Louise257

I’m sure I didn’t miss an email and I regularly check my junk mail. Unless it went to my travel agent and she didn’t forward it?

It’s all worked out well though. A slot came up for the Blue Lagoon the day before our cruise. That gives us more time to explore the ship on our first day and saves us over £50!

Liz, Thanks, I did consider the Sky Lagoon - it looks great!

I will now be checking MVJ daily!

I just checked my credit card statement online and noticed a there was a credit from Viking a few days ago. I checked MVJ and noticed they had cancelled our trip to the Blue Lagoon in Iceland. No email or notification telling us they have cancelled. This is extremely annoying as we were originally going to arrange a trip there ourselves  - but now there is very little availability left. Is this the way Viking normally operates? 

On 5/30/2022 at 12:15 PM, sugarside said:

In the UK and Europe basically the only areas where tipping is done it is on excursion trips with a guide and if on coach then the driver is included.

This is historic as I can remember as a child going on church trips a hat being passed round the coach to put your donation in.

We then did three cheers for the driver followed by a round of applause.👏👏👏

Here in the UK we always tip taxi drivers and in restaurants too.

Can UK TAs offer OBC? 

Why am I hearing something different  from this podcast? He doesn’t say he would like a casino or karaoke, or that he doesn’t like the decor, or that a shared and consistent experience is a bad thing, or that he doesn’t want to learn about the culture. What he is saying is that Viking will not suit many - which seems fair enough to me.

4 hours ago, donaldsc said:

My impression of Gary's review on Viking cruises is that he appears to be out of touch with reality.  Based on what he has said about Viking I can imagine what types of cruises he likes and they are definitely not what Viking offers.  Some people cruise to learn about and enjoy other cultures.  Count me in that group. 

 

 

As far as décor is concerned, there are a lot of us who prefer the classic Scandinavian to the overly plush décor on other ships.  

I think you need to listen again to what Gary actually said. Ignore the clickbait at the beginning.

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

You booked a Viking cruise that probably cost about UKP 300 pp/day. I'm having a tough time understanding why you would purchase travel insurance that will only pay UKP 20 pp/day. Haven't purchased UK Travel Insurance in over 40 yrs, so is it not possible to insure the entire financial risk.

 

I purchased decent insurance, or so I thought, that covers the full cost of the cruise. It appears to provide good cover for lots of COVID scenarios, but not for confinement on board. Unless I am misreading it. 
 

Time to stop worrying about what ifs!

…what I meant to say was that I messaged Viking to ask if they compensate for having to quarantine on board. The response was that Travel Insurance would cover it. My insurance cover is £20 per person per day for cabin confinement! This will be our first cruise. It’s for a special occasion and is costing many times more than we would normally pay for a holiday. It is a huge amount for us to lose.  We also have other cheaper land based holidays booked and aren’t really worried about COVID disruption on them. The Viking protocols are seriously making us reconsider our cruise plans.

1 hour ago, eel said:

 

I am currently in quarantine on Viking Orion. I tested positive on day 2 of the cruise (Monday). I was negative at embarkation. I have been completely asymptomatic and it is now day 5. The positive test was exactly 91 days after I tested positive for COVID back in January and had symptoms so they would not accept my recovery letter as it is only good for 90 days. My wife is also in isolation but they will release her tomorrow if she continues to test negative. They won’t let me out until we disembark on Monday in LA. 
 

There is a good chance the positive test is due to residual dead virus in my system. The spit PCR test is very sensitive. 90 days for recovery letters is a guideline. There are cases of positive tests up to six months from infection. Canada accepts recovery letters for six months because of this.

 

I understand caution but I feel that Viking has stolen my cruise from me. According to the CDC, you may leave quarantine 5 days after testing positive if you are asymptomatic and wear a mask. But Viking said their policy is 10 days.

 

I would not have had this problem on any other cruise line. I have asked for a refund but Viking has been unresponsive so far. Does anyone know if Viking offers refunds if you are quarantined on board? I know other cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean and Celebrity do.

 

in any case, I hope my experience will help others understand how Viking handles things.

We are making our own travel arrangements to Iceland from the UK a couple of days before our cruise.  We have been told by Viking that they will accept an antigen test taken 24 hours before embarkation. 

8 hours ago, uktog said:

Given the relaxation of rules in the UK which goes hand in hand with a massive scale down of testing (limited to cases with symptoms) I suspect Viking will see more asymptomatic cases in their upcoming UK itinerary. There level of testing is doesn’t reflect living with covid which is the strategy in the countries they are visiting 

In Scotland last week it is estimated that 1 in 11 had covid. It is difficult to see how there will not be an increase in cases on board too. Is there any way to find out the number of passengers in quarantine on each ship?