Marykatesmom

I was wondering if a taxi would be a good way to get back and forth from the port in Basseterre to the Marriott.  I hate to book transportation in advance because it is just too hard to know when you will be able to get ashore and when we would like to leave in the afternoon.  We will be there for just a day.

I was wondering if a taxi would be a good way to get back and forth from the port in Phillipsburg to the JW Marriott.  I hate to book in advance because it is just too hard to know when you will be able to get ashore and when we would like to leave in the afternoon.

Your review was a clear eyed and even keeled. Thank you for simply explaining your difficulties.

This would be good to know.  As of now, the Viking is listing Venice and not specifically Marghera as where they are docking.  Am I to assume when they say Venice they mean Marghera?

I hate to even mention it but yes, they let me just buy the package for myself and not my 18 yr old daughter.  She didn’t drink at all at the time.  We went to the cruise critic meet and mingle.  That is where we found out she was the youngest person on board and there were only two other people on board under the age of 30.

This was 5 years ago.

This is great information.  Thank you!

On 1/15/2022 at 4:45 PM, CruiserBruce said:

What is your cruise line saying? where have they switched other cruises to?

 

Google search the port schedule..."Ravenna Port Schedule" for example.

 

If you tell us your ship, cruise line and sailing date, somebody else here may already know.

I am sailing the Viking Sky and will be in Venice 3/11-3/12  My TA called them and they said Venzia but I followed and googled my Venice and my ship and it says Marghera.

My TA called to let them know I was disembarking early.  He was told it is the port of Venzia but no one has mentioned that so far.

Does anyone have a port schedule to check where the ship might actually be docking?

Can someone please post a link that shows which ships are scheduled in which port?  I get the feeling my ship is not docking in Venice but nearby.  

TIA!

I have a Viking Italy cruise booked for the first week in March.  We change ports every day except the last night.  That leaves us with limited time in port and I feel much more comfortable doing the ship's excursions as the timing is so tight.  The bubbles will not affect our cruise except for the last night.  We are planning on disembarking early when we arrive in Venice and skipping the last night on the ship.  We have a beautiful room booked and would rather move there for two nights.

Has anyone disembarked a day early?

I am sailing in March and should be able to book excursions.  Will they let me know when they are open?

I'm on the Sky Sojourner in March.  I am just now doing my research. Sorry, CCWineLover but I'm going to post so I can follow along

3 hours ago, SempreMare said:

 

@Tommy Glynn,   Whose reply do you think is more helpful to someone like me new to Viking? 

 

1) @Travelingnonni99's description of her experience which could help set my expectations on a Viking cruise around booking excursions?  Her first hand experience compared to other cruise lines? 

 

2) Your put down? 

 

Could you demonstrate your reading comprehension and quote what made you believe @Travelingnonni99 implied that her life was completely ruined or at significantly impacted in any way? 

 

What made you feel the need to reply with such sarcasm? 

Well said!!

7 minutes ago, zitsky said:

 

I get your point, @lonagarr but many of us wonder.... why come on here for advice but then refuse to share the resolution?

 

I like my TA but I think she gave me bad advice about this.  She said to wait until the last minute then tell them my partner is sick and can't go.  I'd much rather tell Viking up front even if I have to pay extra (which is ridiculous).  I do have trip insurance if we both cancel, no problem.  My partner is away right now because his father is in the hospital.  I'm looking at attending a pre-planned activity without him because there are no refunds.  Same with a cruise.  I could see going on a cruise without him if he really needed to be with his father.  Again, we have trip insurance so this is just a hypothetical.

 

Good point.  I would hate to have others needlessly fret if this was just a misunderstanding.  Is it the policy of Viking to charge a ridiculous fee or was this a "one off"?

33 minutes ago, esanders64 said:

We requested a full refund today, and the Viking representative was very cooperative.

 

Viking has officially changed the Cuba itinerary to Key West, Belize, and Mexico.  As we have visited all 3 of those destination before, we didn't see any value in going to them again on a Viking cruise.  If we do cruise with Viking again in the Caribbean, we'll likely look for a more enticing location, such as the Panama Canal.

Thank you for letting us know.  Although I haven't been to Belize, I've already been to Key West and Mexico a few times.

12 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Viking wasn't due to run this itinerary until the fall, unlike some of the other cruise lines that had to gather up all of their passengers and high-tail it out of town on a moment's notice.

 

Viking has time to consider what it is going to do and they are not rushing into it. They are taking the time to choose an itinerary that they feel assured will be attractive to their client base.

Agreed.  I'm curious what they will find.  Their client base is experienced travelers who have most likely been to the Caribbean many times.  In addition, they sell themselves as a port intensive cruise.  I can't think of other ports that would likely hold the same level of interest that Cuba was going to do. 

I cancelled on June 18 and received a full refund 7/8 including all our added air fare.  It does make me feel better about working with them.

