shadowlover

3 minutes ago, May B said:

This whole topic about restaurant reservations boggles my mind. If I take a ten night  cruise in a deluxe veranda stateroom, might I have to eat EIGHT dinners at the World Cafe?

We actually ended up eating in the world cafe for the majority of our meals towards the end of our 15 day cruise.  The food is really good and the service was excellent.  Please don't get too fussed up.  You will most likely find that you are able to get plenty of reservations while onboard.  Viking tends to bend over backward to please. 

I'm glad that you love your husbands company the best- it is sweet and I feel the same about mine- he's my best friend.   We do tend to try and socialize on longer cruises because we have met so many interesting people!  Viking cruisers tend to be well traveled, well educated and super fun!

I just want to comment that I think it is really annoying and deceptive that viking doesn't disclose all available discounts.  I guess they find their marketing effective in gaining new clients however keeping loyal ones is just as important .  Recently booked a river cruise and was told no codes only to find out the next day there is indeed a wonderful code with free airfare.... Luckily I have a fabulous TA who got it for me however viking rep would not budge when I called before her.  Alls well that ends well but I am very  thankful to all on my travel buddies with good info!

3 hours ago, purpleally said:

Does that mean we would be forced to eat with strangers at a table bigger than two?  Not our thing

Seriously?  Why are you taking a cruise vacation?  It's really a lot about community...Try to branch out and meet some new people you may actually find that it's fun and opens you up to a totally different cruise experience.

Yes it is technically 4 days.  We did the classic Greek extension before the cruise and also arrived two days early so I thought it was longer.    It was a highlight for me- absolutely loved it.  We went to Meteora on our own during the free day by train.  It was unbelievable!  

It’s an amazing trip honestly you won’t regret going.  We did almost all included tours except for Israel.  We did the Greece 5 day extension and I HIGHLY recommend it. Enjoy every minute!

12 hours ago, IkonIke said:

Curious to hear why Israel was your least favorite stop? This will help me to have a realistic expectation for our trip! We also contacted https://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/ but so far not enough interest from our ship to organize a group tour. We are on the November 25 Holy Lands cruise from Rome to Athens. Thank you in advance 🙂

Not to say that I did not enjoy Israel- I have always wanted to go there and it was a dream to be there.  I found it hectic, crowded and more commercialized than I had imagined it would be.  There was also some unrest when we were there- the cruise after us did not stop there.   

You don't actually have to gather the people yourself.  Many times you will find that others booked small group tours with this company and they will add you to the trip.  It was a very manageable group for Nazareth and I enjoyed it alot.  I would probably return to every other place on this cruise except Israel which told me that while I wouldn't have traded going for anything- I just feel like I have seen it and I'm good.  Hope that helps and makes sense.  Others I am sure would disagree with me. 

I agree that it is just too far to come back to the ship and wastes precious time.  We did not do the overland tour as it was listed as sold out (opened up later after we made our own plans).  We hired a private guide and found an airbnb to stay overnight in Jerusalem.  It was quite an experience.  We got to see SO MUCH because there were only four of us and our guide took us in a private car.  I highly recommend it if you can do it.  I also spoke with other guests who had a wonderful time on the overland tour.  I would have done it originally if it was available.  Keep in mind you will be with a big group trying to see many popular sites in a crowded environment.   Although I am glad we stopped in Israel and I had a fabulous time, it was my least favorite part of that cruise.  It is an amazing cruise- a trip of a lifetime!

For Israel we used this company. https://www.guidedtoursisrael.com/

You can also join small groups- they will place you and they are cheaper or you can arrange on your roll call group.  We did a group tour of nazareth and loved it.

I found out years ago from steve (my insurance guy) that you only need to insure your deposit and then you add to it as you go.  When you pay your final deposit you need to remember to update your policy. This way you get pre existing coverage without having to shell out a huge insurance payment.  With viking the final payment is so early that you will likely have to update the policy way before the 120 days.  If you're not concerned with pre existing conditions of anyone in your family then you can buy insurance anytime.  

