Shoalwater

The bars have limited options available for cash until the ship clears Texas boundaries and sails into international water.  This is due to a Texas law requiring the ship to only serve alcohol purchased within Texas or having a Texas ABC stamp.  The ship has a limited inventory of bottles meeting this requirement.  This is one reason why cruise ships tried but abandoned Houston as an embarkation port.  It took almost 3 hrs to navigate down the ship channel and into the Gulf, so the liquor sales at the sail away parties suffered.

On 11/7/2023 at 1:16 PM, ShipWalker said:

I wrote to Stockperks and received this within an hour.

 

"Hi ShipWalker - thanks for reaching out.  Some iPhone users are having this crashing issue that we're looking into right now.  I will let you know once we have this resolved.

 

I appreciate your patience - we'll get you your credit!

 

Kind regards"

And this is acceptable for a novice company that wants total access to your brokerage accounts?  Princess must be joking..

Not a problem since it folds and you can walk/carry it on steps.  I used a three-wheeled rollator and not an issue.

52 minutes ago, karylrocks said:

Oh my, hadn't even considered that. Better get that trip insurance in place!

I would first check with the trip insurer you choose to determine whether this voluntary separation from the cruise is covered for expenses should the port not be made.  If its linked to the cruise it could be a problem.  These policies have  exclusions that can trip you up.  We got stranded in Cairo during the 2011 Arab Spring revolution and were denied coverage due to the "civil unrest" exclusion.

Yes this is possible PROVIDED the ship makes the port of call and does not skip it.  This has happened before in Le Havre due to heavy winds and once due to a labor strike of port workers.  Then you have to deal with whatever onward arrangements you made from Le Havre on your own.

Right now public health figures estimate that 1 of 4 Houstonians have COVID, the B.4 and B.5 variants that have mutated and escaped the vaccine protection.  CDC has asked manufacturers to reprogram their vaccines for these variants, available in the autumn.  These new variants spread rapidly and barriers like masks are not that effective, especially the paper ones most people use that do not seal to the face skin.  That little gap is plenty wide enough to let viral particles floating in the air inside during inspiration and infect you.  The good news is these variants are not as virulent as what first started 2 years ago.  Testing and masks and all are just not going to help eradicate this virus, it's here to stay so be prepared to learn to live with it.  I just returned from a trip and came home with my second case following my second booster dose.  Almost half the travelers in the small group caught it somewhere.  If you are waiting for it to disappear before resuming your life you might consider joining a cloister.

from Martincath: "All the tests which meet US standards for flying have detailed records of time/date and ID of person tested, whether it's an online Proctored or in-lab test, so there are records to prove you tested +ve and then left the country - once all the bureaucracy works through, expect to be banned from entering Canada ever again. Possibly fined too, just to add icing to the cake."

You don't need a COVID test to board a US flight from within the USA, so there is no "record" to connect a test to, and you woluldn't have a proctored test anyway..  I'm not advocating this, but just pointing out the inconsistencies of the governmental agencies trying to manage the situations.  They are not in sync with plenty of loopholes.

On 4/22/2022 at 4:43 PM, Babr said:

Important update. Thanks.

 

Anyone returning to the US still can’t board a plane if they test positive so they’ll still need to have a place to stay unless the US updates its plan so that fully vaccinated people can fly without a test.

If its off a cruise then you will be in Vancouver, CA.  In this case then take the train/bus to Seattle and fly from there w/o needing a test to enter the US or fly from SEA.  Is this logical, no but its how the rules are written.. 

On 3/17/2022 at 3:11 PM, Twitchly said:

You’ve convinced me not to cruise to Venice. What a hassle.

 

We loved Venice years ago; we went in December, and the place was empty. Glorious. We’d go back in a heartbeat, but only in off season, and not on a cruise ship.

We were in Venice in early December on an overnight cruise stop and went to early mass in St. Mark's.  We stayed seated after mass ended and waited a bit, and all of a sudden realized we were the only two people visible inside the entire basilica.  It lasted about 10-15 minutes and we had free reign.  They even left the ceiling lighted.

4 minutes ago, JLBriese said:

You all seem way luckier than we are...I asked our steward yesterday if there was a wine menu for our room so I could look for wine to order from room service and his response was "No, we don't have that. Please ask at the bar."...not the service level I was expecting. But again, first time Viking cruiser so maybe my expectations are out of whack?

I believe these are different departments, food vs. alcohol beverage or whatever and one can't place an order in the other. 

17 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Makes you wonder what data the US CDC has to take this position against cruise ships, but not paraffin pigeons.

 

I would like to see data on how many cruise passengers were potentially infected while flying to the embarkation port. We will never get substantiated data, but for those Viking pax testing positive on day 3, 4 or 5, the probability is high that they were infected at the airport, or on a flight. The cruise ships are assigned the infection stat and the airlines get off scot-free.

 

With respect to transmission on board a Viking ship, it probably isn't zero, since cruising resumed, but I am reasonably confident it is a negligible percentage.

