MTJtraveller

Greeting! Am currently crossing N Atlantic on Viking Sea. I’m self disembarking in Montreal and hoping that there are taxis awaiting there that I may then take to the airport. Viking is asking $49pp coach transfer. Just want to double check that indeed taxis will be available and most likely less than $100 US. Thanks! (Love free Viking WiFi, lol)

I have used and reused and reused

Jet Bag Reusable Padded Absorbent Bottle Bags, Bio-Degradable Travel Accessory, Set of 3

From Amazon, about $13. They have a liner that protects the bottle that is made of same material as the absorbent material of diapers. Theory is that if liquid spills or breaks open it is absorbed and kept in the zip locked bag. I’ve never had a problem.

recently visited Norway

 

arrived Oslo and trained to Bergen spending couple of days at each end .. booked everything off the web

 

did AirBnB at both ends ... OUTSTANDING places ......

 

the train is WONDERFUL (we did book 'first class')

 

going back via Viking Ocean this year and looking at the details of 'Norway in a Nutshell' but booking ourselves ......

 

....... look at the prices if you let VO book it or YOU book it ........ a couple of web hours can save $$$$$

 

HINT ... if doing the train from Bergen to Oslo you do NOT want to miss the 'side train' to FLAM .....

 

https://www.visitflam.com/en/flamsbana/

 

*** book your own with an overnight stay in FLAM and probably LESS $$ than the VO 'extension'

 

.... not like I've priced it out or anything ....

We did book Norway in a Nutshell on our own and as a data point we paid $825 for the two of us including an overnight in Flamm this September. We are mostly “do it yourselfers” and it was pretty easy booking it. I’ve been to Flamm before and know how worthwhile an overnight here can be. There will be additional cost of transporting our luggage to our Began hotel but that’s pretty nominal. The website is really easy to understand, we are looking forward to this portion of our trip.

Good place to start:

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishregulations.sport

We went to AK a number of years ago, husband fished the Kenai with a guide. Only a certain number of “stamps” are issued and the fishing regulations are pretty stiff. Good luck, he caught a King, had it dressed and sent home, best summer of salmon eating ever.

We’re using City and Causeway Tours in July. They will customize their offerings to suit the customer, so they may be able to help. I have found the owner, Alister, to be very responsive and easy to work with.

 

Here’s the website: http://www.cityandcausewaytours.com

 

 

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I second Alister at City and Causeways. While foregoing crossing the bridge was initially a disappointment, there is So much to see and do and so very little time it was ok we didn’t cross it. Alister was able to take us along the coast where no tour bus could go. His Mercedes sprinter was immaculate and it was a wonderful action packed tour for four of us. Highly recommend.

Took this cruise in 2016, here’s what I posted when I returned. It was a superb trip:

Here's what we did on shore, we were travelling with another couple so we were able to split our guides for cost efficiency.

Invergorden- Windstar offers the Culloden complimentary excursion in the afternoon. When we docked my husband met up with a fishing guide I prearranged and fly fished for Atlantic Salmon. He had a great day, missed Culloden but caught a fish and enjoyed his time with his guide. He did this by himself. I decided to walk the town which really doesn't have much to see or do. This was ok for me after three days of busy in Edinburgh.

Kirkwell- we had a private excursion with Orkney Uncovered, Kindley. We were able to do the church in town, highly recommend, saw the WWII sights on Scapa Flow, Skara Brae and the Ring of Brodgar. This was our most expensive tour (don't remember how much though) but well worth the price. Kindley scheduled our sights to alleviate bus tours so we were virtually the only people at the sights. Great day, all day.

Portree- we utilised Skye Day Tours and our guide was Doug. This tour was in a minivan and we shared it with two other couples from our ship. Skye Tours put us together. One of the other couples cancelled last minute but our price remained the same, £35pp. Our guide was sweet and took us all over the island. There are such beautiful spots there. Some people rented cars and hiked, that would have been nice as the landscape out of Portree is spectacular.

