Dukefan

1 minute ago, Heidi13 said:

 

It is only about a month since they cancelled the 2021 WC, so I suspect they are still planning and then booking ports for some new itineraries. If cruising does resume, it is highly unlikely the one ship would remain out of service.

Thank you -  that makes sense.   By the way Tor has posted a new video officially canceling the 2020 cruises.

19 hours ago, CharTrav said:

Has there been another batch of cancellations? Perhaps you aren't aware but I maintain a spreadsheet of the ship schedules that I post on DropBox and announce here each time I update it (https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2651194-viking-ocean-combined-cruise-schedule/). My last update was July 30.  Do I need to update again? I checked just last week for changes. [Only include Ocean & Expedition -- decided a while ago trying to track River was simply too much].

 

Rather than post an update -- yup! Just checked Viking Ocean & Viking River  - Oct to Dec 2020 is blank (think that Rhine & Viking Shores & Fjords showing for Sept 2020 is a data feed error). So, it's time to update the spreadsheet and post an update...

CharTrav's updated Viking Ocean combined cruise schedule shows the first Viking Sun cruise on May 24, 2021 - Into the Midnight Sun.    Since the ship is less than three years old, it seems strange to keep it out of service this long doesn't it?

With the recent round of canceled Viking Ocean and River Cruises I tried to determine the next scheduled cruise for each Viking Ocean Ship and in general for the River Cruises.  Here are the results:

Viking Jupiter - South America & Chilean Fjords - January 2, 2021

Viking Sky - Panama Canal & Central America - January 3, 2021

Viking Orion - Australia & New Zealand - January 6, 2021

Viking Sea - Mediterranean Antiquities - January 6, 2021

Viking Star - From the Caribbean to the Amazon - January 9, 2021

Viking Venus - Iberian Explorer - January 26, 2021

Viking Sun - ???? - I think they are working to develop a new schedule because of the canceled world cruise .

The first River Cruise is on December 30, 2020 - Pharaohs and  Pyramids 

The Magnificent  Mekong River Cruise starts on January 4, 2021.

European River Cruises restart in March

I did this as a very quick search so I don't promise it is 100% accurate.   If you note any errors, please post them.

1 hour ago, Cienfuegos said:

In conversations with Viking staff (bar tenders, restaurant servers, medical staff, etc) it's clear to me that they consider the jobs to be extremely good jobs.  With an opportunity to save a lot of money and get a head start on a good future back in their home countries.

 

 

 

I agree completely with your post.   I have had a significant number of wonderful conversations with many of the Viking Crew from the bar tender while enjoying my per dinner cocktail, to my room stewards, for the wait staff in the restaurants, to the folks in the spa.  I have never met a Viking Crew member yet that doesn't love their job and believe Viking is the best line they ever crewed on.   Since I have traveled on many cruise lines and have had these type of conversations with the crew members that I encounter on each of them, I have a fairly good idea of of they each compare.  My experience has been that Viking Crew members seem to be the happiest with their employer.  Has everyone of you had a different experience?

JeriGail,

Heidi13 just gave a better answer to your question.

Dukefan

12 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

Any idea what this means?

I have no idea but if I was to guess, Harland and Wolff probably needed the Belfast Dry Dock for another project.  Since from what I have read on this board that any work being done on the Viking Ships was more or less of a minor nature, they relocated the ship to another area that was available, namely the Dredged Box at the entrance to the Main Dry Dock area.

For those that are interested, the Viking Sun has moved out of the entrance to the Belfast Dry Dock area to the Dredged Box in the Musgrave Channel at the entrance to Main Dry Dock area.    The Viking Orion is holding its position near Singapore and all other Viking Ship locations remain unchanged. 

1 minute ago, duquephart said:

 

Can you substantiate your "5 or 6 times a month" claim? I'm hardly the only person here who questions how "gratuities" are gathered and distributed. I have no problem with the people to whom they are reputedly paid. Is Viking really so "much better" than all the other cruise lines in this regard or any other. If I become another of the vociferous Viking cheerleaders who abound here will you be happier with my posts?

Duquephart - I admit I exaggerated on the number of times a month that you expressed your displeasure with Viking's Gratuity Policy.  I apologize for this exaggeration.  This series of posts started with a question about how Viking employees are treated.   Your comment did not really address this question but entered into it one of your complainants about Viking that you throw out in response to several different posts that I have read over the past year or so.   I reacted the second time you brought it up in this short series of posts because it was something that bothered me.  If was probably a totally inappropriate  post by me.   I am sorry. 

