Heidi13

You can hire one of the Visa procurement companies to obtain the required Visas for you. For our last cruise, the cruise line paid for GenVisa in Washington DC to procure all required Visas. We completed the forms, mailed them with our passports and they were returned in about 6 weeks. About 15 yrs ago, we used a local company in Vancouver to get us the China Visa, as I was still working and didn't have 2 days to stand queuing at the Chinese Consulate.

Glacier Bay - in addition to viewing glacier(s) and wildlife, the Park Rangers board the vessel and provide interesting commentary. Been into Glacier Bay many, many times and have never failed to see at least one glacier. Hubbard - Larger and probably more impressive than the glaciers in GB, but ice in the channel may prevent the ship from seeing the glacier. I have missed Hubbard only a couple of times.

The cruise line only receives information that CBSA wishes to conduct a face to face interview with specific pax. Even after the meeting they are only advise the pax can go ashore, or not. No reasons are provided, which could be many, not just convictions. Whether the cruise line would accept a subsequent booking, unfortunately I have no knowledge/experience, as I wasn't involved in that part of the business.

Rob, With respect to the Mississippi delays, to simplify the issue, I will consider Viking as the ship's owner. When building, or refitting a ship, the owner has representatives on site throughout the entire build and the owner's team will expand as the build progresses. In the Viking business model, I'm not aware that Viking have any Deck Operations or Marine Engineering departments, similar to the major cruise lines, so these functions are provided by the ship managers - Wilhausen Ship Management. They will have at least a Chief Engineer assigned from day 1 of the build and a Master early in the build. Other Deck & Engineering Officers are added as the build progresses. Technical Superintendent will also be onsite, as are Classification Society Surveyors. As the build progresses, Viking hotel staff will be added to the build team. In my experience, each build team member provides updates to the Superintendent, who provides updates to the company and negotiates with the shipyard. As a project approaches completion, it is always surprising how quickly they progress, but experienced officers have a reasonably good feel for when projects start to slide. Therefore, yes, the owner receives progress updates both from the shipyard and their onsite representatives. I can provide you an example from my experience. During a refit, where I saw the schedule slipping, the shipyard continued to deny any slippage. In updating the VP Ops, I suggested he may want to develop contingency plans, as it was looking increasingly likely we might be delayed. These plans were made, but could not be enacted until we received confirmation of the delay. The Chief suggested another potential delay, which is crewing. While my only knowledge of the US requirements is based on the Chief's posts, we had similar standards in Canada. All crew must be trained and certified. Even the basic hotel staff required a month, or more of training, much of which took place aboard the ship. For the Survival Craft training we had in-house certified instructors and a facility with examples of all the lifesaving equipment. I doubt Viking has these resources, so must rely on local training/certification providers. Getting a seat on courses is becoming increasingly challenging due to recertifications and owners trying to hire new crew. Since this is the first ship of this class, even if they have been able to hire sufficient crew, the crew cannot commence the onboard training until the ship is nearing completion. Another factor to consider, while interview processes can weed out poor candidates, those selected don't all make it through the training phase. When hiring Deck Officers, all candidates had to be fully certified, but only about 50% completed my training & familiarisation, with some lasting less than an hour. Many deep-sea crew just cannot adapt to the rigours of coastal and river operations. The marine industry is no different from many others, in that they are experiencing an extreme shortage of Masters, Officers & Ratings. Therefore, even if Viking had managed to hire sufficient crew, they may have a tough time finding replacements for those that fail the training & familiarisation phase. No doubt, you have seen on the news that my old company is cancelling hundreds of sailings this summer, due to lack of crew, sadly this is now the industry norm. In summary, I concur that only providing 2-weeks notice of cancellation is bad form. Viking should be capable of providing better customer service than this. However, potential issues causing the delays abound with many players involved - shipyard, ship owner, ship manager, crew training/certification providers, crew availability, etc. While Viking's name is prominently displayed and they have all the accountability, they have minimal influence over all of the parties responsible. This is a significant issue, but without knowing what information was provided to Viking and more importantly when, calling this a Viking Management issue is no more than ill-informed speculation.

