This is not a Viking review…

[dd57]

3 hours ago, biggerbearmom said:

I’m sorry for your husband but happy for you. I’m not sure where we got it, we wore masks on our flights and such, but I think it must have been on an excursion. We were rat packed into the buses and on long tours with most people not masking. I actually believe there are quite a number of people on this cruise that have tested positive; the vials outside the staterooms are the key clue.

We both wore N95 masks for our flight, for bus tours, and in common areas on the ship.  But my husband took his off during the bus transfer from the airport until I pointed out how many people were coughing.  I think many people were already sick before boarding.

[LindaS272]

6 minutes ago, dd57 said:

We are both in our original cabin.  I was told that there are no cabins free for me to move into to avoid more exposure.

 

Viking is calling it isolation, not quarantine.  Except I'm here too!  I am free to move around the ship and go on excursions as long as I am masked when out of our cabin.  My husband has to stay in the cabin.

Are you tested everyday? I’m glad you’re able to wander at will, but they should let your husband do so as well, with a mask, if they are letting you. Sounds like an imperfect compromise on Viking’s part. (They never should have dropped the masking requirement in the first place, IMO).

[dd57]

Just now, LindaS272 said:

Are you tested everyday? I’m glad you’re able to wander at will, but they should let your husband do so as well, with a mask, if they are letting you. Sounds like an imperfect compromise on Viking’s part. (They never should have dropped the masking requirement in the first place, IMO).

Yes, I am spitting in a tube every day for a PCR test. My husband was only tested once.  So all the tubes in the hall are for people who are not sick but in the same cabin with someone who is.

 

A nurse came by every day for the first few days to check on my husband.  Today  they called first but didn't come by  since he is feeling better.  He was not feeling well enough to go anywhere at first.  

[TayanaLorna]

12 hours ago, dd57 said:

We are both in our original cabin.  I was told that there are no cabins free for me to move into to avoid more exposure.

 

Viking is calling it isolation, not quarantine.  Except I'm here too!  I am free to move around the ship and go on excursions as long as I am masked when out of our cabin.  My husband has to stay in the cabin.

Previous quarantined (isolated) people when moved to the V cabins indicated they would have preferred staying in their stateroom (especially those in the higher categories or floors).  I wonder if you were not moved because those cabins are already filled.  There are 11 V cabins portside forward but i don't know if the entire block was set aside.  If all 11 of those are used as well as other staterooms...i guess i am trying to get a handle on how many people have gotten Covid on a particular cruise.  A friend who was on a Norway cruise said he noticed at least 10 pink wrapped room service trays in the hallways.  

[TayanaLorna]

12 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

(They never should have dropped the masking requirement in the first place, IMO).

If they had to drop the mask requirement, at least continue the daily testing.  At least that would get the sick people out of the mix quicker.  Perhaps it would make everyone more cautious as it raises the risk of isolation.

[DGHOC]

42 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

If they had to drop the mask requirement, at least continue the daily testing.  At least that would get the sick people out of the mix quicker.  Perhaps it would make everyone more cautious as it raises the risk of isolation.

Couldn't agree more Lorna, it would also flush out those who are refusing to admit they are sick and uncaringly infecting all around them! Shameful!

 

Jeez I'm glad I don't have an imminent trip.

Edited August 29, 2022 by DGHOC

[dd57]

The room service trays are not pink wrapped; they are just normal trays.  The only difference is that you have to take the tray from the person who delivers the tray, they don't come into the room.  No hazmat suits either for cleaning the room.  They wear masks and gloves and keep the dirty  bedding and towels in separate plastic bags.  We've been getting same day laundry service at no charge.  They said there is a dedicated machine for laundry from those in isolation.

 

The staff has been outstanding and respond quickly to our requests, which we keep to a minimum.

 

I don't know whether there are separate quarantine rooms or not.  When I asked about moving to a different room to sleep, they said there weren't any rooms available and gently pointed out that my husband was most likely contagious for 2 days before his symptoms started and I had already been exposed.  It was nice being in our PV room in our preferred location.

 

Day 5 of my husband's isolation and I'm still negative.  He is totally recovered, other being tired, and looking forward to getting out of the room tomorrow.

[TayanaLorna]

4 minutes ago, dd57 said:

The room service trays are not pink wrapped; they are just normal trays.  The only difference is that you have to take the tray from the person who delivers the tray, they don't come into the room.  No hazmat suits either for cleaning the room.  They wear masks and gloves and keep the dirty  bedding and towels in separate plastic bags.  We've been getting same day laundry service at no charge.  They said there is a dedicated machine for laundry from those in isolation.

