biggerbearmom

You are so spot on! With the current situation that the airlines are in, it is not the fault of Viking Air. I purchased tickets for my son and family to travel home for Christmas from Sweden. We bought tickets in August, Lufthansa cancelled one leg of the trip, so we cancelled and rebooked with Delta. Since September and as recently as three days ago, Delta has made three major schedule changes to their flights (8 hour layover in AMS) and cancelled the last leg of their flight on their return to Sweden. Schedule changes, cancellations and luggage issues is what we have to deal with if we want to travel. Viking can’t be blamed for something out of their control.

In August we had an early arrival in Iceland with a Viking transfer. After picking us up they took us to a hotel where we had breakfast, and then we reboarded the bus for our ride to the port.

When my travel agent called Viking to inquire (she’s taking the same itinerary a few weeks earlier) they told her that the agent who returned my call made a mistake, and that she should not have offered me the OBC, though they did say they would honor it. There was no reason given why Cozumel was removed and then added back.

The customer rep who called me yesterday confirmed that both Cozumel and Key West were removed from our itinerary. If you want further confirmation send an email to tellus@vikingcruises.com or call them. I emailed them yesterday afternoon and had a phone call from them within two hours. Also, when I went to Viking.com to look at our specific itinerary, Cozumel is no longer listed.

February 1, 2023. I emailed Viking to complain about two ports being removed which means three consecutive sea days at the beginning of the cruise. A customer rep called me in response to my emails but didn’t really give me a reason. She said something about occasionally having to make changes for “operational reasons”. She offered us $150 OBC.

Key West was cancelled, and now Cozumel has been cancelled.

I agree, when the captain shared this in one of his talks, everyone in the theater clapped and cheered. Our room steward on that trip told us that he learned new skills during the shutdown, Viking put their employees to work doing all types of tasks. He said he learned how to install carpet. I believe this is the reason their restart in regards to employees was not as difficult, as they retained the majority of their employees.

Viking paid there staff during the pandemic and as a result, they retained 85% of their crew.

We were on the Mars in August and contracted Covid. The medical staff does not prescribe Paxlovid, I asked. What they did offer was numerous types pf OTC medications. We were provided with cough medicine, Tylenol, day time decongestant, and a night time decongestant that was a godsend as it helped with sleep.

We have been purchasing our travel insurance through The Trip Insurance Store for many years. Steve, the owner, is a wealth of information and honest, and I have learned so much from him about the ins and outs of travel insurance. Highly recommend.

I did a Bergen to Kirkenes trip on Hurtigruten in December 2019, and it was a fabulous trip. I would highly recommend Hurtigruten for Norway and points north. Because their ships stop at all the little villages to drop off transit passengers and cargo, you get a much different perspective than you would if you were sailing on a typical cruise. The excursion offerings were first rate and quite memorable. We saw the Northern Lights, just be prepared for the cold. When we embarked in Bergen we signed up for the Northern Lights occurrence announcements. This meant that regardless of the time of night that we would receive notification directly in our cabin that the lights were present. You then dress quickly and rush out, and then wait for the most incredible sight! If I were doing this trip again I would extend on the end a spend and day or two in Kirkenes.

We were on the Mars in August. We had a $300 OBC that we were going to lose if we did not spend it. The problem was we were on quarantine until the last day of our cruise. I called down to the onboard store and asked about purchasing some items. Nataliya, who I believe was the assistant manager, totally came through. I told her what I was interested in purchasing and she sent me photos on whatsapp. We went back and forth on whatsapp until I finally decided on the items to purchase., and then she delivered them to our room.I felt this was service that went above and beyond.

We have done both trains and they are both wonderful, if possible I would do both. As millybess stated, the ferry ride to Gudvangen is just wonderful. When we did the Flam railway, we had an early morning departure. When we returned from the train ride we bought a ticket for the ferry. Even though it rained, the ferry trip was outstanding. Very easy to do on your own.