Tobermory- my husband and I enjoyed a non-excursion day here. The weather was beautiful and the town was sleepy but picturesque. We had a wonderful sunny day. Walked to end of town and had fish and chips, along with free wifi, on the pier. Then we hiked to the lighthouse, a muddy hike but were rewarded with spectacular views of the sound, our ship and the lighthouse. All to ourselves. It would be cool to have the ship pack a picnic lunch and enjoy that spot. A favourite memory.

Portrush- a great excursion with Alister from City & Causeway Tours out of Belfast. Unfortunately can't squeeze in Belfast and the Northern Coast. Alister took us to Devils Causeway (gave us a hint how to see without "paying), a viewpoint of Carrick-a-Rede Bridge (wait time too long to go over), Bushmills and a drive on the Antrim Coast no tour bus can ride on. Alister was professional and his minivan was immaculate. Highly recommend. Cost was £300 (total) for the full day, and I mean a full day. We were there during a bank holiday and traffic in town was a bit of a mess. Alister had a handle on it all.

Isle of Mann- we used Steve from wildlife@manx.net. Steve was a very nice guide, obviously loves his island and was able to take us all over the place via a circular route of the southern part of the island. While we didn't tour any castle, we were able to go see some ruins not visited by the tour buses, saw places from one of our favourite movies filmed there, Waking Ned Devine. Steves car was a bit tight but the places we saw and the stories we heard gave us such an appreciation for the Isle of Mann. Full day tour was £45pp. Steves specialty is wildlife so if that interests you I'm sure he'd be happy to help with that also.

Couple of helpful hints

Edinburgh dock was really Dundee, at least for our cruise. I was surprised at the number of unhappy people that thought they were meeting the ship IN Edinburgh. I'm an excessive planner so I was prepared. We booked a car to take us from our hotel to the ship, Airport-Transfers-Direct.com. Cost was £120 which is probably a bit expensive but it was immaculate, on time, great driver and made a couple of sightseeing stops along the way. He had returned from taking someone from the Surf to Edinburgh before us so he was well aware how to get to the dock, which seemed to confuse some cabs.

Do the Royal Tattoo if you are able. What a great experience. Purchase tix online from their website as soon as you are able because they do sell out. Tickets came to my home a couple months ahead of time, I tucked them in my passport for safekeeping.

We stayed at the Apex Grassmarket hotel. I highly recommend. Not fancy but very, very nice. The location couldn't be better, at the foot of the Castle. We were there during The Fringe Festival and it was so much fun.

I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have. What a fantastic cruise!

Jean

We were on the Viking Star cruise B2B from Dec 21 2017 - Jan 4 2018.

My travelling partner, went to listen to some tunes playedby the house pianist (on the Viking Star) the evening before last . After the pianist finished playing, my friend saw him speak to some otherpassengers, and then he gave them a CD .He then chatted to my friend, and heshook his hand and gave him a CD also as he had done to the other couple. My companion did not really want it but he was too polite to say “no” especially whenhe thought it was a gift and it would be rude to refuse. A few moments later, however, the pianist said, "The price is 35 euros, but there's no hurry, you can pay me later"- or words to that effect.

 

My companion was embarrassed and felt he was being taken advantage of , but he was unsure what to do. When he discussed it with me, Isuggested that he just hand the CD to the receptionist at the Explorer’s Desk to give it back to the pianist. He did that the following day. The receptionist expressed concern and took the CD,and she said she would deal with the matter.





We were not sure what she meant by that because for the rest of the cruise, about 8 days or so, the pianist was still there but this time, we avoided him and did not see if he has "pressed" over any more of his CDs to unexpecting passengers.

 

We are mentioning this in case any other passenger(s) come across something like this in the future on any cruise ship and would not know what to do.

Thank you for the heads up. I personally would be offended if given the CD then asked for money. If it’s for sale, clearly mark as such and then people have the opportunity to purchase on their own. This seems really tacky and I haven’t encountered it on a cruise line and would hope not to ever.

I have used Squaremouth for a number of years and have found their customer service reps very helpful. I had need of using my insurance, ironically the very first time I had insured a trip, and was quite pleased. I dealt directly with the insurance provider. I have always purchased insurance thru. Squaremouth since.

