LindaS272

12 hours ago, Let Me Travel! said:

Just hoping our vaccine distribution continues at the recent great rate...I’d really like the world get back to normal...I do think that we, as a population have become hysterical about the virus overall...we failed to protect the most vulnerable to the virus at the beginning and we imposed restrictions on the entire population as a knee-jerk response. I’ll wear the mandated masks, but I honestly do believe that as the population is vaccinated, (as the SCIENCE recommends) we need to stop the show and allow business, travel and social interaction recover...it’s my opinion that we are prolonging the drama.

It’s tough on everyone. We’d all like to get back to normal. In terms of hysteria, there was a “dance macabre” going on with certain folks in the beginning who said it was all a hoax and refused to take precautions. THAT’s why we had to shut down. And science didn’t know in the beginning just how contagious it was through respiration. Now we know—and masks, social distancing, and ventilation are the key. Raging outbreaks continue to occur because thousands of people are not heeding the advice. Sure hope the vaccinations can overtake the numbers and get us out of this mess

I’ve been frustrated by our local health dept. in that you don’t learn until months later just WHERE the surge in cases are. Masks do work, and many people are not wearing them—thus the outbreaks.

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

When do you stop wearing them, or do you plan to wear them the rest of your days? Just trying to understand when enough is enough.  Never in history has such action been taken to shut down peoples lives, not for any previous epidemic situations.  

I plan to keep wearing a mask as long as there are still cases surging in my area, and when I travel through airports and on planes. Also when in any crowded, indoor space where it’s difficult to keep six feet of distance/or ventilation is poor. I follow the science and the CDC recommendations closely. It’s tragic in our country that so many won’t do the simple things of wearing masks and social distancing until this thing is under control.

9 minutes ago, Let Me Travel! said:

We’ve gotten masks that say “For Government Use Only”...vaccinated people do NOT need masks.... it’s all for show...

I hope you’re not on one of the upcoming cruises on Viking, cuz you’ll be surprised by Viking’s stance on that issue. The masks are not only to protect others from your respiration should you have COVID, but also to protect you from people infected with a variant that the vaccine does not cover.

6 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Haven't flown with Iceland Air, but did research the Saga Class. I read a couple of travel blogs and generally they were not impressed.

 

Best summary is it is more Premium Economy than Business Class. The seats are slightly wider than economy and do not go flat, although they recline slightly more than economy. Meals are included, but quality was at best average.

 

Positives were the Lounge in Iceland, which was impressive.

 

 

It’s not like Premium Economy, more like First Class domestic in the U.S. The seats are worlds apart from economy and recline quite a ways but not full length—very comfortable, though. Meals pre-COVID were good quality and better than what we used to get on international flights in coach back in the day.

On 4/16/2021 at 7:00 AM, Peregrina651 said:

 

They leave a residue in the dryers that builds up over time and will get on the clothing of anyone who uses the dryer. Dryer sheets are on the list of products that folks with skin rashes are told not to use, even the ones that are fragrance free..

Some do, some don’t. Not a problem for this chemically sensitive gal. I have started bringing my fragrance free laundry soap on all our travels and was pleasantly surprised to find that Viking’s laundry soap was fragrance free. I use free & clear dryer sheets though.

I doubt it. These bans will not stand up to court challenges, or to the companies (like cruise ships & airlines) that may impose requirements.

2 hours ago, id4elizabeth said:

Some thoughts about going directly to the Blue Lagoon from the airport.  I was reading the Blue Lagoon Terms and Conditions today and if I'm reading correctly you will not be allowed in the Blue Lagoon or any of the Hotels, or the Spa or restaurants until you've gotten the ok test results from your covid test at the airport which might take as long as 12 hours.  Now hopefully this changes.  We currently have a reservation at the Hilton in Reykjavík,  but I was thinking of changing that to a Blue Lagoon hotel so we could enjoy the retreat spa while we're waiting for check -in.  But this may not be possible.  I have a question into the hotel at the moment and will let you know what I find out.  So, if u r just planning on hitting the blue lagoon, and you don't have the results back from your airport  Covid  test, they might not allow u in. 

