mhb1757

We did this cruise the end of October thru first of November and it was perfect touring weather. Trees were lovely, got to Giverny the final weekend it was open. We were lucky I’m sure but it was beautiful the entire week. We were at the Normandy beaches and cemetery on All Saints Day (11/1) and were touched by the numbers of French citizens that came to pay their respects. There were lots of families walking on the beach that afternoon. A glorious fall day.

Honestly following our recent Danube cruise with Viking I can see no advantage to a veranda cabin since we were rafted 5 of the 7 nights with a ship on our side so the curtains had to remain closed and the balcony was not accessible in any practical way.

We did the Danube on Viking the last week of May and we’re rafted 4 or 5 nights. During this trip Viking ships were rafted to other Viking ships (3 deep in Vienna and Budapest). None of the other lines we saw were rafted to other ships since we never saw more than one ship from any other line in a port. We saw Avalon, Emerald, Uniworld and CrosiEurope in most ports. Most nights there were 4 to 7 Viking ships docked!

Your cheapest option is the Binax Now video proctored test. Hotel WiFi should be fine but if you have poor internet in your hotel room you may have to go elsewhere. A friend recently was in a hotel with spotty WiFi in the room and she asked at the front desk and they offered her use of a small conference room with much better internet. They also offered her use of an Ethernet cable for her laptop but she was fine with the WiFi and her phone in the conference area.

It appears that as of 5/2 there are no quarantine requirements if you test positive in Switzerland. Local authorities are allowed to tighten restrictions if needed but right now all you would need is a negative test to re enter the US. The Swiss have recommendations for those testing positive but no mandatory quarantine.

Different countries have different quarantine rules. Some are zero days, some 5 days some 7 or 10 days. So quarantine rules will vary depending on where you are. To return to the US you must have a negative test OR a letter from a physician stating you are cleared to travel. These letters can be obtained from a local provider or from a video consultation from a US provider. Most require that you be symptom free for 48 hours and be 5 days post positive test to issue the travel certificate.

Since you are flying from Orlando (big airport with lots of flight options to Amsterdam) you are likely fine arriving day of your cruise. But as others have said you might be glad to have a day or 2 to rejuvenate and see more sites. That’s up to you. We much prefer staying outside Amsterdam (Haarlem, Delft and Leiden are all beautiful historic towns out of the bustling, dirty Amsterdam). Trains in the Netherlands are frequent, inexpensive, clean and easy to use. You can be at Amsterdam Centraal in 30 minutes or less from any of those towns. while you can easily take a train from the airport to Centraal I’d probably be inclined to do a cab or an Uber or a car service from the airport because I’m not wild about hauling my luggage onto and off a train, across a 6 or 8 lane highway to the river outside the station (while dodging hundreds of homicidal cyclists) and then a few more blocks to the ship. If you are flying in the day you board your cruise the simplest way to get there is just use Viking transfers. Not the cheapest, but certainly easy. They will be standing there with a sign as you exit the customs area into the arrivals hall and they’ll take your luggage and escort you to the van or bus and deliver you to the ship. if you fly in a day or 2 early, unless you get a thrill from dragging your luggage around get an Uber. 😂

Thanks for this info. Very helpful. We certainly won’t be those people bragging about not masking but it’s nice to know you have a little leeway outside. Would love to hear if they limit testing after 3 days.

If you are doing a Viking extension the PCR test must be within 72 hours of your first international flight. If you are doing the days in Venice pre cruise on your own then the test must be within 72 hours of boarding the ship. I’m assuming you are doing the Viking extension so 72 hours before the international flight will work.

Train seats were quite comfortable IMHO. It is also easy to get up, stretch and move about so no need to stay seated for prolonged periods.

I think Les Andelys and Rouen would definitely NOT be scooter friendly. The good news is there isn’t too much in Les Andelys anyway. But lots of very old cobblestones and uneven paths in both of those places. I think LePecq would be doable. I agree that getting on and off the ship might be the greatest challenge there but once off, the area near the ship was modern streets and sidewalks. I agree that the Normandy coast excursion would be doable. Toward the end of the day we made a stop right on the beach so you might want to skip that, but you have a great view of the beach from above at the American Cemetery (which has nicely paved walkways).

I’m a little confused about current ship requirements. The Viking Health and Safety policy on the Viking website says masks are optional on the ship after the initial covid test, and when off the ship guests must comply with local regulations (very few places have mask requirements now). Our My Viking Journey website still has the same verbiage it has had for over a year saying masks required when moving about the ship, on all excursions and when off the ship on your own (no clue how that would be enforced). we are leaving in a couple of weeks for the Danube and would love to hear what requirements were on recent cruises from those that have recently returned. thanks.

I actually prefer the “Easy Walker” group on some Viking excursions. I don’t have any trouble walking but we have found the group is generally smaller and the guides quite personable. The cruise director will tell everyone what changes will be made for the easy walker group during the pre dinner briefing each evening and you can decide which you want to do and you just let the front desk know if you prefer the leisure group. You can do leisure group some days and regular on others if you want.

Ours came in about a week.

Quite a few. There is a bar menu posted on the My Viking Journey website that includes non alcoholic options. You can look at that. You can get sodas, juices, specialty coffees etc any time from the bar. Honestly it would never be worth the cost for us to buy the SSP since I don’t drink at all and DH very little but it’s a nice free perk that we have had included a couple of times.

Any time you add days on your own pre and/or post cruise you pay the deviation fee ($100). You don’t have to pay the $50/pp Air Plus fee if you are willing to take whatever flights Viking gives you. Viking included AIRPORT transfers are from the airport to the ship on embarkation day and from the ship back to the airport at the end of the cruise. Since you won’t be at the airport on embarkation day or returning to the airport at the end of the cruise you can’t use the included transfers. They don’t provide hotel pick ups or drop offs. If you book a Viking extension pre or post cruise that price will include transfers but that is separate from the cruise fare.

We have used Air Plus 4 or 5 times. Always got our first choice flights, except once and got our 2nd choice that time. But it may help that we always prefer Delta or their Sky Team partners. Not sure where you are traveling from or to, but to most destinations in Europe they use one of the legacy carriers (American, United or American) for US legs and their European partners (KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, TAP, British Air, etc.) for European legs. Just pick what you want and give them a call.