Welcome Back Cruises 2021 - Malta & Adriatic Cruises and General Discussion

[B_A_H]

41 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

BAH-HUMBUG. It’s a bogus argument. Have you talked to Iceland, Greece, Italy & Spain of late? Or for that matter, Viking—because that’s the conversation we’re having right now.

We can converse all we want.  The U.S.'s vaccine hesitancy and geographic divide of who's willing to get vaccinated and who's not is worldwide news.  Malta, the subject of this conversation and not part of it, has already broken out "good" and "bad" states in the U.S.  Our politics prevent us from having "official" digital vaccine passports which the countries Malta's recognizing do.  Their country - their rules. 

[LindaS272]

40 minutes ago, B_A_H said:

We can converse all we want.  The U.S.'s vaccine hesitancy and geographic divide of who's willing to get vaccinated and who's not is worldwide news.  Malta, the subject of this conversation and not part of it, has already broken out "good" and "bad" states in the U.S.  Our politics prevent us from having "official" digital vaccine passports which the countries Malta's recognizing do.  Their country - their rules. 

It’s not our politics. The White House doesn’t want the federal government involved with people’s health information. Iceland, Greece, Italy, Spain have no trouble recognizing our legitimate vaccines. Malta’s bureaucratic rules are nonsensical.
 

I believe this thread is about Viking’s Welcome Back Malta cruises and how we can all get back to cruising. 

Edited July 12, 2021 by LindaS272

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, Jchivers said:

I certainly have no fault with Malta requiring its visitors to be vaccinated.  It's not clear why they won't accept the CDC as documentation, though....that's the part that makes little sense.

 

It isn't that they are refusing the US CDC card, they are only accepting EU/UK documentation, which are readily verifiiable through the EU/UK Govt databases. They are refusing all non-EU/UK documentation, as they most likely don't have the ability to readily verify.

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

It’s not our politics. The White House doesn’t want the federal government involved with people’s health information. Iceland, Greece, Italy, Spain have no trouble recognizing our legitimate vaccines. Malta’s bureaucratic rules are nonsensical.
 

I believe this thread is about Viking’s Welcome Back Malta cruises and how we can all get back to cruising. 

 

Last time I looked, Malta is a separate country and frankly is entitled to make its own rules to protect it's citizens. It couldn't care less about US citizens having visited Iceland and Bermuda.

 

If your Govt refuses to implement a national vaccine record/passport, perhaps you should be complaining about your Governments refusal to provide you with vaccine documentation that is acceptable worldwide.

 

If anything is "Nonsensical", it is a Govt refusing to provide their citizens the required tools to travel effectively, post-COVID.

[DaveSJ711]

17 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

It isn't that they are refusing the US CDC card, they are only accepting EU/UK documentation, which are readily verifiiable through the EU/UK Govt databases. They are refusing all non-EU/UK documentation, as they most likely don't have the ability to readily verify.

 

@Jchiverssaid that Malta isn't accepting the CDC documentation. That is a correct statement. The U.S. Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council wrote in a health alert on Friday: "The Government of Malta does not currently recognize the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccination card. Beginning July 14, U.S. citizens will not be permitted to enter Malta unless they have one of the before-mentioned Maltese-recognized Covid-19 vaccination certificates, regardless of their point of origin."

 

https://www.osac.gov/Content/Report/a0398783-8fa7-494a-a6e4-1c08233e4de2

Edited July 12, 2021 by DaveSJ711

[mancunian]

We are from Uk and on the Malta cruise on. 2 October.  Of course we will not be going either as Viking will not be able to sail without US passenger numbers so we hope it will be sorted.
 

However we also have a cruise booked on Silversea later to America and I must point out that before Malta said this the US were arguing that they would not accept Uk citizens who have had the astrazeneca vaccine.    Same difference really I feel.

 

Back to Malta they have decided not to accept our NHS app with vaccination details and are insisting  we have to get a printed NHS pass.  I am not knowledgeable in all this but feel the official app is safer than the pass. The whole world is going mad and it is not just Malta

[Mrs Miggins]

The Maltese tourist industry is extremely important to its economy.  The largest proportion of visitors comes from the UK followed by Italy and other members of the EU.  Visitors from the US are way down the list.    These are people who stay on the island and support the local economy in hotels, shops, restaurants etc as opposed to those embarking on a ship and perhaps buying a souvenir or having a coffee.  I appreciate that Viking would have to pay substantial docking fees etc but that is only short term and Malta is unlikely to be more than an occasional stop on future itineraries.

