Review- Viking Sea: From the Caribbean to the Amazon (Dec 16, 2017 to Jan. 6, 2018)

[LadyImpactOhio]

Yes, when you add up the 4 Amazon stops. 8 hours each in Santarem and Paratins. Noon arrival in Manaus and leaving the next day around 6 pm. Late arrival in Belem because of sick couple being let off (I didn't get off, WAY too hot and humid for me) and leaving around 6 pm very little time in stops v. Time at sea or on the river.

 

I talked with quite a few peeps. No one I talked with saw a toucan. A few saw monkeys. We didn't. We only saw a sloth, a few hawks and herons, some big ants, termite piles, and piranhas caught by passengers on the fishing expedition, which IMO was the best tour of all.

 

Do I wish I hadn't gone? Absolutely not. I still had fun and enjoyed the voyage despite all the hiccups.

[auspal]

I have spoken with a Viking travel agent in Sydney re this matter and referred him to the reviews on this post. He read it and said the shortage of food was because of the Caribbean hurricane. Have to say he wasnt really helpful and quite non-committal. He did offer to transfer my deposit to another cruise, which was helpful of him, but still havent had any reply to my email to Viking via the link provided.

[Vineyard View]

Auspal, just my opinion but your TA response was way insufficient.

 

I read on another thread that the lead Viking person for the online emails is out on maternity leave, and that responses may be a little slower right now?

 

LIO & CS, Thanks for the continued updates and feedback for Viking that you both experienced during your Amazon trip.

 

Hopefully we will hear some constructive updates from Viking soon......

[auspal]

My opinion too. I was not happy with the response at all. It didnt instill confidence in me Vineyard View.

[LadyImpactOhio]

I have spoken with a Viking travel agent in Sydney re this matter and referred him to the reviews on this post. He read it and said the shortage of food was because of the Caribbean hurricane. Have to say he wasnt really helpful and quite non-committal. He did offer to transfer my deposit to another cruise, which was helpful of him, but still havent had any reply to my email to Viking via the link provided.

 

If what your Sydney TA is telling you is true, he certainly knows way more than any of us on that ship were told or the people in California.

 

The captain repeatedly said we needed that container. Period. Never said why or what was in it even when many were curious and asked. If it was as simple as food because of the hurricane, why not just say so. If so, that however is unlikely to be repeated on subsequent cruises. The other issues however are suspect.

[auspal]

I heard back from Viking cruises today with this message

" Thank you for your email that has been forwarded to me from our USA office.

 

I regret to hear you have read bad reviews regarding your upcoming “From the Caribbean to the Amazon” cruise.

 

As I am out of the country at the moment greeting our wonderful World Cruise ship, Viking Sun into New Zealand, I have forwarded your concerns to our Australian reservations team and they will respond to you shortly.

 

Thank you for your patience and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance." ( from customers relations)

 

 

 

I will share the response with you all.

[Fpacifico]

I heard back from Viking cruises today with this message

" Thank you for your email that has been forwarded to me from our USA office.

 

I regret to hear you have read bad reviews regarding your upcoming “From the Caribbean to the Amazon” cruise.

 

As I am out of the country at the moment greeting our wonderful World Cruise ship, Viking Sun into New Zealand, I have forwarded your concerns to our Australian reservations team and they will respond to you shortly.

 

Thank you for your patience and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance." ( from customers relations)

 

 

 

I will share the response with you all.

 

I was on the Star in June and I can tell you that there was plenty of food. In fact you are over fed on the cruise. The ships will buy fresh fish from locals and its delicious when prepared. Most of the Caribbean is up and running, welcoming more tourists everyday. Take reviews with a grain of salt. Done people are never happy with anything. I can’t wait to start our cruise in the Caribbean this coming Sunday. So happy travels

[Fpacifico]

I was quite excited when I saw that reviews had been published for this cruise as we have booked the same cruise for 2018. I as continued to read, my heart sank. This cruise was to be a very special treat for us to celebrate our retirement and not inexpensive especially as we will be travelling from Australia. I cant cancel now either as I would lose our $1000 deposit along with $1500 per person. I chose this cruise for the Amazon component, but don't think we will see much with only 3 ports of call. The colourful toucan in the advertisement is what attracted me to look further at this cruise. Doesn't sound like cruisers saw much wildlife at all. I will contact Viking with my concerns.

