My January 2021 VO Status?

[What was that?]

We are scheduled to board Viking Venus in Barcelona on 26 January 2021 for the Iberian Explorer and Northern Lights cruises B2B. I am wondering what the status is because some Viking "deadlines" have passed without comment from Viking. Here is what I see for this cruise at 72 days to go, information from My Viking Journey and booking terms on the Viking website:

• Viking Air has not ticketed our air travel.
• Excursions are not listed yet - that was supposed to happen on about 8 October
• Excursions are not bookable - that was supposed to happen on about 10 November

Has anyone else with cruises booked for January 2021 experienced similar delays?

[Rami077]

We are booked on Jupiter for a Jan 2, 2021 cruise in South America.  We are to board in Buenos Aires.  I have read the State Dept sites and the US Embassy in Argentina site.  Travel is not recommended and 2 week quarantines may be mandated.  We have heard nothing from Viking yet.

[OnTheJourney]

55 minutes ago, What was that? said:

I am wondering what the status is because some Viking "deadlines" have passed without comment from Viking.

Hi WWT....you are, shall we say, 'chomping at the bit' for info. I totally agree!!  It's past time to hear something. I find it interesting that you refer to not having any ticketed air yet. Do you at least have an air itinerary? My air for the invitational was booked a few months ago already, with specific seats assigned for outbound and inbound. All paid for as well. It would be nice to know what's happening. As Rami077 alluded to - I suspect that even if this trip WOULD go there would probably be the 2-week quarantine on both ends of the trip. I'm not up for that at all and for that reason alone would probably elect to cancel. It adds a month to the trip let alone who knows what level of inconvenience. Think I'd rather stay home and live to fight another day. 

Edited November 11, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[What was that?]

Well, OTJ, you might say - in fact you did say - I am "chomping at the bit" but honestly I have zero expectation of these cruises - yours and ours - sailing as advertised. Not that I have any inside information, just what you read in the newspapers.

Our traveling companions are a bit itchy. They are older women who now think it unwise to go and I keep telling them wait for Viking to cancel so you can get your $$$ refunded. That is part of my reason for keeping an eagle eye out for indications of something happening. Or not happening.

As I see it, Viking has three options for January-February cruises:

• Operate them as advertised
• Operate them with restrictions
• Cancel them.

There may be other options I haven't thought of, but each option will require Viking to inform customers of what they will do. I expect that notification today (11 Nov), or next Wednesday (18 Nov) at the latest. This is based on timings of prior announcements.

So I'll just sit here patiently "chomping at the bit" and try to work on my honey-do list...

[OnTheJourney]

Sorry if the expression offended in any way!!  Was sort of joking actually. I agree with the three options but would add one more - which is to reschedule (especially in terms of Mr. Hagen still possbily wanting to do something extra for the Sky guests). The option of 'canceling' also would probably suggest rescheduling. Between post-election madness and covid - this is just an unreal situation. 

Edited November 12, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[What was that?]

22 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Sorry if the expression offended in any way!!  Was sort of joking actually. I agree with the three options but would add one more - which is to reschedule (especially in terms of Mr. Hagen still possbily wanting to do something extra for the Sky guests). The option of 'canceling' also would probably suggest rescheduling. Between post-election madness and covid - this is just an unreal situation. 

No offense taken - it was clear to me that you were joking.

Good point. I only focused on the options for sailing as scheduled. I have already picked out the NL cruise we will select to "reschedule" if canceled. In booking our Jan-Feb 2021 cruise, I had originally just looked at the NL cruise, but when I found out that it would be Venus' maiden (commercial) voyage, I tacked on the Iberian Explorer. If we have to reschedule we will only do the NL cruise, and it will probably be the 19 Jan 2023 departure from London. We would probably have to do an upgrade to take best advantage of our voucher.

No announcement yesterday, so next Wednesday has to be it.

[What was that?]

2 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

I agree with the three options but would add one more - which is to reschedule (especially in terms of Mr. Hagen still possbily wanting to do something extra for the Sky guests). The option of 'canceling' also would probably suggest rescheduling.

