toolworker

Maybe gullible isn't the right word, but if I booked another Viking cruise today I would feel they were taking unreasonable advantage. It wouldn't have bothered me a couple of years ago, but with current interest rates it amounts to a substantial price increase. And it seems a bit smarmy of them to bury that effective increase in the prepayment date instead of just upping the price and having shorter final payment dates like other lines. But as @mariners indicates, you've got to evaluate the whole package and decide if it's worth it, including the bad taste that some of the terms leave in your mouth. Even with the stealth price increase from prepayment, Viking is a pretty good value.

Looking at the Viking travel plan, their vouchers are non-refundable and non-transferrable, and must be used within 12 months. That said, if the alternative is to get nothing, they're better than that. But another alternative is to buy a better policy from another insurer, with cash CFAR. A Travel Guard agent told us that they would reimburse a voucher in cash (if otherwise covered) as long as we had originally paid cash that got turned into the voucher. Agents don't always give the correct answer. FWIW I heard this from several TG agents. Travel Guard IMO is one of the best insurers. I've had several claims and never had a problem. Compare the details of their policy - we get the Preferred - with other insurers'.

Agents will say they put you on a waitlist for a cabin class change. Don't hold your breath. I've had success with several cruise lines by keeping an eye on the Suites listing on the web page. If your class suddenly becomes available, call quick. Many lines clear waitlists manually, even the waiters for bookings. On one cruise, all of a sudden a bunch of sold out classes became available. Maybe a block reservation cancelled or expired. We care about cabin location, not just class. If we're in a bad location, every so often I go through the online booking process to cabin selection, and sometimes get lucky. Calling an agent might be just as fast. And re total experiences - not naming lines, but one we sail on waitlists for shore excursions and almost always adds enough capacity to accommodate everyone. But it costs more than Viking. Everyone's got to find their balance of experience and value.

Exactly what is the current policy? This blog post, dated April 6, 2022, says in part: Viking requires a 12 month advance final payment on every cruise booking. If a person is a past guest and has a sailing scheduled already within one year, and makes a request for payment delay, they can have a 6 month advance final payment. It also says deposit time may be longer on some special cruises, and shorter if a guest has a promo code. And Viking can change the policy at any time. Holding the booking for $25 or $100 may work if you don't need insurance or are willing to take Viking's. We're older, and always buy a superior TravelGuard policy with included pre-existing condition coverage and reasonably priced CFAR (cancel for any reason). To get either of these, the amount paid needs to be insured within 15 days of initial payment. So we pay about $1000, nonrefundable, to hold a booking.

Wow - awesome! Unfortunately, those planes currently fly from Taipei only to Bali, Sapporo and Chicago. But I'll watch their Hello Kitty routes page in case that changes. BTW if you're interested in EVA Air - which is Star Alliance and rated 5* by Skytrax - booking online is easy, but to cancel or change call their Taipei Hotline during office hours Taipei time. They have excellent agents fluent in English. Don't bother with any U.S. numbers.

Why I Hate Silversea Air (Spoiler alert: Price gouging) We're saving $2,900pp by booking our own refundable Business air. On our cruise to Asia, Silversea purports to offer "Business Class upgrade at reduced rates." Their idea of reduced rates is a $7,000pp supplement. I booked us on EVA Air for about $5,600pp, refundable less about $150pp, saving $2,900pp including the $1,500 Economy air allowance. We could have saved more if Silversea had offered Port-to-Port on our itinerary. But they don't.

