10 hours ago, Iloveketo said:

This is what we saw in May of 2022 in Georgian Bay.

Thanks for the picture. I have 2 Subs booked. 7/23 Thunder Bay and 7/30 Frazer Bay. Hopefully weather conditions will allow us to dive. Both are free as we booked our cruise before the cutoff date. Otherwise, $499. Wouldn't go. 

Viking statement from our Cruise Itinerary: Submarine Dives: Dives are contingent on weather conditions, not available in all ports/landings and have limited availability. For cruise bookings made on or after April 01, 2023, a $499 USD pp fee will be charged to your onboard account, after you have completed your submarine dive. All guests will be subject to a cancellation fee of $299 USD pp if canceled on board and less than 48 hours before scheduled dive.

I've been able to get 15 guests signed up for our Viking Polaris July 22nd Duluth to Toronto hosted M&M with another 10 in the que. I send them to the Guest Services Mgr., and he issues invitations to their suites on day of embarkation. Works smooth.

18 days until we embark on this beautiful new Viking Expedition ship. 

On 7/2/2023 at 12:01 PM, MSEm said:

"please post to good and bad of any excursions"  

Suggest you follow/join FB page Viking Expedition Great Lakes Cruises for a wealth of information and pictures. Much better than I can write. 19 days until we embark on Viking Polaris Duluth to Toronto. Enjoy your cruise.

I've been able to get 15 guests signed up for our Viking hosted M&M with another 10 in the que. I send them to the Guest Services Mgr., and he issues invitations to their suites on day of embarkation. Works smooth.

 

With CC M&M PAUSED for Viking Ocean (Expedition) I was able to locate ship email on our final docs and received response that they'd host our M&M on July 22nd Polaris 15-day Duluth to Toronto.

I'm in the process obtaining guest names and room numbers to send to the Guest Services Manager in order to have invitations place in their suites on embarkation day.

We also have unofficial M&M days and locations set as fallback for those not wanting to email me their information.

20 days to go!

Looking forward to our 8th Viking adventure on this new Expedition ship. 🙂 

Lots of toys with two sub rides scheduled.

I was able to get a Viking hosted Meet & Mingle scheduled on the Polaris for our July 22nd Duluth to Toronto. We fly into Duluth on the 20th. Once you receive your final docs, find the email address for the Polaris and request your M&M.

I received an email response from the Viking Polaris Guest Services Manager Nico Thiart 2 days later indicating they'd be able to do the meet & Mingle with the scheduled date and time.

As M&M are officially paused on Cruise Critic for Viking Ocean (Expedition) they are not involved as usual, this means you have to gather and provide guest names and room numbers and send to the manager in order to have M&M invitations sent to the invited guests room on day of embarkation. Requires you to facilitate by linking up with guests on CC or Facebook PM and getting their details to forward.

Not an easy task but it works.

Good luck.

We're looking forward to our 8th Viking adventure on this new Expedition ship.

20 days to go. 🙂 

She's underway to Memphis with ETA 8/24 @ 3:00am UTC -5hrs CDT

8 hours ago, bcorre2 said:

Recent post on another Viking River Roll Call says Viking anounced the cancellation of the Aug 27th cruise St Louis to St Paul on Aug 18th.

The Sept 3rd and Sept 10th cruises appear to still be on.

Not my call. Just passing this unofficial comment on. 

Modified: The 8/27 departure from St. Louis is still happening. Some of the cabins are not ready, but all of the public spaces are. Those affected have been notified. Hope your cabin is ready.

Not moving but starting to put their plan out there on Marine Traffic. ETA: Memphis 2022-08-23 22:00

Recent post on another Viking River Roll Call says Viking anounced the cancellation of the Aug 27th cruise St Louis to St Paul on Aug 18th.

The Sept 3rd and Sept 10th cruises appear to still be on.

Not my call. Just passing this unofficial comment on. 

Pretty quiet here.

Cruise critic review:

Viking Mississippi's Maiden Voyage is August 2022

Viking Mississippi will enter service on August 27, 2022. The maiden cruise will be the one-week America's Heartland voyage that travels from St. Louis to St. Paul.

Any CC members on board this Viking Mississippi cruise?

Would be interested in hearing about your Viking experience.

We'll be boarding this new Viking River Cruise ship in 38 days Sept 10th from ST. Louis to St. Paul.