Now all this appears to apply to the general Covid restrictions before the vaccinated passengers became exempted in general.  So perhaps this will change hopefully soon.  Just wanted to make you aware of the Ts.& Cs of the Blue Lagoon

 

Someone in one of our groups was going to stay at a Lagoon hotel right from the airport and he may know more about the situation.  If you're reading this and have some insights please let us know!

 

Here’s the link to current info: https://www.bluelagoon.com/blue-lagoon-temporarily-closed

Despite saying “temporarily-closed”, this should link to “the Blue Lagoon has re-opened.”

12 minutes ago, DaveSJ711 said:

 

I'm a practicing lawyer (40 years and counting); I booked the Southeast Asia trip in question; I corresponded with Viking about our ability to leave the ship and return; and I was Linda's companion on the trip.

 

Viking sent us Terms and Conditions for our cruise. I reread them this morning. Neither Section 8 nor Section 19 makes any reference to a passenger's ability to leave the ship and return mid-cruise. The T&Cs are silent on this issue.  VikingTermsandConditions.pdf

 

The day I booked the trip, I asked the Viking agent whether we could leave the ship en route and return. I reread his response this morning. He wrote, quote: "You guys can leave the ship and come back. This is not an issue."

 

In reliance on what the agent told us, we booked a nonrefundable flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia and a nonrefundable stay at a Siem Reap hotel. Two months later, we made a courtesy call to advise Viking that we wouldn't need a transfer at the end of the cruise (because of our travel plans). Only then were we told that the agent was wrong, and that the Cambodian port authorities had to approve our travel.

 

 

 

My husband Dave further clarifies the issue.

Somewhere else in these threads, someone commented about Viking’s somewhat corporate attitude and lack of customer courtesy before getting on a cruise and wondered if they were paying attention to cruise critic posts on the issue. In general, we’ve had great experiences with Viking. But this one pre-cruise experience was difficult and upsetting. Management onboard was great and we felt like valued customers once again.

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

Linda, with his years of experience as a cruise ship officer, we rely on Heidi13 to give us the perspective of the cruise lines. He understands what drives the policies and procedures and can give us the inside view.

 

Also, keep in mind that on Cruise Critic, responses to posts are read by more than just the person with the issue.  While his response may not apply to the specifics of your situation, his reply is instructional and informational for the other people who will be reading his response and it will help others to avoid the problems that you faced.

Actually it wouldn’t, because what we faced was a bumbling, discourteous response from Viking. I submit that the cruise lines also need to have an attitude of courtesy and customer service toward their passengers, which was sorely lacking in our case prior to getting on the ship. Guest Services and management onboard were great, but the corporate agents beforehand were not. So this whole thing is not about needing to understand it from the cruise line’s perspective. What there was was a dysfunctional corporate response.

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Thanks for the clarifications, but having experienced similar situations, I probably have a better understanding of the entire process than most people. As Peregrina explained, I have experienced these situations from both the pax and ship's perspective. I suggest you are only considering the pax perspective and not the implications on the entire ship's clearance and departure process. You may also not have fully read and understood the Terms & Conditions of the Passenger Contract.

Actually, one of us is a lawyer and we did read the Terms and Conditions carefully. Most importantly, our initial inquiry to Viking about leaving and reboarding was okayed by a Viking agent who wrote us in an email “You guys can leave the ship and come back. This is not an issue.” We then proceeded to book a flight to Siem Reap and return to Bangkok, as well as a non-refundable hotel. When we called Viking a few weeks later to tell them we would not need the airport transfer at the end of the cruise because of travel to Siem Reap, we were told we would need to get independent approval from the Cambodian port authorities. So the problem here was being told by a Viking agent “no problem”- then being told WE had to get “permission” directly from the Cambodian port authorities, not that Viking would take care of things for us from their end. Of course we had no way to know who to get permission from, and it was only after weeks of frustration through various levels of Viking management stateside that Viking said they had finally figured out what needed to be done from their end and that we could do what we wanted to do.

Quote

With respect to Visas, yes I am aware that 2 options for Visas are available in Cambodia, the ship may procure a Visa upon arrival, or each pax is required to procure their own individual Visas. I believe I explained that regardless of whether you procured you own Visa or the ship procured on arrival Visas, you plans would result in delayed ship clearance and possibly also departure.

