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

[TERRIER1]

Just now, DaveSJ711 said:

Mike is Clay’s husband. 

LOL. Thanks. I enjoy Clay's posts.

[Clay Clayton]

17 minutes ago, TERRIER1 said:

Who is Mike? What group? So confused but nothing new for me. I knew who Steve is but not Mike.

Mike is my husband who is on the site thats can’t be named.  I am not but lurk and post on his behalf occasionally. I had joined him to that group but I’m gonna I join him. 

Edited August 14, 2021 by Clay Clayton

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

4 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Mike is my husband who is on the site thats can’t be named.  I am not. I had joined him to that group but I’m gonna I join him. 

Thanks.  Was wondering how you could unjoin someone if you weren't a moderator!  

[libraryworld]

2 hours ago, C-sea said:

 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. 

We are also on the August 24th Jupiter cruise. Trying to decide if we should cancel any or all of the shore excursions.  By the way, we are from RI too.

[readsalot]

1 hour ago, geologyrx said:

This is a question for Readsalot....  I am on the 8/28 sailing also.  How did you cancel if you are within 14 days?

It was exactly 14 days yesterday. I was lucky to find my TA between planes at JFK!  Looking forward to cruise credits to book something else.

Lynne

[KarNog]

3 hours 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.

Iceland Air has cheap flights to Europe. From Denver to Brussels is around $600 round trip so maybe you can use your Iceland Air voucher to reach your new cruise destination.

[hutch1994]

42 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

I think SOME "social influencers" get paid for what they do -- which I think is basically getting more people to visit a particular site, or post, or like, or whatever. 

Wouldn't be surprised in this scenario.

[C-sea]

18 minutes ago, libraryworld said:

We are also on the August 24th Jupiter cruise. Trying to decide if we should cancel any or all of the shore excursions.  By the way, we are from RI too.

Small world! Are you flying with Viking Air, Providence layover Chicago onto Reykjavik?

I think Viking locks the ability to change anything on "My Viking Journey" soon (is it a week out?) then you must wait till onboard to make changes

[BarbRN]

3 minutes ago, C-sea said:

Small world! Are you flying with Viking Air, Providence layover Chicago onto Reykjavik?

I think Viking locks the ability to change anything on "My Viking Journey" soon (is it a week out?) then you must wait till onboard to make changes

Are you serious?

[KarNog]

2 hours ago, diana11 said:

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!

Carly explained in her videos and posts that Viking tried to call her but she never received the calls. On the third or fourth day, she emailed them and they responded quickly.  Viking did in fact reach out to her father and mother prior to the fourth day. Since that time, she has stated that Viking has done everything within power to help her and her family.
 

[BarbRN]

If I jump through any more hoops I won’t be Able to walk!!!

[gramfrog]

4 hours 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 this.  Crystal, for one, is not testing onboard.

[C-sea]

2 minutes ago, BarbRN said:

Are you serious?

about which point, but yes 

[libraryworld]

11 minutes ago, C-sea said:

Small world! Are you flying with Viking Air, Providence layover Chicago onto Reykjavik?

I think Viking locks the ability to change anything on "My Viking Journey" soon (is it a week out?) then you must wait till onboard to make changes

Viking Air, direct to KEV on Boston DL266.  Option to cancel  some or all of the excursion still available right now, but I'll be sure to decide before 8/17. Stay in touch!

 

Edited August 14, 2021 by libraryworld

[C-sea]

1 minute ago, libraryworld said:

Viking Air, direct to KEV on Boston DL266.  Option to cancel  some or all of the excursion still available right now, but I'll be sure to decide before 8/17. Stay in touch!

 

Nice! We didn't want to deal with Logan parking or airport shuttle (traffic & cost) we are 15 mins. from PVD so this is what we chose. Safe travels!

[bbtondo]

2 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Won't happen.  Read the Passenger Ticket Contract and the Covid19 Policies & Procedures.  Its a risk we take.

Anyone can sue anyone. Not to say you will win.

[gramfrog]

4 hours ago, hutch1994 said:

You can't believe the large number of people in that group that think his word is gospel.

Correct.  it's crazy.

[Wander58]

5 hours 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 SO much for this detailed information!  We are on the next Jupiter sailing and may think about doing some things different.  It's so helpful to get a first hand account.  Based on what I've been reading the last Sky sailing did not have any cases.

[sleepybobo]

1 minute ago, Wander58 said:

Thank you SO much for this detailed information!  We are on the next Jupiter sailing and may think about doing some things different.  It's so helpful to get a first hand account.  Based on what I've been reading the last Sky sailing did not have any cases.

I think I saw someone reported that there are two cases in the Sky sailing disembarking today. I don’t know if close contacts of the positive cases are quarantined or not. 

[whipperwilleo]

2 hours ago, StacyMcD said:

Just a clarification here; Iceland’s policy changed last week to deem everyone on a bus tour a “close contact “. Previously, it is my understanding that only the people in close proximity to the positive person (as determined by the contact tracing token we all wear) was deemed a close contact AND they were allowed  to test out of cabin quarantine before the end of the voyage.

So that change came too late for us to cancel our booking on the 8/21 cruise. The rules keep changing, but we're stuck.

[BarbRN]

34 minutes ago, libraryworld said:

Viking Air, direct to KEV on Boston DL266.  Option to cancel  some or all of the excursion still available right now, but I'll be sure to decide before 8/17. Stay in touch!

 

Same flight here. See ya!!

[BarbRN]

6 minutes ago, whipperwilleo said:

So that change came too late for us to cancel our booking on the 8/21 cruise. The rules keep changing, but we're stuck.

That’s my gripe. Who can help?

[BarbRN]

Just now, BarbRN said:

That’s my gripe. Who can help?

This is not just another cruise for us.  It’s the biggest outlay we’ve saved for our 50th Anniversary and has been nothing but daily stress already for weeks. 

[Wander58]

13 minutes ago, sleepybobo said:

I think I saw someone reported that there are two cases in the Sky sailing disembarking today. I don’t know if close contacts of the positive cases are quarantined or not. 

Thanks for the info - I can't remember reading this anywhere...but there are ALOT of posts and many just noise. 

[TayanaLorna]

44 minutes ago, KarNog said:

Carly explained in her videos and posts that Viking tried to call her but she never received the calls. On the third or fourth day, she emailed them and they responded quickly.  Viking did in fact reach out to her father and mother prior to the fourth day. Since that time, she has stated that Viking has done everything within power to help her and her family.
 

Well this is a lesson to make sure your phone works for voice, text and data in each country you visit.