Moonlion

I'm sorry but not surprising at all. From personal experience, a rapid antigen test can yield a negative test result for several days after someone starts to show Covid symptoms and can spread the virus to others.

Thanks, everyone, for the great suggestions and advice! When we get closer to final payment, I'll reach out to Viking to ask about the Viking transfers (we are arriving the day of embarkation). I also like shipboy's suggestion of taking the Heathrow Express to Paddington and then a cab to the ship. In previous work trips to London, I've taken the Paddington-to-Heathrow Express which was quite easy to navigate even with luggage.

How much is the one-way Viking transfer per person? Can we have them just take our luggage to the ship? If that is allowed, we could take the tube into London (sans luggage), tour around on our own, and then take the tube to Greenwich (if that is where we board ship).

Meant to say, I do note *from Viking's website*... I hope the Viking website is correct, as we would much rather depart from Greenwich!

We're on Viking Neptune, departing London (Greenwich) on May 9, 2023. I do note that all BIE cruises before May 9th depart/return to/from Tilbury. All those after list Greenwich.

Great start! Please keep us posted. We're on the BIE next May and would love to hear about your experiences!

My husband and I are booked on the British Isles Explorer cruise next May (2023). We have arranged our own flights using points (included upgrades 🙂). Two questions: What is the best way to get from Heathrow (LHR) to Greenwich dock when traveling independently (taxi, reserve private car, the tube, other ideas)? We're hoping not to spend a fortune getting to ship, but will have luggage of course. Our flight from the US arrives in London early (6:45 AM) the day of embarkation. We'd like to drop off our luggage with Viking in the morning (possibly before 9 AM) and then go off to explore London on our own before returning to board ship in the afternoon. Can we do this at Greenwich? It seems that Greenwich is a tender port. Is there a cruise terminal there which will take our luggage before we board ship? Thanks for the advice!

Athens Gate and Electra Palace are good choices. Athens Gate is on a major highway so make sure to book a room that's not facing the road. You could also take a look at the Herodion Hotel, fabulous views of Acropolis, rooftop bar/restaurant and literally right next to the Acropolis museum.

This is what I was told by my primary care physician when I came down with Covid. Paxlovid should be started within 5 days of showing symptoms. By the way, I didn't test positive (with a home rapid antigen test) until 2 days after showing symptoms. The window indeed can be very narrow from the time of testing positive.

And if dining at Chef's Table and you don't have the SSBP, you can upgrade to the premium wines for $25pp.

In our experience, there is nothing "wrong" with the included wines. The SSBP gives you the opportunity to try a broader variety of wines and beers.

Yes, that's how we avoided Covid on our Northern Lights cruise 😁

They should go to the dining reservations desk (I think it's on deck 2 but could be deck 1) as soon as they board. If nothing is available at Manfredi's or Chef Table, they can still have a wonderful celebration in the main dining room (the Restaurant). We thought the Restaurant was as good as, and sometimes better than, the specialty restaurants.

All good questions. My thoughts which I posted on another CC VOC thread: Personally, I'm done with worrying about whether or not Viking requires masking and/or testing. I'll deal with it either way. We're choosing our upcoming cruise and vacation options based itinerary, cost and whether we like the product provided...not on Covid requirements. I'm actually facing a bit of cognitive dissonance on the matter of masking and testing 😪. I agree that the world needs to move on and learn to "live" with Covid; it's not going away. I also fear that this virus has a lot more surprises in store for us. I could see a scenario where a highly contagious and lethal variant starts rapidly spreading around the world, and countries snap shut their borders again. Hence, I'm neutral on whether masking and testing should be required (and this is from someone who recently contracted Covid and became sick).

Personally, I'm done with worrying about whether or not Viking requires masking and/or testing. I'll deal with it either way. We're choosing our upcoming cruise and vacation options based itinerary, cost and whether we like the product provided...not on Covid requirements. I'm actually facing a bit of cognitive dissonance on the matter of masking and testing 😪. I agree that the world needs to move on and learn to "live" with Covid; it's not going away. I also fear that this virus has a lot more surprises in store for us. I could see a scenario where a highly contagious and lethal variant starts rapidly spreading around the world, and countries snap shut their borders again. Hence, I'm neutral on whether masking and testing should be required (and this is from someone who recently contracted Covid and became sick).

To add to this and a word of warning from personal experience that daily home rapid antigen testing will not prevent the spread of Covid. I recently attended a work meeting with about 30 people (everyone fully vaxed/boosted, wearing masks). A person attending the meeting had very mild "cold" symptoms that day but said they had tested negative twice (rapid antigen). Two days later, the person reported that they had come down with Covid. 8 of us attending the meeting (about a quarter), including myself, came down with Covid and became sick. I think we caught it during a lunch break, held outside under a covered patio, where people took their masks off to eat and drink. I started daily home testing (rapid antigen) right away and tested negative until having a positive test on the 6th day after being exposed. I started isolating as soon as testing positive but unfortunately had already spread the virus to a family member who lives with us. Fortunately, neither of us required hospitalization but we were both sick (fever, coughing, extreme fatigue), and it took a few weeks to fully recover. PCR testing is much more sensitive than rapid antigen and may have detected the virus much earlier in the infection before having spread to others. As Heidi points out, very few people at home have access to daily PCR testing with rapid results.

Another daily "lurker" here who thoroughly enjoyed your travel blog and photographs! I didn't miss a day. Safe travels home! P.S., you should consider a second "career" as a travel writer and photographer 😉

There was some discussion on this board, I believe a couple of weeks ago, that daily PCR testing may be catching cases of infection very early before symptoms show up and before the person is very contagious, thus preventing a lot of spread on board. To know whether this is true or not would require a controlled experiment (compare Viking's case positivity rate with other cruise lines that don't do daily testing). By the way, I'm neutral on whether Viking should or should not require masks and daily testing. I'll deal with it either way.

It depends on the airline and probably fare class. We used Viking Air Plus and United allowed to to select and change seats as soon as we were booked (before ticketing). For Lufthansa, we had to wait until ticketing to select seats.

On our first Viking river cruise, we went with two close friends, and became friends with another couple we met on board who had similar political views as ours (I won't say which political views 😀). When we were alone together (e.g., on tours or at a table for six), we felt comfortable discussing politics. Otherwise, we avoided such discussions so as not to offend or make uncomfortable others who may have different political leanings. There's plenty of other things to talk about! On our Viking ocean cruise last January, it was just my husband and me, and we never heard or discussed politics while onboard.