Ultimate World Cruise 245 days and all the parts. Ongoing review, questions, opinion

[2oldishcoots]

5 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

Glad you are safely home. Hope Viking Sun withdrawal doesn’t hurt too bad.🍺

I had to remember where the coffee pot was, this morning & then how to use it! This could be quite a step curve.😱

[deec]

yes...wait until you have to make the bed, pick up the dirty towels, cook the food and buy the food!!!  It was quite a shock when we returned home after 120 days and we did not face a Quarantine....stay healthy now that you are no long in the bubble!

[Jukebo1x]

5 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Couldn't believe how little traffic was on the road. Made it home in 45 mins, which at that time would normally be 2 hrs. Even Metro Vancouver is resembling the quiet island life, at least for now.

Welcome Home.  
we have had several weeks to “adapt” to this new life” as we now know it”. 

You are all first being “thrusted” into it, for the first time. 
I know you can already determine, reading and watching videos of what is currently occurring  is nothing like “actually living it”. 
The “social distancing, The sheltering in place, the paranoia of how to handle delivered groceries, the pain of a loved one on a ventilator, the elation when they are released from ICU, or released from a hospital, the sadness of those not so fortunate, those without employment, the small parades celebrating those coming home and for first responders.  It all takes on new meaning.  It’s different. It’s a lot. 
I can only say remember “baby steps”, when adapting to all of this. 
I have hope that we will be resilient, and that as a result, many will become better people, with softer hearts, and that will be good. 
I wish everyone on CC blessings on this Easter day, and everyday.-Jukebo1x. 

[SantaFe1]

What a lovely post.  Thank you.

And welcome home to all our Canadian friends finally completing the Magical Mystery Tour!

[stretchcruz]

Welcome home! Glad that you made it safely. Be safe now!!!!

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, Jukebo1x said:

Welcome Home.  
we have had several weeks to “adapt” to this new life” as we now know it”. 

You are all first being “thrusted” into it, for the first time. 
I know you can already determine, reading and watching videos of what is currently occurring  is nothing like “actually living it”. 
The “social distancing, The sheltering in place, the paranoia of how to handle delivered groceries, the pain of a loved one on a ventilator, the elation when they are released from ICU, or released from a hospital, the sadness of those not so fortunate, those without employment, the small parades celebrating those coming home and for first responders.  It all takes on new meaning.  It’s different. It’s a lot. 
I can only say remember “baby steps”, when adapting to all of this. 
I have hope that we will be resilient, and that as a result, many will become better people, with softer hearts, and that will be good. 
I wish everyone on CC blessings on this Easter day, and everyday.-Jukebo1x. 

 

Indeed a wonderful post. Easter blessings right back to you...and everyone. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

3 hours ago, Jukebo1x said:

Welcome Home.  
we have had several weeks to “adapt” to this new life” as we now know it”. 

You are all first being “thrusted” into it, for the first time. 
I know you can already determine, reading and watching videos of what is currently occurring  is nothing like “actually living it”. 

 

You are so right.  We got back to Toronto precisely three weeks ago and were self-isolated/quarantined for two weeks.  Even now our son we are either doing online ordering/pickup, or our son is provisioning us.  Seeing the "new normal" is quite startling, more so now than it was even three weeks ago.

 

We don't intend to do "normal" things for quite some time.  Treating our condo as the Owner's Suite, which it resembles, ha ha.

[Insanityx4]

2 hours ago, Wendy The Wanderer said:

 

You are so right.  We got back to Toronto precisely three weeks ago and were self-isolated/quarantined for two weeks.  Even now our son we are either doing online ordering/pickup, or our son is provisioning us.  Seeing the "new normal" is quite startling, more so now than it was even three weeks ago.

 

We don't intend to do "normal" things for quite some time.  Treating our condo as the Owner's Suite, which it resembles, ha ha.

Our California Governor has extended our shelter in place order through at least May 15. We have not been out since March 11 when we got home from the Sun. Everything has been ordered online and delivered. We also think this "new normal" is going to last for a long while. We really miss our kids and grandkids, but Facetime has been keeping everyone in touch.

California schools are closed for the remainder of the school year. People are coming up with very creative ways to keep themselves and the kids busy. It's going to be a LONG summer!

[deec]

BUT it is working.  I can not believe how contained the virus has been in San Francisco especially because I thought San Francisco still had a large homeless population.

 

We had our first  ZOOM family holiday today!!!  Certainly very strange.

 

We live in a Detroit suburb and are being VERY careful. Our governor is also being VERY aggressive in our" Stay Home, Stay Safe Orders"   Spring is coming and so far NO working in the boatyard to get boats ready to be launched, no lawn service,  no golf.

 

So we are dreaming of where to travel next!!!

 

Welcome home everyone...I will miss your posts!

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, Squawkman said:

What an adventure! How many total days were you on the ship?

I believe we were a few days shy of 100, while the Ultimates were > 200.