If I appear to be a Viking Cheerleader - I am.   We have been fortunate enough over the past twenty years to sail on most of the major cruise lines and Viking happens to impress us as great value for our money.   They are not the best cruise line in everything they do but I particularly like the quality of their staff, their adult only focus,  the size of their ships, the layout of their cabins, and the non-"nickle and dime" approach to their offering.  I thoroughly love their fitness center and spa.  Since most of our cruising is done based on the cruise itinerary, will all our future cruises be on Viking - no.   But if it comes down to them and almost any other cruise line for the same itinerary, we will be sailing Viking. With regard to you becoming a Viking Cheerleader, you like all of us, are free to "be a cheerleader" for any cruise line we want.  I don't believe any of us on this board will care who you are "cheer leading".  By the way, which cruise line's gratuity policy do you really like, since you seem to be knowledgeable in this particular area and it seems to be, based on your posts, one of your major hot topics?   

11 hours ago, duquephart said:

 

What color are the leaves on your planet?

A very intellectual response - unfortunately you did not disappoint.   The planet I live on is filled with people that see the best of what life and its experiences are about and unfortunately a few that don't.    Some of them even post comments about "gratuities" 5 or 6 times a month.  By the way whatever Vikings policy is on gratuities, ever cruise member that I have talked on my Viking Cruises with sings the praises of their Viking experience often sharing with me how much better it is than with the other cruise lines that they have worked for.  On your next Viking cruise spent some time while you are on board talking with the staff and see what they have to say about their Viking experience.

23 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Being happy to have a job and being happy IN their job are two different things. Third world people kissing your ass to keep their job or increase their "gratuities" is not a recent phenomena.

I have never seen anyone on this board with a more negative outlook than you.   I am sorry but it's gotten to the point that I recognize your posts without even seeing you posted it.   People can be happen in their jobs and take excellent care  of you because they like doing their job well. It is not always about money like your posts always seem to suggest.  There are lots of things in life much more important than money.  There are many folks that recognize this fact.  I feel sorry for you that you are not one of them.

11 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Viking Orion has just anchored off Hong Kong.

And shows it is headed to Singapore next with an August 3rd arrival.

6 hours ago, Jammy Bun said:

I just looked at the availability for the 20/21 World Cruise, and see that the Owners Suite is showing as 'Available' - but when I check the availability for the first leg of the cruise, from Miami to L.A., the Owners Suite is 'Sold Out'.  

(I'm keeping an eye on the figures as am wondering if/when they'll cancel this cruise - surely it can't go ahead?)

They may be holding the Owners Suite for the full World Cruise.  If so the Miami to L.A. leg for the Owners Suite would be shown as "Sold Out" and the World Cruise would be shown as "Available".   If the Owners Suite does not sell for the World Cruise they may open the Miami to LA leg later.

On 7/4/2020 at 3:01 PM, BigAl94 said:

Here's a bit of inside knowledge. The three ships were actually having no work done in Belfast. It was a move by Harland & Wolff in the hope of securing future business (clever) and was around the fact that berthing fees for ships having work done were a lot less that lay up fees. Maybe it has backfired in terms of one of the berths.

BigAl94:  I am trying to understand your post in light of the CEO of Harland & Wolff's news release on July 1^st:  John Wood Group CEO of Harland & Wolff said: “We are delighted to welcome Viking Sky, Sun and Sea to our facilities in Belfast, this is the first time we have had three cruise vessels docked in Harland & Wolff for many decades. Harland & Wolff was once a market-leader in this sector and this is a title we are keen to hold again. On the doorstep of the Mediterranean, the UK is in a prime location for refits, conversions and revitalizations. With our vast facilities set in 85 acres, we can handle several large cruise ships concurrently, as demonstrated by the arrival of three vessels from Viking for minor repairs and upgrade works.

Another photo of the Viking Sun, Sea and Sky in Belfast shipyard.

Viking Orion's last seven days in the middle of the South China Sea between Hong Kong and the Philippines.  I guess now I know what the "High Seas" is!  The difference between the starting point of this seven day journey is less than 50 miles from today's location.

25 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

OMG! an entire 4 month contract slow steaming to nowhere. Although it sounds like easy work, for the watchkeepers, it is extremely boring and results in the contract really dragging on.

 

If they do remain unassigned until 11th November, they will need to dock/anchor for stores & bunkers at least once. They may also have a number of crew changes. Unfortunately, those remaining onboard probably won't get shore leave.