Unfortunately, those interests are fairly generic and really not much help, especially as you didn't mention the ports. Bangkok is a great city and is very walkable around the Royal Palace/Emerald Buddha. However, very few ships dock in the river, as most of them are dock in Laem Chabang, about 80 miles from the city. Kuala Lumpur is similar in that the ships dock in Port Klang, which is about 30 miles, but with traffic can easily be an hour each way. Where the ships dock in both those ports there aren't any areas close to the ship worth walking around. Therefore, as I noted before, I suggest researching each of the ports on both cruises and list the points of interest that are important to you. I still complete this research and I have been to many of the world's ports, lots of them multiple times. Good luck picking the best cruise.

I’m well aware Viking Is responsible for their cruises, status of the ships, dining fare and tours, even though they may not be the direct group providing that function. Going back to my Project Management days, I again beg to differ. Since we pay our money to Viking, they are accountable to the customer, as they have the ultimate authority. However, responsibility is assigned to those that actually complete tasks, which in the Mississippi delays are any combination of the shipyard, ship owner and ship manager. When I had an issue with a tour and talked with the tour booking aboard some cruise ship, they didnt tell me ‘Sorry, thats a private company and we have nothing to do with it. Here is their email so you can talk with them.’ The Lines Managed the issue. Based on your initial post, it appears Viking are dealing with the issue in a similar manner. Viking, since they are accountable to the customer, have contacted you, advising the ship is delayed and provided compensation options. They did not provide contact details and advise you to contact the parties who are responsible for the delays, specifically the shipyard, ship owner and/or ship manager. Viking accepted their accountability and dealt with the issue. Is 2-weeks notice of cancellation sufficient - we will never know what information was provided to Viking and at what time. With combined experience of over 80 yrs in the industry, the Chief and I endeavour to answer questions and inform members how this industry works, with many posters on CC greatly appreciating the knowledge and experience we share. Clearly your mind is made up, so it's time for me to move on from this one.

DW uses her sticks right onto the plane. At the seat, while I lift the bags up to the lockers, she shortens her sticks. I then place them individually in the locker, ensuring they won't fall out when it is opened. Used this many times, without issue. Note - we only fly First or Business, so no experience in Economy.

Having ceased their COVID testing & masking mandates, it is long past time for Viking to return the operation to normal, or at least those parts of the operation that are fully under their control. I'll still cut them some slack on shore-ex, as this requires external vendors and experienced employees, but meeting the advertised guarantee of alternative restaurant reservations is entirely within Viking's control. Viking know how many covers they can accommodate in each restaurant, each night, so if they wish to maintain the cabin category standards, they should adjust the pax count accordingly. Pre-COVID, I recall the chef advising each restaurant can handle 120 covers per night, so about 25% of pax can dine in the alternative restaurants, each night. Regardless of whether the issue is number of pax, limited number of tables, crew restrictions, stores availability, etc. it is time for Viking to address the root cause and fix the problem. If they can't fix it, then they better change their marketing information, as they will be losing existing pax and new pax may even bail before boarding. We have heard from a number of first timers that won't return, due to Viking not delivering what was expected.

Since the yard started cutting steel and fabricating blocks over a year ago and she has already completed sea trials, I would be surprised if she was delayed. Worst case is probably similar to the Mars, where supply chain issues prevented some non-critical components being delivered and installed, but did not delay handover to the owners.

Rob - Great point, as I recall we had similar announcements advising, in addition to foodstuffs, not to take any wood products ashore.

That is not correct, the contracted Ship Managers - Wilhelmsen Ship Management, provide this service.