Next ship out of the chute, so to speak, is Mars, with first cruise in May 2022. But if Venus' introduction to service is delayed, Tor will probably reschedule the Chairman's Cruise for that time.

[What was that?]

Here is a bit of Viking Venus news: it appear that sea trials are imminent, based on the availability of its current position on MaritimeTraffic.com - this morning is the first time I have seen it reported! I am guessing it will take a "few" days to do checkouts at the pier before shoving off, but now we can track her.

 

See Viking Venus' Position

[OnTheJourney]

31 minutes ago, What was that? said:

Next ship out of the chute, so to speak, is Mars, with first cruise in May 2022. But if Venus' introduction to service is delayed, Tor will probably reschedule the Chairman's Cruise for that time.

 

WWT....excellent thought! I had not considered simply changing the chairman's cruise to the next ship that comes along - making it a very similar experience. Lots of possibilities in the offing, but just have to see how it all plays out. ONE of these days we'll meet up on a ship and raise our glasses (not the reading kind either 🍷😁)

[OnTheJourney]

23 minutes ago, What was that? said:

Here is a bit of Viking Venus news: it appear that sea trials are imminent, based on the availability of its current position on MaritimeTraffic.com - this morning is the first time I have seen it reported! I am guessing it will take a "few" days to do checkouts at the pier before shoving off, but now we can track her.

 

See Viking Venus' Position

 

Very cool info...thanks! 

[OnTheJourney]

3 hours ago, What was that? said:

If we have to reschedule we will only do the NL cruise, and it will probably be the 19 Jan 2023 departure from London.

 

I booked 2 cruises for '23....thinking this is out far enough to not have to worry about covid or hopefully any other pandemic. The only 'corona' I'd prefer to be concerned about in the hopefully not too distant future is either the kind that comes in a bottle 🥃😉 or else that which is part of astronomical research. 🌞

Edited November 12, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Heidi13]

7 hours ago, What was that? said:

Here is a bit of Viking Venus news: it appear that sea trials are imminent, based on the availability of its current position on MaritimeTraffic.com - this morning is the first time I have seen it reported! I am guessing it will take a "few" days to do checkouts at the pier before shoving off, but now we can track her.

 

See Viking Venus' Position

Just checked Marine Traffic and their local coast station picked up a GPS signal from the ship yesterday afternoon. However, the ship is again offline, when I checked.

 

Since it only shows a position and not the outline of the ship, they are still setting up the integrated Bridge equipment. The GPS requires the ship's length, beam and distance of the receiving aerial from the bow. They will also enter the ship's tonnage, etc.

 

Setting up and testing the Bridge equipment can be a complex task, as each component is connected to a bus and they must talk to each other. When it all works great, but when it doesn't many hours of troubleshooting, repairs, software updates, etc are required over a number of days. On one ship it took the techs a few weeks to get everything updated and working.

 

Lots of other tests required in the Bridge and Emergency Control Centre before they can go to sea, so trials could start anywhere from next week to next month.

[What was that?]

13 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Lots of other tests required in the Bridge and Emergency Control Centre before they can go to sea, so trials could start anywhere from next week to next month.

Thanks. I knew this was a sign of "progress" but I didn't really understand how it fit into the build/test process. Thanks for educating me.

[What was that?]

And I see it has updated again, about 4 hours ago, still at the shipyard. I guess this is reinforcement of the process described by Heidi13, above. It is good to see the ship coming alive, if only by "normal" fits and starts.

[OnTheJourney]

17 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Lots of other tests required in the Bridge and Emergency Control Centre before they can go to sea,

 

Andy,

 

Thanks, as always, for sharing your maritime knowledge! 

Edited November 13, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[What was that?]

Vikings' last two pause extension announcements came at 54 and 49 days in advance of the earliest affected cruises. Those announcements added 30 days and then 92 days to the operational pause. Today is 50 days in advance of the Viking Jupiter departure from Buenos Aires on 2 January 2021 (the earliest affected cruise in 2021).

I am definitely expecting to hear something from Viking within days.

