JDincalif

On 6/22/2019 at 6:18 AM, gretschwhtfalcon said:

The real heroes, in my book, are the crew of the Sky, CHC helicopter pilots and officials that coordinated and conducted the rescue efforts, and all the volunteers, Red Cross, police, etc. whose attentiveness and graciousness in handling the 400+ people in such an emergency was beyond reproach. 

And let's also include among those heroes the crews of the Vivax and the Ocean Response, the emergency rescue vessels who came to our aid in that intense storm. These vessels and their courageous crews stayed with us throughout the night until they could attach lines to the Sky and guide us safely to Molde. 

Posted this on another thread, but seems more appropriate on this one:

In addition to emailing tellus@viking.com regarding the Viking Venus cruise, we asked our TA to investigate. Her contact at Viking responded that details regarding our maiden voyage cruise will be provided by email in the next couple of months. 

In addition to emailing tellus@viking.com regarding the Viking Venus cruise, we asked our TA to investigate. Her contact at Viking responded that details regarding our maiden voyage cruise will be provided by email in the next couple of months.

On 6/12/2019 at 7:53 AM, What was that? said:

Also - what kind of pre- and post-cruise packages are offered? What hotels?

For the March 14, 2018 voyage between Bergen to London (or, rather, Bergen to Molde), the pre-cruise hotel was the Thon Hotel Opera. It was modern and comfortable,  centrally located for easy exploration of the city.

43 minutes ago, ptkelley said:

Hi Everyone, 

just checked Viking Cruises website. For January 26, 2021 the Viking Venus is scheduled for the Iberian Explorer, Barcelona to London cruise. 

Great news! Hope that will be our "Viking Sky Reunion Cruise"! Thanks!

1 hour ago, JDincalif said:

Just recieved the AIBN passenger survey - interesting to recollect the circumstances of those 24 hours or so, as well as to report suggestions for greater passenger safety going forward.

...received...hadn't finished my first quart of coffee when I posted this...🙄

Just recieved the AIBN passenger survey - interesting to recollect the circumstances of those 24 hours or so, as well as to report suggestions for greater passenger safety going forward.

On 3/24/2019 at 2:45 PM, Jammy Bun said:

Several cruise lines sail from the UK to Norway during the winter months on 'Northern Lights' itineraries - P&O, Cunard and Fred Olsen.  We sailed from Southampton to northern Norway (and back) on Fred Olsen's Boudicca in February 2012.  It was one of my favourite cruises and I am hoping to repeat the experience in the future on a Viking ship.

Your 2012 Boudicca blog was both entertaining and informative - we referred to it often for clothing tips and smiles as we prepared for the 14 March sailing. Thanks for introducing us to the Buff, one of the great cold weather accessories.

5 hours ago, CharTrav said:

As I read this thread, I can’t help but continue to be amazed and impressed by Viking. 

What has astonished me (J of JD) is that everything Viking has offered us has been given with no strings attached, no waivers or releases to sign.  I am deeply appreciative of all that Viking has done.

12 hours ago, gretschwhtfalcon said:

 

I don't think what you're saying is completely right, being that we were also in B and seemed to be among some of the first selected for evac. We wound up in the stairwells shortly after the window broke in the dining room. Must have taken 3 hours to wind our way slowly up to deck 8. We were at the hotel in Kristiansand by about 10:00 or so. Then, some of the last people to have been evac'd got to the hotel by the next morning. 

What I wrote (a) is completely correct in describing our own experience and perceptions, and (b) was a request for others to respond and describe what they experienced and perceived. The fact remains that, at least as far as what's been posted so far, no one is completely sure of how the evacuation groups were prioritized. We can learn from each other as we post our experiences and perceptions.

2 hours ago, just_dont said:

 

 

Something I've wondered about, but I'm pretty sure hasn't been covered yet in this thread - how bad were sea conditions between when the ship got its engines running again and the arrival in port there next day?

We all saw the early Explorers Lounge videos of how badly the ship was rolling when adrift before the muster alarm, and there was the video of the water sloshing around the Restaurant, but I believe that was somewhat early as well.
And I was one of the thousands of people watching the live video stream from the Molde camera as Sky was arriving there, and I was surprised just how calm the weather and seas were there at that time. (I realize Molde is relatively well sheltered in general)
After the ship finally got back underway Saturday evening, its sea track seemed fairly steady and consistent up to the point she turned 180 and began heading back toward Molde Sunday morning.

So for any of you passengers 'lucky enough' (?) to have stayed onboard all the way to Molde, how much of those 24-ish hours were truly terrifying ship/sea conditions? When did it begin to be more "normal" bumpy seas? Was it mostly the uncertainty combined with the dark of night and continued evacuation?

Thanks in advance to anyone willing to share.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

 

Very little diminution of winds and swells between the evacuation order and daybreak the following morning. 

10 minutes ago, newcruiser1956 said:

I wonder if it had also had to do with which group was in more danger?    Were you given an opportunity to decline? I am younger and in decent healthy,  I would have been ok with waiting.

We were among the last two groups selected for evacuation, and we were, in fact, given the opportunity to decline. We decided to stay on board and bet that the tug operation, that could not be attempted until daybreak, would be successful. More than a few times in the hours that followed we questioned the wisdom of our choice, of course.

3 hours ago, newcruiser1956 said:

Since you were on the ship,  could you share with us how they decided the order of who was going up in the helicopters after the obviously injured ones?  

We were in muster group B, which was moved from the starboard side of the restaurant to the starboard atrium after the water rushed in. From our perspective (trying to sleep on the floor and on a straight-backed chair, respectively), it seemed that, apart from the injured, the groups evacuated all came from the theater (muster group A?) until the very end, when people from muster group B began to be selected. Can anyone from other muster groups report what they observed?

We are enjoying your posts. We were on the Beijing to Bangkok portion of the journey and left the Voyager at 2:00 am on April 8th. We are still in the process of getting our sleep back! We really enjoyed our part of the voyage. Take good care of the Voyager and have a blast. Keep up writing those great posts.