Viking Ocean - Combined Cruise Schedule

[PeabodyMa]

@CharTrav  Do you know when Viking Polaris will be out of service for repairs, and when in April 2024 Polaris is expected to re-start cruises?

[CharTrav]

4 hours ago, PeabodyMa said:

@CharTrav  Do you know when Viking Polaris will be out of service for repairs, and when in April 2024 Polaris is expected to re-start cruises?

Sorry - don't know about either. News to me that she is scheduled for repairs. FYI - the "Find my Cruise" pages for VO and VE for sure and possibly (haven't checked) VR in 2026 are seriously out of whack. Viking is aware and their IT folks have been working on it since last weekend. Definitely works OK for 2024 and I think 2025. Don't know why it's taking so long to fix but it is. sigh...Until they do I can't check it for updates.

Edited February 12 by CharTrav

[CurlerRob]

15 hours ago, PeabodyMa said:

@CharTrav  Do you know when Viking Polaris will be out of service for repairs, and when in April 2024 Polaris is expected to re-start cruises?

Is 2024 a typo? Polaris is active in Antarctica right now and appears fully scheduled through the summer in the Great Lakes.

 

I'm unaware of any withdrawal for repairs - are you perhaps reacting to the past rogue wave incident (for which the repairs are long completed)? 🍺🥌

[PeabodyMa]

See Page 2 “Viking Polaris to be repaired soon” for Dec 2023 Report on window reinforcement recommendations.

 

Somewhere else, I read Polaris would have work done in Spring 2024, but I don’t recall where I read it. 

 

 

 

 

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, PeabodyMa said:

See Page 2 “Viking Polaris to be repaired soon” for Dec 2023 Report on window reinforcement recommendations.

 

Somewhere else, I read Polaris would have work done in Spring 2024, but I don’t recall where I read it. 

 

 

 

 

 

That thread can easily be confusing, as it was started in January 2023, following the wave incident. The Polaris damage was repaired shortly thereafter (hence the thread title).

 

The thread was restarted recently, when the Chief posted information from a report on the incident. The report makes various recommendations, but there are no mandated additional repairs in it. As well, in my brief review, Polaris' schedule from now through the summer does not appear to have any gaps. 🍺🥌

[CharTrav]

Have updated the spreadsheet and uploaded it to DropBox.  If you already have a copy, you know how to download a fresh copy of it (the link on the ReadMe page. If this is your first time to this thread, open this folder in my DropBox (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8pm1betyh91wlhf/AABBcPIWuqWJQtR5JrNSFOqMa?dl=0).

and download the file called "Viking Ocean & Expedition Cruises (2024 to 2026).xlsm"  No DropBox account required.

 

With regards to the changes since my last update on 27 Dec 23:

For VO:

* Cities of Antiquity replaces Cities of Antiquity & the Holy Land on the Star in 2024 and Feb 2025.  Itinerary modified to avoid ports in Cyprus & Israel.

* Viking World Cruise and Viking World Journey added for Sky in Dec 2025 and Jan 2026, respectively.

*  Iberian & Mediterranean Odyssey added for Saturn and Vela in Oct 2025.

*  Mediterranean Discoveries added as 15 day cruise on Vela in Jan 2026 (with 8 day Iconic Mediterranean and Iberian Explorer as segments within)

For VE:

* Added From the Arctic to Antarctica for Polaris in Sept 2026.

* Added two new Longitudinal World Cruises: 70 day LWC VI (Octantis) and 63 day LWC VII (Polaris) from BA to Milwaukee.

 

Please note the the "Find a Cruise" page (the one I use) is fixed for Viking Oceans but, unfortunately, NOT completely fixed for Viking Expeditions.  It's in a state of "mostly but not totally fixed"; a situation that drives me absolutely bonkers. It's clear their IT gang broke the dang thing.  It should have been completely fixed by now but it's not.  I decided to fire off ANOTHER email to Customer Relations about it and, for good measure, cc'd Chairman Hagen. Should prepare myself for a phone call tomorrow.

[CharTrav]

Just an update.  Response to my email was a call from Viking two days later, can't remember who.  Forgot to write down his name. Gave me assurances that not only would he pursue the issues I'd described in my detailed email but that there would be a server update, scheduled for last weekend.  Well...sadly.. the issue I reported is still there with "Find a Cruise" for VE -- cruises not being displayed in "Find a Cruise" but which, if you search for them by name, clearly are. Am referring to Chilean Fjords & Scenic Shores in Oct 2025 and Niagara & the Great Lakes for 2026 as a whole.  And now there's a really odd one for VO: Mediterranean Discoveries on the Vela in Jan 2026.  It was shown in Find a Cruise last week but as of  March 2nd (when I first checked) isn't.  If you search for it by name you find it is scheduled; however -- and this is the weird part -- only shows the airfare.  Which makes me think the cruise is still in flux and most definitely not available to be booked.  A true head scratcher.  Will keep checking and hold off firing off another email for at least another week.