I've had excellent experiences with Travel Guard. They generally pay promptly and I've always gotten what I thought was due. And sometimes more. For several medical claims, despite telling them to hold off, they sent me a check for 100% of my medical expenses. Then when my primary insurance paid 80% I had to figure out how to pay Travel Guard back. That's the sort of problem I like. I was quarantined in the cabin one day for flu, and on another cruise five days for covid. In both cases they reimbursed the cruise fare for those days. As people have said, the devil is in the details. One devil is that all of these policies pay only for a list of events, and some insurers cover more events than others. And sometimes the devil is in the definition. For example, they all cover trip delay or cancelation because something happens to a Family Member or Traveling Companion. The definitions of "something," Family Member and Traveling Companion differ. Here's Travel Guard Preferred Policy (CA)'s definitions: Family Member means the Insured’s, or Traveling Companion’s spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, grandparent, grandchild, daughter/son-in-law, brother/sister-in-law, step-child/sister/brother/parent, parent-in-law, civil union partner, Domestic Partner, step-grandparent/grandchild, aunt, uncle, step-aunt/uncle, niece, nephew, legal guardian, Caregiver, foster child, ward, or legal ward; and the spouse, civil union partner, or Domestic Partner of any of the above. Family Member also includes these relations to the Insured’s or Traveling Companion’s spouse, civil union partner, or Domestic Partner. If the Name Your Family upgrade is elected and any required cost is paid, Family Member also includes the person listed on the application. Traveling Companion means a person or persons with whom the Insured has coordinated travel arrangements and intends to travel with during the Trip. A group or tour leader is not considered a traveling companion unless the Insured is sharing room accommodations with the group or tour leader. I've never seen another policy with such an extensive definition of Family Member. I've seen some where a Traveling Companion has to be on the same booking or ticket, or travel on the same dates; Travel Guard doesn't require that. I used to compare coverages and Travel Guard has always had the same or better coverage, definitely compared to the cruise line's insurance and also to other providers. I no longer bother comparing; I just buy Travel Guard.

We've used ToursByLocals in the past. There are reviews of the guides, so you get an idea of who you're getting. Then once you book you're in direct touch. And always buy the Cancel for Any Reason so you can back out if you sense a problem. We did, and I just used the credits for our next tour - so you keep using the same CFAR payment over and over until you use it. But - the prices are through the roof - especially when you're just two people. There are two young guides in Halong Bay still looking for their first review, charging around $400 + $80pp for a half day private boat tour. I priced one guide in Taipei for half a day - $800! If we were a larger group it'd be more reasonable, but this trip's just the two of us. If you're more than two people the numbers work better, as @flygirl8 said, and otherwise ToursByLocals is a great experience.

But it might not matter. See my post just above:

One website (so far) posted today (May 30) that a new policy approved last week provides for a $5 landing slip issued on arrival on cruise ships. This was posted 7 hours ago on "a commercial website, NOT the official website of Vietnam government or affiliated with Vietnam Government." [Edit:] I don't see other mentions of the $5 landing slip so far, but news stories from last week report other tourist-friendly changes to Vietnam's visa policy. The post says that "cruise passengers will pay a US$5 visa fee each, instead of a staggering US$45, when they go ashore for a local tour." "Immigration officers would issue a landing slip for visitors upon arrival at a fee of US$5 if they want to go ashore for sightseeing."

When Northern Lights were visible, did the ship turn off any outdoor lighting to provide dark viewing areas?

We are first-time Seabourn cruisers and would much appreciate a referral. Please email voyager@toolworks.com. Thanks!

Have you reduced the size of your file before sending it? Photos from my phone can be as large as 3.5 Mb, and from my camera 4.5 Mb. Those will take a while to send, and can time out before finishing. I right-click (in Windows) and resize the photo to 1920 x 1080. That's plenty of resolution for sharing, and reduces the file size down to a few hundred K, which will go out a lot faster. If you're sending out more than 5 or 6 photos, even downsized, break the batch into multiple emails.

On most lines, the "upgrade" doesn't affect bandwidth/speed, just removes the block on streaming sites. Is that the case on Seabourn? And do they block Zoom on the free service? The other lines I'm aware of do not.

How does the basic/free wifi do with Zoom, assuming no hardware or satellite problems.

So if this had not been labeled a Mindful Living Tour, would you (or anyone who took another Mindful Living Tour) have known there was anything different about it?

Some excursions on our upcoming Encore cruise are designated "Mindful Living Tours." The description includes "As an extension of Spa & Wellness with Dr. Andrew Weil, this Mindful Living tour is designed to deliver an experience that contributes to mind and body wellness." What is the added experience on these tours?

