Thinking about a Bermuda cruise – questions about COVID safety

[CruiseDad-NYC]

 

Hi, everyone – I had been thinking about taking one of the Viking Orion cruises in Bermuda later this month or next month.  The price is great, and my wife and I love Bermuda. The recent news about the Delta variant is giving us some pause, however, and I have some questions.

 

- Are the Bermuda cruises still at 50% capacity through at least the end of August/early September?

 

- I understand that Viking is requiring passengers to be masked unless they are sitting down to eat or drink.  Is Viking enforcing this or are some passengers flouting this?

 

- What kind of included excursions does Viking offer in Bermuda? We would like to go to the beach/snorkel/swim and was wondering if those types of excursions are included or are the included tours more like walking tours around Hamilton?

 

- Are the passengers on the buses on the Viking excursions wearing masks? Or are some passengers flouting it?  Are the buses at 100% capacity or reduced?

 

- Do any of the dining venues have outdoor dining for dinner? Or is it all indoor dining unless you eat on your cabin balcony?

 

- With flights through Viking air, can you choose your flights/airport in NY since it is so close to departure? Or does Viking not give a choice. Newark is much farther for me, and I would prefer to fly on Delta from JFK.

 

- Have people generally felt safe on board?

 

- How do the daily COVID tests work?

 

- Have there been many cases on board the various Viking ocean ships? I read about 1 in Bermuda on these boards, but was wondering if there have been more.

 

Basically, if people are obeying mask rules and Viking is enforcing them on board the ship and excursions and if we don’t have to have dinner inside, that would probably give me the comfort we need.  If not everyone on board (or the excursions) is wearing a mask and Viking is not enforcing the rules, I would not want to go (e.g., I would not want to be on a bus with any unmasked passengers but would fine if everyone were masked). I have seen pictures of passengers on Celebrity ships and no one looked to be wearing masks at all, which would not be acceptable for me at this time.

 

I’d be curious to hear any thoughts on the non-Bermuda elements of the above for people who have been on any of the Iceland and Mediterranean cruises lately as well, since I am new to Viking. 

 

Thank you!

[KateQ22003]

I am following this as well, as I would love to book Bermuda but very concerned about protocols being followed. Are you allowed off the ship on your own, or only with an excursion? I would be very disappointed if I couldn't wander around in the Dockyard shops. 

[whitbob]

We were also researching the Orion Bermuda cruises for this summer.  You might want to review the thread called Bermuda Escape Cruises - insights, etc….  It is 74 pages, however if you start reading from page 50 you will find feedback from the individuals actually on the ship as the first cruises are happening.  

[Myrtle Ave. Mayhem]

@CruiseDad-NYCWelcome to the Viking forum. I was aboard Viking Orion on a back-to-back June/July.

The June 29th cruise was the third week into the season. Simply put, I felt safer on the ship & ashore in Bermuda than I do at home. Everything about the entire experience from beginning to end was administered flawlessly from Viking in their health & safety protocols in tandem with the Bermudian government. 

 

- Our two sailings were at roughly 50% capacity. I don't know if Viking has been increasing the occupancy in the weeks following 

 

- Regarding mask enforcement there were two things happening together. Yes, Viking is specifically enforcing mask compliance through daily reminders & at the beginning of any event in the Star Theater. The other thing important to mention is that everyone I saw was automatically compliant ON THEIR OWN. Everyone was on the same page. The mask wearing when in a public place/room was definitely a matter-of-fact reality & non issue. Everyone knew the rules & acted accordingly. 

 

- For included shore ex, I only did one, a walking tour with a two local ladies in St. George's. There were 15 in our group. At times when in a building there was some close proximity, but the guides were very clear about social distancing by only allowing 5 people into a room at the same time. On the airport/pier transport we were limited to 12 a van. Again everyone automatically wore masks.

 

- The outdoor dining will be the World Cafe & Aquivat Terrance. Aft at the terrace near the Infinity Pool or along the side decks of World Cafe, aft - port & starboard. Lunch time you could also eat at the mid ship Pool Grill. Servers in all dining venues are quicky proactive taking orders, delivering, & cleaning. At no time are passengers service themselves in the World Cafe. Having said that, I suggest you don't rule out eating indoors at The Restaurant or the speciality dining. Passengers are social distanced in all venues, tables & seating are staggered. I cannot recommend The Restaurant enough! 

