UK Only Viking Venus Cruise

[Minnie29]

Did they request to see your insurance details and were there any issues?

there have been lots of queries from other cruises that have departed the UK regarding g specific cruise and COVId cover. 
we have purchased our insurance with All Clear and they certainly include both. 
enjoy the Isles of Scilly. Am particularly looking forward to that excursion.

[arlowood]

1 hour ago, timbloom said:

welcome from the pretty stormy seas approaching Scilly Isles. 

A couple of other points - If your cruise is at same capacity as this one you won't actually need reservations for the Restaurant. Social distancing is not a problem, possibly apart from the Spa and Gym which have much reduced capacity. 

People asked about comfort check in. Is that just the online check in procedure? We did that and printed off the boarding cards and had them saved on my phone. No one was remotely interested in seeing them at any stage.

If anyone is worried about the all the health checks, don't be. You do your saliva deposit first thing in your cabin [before cleaning your teeth they tell you] and you get your temp taken only once a day by photo recognition at one of the screens around the ship, and do a very simple health questionnaire once a day - 4 simple questions such as have you got any flu like symptoms etc.

Lastly I really would recommend doing an excursion in Liverpool, particularly the one we did. I wasn't keen on getting off as I did some business there in the 80's and remembered a pretty tatty and dirty centre. I was pleasantly surprised. We did the Maritime history of Liverpool with Debby, who was terrific - funny, engaging, informative and irreverent at times. there were only 4 of us, as many didn't seem to want to tour at all. At the end she and we wanted to do a group hug but we didn't of course. I Really would do this tour which took about nearly 3 hours gentle walking around the centre and sea front. 

Leaving Liverpool was quite emotional as they played " sailing" by Rod Stewrat from the quayside with lots of waving. I think they were so delighted to see the first cruise ship back.

Will look every day and happy to answer any more questions if I can.

 

Hi @timbloom

Any comments from the captain about tendering and the weather conditions. I'm presuming you will be transferred by tender although there may be facilities for docking where the Penzance ferry docks

[Dave W 10]

1 hour ago, timbloom said:

many didn't seem to want to tour at all.

Tim

We sail on Saturday so fascinated by your reports.

I suspect the lack of interest in the tours is due to the prices. £79 each for a 3 hour walk seems extremely expensive.

Thanks again and do keep reporting.

Dave

[timbloom]

Can't answer any questions about Scilly as they have just cancelled the stop there - high winds & seas make tender transfers dangerous.

No one has shown any interest in our Insurance details. Not sure of the need for this anyway on a UK cruise,apart from cancellation cover. 

Yes excursions are pricey as I think we have to be installing bubbles. But given how economic these cruises are I want to try and support the people who depend on them for a living.

[Marmaduke]

Many thanks to everyone who has taken time to post whilst on their cruise.  Please keep your comments coming.  What is life like onboard, is there much interaction between guests or are people tending to be more reserved, keeping themselves to themselves due to the social distancing.  Do masks have to be worn when out side on the open deck or when walking around the prom deck? What is there do to on sea days, lectures, trivia quizzes ?  Is the library adequate or should I bring some books with me?

Sorry to hear that the Scilly Isles  has been cancelled. Do hope that the weather improves for you.

[Clay Clayton]

On 5/22/2021 at 5:23 PM, LindaS272 said:

Looks like the Aquavit hot tub is closed off—ouch! And the pool has social distancing markers at the end!

Someone on that site that can’t be named said the pools and hot tubs are open. No reservation required.  However, for the Nordic Spa, they are and limited to 6 at one time for 45 minutes 

[LindaS272]

21 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Someone on that site that can’t be named said the pools and hot tubs are open. No reservation required.  However, for the Nordic Spa, they are and limited to 6 at one time for 45 minutes 

Thanks for the info. Will be interesting to see how all this evolves over the subsequent summer cruises.

[pcolmer]

1 hour ago, Marmaduke said:

Many thanks to everyone who has taken time to post whilst on their cruise.  Please keep your comments coming.  What is life like onboard, is there much interaction between guests or are people tending to be more reserved, keeping themselves to themselves due to the social distancing.  Do masks have to be worn when out side on the open deck or when walking around the prom deck? What is there do to on sea days, lectures, trivia quizzes ?  Is the library adequate or should I bring some books with me?

Sorry to hear that the Scilly Isles  has been cancelled. Do hope that the weather improves for you.

