H2Otstr

You can purchase bathrobes. There is a list of items for sale in the leather binder on the coffee tray. They are very nice robes.

I used my Capital One card everywhere and had no problems charging my purchases.

Thanks everyone, I will definitely get more than 1000 Florints , I was thinking of getting a 100 Cdn changed into Florints and see what that would get me. I'm sure I'll have no trouble spending. LOL

I'd like to go to the market and get some Paprika gift sets for family. We are in Budapest for the day and overnight then it's back home next morning.

The market vendors will take Euros. Some of the prices are even quoted in HUF and Euros. I got HUF the first time I was in Budapest but didn't bother this last time; I just use my Euros.

Gary, that was a very nice review and wonderful photos. You did a great job of capturing the essence of the ship.

One correction that I see is that part about a shuttle at Tunis. If one wanted to go into town a taxi had to be taken. During the port talk it was mentioned that Viking would not be running a shuttle because the taxi people did not want it.

We took the Carthage optional and we were very disappointed with this tour. We only had 15 minutes to visit the ruins. We did enjoy visiting Sidi Bou Said, but I could have spent a little more time there just sitting in a café having tea and pastries. Seems like most of our time was spent negotiating with the local vendors (some were quite pushy).

Ira.....yes, you can stay on the ship. You can enjoy a day of leisure and relax and enjoy the scenery. Lunch will be served as usual, but maybe in a certain area of the dining room only.

Cindy, we had an OBC, too, and never received any confirmation, but there was a card (looks like an invitation) in our room that indicated that we had an OBC of $200.

Have a wonderful trip.

Reservations are accepted or you can just walk in and be seated. There is also a shared-table dining where you can join others to dine if you want to meet other travelers and don't want to eat by yourself.

We are on the Sky right now and as Lottie said, there is one very large Viking golf-type umbrella in the closet.

We had dinner last night at the Chef's Table and two men who sat at the table beside us each had jeans on 😟. One lady at that table did, too.

Most men had on jackets or dress shirts.

Are breakfasts included when you book hotels through AMA Waterways?

Yes.

brisco06, you can book once on the boat. No need to book ahead.

Thanks for the replies. Thanks, Andrea. Glad that you chimed in :D. I am quite familiar with Viking's River Cruise pick ups, but wasn't sure if it was the same routine for the ocean cruises.

There is also a forum just for insurance questions:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

Does Viking use their large busses for transporting travelers from the airport to the ship? Does one have to wait for several flights to arrive before leaving the airport?

We are using Viking air and will be arriving at FCO for our Rome to Barcelona cruise.

Thank you for this wonderful link.

So is anyone on the 25 Feb Rome to Athens (28 night) with us?

No, just Rome to Barcelona.

We were told you could purchase any amount of vouchers, but the max amount you could use per cruise was $200 pp.

 

Becki

That's what we were told, too, Becki.

Not that it matters, but the new format does not indicate which region we are from.

Thank you for the link on changing the format back to the old way. My iPad showed the new format and my laptop showed the old.

I think he just doesn't like the hassle of checking bags and wondering if they'll get lost. Funny that he's so optimistic that there will be plenty of space in the overhead for his slightly over sized bag. Last trip I took a pretty small bag that fits just about anywhere. We were on American then, this time will be on Delta.

 

I really want to convince him to check his bag. But it's hard to change his mind when he's sure it will be OK.

 

I thought Delta gave one bag free on international flights? Need to confirm that, I could be wrong.

Delta does allow one checked bag on international flights.

The last time we flew EC on Delta we were one of the first to board, seating at the third row back, and there was hardly any room for our small carry on bags in the overhead bins. I think this is the first time this has happened.

Maybe his luggage was lost :eek::D.

I'm talking mostly about small things, like on Delta, being able to upgrade from regular economy to what they call Comfort Plus. Or purchasing priority boarding and things like that. I've tried with the Delta app on my phone but it doesn't seem to work. I suspect that I'm on a very cheap ticket that doesn't let me upgrade even minor things.

 

I'm not really talking about the big thing like upgrading from coach to business. I didn't think upgrading to Comfort Plus was a big deal, but apparently it is. I can and will call the airline, I'm just afraid of "messing up" my reservation somehow.

Once we are ticketed (e-ticket, not just a reservation number) I upgrade on Delta to EC if there are seats available. Viking normally does not e-ticket until 3 weeks before the flight, and by then the upgraded seats are usually gone. We have a cruise coming up next week and all the EC seats are sold.

When we get back I'll try to scan and post the dailies. I really like being able to see them before a trip and get an idea of how many hours one spends in port and when you sail.

We are cruising with Suspaul. This will be our first trip on Avalon.

Being able to view the dailies would be great. There are a few new cities for us to visit on this trip.

I agree with your assessment about dealing with their head office. I was on the phone booking for what seemed like an hour...website info for 2018 was messed up, prices were not right, etc. etc. As it turned out we ended up paying less than expected. We splurged for business upgrade; this actually cost more than the trip :eek: I called back customer service with an additional, very simple question and the guy on the other end just wanted to upsale me :mad:

 

What denomination of US bills should we bring to exchange for local currency?

The boat they are using in 2018 is the Markana Queen. Looks really nice.

 

We are looking forward to the trip. I've also been looking at the forums on Trip Advisor as well for general info.

Our program director recommended that we exchange a $100 bill at the airport to get the best exchange rate. We took lots of $1, $5 and $10 bills. The street vendors sold lots of items for $10.

Don't forget to take all the OTC drugs that you might need (especially Imodium) because it is not easy to purchase those items there.

Are there shuttles back and forth from the ship to the cities after the included tours are over if one chooses to stay in town or return to the ship for lunch?

I would take the cash, too. As far as I know OBC cannot be used towards the tips.