 

Viking invested heavily in Health & Safety, but none of the other cruise lines have matched Viking's capital investment, operational costs and safety standards. Unfortunately, as is usual in the cruise industry, when 1 cruise line has a serious issue, all ships are affected.

 

This would be a great time for Viking to promote their standards and how they are significantly higher than the competition, and provide some data on their best guess of how low on board transmission has been.

To quote a US Congressman running for reelection in the 1960's "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up!".

If cruise lines were i charge of deciding which ports will accept ships and when then it's fair to ask them about schedules.  It appears however that they are dependent on local authorities to reach landing decisions, but the authorities are waffling and unable to provide definitive answers, hence confusion.  Heck, look at the varying decisions made about COVID "safety" measures by CDC and the NIAID leadership.  I don't think its fair to expect the cruise lines to come up with answers when there are none.  The lines are probably scrambling overtime to come up with alternatives. 

12 hours ago, Snit13 said:

I know it is early but any signs of Aurora Borealis?  SIRI told me September thru March best viewing.  I can recall in the 1950's we would frequently be able to see them in Western PA.  

Hard to see the AB when the sky is bright all night like this time of year.

6 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Greetings from aboard Viking Sky!  Nice to see Jupiter anchored within site. 
 

No reservations required for The Restaurant this week. Menus seem to be a repeat of what I believe were the ones on the 1st cruise. 
 

Lots of folks at the excursion desk-some are canceling or changing from what I overheard. 
 

I didn’t have any issue with getting to the 2mm line on the test tube (4 good spits) but Mike wasn’t as successful. 
 

From the number of folks walking around  and saying “oh look there Ethel, isn’t that pretty”, I think there are a fair number of Viking Virgins aboard. 
 

If there is something specific you want me to check out.  Let me know. 

What about the inside temp in the ship?  Comfortable for short sleeve shirt at night?

21 minutes ago, WanderingBrit said:

For what it's worth the Verifly process worked very quickly for us - you can use it for yourself and any others in your party. Provide your booking ref and upload pictures of your vaccination record cards, and we got verification back in 3 minutes. You'll then see a Viking logo tile on the home screen, which when tapped opens "ready to travel" passes for each of you.

So did I, but I think it's physically impossible for VeriFly to have validated my vaccination since when I received it the place providing the shots used a 4 letter abbreviation for the hospital name, as did my wife's.  Hers had only her patient ID as identification besides name and whatever else.  My point is I think all VeriFly does is look to see its a CDC card ( I was told this by someone who works there).  This is bogus as far as certification you were vaccinated, no different than showing the card at boarding  Wonder why Viking is doing this.. 

6 hours ago, MarkTapley said:

 

But I have to agree that it is perhaps going a bit to far to speculate here about what type of punishment Viking should mete out for those not wearing masks.

Keelhaul 'em Maties.

We're elite with 40+ on Princess, but I contend we really don't matter as much as the first time, newer to cruising passengers.  We all pay the same for our cabins based on type, but the equality ends there.  How many more photos do we need?  How many more inches of gold" chain will we buy, or port Tee shirts or emblem sweatshirts?  How much alcohol will we buy, or how many trips to the plethora of up-charge specialty restaurants now on the mega ships?  Face it folks, your cabin fare and low spending ways are incongruous to the revenue per passenger yield.  Ten or more years ago the analytics were different, and us 40+ trippers were probably filling the coffers adequately, but no more with the mega ships sailing.  We are essentially (please forgive me here) "dead space".  Maybe unproductive space would read better, but what the he11.  Its all about cash flow, and after the holding company CCL lost billions from COVID look for more changes.  I didn't get the email, but once I got a similar type letter from our bank.  It started out "For your banking convenience we will now be closed on Saturday.".  Sorry folks, Princess has graduated into the mass market cruising world, and they will be happy to replace us old specialty type sailors with younger ones that per capita spend more.  And that's the way it is.  By the way, our next voyage in 10 days is with Viking Ocean.  You can guess why, the value calculation for me has switched.  As the famous line in the first Godfather film goes when Al Tessio (Abe Vigoda) says to Tom Hagen, MIchael Corliones cappo "Tell Mike it was only business. I always liked him".

2 minutes ago, Shoalwater said:

Viking does not charge for self service wash machines, and provides soap etc.  No opinion about dryer sheets, c'mon man..it's Iceland!  Directions are pictorial, and maybe confusing to some (like me).  Irons/boards available too.  They are on alternate decks as I recall, and amoun

t of use varies by day & hour.

2 minutes ago, Shoalwater said:

Viking does not charge for self service wash machines, and provides soap etc.  No opinion about dryer sheets, c'mon man..it's Iceland!  Directions are pictorial, and maybe confusing to some (like me).  Irons/boards available too.  They are on alternate decks as I recall, and amoun

t of use varies by day & hour.

