sleepybobo

55 minutes ago, vslparis said:

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Yes, everyone ( including crew) on the Viking ship needs to be fully vaccinated ( this means that their last shot has to be 14 days or more before the cruise ) . More than likely , although not required, the majority of the people on the flight to Iceland ( talking about the segment that goes nonstop from someplace in the US to Iceland, not the connecting portion if you have to do that  ) will be vaccinated as there are still pretty stringent rules about pre trip testing and quarantine if you are not vaccinated .  

Regarding the crew being vaccinated part, I still haven’t seen any direct confirmation from Viking. So far, Viking just said the crew will be tested everyday.

I’d definitely feel more comfortable if the crew are also vaccinated. 

14 minutes ago, Balticsailor said:

This is our first Viking Cruise.  Does anyone know if "nice" jeans (not blue, rather dressy) are acceptable in the dining rooms in the evening?  

Yes.  You should not have any trouble going into the Restaurant wearing "nice" jeans.  In Venice in 2017, I came back to the ship rather late.  I didn't have time to go back to change.  The staff allowed me in.  Granted, I was casual, but not sloppy.  

16 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

Like TSA, the testing makes us feel comfortable about traveling again -- but will it actually protect us? That remains to be seen.

For me, vaccination requirement makes me feel safe about cruising. I hope Viking crew will be 100% vaccinated by July. 
 

I am a little concern about the rapid testing done at KEF. It’s not the most accurate. What happen if there’s false negative/positive?

8 hours ago, amyr said:

This is what I'm waiting to hear about.  I think the answer now is no, but if it changes to vaccinated arrivals from 'safe' spots don't have to test before flying back to the US, well that will change a lot for me.

 

We're flying back from Bermuda in July and Iceland in August, and I don't relish the thought of an asymptomatic case or even a false positive sidelining us outside the country for a couple of weeks.  Of course Bermuda and Iceland would have to become safe spots as well.

Getting stuck at a foreign country because of a false positive or an asymptomatic is my biggest worry now. I know the chance is minimal. But still, it keeps me thinking it is too soon to do international travel now. 
 

We book Iceland July 31. Hopefully Iceland will be on the safe country list. 

2 hours ago, FLGators#1 said:

When we signed up for this cruise we realized we would be in the Viking bubble for tours.  However what we did not realize is that we would not be able to get on certain popular Viking tours because they are ALL SOLD OUT. Basically we will be circumnavigating Iceland and going out to dinner on a cruise ship. Not happy cruisers here.  That there is only one time slot available for some tours is ridiculous. The ship is not operating at 100% capacity.Only about 725 guests.There is no information on whether they will be adding tours. We are ready to travel. We understand and are ready to comply with the Viking bubble but not having tours available by Viking for us to go on ...is penalizing us.We will cancel if tours do not open up, because what is the point? Does anyone have thoughts or suggestions? We are on the first sailing 26 June.

This doesn’t sound too encouraging. We are lowly V1 - so we are among the last eligible to book excursions. 
 

Please share what you found out from Viking. 

6 hours ago, deec said:

hope 3017 will be a great cabin...we will  hopefully be in it on the Jupiter for 50 days next year!

Great!!! We’ll be in it on the Orion in June 2022. Fingers crossed. 

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Broken windows - most susceptible cabins are the 2 fwd suites on deck 3 (3000 & 3001). Deck 4 fwd suites are more remote possibility, but Deck 5 suites should be safe. if the weather was that bad, the ship would have other issues.

 

Noise - Deck 3 fwd from the Theatre. Deck 3 fwd of the Atrium from Torshavn.

 

Potential Noise:

• Deck 4 - m'ships above the lifeboats
• Deck 6 - all cabins with open deck above
• Deck 8 - cabins with sports deck above  

Thanks.  I book V1 as the fare fits my budget. I stayed in 3022 twice and had no problem. There’s some noise from the theatre, but not unbearable. The noise usually stops at around 10pm anyway, which is earlier than my bedtime. 
 

I just rebooked my Alaska sailing to Jun 2022 and needed to change my stateroom from 3023 to 3017. I wonder if there’s any issue with 3017 that I should be aware of. Its location is even a bit closer to the theatre. So is the noise be louder? 

