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

[sarch99]

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

Let us know what you encounter with dining/ShoreEx reservations. Either no one else has signed up for the Malta cruises, or they are clueless about CC.

Sailing July 11 Malta/Greece.  Dining and spa reservations available.  Still no excursions posted.  I started a Roll Call a couple of weeks ago and no one has signed up, so I'm either on an empty ship or as you said, the passengers are clueless about CC.

 

Edited June 1, 2021 by sarch99

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, sarch99 said:

Sailing July 11 Malta/Greece.  Dining and spa reservations available.  Still no excursions posted.  I started a Roll Call a couple of weeks ago and no one has signed up, so I'm either on an empty ship or as you said, the passengers are clueless about CC.

 

Iceland is on fire! (Pun intended 🙂 )—Malta, not so much. Lots of wags on the Iceland boards. Would very much appreciate it if you could post info here about ShoreEx to help us on the subsequent cruises know what will be available.

[CCWineLover]

14 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Iceland is on fire! (Pun intended 🙂 )—Malta, not so much. Lots of wags on the Iceland boards. Would very much appreciate it if you could post info here about ShoreEx to help us on the subsequent cruises know what will be available.

Hi Linda from Seattle - did you ever get any further answers from the Viking Manager Laura that you spoke with?  Regarding the rules & restrictions of these Malta cruises?  Would be curious to know what they really are - of course today June 1 there was talk that some updates may occur.

Thanks for sharing!

FYI - our experience with Welcome Back cruises (different than pre-COVID) is that Excursions and Dining reservations have not been following the published (on your itinerary) dates and often seem to come out of the blue much later.  I suggest you just keep look at MyVikingJourney.com

 

[LindaS272]

3 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Hi Linda from Seattle - did you ever get any further answers from the Viking Manager Laura that you spoke with?  Regarding the rules & restrictions of these Malta cruises?  Would be curious to know what they really are - of course today June 1 there was talk that some updates may occur.

Thanks for sharing!

FYI - our experience with Welcome Back cruises (different than pre-COVID) is that Excursions and Dining reservations have not been following the published (on your itinerary) dates and often seem to come out of the blue much later.  I suggest you just keep look at MyVikingJourney.com

 

Hi Kent,

We did not bother to re-check with the Viking manager, given how many answers agents give, and the stress levels involved in trying to get a definitive, straight answer from Viking. We decided to keep juggling all the permutations of the various travel arrangements we have booked for Sept. and rely on the Risk-Free Guaranty. As I mentioned, air is not an issue for us yet as we have currently booked flights to and from LHR for another trip that we would use for the Malta cruise. Haven’t booked the Malta flight portion yet because that may be the only portion we would not get a voucher for if re-scheduled.

 

Latest info out of Malta:

 

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/covid-19-guide-to-travelling-to-malta.876008

 

Yes, I know that reservations for everything have been scatter-shot so far on the Welcome Back cruises. I’ve read every post on the Iceland boards! (Elizabeth, I feel your pain 🙂 ). Our current info for Sept. 12 Malta cruise is June 4 for MDR, July 4 for SR, & June 27 for ShoreEx. We’ll be in Iceland on June 27 so hope that ShoreEx are posted later, but it’s still a pain to have to check frequently while traveling.

 

 

 

 

 

[philw1776]

On the 9 September Malta cruise. Just booked our Restaurant and Spa appointments.
Have air which for us means flying from Boston to Newark to catch the chartered Lufthansa flight to Malta. Coming home is not too nice as we arrive Boston at midnight. 

[sarch99]

5 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Iceland is on fire! (Pun intended 🙂 )—Malta, not so much. Lots of wags on the Iceland boards. Would very much appreciate it if you could post info here about ShoreEx to help us on the subsequent cruises know what will be available.

My guess is Viking is waiting to make sure Malta actually opens.  When/if the excursions get posted, I'll be happy to share.  

 

[CarlsbadSally]

We are considering the Oct 2 sailing as it’s the farthest in the future. Love Valletta and Malta. I found Viking Air wants about $4600 for business class air from LAX but I can buy it for just over half that.

[sarch99]

Excursions just posted for Malta & Greek Isles, in order:  Valletta, Kalamata, Athens, Santorini, Rhodes, Crete.  

[philw1776]

Nice excursion info. Several excursion changes (for the better) from when initially advertised.

[LindaS272]

6 hours ago, sarch99 said:

Excursions just posted for Malta & Greek Isles, in order:  Valletta, Kalamata, Athens, Santorini, Rhodes, Crete.  

Thank you for sharing these!

[sarch99]

Just read on FB that a passenger on the 7/1 Malta/Croatia cruise (on Viking Sea) was called by Viking today and advised that cruise has been canceled.  That's all I've found out so far, and Viking wouldn't tell me anything since I'm not booked on that cruise.  I'm booked on the 7/11 Malta/Greece cruise, also on the Sea.

 

[sarch99]

Poster's explanation of the cancellation:   Viking told me that the Viking Sea is being redeployed elsewhere. I found that quite interesting in view of the fact that the ship is has been docked in Valletta, Malta since it’s arrival from Bodrum, Turkey on 6/4/21. The Viking Star is also in Valletta.  

