foser22

We've already been able to reserve a class for our October cruise.  

We will be doing a cruise that stops in Faroe Islands and Orkney Islands.  From what I understand, it is common to have these ports cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather.

If I have paid for a private excursion in these ports, but the port is cancelled at the last minute, will my travel insurance reimburse me?  I have Allianz AllTrips Pemier Plan.

Thanks for your help.

Can anyone recommend a private guide or tour company for Kyoto??  

On 11/11/2022 at 3:21 PM, BruceMuzz said:

Imperial Palace area and Shinjuku are only 10 to 15 minutes apart by taxi or train. 

Either location will be easy and fun.

Thanks so much!  I feel like I should just close my eyes and pick🤣.  We'll probably be happy in either place.  I usually like to walk out of the hotel and be able to walk to some of the places we're interested in seeing.  That seems virtually impossible in Tokyo, since there's so much scattered all over the place.  Although, it's nice to  get back to the hotel and have choices for restaurants. 

Thanks again,

I am overwhelmed with the hotel choices in Tokyo!!  We will be there for 3-4 nights prior to a cruise in October '23.  Which area is the better choice?  I am looking at hotels near the Imperial Palace or hotels near the Shinjuku Station.  Or....is there another location that is centrally located that might be better?  I know we'll have to figure out the subway no matter where we stay.  We're not big shoppers or bar/nightlife people although it would be nice to be able to walk to a few restaurants.  We're mostly interested in Japanese culture and history, although we will want to see some of the shopping districts.  I'm just curious where people have stayed and found it to be convenient.
 

24 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

I'm not trying to be negative - there are many folks who have enjoyed wonderful trips below latitude 50 south, but a realistic assessment will be key to your enjoyment.

 

You're not negative, but totally realistic.....This is exactly why we haven't booked anything.  I've looked at tons of options in that area and unfortunately, I'm pretty sure it's not for me.  I've looked at tours that fly to South Georgia, but like you said, they miss it a lot due to weather.  As much as I'd love to go, I'd rather not be miserable.   We have a bucket list a mile long, so we'll find something:--)

33 minutes ago, emileg said:

All that changed when we learned about the new 18-day itinerary that includes South Georgia Island and the Falklands, but two fewer days in Antarctica.

I saw that one too!!  I really want to see both South Georgia Island and the Falklands, so that itinerary interests me alot!  I'm nervous about sailing through Drake's Passage though.  I have a tendency to get seasick!

We would be finishing up our Arctic adventure on the Polaris in a few days.  We were disappointed that one was cancelled.

Good question.  We are planning to book this cruise this week, but are still working things out.  When are you going?

On 3/12/2022 at 10:54 AM, Nanaandpapax12 said:

We just returned from the most Amazing trip with Avalon that included Peru and Ecuador (From the Inca Empire to the Peruvian Amazon and the Galapagos). Included in the trip was a cruise on the Amazon on the Delfin. 

Thanks so much!  i will definitely check out Avalon.  I have looked at cruises on the Delfin, but it's great to have some one's opinion about it!!  We had talked about going next year, but have already booked a few things, so will probably move it off to 2024.  What time of year did you go??  What was the weather like?

1 hour ago, LadyImpactOhio said:

Just found this thread. We are on the Polaris in August 2022. Was curious for those going to Antarctica about Viking asking for proof of $250,000 evac insurance. We bought ours already in case price would go up.

Wow!!  I am so glad you mentioned this!!  I just bought an annual policy today......We do have adequate evacuation coverage, but I hadn't seen this Viking requirement.  We did it for our own peace of mind!  I'm going to have to start reading things a little better.

PS....I've been reading your Egypt thread forever!!  It looks like we may finally be able to go this year....Hopefully.  Thanks for all your advice and suggestions!

3 hours ago, CharTrav said:

, @foser22, you may be pleasantly surprised -- that you won't be at the bottom of the heap because I think the MDR date is NOT tied to your cabin class at all.  It's the same for everybody.  I may be wrong .. but ..

Thanks for the clarifaction!  I'm honestly not too worried about it....I'm sure we won't starve, but it would be fun to try the specialty restaurant.  We've never done VO, we usually sail with Oceania, so I understand the system.  We're really looking forward to this cruise!!

8 minutes ago, eylarson said:

Call from Viking today-- The Dining Room is a reservations only venue as is Manfredi's on Viking Expedition class ships.  This isn't a COVID thing, but a "feature" for this class of ships.  Our cabin class puts us at the bottom of the list.  Be interesting to see how this works out.  

Same for us.....we're at the bottom of the list, but most people say you don't have to worry.  I'm hoping that's the case for us also.

