shadowlover

It’s an amazing trip honestly you won’t regret going. We did almost all included tours except for Israel. We did the Greece 5 day extension and I HIGHLY recommend it. Enjoy every minute!

Not to say that I did not enjoy Israel- I have always wanted to go there and it was a dream to be there. I found it hectic, crowded and more commercialized than I had imagined it would be. There was also some unrest when we were there- the cruise after us did not stop there. You don't actually have to gather the people yourself. Many times you will find that others booked small group tours with this company and they will add you to the trip. It was a very manageable group for Nazareth and I enjoyed it alot. I would probably return to every other place on this cruise except Israel which told me that while I wouldn't have traded going for anything- I just feel like I have seen it and I'm good. Hope that helps and makes sense. Others I am sure would disagree with me.

I agree that it is just too far to come back to the ship and wastes precious time. We did not do the overland tour as it was listed as sold out (opened up later after we made our own plans). We hired a private guide and found an airbnb to stay overnight in Jerusalem. It was quite an experience. We got to see SO MUCH because there were only four of us and our guide took us in a private car. I highly recommend it if you can do it. I also spoke with other guests who had a wonderful time on the overland tour. I would have done it originally if it was available. Keep in mind you will be with a big group trying to see many popular sites in a crowded environment. Although I am glad we stopped in Israel and I had a fabulous time, it was my least favorite part of that cruise. It is an amazing cruise- a trip of a lifetime! For Israel we used this company. https://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/ You can also join small groups- they will place you and they are cheaper or you can arrange on your roll call group. We did a group tour of nazareth and loved it.

I found out years ago from steve (my insurance guy) that you only need to insure your deposit and then you add to it as you go. When you pay your final deposit you need to remember to update your policy. This way you get pre existing coverage without having to shell out a huge insurance payment. With viking the final payment is so early that you will likely have to update the policy way before the 120 days. If you're not concerned with pre existing conditions of anyone in your family then you can buy insurance anytime.

I will say that my antigen tests were negative when my pcr was positive. The reason I did pcr was because I knew I had very close contact with family (little baby) and I was unmasked. Had minimal symptoms but isolated for five days. About five days later got symptoms and only then with LOTS of runny nose symptoms did my antigen convert to positive. Now I'm not saying my small experiment can be applied across the board however in my and my families experience, the antigen was only positive with moderate symptoms days after positive pcr. All this to say- when was I most contagious?? I assume when my antigen converted but do we really know?

I completely agree with you. Yes we are still masked at work and our patients are as well. Surely the daily testing with masking is an ideal situation but it also created its own conundrums. I highly recommend masking in public areas if you are concerned about contracting covid and have a chance to get quite sick. It has become a milder illness but still nasty symptoms for most. I'm in my 50's and had four vaccines. I caught covid with close contact with my 4 month old grand daughter. My symptoms were like a moderate cold. my husband had a nasty cough with it. It is a tricky situation but I honestly highly believe in masks when in a bus or crowded room. Get some surgical masks- they are much more comfortable. I wear one for 10 hours straight now and don't even remember it's on. Pay attention to those around you who sound congested - it's covid until proven otherwise at this point! I was so determined not to catch it but alas it got me...I recovered in three days. SO- do your best and enjoy travel in a safe way!

I guess the only thing that will prove this is time. We need some time now to see what happens with the daily testing and quarantining being put to an end. We really can't speculate because it's only been a few weeks. Yes- there are apparently many more cases but I'm not seeing reports of mass ships not being allowed to dock, passengers dying etc. Why don't we wait a bit and see how it goes with the new measures. Everyone on board has to be up to date with vaccines and the crew is masked. I think being alarmist about lack of staff and safety is unwarranted at this point. I haven't seen any reports of passengers saying as much. In the hospital we also had to deal (and still do) with staff shortages due to sick time but we make do.

