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

[les37b]

Hoping to need a friend after lunch who is Maltese, but on holiday here. He just sent me a photo of the view from where he is staying taken just now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tarheel1952]

Can anyone who has flown on the Lufthansa flight from Newark tell me if headphones with a 1 prong cord attach or do we need the 1 to 2 prong adapter required on Delta flights?

[mancunian]

We will not be on our planned sailing on 6 October as Viking have cancelled UK passengers due to the fact that they are using Kotor again not Dubrovnik so UK passengers cannot go.  There is no apology or reason given for not staying with Dubrovnik and in my case no phone call.  I just happened to phone them as we were a day off two weeks to check all was well.  It was not!

 

As you can imagine we are shattered and angry as we really needed this cruise as this year has been tough, nothing to do with covid, and we had travel and hotel booked, along with cat care.  We are left with nothing but a full refund, no way will we accept the other voucher offer as we do not wish to travel with them ever again.  UK passengers seem well down their list of priorities.

[les37b]

4 hours ago, mancunian said:

We will not be on our planned sailing on 6 October as Viking have cancelled UK passengers due to the fact that they are using Kotor again not Dubrovnik so UK passengers cannot go.  There is no apology or reason given for not staying with Dubrovnik and in my case no phone call.  I just happened to phone them as we were a day off two weeks to check all was well.  It was not!

 

As you can imagine we are shattered and angry as we really needed this cruise as this year has been tough, nothing to do with covid, and we had travel and hotel booked, along with cat care.  We are left with nothing but a full refund, no way will we accept the other voucher offer as we do not wish to travel with them ever again.  UK passengers seem well down their list of priorities.

I’m really sorry to hear that. When I had asked previously what they would to if scheduled ports were red, I was told Viking will not be calling at red ports.

 

There are 122 UK passengers on the current sailing representing 25% of the total. If they had done that on this sailing, there is no way I would consider another booking. I’m gobsmacked to hear they’ve done this.
 

To date I’ve been happy with their dealings with my booking which was cancelled because of the international cruise issue. I had intended to make a further booking on board to replace an expected Panama cancellation on Silversea in Jan 22 and found a good alternative in the same time slot - Northern Zlights.. I will be asking direct questions in relation to this and suspect I will make the decision not to book, which is a shame as I definitely saw a very high probability of several future bookings. 
 

Meanwhile, Viking Sea left Malta yesterday after witnessing an International Firework display being hosted in Valletta. (And not as a crew member tried to claim was put on by Viking for us!)

 

So far, life on board has been good. Fingers crossed we don’t arrive in Kotor tomorrow after a change of mind!

Edited September 21, 2021 by les37b

[JohnCoffield]

4 hours ago, mancunian said:

We will not be on our planned sailing on 6 October as Viking have cancelled UK passengers due to the fact that they are using Kotor again not Dubrovnik so UK passengers cannot go.  There is no apology or reason given for not staying with Dubrovnik and in my case no phone call.  I just happened to phone them as we were a day off two weeks to check all was well.  It was not!

 

As you can imagine we are shattered and angry as we really needed this cruise as this year has been tough, nothing to do with covid, and we had travel and hotel booked, along with cat care.  We are left with nothing but a full refund, no way will we accept the other voucher offer as we do not wish to travel with them ever again.  UK passengers seem well down their list of priorities.

Just received a phone call letting me know the cruise planned for October 2nd has been cancelled for UK travellers. I spoke with Viking last week & was assured that a compromise would be found regarding Kotor. It now seems they can't be bothered. Shocking service to wait until 11 days before departure to inform guests, when anyone with simple research on Covid 19 knew Montenegro won't be off the UK red list for the foreseeable future. I was really looking forward to my first Viking cruise & have heard many good things about the Venus, but I probably won't look at them again. 

[diana11]

I am currently on the Viking Venus. There are 495 passengers onboard of which 129 are from the uk. Guest services have told me that there are been no cases of covid onboard. I mentioned about Montenegro being back on the itinerary. She seemed surprised to hear that so the crew have not been made aware of this yet.

