Pax counts

[avidsailor123]

Hi All! 

Was wondering if anyone could share the occupancy / pax counts of viking ocean ships recently. Curious as to how quickly this have been filling up!

[SailorPaulH]

On 9/9/2022 at 6:27 PM, avidsailor123 said:

Hi All! 

Was wondering if anyone could share the occupancy / pax counts of viking ocean ships recently. Curious as to how quickly this have been filling up!

Viking Jupiter (Viking Homelands 9/10-9/24) = 863 passengers.

[Jjg34219]

Orion in Alaska August was 830

[Hazel52]

Viking Star, Aug 23 - Sep 6, 850

[avidsailor123]

Thanks all! 😀

[keokukjoe]

Now that the passenger counts are finally getting back up to almost pre-pandemic levels, are the crew numbers approaching normal or are there noticeable staff shortages impacting service? Thanks.

Edited September 19, 2022 by keokukjoe

[Jchivers]

I can't speak to what's happening lately (I'll find out next when we embark), but last year on our Welcome Back cruise from Malta - Croatia, it felt like it was fully staffed despite there only being 90 passengers.  The captain referred to the ship as "our private yacht".  Needless to say, service was pretty darn attentive.

 

So if the ships are under-staffed now I'd be surprised.

 

 

[Heidi13]

16 hours ago, Jchivers said:

I can't speak to what's happening lately (I'll find out next when we embark), but last year on our Welcome Back cruise from Malta - Croatia, it felt like it was fully staffed despite there only being 90 passengers.  The captain referred to the ship as "our private yacht".  Needless to say, service was pretty darn attentive.

 

So if the ships are under-staffed now I'd be surprised.

 

 

Totally agree. We also sailed with only 8 pax and 460+ crew.

 

The Master also has a Minimum Manning requirement for responding to emergencies, where they must perform 5 roles concurrently:

 - Command & Control (includes Navigation, Engineering, etc),

 - Internal/external Communications,

 - Emergency Response Teams (includes Medical),

 - Preparing Survival Craft and

 - Pax Muster & Control (includes stairway guides, cabin clearing).

 

They just can't reduce the crews significantly due to the minimum manning requirements.

 

However, due to the cancellation of daily testing, I have no doubt that additional crew are being infected by pax. Unfortunately, ships can't call in reliefs at short notice and you can't add extra crew in anticipation, due to limited berths.

 

Therefore, if pax are noting a reduction in crew, it will be due to an increase in crew being quarantined, resulting from increased infections when testing ended.

[Twitchly]

I don’t know how many are currently aboard our BIE cruise, but it was sold out. Staffing seems like pre-Covid levels. No noticeable drop in service. 

[SailorPaulH]

Service has been exceptional on our current Viking Jupiter Viking Homelands cruise (863 pax). Other observations: crew is masked, very few passengers masking (I would say less than 5%) - haven't heard any rumors or indications of sickness on board.

[Twitchly]

31 minutes ago, SailorPaulH said:

Other observations: crew is masked, very few passengers masking (I would say less than 5%) - haven't heard any rumors or indications of sickness on board.

Same here. Except for my sprained knee …

[SDHusker]

 Boarded today on an extremely modified cruise that was supposed to be YVR-HKG, now YVR-HNL.  Passenger count is only 330.  Crew is obviously reduced but service is excellent.  Do see hotel crew doing extra cleaning etc on unoccupied rooms.  We are in the SDHUSKER wing on our deck.  Only occupied room on the aft section of the starboard side.  Viking gave great incentive to stay on the modified cruise (due to various nations in Asia still locked down) but apparently could not keep everyone.  Hats off to Viking for giving us a reason to cruise and keeping their great product.