Viking Venus - What is the status of her build?

[kcpvwill]

Every time I click on this Venus update I think I may get some new information on her status.  Seems to have drifted off topic.  As we live in the UK  I have no idea what the recent posters are talking about.  Shame there is no more news on Venus as we have 3 cruises booked on her in 2021.  

[OnTheJourney]

11 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

It is that unexpected, unplanned moment that show the genius of the man.

 

Right...so quick. Robin Williams had the same sort of gift, used in a different way. A master of improv...that one. 

[Cienfuegos]

It seems like Viking and Fincantieri have successfully imposed a cap on  information. The last I've seen is the celebration of the mid-June float out of the ship.

 

It is perhaps worthwhile to note that the Fincantieri Ancona shipyard has been affected by several walk outs and work stoppages over the failure to implement appropriate safety standards. One stop was as recent as last week

 

https://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/ancona/cronaca/coronavirus-fincantieri-covid-1.5582339

[Peregrina651]

6 hours ago, kcpvwill said:

Every time I click on this Venus update I think I may get some new information on her status.  Seems to have drifted off topic.  As we live in the UK  I have no idea what the recent posters are talking about.  Shame there is no more news on Venus as we have 3 cruises booked on her in 2021.  

 

Sadly, when there is nothing really to say, threads tend to drift a bit. However, the drift has an upside, small though it might be: it keeps the thread near the top of the pile.

 

Also, sadly, we won't be seeing much in the way of updates because Viking only announces things like keel-layings and float outs -- good stuff. The rest we tend to find out by reading between the lines.

 

If there is any information coming from Viking it will be in the form of e-mails sent only to those who are effected by the change -- or it may appear as an unannounced change on MVJ.

[OnTheJourney]

19 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

an unannounced change on MVJ.

 

speaking of which....I haven't been able to access anything on there - will try again today. 

[OnTheJourney]

On 10/16/2020 at 8:07 AM, kcpvwill said:

Shame there is no more news on Venus as we have 3 cruises booked on her in 2021.  

 

We have two - both in January - so that's a big part of the concern on this and a few other threads for those who are scheduled on either the invitational cruise or the Iberian Explorer. 

[CharTrav]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

speaking of which....I haven't been able to access anything on there - will try again today. 

It's working. I got updated to the new version a few weeks ago. It does seem to take a little while to get past the spinner. 

Edited October 17, 2020 by CharTrav

[Sturmin]

I see their are now no northern European cruises until April.

[CharTrav]

19 minutes ago, Sturmin said:

I see their are now no northern European cruises until April.

 

19 minutes ago, Sturmin said:

I see their are now no northern European cruises until April.

Time to check and update my spreadsheet!!🤪

[What was that?]

RIght. Nothing on the schedule for Viking Venus in Jan/Feb, but all other January cruises are on the schedule. Caveat: the Australia & New Zealand cruise on Orion scheduled for 6 January departure is now on the schedule for 10 Jan.

[CharTrav]

4 minutes ago, What was that? said:

RIght. Nothing on the schedule for Viking Venus in Jan/Feb, but all other January cruises are on the schedule. Caveat: the Australia & New Zealand cruise on Orion scheduled for 6 January departure is now on the schedule for 10 Jan.

Mmm. If you filter by region - no northern Europe cruises until April '21 but if you focus on northern lights (for ex) Venus is doing it in Feb and March '21. Odd!

 

[CharTrav]

And all 4 of those are Venus. 

https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/baltic/in-search-of-the-northern-lights/pricing.html

🤔

Edited November 5, 2020 by CharTrav

[What was that?]

54 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Mmm. If you filter by region - no northern Europe cruises until April '21 but if you focus on northern lights (for ex) Venus is doing it in Feb and March '21. Odd!

CT - I'm not seeing it from here in Reno - but maybe it is the altitude. Here are clips from my phone and laptop, showing no 2021 NL cruises.

Isn't technology wonderful?

[CharTrav]

@What was that?ha! Maybe it is the altitude - sitting where I am on the east coast at 424 ft elevation. 😃 who knows? But that's why I included the link afterwards. I know that those year filters are odd - they default to 2022. You have to deliberately redirect the filter to 2021. Just tested it again - searched for Northern lights - the filter defaulted to 2022 and when I switched the filter to 2021 - Feb and March come up. What I do indeed find odd is the behavior of the regional filter. That is odd indeed. 

Edited November 5, 2020 by CharTrav

[CharTrav]

31 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

@What was that?ha! Maybe it is the altitude - sitting where I am on the east coast at 424 ft elevation. 😃 who knows? But that's why I included the link afterwards. I know that those year filters are odd - they default to 2022. You have to deliberately redirect the filter to 2021. Just tested it again - searched for Northern lights - the filter defaulted to 2022 and when I switched the filter to 2021 - Feb and March come up. What I do indeed find odd is the behavior of the regional filter. That is odd indeed. 

You have to click on 2022 to reveal the full year filter. 

[What was that?]

51 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

You have to click on 2022 to reveal the full year filter.