[claranda]

I’ve asked our agent to check whether this will also be the case for the cruise sailing on 24 October. I suspect it will be and like others trying Viking for the first time, we’ll avoid them in future. Like JohnCoffield, I called Viking earlier this month and was told that  solution to the Montenegro problem would be found if it remained red.

I really think that those on 2 October flight should receive compensation from Viking for this.

[postit1111]

On 9/20/2021 at 7:03 AM, Tarheel1952 said:

Can anyone who has flown on the Lufthansa flight from Newark tell me if headphones with a 1 prong cord attach or do we need the 1 to 2 prong adapter required on Delta flights?

It's the single prong you need. 

 

[Tom.in.nc]

13 hours ago, mancunian said:

UK passengers seem well down their list of priorities.

I understand your frustration, but I seem to recollect quite a few UK-only Viking cruises while we were sitting home warming our bums.

Tom

[JessM66]

23 minutes ago, Tom.in.nc said:

I understand your frustration, but I seem to recollect quite a few UK-only Viking cruises while we were sitting home warming our bums.

Tom

I think the UK cruises were a Commercial decision on Vikings part, when they couldn’t sail anywhere else. 
 

[mancunian]

Yes Jess is quite right Viking was not favouring the UK but desperately trying to find places to sail from and found UK, Bermuda and Iceland where I think most of the US people on here including yourself  Tom were enjoying yourselves.

 

This cruise would have been our first attempt to go overseas having had to cancel IcelandHowever thank you for your kind thoughts, at least you are the only one of your countrymen to actually    give any thoughts on this, they seem mostly concerned about whether you should wear jeans in the dining room.

[Tarheel1952]

2 hours ago, postit1111 said:

It's the single prong you need. 

 

Thank you!

[Harrietq]

47 minutes ago, mancunian said:

Yes Jess is quite right Viking was not favouring the UK but desperately trying to find places to sail from and found UK, Bermuda and Iceland where I think most of the US people on here including yourself  Tom were enjoying yourselves.

 

This cruise would have been our first attempt to go overseas having had to cancel IcelandHowever thank you for your kind thoughts, at least you are the only one of your countrymen to actually    give any thoughts on this, they seem mostly concerned about whether you should wear jeans in the dining room.

You’ll see another American accepting the possibility of missing Kotor as a port in post #11 of the Adriatic thread. I’ll save you looking up the post.

 

Disappointed? Yes. Understand how UK travel rules affect our visit? Yes. Curious (not complaining) why “majority rules” wouldn’t apply to the 75% being told “no” in favor of the 25%? Yes. Accepting another day in Dubrovnik without complaint? Yes. 
 

And, I know how to dress for dinner.

[Tom.in.nc]

51 minutes ago, mancunian said:

Yes Jess is quite right Viking was not favouring the UK but desperately trying to find places to sail from and found UK, Bermuda and Iceland where I think most of the US people on here including yourself  Tom were enjoying yourselves.

Yes, cruising is the lifeblood of a cruise line.  What I was getting at was, if I remember correctly, Viking wasn’t letting anyone but UK folks on those cruises around the UK.

I finally made it to a Malta/Adriatic cruise.

Anyway, I agree stopping in Kotor is likely a business decision (maybe the other option was to add another sea day.) but I wouldn’t let that decision turn you completely away from Viking.  You’ll be missing wonderful cruises if you do.

 

Tom

[Heidi13]

55 minutes ago, Tom.in.nc said:

Yes, cruising is the lifeblood of a cruise line.  What I was getting at was, if I remember correctly, Viking wasn’t letting anyone but UK folks on those cruises around the UK.

I finally made it to a Malta/Adriatic cruise.

Anyway, I agree stopping in Kotor is likely a business decision (maybe the other option was to add another sea day.) but I wouldn’t let that decision turn you completely away from Viking.  You’ll be missing wonderful cruises if you do.

