Outside of the Explorers Lounge “permanently closed”?

[photopro2]

Just read on the rollcall for the current TA on the Jupiter (post dated 22 March) that the deck outside of the Explorers Lounge has been “permanently closed.” There is the suggestion that this might be connected with an “incident” of some sort, possibly on another ship.

Hopefully this is just miscommunication and limited to the Jupiter because of some special condition, but it would be interesting to know if this limitation has been imposed (temporarily?) on other ships too?

Edited March 28, 2023 by photopro2
Added details

[Jim Avery]

Any idea what "incident"?  Is it just my imagination or are more less than Viking passenger behavior   incidents being reported on CC?

[deec]

I will be SO disappointed if this is true!

[philw1776]

Let's hope that "What happens on Jupiter, stays on Jupiter"

[jonthomas]

We are on the TA on the Sky right now....

 

The roof over the pool has only been open 2 days, we have been on the ship for 8 days....and they only opened the roof because we have been going to guest relations and complaining....the weather warm, little to no wind...

 

Each time they cite safety conditions...the pool area is totally enclosed, no windows can open...without the open, roof it is incredibly hot, stifling, with chlorine vapor when they are cleaning...  that whole area is empty...and winter garden is empty too..except for tea time.....pretty valuable real-estate to have no one in it....

 

That and other issues, we will not be returning to Viking, this is a cruise to recoup covid credits from a March 2020 TA sailing. We have found Oceania to be our line of choice. 

[deec]

Reports from another site state the railing has been removed for maintenance. No indication that it is a permanent closure.

 

jonthomas I also don't like it when there is a beautiful day the roof is closed!  On the newer ships the windows on the sides DO open. It is too hot to enjoy lunch in the Grill!

 

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

We are on the TA on the Sky right now....

 

The roof over the pool has only been open 2 days, we have been on the ship for 8 days....and they only opened the roof because we have been going to guest relations and complaining....the weather warm, little to no wind...

 

Each time they cite safety conditions...the pool area is totally enclosed, no windows can open...without the open, roof it is incredibly hot, stifling, with chlorine vapor when they are cleaning...  that whole area is empty...and winter garden is empty too..except for tea time.....pretty valuable real-estate to have no one in it....

 

That and other issues, we will not be returning to Viking, this is a cruise to recoup covid credits from a March 2020 TA sailing. We have found Oceania to be our line of choice. 

Sorry for your experience, but you’ll be missing out on other great cruises with Viking if you give up for just this happenstance.

[Pushka]

Hope not. We are going on a cruise that will be going through the Middle East in mid summer next month. The pool area would be stifling and unusable with roof closed. 

[jonthomas]

If only this, I would agree with you but when orange juice is powder not real, so many of the food choices are not up to what we are used to, so little of quality to do all day, while we have experienced the opposite on Oceania, it's a no Brainer.

[CCWineLover]

Funny - our Transatlantic a year ago on the SEA  (Barcelona to San Juan), we had the pool roof open nearly every sea day.  It was fantastic!  Wonder if this is a specific ship thing or a corporate Viking thing (and what would be the reason?)  People flocked to the pool and Wintergarden.

[Azulann]

Just now, jonthomas said:

If only this, I would agree with you but when orange juice is powder not real, so many of the food choices are not up to what we are used to, so little of quality to do all day, while we have experienced the opposite on Oceania, it's a no Brainer.

Sorry to hear about the  pool area. What is your itinerary on the Sky? On my previous Viking cruises  the pool roof was only closed when chance of rain or high seas. On my TA they  opened  maybe 1/4 to 1/2 to totally open on our six seas days. 

[jonthomas]

On the older V ships, the roof is kept closed unless you make a fuss like we did. On the newer ones, they have a better mechanism and are willing to open it more frequently. 

[Azulann]

Just now, jonthomas said:

On the older V ships, the roof is kept closed unless you make a fuss like we did. On the newer ones, they have a better mechanism and are willing to open it more frequently. 

Hmmm, I was on the Viking Sea for my TA. It was the second ship launched by Viking.

Glad they have an easier mechanism on the later ships.  Thanks for the update. 

[CurlerRob]

17 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

On the older V ships, the roof is kept closed unless you make a fuss like we did. On the newer ones, they have a better mechanism and are willing to open it more frequently. 

 

I'm curious to know where this information came from?

