kcpvwill

Conscious of wasting resources, I always take home any toiletries from our stateroom that are opened. I assume those unopened will be reissued.

I have to disagree about passengers not requesting a test because they will be quarantined, because we did. We were on Venus in June and experienced many people coughing. 7 days in we started to feel ill and requested a test. Tested positive and went into quarantine for 5 days. Viking nurse said they cannot ask passengers to take a test. Perhaps more should be willing to be tested.

Tea made from the coffee maker did not work for me, but I’m very fussy about my tea. It always had the taste of coffee!

I just checked and the only area in Scotland that is not level 1 is at Glencoe which is level 4 ie awful! The site allows you to click on the level number and it gives a five day forecast. It is reasonably accurate.

Although we didn’t need to use them on our British Isles Explorer in July this year, we took our midge nets with us as they had been recommended by locals on a previous trip to Scotland, including Orkney and Shetland. Seemingly the midges get in your face, hair, eyes etc and the nets are used by those in the know. We used the website below to get a forecast of the midges (from 1-5) and luckily for us the forecast while we were there was level 1. https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/

Sorry I forgot to say in the previous post that various crew members disappeared and reappeared throughout the 28 days.

We were on board Viking Venus from 17June to 15th July, which was just when they stopped the precruise PCR negative requirement and daily spit tests were dropped. On 25th June we were both feeling unwell and asked to be tested. They did a lateral flow/antigen test and a PCR test and we got the former results within 20 minutes. My husband was positive and I was borderline, (the pink line being very faint). We were told to isolate and wait till the following day for the PCR results which confirmed we were both positive. As we were both positive we were told to isolate in our own stateroom for 5 days. We were released on 30th June with no further testing and continued with the second part of the cruise. During isolation we were quite ill for 24-48 hours, we were monitored daily by the nurses on board but towards the end this was by telephone as we believe they had lots of cases and by then we were feeling OK although still coughing. We were provided with headache pills and cough medicine and had temperature checks and oxygen saturation. Having googled the incubation period which could be between 3 and 12 days we could have caught it on the aeroplane or the ship. When we came out of isolation we noticed several red bagged trays outside doors on all floors. The second half of our B2B cruise started on 1 July and again part way through we started spotting the red bags. We felt that on both legs there were people coughing who ought to have asked to be tested as we did. With hindsight daily testing and precruise negative tests may have prevented these numbers.

Recent suggestions in the UK is to cough into your elbow as this area does not go on to touch surfaces before you can wash your hands. It is taught in primary schools.

Our latest cruise starting in Greenwich took over 4 hours for the Viking transfer from Heathrow because we encountered Friday rush hour, and major accidents and roadworks on M25. We also had to wait for other flights to arrive for the transfer. Hopefully no one else will have the problems we had, as we didn’t arrive until 8pm.

Molymoo, congratulations on your upgrade. We are on the same cruise and this is our 10th Ocean cruise with Viking and we’ve never been surprised with an upgrade on boarding. What category were you originally in? I hope you enjoy all the amenities on this lovely ship.

The opening times are printed on page 4 (the back page) of the Viking daily for all dining venues, shops, spa, gym, room service, medical centre The 4 page daily is very helpful. Page 3 lists times and places to meet for excursions (times may differ slightly from what you booked) and whether you need the Quiet Vox. Even so some arrive without it. It is advised to take a copy of the daily with you in case you need to contact the ship, the phone number is on the front page. Pages 2 and 3 lists the activities on the ship with times and places.

We are on Viking Venus. Thanks for your good wishes. Liverpool is a great city by the way.

We have just had a call from the nurse, who was calling, not visiting, to check we are OK, as there are lots of cases now. As long as we are OK we get obs only in the morning. We said our symptoms are subsiding , but when you are in isolation anything could be going on outside the cabin door.

The nearest car park to the cruise terminal is called Princes Dock multi storey car park. It is a short stroll to the terminal from there. Post code L3 1 DL . It is on William Jessop Way.