Does make me wonder what will happen with the cruise.  It can't possibly be economically feasible to run ships that aren't close to capacity for weeks.  

Well, it has been over a month since the announcement.  Has anyone received information regarding the cruise?  Has anyone that cancelled gotten their money back?

While booking my flights months before our cruise I went and double checked the dates and times noticed something was really off with the dates.  Out of nowhere there was a 3 day pre-cruise add on.  The TA took it off immediately and was just as baffled as I was.  We hadn't even discussed it and I had a hotel in Rome booked.

13 hours ago, Pushka said:

 

 

I was totally done with this and hadn’t posted after June 6 until I received notification a couple of days ago that another poster was rebutting my experience. So I am not going on ad Infinitum at all but defending my original statements.  And June 5 was last day of the cruise so I was all out. 

 

Yeah, friends of VFB.  Where no negative comment is allowed to exist. And must be wrong. 

Sorry Pushka.  You were NOT going on ad infinitum at all.  I thought your experience was a good reflection on how VO was handling both communication and new ports.  There have been other less than stellar reports of new ports in Asia that sound erringly similar to yours.

It should be a cause for concern for those booked on the Cuba cruises.  It doesn’t mean I’m going to cancel my VO Med cruise since I know they are quite experienced in those ports.

57 minutes ago, stretchcruz said:

I book my travel insurance through insuremytrip and always make sure that it can be canceled to a different date (even different cruise line) if I change my mind. I've never had a problem doing it, so it's worth a phone call. Sometimes the premium changes.

I was in too much of a hurry and rushed booking the insurance.  We came back from a lovely VO cruise right before Christmas.  It was my fault.  

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Under normal circumstance, you have until 121 prior to sailing to cancel and get your money less $100pp back from the Viking. If you don't claim the $100pp from the insurance company, you can talk to the insurance company to find out if the insurance that  you did not claim against can be moved to another booking. I have heard that some insurance companies will do this but I don't know what the details are. 

 

However, this is not normal circumstances and looks like Viking is waiving its normal cancellation fees. If you aren't working with a TA, contact the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.com, ask them to look into this for you and to tell you if the standard $100 penalty is being waived in your case (and if not why).

 

In any case, it will take more than a few days for Viking to process the refund.

Thank you!

I paid for my travel insurance from a third party so I knew when I cancelled that it would not be refunded under any circumstances past the 14 day look back period.

I'd already paid in full by the time the ban was announced.  If I had waited until my 6 months out (booked on board) I would have been fine but there you go.  Live and learn.   Makes the year PIF a little harder to swallow.  It has been a few days and nothing is back on my CC.

12 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I'm on a mailing list that does customer surveys for Viking, usually testing new ideas for itineraries (and yes I am brutally honest about what appeals to me and what doesn't).

 

Within the last couple of days, Viking is testing the Caribbean waters. Obviously, they are trying to hone in on a substitute itinerary that will meet the expectations of their guests and they are polling the audience as part of the process. Personally, I applaud them for the diligence and for not rushing to kludge together some itinerary that may or may not work for their clientele.  Since the Cuba cruises weren't due to start again until the end of the year, it looks like Viking is taking the time to do the job right--rather than rushing headlong into disaster because a few people are complaining that they aren't moving fast enough.

 

Don't ask me for details because I did not pay attention to what they were looking at; I have no interest in the Caribbean other than possibly Cuba or the Panama and gave a resounding not interesting to all of the chocies.  I can tell you that the cruises are RT out of Miami, that one of the choices went as far south as ABCs and the cruise was longer than a week.

The vague "please have patience" email should have come out within days of the ban.  They were the last out of the gate with any response by a week.  To imply that Cuba is still on the table was ludicrous and that "specific details" were unknown was blatantly false.  

No one is complaining that a new itinerary isn't moving fast enough.  My worry is the one you mentioned above, nothing is going to attract Viking's clientele enough to create new bookings.  I can't imagine that it would be financially viable to run a half empty ship for several weeks.  A last minute cancellation is still a possibility.

21 minutes ago, KathyA said:

The Cultural Cuba cruises have been removed from the website altogether. On myvikingjourney.com the booked Cultural Cuba itinerary shows every port TBD. I find it bewildering that they think the US government will give them an exception. Kind of a DYKWIA mentality.

 

My gut feeling is that the email we were sent was written within a day or so of the ban and they waited too long to send it.  It was before "the specific details" were known, which we've all seen the PDF that is pretty detailed and therefore sounded ridiculous.  And before it was clear there were going to be no exceptions.  There is no way that Viking is going to get an exception for a half full cruise.  Viking cruisers are much more well traveled than most other cruise lines.  We are simply not that gullible to believe that Cuba is a possibility  It also did not promise that we would be given other high quality ports and left open the possibility for an 8 day cruise to Nassau.  At that price point a terrible value.

That email made sense immediately after the ban but they waited too long for such a vague email asking us for patience.