 

I'm also unsure as to what you mean by "TA". I would normally interpret that to mean Transatlantic, but you said you were on Sky, which is in Corfu today. 🍺🥌

[CCWineLover]

34 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

On the older V ships, the roof is kept closed unless you make a fuss like we did. On the newer ones, they have a better mechanism and are willing to open it more frequently. 

We were on the Sea a year ago with the Roof Open all the time on our TA.  The Sea was the 2nd ship in the Viking fleet.  

There was no complaining, prompting of the staff.  In fact, I asked guest services if the roof would continue to be open and she said yes, the Captain feels if the seas are good and the wind fine, he'll always want it open.  So I don't think it has to do at all with the age of the ships.

[LindaS272]

41 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

If only this, I would agree with you but when orange juice is powder not real, so many of the food choices are not up to what we are used to, so little of quality to do all day, while we have experienced the opposite on Oceania, it's a no Brainer.

So you only went on this cruise because you were forced to? 

[jonthomas]

We went because we were using up covid credits, since the last Viking cruise in 2020, we have done 3 O, cruises. Also I don't remember V being this bad.

[jonthomas]

38 minutes ago, CurlerRob said:

 

I'm curious to know where this information came from?

 

I'm also unsure as to what you mean by "TA". I would normally interpret that to mean Transatlantic, but you said you were on Sky, which is in Corfu today. 🍺🥌

My bad, we are on the star. The information came from guest relations. We have gone down twice to complain about the roof being closed. EACH time told it is for safety issues...when asked what safety issues, we were told that wind or motion can cause the roof to come off the rails, that the newer ships have fixed this problem. When mentioned that there is no wind and little motion, 2 hours later, the roof was opened. Will see what tomorrow brings.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, jonthomas said:

When mentioned that there is no wind and little motion, 2 hours later, the roof was opened. Will see what tomorrow brings.

 

The only time you have no wind on a moving ship is when the wind is from astern and at the same speed as the ship. On a Trans-Atlantic, this would be highly unusual, as the prevailing winds are NE trades, which are normally from ahead of the beam..

 

When the sea is flat calm, with no true wind, the ship creates a wind across the deck equal to the ship's speed. The relative wind across the deck increases with any true wind fwd of the beam. Therefore, I would be very surprised to learn you had no wind across the decks on a E'bd TA.

[biggerbearmom]

We were on the Star in February and the days I happen to use the pool the roof was open, and also noticed it being open when having lunch at the grill. Not sure why it would be different now…

[jonthomas]

Beautiful day on the ship today....roof closed....just went to guest relations to have it open....third time this week I have had to do that....same excuse, safety concern....today flat sea, no movement, clear sky, no wind to felt....stifling with roof closed...

[rmalbers]

3 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Beautiful day on the ship today....roof closed....just went to guest relations to have it open....third time this week I have had to do that....same excuse, safety concern....today flat sea, no movement, clear sky, no wind to felt....stifling with roof closed...

Sounds like there might be something mechanical going wrong with it, probably with the 'rollling' mechanism or something. 

[jonthomas]

We're just told that they keep it open in the Carib and the Med but keep it closed for Atlantic...that's a huge part of the ship that is not usable, there is no ventilation, no windows that open...so with the roof closed it is stifling...

If that information is known to passengers prior to booking a ship like this, some of us may make a different choice.

 

 

 

 

 

[msualum]

23 hours ago, jonthomas said:

If only this, I would agree with you but when orange juice is powder not real, so many of the food choices are not up to what we are used to, so little of quality to do all day, while we have experienced the opposite on Oceania, it's a no Brainer.

We’re on this ship and have found just the opposite.  The food has been above what we expected from reading previous comments, we’re found that we can be as busy or not as we want because there are plenty of activities.  Our first and only cruise on Oceania was in September and it was the most disappointing cruise we’ve taken, given the hype and comments we read on cruise critic.  The service and crew members were not nearly as good as we’ve had on this cruise.  Of course this is our first ocean cruise with Viking, but we have two more booked.  I’m sorry you aren’t enjoying your experience.  It almost seems like we are on different ships.  We’re very low maintenance so it doesn’t take much to make us happy.

 

in regards to your further comments about the pool, I feel the wind has been blowing since we left Fort Lauderdale.  Trying to walk outside has been a challenge and deck 2 has been closed off several days.  Am not sure where your cabin is, but we’ve been rocking every night, some worse than others.  Hope the next days go better.
 

 

 

[HUNKY]

jonthomas - The squeaky wheel gets the roof open!

 

Try to enlist your fellow cruisers to ask to have the roof open.  At least partially.