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

[mancunian]

19 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

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.

That is so kind of you.  There are now 5 of us.   Two including me on 2 October Malta  Adriatic, one on 3 October  Malta Istanbul, and 2 on 26 October not sur which of the itineraries.

 

 

 

[mancunian]

4 hours ago, claranda said:

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…

Glad you are sorted, well at least not on the disappointment.   I worked it out today that if we had accepted the £250 pounds (which incidentally I was not told about just that I could get a refund or move to another cruise) it would not have gone far towards the higher costs of next October’s cruises against what we paige this year.

[mancunian]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:49 PM, les37b said:

 

You are more than welcome.... And will post how it went.

 

I think most are on Air Malta. I got shafted with afternoon BA flight.

 

Good luck to you too.

 

 

Les.  We have booked on Oceania in. November after being bounced from the Viking   cruise.  We are having your experience.  We were booked on an early morning flight from LHR  to Marseille which BA has kindly cancelled and put us on an afternoon flight instead.  I realised we could not get to the ship before 7.30 pm at the earliest and if any delays to the flight we might not make it at all as ship sailing that day.  We eventually asked for a flight the previous day.  Means the cost of a hotel, but hey I need an easy life.

[les37b]

11 hours ago, mancunian said:

Les.  We have booked on Oceania in. November after being bounced from the Viking   cruise.  We are having your experience.  We were booked on an early morning flight from LHR  to Marseille which BA has kindly cancelled and put us on an afternoon flight instead.  I realised we could not get to the ship before 7.30 pm at the earliest and if any delays to the flight we might not make it at all as ship sailing that day.  We eventually asked for a flight the previous day.  Means the cost of a hotel, but hey I need an easy life.

 

BA have a habit of doing exactly this. I had this exact experience of pre cruise flights being changed to a time I would miss sailaway, so I asked for a refund and booked an upgraded airline flight with easyJet at the exact same time my BA flight was for. One airline clearly didn't have that timeslot and more fool me for picking the wrong one.

 

BA will be my last choice in future. I'd even fly Ryan air in preference, an airline I vowed never to use.

 

Good luck with your cruise.

Edited September 24, 2021 by les37b

[kcpvwill]

We are on board Venus at present doing Malta and the Greek Islands.  We were allowed independent trips in Malta but are now sailing towards Greece and as CDC has placed it in level 4 we cannot go ashore except in the Viking excursion bubbles.  We also have to carry our vaccination status  evidence with us in Greece.  
 

There are 540 passengers on board but I don’t know the nationality break down.  
 

The organisation for embarkation once Viking was in charge was impressive.  

[gma1]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:47 AM, Tarheel1952 said:

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

We just returned from 21 days. We only used US dollars for tips...took many $1 and  $5 bills. We ask one guide and she said yes US dollars are fine!

 

On 9/23/2021 at 11:47 AM, Tarheel1952 said:

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

 

[Tarheel1952]

Gma, thank you!

[les37b]

Just departing Zadar...    YT video uploads on return....

 

[Azulann]

Leaving for Malta and Viking Venus in 16 days!!!

it took me  over a hour... but I got my bar code in a PDF for entering Malta. I am a happy camper.

 I plan to  post a live  trip report  about our curies Malta to Barcelona with ports in Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and an extra day in a great hotel in Barcelona. 

Our roll call is doing fine and even have a couple of new folks who just booked  this cruise. Our charter flight by Viking   from EWR will be all cruisers . 

Glad we can walk around Malta currently. Looking forward to Palermo, Sicily  and Cagliari, Sardinia  for the first time visits. 

 Last hoop is the PRC test 72 Horus before my first flight on Oct 11. 

 

[Tarheel1952]

22 hours ago, Azulann said:

Leaving for Malta and Viking Venus in 16 days!!!

it took me  over a hour... but I got my bar code in a PDF for entering Malta. I am a happy camper.

 I plan to  post a live  trip report  about our curies Malta to Barcelona with ports in Sicily, Sardinia, Spain and an extra day in a great hotel in Barcelona. 

Our roll call is doing fine and even have a couple of new folks who just booked  this cruise. Our charter flight by Viking   from EWR will be all cruisers . 

Glad we can walk around Malta currently. Looking forward to Palermo, Sicily  and Cagliari, Sardinia  for the first time visits. 

 Last hoop is the PRC test 72 Horus before my first flight on Oct 11. 

 

We submitted ours earlier this week for 10/02 cruise.  The status still says “submitted”.  Did you get an approval or do we just print it now?

[Azulann]

14 minutes ago, Tarheel1952 said:

We submitted ours earlier this week for 10/02 cruise.  The status still says “submitted”.  Did you get an approval or do we just print it now?

Yes mine  says " Status: submitted."

I just printed the  email  page with the bar code.

