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

[JeriGail]

3 hours ago, CLBSC said:

we have booked the sold out November Viking Sea transatlantic from Barcelona to San Juan. My fears have almost been eliminated, just wondering if the TA will actually be a go and if it is really sold out (930 passengers?) 

I emailed Tellus to ask them the question of whether the Sea's TA is actually sold out and received a very carefully worded reply - "All of the cabins that were made available for the cruise have been sold."  Cruise lines are required to have cabins available for quarantine in the EU, so other than those cabins, the Sea is sold out.  I'm guessing we will have about 870 passengers.

[bluemusicnut]

If I am posting in the wrong forum please let me know. I am looking for a discussion of the Malta cruise departing September 19.  I am concerned about filling out the forms properly because I am stopping in Rome, arriving there 7:35 am the 18th, and flying Rome to Malta the morning of the 19th.  The final question on the Malta form is have you been in a dark red country in the past 14 days.  Isn’t the US on the dark red list? 
it will be tricky timing the PCR test to work for both Italy and Malta, depending on how long it takes to get results.  I will be grateful for assistance because I have some but not a lot of experience with traveling in Europe or in cruising.  Thank you. 

[CLBSC]

25 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

I emailed Tellus to ask them the question of whether the Sea's TA is actually sold out and received a very carefully worded reply - "All of the cabins that were made available for the cruise have been sold."  Cruise lines are required to have cabins available for quarantine in the EU, so other than those cabins, the Sea is sold out.  I'm guessing we will have about 870 passengers.

Thanks for the update..that is double what we just experienced......hopefully it will be a go.

[CCWineLover]

5 hours ago, CLBSC said:

• Pandemic Cruising: was it worth the hassle? Absolutely, would we do it again? Absolutely (only on Viking) in fact we have booked the sold out November Viking Sea transatlantic from Barcelona to San Juan. My fears have almost been eliminated, just wondering if the TA will actually be a go and if it is really sold out (930 passengers?) 
• PS-check requirements daily.....everything is ALWAYS subject to change. Char

What an amazing well-written review!  Thank you SO much.  Really appreciated your experience.  Had mixed emotions as we had originally planned to be on this exact cruise on the Venus, but other plans in the States had us have to cancel it.

However, we will look forward to meeting you in person hopefully, as we are on the exact Viking Sea TA that you mentioned.   So glad you had a great Viking experience!

As for people worried about too many on the ship, we've been on 5 Viking Ocean Cruises and the first 4 were completely full (930) and it still never felt crowded (the 5th was Bermuda and it had about 400).

Rest up, cross our fingers, and let's hope that things get better enough for the Sea to make its journey.   The good thing is, that we both now have that experience of being in Viking's safety protocols, and there is a certain comfort in feeling good about it and knowing the ropes of what to expect and confident that having dealt with it all, including Viking Bubble, before, we can easily do it again!

Kent and Pam

[lackcreativity]

Has anyone had an "inside scoop" regarding whether Viking will continue including Malta in some itineraries going forward? Our schedule did not allow us to join any of these Welcome Back cruises, but I have always wanted to go there.

[wyz]

6 hours ago, bluemusicnut said:

If I am posting in the wrong forum please let me know. I am looking for a discussion of the Malta cruise departing September 19.  I am concerned about filling out the forms properly because I am stopping in Rome, arriving there 7:35 am the 18th, and flying Rome to Malta the morning of the 19th.  The final question on the Malta form is have you been in a dark red country in the past 14 days.  Isn’t the US on the dark red list? 
it will be tricky timing the PCR test to work for both Italy and Malta, depending on how long it takes to get results.  I will be grateful for assistance because I have some but not a lot of experience with traveling in Europe or in cruising.  Thank you. 

The US is on Malta's red list, but not on the dark red list.  See https://deputyprimeminister.gov.mt/en/health-promotion/covid-19/Pages/travel.aspx

Under Roll Calls, you can go to Viking Ocean Roll Calls, and then Viking Sea.  Under it there is a roll call entry for the September 19 sailing (my wife and I are on that sailing).  Safe travels.

