LinnieRed

My experience in this case is not that I cannot get a shore excursion that I want. Viking is actively marketing shore excursions as included that in fact are not included. They are marketing for this particular one-off cruise as included but for those of us who are booking the excursion, there are charges attached to them. This is not a disappointment, this is a bait and switch tactic. We have made them aware of this, as have others on our cruise, and they remain is included on the marketing section of their website.

At this specific moment, our cruise in November is being marketed with excursions that show as included that there is a charge for when you book them through my Viking journey. This does not have anything to do with an inability to get the excursions that we want, or in fact, availability and excursions. This is marketing on their website as included and then after you book, they are no longer included. The only thing we ask of companies is that they do what they say they’re going to. If you book a cruise with included in excursions, pay tens of thousands of dollars for the cruise and then book your excursions and they are not in fact included, it is classic bait and switch. If this kind of marketing doesn’t bother you, that’s up to you. this is happening in real time right now. The website shows them as included, if there is a charge for them on my Viking journey.

At least on the upcoming southern Atlantic Crossing “Highlights of Rio” is $199 excursion. I know this because I just booked it. It was marketed as one of the included excursions when we booked, but somewhere along the way, they in-excluded it. Very tricky, Viking.

We are also on the upcoming November cruise. I think that your cruise also went to Cape Verde instead of Dakar? The Viking site still shows Dakar as the port so they don’t have any excursions listed. What did they arrange for you in Cape Verde, if you remember? Thanks.

If you book it thru visitflam.com it is $52 total per person. They are the direct booking agent. No markup. I just did this very thing in February.

Book it yourself on line! The railway is about a 3 minute walk from the cruise port. Price to book on line is $50 from Flam to Myrdal roundtrip. The price to book on Viking is $150. It is the same train, the same commentary. The only difference is that someone with a sign walks you the 3 minutes. If anyone has a legit reason to book with Viking, I can’t imagine what it would be. It’s a wonderful train ride! I hope you do it. Here is the link: https://www.norwaysbest.com/the-flam-railway/round-trip-with-the-flam-railway/?referrer=3919

The pier parking is $20/day. Very convenient. There is also a park and stay hotel (Doubletree San Pedro) there that lets you leave your car as long as the trip without any restrictions as far as time. We stayed there the night before our 33 day Los Angeles to French Polynesia and back cruise last year. No problem leaving the car for the length of time.

If anyone gets a chance to take a look, let me know if there is a shuttle to the train station or some taxis queued up in Tilbury.

If not wool for socks, what do you recommend? I’m headed to the Northern Lights cruise and bringing merino wool blend.

While on this subject, does anyone any knowledge regarding taxis or a shuttle when you arrive in Tilbury? Trying to avoid the 20 minute walk to the train station.

Thanks. I immediately ordered 2 pair! Super cute. We can wear them to the World Cafe together. Safety in numbers.

Sounds like you all had a great trip. any information re: the disembarkation at Tilbury? Ie. are taxis or Uber available to ferry us to the station at Grays? thanks, Lynnie

Newbie question specific to cold weather cruises: We are boarding in February on the Northern Lights cruise and trying to minimize our luggage. We have an abundance of warm clothes, do we need to take sporty/chic dinner wear also or are our daily exploration clothes fine to wear at dinner?

We are currently on the solstice out of Los Angeles to Mexico. Day 1 I requested and received a kettle.

Anybody know where I can get some sample menus from Luminae? TIA.

I was thinking this exact same thing! These two are a couple of very good sports.

Do you know what the name of the resort was?

Is anybody currently on board doing any fun excursions? I had some fun things planned, but I broke my arm the other day, so no ATV in, etc. Trying to figure out what to do in Puerto Vallarta and Ensenada besides staying in the ship.

Thank you for doing this. We are right behind you. May I ask how the weather is?

We have an an actual suite number.

Solstice 29 October. We paid for a sky suite.

We booked a suite guarantee, and we’re booked in the cabin that we got immediately. We only booked about a month ago for a suite coming up this weekend.

We definitely declined. I don’t think we got a particularly good or bad price, I think it’s just a regular.

We have our first Celebrity cruise coming up in a week and are booked in the retreat. We had a phone call this morning where they wanted to downgrade us into the aqua class. They offered us $200 onboard credit +50% of our cruise fare back, but we declined. They didn’t mention anything about the perks of the retreat so I imagine we would’ve lost those. I think this is super interesting that they oversold. Does this seem like a common occurrence? The rest of the ship looks almost empty based on the availability of cabins.

Where does one purchase the tickets for the electric boat and bus?