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

[FLORIDA FLOUNDER]

21 hours ago, MarkTapley said:

Interesting news that Lufthansa is going to be flying nonstop flights from Newark to Malta, to support the Viking sailings.  That would be a great way to get there, for those joining these cruises.  Link to article, below.

 

https://onemileatatime.com/lufthansa-newark-malta-route/

 

WOW! Interesting news...How in the world did you ever find that?😮

I really hope this is true as I'm on the August 20th sailing.🤞🏻

[MarkTapley]

4 minutes ago, FLORIDA FLOUNDER said:

WOW! Interesting news...How in the world did you ever find that?😮

I really hope this is true as I'm on the August 20th sailing.🤞🏻

I have flown a lot for my business, so I’ve gotten in the habit of browsing sites about aviation.  Seems like the perfect way to get to Malta.  Hope it works out for you!

[Jchivers]

We got our flights to Malta (Jul 24)....SFO to Frankfurt to Valletta.  

 

I can't say I ever once in my life said "I really want to see Malta and Montenegro", but I'm just going to be happy to be somewhere!  And on a ship!!

 

 

[MRGACRUZR]

17 minutes ago, Jchivers said:

We got our flights to Malta (Jul 24)....SFO to Frankfurt to Valletta.  

 

I can't say I ever once in my life said "I really want to see Malta and Montenegro", but I'm just going to be happy to be somewhere!  And on a ship!!

 

 

Interesting, we used Viking Air + to book ours for the 13th of August and they told us there were no return flights that met their requirement of departing after 9AM. Coupled that with Malta banning travellers from the US, we cancelled for a refund. For us, from a port perspective, this is an outstanding cruise. We've been to most and would welcome a return, particularly stunning is the entrance and exit to Kotor. If things with Malta and flights added changes, we will rebook.

[Jchivers]

20 minutes ago, MRGACRUZR said:

Interesting, we used Viking Air + to book ours for the 13th of August and they told us there were no return flights that met their requirement of departing after 9AM. Coupled that with Malta banning travellers from the US, we cancelled for a refund. For us, from a port perspective, this is an outstanding cruise. We've been to most and would welcome a return, particularly stunning is the entrance and exit to Kotor.

 

Our return flight (Aug 3) leaves at 12:40 PM. (Lufthansa 1277)..so perhaps things have changed.  (Valletta - Frankfurt - Washington DC - SFO)  

Thanks for your thoughts on the itinerary - I'm starting to get excited. 🙂

Edited May 21, 2021 by Jchivers

[CCWineLover]

23 minutes ago, Jchivers said:

 

Our return flight (Aug 3) leaves at 12:40 PM. (Lufthansa 1277)..so perhaps things have changed.  (Valletta - Frankfurt - Washington DC - SFO)  

Thanks for your thoughts on the itinerary - I'm starting to get excited. 🙂

We are also looking at Malta in late August.  I also traveled a lot in business and subscribe to several travel blogs, including onemileatatime, and so also saw the article on Newark-Malta nonstops.  I asked the Viking Air rep about those flights and they said they didn't know anything about it, but had heard from potential customers that something might happen - but said don't count on it.

 

Since we also fly out of SFO, I appreciate the info you sent on your flights that look pretty good timewise.   Did you get the flights yourself or go through Viking Air?  Did you do economy, eco plus, or business?   

[Jchivers]

12 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Since we also fly out of SFO, I appreciate the info you sent on your flights that look pretty good timewise.   Did you get the flights yourself or go through Viking Air?  Did you do economy, eco plus, or business?  

This was all through Viking Air.  Based on past experience, there could very well be changes, but these flights look pretty good at the moment.  It would be nice to only have one stop on the return...  

 

Our original (cancelled) cruise was longer and more expensive - with that, plus the 25% Viking bonus, we have money coming out our ears on this cruise.  So we're treating ourselves to Business Class.

