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LIVE from "Iceland's Natural Beauty" -- All Sailings, 2021


Peregrina651
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1 hour ago, BQEC said:

We need a video of the poor people who were quarantined off the Malta cruise. Reportably washing their clothes in the tub, no service for their room and trying to purchase cleaning supplies. There but for the grace of God and cruise critic go I. 

You can see her videos on her Facebook page -- Carly Walsh, Volleyball coach at Texas Tornados Volleyball

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1 minute ago, Gigilovestotravel said:

You can see her videos on her Facebook page -- Carly Walsh, Volleyball coach at Texas Tornados Volleyball

Thanks. So glad that Carly Walsh has a voice. Appreciate your post. 

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1 hour ago, broker1217 said:

We booked the Bermuda 8/20 cruise last week. For the reasons you state--we booked some of the free excursions but may just stay on the ship.

We actually got excellent routing with the free air, one way is the airline on which we have status and it looks like we will  be able to upgrade to first on the way down. Purchased Economy Plus seats on the way home for less than $100 each. 

At this point, I am very glad I didn't book Iceland. Which I would have thought 2 months ago was a very safe bet. 

It's all a crap shoot at this point.

You still got the free airfare this close to departure?

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17 minutes ago, Mpc524 said:

You still got the free airfare this close to departure?

The free air expires on Aug 16.

On the other note, Cruise Critic has taken a huge turn to the posting from other social media sites.  Lots of new members lately since this summer.

Please read the front page about  posting  here and the guidelines. Thank you.

If a poster here  speaks from experience about anything  related to a cruise or cruising, I tis is  the core  of  what makes this site great.

Other posts that are speculation, gossip and  second and third hand  information. does not need to be here.

Seems the moderators are less seen or heard since the  time of COVID.

 Currently , the bottom line is  many  should not cruise at this time, others are  willing to be more risk takers and  do their research and know what are the consequence in this every shifting time of COVID.

Cheer!  I am going to Malta in October on another Escape cruise , so looking forward to this one  after our great time in Bermuda on the Orion. 

 

Edited by Azulann
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32 minutes ago, Mpc524 said:

You still got the free airfare this close to departure?

As I had stated, there are only 100 souls on the current Bermuda sailing.  I know this as a fact; my client reported that to me when embarking today.  Free airfare is the least V can do to encourage others to sail on these beautiful ships.

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27 minutes ago, Mpc524 said:

You still got the free airfare this close to departure?

Yes--booked for the 8/20 cruise on 8/4 (last Wednesday).

Same flights would have been ~$2500 pp. I realize that Viking has discounted bulk fares.

With our previous cruise discount it was $3198 including air---just a no brainer.

 

 

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15 minutes ago, gramfrog said:

As I had stated, there are only 100 souls on the current Bermuda sailing.  I know this as a fact; my client reported that to me when embarking today.  Free airfare is the least V can do to encourage others to sail on these beautiful ships.

That make me really sad--we are planning on doubling our gratuity to help out the crew. 

 

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Well, this afternoon we cancelled our Aug. 31 booking on the Jupiter, since we decided that we are not comfortable with the risk of spending our time quarantined in a cabin or sent home from Iceland, even if we always test negative for Covid 19.  We are sorry to miss it.

 

We would have rebooked on another Viking cruise somewhere else on the same phone call, but we learned that this isn’t possible if we want to apply the value of the cancelled cruise to the new one.  Apparently we must wait for the credit for our cancelled cruise to show up in Viking’s system which is 2-4 weeks, (but maybe sooner?)

 

Best of luck to those of you who are proceeding with your cruises, hoping for safe travels for everyone.

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12 hours ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Much of the Circle tour is outside, not on the bus.  On Vigur you can sit outside in the back if you're early enough in line for that or nobody else wants to sit there.  I loved it back there, though I had to get up and stand at the door to hear the local guide - but not the guide on the island, who is different.  Vigur is mostly outside and when not, is quick visits inside to eat a yummy snack or see eider down process equipment/info.  Our Heimaey boat excursion was a little crowded with people sitting outside, which is where most people sit.  But if you're uncomfortable, you CAN move around, or sit inside.  But being outside is good, so I was fine with it and enjoyed the scenery and opportunity to take pictures.  But of course, if you're on a bus and someone tests positive, it looks like Iceland considers that reason to quarantine everyone, so the risk is still there.

 

I think you can actually cancel Reykjavik excursions on the day you embark, maybe up to 6 PM.  But check your Viking Daily when you get on the ship or call or visit Explorers Desk to make sure.  I did, however, find that Viking was kind of lenient on canceling a little late, although I only tried it once. 

