Bermuda Escape Cruises - insights, information, and more just on Bermuda

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Did I mention before that Viking needs to fire their web manager.  And his/her/it’s chain of command?

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I managed to get on for about 20 seconds before the site crashed again, managed a quick look at two days’ shoreex - donkey rides 😞

[MRGACRUZR]

2 hours ago, CatefromNH said:

I agree with Stempy. Unless Bermuda’s pre-trip testing rules change, I don’t see how the Tuesday arrival will work. I’d been feeling positive about this trip until I realized how complicated the 3 day window will be for the timing of Viking’s embarkations. 

In reality, it's a 2 day window because you need all of 24 hours of the 3rd day to submit your test results and visit request. 

Edited May 14, 2021 by MRGACRUZR
Spelling

[Psychler]

15 minutes ago, Psychler said:

Yeah, still the same error messages. Will keep checking and report back when things change.

Able to get ONE page to load and book, but multiple error messages. It helps to keep trying to reload pages, and I get one step further, then error messages again. 

[MRGACRUZR]

2 hours ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

More likely toxic waste....

In California wouldn't finding water to fill the pool and enough consistent electricity to run the filtration be preferable to gold?😁

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

I just spoke with a Viking rep. She said the shore excursions are still being loaded into the system. Her time frame was at 10:30. Let's see how this goes. All this pre trip drama is definitely stressful. I'm praying the three day testing fiasco will be put to rest before our June 29 sailing. Once onboard, sitting on a buttery leather chair in The Explorers Lounge, all will be forgiven 

[MRGACRUZR]

1 hour ago, Azulann said:

The June 15  travellers and passengers will indeed lead the way for the rest of us going to Bermuda.

 Here is my speculation:

One positve test for Covid yesterday in Bermuda, local transmission. The total number  of active cases are back to March level. Vaccinations for some age groups are near or over 70%, per Royal Gazette today.

Therefore, I think Bermuda will either drop its pretest for vaccinated persons. or go back to five day  before arrival  within the next month.

Once at airport with large crowds on  Viking Tuesdays and RCI  sailings on Saturdays, it will overwhelm the airport and their testing capacity.

 I think Viking  will herd us off the plane , get us to dock and pretest us. They will do the lab work. We  get on board, in a orderly fashion,  get our glass of bubbly . Go to our cabin, or with mask , stroll  to the Aquavit Bar or Explorer lounge, take off mask , and wait for our results.

By my dinner time at 8 pm ,  we will be seated at a nice table for two in Restarant and enjoy the  Welcome back dinner!

If only😲

[Stempy]

Just got off the phone with a Viking supervisor.

Booked  our shore excursions on My Viking Journey and saw that there will be a mandatory health survey to be completed 8 days prior to cruising .

Hence my call. I explained that it is impossible to get a PCR test and an Authorization Form in our timeframe.

Super stated to ignore the Bermuda government site or any other site other than Viking.

Viking made a stipulation with Bermuda to bypass arrival testing and obtaining Authorization Form. This is granted since we are all vaccinated already.

Daily testing will be done on the ship.

This information will be posted under the Health category in My Viking Journey.

So all we are responsible for is get a rapid test if your airline requires it for international travel.

Super  also said that this information was just given to them this morning and Viking 

wants to insure safe entry for all its passengers.

Hope this helps!

Edited May 14, 2021 by Stempy

[bafinegan]

6 minutes ago, Stempy said:

Just got off the phone with a Viking supervisor.

booked our shore excursions on My Viking Journey and saw that there will be a mandatory health survey to be completed 8 days prior to cruising .

Hence my call. I explained that it is impossible to get a PCR test and an Authorization Form in our timeframe.

Super stated to ignore the Bermuda government site.

Viking made a stipulation with Bermuda to by pass arrival testing and Authorization Form. This is accomplished since we are all vaccinated already.

All that will be done on the ship.

This information will be posted under the Health category in My Viking Journey.

So all we have to do is get a rapid test if your airline requires it for international travel.