I made two copies plus one on my iPhone to bring along.

It also says that I completed the Passenger Locator Form for my trip .

 You and I are good to go according to the way I read the email.

Enjoy your cruise and  post  if you get a chance about  the arrival experience .

Cheers!

Patti

 

 

[Tom.in.nc]

56 minutes ago, Azulann said:

You and I are good to go according to the way I read the email.

Our dPLF also said SUBMITTED, had QR code, and was accepted that way in Malta.  Have fun,

Tom

[philw1776]

On a positive note we loved our malta & greek isles cruise.

Photos...

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/seacoast_nh/albums/72157719935290775

 

[Azulann]

Phil, 

Love your photos.  thank you for posting them. 

 I now know what to expect when we get on ship in Malta. I  am going on the same excursion as you  on Malta. The horse carriage ride looks interesting...

Your pictures of the  Athens and Greek island bring back great memories for me from past cruises. 

Looks like you had great weather.

BTW, was that the  steak folks talk about in Manfredi's  the is in your photo? WOW. 

 

 

[Mitina]

2 hours ago, Tarheel1952 said:

We submitted ours earlier this week for 10/02 cruise.  The status still says “submitted”.  Did you get an approval or do we just print it now?

We're on the same 10/2 Adriatic Jewels trip.  Like others have said, we just scanned the bar code for VeriFly and made multiple hard copies of the dPLF.  We fly out on Friday.

[Tarheel1952]

4 hours ago, Azulann said:

Yes mine  says " Status: submitted."

I just printed the  email  page with the bar code.

I made two copies plus one on my iPhone to bring along.

It also says that I completed the Passenger Locator Form for my trip .

 You and I are good to go according to the way I read the email.

Enjoy your cruise and  post  if you get a chance about  the arrival experience .

Cheers!

Patti

 

 

Thank you!  I was reading it that way also, but Iceland came back Approved.  Just trying to do it all properly.

You have a wonderful trip also!  

I will try to update you.

Debbie

[philw1776]

19 hours ago, Azulann said:

Phil, 

Love your photos.  thank you for posting them. 

 I now know what to expect when we get on ship in Malta. I  am going on the same excursion as you  on Malta. The horse carriage ride looks interesting...

Your pictures of the  Athens and Greek island bring back great memories for me from past cruises. 

Looks like you had great weather.

BTW, was that the  steak folks talk about in Manfredi's  the is in your photo? WOW. 

 

 

You're welcome.
What I love about Viking, on the Malta' s Capitals Old & New excursion they arranged a private special use of bathrooms in a museum cafe with a nice included drink. A nice touch.

Horse carriage ride was not a Viking excursion, just for normal tourists.
The included Malta excursion was a long mostly boring bus ride.

We did have great weather but that is normal there.  Too hot for me though.
Yes, to the Manfredi's steak.

Loved Ancient & Modern Greek Life on Santorini. Plenty of time in Oia followed by fascinating tour of a 1600 BC city excavation all with an entertaining knowledgeable guide.

Edited September 27, 2021 by philw1776

[Tarheel1952]

On 9/26/2021 at 1:11 PM, Mitina said:

We're on the same 10/2 Adriatic Jewels trip.  Like others have said, we just scanned the bar code for VeriFly and made multiple hard copies of the dPLF.  We fly out on Friday.

We fly out Friday also.  I will scan our barcodes.  Thanks for tis comment.  Each country is different, but it’s all worth it!  See you there!

[PeabodyMa]

Could shore excursions payment be via e-check or did it have to be via credit card? Thank you.

[Tom.in.nc]

10 hours ago, PeabodyMa said:

Could shore excursions payment be via e-check or did it have to be via credit card? Thank you.

Yes, but there is a processing cutoff date 30 days before sailing.  No e-check after then.

 

Tom

[Janet&David]

Just got back to the UK today from Viking Sea cruise of Malta & Croatia. Very good cruise, overall. I thought I’d post a few comments about documentation and procedures for return to the UK (or via the UK for US travellers).

 

For UK travellers, as you probably know, you need to complete an online Passenger Locator Form (PLF) before returning to the UK. This should be submitted not more than 48 hours before departure. I’m not sure whether there is any check on precise departure time or whether it just means ‘2 days’ but as it happened we completed ours about 47 hours before our scheduled flight departure.

 

You can do this from any computer or mobile device and get the completed form emailed to you to save on your device or print out. However, I strongly recommend you print a hard copy as the checkers at the airport seem to prefer this and it’s certainly much easier and quicker than passing a phone to the checker, scrolling up and down a four A4 page document, following links etc. I just logged onto my email from one of the computers in the Viking Sea’s ‘business centre’ (a rather grand name for 4 PCs and 2 printers on deck 2) and printed out our two PLFs. UK passengers currently need the reference code for their Day 2 PCR test (although I think this is changing soon) in order to complete the PLF.