On 7/8/2022 at 10:19 PM, SempreMare said:

@Heidi13, I'm happy you're making the best decision for you,  your family, and anyone lucky enough to know you. I subscribe to your newsletter (cam....357@gmail...).   Totally enjoy your and Judi's blog.  Lots of entertaining and interesting detail there.

 

 

I also wish Viking were still doing testing each day, whether PCR or at least Rapid Antigen. 

 

Rapid Antigen testing would be massively BTN (Better Than Nothing).

in below note, the yellow highlighting is mine. 

 

From the detailed report, sample size n = 306

>> In this study, 306 nasopharyngeal samples were analyzed. 

 

 

Https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35348350/#:~:text=The antigen test was 100.0,99.9% compared to viral culture.

 

I will say that my antigen tests were negative when my pcr was positive.  The reason I did pcr was because I knew I had very close contact with family (little baby) and I was unmasked.   Had minimal symptoms but isolated for five days.  About five days later got symptoms and only then with LOTS of runny nose symptoms did my antigen convert to positive.  Now I'm not saying my small experiment can be applied across the board however in my and my families experience, the antigen was only positive with moderate symptoms days after positive pcr.  All this to say- when was I most contagious??  I assume when my antigen converted but do we really know?

22 hours ago, AnyWayIsGood said:

Any thoughts, from your experience as an NP, on the passengers being masked? Surely you were and probably still are masked in your practice. I'm not suggesting nor implying anything, but am just interested in getting your take on requiring masking onboard at least in certain large group / more confined areas. I still am stuck on the dichotomy that would appear to exist between requiring full-scale daily PCR testing and yet not requiring any masking onboard. It's sort of like having football players wear their helmets, shoulder / thigh / knee pads, but leaving out the mouthgards. Inevitable for some % of accidents to occur, or, analogously, a % of positive cases. It was reported that there were at least 10 people quarantined as a result of positive tests on the Chairman's cruise. OR...require masking ashore during Viking-sponsored excursions. Thing is, many (most?) people bent on traveling - and other walks of life - have pretty much had it with masking, so if you go too far on that score, the cruise lines surely will not fill ships. OR, contrarily,...for those who WON'T cruise do to lack of whatever required protocols either were in place and no longer are or else never in place to begin with or simply not enforced, you have a similar issue. Either way, some degree of positive tests / illness will always show up. Noro will always be here, and probably covid as well. Glad I'm not in charge of making the big decisions at least!  

I completely agree with you.  Yes we are still masked at work and our patients are as well.  Surely the daily testing with masking is an ideal situation but it also created its own conundrums.  I highly recommend masking in public areas if you are concerned about contracting covid and have a chance to get quite sick.  It has become a milder illness but still nasty symptoms for most.  I'm in my 50's and had four vaccines.  I caught covid with close contact with my 4 month old grand daughter.  My symptoms were like a moderate cold.  my husband had a nasty cough with it.  It is a tricky situation but I honestly highly believe in masks when in a bus or crowded room.   Get some surgical masks- they are much more comfortable.  I wear one for 10 hours straight now and don't even remember it's on.  Pay attention to those around you who sound congested - it's covid until proven otherwise at this point!  I was so determined not to catch it but alas it got me...I recovered in three days.  SO- do your best and enjoy travel in a safe way!

8 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Well, I also don't speak from a lack of knowledge, education or experience, but mine is actually in the marine industry, having spent almost 40 years on passenger ships, with most of those years in command.

 

In the marine industry we have a saying that is relevant to many industries - "Every company pays for health and safety, at one time or another." You pay reasonable amounts for safety now, or you open the bank vault later." Since my last company actually lost a ship, I have a little experience in this area, having developed a complete best in class safety management system. In the marine industry, few if any, companies offering best in class health and safety systems have gone bankrupt. 

