Peregrina651

On the other hand, if the airline has not opened the seats for booking, there is nothing that Viking can do. There is no required date for when an airline must make seats available for booking, only an industry norm. And there is nothing to say that they have to make contract seats available at the same time they open booking to the public. If you are concerned about not getting the seats you need and are comfortable doing so, check out what it would take to book on your own and then decide if that is how you want to handle it. Double check with Viking but this far out, you should be able to cancel Viking Air and get your money back, since the seats have not yet been ticketed. If you choose to book your own flights and you are arriving and departing on Day 1 and Day Last of the cruise, you can buy Viking transfers.

AND, if you decide to arrive a day or two early for the pre-cruise, you still have to get yourself from the airport to the pre-cruise hotel, even if you have gotten your flights through Viking.

No charge for shuttles.

However, the schedule changes from day to day depending on the day's schedule, so be sure to check the daily, especially for meal times.

Yes.

You said it!! And those individual cups are brewed on an espresso machine, starting with beans ground right at the bar in small batches as needed. Talk about fresh!

Even the Viking tours don't necessarily follow the tour in order as written in the description but they do cover all of the places. They do this intentionally so that everyone isn't in the same place at the same time. Your scheduled time in port (and schedules are always subject to change) is shown on both your Viking invoice and on the MVJ calendar. It usually takes half an hour to prepare for disembarkation once docked and back on board for all pax is usually half an hour before stated departure.

For changes made before you sail, it goes back to the bank/credit card. For changes made once you are on board, it goes on your shipboard account. Any balance on the shipboard account is refunded to the credit card attached to your on board account. Also note that there is a pre-cruise black out period of seven days when you cannot make any changes on MVJ. So, make sure that if you are contemplating any changes to be made prior to boarding that it gets done at least 8 days before sailing. Shorex booked for DAY 2 are kind of a catch-22 when it comes to cancelling since shorex must be cancelled 36 hours in advance -- and if you try to cancel as soon as you board, it still isn't 36 hours in advance. If you have made up your mind about cancelling DAY2, best to get it done before you board.

Living Room Bar opens at 6am -- maybe earlier on disembarkation day. Closes at midnight. Serves munchies all day long -- continental breakfast items until late-morning, sandwiches, cookies and pastries the rest of the day.

It is confusing. There is no named Athens to Ft. Lauderdale itinerary and it will be confusing for the folks who are looking for the roll calls for Athens to Rome, Rome to Barcelona or Athens to Barcelona.

This seems to be your roll call. The ship is the Neptune: December 8, 2022 to Ft Lauderdale – Pre World Cruises, includes Athens (Nov 24th), Rome (Dec 1st) & Barcelona (Dec 8th

If Viking were offering this in January, 2024, I would be booked already. Now that I am a more adept traveler, I want to go back. I want to see these places with more experienced eyes and ears. DH is quick to say, "Been there; done that. What's next," but I think we left a lot on the table and might be ready to return. We did Istanbul to Athens with Renaissance in January (20-some odd years ago). It was a great time for us to travel. The places we wanted to see were fairly empty -- even the big sights weren't elbow to elbow. The weather, though not perfect, was much more tolerable for us than the high heat of summer (especially for Mom and me, who start to wilt at 75° and grind to a halt not that long thereafter). Another thing to consider. Politically, this may be a good time to be visiting Turkey, while it is possible. Viking had pulled out of there in 2016 and I think were just starting to return in 2020. Should things become unpredictable there again, Viking will not hesitate to change its plans. If Turkey is on your bucket, I say see it while you can.

Write to tellus@vikingcruises.com and ask. Tell them how very disappointed you are that so much was sold out before you could even book and ask them if they will be adding more seats. Name the tours you really want to take so they know exactly what they should be adding. Viking does not keep wait-lists so they really have no way of knowing what the demand is. The more people who write to let them know what there is unfulfilled demand, the more of a chance that additional space will be added. In the meantime, keep checking (like every day, twice if you have the inclination) for openings. People change their minds; people have to cancel their cruises; more spaces are added -- and all without fanfare. If you can only get one seat for a tour you really, really want , take it (unless it is for Day 2 of the cruise because you won't be able to cancel it if you don't get a second seat) because it is easier to wangle another seat on a tour, if you already have one. If a second opens up, take it even if the times don't match; that can usually fixed.