 Viking offered to move us to a date in August but unfortunately we cannot go then. . .I have to bid on vacation time a year in advance and cannot change it. As a result we have requested a full refund. We booked this welcome back cruise to replace our Grand European river cruise that was cancelled for similar dates. Viking told me that the first 11-day cruise from Malta on 7/1/21 to the Adriatic is cancelled but they still plan to operate the cruise to Greece on or about 7/12/21.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by sarch99

[30Agirl]

Ugh please let this not be true. Sept sailing for us, Greece route. 

[MikeyB]

Just received an email from Viking.  Excursions for my August 30th cruise will open tomorrow.

Would they be stupid enough to open the excursions for all Malta sailings at the same time and then have the same fiasco that I had trying to book my Iceland excursions?

"Stupid is as Stupid does".

[Jchivers]

Excursions for my July 24 sailing opened up a week ago, so it won't be everybody-into-the-pool simultaneous mayhem.

[MikeyB]

Jchivers-

Thanks for letting me know.

Regarding the July 1st "sold out" cruise.

I read on another website that Malta is opening July 15th.  If so, I would expect two more "sold out" cruises.

[DaveSJ711]

15 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

Jchivers-

Thanks for letting me know.

Regarding the July 1st "sold out" cruise.

I read on another website that Malta is opening July 15th.  If so, I would expect two more "sold out" cruises.

Where did you read about Malta opening up on July 15? And does the opening apply to Americans?

[LindaS272]

46 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

Jchivers-

Thanks for letting me know.

Regarding the July 1st "sold out" cruise.

I read on another website that Malta is opening July 15th.  If so, I would expect two more "sold out" cruises.

I think you may be wrong about a July 15 opening for Malta:

https://timesofmalta.com/articles/view/eu-vaccine-certificate-set-for-july-1-launch-as-parliament-gives-its.877943

 

This article says Malta is not adopting the EU digital vaccine passport yet and is in a “test phase” on its own internal passport. And there is no reciprocity between the EU and US yet, though “talks” are in the works. The main problem is that the EU is not automatically accepting US vaccination cards, unlike Iceland.

 

[MikeyB]

2 hours ago, DaveSJ711 said:

Where did you read about Malta opening up on July 15? And does the opening apply to Americans?

I'm only interested in Americans! And yes, it will open to everyone.

If I tell you, I might have to......well you know!

Try- Bring back Travel Dot Com.

And please don't slam the source, I never said it was "the gospel".

[need2cruisesoon]

The only thing I know for sure is it has really felt like a long Norwegian winter........

Edited June 10, 2021 by need2cruisesoon
typo

[LindaS272]

Received an email yesterday that ShoreEx would be available today for Sept. 12, Malta/Adriatic at 12:00 pm PT. Despite the specificity, none were available from 12:00 to about 12:30. We called Viking and they said times are tough and keep checking. Irritated, we went to eat (in Iceland right now so a 7 hour time difference—dinner time). About 1:30 pm PT (8:30 pm Iceland) I checked while at dinner and they were posted. Spent the next hour booking everything while my meal got cold—but I wanted those excursions darn it! We got everything we wanted, surprisingly, except for a couple of minor items when there were time conflicts or tours only offered at specific times.

[Harrietq]

Hooray!
As of  yesterday per visit Malta dot com, 38 US states are moved to the “amber” list. Here’s the abbreviated info; please check the website for full info. My humble opinion and hope that the 12 outlier states will be included soon.

 

In addition, with effect from Thursday, 1st July 2021,  passengers arriving from EU countries on the 'Amber List', who are in possession of a vaccination certificate, and a vaccine recognised and approved by the Superintendent of Public Health may travel to the Maltese Islands, namely, (a. ) Pfizer-BioNTech, (b. ) Moderna, (c. ) AstraZeneca, and (d. ) Johnson & Johnson, can travel to and from Malta without the need of a negative COVID-19 PCR Swab Test.

Passengers arriving from non-EU countries on the 'Amber List' below are required to submit a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate before boarding flights to Malta. This swab test would need to have been carried out up to 72 hours (maximum) prior to arrival in Malta. If a negative PCR test is not presented, a swab test on arrival or a 14-day quarantine period is mandatory on arrival.

• United States of America but only limited to the following states: Washington, Oregon, Louisiana, Arizona, West Virginia, Colorado, North Dakota, Indiana, Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, Maine, South Dakota, Michigan, Illinois, Delaware, Wisconsin, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, New Jersey, Minnesota, Connecticut, Alaska, New Hampshire, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, Vermont, California.

 

 

[philw1776]

I am asking anyone who has made Spa reservations for Malta sailings, can they still see them on their MVJ calendar? I thought they were there but they're not there now. Did Viking chat and agent could not access Spa reservation info to confirm. Said to confirm onboard. Meanwhile all times for all days booked.

[Jchivers]

Hey!  *****??  My spa reservations have disappeared, too!

 

[Apparently Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is a dirty word]

Edited June 17, 2021 by Jchivers

[philw1776]

OK people. Looks as if Spa reservations have disappeared all over. Same on Iceland cruise.
Latest Viking re-opening glitch.