Super  also said that this information was just given to them this morning and Viking 

wants to insure safe entry for all its passengers.

Hope this helps!

Great, just need that in writing now-lol.  And wonder if the airport will allow us to get on the plane without that paperwork?

 

Hey which date re you booked?

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by bafinegan

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

4 minutes ago, Stempy said:

Just got off the phone with a Viking supervisor.

Booked  our shore excursions on My Viking Journey and saw that there will be a mandatory health survey to be completed 8 days prior to cruising .

Hence my call. I explained that it is impossible to get a PCR test and an Authorization Form in our timeframe.

Super stated to ignore the Bermuda government site or any other site other than Viking.

Viking made a stipulation with Bermuda to bypass arrival testing and obtaining Authorization Form. This is granted since we are all vaccinated already.

Daily testing will be done on the ship.

This information will be posted under the Health category in My Viking Journey.

So all we are responsible for is get a rapid test if your airline requires it for international travel.

Super  also said that this information was just given to them this morning and Viking 

wants to insure safe entry for all its passengers.

Hope this helps!

Fantastic news! I feel like I just popped a 10 mg. Valium! Let's see if this becomes official. Whew, it's all a step in the right direction. Thank-You. 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

And what about pax arriving a few days early?

[Jim Avery]

42 minutes ago, Ragnar Danneskjold said:

I managed to get on for about 20 seconds before the site crashed again, managed a quick look at two days’ shoreex - donkey rides 😞

Poor, poor donkey 😱

[Stempy]

I am on the June 15th cruise....
supervisor stressed that Viking would be responsible for all testing for its passengers and handle entry regulations into Bermuda.We do not even need a Covid test at the airport upon arrival from Bermuda officials.

 Mandatory Health survey will be posted on My Viking Journey 8 days before sailing.

This finally makes the most sense. 
just wish it was posted previously to avoid all this anxiety.

Need an Ativan refill!
Both Bermuda and Viking want operations to start up and revenue flowing for all parties concerned.

As it does not pertain to me, do not know about those coming into Bermuda early other than sailing day.

[Azulann]

Stempy,That is great news. Thank you so much for posting.

 And  the above post ,  Ragnar called me a dreamer. LOL

This does make perfect sense.

Viking  and Bermuda want this to work.  Lot of money invested and to be made so they figured out how will work. 

It was fun for all the attorneys, accountants and systems  folks ,on this thread, who have been pulling their hair out  as to how it would work under the current Berumda rules

 

Wonder if they will have lobster on menu the first night for the Welcome Back dinner?

Please Stempy let us later  cruisers know.

Cheer!

 

 

[What was that?]

48 minutes ago, Stempy said:

This information will be posted under the Health category in My Viking Journey.

Pardon my ignorance, please, but could you direct me to the "Health category “ you mentioned? Thanks. 

[Azulann]

9 minutes ago, What was that? said:

Pardon my ignorance, please, but could you direct me to the "Health category “ you mentioned? Thanks. 

Go to your MVJ and look under Before you go category.  There is a section tha tis currently empty with only bullet points. Viking will have us all do a health survey and  show them our vaccinations etc. here.

[Triptkr]

17 minutes ago, Stempy said:

I am on the June 15th cruise....
supervisor stressed that Viking would be responsible for all testing for its passengers and handle entry regulations into Bermuda.We do not even need a Covid test at the airport upon arrival from Bermuda officials.

 Mandatory Health survey will be posted on My Viking Journey 8 days before sailing.

This finally makes the most sense. 
just wish it was posted previously to avoid all this anxiety.

Need an Ativan refill!
Both Bermuda and Viking want operations to start up and revenue flowing for all parties concerned.

As it does not pertain to me, do not know about those coming into Bermuda early other than sailing day.

Stempy,

I was told by a Viking TA that we needed a covid test prior to our flight to Bermuda from the US since it's international.  Is this what you know to be true?  (Sorry if you've already gone over this but I was considering the June 15th sailing too and getting conflicting info. )

Thanks!

