ShropshireCritic

Hi Mike

No issues logging in from UK - Safari 15.2 -  macOS Monterey 12.1

Delighted to see these first changes being made, to be brutally honest it's about time.......!!

Whilst the old site was stable, it was beginning to creak around the edges too much. I expect being a web developer in today's multi platform age just trying to accommodate so many variations on the old web pages must been a nightmare for people like yourselves.

Love the more natural flow of viewing the current changed pages.

I appreciate you opening up the new site in advance on this forum & allowing us to suggest additional ideas.

Re your above request on Tours, my preferred option would be a download link of ALL Tours in the standard .pdf format.

I am sure I will be back tomorrow with some suggestions.👍

Neil.

Same situation as you - and same decision made especially in view of limited time over a weekend as we are staying overnight at LHR prior to early am departure to Iceland on 27th. Whilst I accept that current rules are changing fast, I am at a loss as to why Viking admin communicate so poorly. I had to email Viking U.K. early on Monday am to give them the “Heads up” of the latest testing requirements for arriving quests, it took them until late Tuesday pm to even understand/accept these changes. When I explained the implications for those quests departing for the Jupiter 27th embarkation most of whom had zero idea of this change, I think the penny dropped………..I even had a phone call from them this morning when again I explained the ambiguity of the latest Viking communication.

Hence we appear to have both reached the same conclusion.

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

And #3!  Surprised we don’t see more folks milling about. I guess most are on official excursions. 

Dead on scheduled time the bow ropes dropped and off she goes………

17 hours ago, NeilP57 said:

Thanks Dave that is reassuring (i think).

 

I am sure that Viking will get there in the end. I have also sent them a message tonight via a contact form on the website and will follow up with a call on Friday if I have not heard anything tomorrow.

 

 

 

Neil.

Same problem last Friday when I booked the excursions in £ - I was initially informed it was a commercial pricing differential between US & UK customers that at the time I challenged. But as the Viking website was rapidly falling over with the "anticipated" demand surge, I was solely focusing on getting the bookings made ......and then at a latter date resolving the agreed classic schoolboy error of converting $>>£ credit due which like you is almost £1,200 overcharged.

We are on the Jupiter 27th July Iceland cruise on the the early LHR flight.

Have you been able to book any excursions yet for the final day - Mon 2nd Aug yet - still nothing uploaded yet to MVJ.

Jupiter Departing 27th July.

Having seen the above "100% Predictable" issues that I also experienced in the UK, I decided to ring Viking UK direct and booked very easily over the phone all the excursions I wanted apart from the final day - 2nd Aug. Westman Islands that apparently are not yet loaded up. 

55 minutes ago, NeilP57 said:

 

We are a few days behind you departing on the Viking Sky on 31st July. The Viking rep was very helpful in reserving our preferred stateroom and then transferring the call to my travel agent to then complete the booking.

 

I was just wondering if this is a UK only sailing or there is going to a mix (or just one) of other nationalities. Happy either way but I do enjoy conversing with other nationalities whilst travelling.

The latest batch of cruises just announced in recent days are only for U.K. & US passengers but all must have been fully vaccinated in advance, etc, etc to comply with Vikings strict requirements.

1 hour ago, NeilP57 said:

Hi to our US cousins,

 

This cruise has now been released to the UK market in the last 24 hrs. Departure dates from Reyjkavik are July 24, 27, 31 and August 3, 7, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, 28, 31 and September 7 of this year (2021)

 

Do we know if Viking have decided to mix nationalities (or more accurately countries of departure) on board?

 

We have booked onto the July 31 departure and was wondering if these are UK only cruises or is there going be the opportunity to enjoy the company of our transatlantic travelling companions.

 

We look forward to learning a lot from the US only departures in June and early July.

 

Neil

@NeilP57

These additional "Welcome Back" cruises were loaded on the Viking .co.uk sites late yesterday so we just booked the above 27th July Jupiter Iceland Cruise as UK residents with included flights from London Heathrow. 

@Gilly

Very true for the U.K. - that’s why I always true to go direct rather than 3rd party TA’s. I cannot fault my contact at RSS/Oceania who is always there for me when ever needed.

23 hours ago, 2012_Alaska_bound said:

 

I will be very interested to hear how the Oceania cruise goes, as we were on the Regent Baltic that was canceled also. Curious to see which ports are open.

Been very impressed so far with the seamless booking process and have picked the identical excursions as per our original Splendor cruise. Bearing in mind that we are looking almost 4 months forward and with the rapidly increasing vaccination data I am pretty confident that Europe will be open for "controlled" tourism very soon - say late June/early July.  

13 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Regent UK website has now updated

We have just booked our 1st Oceania cruise on the Marina’s initial return to sailing in late August from Copenhagen >> Stockholm replacing our almost identical RSS Splendor cruise that was cancelled today.

