LadyImpactOhio

Just found this thread. We are on the Polaris in August 2022. Was curious for those going to Antarctica about Viking asking for proof of $250,000 evac insurance. We bought ours already in case price would go up.

On 5/28/2020 at 9:13 AM, BooBoo2 said:

I have not been able to access my reservation since Friday (5/22/2020).  When I called it was because of a "Software Upgrade" and would be back working Tuesday (5/26/2020).  After seeing that the July and August cruises are greyed out on the website, and still not being able to access my reservation, I called last night and was told that nobody knows anything and that the reason you cant book July and August cruises is because they are all sold out.  Hmmm.  They did say that they hoped that the Powers That Be would be making a decision by the end of the month.  Translation nobody is going anywhere in July and August.  While this is all new and Covid has turned everyone's life upside down,  I agree with NavyCruiser, they really have dropped the ball on keeping those of us with reservations (in my case July 5th) in the loop.  Baked Apple, if you look at the Douro Cruise available in August, the only one available departs Aug 30th, leading me to believe that Viking is planning on a September restart.     

Viking always leaves the site open for every cruise even if it’s sold out. If it still grayed out I’m sure it’s cancelled. We are supposed to Ben on France’s Finest River Sept 7. We will see.

On 1/14/2020 at 12:28 PM, stilltrucking said:

Please read reviews in other threads, including the Dec 18, 2018 sailing.  Clearly the first time out in 2017 sailed under a dark star with things going wrong early, often not under Viking's control, e.g. missed food container, high winds at Devil's Island, hot and humid weather.  Once people decide they are not having a good time, it's hard to change the vibe on the ship.  Also notice many of the comments on this thread are from people who did not actually take the trip.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise, as did everyone we talked to on the ship.  I've been to the upper Amazon on wildlife focused trips.  This isn't one of them; it's a cruise on a cruise ship.  Yet . . . I'm a birder and there were other birders who got together from time to time with the Viking-supplied naturalist to compare notes.  We saw some nice birds, especially around Manaus.  If it had been a birding trip, I would have been unhappy.  But it wasn't.  Just so you know what you are getting into.

 

There are a lot of "sea days," which are actually river days.  I enjoyed sitting on the top deck watching the river, the river traffic, the river banks with forest, occasional birds go by.  My wife thought that was excruciatingly boring and amused herself elsewhere on the ship.

 

The things that Viking always does well (the ship, the food, the service) were up to the usual Viking standard.  We have booked three Viking cruises since this one.

 We were on the Dec 18 cruise with the missed container and missed Devil Island. If you had read the entire thread you would know that. 

12 hours ago, daryllafferty said:

I had pictured the trip up the Amazon like an adventure movie with green walls of jungle on both sides and tropical birds and animals occasionally seen or heard.  Are parts of it anything like this?  Or are the banks of the river pretty much all cleared, farmed and settled?

 

Does the ship stay mostly in the middle of the river, or is it sometimes close enough to the banks to see things?

No, this isn’t an adventure movie. If you want to do that, I recommend Acapulco. We took a tour there of the real jungle where Rambo was filmed.

The estuary to the river is huge and long, over 100 miles so you won’t see anything for some time. There are cities along the way you can see from the ship. We tendered in Paratins and Belem. I did not get off at Belem because it was such a hit and humid day and people were passing out on the dock. Most interesting for us was Santarem. We did the piranha fishing and had a ball, they take you in a smaller boat through the areas the ship can’t reach. We also did Meeting of the Waters which was fantastic. We also did one of the jungle walk,  Think it was in Santarem. But you aren’t going to see a lot of wildlife. They don’t like having people around.

1 minute ago, daryllafferty said:

Thanks for the tip.  I assume the other social website is Facebook...

Haha. You’re not supposed to use that word here. 

12 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Maybe take a look over on the Viking forum on another social website. There have been a number of really informative posts With pictures from a person named Trich. She just completed her cruise of this itinerary. 

Look on that other social site. Phil Buzby has pictures. They completed about 2 weeks ago.

On 9/6/2019 at 1:25 AM, Pushka said:

Busy selling a house! Life got in the way. 😊. I’ll be baaaack! 

Peeps on the Egypt thread say they have been booking Abu Simbel for a year from now. 

On 8/30/2019 at 4:03 AM, Pushka said:

For USA maybe. I’m not from USA. 

Where did You Go? We miss you. 

LadyImpactOhio

3 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

It happened on Wednesday evening, but suggest starting a new thread if you wish to discuss this incident, rather than hijack this thread. Not all information you provided is accurate, as per my marine journals.

I wasn’t trying to hijack this thread. It was an aside to a friend of mine because I didn’t think it was worth a new topic.

Nothing I said was inaccurate. There is a passenger on the Viking ship on that site that can’t be named who was on deck and was an eye witness.

That is all.

19 minutes ago, Pushka said:

 

I think it’s Orion that does not have its act together. 

6 minutes ago, Mehroswitha said:

Private tour providers tend to be VERY careful about getting cruisers back to their ships on time because they realize the online reviews that would result from failing to do so would be disastrous to their business.