 

I’ve been to Alaska and saw less mature than on my beach in New York city’s rockaway community. Some people I know saw tremendous number of species. It’s a matter of luck. You may go and see one toucan after another . The cruise line has no control over the animals that live each country.

[BC Eddie]

It is true you cannot please all the people all the time and for some people you can never please. However we were on the December Amazon sailing and after speaking with about fifteen other couples on board we only found one who said they enjoyed the cruise, all others were very disappointed and several said they would never sail Viking Oceans again. This was our second Viking Ocean and we have been on three V river cruises and we are still fans of Viking but this cruise (and many associated excursions) were badly done and, after speaking to Viking and hearing their response, Viking agrees. I do believe Viking appreciates honest feedback and takes these comments seriously and I would expect big improvements on future iterations of this Amazon cruise.

 

As to the luck of seeing nature on an excursion; it is true it is a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time. However, if you are in a long line of people stomping through the jungle the odds are that you will not see much. We would have loved to have seen a sloth. The most we saw were the big ants and a possible sighting of a bat.

[LadyImpactOhio]

I was on the Star in June and I can tell you that there was plenty of food. In fact you are over fed on the cruise. The ships will buy fresh fish from locals and its delicious when prepared. Most of the Caribbean is up and running, welcoming more tourists everyday. Take reviews with a grain of salt. Done people are never happy with anything. I can’t wait to start our cruise in the Caribbean this coming Sunday. So happy travels

 

Hope you have a good time. But a Caribbean cruise is quite different than a 3 week cruise to the Amazon, having to get yellow fever, visa, possible anti malaria pills and scoping out stops on the Amazon which Viking obviously did very poorly.

 

The Caribbean is well travelled for many years and any hiccups that may occur will most probably be very different than those we experienced on this trip. The passengers on this cruise, including me and the others on this thread. Paid a lot and expected a lot based on the hype of the Viking sales people and what their optional, expensive excursions promised. And their itinerary.

 

"Done people are never happy with anything" should be a statement for those who have been there and done that and not a judgment from those who haven't.

 

Our first Viking ocean in the Baltic we could not find fault with anything. The second in the Med was tiring but we knew it would be and it was done well. The Amazon was not done well.

 

But we are giving them another chance and put down our final payment on the Nile trip. Viking is experienced in this route and it's a new ship, however we have very high hopes this one will be a winner.

[Vineyard View]

Respectfully, I truly believe that if one takes the time to really read this entire thread, as well as the section during and after the Amazon trip of their roll call thread, that most people would have to agree that this wasn’t a case of ‘some people are never happy with anything’. There are way to many documented specific problems and misses that were not up to Viking’s standards.

I do believe that one should take some reviews with a grain of salt, however when the majority of actual passengers on a given itinerary are all singing the same song, then it makes sense to pay some attention to and consider the validity of their reviews.

We are very big fans of Viking. We have enjoyed both Rivers and Oceans. We are booked on this itinerary late this year, and rightfully are concerned about it. So this isn’t about slamming Viking, but more about voices that Viking should be, and is listening to in order to improve upon this itinerary in the future. We are looking forward to hearing from Viking. We know this will take them some time prior to the late year sailings, but we are confident that they can and will make the changes, and improvements necessary for this to be a successful itinerary for Viking and passengers.

[Fpacifico]

Hope you have a good time. But a Caribbean cruise is quite different than a 3 week cruise to the Amazon, having to get yellow fever, visa, possible anti malaria pills and scoping out stops on the Amazon which Viking obviously did very poorly.

