Leaving Ship on Cruise Starting With Overnight

[Twitchly]

32 minutes ago, Cheekyrn1 said:

We are boarding in tillbury March 25. We are arriving March 24 with an all day private tour scheduled for the 25th. We don’t plan on checking in on the cruise or embarking until about 9pm. We did call Viking and they said this was ok since we are in port overnight

Excellent! Thanks for mentioning this. Sounds like our plan will work, then.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Twitchly

[Peregrina651]

For anyone planning a late arrival, filed under 'better safe than sorry,' please, before you leave home, e-mail the ship directly and let them know your plans. The e-mail address will be in the cruise docs that are e-mailed to you a few weeks prior to sailing.

 

Here's why.  By 9pm, the day staff, the folks who run the shoreside operations, the ones who handle check-in, may be gone for the day. The only folks who will be left will be guards and they will want to see your keycard before letting you through the gate. After you get through the gate, you have to get onto the ship, where they will want to scan/tap your keycard.

 

If you e-mail the ship in advance, not only will they know that you will be arriving late (just in case that bit of information doesn't get through to them) but they can give you instructions as to what you will need to do when you arrive in order to get onto the dock and onto the ship.

[jtwind]

It seems clear that if you want to enjoy your embarkation town on embarkation day, and you have a place to keep your luggage, the best option is to board late.  But what all do you give up by doing so?

I guess we may miss dinner, waiting for results in our room.  Late getting on excursion lists?  Restaurant reservations for the rest of the cruise?

[JeriGail]

44 minutes ago, jtwind said:

It seems clear that if you want to enjoy your embarkation town on embarkation day, and you have a place to keep your luggage, the best option is to board late.  But what all do you give up by doing so?

I guess we may miss dinner, waiting for results in our room.  Late getting on excursion lists?  Restaurant reservations for the rest of the cruise?

On embarkation day I made reservations for Chef's Table, Manfredi's, the spa, and changed some excursions.  You can also check to see if wine tastings or special ship tours (like a galley tour) are available.

[jtwind]

1 hour ago, JeriGail said:

On embarkation day I made reservations for Chef's Table, Manfredi's, the spa, and changed some excursions.  You can also check to see if wine tastings or special ship tours (like a galley tour) are available.

Right.  So if we board late, we miss some opportunities during the cruise?

[Cadodge]

1 hour ago, JeriGail said:

On embarkation day I made reservations for Chef's Table, Manfredi's, the spa, and changed some excursions.  You can also check to see if wine tastings or special ship tours (like a galley tour) are available.

If we are still having to test and wait in the cabin until the results are determined - and if that is taking 4-6 hours - I don't know how much I would count on making it to any reservation in one of the dining venues, let alone waiting until the last minute to board.

[Twitchly]

2 hours ago, jtwind said:

Right.  So if we board late, we miss some opportunities during the cruise?

Not if everyone is still having to wait for 6 hours or whatever to get test results. Not much will get accomplished that first day.

[uktog]

8 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Not if everyone is still having to wait for 6 hours or whatever to get test results. Not much will get accomplished that first day.

I believe quite a lot can be done over the ships TV whilst held in your room. I hope that is the case not because we are worried about reservations but because we will go stir crazy.  We won't need a "rest" and unpacking usually takes us well less than an hour.  

(Still cant understand why they continue with this quarantine, no other line does it)

[jtwind]

4-6 hours?  So, some kind of room service must be available, right?

[Cadodge]

20 minutes ago, jtwind said:

4-6 hours?  So, some kind of room service must be available, right?

Previously posted by many others who have boarded and awaited the test results is that room service is totally available .

 

[broker1217]

On our Panama Canal cruise there was a bottle of Viking sparkling wine, a couple beers, sodas, water, Caesar chicken wraps, a sub type sandwich, plus 4 small desserts waiting in the cabin. We arrived around 3 PM.

We did not unpack as we didn't want to jinx ourselves. We were famished as we flew economy (yuk) and missed lunch. 

While we ate (and drank) we used the TV to book our specialty restaurants since we were in lowly DV and could not book prior. We then amused ourselves on the verandah watching the provisioning (this is better than television for my husband). 

Later on we ordered room service and wine for dinner, which was delicious. 

Once we got our results, we unpacked in less than 15 minutes and went out to enjoy the terrace behind World Cafe. 

We knew we would be in the cabin for 4-5 hours so it was really no big deal. You won't starve and drinks will come via room service if you wish. 

