Anyone going on Ocean Victory's May voyages in Alaska?

[Babcia7]

If you're on Ocean Victory's voyages this month, I'd love to hear about your experience.  Looks like a wonderful adventure, and we'll be on the Vancouver to Sitka cruise in August.  Looking forward to some reviews!

 

[adstz]

I agree with Babcia7. We need reviews and pictures. Can't wait to hear about all the wonderful things on board these ships.

We are also on board Ocean Victory on August 20 cruise Vancouver to Sitka.

[Missouri travel girl]

Same here! We will be on July 29. Excited to hear all about it! 

[Missouri travel girl]

1. Anyone on the ship right now?  We would love to hear from you when you have the time. Thank you

[Ianstar]

We are also on the Aug. 20 sailing. We have been very pleased with American Queen in the past and have high hopes.

[JAR]

Here are a few answers  to some questions about the Ocean Victory Alaska cruise. When arriving in Sitka Airport we were not greeted by a cruise line rep nor were given any instructions by the cruiseline. We took a taxi to the hotel for a very short $5 per person ride. There are not many taxis so you may have a little wait or share with another party. The provided hotel was nice, very clean & had a great staff. It is located within easy walking distance to shops & restaurants. The precruise breakfast was not very good, but there is a coffee shop nearby.     

 

Concerning boots & gear - Rubber boots were provided as was a light rain suit, if you asked. I am unsure how many rain sets were available. Dress in layers as the weather can  hange quickly. Bring moisturizer for your skin & conditioner for your hair as it is not provided. Do not expect the "bath product " to be of the quality on AQV, even the brochure states "designer amenities". Also, you may want to bring snacks as food is primarily available only during meal times. Cookies are available at the coffee machine for short periods of the day - sorry no ice cream machine like they have on other AQV vessels.  Room service is only available during the dining hours, not 24 hour service as indicated in the brochure. And the room service only includes the same items being served in the dining room. We found ourselves occasionally wanting a little snack after an expedition activity and nothing was available.  Breakfast and lunch are only buffet which becomes tiresome quickly, especially the one single line. No options such as sandwiches, burgers or fries are offered. Do not expect " Alaskan inspired" food. As we write this, we are on day 9 and have not had halibut or any type of crab yet. Salmon was Atlantic, not local & the nightly steak option is sirloin, not filet as is served on the other AQV vessels. Lobster tail is offered nightly, but getting melted butter is quite a struggle. Some evenings there is not potato option (not even as a special request), only rice or pasta. The specialty restaurant has not been open at all. The bar staff is amazing, but the bar offerings (liquors and types of drinks) are limited. No blender drinks are available, nor the morning juice/ smoothie bar as mentioned in the brochure.

 

The cabins are very nice and most have balconies.  The bathroom is big enough and efficient. There is plenty of storage space in most cabins.  Overall, the ship is very clean.  But expect the "satellite programming" that stated in the brochure.  There is no live TV stream, at least on this run.  

 

    The staff is wonderful and work very hard to provide great service. Hopefully, Peter, Bertrand & Isaac are on board when you cruise, because they are the glue trying to hold it together. I have rarely met such outstanding crew on any vessel such as those gentlemen. Get questions regarding tours answered before arriving because the tour desk is still learning the product. This is our 6th Alaska cruise & it is the first time that we did not see a glacier while on board despite beautiful weather. The captain made a decision to not go into the glacier areas even though there was less visible ice than any of our other visits to Tracy Arm.  This seemed odd, since this ship is specifically designed for this type of environment and the promotional marketing made a big deal about this ship being able to get in areas the big ships cannot.

 

     Ok, the elephant in the room.... Yes, Covid is an issue and we were turned away from one port. The expedition staff had a few cases, but the quick action of the hotel and expedition leaders kept it under control and avoided spreading. Peter (expedition director)was creative in still getting kayaks & zodiacs out. A small number of staff & guests tested positive and were isolated.

 

In summary, even though this is an "expedition cruise", we believed it should still have the level of luxury that matches the price and at least equal to other AQV vessels.  We have taken other expedition cruises and we received both the expected luxury and more adventurous expedition activities.  There is obviously some learning curve to overcome. 