Whilst I agree that the current situation appears unfair it does make sense that Malta wants to protect both its own population and its traditional tourists.  Perhaps it will accept Verifly if the government believe there will be long term benefits.

[mancunian]

We all want to cruise it is so long we have been going through this. We have had four cruises cancelled up to now and we had to cancel Iceland because of insurance problems ~ Uk green list not matching Govt approval on cruising.  We currently have five cruises booked between July 2021 and July 2022 including a UK cruise this month replacing the Iceland one.  Really this is all we can do and keep booking or transferring until they happen.  Some of us are lucky enough to keep doing this and being able to have paid out for these which we have transferred and at least the cruiselines  have had use of our money.

 

We have to stay positive and try to understand that all governments are terrified of. what might happen next and trying to make things safer even though some things we have mentioned seem odd.  For instance I do not understand why going on a cruise in the UK on Viking which is Govt approved is OK but going to Iceland which is deemed green on a viking cruise is not.  The cruise has exactly the same protocols.   So we keep booking replacements and one day we will perhaps have a lot of cruises close together and we will try to justify this because we have not cruised for so long!

[les37b]

2 hours ago, mancunian said:

We are from Uk and on the Malta cruise on. 2 October.  Of course we will not be going either as Viking will not be able to sail without US passenger numbers so we hope it will be sorted.
 

However we also have a cruise booked on Silversea later to America and I must point out that before Malta said this the US were arguing that they would not accept Uk citizens who have had the astrazeneca vaccine.    Same difference really I feel.

 

Back to Malta they have decided not to accept our NHS app with vaccination details and are insisting  we have to get a printed NHS pass.  I am not knowledgeable in all this but feel the official app is safer than the pass. The whole world is going mad and it is not just Malta

 

I know at one point they weren't accepting the App (I read the same comments as you probably that passengers were turned away for wanting to use the app instead of the printed version.) But currently they are. Obviously things can change - and ultimately I'd recommend covering all bases and bringing both.

 

On the subject of AZ - Malta has played EU politics and have excluded UK citizens who've had batches made in India.... "They are not EU approved". Some people we know who were meant to be on our sailing on the 24 July, were scuppered by the batch numbers so won't now be sailing. Viking have been very good and whilst they were attempting to get a booster for a UK sourced AZ, they said, they will switch to a later date at no extra cost. They were on T-15 days when they found out. I'm not sure what the state of play is. 

 

From the UK government website.....

 

 

 

As you can see above..... The vaccine cards are not valid and I'm not surprised since they can easily be forged. 

 

[les37b]

27 minutes ago, mancunian said:

We all want to cruise it is so long we have been going through this. We have had four cruises cancelled up to now and we had to cancel Iceland because of insurance problems ~ Uk green list not matching Govt approval on cruising.  We currently have five cruises booked between July 2021 and July 2022 including a UK cruise this month replacing the Iceland one.  Really this is all we can do and keep booking or transferring until they happen.  Some of us are lucky enough to keep doing this and being able to have paid out for these which we have transferred and at least the cruiselines  have had use of our money.

 

We have to stay positive and try to understand that all governments are terrified of. what might happen next and trying to make things safer even though some things we have mentioned seem odd.  For instance I do not understand why going on a cruise in the UK on Viking which is Govt approved is OK but going to Iceland which is deemed green on a viking cruise is not.  The cruise has exactly the same protocols.   So we keep booking replacements and one day we will perhaps have a lot of cruises close together and we will try to justify this because we have not cruised for so long!

 

 

Hmmm.... I've not heard of this. Can you show where these Green but not recommended protocols are? I'd not even given it a second thought. Hope I'm not knackered for Malta by this.

 

[Alan2504]

Well it looks like the Viking Sea 11th July cruisers are enjoying the sights of Malta, 

 

Live Cam Grand Harbour - Valletta (skylinewebcams.com)

 

Currently a lot of tour buses dropping off people from their morning trips

 

It would good to get some "live" feedback from these lucky cruisers!

