id4elizabeth

6 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Now I'm curious again.  Viking Star is now headed to Reykjavik, currently in the vicinity of the Shetland Islands.  She's expected to be in Reykjavik on Tuesday (27th) according to Marine Traffic.  Is she just keeping all the moveable parts on the ship moving, ferrying more packages, or what?  

We were told by one of our Viking guides on an excursion in Seydifjordur that the Star is bringing additional covid vaccines to finish off any crew and vacinate those locals in town who still have not gotten their jab yet.

Someone asked about taxis waiting at the dock upon disembarking.   We disembarked at precisely 8:00 am and there were only about 3 taxis waiting for a crowd of about 50 passengers.  There were several Viking staff there calling every taxi company in Reykjavík to come to the pier.  It was well organized with one line for those of us who had not called ahead, and another area for those who had prearranged.   I noticed that some of the prearranged got into their taxis right away while others waited longer than we did.  We waited about 30 minutes for our turn.

1 hour ago, VI_Lounger said:

We had an issue as my partner's CDC card had his name listed as Joe instead of Joseph and it was rejected by Verifly so no middle names like on passports, but had to be his formal first name.

My husband had exactly the same issue with the same Joe/Joseph name.  When we went to the Icelandair counter to check in stateside it was no problem and no problem in going through the various checkpoints once in Iceland and no problem boarding ship.  I think this is a common enough name and nickname that it's not an issue.

It was 79 F degrees in Akureyri today.  No AC in our bus.  Bring shorts and T-shirts.

Printing out my Viking calendar for my 7/17 cruise and all my restaurant reservations have disappeared from MVJ.   Anyone have this happen?  Should I panic or wait to get onboard?

I do have a copy of my 'invoice' which does list them all.

For those on the ship - are you required to wear face masks while on the excursions?  On the bus?  While walking outside on the tour as well?

What about strolling the promenade deck outside?  Walking the halls inside while on board?

If you get onboard and the beds are not split apart, just ask the steward.  He/she will do that for you while you're at dinner.   Despite having ordered the twin configuration twice on VO, both times when we got to the room it was a king configuration.   But this was easily and cheerfully solved by our steward.

Mine are still there - 2 facials and 1 massage - on different days.  July 17th sailing.

Thanks guys.  I read a little blurb about the Kitchen Table on Viking Voyager and it sounded like it might be fun with a chance to maybe stretch the Viking bubble a bit.  I'll ask once aboard, but I'm guessing it will be a non-starter.

Does anyone how to sign up for the Kitchen Table?  (Not the Chef's Table restaurant.)

36 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Don’t know how much the car is costing, but we are doing the same thing but have a private transport from KEF to BL then to ship.  Cost for up to four is $295 so probably more than what your car is costing?  Can you share how much the car is costing?

About $250 USD for the car including insurance, but it's only the two of us - don't think that matters though  We did get a mid-sized car - automatic transmission (stick shift was cheaper).  We will have to add the cost of the taxi from downtown rental drop off to cruise port, so seems like about a wash.

14 minutes ago, azdrydock said:

Too risky for me... Baggage storage and handling is under control of the port until it is placed on the ship. Every port is different and the rules change by the minute. One port they would take our luggage but we were not allowed to leave the terminal, another they only took your luggage one hour before your scheduled embarkation, some ports had lockers. Another thing to keep in mind is even though we will be in port overnight it is possible the terminal and embarkation may close relatively early (union rules).

Did  Tellus know how long the hold was or did they assume you were going to drop your luggage off and run across the street to pick up snacks?

 

We usually arrange for a transfer + a few hours with a car service and adjust the itinerary as time and weather permit.

 

I had asked about our situation which was drop off luggage around 8 am and be back for check in around 3 pm.  She told me we could do this but in the end it sounded too iffy for us so we are renting a car at the airport (Blue Car Rentals) going to the Sky Lagoon and storing the luggage in the trunk while there.  Then driving around town a bit, dropping car off downtown and taxi (with luggage) to cruise port.

After all the contradictory info we've been given by Viking pre-cruise on other issues, we decided to play it safe (although costlier) and keep the luggage in a rental car.

2 hours ago, johnnyswitzerland said:

Not to change the subject (shorex are critical – especially for these sailings!) but another question for the group…

 

Many of us are running under the assumption that on (now not June 15 but) July 1, Iceland's testing-and-quarantine-on-arrival requirement will be lifted.  I've read some are planning to hit the Blue Lagoon or take other tours on Day 1 before joining the Viking bubble.

 

If taking this approach, and independent Reykjavik exploration time was on the agenda, do you think one could drop bags at the ship midday, but then not actually board (read: "join the bubble") until later?

 

Not trying to flout the rules.  Just want to work within the system.  Thoughts?

I was told by a tellus@Viking rep that yes we could do this - that Viking would be gad to hold them at the port, but that they could not take them aboard ship until we actually checked in and joined the bubble.  I have no idea what the port facilities are like at Reykjavík,  but presumably the luggage would be under cover. 

