shadowlover

Yes it is technically 4 days. We did the classic Greek extension before the cruise and also arrived two days early so I thought it was longer. It was a highlight for me- absolutely loved it. We went to Meteora on our own during the free day by train. It was unbelievable!

It’s an amazing trip honestly you won’t regret going. We did almost all included tours except for Israel. We did the Greece 5 day extension and I HIGHLY recommend it. Enjoy every minute!

Not to say that I did not enjoy Israel- I have always wanted to go there and it was a dream to be there. I found it hectic, crowded and more commercialized than I had imagined it would be. There was also some unrest when we were there- the cruise after us did not stop there. You don't actually have to gather the people yourself. Many times you will find that others booked small group tours with this company and they will add you to the trip. It was a very manageable group for Nazareth and I enjoyed it alot. I would probably return to every other place on this cruise except Israel which told me that while I wouldn't have traded going for anything- I just feel like I have seen it and I'm good. Hope that helps and makes sense. Others I am sure would disagree with me.

I agree that it is just too far to come back to the ship and wastes precious time. We did not do the overland tour as it was listed as sold out (opened up later after we made our own plans). We hired a private guide and found an airbnb to stay overnight in Jerusalem. It was quite an experience. We got to see SO MUCH because there were only four of us and our guide took us in a private car. I highly recommend it if you can do it. I also spoke with other guests who had a wonderful time on the overland tour. I would have done it originally if it was available. Keep in mind you will be with a big group trying to see many popular sites in a crowded environment. Although I am glad we stopped in Israel and I had a fabulous time, it was my least favorite part of that cruise. It is an amazing cruise- a trip of a lifetime! For Israel we used this company. https://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/ You can also join small groups- they will place you and they are cheaper or you can arrange on your roll call group. We did a group tour of nazareth and loved it.

I found out years ago from steve (my insurance guy) that you only need to insure your deposit and then you add to it as you go. When you pay your final deposit you need to remember to update your policy. This way you get pre existing coverage without having to shell out a huge insurance payment. With viking the final payment is so early that you will likely have to update the policy way before the 120 days. If you're not concerned with pre existing conditions of anyone in your family then you can buy insurance anytime.

I will say that my antigen tests were negative when my pcr was positive. The reason I did pcr was because I knew I had very close contact with family (little baby) and I was unmasked. Had minimal symptoms but isolated for five days. About five days later got symptoms and only then with LOTS of runny nose symptoms did my antigen convert to positive. Now I'm not saying my small experiment can be applied across the board however in my and my families experience, the antigen was only positive with moderate symptoms days after positive pcr. All this to say- when was I most contagious?? I assume when my antigen converted but do we really know?

I completely agree with you. Yes we are still masked at work and our patients are as well. Surely the daily testing with masking is an ideal situation but it also created its own conundrums. I highly recommend masking in public areas if you are concerned about contracting covid and have a chance to get quite sick. It has become a milder illness but still nasty symptoms for most. I'm in my 50's and had four vaccines. I caught covid with close contact with my 4 month old grand daughter. My symptoms were like a moderate cold. my husband had a nasty cough with it. It is a tricky situation but I honestly highly believe in masks when in a bus or crowded room. Get some surgical masks- they are much more comfortable. I wear one for 10 hours straight now and don't even remember it's on. Pay attention to those around you who sound congested - it's covid until proven otherwise at this point! I was so determined not to catch it but alas it got me...I recovered in three days. SO- do your best and enjoy travel in a safe way!

I guess the only thing that will prove this is time. We need some time now to see what happens with the daily testing and quarantining being put to an end. We really can't speculate because it's only been a few weeks. Yes- there are apparently many more cases but I'm not seeing reports of mass ships not being allowed to dock, passengers dying etc. Why don't we wait a bit and see how it goes with the new measures. Everyone on board has to be up to date with vaccines and the crew is masked. I think being alarmist about lack of staff and safety is unwarranted at this point. I haven't seen any reports of passengers saying as much. In the hospital we also had to deal (and still do) with staff shortages due to sick time but we make do.

So you became severely ill? Or did you just catch covid? Have moderate cold symptoms and a cough? Were you hospitalized? Let's be honest... I have had four vaccines and have worked as a nurse practitioner throughout the entire pandemic with a high risk population. I never contracted the disease. I went unmasked to visit my brand new grand baby and did end up with covid from my close interaction with her and her mother ( who had cold symptoms but were testing negative). This is a contagious illness. You can mitigate all you want but at THE END OF THE DAY this has become for most of us a moderate cold. It's not going away and the draconian measures taken by viking were simply way over done. They can not be maintained or they will go bankrupt and none of us will cruise. No need to agree with me in any way. Just letting people know that I don't speak from lack of knowledge, education or experience!

I think Viking has stopped these practices because it is not sustainable anymore. It's incredibly expensive, time consuming, anxiety producing and caused people to be quarantined when many of them simply had bad cold symptoms. People were cancelling their cruises because of the possibility of this. Can we please now stop beating this dead horse?! Covid can be serious for some- so can other illnesses/ accidents etc. Cruises are petri dishes because you are living in close contact with many others thus the noro virus outbreaks you see from time to time. Traveling comes with all sorts of possible dangers. I can attest to masking being very effective against contracting covid. Keep wearing them especially if you are nervous about contracting covid.

A private company's payment policy may be different but that doesn't mean it's "below standard". I'm not sure why this post is here... it has nothing to do with the quality of viking cruises... I paid well in advance for my future cruise however I can cancel with my guarantee if I had to. Their no risk guarantee, in my opinion, was well above standard of other lines.