[gma1]

52

[gma1]

5 minutes ago, gma1 said:

52

whoops...yes USA is on red list...not dark red. Very confusing. Wonderful ports & experience..we are on Viking Sea now & will be disembarking on Sept. 19. Viking doing all they can to keep us healthy..not in a bubble in Croatia but will be back in Malta & Greece.

[les37b]

16 hours ago, bluemusicnut said:

If I am posting in the wrong forum please let me know. I am looking for a discussion of the Malta cruise departing September 19.  I am concerned about filling out the forms properly because I am stopping in Rome, arriving there 7:35 am the 18th, and flying Rome to Malta the morning of the 19th.  The final question on the Malta form is have you been in a dark red country in the past 14 days.  Isn’t the US on the dark red list? 
it will be tricky timing the PCR test to work for both Italy and Malta, depending on how long it takes to get results.  I will be grateful for assistance because I have some but not a lot of experience with traveling in Europe or in cruising.  Thank you. 

The US is currently on Malta's red list, but not dark red, which is the same as the UK. For us, entry is simply to provide our Covid vaccine certificate and also fill out the passenger locator form which declares where you have been.

 

Unable to help with your transit question, but share your pain for the difficulty on finding a reliable and official source of accurate information.

 

See you on board. We will be late arrivers as BA changed our early morning flights from London, to times that will see us arrive at the port ready for bed.  (Not the first time BA have done this to us and now BA find themselves on our dark red list.

[les37b]

14 minutes ago, gma1 said:

whoops...yes USA is on red list...not dark red. Very confusing. Wonderful ports & experience..we are on Viking Sea now & will be disembarking on Sept. 19. Viking doing all they can to keep us healthy..not in a bubble in Croatia but will be back in Malta & Greece.

 

Could you do me a huge favour and ask GS what the cost is when buying the Viking drink package on board? We sail in 14 days and currently have resisted buying just yet though concerns on the fears it may still get cancelled or restrictions stop us. Asking as of we are not getting a discounted price, I might as well remove any risk and purchase on arrival.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

[gma1]

1 hour ago, les37b said:

 

Could you do me a huge favour and ask GS what the cost is when buying the Viking drink package on board? We sail in 14 days and currently have resisted buying just yet though concerns on the fears it may still get cancelled or restrictions stop us. Asking as of we are not getting a discounted price, I might as well remove any risk and purchase on arrival.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Les...I just ask guest services...It depends on the length of your cruise. Ours being 21 days is $399 pp (but was included for us) if you are on a 10 day then it is $199 pp...BUT you must purchase the first day you arrive & are onboard!!!  Drinks are pretty reasonable, if you have never been on Viking. $6-8 in the Explorers lounge I saw yesterday...for a cocktail. 

[MikeyB]

On 9/3/2021 at 3:11 AM, gma1 said:

We are on the Sea now. There are 125 Brits ...so if we had stopped in Montenegro they would probably have cancelled. Actually having 2 days here in Dubrovnik has been awesome. Shuttles are every hour into town & people wander around alone or choose an excursion. A few new ones were added to choose from also. There are 52 or so passengers who decided to stay on for this Adriatic portion (we are on for 21 days). Some passengers who boarded on 8/30 as we did are offered to stay on for Greece portion also. Why not if its convenient & good price. So we have 500 ish on board...very nice! No complaints here, our 6th Viking cruise.

 

Sorry GMA1,

So there are not presently 125 Brits.  It's  28.  That comes from the Guest Services  manager.  Imagine, the Montenegro  port was canceled  for only 28 passengers.  Screw the rest of Us!  I use the word screw as a nautical term.

[MikeyB]

And let me expand upon my experience on the Viking Sea. Just back from the world Cafe. The place was empty and we sat outside.  Service was poor.  And I'm being kind.  On other Viking sailings I never had the need to stick out my leg to get service.  You  almost do here.  I will now say only  25% of crew acknowledge your presence.  But all is not bad.  Food at dinner is excellent.  We have used the same station i The Restaurant because of a waiter  called Evidence.  Yes, Evidence.   He is in the very back of ship.  Two incredible  bartenders are Gede in the Explorer's  lounge and Iskra in the Atrium bar.  The ports are interesting.