 

I've heard of people left behind who were out touring on their own (or drinking!) but never anyone who was on an independent tour. Not saying it never happens, just that the reputable operators are very conscious of how important a prompt return is.

 

Check online reviews of providers you're considering.

We tendered twice on the Amazon trip. That was the Sea.They knew what they were doing, it was very quick and one loaded at each end. 

As far as tour companies we set up a tour with Patrick Watts in the Falklands and I read the reviews on Trip Advisor, which all were very good. I think there is only one other tour operator on the island. I know Viking won’t we able to accommodate all who want to go on this tour so that’s why we booked with him. And I understand about this is these people’s livelihood and they have to get passengers back on time. We’re going on a new ship as well, the Jupiter and I think they had some issues in the beginning in the Med but I don’t know about tendering. 

You may may not have heard, and I hate to be the bearer of this news. But a Viking river ship hit a tour boat on the Danube in Budapest and sunk it. No one on the Viking ship injured, but 7 are dead on the tour boat and quite a few are missing. The captain of the Viking ship was arrested. It happened In a storm with fog while both boats were going under a bridge at the same time. 

Many use Viator for tours which is owned by Trip Advisor. 

On 5/28/2019 at 2:08 PM, Pushka said:

 

And that’s exactly what we did. Most are private. But some prefer to book only with the cruise line for perceived security. 

Now that makes me concerned. We tender on the Falklands stop in February there’s no other way.And we’ve booked a private tour. We haven’t paid, and if we can, after seeing this we may end up going on a Viking tour if we can get it. 

On 5/25/2019 at 9:44 AM, Homosassa said:

I just booked our excursions yesterday for our upcoming cruise this summer. Because it is peak season and the ship is full and we are three cabins traveling together, I was stressing that we would not get the included and optional tours that we wanted.

 

Well, all that stress was for nothing. We all were able to easily book the included and optional tours at the times we wanted.

 

I think the dire warnings on Cruise Critic to be hovering over the keyboard to strike when bookings open up may be overkill.

We’ve lost out on many and we are in the second group. 

As yet, Viking Ra has not sailed, there have been delays.

I think it’s first sailing has been pushed out to June.

We’ve also booked for 2020, and I’m waiting for the first reviews to come in.

The first ones are here. Just started in late August. Start on page 36 and work backwards. Flooding and tummy troubles.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2602031

We are huge fans of Viking. Love the ships, the crew, the people. We have every intention of continuing to travel on Viking in the future.

Thank you stilltrucking for clarifying the Miami trip was always three ports. The San Juan itineraries were always four, however Belem went south on the first trip - so hopefully that is addressed as well as the excursions. Other lines make 5 ports in the Amazon, we knew that when we signed up so we hope that they fix this itinerary rather than cancel it. But it needs to be fixed and that is not based on just a few negative reviews. Viking is aware of this, they are not disagreeing it needs to be improved, and they have assured me that they are working on it. I am hopeful that they will be communicating their changes and improvements prior to 121 days before sailing because we would love to take this journey. I am going to keep running with the fact that they didn’t have enough time between these first two sailings to do anything and they will be true to Viking’s high standards on future Amazon sailings.

Please make sure you see my post today 3-17-18.

Thanks.

This is NOT encouraging. We are booked on the Viking Ra, new ship on the Nile, for the middle of October.

I started a thread on this roll call and found out today the ship is NOT finished and another older ship was substituted for their first trip (March 8 I believe) and the peeps next month were notified only 3 weeks before it would not be ready for them either, and no one seems to know if and when it will be ready.

Here is link to thread.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=55581368&posted=1#post55581368

I called Viking today and was told yes, they don't know when it will be ready but if not by October they will put on a master chef. Wheee.

We bought this trip because of the limited number of passengers, 48. And most of all, a brand new refurbished all suite, modern ship. Travelogues have had pics of the finished product and have been raving about a ship that apparently doesn't exist. At least not in time for its passengers.

To say I'm upset isn't even close.

I have some news on the Brazil visa issue. They started a new eVisa program in January for Australians, Canadians, Japan and US. No need to visit a consulate if you go as a visitor and spend no more than 90 days. It's good for 2 yrs only which is probably adequate for most going to Brazil.

The website is http://www.bacctravel.com

My husband is a Brasileiro and gets a newspaper where this was discussed. Hope this helps some of you when previous people had a lot of difficulty.

I have decided to cancel my trip for the December 2018 cruise, and will book an alternative Viking cruise. I very much look forward to taking this cruise once the issues are sorted. As for reviews being taken " with a grain of salt", why bother reading them at all, whether they are good or bad ? I thought that was the whole point of cruisecritic.

Well said.

Do the laundry either early in the morning or late evening. It was great having washing machines and dryers. On the star , the detergent came out automatically, but I heard that on the Sea, you have an option.

No, you don't have an option for your own detergent on the Sea. It's free, but detergent comes out automatically.