Will be an interesting comparison to make………..that we are looking forward to experiencing.

44 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Interesting. 😀

Closely ties in with your recent 'informed' comments.......all makes logical sense.

I expect the initial cruises will be at a reduced passenger capacity to free up some cabin capacity for the additional restaurant staff required as self service buffets will not be available initially.

There has "gone' my Baltic cruise - that is now 4 RSS cancelled cruises.........

This logically makes sense as the Med in Sept is still my expectation for RSS to restart following on from NCL's earlier restart.

What we need now is for RSS to bring out the 2023 itineraries to soak up demand from existing clients who have a stack of cancelled credits to us up.......

2 hours ago, Pcardad said:

6 cases out of over 7 million vaccinated....more people die every year after being kicked by a cow.

 

Take it - don't take it. That's your choice and, so far, your right to refuse. But you won't be sailing on an NCL ship without it.

.........and 4 times as many people die from Blood Clots directly as a result of taking either the Contraceptive Pill or HRT tablets than who die from complications possible linked to the Covid vaccines.

Everything we do in life has a Risk - we just need to accept this and manage our "Own Risk" and get on with life before we all die.

Too many folk IMHO love to find something to worry about...........

So Pcardard, we are 100% singing from the same hymn sheet. 

Additional interesting medical evidence from the U.K. this evening. that needs to be in the public domain.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/blood-clots-are-surprisingly-common-the-covid-vaccine-is-unlikely-to-cause-them-5pvn830c9?shareToken=e366a49044b450e8ad1d571de6664f2b

For a little light reading have a read of this link on our latest European issues on the rollout of the vaccination programmes. https://www.statista.com/chart/24429/covid-19-vaccine-rollout-in-europe/

Then have a read of this BBC report just released as to what organisation is behind all the false rumours & is actively open about spreading the “Fake” news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-56412074?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=6050faa84d910a02f0b40159%26Russian media cast doubt over vaccine safety%262021-03-16T18%3A57%3A31.241Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:f94b30ee-96f7-4aac-b198-3d3a7529020f&pinned_post_asset_id=6050faa84d910a02f0b40159&pinned_post_type=share

27 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

@Chunky2219

You appear to have missed the chances of a giant squid engulfing the ship or a meteorite strike causing a massive tsunami 🤨

Life is full of risks.

 

IMO it is likely that increased leisure travel & cruising will be allowed to recommence when governments evaluate that the risk of widespread virus transmission & serious illness is sufficiently diminished - to a level where healthcare systems are unlikely to be overwhelmed. Vaccination & improved treatments will assist in this goal.

 

Customers will have to evaluate their own enthusiasm for international travel as & when borders start reopening and more cruises recommence sailing.

It is difficult to predict when that will be, but hopefully sooner rather than later. A holiday this summer would be good and, being an optimist, I believe that to be a possibility. 

Flossie.

Totally agree with everything you have said above.

Everything we do in life has an element of risk attached, some more than others.

If we never did anything because we "considered" the risk level as too high, then we might as well be wrapped up in cotton wool sitting at home all day.

As a fit 65 year old I have a greater risk of death from drowning that from a virus - which in my case it may even be a greater risk from drowning as a). I cannot swim, & b). I live directly on the banks of the River Severn (which is the UK's longest river).

So every time I am gardening or removing flood debris from my garden on the river banks, I subconsciously undertake a risk assessment to prevent my death from falling in & drowning.

Likewise, when the governments have allowed tourism to restart in the new "normality" (yes, it will be different for at least the initial 12 months), people will have to undertake their own subjective "risk assessments"  and weight up do they want to remain in cotton wool or accept that life has/will always have an element of risk that the individual can control.

2 minutes ago, flossie009 said:

Very surprised & disappointed with the reaction you received from the Regent rep. In the past the Southampton office has been very helpful in securing excursion bookings if there was an issue on-line. Maybe the poor response is because many staff are on furlough or working from home?

 

Hopefully you will secure your first choices on Feb 17; if not just waitlist, as more often than not the waitlist will clear.

 

Likewise, I have always received 110% exceptional service from my U.K. Regent advisor based in Southampton though she may well be currently working from “home” aka Miami in the current climate but yet with her direct dial links and working to U.K. times you would never realise that it’s still dark in Florida with a local time of 4am when you ring mid morning...!!

It’s this type of care & attention that makes RSS above the majority. 

8 hours ago, Guerncruising said:

Well we, Guernsey, did manage to keep the virus at bay until just after Christmas when we had a second wave. So far in this pandemic we have had 760 positive results following testing, with 252 of those coming from the first wave. It would appear that most of the second wave, 500+, are of the new strain which is obviously more virulent. Borders have been closed again and we have had two weeks of lockdown and are hoping to be released soon. 

The interesting point is how did it get into the island? We have an excellent contact tracing team and really the only people coming in are essential workers or those who have been to the UK for medical treatment. I suspect that someone broke the self isolation rules and wow how quickly it spread from the first four cases of the second wave. 

