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grooker

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Posts posted by grooker

    Mars passenger demographic

    in Viking Ocean

    Posted

    We were also on the same Panama transit cruise 3 weeks ago.  We did notice that it

    was an older demographic.  I would estimate the average age at 70+.  Our other 2

    Viking cruises were in the eastern Caribbean and has definitely a younger crowd.

    As far as the dress it was a tropical weather climate and passengers were dressed

    accordingly and not a problem.   By the way it was a wonderful cruise maybe our best yet.  We have been on 10 and are in our 60's.

    • Like 3

    Cancelling Alaska Land Cruise Due to Lack of Clear Information/Policy

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

    The honest answer is they don’t know.  No one knows.  Much will change soon for US travelers perhaps but Canada is very uncertain and there is no clarity.   If an imminent decision is needed say no.  
     

    I have a Canadian cruise with my sis this summer and her situation is also difficult.  I don’t see any travel filling up anytime soon so we decided we will likely cancel before payment and reschedule closer to the date. 
     

    The cruise lines and tour operators wringing hands and exclaiming, oh this is hard

    we do not know what to do is simply UNACCEPTABLE.

    They should MAKE CONTINGENCY PLANS anyway for pre-order cruise

    covid testing, publish it, stand by it, change it if needed but HAVE A PLAN.

    Sick of this.

    1 hour ago, julia said:

    While many replies here have been helpful, the bottom line is the OP had a valid and straightforward question for HAL that was NOT answered by HAL.  Despite the ever changing covid landscape, the question was simple...  how to test prior to boarding?   I sympathize with the OP's frustration in not getting an answer from the source!

    Thank you. Hank.  Your wisdom and perspective is truly appreciated.

    We are much less experienced travelers and therefore less risk tolerant.

    However, the travel agency we booked with could have did a better

    job of giving us at least a shred of a tentative plan and that they would

    take care of us.  But to tell us that may have fi nd our own

    cOvid tests somewhere downtown Anchorage was simply appalling

    and unacceptable.  We are sure Holland America would have been more

    forthcoming and prepared, but they were not managing the pre-cruise

    land tour.  We are just not comfortable sending in $8k final payment in

    the current unstable and unpredictable environment.  Thanks.

     

     

     

    Land Tour pre-cruise Covid test

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    At this

    point we do not care who is responsible for arranging the testing.

    What we do care about is that we are not going to give anyone $8k until we ha ve coherent and specific answers as to how and when pre-cruise testing, which is in

     the middle of a land tour, will happen.  

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Land Tour pre-cruise Covid test

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    NO.  The cruise tour was booked via a travel agent or tour

    company based in California who are managing the land

    tours during which we will need a pcr 48 hours before we

    can get On the HAL ship.  This part of the trip has nothing

    to do with HAL.  They have no plan and will not have one

    until 60 days before the trip MAYBE.  Yet they want our

    $8k now.  That is why we are distressed.

     

    Cancelling Alaska Land Cruise Due to Lack of Clear Information/Policy

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    Sadly, we decided to cancel our June 2 Alaska land/cruise (land first day 1-4) out of Anchorage.

    I spent the last 2 days on the phone with the tour operator, our travel agent and Holland America

    trying to get clarity on how we will get valid COVID pcr tests on day 2 or

    3 while in Denali or Anchorage so that we can board the Noordam on day 4, southbound to Vancouver.

    No one can tell us anything or they will not know until 60-90 days from embarkation, but our full payment is due

    100 days before embarkation.    Our travel agent just said they will just give us a list of places in Anchorage

    that you can get the test.  In other words, we may be entirely on our own. 

    We were floored and lost total confidence in the lack of at least a rudimentary or plausible plan.

    We booked this cruise 6 months ago and realize policies have not been set or are changing literally daily.

    We have not made full payment and will take our deposit as a FCC and re-schedule next year maybe. 

    Not sure what else to do.  Any suggestions or reassurance will be appreciated. 

    grooker

    • Thanks 1

    Land Tour pre-cruise Covid test

    in Holland America Line

    Posted

    We decided to cancel this same cruise for this very reason.  I spent the past 2 days on the

    phone to Holland America and tour operator and no one can tell us how we will get

    a valid pcr test in Denali or Anchorage (day 2 or 3) so we can board the this on day 4.