[MikeyB]

Just booked the August 30th sailing on the Sea.  I booked directly with Alitalia.  They have a great flight schedule if departing from NYC.  And they presently have a promotion so air was "only"  $896.50pp instead of the Viking Air for $1299 and getting the same flights.

I told the Viking rep about the lack of flights leaving Malta.  My paper work says your departure flight must be after 8am.  She said what was stated above.  Lufthansa charter flights thru Viking.

The Alitalia flight departs at 11:35am.

 

[MikeyB]

Also, Viking will charge $49pp each way for a transfer if you don't take their air.

Pier to terminal is approximately 5 miles.  I'm told it's the same distance in the other direction.  Taxi will be much cheaper and faster.

[CCWineLover]

6 hours ago, Jchivers said:

This was all through Viking Air.  Based on past experience, there could very well be changes, but these flights look pretty good at the moment.  It would be nice to only have one stop on the return...  

 

Our original (cancelled) cruise was longer and more expensive - with that, plus the 25% Viking bonus, we have money coming out our ears on this cruise.  So we're treating ourselves to Business Class.

May I ask what they quoted you for Viking Air Bus Class?  I know you have money to burn, but just curious.  We are looking at Aug 23 and I asked viking Air today:  $4498 pp from SFO roundtrip to Malta.  Yikes!!!

[MRGACRUZR]

14 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

May I ask what they quoted you for Viking Air Bus Class?  I know you have money to burn, but just curious.  We are looking at Aug 23 and I asked viking Air today:  $4498 pp from SFO roundtrip to Malta.  Yikes!!!

They quoted us a discounted price of 4848 from Atlanta for the 8/13 cruise but, could not provide air back to ATL!

[Jchivers]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

May I ask what they quoted you for Viking Air Bus Class?  I know you have money to burn, but just curious.  We are looking at Aug 23 and I asked viking Air today:  $4498 pp from SFO roundtrip to Malta.  Yikes!!!

$4998

[oakridger]

@CCWineLoverActually that price for Business Air isn't that much different than the price was in 2016 for a round trip SFO to Poland on Lufthansa and returning on Swiss Air.  It was about $4500 in 2016.

 

I would love to go to Malta sometime!

 

I can't wait to hear about everyone's cruises!

 

~Nancy

[MRGACRUZR]

2 hours ago, oakridger said:

@CCWineLoverActually that price for Business Air isn't that much different than the price was in 2016 for a round trip SFO to Poland on Lufthansa and returning on Swiss Air.  It was about $4500 in 2016.

 

I would love to go to Malta sometime!

 

I can't wait to hear about everyone's cruises!

 

~Nancy

And,, it was cheaper, by far, than any desirable flights I could find "google flights". Delta had some in the high 3 thousands but the connections and layovers were intolerable. Additionally, Viking told me they didn't have any Delta flights.

[LindaS272]

Okay—rather disturbing news this morning talking to a Viking agent after sending a list of questions to tellus about the Malta/Adriatic itinerary. I sent the questions several days ago and we ended up booking the Sept. 12 cruise before hearing back from tellus—but we did cover some of the questions in the booking.

 

Today, a tellus person finally reached us. I asked what the protocols were going to be for Malta. She said that right now we can’t come into the country for tourism (I knew that) but that Viking got approval from the government. I told her things will likely change in Malta on June 1, which the government has indicated will happen. But she doesn’t know what the testing protocols will be. 
 

We told her the arrangements with the Lufthansa flights won’t work for us and we won’t be using Viking Air, but that we would be making our own air arrangements. She said making our own air arrangements is fine (I knew that too.) BUT when I told her one of the reasons we wouldn’t be using Viking Air is because they can’t do “deviations” for us and we want to come into Malta a couple of days early, SHE SAID “AT MY TRAINING ON THIS ITINERARY A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO, WE WERE TOLD TO TELL PEOPLE IF THEY COME IN EARLY YOU COULD BE DENIED BOARDING—JUST AS YOU WOULD BE IF YOU BOOKED YOUR OWN EXCURSIONS OUTSIDE THE VIKING BUBBLE WHILE ON THE CRUISE!”