 

With respect to the cruise documents, I believe the situation is addressed in the Terms & Conditions - specifically in Section 19 and also Section 8. If I reread them in depth, I can probably find others, but these are the 2 main ones I can think of:

• Section 8 - You are required to obey ship's rules & regulations including the Master's Orders - the gangway board with the "Time Aboard" is not a suggestion, it is a Master's Order. Any pax who have not advised the ship of an intension not to reboard and have made alternate arrangements in any port have contravened this section of the Passenger Contract
• Section 8 - pax conduct will not impair the ship or inconvenience other pax - by planning independent travel and not returning by all aboard time, the ship's departure can very well be delayed, which is an inconvenience to pax and a cost driver for the cruise line.
• Section 19 -  Unauthorised stopover or disembarkation or failure to make any sailing of the ship at any port shall be at your sole risk and expense, you may be denied subsequent boarding, and you will not be entitled to any refund, payment, compensation or credit of any kind. 

 

 

The other couple that disembarked in Saigon clearly contravened Section 19 by disembarking the ship without authorisation. They are actually lucky that both the ship and local authorities permitted them to reboard the ship. Many cruise lines would have prevented them from re-boarding.

 

When the Terms & Conditions require "Authorisation" for a stopover or unplanned disembarkation, I suggest that advising the cruise line of your independent travel plans is not a "courtesy", but a requirement.

 

 

As you can see by my response above, none of this applied to our situation.

And the Terms and Conditions do not “require Authorisation”—Section 19 just says it “shall be at your own risk and expense” and that “you may be denied subsequent boarding.” And the “Authorisation” that Viking said we needed to do was not from Viking but from the Cambodian port authorities.

So we are talking a little bit of apples to oranges here. That’s why I said you didn’t know the details of what we had to deal with.

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Unfortunately, when planning private travel that will have you rejoin a cruise in another country it is NOT a courtesy call you make to the cruise line. This is critical information that must be provided to the cruise line in a reasonable time in advance of the cruise. This is even more critical when Visas are required, especially when they are procured on arrival by the cruise line.

 

To explain the process. When ships completes the arrival process, the ship's manifest lists the compliment of pax & crew, noting any that are leaving the ship at that port, with the remainder departing onboard. If the ship acquires Visas on arrival, they must provide details of everyones travel plans to the local authorities.

 

When pax book overland Shore-ex tours, this information is known to the ship and the correct travel information is provided to the local authorities. Similar for officers/crew/entertainers etc that are paying-off, the authorities are advised they will fly out of the country. All others are listed as being aboard upon departure. Local authorities take a rather dim view of crew/pax that miss the ship's departure.

 

Had you applied for a Cambodia tourist Visa prior to the cruise and provided your travel plans, but had not advised the ship, it could potentially delay the ship's clearance. Had the ship submitted that you were departing Cambodia onboard the ship, but the local authorities had record of your alternative travel plans, the discrepancy would have to be resolved before granting the ship's clearance. Delaying the ship's clearance would delay everyone from getting ashore.

 

When you notify the cruise line of alternative travel plans, such as rejoining in another country, the Cruise Line must check the Visa requirements, as some countries may require a different Visa. The crew must also make changes to the ship's manifest, which requires additional workload. It is fairly common for cruise lines to charge a fee to approve this type of request.

With all due respect, you don’t know the details of what transpired in our situation. And Viking doesn’t get your visas for you, it’s the responsibility of the passengers to procure their own visas prior to boarding the ship (which we did in the case of our Cambodia visas). Viking made it extremely difficult for us even though they had no role in obtaining our visas. And there was nothing in the cruise documents that said we couldn’t do what we were arranging. From our perspective it most certainly was a courtesy call. We have traveled on our own all over the world for the last 40+ years and had not expected the rather exhausting and somewhat discourteous response from Viking customer service and management at the time. When we finally were able to talk it through with Guest Services and management on the ship, there was no problem. But it was the process before boarding that completely took the wind out of our sails. We met another couple on the ship who were doing exactly the same thing we had arranged but were not going to tell Viking about it. We saw them take off with backpacks from HCMC. When we saw them upon their return in a hallway onboard, they were royally pissed about the issues they had getting back on board and they decided they were going to stick with cruising with Oceania.