[CCWineLover]

19 hours ago, broker1217 said:

On our Panama Canal cruise there was a bottle of Viking sparkling wine, a couple beers, sodas, water, Caesar chicken wraps, a sub type sandwich, plus 4 small desserts waiting in the cabin. We arrived around 3 PM.

We did not unpack as we didn't want to jinx ourselves. We were famished as we flew economy (yuk) and missed lunch. 

While we ate (and drank) we used the TV to book our specialty restaurants since we were in lowly DV and could not book prior. We then amused ourselves on the verandah watching the provisioning (this is better than television for my husband). 

Later on we ordered room service and wine for dinner, which was delicious. 

Once we got our results, we unpacked in less than 15 minutes and went out to enjoy the terrace behind World Cafe. 

We knew we would be in the cabin for 4-5 hours so it was really no big deal. You won't starve and drinks will come via room service if you wish. 

We will be on Panama Cruise in late March.  Thanks for the tips.

However - were in in a PV or higher (free Sparkling wine, beers, etc) ?   We are in a DV2 and I didn't think we got any of that.   Which begs a second question - if you are stuck in your room, can you buy the silver spirits package on the TV then?  and then you could order that sparkling wine, beers, special food, etc  . . .

Are there better times to do room service ?  Had heard reports that room service is so overwhelmed by everyone being stuck in their staterooms, you have a hard time getting through, much less getting anything delivered in any kind of time.

[jtwind]

And it appears that we will be on a very full cruise.  I hope they're prepared.

[broker1217]

I need to clarify--we were V2. The lowest possible category so we were not entitled to any wine/beer in our cabin.

We had all the food and drink waiting for us in our cabin. 

I will say that at around 6 PM room service was swamped and not answering the phone.

So, if you are hungry I would suggest ordering a meal around 4:30-5 PM, or maybe after 7 PM.

We got dinner around 7 PM and it came quite quickly and was delicious. We ate on the verandah.

Since we knew we would be quarantining in cabin. we added SSBP and paid for it prior to departure.

I'm sorry but I can't answer if you could add it in cabin during quarantine.

We added it prior to departure so that we could order a bottle of wine with 15% discount, plus you could order cocktails to be delivered if that is your pleasure.

Once we were released at around 8:30 PM we hit the WC buffet for a sushi nibble and then Explorers Lounge for a cocktail.

I know folks are complaining about the in cabin quarantine, but honestly, it was no big deal for us.

We ate, drank, hung out on the verandah--and we were thankful to be on board Viking. A couple hours in the cabin is really no hardship for us. We had books and you can order drinks and food.

 

[CCWineLover]

3 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

I need to clarify--we were V2. The lowest possible category so we were not entitled to any wine/beer in our cabin.

We had all the food and drink waiting for us in our cabin. 

I will say that at around 6 PM room service was swamped and not answering the phone.

So, if you are hungry I would suggest ordering a meal around 4:30-5 PM, or maybe after 7 PM.

We got dinner around 7 PM and it came quite quickly and was delicious. We ate on the verandah.

Since we knew we would be quarantining in cabin. we added SSBP and paid for it prior to departure.

I'm sorry but I can't answer if you could add it in cabin during quarantine.

We added it prior to departure so that we could order a bottle of wine with 15% discount, plus you could order cocktails to be delivered if that is your pleasure.

Once we were released at around 8:30 PM we hit the WC buffet for a sushi nibble and then Explorers Lounge for a cocktail.

I know folks are complaining about the in cabin quarantine, but honestly, it was no big deal for us.

We ate, drank, hung out on the verandah--and we were thankful to be on board Viking. A couple hours in the cabin is really no hardship for us. We had books and you can order drinks and food.

 

Thank you again for the clarification - and the great tips.  We get on board 3 weeks from today!

[broker1217]

4 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Thank you again for the clarification - and the great tips.  We get on board 3 weeks from today!

Enjoy the cruise---the quarantine is really no big deal. 

You have food an drink and a verandah---how hard is it to amuse yourselves for 4-5 hours?!?!?

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, broker1217 said:

We added it prior to departure so that we could order a bottle of wine with 15% discount, plus you could order cocktails to be delivered if that is your pleasure.

 

Careful, it isn't all bottles of wine, only those over $50.

 

This is what it says on the order form I found online  and I believe that it is still in force:

 

The Viking Ocean Cruises Silver Spirits beverage package includes any drink up to $15, throughout the day and anywhere on the
ship; The Chef’s Table premium wine pairing; and 15% off premium beverages, Armagnacs and bottles of wine over $50.

