Viking Homelands 2022 Season

[bpolen]

In the May 6th departure we now have 9 of our 15 days in either Norway or Denmark, unfortunately not a lot of variety with the ports of call.  Totally understand it is not Viking's fault but this is definitely not what we signed up for.  Working with our agent to see what alternative options we have.  

[Pegct]

Have to agree with you about ports not being varied enough. Will have to think about it as not thrilled but not sure there is anything available during that time period that we could book in time using funds from this cruise.

 

[janetcbl]

I, for one, am excited about the added ports. I worked as a tour guide in this area for 18 years and am familiar with the ports of call. Aaland is a very special place; unique in that it 

 

seems to be neither Finland or Sweden; and Oslo, with two new museums, Viking ships, the Resistance museum, it is one of my favorite cities. I will miss Estonia, a wonderful old town with all sorts of hidden places. Helsinki has great architecture and a delightful market, but I prefer the other capital cities.  I am just glad the trip wasn’t cancelled! At least we have the opportunity to travel and experience other cultures and experiences. 

[duquephart]

Oslo instead of St. petersburg. Two islands I never heard of instead of Helsinki and Talinn. OK?

[MamaFej]

I'm bummed about missing out on lovely Talinn and Helsinki, though we are going to be in Helsinki in June. However, less touristy places added on can give us more culturally authentic experiences, so we will embrace the changes. 

[dwlmg]

Along with the port changes comes a $250 per person onboard cruise credit and a voucher for 10% of cruise fare paid to be emailed after we return home..

Edited March 15, 2022 by dwlmg

[WestW]

15 hours ago, dwlmg said:

Along with the port changes comes a $250 per person onboard cruise credit and a voucher for 10% of cruise fare paid to be emailed after we return home..

We are on the May 20 Homelands Cruise leaving Stockholm.  We have not received any OBC or voucher (yet). 

Excursions for the ports we won’t be visiting have been cancelled and refunded to our account. 

Strangely, rather than just moving the dates, the excursions for the ports that we will be visiting on different days from the original schedule have been cancelled and refunded, too.  And we can’t rebook them as those days still show the old port excursions. Plus, even though our final port, Bergen, hasn’t changed dates, Viking cancelled those excursions and they now all show as sold out. 

Understandably, it’s a little bit like musical chairs at the moment…hopefully, Viking will honor our original requests once they reschedule excursions to the new dates. 

[duquephart]

I wonder about honoring original pricing. Always possible that excursions will be altered.

[duquephart]

Check out the new itinerary and especially the new map. There has to be a significant reduction in total sailing time and therefore fuel costs and probably port/dockage fees as well.

[Dukefan]

16 hours ago, dwlmg said:

Along with the port changes comes a $250 per person onboard cruise credit and a voucher for 10% of cruise fare paid to be emailed after we return home..

That seems very fair to me.

[Mrs Miggins]

16 minutes ago, Dukefan said:

That seems very fair to me.

I presume those that have never heard of some of the destinations may still cancel ?

[dwlmg]

To see a revised map, go to the Viking web site page for the Homelands cruise. Change the year in the right corner to 2022. The new map will replace the old one. It is a general map. There some wrinkles in the various itineraries that are not shown. Our 10 Sep cruise goes to Flam instead of Eidjford, we also go to Gothenburg instead of having a second day in Oslo. I have heard there are also substitutions for Mariehamn.

[duquephart]

Wow. Homelands "A", Homelands "B", Homelands ---------------

[dwlmg]

11 minutes ago, dwlmg said:

To see a revised map, go to the Viking web site page for the Homelands cruise. Change the year in the right corner to 2022. The new map will replace the old one. It is a general map. There some wrinkles in the various itineraries that are not shown. Our 10 Sep cruise goes to Flam instead of Eidjford, we also go to Gothenburg instead of having a second day in Oslo. I have heard there are also substitutions for Mariehamn.

If you go to the dates and pricing tab and select your cruise for the departure date and select Itinerary next to the ship image, you will see the itinerary for your specific sailing.

[milling73]

Our July 12 Homelands cruise has the 2 islands (disappointingly) and overnight Oslo (also a bummer). Oslo sights can pretty much be covered in 1 day.  While Viking probably tried their best to create revised itineraries which must be a logistics nightmare, it still seems to us as passengers that we are receiving  less than exciting replacements for the 3-4 days involved.   Even Viking's own description of Mariehamm is that it offers a number of cafes / restaurants (and apparently very little else, as there are no shore excursions listed at all).  Since we are on a ship with multiple choices of free dining,  why would we be excited about spending a day deciding where to buy a meal?

[milling73]

On 3/14/2022 at 7:13 PM, bpolen said:

In the May 6th departure we now have 9 of our 15 days in either Norway or Denmark, unfortunately not a lot of variety with the ports of call.  Totally understand it is not Viking's fault but this is definitely not what we signed up for.  Working with our agent to see what alternative options we have.  

I agree -- so are we.  Viking told me in a phone call that if we do not like the revised itinerary, we have the option of a) cancelling and receiving a full refund, b) roll the trip to next year, c) change to an entirely different cruise.  Those are about as fair of choices as we could hope.  Problem is finding a cruise this year with availability.

 

[bpolen]

@milling73 did you purchase insurance?  This is my first cruise so I am new to such things but my TA called Viking and only offered options B and C.  There was no option for receiving a full refund.

[TeamBAlways]

On 3/15/2022 at 12:46 PM, WestW said:

We are on the May 20 Homelands Cruise leaving Stockholm.  We have not received any OBC or voucher (yet). 

Excursions for the ports we won’t be visiting have been cancelled and refunded to our account. 

