Squawkman

A Med cruise is a wonderful way to introduce Europe to your fiancé. I went to Europe on a 3 week land tour for my first honeymoon when I was 24 in 1974. Ironically, we befriended and hung out with older couples as we found them to be more interested in the cultures and tours as opposed to getting drunk every night. I would suggest Iconic Western Mediterranean as it covers a lot of ground in a week. We liked all of the included tours, and recommend Herculaneum which is optional but not expensive. We also added (and enjoyed very much) the Ultimate Tuscany post cruise extension where we ate and hung out primarily with a young couple that didn’t seem to mind being with folks their parent’s age.

That’s BS. Every flight I booked in the past 6+ cruises appeared on MVJ with plain old Viking air. Currently, there are three on MVJ. All are good, so I didn’t need to consider changing any of the three.

We didn’t get one for our April VO.

The bigger danger was when masks became optional on TA flights in the beginning of April. When the captain announced that, it was like he encouraged people not to mask. If you follow Covid related threads here on CC you’ll see the increase in quarantined cruisers in April and May.

They are included in the fare regardless of whether or not you have the SS beverage package.

These are even more necessary these days if you have to quarantine in a European hotel.

I disagree - there are many moving parts to dealing with Covid. Everyone impacted will have an opinion, but procedures will vary in different countries, etc. US airlines don’t mask on transatlantic flights and I believe that is a major factor. We have friends who did a 16 day transatlantic on Princess where masking wasn’t enforced and testing only done before disembarkation. They wound up having to quarantine in London a total of 2 weeks. I prefer Viking’s testing. Regardless, there will be a risk for at least the next few months - and possibly more testing (we had every other day on our Douro cruise last November - with zero positives).

One more thing: if a future cruise is booked within 14 days of disembarkation, there’s an additional perk of $200pp shipboard credit. This applies to river and ocean cruises, but not to any cruise already booked on board.

If booked within 1 year of disembarkation from another cruise, $200pp. If more than 1 year, $100pp.

Although our booking document for our August VO indicates a date to book the restaurant, it can’t be done on MVJ as we did on our April VO.

I was also not eligible for a free PCR test from CVS in April although I was last November. Don’t know why, but Quest took my insurance and I got a free test there. BTW, I think you mean Medicare - not Medicaid.

Nope - we have friends who are first time Viking cruisers. They booked 2 cruises for 2023 and got a 6 month PIF for the later cruise.

The general rule is you can request full payment 6 months before embarkation if you have at least one other cruise booked. But you must request it - it’s not automatic.

He had been recommended by someone we met on a river cruise in 2017. The agent we used to book that cruise left Viking before that cruise embarked, and these folks gave us his extension. BTW, he’s been with Viking at least 8 years.

Political discussions are not permitted on CC and will be removed by the hosts.

I have been using the same Viking agent for almost 5 years. He has always fought for me and resolved favorably getting additional discounts, advice on dealing with Customer Relations, rebooking to get promotions without changing changing cabins, etc. There is no difference in “taking sides” as, using your logic, the TA also needs to work for Viking to earn his/her commissions. I have referred a few people who gave up their TAs to use my Viking agent.

I would think there is, but I don’t know how the public can access it.

These answers are based on our April cruise so things might have changed. The positive person must quarantine in the Covid wing. This section is locked from the rest of the ship, so there’s no “escape”. The roommate of the positive person was given 3 choices: Join their partner in a quarantined room; stay in their original room; or leave the ship and fly home. If (s)he decides to join their partner, they are treated the same as if they were quarantined. One nice thing is that food may be ordered from any restaurant - so you can have Manfredi’s delivered to your room any night.

We were on the Jupiter in April and there were no Covid announcements of any kind at any time. There were at least 14 people quarantined.

No, that’s not what you said. Every example you have described a fault of those infected.

It ended in the US a while ago.

Let me add to your list: Jump off the tour bus when a couple opposite you refuse to wear masks Skip dinner in a specialty restaurant when a group is seated close to you Take your private jet rather than a commercial flight to avoid unmasked flyers and I could go on. Point is you are being very judgmental about those who test positive - that they and they alone are in some way totally responsible. If you’re going to blame someone else if you test positive, please cancel and stay home.

No.

Very tasty. And ours had blackberries and raspberries in addition to the strawberries and blueberries.

Last month, we Embarked on my wife’s birthday. About a month before, I mentioned that to my Viking agent. When we entered our cabin, there was a cake and bottle of wine waiting for her.