Newdaytrippers

Just one more thing, we also did the two day pre extension in Bergen and I am very glad we did. Getting to Bergen from southeastern North Carolina was not easy. We flew from Wilmington, NC to Atlanta. From there, we were to fly to Amsterdam and then to Bergen. But intense afternoon thunderstorms rolled through Atlanta and we were more than three hours late taking off. We missed our connection in Amsterdam. Viking Air was fantastic. They already had rerouted us but we ended up having to fly to Oslo and then to Bergen. A total of four flights. The last two flights were boarded on the tarmac, and DH has mobility issues, but we had assistance and it worked well. It was 28 hours of travel. But Viking greeted us in Bergen and whisked us to the hotel and it was smooth sailing from there. I had shipped our luggage ahead (to the ship) using Luggage Forward. That also worked well. I only had to deal with our carryon. We needed the two days to recover. The Bergen Bors was our hotel. We liked it a lot. Centrally located and great breakfast and bar. This is a long-winded way of suggesting you plan to arrive at least a day in advance.

We did the Churchill extension last summer. It was wonderful. You have a completely private evening tour of the Churchill Warrooms after hours, exclusively for the Viking small group, with a catered three course dinner and champagne in the warrooms. Before dinner, we were split into three groups of 7 or so with an expert to tour the rooms, then we toured the exhibits, met for champagne and a short lecture and then were seated for dinner. Just the 22 or so of us. It was a highlight of the entire trip. We had full day trips to Blenheim Palace, Bletchley Park, Chartwell, and much more, with little free time. Bletchley Park and Chartwell were favorites of mine. The last day we had a walking tour in the morning then most of the day free before meeting at a pub for a fish and chips group dinner by Trafalgar Square. Some skipped the tour and did their own touring before joining us for dinner. When our group disembarked, the bus took us on a panoramic tour and then we toured Westminster Abbey with our guide before heading to the hotel. We had that afternoon free and we could not check in early. On our last night on board we did the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London with Viking. Very impressive. Pricey but worth it. This was our first Viking trip and we loved every minute of it! Enjoy.

We did the included tour and loved it. We drove a bit and it was one of the better panoramic tours. Beautiful city, even on a gray drizzly day. Pops of color everywhere. Sculptures, murals, statues, the Fab Four… Then we disembarked and toured the magnificent Cathedral, drove by the modern Catholic cathedral with starkly different architecture, walked a bit which was fine (DH walks slowly and uses a walking stick) and then toured the modern, renovated huge Central Library which was so impressive. We went up escalators to the rare books collection and viewed some very large magnificent Audubon prints under glass while browsing the shelved collection of priceless books including the Gutenberg Bible. Look it up online for photos of the library. Loved this tour. Easy walking. Restrooms at the cathedral and library. You can easily do an afternoon/evening tour as well as the included tour in the morning.

We took this excursion. It was an hour or a bit longer drive through very scenic country past fjords and salmon and oyster farms. The tour of the workshop was fascinating and we spoke to some of the workers at work. Incredible craftsmanship. And the store was filled with all sizes including a few unisex up to 3X. There were some discounted and sale racks but most is not discounted. We loved the entire experience and it truly was a Living Museum. August 2023 BIE. I bought a few things (hats, mittens) at the workshop store but I actually bought two sweaters and a sweatshirt at the very nice Dale of Norway store in Bergen for good prices too. They are wrapped under the tree now. There were no deep discounts at either.

We both got Covid on our August BIE. I can confirm that they do not carry Paxlovid on board.

This is actually the reason we chose our travel agent. She advised against cancelling and was able to transfer the TripMate to another cruise with no penalty saving us a lot of money. We had never used a TA before but are sold on ours now and we also now know we can get better coverage for less if we shop travel insurance and don’t automatically use TripMate.

The location was great. Two short blocks to Covent Garden. The hotel was ok. We had enough room except the bathroom was a tight squeeze. No complaints but we liked Bergen Bors a lot better. At the Strand Palace it was easy to catch a black cab which we did to go to see Hamilton one night and to Harrod’s for pricey souvenirs on our last day. We originally were told we would be at the Marriott Country Hall near the London Eye but then it was switched.

@Peregrina651As promised, here is the itinerary for the five day Churchill extension. For us, it was the highlight of the trip. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and made himself available to us at the hotel early each day and stayed later each day in case we had questions or concerns not just about the itinerary, but hotel transfers, luggage, theater, restaurants, etc. He was great. The bus was huge and very clean, but we were only 28 so we could spread out. We had the same driver each day, too. Full days. Bletchley Park and Chartwell and the private tour/dinner in the War Rooms were outstanding tours and experiences. DH has some mobility issues and had no problem. Several other people used canes as well. Most stairs had handrails and our slower pace did not see to be an issue. During free time to explore, everyone was able to go at his/her own pace. We would do it again.

We used Luggage Forward to send our two suitcases ahead to Bergen for our recent BIE cruise. We had a three-leg trip (Wilmington, NC to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Bergen) which ended up being four legs due to weather and a missed flight. Our suitcases were waiting for us when we embarked the ship in Bergen. We did the two-day pre-excursion in Bergen which was over a weekend so I had enough in our carryon to see us through. Luggage Forward didn’t deliver on the weekend. I used Apple Air Tags and tracked our bags and it all worked beautifully. The suitcases were picked up from our front porch on time on July 31 and were awaiting us upon embarkation August 15. It was so worth it! I will do it again.

Yes. A two page itinerary. I will when we get home.

We are wrapping up the Churchill extension in two days. The days are full. It takes about a couple of hours each way in traffic to get to Chartwell, Blenheim, and Bletchley. We have theater tickets for two of the five nights. We can make the 7:30 shows but it makes for a very long day. We’ve been leaving the Strand Palace Hotel around 7:30 or 8:00am and returning around 5:00 pm. We’ve had an included sit-down lunch most days around 1:30 or 2:00. The champagne private dinner in the War Rooms the first night was fabulous. We were the only ones there. Had a fascinating lecture and tour and time to peruse the empty(!) museum before a lovely catered dinner. Highly recommend this extension if you like history and Churchill. Two days to go with no free afternoons yet. I had to forfeit tickets today to a special exhibit at a gallery thinking we had free afternoons. We tour Bletchley Park tomorrow and it will be a highlight of this trip for us. There are 28 of us on this extension.

Really enjoying your wonderful trip reporting and your gorgeous photos. How great to be traveling with your sister! Love your descriptive summaries of excursions. DH and I are in an aft DV2 on the fourth deck for our first VO cruise in August, BIE on the Mars. And really love your sailaway photos! Please keep them coming! Through your photos, I can envision glasses of wine on the veranda in our future. But most importantly for you two, have a fabulous time. Cheers!🥂

Thanks for posting this. Hope you feel better soon! Would you mind sharing which included tours you liked and which disappointed? We're planning a couple of private tours, plus some included and some of the pricey Viking optional tours. We're probably going to do Liverpool on our own based on feedback from this forum. Also, were any ports missed due to weather? Thank you.

See post #96 above.

@Clay Clayton This might be helpful to you. I found it in a Google search. I was doing similar research into the Bergen at War sites and eventually concluded that the underground bunker up a steep hill would be too demanding for us to access. This appears much more manageable. https://thehiddennorth.com/how-to-get-to-fantoft-stave-church/