 

WHUT?!?!

 

I asked what the authority was for this and she referred me to the trip T&Cs and the Covid protocols, but then admitted that it wasn’t written there. 
 

I asked for a supervisor to call me back. That is supposed to happen by Tuesday.

 

 

[CCWineLover]

Yikes!  That might put a crimp in things.  A shame to miss out on a beautiful island country!

wonder if they let you stay a few days after?

[toolworker]

We just discovered the prohibition on going ashore on our own. Is this generally known?

 

I had looked very carefully on the Viking website for COVID restrictions and hadn't seen it anywhere. But it was confirmed in three different phone calls by our TA and me. It is in the fine print of the COVID-19 Policies and Procedures section of the terms and conditions, a full page of fine print including "(8) additional restrictions during shore excursions depending on local conditions, including but not limited to denial of disembarkation at destinations unless participating in only Carrier-approved shore excursions".

 

Anyway, it was a surprise to us, and we cancelled our reservation on the July 11 sailing from Malta. We were looking forward to wandering around during our 5th visit to Athens, 4th to Rhodes and 3rd to Santorini, but have no interest in tours.

 

 

[LindaS272]

We are booked for the Sept. 12, 2021, departure on Venus from Malta through the Adriatic. What are excursion bookings looking like for those of you on these itineraries? As many of you may know, the Iceland cruises are having a terrible time with ShoreEx—first three cruises had their shore excursions opened up with no promised notice in advance for when they would open—and not done by cabin grade. Many folks couldn’t get even the included excursions. Then other ShoreEx began to be added in dribs and drabs. The later cruises are still not seeing their ShoreEx open and one person was told by a Viking TellUs agent that all the Welcome Back ShoreEx would open up at the same time with no early options based on cabin grade—But we’re supposed to be warned when they will open (although they are not doing that so far for Iceland).

[Jchivers]

30 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

We are booked for the Sept. 12, 2021, departure on Venus from Malta through the Adriatic. What are excursion bookings looking like for those of you on these itineraries? ... one person was told by a Viking TellUs agent that all the Welcome Back ShoreEx would open up at the same time with no early options based on cabin grade—But we’re supposed to be warned when they will open (although they are not doing that so far for Iceland).

We've been told the same thing.  Our July 24 Adriatic cruise doesn't have any ShoreEx yet.

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, toolworker said:

We just discovered the prohibition on going ashore on our own. Is this generally known?

 

 

Actually, for the Welcome Back cruises, it is generally well known that going ashore can only be done in the Viking Bubble (i.e. in a Shore Excursion).  It is in all rules and procedures, and quite frankly, our Travel Agent let us know this immediately before we considered booking.

 

The item that, if true, is a real issue for us, would be for Malta to not be able to arrive ahead of time bya few days.  For BOTH the Bermuda and the Iceland cruises, people are allowed to arrive early and tour around themselves before reporting to the ship (with some caveats).

 

I would assume that this "ruling" if it is true, comes from Malta government, who is afraid the Viking vaccinated passengers will get into trouble the days ahead of getting on-board.   Bermuda and Iceland, obviously, did not have that concern.

[toolworker]

17 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Actually, for the Welcome Back cruises, it is generally well known that going ashore can only be done in the Viking Bubble (i.e. in a Shore Excursion).  It is in all rules and procedures, and quite frankly, our Travel Agent let us know this immediately before we considered booking.

 

The item that, if true, is a real issue for us, would be for Malta to not be able to arrive ahead of time bya few days.  For BOTH the Bermuda and the Iceland cruises, people are allowed to arrive early and tour around themselves before reporting to the ship (with some caveats).

