Sky Transatlantic March 6 2020 Almost Live

[deec]

Lots of air arrangements and/or hotels for folks to figure out!

[Peregrina651]

29 minutes ago, deec said:

Lots of air arrangements and/or hotels for folks to figure out!

 

And fortunately, time to do it.

 

Party hearty, everyone! 

[Clay Clayton]

Returned to the room last night to have a surprise letter  informing us (that if we wished) Viking would be booking (and paying for) our return flight to our home airport!  After a minute of consideration of listing Barcelona as our home airport, we elected to list Raleigh. 😂

 

We have not been informed of what compensation we will be receiving for this cruise. The official guest services line is that the “home office” will be in touch in the near future. Those on the onward cruise to Venice from Barcelona appears to be eligible for either a voucher for a future cruise for 125% of what they have paid or a 100% refund.  However, we spoke with at least one couple who like us were to disembark in Barcelona and they were told they would receive the 125% voucher and have already used it to book a future cruise. 🥴

 

I spoke with the General Manager this morning and he was unaware of this and after speaking with presumably the onboard sales guy, asked him to “get that in an email for me please”.  So fingers crossed that Viking will give us this same very generous 125%/100% option. It would help cover some of our sunk costs in Europe-airfare, airbnb, etc. 

Edited March 13, 2020 by Clay Clayton

[Clay Clayton]

So got a call from the onboard future cruise salesman and the latest word is the same as before, “home office will be in touch shortly” and he “promised me” that no one was booking future cruise Ms using a voucher. But at tea this afternoon heard another guest saying they had requested to book a future cruise and were told they could use their 125% voucher...I entered the conversation and he said he had the quote and was meeting with the sales guy tomorrow to finalize. Hmmm, may have to mutiny!

 

Another relaxing day, clocks turned back but somehow we still all but missed breakfast!  So we had “brunch” and afternoon tea and then our late reservation at The Chef’s Table for the relatively new Taste of Great Britain menu. We enjoyed it. I’ll do a full post about it on my blog if you want details. Below are a couple of pictures of it, tea (make mine a Devonshire scone), and today’s dailies. 

[albertamom]

Wow!  The Taste of Britain meal looks yummy!  😍

[Clay Clayton]

It was!

[Clay Clayton]

Here are today’s Dailies. Enjoyed the afternoon Caberet while playing a game of scrabble. Mike of course won. 

[Jack E Dawson]

Clay,

I have a favor to ask. Just found out that two of my dearest friends are on board with you, Bill and Cherrie McIntyre. If you see them, would you please tell them that Harold says hello. Would love to see their faces if you are able to so. They are two remarkable people. Bill is also celebrating his 80th birthday. Here are their pictures. Thank. you so much in advance.

 

Jack aka Harold Green

[kthlnlyns]

We were to be on the Viking Skye leaving Miami on March 6. We decided to take the voucher offer two days before when offered. We were all packed with our suitcases zipped. We were off to France afterwards for a week. Were really sad to change our plans but thought it was prudent for a 77 and 78 year old. It is amazing what has happened since last week. The world is changing very quickly. I truly enjoy your description of the food and ship. We are looking forward to our trip next year. Good luck in your travels home and I hope Viking can get you back safely. We were in Tunisia during the volcanic  ash .situation.  OATS, who we were traveling with , was fantastic in arranging our travels. Even then we ended up in NYC instead of Boston but we made it home. It is a very strange feeling to have limited control. Enjoy the rest of your voyage and a little bit of me wishes I were there. Good luck

[eldaradoe]

Cruisers on the Sky Did you arrive back in Miami yet? What are they telling you? American Airlines is suspending all international flights effective tomorrow!

[CharTrav]

2 hours ago, eldaradoe said:

Cruisers on the Sky Did you arrive back in Miami yet? What are they telling you? American Airlines is suspending all international flights effective tomorrow!

Not all but nearly all. 75%. Also 20% of domestic flights. Don't understand the "year-by-year" distinction cited in the article. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-suspend-nearly-long-030100859.html

Would trust this article even more. 

http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Additional-Schedule-Changes-in-Response-to-Customer-Demand-Related-to-COVID-19-031420-OPS-DIS-03/default.aspx

Bottom line - for everybody's peace of mind - please be sure to check for accuracy before posting news like this. Thanks!

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by CharTrav

[eldaradoe]

57 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Not all but nearly all. 75%. Also 20% of domestic flights. Don't understand the "year-by-year" distinction cited in the article. 

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-suspend-nearly-long-030100859.html

Would trust this article even more. 

http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2020/American-Airlines-Announces-Additional-Schedule-Changes-in-Response-to-Customer-Demand-Related-to-COVID-19-031420-OPS-DIS-03/default.aspx

Bottom line - for everybody's peace of mind - please be sure to check for accuracy before posting news like this. Thanks!

 

• Reduce international capacity by 75% year over year — from March 16 to May 6
• Continue to operate one flight daily from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) to London (LHR), one flight daily from Miami (MIA) to LHR and three flights per week from DFW to Tokyo (NRT)
• Continue short-haul international flying, which includes flights to Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, Central America and certain markets in the northern part of South America, as scheduled

[JerryInIL]

When do you get back to Miami?  There’s a lot of ships around there.

[Clay Clayton]

21 hours ago, Jack E Dawson said:

Clay,

I have a favor to ask. Just found out that two of my dearest friends are on board with you, Bill and Cherrie McIntyre. If you see them, would you please tell them that Harold says hello. Would love to see their faces if you are able to so. They are two remarkable people. Bill is also celebrating his 80th birthday. Here are their pictures. Thank. you so much in advance.