 

With the increase in virus load, the Bridge Team will be isolated from all pax and most of the hotel crew. This is standard practice on passenger ships when they have a virus spreading. They don't have spare officers and any shortage of watchkeepers results in an increased risk due to human factors issues. When I worked on the ships, this was fairly rare, but with COVID, the ships will have significantly increased "Red" status, requiring isolation of the Bridge & Engineering teams.

 

Therefore, those that pushed for the cessation of testing and the consequential increase in virus aboard, you have ensured the officers responsible for your safety aboard the ship are forced into an existence that includes their cabin and the Bridge or E/R. 

I guess the only thing that will prove this is time.  We need some time now to see what happens with the daily testing and quarantining being put to an end.  We really can't speculate because it's only been a few weeks.  Yes- there are apparently many more cases but I'm not seeing reports of mass ships not being allowed to dock, passengers dying etc.  Why don't we wait a bit and see how it goes with the new measures.  Everyone on board has to be up to date with vaccines and the crew is masked.  I think being alarmist about lack of staff and safety is unwarranted at this point.  I haven't seen any reports of passengers saying as much.  In the hospital we also had to deal (and still do) with staff shortages due to sick time but we make do.  

22 hours ago, Gig Harbor Explorere said:

Rudy, although I have some trouble following your comment, you sound like the sort of fellow who would be very happy to cruise right now. By all means, go and have a ball! However, you seem to miss my essential point. Viking abruptly changed their successful Covid control protocols without warning or prior announcement. In fact, they were boasting about the effectiveness of their measures right up until the day we boarded. Transparency matters. Also, regarding the “masks will protect you” comment, we religiously wore masks prior to and during the cruise. We also maintained as much space from others as possible at all times. These measures were of no use given the large numbers of fellow passengers who couldn’t be bothered, and given the extreme amount of Covid all around us. We had been super careful, fully vexed, double boosted, and meticulously avoided Covid for two and a half years until we boarded our cruise.This pair of minority extremists paid for our expensive vacation too. We had been led to believe the protections we based our decision on would be there for us. We were misled. 

So you became severely ill?  Or did you just catch covid?  Have moderate cold symptoms and a cough?  Were you hospitalized?   Let's be honest... I have had four vaccines and have worked as a nurse practitioner throughout the entire pandemic with a high risk population.  I never contracted the disease.  I went unmasked to visit my brand new grand baby and did end up with covid from my close interaction with her and her mother ( who had cold symptoms but were testing negative).  This is a contagious illness.  You can mitigate all you want but at THE END OF THE DAY this has become for most of us a moderate cold.  It's not going away and the draconian measures taken by viking were simply way over done.  They can not be maintained or they will go bankrupt and none of us will cruise. No need to agree with me in any way.  Just letting people know that I don't speak from lack of knowledge, education or experience!

6 hours ago, Gig Harbor Explorere said:

We started showing symptoms by the end of the cruise. Given the total situation, we did not bother to test until we left the ship. We could not possibly have unrung that bell. As a practical matter, there was no reliable way to avoid Covid on this cruise. We believe that any cruise line that wishes to avoid significant Covid outbreaks onboard must test everyone daily and strictly isolate positive cases. As your comment indicates, our disappointment with Viking was with the failure to follow their own protocols that had served them so well up to that time, and with abandoning their commitments to us without warning or notification. Prior to our cruise, Viking had repeatedly proudly stated that their excellent track record of avoiding Covid rested on their practice of daily testing and prompt isolation for all. It is inexplicable to us that Viking simply decided to pretend that Covid is over. Our disappointment at this breach of trust is enormous. 