    Do not feel comfortable with this, will take FCC for our deposit, full payment not due

    until 2/22/22.

    Gary and Nancy R.

    New to Viking Question

    in Viking Ocean

    Posted

    We booked a January 2023 Mississippi river cruise.  We were

    able to extend final payment upon request until February

    2021 or 23 months before embarkation.  The Viking

    rep was sympathetic but would not budge.  I contacted

    several travel agents and they could not do better.  This

    is how they do business take it or leave it.  They sell out

    their ships.  They will sell out these new river cruise ships

    in the next several months for 2022-23.  So we have to

    accept this policy to sail.  They have no reason to change

    this policy.

    Gary and Nancy

    Virginia

    • Thanks 1

    Thoughts on First Viking Cruise

    in Viking Ocean

    Posted

    I agree with your assessment. We greatly

    enjoyed all aspects of our first Viking cruise

    to the West Indies this past January. We

    can't wait until the next one

    Gary and Nancy R

    Blacksburg, VA

    We just returned from “The Trade Route of the Middle Ages” voyage on the Viking Star. This was our first Viking cruise so I thought I would share some thoughts. Our previous cruise history includes numerous voyages on HAL, Celebrity, and Princess. In 2017 we sailed Oceania on the Riviera. Our particular cruise was recently reviewed by another member, so I thought I would just provide some general impressions, rather than including a discussion about the ports.

     

    I must say that, overall, we were very pleased. The Star really is a well designed ship. The service onboard far exceeded any of our prior cruises. The attention to detail was very noticeable. Our favorite venue was the Explorers Lounge which was a great place to listen to music nightly before dinner. In general, the quality of the food was excellent. We ate at Manfredi’s on 3 occasions and enjoyed it very much.

     

    I mentioned that the service was excellent. We were surprised when we disembarked that there were at least 10 Viking associates, positioned along the exit path, to guide us as we left the ship. Upon entering the terminal, there were people with signs pointing in the direction of our luggage. When we located our luggage, they were taken by local teenagers, acting as porters, to our awaiting bus. A Viking representative then boarded our bus and accompanied us to the airport to see that we went to the proper lines for check-in. All were noticeably identified by red Viking colors. We were really surprised as on other cruises you were generally on your own when you exited the ship.

     

    Another surprise was the level of entertainment. The cruise director, Nolan Dean, really made you feel welcomed. The assistant cruise director, Brian Rodriguez, was an amazing singer and performed in his own show one evening. All three of the in-house musical performers were excellent. We really enjoyed the classical trio as they performed in several venues nightly.

     

    Viking will probably be our favored line going forward. We booked another cruise while onboard; something we have never done before. They are expanding rapidly, so I do hope they can maintain the quality. I find the expansion interesting as, to my knowledge, Oceania has no new builds scheduled. Viking is opening a 3rd U. S. location in Tempe, Az this month. It will be only a 10 minute drive from the Phoenix airport. I suspect, this is only my opinion, that sometime in the future one of the other sites (California and Massachusetts) might be consolidated in Tempe as the cost of doing business is less expensive.

     

    One last thought concerns the classical trio. A Viking staff member mentioned that the contract with European talent agency used to provide the classical musicians is being discontinued. An American agency will be taking its place. The plans include reducing the group to just two musicians from the current three. That just seems like a totally unnecessary change. The current arrangement seems to work so well, that it just seems like a poor decision to reduce the number of musicians.

    Another interesting item: Canada’s Discovery channel was onboard filming an episode for The Might Cruises. All were very friendly and unobtrusive.

    Tell Me Why.....

    in Viking Ocean

    Posted

    We took our first cruise on the Viking Sea cruise in January in the West Indies. We

    have been on 4 other cruise lines. We enjoyed it

    so much that we have little interest in booking other cruise lines for future cruises.

     

    Gary and Nancy R.

    Getaway AFT facing balconies

    in Norwegian Cruise Line

    Posted

    We found the aft rooms much quieter. The Getaway is 1083 ft long.

    It does take a few minutes to walk from the aft to the bow or forward

    to the theater for example. You are maybe about 200 feet from the aft

    stairways and elevators. You do have a little more motion in the aft which

    we enjoy. I would say once you go aft you don't go back. Enjoy.

     

    G. Rooker

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