Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[SantaFe1]

Yes!

[Clay Clayton]

55 minutes ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

so it looks like you can do more than one excursion in some ports?

Depending on timing you can. We are doing the included and an optional in one port...I forget which one. 

[Clay Clayton]

2 hours ago, JM0115 said:

We have been to Iceland once and saw no puffins! My wife calls them imaginary birds :). I hope you have better luck!

Tell Lynn they are real-we saw them in Alaska. 

[Travel2Learn]

There are puffins.  When I was in Reykjavik there were bay cruises available.  One was for whales, the other for puffins.  

[Peregrina651]

37 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Depending on timing you can. We are doing the included and an optional in one port...I forget which one. 

 

Right. They want something like 30-45 minutes between the end of one and the start of the other, just in case the first one doesn't get back in time.

[FLGators#1]

When we signed up for this cruise we realized we would be in the Viking bubble for tours.  However what we did not realize is that we would not be able to get on certain popular Viking tours because they are ALL SOLD OUT. Basically we will be circumnavigating Iceland and going out to dinner on a cruise ship. Not happy cruisers here.  That there is only one time slot available for some tours is ridiculous. The ship is not operating at 100% capacity.Only about 725 guests.There is no information on whether they will be adding tours. We are ready to travel. We understand and are ready to comply with the Viking bubble but not having tours available by Viking for us to go on ...is penalizing us.We will cancel if tours do not open up, because what is the point? Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? We are on the first sailing 26 June.

[Clay Clayton]

10 minutes ago, FLGators#1 said:

When we signed up for this cruise we realized we would be in the Viking bubble for tours.  However what we did not realize is that we would not be able to get on certain popular Viking tours because they are ALL SOLD OUT. Basically we will be circumnavigating Iceland and going out to dinner on a cruise ship. Not happy cruisers here.  That there is only one time slot available for some tours is ridiculous. The ship is not operating at 100% capacity.Only about 725 guests.There is no information on whether they will be adding tours. We are ready to travel. We understand and are ready to comply with the Viking bubble but not having tours available by Viking for us to go on ...is penalizing us.We will cancel if tours do not open up, because what is the point? Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? We are on the first sailing 26 June.

Talk to Viking.  Have your agent talk to Viking.   Email TellUs. 

[Cruiser1854]

2 hours ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

so it looks like you can do more than one excursion in some ports?

The price of Viking excursions seem outrageous, even for Iceland.

Before I heard about the excursion limitation…..I researched independent small group tours provided by registered Iceland tour operators with port pickup/drop off. I would say that the prices are a around 1/2 the price of the tours Viking is selling.

I do not like to be handcuffed like this, I am thinking of moving the booking to when we are allowed

to move freely.

Anyone starting to feel this too?

[FLGators#1]

8 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Talk to Viking.  Have your agent talk to Viking.   Email TellUs. 

Thank you, Clay. Have talked to Viking. That’s where I got number of passengers on board with the comment that they have no idea whether more tours will be added.  The phone reps have no knowledge.  Do not have a TA have always booked direct with Viking, but on Monday will contact one to see if handing over booking helps.  Just finished emailing Tellus.  Is anyone else as frustrated as me? 

[FLGators#1]

2 minutes ago, Cruiser1854 said:

The price of Viking excursions seem outrageous, even for Iceland.

Before I heard about the excursion limitation…..I researched independent small group tours provided by registered Iceland tour operators with port pickup/drop off. I would say that the prices are a around 1/2 the price of the tours Viking is selling.

I do not like to be handcuffed like this, I am thinking of moving the booking to when we are allowed

to move freely.

Anyone starting to feel this too?

YES!!!!

[LindaS272]

4 hours ago, JM0115 said:

We have been to Iceland once and saw no puffins! My wife calls them imaginary birds :). I hope you have better luck!

