Israel traveling

[Mike07]

22 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

1. FFCs are a dollar amount based on the actual dollars paid in.  It is not a promise that you will be able to take the same cruise for the same price at a later date (a popular misconception).  If you paid using vouchers you may lose those vouchers unless they were insured.  

 

2. The only way to get a full refund from Viking is if Viking cancels the cruise. If the passenger cancels the cruise, even if it is 10 minutes before Viking makes its announce, then cancellation penalties are as stated on your Viking Invoice and then you have to put in an insurance claim to attempt to recover the rest.  Read your insurance policy to see if you are covered; acts of war are generally  not covered.

 

3. Heads up.  When Viking does cancel a cruise, they will send an email to all passengers who have an active booking at the time the announcement is made. Read the whole email carefully.  It may include a voucher and tell you that you have 10 days in which to request a cash refund.  

 

4. IMO, don't get involved with vouchers regardless of what they offer.  Take cash.  Whatever bonus Viking offers to entice you to let them keep your money is not worth the potential future hassles and pitfalls. If you do take vouchers, make sure that they are covered by the insurance you buy when you use them to book you next cruise.  

 

 

I think those are all good points, and we will see what Viking offers down the road as they make a corporate decision as to what to do about travels in that region.

[Azulann]

I just checked the  Viking Ocean Web site.  link under  current sailings.

 

Israel – As of October 10, 2023
We are carefully monitoring the situation in Israel. We have no scheduled calls in Israel until late November and will continue to evaluate conditions in the days and weeks to come. Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our guests, crew and partners on the ground; should any itinerary modifications become necessary, impacted guests and their Travel Advisors will be contacted directly by Viking Customer Relations.

 

Check with your Travel agent sounds like the thing to do in the  coming weeks. Hope you have signed up on your roll call for your ship. You will find better information here than on this more general Viking forum .

 

 

[Twitchly]

We booked this cruise for January 2022. Israel was still shut down due to Covid when we booked it many months in advance. We didn’t get an update from Viking until just weeks before we were supposed to sail; Israel still remained closed, so Viking altered the cruise to focus more on Mediterranean islands and Greece. We elected to cancel the cruise and take a different one later. (And visit Israel ourselves on a land tour this past spring.) I imagine this situation will be similar.

Edited October 14, 2023 by Twitchly

[PhilRSchultz]

I’m on the 11/14 departure.  To answer your question, no I haven’t heard anything directly from Viking yet, just the below statement on their web site from a couple days ago:
 

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html#noscroll

Edited October 14, 2023 by PhilRSchultz

[TucsonRose]

We are on the Nov 16 cruise. We have also heard nothing. We are in the same situation as sgrissom. We have booked our own airfare and hotels. We have already rescheduled this twice for COVID and once for a death in the family. We are supposed to leave on Nov 12. We are quite anxious. To cancel at this point, we would loose 75% of the cost of the cruise! It is basically too late to try to make alternate plans around the airfare we already have as well. I would hope that Viking says something very soon.

[dreamercruise]

Did Viking refund you cash or future cruise credits when you cancelled the cruise on your own? Was there any cancellation penalty?

5 hours ago, Twitchly said:

We booked this cruise for January 2022. Israel was still shut down due to Covid when we booked it many months in advance. We didn’t get an update from Viking until just weeks before we were supposed to sail; Israel still remained closed, so Viking altered the cruise to focus more on Mediterranean islands and Greece. We elected to cancel the cruise and take a different one later. (And visit Israel ourselves on a land tour this past spring.) I imagine this situation will be similar.

 

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, dreamercruise said:

Did Viking refund you cash or future cruise credits when you cancelled the cruise on your own? Was there any cancellation penalty?