 

The checking of the documents in Malta airport is carried out at the Air Malta check-in desk. They checked passport, PLF, proof of negative PCR test (provided by Viking) and proof of vaccination. As I said, we had all of this in hard copy which made the process very quick.

 

A note for US travellers. We saw several US passengers who when they got to the Air Malta desk clearly didn’t have something they were supposed to have and they had to step out of the line and fill in one or more paper forms which seemed to take quite a long time, when we didn’t have much time to spare before the flight. I’m not sure what the problem was – I suspect they may have needed a PLF for transiting through London Heathrow, but I could be wrong.

 

When we arrived at Heathrow we expected detailed checks and long delays, as shown on the TV news in the past few weeks. In fact we walked through the self-service electronic passport gates, picked up our bags and walked through an empty Customs section and out of the airport without talking to or being checked/challenged by a single sole. Clearly the UK Border Force is relying on the airline to carry out the checks which, as we weren’t over-impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of Air Malta staff, makes a bit of a joke of UK border security and health controls.

[BQEC]

Thank you for the heads up about transiting through LHR. Not unexpected and good to be confirmed. 

[Tom.in.nc]

46 minutes ago, BQEC said:

Thank you for the heads up about transiting through LHR. Not unexpected and good to be confirmed. 

We went so far as to change our flights to transfer in Germany since we couldn’t navigate the ever-changing requirements of the UK and LHR. We breezed right through UE customs in FRA.

Tom

[les37b]

8 hours ago, Janet&David said:

Just got back to the UK today from Viking Sea cruise of Malta & Croatia. Very good cruise, overall. I thought I’d post a few comments about documentation and procedures for return to the UK (or via the UK for US travellers).

 

For UK travellers, as you probably know, you need to complete an online Passenger Locator Form (PLF) before returning to the UK. This should be submitted not more than 48 hours before departure. I’m not sure whether there is any check on precise departure time or whether it just means ‘2 days’ but as it happened we completed ours about 47 hours before our scheduled flight departure.

 

You can do this from any computer or mobile device and get the completed form emailed to you to save on your device or print out. However, I strongly recommend you print a hard copy as the checkers at the airport seem to prefer this and it’s certainly much easier and quicker than passing a phone to the checker, scrolling up and down a four A4 page document, following links etc. I just logged onto my email from one of the computers in the Viking Sea’s ‘business centre’ (a rather grand name for 4 PCs and 2 printers on deck 2) and printed out our two PLFs. UK passengers currently need the reference code for their Day 2 PCR test (although I think this is changing soon) in order to complete the PLF.

 

The checking of the documents in Malta airport is carried out at the Air Malta check-in desk. They checked passport, PLF, proof of negative PCR test (provided by Viking) and proof of vaccination. As I said, we had all of this in hard copy which made the process very quick.

 

A note for US travellers. We saw several US passengers who when they got to the Air Malta desk clearly didn’t have something they were supposed to have and they had to step out of the line and fill in one or more paper forms which seemed to take quite a long time, when we didn’t have much time to spare before the flight. I’m not sure what the problem was – I suspect they may have needed a PLF for transiting through London Heathrow, but I could be wrong.

 

When we arrived at Heathrow we expected detailed checks and long delays, as shown on the TV news in the past few weeks. In fact we walked through the self-service electronic passport gates, picked up our bags and walked through an empty Customs section and out of the airport without talking to or being checked/challenged by a single sole. Clearly the UK Border Force is relying on the airline to carry out the checks which, as we weren’t over-impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of Air Malta staff, makes a bit of a joke of UK border security and health controls.

 

Were you able to upload your vaccine doc for the PLF? It wouldn't accept ours, even after taking all the effort to downloading, then emailing to myself, logging onto the Seas mega PC centre. The GS staff told us not to bother with verifly, but not doing so meant we couldn't check in for the BA flight.

 

We saw as you described, people unable to check it. No idea what it was, but makes sense if you haven't got your paperwork sorted, you weren't coming on. (That's an important tip!!)

 

Arriving at Heathrow at 2pm was very different to your experience.  There was probably a queue 100m long before reaching the large Passport control hall..... But it was fast moving.... And we did get lucky and at the right place when a new booth opened and the line diverted as we got there. It took about 25 mins to clear to the other side, which all things considered, was pretty good.

 

All in all a very enjoyable cruise and have booked another for Jan 22 for Northern Lights on the Venus.

 

Will post some YouTube stuff when I get round to it, along with the full set of the daily Viking sheets.

 

 

[kcpvwill]

High winds prevented us from getting to Heraklion, Crete today so heading back to Malta with another sea day today.