We did Iceland last summer with Viking. They did a series of "Welcome Back Cruises" one of which was a circumnavigation of Iceland. Here's my two cents about what to see in Iceland -- and it isn't Reykjavik -- for me, it is the countryside, the flora, the fauna and the geology -- tectonic plates meeting, waterfalls and landscapes terraformed by volcanos and glaciers, homes powered by geothermal energy. If you only have two days, get out of town and see the countryside. (BTW, the included tour is lackluster, pretty much what you see elsewhere.) There is no Viking bubble, so you don't have stick with Viking shorex. After the cruise and out of the bubble, we spent two days touring with GreyLine tours -- and there are other companies as well. We did Golden Circle bus tour for half the price the ship is offering. The picked us up at the ship (luggage and all) and at the end of the day dropped us at our hotel. They have other tours as well and also offer small group and private tours. (We chose to do an area that Viking didn't cover, the Snaefells Peninsula, on our second day; it was a 14 seater mini-bus with 8 pax -- perfect. Well paced so that we all had plenty of time to see the countryside, take pictures and not feel like we were being rushed off to the next stop on the tour). We did do one tour with the ship while we were still in the bubble -- the one to Reykjanes Peninusla. It was a huge disappointment. Not at all what I was expecting or wanted. That said. I did save the shorex with pricing. I printed the Reykjavik pages to attach here. It will give you an idea of what to expect in Reykjavik (because I don't expect the prices will be going down for this year.) For Norway and Faroe Islands (and Iceland as well, come to think of it), you might be able to get some current pricing information if you ask on the roll calls for Iceland's Majestic Landscapes (on Jupiter). There are at least two sailings this summer -- Norway to Iceland and then a sailing returning to Norway. If you list the tours you are interested in, maybe some one will fill in the prices. 2021 Reykjavik tours with prices.pdf

Sorry to say, if booking was supposed to have opened already, then all bets are off. Viking has been having great difficultly with this since the start up and things are not yet back to normal. I keep saying that we are ready to cruise but the industry infrastructure isn't ready for us. Things will not go according the normal plan. Booking will open for everyone at the same time and it will be first-come-first-served regardless of room category. Plan to be at the computer when they say things will open -- but check even before that time to see if they have opened. THEREFORE, it's time for PLAN B. Sit down now, with the information you have available to you, which is the tour descriptions that are found on the Viking website -- not MVJ. If you haven't found the tour descriptions already: Go to the Viking website and find your cruise. Make sure you are on the page with map and the pretty pictures. Scroll down to the section called Day by Day and on Day 2, click on the right side where it says READ MORE. This will take you to the information you want: descriptions of the tours. Note: not all of the tours shown on this page will necessarily be offered on your sailing. Before you start scrolling down Day 2 to see the tours, note the navigational arrows on either side of Day 2. If you are going thru the days in order, it is easier to use these arrow than go back to the list of days. Now, scroll down Day 2 and you will see the tours for that day. Click anywhere in the tour box to get a description of the tour including duration but not including price. I suggest you start a document with the tours that you are interested in. Tours are not listed in price order. At least now, you have an idea of what you might see when the final selection of tours is posted. You have time to read the descriptions at leisure and make some tentative decisions so that when you finally do see pricing you are ready to act. About pricing. It depends on where you are how much you are going to be paying for tours. In general, tours that include meals or exotic equipment are more expensive.

It depends on the source of the money that was used to pay for the shorex. If you paid by credit card, you will get your money back. If payment by vouchers is involved, it is more complicated because voucher money from cancelled cruises had to be used before boarding the ship. Be careful here. The Viking process is very specific. You have to check out before you are charged. Putting a tour into your shopping cart does not complete the transaction -- and a tour is not yours, even if it is in your cart, until you complete check out.

