CDNPolar

Happy that you are aware of and cover pre-existing conditions. IMO, $200 more is "peanuts" if you ever had to engage your insurance for a problem. I face the fact that as I age, additional possible pre-existing conditions, will push up my insurance premiums, and it is just something that I budget for now. Regarding annual policies, there are many pros and cons. We use an annual policy only for cancellation and interruption. We have medical separately. This saves us a lot of money.

I kind of agree with @Roz that river cruising is not for you. I don't feel that you are going to find much better with other river lines. I also agree with @Host Jazzbeau that it could be Viking especially when it comes to dining. On AmaWaterways, you can sit at a table by yourself for all three meals if you want. For the SSBP, I think that too many people buy it that don't really understand how Viking do their wine and beer with meals and that you can buy any wine offered by the glass at anytime without buying the SSBP. You can also tell the server that you don't like the included wine on offer that day and they always find an alternate. They have for us anyway. From my perspective, if you are going to try another cruise line, try AmaWaterways.

You are best to investigate every option. Viking can be cheaper, and there are times they are not. Certainly if the air is FREE, they are cheaper. You just have to consider if you buy your own air, you are responsible for your transfers to and from the ship. Depending on where you are in the world, this can be a cheap 20 minute ride in a Taxi to a very expensive 90 minute transfer. There is - IMO - no right or wrong. We buy Viking Air Plus, if we are going to fly Viking Air. We also consider the price of Viking pre-extensions if we want to go in a day early. We weigh the cost of the hotel and then the transfers, both from the airport to the hotel, and then from the hotel to the ship. For us, it is a 50/50 thing. Sometimes we use Viking and sometimes we book our own.

Mixers are not free unless you are on the SSBP. You can get a "soft drink" with your meal, but not outside of that without paying for it. My recollection is that a Coke is USD$4.00

Could take days and days to clean up. Just shows you what chaos can be created and where overall advance planning has failed to anticipate something like this. I bet they will work on a contingency plan for the future.

OhioWilly, I would assume that your medical insurance in the USA will insure you when you are in Alaska, but this would not cover you while you are in Canada, or if you were ill on the ship and had to be evacuated to a Canadian hospital. If anything happens to you in Canada - fall and break a leg - or anything, then you would not have any insurance. In my opinion, you should consider medical insurance like you would for any international travel.

You ask very good questions and this is what makes pre-existing conditions so confusing. Generally speaking if there is no diagnosis, or treatment plan, it would probably not be seen as a pre-existing condition that would impact insurance. There is also a consideration that there was not a reasonable expectation that something could keep you from travelling. So, in the situation of say the colonoscopy, and they "saw something" that they are keeping an eye on, and you have a follow up appointment then before the trip that turned into something that caused you to cancel the trip, and make a claim, this could be considered a reason not to pay. Typically routine screenings of things that you mention are done by everyone and not considered pre-existing conditions. Some conditions - diabetes, some heart conditions - are pre-existing but if completely stable then are not a concern. But, if you broke your leg 3 months before and there were complications, and THEN YOU BOUGHT insurance, and you had to cancel or had issues while travelling, you likely would not be covered. If you buy the insurance and then break your leg, you are covered. Collect your questions and then pose them to your insurance company. Each one may treat something differently. I just had a friend that I am going to travel with expose a severe peanut allergy that I was not aware of. This became a question for insurance. Although insurance - in Canada - considers this a pre-existing condition they also consider it always "stable" as it is only when someone ingests that peanut unexpectedly that it becomes unstable. Food allergies - with Manulife in Canada - are insurable conditions.

Apparently there are rule changes about carrying portable batteries - battery banks - on aircraft in some Asian countries and with some Asian airlines. Here is an excerpt from the article, and the article is referenced below. Which airlines have changed their rules and why? As of March 1, passengers on all South Korean airlines must keep their portable chargers within arm’s reach and out of overhead bins. The government implemented the rule to ease anxiety about the risk of battery fires, the Transportation Ministry said. Some Taiwanese airlines implemented similar changes that also took effect March 1. EVA Air and China Airlines announced a ban on using or charging power banks on their planes, although the batteries can still be stored in overhead compartments. Thai Airways, Thailand’s flagship airline, then said that it would implement a similar ban on using and charging power banks, citing “incidents of in-flight fires on international airlines, suspected to be linked to power bank usage.” The latest to follow were Singapore Airlines and its budget subsidiary, Scoot, which announced their own ban on March 12. Since 2016, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations agency that co-ordinates global aviation regulations, has banned lithium-ion batteries, the kind commonly found in power banks, from the cargo holds of passenger planes. Link to full article. https://apple.news/AlfsfuXdTQw-Q9H656kOk2A

I guarantee you that it does not matter if you are booking through a TA or direct. The bulk of Viking's bookings come through TA's and Viking does not give - IMO - preferential treatment to anyone. I agree with @CCWineLover here

We bring nothing to embarkation, but we often buy wine on shore especially if we have gone to a winery, and we have it with our dinner. (If we are on River, we will share the bottle with our table at dinner) Our friends don't buy the SSBP any longer, so they bring a bottle of Gin and pour their pre-dinner cocktail in their cabin and then meet us - with their cocktail - in the Living Room prior to dinner.

