IF you test positive, quarantine or disembark question

[puppymama1]

I know it has been stated over and over that if you test positive, the decision of whether you have to quarantine on the ship or be forced to disembark is made by the country you are sailing in.  Does anyone know what the US requirements are?  We are booked on the May 23 Alaska & the Inside Passage cruise... Once we get onboard and the ship leaves Vancouver, the next stop is Alaska...so I assume the decision would be based on the US requirements?  That is my biggest stress as we get closer to sailing... having to leave the ship because of a positive test... 

Thanks!

[TayanaLorna]

Now that is a good question.  I know the people who tested positive in LA or FLL at the beginning of the cruises that left from those locations were denied boarding.  But once the cruises departed their ports were not US.  I can't think of any Viking cruise that went from foreign port to US port to foreign port since the start up.   Our TA began in Spain and ended in the US territory of Puerto Rico.  No one tested positive but, if someone did at the end of the cruise, they would have been quarantined in PR because they could not fly home.

[CurlerRob]

Nothing in my research suggests that the US or Canada requires disembarkation once you are aboard. So, I would expect the current Viking protocol of quarantine on board to apply if you are unfortunate enough to test positive.

 

However, if you were be quarantined onboard late in your cruise, you might not have time to do the full 5 days, and that might lead to a few days of unplanned "shore leave" in Seward. 🍺🥌

[puppymama1]

42 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

Nothing in my research suggests that the US or Canada requires disembarkation once you are aboard. So, I would expect the current Viking protocol of quarantine on board to apply if you are unfortunate enough to test positive.

 

However, if you were be quarantined onboard late in your cruise, you might not have time to do the full 5 days, and that might lead to a few days of unplanned "shore leave" in Seward. 🍺🥌

Thank you!  That is what I thought too....  

Hopefully the daily testing will stop before our Mediterranean cruise in October!

[rizello]

if traveling within US, not sure why one couldn't stay on ship.  No need for clear test to fly home, since you are already in the US, so technically you could fly and still have Covid.  As is happening all the time with domestic US flights.

[BQEC]

Suggest that you read Viking Easing Up for further clarification. 

[puppymama1]

25 minutes ago, BQEC said:

Suggest that you read Viking Easing Up for further clarification. 

Where can I find that?  I don't see it anywhere in My Viking Journey...

[BQEC]

Cruise critic, Viking Ocean, Topic Listing. 

[CILCIANRQTS]

On Jupiter (Barcelona to Bergen), positives were isolated on ship.

At disembarkation, they obviously had to be isolated in shore hotels.

[eel]

I am currently in quarantine on Viking Orion. I tested positive on day 2 of the cruise (Monday). I was negative at embarkation. I have been completely asymptomatic and it is now day 5. The positive test was exactly 91 days after I tested positive for COVID back in January and had symptoms so they would not accept my recovery letter as it is only good for 90 days. My wife is also in isolation but they will release her tomorrow if she continues to test negative. They won’t let me out until we disembark on Monday in LA. 
 

There is a good chance the positive test is due to residual dead virus in my system. The spit PCR test is very sensitive. 90 days for recovery letters is a guideline. There are cases of positive tests up to six months from infection. Canada accepts recovery letters for six months because of this.

 

I understand caution but I feel that Viking has stolen my cruise from me. According to the CDC, you may leave quarantine 5 days after testing positive if you are asymptomatic and wear a mask. But Viking said their policy is 10 days.

 

I would not have had this problem on any other cruise line. I have asked for a refund but Viking has been unresponsive so far. Does anyone know if Viking offers refunds if you are quarantined on board? I know other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do.

 

in any case, I hope my experience will help others understand how Viking handles things.

[sfocruiser]

On 4/21/2022 at 5:47 PM, puppymama1 said:

Where can I find that?  I don't see it anywhere in My Viking Journey...

 

 

[Louise257]

1 hour ago, eel said:

 

I am currently in quarantine on Viking Orion. I tested positive on day 2 of the cruise (Monday). I was negative at embarkation. I have been completely asymptomatic and it is now day 5. The positive test was exactly 91 days after I tested positive for COVID back in January and had symptoms so they would not accept my recovery letter as it is only good for 90 days. My wife is also in isolation but they will release her tomorrow if she continues to test negative. They won’t let me out until we disembark on Monday in LA. 
 