I think Viking has stopped these practices because it is not sustainable anymore.  It's incredibly expensive, time consuming, anxiety producing and caused people to be quarantined when many of them simply had bad cold symptoms.   People were cancelling their cruises because of the possibility of this.  Can we please now stop beating this dead horse?!  Covid can be serious for some- so can other illnesses/ accidents etc.  Cruises are petri dishes because you are living in close contact with many others thus the noro virus outbreaks you see from time to time.  Traveling comes with all sorts of possible dangers.  I can attest to masking being very effective against contracting covid.  Keep wearing them especially if you are nervous about contracting covid.

A private company's payment policy may be different but that doesn't mean it's "below standard".  I'm not sure why this post is here... it has nothing to do with the quality of viking cruises...

I paid well in advance for my future cruise however I can cancel with my guarantee if I had to.  Their no risk guarantee, in my opinion, was well above standard of other lines.

16 minutes ago, SailorPaulH said:

A long, long time ago when I lived in my original home country in Wales I did some sailing.

But now, I can only put a claim on that if or when I get on Viking Jupiter next month, LOL.

P.S. Red Bank is a nice town - eclectic, nice restaurants, etc. I am near Toms River.

Where in Wales?  My family is from Port Talbot and Cefn Cribw (near Bridgend).

2 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

If you had a positive PCR test more than 10 days before boarding, you can get a “recovery letter” from your doctor that Viking will accept.

In effect, it says you are no longer contagious even though you currently test positive on a PCR, since positive results can show for months after recovery.

Our  adult daughter was in that situation and is cruising with us now.

Yes I believe the letter is good for 90 days.  I’m not traveling until December.  I think the point of the test is to make sure you don’t travel with covid (obviously) but I also think some of us have a false sense of security with an antigen test.  I’ve just proven to myself that the PCR becomes positive even before symptoms while the antigen remind negative.   I was exposed to my grand daughter and am showing minimal symptoms.     I wonder how many disappointed travelers show up and their Viking test is positive after the home test was negative.   There is no easy answer with this covid virus.  It’s hard to navigate.  

you are probably going to get multiple answers to this depending on who you ask.   Even if you call viking you may receive conflicting information depending on who answers the phone.  Do your best, take a test and when you get to the ship looks like they test you again anyway.  Keep in mind that antigen tests are not as sensitive as pcr.  Viking does pcr.  Right now I tested negative with antigen twice and then positive same day with pcr.  I plan on doing a pcr prior to travel so I can cancel if positive.

It is hard to find out if PCR is the technique that walgreens uses for their NAAT but according to this article , PCR is the most commonly used NAAT technique for detecting specific nucleic acid in a sample.   If viking doesn't accept it, there is no common sense.  

Bon Voyage!!

I find this helpful to answer the questions of whether the NAAT test is sensitive and specific.    Viking accepts an antigen test done within 24 hours and that is not as sensitive or specific as the NAAT.  

Anyway here are the links:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/lab/naats.html

https://news.walgreens.com/our-stories/covid-omicron-subvariant-testing.htm

PCR is gold standard and will become positive even prior to symptoms in some people.  It can also stay positive for a long time in some people even after you are infectious.

You will have to pay the deviation fee to fly a different day.  Worth it for peace of mind.

5 hours ago, David said:

We are scheduled to Board Viking Venus in Bergen on June 3.  Originally we were going to fly from Newark to Bergen via Frankfurt on June 2, arrive June 3 and Board the ship.  But we were able to get a nonstop flight from Newark to Bergen on June 1, so we switched our flight (not with Viking) and booked a hotel in Bergen overnight on June 2.  I have had several conversations with a very reliable Viking rep (i.e., I deal with her often and if I have a question, she will often seek confirmation regarding her answer before our conversation ends).  She advised me to be certain to get our PCR COVID tests not earlier than the afternoon of May 31 to ensure we had our tests within 72 hours of boarding the ship.  I had previously made appointments to get our tests at 9:30 a.m. on May 31.  When I asked her if that was going to be too early, at first she said she thought that it would; but then I reminded her of the 6-hour time difference between EDT and Bergen.  In effect, even if we Board the ship at 2 p.m. Bergen time on June 3 (and we plan to Board right at 11 a.m. when check-in begins), at 2 p.m Bergen time it would be 8 a.m. EDT, which means the 9:30 a.m. appointment on May 31 would still fall within the actual 72-hour timeframe.  She then checked with a supervisor and confirmed this.  Of course our flight arrangements do not required an intermediate stop in the US before connecting to an international flight.  Also, the place where we are getting tested provided results of full PCR tests within a few hours, so we should know by later on May 31 if we tested positive -- before we leave for our 3-hour drive to Newark airport.

