Ktwofish

Viking gave everyone on our trip 25 percent of cruise fare paid as a future cruise voucher. We must book within one year, but we can sail any time in the future. An interesting fact…. When I received the voucher (by email) it was slightly less than the cruise fare indicated on my invoice. I called Viking and they said they deducted $500 for the hotel night in Buenos Aires from the cruise fare on the invoice. The rep stated the hotel night was not technically cruise fare. I was surprised that Viking did this without any explanation. I had to call to determine the discrepancy.

That could have been the Octantis. I used CruiseMapper app to see our journey and to see the other ships in our area.

The trip is definitely a roll of the dice. Weather and medical emergencies can affect where you go, what you can do, and how long your trip in Antarctica will last. The positives from our Feb. 18 - Feb. 29 trip: We had great weather. The trip across the Drake was smooth (so they say, but the ship still rolls and you will hold onto walls and rails.) We had sunshine for 3 of 4 days in Antarctica, which means beautiful photos. The ship and crew are fabulous and so is the food. The negatives from our trip: We lost 3 full days in Antarctica due to the medical emergency (and the fact we had to return to Ushuaia and not King George Island where evacuation was not an option due to weather prohibiting flights in or out.) Our 3 days was substituted with 2 sea days (getting to and from Port Stanley, Falklands) and 1 day in Port Stanley. Port Stanley was nothing special and due to Viking’s pre-scheduling of zodiac cruises, we did not have much to see or do. FYI…we did not get a continental landing in Antarctica (that was to happen the morning the medical emergency was announced.) It was definitely a long journey for 4 days in Antarctica. Despite Viking doing all they could to make our trip amazing, I’m still disappointed at missing those 3 days. Just know what you are getting into and what could happen. Medical evacuations occurred 4 times this 2023-2024 season, and weather has affected other trips this year, too. Oh well…enough of my complaining LOL

I was concerned about the medical evaluation form, but it was no big deal once our doctors signed the form. Viking’s service approved within hours. I think Viking just wants a doctor to sign off for liability reasons.

You are exactly correct regarding the Viking average age, and the higher priced expedition itinerary attracted the higher end of the age range. On our cruise, there were many passengers over the age of 70, and I am guessing a number were over 80. Of course age and fitness vary. There were plenty in their 60s and 70s that were perfectly fit for the trip.) But, there were a number of passengers that did NOT appear to be “fit” enough for the Antarctic expedition cruise. I witnessed one woman (about 80-ish) who tried to make the first landing (wet landing in water walking on stones, climbing cutout ice steps, walking about 200-300+ feet through snow on a path made by the expedition team.) The woman walked about 20 feet with the help of 2 people, and turned around and got back on the zodiac. At least she realized her limitations and didn’t hurt herself trying to do something that was not safe for her.

The emergency situation was never divulged as it shouldn’t be. The captain did say the Ushuaia hospital commended the ship’s medical staff on their care of the passenger. Apparently this is the third medical emergency this season on the Octantis, and there was one on Polaris. I understand one of these four emergencies was a crew member. As you mentioned, the medical evaluation would have had no impact on an emergency like a broken bone or heart attack or ruptured appendix, etc. We ended up going to Port Stanley, Falklands, after one sea day to get there and a final sea day return to Ushuaia.

We are currently on the Viking Octantis. Just as everyone was getting ready for the morning landings, the captain announced there was an emergency and the ship would be loaded back up and headed for King George Island. About an hour later, the expedition leader announce that we could not go to King George Island due to weather conditions preventing a plane from landing there (presumably to pick up the medical emergency.) We are now headed back to Ushuaia cutting our time in Antarctica by 3 days. It will be a 36+ hour trip back to Ushuaia. We are disappointed but hopefully whomever is experiencing the medical emergency will be OK. I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had to return early to Ushuaia.

@wp bob Sorry to hear about the medical emergency. I hope they will be OK. Seems like the last couple cruises have dealt with this issue. It’s good to know Viking has an option with King George Island and can adjust the trip for the remaining passengers. Good luck with the rest of your trip. We leave in 2 weeks!

Unfortunately, we cannot visit Iguasu Falls on this trip. It looks amazing online! We are squeezing this Antarctica trip in before another long-planned March trip. The Viking promo code in December was just too good to pass up!

