felt bad and had symptoms for about 3 days, and I credit that to Paxlovid. There was no issue here (north Texas) getting a prescription when I called my doctor. It's a good thing too, because our Rome to Athens cruise started on February 28th (about 3 weeks later).

Pompeii is. must-see, in my opinion. Truly amazing.

I don't know if this would interest you, but you'll only be 50 miles from the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy; I don't know if you can find a tour company (Viator does lots of tours in France) that would pick you up at the harbor, but if you can, it would make for a great day. Visiting the D-Day beaches, the museum, and the cemeteries is a profound experience, one of the best things I've done on visits to France. You'd probably also find a tour that includes a lunch in one of the local restaurants in that area; the towns are quaint, scenic, and we've often had our best meals in small French towns. If you're adventurous, you could probably rent a car, which would be a really inexpensive way to do the same day trip; driving in France isn't bad, and since you'd be so close to the area, would make for a fun day. A six-hour bus ride to Paris and back sounds like a LONG day...

Interesting; I've been in and out of probably 30 foreign countries on river and ocean cruises, never been subjected to a bag search... but I suppose there's always a first.

Bring a day pack with you; no one will search you when you leave the ship. We always bring light snacks in our day packs.

Well, we were just on the Rome to Athens trip--we didn't continue to Israel. Yes, I"m a jazz piano player (have a gig coming up in Austin, TX on Aug. 7th, in fact!). Viking offered 3 excursions; the first was to the Acropolis, where we spent 2-3 hours; first we went up to the Colisseum. Having lived in Nashville 34 years, I've seen the excellent exact replica of the Colisseum there (built for a World's Fair in the early 1900s), but seeing the real thing was stunning. Then we went to what I think is the most beautiful archaeological museum I've ever seen; it's a must-see. Second day we went to Mycennae and another site, whose name escapes me; Mycennae was really excellent, the 2nd not as interesting. On the 3rd day they took us to Delphi, which may be the best of the three. Far up in the mountains, a great historic site to visit. Interestingly, it snowed on us up there, and it was March 23rd. I certainly wasn't dressed for it...

We went from Rome to Athens in March; there was no Overland trip option. We did a post-extension in Athens; the 3 tours provided by Viking were excellent.

I can’t speak to the city pass in London, not having been there in the last few years, but in Paris in March it was amazing. We walked right into Musée D’Orsay, the Louvre, the L’Orangerie, and Ste. Chapelle with no wait—and the lines were already at least an hour long. We’re headed to the UK soon and will definitely buy passes. Well worth it not to stand in long lines.

I heard they found water.

I went to a UPS Store and had 3 laminated copies made, and brought them with me, leaving the original at home. It was fortunate that I did, because I managed to leave 2 copies on restaurant tables (back in March we had to show it in all restaurants in Italy).

I've had DSLRs for years, but on our last 2 trips I relied solely on my iPhone 12. The only thing I missed a few times was the high-end zoom on my Nikon, but on balance, I really enjoy carrying the lightweight iPhone as opposed to lugging my Nikon and an extra lens. My photos almost always came out better on my iPhone; granted, this has everything to do with my skills (or lack thereof) with my Nikon, but the iPhone lens technology does an amazing job in all sorts of lighting situations. I found this excellent iPhone case on Amazon; it has a strong strap, which I found indispensable for carrying my iPhone while walking, or for leaning on the railing on the ship and taking photos. I had this fear of dropping my iPhone in the ocean; I doubt they'd have turned the ship around had I done that. 🙂 Here's a link to the case (I bought the black one); the strap is excellent: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HV9R822/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 Turning off wifi when leaving the ship is a must; otherwise, your iPhone will constantly search for a wifi connection, and this quickly drains the battery. Other things you can do: 1. Reduce screen brightness; it makes a huge difference in battery life; 2. If you're not using it, turn off bluetooth (you can use airplane mode if you want, which will also turn off wifi and cellular at the same time); the only downside of this is that you won't get location information on your photos, and I really like having that; 3. Anker makes lots of excellent backup batteries; I always go on excursions with a battery and lightning cable in my day pack; 4. I have a set of lenses for my iPhone 12 that I got from Sandmarc (Moment makes them as well); the zoom doubles the zoom offered by the lens on the iPhone 12, so it was useful at times, although I didn't find myself using it as much as I expected. I've never seen USB ports on excursion buses, but I'm guessing that newer ones might have them these days.

We used TourByLocals in Rome; a woman named Marisa was our guide for 2 days. Marisa is an archaeologist-turned-guide who worked in the Roman Forum and elsewhere, and has extensive knowledge of Roman antiquities. I'd highly recommend her; note--walking tours only. We also used TheRomanGuy for a food tour in Rome; it was a lot of fun. We used Olympic Tours in Athens; Niki Vlachou, who owns the company, was our guide. Lots of fun, and I'd recommend her as well.

Good point; I used a belt to do the exercise where I had to pull my arm up behind my back, and then I brought a variety of rubber therabands, which are easily anchored in the sliding veranda door. Best of all was getting in the pool; there are so many things that can be safely done in the water, an I took advantage of the stern pool at every opportunity.