 

I just posted feedback on the excursions I took in another thread.  I personally think you should do the Circle Tour, but even if you don't, you can see some similar things by taken a few excursions in other ports -- and the scenery EVERYWHERE is fabulous....

Where did you post your feedback on excursions, please? Time for me to do some more research!

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Jim here..still on the Jupiter. My wife made an appointment to speak with the ship’s General Manager this morning to get clarification. Here is what we understand:

* The policy is an Iceland policy not a Viking policy.

* The policy applies to tours on buses not tenders or boat tours

* The policy also applies to tours not related to cruise ships (we are doing some private touring after the cruise so this was important to us).

* The policy is that if a guest on a tour bus tests positive everyone on the bus is deemed have been in contact with that person and must be quarantined. 
* For quarantined cruise passengers you have two options:

     1) Stay on the ship in quarantine. At the end of the cruise, if you test negative ,  you are free to go and do what ever you want. 

     2) Leave the ship. In this case you have to leave the country immediately if you test negative. 
* The GM stated that it has been their experience that in almost all the cases so far these breakthrough infections are detected by day 3 or 4 (Thursday or Friday in our case) and no one who was exposed subsequently tested positive. 


We were contemplating canceling all our remaining shore excursions. After speaking to the GM we will probably keep the excursions we have because they involve little if any bus travel. Today we do a walking tour from the pier. We are also comforted by the fact that if we do get nailed, if we stay on board and “do our time” we will be free to continue our holiday after the ship docks (assuming clean tests). 
 

it seems that by testing everyone everyday Viking is exposing its passengers to a higher than “normal” chance of being caught up in the Icelandic “bus policy”. I wonder if passengers on the other lines that are cruising here now (Ponant, NG Lindblad, Silversea, etc) are exposed to this as much. I don’t know if those other lines are doing this daily testing like Viking. 
 

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15 hours ago, BQEC said:

It would be interesting to research exactly when Iceland instituted its requirements of quarantine for contacts of positives. Viking knew or should have known of Iceland’s stance in view of Viking’s testing/tracing policies.

per Schnapperin this has been Iceland’s policy all along?? 

No change since at least spring (I travelled in May and knew about the risk in case I tested positive) 

 

but there might have been an agreement for cruise ships in case of a positive case but I just can‘t see it be that much different to Iceland’s strict approach  

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48 minutes ago, Jimmcdaniel said:

Jim here..still on the Jupiter. My wife made an appointment to speak with the ship’s General Manager this morning to get clarification. Here is what we understand:

* The policy is an Iceland policy not a Viking policy.

* The policy applies to tours on buses not tenders or boat tours

* The policy also applies to tours not related to cruise ships (we are doing some private touring after the cruise so this was important to us).

* The policy is that if a guest on a tour bus tests positive everyone on the bus is deemed have been in contact with that person and must be quarantined. 
* For quarantined cruise passengers you have two options:

     1) Stay on the ship in quarantine. At the end of the cruise, if you test negative ,  you are free to go and do what ever you want. 

     2) Leave the ship. In this case you have to leave the country immediately if you test negative. 
* The GM stated that it has been their experience that in almost all the cases so far these breakthrough infections are detected by day 3 or 4 (Thursday or Friday in our case) and no one who was exposed subsequently tested positive. 


We were contemplating canceling all our remaining shore excursions. After speaking to the GM we will probably keep the excursions we have because they involve little if any bus travel. Today we do a walking tour from the pier. We are also comforted by the fact that if we do get nailed, if we stay on board and “do our time” we will be free to continue our holiday after the ship docks (assuming clean tests). 
 

it seems that by testing everyone everyday Viking is exposing its passengers to a higher than “normal” chance of being caught up in the Icelandic “bus policy”. I wonder if passengers on the other lines that are cruising here now (Ponant, NG Lindblad, Silversea, etc) are exposed to this as much. I don’t know if those other lines are doing this daily testing like Viking. 
 

Thank you for the clarity. Since it is only a bus policy, for the negative tests who might remain on board does that restriction mean quarantined to the stateroom or can you move around the ship?

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11 hours ago, DaveSJ711 said:

I left the site that cannot be named for one reason and one reason only -- because I couldn't stand the S**** and S**** show. Shilling for a cruise line wasn't something I wanted to read.

Totally agree.  Don't need to see pictures of what they are eating.  One interesting aspect was when S**** complained about the person sitting next to him on the flight from Iceland to Malta encroached on his seat space, he got a lot of flack about this and then went ahead and removed the posting.  Couldn't handle the negativity that his remark caused.