 

- The heath & safety protocols on Viking are the most stringent in the industry I believe. You will need to download the Verifly app to submit your vaccination proof, then is a health questionnaire from Viking. Four days before your sail date(Monday) you must take a RT-PCR test. Once you receive the results you apply for the Bermuda Travel Authorization. This is your "green card" for you to travel to Bermuda. Living in NYC, you shouldn't have difficulty finding a credentialed lab that can process your test results same day & provide you with the PDF. Upon arrival in Bermuda you take another PCR nasal before going to the pier in Hamilton. Onboard, the daily saliva sample in a tube, temperature check, & health questionnaire are done first thing each morning making it so automatic & routine. 

 

- For the flights, knowing NYC airports, I'm guessing you'll be on Delta or JetBlue, JFK. This is all capacity controlled & this summer air travel is JAMMED. There's the possibility you might be on United out of Newark. Speaking of flights & social distancing, that I think will be your biggest concern because every seat on the planes are full. Social distancing at large airports has become a thing of the past, already. 

 

- DEFINITELY book your cruise! It's a triple winner & everything is aligned. Bermuda is beautiful. The Viking Orion & everything about Viking is a destination in its own right. And the conveniently reasonable fares. 

 

- It was sooo great, I'm coming back in September for another back-to-back. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Myrtle Ave. Mayhem

[WestW]

Mytrle Ave Mayhem practically said it all.  We were on the July 20th cruise and had a delightful time with absolutely no problems.  Everyone was compliant with their masks. Only time people chose not to wear masks was when they were seated at dining tables or chairs in the various lounges - when socially distanced.

 

Our cruise canceled the St. George's port and Viking changed excursions to accomodate most choices. We took 3 catamaran excursions (two free and one sunset for $69 per person) with maybe 15 others aboard. The daytime excursions took us to the same spot - which was absolutely beautiful, so no complaints. The evening was a rum tasting, sunset cruise and we were fortunate to see the full moon rise over the island.

 

Daily covid testing was easy - saliva test tubes are left in your cabin in the evening and you leave them behind in the morning for your attendant.  We carried our contact tracing devices in our pockets and they were no bother. 

 

Sea days were great.  We booked reservations in the gym/spa for those days when we boarded knowing they'd be busy. At port, we were allowed to roam freely on our own - not sure what the delta variant might do to this rule as it appears the Iceland cruises now require people to stay in the Viking bubble.

 

Ship was at 50% capacity and service was outstanding. 

Edited August 6, 2021 by WestW

[JM0115]

1 hour ago, WestW said:

Mytrle Ave Mayhem practically said it all.  We were on the July 20th cruise and had a delightful time with absolutely no problems.  Everyone was compliant with their masks. Only time people chose not to wear masks was when they were seated at dining tables or chairs in the various lounges - when socially distanced.

 

Our cruise canceled the St. George's port and Viking changed excursions to accomodate most choices. We took 3 catamaran excursions (two free and one sunset for $69 per person) with maybe 15 others aboard. The daytime excursions took us to the same spot - which was absolutely beautiful, so no complaints. The evening was a rum tasting, sunset cruise and we were fortunate to see the full moon rise over the island.

 

Daily covid testing was easy - saliva test tubes are left in your cabin in the evening and you leave them behind in the morning for your attendant.  We carried our contact tracing devices in our pockets and they were no bother. 

 

Sea days were great.  We booked reservations in the gym/spa for those days when we boarded knowing they'd be busy. At port, we were allowed to roam freely on our own - not sure what the delta variant might do to this rule as it appears the Iceland cruises now require people to stay in the Viking bubble.

 

Ship was at 50% capacity and service was outstanding. 

@WestW With only 50% capacity, did they utilize both sides of the World Cafe? 

[WestW]

 

1 hour ago, JM0115 said:

@WestW With only 50% capacity, did they utilize both sides of the World Cafe? 

Yes, World Cafe was open both sides for all meals. We spent 38 days on the Orion in 2019 and there was no difference in service offerings beyond a few minor changes:

-reservations were required for the fitness area and thermal spa, and 

the snow grotto lacked snow but was still cold and the saunas were limited to two people at a time.

 

Also, the farewell toast did not have the crew appear on stage - instead there was a video that wss played with all the crew saying good bye from their various stations.  

 

Viking pulled off a 1st class cruise.

[bluesea777]

9 hours ago, JM0115 said:

With only 50% capacity, did they utilize both sides of the World Cafe? 