1 hour ago, Little Monty said:

 

 

 

 

For those who are tea drinkers, initially I went into the lounge each morning and made 2 cups of tea and took them back to the cabin. After spilling most of what was in the cups for the first couple of days I started ordering room service.

 

A pot of tea, some milk, 2 cups and 2 tea bags. Delivered hot to our door on request by room service.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are primarily tea drinkers, so on each cruise we ask our cabin steward first thing to take away the coffee service and replace it with a kettle for boiling water. Then we have room service leave us a small pitcher of milk to leave in our mini bar. I can’t do caffeinated tea so I always travel with a big supply of Barry’s Irish Decaff Tea. We’re happy.

4 hours ago, Jchivers said:

If an excursion description describes a stop as The Gateway to [fabulous and world-famous] Region X...that means it's an hour-long bus ride to get there.  🙂

More like HOURS LONG. We had a bit of an issue on our SE Asian Viking cruise in Nov. 2019. I think the description said our Cambodia stop at Sihanoukville was the “gateway” to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat—but it was only included as a $4,000 pp add-on for three days out of Saigon—an earlier stop. We wanted to go on our own from Sihanoukville, at a vastly reduced price, and rejoin the end of the cruise a couple of days later in Bangkok. When we made a courtesy call to Viking a couple of months before the cruise to let them know our plans (after making our own arrangements), the bottom fell out because they said we had to get permission from the port authority in Cambodia to leave the ship. It took three weeks and numerous calls to Viking—finally “permission” came through but we were too exhausted by the onerous process to follow through.

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

If you are in a PV or higher room they stock liquor in the room.  As a newby to Viking my question is what Mini-bar choices do we have beyond the generic aspect of Coke/Vodka/Sevenup/beer?

 

How much choice is there?  Anybody have a list?

 

 

We were on four Viking cruises—July 2019/Baltics—Sept. 2019 No. Trans-Atlantic—Nov. 2019/SE Asia—Feb/Mar. 2020 in PVs. Coke of our choice, tonic water, beer. Alcohol was mini-bottles of whisky (usually Dewar’s); gin (Beefeaters); vodka; white rum. Definitely able to get soft drinks of choice, mini alcohol not so much (no mini Bailey’s :-(). And then the PV inclusive fine bottle of French champagne.

On 4/11/2021 at 4:37 AM, Seaharvest said:

I think this is a good idea but I am so into this now I might just keep checking all of the Roll Calls because I don't want to miss anything. I will try to just read the other Roll Calls and comment only on my Roll Call and here.  And after a nice Spring the weather here in Norther Michigan is turning cold again for awhile so I will have time indoors to play on the computer. My first contribution will be that someone on one of the Roll Calls mentioned videos by Rick Steves and I have watched a couple of them and found them informative. One was a general lecture on Iceland with some history, and a few ideas about travel and sites. The other was about a specific spot. There are additional ones I will get to. How have I not heard of him before? Thanks for whoever posted that. 

We are from the Great Pacific Northwest and so have traveled with Ricky books and videos for nigh unto 40 years. I used to work for him in Edmonds, WA, back in the day in the early ‘80s before he was famous from his PBS shows (he is my age). We were pleasantly surprised he had added Iceland to his repertoire recently.

We wanted to go on one of these Iceland Welcome Back cruises but the dates did not work for our petsitter (three cats), so we’ve opted for a slightly earlier land excursion and will wave to y’all from shore.

10 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

I bite my tongue often here re potentially charged topics.  However someone needs to get the CDC to move more quickly to provide opening support to the industry.  But I did wonder if DiSantis will ban cruise ships in Florida from requiring vaccinations and proof thereof just like he is banning Florida businesses from doing so.  

I just don’t know how DeSantis can ban businesses from requiring proof of vaccinations—perhaps he can dictate that to state entities, but not to private businesses.

21 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Jim - As an outsider, I am having extreme difficulty understanding why the CDC carries any weight in the ongoing pandemic. I believe they are responsible for ensuring the health & safety of US citizens.