3 hours ago, lovetravel63-65 said:

Look forward to meeting you.We live near Southampton and there are so many things to do if you have time .When the roll call is up and running I can make some suggestions if you want.

We would love any suggestions that you can make!!  We've never been to that part of England, so we would appreciate some help in planning!!  I'm already excited about this cruise and now we have to wait two years....oh well, hopefully next year we'll be busy with our rescheduled plans.  We look forward to meeting you and conversing on the roll call.  Only 713 days to go;-)

2 hours ago, lovetravel63-65 said:

We just booked for 30 August 2023 for Southampton to New York got cabin grade wanted await reply as how to create new roll call

We also booked this cruise!  I'll keep my eye out for the roll call!  I look forward to the planning.  Surely the world will be better by then.....hopefully!!

I feel like this is a long shot, but does anyone have any experience with an Amazon Cruise in either Peru or Ecuador?  I'm leaning towards Ecuador mainly because I'd like to see the Parrots at the salt licks and the pink dolphins, but there's not a lot of information about either trip.  I prefer the small boats that are offered, but I'm not really familiar with any of the companies that offer trips.  Any info would be great.

I am also curious about this tour.  I would love to hear about it from someone who's done it.  What do you see?  I'd enjoy getting on the bike, but I'd also like to see the villages.

We did an e-bike tour in Bordeaux and it was so much fun.  Some people didn't use the electric assist at all and some people used it alot and actually pedalled very little.

On 5/22/2020 at 2:57 PM, dogs4fun said:

There are many interesting things to see and do in Saint Petersburg – your choices are almost limitless. Do you have any particular interests? Art? History? Music? Literature? Dance?

 

There is enough in Peterhof Park alone to keep one busy for several days.

Peterhof: Cottage Palace in Alexandria Park, Grand Palace, Monplaisir Palace, Gothic Chapel, Alexandria Park, Farm Palace, Marly Palace, Hermitage Pavilion, Imperial Yacht Museum

 

Some possibilities:

Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya   

Festival of the Fountains (Peterhof/September closing ceremony)

St. Michael’s Castle

Choral Synagogue

Smolny Institute – we enjoyed our private tour and saw Lenin’s apartments.

Smolny Cathedral

Sheremetev Palace, Museum of Music

Museum of Theatre & Music

Museum of Political History

Marble Palace

Kronshtadt History Museum

Rimsky-Korsakov Apartment Museum

Russian Museum 

St. Nicholas Church 

Cruiser Aurora 

Peter's Log Cabin

Peter's Summer Palace

Menshikov Palace

Oranienbaum: Chinese Palace 

Gatchina Palace & Park

Priory Castle

Oreshek Fortress

Dostoevsky’s Apartment

Scarlet Sails (white nights)

What a great list!  Thanks so much!  I’ve started looking some of them up, but I think it’s clear we need to go back and stay for a week!  

We will be in St. Petersburg for two days for our second visit.  We've done the more popular palaces; Hermitage, Catherine's and Peterhof and enjoyed them all.  We have several sites that we'd like to visit this trip, but would also like to incorporate a few things that are not on the usual tours.  We did not visit the Peter and Paul Fortress, subway, grocery store or do a canal cruise, so those are on our list.  Any other suggestions?  

Thanks for any suggestions!!

We booked the Ra last June 2018 for August 2020.  It was the only date we could get two rooms other than a date right before Christmas.  There was a random selection of single rooms available then. 

We booked it but just recently changed our date to March 2021, when the new schedules came out.

We were in Monte Carlo last fall and used Sylvie di Cristo.  It really was the perfect day.  Sylvie is fun and interesting.  We saw Monte Carlo and then went to a beautiful mountain village that was so charming and not overrun with tourists and buses.  She picked a wonderful restaurant for lunch and we enjoyed a wonderful relaxing meal sitting outside on a medieval street.  We did a short hike along the coastline for a beautiful view of the coast.  Towards the end of the day we went to Villefranche.  It truly was a spectacular day.  She's also very flexible and will take you wherever you'd like to go.  Here's her contact info:  http://frenchrivieraguides.com/about-us-2/

We used One Day in Provence just last week and really enjoyed our day.  We were in port in Marseilles and went to Aix, then Cassis.   At the end of the day we went to Marseilles, but it was raining so we didn't get out much.  We went to the Basilica, which was wonderful. 

Hey Ann, super review which I have only just read now. As you know I’m not long back from an amazing trip on a much smaller 16 guest luxury catamaran. I echo what you say. It’s an amazing place. On one of my photos I headed it "Where you don’t go up to the animals. They come to you" which kind of sums it up. Snorkelling with amazing fish, turtles and sharks and having sea lions come and spend s bit of time swimming with you. We were lucky enough to get up close and personal to Killer Whales although watching the plight of a sea turtle was a bit harrowing. Nature at its finest and most brutal. It was hard to keep the camera phone still!

