vslparis

21 hours ago, kjbacon said:

The place we go for tests sends your results by text message and email. Will this be acceptable to Viking?

No.  On several of their Pre Cruise Requirement pages they clearly state the results must be presented in Paper /Electronic form ( No Text ).  Whether or not a text printed off would be considered an electronic form or not I am not sure, but would not take the chance.  Perhaps your testing company would be able to give a paper or another type of non text form.

The issue is where are you sailing from . Right now, for US Embarkation  ( Ft Lauderdale, LA etc.) it is 2 days prior to boarding the ship.  

If you are sailing from an International port it can be 72 hours ( if you are sailing from a country that does not require a Covid test to enter like France and Germany )  before your first Viking experience; however, there is also that caveat that I saw that says, if the country you are entering requires a different time line, then you follow that !  No wonder people are confused 🤥

9 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

If your cruise begins December 31, 2021 or earlier, chances are better than not you will need the 72 hour PCR.

Well, it is" no more than 72 hours prior" so if you did 48 hours, you would be fine ( assuming that you could get that of course 😉) .

22 hours ago, Azulann said:

 

 Our  cruise director Heather Clancy is outstanding !!!!.she has a wonderful sense of humor and a great speaking style .
She just said that we will have rain each day the rest of cruise. “ therefore Viking takes care of the excursions, your food but not the weather. That is your job. So each passenger please , Go out on your balcony before dinner and do a dance to stop the rain, Thank you ! “
 

 

 

 

Heather is a wonderful cruise director and entertainer.  What a marvelous voice she has ! 

4 hours ago, janetcbl said:

We used Viking Air once, years ago. Since then we have booked our own flights because I want control over airlines, flights, times, etc. For our up coming trip in 2022, beginning in London, we plan to arrive the day before departure, stay overnight at a hotel adjoining the terminal and joining up with the Viking transfer the next day from the airport to the ship. Seems simple enough, will be interesting to see how it actually works out!

It should work out fine; we have done this several times.  Just remember to request your arrival transfers by filling out the Transfer Request Form found in My Viking Journey and sending it to the email address listed .  I find it less confusing for them if you just say on the form that you are arriving the day of embarkation 😉.  They say that it should be done at least 30 days prior .  I would also double check and make sure that it is on the booking ; more important for the arrival than departure as you can check that ( or arrange for that ) on board. 

We were on board for Christmas 2019 sailing Bali to Sydney.  While Viking had the ship decorated in the typical understated Norwegian way, and several Holiday concerts in the Living Room area, they did not have a “special “ Christmas dinner in the MDR or anywhere else on the ship , just the usual great choices . 

37 minutes ago, Denny01 said:

Understand. Now that Heidi13 has explained more fully, I understand that what I thought was OK with booking a single cruise from a Canadian port to a US port, then a while later, booking a 2nd cruise from a US port to a Canadian port would be allowed. Turns out Viking, after sending my TA the second booking, then combined the two into a 14N cruise so I thought that was the error - one cruise from Canada to Canada ports…..after finally listening to Heidi13, I understand it didn’t matter, it was considered a single ‘transit’. 

 

I can see how Viking would miss it when I booked so far apart, but one other booked a full run from Toronto to Thunder Bay and was allowed to do it and I have a feeling there are more than a few in the situation. Most of the Great Lakes cruises are fully booked for 2022.

 

den

They whole Cabotage thing is something us mere mortals will probably never quite understand so it is understandable that it did not occur to you.

Once Viking combined the two bookings, it should have occurred them though .  Let’s hope that they are paying more attention to this situation now.

I know that the cruise lines would love to see those Cabotage rules go away for cruises.  You run into the same issues with trying to do the same thing on some Alaska and Caribbean cruises .  

The fact that @Denny01 booked the two trips a year apart ( as opposed to booking them at the same time as B2B ) caused the disconnect .   I wonder if the person mentioned that received the email from Viking booked the two cruises as a back to back.  Usually, back to back sailings are review by cruise lines to prevent something just like this .

I am sorry that you were disappointed @Denny01   and hopefully Viking us this situation to better train their agents so that others don’t experience the same thing. 

Also, agree that Viking should have anticipated that some people would like to do two itineraries . 

11 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

We have been gone for 6 months and remove all persihables. We keep the fridge/freezer running, but may adjust the temperature somewhat, so they aren't as cold.

That is what we plan to do.   As you and others  have done, we will leave the unit on, just perhaps with a lower temperature. Only 89 days left to work through what is in that freezer ! 

7 minutes ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

I emptied the refrigerator but left it running.   On my first cruise - I had left one bag of frozen peas and the fridge failed.   It was over 10 years old at the time.  The fridge smelled so bad it I just bought a new one.   I may empty the fridge in the future and turn it off and leave the door cracked....