 

The staff has been outstanding and respond quickly to our requests, which we keep to a minimum.

 

I don't know whether there are separate quarantine rooms or not.  When I asked about moving to a different room to sleep, they said there weren't any rooms available and gently pointed out that my husband was most likely contagious for 2 days before his symptoms started and I had already been exposed.  It was nice being in our PV room in our preferred location.

 

Day 5 of my husband's isolation and I'm still negative.  He is totally recovered, other being tired, and looking forward to getting out of the room tomorrow.

Hmmm...I have seen several reports from different cruises about seeing red or pink wrapped room service trays in the hallways.  A mystery.

[dd57]

Different ships, perhaps?

[dd57]

Maybe biggerbearmom will chime in on whether their trays are wrapped.  We are on the same cruise.

[kcpvwill]

4 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Hmmm...I have seen several reports from different cruises about seeing red or pink wrapped room service trays in the hallways.  A mystery.

In June we were given red bags for the trays when we were in isolation.  We were told to ring for the trays to be collected.  They didn’t want trays left outside.  When we were out of isolation trays were left outside, so they must have dropped the ring for collection.  We spotted lots of red bagged trays over the next week. We were on Venus.

Edited August 29, 2022 by kcpvwill

[TayanaLorna]

4 minutes ago, dd57 said:

Different ships, perhaps?

Meant to say - hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise together once out of isolation.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, dd57 said:

The room service trays are not pink wrapped; they are just normal trays.  The only difference is that you have to take the tray from the person who delivers the tray, they don't come into the room. 

 

I hope that you recover quickly and get healthy soon!

 

Interesting, they must have different policies on different ships.  We were on Venus in late July and the trays were definitely pink wrapped.  And they were not picked up right away.  Every morning we'd head out early for breakfast or to see the approach to a port, and there were always many pink wrapped trays in the halls, same as the late night before, and at the same rooms.  Seemed like about 10 on the 6th floor alone (both sides).  They were picked up finally by the time we returned (7:30 ?). 

We all got to talking about those pink wrapped trays - saying at least they picked a nice bright happy color like pink and not a danger color like red 🙂

People also quarantined in their rooms and were not split apart.  We again had a woman sitting next to us at Manfredi's (well, near) who was eating alone since her husband was still positive and she was negative so she could go out and mingle but he couldn't.  Half to admit, I personally didn't like that policy.  We tried to avoid those people.

[biggerbearmom]

18 hours ago, dd57 said:

Maybe biggerbearmom will chime in on whether their trays are wrapped.  We are on the same cruise.

No, our trays were not wrapped, as dd57 said, they were handed off to us at the door. Deck three had 12 rooms blocked off, my husband observed them prior to our isolation. I am grateful we didn’t have to switch rooms, I felt so crappy I couldn’t imagine having the energy to make the move. Fortunately for us we had planned all along to disembark a day early for a flight to Sweden. It felt so good to get off the ship on Monday.

I have forwarded my information to my travel agent to submit to Viking for the missed days, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. I do have to say that the staff was fantastic all the way around. We had non refundable credit we were going loose if not spent. Nataliya, the Viking Shop assistant manager helped me shop virtually through Whatsapp, she went above and beyond. The medical staff and room service were also incredibly helpful and hardworking. This is what makes for loyal customers.

[Let Me Travel!]

We just got home from a butterfly cruise on Sunday…we are lit up like Christmas trees with 4 shots each!  Plus we’ve had Covid twice each. We do not wear masks. We would if we were sick.

 

we are in our late 60s and we both have slight hearing loss…we depend on reading lips to fully understand what people are saying especially those people with accents that differ from ours. We will be grateful when the crew is allowed to suspend mask wearing.  We will be able to more fully understand them.
 

There were some passengers that wore masks on our cruise, but not a majority. I did note 3 staterooms with the red bags around the room service trays, but that was all that I noted.

 

we have decided that Covid cannot control our lives any longer.  if we were susceptible to a dangerous case of Covid then we would stay home and self isolate and for goodness sake, we would wear a mask and have as much delivered to our home as possible, but we are antsy people and we feel the need to get out…we are going to start living…but whoever wants to wear a mask, wear it! Do what makes you feel safe.

[workstocruise]

We just got off a cruise but not with Viking and I wanted to share our experience with Celebrity.

