Gourmet Gal

It’s actually good news and I think makes the trip a little safer. I don’t think moving about the ship is the highest risk though, it’s being seated maskless and socializing at cocktails and dinner that is the riskiest behavior. At least they’re making an attempt to protect you and not have your vacation ruined. If it doesn’t matter to you if you get Covid or not then I see your point.

Budspot, sounds like a fun trip. My advice is to not be lulled into a false sense of immunity and then let your guard down, especially when you’ll see many people behaving as though Covid is over. You seem to be aware that you and your boyfriend could still contract Covid again so if it’s problematic for you to delay your return then wear your masks more than you think you need to and take a supply of home antigen tests with you and test regularly. If you are positive and asymptomatic you don’t want to find out the day before your flight home. Good luck and enjoy the cruise!

Sounds like you have a choice of PCR or Antigen? If so, it should be very easy to find rapid Antigen testing in Amsterdam as it is in many European cities. Have you asked the concierge at your hotel? We were recently in Paris and there were testing tents literally everywhere and many pharmacies did testing as well. This is not worth changing your travel plans for. BTW, the proctored tests work very well.

I took this cruise a few years ago. I don’t think there was a bad excursion but my fondest memory is of cruising along the Moselle. What a beautiful river! Service was very good and food was good enough as I recall. My only advice is to wear a mask more than you think you need to. My DH caught Covid last month on a river cruise in France and we were very careful. Test yourself frequently if the ship does not. These latest variants are prevalent and highly contagious. Good luck and hope you have a great time.

If the ship doesn’t provide some sort of testing you might consider taking some home antigen tests with you and test yourself. It’s a petri dish on those small river ships and if you wait until the day before travel back to US and test positive then the clock starts ticking for “recovery” time and quarantine whether you have symptoms or not. The sooner you know the better if you must be back home as scheduled. Only an Antigen test is required for re-entry to US but it must be proctored or administered by an ”official” tester.

You should google the requirements for Switzerland quarantine but as stated above you must abide by the US requirements to return home. You should google that as well right before travel because the requirements may change and those advising you here may not be up to date. What Jimmymac is quoting sounds about right for now. Cruise ships are Petri dishes for the latest variant so it’s good you’re thinking through what your plan will be if you test positive. My advice is to take home antigen tests with you and test frequently because that positive test starts the clock ticking for recovery. I would take a date-stamped photo of the test result. Only that final test one day before returning home needs to be proctored. Also, mark your calendar if and when you begin feeling symptomatic. The positive test and date of symptoms will be useful info if a telemed doctor is advising you. My husband contracted Covid on a recent Tauck cruise, was very symptomatic, tested positive with a home test while on the ship but luckily(?), conveniently tested negative twice by the Tauck proctor so we were able to fly home at the end of the cruise. Of course he tested positive again as soon as we landed and later that day tested positive with a PCR test. He was sick for 2 weeks even though fully vaccinated and boosted. No fun. Good luck.

It’s the norm on river and ocean unless it is an extension that includes group tours when some additional meals may be included. Also, as in the case of my recent Tauck cruise there were 2 nights in Paris that included breakfasts, one group welcome dinner, a food tour but there was one dinner and 2 lunches on our own before boarding the ship. Perhaps Viking just allows time for you to enjoy some meals on your own. That’s can be fun in an interesting city.

Would be interesting to know what the OP is thinking. No comment since the initial post.

5% for D2D and 2.5% for P2P. Wow, yet another illogical complication that would make one feel penalized if D2D doesn’t work. The attempts at incentive end up seeming more like penalty if one tries to avoid a poor value D2D.

You might be confusing Antigen with Antibody? Not many places administer Antibody tests and the results would take longer and would not be very useful for travel. At home Antigen tests take 15 min at most. Flowflex is one that can be monitored by a third party online. There are others as well that you can buy at the pharmacy - just Google. There should also be local pharmacies that will administer Antigen tests in your area.

I can see all excursions on my 9/22 Moon itin.

It’s a computer glitch that seems to have been rectified as of today.

Perhaps it’s just a glitch. I just logged in and noticed the last few days of my Sept. 22 Moon cruise are missing and is showing disembarkation is 2 days early….hope it’s a glitch!

180 is the window for excursions. 210 for VS.

TA’s are also aware of the pitfalls of this pricing scheme and unless they’re being paid an extra incentive by SS they will steer customers away to save headaches for themselves later on.

It’s unclear if there is a TA involved and there seems to be a lot of confusion. I’m not understanding how someone can call an agent or SS multiple times, tell them their flights have been cancelled and not be understood.

Yes, point made.

Sounds like a friend has referred you so make sure they submit that info to SS and when you book the discount should show up. Best to use a TA to book both reservations. I think you are still within the window to be able to book shore excursions and dining.

At least some will sellout immediately when the booking window opens. Set the date on your calendar if there are certain excursions you really want.

Whether potential cruisers are here on CC or not doesn’t mean they don’t have common sense and can see the problems with this pricing scheme.

Luckily I booked our upcoming cruise before this ridiculous program. And it’s a good thing because I was not happy with the SS Air options and ended up booking our own. We prepaid for the cruise with a 10% discount. Is that program no longer be offered? We also referred another couple and received a small bonus. Is that gone, too? Anyway, we mostly do land-based trips so cruising is a very small part of our travel. But I will not be considering SS unless there are some changes to this craziness.

Good luck Newbet. Let us know how things turned out. It could be instructive for others.

DD, that combo works well for Europe to East Coast but West Coast, not so much. It’s nice to take a nap after mealtime plus there are fewer people in the cabin if one is hoping to keep a little social distance.

Have your TA check with them. Otherwise you’ll just have to call them yourself and ask.

It sounds like perhaps when you cancelled the return flight it could not be uncoupled from the outbound flight or something went awry and the entire reservation was cancelled. Someone dropped the ball if it was not communicated to you clearly when that return flight was cancelled. You booked Door to Door but with booking your own flight home it sounds like the D2D no longer applied. Have you checked that the sailing portion of your reservation is still valid? If you are not being understood by SS that you even have a problem then perhaps as mentioned someone can speak on your behalf to try to get it resolved. How stressful it must be for you. Best of luck.