Edited July 12, 2021 by Alan2504
sp

[LouChamp]

quite frankly my bucket list is complete. seen the world. we have been blessed and all this hassle is not worth it for us.  we shall wait. for those that go, God Bless and smooth sailing 

[mancunian]

Les37b

 

Iceland and Malta are on Boris’s green list.   However if you look at You GOv they are still saying advise against cruising except for cruises in UK.   Unfortunately advice against is treated the same by insurance companies as cruising forbidden.  Our annual insurer will not cover us for cruising  outside Uk so husband phoned three others including one who covers a lot of insurers.  They all said the same thing and that we would not find a company who would do this.    I have seen on here somewhere that someone had found a company but of course could not advertise the name.   However I admit we were a trifle unsure about them if the general consensus is otherwise.   

 

We are not doing Malta until 2 October and just hope it will be sorted by then (or rather 14 days before then).   Iceland we were on 26 July and time was running out fast so we transferred to 14 August UK cruise instead.  We have both had health issues  which although sorted. now but left feeling jaded and desperate for some R and R.

 

 

[philw1776]

The Malta & the Greek Isles cruise.

Suggestion: Perhaps Viking should move start & finish port from Malta to Athens.

[JerryInIL]

Covid cases in Greece are increasing rapidly, according to Worldometer.com data.

[CLBSC]

Has anyone heard if Viking is even negotiating with the Malta government? Yikes, the Maltese Ministry of Health is self-isolating after a family member tested positive for COVID-19. I guess the upcoming July 14th cruise will tell the story, that is until it changes. Now I am starting to think about Iceland...

[philw1776]

12 minutes ago, CLBSC said:

Has anyone heard if Viking is even negotiating with the Malta government? Yikes, the Maltese Ministry of Health is self-isolating after a family member tested positive for COVID-19. I guess the upcoming July 14th cruise will tell the story, that is until it changes. Now I am starting to think about Iceland...

Iceland was fantastic. Just returned. 
Malta is in full panic mode. Somewhat understandable for Malta to be concerned given their months of virtually no cases and now a sudden influx of new cases. Greece also seeing a spike in cases. Whether this is a temporary spike or a new rising caseload is TBD. Deaths have yet to spike thankfully.
Selfishly hope that by my September cruise things are under better control.

If Malta's goal is zero or near zero cases, tourism will never resume.

Edited July 12, 2021 by philw1776

[CLBSC]

I think Iceland would be beautiful and certainly cooler than Malta but cannot convince my husband to travel so far for a 7 night cruise.  However, we are still scheduled 8/23 for Malta and they just called and changed our air reservation back through Frankfurt rather than Newark due to a tight change in DC before coming back to Greenville, SC.  The agent said as far as she knows Malta is a go, for sure they are not up to date with regulations.

[FirstTimeFreddy]

I called Viking this morning to book the Malta & Adriatic cruise and was advised before booking that Malta is not accepting three specific AstraZeneca batches of covid-19 vaccination. As a result I had to go online and find out which batch numbers were affected before I could book. Fortuntately our AstraZeneca vaccine batch numbers aren't the three specific batches listed.

 

From Gov.uk website

 

'Entry will not be allowed if the vaccine batch on your certificate is from one of the following: 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003. We are clarifying with the Maltese authorities why these have been deemed not valid for entry.'

 

After further research it would appear that the batches of concern are those that were manufactured in India. However, the Indian manufactured 'Covishield' hasn't been used in the UK for vaccinations. The UK has only used the 'Vaxzevria' AstraZeneca vaccine. Therefore anyone wishing to travel to Malta whom have had both AstraZeneca vaccines have nothing to be concerned about.

 

Taken from Meads Medical Center website:

 

We have received a number of queries relating to Covid AstraZeneca batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002 and 4120Z003 following the suggestion by the media that individuals vaccinated with these batch numbers would be prohibited from travelling to Europe under the vaccine passport scheme. The only difference in the above listed batches from other AZ vaccines given in the UK being they were manufactured in India rather than within Europe.

Our local NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) write: “The government has confirmed that no ‘Covishield’ vaccines have been administered in the UK and that all AstraZeneca vaccines given in the UK appear on the NHS COVID Pass as Vaxzevria.

 

I hope this helps anyone who may contact Viking and become concerned. The agent that I spoke to at Viking didn't know any of the above information and was pretty clueless. I've since emailed Viking in hopes of enlightening their customer service team.

