Pushka

We have a minimum of a ship swap tomorrow. More news tonight. We are just two days in.

We are currently cruising into Cologne on our way to Basel Sunday. We know there may be flooding issues but decisions aren't being made yet.

Which river ports are impacted by Maxau Levels please.

Yes, it's our first too! Wanted the free laundry 😂

Ah. Ok. I thought that's what he was talking about. We are in a verandah suite tomorrow.

Two bottles of white wine and two bottles of red. Small bottle size.

Thankyou Thankyou Thankyou for this update. I'm hoping things will still be on track now.

I guess when you book a cruise to see Christmas markets along the way, the destination isn't the goal of many who book a cruise.

Great. We are supposed to sail on Viking from Amsterdam on Kara. Looks like it's parked and stuck at Rudesheim.

Thankyou for these updates. We leave Amsterdam on 10th for Basel. Hoping there aren't further issues along the way.

This is called 'change of mind'. Same thing happened with Covid. If you wanted to cancel before the cruise line did then you weren't covered and nor would travel insurance cover you. We travelled by cruise ship to this region in May. We fully expected our Israel port might get cancelled, because of war. To not expect war in this region I would call being naive. Viking likely would be exactly the same.

I think underwhelming sums it up pretty much. For instance one of the nights had the feature carvery as Minceloaf. It isn't something I'd even cook at home.

We were on Mars for 21 days in May. The buffet was good in fact superior to the MDR. Sushi buffet was excellent as were the steaks and roast and the usual accompaniments.. We had a meal of lamb chops in the MDR and they were inedible. And the others ordering them nearby sent them back. I also tried the chops in the buffet that night and they were the same. The beds were very comfortable.

We are doing a Rhine Christmas cruise with a post extension. We have booked our own airfares. Viking asked us for flight details a few weeks ago and will take us to the airport at no charge as per the extension description.

Currently due to high waters several river cruises are being disrupted. Basel is particularly impacted but other ports are as well.

I cancelled and rebooked and saved quite a lot of money. Refund from celebrity for original package was credited within the week.

Same in Australia. Repricing our cabin involved an extra $1000 Aud. Absolutely fraudulent advertising.

We have a balcony for our Christmas cruise next month. Just curious if it's too cold to be on the balcony then how are the upper outside decks warmer to see the scenery? Are there heaters or something?

We have been on a couple of Viking cruises and a river one next month. Likely the last. I think Viking likes to lull people into thinking that they can't travel without their guiding hand in all things associated with it, planes, transport and the like. And so what Viking says, thinks and does is the only way to do things. So many times I hear questions like - how will I get to the ship/hotel/boat if I've arrived early or late and Viking won't be there to meet me? In pre Viking days, gosh, we caught a taxi, bus or train. And now, Viking meets people in transit if booked on Viking air to get them to the next gate. Obviously some love that experience but I really don't want my hand held the way Viking does in the normal course of overseas travel. I don't think Viking brainwashes people but I do think they try to make it seem, for less experienced travellers perhaps, that this is the way international travel has to happen. And others simply enjoy handing over the travel experience for Viking to manage. Thats their call. It isn't mine, yet, maybe it will be one day.

And in Australia it is 90 days out for full payment.

We applied for a visa to Bali around 8 weeks ago for a land trip. It took all of two minutes. Earlier in the year we applied for India, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Oman. Guess we are practised at them now. I agree the cruise lines need to be much more specific in cases like this.

Australia goes to Daylight Savings the first weekend in October and switches it off the first week of April. But not every state has DST.

I bought some from Amazon and it was sent to me in Australia. It's wonderful. Called AZO. And yes, a very bright orange. Lasts around 40 hours on the one dose.

Yes, this happened on our May cruise. I checked MVJ every day and there were subsequent additions. One time it was because they put on another bus. There are always cancellations. Just keep checking. And make alternative plans, eg Viator, if needed.

All you can do in the interim is drink lots of water. A simple antibiotic will fix it almost immediately. Do you have any antacids? Because taking a sachet of these will also assist. I suffer from recurrent ones and always have an antibiotic on hand. Hope you feel better soon, they can be miserable. I'm also assuming you are female. Males, much more complicated re cause.