 

This is the first Viking cruise for my wife & I so I cannot make any comparisons with a "normal" Viking cruise but I will try to provide detail/depth as to the current experience.

 

To a large degree, my wife & I are keeping ourselves to ourselves. The seating is marked for social distancing and there are signs making it clear that adjacent seats can only be used by two people from the same household so any interaction between guests tends to be at something of a distance. We were talking to a couple at the Portsmouth port terminal and we've seen them on a couple of occasions during the cruise and talked more with them but it has been at the World Cafe as we've been leaving.

 

The crew/staff are very interactive though and very happy to see guests on board. We've had quite a few conversations with crew and a lot of laughs.

 

We haven't been wearing our masks when walking around the prom deck but we've seen some guests who have kept them on. I *think* that Viking have only asked that masks are worn inside.

 

There was a trivia session on the first sea day but we missed it. Today has been turned into an ad-hoc sea day so only lectures, although I'm looking forward to the Viking singers tonight singing Beatles songs.

 

Books ... there are books *everywhere* and they seem to cover a wide range of fiction and non-fiction from what I've seen. I'm not sure how many guests are reading them - I haven't seen any guidance about disinfecting them, etc.

 

With regards to the Scilly Isles, I think it was *primarily* called off because it was a tender-port. For Falmouth and Portland, we dock and the captain seemed pretty certain that we'll be OK at those ports. The weather forecast does look as if it gets better ... just in time for us to finish the cruise 🙂

 

[TayanaLorna]

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Someone on that site that can’t be named said the pools and hot tubs are open. No reservation required.  However, for the Nordic Spa, they are and limited to 6 at one time for 45 minutes 

I puzzled over only 6 in spa space at a time given the co-ed area is quite large.  I think it may be due to the size of the locker rooms.  I wonder if reservations are for 3 women and 3 men.  Six in the womens locker room would be a crowd.  Assume mens is identical.

[Clay Clayton]

20 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

I puzzled over only 6 in spa space at a time given the co-ed area is quite large.  I think it may be due to the size of the locker rooms.  I wonder if reservations are for 3 women and 3 men.  Six in the womens locker room would be a crowd.  Assume mens is identical.

Agree with you. Seems like they could have more than six if they timed the locker room access, but that’s probably too hard to deal with.  Will keep fingers crossed that the first cruises go without incident and that some of the procedures are relaxed. 

[sleepybobo]

58 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

I puzzled over only 6 in spa space at a time given the co-ed area is quite large.  I think it may be due to the size of the locker rooms.  I wonder if reservations are for 3 women and 3 men.  Six in the womens locker room would be a crowd.  Assume mens is identical.

Agreed.  We definitely can have more than six people in the spa common area and still maintain social distance.  From my own past experience, the spa was never crowded.  Most of the time I didn't need to go into the locker room.  My V1 stateroom on Deck 3 was just a short walk from the spa.  So I put on the bathrobe after I was done and returned to my room and showered.

Edited May 25, 2021 by sleepybobo

[DGHOC]

Thanks so much for posting this info timbloom. Could I ask how the World Cafe is operating? Is it still a self serve buffet or are the crew serving? 

 

We like breakfasting at the pool grill as they have a wondrous fruit offer, this is usually self service too. Has this been changed or is it even offering breakfast now given the reduced capacity.

 

I've seen cruise ships pull into Falmouth. As long as the tide timing is right it should be fine. It's wonderful watching the tugs manage/guide the ships along the narrow channel. We have also seen ships using tenders there.

 

Wish I were sitting in the Explorer's Longe experiencing the Venus pulling into Falmouth. We're off to the Roseland Peninsular in a few weeks. Cornwall is one of my favourite places to be in the world! What excursions are you doing there?

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, sleepybobo said:

Agreed.  We definitely can have more than six people in the spa common area and still maintain social distance.  From my own past experience, the spa was never crowded.  Most of the time I didn't need to go into the locker room.  My V1 stateroom on Deck 3 was just a short walk from the spa.  So I put on the bathrobe after I was done and returned to my room and showered.

Only once out of a total of 10 sea days from 2 cruises was the spa crowded.  Hot tub was full as was the bench at the far end of the wave pool.  I like the sauna followed by cold plunge the best. I usually sweat in there alone.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Only once out of a total of 10 sea days from 2 cruises was the spa crowded.  Hot tub was full as was the bench at the far end of the wave pool.  I like the sauna followed by cold plunge the best. I usually sweat in there alone.