Under normal conditions (i.e., pre-Covid), shorex loaded in around 120 days prior to Day 1 of the cruise for all to see. Booking then opens for pax on a schedule based on your stateroom category. The date is shown on your Viking invoice (scroll down till you find it). If you are working with a travel agent, make sure that they have sent you a copy of your Viking invoice, not just an agency invoice. There is important information on the the invoice that will help you as you plan your cruise. If you are in PV or higher, you don't need to be in front of the computer the moment your booking period opens unless you are planning on booking one of the tours that has very few spaces to begin with -- like helicopter rides or other limited access type tours. If you are in a DV or V, then absolutely be in front of the computer when booking opens. These two categories account for the majority of cabins on board and spaces will go quickly. Even if a tour is in your shopping cart, it is not yours until the transaction is complete. You can not put a tour into your shopping cart while you make up your mind; it will be sold. Therefore, if there is an optional tour that you really want, make it the first thing you put into your cart and then go immediately to check out. Once you plunk down your credit card and complete the transaction, it is yours. The go back and do the rest of your shopping. You do have to reserve seats for the included tours as well and even though you you don't have to pay for them, you have to complete the transaction process and get a receipt. Save the receipts! Print them to PDF and put them on your mobile device, just in case there are problems. It depends on where we are going and what the included tour covers what we will choose to do. The included tours tend to be short -- half day or less -- because many people want to do other things during the day -- explore on their own, take an optional tour in addition to the included -- or enjoy time on the ship. Personally, we decide what it is we want to see in a given port and then see what is being offered. We will do the included only if it is doing things we want to do. Life's too short to take the included tour because we already paid for it when it is what is on the optional tour that we really want to see. You got 'em already in the first 3 sections. 😉 PLUS one more: if you are closed out of an included tour, meaning no space in any of the time slots, contact Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com. Tell them that it is sold out and ask if they will be adding more spaces. then start watching MVJ for spaces to open up. If you get just one seat, take it. It is always easier to another seat when you already have one. The same goes if you are sold out of an optional -- but i always add a bit of sob stuff, like how disappointed I am that a tour I really wanted to do has sold out (honey not vinegar!) Differs from port to port depending on the provider and their resources. It also depends on how many people are on board and how many slots they have to offer. TIP OF LAST RESORT: If worse comes to worse and there is a tour that you just can't on no matter how hard you have tried. Show up on the dock (ready to go) and talk with the Shorex team that is counting people and loading. Ask if there is room for two more. They well sell you a ticket and get you right on the bus if there is room.

No, but your brain knew that you wanted to check and so it woke you anyway.

Reading the Viking FAQ, found at the bottom of every Viking webpage, will tell you a lot about the ship. Plus, there are multiple threads in this forum about laundry that treat the subject in depth.

It may depend on what size planes Thunder Bay airport can accommodate.

Skip MVJ. With such a large party, you should reach out to Viking Guest Services for help with these reservations at whatever the phone number is on the Viking website. Start with a group meeting to discuss dining. Share everything you have learned here. Gather all the Viking booking numbers for each cabin. Make some quick decisions as to your preferred dining time and which nights you think you want to eat in the specialty restaurants. Some things you should know: It may take a couple of tries to find someone in the call center who knows how to make the reservations for you. Hang up and call again until you find someone who can; they do exist. Unless you are all in the same cabin class (V/DV/PV, etc.), the number of advanced reservations that you will be able to make as a group for the specialty restaurants and the timing of when you can make them will be determined by least privileged of the cabins. You can try to do it earlier but they might not let you. BTW, this hold true for any cabins number of cabins trying to make reservations together. Once on board, you may make as many reservations for the specialty restaurants as they will let you (which for a group of 10 may not be easy). If you are planning on dining together every night, consider asking for a standing reservation in the main dining room for one the few large round tables that they have. You may have to wait until you board the ship to do this. If they do let you do it in advance, confirm when you board that it has been done. There is sushi and seafood in the buffet every night. (If you don't want to eat a whole meal there, it makes a lovely appetizer before heading down to the MDR for dinner).

Just a reminder that Viking doesn't offer Air Plus on all itineraries and this may be one of them. That said, if you find someone in Viking Air who will talk with you, you might be able to talk them into an overnight in Toronto at your expense. There are some restrictions on the timing. I can never remember if it is that your flight to Toronto must depart within 24 hours of the departure to Thunder Bay or your arrival in Toronto must be within 24 hours.

Wow, that is a lame excuse. I'll bet it has nothing to do with it being a one day flight. Flights into Miami and Puerto Rico are one day flights and folks are able to deviate to arrive early. More likely, it is because Thunder Bay is a small domestic airport with no direct flights from the US -- not even from Duluth, the nearest US city. (Google "direct flights from YQT" to learn more). I would call Viking Air again (and again) until you find someone who is willing to explain the situation to you and answer question. I would also do a bit of investigating as to what flight plans look like from your home airport to Thunder Bay. You might not want to be at Viking's mercy, even if they have a really good deal on the flights. You may decide that it is worth paying the fee for custom air and have some say in your flights. Also, Viking has just arrived on the Great Lakes in the past few weeks and there is not a lot of actual experience to draw on. Maybe one boat-load has flown into TB so far. Getting answers won't be easy. Finally, you might try asking this question of the Expeditions thread as well -- if you haven't already.

In addition to what Squawkman just said: It does not matter how many cruises you have already taken; this is the discount. There are no loyalty tiers. If you book a future cruise on board, the discount is doubled. Viking occasionally offers double discount as a booking incentive.

On our last cruise, we ate in CT 5 times, different menu each time, and each night, the chef had to make some sort of change or other to at least one item on the menu because of my allergies and dislikes (I don't like octopus!) Even without peppers, garlic or raw onion, each dish that I was served was as rich in flavor as the dish it was covering for.