Based on your comments the reason they may be "tooling around" in the South China Sea may be to change out or pick up crew in the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia  and other South Pacific  spots during their four months on the "High Seas" and before they start cruises again for real.

Looking at CharTrav's combined cruise schedule ( https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0h7vvslptkwg2n/Viking Ocean Cruises (2020 to 2022).xlsm?dl=0 ), it appears the Viking Orion does not have a cruise scheduled until November 11, 2020 (Australia and New Zealand Cruise).   Does this mean that this ship will just continue sailing the "High Seas" as it is doing now for the next four months with no one but a minimum crew on-board!!!  Viking Orion is the only ship currently showing no scheduled sailings in October, 2020.

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

The Orion is back at sea, having departed HK anchorage. Destination is listed as "High Seas"

What does "High Seas" mean as a destination?

53 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

It could be COVID mods.  I was reading about the changes that Norwegian is making, specifically around the medical center.  They are adding isolation rooms and greatly expanding their supplies around testing, vaccines, oxygen equipment, etc.  They are also adding a new position, public health officer, who will be oversee the new training and monitoring efforts.

I believe all Viking Ocean Ships have an ICU equipped medical room.

What about Cammell Laird Shipyard as a destination?  They don't refit many Cruise Ships but I believe they have the capability. If Viking wants to get these three ships all refitted by September, maybe three ships at one time was more than Harland & Wolff could schedule with their other commitments to Stena.

Nothing new here but still interesting in these two news articles: 

1) https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/harland-wolff-makes-turnaround-with-cruise-and-ferry-refits

2) https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23168-cruise-ship-repairs-start-at-harland-wolff-yard-eyes-newbuilds.html

2 hours ago, JeriGail said:

Maybe it's taking a long loop South and then will circle back around to Douglas?

Where do you find the destination information?  I'm using Cruise Mapper for the location.

I use Vessel Finder.   The Viking Sun has turned east from its previous path and now appears to be headed toward the Isle of Man.   I believe Chengkp75 is correct, as he usually is, and the Sun was discharging bilge water before heading to Douglas.

39 minutes ago, JeriGail said:

Now it looks like the Sun is headed to Dublin.

Its destination is shown as Douglas, Isle of Man with an ETA of 7 am on July 2nd but it sure looks like it's headed toward Dublin. 

5 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not really.  The doctors onboard are typically ER or general practitioners, not epidemiologists, which is why they don't hold too much responsibility in the shipboard organization that deals with ship sanitation.  The medical department can deal with the results of a noro or covid outbreak, dealing with the patients medically, but training for the crew falls to others.  Why?  First, supervisors receive training from epidemiologists and public health inspectors from the USPH, the former who know how diseases transmit, and the latter who know how hospitality service actually works and how to mitigate what the epidemiologists point out as the transmission vectors in the actual routines of hospitality.  Those supervisors then train the crew.  Trying to rely on one person to oversee the training of up to 2000 crew is just not feasible.

 

When I was on cruise ships, we did an "in house" USPH inspection every week.  This was conducted by supervisors who had been trained by USPH in their sanitation procedures.  This inspection involved over 30 supervisors, typically in teams of two, inspecting every area of the ship.  The teams were set up to include one supervisor who worked in the area being inspected, so they knew the area, equipment, and personnel, and one supervisor who had nothing to do with that department, who looked at the area's operations with "outside eyes" to see things that the normal supervisor may have gone blind to.  Now, this was for contact types of transmissions mainly (noro, e. coli, botulism, pests, etc), and works very well, as the crew deal with this on a daily basis, to the point where it becomes second nature to them (washing hands, proper dish stacking, etc, etc).

 

The problem with an airborne pathogen is that most remediation methods are just not feasible in daily life (would you have ever accepted wearing a face mask and staying 6 feet from someone if there was no covid virus?), so training in this area would have to come during off duty hours, and the training would not result in the "muscle memory" that daily repetition gives, so this is why I feel that a team from corporate or a government, that is trained in containing disease outbreaks needs to be on standby to fly to whatever ship has a problem, with equipment, to initiate protocols, and to start up the procedures that the crew have already been trained on (but may not be proficient in), and stay onboard to wander and check on how the crew are doing and to immediately correct things, or to remove crew who may have been compromised.

Thanks again for taking the time to help educate some of us on the challenges of dealing with an airborne pathogen on a cruise ship!