The PVSA is American legislation that does not apply in Canada, the Canadian Cabotage Act is the Coasting Trade Act. While Viking will accept responsibility, the fault actually lies with the ship manager Wilhelmsen Ship Management, who manage the deck, engineering and regulatory compliance. The ship managers should have advised Viking they could not accept B2B bookings that embarked/disembarked in Canada. Clearly you have never managed a shipyard, or been an owner's representative in a yard. As the owner's representative, you can suspect the ship is late and apply pressure to the shipyard, but the shipyard will only confirm delays when they are ready. I have experience where the shipyard only confirmed a delay, 3-days before departure. How about the shipyard that was building 3-newbuilds and was also bidding on 2 very lucrative ship conversions for the same owner. The owner's representative speculated the first newbuild was delayed for a couple of months, but the shipyard continuously denied they would be late. Day after the shipyard received contracts for the conversions, they advised the owner the first newbuilt was 3 months late. Probably about 1-month before delivery. Lots of games played in this industry.

No, Prince Rupert does not have any glaciers. As Don noted in the previous post, if you can't see Mt Hays on Kaien Island, it's raining, but if you can see it, then it's about to rain.

If an entry Visa is required, the cruise line should prohibit you from boarding at the embarkation port, as by being on the vessel as it arrives in port, you have already arrived in the country. Simply remaining onboard is not an option. Pax or crew without the proper entry requirements can prevent a ship from receiving clearance at a port. Therefore, the onus is on the cruise line to ensure all pax meet the requirement of all ports before being permitted to embark. The Cruise Line probably has a clause in their T&C that pax are responsible to ensure they meet the entry requirements for every port.

In my experience, if a pax is inadmissible, this information is not shared with the ship's Master. All the ship receives from CBSA is a list of pax that they wish to interview, upon arrival. The ship must advise the pax, prior to arrival, they cannot go ashore, prior to meeting with CBSA. The ship also makes a notation on the embark/disembark system that if the card is used at the gangway, it alarms to notify the security officer. On boarding, CBSA normally conduct interviews in the cabin. Ship's staff do not attend the meeting. At the conclusion, the CBSA advise the ship if the pax may go ashore, or must remain onboard. The other option is the pax is removed from the vessel in cuffs. Again, the Master, nor any crew member is advised of the reasons.

Over the years, I have been to most of the ports in both countries. However, without knowing your interests, it is impossible to suggest one over the other. I suggest researching the local attractions and available tours in each of the ports and picking the itinerary that meets more of your interests.

Jim, That's also my understanding of the arrangement. Due to the requirements of the PVSA, Viking are little more than sales agents, as the ship must be built, owned, operated and crewed by Americans.

Your post title indicates you may not understand the shipowner/shipyard dynamics of building a new ship, completing the sea trials, owner acceptance trials and once accepted by the owner, preparing it for revenue service. However, I will initially respond and provide information regarding the B2B cruises issue on the Great Lakes. Most American cruise pax are aware of the PVSA, but Canada, like most maritime nations, also has Cabotage Laws (Coasting Trade Act) that prevent foreign-flag tonnage from engaging in the domestic pax and cargo trades. While it does permit some exceptions, the Act states foreign-flag tonnage cannot transport a passenger from 1 port in Canada to another port in Canada. The Act couldn't care less about how many cruises the pax booked, or even how long the cruise is, it only considers which port you embarked and which port you disembark. The Great Lakes has special operating rules and I note this is a new operational area for Viking, so yes, the Viking management were caught unawares, but in their defense, the Coasting Trade Act, with application on the Great Lakes, is not well known. I note, foreign flag ships transport pax R/T from Vancouver and have done so, for over 40 years. With respect to the new Mississippi tonnage being late. Viking management have zero control over the actual building of the ship. At the present time, they don't even own the ship, as it is owned by the shipyard. The newbuild contract will have penalty clauses for delays, but it will also include a Force Majeure, which the shipyard can most likely use in these circumstances. Post COVID, supply chain issues are prevalent in many industries - I waited over 8 months for Ford to receive the parts to build my truck and many customers wait for a year to receive appliances. They can't find sufficient workers, parts are stuck on ships anchored off the West Coast, they can't find truck drivers to deliver cargoes, etc. When building a ship, the owner is held hostage by the shipyard, as they hold all the cards. Sure, the owner's representatives on site can identify when a build is not going well, but they don't know what labour resources are available and when parts are scheduled to arrive. The shipowner can only make decisions when they are provided definitive updates by the shipyard, and most of them are not overly forthcoming in providing accurate updates. Shipyards will often wait until the last second before officially advising the owner the build is late. It is also Viking's first build contract with this yard, so they have no prior experience with them, as they have with Fincantieri and the yards for the river ships. Therefore, Viking management can only advise the customer once they receive official notification from the yard that the build is late. In addition to many years as a ship's Master, I also managed one of our local shipyards for 5-years, so also know a little about this part of the industry.

