Heidi13

Personally, at this stage of life we prefer comfort and convenience over penny pinching. My issues with using the ferry with bags is both the distance and the potential for a fairly steep incline to/from the ferry. The tidal range at Tilbury can be up to 20'. If arriving at low tide, I have no desire to haul multiple cases and carry-on bags up a 20' incline. From memory the Gravesend Station is also about 1/3 mile from the pier, so the total distance would be close to 1/2 mile.

We use a specialised Travel Medical Clinic, where the doctor has access to the latest information, which changes regularly. We provide a copy of the itinerary and any inland tours we are planning. The doc reviews our current vaccinations and where we will travel then makes suggestions, based on risk.

By float plane or helicopter it is less than an hour each way, even allowing for getting on and off. If you really want to see Victoria, rather than staying overnight in Vancouver, you may want to head straight to Victoria and overnight there, returning the following day for flights.

It is definitely possible to visit Victoria for the day, but with flights at 22:25, you need to determine your risk tolerance and how much your willing to spend. Getting to Victoria is fastest by float plane or helicopter. Both depart from close to Canada Place in Vancouver. In Victoria, the float planes dock at the inner harbour and the helicopter at Ogden Point, by the cruise berths, a couple of miles from downtown. Both options are expensive. Cheaper option is bus/ferry/bus, from downtown Vancouver to downtown Victoria. Problem is time, as it is about 4 hrs each way.

Not sure what's weird, as this is a traditional trans-Pacific, following a Great Circle routing, which is the shortest distance. You can expect a higher probability of rough storms and any temp can be experienced, a higher probability of cooler is likely over hotter. If you need cold-weather gear in Alaska, you may want to keep it.

This is similar to the cruise lines advertising the "Inside Passage" in Alaska and spending most of the time in open ocean. In Alaska they don't specify how much of the "Inside Passage" they navigate and don't specify a full transit, as we used to complete. In the Arctic, they don't specify a full transit, but do sail in the NW Passage, which starts at the N/Atlantic Ocean. In my opinion, the "Into the NW Passage" is aptly named as almost the entire R/T cruise is sailing the NW Passage. They don't publish a NW Passage transit, which would be impossible on a R/T cruise lasting only 13-days. Personally, based on the cruise name and length, it is as I expected. I don't see how this could be construed a deceptive advertising. It sails into the NW Passage, as it crosses the Arctic Circle and sails through about the eastern 1/3 of the total passage. Possibly in future years we may see the ships venture further into the NW Passage and possibly even a full transit.

Thanks Rob - Appreciate any feedback you can provide. I have an email address listed on the blog.

Thanks Jim - It's cooled off a little for your return to Vancouver, just a cool 28C/83F this afternoon, whereas last week we hit 35C/95F. Will be 4 or 5 degrees cooler at the port & airport than our place. Yes, definitely interested in your feedback, once you are home.

The true luxury of the old liners is probably not available anywhere at sea these days. Hebridean Cruises is probably the closest i know. Having experience the true ocean liners, I consider luxury and all-inclusive separate standards. Most of the N/America luxury brands are what i consider all-inclusive.

I have sailed into/out of San Francisco a number of times, and it is a spectacular arrival & departure. For a West Coast coastal cruise it is a great port of call, but it has some negatives as a TAR port. At present, I believe the Princess ships operating from San Francisco are doing Alaska cruises, which means lots of seadays from San Francisco to/from Alaska, which are in the notoriously rough waters of the North Pacific. If I want to cruise Alaska, my preference is to spend time in those waters, not pound through the Pacific Ocean. Alaska cruises from Seattle get lots of pacific ocean time, San Francisco cruises get even more. When cruising to Mexico, it also requires an additional day N'bd & S'bd over San Pedro. These additional sea days are not what many pax, especially younger and newer to cruising pax wish to experience. With fuel being the largest cost factor on a cruise ship, the extra distance adds significant costs, or reduces the surplus.

