Peregrina651

Our second river cruise with Viking was filled with a group of bridge-players put together by a guy whose business was organizing and escorting such tours. In multiple ports along the way, they had arranged bridge games with local bridge clubs. Language was no barrier to finding clubs. So it seems to me that there must be something similar out there for oenophiles.

You are looking for a message like this. It might not appear if Viking Air is itemized on the invoice. I had to look at three different versions of this invoice to find this. This is just a sample. Do not rely on this for making your plans.

Unfortunately, most of the tables for 2 are side by side with just barely enough room to get between them.

Or perhaps that different TAs have different timing as to when they inform Viking.

What does it say on your Viking invoice? If you don't have Viking Air, it should tell what the earliest flight time you can make is. You may have to look on other than your final payment invoice to find the information.

Just to clarify. The cancellation policy for voyages more than 35 days is different. It is 180 days and $1000.

I wonder what the numbers are these days now that the package prices have gone up.

Because enough people complained.

The wine list on any vessel is ever-shifting sands. You don't really know what is actually in stock until you arrive on board. Your best bet for questions about river boats is River Cruising. There you can catch the attention of those currently on board or recently returned to answer your question.

Again, thank you! This is marvelous information for folks with mobility issues. One question. Did you tip the wheelchair guy? Or phrased another way, is Turkey one of cultures where tipping is the norm and not just a tourist thing?

Not a line. A bead.

Okay, you can all laugh at this, but I would do something similar. Not because I'm obsessed with some toy but for a learning experience for my grandson, who already has a number of custom-made photo albums from our trips (sans toy).

Viking marches to a different drummer and it takes some getting used to. Guests have to decide for themselves if the onboard experience is worth the difference in policies.

Yes. Oceans. Although the mattress pad to raise the head of the bed works fleet-wide.

Jim, agreed, but only to a certain extent. Maybe it is my browser, but I find the search function here to be completely useless. Since the move to the new platform a number of years ago, I have yet to search for anything successfully. I can't be the only one who has issues with it.

I can barely reach that shelf, let alone take down anything placed on it. 🙃 That space us solely for DH's use.

Hope you had wonderful adventure. Thank you so very, very much for the detailed report of your experience. The honesty and the level of detail will be helpful to others. Can't wait to hear about Galaport.

Do not punch your keycard yourself. Take it to Guest Services and let them do it; they know where the electronics are.

You can ask for sparkling water instead of or in addition to still water.

In a DV/V, I rearrange the furniture to give us a bit more floor space. I move the chair by the bed closer to the night stand, move the other chair out of the way so I can tuck the coffeetable back into the corner along the party wall and finish by putting the chair in front of the slider as close to the coffeetable as possible. If you need to raise the head of the bed for whatever reason, ask the steward to use a mattress pad folded twice the long way and placed under the mattress at the head if the bed.

I have always taken the stance that each trip is different and each trip calls for a different decision. I have both booked flights thru Viking Air and booked my own, depending on prices and where we are headed. When I do use Viking Air, I pay for "custom air" so that I can have a say in which flights are booked and so that I can have the job done closer to when the airlines opens the travel dates for sale. Since you don't currently have the information you need to make the decision (because it is not available), it will cost you nothing to include Viking Air on your initial booking as it can be removed (and refund if you have already made final payment) once flight information becomes available and you can make an informed decision. You can cancel the air portion anytime up to 70 days prior (??, so ask Viking the exact cut off); funds already paid will be refunded. Sometimes Viking Air is a significant savings and sometimes it isn't, and you don't know until you can compare actual prices.

No, Viking is making it such that at the end of the cruise more people will have non-refundable left in their account, that Viking will not have to return to guests at the end of the cruise.

If it were just a matter of $$, we'd be sailing on Carnival or NCL. Thank you, no. We'd rather stay home. Then Viking opened its Oceans division. It was more expensive than the mainstream lines but under a 1000 pax, no casinos, no kids, free internet, included excursions, no formal nights, no ties & jackets and port heavy itineraries aimed at our age demographic were a big draw. It is the intangibles that keep us coming back.

Just a couple to whet your appetite... Geothermal pools Lake Myvatn and surroundings Goðafoss

I have done Natural Treasures. The decision is six of one, half a dozen the other. There is a lot to see from Akureyri and you can't see it all in one day. They each have a variety of geologic features; it just depends on which you like seeing the most. You can't go wrong with either one.