CDNPolar

This is just personal opinion.... If you are discreet and you are not roaming the streets sharing public displays of affection, then I would not be concerned. If on a cruise, and especially if you are participating in excursions that the cruise ship offers, then you are part of a group and "hidden in plain sight" so to speak. Even if you take private tours or wander on your own, if you are discreet then I would not be concerned. Not exactly the same thing, but my husband is Chinese and we have traveled extensively and continue to travel with a future cruise booked to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and finally India. We don't personally feel any concern and mostly because we are also discreet. One thing at my age that I accept is that different parts of the world have different levels of acceptance for LGBT individuals, and I cannot change that in my visit to their country, BUT, I am not not going to travel there. I have also accepted that I can not, and will not force my being gay on anyone and so choose to be discreet and enjoy the world for what it is. I have a saying that I like to reference in my head and that is: Gay is what I am not who I am. To me that means that I don't have to scream anything to anyone, but just exist quietly and do my thing, and my thing is travel and see the world, experience diverse cultures, and food. That's all. I hope you follow through and have a wonderful time. Oh, and just as a note... when we first started to cruise, we chose Viking as our cruise line and all but one of our 9 cruises now have been on Viking. I had concerns at the beginning and spoke with Viking customer service about my concerns and they were very good at reassuring me that I should not have any concerns. Perhaps contact your cruise line?

We have booked "Across the Bay of Bengal" from Bangkok to Mumbai in March of 2025. I know - this is way out there in date now... This is I believe part of a Viking World Cruise? Has anyone done the 6 day post extension from Mumbai - India's Golden Triangle? Can you share your experience with this post extension? Good, bad, or otherwise? We are considering this vs. building our own post itinerary. Thoughts?

I used a Viking Agent. Still waiting on my reply from tellus@ and normally I get a call very quickly after but in this case, I asked for a WRITTEN answer only. I indicated that there are many opinions out there and each Viking Agent you speak to has a different opinion, and I wanted their answer in writing so I could hold them to the response.

Yes, I see that. I also have copies of ones that we have purchased and used. I am still waiting for Viking to answer me via email. We HAVE applied these vouchers in the past to cruises that were already booked but not fully paid - just a deposit made against the booking. These were bookings made in advance of purchasing the vouchers. Again - Viking information inconsistent depending on who you talk to - regardless of the language on the voucher.

Well, this is something that I am going to ask for an answer in writing (email) from Viking. We have three future cruises booked now and we were planning on buying 6 vouchers on our upcoming River Cruise to apply to each of our future bookings... if not allowed to attach then we won't bother. Odd because we have done exactly that in the past. Boils down to different information depending on who you talk to at Viking. I will write Viking and come back with the answer.

My card has not actively been "read" by the Nexus machines in the last 3-4 years. I try then just walk to the agent handling Nexus and say that it does not read and they hand me a manual yellow form. Quick and efficient and no worries. I don't even think about it anymore.

Just as a note, if you are referring to the ticket number that I posted in the picture above, I did not screen capture the entire ticket number for confidentiality. I am not going to post my full e-ticket number. Perhaps I should have stated that.... it was intended as a picture reference of what the OP should look for.

We have three future cruises booked now. We are going on a River Cruise in August and we are planning to purchase these on the River cruise. We were told that we could apply these once we get them to the booked, but not paid for cruises. We have done this in the past too. We purchased vouchers and then had them added to an existing booking that was not paid for. Not sure I understand Squawkman's answer above, because unless the policy has changed, they can be applied to an already booked cruise.

I think that you can ask for ticketing at 120 days out. You could try earlier, but they may not do it. I think that the ticketing timeline also aligns with the fact that Viking has penalties for cancelling at 120 days out? Not sure entirely on this one. But for sure, if your flights are ticketed and you cancel for any reason, even before the cruise penalties at 120 days, you would be responsible for the cost and cancelation of the air because once ticketed - it was purchased. My personal opinion on your question: Also, if the airline makes a significant change to the itinerary, could that result in more cost to us? This should not mean that you must incur cost with many airlines that we have traveled with because the airline if initiating a change after you have paid for the tickets they often allow you to make changes to suit you at no charge... BUT, we have not had this happen with a Viking Air booking. We had Business Class seats to Buenos Aires last year and we booked those about 300 days out. This was Delta and they made in total about 6 changes to our itinerary before flying and each time we were given the option to move flights or seats without charge. We did not have to as the changes were small in time of arrival and departure, and the one change of aircraft, we were still happy with the seats that they assigned on the new aircraft type. We have also had this happen with British Air and again, we were given the option to make changes at no charge. Long answer short, I think it is going to depend on the change. You are never guaranteed the seats you book even if you book them with the airline and you are ticketed. If they change the type of plane, they will move your seats, and depending on how closely you watch these changes, you may or may not end up with the seats that you prefer. Usually in Business however you are going to get the same or very similar seat. We watch closely once our tickets are issued and catch the changes as they happen.