Strangely, rather than just moving the dates, the excursions for the ports that we will be visiting on different days from the original schedule have been cancelled and refunded, too.  And we can’t rebook them as those days still show the old port excursions. Plus, even though our final port, Bergen, hasn’t changed dates, Viking cancelled those excursions and they now all show as sold out. 

Understandably, it’s a little bit like musical chairs at the moment…hopefully, Viking will honor our original requests once they reschedule excursions to the new dates. 

We are on the same cruise.  Most but not all of our excursions have been cancelled and not yet refunded.  Unfortunately,  they kept our spa reservation on the date that is now Berlin instead of a sea day.  When I tried to change it all time slots were sold out.  One of the perks of our cabin category was that we got early access to reservations, that is certainly not happening now.

I am disappointed by the new itinerary. We already have the Oslo extension booked so 2 more days in Oslo sounds like a waste of time to me.  Sadly I am not as excited as I should be to go. My DH says we will be on vacation in beautiful countries we have never seen so it will be great.

[arkie111]

Yes, The Homeland tour has been modified.  They took out St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn Estonia.  They added Oslo, Bornholm and Mariehamn.  Since I was scheduled to do Oslo on a pre cruise trip I will get to see a lot of Oslo.  That is if  we don’t cancel.   They took out St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn and added more Oslo for me and two stops I never heard of.   The video they sent said you could relax at those stops.  I think that is code for nothing to do.  They made all of those changes( took out 3 major ports) to a 15 day cruise that with air is costing just under $34,000 and they offered $250  per person cruise credit.  Wow what an offer.  I know that the St. Petersburg change is not Vikings fault.  But then again it is not my fault either.

 

We are really debating cancellation.  If we were not going with neighbors we would have already cancelled.  This cruise has been paid for a year. This was to be my first Viking Ocean cruise but having to pay for a cruise a year and a half early is strange to me.  Let me know what you think.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, arkie111 said:

Yes, The Homeland tour has been modified.  They took out St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn Estonia.  They added Oslo, Bornholm and Mariehamn.  Since I was scheduled to do Oslo on a pre cruise trip I will get to see a lot of Oslo.  That is if  we don’t cancel.   They took out St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Tallinn and added more Oslo for me and two stops I never heard of.   The video they sent said you could relax at those stops.  I think that is code for nothing to do.  They made all of those changes( took out 3 major ports) to a 15 day cruise that with air is costing just under $34,000 and they offered $250  per person cruise credit.  Wow what an offer.  I know that the St. Petersburg change is not Vikings fault.  But then again it is not my fault either.

 

We are really debating cancellation.  If we were not going with neighbors we would have already cancelled.  This cruise has been paid for a year. This was to be my first Viking Ocean cruise but having to pay for a cruise a year and a half early is strange to me.  Let me know what you think.

 

Personally, we spent well over $100K on our cruises that were scheduled for SPB, Tallinn & Helsinki and based on the contract we signed, we are entitled to zero compensation from Viking. I believe $250 pp is generous, especially since we have no desire to enter a war zone. 

[duquephart]

44 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Personally, we spent well over $100K on our cruises that were scheduled for SPB, Tallinn & Helsinki and based on the contract we signed, we are entitled to zero compensation from Viking. I believe $250 pp is generous, especially since we have no desire to enter a war zone. 

 

Nearly 25% of what some planned on cancelled ----- on top of Viking saving big time on operating costs while throwing it''s customers a tiny bone. This is"generous"? 

[Heidi13]

46 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Nearly 25% of what some planned on cancelled ----- on top of Viking saving big time on operating costs while throwing it''s customers a tiny bone. This is"generous"? 

 

You are actually correct, but probably not for the reasons you believe. Viking, by considering pax & crew safety, and avoiding a "War Zone", will experience reduced operating expenses. In a "War Zone" operating costs, especially crew and insurance costs increase dramatically.

 

Even with almost 30 yrs managing ship's budgets, I do not have sufficient information to make an informed estimate of the impact on operating costs, so my hats off to you that you know Viking made a significant saving on the operating costs.

 

They may have changed almost 25% of the ports, but the relevant clauses in the Terms & Conditions, pax agreed to accept, are no different, regardless of the length of the cruise.

 

Since we are due nothing, we consider $500 is a generous and appreciated offer.

[duquephart]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You are actually correct, but probably not for the reasons you believe. Viking, by considering pax & crew safety, and avoiding a "War Zone", will experience reduced operating expenses. In a "War Zone" operating costs, especially crew and insurance costs increase dramatically.

 

Even with almost 30 yrs managing ship's budgets, I do not have sufficient information to make an informed estimate of the impact on operating costs, so my hats off to you that you know Viking made a significant saving on the operating costs.

 

They may have changed almost 25% of the ports, but the relevant clauses in the Terms & Conditions, pax agreed to accept, are no different, regardless of the length of the cruise.

 

Since we are due nothing, we consider $500 is a generous and appreciated offer.

 

They haven't made anything yet, have they? I'm only suggesting that there must be a significant savings in fuel and port fees to be realized. I'm aware of all the issues and dynamics and agree with their decision. We are disappointed but not enough to cancel. Bottom line: Appreciated ----- yes. But generous is, in my opinion, a stretch.

[Mrs Miggins]

On another source it is reported that the 2022 cruisers are getting a 15% reduction plus $250 pp OBC.  It also said that only the OBC is being offered to those booked for 2023.

 

[CILCIANRQTS]

Doesn’t value received enter into the equation??
While Viking has no control over the need for changes, losing SPB, Helsinki and Tallin and replacing them with additional days in Oslo and “no name” towns decreases the value that passengers receive.

While I accept that the Contract of Carriage ALLOWS them to do this, is this fair to those who paid premium prices for premium ports??