Ah! I see it now. Thanks for the tip. I learned my new thing for today so I can stop paying attention...

 

So Venus is still on the schedule. But will the cruises actually operate? I think we will find out next Wednesday! (Full disclosure: I have no inside info, I am just guessing.)

[CharTrav]

55 minutes ago, What was that? said:

Ah! I see it now. Thanks for the tip. I learned my new thing for today so I can stop paying attention...

 

So Venus is still on the schedule. But will the cruises actually operate? I think we will find out next Wednesday! (Full disclosure: I have no inside info, I am just guessing.)

Glad to help. I'm a bit of a geek (semi-retired info/computer systems engineer). 😉

 

What's the significance of Wednesday? 

[What was that?]

40 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Glad to help. I'm a bit of a geek (semi-retired info/computer systems engineer). 😉

 

What's the significance of Wednesday? 

Geek here, too.

 

It is undeniable that Viking MUST make an announcement soon, because there will be no "business as usual" for the foreseeable future - and Viking Ocean cruises are scheduled to start in less than two months. I made a spreadsheet of the announcement dates, lead time, etc., and my reading of the data leads me to believe Viking will make an announcement next Wednesday - either telling us what conditions we will find on VO ships when we board in January, or (more likely, in my opinion) that the operations pause is extended for at least two more months. Take a look and see if that makes sense to you - at least it will distract you from _______________ (fill in the blank yourself).

 

Viking Cruises Announcements of Operations Pauses.xlsx

[CharTrav]

3 hours ago, What was that? said:

Geek here, too.

 

It is undeniable that Viking MUST make an announcement soon, because there will be no "business as usual" for the foreseeable future - and Viking Ocean cruises are scheduled to start in less than two months. I made a spreadsheet of the announcement dates, lead time, etc., and my reading of the data leads me to believe Viking will make an announcement next Wednesday - either telling us what conditions we will find on VO ships when we board in January, or (more likely, in my opinion) that the operations pause is extended for at least two more months. Take a look and see if that makes sense to you - at least it will distract you from _______________ (fill in the blank yourself).

 

Viking Cruises Announcements of Operations Pauses.xlsx 23.78 kB · 7 downloads

Actually - you must have somehow caught the changes that were in progress and I was being bitten perhaps by stuff stored in my mobile phone's browser cache. I am in the process of reviewing the entire schedule using my workstation browser - and yes indeed into the northern lights is gone in 2021. I eat my confident words from this morning. I'm finding lots of other changes. When I'm done, I'll upload my revised consolidated schedule spreadsheet along with a review of what has changed. I maintain a cc forum thread for just that purpose. 

 

And yes - I am using this effort as a productive distraction from ______. 

Edited November 5, 2020 by CharTrav

[What was that?]

28 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Actually - you must have somehow caught the changes that were in progress and I was being bitten perhaps by stuff stored in my mobile phone's browser cache. I am in the process of reviewing the entire schedule using my workstation browser - and yes indeed into the northern lights is gone in 2021. I eat my confident words from this morning. I'm finding lots of other changes. When I'm done, I'll upload my revised consolidated schedule spreadsheet along with a review of what has changed. I maintain a cc forum thread for just that purpose. 

 

And yes - I am using this effort as a productive distraction from ______. 

I'll be looking forward to the fruits of your therapy - although I am seeing the 2021 NL cruises now...

 

Who thought this caching was a good idea?

[CharTrav]

20 minutes ago, What was that? said:

I'll be looking forward to the fruits of your therapy - although I am seeing the 2021 NL cruises now...

 

Who thought this caching was a good idea?

Caching is meant to speed things up. Which is great except when it's not. 

[CharTrav]

I give up. Gonna wait until next week and the schedule stops changing back and forth. Stuff is there, gone, and back again. There are changes coming I'm sure - heard from @Peregrina651 that Norway announced today it will extend its ban on travelers from non-Shengen countries thru May so the changes I thought I saw made sense. Let's just say I've had a fun distracting evening working off shifting sands. 😉

Edited November 6, 2020 by CharTrav

[Sturmin]

23 hours ago, Sturmin said:

I see their are now no northern European cruises until April.

Looks like the cruises for N Europe 2021 on Venus are back again.  Unsure if this is just a web issue or if we'll be getting some new cancelation info soon. Hoping just web issues.

Edited November 6, 2020 by Sturmin

[CharTrav]

11 minutes ago, Sturmin said:

Looks like the cruises for N Europe 2021 on Venus are back again.  Unsure if this is just a web issue or if we'll be getting some new cancelation info soon. Hoping just web issues.

When I was working on updating my spreadsheet last night - I would see cruises gone and then an hour or so later back again. Will check again today but clearly much churn. 

[Squawkman]

FWIW, I  checked all 6 of my booked cruises. When it looked like spring 2021 Northern Europe cruises were cancelled, I had a July 2021 and an April 2022 showing as cancelled.  All is back to "normal" now, so I suspect none of this is related to any real cancellations.