 

The Caribbean is well travelled for many years and any hiccups that may occur will most probably be very different than those we experienced on this trip. The passengers on this cruise, including me and the others on this thread. Paid a lot and expected a lot based on the hype of the Viking sales people and what their optional, expensive excursions promised. And their itinerary.

 

"Done people are never happy with anything" should be a statement for those who have been there and done that and not a judgment from those who haven't.

 

Our first Viking ocean in the Baltic we could not find fault with anything. The second in the Med was tiring but we knew it would be and it was done well. The Amazon was not done well.

 

But we are giving them another chance and put down our final payment on the Nile trip. Viking is experienced in this route and it's a new ship, however we have very high hopes this one will be a winner.

 

All reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. It doesn’t mean that your criticism aren’t legitimate. And some people do complain about everything, I’ve seen it on my excursions. My point is that only some choose to post their reviews of the cruise on this site, but the majority of people don’t. So like I said, take the reviews with a grain of salt

[Vineyard View]

I have had Another dialogue with Viking about this itinerary. They appreciate and want to hear the feedback. They are more aware of the problems and issues which occurred as a result of the voices here on CC. Part of the result in that is that Viking initiated contacting passengers aside from CC from this voyage to get a thorough take on what occurred, which allowed them to be even more aware of what needs to be addressed.

I stressed with them that more than three ports need to happen in the Amazon, including eliminating Belem based on what happened during the maiden voyage. I also shared that with only three ports we would likely cancel as other ships typically have five. It’s too many sea days and too far to go for three ports. There are a lot of Caribbean cruises to choose from, and this is a lot of money to be primarily focused on that piece. There is a lot of background time and energy required of Viking to set up new ports, so hopefully with this advance timing they will be able to accomplish this.

We also discussed the excursions and the many let downs around that piece. I was assured that Viking is very focused on this area......

So I am grateful that Viking did not take the feedback from their passengers with a grain of salt and just consider it criticism. I was really happy to learn that these reports prompted proactive reaching out from Viking to the non CC passengers who were on the cruise to assist in validating where improvements and changes need to be made.

I am hopeful that we will start learning from Viking what the results are as they roll out, knowing that it will take a lot of work on their part to get where they need to be for this itinerary. It reassures and reminds me once again that Viking is a class act company who is listening and who cares.

 

As to those who want to complain about everything- yep, been around them as well, and they drive me crazy. Choices in how we walk through life for sure......however IMHO, this situation is just not that same case to be had.

 

As i hear more from Viking with updates I will be happy to share.

[auspal]

I have decided to cancel my trip for the December 2018 cruise, and will book an alternative Viking cruise. I very much look forward to taking this cruise once the issues are sorted. As for reviews being taken " with a grain of salt", why bother reading them at all, whether they are good or bad ? I thought that was the whole point of cruisecritic.

[LadyImpactOhio]

I have decided to cancel my trip for the December 2018 cruise, and will book an alternative Viking cruise. I very much look forward to taking this cruise once the issues are sorted. As for reviews being taken " with a grain of salt", why bother reading them at all, whether they are good or bad ? I thought that was the whole point of cruisecritic.

 

Well said.

[PEverdell]

My wife and I are still looking forward to Caribbean to Amazon in November 2018 as we are sure sure Viking will make every effort to get it right the next time. Thanks Vineyard View for your efforts to communicate with Viking and we are satisfied with the positive feedback you have gotten from them. We are sorry people are dropping out as just being aboard a Viking Ocean vessel is a privilege. This is after being a crew member for 2 and 1/2 years on a Coast Guard icebreaker going to the Arctic and Antarctic years ago in the Pacific and having done numerous great cruises on the Aegean Odyssey and then being totally spoiled by Viking Homelands last May on the Viking Sky(absolutely no complaints). We just can't wait to go again and we chose this because mainly neither my wife and I had never been to this part of the world before.

[auspal]

I hope you have a wonderful cruise PEverdell and I am sure Viking will get it right. Looking forward to reading the next reviews.

