Live from the Orion Auckland to Sydney Dec22 - Jan5

[katlew]

1 hour ago, Fieldofdreams said:

katlew - So sorry to hear about your experience, we are on the Mars end of Feb. Sydney to Auckland so following your thread closely. In addition to partial reimbursement through Viking, not sure if you might have coverage through any Travel Insurance. I realize that it is not a substitute for missing the ports and experiences you spent so much time planning, but thought I would share just in case it might help. Sounds like Viking should have been well aware of this issue for this itinerary and taken presumptive measures. I do hope that you can enjoy the remainder of your trip.

If you see my latest post, the boat was passed as clean in quite a few countries before this trip. They did not expect the inspection in NZ to be any different. We do have travel insurance & will see what Viking plans to compensate us & then see if we need to contact them. We were getting a 50% voucher but now have been told they will call us about compensation when we get home.

[Serendiptydesign]

1 hour ago, katlew said:

If you see my latest post, the boat was passed as clean in quite a few countries before this trip. They did not expect the inspection in NZ to be any different. We do have travel insurance & will see what Viking plans to compensate us & then see if we need to contact them. We were getting a 50% voucher but now have been told they will call us about compensation when we get home.

It will be interesting to how it is all resolved, I have been hearing from other cruise passengers with differing names for the cruise. Some them not very friendly.

[Pushka]

Orion just made the Channel 10 news in Australia.   They said it was a fungal issue. 🤭  - there was some mention of making Melbourne for NYE.  If they can remove the issue quickly then that's a real possibility. Mars is currently berthed there. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Pushka

[DesertCruiser2000]

As a couple who will be on Mars in March embarking in Sydney and heading to Indonesia, we are wondering if this is a seasonal issue or just that safety standards have been increased recently. 
We know that there are a lot of working parts to get things done and Viking has been doing great preCovid. But some guest services have dropped a bit as has many other services in life with onset of COVID. I hope that Vikings focus on guests safety and experiences is priority vs. making due with less. 
Like many we have waited since March 2020 for this cruise and don’t want to see a lot missed out because of poor planning. 
Thanks for the updates. It was on CC that we watched posts leading to the shut down. 

[Serendiptydesign]

12 hours ago, Pushka said:

Orion just made the Channel 10 news in Australia.   They said it was a fungal issue. 🤭  - there was some mention of making Melbourne for NYE.  If they can remove the issue quickly then that's a real possibility. Mars is currently berthed there. 

I think it is quite unlikely we will make Melbourne for the New Year celebrations as it is the morning of the 31st December at 5.38am.

 

[Newleno]

13 hours ago, katlew said:

If you see my latest post, the boat was passed as clean in quite a few countries before this trip. They did not expect the inspection in NZ to be any different. We do have travel insurance & will see what Viking plans to compensate us & then see if we need to contact them. We were getting a 50% voucher but now have been told they will call us about compensation when we get home.

So the ship was inspected for the same issue numerous times in recent history and passed but it failed to pass the NZ inspection?  Wow that fungus must grow quick.  I might have to start looking at more then just health insurance for my cruise travels.  Feel so bad for all you that dreamed of this trip only for it to be spoiled.  

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Serendiptydesign said:

I think it is quite unlikely we will make Melbourne for the New Year celebrations as it is the morning of the 31st December at 5.38am.

 

Depending on where you are now I consider NYE to be the evening celebrations. That was the whisper yesterday. 

[Conrmom]

13 hours ago, Serendiptydesign said:

It will be interesting to how it is all resolved, I have been hearing from other cruise passengers with differing names for the cruise. Some them not very friendly.

I wanted to add that while there is definitely grumbling and disappointment among the passengers, everyone I have spoken with has been sure to say that the staff and crew onboard have been so professional and helpful. I’m sure this trip has been hard on them too, but, per our experience, they have been nothing but pleasant and kind.

[katlew]

56 minutes ago, Conrmom said:

I wanted to add that while there is definitely grumbling and disappointment among the passengers, everyone I have spoken with has been sure to say that the staff and crew onboard have been so professional and helpful. I’m sure this trip has been hard on them too, but, per our experience, they have been nothing but pleasant and kind.

So true! We have been making an extra effort of thank them & let them know we know it’s not their fault!

[katlew]

16 hours ago, Pushka said:

Orion just made the Channel 10 news in Australia.   They said it was a fungal issue. 🤭  - there was some mention of making Melbourne for NYE.  If they can remove the issue quickly then that's a real possibility. Mars is currently berthed there. 

We saw that last night, it seemed they got their story from a passenger onboard. I’m not sure how factual it all was. I don’t think there is anyway we’d make Melbourne tonight as the captain said the divers will clean all night if needed. I think Melbourne will still be the 2nd as planned. The hope is we will get in earlier than 1pm though.

[katlew]

3 hours ago, Pushka said:

Depending on where you are now I consider NYE to be the evening celebrations. That was the whisper yesterday. 