There is a good chance the positive test is due to residual dead virus in my system. The spit PCR test is very sensitive. 90 days for recovery letters is a guideline. There are cases of positive tests up to six months from infection. Canada accepts recovery letters for six months because of this.

 

I understand caution but I feel that Viking has stolen my cruise from me. According to the CDC, you may leave quarantine 5 days after testing positive if you are asymptomatic and wear a mask. But Viking said their policy is 10 days.

 

I would not have had this problem on any other cruise line. I have asked for a refund but Viking has been unresponsive so far. Does anyone know if Viking offers refunds if you are quarantined on board? I know other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do.

 

in any case, I hope my experience will help others understand how Viking handles things.

 

[Louise257]

…what I meant to say was that I messaged Viking to ask if they compensate for having to quarantine on board. The response was that Travel Insurance would cover it. My insurance cover is £20 per person per day for cabin confinement! This will be our first cruise. It’s for a special occasion and is costing many times more than we would normally pay for a holiday. It is a huge amount for us to lose.  We also have other cheaper land based holidays booked and aren’t really worried about COVID disruption on them. The Viking protocols are seriously making us reconsider our cruise plans.

[Heidi13]

10 hours ago, Louise257 said:

…what I meant to say was that I messaged Viking to ask if they compensate for having to quarantine on board. The response was that Travel Insurance would cover it. My insurance cover is £20 per person per day for cabin confinement! This will be our first cruise. It’s for a special occasion and is costing many times more than we would normally pay for a holiday. It is a huge amount for us to lose.  We also have other cheaper land based holidays booked and aren’t really worried about COVID disruption on them. The Viking protocols are seriously making us reconsider our cruise plans.

 

You booked a Viking cruise that probably cost about UKP 300 pp/day. I'm having a tough time understanding why you would purchase travel insurance that will only pay UKP 20 pp/day. Haven't purchased UK Travel Insurance in over 40 yrs, so is it not possible to insure the entire financial risk.

 

[Louise257]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You booked a Viking cruise that probably cost about UKP 300 pp/day. I'm having a tough time understanding why you would purchase travel insurance that will only pay UKP 20 pp/day. Haven't purchased UK Travel Insurance in over 40 yrs, so is it not possible to insure the entire financial risk.

 

I purchased decent insurance, or so I thought, that covers the full cost of the cruise. It appears to provide good cover for lots of COVID scenarios, but not for confinement on board. Unless I am misreading it. 
 

Time to stop worrying about what ifs!

 

 

[Twitchly]

10 minutes ago, Louise257 said:

I purchased decent insurance, or so I thought, that covers the full cost of the cruise. It appears to provide good cover for lots of COVID scenarios, but not for confinement on board. Unless I am misreading it. 

Right. Insurance policies differ. Many don’t cover quarantine at all. Ours covers quarantine in a hotel for up to about $200/day for around 5 days. Not great. There’s nothing in our insurance policy about what’s covered if you have to quarantine onboard a ship. 
 

As for lost cruise days, my understanding is that if Viking gives us a voucher, our insurance won’t cover anything. That makes sense, except that I really, really don’t want a voucher because a voucher just locks us in to having to cruise again (and shell out more money to do so). Unlike many here, we are not frequent cruisers and can’t afford to be. 
 

The only two scenarios that really work for us would be either a refund from Viking for the lost days or a total refusal from Viking for any reimbursement. The latter would cause our insurance to kick in. Unless we’re quarantined onboard. Maybe.

Sheesh.
 

 

[Twitchly]

2 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You booked a Viking cruise that probably cost about UKP 300 pp/day. I'm having a tough time understanding why you would purchase travel insurance that will only pay UKP 20 pp/day. Haven't purchased UK Travel Insurance in over 40 yrs, so is it not possible to insure the entire financial risk.

 

Separate coverages. There’s trip loss coverage, usually up to the entire cost of your trip. And now, with Covid, there’s also quarantine cost coverage. I read Louise257 as talking about the latter. 
 

Covid has certainly added another layer of complexity.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

Separate coverages. There’s trip loss coverage, usually up to the entire cost of your trip. And now, with Covid, there’s also quarantine cost coverage. I read Louise257 as talking about the latter. 
 

Covid has certainly added another layer of complexity.

 

Having a comprehensive policy with separate coverage for different criteria is common on most travel policies we have purchased. Most of them have up to 100% for cancellation and 125 - 150% for trip interruption.