[Keith1010]

Just caught up with this thread and reads your review. Thanks for taking the time to share your report/review.

 

Keith

[Geezy Rider]

I hope you have a wonderful cruise PEverdell and I am sure Viking will get it right. Looking forward to reading the next reviews.

 

We have been following this post with great interest, since we booked this same itinerary for the Nov '18 sailing on Viking Sea. We are pleased that Viking appears to be taking steps to try to correct the many problems that took place on the maiden voyage on the same itinerary, but after much soul-searching we have cancelled our reservation. We simply do not want to put this much money at risk in the hopes that the problems will be eliminated.

 

We're booked instead an Antarctic cruise in Jan '19 with the newly-refurbished Azamara Pursuit, and we're confident that they will perform as well as they have in the past.

 

The Amazon remains on our bucket list, and we are truly looking forward to trying Viking Ocean, so we'll re-book once the many bumps in the road have been smoothed out. And we sincerely hope they will be, so you all can thoroughly enjoy your cruise!

 

Doc

[m2mboss]

In connection with Viking monitoring the boards, I would note that TellUs is working as Viking confirms. See my detailed review of the Amazon/Viking Sea cruise under the reviews elsewhere and I should say that, after posting but before publication (!) Viking did take the trouble to spend at least an hour with me by phone to learn from the experiences we had so as to improve the product going forward - which was what I wanted to achieve.

[Vineyard View]

I am resurrecting this thread in hopes that those who are just returned from the second Amazon itinerary on the Sky would please post here with their experiences. many of us are interested in how this journey was for all of you and whether you would recommend it to others? What were your highlights and were there areas of opportunity still that Viking needs to address? Did you have three or four port stops in the Amazon?

Thank you

[LadyImpactOhio]

I have some news on the Brazil visa issue. They started a new eVisa program in January for Australians, Canadians, Japan and US. No need to visit a consulate if you go as a visitor and spend no more than 90 days. It's good for 2 yrs only which is probably adequate for most going to Brazil.

 

The website is http://www.bacctravel.com

 

My husband is a Brasileiro and gets a newspaper where this was discussed. Hope this helps some of you when previous people had a lot of difficulty.

[Vineyard View]

Well, it is a very interesting review over on the Sky’s 2/11 roll call regarding this second Amazon trip. Not stellar to say the least. In fact, OP does not recommend taking this itimerary based on their experiences.

 

I hope Viking is paying attention. To give credit - They did call me a a few weeks back to update me that there have been no decisions made as of then on changes or updates. I am hopeful that they are realizing that making changes to this itinerary is not at all optional. I am honestly not sure at this point if it is worth staying the course on this one....

[Canadian Sunset]

Well, it is a very interesting review over on the Sky’s 2/11 roll call regarding this second Amazon trip. Not stellar to say the least. In fact, OP does not recommend taking this itimerary based on their experiences.

 

I hope Viking is paying attention. To give credit - They did call me a a few weeks back to update me that there have been no decisions made as of then on changes or updates. I am hopeful that they are realizing that making changes to this itinerary is not at all optional. I am honestly not sure at this point if it is worth staying the course on this one....

 

 

Viking had best get busy on improvements or take this itinerary off completely. We were on the December trip on Sea and were not at all happy. Perhaps they needed more time that the two months in between the Sea and Sky voyages. Having 10 months to work out the kinks will hopefully improve things. Fingers crossed.

[Vineyard View]

I agree Canadian Sunset that the time between sailings didn’t provide much time for Viking to make changes...other than to remove Belem (rightfully so) from the itinerary. That resulted in a long distance to travel for three port stops in the Amazon, and another sea day on an already heavy sea day itinerary.

 

I also agree that Viking needs be making BIG changes or pull the itinerary. I feel very strongly that this needs to be finalized prior to the 121 days before sailing. If they cannot make that happen, I will not feel comfortable holding our reservations any further. We need the opportunity to move our booking elsewhere without large financial penalty as it is paid in full.