molymoo

This has probably been covered but my mind is boggled.  If we are doing a Viking extension prior to embarkation who will look and and assess the "validity" of our pre-flight tests.  We have multiple options for getting this testing done and the prices range from "nominal" to $300.00 each.  We are going to Oslo then to Bergen to board and Norway does not require any testing at this point ... certainly don't want to spend $600 if one of the more nominal ones will do.  

9 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

When it comes to insurance, it isn't just about price; it's about what you get for that price. Read the contracts carefully so that you understand what you are buying -- and what you aren't buying.

 

One thing to understand about getting the Viking insurance is that your refund is in the form of a voucher towards another cruise on Viking. If you buy your own insurance, you get cash. 

 

Personally, I don't want a voucher, I want cash if i have to cancel.

 

 

We have always used the Viking insurance (actually Trip Mate ... they work with Viking they are not owned by Viking) will refund cash if the reason for cancelling is medical.  We cancelled our first VO cruise in 2015 for medical reasons and we received a full refund ... 50% from Viking which was credited back to our checking account within two weeks of our email request and the rest (minus what we paid for the insurance of course) within a month of our initial contact with Viking.  The cruise vouchers come with the "cancel for any reason" waiver and I believe is offered by Viking for those that insure with Trip Mate.  

5 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Bergen to Oslo did leave around 2PM, but OP is asking about Oslo>Bergen.

I am well aware of that ... I was simply trying to illustrate the fact that one cannot be sure of the time they will book the train for your extension ... on either route.  I have done this extension twice and once we left Bergen at about 8:30 and another time we went on the 10:30 train.  It is going to depend on what Viking is able to "book in bulk".  Thank you for correcting me though.

Used to be the early one but recently have read reports of some leaving at the mid- morning (10:00 ish) and one person reported leaving from Bergen to Oslo at 2:00 in the afternoon! 😮

And … call housekeeping and request some ice.  They’ll bring a bucket full and your stewards will fill twice a day!

Not sure about the beer but they will certainly fill with your choice of spirits and “soft” drinks. There are four small (airplane size) spirits … gin, vodka, whiskey, and something else … we requested just gin and tonic and one Diet Coke.  They happily complied!  

3 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

This is all spelled out on the Viking website - "Why Viking" -> "Explore Safely". It's all there.

And in MVJ in the “Before You Go” section.  This gets updated regularly and even more detail is added as the cruise date nears.

12 hours ago, eel said:

I tested positive on April 18th on Viking Orion. My wife was also injured in an avoidable accident on the cruise. Here is a summary of what happened 

 

On Day 2 of the cruise, we went to the Explorer's Dome for the Whales and Dolphin's show that we had booked for 3 PM. When we go there a few minutes early, people outside said the show had started about 20 minutes before 3 PM. The group that arrived were surprised. We all went in to get seats. While in the dark theater, my wife Petra fell down the three steps in the rear. There was nothing blocking the steps. After the show, Petra realized she was pretty badly injured. The guy running the show took her to medical. He admitted he had messed up by starting the show way too early. Although X-rays were negative, she was in a lot of pain. She could only walk with crutches for a few days. After that she could use a cane and still has trouble walking. She saw her doctor and may get an MRI this week.

 

While in medical, the doctor told me he was looking for me! Apparently my April 18 COVID test was inconclusive. They test in groups of 4 and one of the samples was positive. They sent me back to my cabin while they tested all four samples individually.

 

I told the doctor I had a recovery letter and emailed him a copy. He told me it was no longer valid as they are only good for 90 days and it was day 91 from my prior infection. A while later the doctor called and said I was the positive test. I had to move to an isolation cabin for the duration of the cruise. My injured, immobile wife had to quarantine in our original cabin for 5 days assuming she continued to test negative. She always tested negative and was released on day 6.

 

Needless to say, we were in shock. I felt fine and had zero symptoms the entire cruise. I kept asking the nurse (who checked me daily) how my subsequent tests were going. She said nothing had changed.

 

On the last day of the cruise, the nurse brought me a "recovery letter" from the doctor along with my positive test report from April 18 and my final test from April 24th. I was shocked that my final test was negative. It is very common to test positive on a PCR for weeks or months after being infected. I asked the nurse to bring me all of my tests. After some pushback, they brought them. I was further shocked to see that after April 18 there were no positive test results! I find this incredible. All the facts point to a false positive.

 

In any case, we made it home fine after the cruise. I took a nasal swab PCR test the next day and that was also negative. When I actually had COVID in January (mild case) I tested positive on a PCR test for at least 5 weeks! No way I would be negative after one day.

 

On board I had spoken to the guest services manager about requesting a refund. She asked through internal channels but was told I should make a formal request to customer relations when I got home. I put together a detailed letter explaining everything and included supporting documentation, including all the negative test reports. 

 

Just today Customer Relations contacted me and said my request for a refund was denied. They offered a partial Future Cruise Credit which we have no interest in. 

 

I asked that this be appealed to management. They agreed to do that. On my own I forwarded my original email to the director of customer relations, the VP of customer contact and the CEO. I have also contacted a Maritime Attorney to see if I have a case.

 

We are one and done with Viking.

I will agree with others that this is an appalling story and you have made some very serious accusations against Viking.  If it is true I wish you well in your endeavors to make things right but ... call me a skeptic ... I am thinking that your story is just that ... a story.  