I’m remembering our TA cruise in Sept. 2019 from Bergen to Montreal. Many port talks showed pictures of puffins but I didn’t see even one. I think they’d all flown the coop by that point. But to echo Clay, they are real and my favorite northern climes bird. Have seen them on a Kenai Fjords tour in Alaska; Fingal’s Cave off Iona & Mull in Scotland; Skellig Michael off the Ring of Kerry in Ireland; and various spots in Newfoundland. 🙂 

[Dukefan]

7 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Over on that other social website where faces are often buried in books 😉, someone mentioned that MVJ chat was able to book an included tour for one of the ports where no excursion was listed. 
 

I just got finished with a chat and while the initial response was “we are aware and are working to resolve-check back on MVJ in a few days”, after I stated that another guest was able to book, I was told, “technically we aren’t supposed to do this but let me see what I can do” 🤪

 

It appears they do not have access to an included tour for Akureyri but there is an 1.5 hour walking tour of Seydisfjördur and we are now reserved on it. 
 

The rep also was able to tie our two bookings together which he said should make it easier for me to book alternative dining next week for the three of us. 

Clay, thanks for this tip.  We were able to book the "Seydisfjordur on Foot" tour through Viking Chat.  The Viking representive was very helpful.

[DaveSJ711]

5 hours ago, JM0115 said:

We have been to Iceland once and saw no puffins! My wife calls them imaginary birds :). I hope you have better luck!

You might get lucky — or, depending on your perspective, unlucky — to see puffin on a restaurant menu in Iceland. Enjoy!

[sleepybobo]

2 hours ago, FLGators#1 said:

When we signed up for this cruise we realized we would be in the Viking bubble for tours.  However what we did not realize is that we would not be able to get on certain popular Viking tours because they are ALL SOLD OUT. Basically we will be circumnavigating Iceland and going out to dinner on a cruise ship. Not happy cruisers here.  That there is only one time slot available for some tours is ridiculous. The ship is not operating at 100% capacity.Only about 725 guests.There is no information on whether they will be adding tours. We are ready to travel. We understand and are ready to comply with the Viking bubble but not having tours available by Viking for us to go on ...is penalizing us.We will cancel if tours do not open up, because what is the point? Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? We are on the first sailing 26 June.

This doesn’t sound too encouraging. We are lowly V1 - so we are among the last eligible to book excursions. 
 

Please share what you found out from Viking. 

[Cruiser1854]

48 minutes ago, Dukefan said:

Clay, thanks for this tip.  We were able to book the "Seydisfjordur on Foot" tour through Viking Chat.  The Viking representive was very helpful.

Where did you access Viking Chat?  Can’t seem to find it.

Thanks.

[Mpc524]

11 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Right. They want something like 30-45 minutes between the end of one and the start of the other, just in case the first one doesn't get back in time.

When you get onboard, they can check and see if there’s openings on the included after your optional excursion. They will sign you up and if you make it, you make it. Otherwise they leave without you....we’ve never had this fail. You are usually back right on time 

[Mpc524]

10 hours ago, Cruiser1854 said:

The price of Viking excursions seem outrageous, even for Iceland.

Before I heard about the excursion limitation…..I researched independent small group tours provided by registered Iceland tour operators with port pickup/drop off. I would say that the prices are a around 1/2 the price of the tours Viking is selling.

I do not like to be handcuffed like this, I am thinking of moving the booking to when we are allowed

to move freely.

Anyone starting to feel this too?

We tried to take an Iceland cruise last summer and kept the excursion choices we had made. We checked the prices and they actually went DOWN on every excursion we are taking!

[Dukefan]

10 hours ago, Cruiser1854 said:

Where did you access Viking Chat?  Can’t seem to find it.

Thanks.

When you sign into MVJ a little red "Live Chat" box appears on the right.  Clink on it and chat away.

 

Edited May 9, 2021 by Dukefan

[TayanaLorna]

13 hours ago, Travel2Learn said:

There are puffins.  When I was in Reykjavik there were bay cruises available.  One was for whales, the other for puffins.  

