doggfan7

We just got off the ship and will do a full review when I am able, but for those of you about to board on Friday (the 13th), just know the following:

1. Viking is now the 6th line that I have sailed and without question, will be my go-to line if I can help it. 

2. I have never experienced the quality of food and service on a cruise ship (or on land for that matter) ever before. The crew all GENUINELY want you to be happy and they also all seem so genuinely happy to work for Viking. 

3. The little things. There was a post on here recently talking about the "little things" that Viking does best. I can't wait to make my list as every day, we found a new one that made us so happy.

I am happy to answer any questions any of you may have for upcoming Bermuda trips or for any other Viking virgins (as we were)!

I don't know if this is new information, but today on MVJ for our upcoming 8/3 sailing, I had a notification that stated: 

"Information about your required COVID-19 PCR test is now available in the Before You Go section"

When I click on that, it says the following:

Viking is committed to ensuring that you will be able to travel safely to your destination and join your cruise without incident. Please note, Bermuda requires a COVID-19 PCR Test (nasopharyngeal/nasal swab, polymerase chain reaction test)—either RT or Rapid PCR.The COVID-19 PCR test cannot be an antigen or antibody test. Timing: Test must be taken no more than 4 days prior to arrival in Bermuda.

Is this new that a rapid test can be used now? Or am I misunderstanding something?

29 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The 19/20 World Cruise ended early in Dubai, with Viking flying everybody home. The local authorities own the airline, so demanded Viking only used Emirates. They booked every possible seat, but when Emirates shut down, they still had about 90 pax on board - US & Canadians.

 

Viking chartered a flight, but a certain chap that resided in a white house, refused to let the Canadians land in the US, then catch connecting flights.

 

Viking kept all 8 Canadians aboard the fully crewed Viking Sun, until a port would accept us. Gibraltar agreed to accept us, so we disembarked  3 weeks after leaving Dubai. Best cruise ever.

Simply amazing! Thank you for sharing and glad it was a good experience for you. I'm sure it was also quite stressful!

On 7/13/2021 at 1:13 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

We have sailed on Viking with as little as 8 pax, up to a full ship of 930. Even when full, except for special events in the Theatre, the ship isn't crowded. Even at 50%, the queues for the Theatre would not be much different than at 100%, as the Theatre capacity is limited.

 

Only other queues we ever saw was for the MDR just before they opened at 18:00, which is now earlier post-COVID, I believe. This only took a couple of minutes to dissipate.

 

Otherwise, even at full occupancy there was lots of space around the ship in every lounge, bar or the open decks.

You have piqued my interest. 8 passengers?

10 hours ago, rjscott said:

We are currently in “your” cabin, 5111, so will try to leave it pristine for you.  It is a great location.  We waved down at Patti our first night on our verandah.  You will enjoy your room stewards, Widodo and Angel.  They are awesome!  
 

Becki

Becki - So happy to hear! We cannot wait!

2 hours ago, Azulann said:

The view from our aft stateroom in Hamilton. LOL

Unpacked . Plenty of drawers for both of us. On Orion there is a set of 4 drawers in the closet plus a set in hallway. Had the coffee maker & tray removed for more storage for us. 
Ronnie and Indra are our room stewards . They explained the saliva tubes. Spit , spit some more , to the 2m line. We did this upon arriving in our room. Do it each morning before 11. Wear a tracing device on a lanyard either around your neck or in your pocket. It must be on your person outside your room. Temp taking once a day , face recognition scanner outside the restaurant , world cafe. Sanitizer machines all over the ship. Feel totally safe and appreciate Viking health protocols .

Many  first time Viking cruisers , some have done river cruisers but first time on Ocean cruise. 
Easy to make appointments for spa , fitness or change add excursions for us. Sister going to gym at 6 am everyday. I will have a facial on second sea day after we have our hour in the thermal spa. The snow grotto is not working😟

We changed our excursion for today. We are going to Art museum botanical gardens in morning and the Famous Homes and Hideway cruise in mid afternoon. 
Had dinner in Restaurant , window table . They have a category called destination menu. Had the blackened grouper, cab cake soufflé, steamed veggies and rum raisin ice cream. We were in bed by 10 .