How does the on-board shorex cancellation policy actually work in reality? Booking our first Seabourn cruise, I see some unexpected differences from other high-end lines. For example, most other lines have a fixed on-board cancellation policy such as 48 or 72 hours in advance for a refund. Seabourn says that after three days prior to sailing there may be a cancellation fee, we can't find out the amount until we get on board, but it could be up to 100%. A phone agent said we'd probably lose the whole cost. So we're leery of booking anything before we get on the ship. How does it actually work? Are there some kinds of excursions that normally don't have cancellation fees, and some that charge 100%?

J.W. Marriott at Copacabana. Good location. (They must be giving cruise lines a good deal. On a recent Viking cruise to Venice, the included post-cruise was supposed to be on a hotel in Giudecca, but got changed to an inconvenient island out in the lagoon which Mariott calls Isola Delle Rose but I renamed Elba. But I digress.) There were 5 of us, spending two nights there. One couple had one night plus transfers included, and booked the previous night on the hotel website. The rest of us didn't and booked two nights. The AAA and Senior rates were much cheaper than doing it through Regent, and we got better rooms. And somehow some of our bags wound up with luggage tags from the couple with included transfers, and went on the bus. 😉

At the end of our 20 days, we and our traveling companions have done a number of Zooms, mostly without problems except for those discussed above. Bandwidth has rarely been an issue. There have been a few glitches with the ship's wifi. We're anchored now at Great Stirrup Cay with 4 - 5 bars of BTE, and free 4G data from T-Mobile.

That's the way it was in Rio too.

We're signed up for this excursion. Destination Services wasn't real helpful about details; can anyone here help? How heavy are the tubes that we have to carry on the hike? One of us is small and concerned about the size and weight. What provision, if any, is there for leaving valuables? Shoes and other things we want on the walk but not the tubing? Is there any secure way to take a camera or phone that isn't waterproof?

I turn the sprayer to the wall too, at least until the water gets hot. Hard to wash oneself that way though, so eventually I have to turn it back. And yes, the rainforest heads are low flow. In an A1 - A3 or B1 - B3 cabin there's plenty of drawer space with the addition of that cabinet in the bathroom. The hanging closet is a problem. There's an overhead light a couple of feet back from the mirror, so it doesn't create a shadow. But you're right, the mirror rim lights aren't bright enough; I shave mostly by feel.

Some friends came aboard, providing the opportunity to compare the new Veranda bathroom (left) with the tub and shower configuration (right) in the B4 and A4s. They are unhappy with their cabin's lack of storage space. We've got lots of space. The only difference is our cabinet where their shower stall is. And we are happy with our shower, with one exception. The holder for the telephone sprayer in the B4 shower (top right photo) has height and tilt adjustments. The one in our luxurious shower doesn't. In the cradle, its spray is horizontal. It hits me right in the face, and sails over my wife's head. So it can't be used much with both hands free. But the rainforest head does adjust. Huh? There are also some issues with the closet. There's not enough space for all our hanging stuff, even after removing the two fluffy, luxurious space hog bathrobes. Access to the left side is blocked by the night table. And if both occupants are trying to dress for dinner, the narrow space between the bed and closet makes for some interesting interactions.

Update: Ravi, the Internet Manager, phoned in response to my mid-cruise evaluation complaint about the internet problems. He said there were two causes. One is that in some Caribbean ports there is local interference with the satellite signal. Two of these ports are St. Kitts and St. Vincent. This is exactly consistent with that second Zoom of mine. I was on with a good connection from 10 am, but around 11 am, as we were docking in St. Kitts, Zoom disconnected and couldn't reconnect. Another cause, according to Ravi, is that in some spots at sea there is no satellite footprint. In other places the only available satellite is either slow or flaky. Apparently the Lesser Antilles is such an area. That's consistent with my experience over the past days. Ravi said we can expect none of these problems for the remainder of this cruise back to Miami and our next leg to Quintana Roo and Central America. So I am back to endorsing Riviera's wifi for Zoom except for those two kinds of problems. If they reoccur I'll post an update. And from now on when I board a ship and plan to schedule Zooms, I'll ask the Internet Manager if there are days to avoid.