[bafinegan]

22 minutes ago, Stempy said:

I am on the June 15th cruise....
supervisor stressed that Viking would be responsible for all testing for its passengers and handle entry regulations into Bermuda.We do not even need a Covid test at the airport upon arrival from Bermuda officials.

 Mandatory Health survey will be posted on My Viking Journey 8 days before sailing.

This finally makes the most sense. 
just wish it was posted previously to avoid all this anxiety.

Need an Ativan refill!
Both Bermuda and Viking want operations to start up and revenue flowing for all parties concerned.

As it does not pertain to me, do not know about those coming into Bermuda early other than sailing day.

Thanks Stempy!  Will be very interested  to read about your experiences.  Hubbs and I are on the July 13 cruise.  Have fun!!!

[CatefromNH]

If accurate, that is wonderful news! (And I have little reason to doubt it, as it is the probably the only way these cruises will come to fruition.) Thank you for the good news. I was feeling very anxious overall, as well as somewhat irritated with the person living in Vancouver who said there is no reason I shouldn’t be able to find a rapid PCR test in my town. Not everyone lives in or near a huge metropolitan area! Anyway, I suspected Viking had to work something out with the Bermudian government, as most, if not all, of their Bermuda cruises embark on Tuesdays. Now I feel much better about forking over even more money to Viking today (golf - sigh...)

[Stempy]

Under Guest Information on My Viking Journey is a drop down where health survey will be posted.

We are flying Jet Blue from Boston. 
Airline requires Covid test on return, but still researching if test is required on departure. 
Supervisor did not mention Covid test needed for airline departure .Guess it depends on the individual airline.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Stempy

[Dwayne Ardis]

2 hours ago, MRGACRUZR said:

In reality, it's a 2 day window because you need all of 24 hours of the 3rd day to submit your test results and visit request. 

It is possible, but you have to be tested on Saturday and go to a clinic that will give you test results in 24 hours or less.  Then complete the Travel Authorization form online on Sunday.  It is a tight schedule but it can be done.  We just have to do our homework first and find a good lab.  Good luck everyone.  We are on the July 20 cruise.  But, this may all be mute now thanks to Stempy.

 

1 hour ago, What was that? said:

Pardon my ignorance, please, but could you direct me to the "Health category “ you mentioned? Thanks. 

Log in to MVJ, click on Guest Information, then click on Health Survey.  

Edited May 14, 2021 by Dwayne Ardis

[ammthm]

2 hours ago, Psychler said:

Able to get ONE page to load and book, but multiple error messages. It helps to keep trying to reload pages, and I get one step further, then error messages again. 

So back to the excursion issue...I was finally able to get to the point of booking them only to find that several are sold out.  In fact all of the ones for both days in St. George are sold out!  I admit I was late - had a 1PM appointment that I could not miss - so after trying for close to 45 minutes, I left for my appointment.  We're on the 6/29 sailing.  I'm hoping Viking will manage to add more.  Anybody on other sailings have that issue?  We can always jump ship & go another time!😉

[What was that?]

Dwayne Ardis: got it! Thanks 

[gacruzr]

19 minutes ago, ammthm said:

So back to the excursion issue...I was finally able to get to the point of booking them only to find that several are sold out.  In fact all of the ones for both days in St. George are sold out!  I admit I was late - had a 1PM appointment that I could not miss - so after trying for close to 45 minutes, I left for my appointment.  We're on the 6/29 sailing.  I'm hoping Viking will manage to add more.  Anybody on other sailings have that issue?  We can always jump ship & go another time!😉

We are on the first cruise and signed on as soon as they got the excursion posted and most of them were sold out including  St George

[ammthm]

43 minutes ago, gacruzr said:

We are on the first cruise and signed on as soon as they got the excursion posted and most of them were sold out including  St George

Thanks, Sue!  Guess I won't switch to that one - lol.   Might be lots of folks left on the ship those days.  Glad I love 'sea days'!  Hope the spa is open!