[Heidi13]

11 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Glad you are safely home. Hope Viking Sun withdrawal doesn’t hurt too bad.🍺

Thanks Jim - been tough so far, spending the fortnight in quarantine with Spring Cleaning. Only been home 24 hrs and already tired of cooking!!😁

[Insanityx4]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Thanks Jim - been tough so far, spending the fortnight in quarantine with Spring Cleaning. Only been home 24 hrs and already tired of cooking!!😁

Welcome to the rest of us who have been dealing with this for a while. So glad you are home and setting in. Stay safe and remember safe distancing!

[stretchcruz]

18 hours ago, deec said:

BUT it is working.  I can not believe how contained the virus has been in San Francisco especially because I thought San Francisco still had a large homeless population.

 

We had our first  ZOOM family holiday today!!!  Certainly very strange.

 

We live in a Detroit suburb and are being VERY careful. Our governor is also being VERY aggressive in our" Stay Home, Stay Safe Orders"   Spring is coming and so far NO working in the boatyard to get boats ready to be launched, no lawn service,  no golf.

 

So we are dreaming of where to travel next!!!

 

Welcome home everyone...I will miss your posts!

We are under stay at home orders, too, and we are. Our governor has decided that golf courses are "essential services". Rog is not playing. The majority of cases in AZ are between ages 20-44. 

Stay safe everybody! I'm cooking a LOT and actually enjoying it. I retired just before all of this started.

[Jukebo1x]

3 hours ago, stretchcruz said:

We are under stay at home orders, too, and we are. Our governor has decided that golf courses are "essential services". Rog is not playing. The majority of cases in AZ are between ages 20-44. 

Stay safe everybody! I'm cooking a LOT and actually enjoying it. I retired just before all of this started.

Glad that you are “sheltering in place”. 
We in MO have a “whoosy” stay-at-home order. 
Luckily, our county govt. ordered stay-at-home, way before our governor. 

I can see the order is working Out here...little glimmers of hope.

When grocery shopping, we became a bit spooked, by people in gloves & masks.  
We now have SHIPT delivery service.   

We have  been to Costco a few times, picked-up carry-out, taken some walks, dropped off food to loved ones, and that’s the extent of our outdoor social life. 
Everyone stay well, stay safe, and stay sane😌

 

[larry1365]

I am interesting in knowing if people on the full world cruise or some of its segments are pleased with the cash payments or future cruise credits that Viking is offering. Not asking for specific amounts, but just whether or not folks believe they have been treated fairly and in general how Viking is handling the issue. I know it will be a qualifier in any of our future Viking cruise plans. Thanks.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, larry1365 said:

I am interesting in knowing if people on the full world cruise or some of its segments are pleased with the cash payments or future cruise credits that Viking is offering. Not asking for specific amounts, but just whether or not folks believe they have been treated fairly and in general how Viking is handling the issue. I know it will be a qualifier in any of our future Viking cruise plans. Thanks.

As one of the last 8 pax to disembark the Viking Sun, I can assure you that throughout our almost 100 days on-board the vessel, both Viking Corporate and the amazing crew have handled the situation extremely well and provided exemplary customer service.

 

With respect to compensation, based on other threads you will find a plethora of responses. Personally, I have read and understood the Terms and Conditions that we agreed to, upon paying the deposit, so am well aware of Viking's legal responsibilities, with respect to compensation. They are offering well in excess of their obligation.

 

Having only disembarked a few days ago, all we have received to date is the initial offer of FCV, which was a very significant percentage of the total cruise fare paid. Considering we  enjoyed many days on the ship, only missing some ports, I consider Viking's offer extremely generous.

 

Comparing it to the offer we received after our last World Cruise, Viking's offer is more than extremely generous. After our last WC, we will never sail with that company again, but we will not hesitate to sail again with Viking.

 

BTW - based on information received, we anticipate receiving additional compensation by email in a few weeks. We are also receiving a significant cheque for refundable credits we were unable to use on board. 

 

If deciding whether Viking is a good fit, rather than focussing on compensation, I suggest reading this thread, the 2 previous WC threads and the many others on this board. I also maintained a daily blog outlining life on-board, Clay maintains a blog of his cruises and the last 2 WC also had at least 1 blog.

[Heidi13]

19 hours ago, larry1365 said:

I am interesting in knowing if people on the full world cruise or some of its segments are pleased with the cash payments or future cruise credits that Viking is offering. Not asking for specific amounts, but just whether or not folks believe they have been treated fairly and in general how Viking is handling the issue. I know it will be a qualifier in any of our future Viking cruise plans. Thanks.

Just crunched the numbers on Viking's compensation offer, which has 2 options. Note - this is the total value of compensation on offer, expressed as a percentage of the cruise fare paid. This is for a DV 4 and was based on CAN $ pricing.

 

Option 1 - All future cruise vouchers - 84.45% of cruise fare paid

 

Option 2 - FCV & Cash - 75.76% of cruise fare paid.

 

This was after being aboard the vessel from Jan 4th to April 10th, which is almost 100 days.

[Insanityx4]

19 hours ago, larry1365 said:

I am interesting in knowing if people on the full world cruise or some of its segments are pleased with the cash payments or future cruise credits that Viking is offering. Not asking for specific amounts, but just whether or not folks believe they have been treated fairly and in general how Viking is handling the issue. I know it will be a qualifier in any of our future Viking cruise plans. Thanks.