I remember seeing a list of staterooms to avoid (due to noise, potential broken windows, etc.) in this forum. Do you how I can find that list again?

Will ask my TA about extending the final payment date.


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My TA is able to move my 2021 sailing to May 2022 and all the onboard booking and past guest discounts are carried over.

Bad news is final payment is due December of this year - 17 months before embarkation.



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Hope everyone is well and healthy!

My next Viking cruise will be in May 2021. Although it’s still a year away, I am not confident that a covid19 vaccine will be available then. I’m not sure if I feel safe enough to fly and get on a cruise before 2022.

I’m wondering if anyone has any luck in postponing to 24 months out? Will the OBC be forfeited?

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9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

I just booked my own air for our June, '20 cruise. There was no charge for canceling the air portion and it included removing the  custom air fee which we added at the time of booking but did not get around to using because I was able to beat the Viking price.

 

 

If you booked your 2021, before you sailed in 2019 (such that the 2021 made two open bookings) or if you booked on board your 2019, then the pay in full date will be 6 months prior. Otherwise, it looks like 12 months is the best you can hope for.

Nice to know the air portion of the fare can be fully refunded. This way I can pretty much lock in the price of airfare. 

I booked our 2021 cruise onboard, may be that’s why final payment is due 6 months prior without me even asking. 

I also found Viking’s final payment policy all over the place. For my first VO cruise in 2017, final payment was due six months prior to departure. For my second one this year, it was due a year prior. For the next one in 2021, it’s back to 6 months prior. 

For my last two cruises, pricing change worked to my favor. Prices went up after I booked both times. So I felt comfortable to commit early. With the next one, I’m not so sure. It seems demand has gone down on even the more popular itineraries. Will watch more closely. I really hope Viking can have some sort of lowest-price guarantee with a reasonable adjustment fee for people who book a year or two in advance. Wishful thinking I know. 

A question on Viking Air, is there any cancellation fee if we decide to book our own? For my 2021 Alaska cruise, the airfare from east coast is $599 which is lower than what I can find from my quick research even with the $100 deviation fee. But if I end up finding a better deal, can I cancel without paying any cancellation fee?

I booked my May 2021 Alaska sailing while onboard this spring. I called Viking to ask about the anniversary sale out of curiosity. The discount is $250 pp for V1 category. If I cancel and rebook, I would lose the onboard discount. So it isn’t worth the effort for me to cancel and rebook now. I have to say I was not impressed by the snarky tone from the Viking agent over the phone once he learnt that I have a booking and was just calling to inquire about the anniversary sale. 

I guess I’ll monitor pricing on Viking website more closely. As the economic news are getting crazier and gloomier, who knows if Viking will cut pricing due to lower than expected demand?

8 hours ago, Cyber Kat said:

On the Xiang, I'm concerned with the Hot & Sour soup, but it's only the Amuse Bouche, so maybe not an issue.  As much as I like Chinese food, I've never had it.  I looked up descriptions and recipes and there's tofu and eggs in it - neither of us eat those.

Has anyone done these 2 menus who can describe the courses?  Can you tell me what is in the Hot & Sour Soup and is it true you can order another entree?

Xiang is Hunan cuisine, which is close to Sichuan cuisine. Think mapo tofu and hot beef stew. It’s spicy, but not necessary hot. More tingling numbing sensation on the tongue than fire in your mouth. 

@cocopico Absolutely amazing pictures. Really enjoy your website. Thanks for sharing. 

1 hour ago, Richard2 said:

We have done 5 VO cruises, and were confident nothing could ever top Into the Midnight Sun - until we did Iceland's Majestic Landscapes.

Both Into the Midnight Sun and Iceland’s Majestic Landscapes are on my wish list. 

 I also like Trade Routes and Greek Odyssey. 

I’ve done two VO cruises - Venice, the Adriatic Sea & Greece and Russia & the Baltic Sea. Both were wonderful. The Adriatic Sea was more memorable because we were blessed with nearly perfect weather and it was our first Viking cruise. 

@Pushka - I’ve been following your reviews with great interest as I booked a cruise to Alaska with VO. I sailed with Viking twice before and enjoyed both times. 