Keep safe, cruise soon. 

I thought Island authorities with their local knowledge had tracked the single source down “via” the main pub in St Peter’s Port. It’s quite surprising how from a single person returning home from the mainland who thought that he knew better, that the virus was able to spread so rapidly in an unprotected population.

That is why IMHO the vaccination has to form the key part of any logical route out of the current situation until the virus follows the natural path of previous similar pandemics and eventually with continual annual vaccination programs mutates to a much lower contagious level that is gradually suppressed. 

8 hours ago, casbar777 said:

Not good news, last night in the UK, the Government reported on another new strain, only a small number of cases so far, but it was also reported that the current vaccine has little or no protection on vaccinated people carrying and passing on the virus. Plus the current vaccine will only minimise the impact if caught. Lot more data and research to come, fingers crossed. And before everyone thinks the UK is the centre of new mutations, we happen to be one of the best at sequencing and are passing this tech onto other countries, which means these mutations are probably all over Europe and beyond, but they don't sequence so don't know which variant it is.

As with all things “Covid” related we as a society must be careful that we don’t all try to offer better advice than the globally appointed experts such as the WHO.

The latest update from the WHO in the U.K. looks more positive as per below link.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-56011981

13 minutes ago, wcsdkqh said:

I may be mistaken, but I dont believe the extra 25% FCC for Regent cancelled cruises has been in place since last summer

The additional 25% FCC on cruises fully paid in advance was no longer applicable on the most recent suspension notice by Regent issued on 19th Jan 21, but the previous suspension notice issued on 2nd Dec 20 below was the LAST such notice offering the additional 25%. When the additional 25% FCC offers were being made during 2020, RSS as well as all other major cruise lines had absolutely no idea as to just how long the suspension orders would be needed and could not financially survive by continually extending the previous offers:

3 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

It will be an issue if one is on a cruise in Europe and plans to fly back to the US on disembarkation day or even the next day.  ......

Already many Cruise Companies are/have planning to have the applicable type of onboard Covid fast testing process that will enable departing passengers to have the correct test result that allows them to return home.

On 1/25/2021 at 9:22 PM, Kristal Blade said:

PS. Only downer is the lack of kettle, but as you say mj, we can have room service.

However on our last cruise, which was Azamara, I asked at reception for a kettle and one was provided! They tried telling me that cruise ships don’t provide them but I told them P&O and Princess did it so they kind of lost that high ground! I had also written it down as a thing I was unhappy about on that card you fill in after a couple of days on board.

We Brits just love our Cuppa's don't we........maybe we have been fortunate but we have always been able to ask our Butler to find a kettle & daily fresh milk

Hot of the BBC news site just posted this evening in the U.K. stating that a major U.K. based cruise line will make it compulsory that all passengers will have to be vaccinated in advance when it restarts cruises in May this year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55738918

This is an excellent move that will give much needed confidence to get the cruising industry restarted.

There will obviously be lots of debate as to how this will be evidenced on a global basis, but with Biden expected to rejoin the WHO hopefully the WHO can reinvent the previous methods like those ‘Yellow Certificates’ that people of my generation used to allow keep in our passports as evidence of vaccination against diseases like Yellow Fellow, Polio, Cholera to name but a few.

This is a game changer and will hope be followed by RSS.

44 minutes ago, spindrift said:

Well, I have a back to back May 31 - June 20 - Greek Isles, and I fear these are history. If they are, I wish they would go ahead and let me know so I can look ahead to move the money and get what I want. I had originally requested a refund from the 2020 cancellations but then changed my mind to a FCC (looks like a big mistake). Thought with the 25% , it was a great deal, and if Regent stays viable, it is good. I hate the worry and seeing all these new gray hairs. 🤭

Please Regent and Oceania, stay viable. 

I think you will (just) be Ok with these dates Europe is considerable advanced with it's Vaccination

rollouts than the USA. Once we get into the warmer Easter period by which most of the +50's & vulnerable folk have been vaccinated in Europe then I think the positivity effect will change most peoples attitudes.🤔

12 hours ago, Carol From California said:

Knew it was inevitable that April 6, 2021 Tokyo cruise was going to be cancelled.  Still, it's disappointing. We booked this cruise in 2018 when it first went on sale. After all the waiting, pre-cruise plans, preparation, choosing excursions, booking flights, and now having to do it all over again....but we want to do this cruise so are moving to an almost identical itineary in 2023.  Luckily was able to redeposit the "miles" back in Frequent Flyer Accounts so miles will be there when we are ready to book air again.  Next Regent cruise is in September, 2021. I hope that one is a go. 

Join the club - we also booked this cruise back in early 2018 (was surprised it sold out within the 1st month), so as an insurance policy I booked the identical cruise for March/April 2023.