 

Our experience was similar. After 4 months on Sun, we never saw 6 people in the spa.

[rachiem]

Someone mentioned on here that the tours are expensive but aren't they included.

I'm thinking of booking for the 19th June and reading everything but my quote said it included tours?

[pcolmer]

22 minutes ago, rachiem said:

Someone mentioned on here that the tours are expensive but aren't they included.

I'm thinking of booking for the 19th June and reading everything but my quote said it included tours?

 

There is one included tour for each port, typically a coach ride. There are optional alternatives but there is a charge. 

 

[pcolmer]

2 hours ago, pcolmer said:

 

There is one included tour for each port, typically a coach ride. There are optional alternatives but there is a charge. 

 

 

@rachiem I meant to add the following points:

• If you want to do the included tour, you still need to book it. Some of the included tours are being run at multiple times so you need to pick the time that works best for you. Viking are maintaining social distancing on buses so need to get the numbers right.
• If you want to book an optional tour, it was the case that for the current Venus cruise, the optional tours could only be booked onboard. This *should* be possible via the stateroom TV, the Viking app or via Guest Services. Again, for the current cruise, I had to book via Guest Services but hopefully the IT glitches have been ironed out now.
  
  Also ... if you do want to book an optional tour, try to book it as quickly as possible when you have boarded. I've heard from guests on the current cruise that they could not get one or more of the optional tours because they had sold out.

 

[rachiem]

24 minutes ago, pcolmer said:

 

@rachiem I meant to add the following points:

• If you want to do the included tour, you still need to book it. Some of the included tours are being run at multiple times so you need to pick the time that works best for you. Viking are maintaining social distancing on buses so need to get the numbers right.
• If you want to book an optional tour, it was the case that for the current Venus cruise, the optional tours could only be booked onboard. This *should* be possible via the stateroom TV, the Viking app or via Guest Services. Again, for the current cruise, I had to book via Guest Services but hopefully the IT glitches have been ironed out now.
  
  Also ... if you do want to book an optional tour, try to book it as quickly as possible when you have boarded. I've heard from guests on the current cruise that they could not get one or more of the optional tours because they had sold out.

 

Thank you...that's really helpful.

Really tempted to book for 19th June. We also have a P&O one planned for early July but that doesn't stop off anywhere.

[Clay Clayton]

Typically, one can book both included and optional tours ahead of time on My Viking Journey. Perhaps that isn’t the case with the Britain cruises?
 

We don’t find the costs for the optional tours on our Iceland cruise especially expensive. Slightly less than what we think they would be on almost cruises and slightly more than we could book them for independently. However, since under the current COVID protocols that isn’t allowed, we worked this into our budget planning when we booked. 

[rachiem]

30 minutes ago, pcolmer said:

 

@rachiem I meant to add the following points:

• If you want to do the included tour, you still need to book it. Some of the included tours are being run at multiple times so you need to pick the time that works best for you. Viking are maintaining social distancing on buses so need to get the numbers right.
• If you want to book an optional tour, it was the case that for the current Venus cruise, the optional tours could only be booked onboard. This *should* be possible via the stateroom TV, the Viking app or via Guest Services. Again, for the current cruise, I had to book via Guest Services but hopefully the IT glitches have been ironed out now.
  
  Also ... if you do want to book an optional tour, try to book it as quickly as possible when you have boarded. I've heard from guests on the current cruise that they could not get one or more of the optional tours because they had sold out.

 

How are you finding the cruiseline. We've only been RCI, NCL and Celebrity...if we book, this will be a last minute booking so need to go with the flow re reservations. Are you enjoying yourselves overall?

[Clay Clayton]

16 minutes ago, rachiem said:

How are you finding the cruiseline. We've only been RCI, NCL and Celebrity...if we book, this will be a last minute booking so need to go with the flow re reservations. Are you enjoying yourselves overall?

I’m sure your fellow Brit will reply, in the meantime you might want to look over this thread that talks about why Viking:

We were fans Of Norwegian and Celebrity but really love Viking. The smaller ships being the biggest difference but also not having kids aboard!

[pcolmer]

31 minutes ago, rachiem said:

How are you finding the cruiseline. We've only been RCI, NCL and Celebrity...if we book, this will be a last minute booking so need to go with the flow re reservations. Are you enjoying yourselves overall?

