JEBurton

We plan to do the Tropicana on our own.... I'm planning on getting the premium tickets but want to make sure I get them early enough that they are still available.

Could you please post some brief info about Tropicana, how do you do it on your own, and what are premium tickets?

Thank you very much.

John

Does anyone know how long the 2 for 1 sale will be going on? ....

Thank you.

"2-for-1" pricing might be just a marketing gimmick. The brochure rates are probably double what MSC expects to sell a cabin for.

If anyone has followed Oceania Cruises pricing, in business for over 13 years, and still has their so-called 2-for-1 going on!!! And their prices are so high, they also offer "free air" and sometimes $1,000s off.

Are there usually 2 headliner shows per night, early evening and late evening? Are the non-headliner shows also performed twice ?

I'm trying to coordinate dinner times with entertainment times without resorting to a spreadsheet like I had to do on the Oasis and Allure OTS.

Thanks for any info provided.

John

I can only answer for the Stockholm part - we did SAS from Stockholm to Heathrow, and then Heathrow to Dulles on United. Upgraded to Business using FF miles for the United flight, but ended up with Global First! :D

Looks like we'll be on SAS arriving at Heathrow from Norway, then switch to United for the flight home to IAD. There is only a 1-hour connect time at Heathrow. I believe United and SAS use terminal 2.

Do you have any thoughts/advise about the short connect time at Heathrow?

Thank you,

J Burton

John, I hope that you will join the roll call for "Into the Midnight Sun." A year and a half out and we already have four CCers in the conversation.

I posted something on the roll call way back on January 31st but haven't seen anything posted after that. Is that roll call still active?

Thanks, 138East, that's exactly what I need to know.

We will be driving from Maryland to the Hampton Inn on Staten Island on Sunday, Feb 1st.

Going north on I-95 (NJ Tnpk), Mapquest says to get off at Exit 13 (I-278 east) while Google says to get off at exit 10 and take 440 over to Staten Is.

We're not familiar with the area. Any advice from you folks in the know would be greatly appreciated.

We will be getting off the cruise ship on Friday, Feb 13th and driving back to MD. Just wondering if reversing the direction to get home will be best way for us.

Thanks,

J Burton

... The prices of these tour offerings are ridiculous - worse than Oceania. Some tours are pretty mundane with drive by viewings versus stopping at sites and they still have outrageous prices. Some are very unique but with costs that would equate to another cruise.

Don't forget Vikings new slogan - "no nickel and diming"

or have they stopped using that sort of misleading phrase.

I have never purchased insurance from the operator of a tour or cruise. Reason - in the unlikely event that the operator goes out of business, you probably won't have insurance to reimburse your costs.

Also, I have found that being able to select from hundreds of policies I can tailor my needs exactly, rather than take the one-size-fits-all from the operator.

I'm not pushing InsureMyTrip because I have any interest in that company, rather I find it very convenient to compare the plans/benefits side-by-side on the web and call them with questions. They will take the time to compare policies they sell with the ones from Viking if you ask them. You might be better off (cost wise) going with Viking, but there are other things to consider.

john

If you are Diamond Plus level or above, you will get the BOGO specialty dinner coupon loaded electronically on your SeaPass card. There will be a letter in your stateroom when you arrive with a list of all your coupons.

Thank you "cruisenfever" and "clarea" for the info. We are diamond, not diamond plus. Also thanks for the link to the list of perks.

john

ps I'm amazed that both of you have over 40,000 posts; that's astonishing! Contrast that with my meager (almost) 300 posts and I registered over 14 years ago.

You can reserve prior, and they will credit you when you use the BOGO coupon.

Where do I get the BOGO coupon?

We are sailing on the Quantum in Feb. 2015 and the only perk mentioned when I reserved dinner at Chops on the first night was a 20% OBC which would be posted to my ship-board account.

There was even some uncertainty from Crown and Anchor reps about the 20% - one person said it could only be used toward another dinner at a specialty restaurant, a second rep said the OBC could be used for any on-board purchase.

thanks,

john

The Hilton Garden Inn and adjacent Hampton Inn and Suites in Staten Island, NY offer a package of a room, free parking.....

Thank you, NJHORSEMAN, for your prompt reply. We'll probably go with the Staten Island package; wife really likes Hampton Inns.

john

We are driving from Maryland to Bayonne on Sunday, Feb 1, 2015. Plan to stay one night at a decent hotel and then find transportation to cruise port for our 11-night cruise on RCCI. Need help with the hotel, parking for the 12 days, and transportation to/from cruise port.

Can anyone help us plan this?

thanks,

john

We are also on the June 19, 2016 "Into the Midnight Sun." When researching insurance I learned that not many companies would insure our cruise this far out. I went with RoamRight, which I purchased through insuremytrip dot com, a broker for many plans.

You can call the broker and get excellent advice as well as study the plans online.

I believe you only have to insure your initial deposit, rather than the entire cruise, and then insure the remainder of the cost when you make the final payment. That way you will pay only a fraction of the cost of the insurance until final payment. So if you decide to cancel before final, you can get your cruise deposit back, without having paid a bundle for insurance. Of course, once final payment if made, you will have to add to the insured amount and pay the big premium.

Since Viking requires final payment in mid-Dec, you are only "stalling" for 2 1/2 months. But please double check with the insurance co. you decide to go with to make sure this strategy works for CFAR and waiver of pre-existing conditions.

Good luck and let us know what you do.

john

I was thinking of booking a June, 2016 Viking cruise and saw that they are requiring 100% payment in December, 2014!!

 

I checked with my travel agent and she confirmed.

 

This doesn't seem practical or fair when you could be spending $20,000 per couple.

 

Linda :eek:

This would be a great math problem for all you math geeks (including your kids, grands, etc). Figure up how much money Viking is raking in with our 18-month-out final payments. Assume 3 ships, 450 cabins each ship, $1,000 per day average cost of each cabin (or more), 365 days per year, maybe getting 1.5 % interest? How many millions does that equal?

Remember Viking's new motto: No nickel diming!!

... They have a fairly liberal cancelation policy but you still are out the insurance if you buy it in the 14 day after deposit time period...

You may not "lose" your insurance if you have to cancel your cruise. Depends on which company you purchase insurance from. I go through insure my trip dot com for price comparisons and policy benefits. They also have great staff who answer the phone and provide advice. Several companies allowed me to keep my insurance "on deposit" with them and apply it to a future cruise. There are time limits however. Check with your company before you buy insurance.

I love making my final payment 18-24 months out; I have lots of money to loan

interest-free.

I like being in steerage class when it comes to reserving excursions and making restaurant reservations.

Even though a basic excursion is included in the cabin cost, the optional excursions will be tempting, so you're basically paying for the included excursions you may not go on.

The "free" beer, wine and sodas even if I don't drink them.

And finally, what do you think Viking will expect in the way of gratuities?

I honestly don't know if these things excite me or just get my blood pressure up.

thanks Diane for your reply.

john

does anyone have a link that shows which ships are in port (St Thomas specifically on 12/12/12) and what time they arrive in port? We're on the Allure of The Seas going to St Thomas on 12/12/12 and are planning to go to St John using all the great advise on this thread.

Also, does the Allure always dock at Crown Bay?

thanks

john