dd57

One other thing to understand is whether your CC has any limits for repayments. For example my Chase card limits repayment for provider bankruptcy to the smaller of amount paid or $5000. So I only charge $5000 on that card when paying Viking and pay the remainder another way. This info was buried in the small print.

Right now there are low clouds obscuring the coastline, but we are 4 hours away from our scheduled entry into Disenchantment Bay. Hopefully the clouds lift when we get closer. The weather has been excellent the last 3 days....

Well, as CurlerRob posted the rules say no jeans, nice or otherwise.

The only time we heard noise from a crew access door was on boarding day when the door is propped open for luggage delivery. And we only heard noise when our door was open.

Crapola would be an upgrade. It is better now that we are at sea in the Gulf of Alaska instead of surrounded by mountains. In port I just use my cellphone as a hotspot. There has been great Verizon service in both Seward and Valdez.

Just back from dinner. By 7 pm the restaurant was full. Now, I only could see the 20 some couples in the section we were seated in, and the other section we walked thru, and a line waiting to be seated, but I only saw one couple wearing jeans. It is possible their luggage didn't make it. There were lots of jeans the first night, but most people boarded after 3pm and luggage was slow getting to cabins. Tonight I saw lots of khakis, some nicer slacks, and no jackets.

BTW, as I recall you are getting yourselves to Seward from Anchorage. If you get there before 3 pm, you will have the ship almost to yourselves. Our Anchorage precruise extension didn't take anyone to the ship until after 3pm. We hopped off once the bus got to Seward at 1:30, told the driver what we were doing, and took the free city shuttle to the ship where we breezed through checkin and were amazed at how empty the ship was.

4 Viking bus loads, which are never full. I would guess maybe 160 people. The bus ride was maybe 5 minutes to the dock and was mainly to get us out of the commercial harbor and around the corner to the small boat harbor.

Viking chartered the whole boat. Although there were 4 bus loads, the boat was only about half full. The crew was fantastic.

We had done the Kenai Fjords cruise before, so yesterday we did the Resurrection bay cruise. It was great too. Porpoises followed our bow wave for over 5 minutes; a pod of humpback got close to us and deep dived, raising their tails; saw puffins, stellar sea lions, seals, and countless birds. The boat maneuvered very very close to cliffs until you felt you could touch them. Today we did Highlights of Valdez. I had thought from the description that we would go higher up in the mountains but didn't. But the salmon are running now so the stop at the fish hatchery was amazing to see the masses of salmon and black bears feeding. Our guide Betty was made the trip with her humor, stories of living in Valdez, and living thru the 1964 earthquake.

It absolutely can wait. It saves you, oh, maybe 90 seconds at the pier by uploading your photo. We never have bothered. BTW, your cruise card won't have your photo on it. Instead the staff carry tablets/phones that display your photo when you make an order or reboard.

On the other hand, the dog is lucky to get away from her.

In our experience, Global Entry is quicker when the airport has separate lines for it, and I'm pretty sure Vancouver does. You use a kiosk and the lines are usually much shorter. There is usually an agent nearby if you have issues with the kiosk.

Gonzo means wild or crazy. Gonzoid would be used when gonzo is woefully inadequate.

We really enjoy classical music and appreciate Viking's live music. At least it isn't constant polka music like we had on a HAL trip once! They already have different types of music in different locals at different times, at least between Explorer's and the Atrium. But adding more genres (and more modern music) at different times would be a great addition. And more quiet times instead of recorded music.

The Insurance docs you get from Viking clearly state that the coverage is in two parts: CFAR provided by Viking (and you get the money back in the form of a Viking voucher); and trip interruption, delay, medical, provided by Tripmate.

Like JDincalif said. Last August we flew in the day of the cruise and Viking took us to a restaurant for breakfast but others on later trips were taken to a hotel conference room where they had coffee and snacks. We were then taken to the ship around 10 am.

The CFAR coverage is provided by Viking, not Tripmate, which is why the Tripmate T&Cs don't address it. You need to ask Viking this question.

I lived in Honolulu for 6 months and would go snorkeling most weekends. Hanauma Bay was best, followed by some hidden spots on the North Shore. But, as you say, the North Shore is too rough in winter. Could you flip your day and snorkel after hiking Diamond Head? This would also avoid a lot of back and forth driving as Hanauma Bay is really close to Diamond Head while Pearl Harbor is on the other side of Honolulu.

We, too, have changed itinerary and dates, before 120 days, keeping the same booking number, and the Tripmate insurance moved.

I understand what the OP was asking. I was building off of AKJonsey's post questioning driving that far. I was providing an alternate approach.

On one of our best trips to Alaska, we cruised northbound from Vancouver, picked up a rental RV in Anchorage, and then spent 2 weeks driving up to Denali (great RV parks in Talkeetna and in Denali National Park), back down to Soldatna (took a flight to Kenai to go salmon fishing and bear watching), Homer, Seward (Kenai Fjord tour), and ending back in Anchorage to fly home.

Ravenna became the capital of the Christian Roman empire in 400 something, and paid a huge roll in the political and religious developments. The mosaics of Justinian mosaics in the basilica of San Vitale show his claims as emperor over both military, politics, and religion and was the first church mosaics to portray such a message. As an art history major, it was the first place I wanted to see in Europe in my 20s. So I might be biased. Justinian built Hagia Sophia. If you are interested in medieval history, going to Ravenna would be time well spent.

If you like trains, there is a fantastic trip from Bergen to Oslo. Lots of easy flight connections from Oslo. You can easily do the train on your own or thru Viking. We did this after our cruise ended in Bergen.

I know Viking includes one excursion in each port, not each day. So if you spend multiple days in a port, you only get one. At least that is for a single segment cruise, and happened to us on a Viking river cruise. But if you are doing a B2B or multi segment, that seems excessive.