DrJJ

Any idea how Viking deals with medications that require refrigeration. Is the cabin refrigerator cool enough

I suggest that you submit a charge back request to your credit card. I had a similar issue with Swiss Air, filed a charge back request with my Visa card, and received the charge back into my account yesterday.

On 4/20/2020 at 5:57 PM, DrJJ said:

Reporting here to  update. As of today Viking has refunded all but $1000.00 (my original deposit) of my total cruise fare to my credit card. They contacted me today to tell me that the original deposit was made to a credit card that was no longer active. In any event I have been told they would be mailing a check for the remaining $1000.00.

Last update. Received final refund by check this weekend. Viking has now fully refunded all payments I had made for the cruise. Unfortunately my air fare for Swiss Air, which I had made independently of Viking, has not been either acknowledged or refunded by Swiss Air, even though Swiss Air cancelled all my flights. But that is for another thread in another forum. 

Reporting here to  update. As of today Viking has refunded all but $1000.00 (my original deposit) of my total cruise fare to my credit card. They contacted me today to tell me that the original deposit was made to a credit card that was no longer active. In any event I have been told they would be mailing a check for the remaining $1000.00.

Just updating. I emailed tellus@Vikingcruises.com and received a prompt reply that my refund had been issued to my credit card on April 10. Unfortunately it has not yet been credited to the card. I will re-post here when it does.

Viking cancelled my April 14 cruise on  March 11. On March 12 I notified both Viking directly and my travel agent that I wanted a refund rather than a voucher. I was told it could take up to 30 days for a refund. As of today I have not received the refund to my credit card. I am writing to ask if anyone who has requested a refund has received one?

Just received the following email from Viking:

... Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend operations of our river and ocean vessels embarking from March 12 to April 30, 2020 – at which time we believe Viking will be in a better place to provide the experiences our guests expect and deserve. This is a decision we made with a heavy heart, but with present circumstances what they are, we are unable to deliver the high-quality Viking experience for which we are known.

For those guests whose cruise falls within this window of suspended operations, we are offering the choice of a Future Cruise Voucher valued at 125% of all monies paid to Viking or a refund equal to the amount paid. Guests will have 24 months to use their Future Cruise Voucher to make a new reservation on any river, ocean or expedition cruise. For additional flexibility, if you are unable to use your voucher, we will automatically send you a refund equal to the original amount paid to Viking after the voucher expires. These Future Cruise Vouchers will also be fully transferable.

Rest assured, our reservations team is currently in the process of issuing Future Cruise Vouchers of 125% of all monies paid to Viking. However, if you would prefer the alternative please call Viking at 1-833-900-0951 or contact your Travel Agent by March 25, 2020.

The offer appears to have dropped off the US Viking site as well.

Just got on my viking journey to review shore excursions we had identified on wishlist when booking opens up for me tomorrow.  Was notified that I had been "selected to experience" the new Viking website. Lost all  excursions I had put on wishlist. The new site also apparently no longer has a wishlist feature. Not an experience I would have selected for myself.

We will be ending our cruise on the Viking Sea in Venice, Italy on April 24, 2020. Any idea how early disembarkation begins and how long it takes to get through custom? I want to take a private tour on disembarkation day and need to plan the starting time. Thanks in advance for help.

Just off the Viking Star and purchased a new 14 day cruise while on board. Was offered a $500 per person cabin discount for a DV cabin, a $100 cruise credit for the current cruise, the ability to change to a different cruise w/o penalty up until final payment and a final payment date 4 months before the new cruise. Had to place a $1000 deposit with only $900 refundable should I choose to cancel the cruise completely (without switching the reservation to another Viking cruise.

Disembarkation from Greenwich We purchased airport transfers to Heathrow from Viking for a 11:30 am departure from terminal two. When we received our vouchers about 3 days before the end of the cruise they required a 2:30 am departure from the ship. We felt this was ridiculously early and asked for a later departure. After several unfulfilled promises to change we finally received vouchers for a much more acceptable 5:45 am departure. The departure tickets were color coded but did not specifically state which departure terminal assigned to each bus. When we arrived at our assigned bus we found that that we had been assigned to a bus for terminal 5 rather than terminal 2, and only found this out by checking the label at the front of the bus. Staff accommodated us by switching us to a different bus at the pier, but had we not been vigilant we would have arrived at the wrong Heathrow terminal.

Disembarkation from Greenwich

We purchased airport transfers to Heathrow from Viking for a 11:30 am departure from terminal two. When we received our vouchers about 3 days before the end of the cruise they required a 2:30 am departure from the ship. We felt this was ridiculously early and asked for a later departure. After several unfulfilled promises to change we finally received vouchers for a much more acceptable 5:45 am departure. The departure tickets were color coded but did not specifically state which departure terminal assigned to each bus. When we arrived at our assigned bus we found that that we had been assigned to a bus for terminal 5 rather than terminal 2, and only found this out by checking the label at the front of the bus. Staff accommodated us by switching us to a different bus at the pier, but had we not been vigilant we would have arrived at the wrong Heathrow terminal.

We finish our Viking Ocean cruise in Bergen and plan on spending 3 or 4 days in the area before taking the train to Oslo. As we hope to make a couple of stops along the way, I don't want to worry about lugging baggage and discovered this service. Does anyone have experience using the Norway Porter service?

Did you use the Porter service and if so how did they perform?

Take a look at the webpage below for a detailed discussion of this issue:

https://www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.htm

We used SPB in 2013, and can recommend them. We found another couple on the Cruise Critic roll call for our ship, and we split the cost of a private trip between us. Well worth the money.

I am a Vegetarian (dairy ok). What experiences does anyone have with vegetarian food options on the Getaway?

We stayed at the Renaissance on Av. Ashford (Condado Beach). The hotel property was beautiful, and there were many food options nearby.

You should be aware that the taxi from the pier on the Catano side of the harbor to the factory and back will be a shared taxi. Also, it is free to tour the Bacardi Factory itself, samples included. Do not take the cruise line tour - you will pay way too much. Allow 4 hours total for a leisurely visit, waiting for the ferry and taxis, and to get back to the ship.

We had a great tour with Woody and his 2 assistants this past week. We had an excellent time and would recommend the tour to others. Woody varies the itinerary according to the weather. As we were in luck and had a sunny day, we were able to visit the Rose Mount Peninsula and an isolated beach, as well as an off the beaten path waterfall.

I did find it best to communicate with Woody via Facebook and did let him know that other clients might find it more convenient to use e=mail.