Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[FoggyEthan]

5 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

Is that heimay?  For us they (online chat)  said book the “1045” hike and then a later walking included excursion. - doesn’t make sense but it was the only way to book.  

I'm guessing that every one of the walks will have the options of an extended hike. The 10:45 or 11:00 doesn't matter. It's just a way to pay the extra surcharge.

 

Just a guess, of course.

 

[LMD]

I also received the same letter. I spent over 2 hours trying to book shore excursions for the July 13th cruise. What is worrying me is the multiple “payment failed” messages I received while trying to pay via ACH. They are basically saying that the money will be taken out of my account and I will get a refund in a couple weeks if I can’t get my bank to stop the duplicate payments. I probably don’t even have enough money in that account if they process all the “extra” payments.  The charges don’t show as pending in my checking account yet. I had prepaid gratuities on Thursday which just showed as pending yesterday. I also tried to use my credit card to pay for the shore excursions a couple times and received the payment failed notice and sure enough I have 2 pending credit card charges. I was also helping my parents book as well, and they are going to have just as many failed ach payments. This whole experience has been so frustrating. 

[Gojagators]

We also received the same email from Viking last night.  There's definitely some major damage control going on behind the scenes.  I hope everyone got the excursions  they wanted.  I want to extend a major thank you to @Peregrina651 and the other people on the first 3 sailings for the screen shots, spreadsheets, pdf's and other suggestions you posted before yesterday.  Thanks to all of you we knew prices and some ideas of times and my wife and I knew in advance exactly what we wanted to book when the system was working.   In the end we got what we wanted and I hope the frustrations of yesterday will be a fleeting memory by the time we board on July 20.  Here's to hoping its smooth sailing going forward for all of us.

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

18 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

Three times I checked out my cart only to be told that the payment failed. My credit card shows all 3 charges. I'm am NOT OK with this.

This happened to me almost 2 weeks ago. I paid for optional tours through my checking account, it went through TWICE, I'm missing an excursion and I have yet to see their mistake corrected. I've been on the phone with several Viking agents, customer service, I've emailed and left voice mails and nothing. Not quite sure what to do next...🤷🏼‍♀️

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

17 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

Mine show in calendar but have dashes around them.  Intermittently showing in cart too.  Of course D7 is totally messed up as expected with excursions before said arrival time. 

has anyone paid be bank transfer?  I’m afraid to do that after this debacle.  What if we cancel later and we paid via ACH?

I paid for extra optional tours and pre-paid tips with my checking to save the 3.3% and they billed me TWICE. It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm still waiting for Viking to correct their $2282.13 mistake. I've spoken to several different Viking agents, emailed, left voice mails and still nothing. I'm not sure what to do now...🤷🏼‍♀️

 

[ValarieDennis]

10 hours ago, SkystheLimit said:

That's a positive note to end the day.  Thank you for sharing.

I believe that everyone on these sailings received that email. 

[Doc who loves to travel]

50 minutes ago, FLORIDA FLOUNDER said:

I paid for extra optional tours and pre-paid tips with my checking to save the 3.3% and they billed me TWICE. It's been almost 2 weeks and I'm still waiting for Viking to correct their $2282.13 mistake. I've spoken to several different Viking agents, emailed, left voice mails and still nothing. I'm not sure what to do now...🤷🏼‍♀️

 

At times like this I try social media.  Post

on their Facebook page and/or message them. 

[LMD]

After being on hold for 30 minutes, finally got through to an agent who says she sees a $19,705.92 refund to be processed to my checking account.  So, from the e-mail, they are saying that I need to pay an additional $20k that will get refunded to me in 2 weeks if I can't have my bank stop the charges on Monday.  But I also need to figure out what charges to stop and what ones to let get processed.  I am back on hold while she tries to figure that out, and figure out what has actually been charged to begin with.  This is all so ridiculous.  Why aren't they contacting the bank to stop these charges?  More time I will have to spend trying to get this all straightened out.    