 

Thank you, @Azulann for blogging your trip. On the August 3rd sailing, we'll be sailing aft in 5111, so nice to see the "view" welcoming us in Hamilton :). Did you hear anything more about the snow grotto? Hoping it is fixed soon for you to enjoy at some point this cruise, and for our cruise as we were looking forward to it!

38 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Hi - why yes I did save and take pics of all of them.  I'll try to send some.

Finally home now!  Long flights and lots of waiting around to leave, coupled with as usual, airline delays.  But safe! 

Thanks!! Glad you're home same now.

@CCWineLover, by any chance did you save any of the other dailies you could share? Thanks for all the info you have provided!

21 hours ago, WanderingBrit said:

Sure-

https://docs.vikingcruises.com/pdf/14-210624-RestartPreCruiseRequirement-Bermuda-US.pdf

 

You'll find a link to this through "Pre Cruise Embarkation requirements" in My Viking Journey

 

Note that Bermuda requires a PCR test, not a rapid antigen test. We fly in on August 3rd.

 

See you on board 🙂

 

Kevin

 

 

Thank you!

Do you or anyone else know how it would work if we wanted to do a post-cruise stay at a hotel? I'm sorry if this sounds dumb.

I am so sorry to do this all, but our Crystal Cruise was just canceled suddenly and we needed to scramble to find a replacement and just quickly booked what appeared to be the last cabin on the august 3rd sailing.

To avoid reading 67 pages of this thread, would someone mind directing me to the procedures for embarkation and testing we need to know? Can I fly in same day or do we need to come a day early? 
 

thank you all in advance.

19 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

We're still here in Grand Cayman harbour.  I thought we would've left a while ago but maybe those tours that actually got away are long tours.  As Rich mentioned, the weather has cleared. I haven't checked the wave action for a couple of hours. DM and I watched a movie in our room. They added the movie to the activity lineup but it was too humid, for us, to watch it at the Lido pool.

Hi there. My wife and I were actually 2 of the “lucky” 300 to get to the island this morning. The Captain made the right decision to cancel for the rest of you. It was VERY dangerous, especially for those with mobility issues. The swells had the boats bobbing from 4 feet below the dock to 4 feet above it very quickly and you had to time your jump on to the boat. Then once on the boat, it would repeatedly crash into the dock throwing everyone into each other and, unfortunately for my wife, her head into side of the boat. (She’s fine now).

They were loading one passenger every 30 seconds to a minute, which if you do the math will take them upwards of 300 minutes (5 hours) to get everyone back. They were handing out prepackaged sandwiches, muffins and cold bottles of evian at the dock which we thought was a classy touch.

Contrast this with with the Regal Princess, which apparently let everyone off and now has a mile long line of people to get back. They will be here a while!

Had a great tour (albeit in a thunderstorm) but glad to be back on board.

Carnival bought Holland America in 1989.

You really have to quit calling these articles live blogs.

Agreed. While the article is interesting and helpful, it is not a live blog.

Enjoy! We just got off and had a good time.

We are finally home! Disembarkation took longer than expected due to what appeared to be from my perspective not enough customs officers. It was well organized however and breakfast in the Cosmopolitan was good.

Safe travels to everyone boarding today in the miserable, driving rain. Captain Kate stays on for the next cruise but will not be the Captain. She stays on to transition Captain Alex, so it's more of a vacation for her. Maybe you'll see her around the pool deck!

Overall, I don't think I will sail any M-Class ships again. It is funny to me how so many people post about not wanting to see them replaced. You see it in almost every industry, people get comfortable and don't want to see anything upgraded or replaced, despite how out of style or condition it might be. Things can't last forever and Celebrity needs to attract a younger demographic. Also, you cannot have a slogan "Modern Luxury" when nothing on the ship says "Modern." Just my two cents.

