sabrefan

After getting a email from Viking on 5/26/22 regarding boarding time change I scrambled around to get covid antigen testing done late afternoon on 6/11/22 in Vancouver because Viking had no flexibility on their 24 hour time limit. Yesterday I was looking through Covid-19 Cruise Ship Travel published by the government of Canada. Getting an embarkation test before you board a ship that will dock in Canada. To get to the main point this document states, proof of a professionally administered or observed negative antigen test taken no more than 2 days before you’re scheduled to board the ship. The detail states the 2 day window does not depend on the time of the day the test was taken or the time that you board. For example if your ship is scheduled to leave on Friday, you could provide proof of a negative result from an antigen test taken anytime on Wednesday, Thursday or on Friday. Not sure why Viking does not know of the Canadian regulations?

Received our e docs for the cruise yesterday, they stated that we could board at 1:00pm. The itinerary in the e-docs showed an anchor symbol for Vancouver indicating a tender port, interesting. So I got in touch with my travel agent to get further clarification from Viking since the e docs did not agree with the email I received from Viking on May 26th. Anyway my travel agent stated that the email was the correct information and we would be tendered to the ship in Vancouver harbor. Very interesting, I wonder when Viking discovered that there would not be enough dock space as normal in the morning when they disembark. I would think that the passengers on Orion going from Seward to Vancouver would also have to take the tender as well.

We are flying into Vancouver a couple days before the cruise and staying at Pinnacle Marriott and should be able to get a late checkout. At least that would make things a little more comfortable. This will be our 3rd cruise to Alaska, went via Princess and Oceania before. Friends of ours will be doing their first trip to Alaska and first cruise on Viking. I feel bad for them that this experience will be getting off to a bad start. Especially in view of the fact that I told them how nice the Viking ships are to cruise on. It would have been nice for them to eat lunch on the ship and discover the ship itself like normal conditions on this first day. With Viking you spend a lot of money and having to pay a year in advance, expectations are high.

Thank for the further explanation. Viking will be providing a hospitality room at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel for passengers who are already in Vancouver and those who will be arriving that day. In this email that Viking sent out they didn’t mention the time that they anticipated departing Vancouver. Hopefully, this will be the only glitch on this trip. The web site has shown this cruise as sold out and I don’t know if this is totally true or not. I suppose that they need to have available room for possible quarantined passengers.

Seems like I remember some of these embarking issues going back to 2019 as this was a new route for Viking. In fact we booking this cruise in 2019 for 2020 but covid caused this plan to not come to pass. Then again 2021 didn’t work so here we are for June 12, 2022 and almost two weeks away. Hopefully it finally happens and Viking actually starts checking people in at 3:30 like they stated in their latest email.

Thank you for further clarification as to how things did not run well in 2019. There is a concept used by some companies called, lessons learned. If docking dates for this port are done years in advance shouldn’t Viking have this information? I am not an expert on how harbors function for cruises but wouldn’t the port of Vancouver be less busy on a Monday or Tuesday?

You would think that cruise lines have to schedule months in advance with the port authority in Vancouver and receive approval from that port authority. The port authority in Vancouver would have to know well in advance what their capacity is. In this case the same goes for the ports in Alaska. Should be interesting to see what happens on our way to Seward. What makes this worse is being notified by Viking only 18 days in advance of embarkation.

Late yesterday afternoon received a email from Viking for our June 12th departure from Vancouver to Seward Alaska. Viking informed us that embarking time would be 4:00 to 4:30 pm instead of around 11:00am. They blamed this on the harbor master making this change due to ship traffic. Anyway, I previously had a covid antigen test scheduled at 1:00 pm on June 11th. Viking stated that immigration will start around 3:30 . I asked if there is any flexibility on their part since my testing time and embarking time would be slightly over 24 hours. Typical standard answer as you expect no flexibility. Pathetic given the fact that they will test us again when we board. As a result I had to scramble and find another company that will test me at 4:00 pm on June 11th. All of this inflexibility and masks are not required in public spaces. One side of the equation certainly doesn’t equal the other.

