Peregrina651

IMHO, don't wait until you board to get this taken care of. First, if you are looking at MVJ before booking opens for your category, things may change by the time booking opens. Once Viking opens for your category and if you cannot book all of the included excursions that you want, contact Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com. Don't bother with chat or the call center; "TellUs" is higher up the chain of command. Tell them how upset and disappointed you are that you are that the included tours that are part of your tour package are already showing as sold out sold out. Include your booking number and phone number. In the meantime, keep checking MVJ. Available seats can appear at any time unannounced. They are sold first-come-served. People change their minds. Vacation are canceled last minute for multiple reasons. Viking adds spaces. If there is only one place available, take it. It is easier to get a second seat when you already have one.

Monet's Gardens in Giverny are much closer to Paris than to Le Havre, but Rouen is an hour away by train -- and the cathedral is magnificient.

DITTO! Deck 1 in the Atrium, open 6am to Midnight. Continental breakfast until 11 am, cookies and other delights for the reminder of the day. Beans fresh ground. Commercial espresso machine. Etc.

Check out the Cruise Critic ports of call forum as well: Ports of Call In the meantime, don't completely give up on Viking excursions. Write Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com to urge them to add more spaces on the tours you want. Tell them how disappointed you are are. Keep checking MVJ for additional spaces to be added. They are sold first-come-first-served with no announcement made should space become available.

When comparing home prices to ship prices, don't forget that the stated price already includes a 15% tip.

Welcome. This will do for a first post but there are a couple of other threads that you might want to read as well: Does Anyone Know How Full Ships are Since the Loosening of Covid Restricticions? Covid isolation after testing discontinued That said, ships don't just have to worry about the spread of disease on board the ship but, in determining the number of pax they can book on a given itinerary, they also have to consider if there are enough guides and bus drivers available to serve the number of passengers on board -- and that can be more more of a determining factor than anything.

Cruise Critic allows us to arrange "tour shares" only in the roll calls, so that's where you should head: Viking Ocean Roll Calls (find your ship and then look for your sail-date). Even if you don't end up arranging a tour share, at least you will have a change to chat with some of the people you will be sailing with and to exchange ideas for what to see. I agree with the rest of the crowd, 6 hours (plus toilet stops coming and going) is a little much for just three hours in Paris -- especially when there is so much to see in Normandy. I believe that the standard pick-up point for Viking in Paris is the Churchill statue by the Petit Palais (a block or two from the Place de la Concord, where you will find toilets for a fee).

Been there! Loved it! Would go back in an instant. HOWEVER, it is, in its own way, demanding. There are a few places where the curbs are very high and the cobblestones are very rough and uneven. But, it is actually a small site covering only a few square blocks in the town of Ercolano. If you can get down the steps that lead to the excavation and you can figure out how to avoid the rough bits, it is quite delightful -- so much to see in a very small area. Naples is also the home of the National Museum of Archeology -- and the collection is unbelievable. All sorts of bits and pieces rescued from various excavations all across the country. This is one view of Herculaneum. You can see the fence running around the property is in the backyard of the apartment buildings along the far edge of the excavation.

NO!!!!

Personally, I don't think private messaging is any safer. You still have no idea if you are connecting with a true passenger or a shill gathering information.

INDULGE, LADIES!!! Polish definitely. Gel, I'm not sure. Acrylics, definitely not. I'm all acrylic so I haven't checked out their brand of polish. If you are brand or color specific, you might want to bring your own.

"Bait and switch" is when you intentionally lure customers into your store by advertising a really good deal on something that you don't really have in stock -- and never intended to have in stock -- and then try to high-pressure the customer to buy a more expensive version of the product at a higher price (it was a prevalent tactic of car dealers). The website is clear as to what cabin categories are available at the time we book and while an agent may point out that a higher cabin category will get you better amenities, they aren't pressuring us into anything more than we came to buy. I think what we have here is more like false advertising or defaulting on the contract -- but I'm not a lawyer. As of today, the Viking website still says "guaranteed":

First, the day by day description of the extension tells you which meals are included. Breakfasts are usually at the hotel -- fixed or buffet depends on what the particular hotel offers. An included lunch is usually at a restaurant and usually a fixed menu with sit-down service. An included dinner depends on whether it's attached to another activity or not. If you have special food requirements (allergies, celiac, vegetarian in particular), call Viking a few months in advance of departure and confirm before leaving home and once again upon arrival when you meet the Viking extension hosts.

Unacceptable answer! Contact Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com and see what they can do to make it right. It is past the time when they can blame it on Covid protocols because they have dumped most of them already. The more complaints they get about this new practice, the sooner they will make things right. It says on the website: 1 guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant 60 days prior to departure. In the meantime, keep checking with on MVJ. People change their minds. People have to cancel their cruise unexpectedly.