We flew from Houston to Amsterdam with the majority of passengers wearing their masks.  I wore mine while boarding and anytime I left my seat to either stand or use the restroom. We flew in a day early and the next day at 11:00 we walked next door to the terminal and boarded the ship. We did have our negative Covid tests results and our vaccine cards that we had to show. We wore our masks while doing this and kept them on till we reached our cabin. It was ready and we dropped off our carryons and went to lunch. I brought my mask but did not wear it and few others had theirs on.  We were not asked to wear masks anywhere on the ship or even the tour buses. I did wear mine on the buses.

 

Everything was good till day 8 when the captain announced that 1% of the guests has contacted Covid and we would now be required to wear our masks in the theatre and the casino. There was 2500 passengers on board.   I had been wearing my mask each night in the theatre because it was packed every night usually SRO. 
 

This scenario continued till the evening of day 11 when the captain again came on and said the percentage of sick guests was now 3% and we would have to wear our masks everywhere indoors except at our tables in the dining rooms. Day 12 was our last sea day and we arrived the following day back in Amsterdam.  Celebrity provided us with a really nice mask on day 8 for those who needed one.

 

We were never asked to take a test and I heard the ones in quarantine went to the ships Dr because they were sick.  Those in quarantine were on deck 3 and no one was allowed on that deck.  There was some people coughing in the public areas but they usually had on a mask.

it was a nice cruise but there were a few people who got angry when someone would enter the theartre without their mask and the Celebrity staff were quick to escort them from the room.

 

Anyway we sail Viking as well and I appreciated hearing your comments and thought I would share mine.  Safe travels to everyone on future cruises. I also believe Covid is here to stay, as least for awhile.

[Fred321]

Very interesting discussion. I am also impressed by the fact that the conversation has been civil compared to other forums I have seen. 

 

Have no Viking experience but do have a lot of cruising history on HAL and Celebrity. Recently got off a 35 day cruise on HAL. Boarded in Boston, test required to board as well as the minimum of 2 shots.No masks required except for crew. Approx. 1,000 passengers with maybe 10-20% wearing masks.

 

First cases started to  show about 3 days in. (First stop was Bar Harbor, a tender port, with folks packed into the tenders and few masks.) They quickly ran out of quarantine rooms and subsequently required those testing positive to stay in their rooms. Finally, after the total number of cases reached somewhere between 100 and 200 people based on the numbers announced by the Captain, they required everyone to wear masks indoors. Still had the geniuses who would remove masks once the lights went off but most folks complied.

 

After a few days new cases started to level off and then declined to zero about 7-10 days in. Passengers then started to pester those in authority to lift the mask requirement, which they finally did. Surprise! two days later new cases started to appear again.

 

This was our third cruise since the restart and we try to stay masked indoors and away from large groups (no tenders, no showrooms). So far we have been lucky and will continue to do this as we also continue to travel. No guarantees but masks seem to be a good idea regardless of requirements. Our last HAL trip seems like the perfect experiment.

 

 

[rizello]

We were just on a river cruise, not ocean, and masks not required, although we wore them on buses, anytime on an indoor excursion.  Difficult to avoid Covid though as we are packed in together in the lounge and restaurant, as the purpose of river cruising is really for mingling.  We were one of the unlucky ones to come down with Covid upon return.  Glad I didn't have it on the ship as I would not have liked isolating in our swan level room. 

 

I am hoping that those of you isolated now are only for the 5 required days and then you are free to roam with a mask.  Glad they adjusted the CDC guidance make it more reasonable.

 

[biggerbearmom]

On 8/28/2022 at 9:43 PM, dd57 said:

We are also on Viking Mars.  My husband is on day 4 of isolation after testing positive for Covid.  (I am still negative by some miracle).  I am convinced that he caught it on the transfer bus from Keflavik. At least a quarter of the people on the bus were coughing.  Without wearing masks.  I've been wearing a KN 95 mask 24/7 since he tested positive.  I have to say Viking is doing an outstanding job taking care of him.

dd57, I wanted to let you know that we have already received our future cruise credits from Viking for our Covid isolation. I must say, they were quite generous. 

[dd57]

3 minutes ago, biggerbearmom said:

dd57, I wanted to let you know that we have already received our future cruise credits from Viking for our Covid isolation. I must say, they were quite generous. 

Thank you for letting me know.  Did your TA contact them thru normal "TA channels"?  My TA has not done this before, although she deals with Viking a lot.

[biggerbearmom]

3 hours ago, dd57 said:

Thank you for letting me know.  Did your TA contact them thru normal "TA channels"?  My TA has not done this before, although she deals with Viking a lot.

