Pushka

We did it independently. It was fabulous. On our disembark day on Orion. Viking held our luggage as the train to anchorage leaves in the afternoon. Cheaper to do it independently and through major marine at the dock

As a previous cruiser with Viking that needs to be passed on to them. I understand issues of supply but with this itinerary in Australia there is no excuse for poor quality. Lamb is very expensive in Australia though.

Can you set up your camera to take both RAW and jpg at the same time to reduce the work? Also just taking a snip from the bottom edge of each photo reduces size considerably.

Blew us away! We weren't told it was going to happen until an hour beforehand because stuff can happen.

It's a very popular holiday experience to do three or four day trips from one capital to another. My first one was on QM2 from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney. On the way we passed this magnificent vessel. They set off a cannonball and we blasted with our horn. This was my movie And this was from The Endeavour. I can see me when it zooms in. Huzzah!

They go to Bali so it can be declared Duty Free. Most Australian cruises don't touch international soil.

I don't think it's the same. There's sometimes a stop in Bali or similar so that goods purchased (alcohol etc) are duty free. But the majority of cruises are internal to Australia. So Aus port to Aus port only.

I know this exists in the USA but why does it?

Today reservations showed up for our cruise in May. I was able to select the two reservations for Manfredis and Chefs Table and did so just because I could. I might cancel these before we set sail anyway. Was able to book a table for 2 with most times available being a reasonable time of 7.30pm. Of course there was no option to select a night on any sea day, which comprises half the trip. So I booked the port that has the earlier departure. We like the sail away toast on an open deck. It doesn't bother me if we don't go to these at all, we enjoy the buffet, and the restaurant. It will be a hot weather cruise anyway with long excursions so usually appetite isn't that great.

Not at all like this. We are flying in on the day the extension trip starts, we have booked our own air, and transport to the Viking Hotel is included so that's what we will do. We will notify Viking and will not have to pay any extra as it's already stated in our booking it's included. However I do not consider it in any way unethical if people have purchased the extension, notify Viking they will be at the arrival airport on the day the extension starts, and will likewise use the included transportation. Viking are well aware they are not booking my flights. They gave me a price that did not include Air. And the transport for the extension is included and stated on my booking reference. THAT is their policy. So anything to do with Air is moot and irrelevant.

Well, I haven't been asked for flight details for my collection at the airport just an expected arrival time. I am flying in on the right day anyway but I don't see the issue. Viking did not book my flights. The Policy is only there to ensure that people understand they won't be collected on any day other than the day the extension starts.

And I'm not even suggesting that it's ok for people to arrive a day early and expect to be collected on that early day but simply show up to the airport by whatever means, on the day you would arrive in, to start the extension. I have no idea why people consider this in any way unethical. It does not impact in any way on anyone nor Viking. 🤷‍♀️

That is so far from being an equivalent situation I can't fathom how you'd use that as an example.

I organize my own travel plans anyway. And I don’t see it as lying. While we do arrive on a plane on the required date for our extension I don’t see any issue of being at the airport on the required date. The cost is already factored in to the cost of the extension.

There is no way Viking can access manifests of people who book flights privately. That is a significant breach of security.

I don't see why this plan of staying at a nearby airport hotel is any problem. All Viking wants is to know that on a specific day, people on their cruise booking are able to be collected at the same airport at a time when flights are arriving. Makes no difference to them how you arrive there, whether by plane, train automobile or even walking.

Make sure you are ready to book the instant excursions open. Book the one you want immediately and pay for it straightaway. Have your credit card details very close by. Our DV bookings opened last Sunday morning, OZ time. A couple had sold out before my window was open. The week before Viking clearly added another bus for one of them as that suddenly became available again. Within 30 minutes of my window many had sold out. As well as the recently reopened one. We have one port where every single excursion is sold out, including the Included one. That will have to change but think there may be logistical issues as it's only a short port stop and a tender to boot. There just may not be enough time to put on another included time slot. V don't open until next Sunday. We also booked some private ones as the one that every one wants to do, is Petra. It's a long involved trip from Aqaba. I've been stressing about excursions for ages. But always had plan b and which I needed to use.

That exact situation happened on the very first Alaskan cruise back in May 2019. But how sad that you also had to spend the next day at harbour as well. Jolly lucky there was space for you that day I guess.

And Ketchikan for us. We didn't go to ISP.

We tendered in one port, there was no berth for us. It was the port where the Aleutian Warrior excursion was held.

These have to be provided by Viking. Although in one port, even that is showing as sold out but Viking has to provide it. Alaska has so many private vendors providing tours and they know the cruise ship drill well so it's perfectly safe to book privately if you miss out. If you can get a PDF of the Alaska excursions then you can work out whether they will be enough for you or whether you need some more activity. The cruise I'm on is quite unique and lots of distance to travel by road (eg 7 hours driving in a day) so people feel safer doing Ship based excursions.

Yes we received one for Passage to India cruise this May, but for the one that was about to leave in 2022. (It's only done once a year as a repositioning cruise north to south or reverse) It gave us an idea of which ones were likely to sell out. DV for our May cruise opened up this week and the same excursions rapidly sold out on ours as well. Make sure when your window opens you are at the MVJ before the actual time and keep refreshing. They opened up to the minute. If there's an excursion you really want, pay for it immediately and don't keep it in the basket while looking for others. If not paid for, it can get sold out before you pay. Within 10 minutes of our booking window opening, many were sold out.

My two DIL are Brit's and know London very well. One is living in Australia, with our oldest son, the other is living in Tunbridge Wells with his wife. Both DIL came from the Wirral. They were friends at school and decided they both wanted to marry our two Aussie sons. Sigh. 😂

We booked a DV for our Alaskan cruise, the first one Viking did, in 2019. The only excursion not open to us to book was the Heritage Railway one which obviously had just a couple of carriages. The usual train one was available to book. However we arranged many private excursions including a helicopter to the glacier to see the working husky dogs and which was absolutely fantastic and so much cheaper than Vikings excursion. We ended up booking two through Viking one was the Aleutian Alaska crab one which we loved, but we were tendering that day so we didn't want to risk booking it on our own. We could also have booked that separately as well. We also booked the Kayak tour in Valdez which was fabulous. We booked private whale boat excursions in two ports. The zip line excursion seemed very popular but we weren't interested. We ended in Seward and privately booked the cruise that goes out into the Bay and Glacier. We did it last minute at the dock. Viking stored our luggage It was breathtaking. So many whales, Orcas, seals and birds. And the glacier - way better than Hubbard. Then at night we took the train back to Anchorage. It was a fabulous cruise.

We each have our financial limits though. London eating isn't cheap but we love pret a manger 😂.