Please...feel free to disagree with anything I wrote.

[Hockeyump]

1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

Sorry GMA1,

So there are not presently 125 Brits.  It's  28.  That comes from the Guest Services  manager.  Imagine, the Montenegro  port was canceled  for only 28 passengers.  Screw the rest of Us!  I use the word screw as a nautical term.

If it was the other way round and only 28 from US I am sure Viking would have done the same thing.

[eduguy]

2 hours ago, MikeyB said:

And let me expand upon my experience on the Viking Sea. Just back from the world Cafe. The place was empty and we sat outside.  Service was poor.  And I'm being kind.  On other Viking sailings I never had the need to stick out my leg to get service.  You  almost do here.  I will now say only  25% of crew acknowledge your presence.  But all is not bad.  Food at dinner is excellent.  We have used the same station i The Restaurant because of a waiter  called Evidence.  Yes, Evidence.   He is in the very back of ship.  Two incredible  bartenders are Gede in the Explorer's  lounge and Iskra in the Atrium bar.  The ports are interesting.

Please...feel free to disagree with anything I wrote.

We do disagree 100%.  Everytime we go to the terrace, we have to chase the waiters away as they keep asking if we need anything.  There are always those who complain about every little thing. I’m sorry that you are having such a terrible time.  Are you in cabin 5014?

[Tom.in.nc]

3 hours ago, MikeyB said:

And let me expand upon my experience on the Viking Sea. Just back from the world Cafe. The place was empty and we sat outside.  Service was poor.  And I'm being kind.  On other Viking sailings I never had the need to stick out my leg to get service.  You  almost do here.  I will now say only  25% of crew acknowledge your presence.

I’ve always said that the Viking crew are very intelligent. This just proves they know who to avoid. They know that some people can never be satisfied.

Tom

Edited September 5, 2021 by Tom.in.nc

[Tom.in.nc]

Yes, I  was only making a rare joke.

[rizello]

3 hours ago, MikeyB said:

And let me expand upon my experience on the Viking Sea. Just back from the world Cafe. The place was empty and we sat outside.  Service was poor.  And I'm being kind.  On other Viking sailings I never had the need to stick out my leg to get service.  You  almost do here.  I will now say only  25% of crew acknowledge your presence.  But all is not bad.  Food at dinner is excellent.  We have used the same station i The Restaurant because of a waiter  called Evidence.  Yes, Evidence.   He is in the very back of ship.  Two incredible  bartenders are Gede in the Explorer's  lounge and Iskra in the Atrium bar.  The ports are interesting.

Please...feel free to disagree with anything I wrote.

It is unfortunate that you are having a poor experience.  We were on our first Viking cruise on the Venus and it was fabulous.  Maybe because there were less than 200 passengers, but I really have never had that much attention.  It was a brand new experience for me, having people attend to my every need.  I'm so used to traveling on my end and taking care of everything.  

[gma1]

3 hours ago, Hockeyump said:

If it was the other way round and only 28 from US I am sure Viking would have done the same thing.

 

5 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Sorry GMA1,

So there are not presently 125 Brits.  It's  28.  That comes from the Guest Services  manager. 

5 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Sorry GMA1,

So there are not presently 125 Brits.  It's  28.  That comes from the Guest Services  manager.  Imagine, the Montenegro  port was canceled  for only 28 passengers.  Screw the rest of Us!  I use the word screw as a nautical term.

use the word screw as a nautical term.

 

3 hours ago, Hockeyump said:

If it was the other way round and only 28 from US I am sure Viking would have done the same thing.