 

 

[jtwind]

I'm back to wishing we could test, stay off the ship, and come back hours later.

 

Is there any indication that the quarantine time is less if you board late?  I'm pretty sure the tests don't take 4-6 hours to run, it's just a matter of getting in the queue.  So, if all of the tests have been run, it should just be 15-30 minutes.

[jtwind]

So just now, I looked at our cabin category, and it says we can board starting at 11, but we don't have room access until 2.  What does that mean if we are supposed to go directly to our room after our test?

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

So just now, I looked at our cabin category, and it says we can board starting at 11, but we don't have room access until 2.  What does that mean if we are supposed to go directly to our room after our test?

 

A lot of the pre-pandemic wording remains on the paperwork and on the website. It is definitely confusing.

 

Currently, the ships are not sailing at anywhere near full capacity. Guest have to be out of the cabins by 7am and the ship is all but empty by 9am, so they are able to get all of the cabins turned over quickly.  Room access for DV is by 2pm not at 2pm and even before Covid cabins were ready in advance of the time stated.

 

The other thing is that the "test and wait in your cabin" is a new protocol.  It didn't start until January and may have been a reaction to Omicron.  As with other Covid protocols, it is subject to change.  

 

 

[JessM66]

7 hours ago, jtwind said:

I'm back to wishing we could test, stay off the ship, and come back hours later.

 

Is there any indication that the quarantine time is less if you board late?  I'm pretty sure the tests don't take 4-6 hours to run, it's just a matter of getting in the queue.  So, if all of the tests have been run, it should just be 15-30 minutes.

It’s a PCR test, not an antigen, you will not get a result back in less than four hours no matter what time you board. 
 

[deec]

OUR experience a few days ago in Valparaiso, Chile.

The pre-extension was very disappointing because of Chile's extraordinary requirements.

We arrived at the airport in Santiago and were tested ( it took about 2.25 hours to go through customs and Immigration.)  We had to show our documention forms multiple times in spite of the fact that they were all submitted  to Chile and approved before arriving in Chile. 

 

We were required to quarantine in our hotel until we received a NEGATIVE test.  It was about 8.5 hours.  So we had very little time to see Santiago this day.

 

Day 2...Viking had arranged 2 tours that they DID not tell us about BEFORE arriving so we had booked a DIY Wine Tour. 

Viking also requested/arranged

that the pre extension group be tested at 12:30 on this day.  It was not possible for us so we hoped we would not be denied boarding.

Day 3....The group boarded buses for Valparaiso between 9 and 9:30.  Absolutely NO time to tour and the tour operators( they were very lovely people) could do nothing to change the schedule.  We arrived at the terminal about 90 minutes later.

 

Check in was QUICK and uneventful.  Paperwork was checked again!

Shuttled to the ship.  Boarded, walked through our muster stations and immediately went to our cabins.

 

We submitted our saliva tests before noon!  We had to quarantine until about 4:30 or 5....too late to leave the ship since the shuttle into Valparaiso ....Day 3 involved NO touring.

Quarantining in the room was easy ...Sandwiches,desserts, wine, and small liquor bottles and pop!  Room Service was available.  I ordered  more wine and a cheese tray!!! Our luggage arrived about an hour after boarding.

 

Then we had a great dinner in an empty dining room as later arriving passengers were still  in quarantine .  There are 245 guests aboard.

 

No cases of COVID.

 

 

[jtwind]

4 hours ago, JessM66 said:

It’s a PCR test, not an antigen, you will not get a result back in less than four hours no matter what time you board. 
 

That's what we used to think, but there ARE rapid PCR tests.  Windstar is using them at the dock in Tahiti.  Even the regular PCR tests don't take that long if you're at the front of the queue and the lab is on site.

[jtwind]

8 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Currently, the ships are not sailing at anywhere near full capacity.

 

 

Our concern is that our trip in mid-April will be very full.  Very few cabins are available.  Viking is side-stepping questions about target full capacity.  That can't help turnaround time.

[Selion]

I'm wishing Viking would change its testing protocols already.  The redundancy is borderline obsessive.  Look at the number of tests...

72-hours pre-departure testing.

Onboarding testing on day 1.

Daily testing during cruise.

 

I understand Viking is doing all these in the name of health & safety, but for someone who's fully vaccinated, boosted, and recovered this is getting to be ridiculous.  Now I run the risk of getting a mild cold (that's what COVID is to me now) and getting booted off the ship.  Ah well.  At least travel insurance is still covering cancellations and interruptions due to positive COVID tests.