I found the food very inconsistent, especially towards the end of the cruise. Tuscan Grill stinks and needs to be replaced completely. Qsine is wonderful. The poor upkeep and maintenance of the ship and cabin were very surprising to us for a "premium" line. The service was excellent, however. Great cabin steward (George) and other than a few nights in the Cosmopolitan, the wait staff was superb (especially in Qsine and Tuscan (even though the food stunk)).

Happy to answer any questions.

Completely agree. There was no unusual sailboat traffic at all when we tendered in and out. They were just unprepared and/or lazy today and that unfortunately cut our day in half.

 

Let's see if there is a difference on Saturday when they are back.

 

 

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UPDATE

I just spoke with a crew member who confirmed 100% to me that the sailboat traffic was a complete lie made up by Celebrity to hide the fact that one or more of their tender ships broke down. I don't know why they would do this when everyone who took a tender boat saw that there was not a high level of sailboat traffic.

The truth comes out - there are only 4 tenders running with no local boats helping. The sailboat traffic thing is bogus.

 

 

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Completely agree. There was no unusual sailboat traffic at all when we tendered in and out. They were just unprepared and/or lazy today and that unfortunately cut our day in half.

Let's see if there is a difference on Saturday when they are back.

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Where were you able to grab the trolley? Thanks.

The visitors center right next to Perrotti Park where the tender drops you off. On the way back it actually stops right at the Park. Very convenient and cheap way to get to the mansions. I called it a trolley but it is actually a bus that is designed to look like a trolley on the outside. I mention this so as not to confuse you with the actual trolleys which you will see which are private tours.

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I work in Newport and saw the ship in the harbor as I crossed over the Newport Bridge. I didn't see much in the way of sailboat traffic then but it was fairly early. Lack of tender boats is probably the cause as you said. And yes, there will be lots more sailboat traffic this weekend. It always makes me happy this time of year when I see cruise ships in the harbor on my way to work. I am interested to hear what you were able to see and do in your limited amount of time.

Newport is beautiful. We were able to grab the 67 trolley for $2 a person each way to The Breakers and enjoyed a lovely 90 minutes there. It is something else. We are now at the bus stop at the breakers waiting for the bus to take us back to the harbor. I'm shuttering at the thought of the lines for the tenders right now. We'll see!

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I'm curious, how is lobster cooked to order? Isn't it done or not done?

I meant it's not mass produced and is only steamed as it is ordered.

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Glad to hear they have made progress.

 

 

 

I still don't know the reason we have to leave Newport, RI at 3 pm. I am sure it has something to do with the harbor and pilot and not Celebrity. Since I know it will not take 20 1/2 hours to get from Newport, RI to Boston, MA where we are scheduled to dock at 10:30 am the next morning.

 

 

 

Have fun in Newport.

We are on the tender now, we should step foot on land around 12:35.

Not sure why you have to leave at 3 either. It sure doesn't take that long to get from Boston to Newport. We left Boston at 1 yesterday and we were going very slow and we were still past Cape cod at dinner time.

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I am so sorry to hear this. What time do you depart Newport?

 

 

 

We are scheduled for 7 am - 3 pm on Saturday. I would assume sailboat traffic would be even worse on a weekend(?). If we don't get off the ship by 11, won't make any sense to even go ashore. Very disappointing.

We depart at 5, meaning last tenders back are 4pm. They just called group 20, so we are next. Hopefully we get there by 12:15 or so and then have a few hours.

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The apple tort.

Last night's sunset.

Right now we are still waiting to get to Newport! Apparently sailboat traffic is so bad that celebrity cannot get its tenders through. It's almost 11 and only 8 groups of passengers have been called to tender. We are group 21, doesn't look good!

Dinner last night was ok, same old ho-hum dinner.

Cream of broccoli soup and crab cake were good, not great. Crab cake was cold. DD's mac and cheese was not good. My steak for dinner was excellent. Believe it or not, it was better than the ribeye in Tuscan (don't want to revisit that discussion). The short ribs were good. Dessert was not good. The Grand Marnier soufflé was tasteless to me and the apple tort was not as advertised. My wife said it "tasted like medicine."

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Today's dailies.

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