 

 

 

[Babcia7]

Thank you for the review of your trip.  I'm hoping that by our cruise in August some of the kinks will be worked out.  It is a shame that the ship has not sourced some local seafood for their offerings.  Glad to hear that you had positive thoughts about the staff. We did not have a great experience on the American Queen on the Mississippi earlier this year, and we are really hoping that our trip to Alaska will far exceed that experience.  We have been on other expedition cruises with Lindblad Expeditions (on the Columbia River and in the Galapagos) and on other expedition cruises on the Amazon river, but we've never been to Alaska, so we are really looking forward to the adventure!

[NMCruiser55]

Thank you for your review. I'm disappointed to hear the captain didn't go to the glaciers. I expected they may have supply chain issues being new to the region. We will be doing this cruise June 7, will see if more kinks have been ironed out.  😉

[JAR]

I don't want to curb anyone's excitement about their upcoming cruise, but keep your expectations low! On day one we were introduced to so many things that will set our "expedition cruise" apart from the " big, bad cruise ships". We were told so many things that were just not true. For example, we were told that we would slow down if animals were active in the water and despite a magnificent whale show we kept chugging along. We were told that they have an outstanding "chef" that they prepared the best food. Again, this is simply untrue - think a HomeTown or Old Cou try buffet with less options. Today's BBQ made my high school's burgers seem delicious and the steaks are of  Bonaza Steak House quality, at best. The salmon served onboard has been the Atlantic farm raised variety, not local wild caught, when Alaska is the capital of fresh salmon.

     We are disembarking in less than 24 hours and they still have no plan on how we will be Covid tested before getting off the ship. This important detail has been totally overlooked by the cruise line, even though they have had several months to plan for this first disembarkation.  This situation is causing a great deal of angst among passengers that have early  or even midday flights. We were informed that even making our noon flight may not be doable. I have never been on a cruise where a 12pm flight is not possible when an airport is nearby. Every crew member is giving us a different answer. There are new cases of Covid on board.

      Isaac, Peter, Bertrand, Mike, and Wilbon are still going "above & beyond" to make the passengers happy! The waite and bar staff are excellent.

 

 

     

[NMCruiser55]

I don't expect them to test before getting off. They didn't want to test before boarding. The other lines are not testing on board before departure.  We have appointments at CVM near the pier.

[JAR]

Testing must be completed before returning to the US & if you are taking arranged transportation from AQV to the airport there is no opportunity to go on your own for testing. This is especially important because of the current outbreak on the ship. A short while ago a plan was announced to guests regarding tomorrow's testing. They had no issues with testing before boarding the ship.

[adstz]

4 hours ago, NMCruiser55 said:

I don't expect them to test before getting off. They didn't want to test before boarding. The other lines are not testing on board before departure.  We have appointments at CVM near the pier.

We are getting off in Sitka. Absolutely no opportunity for testing there. 

[adstz]

1 hour ago, JAR said:

Testing must be completed before returning to the US & if you are taking arranged transportation from AQV to the airport there is no opportunity to go on your own for testing. This is especially important because of the current outbreak on the ship. A short while ago a plan was announced to guests regarding tomorrow's testing. They had no issues with testing before boarding the ship.

Please update us tomorrow. Would love to know that they actually do the testing. We get off in Sitka. No place to test nearby and the airport itself is very small. I am really hoping they will test us on the ship before we get off.

[NavyVeteran]

1 hour ago, adstz said:

Please update us tomorrow. Would love to know that they actually do the testing. We get off in Sitka. No place to test nearby and the airport itself is very small. I am really hoping they will test us on the ship before we get off.

COVID tests are not required for domestic flights from Sitka to other locations in the United States. They are required for international flights from Vancouver to the United States. AQV has told me they will test us on the ship. I hope they get the act together before my cruise in late June.

[Babcia7]

10 hours ago, NavyVeteran said:

COVID tests are not required for domestic flights from Sitka to other locations in the United States. They are required for international flights from Vancouver to the United States. AQV has told me they will test us on the ship. I hope they get the act together before my cruise in late June.

