Peregrina651

The same HOHO bus stops at Newhaven before it reaches the Britannia stop.

Also note that 1) pre-registration is available only for VISA cards and 2) is not required even if you have a VISA card (it is pushed as convenience, nothing more).

The same HOHO bus stops at Newhaven before it reaches the Britannia stop.

Definitely a tender port.

Cruisemapper is a third-party source of information and isn't always accurate. Better to go to the harbormaster's website for the ports your are interested in..

Save yourself the frustration; the call center agents were wrong. Viking Air only books flights; it has nothing to do with transfers.

A lot depends on the port where you are disembarking. Some ports require that the ship be completely cleared of departing pax before arriving pax can board. Sometimes, you can arrange to stay on-board. Sometimes, it depends on how many people have late flights. Viking has a number of ways of dealing with evening departures. Hopefully, those who have done Buenos Aires with Viking will see this thread and share their experiences with you. If the e-mail above doesn't have the information you need, try tellus@vikingcruises.com. Also, consider arranging a day tour plus transfer to the airport (there is definitely plenty to see in Buenos Aires). You could use the roll call for your sailing to arrange such for a small group.

There is space on the laundry slip for special requests. If you are concerned that written instructions might not be enough or that they might not be understood, you could also explain it to your cabin steward and ask that the explanation be passed along to the laundry room. You could even put the above picture on your phone/tablet to aid in the description.

While the information is helpful, smaller denominations than 10 are used for tipping tourguides and bus drivers and thus we ask if can rely on the ship to supply us with smaller notes.

Perhaps the issue on the WC is that there are so many currencies to deal with that they choose to deal with none except the onboard currency.

Just to change the topic again. To those who have already done this itinerary, for which currencies will Viking break larger bills into smaller bills. I know that they do not do currency exchange and I know that they usually will break US$ but will they also break € and/or £? Thanks in advance!

Jim says only US$, but that is when you are in the US. In Europe, you can break €. I fully expect that we will also be able to break £ while in the British Islands.

Viking shuttle runs from the ship to the Columbus statue at the foot of La Ramblas. Every half hour.

Or, if you want to do this all on your own, it is very do-able. From the ship, take a cab (or uber?) directly to Sagrada Familia. The cab will drop you at the cab rank, which is close to the entrance. You can also take the ship shuttle to the drop off point and get a cab from there (imho, costs less but takes more time). BTW, if your knees are good and you can do steps, consider taking the elevator up into the towers. The view is spectacular but the only way back down is the stairs. You can do an all-Gaudí day if you want, by adding Parc Guell and a few other places. Or you can explore other aspects of the city. I like wandering in circles around the Barrio Gotico -- checkout the cathedral, find a quiet out of the way bar to stop for refreshment (especially on a hot day when you need to keep hydrated), check out Plaza Catalonia (which sometimes has dedicated activities), stroll La Ramblas, (buy saffron (azafran) either in the Carrefour supermarket or the Boqueria market 3 blocks down the street --or both places since they offer two very distinct shopping experiences). You don't have to walk the whole length of the street to get the idea of what it is about-- walk a few blocks then explore the side streets. If you like art museums, there is the Picasso Museum near the Barrio Gotico or the Miro Foundation and the MNAC (Museo Nacional de Art Catalan) even further afield on Montjuic -- just for starters. Take a tour of the Gaudi-esque Palau de Musica -- cool architecture and design inside and out. Consider taking a loop on one of the hop-on-hop-off buses. There is so much to see and do in Barcelona that you can't do it all in one day (or even nine days). IMHO, pick 2 or 3 places that you really want to see and take the time to see them well.

You could consider an overnight in Florence (for which you need to clear your absence with the cruiseline). Head to Florence on Monday (https://www.visitflorence.com/florence-museums/open-on-mondays.html); there is still plenty that is open. On Tuesday, you can do the Uffizzi or the Academia in the morning ( provided tickets are available) before taking the train back to Livorno -- you won't really have time to do more than one. Aim for the first time slot of the day.

We got ourselves to Florence and back by train. There are direct trains and trains where you have to change trains. We made sure to take direct trains. Look the schedule on Trenitalia.com. We did it on day one in Livorno; getting back before sailaway was not an issue. We took the Viking shuttle into town and then cab to the station. On the way to the station, the cabby offer us flat rate to drive us to Florence for the say. The 3 others in the cab took him up on the offer. I do don't remember the price but it was 6 years ago and price have gone up since the pandemic. If you aren't going to find a cab to take you to Florence, don't bother with the shuttle. Take a cab from the dock directly to the station. It will save you time. Return train should get you back to Livorno station at least 45 min before back on board time. We had a bit of a wait for a cab when we returned to the station. We would have been panicking had we the back on board time to deal with. Finally, we bought our tickets from the agent in the station. I wrote down what I wanted and handed the paper to the agent.

Mr. Hagen is not going to live forever. There will be changes in how the company is run in the future regardless of an IPO. Whether future management can sustain the success of the company and stick to the vision of its founder is the stuff of crystal balls -- and will have a much bigger impact on the future of the company than the small IPO that has supposedly been proposed. An IPO at this point is a minor distraction when the big concern for the future of the company is management after Mr. Hagen.

My last thought is to beg, borrow or steal your own folding wheels -- provided Mr. s is on board with the pushing that he will have to do. Yes, I know it is a pain and means major changes to how and what you pack but, from all you have described, perhaps it will be more a blessing than a curse in the long run. It certainly should save your legs for doing what you want to do as opposed to what you have to do.

If the company goes under.

Agreed. Drop in the bucket. But I'd buy 100 shares, especially if it comes with some sort of investors' onboard bonus, just to say I own it.

New article doesn't say anything more than the first article said-- and most of it seems to be guess work and extrapolation based on public knowledge.

Contact Viking and find out about arranging for wheelchairs at the airport to get to the bus and at the cruise terminal. Most definitely repeat the line about galloping behind the fitness instructor and nightmare. Very effective description. If you don't like the answers you are getting, ask to speak to a supervisor, until you get to someone who can actually help you. Or start with tellus@vikingcruises.com and escalate from there. Even if Viking says no problem, you need a plan B -- because Viking does not handle the operations in Istanbul; it is a third-party provider.

It is not really new, I had seen it a couple of times prior to the pandemic, but it is definitely a rare occurrence. It would be nice if they started offering more than one choice in more ports.

You may book one included and one optional but not two included. (Moreover, included excursions cannot be purchased).

Not for most people. 2/3 of the cabins are Veranda and Deluxe Veranda (314 cabins out of 465), which do not have alcoholic beverages stocked in the minibar. In those cabins, if you want alcohol in the minibar, you have to pay for it and the minibar is not covered by the drinks package.