 

Prior to purchase, I read the policy documents line by line and take notes, but not being a lawyer, I accept that we are at the mercy of the insurance company's interpretation, should we make a claim. Similar to the post I quoted, I believe our coverage is adequate, but we will never know until we need to use it and submit a claim.

 

Last time we had to claim on travel insurance, it took 3 months for them to approve the claim. That was pre-Covid and I concur that things are now more complicated.

[TravlingGato]

Watch for Viking slight of hand on airline reservations.  Checked MyVikingJourney today and saw change in return flight in June from Anchorage to a different airline.  Went to the airline site and see flights different from what show on MYVikingJourney. In fact there are three flights on the airline site and two on the Viking site for the return trip, both change from one of the best rated airlines to one of the worst rated.  Overall the handling of our travel reservations on Viking has been clearly the ABSOLUTE WORST experience in nearly 30 cruises (only the 2nd with Viking, likely the last. A heated bathroom floor doesn't make up for degraded air travel.).  The reservations give the impression that once Viking has handled the client for the cruise, who cares how the company dumps you off at home.

[shadowlover]

22 hours ago, TravlingGato said:

Watch for Viking slight of hand on airline reservations.  Checked MyVikingJourney today and saw change in return flight in June from Anchorage to a different airline.  Went to the airline site and see flights different from what show on MYVikingJourney. In fact there are three flights on the airline site and two on the Viking site for the return trip, both change from one of the best rated airlines to one of the worst rated.  Overall the handling of our travel reservations on Viking has been clearly the ABSOLUTE WORST experience in nearly 30 cruises (only the 2nd with Viking, likely the last. A heated bathroom floor doesn't make up for degraded air travel.).  The reservations give the impression that once Viking has handled the client for the cruise, who cares how the company dumps you off at home.

Yikes that's upsetting.  I would definitely reach out to viking air.  I think sometimes things are computer generated/changed.  One time I complained and the air department immediately looked into it and made satisfactory changes.  It may not always be someone trying to get one over on you and I certainly hope this is not the case.

[TravlingGato]

Today my travel agent spent much of her day talking with Viking, getting contradictory information at each turn. Viking arbitrarily changed my flight from a one stop to two stops with an additional change of planes under a single flight number. Why did we pay Viking's upcharge for "Air Plus" when the company doesn't share information or act in the client's interest??  We could finally settle on return flights   whose schedule will diminish the cruise enjoyment.  Still, Viking couldn't handle seat selection. So, I went to the airline's website and got seats and upgrades. The site prompted me for a KTN, which is in my Viking profile, but was never shared with the airline in Viking's booking process.

 

And.... without notification at your log-in to MyVikingJourney, Viking has updated its pre-travel info. effective 2022-04-25. Notice that the subject  "Pre-Cruise Embarkation Requirements" is the last subject header on the topic "Before You Go."  Client orientation??? I think not!!!

 

[SailorPaulH]

1 hour ago, TravlingGato said:

 

And.... without notification at your log-in to MyVikingJourney, Viking has updated its pre-travel info. effective 2022-04-25. Notice that the subject  "Pre-Cruise Embarkation Requirements" is the last subject header on the topic "Before You Go."  Client orientation??? I think not!!!

 

I think these updates must be itinerary specific. My pre-travel info is still dated 4/1/2022. But you are right, there never seems to be notification of changes.

[TravlingGato]

SailorPaulH, you are probably right that notifications are cruise specific. My apology for not thinking of that. As a cruise traveler with changing cruise line and airline requirements on this voyage, I think that I'm feeling what it is to be a kernel of corn in a microwave popcorn bag set for 2 minutes and we have 45 seconds left. May you have good and safe travels.

[SailorPaulH]

5 hours ago, TravlingGato said:

SailorPaulH, you are probably right that notifications are cruise specific. My apology for not thinking of that. As a cruise traveler with changing cruise line and airline requirements on this voyage, I think that I'm feeling what it is to be a kernel of corn in a microwave popcorn bag set for 2 minutes and we have 45 seconds left. May you have good and safe travels.

Nothing to apologize for - Viking changes these updates, I believe based on factors such as initial country of entry, time until embarkation and port requirements. It's a lot to juggle for them, I get that. 

 

Indeed, the only way they have of eventually providing a uniform, consistent message across all their itineraries is to get rid of all the testing requirements, etc.

 

Safe travels to you - we may not be on the same ship, but we are all in the same boat!