Deciding not to complain when service does not meet your expectations is basically an avoidance strategy, which has been proven many times to be highly ineffective, often resulting in escalation of an issue. Personally, I have no problems with providing feedback, both positive and negative, as many companies, especially those with an ISO/ISM designation, operate in an environment of continuous improvement. They actually appreciate constructive feedback. It is important to provide feedback at a level commensurate with the issue, so lack of chocolate on the pillow can be dealt with by a cabin steward, not the GM or CEO. Having worked in this industry for many years, based on my previous experience, I have a very definite expectation of "Luxury" and note that it doesn't extend to Viking. This is not a complaint and is certainly not a negative statement, as I also don't consider Regent, Seabourn, etc as "Luxury". We were happy with the lack of formal nights and onboard service levels, which were the best we have seen in over 20 yrs. I have never expected impeccable service, as from my "human factor" training, we learned to err is human. Quality companies understand this phenomenon and ensure that SOP's are implemented to reduce the potential for human error and that any instances of human error are quickly and effectively dealt with.

I totally agree, as travel agents are the professionals who assist us poor pax through the issues. Unfortunately, in both my issues, I had to get personally involved to assist our TA. That isn't the way the system is meant to work.

At this time, we are taking a completely different approach and will abandon the concept of "Preferred Cruise Line" After 40 years of working for and cruising with Princess and then 5 with Viking, we are going to focus entirely on itinerary. Yes, it will mean reduced standards, but we will adjust our expectations accordingly. At present, we are considering a 133-day Pole to Pole cruise, which incorporates a number of Viking sailings that we were hoping to book.

Don't forget the James Bay teacup tree. Although it is a little out of the way of the quickest route downtown, you could be assaulted by a falling teacup when walking below.😁 Only could happen in Victoria.😁

Although we no longer own property in UK, yes, I still have family over there, so could use their address to book directly with the UK office. This is something we have considered, as we have previously used UK travel agents to book cruises in UK. The risk is currency fluctuation and the UK/Canadian exchange rate has fluctuated extensively these past few years. Since we tend to book up to 2-years in advance, ensuring we get a midship lower deck cabin for DW, this is a risk I must consider. If Viking don't address the issue for Canadians, we may consider the option of booking directly with UK. Affirmative, I am drafting a communication detailing our issues, which will be sent to the Corporate Office.

Correct, in fact I had to get personally involved in both issues, to assist our TA.

A good point, which we did consider. The root cause being a systemic problem is definitely possible, however when you factor in the quality of the onboard leadership teams, I'm inclined to believe it is more an issue with local leadership.

Sadly, I don't believe that exists at the present time. We are ramping down our onboard expectations and focussing on itinerary for future cruises. Currently researching a 130+ night cruise where 58 of the 68 ports are new to me. Smaller ship, just a little bigger than the Viking ships.

I'm not assuming anything. I know exactly who I dealt with and some of them are a little above customer service agent or supervisor levels.

We were booked on the just completed World cruise, but cancelled a year ago due to a health issue.

Dee - affirmative, they have been escalated to the highest levels.

Had a great long chat with our TA yesterday and we are not her only clients moving on from Viking because of booking issues. In her experience, Viking's L/A office is the most challenging to deal with.

Affirmative, this decision was not taken lightly and it is final. We will consider Viking in the future, but will never deal with the L/A office again.

We still have great memories of our 2020 World Cruise, which ended prematurely with us being 2 of the final 8 pax, I never thought I would be drafting this type of post. The shipboard leadership team and crew were exceptional and Viking provided exceptional management oversight managing the pandemic, to keep us safe. Sadly, we find the customer service provided by L/A is nowhere close to the exceptional shipboard standards. Having just had a 2nd very negative experience dealing with the L/A office, we will not be dealing with them again, so at this time, Viking is no longer our preferred cruise line. I don't see any point in getting into details of both incidents, other than noting that their treatment of customers fell well below our expectations, not once, but twice. I believe Viking's main markets are USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand, and they have sales/booking offices in USA, UK and Australia. Therefore, us poor Canadians are the only major market without a sales office, so although Viking has a Canadian website and pricing in Canadian dollars, all our bookings currently go through L/A. If Viking opens a Canadian office or shifts our bookings to the UK office, then we will again consider booking another Viking cruise. However, if the status quo remains, we are sadly done with Viking. I will continue to monitor the Viking Board, as over these past 5-years, I have met some great fellow pax. However, visits may not be as frequent as before.

That is not correct, as on Canada Day, they retain access to the cruise port and hotels. It will be even busier than a normal, although in previous years it is more towards the Exhibition Centre, which is West of Canada Place.