The New Year’s Eve party will be tonight onboard I hope we maybe see some fireworks, though not sure we are near any towns.

[katlew]

Good morning! We are anchored offshore from Australia now & it seems the divers are here. It’s a lovely, calm day to be at anchor thankfully. The captain says the divers will clean through the night if needed, but they don’t know how long it will take until they get to the hull. We are hoping it is quicker, so maybe we get into Melbourne earlier than 1pm. The General Manger told us there was a chance of that.

We kept busy yesterday by doing the Champagne tasting at Manfredis in the afternoon. It was nice, but they really need to give the host a microphone as she was a bit tough to hear over the boat. There are 5 tastings available on the cruise. Two were free for Silver Spirits & three had a discount price for SS. Then it was team trivia. We typically take 1st or 2nd at our local brewery trivia night, but do terribly here! This is some hard, esoteric trivia, but we have fun. Later we had booked the Journey to Space show in the Explorers Dome. We all really enjoyed it & wished we could book the Astronomy presentation there, but they are all booked up. With these sea days, things booked up.

Tonight there is a NYE party around the pool deck & in the Atrium. Hope we can stay up that late! 

[OnTheJourney]

On 12/25/2022 at 1:47 PM, Peregrina651 said:

This article gives a quick explanation of the issues: https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/news/130847298/cruise-ship-too-dirty-for-milford-sound-after-sea-snails-found

The article quoted doesn't refer to Viking, but rather Princess. A bit too many weird mishaps over the years though. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Peregrina651]

17 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

The article quoted doesn't refer to Viking, but rather Princess. A bit too many weird mishaps over the years though. 

 

That's right, they do refer to Princess, not Viking, but the article describes the issues faced by any ship with the problem of sea snails on the hull, as was stated by OP when she first explained what was going on. At that point in the conversation, there were no articles about Viking.

 

I took what I could get that would shed some light on the issues facing the Viking ship. I never said it was about Viking; I only said that it explained some of the issues.

[Serendiptydesign]

The cleaning has commenced we believe, the tug is moored directly below our cabin.

[katlew]

[drsue]

Divers are down and cleaning 

[OnTheJourney]

14 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

I never said it was about Viking; I only said that it explained some of the issues.

Understood. It appears though, from most sources I'm seeing, that it's a fungus issue rather than snails. 

Edited December 31, 2022 by OnTheJourney

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, OnTheJourney said:

Understood. It appears though, from most sources I'm seeing, that it's a fungus issue rather than snails. 

 

The article that I cited was posted long before the word "fungus" came into the conversation. The original explanation that OP gave as source of the problem was sea snails and since that wording came directly from Viking when they announced the reason for the changes to the itinerary, I am more inclined to believe the word "fungus" is the result of a grand game of "whispering down the lane" and sloppy journalism.

[OnTheJourney]

7 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

I am more inclined to believe the word "fungus" is the result of a grand game of "whispering down the lane" and sloppy journalism.

Could very well be. 

[Serendiptydesign]

So far the Captain has never given us the latin name of the "things" on the hull, if he did so that would clear everything up. People would then be able to research it themselves and the rumours may slow down. The comment regarding "sloppy journalism is so accurate and the problem is world wide. 

[Pushka]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

Understood. It appears though, from most sources I'm seeing, that it's a fungus issue rather than snails. 

It's hard to know the truth. Today on our media (Orion is just off our shore) they said it was mould. That they'd been stranded for days. And it was going to take days to fix. The stories are getting more outlandish just for a headline.   Looking at the ship camera though it's heading to Victor Harbor which is the opposite direction to Melbourne? 
https://viking.panomax.com/orion.
 

Or maybe that's where they have doing the cleaning. 

 

Edited December 31, 2022 by Pushka

[OnTheJourney]

5 minutes ago, Pushka said:

The stories are getting more outlandish just for a headline. 

Either way, most unfortunate to have yet another mishap for Viking, especially so soon after the Antarctica and riverboat incidents. 

[Jim Avery]

As a former ship captain I have never had such a problem.  Or even heard of it.  Invasive snails, etc. yes. How did they discover the problem?  I do know that cleaning a ship's hull is a massive amount of work even in dry dock with specialized equipment .  Divers stand no chance of completely cleaning every square inch of the hull so not sure what the point of it is..  Seems a bit of bureaucratic bullying to me.  All the best to those onboard and hope it works out for y'all.

[katlew]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

It's hard to know the truth. Today on our media (Orion is just off our shore) they said it was mould. That they'd been stranded for days. And it was going to take days to fix. The stories are getting more outlandish just for a headline.   Looking at the ship camera though it's heading to Victor Harbor which is the opposite direction to Melbourne? 
https://viking.panomax.com/orion.
 

Or maybe that's where they have doing the cleaning. 

 

We are anchored off Victor Harbor for the cleaning, but not moving anywhere currently. Hopefully, we are leaving for Melbourne today.