 

You can buy freezer alarms that would send you an email if the fridge fails- then assuming you have a trusted neighbor - they could empty the fridge - but probably easier to just empty it yourself in advance. 

Thanks.  That is what I thought but wanted to hear from someone that has done this a few times.  We have a side by side that is smaller than average as we needed a shallow depth for our condo but the freezer still is pretty full ! Not too worried about emptying out the fridge, but doing the freezer is going to take planning.  If not our son that lives close by will be getting a large care package 😁

On 9/20/2021 at 1:34 AM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

My blog is focused on world cruises, particularly Holland America.   I have a lot of FAQ's and other tips including a detailed section on costs and a total cost calculator  HERE - again geared toward HAL but it can be adapted to other lines

 

Pete

 

www.theinsidecabin.com

I have enjoyed your blogs and tips . Since you have taken several World Cruises perhaps you can answer a question - what did you do about your refrigerator/freezer when you were gone so long ? 

On 9/21/2021 at 2:25 PM, Jim Avery said:

Just my two cents worth but a world cruise, especially one where all the passengers are taking the full cruise as opposed to BtoBto BtoBto B,  etc. is to me not like any other cruise.  We think of it as moving to a new little town and securing a small waterfront flat.  Small but very nicely fitted with a top notch staff and everything we could want included.  And then our flat changes locations daily.  The only problem is when they tell you to go home.....🍸

What a perfect description of what I envision my upcoming WC to be ! My

 DH and I recently spent a couple of nights on Mackinac Island at the Grand Hotel . I thought that our WC experience might be like spending the summer season on the island with it’s seasonal residents at the Grand and the summer “cottages” on the island but with the added benefit of the island breaking free and setting sail for a few months around the world 😎

On 9/26/2021 at 8:53 AM, Tom.in.nc said:

Unless you are flying internationally on American Airlines.

 Yes, very true for AA or any other One World partner .  While not obligatory to fill out , it did save us a bit of time and the hassle of pulling out documents flying home on AA last month from Paris . It is also a good way for the consumer to double check that they have the required documents needed to travel.  

Not  good for many other airlines at the moment ; many seem to have their own document verification systems.  

Perhaps if you call BA and talk to someone while you have their passenger locator form pulled up on your phone ( or in another tab on your computer) , along with the gov.uk site in another tab they might clear things up for you.

I find it hard to believe that an airline  would have different rules than the offical government site , but I have seen it and the airline site was in error. 

On 9/24/2021 at 4:06 PM, PeabodyMa said:

GenVISA always needs your physical passport.

That is not true if the country allows an e-visa then GenVisa  usually requires a high resolution copy of the 2 pages such  as their requirement for an India e-visa -

E-TOURIST VISA:

TOURIST VISA

MULTIPLE ENTRY, VALID FOR 12 MONTHS.

• Professional, High Resolution color copy of the data page of your US Passport bio data page and signature page (page 2 and 3 on your passport).
• Professional, High Resolution passport type photo, taken within 6 months on complete white background without any shadows. Photo should be 2”x 2” with front view, no smiling, and no glasses.

@Taitam, If you are asking about the Visas for the upcoming WC , the only true and accurate answer to your question will be determined by what will be in the Visa package put together by them and Viking .  I would not rely 100% on answers from either people on this forum  ( including myself ,although I have a lot of experience doing visas) nor the Viking people at the WC desk, as even they are not 100% sure at this moment . Several countries are not even allowing visa applications at the moment and it could be that the normal visa process for these countries may differ due to the current Covid situation.  A case in point for that is Vietnam where GenVisa right now is not showing the possibility of a loose leaf visa ( just need the passport page copy and they send a paper that you put in your passport) which it has done in the past. Again, this could be because Vietnam is not processing any tourist visas right now.

i think that you should assume that you will need to send in your passport and plan any international trips accordingly . Hopefully it won’t be too much longer until we know 😬

The thing to remember about Verifly is that , as far as I see on their site, the only airlines that use it right now are One World partners like American, British Airlines, Iberia, etc. and even with that, only for certain destinations flown by those  airlines. For instance, I got a Pass for my trip to Paris on AA recently, but couldn’t get one for a trip to Cancun on AA, but could for the trip back since the US requires a Covid test . When we went to Iceland in June, I couldn’t get a Iceland Pass on Verifly because we flew on United which is not supported by Verifly ; I had to upload the necssary items on United’s APP. Non airline users of Verifly include Viking and Malta.  Some other companies are invitation only and you can always reach out to them to see if they use this system. 

