RonWY

A quick comment to add to what has already been said about using a VPN. There are pluses and minuses to using a VPN internationally just in terms of convenience. Many websites (including Viking and Google) are really stubborn about not routing you to their US portal, sometimes making it very difficult to accomplish something. We had the Viking website routing us to their UK portal making some things difficult. With a VPN you can usually make your location pretty much where you want. On a negative side, some few websites are equally stubborn in not letting you use a VPN.

We have Iceland's Majestic Landscapes booked for about a year from now, which will be our third Viking Cruise. Haven't used Viking Air before, but have followed the information here and elsewhere. Decided to check the price, and it compares well to what we might be able to get on our own, but this way we can lock in a good price over a year in advance, My experience today with two Viking reps was interesting. First rep I called just for information and pricing, including cost for Air Plus. No problem with Air Plus, and first rep said if Viking Air is cancelled Air Plus would also be refunded (not what I understood). Second rep, when we decided to go ahead and add Viking Air, was pretty agressive saying Air Plus wasn't necessary, etc., etc.. Second rep also said Air Plus was not refundable. She did reluctantly acknowledge Air Plus enables you to secure your booking at 310 days out. I will likely add Air Plus at some point. Two points. First, contradictory information from two reps, and second the pushback on adding Air Plus. I suspect either there is guidance from 'on high' to reduce the number of people using Air Plus, or more likely Air Plus is on the way out.

That is not true. We did the extension in January, and any site they us to included admission. Parthenon and museum are known to be great visits, but for us a real highlight was Delphi. Only downside to Delphi is a long drive.

We had a post cruise extension in Athens, and had the front desk call a taxi because I knew Uber just called a taxi as well. Short ride into town and we were overcharged about $6-$8, not worth hassling over but made us wary. Similar problem when we went to come back, but asked the fare before getting in taxi so we walked away. Used Uber to book a ride back to hotel and got a taxi that charged us the correct amount. Advantage with Uber is you will almost definitely get the proper rate.

Interesting about your experience getting checks mailed. We have had only one experience of refundable OBC going to our credit card, which was on Ocean. Were your experiences Ocean or River? I have the impression onboard credit card transactions are handled very locally.

Stepping in here. There are two types of OBC, refundable and non-refundable. At the end of the cruise the unused refundable will go back onto the credit card you have on file, while the remaining non-refundable will be lost. Viking uses the non-refundable first which is good. For example, if you cancel a paid excursion onboard you will be issued refundable OBC. An example of non-refundable OBC, is a credit you may be issued if you book another cruise while onboard. Very nice to have not prepaid gratuities to eat up any potential non-refundable OBC you may unexpectedly receive.

I think we need to go back to the original post. The exchange rate being essentially 1 to 1 recently is not quite accurate. It was approximately 1 to 1 awhile last year, but went to about $1.05 to $1.10 per euro after mid-November. Here’s the official exchange rate for the last 6 months. https://www.google.com/finance/quote/EUR-USD?window=6M We were on the Jan 24 Cities Of Antiquity & The Holy Land and $1.08 to 1 euro was about right, and I’m certain I had no added fees or excessive exchange rate.

While not unheard of booking from home at times, we also had the final payment due set at 6 mos before cruise as an onboard exclusive.