desert traveler

I was looking at MVJ for a cruise that is 344 days out. (Iceland).  Last week I looked and saw excursions and even a pre and post cruise excursion.  When I look today there is nothing listed.  Perhaps they update them closer to the cruise. Not sure why I could see the ones listed last week.

I was just on the phone with Viking and they said the testing <72 hrs was still in place. Very confusing but regardless we will get tested this week.

On 2/16/2022 at 6:13 PM, miami mama said:

However, I have been told by Viking personnel at tellus@... that the coffee makers on the Expedition ships are the professional model, Nespresso Zenius. Those pods are different so make sure which model of machine your ship will have by contacting tellus@vikingcruises.com.

I am curious if anyone noted on the Expedition ships what is in the stateroom. I have emailed the tellus@vikingcruises but wonder if recent travelers noted it.

On 2/16/2022 at 6:13 PM, miami mama said:

However, I have been told by Viking personnel at tellus@... that the coffee makers on the Expedition ships are the professional model, Nespresso Zenius. Those pods are different so make sure which model of machine your ship will have by contacting tellus@vikingcruises.com.

I am curious if anyone noted on the Expedition ships what is in the stateroom. I have emailed the tellus@vikingcruises but wonder if recent travelers noted it.

We are on the Thunder Bay to Milwaukee cruise in August.  We just got our air info--since we live in Az they have us arriving a day early to Toronto and then the flight to Thunder Bay is the next morning.  I am not aware if Viking is going to book a hotel for the night-but I will be calling tomorrow to find out.  Actually going in a day early if much better as other options were 17 hr plus red eye flights.  We have a direct flight from Phx to Toronto which is great.

Our cruise is May 2 out of London.  That puts it as the first cruise after their cancellations.  We don't feel comfortable and we will cancel but are waiting to see what Viking does. We too got the note about cancel anytime up to 24 hrs. My hope is to get our money back but FCC two years out is acceptable.

Appreciate following the travels of the *Private Yacht* on a Magical Mystery tour.  We were schedule for the Orion in Japan but when it was cancelled we changed to the British Isle -so we board on your ship May 2nd in London.  I am curious if passengers on that cruise are opting out.  With the generous offer from Viking it is a wait and see for us.  We booked our air (transferred from our Hong Kong/Tokyo trip) to London and return from Oslo so hoping if we cancel we can get our money back. As it is an every changing story we are just waiting for a couple weeks to decide what to do.

Thanks! That's what I thought. In previous cruises we went in about 7am and were able to use the treadmills.  With early excursions I was trying to figure out how to continue with our exercise routine. 

Per the website the gym has *supervised hours* starting at 8am.  I am wondering if it is possible to go in earlier and use a treadmill and some general weights?

1 hour ago, DaveSJ711 said:

 

I get it that you're impatient.  But this is a fluid situation.  What do you want Viking to do that the company hasn't done?

Yes I understand this is very fluid and changing by the day.  I would like to have enhanced communications from Viking.  When I call the reps aren't even aware of what is listed on their website as travel advisories. Fortunately that last one-essentially said that they would have a decision most likely by Friday.

6 hours ago, sugarside said:

Desert traveler

Which sailing were you on in April 2018,Tulips and Windmills?

We were on Viking Mimir starting April 9th.

That trip was the start of my loyalty to Viking having used another company prior to that.

We were on the Skadi on 17th.

Have long been loyal to Viking but right now this is trying my patience.

I am not sure what we can do as most of the flights I look at go through Hong Kong.

This was on the Viking Website now-odd that I didn't see it yesterday (2/10).  I called Viking as we have our flight to Hong Kong.  The rep said that a major announcement will be made on Friday.  

February 10, 2020

As you may be aware, an outbreak of coronavirus, that causes respiratory illness, was detected in the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. We are monitoring the situation closely and are heeding travel guidelines from the U.S. Department of State, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.

Please know the safety and security of our guests and crew is always our top priority. While your journey may not be in the general vicinity of the outbreak, as a precautionary measure, we have implemented enhanced health screenings (via a health care questionnaire) for all guests boarding our vessels within the next 90 days. The questionnaire will be provided for completion at the time of embarkation.

Additionally, any guests who have traveled from or through mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau within 14 days of the beginning of their trip with us, will not be permitted to embark the ship.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your upcoming sailing, or have recently visited China within 14 days of your itinerary, please call us at one of the following:

• US and Canada: 1-855-300-3970, Monday through Friday, 4:00 AM to 9:00 PM, and Saturday to Sunday, 5:00 AM to 7:00 PM, PT.

3 hours ago, chirk said:

We are booked on May 1 Far East Horizons as well. We did not use Viking air, so have not received any info yet about changes.