So you became severely ill? Or did you just catch covid? Have moderate cold symptoms and a cough? Were you hospitalized? Let's be honest... I have had four vaccines and have worked as a nurse practitioner throughout the entire pandemic with a high risk population. I never contracted the disease. I went unmasked to visit my brand new grand baby and did end up with covid from my close interaction with her and her mother ( who had cold symptoms but were testing negative). This is a contagious illness. You can mitigate all you want but at THE END OF THE DAY this has become for most of us a moderate cold. It's not going away and the draconian measures taken by viking were simply way over done. They can not be maintained or they will go bankrupt and none of us will cruise. No need to agree with me in any way. Just letting people know that I don't speak from lack of knowledge, education or experience!

I think Viking has stopped these practices because it is not sustainable anymore. It's incredibly expensive, time consuming, anxiety producing and caused people to be quarantined when many of them simply had bad cold symptoms. People were cancelling their cruises because of the possibility of this. Can we please now stop beating this dead horse?! Covid can be serious for some- so can other illnesses/ accidents etc. Cruises are petri dishes because you are living in close contact with many others thus the noro virus outbreaks you see from time to time. Traveling comes with all sorts of possible dangers. I can attest to masking being very effective against contracting covid. Keep wearing them especially if you are nervous about contracting covid.

A private company's payment policy may be different but that doesn't mean it's "below standard". I'm not sure why this post is here... it has nothing to do with the quality of viking cruises... I paid well in advance for my future cruise however I can cancel with my guarantee if I had to. Their no risk guarantee, in my opinion, was well above standard of other lines.

Where in Wales? My family is from Port Talbot and Cefn Cribw (near Bridgend).

Yes I believe the letter is good for 90 days. I’m not traveling until December. I think the point of the test is to make sure you don’t travel with covid (obviously) but I also think some of us have a false sense of security with an antigen test. I’ve just proven to myself that the PCR becomes positive even before symptoms while the antigen remind negative. I was exposed to my grand daughter and am showing minimal symptoms. I wonder how many disappointed travelers show up and their Viking test is positive after the home test was negative. There is no easy answer with this covid virus. It’s hard to navigate.

you are probably going to get multiple answers to this depending on who you ask. Even if you call viking you may receive conflicting information depending on who answers the phone. Do your best, take a test and when you get to the ship looks like they test you again anyway. Keep in mind that antigen tests are not as sensitive as pcr. Viking does pcr. Right now I tested negative with antigen twice and then positive same day with pcr. I plan on doing a pcr prior to travel so I can cancel if positive.

It is hard to find out if PCR is the technique that walgreens uses for their NAAT but according to this article , PCR is the most commonly used NAAT technique for detecting specific nucleic acid in a sample. If viking doesn't accept it, there is no common sense. Bon Voyage!!

I find this helpful to answer the questions of whether the NAAT test is sensitive and specific. Viking accepts an antigen test done within 24 hours and that is not as sensitive or specific as the NAAT. Anyway here are the links: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html https://news.walgreens.com/our-stories/covid-omicron-subvariant-testing.htm PCR is gold standard and will become positive even prior to symptoms in some people. It can also stay positive for a long time in some people even after you are infectious.

You will have to pay the deviation fee to fly a different day. Worth it for peace of mind.

The rep actually is giving very good advice. I do see many posts however that show very inconsistent following of the guidelines once you get to the ship. Better safe than sorry but it is super annoying to be so meticulous with the testing and timing only to show up and possibly not even have your results looked at! i don't look forward to trying to find a testing site in Spain, paying for said test and all the rest of it. But... I really want to travel so I will do what I need to.

My November cruise is already showing my air in MVJ. Not ticketed yet but it's the flights we asked for.

It's usually significantly cheaper to buy on your own. If you want cancel for any reason however I believe viking will be the way to go. I use Steve from the trip insurance store as he is a wealth of knowledge.

If the airlines have significantly changed your itinerary you have every right to cancel and get your money back and book with someone else. Hope you find the times and dates you need!