Now, the usual disclaimer here - that's what I was TOLD  - what you actually experience might be totally different!

2 hours ago, philw1776 said:

While waiting for Chef's Table menus to be posted on MVJ I'll share my predictions:

My Chef's Table Prediction:

Saturday: Sardines a la Iceland

Sunday: Reindeer goulash

Monday: Seal stew

Tuesday: Cheek of Fermented Cod

Wednesday: Volcanic braised Sheep

Thursday: Puffin under glass 

Friday: Eider Duck Czech style

Don't forget all the foams and sorbets!  Perhaps fermented shark foam and hotdogs parfait...

Thanks vslparis!  I'm only slightly terrified of missing something really important that I was supposed do and not getting it done.  Thanks for setting my mind at rest!

2 hours ago, vslparis said:

I was on my VeriFly APP and see that there is now the option to add Viking Trip to your passes.  I did that and filled in the information requested ;  booking number, sail date, birth dates of both passengers ( I have the APP and added my husband as a companion on the Viking pass and added his picture. 

it also requested that I upload a picture of our Covid Vaccination Card . 

Are we supposed to be using this app?  Has Viking or the airlines instructed us to do so?  I'm in the dark about this - can anyone enlighten me?  Thanks!

Re Tipping

Sorry for any confusion - I was not suggesting we don't tip the Viking guides and drivers.  I thought the original question was about tipping in Iceland in general pre and post cruise, but I may have made an assumption there that was incorrect.  I'm talking about restaurants, taxis, bellman at hotels, porters, coffee shops etc. 

For our Viking ShoreX tips, I've always gone by Viking's guidelines of $2 and $1 for half days or less and have used USD.

We will probably get around $50 to $100 worth of ISK at the airport ATM as we will have 3 days in Iceland on our own and we'd feel better with a bit of local currency for things like buying hotdogs in Reykjavík at hotdog stands, which I've read are really good. 

24 minutes ago, Tarheel1952 said:

We will be on the Aug 31st cruise.  From what I am reading, we can use US Dollars for tips on shore.  Otherwise, credit cards are prevalent.  Has anyone else checked into this?

I've read that tipping is unusual and not expected in Iceland.  Having never been I cannot verify this for sure, but that's what all my guidebooks say.  They also say credit cards are very widely accepted even in taxis.

Things to do before or after the cruise -

There's a new Spa/ Lagoon just outside of Reykjavík called the Sky Lagoon.  We just booked this to do on embarkation day.  If you're looking for something to do before or after the cruise and you don't want to do the Blue Lagoon, you might want to check this one out.  Looks pretty nice.

Embarkation details

I talked to tellus@Viking on a different matter and she told me the following as best as I could jot down the info:

Official embarkation does not start until 11:00am.  They MIGHT let you onto one of the outside decks before that but you will not be able to leave that area (to make spa arrangements etc) until 11:00.

Once you set foot on the ship you are in the Viking bubble and cannot get off.

You cannot go to your room until 3:00

Some kind of "program" will start around 5:00 giving you info about the rest of the cruise so you do not want to be there later than that (unclear whether this was an in-person program or televised).

On disembarking, you have to vacate room between 8:30 and 9:00.  She didn't know whether we could hang out in some public areas on the ship or not after that.

Anyway, that's what I was told for what that's worth

Wow - am I dreaming or did we just receive an apology email from Viking?  

One sentence I found amusing - they did not expect the volume they got today.

I think any of us on these roll calls could have told them everyone would have been trying to book as soon as they opened  since we have no other alternative given the "bubble" situation.  And a number of us in fact predicted system crashes.

But at least we got an  acknowledgement from Viking that this was not well played!

15 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

"Mange takk" to Perris, at Viking CS, who was able to sooth our anxiety. She was able to straighten out all of the charges and excursions for us. And extremely pleasant and cheerful on a day like today.

 

Do you have her number?  We were told there was nothing they could do on their end.  I screen printed those shorex that we did get that shows the word "confirmed" so I'm going with that.  I had some ShoreX that early showed up in the calendar and then disappeared  later.  I did get a confirmation email from Viking with our ShoreX as confirmed but they are not on calendar either, but at least I have it in writing from Viking.  Some of the ones we wanted such as the Vox Baths were sold out because our credit card kept failing multiple times and then showed Sold Out.  We did get the major ones we wanted but that took 3 1/2 hours.  Haven't looked at my card statements yet, but that's for another day. 

(We did have one customer rep say check back in 24 to 48 hours!  She assured us we'd still have plenty of ShoreX to choose from.  Who trains these people?)

I have shorex in my cart but 3 credit cards I've tried keep failing.  I was able to book 2 shorex but now none on any date are even posting.  It's after 2:05 and now the whole site is down

Is everyone getting account locked?

2 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said:

Just a reminder, though, that the rep I spoke to said my ship was at 100% capacity, and even double checked. So I think we have to accept that we don't know.

Was this the same rep that told you 195 bookings?  100% capacity and 195 booking doesn't seem to track.  But in any case, be sure to let us know when you get on board.