Try not to worry about it. Since you will be arriving by ship, Viking will make sure that you complete any requirements. We were on this itinerary in April and had an entry requirement for Belgium. Viking sent information to our stateroom on how to complete it, and if needed, help was available from Guest Services.

I’m sure many of you already know this, (I didn’t until it happened to me) but if you test positive while on a cruise and are quarantined to your room, you are entitled to a FCC for the days while quarantined. We were on the Viking Mars, Majestic Iceland itinerary two weeks ago and we contracted Covid with symptoms. I was actually quite sick and we were quarantined for 5 days. Viking was very generous with their compensation and we had the voucher the day after our info was submitted.

Yes, our TA did it for us, she did say she had to call a different number from the one she usually contacts. We were able to apply the voucher to an existing booking as it may be combined with promotions, onboard vouchers, past guest guest discounts, etc.

dd57, I wanted to let you know that we have already received our future cruise credits from Viking for our Covid isolation. I must say, they were quite generous.

No, our trays were not wrapped, as dd57 said, they were handed off to us at the door. Deck three had 12 rooms blocked off, my husband observed them prior to our isolation. I am grateful we didn’t have to switch rooms, I felt so crappy I couldn’t imagine having the energy to make the move. Fortunately for us we had planned all along to disembark a day early for a flight to Sweden. It felt so good to get off the ship on Monday. I have forwarded my information to my travel agent to submit to Viking for the missed days, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I do have to say that the staff was fantastic all the way around. We had non refundable credit we were going loose if not spent. Nataliya, the Viking Shop assistant manager helped me shop virtually through Whatsapp, she went above and beyond. The medical staff and room service were also incredibly helpful and hardworking. This is what makes for loyal customers.

This is what I came across in my T & C for our cruise which is for Non U.S. Ports: If, after embarkation, you have a case of COVID-19 or other communicable disease which is confirmed by a medical test and you are disembarked, refused reboarding, or quarantined as a result, unless we determine that you have failed to comply with our COVID-19 Policies and Procedures or this Ticket Contract and subject to your providing verification satisfactory to us of results of any tests administered by providers other than those retained by us, you will be entitled to a future cruise credit equal in value to the amount you paid to us as Cruise Fare prorated to the time of disembarkation.

I’m sorry for your husband but happy for you. I’m not sure where we got it, we wore masks on our flights and such, but I think it must have been on an excursion. We were rat packed into the buses and on long tours with most people not masking. I actually believe there are quite a number of people on this cruise that have tested positive; the vials outside the staterooms are the key clue.

Thank you for the kind comments, I would not wish this on my worst enemy. The first three days of quarantine were not so bad because I was sick and in bed. Today I am feeling much better, and melancholy because we are docked in Flam, Norway. It is a beautiful sunny day, people are out enjoying the sights and the beautiful weather, and we have to be content with the view from our balcony.

I am currently on the Mars and on my third day of quarantine. I requested testing because I had all the symptoms and was really sick. Even if I hadn’t tested, I was too sick & could not have participated on excursions or been out and about on the ship. I knew it would impact my vacation, but I certainly would not want want my lack of action for selfish reasons to impact someone else. The staff is taking great care of us.

We did this cruise in April. Check the excursions every single day, it is tedious but it paid off for us. We had two days where every excursion was sold out, Le Havre (we actually docked in Honfluer due to a dock strike) was one of them. I eventually was able to book Monet’s Garden which is a fantastic excursion and one in Porto, due to other passengers cancelling.

Does anyone have any experience with staying at The Snooze Hotel, located on FLL Beach? We typically stay at The Hyatt Place in Dania Beach, but we will have three nights pre cruise at the end of January and I thought a beach front hotel would be nice.

I can only speak to my experience, I am currently 85 days out from my cruise in August, my flights are not yet ticketed, and I changed my flights two days ago because I did not want to fly Air Canada.