Westman Islands have the largest puffin colony in the world.

[TayanaLorna]

12 hours ago, FLGators#1 said:

When we signed up for this cruise we realized we would be in the Viking bubble for tours.  However what we did not realize is that we would not be able to get on certain popular Viking tours because they are ALL SOLD OUT. Basically we will be circumnavigating Iceland and going out to dinner on a cruise ship. Not happy cruisers here.  That there is only one time slot available for some tours is ridiculous. The ship is not operating at 100% capacity.Only about 725 guests.There is no information on whether they will be adding tours. We are ready to travel. We understand and are ready to comply with the Viking bubble but not having tours available by Viking for us to go on ...is penalizing us.We will cancel if tours do not open up, because what is the point? Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? We are on the first sailing 26 June.

Email tellus@viking.com. I have often received a phone call from them after an email.

[Peregrina651]

13 hours ago, Cruiser1854 said:

I do not like to be handcuffed like this, I am thinking of moving the booking to when we are allowed

to move freely.

Anyone starting to feel this too?

 

Not really. Speaking for myself, I knew when we signed up that we were signing on as beta testers and  that we would be exploring new territory. Whatever it is, we are on vacation. Someone else will be in charge of cooking and cleaning and DH will have 10 days away from the office and plenty of people to chat with. If that is all we get out of this trip, we can live with it.

 

But, I am not trying to tell you that you are wrong. I wholeheartedly agree that there are those who might be happier moving their booking to another time and I don't think there is anything wrong about that decision. Why leave home knowing that you aren't going to be happy; it is a recipe for disaster. In the end, you have to do what is right for you -- and not anyone else.

[Porcupine 52]

20 hours ago, FLGators#1 said:

Thank you, Clay. Have talked to Viking. That’s where I got number of passengers on board with the comment that they have no idea whether more tours will be added.  The phone reps have no knowledge.  Do not have a TA have always booked direct with Viking, but on Monday will contact one to see if handing over booking helps.  Just finished emailing Tellus.  Is anyone else as frustrated as me? 

I have done my share of criticizing of Viking especially the 25% voucher.  But I have to give Viking a pass on the restart of cruising.

Yes Viking is bad at communication with customers. Peregina is totally right.   No doubt it is worse now.  But they have been shut down for over a year now.  New staff, new excursions,  canceled cruises.  This is like a soft start with a new business. Should they have planned better for this opening? I know I would not have done better.   Guaranteed you will have problems.  Even the TA I have talked to in the past are gone.  Can you blame them?

I think if you are upset and not happy with things I would wait till next year to cruise.  I think many of the problems of restart will be fixed by that point.

Not sure what our excursions will be but it will be OK for us.  I hope that by the time we go to Antartica things will have calmed down some.  On both of these trip if they go I will go.

[Peregrina651]

11 hours ago, Mpc524 said:

When you get onboard, they can check and see if there’s openings on the included after your optional excursion. They will sign you up and if you make it, you make it. Otherwise they leave without you....we’ve never had this fail. You are usually back right on time 

 

We've done that in the past, signed up right on the dock.

 

But that was pre Covid and I can't help wondering if they will be able to do this  at all on the Welcome Back cruises where they are telling us the capacity will be restricted. I guess we will find out.

[Peregrina651]

Here is the most up-to-date list of roll calls:

 

First Round:  Viking Sky

June 26:

July 3:

July 10:

July 17:

 

Second Round: Viking Jupiter

July 13:

July 20:

 

Third Round (in date order)

Viking Jupiter - August 10 -17, 2021 Iceland's Natural Beauty

Viking Sky - August 14-21, 2021 - Iceland’s Natural Beauty

Viking Jupiter - Iceland August 17, 2021

[Clay Clayton]

Someone on another travel site that cannot be named just posted this description for the included tour in Seydisfjördur that they received from Viking:

Edited May 10, 2021 by Clay Clayton