I have an Airalo Global - 138 countries - and it has gone UP as everything does. I think we got a special deal or a coupon or something that took the price down. Currently 20GB is $101.50 CDN. https://www.airalo.com/global-esim Nice thing is that there is an APP that you can track your usage and then even top up if you need to. Typically 20GB is MORE than we need for the full year on shore for maps and general internet surfing when having a coffee at a Cafe and figuring out where to go next... and the directions. BUT, I started uploading to Instagram while on shore and of course that takes much more data. And this has no voice. We are however iPhone Users so we use WhatsApp when on shore to call friends or family and we WiFi call on the ship when connected to the ships WiFi so we never now incur any roaming or cell charges.

That was a "blip" and my response was below... but not as a direct reply to your post.

Sorry - does not do it for me. We have a number of Eddie Bauer travel pieces - especially the pants. Water resistant, stain resistant, do not wrinkle, and they stretch. I have worn a tan pair daily for 5 or 6 days and they still look like they just came out of the wash. And they weigh a fraction of denim. I can carry 3-4 pairs of these pants for the weight of one pair of jeans, and they go from day time to night time and look dressy.

It is fairly typical online type of application and can take up to 5 days to receive the Visa. My recommendation and what we always do is find the actual government site for the country to apply through. We don't personally use Visa services as they tend to be more expensive. https://evisa.imigrasi.go.id/ Choose "General, Family, or Social" and go with the drop downs from there.

I hardly finished clicking the submit button and I heard the DING of my inbox with my acceptance. Same for my Husband. Seconds - well, maybe 1-2 minutes.

Your best option is to contact the cruise line directly and be very specific about your concern. That you are travelling land and sea and you don't intend to use the rice cooker during the cruise but you want it after the cruise for another land portion and you don't want the challenge of buying a new one when you start that portion. Be specific, ask for a commitment in writing from the cruise line if they say that they will hold it for you, and tell them that you will "surrender" it on arrival at the port so they know you are not trying to smuggle it in. I am assuming that since you are from Bali Indonesia that your rice cooker is probably much more expensive than the average Walmart rice cooker and is a centre point of your meal preparation. Being married to someone from mainland China and having many friends that are from many parts of South East Asia, I understand that the rice cookers that many of these folks have can be hundreds of dollars and not $39.95 at Walmart. I get your concern, but you need to go to the source and ask the questions of the cruise line directly and as I stated, get their commitment in writing so that you can show that on arrival at the port.

I would second AmaWaterways for what you are looking for. Having bicycles, a gym, and many options for excursions that are included, is the way to go. Also many of the AmaWaterways ships have connecting cabins, or cabins that allow 3 passengers to stay. They are more accommodating - on purpose - to multi-generational families.

Looking at the ship deck plan I would say that you are more aft than forward, but I don't think on that deck, which is deck 3 that you would have engine "noise" however vibration is another thing. I have been on many river ships and on every deck and I don't find that there is noise as much as vibration. Fumes? This really depends on a number of factors such as when you are docked are they using shore power or are the engines running to provide the power and more than that what way are the winds. We only once had fumes and that was while rafted with another ship and the ships were not on shore power and the wind was light but blowing from the aft between the ships. I would be more concerned with the early morning walkers on the Sun Deck where you are if noise is what you are concerned about. Hopefully this cruise director is firm in asking/telling people not to use the walking track until after 8am

We have had great steaks on Viking in The Restaurant, and in Manfredi's. Actually the steak and the pork chop are the only menu items I am interested in on the Manfredi's menu. I don't remember having a "Bad" steak in Manfredi's but then perhaps my expectations are not as high as some? I don't expect beef on any cruise ship to be the best beef I have ever eaten. I have also been less than impressed with several well known beef forward restaurants in what they serve and charge a literal arm and leg for. I am overall satisfied with Viking beef.

I guess that I have never understood the attraction to denim especially when travelling. Packing denim (trousers) is heavy, they are restrictive, they are not warm if you are going somewhere cold, and they are not water/rain resistant.

It has recently been announced that the ETIAS will NOT start until last quarter of 2026. https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en

We travel with some cash (in the local currency) for tips for tour guides. The rest is credit card and if they don't take a card they don't get my money. Yes, on a British Isles cruise you will find everyone takes cards, except maybe if you are in a small street market with locals.

This all depends on what you need insurance for? Medical? Cancellation? Interruption? You would need to be a lot more specific. If you are in the UK be very specific about that because insurance is different in the UK from USA or Canada and a lot of the advice and knowledge here is from the USA. What is talked about here may not apply to you.

See we find the dining room warm.... It is individual but I am always warm.