Here is where to find the information that has been shared above on the Viking website: On the header, choose SHIPS On the SHIPS page, chose any ship; it's the same for all ships: Scroll down the page until you get to the Stateroom Features.

Love the lavender fields. No picnic. We took the bread back to the ship where the charcuterie and a bottle of "La Gitana" were waiting for us -- took them to the Aquavit Terrace and settled in a table with a lovely view of the harbor and the town.

Or, if you want to play the odds that there will be space for you, show up on the dock where the buses are loading and ask if there is space for you. If there is, they will bill your account and hand you a boarding pass for the bus right then and there. If avoids paying for a cruise that you might miss because of timing but at the same time there is the risk that there won't be space for you.

If my fingers would only pay attention to what my brain is trying to say! That should be excursion not cruise.

A cancelled excursion should clear immediately such that you should be able to cancel one cruise and book a replacement in the same session. Cancel first, then book the new one because the booking system is built to prevent overlaps and double bookings. The leeway is closer to an hour than 15 minutes. Viking has no control over this; it is determined by the country you are visiting. Some countries do not permit you to bring food into the country and that includes when entering a country from a cruise ship.

Alternative transportation: The #100 bus also passes through here on it its way to Nice.

Viking Expeditions Thread is a captive audience and another place to get answers to your question. There are 69 people following the thread (a lot for a thread in this forum).

I'll add to the list -- Too much capacity added. With two ships they meet break even points for both ships but with three ships, none of them does? Third-party providers aren't ready for the demand (especially in the newer smaller ports)? And aren't ready to promise it for next summer either?

Good time to go, Liz. Won't be super crowded as in summer or over the Christmas holidays. Skip Marseilles and go to Aix-en-Provence. We were there in late December and loved the town. Quaint, Petite. Old World. We were lazy and took the OYO tour that Viking offered -- takes you right from the ship to the Old Town (which is the part you want to see). We never made it into Marseilles.

I don't think it is too early to start.There is a lot you can do but whether it will work is another story -- and you have to keep working at. First, it is a numbers problem. About one percent of Viking guests participate in Viking roll calls. On a ship with room for 926 people, that is 9 people on average for a roll call. Every now and then a roll call is hugely active -- but they are the exception not the rule. So how can you beat the odds -- without poaching other forums. 1. Advertise. Make the first line in your Cruise Critic signature a hot link to your roll call. Only the first four lines of your signature file show above the "expand signature" and that's where you want to put any links. Learn how to make hot links, they take up less room. 2. Now that you have your advertising, see and be seen. Participate in threads here in the Viking forum. Comment. Ask questions. Mention your specific itinerary and date where appropriate. Always have an eye out for people who will be sailing with you and tell them about the roll call "Hey, we're on the same sailing; you should join the roll call." Try to be up-beat; enthusiasm can be contagious. 3. Continue to actively participate in your roll call no matter how many people are there. Share what you learn -- from books, from television, from YouTube -- any thing, any place that does not break Cruise Critic guidelines -- anything to spark a conversation. Greet everyone who joins the conversation. Ask them a question that cannot be answered in one word. Activity breeds more activity. 4. Sometimes I've started a thread in the Viking Ocean forum about the itinerary itself asking folks who have already taken the cruise to please join in and help those of us who in the planning stages by answering questions and sharing experiences. Then I start asking specific questions about the itinerary. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't -- and it does take effort sustain. It works best on itineraries with multiple sailings in a season. You may even find someone who is sailing with you and then you can invite them to join the roll call. 5. Scour the Roll Call list for you ship looking for duplicate roll calls for your sail date -- especially if they were started after yours -- and ask Cruise Critic to combine them. There should only be one roll call per sail-date.

The tour companies took a beating during the hiatus. Guides and drivers got jobs elsewhere. Some are returning to their old jobs and other are not. Rebuilding the infrastructure is going to be a slow process; it takes a while to train new guides and drivers. Demand is out stripping the supply at this point -- and even more so now that ships are actually filling more and more cabins. Viking does not keep waiting lists. As mentioned above, check in with MVJ/Shorex every day. People change their minds and places become available without notice -- first come, first served. Viking adds additional places when they can and this also happens without fanfare. Some tours are absolutely limited to a certain number of places and no more. But others can be added to, especially if Viking knows there is demand. So write a quick note to Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com to tell them how disappointed you are that <name the tour or tours> have sold out so quickly since you were really looking forward to them and beg them to add more spaces. Include your booking number and your phone number. If you have not prevailed, check when you board and keep trying, up to and including showing up on the pier ready to board immediately if they can accommodate you on one of the buses. They will bill your stateroom from right there on the dock.