 

No refund was offered. We got vouchers that had to be used within a couple of years. We used them for a cruise to the British Isles in 2022. No penalty, because the cruise itinerary changed substantially and also because Viking allowed people to cancel more easily during the pandemic. I don’t know how Viking handles these things now. A call to Viking or your TA might be helpful, or better still an email to tellus@vikingcruises.com so you can get their answer in writing. 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Twitchly

[dreamercruise]

3 hours ago, TucsonRose said:

We are on the Nov 16 cruise. We have also heard nothing. We are in the same situation as sgrissom. We have booked our own airfare and hotels. We have already rescheduled this twice for COVID and once for a death in the family. We are supposed to leave on Nov 12. We are quite anxious. To cancel at this point, we would loose 75% of the cost of the cruise! It is basically too late to try to make alternate plans around the airfare we already have as well. I would hope that Viking says something very soon.

I tried hard to refrain myself for speculating, but I feel bad when you sad you were “quite anxious”. I was in your shoes before, so I understand how you feel.  Like Twitchy, I had a cruise that had a significantly altered itinerary. Worse was that the change affected the disembarkation port (port was to be determined at the time). Like you, I had my own air arrangement. Since Viking gave us the special promotion of “free to cancel up to x weeks of sailing date, but only for future cruise credits”, it was a brainless (although very disappointing) decision for us to cancel the cruise.  We could have waited a little longer, hoping that Viking would cancel the cruise and thus would refund us cash. Good thing that we did not wait. It turned out that all the scheduled sailings for that route sailed with significantly altered itinerary.

In your case, I recommend that you take the cruise (and enjoy it), although Viking will most likely continue with the sailing but with the Israel ports replaced with other countries/ports nearby.  Travel wise, Israel will not be the same as before for a long while.  For example, I highly doubt that you can take the excursion visiting Jerusalem (Israel side) and Bethlehem (Palestine side).  Hopefully, some future day in our lifetime, we can do so.

Keep your non-Israel international air and hotel reservations.  Save yourself the stress, and readjust your expectation.  Simply enjoy your cruise and Viking hospitality.

[leishirsute]

@dreamercruise It must be a major logistics operation to vie for replacement stops with other lines that are doing the same "last minute" arranging.  Larger lines probably have more clout to get their desired ports.  Some of them have announced new itineraries earlier than Viking.

[dreamercruise]

7 hours ago, leishirsute said:

@dreamercruise It must be a major logistics operation to vie for replacement stops with other lines that are doing the same "last minute" arranging.  Larger lines probably have more clout to get their desired ports.  Some of them have announced new itineraries earlier than Viking.

Very good point. Trust that Viking will try very best.  After all, last-minute scrambling itinerary in response to changing or challenging cruising environment is an expected part of the business.  Based on what I hear from past guests, those who continued with the impacted cruises got compensation (ranging from reasonable to generous) in terms of future cruise credits, which definitely help alleviate some of the disappointment, stress, inconvenience, and financial loss. In my case, due to uncertainty in rebooking air, I had no choice but to cancel.  To be honest, the fact that Viking did not offer cash refund left me a little unhappy.  Still, I try to remember how well Viking has been treating us in the past and especially the wonderful cruise experience.  Now, I continue to book Viking cruises, adjusting my expectation.  As for the missed ports/excursions, you bet that I will keep watching out for my next opportunity, land or cruise.  If not possible, oh well, c’est la vie.

[Alison48]

Thanks for your thoughts on this.  We have our fingers crossed.  It is such a terrible mess in the MIddle East, I can't imagine when ships will be able to safely dock there again.

If anyone hears from Viking, please post info.  Safe sailings to all.

[leishirsute]

Updates on Current Sailings

Israel – As of October 10, 2023

We are carefully monitoring the situation in Israel. We have no scheduled calls in Israel until late November and will continue to evaluate conditions in the days and weeks to come. Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of our guests, crew and partners on the ground; should any itinerary modifications become necessary, impacted guests and their Travel Advisors will be contacted directly by Viking Customer Relations.

 

SOURCE: https://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html#noscroll

[Thankfully1]

On 10/8/2023 at 9:45 AM, itsnotjustme said:

Highly unlikely in my opinion.

 

We just made our first visit to Israel in August, fortunately missing this conflict.  Now we need to get to the western Pacific in case China does anything to make that area unfit for cruising.