Considering a cruise tour which has the land portion for 4 nights in Ireland then transfer to London for a cruise around the British Isles. Regarding the land portion just wondering if anyone has does this cruise tour. Part of the land tour does the Ring of Kerry and wondering how much time is spent there? The description from Princess does not give that much detail

My wife and I are looking at a cruise tour that includes Ireland on land for 4 nights and then 12 nights on the Emerald Princess. Just looking at cost difference between mini suite and club class which is $400 /pp more for club class. Club class has a special dinning area which I don’t know if this is a separate dining room or a certain area within one of the main dining rooms? They also advertise an expanded menu for club class. Looking for any input from members regarding club class and or mini suite.

We are getting our tests in June through Fast-Test.CA. They have about 7 locations in and around Vancouver. If you are staying near the cruise port they have a location in the Fairmont Vancouver hotel and Pan Pacific Hotel. Their web site Fast-Test.ca should give you all the detail you need.

Jasardeax, thank you for your review. Going on this same cruise departing Vancouver of June 12th. So sorry to hear you had to put up with ignorant people who must have gotten the memo that the virus has disappeared. Maybe they had not lost any family members to this terrible disease. Going to Vancouver a few days before the cruise so just hoping our antigen tests the day before the cruise goes okay so we can board with no problems. I don’t know if you flew in from the U.S. to Vancouver but since I know Canada has tighter rules around covid, did passengers on the plane have to wear masks? I hope they do.

This is the scary part in that misinformation and confusion around language from Viking. Really terrible advice to leave your CDC card at home.

Just finished Verify after putting in the vaccine dates then going onto taking a picture of the QR code off my ipad of my New York State Excellsior card I submitted the whole thing. In about 5 to 10 minutes later it was all approved. They must of spent a huge amount of time verifying this this was legit. Still a waste of time. Even if Viking reps at boarding don’t want to pay too much attention to this I am going to make sure they take out the time to look at it.

In New York State we have something that is called Excellsior Pass, this document has all of my covid vaccination data. Not to mention all the hacking and misinformation that floats around the internet. Again my CDC card shown at checkin is as solid proof as my U.S. passport. Redundancy is such as waste of time and this too requires a human to check properly.

Just received information from Viking to download the Verifly app and start inputting personal information. If a person has a passport and they also have their CDC card which shows when you have been vaccinated and boosted, what value does Verifly add if any? I don’t understand the redundancy, doesn’t Viking trust it’s customers?

Taking a cruise on Orion in about 30 days and we are booked in Penthouse Verandah cabin. Just wondering how many bottles spirits and cans of beers are in this mini fridge? We will wait until we are on board to decide to buy the silver spirits or not. We are wondering if the cabin steward will fill the mini fridge with our personal choices of spirits and or beer? Certainly appreciate any experiences from others. We have only sailed on Viking once before and in Deluxe Verandah cabin.

I think Viking should be financially responsible for the time spent in quarantine. You need to be vaccinated and you need a negative test before boarding then tested after you board plus tested everyday while on board. But after getting a negative result from the first covid test that Viking administers, you are free to not wear a mask. It is clear that masks reduce the possibility of getting the virus and yet they still test everyday, this is baffling to me. Would you want a surgeon performing surgery without a mask? It is clear that this virus is not going away. Viking’s covid policy needs to be consistent and daily testing without mask wearing seems to be inconsistent and as such Viking should assume some financial responsibility.

In order to get a refund for a shore excursion made through Viking before embarkation, how many hours does Viking require before cancellation?

Going on the Orion June 12th, about 110 more days to go. The shore excursion for our cabin class will open on March 27th. However when I go into my account on the Viking site, I see shore excursions with costs and description. It also states that these are of course not available for purchase yet. I just wonder if this listed of shore excursions will change much if at all? I would think that those leaving on cruises in May might already have some experience with this.

Just booked a 2024 cruise for Japan, which would be our first Regent cruise. We have been on Oceania and Viking several times. Those ships tend to be country club casual form of dress at dinner. Is this the situation for Regent as well? Really not interested in bringing a suit and or sport coat with ties with me on this trip. Thank you in advance for your advice.