 

Talked to customer service today and was told no changes yet on our cruise. Currently cancellation penalties would apply should we cancel, and we cannot transfer booking to another cruise. And, by the way, they told me, they could completely change their itinerary if they chose--it's on the website. And, since you declined the Viking trip insurance, aw, tough luck.

 

I appreciate the magnitude of logistics Viking is dealing with. But it does not sound like customers are their top priority. This was our first Viking cruise (we've done many others) and looks to be our last, if we go at all. 

We too are booked on this cruise and have our own air. My travel agent and I spoke with Viking and they said as of this am the cruise is still departing from Hong Kong but things could change and once they do they will inform us.  I asked about waiving cancellation fees if it does change and she said she didn't know but customer relations dept would handle that.  I think everything is in a state of flux and waiting to see what happens in next week or so-perhaps the virus is waning.  I think Viking has their hands full with logistics of all of this. So my attitude now is to wait.  I can get air from Hong Kong to Singapore on our own. 

Our Far East cruise starts in Hong Kong May 1st.  We have booked our own air on American. Fortunately we have travel insurance but not sure how much that will help if they change the port on the start of the cruise.  The first 2 stops are Hong Kong and Taipei.

Keeping my fingers crossed that things improve.  I did see where 2 skips have been stopped (Princess and ?Carnival) due to the virus.

If Viking cancels the cruise I assume they will offer another cruise for the amt we have paid.

We purchased a transfer from Viking for Seward to Anchorage. Our flight was at 2am on the day of departure-so we had a van take us at 10pm.  We were the only ones on the van.  It worked out nice and was cheaper than price quotes were were getting from other options.  Since our flight was so early we couldn't look at daytime transfers.

When I made our reservations for the Chefs Table for our upcoming Alaskan cruise-when I was in the reservation process I could tell which menu was on which night. Of course I am sure that is always subject to change-go with the flow!

So would like a clarification on the different beverage packages--premium vs ultimate....With premium package no wines are listed-so assume that would be the usual complimentary wines offered. With the ultimate you have more options on wine?

We have a package that includes the premium package-but are wine drinkers so we would have to purchase wines above this?

Thanks for your help-yes I believe we have the sales incentive Experience More...waiting for a clarification from customer service.  

So 1 question: when we booked our cruise for next year--we booked with an Experience More promotion.  When I look at the Voyage Planner-it lists $1500--so is this to only be used for the Experience More promotion? or can we use it as we chose as any OBC?

Perhaps things will have changed with excursions being added. We were in St Croix in December. I believe the second ship to be there. We ended up hiring a cab driver along with another couple who gave us a whole tour of the island. This was very interesting as you could see all the damage. Most of the island did not have electricity yet. Many FEMA workers there -housed in a old cruise ship. We spoke with the harbor master who was arranging more Viking ships to visit. It is a help for the islanders as they recover from the damage of the hurricanes.

We were in 3007 for our December sailing. Yes we did hear music-assume it was from Torshavn. We got used to it and used ear plugs the first couple of nights. We never heard the shore excursion announcements but then we were always up for the first one.

We are going to be doing 2 river cruises in April/May-we will do the Tulip and Windmills then follow that with a Bordeaux.

The question I had on airfare-for those who have flown back from Bordeaux-how long do it take to get to CDG (I assume that will be where the return flight will originate)

I want to do some flight research ahead of time so when we ask for deviations I have something in place..

I have rented a car in Dublin twice over the years-both times from Hertz. Driving in Ireland is not for the faint of heart--you will be driving on the left and most roads are very narrow. That being said, the countryside is beautiful.

When I went with my sisters 10+years ago-we drove essentially a circle around the south-Killkenny, Kinsale, Dingle, Galway then back to Dublin.--This was a 10 day trip. My favorite place in the world is Dingle so 2 years ago I had my husband drive from Dublin to Dingle in 1 day--quite an exhausting day but we were short on time. We did hire a driver for the Dingle Peninsula which was well worth it. We then drove to Limerick (stopping at Cliff's of Moher) and turned car in -so this was about 3-4 days of driving -did not drive in Dublin.

Besides Trip Advisor another reference would be Rick Steves tour book.

New Oceania traveler also. Do we wait until we get on board to make a reservation-or can you reserve in advance of your sailing date?

Thanks for the info. After I posted the question I research the board and found the answer also. We always enjoy buying reasonably priced wine in ports to try so this is definitely good news. I do see mention of a 3 bottle limit in some posts but sounds like it isn't enforced. I think we would not go over that amt anyway as we would primarily drink in our room--hate to pay corkage fees on a bottle that costs less than $20.