We have cruised on both and I totally agree with the above comments. The open deck is greater on the Surf. The room size on the sail ships can be a little startling if you have cruised before but we just use our room for changing and sleeping. The smaller room encourages everyone to get out and mingle which is what I love most about Windstar. We have met wonderful people on our cruises, very friendly. And crew...what can one say? They are fabulous and it's like a family reunion when you board and are recognized by crew. Our favorite cruise line.

It was a great cruise with an unplanned 11 more days on the Star. We have kept in contact with a number of fellow passengers on the cruise and have even taken a couple of additional cruises with one couple and met up with other for dinner when they have passed through Southern California.

 

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It was a super cruise. We were unable to take up the offer to stay on the ship, husband needed to go back to work and my mom was watching my kids. We got off the ship, took a bus to Mendoza (QUITE the adventure) hopped on an airplane to BA without a reservation and took a voucher offer to take a later flight to the States for $1200 and arrived home only a day later than originally planned.

Patrick Watts and Volunteer Point was one of many highlights of this trip.

On our SA cruise a few years ago Princess wasn't stopping at Puerto Madryn and we missed Punta Arenas. That being said, the tour to Volunteer Point on the Falklands was amazing and not to be missed with colonies of Gentoos, Magellanic and King penguins in the same area. If Patrick Watts is still doing tours I would highly recommend using him. Keep in mind that both Punta Arenas and the Falkland are tender ports and your stop there may be cancelled due to weather conditions. Going eastbound you have the luxury of using Puerto Madryn as a backup tour. It is not a tender port but infrequently docking is impacted by high winds.

 

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I was with you on that exact cruise IECalCruiser and did the Falkland tour with Patrick. That was an amazing experience from the moment we got into the 4x4's to the penguins and everything in between. HIGHLY recommend the Falklands if you are able to tender.

Ps, this was a great cruise, earthquake and all, lol.

Hello Jean. We have returned from the Dublin-Edinburgh sailing on the Surf and can't thank you enough for your guide recommendations. I have regards to you from Kinlay. What a sweet guy. You should have told me to look for a 6'7" guy with a red beard! He was a joy. And also regards from Alister. You were correct; it was a long day but so well worth it. Personal thanks from my DH as well. You helped make our voyage extraordinary which is what this forum should be all about!

Im sooooooo glad you had success with Kinlay and Alister. We still talk about this cruise and the wonderful guides, ports and of course Windstar staff. Kinlay is quite tall, I'm sorry I failed to mention, no way to miss him. You can follow Orkney Uncovered on Instagram, fun to revisit via Instagram.

Thanks for forwarding on their regards. Made my day! Jean

I contacted the front desk of HAL and the credit card company contacted corporate offices in Seattle and they said the port agent probably wouldn't except it since they can't get most port agents to except items that are lost and found and then are shipped from the old port to the new port.

As for RFID protection I did have it in my purse where the card was kept. My credit card company said they were contacted by a merchant in Rome who had my number but the name didn't match. My card had a chip in it and I understand that the chip is suppose to make it harder to be read but somehow they did it. According to my cc company It seems this happens frequently in Europe.

In Copenhagen just as we were making our way to the ship my husband had his wallet stollen. We had not yet "divided up our cards", consequently all our credit cards were compromised. Big lesson for us. We contacted Chase from the ship, Princess was VERY accommodating, and we arranged for our card to come to a port agent a few days away. Unfortunately the card was not there when we got there and it had to be cancelled as well. It was a royal mess and led to stress we didn't need. Fortunately our daughter had brought her card with her and we were able to utilize it throughout the trip though I think we paid foreign transaction fees. This experience made us much more aware of potential circumstances and how we could prevent them in the first place. I guess life is an adventure and that trip was quite the adventure! 😊

The typical US credit card is an EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) card, a chip and signature card if you will. This card does not emit information except when it is physically put into a card reader where it communicates with the host, so it is impossible to have been compromised remotely.

The NFC (Near Field Communication) card is typically not issued here in the US. Sometimes it's called a "tap & go" card. This card can be read remotely. It generally has a logo on it indicating as such; US passports utilize NFC technology and should be properly secured.