 

Tom

 

Tom - you are correct. The initial cruises from Portmouth were only for UK residents. Even though we still own UK property and I travel on a UK passport, we could not book one of those cruises. In these times, it was a business decision to minimise risk.

 

Having a cruise cancelled is always a frustration, but like you, unless I know all the facts, I wouldn't be writing-off the cruise line. Yes, it is easy to blame Viking, but cruise planning & scheduling is highly complex and is normally completed at least 2 years ahead. Many factors, most of which are outside the control of the company, impact a cruise line's ability to alter an itinerary at short notice. In addition to the number of ships vying for ports and the other marine challenges, we also have frequently changing Govt COVID directives, in the ports we visit.

 

I suggest it is highly unlikely that Viking will write-off the business from one of their 3 primary markets, without good and valid reasons.

 

However, from a customer service perspective, the customer is due a reasonable explanation.

[les37b]

8 hours ago, Tom.in.nc said:

I understand your frustration, but I seem to recollect quite a few UK-only Viking cruises while we were sitting home warming our bums.

Tom

I think that Viking along with several other CL used these “Seacation” bubble cruises to bed in and prepare crew and were effectively guinea pig cruises and get the ball rolling. I suspect (and is speculation) that the agreement to allow the startup was given only if it was UK only passengers, so I don’t believe it was anything commercial and was political/Covid). 
 

I was on an MSC bubble cruise, whose next stop was Greenock near Glasgow and it was banned from sailing there. As UK citizens on a ship carrying Uk only passengers, could not get on or off and was turned away.  That decision by Scotland wasn’t known until the day it was leaving Liverpool for the short hop. We had passengers from Scotland unable to return home and the guests expecting to get on the next day, couldn’t. No one could blame MSC it was 100% out of their control.

 

These bubble cruises probably would have been a preference to sail to and from the US calling nowhere or US only ports, but as we know, the US won’t allow a ship registered outside the US to do this. The option for seacations in the US was never an option.

 

So whilst you think the UK was being favoured, I think it was merely testing toes and conforming to government instructions when these were first thought up. Certainly at the time, US citizens would have had to quarantine. That may have been lifted by the time the cruises started, but not when first advertised.

 

I certainly accept what Heidi13 has said that operating difficulties could have played a part in the decision (ie not being able to overnight in Dubrovnik), but I truly doubt it’s the reason and it certainly wouldn’t be a problem to miss a port. We’ve all had that numerous times! Missing a cruise is a whole new game.

 

We should be in Kotor today. I’m thankful we are not. Viking made a good call not to discard the 122 Brits on board. I’ve no idea what the regulations are for other countries regarding red. (Why have traffic lights if it’s meaningless!), but the rest of the 375 passengers are not just from the US though obviously the bulk are.

 

it’s quite funny. I made the decision to switch from Venus going to Greece who was seemingly about to go red, to green Croatia to avoid this scenario. It worked for me, but so nearly was out of the frying pan into the fire.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 22, 2021 by les37b

[claranda]

My agent confirms that the 24 October sailing also off for Brits - he only heard from Viking this morning re this. Viking offering £250 off another booking and obc of £250 per person.

[bbtondo]

3 hours ago, claranda said:

My agent confirms that the 24 October sailing also off for Brits - he only heard from Viking this morning re this. Viking offering £250 off another booking and obc of £250 per person.

Since Viking cancelled the cruise and not the passengers, I assume they were offered a cash refund?

[claranda]

3 hours ago, claranda said:

My agent confirms that the 24 October sailing also off for Brits - he only heard from Viking this morning re this. Viking offering £250 off another booking and obc of £250 per person.

Correction, either £250 each off or £250 each on board credit on a later sailing. Or, yes, a full refund of course. But, bbtondo, Viking HAS cancelled the (British) passengers, not the cruise!

[mancunian]

19 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Tom - you are correct. The initial cruises from Portmouth were only for UK residents. Even though we still own UK property and I travel on a UK passport, we could not book one of those cruises. In these times, it was a business decision to minimise risk.