Yes, our TA did it for us, she did say she had to call a different number from the one she usually contacts. We were able to apply the voucher to an existing booking as it may be combined with promotions, onboard vouchers, past guest guest discounts, etc.

 

[les37b]

4 hours ago, biggerbearmom said:

dd57, I wanted to let you know that we have already received our future cruise credits from Viking for our Covid isolation. I must say, they were quite generous. 

 

Good to hear. In Jan on a 16 night Silversea Panama cruise my wife contracted (we were self testing every other day) and was isolated in the "red zone" for 10 days. She had zero symptoms. I had to quarantine for 2 days and released but advised to stay away from people, which I did. 

 

We missed our debarkation. The option of a further 14 days quarantine in Ecuador (the 6 days she'd done didnt count.... So would have been 20 days.... Without any illness whatsoever!)

 

We were given a pro-rata refund for the 10 days lost (either as cash or +15% FCC... And we didn't need to pay for the extra 9 nights we sailed down to Valparaiso.

 

I've volunteered to quarantine for our Japan to Alaska next April.... Hope it's on the 5 sea days!  😁 Though I quite fancy doing the forward leg to Vancouver should we miss Seward.

[Iloveketo]

On 8/17/2022 at 1:50 PM, FolsomMike said:

It’s a review of my fellow passengers. I just completed my Venus cruise (which was lovely) last Friday. I’ve been mask wearing ‘situationally’ for some time and continued to do so on the ship; wearing one on the elevators and tenders and other crowded places.Both my wife (who wore hers pretty much all the time) and I received cracks from a few other passengers such as the ‘gentleman’ who smirked at me on the elevator and said..”I just had Covid last week!”  For two weeks, we witnessed countless passengers with horrible hacking coughs who could not be bothered to wear masks which were made available in multiple places on the ship. Less than ten percent of our fellow passengers wore masks although that number seemed to increase over the course of the cruise. 
I started feeling symptoms the day after I got off the ship and tested positive after I got home. My more careful wife tested negative (so far).

So, for anyone with an upcoming cruise, please be aware that there will probably be plenty of Covid on your ship being spread by irresponsible passengers. 

You have my sympathy… We ran into similar attitudes on the cruises we took in December and especially on on French Polynesian cruise in January. 
We were very fortunate not to contract anything. 
 

[Iloveketo]

On 8/20/2022 at 11:08 AM, TayanaLorna said:

All experiences are informative.  Love the Ocean cruise ships and was going to schedule our first River until i began reading about the ships and people's experiences.  I don't like the lack of 2 people dining tables and being forced to sit with 4 to 8 other people, don't like the lounge being the venue for lectures, port talks and entertainment with no where else to get away from crowds but the top deck, and i don't like having to pay so much more for a balcony room.  Still too risky for me given no testing or masking.

You sound like us! We are fine going on the Ocean or Expedition ships where you can socially distance somewhat… BTW In December we went to San Juan for the first time (West Indies Explorer) and fell in love with it! Stay healthy!

[Iloveketo]

On 8/30/2022 at 8:02 PM, Fred321 said:

Very interesting discussion. I am also impressed by the fact that the conversation has been civil compared to other forums I have seen. 

 

Have no Viking experience but do have a lot of cruising history on HAL and Celebrity. Recently got off a 35 day cruise on HAL. Boarded in Boston, test required to board as well as the minimum of 2 shots.No masks required except for crew. Approx. 1,000 passengers with maybe 10-20% wearing masks.

 

First cases started to  show about 3 days in. (First stop was Bar Harbor, a tender port, with folks packed into the tenders and few masks.) They quickly ran out of quarantine rooms and subsequently required those testing positive to stay in their rooms. Finally, after the total number of cases reached somewhere between 100 and 200 people based on the numbers announced by the Captain, they required everyone to wear masks indoors. Still had the geniuses who would remove masks once the lights went off but most folks complied.

 

After a few days new cases started to level off and then declined to zero about 7-10 days in. Passengers then started to pester those in authority to lift the mask requirement, which they finally did. Surprise! two days later new cases started to appear again.

 

This was our third cruise since the restart and we try to stay masked indoors and away from large groups (no tenders, no showrooms). So far we have been lucky and will continue to do this as we also continue to travel. No guarantees but masks seem to be a good idea regardless of requirements. Our last HAL trip seems like the perfect experiment.

 

 

I quit all my Viking FB groups because there is always someone being snarky about something! So far so good with Cruise Critics! I am surprised that this subject especially has been so friendly…

We have done 3 cruises since the restart and so far so good doing many of the things mentioned in your post and others. 
Stay healthy and enjoy your travels!