We were only on one leg of the world cruise, 30 days total. Viking not only gave a very generous, 40% future cruise credit, but also spent countless hours finding us flights home, without going through Asian airports, which was far more costly for them. We flew from Bali, through Dubai, on our way to SFO. They also provided those of us who left the ship in the morning, but didn't have flights out until evening, with a hotel room and lunch and dinner at a very upscale beach resort in Bali before transporting us to the airport. We were very impressed with how Viking handled everything, from beginning to end, keeping in mind the safety and well being of the passengers and crew. We did get our FCC a few days after we got home. We can't say enough positive things about how Viking dealt with a very difficult and changing situation which they had no control over. We already have two cruises scheduled for next year, one river and one ocean.

[stretchcruz]

Sounds as though Viking was very generous. Andy, you can go on a lot of cruises with that!!!

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, stretchcruz said:

Sounds as though Viking was very generous. Andy, you can go on a lot of cruises with that!!!

That's our thoughts, extremely generous. Certainly very happy that we found Viking.

[larry1365]

Thanks for the inputs regarding compensation from those who were on the recent planned 245-day World Cruise. It sounds as if Viking is being more than generous...and I am not surprised! I have been reading the 65 pages of this thread and am aware of what great service the crew provided throughout and the Herculean efforts Viking took to seek out alternate ports, excursions and travel arrangements, etc, for passengers. My wife and I were on the inaugural Viking Sun 2018 WC (as well as two previous ones on Regent). We love the Viking ships and can't wait to travel on them again -- using in part the future cruise credits from our recent April 5-15 Amsterdam river cruise that was cancelled.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

2 hours ago, larry1365 said:

My wife and I were on the inaugural Viking Sun 2018 WC (as well as two previous ones on Regent).

Hi Larry1365,

 

We are doing long range planing on a WC.  We have sailed on Regent before, but not on Viking.  Could you please do a very short compare and contrast between Viking and Regent for WCs?  Assume same level of cabin.  We are considering both for a WC.

 

Thanks in advance from a fellow SoCal’er (San Clemente)!

 

Ragnar “World Bound” D.

[Clay Clayton]

I only wish I could really do a comparison from first hand experience but based on entry level cabins on each, Regent is More expensive for less days. And presuming you would like to cruise for as long as Viking’s it works out to be quite a bit cheaper on a per person per day basis. $564 pp/pd on Regent vs. $393 on Viking.

 

Looking forward to reading Larry’s real comparison! 😊. Hopefully someday we will need to have this information 🤞 

[ellie1145]

But let's not forget or ignore the great job Viking has done. That none of the passengers on any of their ships contracted covid-19. That speaks volumes to the great job they've done. Other cruise ships may be floating Petri dishes but none of the Viking ships. None.  

In reality, no matter how good the hygiene is onboard a ship nothing can stop this vicious virus if someone onboard has got it. It is rather naive to think that Viking, alone, foiled the virus. They didn’t.

Surely, rather than it being Viking’s wonderful hygiene, you were just downright lucky that nobody onboard had contracted the virus earlier in the cruise.

Hygiene on most cruise ships is superb, but ships like Diamond Princess just got unlucky. Despite all their hygiene efforts a passenger on a previous cruise had unknowingly contracted the virus and spread it around before anyone realised the severity of the outbreak. Then the Japanese authorities made the most calamitous decision to keep passengers onboard instead of letting them go home immediately and be quarantined there. It could just as easily have been the Viking ship that ended up being a floating Petri dish.

Thinking that you are safe on any ship because of their wonderful hygiene is a worrying concept. Whatever hygiene methods are put in place it only takes ONE asymptomatic passenger, or one passenger who is incubating the virus unknowingly, for it to spread like wildfire throughout the ship, good hygiene or not.

As for saying that all other cruise ships are floating Petri dishes but Viking ships aren’t, that is naive in the extreme. If one of the passengers had contracted the virus at the first few stops then I am 100% sure that Viking ships would have been just as much of a Petri dish as the others. You simply can’t beat this virulent virus.

Unless of course Viking have found a way to ensure the virus does not get onto their ships, or they have some magical way of destroying it before it can infect anyone onboard, or they could ensure 100% of passengers or crew did not have it before they embarked, then the concept of Viking ships being the only ones never to get Covid-19 is pie in the sky, and very dangerous too. It gives a false sense of security.

Viking got lucky. And so did all onboard.

I wish you well, glad you are home safe, and feel sorry that you didn’t complete the world cruise. But you should forever thank your lucky stars that you had a very lucky escape, and one which might have been very different if Lady Luck had not been on your side.


Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Squawkman]

Ellie - luck was a factor, but there’s a lot more to Viking’s outcome than luck. Based on my one Princess cruise vs. 2 Viking ocean:

- 4 times as many guests on Princess.

- crowds everywhere often lost. Worse than a New York subway at rush hour.

- crowded tenders with people who refuse to split their group.

- kid’s running rampant with little supervision from their inebriated parents.

- no monitoring of hygiene at restaurants.

 

Anyone have more to add?