I understand your frustration on the delay in embarkation and tendering process. We pay a premium price to Viking so we naturally want Viking to meet our expectations. I sound like a broken record. But what you experienced on Orion was not a typical Viking journey. 

Instead of cancelling and losing $1k, may be you can consider switching to a tried and proven itinerary, such as Norway, Baltic or the Mediterranean? If Europe doesn’t strike your fancy, a different ship may be?

Your comments are very specific to Vancouver, Alaska ports and Orion. So you may have a totally different experience with another Viking ship to a different destination. 

@hofrances I had a similar experience. I booked a future cruise onboard and transferred the booking to my TA after coming back from the cruise. I asked my TA to change the date of sailing. At first my TA told me the onboard discount would be forfeited if I changed the date. I stressed to her that we were told by the cruise consultant to book any sailing onboard to secure the discount. In fact, I knew people booked a river cruise with the intention to change to a future ocean cruise.   My TA talked to her Viking liaison again and was able to change the date of my booking and keep the onboard discount. 

13 minutes ago, Cienfuegos said:

Alaska is a relatively new market for Viking, isn't it?

 

Perhaps Viking needs to follow up with all customers , or a good sized sample, after cruises.  Asking a few well chosen questions could identify areas where the company could do a better job.

 

I had the feeling on our Cuba trip that Viking was largely "winging it".  With little experience on the ground, and the government presenting them with packaged tours, Viking was accepting what was offered. 

 

Mass tourism is new for Cuba, and Cuba is new for Viking.

I understand Viking has a steep learning curve on new markets, such as Alaska and Cuba. Viking still needs to fine tune onshore excursion arrangements. But why would dinning staff service on Orion be subpar? I’m quite puzzled. Orion is no longer a brand new ship. So the staff on the ship should already have plenty of experience working on the ship together. 

I was on the Sun’s maiden voyage in 2017 and came back from Jupiter in May. Both ships had fewer sailings than Orion now has when I cruised on them. I experienced no service issue. 

In general, Orion seems to have more average/negative reviews than her sister ships. I noted Orion tends to sail in “newer” markets, such as Asia and Alaska. Hopefully all the issues noted will get sorted out as Viking gets more experience in those markets. 

We were in V1 (forward, portside) on Deck 3 twice before. We did hear engine noise once and noise from the theatre every night. Nothing from Torshavn. The shows usually ended by 10:30, which was before our bedtime. So we were not too bothered. If you go to bed early, V1 on deck 3 may be problematic. 

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Ewww.  That's gross.

I was on the Sun’s maiden voyage. I did have concern about “new ship smell” or the staff not being ready when I booked the cruise. I’m glad to say the Sun was ready for her maiden voyage. Everything was pristine. We actually would like to do another maiden voyage shall an opportunity comes up. 

P.S. There’s no new ship smell. Lol

4 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Taken 2 excellent Viking ocean cruises and am about to take another fine cruise on Silversea (Silver Muse Alaska in August) which has small 600 passenger ships.  I'll do an updated compare & contrast after that cruise.

Following. I took VO twice. Enjoyed both times. I book a cruise to Alaska in May 2031 with Viking. So far, the reviews on the Alaska itinerary have not been great. I’d love to hear your comparison. 

If you are not happy with the alternative that Viking comes up with and decide to cancel. Wouldn’t travel insurance cover unexpected event like this?

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

There was no mention whatsoever of any tender use when we booked our cruise 18 months ago. And there certainly was no mention of the extreme delay in embarkation until just 2 weeks before the cruise started. Even our checkin envelopes that contained our key cards said we could gain entry into our cabins at 2pm. Nothing like twisting the knife!  

 

I understand there is a large folder of issues being accumulated throughout the ship. Today’s tender process was better as we worked out how to get onto one quickly. As did others. And we heard someone say, as they had issues just before getting on “another day and another issue with Viking”. 

I understand your frustration. Viking’s Alaska sailings are priced at premium, even after consideration of included excursions and drinks during meal time. It’s a premium that I’m willing to pay because I like the ship, food and service. 

Tendering in 3 out of 6 ports is not ideal. It’s puzzling why Orion is having such trouble in managing the tendering process given how it was handled efficiently in the past. 

Tendering process and delay in embarkation aside, how do you like the cruise thus far? Is local specialty, such as salmon, crabs, served?