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One of our considerations in canceling our 8/31 cruise  prior to 14 days, and receiving a future vochure, is that Viking has no future Iceland cruises planned and because we booked independent air we will receive a future vochure with icelandair. So to cancel this one cruise we would need to replace it with 2 trips. One new Viking Cruise to an undecided location at a higher cost and new airfares plus one trip back to Iceland, to use our air vochure, most likely an independent self drive trip. Finances should not be a leading reason not to cancel but this scenario stinks.

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19 minutes ago, miller1327 said:

Thank you for the clarity. Since it is only a bus policy, for the negative tests who might remain on board does that restriction mean quarantined to the stateroom or can you move around the ship?

Quarantined to the cabin for the entire time. 26 people decided to fly home rather than do that. 
Since it is only a bus policy, better to book with outside vendor rather than tour with Viking. 
Oh wait. We were told that Viking expected that we would not be allowed off ship unless we were in the Viking bubble!! Including the Viking bus. 

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18 minutes ago, DAVE & PAT said:

One of our considerations in canceling our 8/31 cruise  prior to 14 days, and receiving a future vochure, is that Viking has no future Iceland cruises planned and because we booked independent air we will receive a future vochure with icelandair. So to cancel this one cruise we would need to replace it with 2 trips. One new Viking Cruise to an undecided location at a higher cost and new airfares plus one trip back to Iceland, to use our air vochure, most likely an independent self drive trip. Finances should not be a leading reason not to cancel but this scenario stinks.

 

I totally agree with you! We were on the fourth of the original four cruises as 1st time Viking passengers. While we enjoyed the cruise and never had any major issues while onboard, Viking has removed itself from any further consideration due to the way the excursions, restaurants, and lessening of the pre-cruise experience were handled. 

 

But I will recommend a trip to Iceland! While the cruise gave us the "Cliff Notes" version of Iceland, the week we drove the Snaefelsness Peninsula and Westfjords Region found us returning home to long-range plan a return visit to expand on what we had experienced there.

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1 hour ago, Jimmcdaniel said:

Jim here..still on the Jupiter. My wife made an appointment to speak with the ship’s General Manager this morning to get clarification. Here is what we understand:

* The policy is an Iceland policy not a Viking policy.

* The policy applies to tours on buses not tenders or boat tours

* The policy also applies to tours not related to cruise ships (we are doing some private touring after the cruise so this was important to us).

* The policy is that if a guest on a tour bus tests positive everyone on the bus is deemed have been in contact with that person and must be quarantined. 
* For quarantined cruise passengers you have two options:

     1) Stay on the ship in quarantine. At the end of the cruise, if you test negative ,  you are free to go and do what ever you want. 

     2) Leave the ship. In this case you have to leave the country immediately if you test negative. 
* The GM stated that it has been their experience that in almost all the cases so far these breakthrough infections are detected by day 3 or 4 (Thursday or Friday in our case) and no one who was exposed subsequently tested positive. 


We were contemplating canceling all our remaining shore excursions. After speaking to the GM we will probably keep the excursions we have because they involve little if any bus travel. Today we do a walking tour from the pier. We are also comforted by the fact that if we do get nailed, if we stay on board and “do our time” we will be free to continue our holiday after the ship docks (assuming clean tests). 
 

it seems that by testing everyone everyday Viking is exposing its passengers to a higher than “normal” chance of being caught up in the Icelandic “bus policy”. I wonder if passengers on the other lines that are cruising here now (Ponant, NG Lindblad, Silversea, etc) are exposed to this as much. I don’t know if those other lines are doing this daily testing like Viking. 
 

Thank you and your wife so much for this clarification. Now, why wasn’t Viking HQ as forthcoming with this information when advertising or at least when taking our bookings for Iceland? 
Agree that Viking daily testing/contact tracking/bubble policy goes above and beyond Iceland’s requirements. 

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 I hope Viking will get creative with their clients who will be cruising with them in real time. We are on Jupiter, August 24th. I will cancel our shore excursions because they all have some bus ride component to them,  if when I get on board they tell me such and such tour is not considered a bus tour (in writing) we can rebook, really what other choice makes sense. I hope  they will put together walking tours off the ship in all ports, just get some time off ship. If they want to save this cruise and provide a nice experiece, they also should add daily enrichment/entertainment treating this cruise like the cruise to nowhere that it has become. 

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11 hours ago, Gigilovestotravel said:

You can see her videos on her Facebook page -- Carly Walsh, Volleyball coach at Texas Tornados Volleyball

And it is also very interesting that Viking refuse to respond to her pleas of help until day 4 (I think) after the daily videos are posted on facebook. That did not show Viking in a very good light. Oh the power of social media!

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