Humbb

22 minutes ago, alidor said:

It’s just not employees I have contacted. I have contacted the head of customer relations in the US, her 2nd in command and even the president!  Responses from no one.  Very poor relations.  Like I said, I measure a cruise line by how they respond to some problems.

So in the category of best customer service during difficult times, what would be your top three cruise lines?

3 hours ago, jtwind said:

How serious is Viking about actually "chasing" the Northern Lights?  Do they make small changes to their itineraries to position themselves in clear skies, or alter plans due to predictions and current reports?

The cruise is actually named "In Search of the Northern Lights", so that kind of answers your question. Not much chasing, just searchin'. 😉

9 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

The e-mail will include the new 125% voucher. If you would prefer a cash refund, you must inform Viking by the deadline stated in the e-mail (usually 10 days).

Thanks. I'm not sure what our voucher options will be as we used a "tweener" voucher; i.e. it was awarded under the pre-125% rules for a March, 2020 Northern Lights trip that was never cancelled by Viking. We cancelled during the pre-24 hour period and only received a 100% voucher. (As it turns out we dodged a real bullet as the cruise turned back to London only 3 days after leaving Bergen.) I called our Viking agent about a month ago about another risk-free cancellation for 2021 and he suggested we wait and see if Viking cancels first, which might provide more favorable settlement options.  I have a feeling that all we'll be offered is the 100% voucher again with no cash option.

Our March Northern Lights cruise booking has become inaccessible on MyVikingJourney this morning. Expecting a cancellation email notice soon.

Sorry about the paywall restrictions ... I guess this article isn't considered part of the Times' free coronavirus coverage. You can try entering the URL in outline dot com which sometimes works.

This just in from the NY Times. Just another question mark for upcoming travel.

The Risk-Free Guarantee that was supposed to expire on April 30 has now been extended through May.  My quick review of the terms revealed only one change ... FCV's under the program are now transferable. There may be other differences, but that's all I could find right now.🙂

This is language in the Vouchers section at the bottom of My Profile (which is different from the alert I used to receive on login indicating credits may be used on board):

"Vouchers will be automatically applied to your purchases for this journey, including cruise fare, air, hotel extensions, excursions, beverage package, and prepaid gratuities, and must be used before your journey begins."  This is followed by my name and available voucher amount.

Our vouchers were under the original pre-March 12 rule (100% FCC). We had cancelled a March 10 cruise about 5 days before trip start, and then rebooked the same 2021 trip.

2 hours ago, KyOh said:

Many thanks.  That's the letter I couldn't find.

You can also go here on the Viking site for that and any future updates.

24 minutes ago, duquephart said:

We just got done reserving/re-booking the cruise we had that was cancelled. There was no break in insurance. In fact, the insurance went up due to stateromm upgrade/cost of cruise.

I did the same 3 weeks ago, but the $700 reduction in the insurance premium didn't show up until the FCC voucher (received Saturday) was applied to my balance yesterday.

23 hours ago, MrRandal said:

 

Not a bit, and I wouldn't blame him. I just don't want to pay for the grapes.

Looks like US Taxpayers won't be funding those grape costs either:

Cruise lines out of bailout package

45 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

That is an excellent question Azulann.  The cruise industry is going to be looking for lots of secure spots for ships.  Can't just park them just anywhere.  

Augusta National?  It's a very restrictive, secure golf club that won't be getting much use this Spring. 😉

20 minutes ago, pixiestyx said:

It was posted on the ship information on a marine traffic app that basically tracks all vessels at sea.

 

the same info is available on vesselfinder

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vesselfinder.com/amp/vessels/VIKING-STAR-IMO-9650418-MMSI-257903000

Thank you!  That's good information.

4 minutes ago, pixiestyx said:

We also had to cancel, but I believe that ship started heading for Tilbury in the middle of last night effectively ending the cruise early in London.

Where did you hear that?

Has anybody seen posts from travelers on the March 10 Northern Lights cruise? We had to cancel, but I hope they are doing well and get to see the Lights up north. They should have left Bergen before the restrictions took hold.

Similar (but different) situation for us. We were booked on the 3/10 Northern Lights trip (so outside of the suspension period by 2 days), cancelled a few days before and got the 100% voucher which we flipped to the 2021 same cruise/date. We still had $600 out-of-pocket because a certain discount wasn't honored on the new cruise. Not optimistic, but hoping Viking makes up for that with the 125% credit, or at least refunding our new out-of-pocket expense.

2 hours ago, Humbb said:

Which brings up the question I've been asking myself since the address ... even though you were flying from Italy, would you qualify for the British exemption because of your Heathrow connection to the US?

So DHS answered my question here:

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2020/03/11/homeland-security-acting-secretary-chad-f-wolf-s-statement-presidential-proclamation

The travel ban, as clarified, only applies to Foreign Nationals who were in one of 26 European countries (Britain excluded) within 14 days of US arrival.  So US citizens are safe all around.

Which brings up the question I've been asking myself since the address ... even though you were flying from Italy, would you qualify for the British exemption because of your Heathrow connection to the US?

Hi, new here and this is a test.