Do it with the most time you can because IF one of you has to have an in-person interview - like I do - then you can only do it at a drive through US CAN border, or you must arrange an interview at the Canadian side and then do the US interview same day or after when flying into the USA. Because I could not organize my Canadian interview before my last flight to the USA, I have to go to Buffalo drive over border and do both there. You must have an appointment for the Canadian interview and then you drive over and just present to the USA side. Total pain in the backside. Don't assume that you won't have to do an interview. My husband and I renewed at the same time and he got automatic renewal and I was put on hold until an interview happens.

True, but note, once you do request tickets to be ticketed, then if you need to change anything, you will pay a change fee. (Not talking about seat selection and things that you can do on the airline website) Before ticketing, if you choose to go a day early or stay late, or change a flight, you can do so without a change fee as long as the change falls inside the contract fares.

Generally they ticket 45 to 75 days out from the departure. They used to always ticket 75 days out but when pandemic and airline delays and upset happened the ticketing window got shorter.

Go to MVJ Go into Manage My Air Expand here: If they have been ticketed then you will have an eticket number at the bottom of the Flight Details & Baggage Fees drop down...

One of the biggest problems now with Viking is that you get different information from each person you talk to. We have not done dozens of cruises with Viking but I think we are at 7 or 8 now and we have learned certain things and ask/insist on some of these things and we always get them in spite of the different information. It does not make sense to tell you not to go for Air Plus until you get your initial flights? That makes no sense to me. Air Plus is a service that Viking offers that you pay extra for. We have used Air Plus on every cruise and always been happy with the end result. We have also always added it at the booking stage and scoped out and added our flights at the 280-300 days out range. If Viking were to refuse me Air Plus then I would just book the air on my own - unless the deal was free air through Viking.

Yes - agree. Just never leave the insulin pen in heat like a car. I would leave it in the cabin on a cruise or in the safe in a hotel room... just out of sun and heat.

Viking offer you the opportunity to purchase vouchers while onboard a river cruise to be used on future river or ocean cruises. Typically I believe that the voucher is Pay $100 get double value or $200 voucher. My question is there a limit to the number of vouchers that you can purchase per person?

My insulin pens are good for 56 days out of refrigeration. I always carry an extra with me and never worry about that exposure because on my current dose I use a pen every 15 days. Even if I don't have to use the spare, it still has 40 days after getting home before it expires - from the room temp storage. Now my insulin is Tresiba and it says 56 days on the box. Talk to your pharmacist about this for your specific type of insulin. unless you are taking a long term supply I would not think you have to deal with this concern.

Free Air I believe is the culprit here. Free air means that Viking are booking at the lowest category possible that will not have upgrades available - or if upgrade is available it cannot jump the Premium category to business. We have had luck with free air and Air Plus, because when we are flying 6-7 hours or less, we just go economy or Premium Economy. Viking have contracts with our preferred airlines for Europe so we are good. We have also gotten the upgrade on our preferred airlines to Premium Economy when it is free air. Probably many things at play here.

I think that those of us that are "pro-vaccine" believe that the vaccine prevented serious illness. I believe that. I have had 5 jabs and considering the 6th. I brought the newest variant - at the time - back home to my husband from a work trip in South Africa last year at this time. I was vaccinated with my 4th shot 3 weeks before that trip. My case was quite mild and not as bad as most common colds that I have had in the past. Because my symptoms did not show until after a few days home, my husband got it too. His symptoms were a little worse, but all cleared in short order in the end. My point here is that if you are concerned that Viking or other cruise lines are dropping the vaccine requirement, then either don't cruise, or make sure that you have done what you can to protect yourself from serious illness. Get another booster if available and wear a mask. I personally would never mock a person today for wearing a mask. Covid is still a risk for immune compromised and we should respect that. We don't know what health issues anyone is dealing with and therefore should never share our negative opinion if they choose to wear a mask. I think that what is interesting is the cases of Norovirus that are now being reported, and from my knowledge, this is spread on cruise ships from people who are sick that are not washing their hands and then through touch it is passed on from buffet tongs and door handles etc. Have we not learned anything from the Covid pandemic about hand hygiene?

I don't agree with this personally... We just booked a $25 deposit river cruise with free air. We added Air Plus at the time of booking and this cruise is not until late 2024. We will book our air about 280 days out as most airlines post their routes and fares about 310 days out. We have done this with every cruise on Viking so far and this is the way that we will continue. We WANT to pick our airline, our route, our connection cities and times. If we wait until they post our air, then it could get messy... what if we want nothing that they post? No thank you. We will continue to use Air Plus. This booking was just made this past weekend and we were not discouraged to add Air Plus.

Direct mail works. We moved and then noted that "another company" was sending the past owners of our home brochures. (Primarily a land based tour operator) So many came, we started to take note and look at them, and we have now booked our first tour. Viking have a marketing budget. They spend it where it works and I am certain that there are discount codes and things that they track. They know where they send this "junk mail" and no company the size of Viking spends money without some justification that there is a return.

Money does not always equate to good sense, taking precautions, or caring for anyone other than themselves... Don't hate on me - I added the word "always"...

The world has moved on. Unless you are still not going anywhere outside of your home, you are no different on a ship to in a shopping mall or grocery store. Practice good hand hygiene always and you will have a measure of protection.

Have you nothing better to do than make useless comments like this? Really?

Your best bet is to always carry a power bank. I am going to say no the train did not have outlets, but not 100% sure.