Also As @TayanaLorna said, you will need a Verifly Pass for Viking and another one for your airline , if it is supported by Verifly . If it is not, then more than likely your airline has some system of it’s own to upload documents or just bring the paper confirmations to the airport. . If you are going to Malta, they too participate in Verifly . 

Check out their help area on how to get a Pass and where you can use it

https://support.myverifly.com/hc/en-us .

At the end of the day, even though I uploaded all sorts of documents related to testing, vaccination ,etc. , I still took paper copies of everything just in case I had an issue with my phone.  Old school, but necessary sometimes 😉

30 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

The ones that hand out the max alowable must still be doing just fine.

I am sure that they are. I just wanted to make sure that people understand that for the most part that OBC is coming out of the agent’s pocket not the agency.  

I would also say that while getting the max OBC is a good thing, the best agent for someone may not be the one that gives that . It is easy to give OBC , it is not as easy to be a good TA who is experienced and who puts their client first .  Now if you can get all of that together , that would be ideal 😀

The vast majority of TA these days are Independent Contractors ( vs back in the day when the vast majority were salaried ) working for a Host Agency that takes a percentage of their commission. The remainder of the commission goes to the agent and the OBC comes out that remainder and therefore out of agent’s pocket . 

1 hour ago, philw1776 said:

Sadly we've had disaster every single time with Boston Global entry. i'm OK but wife can't seem to get machine to read her prints. Agent then gets POed at us. We get through last.
Recently returning from Iceland the GE terminals were all occupied with folks queuing up. Regular entry had very short lines. Got through in a couple minutes.
My 2nd disappointment with GE is that I never get TSA Pre-Check with it. Never.

I too have had problems with the fingerprints but fortunately for us here in the DFW area we no longer have to put the passport in or do the fingerprint thing.  It is all facial recognition. We just look at the camera, take the picture at that's it ! 

With regards to TSA pre-check as @formernuke said, you need to enter your

Known  Traveler number ( a 9 digit number  on the back of your Global Entry card shown as as PASSID ) either under your FF account or on each individual plane reservation if you don't have a FF with a particular airline.  Flying to Iceland in June we went on United which we never use here in DFW and I just put our Known Traveler number in the Passenger Info section of our reservation.  If you have done all that and you still don't get TSA Precheck, maybe you should check with the Global Entry people.

21 hours ago, covergirl1300 said:

one more question for those of you that went before or stayed after the cruise.

We are looking for a couple of nice places for dinner. Any suggestions? We have 2 nights before boarding Jupiter. Will ask our hotel to make reservations for us once we arrive. TIA!

 

We had a lovely dinner at Old Iceland  which was within walking distance of our hotel . https://oldiceland.is/ . It is a small place so you should make a reservation for dinner.  

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

You’ll have to ask Delta that but it took almost the whole time to load the almost full flight. Like most international flights, boarding closes 10-15 minutes before the scheduled departure time. 

Also if people are doing their own transfers , you need to remember that most foreign airlines cut off international check in an hour before departure . 

50 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Question for posters above regarding connection time in Minneapolis: Not sure if original poster is on Delta going to OR coming from Reykjavik to Minneapolis.  But if (s)he's "transiting" there while on the way home to U.S, do you just change planes or is there some kind of passport/customs check there, since you're coming into the U.S.?  In some cases like this, depending upon airport configuration, it can be more complicated than just changing planes (in some airports for example, you must get luggage and do customs, then place it back on a belt).  But I've never flown into Minneapolis, so I don't know how things are there for incoming international flights.  Maybe it's not complicated, but I just wanted to ask.  I'm flying back on Delta through Minn, but have 2 hours 45 minutes.  I hate that long connection time and was disappointed I didn't get to go home on the nonstop Icelandair flight.  However, I've consoled myself by remembering that some connections take a LONG time. 

 

So is an hour enough if Minn is your first stop in the U.S. (or Canada)?

When flying to the US from an international destination, you have to go thru passport control and customs at your first point of entry . So if you are connecting in Minn for instance , you get off there, go thru passport control , pick up your luggage , go thru customs, and then give your luggage to the airline representatives that are after customs for your connecting flight .  Yes, be happy with that longer connection as sometimes it takes a while to do the whole connecting process for international travel.

I would not want only 1 hour to do that ,even with Global Entry ! 

25 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Was it there upon embarkation?  We moved the tray and never looked at it again.  

It was on the last night . We came back to the room and it was there .

7 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Yes, but nothing.  Maybe it fell under the bed…?

Ours was left in that tray on the ottoman.

On 7/13/2021 at 9:55 AM, SantaFe1 said:

Lucky you!  We got nothing, and no notice from the captain that we would or did cross.  In fact we never heard a word from the man until the goodby party, where he appeared on stage for about 60 seconds!

Weren't we on the same cruise ?  26 June ?