I got that 125 number from one of the head wait staff, he seemed in charge to me of that section...in the Restaurant...he showed me his list of who is on now...broken down into 1. Brits,  2. people who stayed on from the previous Malta/Greece   3. USA....thats all I know.!!  Sure seems like a lot of very nice Brits too from our dinners & tours. Find it hard to believe only 28

[Clay Clayton]

13 hours ago, les37b said:

 

Could you do me a huge favour and ask GS what the cost is when buying the Viking drink package on board? We sail in 14 days and currently have resisted buying just yet though concerns on the fears it may still get cancelled or restrictions stop us. Asking as of we are not getting a discounted price, I might as well remove any risk and purchase on arrival.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Cost onboard is $19.95 per person per day. Unless you’re sailing solo, you’ll need to double that price. 
 

A while back, seems like someone said the prepurchase price if purchasing in £ was at a small discount over buying onboard due to the exchange rate at that time. 
 

If you want to take a look at the prices, I did a series of posts in July with photos of the menus from each bar. For us and our usual cocktail, we had to have 2.8 per day to break even.  We don’t normally purchase the package but as we were traveling with my mother in law we did😂. I never had trouble breaking even! 

[MITZZI2]

On 8/28/2021 at 11:02 AM, tozmervo said:

They are very poorly signed inside the terminal, but there are shuttle buses between the terminals so you don't have to go through security again. 

Connecting Flights - EWR - Newark Liberty Airports (newarkairport.com)

We flew United on July 30th and the buses were not operating. Had to take air train and go through security again. Very poor signage trying to find the Lufthansa check in counter.

[les37b]

10 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Cost onboard is $19.95 per person per day. Unless you’re sailing solo, you’ll need to double that price. 
 

A while back, seems like someone said the prepurchase price if purchasing in £ was at a small discount over buying onboard due to the exchange rate at that time. 
 

If you want to take a look at the prices, I did a series of posts in July with photos of the menus from each bar. For us and our usual cocktail, we had to have 2.8 per day to break even.  We don’t normally purchase the package but as we were traveling with my mother in law we did😂. I never had trouble breaking even! 

 

Cheers Clay. Always my intention to buy, just the when part.

 

Whilst drinking would mostly be confined to meal times and covered, I'd certainly like a cocktail or two during the day and before and after dinner. I doubt we would have a day we won't break even apart from day 1 where our flights arrive so late. (Thanks to British Airways)

[les37b]

18 hours ago, gma1 said:

 

 

I got that 125 number from one of the head wait staff, he seemed in charge to me of that section...in the Restaurant...he showed me his list of who is on now...broken down into 1. Brits,  2. people who stayed on from the previous Malta/Greece   3. USA....thats all I know.!!  Sure seems like a lot of very nice Brits too from our dinners & tours. Find it hard to believe only 28

 

When our 24th July booking had to be amended (because of the no sail advisory was in place and actually an unknown until highlighted), I was told they had to reschedule approx 160 UK guests onto other dates or give a cancellation refund. I suspect as they deal with bookings they know the details. The cruise did sail (well done Viking) with 167 on board - of which there were presumably in that number it included some Canadians (?) and I'm aware of a few Brits who were either taking a risk with Insurance or used their partners US status to get insurance cover. 

 

Do you know how many in total on board at the moment?

 

[Azulann]

7 hours ago, MITZZI2 said:

We flew United on July 30th and the buses were not operating. Had to take air train and go through security again. Very poor signage trying to find the Lufthansa check in counter.

So one does not get a boarding pass for the Lufthansa flight when you check in at the first United flight  ticket counter at home airport ?  

In terminal B,  does Lufthansa or United have an airline club to  pay for a day pass? I have a 5 hr layover  for the flight to Malta. 

 

[d9704011]

6 minutes ago, Azulann said:

In terminal B,  does Lufthansa or United have an airline club to  pay for a day pass? I have a 5 hr layover  for the flight to Malta. 

Try this link...

 

https://lufthansa.travelintegration.com/lounges/search?userId=GENERATED_USER_ID-c0665c2b-02f8-430f-b75f-36f89cc43049&contextId=GENERATED_CONTEXT_ID-3aaaf056-f427-4e76-9176-169c12c52558&locale=en&tracking[allowed]=false&tracking[necessary]=false&tracking[statistics]=false&tracking[personalization]=false&tracking[comfort]=false