firstcruise91

Looked high and low thru over 30 cruise albums and could not find him listed in numerous Reflections.  Very odd, on my part.  My question is . . Does anyone know if he is still a guest lecturer on Crystal ships?  I have tried the Crystal website but no luck there.

Cheers,

Mary

Thank you too.  So much help so quickly.

Nancy & Keith:

Big Thank You for your information.  Once specific cruise is selected it will be nice to have a better than ballpark figure.  Of course port fees and taxes etc. will be additional.

Dear Crystalites:

Would you please let me know the NC requirements 1) what percent is required for deposit? 2) how far from embarking is balance due? 3) when are shore excursions available?, 4) when are specialty restaurant reservations taken? 5. how far out from embarking do you get your package of documents? and finally 6) is the nc giving credit for cruises taken with the oc?  Please chime in.  I would be very thankful.

Thank you one and all for your help.  DH is dealing with TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

My dear people . . . . a big Thank You to you all.  I contacted my TA and she even she get irritated when she calls the California office..  PS:  Do you have to carry your bottle of whatever or can one of the bars keep it with our cabin # on the neck or label?  We are not much for drinking in our cabin.  We would rather be out and about to meet new and interesting people.

OMG someone help me off the floor.  I am laughing to hard I can't get up by myself.

July 7, 2022, DH and I booked and deposited thru our TA "Hawaiian Island Sojourn" on Viking Star.  Final payment was due December 31, 2022, nearly 14 months prior to embarkation.  This cruise is from February 14, 2024 to March 1, 2024.  Using our "My Viking Journey" we saw that pre-paid gratuities were $240 per person.

1.  Since the cruise is going to be here soon and it is almost time to book dinners and shore excursion reservations, we went back to My Viking Journey to make sure we had not missed something.  We do not know when but, the price for gratuities went up to $272.00.  I agree it was not a huge amount but can anyone tell me how in the world gratuities can go up?  DH "chatted" with Viking and was clearly told that the higher amount is what we owe irregardless of the prior lower amount.  As we remember from the past, once you were deposited the gratuities were one item that didn't go up.

2.  Per Viking website Frequently Asked Questions:  "Can I bring alcoholic and other beverages onboard?"  The answer was that you can bring aboard your own choice of liquor and drink it in public spaces as well as your cabin and NOT be charged a corkage fee.  The person DH was talking to said it can only be enjoyed in your cabin and not anywhere else.

Do we have to wait until we get onboard to find our if the brochures and website are correct or the "chat" staff?

Has anyone had similar instances happen to them? 

Peter Greenberg (petergreenberg.com) had some very nice things to say about his trip on Crystal.  At time marker 24 minutes and 51 seconds of his October 16 Global Travel Update you can watch and learn what he said.

Mary.

Thank you all for your information.  We prefer not to do this with as a shore excursion.  I have been doing research and found Auberge Saint-Antoine might give it a try.  I realize that the Frontenac is the best and I agree.  However it is time to be adventuresome and try something new.  I will post a review when we return from cruise.  princeton 123211  you are so right abut the Fairmount Queen Elizabeth.  Have you ever had afternoon tea at the York in Toronto?

Where, besides the Hotel Frontenac, can you have a nice afternoon tea experience?

Thank you Shark b8!  You have given us all a bunch of info.  Enjoy your cruise.

Aloha

Mary

Aloha Shark b8:

Could you expand explanation, please?  If your first tries at flight number format, phone country code format, contact phone country code format and birthday format were wrong, what did the correct format end up being for each of the "wrong" ones?  And what is captcha?  DH & I will be embarking in Lisbon soon after our flight from LAX and hope to learn from your experiences.  Times they are a-changing.  Love your daily notes.  Enjoy!

Mahalo,

Mary

Dear Cwaze. Where are the videos?  Holding my breath I am turning blue!

Thank you Bruce. Will keep alert to possible changes in the future. Will be in Japan May, 2019, so there is time for all kinds of airport affiliated changes.

Is the Japan departure tax included in the ticket price back to U.S.? Is it due at airline check-in in cash in Japanese yen?

Mary

You all are fantastic! Thank you so much for your help. I will check them out online and also when we are in Victoria. To answer about pattern: That I will have to just see what strikes my fancy. D-I-Law is very open to pattern and just said she would love something "very English".

Thank you again.

Mary

Hello to all my CC fellow cruisers. Do any of you know of, and perhaps had personal experience, with any stores in Victoria, B.C., that sell traditional English Tea Sets? I am looking to pick up a set of four place settings for daughter-in-law. Store where I got my own set many years ago is no longer in business. I have done a google search and had no luck at all. Thank you all.

Mary

We booked a tour with Dora three years ago. We both think she did a great job. We had done a great deal of research and pretty much knew what we wanted to see and how much time to explore. She was spot on. We saw all and more at a casual pace. No buses, no waiting, no problems! Have a great time. You are in good hands.

Mary

The Crystal Harmony with Captain , "It'me again" Malen.

1962 Matson Line Matsonia, L.A. to Honolulu. Quite a ride with no stabilizers. What a great way to prepare for the islands.

COLOR copies of your passport and drivers license! Carry them with you when you depart the ship and keep a spare set in your on-board travel bags. They can be life savers and don't take up any room!

Great idea boze9999. We learned a vital lesson from an article in International Travel News of the troubles a lady had proving to the French authorities that she was indeed the wife of her husband who had just died while they were on vacation. It is so easy to get an official certified copy of your marriage license (not a copy of it), it has no expiration date and weighs a fraction of an ounce. We keep ours in a red paper folder with color copies of our passports and our driver's license. The folder just stays in our luggage ready for our next adventure.

Mary

It may be too late for your use but maybe others finding this thread can still read on and find help. Nov. 8, 2012, we had Dora show us old Cartagena. She charged the two of us $140.00 USD each and gave us a "well worth it" tour. If there are more people in your group the price per person goes down quite a bit. We would have had to take THREE different cruise line shore excursions to see what we did with Dora. So we feel our tour with Dora was vey cost effective. The price was steep but we saw everything (inside and out) that we wanted to see. At our request, NO SHOPPING! In four hours we were finished and had not had to deal with bus loads of crowds nor getting on & off a tour bus. We were in a full size car with air conditioning. Driver was very good. We are both in our late 60s and love to walk all over when we tour. This Dora provided a moderate walking experience along with her commentary. PLENTY of time to take lots of pictures.

We had looked into using Claudia. She had a better website which almost made us opt to use her as our guide. I can't tell you now what was the reason we ended up going with Dora but we are so glad we did. No language problem either.