We observed it a couple of times on the last World Cruise - Australia and one of the S/Pacific Islands. Also seen it in US, Canada, Japan and a couple of ports on our 1st World Cruise. Normally the ship receives a warning and make multiple announcements not to take anything ashore.

Viking might have called your last cruise the "Ultimate World Cruise", but we all called it the Ho-Ho cruise, with 700 + hopping on and off every 2 weeks.😁

At the present time, she is scheduled to commence revenue service on 17th November from Istanbul.

Excellent point, thanks for adding.

BTW - I read njhorseman's post, and based on my experience in the industry, what he posted, is entirely true. The requirement to send the manifest is 96 hrs or immediately after departure from the port prior to Canada. If they send it 96 hrs before, if the manifest changes, they must update it after the last port. As njhorseman noted, the cruise lines do not have access to convictions databases, so they have no data to prevent pax boarding that may be ineligible in any port, not just Canada. The cruise line T&C most likely make reference to pax being responsible to ensure they meet the requirements of all ports.

Yes, we have a preferred cruise line, but frankly, when cruising to Alaska the cruise line should be almost irrelevant. Alaska should be all about the scenery and ports. The ship is only an asset to transport you through the amazing scenery. With 2 seasons working as a navigator and numerous cruises as a passenger, these are my thoughts, if you want to really see Alaska: - Avoid R/T cruises, unless you are starting in Seward/Whittier, as a land based pre/post tour provides a great opportunity to see more than the coast. This option isn't available for R/T out of Vancouver/Seattle and points south. - Most cruises state they cruise the "Inside Passage", but few of them cruise it extensively. Look for smaller ships that sail predominantly in the confined and scenic waters of the BC & Alaska Inside Passage. - Avoid ships that use the Pacific Ocean. If your objective is to see Alaska, why spend numerous days pounding through the Pacific Ocean. - SE Alaska is OK, but most ports are too touristy, going up to Prince William Sound is amazing with the scenic cruising past multiple glaciers and snow-capped mountains. - Glaciers - With the exception of Prince Willian Sound, Hubbard is probably the most impressive, but you aren't guaranteed access. I have missed Hubbard a couple of times due to ice in the channel. Glacier Bay - have been way too many times (couple dozen +) and never failed to see at least 1 glacier. Bonus is the commentary from the Park Rangers. Tracy Arm - the ship rarely gets up to the glacier and often doesn't even get into the inlet. - Look for the smaller ports that don't have Diamond International, etc - Time of year is also a factor, as by late summer daylight is significantly less to enjoy the scenic cruising, as the ship spends the day in port. In early summer it is daylight well into the evening. - Weather - Alaska and the open ocean can have weather issues at any time, but the potential increases significantly by September. - In addition to the ports of call, check the amount of time in port and also what the actual alongside times are. An 07:00 arrival and 14:00 departure may be 7 hrs, but what is open that early in the morning. Therefore, rather than picking a ship, I suggest researching Alaska and deciding what is of interest and picking an appropriate itinerary.

We also book DV cabins and have never made a dinner reservation pre-cruise. To be honest, we don't know what's for dinner tomorrow night, never mind a few months in advance. If we fancy eating at one of the alternative restaurants on any given day, we check on the telly and make a reservation. Never failed to get one within 1/2 hr of our preferred time. Some nights, we even stop by the host/hostess desk and request a table. Never waited more than 1/2 hr for a table. Note - our experience is World Cruises, which tend to be more relaxed.