 

Edited to add: after another 10 minutes on hold, she came back to say she could not give me any information as I am working though a travel agent and only they can call. 

Edited June 5, 2021 by LMD

[Mpc524]

14 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

It’s our first Viking and I was this close to calling our TA and canceling.  An online chat with Viking saved us! 

Why didn’t your TA do all your chatting and calling to Viking? Would have saved you time and aggravation....that’s what a good TA is there for....

[bardstowntraveller]

Think I figured out why they included the drink package on the later cruises. It is so we have something to do on the ship in lieu of shore excursions 🤣

[bardstowntraveller]

12 minutes ago, Mpc524 said:

Why didn’t your TA do all your chatting and calling to Viking? Would have saved you time and aggravation....that’s what a good TA is there for....

We are on the 8/3 sailing. I proactively sent my TA an email asking for assistance when excursions are released for our sailing. Not sure if there is much she can do but it can’t hurt

[chromatographer]

Quick question for the group on how to spend out vouchers. We were able to book several excursions using vouchers from last year’s cancelled ocean cruise. Ultimately I was able to spend out my voucher on excursions (only went $35 over) but my partner still has $200 left and there are no excursions left to spend it on. I understand that the residual voucher value cannot be used on board, but am wondering what else we can spend it on without doing something like putting it toward $1000 of Viking Air. Silver spirits package is not a good fit since she doesn’t drink alcohol. 

 

Has anyone been able to get Viking to allow one passenger’s voucher to pay for both passengers’ prepaid gratuities? We called and they said no. I’m expecting airport transfers might be similarly restricted in terms of who’s voucher can be used for which passenger. Anyone have any other ideas on spending out the last $100 to $200 of a voucher? I wish they would just turn it into shipboard credit so we could use it at the spa. Trying to avoid leaving money on the table. 

[Dukefan]

53 minutes ago, chromatographer said:

Quick question for the group on how to spend out vouchers. We were able to book several excursions using vouchers from last year’s cancelled ocean cruise. Ultimately I was able to spend out my voucher on excursions (only went $35 over) but my partner still has $200 left and there are no excursions left to spend it on. I understand that the residual voucher value cannot be used on board, but am wondering what else we can spend it on without doing something like putting it toward $1000 of Viking Air. Silver spirits package is not a good fit since she doesn’t drink alcohol. 

 

Has anyone been able to get Viking to allow one passenger’s voucher to pay for both passengers’ prepaid gratuities? We called and they said no. I’m expecting airport transfers might be similarly restricted in terms of who’s voucher can be used for which passenger. Anyone have any other ideas on spending out the last $100 to $200 of a voucher? I wish they would just turn it into shipboard credit so we could use it at the spa. Trying to avoid leaving money on the table. 

You could use luggage forwarding or return to spend the extra money  and thus save you from the challenge of baggage handling.   It would work for both of you since the luggage would be sent in your partners name.

[chromatographer]

Just now, Dukefan said:

You could use luggage forwarding or return to spend the extra money  and thus save you from the challenge of baggage handling.   It would work for both of you since the luggage would be sent in your partners name.

I appreciate the suggestion. I’ll look into a quote for that. May work nicely for us since we’re self connecting between Southwest and United in route to Iceland. I wonder if they allow shipping a case of wine...hmmm

[Delhi Ocean Cruiser]

On 6/2/2021 at 10:28 PM, vslparis said:

Well, I hope we won’t have to be tested at the airport in Reykjavik ( really would like to do the Blue Lagoon on the way into town ) but as of now, that is not a certainty. It looks good, but I will wait until it becomes official hopefully on 15 June before I do the Happy Dance 😉

As I read the document, we will be tested upon arrival at the airport by the Iceland government. Like you I hope that will change by June 26. Here’s to dancing on June 15 🕺 🙂‼️

[chromatographer]

35 minutes ago, chromatographer said:

I appreciate the suggestion. I’ll look into a quote for that. May work nicely for us since we’re self connecting between Southwest and United in route to Iceland. I wonder if they allow shipping a case of wine...hmmm

For anyone else looking at this, the prices are quite high. Range is $300 - $600 depending on the size of bag and direction of shipment for one way. Maybe other ports are more affordable. 