Thank you, @deec I am part of a group on the other social media. I have received lots of great info from that group, too. The other group is a little particular about posting, though. Recently, my post was deleted because I used a colored background for my post. I reposted with no colored background 🤪

@deec May I ask what cabin you had on the Octanis? We will be on the Octanis in a couple weeks. Last Friday, Viking emailed and offered us an upgrade from DN3 to Nordic Penthouse (Deck 4) for $495 each. We went for the upgrade. 😊

Viking has sold us. We will be on Octanis next month!

Definitely worth posting! I had no idea Viking would drop the price so much on the expedition cruise, and fortunately we were able to take advantage.

I understand how you feel, but I understand that Viking is just trying to fill their ships, too. We booked last month (about 60 days out) and got $6000 pp off on our cruise price plus free air. We did not have any choice of cabins. We have a “guaranteed” cabin in our category or higher. Also, we did not have much choice of dates. I agree with you. If you can wait and monitor deals and can sail with little notice, you can get some great deals. If you want to plan to go at a certain time and get a certain cabin/location, you will have to pay closer to full price.

@kchand I have read comments on the FB group where Viking scheduled people to fly as you said—“north and west to go south.” Several mentioned a connection in South America before arriving in Buenos Aires. We are from your area, and we would typically fly from Tampa, but this time we opted for a 3-3.5 hour drive to Miami. It’s a late flight, so we have plenty of time to get to MIA. (We’d love to fly out of Sarasota, but the options are better out of Tampa.) In our opinion, it was worth the Viking Air Plus fee ($150 each) to talk to an agent about the exact flights we were getting. In fact, we had to pay an additional $110 each to get the requested nonstop flights from Miami (called air differential.). We also paid $100 each for air deviation to fly into Buenos Aires one day early. Also, we upgraded our free airfare to premium economy ($1499 each.) In total, we paid an extra $360 x 2 (on top of premium economy) to get the American Airlines nonstop flights we wanted. Still, the total airfare cost to us was $1600+ less ($800+ x 2) than what we would have paid booking directly with American Airlines.

Hello @kchand We live in SWFL, too, and we have decided to fly out of Miami and be assured of a nonstop flight. We had to use Viking Air Plus guarantee this. Right now, we are assigned to the Buenos Aires Hilton, but we were originally assigned to the Intercontinental. We’ll wait for our final documents for the final word on our hotel. Our flight to leave Ushuaia is at 1:00 pm, and our Buenos Aires to MIA flight is at 11:35 pm. Can’t help with the temperature on board since we haven’t sailed yet. We did Viking’s In Search of the Northern Lights cruise in very cold weather (larger ship than the expedition ships.) The temperature on board was always very comfortable with no extra jacket needed (unless you wanted to go outside.)

Hi, @wpklee . We did the same as you and booked the Feb. 17th Octanis trip about 60 days out. There is a fantastic FB group that has lots of information about the Viking Expedition Antarctica Cruises. I’ve been lurking there for over a year, but I’ve been able to quickly get lots of information and ask a few questions. Current cruisers are posting regularly, too.

@puffy Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Thanks for sharing this offer. The link would not work for me as it was for Canadian customers. I was able to find the offer in my email, though. The code/link offered a $6,000 discount on the February 17th sailing! Great deal. We are going for it!

@Buckwheel I agree totally! When I see a “free air” promotion, I look to see if there are any other perks. Maybe if I lived near a major hub, it might be different. As it is, we usually have to transfer twice before we make our destination in Europe.

I’ve never understood why those FB admins choose to turn off comments. They say it’s because it’s “asked and answered.” I thought the idea was to allow anyone to share their experience and thoughts. They will also scold people for asking questions that have already been posted. Who wants to go through a thousand posts? (Yes, I know how to use the search function but things have changed from one expedition season to another.) I’ll stop ranting now LOL

That’s unfortunate. I thought Viking had restrictions on running too early in the morning. We were on a cruise that someone ignored the allowed running times. After several complaints, the PD mentioned the problem at a port talk and said a crew member would be waiting for the person the next morning. Everyone laughed and clapped. No runner after that! LOL

@HUNKY Could you pay a flight deviation fee to fly in one day early? Maybe it would still be a “deal” with free airfare.

We are considering an Antarctic cruise, too. There is a Cruise Critic Group (Viking Expeditions Thread) that might give you more information. Also, there is a FB group that is very active (Viking Expedition Antarctica Cruises.)

@Clay Clayton What a deal! You got me looking! Just not sure I can be gone for 4 months.