 

Having taken several Viking ocean cruises and over 50 cruises since 1995 -- but none since March 2020 -- and both of us being in our mid-70s with at least one of us immunocompromised, we do recognize the risk of cruising at this time.  We also recognize the likelihood of being tested daily while on the ship and the requirement of isolation for 10 days if we test positive.  And we recognize that the daily tests aboard the ship, while unique to Viking and providing a two-way safety net for both the cruise line and passengers, also elevates the chances of any passenger testing positive during a multi-week cruise.  Had this not been our 50th anniversary, I think we may well have at least considered opting for some other type of travel which did not require continuous testing virtually throughout our trip.  But this is a special one, with a bucket-list itinerary that includes a private 4-day tour of western Ireland after the cruise, so we plan to go, wear masks at the airport, during the flight and in busy indoor locations to the extent that is possible, and hope for the best.

The rep actually is giving very good advice.  I do see many posts however that show very inconsistent following of the guidelines once you get to the ship.  Better safe than sorry but it is super annoying to be so meticulous with the testing and timing only to show up and possibly not even have your results looked at!  i don't look forward to trying to find a testing site in Spain, paying for said test and all the rest of it.  But... I really want to travel so I will do what I need to.

5 hours ago, dd57 said:

Only after they are posted in MVJ, which happens closer to the cruise.  The 2nd cruise is over 150 days away and the flights don't show, even though the system has booked them.

My November cruise is already showing my air in MVJ.  Not ticketed yet but it's the flights we asked for.

It's usually significantly cheaper to buy on your own.  If you want cancel for any reason however I believe viking will be the way to go.  I use Steve from the trip insurance store as he is a wealth of knowledge.

If the airlines have significantly changed your itinerary you have every right to cancel and get your money back and book with someone else.  Hope you find the times and dates you need!

8 hours ago, Mariastreby said:

I agree with this one, as we also have to "pass" the saliva test to embark on our cruise, after being on a pre excursion (14 days) on our own. Every cruise company requires that before boarding. But Viking is - I believe - the ONLY cruise company in the world that still requires daily PCR testing. If they just scaled back to antigen tests, which pick up the "sicker" and more contagious people, that would be a step in the right direction.

 

But most people on both river and ocean who are testing positive have mild to absolutely no symptoms, meaning their viral loads are extremely low. Often when spouses have quarantined together, one continues to test negative while the other is positive. That's how non-contagious some people really are. Covid has to be treated endemically at this point, or else we might as well test for the seasonal flu and colds. Yes, staying masked is still a great idea, especially on excursion buses.  

 

Obviously, the other ridiculous testing requirement, which the US is the only one left doing - the testing to return home. That's outrageous, especially if you aren't "with" Viking inside the 24 hours of getting on your flight. But that's another whole conversation that I'm sure is on these boards somewhere... if permitted.

I think you also have to get your own pcr or antigen test PRIOR to boarding if you do an excursion on your own.  Then when you arrive to the ship they do yet another spit pcr test.  Not sure why this is required but the wording is pretty clear.  - PCR test taken within 72 hours prior to boarding first international flight, (or joining Viking if traveling independently,) or - Antigen test taken within 24 hours prior to boarding first international flight (or joining Viking if traveling independently,)