CCWineLover, Thank you so much for your understanding of my predicament. Many times I’ve had people close windows (not on cruises) saying they are cold. and yet they never ask others or think to put on extra clothing. I’ve even had to go outside for air or I’d have fainted. I had no more layers to shed! I know we are not all the same but I’ve met many people on Viking who have come out of the theatre because of the heat. I believe the settings are changed when the theatre is empty or during rehearsals and then as it fills with people it gets hotter and the settings remain the same. I suggested to the other hot people that they ask for it cooling but they wouldn’t say anything. I’d already asked and was told that some people were cold. That’s when I got my thermometer out and got evidence of 26C/79F, surely this is not cold? Rant over. I’m feeling sorry for myself as my husband and I started feeling Ill on day 7 of the cruise, asked to be tested and we are both positive. Now in isolation for 5 days. We both felt dreadful for 2 days but symptoms are improving, now we are just bored! At least all the Star Theatre shows/lectures etc are live streamed to the cabin. We can even watch the Port Talks to see what we are missing. There were many people coughing on board and we wonder how many came forward for testing as we did. No idea how many cases there are.

We have been on 2 cruises on Viking Venus during the era of pre boarding PCR testing and then daily spit tests on board. As far as we know there were few or no cases of Covid. We are now on probably the first to sail under the new rules i.e. no pre-cruise testing and no daily saliva testing either. Unfortunately we are now both in isolation for 5 days, as we felt ill and asked for a Covid test, which confirmed that we are both positive. They did an antigen test which gave the results in 15 minutes, and PCR tests which were also positive. There had been a lot of people on board coughing but we don’t know how many have done as we did and got tested.

I am the opposite, the Star Theatre is nearly always too hot for me. Once I took in a thermometer to check and it was 26C / 79F. I couldn’t cope with that indoors with no breeze (even in short sleeves) and had to leave. I mentioned this in my feedback and they turned it down. After that the bar tender always had a tumbler of ice ready for me to help keep me cool. I appear to be in the minority for this thread. I’m glad you are all flexible enough to have sweatshirts/ jackets or even using the blankets, as it is easier to add more layers.

Our Lerwick (which was cancelled today) was not going to be tendering, it was meant to dock.

We should have docked in Lerwick, Shetlands today, but woke up to find that weather conditions were such that we couldn’t get in to Lerwick. (Winds and narrow channel?) Captain’s noon announcement might elaborate. It turned out we were right it was the wind, as the waves are not bad. It appears we must jinx the Shetlands as we missed them when we did the Northern Lights cruise in February. So now we have 3 consecutive sea days as we sail to the North Cape. Lots of reading and eating! Yesterday was an enjoyable day in Orkney with good weather, great scenery and history. Has anyone made it into Lerwick this year? We are due to return on 3rd July.

We are from the northwest of UK and Viking does a tour from Liverpool to Port Sunlight and Ness gardens. We have been to both places before as they are only a 1 hour drive from home and really enjoyed them. I suggest you read the Viking description to see if it is your type of trip. Not many people in the UK would even know of these let alone have been there unless they are local. We were in Port Sunlight last week and it has a wonderful feeling of oldie worldliness. Hardly anyone was there. This time we were meeting my sister so we did not do the Lady Lever Art gallery (except the café for lunch) but did walk around the village which was built by the Victorian, Lord Leverhulme, for the workers in his soap industry.

Thanks to poulsbo-cruisers for the heads up. We have been able to cancel our already booked PCR tests with a full refund in 14 days. 24 hour notification was needed so 14th June would have been too late for our cruise. Having booked for 2020, then 2021 now 2022 looks as if it is happening at last.

We were on this cruise September 2019 ahead of V Sun by two days. We were on V Sea. Arrived in Bergen and set off straight away on embarkation day to try to avoid hurricane Dorian. We still had severe seas! We missed Shetland and Faroes but had extra stops in Iceland after the sea days. We had only one stop in Greenland and the second was scenic sailing in a more sheltered sound. After recovering from my sea-sickness (when I was saying never again) we booked another cruise onboard for 2020. About to take that in two weeks time (fingers crossed) after it was Covid cancelled for 2020 and again for 2021. The included tour in Saguenay was La Fabuleuse Live Stage Show which really was fabulous. Staged by locals of all ages and I’d happily see it again.

JD, so sorry to hear your news. After looking forward to the invitational cruise for such a long time this really is awful for you. I hope that J is not too unwell and is coping with quarantine well.

Hello survivors, hope everything has started well for you and continues that way. We’d love to hear about your experience this time and how many made the trip.

Sounds good, hope you all have a good reunion and a safe, uneventful cruise to gain lots of lovely new memories.