Currently on Orion. Yes, both sides for brekky, lunch and dinner.

 

And the same goes for The Restaurant at dinner time. In there about 40% of the tables are blank. 
 

50% occupancy this week (450 pax).

 

Our first Viking and we are sooooo impressed with it! Feel very safe here - well, we do wear mask when we need to - last night at the ABBA show we wore our masks … along with about 60% others. 
 

Very clean throughout. It’s so nice to be on ship with 50% occupancy. Sure feels strange!

 

We are Bermudians and can assure you that Bermuda is as safe as can be, as long as you adhere to the protocols.

 

We do have mask mandate (that has been in effect the entire time since March/April last year when the s**t hit the fan) - when in stores, in taxis, on buses (yes, even on tour buses), when entering restaurants, etc. When outside you can whip mask off for breather as long as you’re not close to anyone else. We Bermudians are generally cooperative with mask wearing and hope for your cooperation and respect.

 

Suggest you isolate yourselves for a couple weeks before your travel to the island, in order for you to receive negative COVID test results.

We are loving our Bermuda Escape cruise so much, we are so happy to have booked this.

 

 

 

[broker1217]

We just booked Wednesday for August 20----this information is very reassuring so thanks all!

 

We also had concerns regarding routing as we did not want 3 legs or overnight 22 hour routing. 

We checked flight availability on googleflights first (they won't show JetBlue though).

We chatted online with an agent before we booked and he was able to reassure us that we would depart and arrive in BDA same day from our gateway.

Try chatting (or call) and see if they can validate that you will fly out of NYC and not Newark.

 

It was really hard for us to give up control of the air---due to preferred airline status and we normally fly first. But this worked out fine. 2 legs each way with good connection times.

We are on our preferred airline on the way to BDA (and got better seats/free bags with status) and requested upgrades to first. United on the way home and immediately went in and purchased Economy Plus seats and pre-paid for our bags. 

[bluesea777]

1 hour ago, broker1217 said:

We just booked Wednesday for August 20----this information is very reassuring so thanks all!

 

We also had concerns regarding routing as we did not want 3 legs or overnight 22 hour routing. 

We checked flight availability on googleflights first (they won't show JetBlue though).

We chatted online with an agent before we booked and he was able to reassure us that we would depart and arrive in BDA same day from our gateway.

Try chatting (or call) and see if they can validate that you will fly out of NYC and not Newark.

 

It was really hard for us to give up control of the air---due to preferred airline status and we normally fly first. But this worked out fine. 2 legs each way with good connection times.

We are on our preferred airline on the way to BDA (and got better seats/free bags with status) and requested upgrades to first. United on the way home and immediately went in and purchased Economy Plus seats and pre-paid for our bags. 

If it were us we’d book flights from home to JFK/EWR/BOS/ATL/CTL the day before the cruise and stay overnight. Then take the first flight to Bermuda. 
 

Yes they will always assure that you’ll make it to the ship on same day but each week there have been some people that had their first flight cancelled and had to take later flight and missed their Bermuda flight so they had to wait until next day. You lose one cruise day this way. Ship has not been able to depart Hamilton as scheduled (Wed 6pm) for some weeks now - it has been postponed until early next morning - it was waiting for late arrivals. There were 20 this week!

 

 

[broker1217]

18 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

If it were us we’d book flights from home to JFK/EWR/BOS/ATL/CTL the day before the cruise and stay overnight. Then take the first flight to Bermuda. 
 

Yes they will always assure that you’ll make it to the ship on same day but each week there have been some people that had their first flight cancelled and had to take later flight and missed their Bermuda flight so they had to wait until next day. You lose one cruise day this way. Ship has not been able to depart Hamilton as scheduled (Wed 6pm) for some weeks now - it has been postponed until early next morning - it was waiting for late arrivals. There were 20 this week!

 

 

Yes--that's a good idea too! But our cruise boards Friday and then overnights in Hamilton, departing Saturday at 6PM? 

 

We have the first flight out of our city, and there is a second flight ~2 hours later on the same carrier that would get us to CLT in time for the flight to Bermuda. 

We booked last minute and to purchase flights would have been around $2500 per person.

 

We really don't want to overnight and have more transfers, 2 airport check-ins with security lines and bag drop, more chances for luggage to go missing, more hauling of luggage to a hotel---just too many contact points with COVID.

But I can see how it might work, depending on where you live and flight options.