[OnTheJourney]

1 hour ago, What was that? said:

Vikings' last two pause extension announcements came at 54 and 49 days in advance of the earliest affected cruises. Those announcements added 30 days and then 92 days to the operational pause. Today is 50 days in advance of the Viking Jupiter departure from Buenos Aires on 2 January 2021 (the earliest affected cruise in 2021).

I am definitely expecting to hear something from Viking within days.

 

Wow...you really ARE a numbers and statistics guy!!!  I'm suitably impressed. Hope you're right. As I just said on another thread - it's really time to let the public know what they are going to do. 

Edited November 14, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[What was that?]

Latest status at 0750 PT on 17 November 2020:

• 26 Jan 2021 Barcelona-London Iberian Explorer on Viking Venus is not on the Viking website.
• 2 Feb 2021 London-Bergen In search of the Northern Lights on Viking Venus is on the Viking website.
• My Viking Journey says "Unable to Load Journey" for our paid booking combining those two cruises.
• In other news, the 2 January 2021 Viking Jupiter departure from Buenos Aires is not on the Viking website.

I will revisit this during the day, but I expect this is just the first shoe to drop.

Edited November 17, 2020 by What was that?
clarity

[angela miller]

3 hours ago, What was that? said:

Latest status at 0750 PT on 17 November 2020:

• 26 Jan 2021 Barcelona-London Iberian Explorer on Viking Venus is not on the Viking website.
• 2 Feb 2021 London-Bergen In search of the Northern Lights on Viking Venus is on the Viking website.
• My Viking Journey says "Unable to Load Journey" for our paid booking combining those two cruises.
• In other news, the 2 January 2021 Viking Jupiter departure from Buenos Aires is not on the Viking website.

I will revisit this during the day, but I expect this is just the first shoe to drop.

Agree completely. 

[What was that?]

Well, here it is some 8 or so hours after first detecting that January 2021 cruises have disappeared from the Viking website - and finding that our booking of the Iberian Explorer cannot be viewed in My Viking Journey. These conditions still exist at this time, and I believe perhaps that will be canceled.

Our booking, however, includes the aforementioned Iberian Explorer cruise B2B with the In Search of the Northern Lights cruise, connecting in London on 2 February - the latter which is still on the schedule.

Tomorrow should be very interesting!

Edited November 18, 2020 by What was that?
Added detail

[What was that?]

I checked this morning to see if I could access our January 2021 cruise on My Viking Journey and got the same result - it could not be accessed. So I turned to "Live Chat" and here are two pertinent excerpts:

When I asked why I could not access it I was told: "Thank you, at this time My Viking Journey is currently undergoing maintenance and is unavailable. We appreciate your patience during this time. It should be available within 48 hours."

Then I pointed out that this is the second day - and that the cruise is not on the Viking website either: "I understand. There are only some bookings that are to be accessed. There is a note on your booking from our IT department stating that this booking is one of the bookings that cannot access My Viking Journey. "

So, apparently our booking has been sent to the Principal's Office...

[Heidi13]

17 minutes ago, What was that? said:

 

So, apparently our booking has been sent to the Principal's Office...

 

HaHa! Good one. The Headmaster must be writing your FCV.😁

[darlbach]

TA here - been checking on customer's cruise - 01/19/21 Chairman's Cruise and 01/26/21 Iberian Explorer -  for about a week (air, excursions, etc.).  Yesterday after pressing I was told to check back in 48 hours as there should be an update.  Today I was told 24 hours after a bit of hemming and hawing by the res agent.  What Was That? has certainly been on top of this and I would agree that the likelihood of either of these cruises sailing is pretty slim.  

 

BTW - LOVED the Principal's office comment.  Brought a smile on an otherwise frustrating day, week, month, year.....

Edited November 18, 2020 by darlbach

[OnTheJourney]

Darlbach...thanks for this info. Sounds like some sort of decision is coming soon. 

[What was that?]

1 hour ago, darlbach said:

BTW - LOVED the Principal's office comment.  Brought a smile on an otherwise frustrating day, week, month, year.....

I'm here to help!