Can't wait to get back to cruising with Viking. Our 6th with them.

As I always said, "Build it and they will come" They found a way even with the Jones Act. Finally found some pictures of the New River Ship Viking Mississippi float-out. Articles are dated one month ago (3/7) but may have been longer.

Feeling better about being onboard her in 157 days.

I've been following this Viking Mississippi product for over 5 years now as my posts show. As I always said, "Build it and they will come" They found a way even with the Jones Act. Finally found some pictures of the New River Ship Viking Mississippi float-out. Articles are dated one month ago (3/7) but may have been longer.

Feeling better about being onboard her in 157 days.

As we're just around a year away from the first scheduled sailing, I was curious about the progress on the build-out on the new Viking Mississippi ship.

I came across a couple pictures and an article that helped me feel better about making this cruise in Sept 2022.

Pictures are from  Edison Offshore shipyards.

One was taken inside Nov 2020 and the other later as it was awaiting floating early June 2021  to their Homa Shipyard 17 miles down the intercostal waterway for final assembly. Not sure of the one floating but it looks to be her. Hope to spot updates on the progress.

The Unfinished Viking Mississippi Cruise Ship Will Soon Be on The Move on Louisiana's Intracoastal Waterway | Melinda Crow | NewsBreak

HOUMA, LOUISIANA-- Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) is currently building the first river cruise ship for Viking Cruises, with an option for eight more ships, according to the Houma Today, the local newspaper where one of ECO's shipyards is located. The paper estimates that will generate eight to 10 years of work for the shipbuilder. The Viking ship has been located at the company's Larose facility, but an employee told News Break the ship would be floated on the canal to the Houma facility as soon as Saturday 05/01 where it would be completed. The distance between the two shipyards is over 17 miles.

More on the Jones Act maneuver. Wow $173.5 million.

How Viking’s Mississippi cruise ship will obtain Jones Act compliance - DredgeWire : DredgeWire

Looking forward to our scheduled Viking Mississippi River Cruises America's Heartland Sept 2022 and Heart of the Delta Apr 2023. Our 7th & 8th Viking adventure. We have enjoyed the Viking the pkg since 2013.

All good ideas/options here! I would not recommend and will not do Viking Insurance again.

Viking River would not allow our future credit to go toward insurance when we rebooked?

Our June 2020 Portugal cruise was cancelled by Viking and we chose to rebook all the same for 2021.

This cruise originally had insurance but Viking dropped the insurance and did not allow future credits to go toward insurance.

Our TA discussed with VRC and they said the credits cannot be applied toward the insurance cost.

The rebooked trip overage is only allowed to be used for: pre-paid gratuities, optional premium shore excursions, silver beverage package, or other on-board services.

Non-refundable amounts comeback to you as a travel credit, with details described in the policy.

http://www.tripmate.com/plan/print_certificate/486A21F9-7DC4-466A-9AAC-65FEE9A60A4E

For the original trip insurance coverage we received a credit overage that can’t be re-used for purchase of Insurance.

Vikings response: Insurance cannot be given away for free – it’s against insurance law.  

Technically by giving the FCV and applying the funds to a second booking, the insurance was viewed as ‘being given/free’ – so, we apply the funds and ask that the guests buy the insurance.

VRC said the amount would sit on the reservation and we could use it for optional shore excursions ect.

Tauck has nine riverboats, owned and operated by Scylla, a Swiss-owned company; while the only Tauck employees are the cruise director and guides, Tauck dictates the experience. 

Starting in 2017, the line is revamping its five older Jewel-class ships, which are smaller than the Inspiration vessels, reducing the capacity from 118 to 98. Once that's done, Tauck will no longer distinguish ships by "class."

We’ve been on 6 Viking Ocean/River cruises and two Tauck land experiences. Tauck really knows how to treat you and allow you to relax completely on your journey with them.

If they can bring their experience to their new ms Andorinha riverboat running on the Douro and to the rest of their Europe River Cruises, we’ll be looking at them.

Tauck is for travelers Who Don’t Want to Worry About a Thing.

https://www.tauck.com/ships/ms-andorinha

https://www.shermanscruise.com/ships/ms-emerald

Effective immediately, we have amended our Final Payment Due Date and Cancellation Penalties to give you the time and flexibility you may need with regard to your travel plans. Details are as follows:

• Final payment for all 2020 Tauck land tours and cruises is now due 45 days prior to departure, instead of our standard final payment terms. We have extended this date to enable you to make the best personal decision with regard to your planned trip as close to your scheduled departure date as possible.