Under the ticket contract, they can change the itinerary at will and are not required to provide a refund.

Yes I thought so. That a change in itinerary  doesn’t get you a refund. Also to note. Under Vikings insurance if you cancel due to a war, declared or undeclared, also  not covered. So come up with another reason if you decide to cancel. Vikings cancel for any reason except as noted in the policy is a credit. If you were sick or injured you may cancel for a refund.

Traveling Nov 28 Rome to Athens. Heart breaking what’s going on. 

[Thankfully1]

On 10/14/2023 at 2:24 PM, Twitchly said:

We booked this cruise for January 2022. Israel was still shut down due to Covid when we booked it many months in advance. We didn’t get an update from Viking until just weeks before we were supposed to sail; Israel still remained closed, so Viking altered the cruise to focus more on Mediterranean islands and Greece. We elected to cancel the cruise and take a different one later. (And visit Israel ourselves on a land tour this past spring.) I imagine this situation will be similar.

When you canceled did you say why?
 

Israel is the only reason I am on the cruise, set to said 11/28. I want to cancel. I have Vikings “cancel for any reason” travel policy. Did you get a credit when you cancelled ? I am thinking unless I am sick or injured it will be a credit to be used within a year. 

[Urasleep]

We have booked and paid for an ocean cruise traveling to Israel in November 2023 (CITIES OF ANTIQUITY & THE HOLY LAND). We have sent multiple emails and made calls to Viking inquiring if it will be cancelled or changed. We have NOT received any messages from Viking, email nor phone call. The only Viking answer we get is that "we are monitoring the situation." We are positive that we are not the only travelers concerned about this horrible situation. We feel that this is extremely poor customer service. Viking needs to understand the frustration and anxiety their clientele is feeling about the uncertainty of sailing into an active war zone. Viking needs to do the right thing and contact us now. We have had two previous trips, a river and an ocean cruise with Viking. We really enjoyed both of our cruises in the past. That's why we were return customers. We are rethinking our choice now.

[PhilRSchultz]

Monitoring so that I’m notified of any further posts in this thread

[Coug1954]

On 10/8/2023 at 4:56 PM, RD64 said:

November 14th? That is not on the radar right now - let them process the next week or two. Sorry that you have been inconvenienced by the uncertainty.

Us too, hang in there.  I'm sure you're disappointed as we are to not visit Israel, but I'm sure there will be something exciting to see.  I pray all involved in the conflict can find a peaceful resolution.

[Alison48]

US State Dept just issued an alert for a!l Americans overseeas "to exercise increased caution. "

[Alison48]

Level 4 Alert

[Thankfully1]

1 minute ago, Alison48 said:

US State Dept just issued an alert for a!l Americans overseeas "to exercise increased caution. "

It’s kind of hard for me to believe the state department has made travel to Israel a  level 2, the same as Italy. A war should be level 4. JMO. Craziness. 11/28 is our sail date and I am thinking that’s too close for comfort. 

[Thankfully1]

3 minutes ago, Alison48 said:

Level 4 Alert

Now it’s a level 4. About time. Gaza has been. And I think the West Bank. And Israel was level 2. Which is ridiculous considering the size of the country. It should allll be Level 4. I am sorry to see this happening. My heart hurts for this country. And it’s people. 

[PhilRSchultz]

“Worldwide” travel warning for Americans to be specific.  Also news breaking that Yemeni Houthi rebels fired missiles at an American naval vessel off its coast.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/state-department-worldwide-alert/index.html - State Dept worldwide travel warning for Americans

https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/19/politics/us-navy-intercept-missiles-yemen/index.html - Yemeni Houthi rebels fire missiles at U.S. Navy

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by PhilRSchultz

[Alison48]

Check your email.  Just got a revised itinerary from Viking.

[Mike07]

1 minute ago, Alison48 said:

Check your email.  Just got a revised itinerary from Viking.

 

For those of us not on a trip, would you kindly share the email?

[Alison48]

maybe someone better with computer skills than I can do  it.  Basically, it says Israel changed out for Malta, added another day at Limmasol, Cyprus.