 

 

 

Phil

 

 

 

VOb1qKoZGWE

Wow!! Very cool!

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We returned from Waterways of the Tsars a month ago and we enjoyed it completely. I was a little worried based on some of the reviews, but we didn't experience any of the negatives people had previously mentioned. We were on the Ingvar and it was clean and modern. It isn't lavish luxury, but new and comfortable, which we much prefer. After walking through other boats that we were tethered to, we were very glad to be on a Viking boat as compared to the boats we walked through.

The staff was very attentive and worked hard to make it enjoyable for everyone. The food was great and being gluten free, I never know what to expect. Chef Joachim didn't just take away the gluten, but he prepared a dish similar to the one described on the menu but without gluten....big difference! Our Maitre D' Daniel checked in with me every morning to make sure I had everything I needed. Even our meals away from the ship were gluten free and well prepared. We did not do a drink package. We had more than enough wine at meals and an occasional cocktail before/after dinner. Many people did enjoy it though.

We especially liked the educational part of the trip. We loved the one hour talks provided by the staff during the slower days on the boat. They were informed and interesting and open to all questions. There was generally no problem with seating, since they offered two time slots (even/odd numbered rooms) per discussion.

Without exception, we had wonderful guides. Some were a little more talkative on the buses while stuck in traffic, but we liked it for the most part. They all spoke great English and presented themselves in a professional manner. It's a tough job dealing with all these people day in and day out and we were very impressed.

The traffic is horrible especially in Moscow, but it is what it is. We went to Sergiev Possad and while it was a great experience, it's too far to go given the traffic. I think our time would have been better spent in Moscow especially since we saw many other Monasteries. We loved the Kremlin Armory Tour, Moscow By Night. The groups are about 20-25 people which is on the bigger side of ideal, but overall it wasn't a problem. We enjoyed the evening concert in Moscow, but didn't do the Folk Music night in STP although everyone we spoke to enjoyed it. We were ready for a quiet night, so enjoyed a quiet night on the upper deck. We did the extended tour in the Hermitage, which we didn't sign up for until we got on the boat. It's very expensive and I just could see spending that kind of money, but in the end we were so glad we did it. The Impressionists are not in the Hermitage anymore, but in a different building with a different ticket. We were able to see them and also had a very nice lunch. Going into the Hermitage "storage area" was so interesting and it was great to see the clothing and carriages (although you do see some of these in the Kremlin Armory Tour).

The list given by the previous poster is a great list. After having been to Moscow and STP now, I feel like we could manage very well on our own. Very little is in English, so it's a little tricky figuring out where you are on a map. We brought a map with both English and Russian and that helped a lot. The subway is pretty easy to figure out if you spend some time mapping it out in your head.

After the fast pace in Moscow, we enjoyed the slower pace on the boat. The stops were all interesting and a nice contrast to the bigger cities of Moscow and STP. The sun stays out late and up early, so we enjoyed the sunset every night on the upper deck.

I expected to love STP, but was surprised I like Moscow so much!! If you have the chance, I would recommend going in a few days early. We had planned to go to Moscow three days early, but our originating flight was cancelled by United and we lost a full day. I was grateful to have booked our air through Viking because after being rescheduled eight times and actually ticketed four times at the airport before we even got on a plane, some one accidentally cancelled our return flight. Of course, we didn't even realize it until we went to print our boarding passes. We were in STP and we found out we had no flights home!! I called Viking and luckily they were able to get us on flights, but they were completely different than what we had planned. I'm glad it was one phone call, rather than an extended panic situation. We flew home on LOT Polish Airlines and we had great connections, great big new planes....I think in the end it was an upgrade!!

We had tours in Moscow planned with "Tours By Locals" and they generously refunded the day we missed of our tour. Our guide Daniel, was informative, engaging and fun. He met us at the hotel, we checked out before leaving with for the day. Viking took our luggage to the boat and Daniel took us by metro to the boat at the end of the day. It worked perfectly!

I would highly recommend this cruise. It was a great way to experience a small part of Russia and prepare us for another visit on our own. It was safe and interesting and it made us realize what a great destination it is. We learned a lot and enjoyed every minute.

Thanks for a great review Mike!! It really does help in the decision process.We are also looking at doing it 2020. I think at this point, I need a spread sheet:eek::eek:

Mary

Hi nesheiml,

We were originally scheduled to go on January 27, but ended up changing to January 13 because the date worked better for some friends. It started out being just Dan and I and now there are 11 couples going!! Who knew this would be the trip everyone wanted to take? Although what an exciting trip! I can't wait.

I see you're from Minneapolis...my husband grew up there and we lived there for a few years.