 

Having a cruise cancelled is always a frustration, but like you, unless I know all the facts, I wouldn't be writing-off the cruise line. Yes, it is easy to blame Viking, but cruise planning & scheduling is highly complex and is normally completed at least 2 years ahead. Many factors, most of which are outside the control of the company, impact a cruise line's ability to alter an itinerary at short notice. In addition to the number of ships vying for ports and the other marine challenges, we also have frequently changing Govt COVID directives, in the ports we visit.

 

I suggest it is highly unlikely that Viking will write-off the business from one of their 3 primary markets, without good and valid reasons.

 

However, from a customer service perspective, the customer is due a reasonable explanation.

Thank you for thar Heidi13.  I agree with what you said but unless we get a satisfactory reason that is exactly what we shall do.  There are four of us now on the two threads on here in this situation and we have none of us been able to get an answer.  I do.not think it is anything to do with flights as has been suggested and if it was Dubrovnik could not take the ship why not tell us.  They do not seem to want us to know the real reason and I am actually wondering if it is the 75/25 division Harriet Q suggests.   If so though it seems extreme to sacrifice the UK passengers just to give US passengers a few hours in Kotor and I guess they would not want to tell us if so.   I do not like what has happened or the way  Viking have carried things out and whilst I will not say never, I just have no desire to go with them for quite a long time.    Whilst I liked our two cruises on  Viking I am probably not as smitten as the rest of you seem to be and we have two other cruise lines we are keen on too.

 

One thing I am not over keen on is that all the ships are identical and I prefer the opportunity to explore different layouts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mancunian]

6 hours ago, claranda said:

My agent confirms that the 24 October sailing also off for Brits - he only heard from Viking this morning re this. Viking offering £250 off another booking and obc of £250 per person.

 i am so sorry this has happened to you too.  acid you agent find the reason.  At least you have had a little more warning but still a nasty shock.

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, mancunian said:

Thank you for thar Heidi13.  I agree with what you said but unless we get a satisfactory reason that is exactly what we shall do.  There are four of us now on the two threads on here in this situation and we have none of us been able to get an answer.  I do.not think it is anything to do with flights as has been suggested and if it was Dubrovnik could not take the ship why not tell us.  They do not seem to want us to know the real reason and I am actually wondering if it is the 75/25 division Harriet Q suggests.   If so though it seems extreme to sacrifice the UK passengers just to give US passengers a few hours in Kotor and I guess they would not want to tell us if so.   I do not like what has happened or the way  Viking have carried things out and whilst I will not say never, I just have no desire to go with them for quite a long time.    Whilst I liked our two cruises on  Viking I am probably not as smitten as the rest of you seem to be and we have two other cruise lines we are keen on too.

 

One thing I am not over keen on is that all the ships are identical and I prefer the opportunity to explore different layouts.

 

 

Can you please provide a list of the cruises affected and I will send a note to my contact in Basle to see if they can get you a proper response.

[claranda]

It seems such an odd decision considering that there are only 2/3 October cruises affected, none in November. Why alienate customers at this late stage in the Med cruising year?

We’ve now swallowed our frustration, accepted it as one more Covid *****-up, and moved our reservation to the same cruise in March 2022. Easier for us than most people, as it was only last month that we moved from March to October! All this shuttlecocking back and forth does play hell with flight and hotel bookings, though, doesn’t it? We will go to Venice anyway, and (after a brief flirtation with some Oceania options) add on nights in a very posh hotel in Bologna and drown our sorrows in Franciacorta and pasta ragu. Hoping those others affected find alternative ways to travel…

[Tarheel1952]

Are US dollars accepted for tips on tours in Malta, Croatia and Montenegro?

[les37b]

27 minutes ago, Tarheel1952 said:

Are US dollars accepted for tips on tours in Malta, Croatia and Montenegro?

 

Tips are not needed.... But if you insist, they are more than happy to accept $. Free money in any currency won't be frowned on.

 

However, shops won't accept. Most won't even accept euros. (Croatia and Montenegro.... Malta's currency is €

Edited September 23, 2021 by les37b