Peregrina651

Andy, the chatter I remember was focused mostly on the embarkation. They had advanced warning that things would be running late and there was a lot of speculation/worrying going on as to what would and would not be happening. Whether it was this same call, I don't remember but at least you have narrowed it down to 2019.

DITTO!!! The itinerary looks great and I'm also ready to live vicariously!

This is not the first time this has happened to Viking in Vancouver. It happened a few years ago, in Viking's first year doing Alaska. At the time there were many posts on the subject and maybe even a post or two describing how things actually went on that day. With careful searching, you may be able to find these new posts (I can't remember if it was 2018 or 2019).

No More MDR Reservations on Ocean YeeHaw!!! Glad to see that they have finally given up on the idea.

We are all sorry to hear that you must cancel a long anticipated adventure and wish your father-in-law a speedy return to good health. You have the insurance, right? So that is all that matters. You should receive a combination of cash and vouchers as determined by the cancellation matrix stated in the Booking Terms & Conditions and repeated on the your Viking invoice. If you bought your air through Viking and it has been ticketed, you may also have to pay a cancellation fee for that: "For all air-inclusive packages cancelled after issuance of an airline ticket, the air portion of the refund, if any, will be subject to a US$350.00 fee per passenger with an issued airline ticket, in addition to the cancellation fees detailed below in tables A and B" So, a portion will come back to you as cash, the portion that Viking is not retaining as the cancellation fee. The amount that Viking keeps is covered by the insurance and will be reimbursed to you under the terms of the insurance contract. I believe that the terms of the insurance you have says that you will receive reimbursement in the form of a voucher. If you have any paid optional shore excursions, they will also be refunded during the cancellation process. They should come back to you as cash as you are cancelling them more that 48 hours ahead of their scheduled departure. It will take Viking a few weeks to process your cancellation (lots of accounting steps involved).

Not if you can get in on a different browser. You might try clearing the cache, especially if you have the ability to clear just the MVJ files, but that is always a step I suggest with great reluctance since it can effect your relationship with other websites as well. It is a suggestion of last resort as far as I'm concerned.

Considering that there is no such things as 'normal' right now, I would say to believe what is says on MVJ -- and that you should check before Noon Pacific just to make sure they aren't already open. If they aren't open when you check. Log out and then log in again at 12:01PT. If you are logged in before noon, sometimes it doesn't refresh when booking opens.

I'm not sure that this is an actual political discussion (we aren't discussing any particular political issue) but rather a discussion of how we feel about engaging in or being subjected to any political discussion while on board the ship. My response to OP is simple. My political opinions are my own and I have no interest in discussing them with other people either when traveling or at home; I'm not a debater and feel no need to defend my opinion or to be persuaded to yours. So, let's talk about something else, something we can be pleasant about. However, if you are from a non-US country, I am curious about the major issues in your country and why they important and would listen to a short non-partisan explanation -- the key words here being 'short' and 'non-partisan'. What's the issue and what are the major bones of contention.

MVJ has a history of being a bit fussy (a primadonna?) but you did the right things, try a different browser or a different device. If that doesn't work, wait a few hours and try again. If waiting doesn't help, then it's time to "poll the audience" to see if anyone else is having issues. Ask here and on your roll call.

Andy, I don't think rooms for quarantining and social distancing are the only reasons that Viking has been sailing at reduced capacities. I think that during the past year there have had a lot of issues with shoreside services not yet up to full capacity, especially in ports where we required to operate in a bubble; in other words, not enough tourguides and bus drivers -- among other needed services.

🎵"Heaven... I'm in heaven, And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek,.🎵 in an Explorer's Lounge seat

I put Viking Air on my initial booking -- especially if it is a really good deal -- knowing that I can drop it later (as long as it hasn't been ticketed). You can always add Viking Air at a later date but it will be at the brochure rate, not the the current deal or the deal that was in place when you booked.

Great advice so far. Here's my take on it. We went over 20 years ago (on the now defunct Renaissance cruise line) and Ephesus was amazing; it was the first time my husband had ever seen Roman ruins. I wish I had known more then about working with private guides. Ephesus is one of those places, like the Acropolis or the Great Wall of China, that you might never get back to, so don't hold back. Therefore, my advice as follows: If it is in your comfort zone, try for a private tour of the places you are most interested in seeing. You'll see more with less waiting around for others If you go with a Viking tour, go with one of the optional tours, whichever one suits your interests best. As for me, the more I read about this itinerary, the more I realize that it is time for a "do over."

That's 3 am here on the east coast. I thought we had finally talked them out of that bit of insanity before the pandemic hit because they had finally switched to a Noon Pacific Time start. You can bet I am really disappointed that they have gone back to the 3am nonsense.

Yes, it is unfair but it is only temporary. Still, it is the current reality and a fact that we have to accept if we wish to travel right now: things are not back to the old normal even if they are letting us back on the ships. As for changing the booking system, my feeling is that it is a software problem and that if the software could be changed to allow different cruises to be on different booking schedules that it would have been done already. Viking has been dealing with this for over a year now.

My experience has been that sometimes you have to ask them to do these things, especially when it comes to Viking changes. They don't really keep up on what is happening in the world of Viking.

Noon Pacific time BUT only if shore excursions for your sailing open on schedule. Unfortunately, thus far in the post-Covid era, Viking has not always been able to finalize the contracts with the vendors in time. In these cases, all bets are off as to what day and a what time booking will open. It is a complete mess and very frustrating for all involved. Hopefully, as the vendors who survived the hiatus continue to ramp up their business this will become less of a problem.

I bring clip hangers and suction cup hooks for hand laundry and things I don't want to put in the dryer.

Rouen: Dock is not on street level. If I remember correctly, there are elevators to the street level. I can't remember where the buses picked up (my mind is such a sieve). Les Andelys: The town is hilly as well as the typically uneven streets and sidewalks. This is taken from the ship.

River cruising has its own discussion forum: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/115-river-cruising/ It is not divided by cruise lines. Viking River Roll Calls are here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/851-viking-river-roll-calls/ River roll calls tend to be by itinerary and year, not by individual sailing dates. Because Viking has so many river ships, they have their own River Roll Call forum. All other river cruise rolls are together in a separate forum.

What drives me nuts is having to deal with VeriFLY every time I sail. Once you have registered with V-FLY, why isn't it just marked on your account along with other information that Viking stores for each of us?

When it comes to insurance, it isn't just about price; it's about what you get for that price. Read the contracts carefully so that you understand what you are buying -- and what you aren't buying. One thing to understand about getting the Viking insurance is that your refund is in the form of a voucher towards another cruise on Viking. If you buy your own insurance, you get cash. Personally, I don't want a voucher, I want cash if i have to cancel.

Why didn't the TA call their go-to person at Viking to ask?

Mistakes happen and this looks like a mistake pure and simple. When this happens, I usually send an e-mail off to tellus@vikingcruises.com pointing out the error and ask them to fix it because it is confusing. Usually, it gets taken care of in a couple of days.

You don't have to wait for Cruise Critic to decide, but I would wait for others on the Expedition thread to weigh in. You may even want to ask this very same question on the Viking Expeditions thread. There may be some of the 68 people already following that thread who only follow that one thread and might not see this one. Once there is a consensus, write to help@cruisecritic.com to ask them to start a new forum. It may take a few days or even longer to get it done. Once the new forum is open, don't forget to post a link to it in the old thread. Maybe you can even ask CC to post a sticky here directing folks to the new forum. Don't ask CC to move or close the thread just yet; you want to give everyone time to see that the conversation has moved to a new location.