River Cruising

[Blues]

Just to bring closure to my own thread -- I've now booked us on the Viking Magni for fall of 2023. Cabin class AA, Veranda Suite, which is in the middle of the ship and thus should be as quiet as anywhere. Booked business class air through Viking. I found out about something called "air deviation", which is only $100pp and lets us schedule time before and after to book our own hotels, though we lose the airport transfers. And I bought Viking's insurance.

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[Passepartout]

Just to bring closure to my own thread -- I've now booked us on the Viking Magni for fall of 2023. Cabin class AA, Veranda Suite, which is in the middle of the ship and thus should be as quiet as anywhere. Booked business class air through Viking. I found out about something called "air deviation", which is only $100pp and lets us schedule time before and after to book our own hotels, though we lose the airport transfers. And I bought Viking's insurance.

Thanks to all for your help.

Cool! Looking forward to your trip report. What dates? We've been tossing back and forth about AMAs Budapest to the Black Sea but haven't really nailed it down. Truth told, those long and far away trips aren't as easy (on us) as they were, so we've pretty much relegated ourselves to one a year, and there are more than a couple of contenders.

 

[Blues]

Cool! Looking forward to your trip report. What dates? We've been tossing back and forth about AMAs Budapest to the Black Sea but haven't really nailed it down. Truth told, those long and far away trips aren't as easy (on us) as they were, so we've pretty much relegated ourselves to one a year, and there are more than a couple of contenders.

I've always made it a strict practice not to advertise anywhere on the net the dates that we'll be away from home. Roughly, summer/fall of 2023.

Yes, we're not as young as we used to be, either. Taking a trip this expensive once per year is a stretch. I'm impressed.

 

[Passepartout]

Yes, we're not as young as we used to be, either. Taking a trip this expensive once per year is a stretch. I'm impressed.

Uh-huh. In the last year, we've been to Spain/France as soon as EU opened to non-EU travelers. (Bordeaux river cruise w/Madrid and Basque Country pre) 1st class BA. TS at Welk Escondido w/#2 kid included. Big Island Hawaii w/kids/grands, London & Norway cruise and business class air. Glad the kids aren't looking at a big inheritance. It won't last forever, but the clock is ticking.

Jim

 

[VacationForever]

I've always made it a strict practice not to advertise anywhere on the net the dates that we'll be away from home. Roughly, summer/fall of 2023.

Yes, we're not as young as we used to be, either. Taking a trip this expensive once per year is a stretch. I'm impressed.

I priced the same cruise out, and the mystery is solved regarding business class ticket cost. Business class tickets for regular A and B Veranda are $3499 pp, while AA is $1999 pp. AA came out to $25K for the 2 of us. We will probably do this cruise in 2024. Have a nice time and please do provide an update after the cruise!

 

[Blues]

I priced the same cruise out, and the mystery is solved regarding business class ticket cost. Business class tickets for regular A and B Veranda are $3499 pp, while AA is $1999 pp. AA came out to $25K for the 2 of us. We will probably do this cruise in 2024. Have a nice time and please do provide an update after the cruise!

That's about right. We added their trip insurance, which added $2K to that.

We're going to do our own pre- and post- cruise, which adds hotels, restaurants, and touring fees.

 

[VacationForever]

That's about right. We added their trip insurance, which added $2K to that.

We're going to do our own pre- and post- cruise, which adds hotels, restaurants, and touring fees.

Super nice! I am envious but very happy for you.

 

[pedro47]

My suggestion price your river cruise thru Vikings and two (2) other major river cruise agents. .
Ask for the same things in all your comparison airline tickets(round trip), hotel accomodations (before and after the cruise) and the Viking suite stateroom category price you are looking at
To the OP...Your thread is closed. Please dismiss my post suggestions.

 

[alwysonvac]

Just to bring closure to my own thread -- I've now booked us on the Viking Magni for fall of 2023. Cabin class AA, Veranda Suite, which is in the middle of the ship and thus should be as quiet as anywhere. Booked business class air through Viking. I found out about something called "air deviation", which is only $100pp and lets us schedule time before and after to book our own hotels, though we lose the airport transfers. And I bought Viking's insurance.

Thanks to all for your help.

Something else to consider-look at the pricing for a range of dates and river cruise companies.

Our next year's river cruise is with a group of friends. We knew we wanted a Rhine itinerary. Two girlfriends and I were gathered after playing mahjongg one afternoon last fall and began looking at options between AMA and Avalon. Eagle-eyed Audrey found an anomaly for August sailings on Avalon- one cruise was priced @$300 lower pp than others on either line. All of the cheapest cabins were open, and we only needed one other couple to commit for us to get the group discount! Our "Siblings" group now has 8 cabins reserved including one couple who booked the Royal Suite!

We use a local TA and each of us book individually with her as part of our group. Her perk is gratuities. At the end of our Danube Siblings group booking with her, the discount was divided equally among each cabin and remitted to us.

We've booked our 7th Viking cruise for next June. We're happy with Viking and get past-guest discounts. A friend is a travel agent and handles the details. We've never been disappointed and have had wonderful experiences.

Our first cruise was in 2008, down the Dneiper River from Kiev to Odesa, including the Crimean Peninsula. We visited a number of places in Ukraine that are in the news today.

Hi @Blues @beejaybeeohio @Quiet Pine

I hope everyone had a great time on their river cruise this year.
Just want to let you know that we have a new TUG Cruise Forum (see link below). Would love to see trip reports in the new forum if you don't mind sharing .

TUGBoats - Cruise Vacation Travel Discussion

Discussion and information about Cruise Vacations and anything Cruise related!

tugbbs.com

 

[Blues]

Hi @Blues @beejaybeeohio @Quiet Pine

I hope everyone had a great time on their river cruise this year.
Just want to let you know that we have a new TUG Cruise Forum (see link below). Would love to see trip reports in the new forum if you don't mind sharing .

TUGBoats - Cruise Vacation Travel Discussion

Discussion and information about Cruise Vacations and anything Cruise related!

tugbbs.com

Thanks alwaysonvac! We did, indeed, have a wonderful time on our river cruise with Viking. I'm not big on trip reports - have rarely done any. But if I find myself with some spare time, I just might do that. Cheers!