Wow, I guess I'd better lower my expectations about our upcoming trip.  I was so hoping that considering the cost of the cruise on Ocean Victory the experience would be on a par with other expedition cruises that we've taken.

I hope you will have a better voyage than what's been reported in previous reviews.  Please share your experience when you return.

[rljan]

Hopefully someone else from the cruise will post their review. It would be interesting to see if they concur or have a differing opinion.

[JAR]

Yes, they did arrange testing at the Hyatt Hotel. They provided transportation to the hotel & airport free of charge, but disembarkation  was very disorganized. Unfortunately the bus being chartered to carry the Covid positive passengers had to be canceled because the provider of the bus pulled out. The dinner on the final night was very good & we wish that they had put that much effort into the other meals. This was the first time we didn't receive "comment sheets" after the cruise. You must attend the daily briefing to be informed of the following day's schedule because daily bulletins are not given out. I am definitely not trying to be negative about my experience, but I expected so much from this "expedition" based on the cost. This is an objective view from our experience and I truly hope others can share their cruise views

 

 

 

[Missouri travel girl]

Thank you for your thoughts and review. This is troublesome to me as I have a group on the July 29 sailing. What was their reason the specialty dining room wasn’t open? We were on the Empress last November on the Columbia and snake rivers and loved it! Hopefully we will have some more people in the next few sailing and things will have improved. 

[JAR]

     They never mentioned why the specialty restaurant or smoothies were unavailable. Any issue was meant with the response " well this is the first time we've done this". The reduction in crew due to Covid had an impact in some services, but the specialty restaurant seemed completely overlooked.

     Other people posting are correct that testing is not required if departing from Sitka because it is a domestic flight. We left from the port of Vancouver and the Canadian government did not accept testing performed on the ship resulting in testing being done in the Hyatt Hotel. 

     I am a big fan of AQV and hope the kinks can be worked out. I know many passengers on our sailing were dissatisfied, including many past AQV passengers, and I hope it doesn't reflect poorly the brand. I am also looking forward to hear reviews from other cruisers.

     

[Missouri travel girl]

Were you on the first or second sailing for this itinerary? I agree, we are also big fans and have always had wonderful service, food and entertainment. I also hope others will post about the trip.

[JAR]

We were on the 2nd sailing - Sitka to Vancouver. There is no true entertainment on this ship. We had a very talented piano player, Max , who provided music before and after dinner. I did want to add that the bathroom/shower is nicely sized. Although the Ocean Victory is a new ship, it had been at sea for the Antarctic season & is not sparkly new ( no new car smell).

 

 

 

[Missouri travel girl]

Thank you, I really hope they improve on their food quality as well.  The evening dining is one of our favorite things and my husband always looks forward to lamb being served and I love the fish and seafood. I’m trying to find the menus for both dining room and speciality restaurant but no luck so far.

[rljan]

Thanks to JAR for the review.  We will be taking the Vancouver to Sitka cruise in August and would love to hear from anyone who has taken that route.  I am interested in check in procedures and any pre cruise information, as well as onboard impressions.

[donaldsc]

This is a review from ThePointsGuy of her recent cruise on the Ocean Victory.  She liked the cruise enough that after her 3 day TA cruise, she paid to do the full cruise from Vancouver to Sitka.

 

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/ocean-victory-alaska-cruise/

 

DON

[elegantlotus]

Has anyone heard more about the ship's covid test results not being accepted by the airlines?  I called AQV who said that they have not gotten any reports of the test results not being accepted for travel back into the US.  I called Delta, who asked where the results were coming from. AQV could not verify if they have an accredited on board lab. I am concerned because our flight leaves at 1120 am on the day of disembarkation. 

 

They also told me that there is 25 hour room service available, and I have been reading that on the Ocean Victory there is limited service... so perhaps the complaints have not cycled thru the system yet. Nevertheless, I don't mind missing a few calories... but I do mind not being able to catch my flight home. 

 

I would appreciate any updates!

 

Gerri