vslparis

Thanks ! Now we know what to look for 😀

You are correct of course . I realized that after I reread your post. However, I still did not see any booked excursions on the APP a until about 2 hours after you saw yours. Strange, but not worth losing sleep over !

Hope this comes out OK.

Interesting, no shore excursions showed up on my app until around noon . I even deleted and reinstalled the app. Even once they did show up , I couldn’t book on the app. Turned my paper in right after noon and only got two of my first choices. One stop it was the third choice 😬. However, I know to keep checking so hopefully some of my first choices might become available.

I think that I would question that. You only need the vaccine if you are coming from infected countries and when I looked at those countries the other day, we were not stopping anywhere that was on the list. Things could change of course, but I certainly would ask them to clarify.

Looks very nice. I would have enjoyed seeing all those Art Deco buildings. We almost didn’t make it into Nelson due to high winds, but on the 3rd attempt we were able to dock ; although about 2 hours late. Viking did a great job of rearranging the tours. They even got the Nelson Car Museum to stay open an extra couple of hours for the late tours.

This is our third time to Wellington and have seen a good bit there. I had looked at the tram before, but didn’t want to pay for an excursion there as we could have done it on our own. However, this time it is an included tour so we will give it a try .

Makes sense . My thought is if the Captain says it is unsafe to go, then we don’t go. Love Wellington and the Te Papa Museum ( which is one of the included tours) ; not sure about McDonalds though 🤣. The Gallipoli : The Scales of Our War exhibit, in collaboration with the WETA Worksop , there is not to be missed. I think the included tour gives about 90 minutes in the museum, but I would recommend that you take your time there and use the shuttle bus to return to the ship if it stops close by.

Unfortunately, no wine tasting in Napier ( Hawk’s Bay ) tomorrow as our stop there has been cancelled due to high winds. We will have a day at sea and head directly to Wellington. Guess we will have to just drink some New Zealand wine in the Living Room or Explorer’s bar .🤣

Yes indeed; lots of mop-up going on and drying off of chairs .

We were on the Saturn in August doing the Bergen to NYC trip and they did open the windows on a few days. However one of those days the windows either were left slightly open or perhaps the seal around them on the port side failed because when the automatic window cleaner came by one afternoon , my husband a several others sitting in those lounge chairs received an unexpected shower 🤣. Took the crew a good while to dry up the whole area 😬

Just put that deadheading non rev in a jump seat 🤣

I can’t speak to what Viking does in these ports as we have always done the SS package but I do know that the extra tax is not just Europe as we had it in Spain on Oceania this spring on drinks, but in the US too. We sailed out of Miami in January ,also on Oceania, and they added a sales tax to a glass of wine that I ordered. The bartender said that once we were out of port, they didn’t add the extra tax. I noticed it because Oceania has you sign for a drink if you don’t have a package. I don’t believe that Viking does that so it may be hard to tell ;although something might be posted about it in the Viking Daily.

The best thing to do is make sure that the staff on board know what your flight time is. Is a 10:05 am flight out too early for a 7am arrival, yes. However , that 7 am time is not necessarily the port arrival time , but clearance delays can happen. If keep making them aware of your restrictions , I have no doubt that they will do their best to get you off as soon as possible . You might want to have Plan B in case you don’t make your flight ; especially if you are checking luggage.

Instead of asking them to give you business class on the Air Canada schedule that you have, why not ask them what business class they do have for your itinerary . As others have said, Viking has contracts for airfare ; but it is not for every flight on every airline and it is not always the least expensive. If it doesn’t work out with them , then hopefully you have a good travel agent who can help you find a good option for you or you are skilled enough to do it on your own. Good luck and I know once on board you will enjoy Viking 😀