 

The following should be read in the context that (a) this is our first cruise with Viking and (b) due to reduced passenger counts and COVID protocols, I don't see this as being entirely representative of cruising with Viking 🙂

 

That said ... we are loving this cruise. We feel very safe, both on the ship and off. The crew are amazing. So many of them have asked for our names and then recognise us when they see us again, even with our masks on. There is *so* much seating around the ship compared with other cruiselines we've been with (Disney, P & O) and each area has its own feel to it. The crew, particularly in the Living Room, Explorers' Lounge and World Cafe, are attentive to providing food and beverage service without being pushy/nagging. Indeed, we've observed (for example) that if (say) you've had orange juice for breakfast and they see you've drunk it all, they ask if you want more and, if you don't, they take the glass away so that you don't keep on being asked.

 

What we've particularly liked is that, because wine is included in lunch and dinner, there is no problem whatsoever with taking any wine left over at the end of the meal away with you, e.g. to the Star Theatre.

 

Entertainment-wise, we've loved Sofia, the onboard pianist who we've listened to in the Atrium/Living Room area and also in the Wintergarden while having afternoon tea(!). Last night, we went to the Star Theatre to listen to the Viking Venus Vocalists sing a select of Beatles songs. Tonight, they are singing songs from the 60s. Apart from that, we've not attended any lectures but I have watched a couple of the port talks on the stateroom TV (they are all recorded and available afterwards on demand).

 

To be honest, the post from @Peregrina651 in the "Tell Me Why" post suggested by @Clay Clayton pretty much sums up why we decided to try Viking. We are very much looking forward to the "full" Viking experience next year and beyond.

 

 

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, rachiem said:

How are you finding the cruiseline. We've only been RCI, NCL and Celebrity...if we book, this will be a last minute booking so need to go with the flow re reservations. Are you enjoying yourselves overall?

 

Having cruised extensively and worked for P&O, BI and Princess, and also cruised with RCI & CMV, we are sold on Viking, which is many steps above those other lines. Although I haven't cruised with Celebrity, I have worked aboard as a contractor, servicing Lifesaving Appliances - nice ships and the lunch was good, but Viking is again a few steps up.

 

In addition to the "Tell me Why" thread, both Clay and I maintain travel blogs of our experiences aboard Viking ships. I completed daily posts from the 2020 World Cruise - feel free to check out our first experience with Viking - www.AndyandJudi.com

 

 You can also link to Clay's blog - https://cruisinwithclay.wordpress.com/

 

[timbloom]

DGHOC - You are allowed to peruse the buffet in the World Cafe but rather than help yourself the staff put the food on the plate and hand it to you.

I agree with you about the Roseland - it is one of our favourite spots in the world. For years we have booked a large house with 7/8 others called Trencreek [ nr Tregony] from Rural Retreats and will be back there next year. If we had been able to go about on our own I had planned to take the ferry to St Mawes, have coffee overlooking the harbour and then take the foot ferry across and walk around St Anthony's Head. Or walk from St Mawes, via St Just, up to the King Harry Ferry, cross over to Trelissik Garden and then take the ferry back to Falmouth. 

But we did next best thing today and had a lovely walk around a part of the Lizard and actually got quite hot at one stage. Nothing very hard for any casual walker.

I think others have covered the other questions so well nothing to add, apart from I so pleased the newcomers to Viking are finding out like we did 3 years ago, how great the company, ship and staff are.

[Peregrina651]

35 minutes ago, pcolmer said:

To be honest, the post from @Peregrina651 in the "Tell Me Why" post

 

Glad that you are enjoying your first Viking cruise and glad to hear that all is going well on board.

 

And, thank you for the kudos, but they aren't all mine. I may have gotten the ball rolling with my short list but in the end, it was a group effort that produced an even longer list of reasons to give Viking a try.

 

19 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

I completed daily posts from the 2020 World Cruise - feel free to check out our first experience with Viking - www.AndyandJudi.com

 

Andy is hiding his light under a bushel. They were on the World Cruise that was abandoned when Viking suspended operations last year and were among the last disembark. The first part of Andy's blog is interesting but the last part is unlike any cruise blog you will ever encounter. At the end of the cruise, after all the American passengers were sent home, there were just 8 passengers left on board, trying to get back to Canada. (Just think of the guest to crew ratio). One of the things that Viking did to keep its only passengers busy during the day was to take them on tours of parts of the ship that passengers never get to see-- and Andy blogged it all.

 

It is a must read cruise blog, even if you only read the end of it.