 

No disrespect to our many good friends South of the border, but the numbers of infections and deaths in the US are not great figures to promote the ability of the CDC to control the pandemic and why they should be taken seriously for restarting the cruise industry.

 

I firmly believe that more infections are possible on aircraft, but the airline industry has continued with minimal changes. Going back to the Seadream incident. The cruise was cancelled after less than a week, as about 7 pax on board had the virus. In all likelyhood, they actually caught the virus in an airport or flight. However, while you can catch it on a plane you have already left before symptoms show.

 

With Vancouver being one of the few Canadian airports accepting International flights, we receive frequent news reports listing flights that arrived in Vancouver with COVID cases. Sadly our Govt is no better, as they banned cruise ships, but the airline industry has operated with minimal restrictions. The flight we returned to Vancouver on last year was full, yes every single seat. Thank goodness we weren't in "cattle class"

 

If the CDC want to be taken seriously, perhaps they should address the airline industry and many other situations in the US that has driven the number of infections and deaths.

 

Long past time to leave the cruise industry alone. BTW - I used to have immense respect for the CDC, sadly that is no longer the case.

There’s just a political morass with regards to the CDC. The previous admin apparently did a number on it and tied its hands. I think the reason it is not able to dictate terms now to states is that same political divide—so many states are refusing to follow guidelines, so what good would dictates do? And with Florida and Texas attempting to ban vaccination credentials, you just sink deeper into the morass. BTW, I don’t think requiring vaccine credentials can be banned for private companies.

5 hours ago, sabrefan said:

I am booked on an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver to Seward in June 2022. Right now I am planning on taking the transportation offered by the ship when the cruise ends back to the airport in Anchorage. I then plan on renting a car for a few days and spending more time in the Homer, Alaska. My question is for anyone who took the ship transportation from Seward to the airport in Anchorage, did this bus go directly to the airport or make some scenic stops before arriving at the airport? 

Not sure why you would spend all that time to go to Anchorage from Seward as you are already on the peninsula in Seward and closer to Homer. You can rent a car in Seward, go to Homer area, return to Seward, and take the train to Anchorage to fly home. We lived in Anchorage in the 1980s but never had to rent a car—I imagine the prices are high no matter where you rent.

That said—I think if you make it a point to check in with the cruise director at embarkation—let them know you want a quiet experience. They don’t have to do band parties there. You can also try to change rooms now though, too!

We had a room a few doors forward of this on one of our cruises in 2019–can’t remember which one now. But there was a party at the pool with the Viking Band and it was very noisy—had to complain to guest services a couple of times over the evening and they eventually shut down about a half hour after they were supposed to. I think we had to get up for an early excursion and had tried to retire early.

We’ve been watching horrendous COVID spread in So. America with the deadly Brazilian variant. I don’t think Pfizer and Moderna protect very well against this one. Sure doesn’t look like So.America will be safe to travel in anytime soon.
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/brazil-has-become-south-americas-superspreader-event/

I checked the Iceland COVID test requirements last night—they were all over the map as regards those with vaccine certs. I started with Iceland Air, which said one thing, then did their link to the government website, then another link to the governments COVID page. All said something different and contradicted themselves within the same document.

Part of the problem is that they just opened up to outside tourists in mid-March, I think, and then had to shut down again in 3rd week of March due to a spike in cases; then opened up for vaccinated Americans on April 6. It seems they couldn’t decide what people will have to do nor what constitutes vaccine proof.

BUT as all have said here, this will evolve by the time of our journeys. We’re doing a land based trip mid June but will continue to follow the Viking cruise threads.

5 hours ago, Hockeyump said:

CDC is, I believe, an American agency so I am not sure Viking will be making a decision based solely on what they say.  Other nationalities sail Viking and Viking sail in many other countries.

Before the COVID pandemic and the politicization of data on same, the CDC was respected and listened to the world over. While Viking may not make their decision based “solely” on the CDC, somewhere in the neighborhood of three quarters of the passengers on the four Viking ocean cruises we took in 2019/2020 were American.

So read this story, intrepid cruisers. Pretty harrowing trying to travel internationally right now!

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/04/01/surviving-global-travel-during-covid-478821