• All cancellation penalties will be frozen at the current tier and will not increase prior to final payment. Under the terms of our standard cancellation policy, guests incur cancellation penalties based on tiered time periods, with fees increasing as the departure date draws near. Under our amended policy, cancellation fees will remain frozen at the tier that currently applies to your scheduled departure and will not increase prior to the 45-day final payment date.  By freezing cancellation penalties, if you purchased Guest or Cruise Protection and cancel your trip before your final payment is due, the cost of the Guest or Cruise Protection fee is Dreamsaved. If you did not purchase Guest or Cruise Protection, the cost of your deposit will be Dreamsaved.  In either case Dreamsaved funds are available for you to use for future travel*.

• If you cancel your booking within 45 days of departure: to offer additional peace of mind, Tauck has now lowered penalties for cancellation to the most lenient tier inside of final payment as referenced in our terms and conditions.  Any penalties assessed will be placed into a Dreamsaver account along with your protection plan premiums*. Normally, those cancellation penalties (and Protection plan fees) would be completely forfeited.

We want to thank you again for booking your 2020 journey with us. Your support and trust in Tauck has kept us traveling for 95 years and will keep us going well into the future – and that means the world to us. During these uncertain times it can be wonderful to have something to look forward to; we hope you are looking forward to your Tauck trip as much as we are.

Sincerely,

The Team at Tauck

Steve,

Could you help us understand this issue about Viking River not allowing our future credit to go toward insurance when we rebook?

Is this a VRC Tax issue, insurer issue or something else?  We’re led to believe other cruise lines allow the paid insurance cost to be move forward to the new rebooked cruise.

Our June 2020 Portugal cruise was cancelled by Viking and we chose to rebook all the same for 2021.

This cruise originally had insurance but Viking dropped the insurance and did not allow future credits to go toward insurance.

Our TA discussed with VRC and they said the credits cannot be applied toward the insurance cost.

They base the insurance premium on the cost of the trip, and since the whole trip was covered by credits, the new re-booked cruise insurance goes down to their lowest base cost of $319 per person.

The rebooked trip overage is only allowed to be used for: pre-paid gratuities, optional premium shore excursions, silver beverage package, or other on-board services.

Non-refundable amounts comeback to you as a travel credit, with details described in the policy.

http://www.tripmate.com/plan/print_certificate/486A21F9-7DC4-466A-9AAC-65FEE9A60A4E

So, we end-up getting insurance for an additional $640 over the $1,800+ we already paid for the original trip coverage and only received a credit overage that can’t be re-used for purchase of Insurance on the new re-booked trip.

Viking agent response: "Insurance cannot be given away for free – it’s against insurance law.  

Technically by giving the FCV and applying the funds to a second booking, the insurance was viewed as ‘being given/free’ – so, we apply the funds and ask that the guests buy the insurance.

VRC said the amount would sit on the reservation and we could use it for optional shore excursions ect.

TA had no success with asking for the overage to be a refund or used on a second voyage...it’s all on one booking and anything unused is lost  – we are trying to not make accounting any more difficult than it has been these past 4-5 weeks. "

Thanks for your time on this one,

bcorre2

On 5/23/2020 at 6:15 AM, Peachypooh said:

 

Has anyone looked into this river cruise? Thanks.

You can find active Viking Mississippi topics in Viking River Roll Calls.

Viking River has just recently added new cruises to the four they offer.

We have booked two of these cruises for Sept 2022 and Apr 2023.

We’re hoping Viking will take possession of another one of their 6 new Viking Mississippi River boats for this late 2023 cruise.

This will be our 7th Viking adventure River/Ocean since 2013. We booked the shorter 8 day America's Heartland for 2022 and the other Southern half 8 day Heart of the Delta for 2023. Always like to wait for Viking to get the kinks out before we try the longer full 15 day cruise in 2023.

Looking forward to the shorter flights to St Louis and back rather than (SEA) Seattle to (LHR) Heathrow. 

We did NCL once on Pearl Alaska Adventure 2009.

We've been Viking River/Ocean since.

Have Viking River cruises # 6, 7 & 8 booked for 2021, 22 & 23. 

Last two on the Mississippi River.

We enjoy Tauck for our land trips.