I was on the Star in June and I can tell you that there was plenty of food. In fact you are over fed on the cruise. The ships will buy fresh fish from locals and its delicious when prepared. Most of the Caribbean is up and running, welcoming more tourists everyday. Take reviews with a grain of salt. Done people are never happy with anything. I can’t wait to start our cruise in the Caribbean this coming Sunday. So happy travels

Hope you have a good time. But a Caribbean cruise is quite different than a 3 week cruise to the Amazon, having to get yellow fever, visa, possible anti malaria pills and scoping out stops on the Amazon which Viking obviously did very poorly.

The Caribbean is well travelled for many years and any hiccups that may occur will most probably be very different than those we experienced on this trip. The passengers on this cruise, including me and the others on this thread. Paid a lot and expected a lot based on the hype of the Viking sales people and what their optional, expensive excursions promised. And their itinerary.

"Done people are never happy with anything" should be a statement for those who have been there and done that and not a judgment from those who haven't.

Our first Viking ocean in the Baltic we could not find fault with anything. The second in the Med was tiring but we knew it would be and it was done well. The Amazon was not done well.

But we are giving them another chance and put down our final payment on the Nile trip. Viking is experienced in this route and it's a new ship, however we have very high hopes this one will be a winner.

I have spoken with a Viking travel agent in Sydney re this matter and referred him to the reviews on this post. He read it and said the shortage of food was because of the Caribbean hurricane. Have to say he wasnt really helpful and quite non-committal. He did offer to transfer my deposit to another cruise, which was helpful of him, but still havent had any reply to my email to Viking via the link provided.

If what your Sydney TA is telling you is true, he certainly knows way more than any of us on that ship were told or the people in California.

The captain repeatedly said we needed that container. Period. Never said why or what was in it even when many were curious and asked. If it was as simple as food because of the hurricane, why not just say so. If so, that however is unlikely to be repeated on subsequent cruises. The other issues however are suspect.

Yes, when you add up the 4 Amazon stops. 8 hours each in Santarem and Paratins. Noon arrival in Manaus and leaving the next day around 6 pm. Late arrival in Belem because of sick couple being let off (I didn't get off, WAY too hot and humid for me) and leaving around 6 pm very little time in stops v. Time at sea or on the river.

I talked with quite a few peeps. No one I talked with saw a toucan. A few saw monkeys. We didn't. We only saw a sloth, a few hawks and herons, some big ants, termite piles, and piranhas caught by passengers on the fishing expedition, which IMO was the best tour of all.

Do I wish I hadn't gone? Absolutely not. I still had fun and enjoyed the voyage despite all the hiccups.

I'm talking mostly about small things, like on Delta, being able to upgrade from regular economy to what they call Comfort Plus. Or purchasing priority boarding and things like that. I've tried with the Delta app on my phone but it doesn't seem to work. I suspect that I'm on a very cheap ticket that doesn't let me upgrade even minor things.

 

I'm not really talking about the big thing like upgrading from coach to business. I didn't think upgrading to Comfort Plus was a big deal, but apparently it is. I can and will call the airline, I'm just afraid of "messing up" my reservation somehow.

Forgot to mention. You have to give Viking your FF numbers so they can put them in the system when they book and then ask them to ticket right away. Otherwise you won't see the itinerary even if you are logged in with the airline.

I think Delta recently changed their position regarding upgrades for traveling companions. I am a Platinum Medallion and was able to upgrade my spouse at time of booking. I think the traveling companion has to have a Delta account as well.

I am a Delta FF but not as much as him because he travels on business. I don't know if they changed that, but if they did they would have to bust up families by giving them different seats and boarding zones for those who don't have Elite status. Wouldn't make sense and more grief for them.

My husband is a Delta Elite platinum I think, but no matter where we go on Delta if I am booked with him we both get one free bag and boarding zone 1. But that doesn't apply to their partners.

When we went to Europe in the spring with Viking I bought their Air Plus which is $50 a person. It's worth it. You can work with them on flights and much earlier instead of having them just assign you something.

On our Detroit to Amsterdam flight as soon as they ticked the flights which was about 90 days, I was able to buy the Comfort Plus seats. I didn't bother on the KLM flight to Barcelona since it was only 2 hours and not full.

We came back on Air France and the only thing I could do was pay a small fee for a reserved seat instead of waiting to get a seat assignment at the airport.

The San Juan trip was different because the airfare was free. We went on American and have no status. The whole thing turned out to be a huge mess since they cancelled the precruise and then reticketed everyone for the day before the sailing, even before they asked anyone if they still wanted to go early on their own. Which we did. So then by the time we got them straightened out and back (we had already booked a hotel on our own) the decent seats were all gone.

Make sure you don't let them put you on a puddle jumper on any leg. Then you have to check the larger carry ons, no choice since they won't fit in the over head.

On the way back from San Juan I was able to get us seats closer to the front of the plane because I was nervous about the shorter connection time in Charlotte but then we would have been the last zone to board and they of course were screaming to people about checking their carry ons.

I told the gate agent I had all my medicine in my carry on (true) and couldn't afford to check it. He was very nice and changed our boarding passes to an earlier zone and we had no issues.

The only way you can get a better seat initially is if you have a more expensive cabin. I think the people in the suites get basically free air.

Our trip to Egypt they gave us complimentary Air Plus because of our repeat trips.