On 5/6/2022 at 11:18 AM, Australia08 said:

 

Actually for our 17 day Panama Canal cruise last November that I transferred to a TA, we got $1000 in OBC for excursions, etc. I think that was quite a perk!

That was quite a perk and again, if you have a relationship with a TA that you know and trust, great!  But even a hefty OBC will lose it's worth pretty quickly if you pick an agent for the perk and he/she happens to be a loser.  For every "quite a perk" there is a horror story ... just know what you're getting into.

56 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Back up. Worthless, but back up.

Isn’t here!

We always book directly with Viking … mainly because we do not have a TA we know, have a working relationship with and would trust with the details of our trips.  Many people have agents they know and trust and they do enjoy some perks … but if you don’t already have one that you are comfortable with I wouldn’t jump into anything hoping to reap great rewards.  TA “perks” are limited by their agreements with Viking so you’re not missing that much really.

8 hours ago, duquephart said:

A view expressed elsewhere is that Viking, having spent so much installing the labs, will now stubbornly refuse to quit using them.

Set up costs aside … daily testing of passengers and (maybe) crew must be a significant ongoing expense.

30 minutes ago, austinetc said:

Word of warning. I booked three nights in specialty restaurants on MyVkingJourney. When I appeared for the first reservation (two nights ago), the ship's system had no record of it. Showing them my email confirmation got us a seat. I subsequently checked my other bookings and again the ship had no record. But they made them for us. The point, keep your confirmation handy.

Same thing happened to us!  But we weren't able to get seated even with the confirmation.  We did eventually get two seatings at times that worked for us but that was it.

32 minutes ago, CGinMTL said:

When possible,  if you do tip. You should be using the currency of the country. Usd is not widely used in Europe 

Of course … I did qualify the statement with “when we HAVE to”.  Better $$$ than nothing which is all to often what seems to happen on tours. 

40 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

Why would you have to use US dollars to tip anywhere outside the US? I've worked out that breakeven conversion for us is 10 US to sterling. 20 US is the minimum we would consider worth the hassle

We have been on 18 Viking cruises and some have covered as many as eight different countries and eight different currencies!  Yes, it IS possible to occasionally be stuck with no other option but to tip in dollars.  When we do we try to make sure that we cover any costs both monetary and work wise for them.  These are travel savvy people and most foreign cities that promote tourism have a plethora of exchange facilities and many of our tour guides well know the ones that are honest and reasonable.  
How nice for you to have always been able to manage! 

When we have had to use US dollars to tip we will add enough to compensate the guide or driver for the costs of exchanging the money … and of course look at the conversion chart to insure the amount is appropriate!

It’s been crazy for several days.  It was “locked for updates” when I tried to login on my phone but it opened on my laptop with no problem.  It was “down for maintenance” several times yesterday but my daughter was able to open on her end without difficulty,  Nothing appears to have changed throughout this process.  

On 4/24/2022 at 5:45 PM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

The ship system and MyViking.COM are not connected.   You will have to provide much of the same information again at the port.  
 

Checking in on Viking takes longer than on most other cruise lines.     Be ready for a wait.  

 

 

Interesting … pre-Covid Viking check in was remarkably quick and easy.  How things have changed!

We are booked on a British Isles Cruise starting July 1st and as yet no excursions are posted.  Booking windows for most categories of cabins have passed so I can only assume that it will be "every man for himself" once they are open.  Hate that, but hope that they post them in time to book private tours if we are unable to get anything but the included ones when they post.  There seem to be some problems with the specialty dining too ... it is the first day we can book and neither Manfredis or the Chefs Table show any availability before 9:00 PM on any of the 16 days!  Hoping it is a glitch and will hawk it for a few hours before I contact Viking.

8 hours ago, millybess said:

Zero

Or … for our friend “duquephart” … the use of the laundry facility is included in the cost of your cruise so no additional charges apply. 

We hear of this happening frequently and it always seems to be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.  Watch MVJ as things are ever evolving there.  

We have received two complimentary upgrades we did not request.    Both were from PV to PJS and we received notice of the change about a week before our departure.  Have never been offered an upgrade we would have to pay for but probably wouldn’t consider it unless it was an ES and that might be more dependent on location.

Generally you can book excursions a week before you choose specialty dining.  BUT … things aren’t necessarily what they should be right now.  It will largely depend on your specific cruise.  
We are booked on a British Isles cruise that leaves Bergen on July 1.  They have yet to post the excursions available for booking.  We are (as of today) 82 days to departure.  Those booked in PJS (for example) should have been able to book excursions on day 87 and will make specialty dining reservations two days from now … booking for the Restaurant has already opened for everyone.
 It will be difficult to know what time to book dining based on excursion times.  We’re just going to have to be sure that our dining is booked (as much as possible) after the ship is scheduled to leave each port.  

83 days!  British Isles Explorer … just waiting for excursions to be posted!  

Tipping is tricky and while one should always try to tip in local currency it is sometimes difficult … we have been on cruises where more than seven different currencies were in play.  
Generally the cruise director will address money issues at the evening briefing (rivers) and port talks (oceans).  There are many ports where dollars are welcome but they will generally know … and where to get local currency if needed.  
For pounds and euros we make a stop at the currency exchange in our airport and get an assortment of bills specifically with tipping in mind.  They are happy to give us smaller denominations which are easier to work with.  It’s nice to have it before you go … easy to tip the driver who picks you up at the airport!  
in Norway, other than tipping you will use a credit card … it’s that expensive and everyone uses them for just about everything!