 

I would assume that this "ruling" if it is true, comes from Malta government, who is afraid the Viking vaccinated passengers will get into trouble the days ahead of getting on-board.   Bermuda and Iceland, obviously, did not have that concern.

Thanks @CCWineLover. I'm relieved that it is generally known. That said, I read the COVID pages on vikingcruises.com pretty thoroughly, including the Health and Safety Program, and didn't see this other than deep and somewhat ambiguously in the terms and conditions fine print. Is it clearly stated somewhere that I missed?

 

I would think there are two reasons you can't arrive early under current rules. First, if Viking doesn't let people reboard if they go off on their own from a shore excursion, then that would apply equally to people who go off on their own in Malta.

Second, from the Maltese government's side, the U.S. is on their red list. So you can't enter, except as Viking arranges permission for direct transit from the airport.

[MarkTapley]

4 minutes ago, toolworker said:

Thanks @CCWineLover. I'm relieved that it is generally known. That said, I read the COVID pages on vikingcruises.com pretty thoroughly, including the Health and Safety Program, and didn't see this other than deep and somewhat ambiguously in the terms and conditions fine print. Is it clearly stated somewhere that I missed?

 
This paragraph is in Vikings Covid Policies  and Procedures:

 

SHORE EXCURSIONS. During the initial return to sailing, guests will only be allowed to participate in excursions or activities executed and escorted by Viking-approved tour operators who maintain Viking’s level of COVID-19 controls to help limit potential exposure. Throughout the duration of the shore excursion, guests will be asked to remain with their cruise companions. There may be additional restrictions during shore excursions depending on local conditions. Noncompliance by guest or members of guest’s traveling party with COVID-19 Policies and Procedures shall be grounds for refusal to re-board after going ashore.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, toolworker said:

 

I would think there are two reasons you can't arrive early under current rules. First, if Viking doesn't let people reboard if they go off on their own from a shore excursion, then that would apply equally to people who go off on their own in Malta.

Second, from the Maltese government's side, the U.S. is on their red list. So you can't enter, except as Viking arranges permission for direct transit from the airport.

Nope and nope. Viking has no control over you before you get to the ship. And they have already said there’s no issue with us doing our own air.

 

The Maltese government has said they are letting in vaccinated US tourists beginning June 1. But we don’t yet know if they will require testing before we arrive or when we arrive. And the Maltese tourist board just did a huge promotion selling 35,000 hotel rooms after June 1 and paying people 100€ pp in a 5-star hotel, 75€ pp in a 4-star, & 50€ pp in a 3-star. I checked a couple of days ago and the “scheme” as they called it had already ended.

 

So—much like Iceland, Malta will be opening up to vaccinated tourists.

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

I would assume that this "ruling" if it is true, comes from Malta government, who is afraid the Viking vaccinated passengers will get into trouble the days ahead of getting on-board.   Bermuda and Iceland, obviously, did not have that concern.

See my response to toolworker, above.

[CCWineLover]

23 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

See my response to toolworker, above.

Thanks, Linda from Seattle.  (We lived in Seattle near UW for 27 years!)

I am now confused - so sorry.  I read in detail your earlier post regarding your conversation with Viking. 

    "TELL PEOPLE IF THEY COME IN EARLY YOU COULD BE DENIED BOARDING—JUST AS YOU WOULD BE IF YOU BOOKED YOUR OWN EXCURSIONS OUTSIDE THE VIKING BUBBLE WHILE ON THE CRUISE"

 

It seemed to imply that a person could NOT fly to Malta ahead of time, stay in a hotel for a couple nights and then board the Viking ship.  (They may not let you board).  This is different that for Bermuda and Iceland so I assumed that Malta was the one putting this restriction on Viking.

But your post above seems to state differently.

I think I will contact Viking tomorrow and ask the same sets of questions and see what answers I get.  It will make a huge difference to us if we cannot visit/see Valetta a few days ahead of time.

Thanks again!

Edited May 23, 2021 by CCWineLover