 

Jack aka Harold Green. 
 

I have seen them aboard but haven’t met them.  I’ll try to find them in the next day and a half!

[Clay Clayton]

We are scheduled to be alongside by 5am and disembarkation starting about 7 am. All are to be ashore by 9:30 and the ship will leave immediately headed back towards Northern Europe...as of yesterday they believe Tilbury in about 14 days. Crew will be doing deep cleaning, noisy projects and inventories according to my highly placed source. 
 

We have not been informed of any special procedures for disembarking🤞- No quarantine. 
 

Most (including us) have been informed of their flight arrangements and we understand we will be shuttled to the airport. This was a generous offer from Viking to book everyone’s air including those who declined it (including us) for our pre-cruise arrangements.
 

It is my understanding that one of the three flights that American Airlines is not canceling is from MIA to LHR and I overhead some folks at lunch saying they were booked on it. Others said they were booked on Norwegian Air to Gatwick which was close to their home.  Some Scots we met are flying Air France to Paris and transferring there to a flight to Edinburgh. I think everyone is hoping Tuesday goes as smoothly as possible but trying to mentally prepare for the worse. 

 

Today is a beautiful day and I think most aboard are enjoying themselves. 

[deec]

Safe travels to all!

[aungrl]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We are scheduled to be alongside by 5am and disembarkation starting about 7 am. All are to be ashore by 9:30 and the ship will leave immediately headed back towards Northern Europe...as of yesterday they believe Tilbury in about 14 days. Crew will be doing deep cleaning, noisy projects and inventories according to my highly placed source. 
 

We have not been informed of any special procedures for disembarking🤞- No quarantine. 
 

Most (including us) have been informed of their flight arrangements and we understand we will be shuttled to the airport. This was a generous offer from Viking to book everyone’s air including those who declined it (including us) for our pre-cruise arrangements.
 

It is my understanding that one of the three flights that American Airlines is not canceling is from MIA to LHR and I overhead some folks at lunch saying they were booked on it. Others said they were booked on Norwegian Air to Gatwick which was close to their home.  Some Scots we met are flying Air France to Paris and transferring there to a flight to Edinburgh. I think everyone is hoping Tuesday goes as smoothly as possible but trying to mentally prepare for the worse. 

 

Today is a beautiful day and I think most aboard are enjoying themselves. 

 

Good luck tomorrow!  I’m sorry that your cruise is coming to an end, but glad that you can enjoy a final day. 

Did you ever get specific information on how/what the compensation will be for the truncated itinerary?

[Azulann]

Thank you Clay for this blog.  I look forward to  others in the future  ...

Any day on a Viking ship is a perfect day in my book.

Hope you get your flights and arrive at your new home  without problems.

The coming week will  continue  to be big changes to our daily life as we  all  do our part  flatten the  curve of this pandemic   in our midst.  

Cheers!

Edited March 16, 2020 by Azulann

[muddleaged]

Probably too late to set this up - but if you can drive to your destination, that might be better than going through an airport.  Long, long delays (7 hours) of waiting in line in some airports to be cleared.

[Clay Clayton]

17 hours ago, aungrl said:

 

Good luck tomorrow!  I’m sorry that your cruise is coming to an end, but glad that you can enjoy a final day. 

Did you ever get specific information on how/what the compensation will be for the truncated itinerary?

No, the official word is we will he contacted shortly after we return home to discuss. It is the only thing that Viking has done during this entire instance that hasn’t been done with full transparency.  So hopefully we will be treated as well as others whose cruises were full canceled. 🤞

[Clay Clayton]

17 hours ago, aungrl said:

 

Good luck tomorrow!  I’m sorry that your cruise is coming to an end, but glad that you can enjoy a final day. 

Did you ever get specific information on how/what the compensation will be for the truncated itinerary?

No, the official word is we will he contacted shortly after we return home to discuss. It is the only thing that Viking has done during this entire instance that hasn’t been done with full transparency.  So hopefully we will be treated as well as others whose cruises were full canceled. 🤞

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, muddleaged said:

Probably too late to set this up - but if you can drive to your destination, that might be better than going through an airport.  Long, long delays (7 hours) of waiting in line in some airports to be cleared.

Since it’s a 12 hour drive, we are going to take our chances. And from what we have read those long waits have been at immigration coming into the country. So if we have such an issue it will be on the pier in Miami. Our flight is non-stop so as long as the airport doesn’t shut down before we arrive, we should be good.  But thanks for the suggestion. 

[Clay Clayton]

15 hours ago, Azulann said:

Thank you Clay for this blog.  I look forward to  others in the future  ...

Any day on a Viking ship is a perfect day in my book.

Hope you get your flights and arrive at your new home  without problems.

The coming week will  continue  to be big changes to our daily life as we  all  do our part  flatten the  curve of this pandemic   in our midst.  

Cheers!

I look forward to another one (or eight) also...perhaps with you aboard!

[Clay Clayton]

Yesterday was another lazy day for us...trivia was fun, we came in second.  If we had only known that the first cinema in the US was in New Orleans we would have gotten into a tiebreaker.   So hopefully today will be OUR day!

 

We has a delicious dinner last night at the Chef’s Table-the Lotus menu which is our favorite of all of the menus. Even the amusè bouche which in the past has just been meh, was amazing-not a dense potato cake over Overcooked spinach but instead a light airy puff served on top of a spinach sauce that tasted like saag paneer without the cheese. 
 

And of course their was the chocolate extravaganza!

[stretchcruz]

Safe travels to you all and thanks so much for posting!!