Viking Alaska & The Inside Passage (Orion 6/15/2020) Itinerary Change

[Hanoj]

Viking confirmed a change to our Alaska & The Inside Passage cruise on the Orion embarking Seward, Alaska on June 15, 2020. Sitka (one of seven ports on this itinerary) is no longer a scheduled port of call. Instead the ship will depart Juneau as originally scheduled the first day there and return at 7 am the next day to anchor/tender for a second, shorter day in Juneau. Also, the time scheduled for Ketchikan is now one hour less in this port and it will be an anchor/tender. 
 

We did not receive a notification from Viking or an explanation, nor did our TA. Last week I was perusing the itinerary on MyVikingJourney.com and noticed deviations from when we booked the cruise in July. I notified our TA and she has been in contact with more than one department at Viking and today it was confirmed that our cruise schedule has been altered. Our TA received a revised guest statement showing the alterations, but no explanation was given for the deviations from the cruise itinerary we purchased. 
 

I don’t know if this affects other sailings, but if you have a 2020 Alaska & Inside Passage cruise booked, you may want to check your trip summary/calendar on your MVJ. 

 

[Krisval]

I just checked our itinerary for the same cruise starting on June 5. Our itinerary now shows Ketchikan, Sitka, 2 days in Juneau, then Icy Point, etc. So, we lose Skagway. Crud, that’s supposed to be a good one. 

 

We've not received notice of this change from anyone, but I’m asking our travel agent about it today. I’ll let you know if I get any insightful answer.

[old biddy]

Just a thought. Viking got a bit of stick over 'anchor' ports on this cruise this year. Have these ports been dropped because there are lots of ships in on the particular day?  Honestly I don't know, but.......

 

We did this cruise in July. I could probably have missed Sitka and in retrospect not be too upset. However to miss Skagway and the Yukon train would have been awful!

 

You will love this cruise, it was fabulous. If you are doing the Rockies extension, wow, not to be missed.

[Hanoj]

Our cruise was originally scheduled for June 22, 2020 in Sitka. I checked a website (don’t remember which one) that showed both Princess and Holland America have ships scheduled in port that day.

[Heidi13]

The other potential reason for the changes could be that Viking were awarded a permit for Glacier Bay starting next season. If they are adding GB they may have to tweak the schedule. The other response regarding reducing tender ports is also valid, as they received considerable flak this year, especially the 1st cruise.

[rudychance]

We absolutely loved our port day in Sitka on Cunard; enjoyed the all women dance tour (ha-they refused the men to join after it became popular 😃) and the city was so clean.   But, we didn't go to Skagway , so trade off.   Enjoy 

 

[pmfne]

On 10/25/2019 at 3:30 AM, old biddy said:

Just a thought. Viking got a bit of stick over 'anchor' ports on this cruise this year. Have these ports been dropped because there are lots of ships in on the particular day?  Honestly I don't know, but.......

 

We did this cruise in July. I could probably have missed Sitka and in retrospect not be too upset. However to miss Skagway and the Yukon train would have been awful!

 

You will love this cruise, it was fabulous. If you are doing the Rockies extension, wow, not to be missed.

Hi old biddy - very interested in your last comment. We have booked the North Pacific Passage arriving in Vancouver on June 5th 2020 and have also booked the Rockies extension. We normally organise our own land travel and have not previously done a bus tour, but it sounds interesting. Are you able to give us some more information about what you enjoyed so much about the Rockies extension?

Thank you.

[old biddy]

Hi pmfne - it sounds like you are doing the 7 day extension by coach, as we did, but in reverse, we finished Vancouver.

 

What did we enjoy? We were a small select group of 12, ( 6 couples) who had never met before, yet we all got on famously. We had a 36 seater coach so we were able to spread out, no fighting for window seats. There were frequent stops at various sites. I feel we really did see most of the essential tourist hot spots. The scenery was spectacular. If anything of real interest appeared, eg Black bear, Grizzley bear, Long horn sheep, Bald eagle, etc the coach driver was able to stop for the obligatory photoshoot. Both our guide, who was with us for the whole week and our driver were very knowledgeable, and were happy to answer all our stupid questions, without making us feel stupid, very essential!

 

Having  watched a program on UK television, last night, about the Rocky Mountaineer we are really glad we did the coach option.

 

I must admit the miles covered between Jasper to Sun Peaks and then Sun Peaks to Vancouver were very long, 500k per day I seem to remember, it was a small price to pay in the greater complexion of things.

 

Would I do it again? In a heart beat, but there are other parts of the world to investigate first.

[Nippy Sweetie]

We booked to do this extension after reading oldbiddy's previous description of it. Prior to that we'd thought we'd do the Rocky Mountaineer one. If we don't like it we'll know who to blame!! (Although I'm pretty sure it'll be fabulous!) 

[old biddy]

Help! I'm beginning to feel a burden of responsibility. Do I need to flee the country now? 

 

Seriously it was brilliant- enjoy.

[Rawmac]

The Rocky Mountaineer goes through the valleys, so you are always looking upwards and are surrounded by geology.  The coach goes over the passes, so you are looking down and around, and can stop easily wherever or for whatever.  You could even see the sunshine.  The hotels we had on the coach trip were 5*, except Kamloops.  I'd go for the coach every time.

[Heidi13]

Having driven these routes many times, don't discount the option to hire a car and drive yourself, stopping where you want. Some roads are interesting when towing our 41' trailer, but in a car it is easy driving.