It's always good to know which kind of card you are carrying with you and take proper precautions. But I would say the majority of US cards do not need any special remote protection. Just make sure each person in your party carries a different credit card in case one is compromised or lost.

It's been a number of years since we did this, we were not on a cruise at the time. The shuttle was thru the NPS, not the bike rental shop. There are a limited number of bikes the shuttle can take at a time, you may need to wait for another shuttle.

Windstar is not providing the zippered bags and hard copies of your documents anymore. E-docs only.

That's a bummer

You can also request hard copies of your docs. I always do because they come in a nice zip bag along with luggage tags, not cruise luggage tags but nice tags for your bags. Whatever is your preference.

We are so excited to have booked our first Viking Ocean cruise, Bergen to Montreal in Sept. 2018. We are traveling with friends and another couple would like to join us but at this time the cruise is showing Sold Out. Not being familiar with this phenomenon in cruising, I thought I'd ask you great set of cruisers if you had any experience with this.

Specifically, do rooms open up eventually due to cancellation? Does this happen more often at specific intervals such as final payment. Is there a waiting list? If so is it better to book thru Viking rather than a TA? Anything helpful is appreciated.

Thanks!

As CruiserBruce said, US cards are chip and signature cards. Pins are for cash advance use. That being said you may use your chip and signature card as a chip & pin, often times I just insert a random number and then sign for the transaction rather than explain to a clerk that it is not a true chip & pin card. The only time I have encountered not being able to use my card is at an unattended gas station. There it is required to have chip & pin. You have to find gas stations with attendants to run the card for you.

My husband is in the industry and we go over this every time we travel.

Thanks so much. We were referred to City and Causeway tours by another Windstar passenger and are confirmed for our tour in June. We are so looking forward to our visit.

 

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I'm so glad you were able to connect with City & Causeway! It was a great tour, so much to see and so little time! :)

We had friends fly in early to BA and they stored their luggage with the hotel and had a prearranged tour of the city that day. If it was me I'd probably book the hotel room so I could crash but if you feel you'll be well rested store your luggage, have a good breakfast, arrange an early city tour and request an early check in.

Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful for when the time comes to book online the speciaty restaurant reservations. We will try to coordinate and then contact Viking directly to connect the reservations, prior to sail. What you experienced Graceswan was exactly what I feared.

Hi All! I am new to Viking Ocean and am super excited for our cruise next year. Plenty of time to read up on and plan.

We are two couples traveling together, same room catagory but different TA's who helped us book our cruise. When it comes time for specialty dining reservations to open up how do we ensure that we are able to make reservations making note of the other couple we would like to dine with? I have no idea what it all looks like so thought I'd ask here. Anyone have logistics answers for me?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Any idea if you can "transfer" the bridge tour? My DH and I are going to take Deluxe just because he and his father (who will be cruising with us) would be very interested to check it out - and I am not that keen for the bridge tour. So thinking if my father-in-law could go in my place instead? I call Princess Cruises and they said they can't confirm about this and I will have to find out when we sail. Hmm...

My experience in 2010 is that they were very flexible with the bridge tour. We were a group of 6 friends traveling, only two couples renewed our vows and all of us were given the bridge tour. Just ask the person coordinating on the ship or even the Captain, they were very nice about it. I believe it was the Captain that invited us all up.

Hi Jean,

Still working on my tours and waiting to hear back from a few of the people/tours you suggested. May I ask where you stayed in Ireland or did you not spend time there? We will be there a week between the hotel barge trip and the Surf. Of course the time of year is pretty pricey and I'd be grateful for a recommendation if you have one.

Thanks so much.

Hi sb44,

We rented a car and drove over to the Ring of Kerry. Stayed at Parknasilla Hotel, spectacular hotel right on the ocean. When we were in Dublin, one night only, we stayed at the Westin and I would highly recommend it. Right in the heart of it and an eas walk to everything. We had a room with a small balcony, it was lovely. If you have points it might be a good way to spend some. It was an easy taxi ride to the airport when we left. Hope this helps. Wish we were going back. Jean