Oops, looks like I am the umpteenth person to answer this question.  Guess that's what happens when you read the postings last to first, miss previous answers.  Sheesh!

4 hours ago, Envelope21 said:

Can someone tell me about the laundry situation on the Sky? How do you pay for it (coins?) and is it difficult to get, meaning are the machine(s) often being used? Also, where is it located on the ship?

 

I would love to rethink some of my packing and bring less. I will be on the July 17 sailing.

Viking does not charge for self service wash machines, and provides soap etc.  No opinion about dryer sheets, c'mon man..it's Iceland!  Directions are pictorial, and maybe confusing to some (like me).  Irons/boards available too.  They are on alternate decks as I recall, and amoun

t of use varies by day & hour.

1 hour ago, Triptkr said:

I agree.  My thoughts were something like, "Talk about a Debbie-Downer".   

 

How many people on this thread will be on this exact ship?  I think we all know what happened to that voyage and what our risks are when we cruise but it's pretty awesome when we can focus on the positive, this past year has been stressful enough.

1 hour ago, Triptkr said:

I agree.  My thoughts were something like, "Talk about a Debbie-Downer".   

 

How many people on this thread will be on this exact ship?  I think we all know what happened to that voyage and what our risks are when we cruise but it's pretty awesome when we can focus on the positive, this past year has been stressful enough.

So someone worried about mal-de-mer asks if its smooth because they're concerned as they suffer from this, and someone kinda says not to worry, mostly all good, but things can happen.  Doesn't matter why the ship shut down, it did and it violently rolled.  Smooth seas is one of the most common and unanswerable questions asked across these boards.  Why is telling a factual thing a "Debbie Downer"?  A person really worried should understand and investigate ALL aspects like the person asking the question did.  Glossing over a fact because its "a downer" is in my mind a disservice.  Sorry, I don't agree with your point. 

6 hours ago, gardenbunny said:

I am Elite.  A little disappointed but I have felt for a couple years that all cruise lines would be going to all inclusive or some type of fare options - basic or pay more and get the goodies.  I am like several others who commented, we don’t drink, don’t buy anything of significance on board, we do use excursions, prefer to do my own laundry on long trips (have suggested on my surveys to give Elite X number of tokens).  So, will just have to see if they give any discount on internet packages or offer any “buy minutes at a discount on line before cruise” deals.  I have free international roaming in ports with my cell provider so haven’t really used all my on board minutes in quite a while.  Just a convenience if I wanted to check something on a sea day.

This is precisely why Elite PAX are not worth much to the cruiseline.  We don't spend like first time cruisers. Those that threaten to quit Princess are probably looked on as a marketing success

On 1/7/2021 at 10:23 AM, Cruise Raider said:

I just read a current article here on CC that outlines changes we may expect to see once cruising resumes.  I found the following excerpt in this article to be a bit baffling ... although, I have no degree in immunology, so maybe someone out there can explain this:  (please note that this is specific to Singapore so maybe others have nothing to worry about) 

 

The Singapore government prohibits anyone who has had COVID-19 within the past 180 days, or who has had a positive COVID-19 Serology certificate, from going on a cruise, as taking a pre-cruise SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) test could throw up a positive result, even if the person is no longer contagious. 

 

(please note that this is specific to Singapore so maybe others have nothing to worry about) 

 

Anyway, wouldn't a vaccine produce a positive serology result?  Isn't a serology test used to detect antibodies present in the blood post infection?  Wouldn't a vaccine also produce these same antibodies?  What am I not seeing here?  Hopefully there are some smart medical people here that can chime in.  

So this is a pandoras box.  Simply put, blood from COVID-19 patients with active infection will have bits of the virus RNA present for some variable length of time and as long as 1-2 weeks after they recover.  This RNA can be detected rapidly using a test called PCR, and is the basis for all the COVID-19 screening you read about.  Chances are that months after you are recovered, and certainly after receiving the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines you will not show a positive PCR result (there are false positives and negatives however).  Vaccines induce formation of neutralizing Anti-COVID-19 antibodies that bind to and inactivate the virus and prevent its transmission.  Natural infection can also induce antibodies, but these may have a different binding point from those caused by the vaccine. Telling the difference is not always easy.  In livestock disease many agricultural authorities in developing nations often conflate the presence of antibodies with disease and will destroy these animals much to dismay because most likely they are disease resistant.  It looks like the public health authorities in Singapore have used this broad brush to incorrectly interpret antibody presence with infectious disease potential, and simply decided to block anyone with a prior history of exposure to the virus or the vaccine.

Yes

6 hours ago, WmFCoyote said:

This topic is already addressed in the topic  "Possible spam "Medallion Class update" email?"

Thanks.  Been too busy working on COVID-19 countermeasure proposals for clients to look at this board much.  Let it drop.

Got this email today.  Went to the link and you need a lawyer to go through all the legalese.  I don't know what they want me to agree to.  Poor timing Princess.  My reply was I won't be using Medallion at all if I need to have my attorney review this crap. :