Edited July 12, 2021 by FirstTimeFreddy

[les37b]

5 hours ago, Alan2504 said:

Well it looks like the Viking Sea 11th July cruisers are enjoying the sights of Malta, 

 

Live Cam Grand Harbour - Valletta (skylinewebcams.com)

 

Currently a lot of tour buses dropping off people from their morning trips

 

It would good to get some "live" feedback from these lucky cruisers!

 

Yup...... Viking sea it is....

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:3710157/zoom:17

 

 

Email just received from Viking re AZ Indian batches

 

 

 

 

 

[les37b]

3 hours ago, mancunian said:

Les37b

 

Iceland and Malta are on Boris’s green list.   However if you look at You GOv they are still saying advise against cruising except for cruises in UK.   Unfortunately advice against is treated the same by insurance companies as cruising forbidden.  Our annual insurer will not cover us for cruising  outside Uk so husband phoned three others including one who covers a lot of insurers.  They all said the same thing and that we would not find a company who would do this.    I have seen on here somewhere that someone had found a company but of course could not advertise the name.   However I admit we were a trifle unsure about them if the general consensus is otherwise.   

 

We are not doing Malta until 2 October and just hope it will be sorted by then (or rather 14 days before then).   Iceland we were on 26 July and time was running out fast so we transferred to 14 August UK cruise instead.  We have both had health issues  which although sorted. now but left feeling jaded and desperate for some R and R.

 

 

 

Many thanks. I did search in the end and found what you refer.

 

Appreciate it is what it says, but hopelessly out of date given the recent changes. This was certainly not something I'm aware of and believe Viking and all CL have a duty of care to make you aware of this little sting in the tail.

 

The fact you can now visit amber countries and not need to quarantine, kind of supersedes this.... or should! Being on a cruise ship given the testing done each day, make a cruise ship a very safe environment. 

 

 

 

[DaveSJ711]

2 hours ago, CLBSC said:

Has anyone heard if Viking is even negotiating with the Malta government? Yikes, the Maltese Ministry of Health is self-isolating after a family member tested positive for COVID-19. I guess the upcoming July 14th cruise will tell the story, that is until it changes. Now I am starting to think about Iceland...

The social media site that can't be named reports today that Karine Hagen has arrived in Malta. 

[CLBSC]

Hopefully a good sign for those who are getting ready to leave the US tomorrow for the July 14th Cruise and for those in Valletta on the July 11th cruise. I am sure this is very stressful for these cruisers and we wish them luck.

[mancunian]

44 minutes ago, les37b said:

 

Many thanks. I did search in the end and found what you refer.

 

Appreciate it is what it says, but hopelessly out of date given the recent changes. This was certainly not something I'm aware of and believe Viking and all CL have a duty of care to make you aware of this little sting in the tail.

 

The fact you can now visit amber countries and not need to quarantine, kind of supersedes this.... or should! Being on a cruise ship given the testing done each day, make a cruise ship a very safe environment. 

 

 

 

Yes I totally agree with you.  I cannot understand,, as I have said in a previous post that it defies logic that ugov  says we can cruise in UK despite rising figures but cannot cruise in Iceland a green list country with all the protocols cruise lines are undertaking.  We expected them to remove restrictions according to where the cruise was going.  Must admit we have been a little more doubtful about Malta which although green list Croatia and  Montenegro were not but that too is .changing with the new regs and in our case we have to mid September to make a decision.

 Like you I admit we had not considered this until posts on here.  Last week my husband tried unsuccessfully to move our insurance without success.  Must say the person at Viking did not seem surprised when I phoned to change Iceland giving our reason.  They should have told people I agree.  Perhaps people with a travel agent have done better.

 

Anyway sorry to upset the applecart for you but better like us you have picked up there is discrepancy between ugov and Boris

 

 

 

[DaveSJ711]

3 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Iceland was fantastic. Just returned. 
Malta is in full panic mode. Somewhat understandable for Malta to be concerned given their months of virtually no cases and now a sudden influx of new cases. Greece also seeing a spike in cases. Whether this is a temporary spike or a new rising caseload is TBD. Deaths have yet to spike thankfully.
Selfishly hope that by my September cruise things are under better control.

If Malta's goal is zero or near zero cases, tourism will never resume.

 

At his news conference last Friday, Malta's Minister of Health said most of the new cases occurred in young unvaccinated visitors who were attending the country's ESL schools. (There are over 40 in the country.) That doesn't sound like Viking's usual demographic.

Edited July 12, 2021 by DaveSJ711