[Delhi Ocean Cruiser]

21 hours ago, Cruiser1854 said:

I had similar problems.  Called Viking and they said the excursions showed confirmed even though  it didn’t show on my calendar.

My guess (have some tech background) is that there are some communication issues between the different parts of the system.  Example, We are experiencing payment failures but the credit card is charged.

Due to the load of messages each part of the system does not get updated quick enough because of large message queues and software that can’t handle the message load quick enough.

could be they closed off the system to allow the messages to drain and apply before reopening.

Just my guess.

 

 

 

 

 

I see the many messages expressing frustration. Totally understandable. I’ve been lucky. Made dinner reservations with no problem and got in for shoreX reservations without much hassle. MVJ works for me and calendar shows all activities. Still many have huge problems. 
Our last cruise was VR Danube, Nov 2019. Low water caused a ship swap midway. Shortly after we got home we received a $500pp voucher for the inconvenience. Perhaps Viking will do the same for all this confusion. (Hoping!) There will be many vouchers issued if they do! The one hiccup is they are usually good for new bookings only. Would love to use it, if issued, on current cruises booked. Still it’s a gesture of good faith. 

[SantaFe1]

1 minute ago, chromatographer said:

For anyone else looking at this, the prices are quite high. Range is $300 - $600 depending on the size of bag and direction of shipment for one way. Maybe other ports are more affordable. 

We use LF often, and while it is always pricy, this port is more expensive than others we have shipped to/from.  Also, you pay LF, not Viking, so I’m not sure you could use your voucher anyway.

[chromatographer]

17 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

We use LF often, and while it is always pricy, this port is more expensive than others we have shipped to/from.  Also, you pay LF, not Viking, so I’m not sure you could use your voucher anyway.

Oh well, it was worth a shot. Next up: trying to convince Viking to let us use one voucher to pay for both prepaid gratuities. Wish us luck!

[Doc who loves to travel]

Question about gratuities. Can we pay gratuities with a credit card onboard or is it cash only gratuities onboard?  Wondering benefits of prepayment? It’s our first Viking ocean 

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

5 minutes ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

Question about gratuities. Can we pay gratuities with a credit card onboard or is it cash only gratuities onboard?  Wondering benefits of prepayment? It’s our first Viking ocean 

You can pay with credit card or cash on board. The pre pay just is one less thing to worry about once you're on board. If you pay out of checking you save 3.3%.

[FoggyEthan]

3 hours ago, bardstowntraveller said:

We are on the 8/3 sailing. I proactively sent my TA an email asking for assistance when excursions are released for our sailing. Not sure if there is much she can do but it can’t hurt

I doubt that they'll make the same mistake, but perhaps they'll find a new one to try out? 8-)

[shipster60]

Now that our shores excursions are somewhat set, I’m starting to think of other questions as a first time VO traveler. Are the Spa facilities open to everyone and do you need to get reservations or buy a pass to use them? I know you need to reserve Spa treatments but I’m inquiring about just the facilities. 

[stilltrucking]

5 minutes ago, shipster60 said:

 Are the Spa facilities open to everyone and do you need to get reservations or buy a pass to use them?  

Under normal circumstances (remember those?) you just walk in any time you want.  No reservation, no fee, no pass, no check-in.  Covid times will require a reservation, not available until we board, but still no fee or pass.

[shipster60]

13 minutes ago, stilltrucking said:

Under normal circumstances (remember those?) you just walk in any time you want.  No reservation, no fee, no pass, no check-in.  Covid times will require a reservation, not available until we board, but still no fee or pass.

Thanks so much!