We have rebooked our cancelled Portugal's River Of Gold from June 2020 to June 2021 using Vikings 125% FCV.

Still hoping our Tauck In Freedom's Footsteps land journey will go this September.

Since then, we've booked two Viking Mississippi River cruises for 2022 & 2023. We'll enjoy the shorter flights.

Viking sells out Mississippi River cabins for October 2022 cruise

As I said, "Build it and they will come"

https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Viking-sells-out-cabins-for-October-2022-cruise-15211116.php

TA booked Viking Mississippi for 2022 & 2023.

Have moved to Viking (non NCLA) River Roll Calls

Safe travels

Our TA was able to cancel our June Viking River Cruise and just completed rescheduling for 2021 with ALL the same. Travel dates, Extensions pre/post, ship and suite. We didn’t hear anything about vouchers as we just re-booked. Some information we learned about the accounting magic Viking uses for re-booking vs refund that may help in your decision.

The total for the 2019 departure for 2 people cost is what you would get if you just wanted a refund.

Since we wanted to convert it to a credit, it’s that amount times 1.25 which was applied to our NEW Viking Cruise for 2021 with ALL of the same items as 2020.

The overage difference can only be used for:

Prepaid gratuities - $126 per person

Silver Spirits beverage package - $150 per person

Any premium excursions during the cruise that have a cost

What you CANNOT use the overage for:

They don’t allow it to be split for use on 2 cruises. So it would not be able to be used toward any other cruise, including any other Viking cruise you may want to add on before or after your affected cruise.

If you have an overage and don’t want to use it for any of the items listed previously for the affected cruise, then you can put in a request for a refund of the difference. They don’t promise to allow it, but will look at it on a case by case basis.

It can take up to 30 days for the credit to be applied to your new booking (doesn’t normally take that long, but since the whole world & their operation is in turmoil presently, it could take up to 30 days).

The insurance cost has to be paid within 14 days IF you have any pre-existing health conditions that you think may make you have to cancel your cruise.

If you don’t have any pre-existing health conditions that might affect you taking the new departure, then no action is needed on your part & we just wait for the credit to be applied whenever that happens.

BUT if you or DO have a pre-existing health condition, that may affect you taking the new cruise, then you will want to pay for the insurance up front, out of pocket, to make sure it is paid within 14 days.

New Viking reservation accounting Magic: Statement differences:  Our Cruise Tour Fare, Booking Discount and Past Guest Discount changed from 2020 to 2021 to a net + $1,000 pp. I won’t go into detail as you wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. This means our 25% overage was $2k less than we thought it might be.

If you paid for your previous cruise with a debit card, you got a 3% discount for paying by e-check.  That same discount is not applied when using a past credit for a new booking.

Also, for doing the transfer of funds from the old booking, they either allow you to do that with 125% of your gross cancelled cruise cost OR let you use the Covid-19 special booking rate, but not both.

As we really were looking forward to this Viking River Cruise we rescheduled and requested a refund on the overage.

Too much $ to spend on the items Viking allowed as we are not heavy drinkers. Occasional beer and wine at meals.  If we don’t get the refund applied, we’ll just tip and drink heavily and take every paid excursion we can handle. 😉

18 hours ago, Coral said:

Though I would love to do a small cruise in your state. 🙂 I guess we desire something different than what we have My best friend lives in Mill Creek. I love your area!

Coral,

We've both been in WA area for 70+ years and seen it all. WA, OR, ID & Canada. Sailed, boated and camped with our family and friends through out. Wonderful and easily accessible from our home. Built family homes in Bothell 5 mi South. Sold the ranch and downsized when we became empty nesters in 2004 and moved to Mill Creek. Love it here in our Condo-Home. Haven't been to the Heartland so looking forward to starting with the Viking St. Louis to St. Paul trip first (7th Viking River/Ocean Cruise) in 2022 and maybe follow-up with their New Orleans to Memphis in 2023. Just had our June 15 Douro River Cruise cancelled and rebooking for 2021.

Would suggest any of the American Cruise Lines Pacific NW trips with Puget Sound or Grand at the top of our list. Columbia/Snake Rivers also great! Looking forward to visiting the Heartland and the Mississippi with Viking. 

Safe travels,

Bob & Margie

Viking now has a Viking Mississippi tab on their Viking River Fleet page.

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/ships/mississippi/viking-mississippi.html