[CharTrav]

FYI -- not a schedule update -- but just an announcement that I've posted the Viking Dailies from British Isles Explorer and Into the Midnight Sun that we did back to back last July.  Note that I regularly scan and post the Dailies from all the cruises we do with Viking -- be they Ocean, Expedition, or River.  Our first VE cruise is booked for next year.  These dailies are posted in the folders for each cruise contained in the following DropBox folders -- Ocean (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndlhq33ccwbdzs3/AAAGWLc9zZwNE6VU4WPTG9pba?dl=0),

Expedition (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9lrwpbdudm82hxr/AABzHx6LexrQf6imEklmM1aTa?dl=0 ) ,

and River (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gn6c0ksfrske43v/AAB7cWswBU83_6RY4DQ8vqLTa?dl=0).

 

Hope you all find this useful.  Will use this thread to share when I post Dailies from a recent cruise.

[CharTrav]

Decided to do my periodic check of the Viking Schedules and noticed changes that I'm still working my way through -- changes that affect cruises at the end of this year too.  When I finish -- will post.

[new2cruise]

Wow, CharTrav, this is AMAZING!  Thanks for all the work you do to put this together.

I noticed that you've been on the Austrailia-New Zealand cruise quite a few times.  We are scheduled to go on that cruise on the Orion.  It will be our first time to Australia and New Zealand.  Could you tell me the excursions that are not to be missed for a first-timer?  Also did you do any private excursions that you'd recommend?

 

Thank you!

[CharTrav]

12 minutes ago, new2cruise said:

Wow, CharTrav, this is AMAZING!  Thanks for all the work you do to put this together.

I noticed that you've been on the Austrailia-New Zealand cruise quite a few times.  We are scheduled to go on that cruise on the Orion.  It will be our first time to Australia and New Zealand.  Could you tell me the excursions that are not to be missed for a first-timer?  Also did you do any private excursions that you'd recommend?

 

Thank you!

Have only done Australia New Zealand once.  Will look over the excursions I did and get back to you. Only did Viking excursions btw - no private. Would highly recommend if you can afford it - the Tongarira Park and Best of Australia extensions. Were well worth it. We - fortunately - had the luxury of burning up a very large set of Future Cruise Vouchers. 

[island lady]

3 hours ago, CharTrav said:

Have only done Australia New Zealand once.  Will look over the excursions I did and get back to you. Only did Viking excursions btw - no private. Would highly recommend if you can afford it - the Tongarira Park and Best of Australia extensions. Were well worth it. We - fortunately - had the luxury of burning up a very large set of Future Cruise Vouchers. 

 

We are booked for that early next year.  Thanks!  

[CharTrav]

Have updated and uploaded the spreadsheet to DropBox.  If you already have a copy of it -- just use the link provided on the ReadMe tab.  If you don't -- use this link to download just the file (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/062f9aow9gvpfr9oruzji/Viking-Ocean-Expedition-Cruises-2024-to-2026.xlsm?rlkey=x2hrknzryauv1xd4b1ksji4op&dl=0) or this link to access the folder containing this file, along with other general viking materials(https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8pm1betyh91wlhf/AABBcPIWuqWJQtR5JrNSFOqMa?dl=0). No DropBox account required to access and download from.

 

Only VO has changed; no changes to VE.  Significant changes to Venus (2024 only) and Saturn that I think are in response to the conflict in Gaza, i.e. avoid passage through the Suez Canal. FYI:  World Cruises in 2024 and 2025 are routed around Africa; don't know when this change was made.

Venus:  Australia, Asia & the Mediterranean, Voyage of Marco Polo, Passage to India, Across the Bay of Bengal,and Bangkok, Bali & Beyond have been canceled. So far, no new cruises have been scheduled to carry the Venus from Athens to Bangkok to join South Pacific Sojourn on 25 Nov 2024. I'll keep an eye out for them btw.

Saturn: India & Europe Grand Passage and Passage to India have been canceled in 2024, 2025, and 2026 and replaced by Malta, Morocco & the Mediterranean (Dec 2024 , Jan 2025, Jan 2026);   Mediterranean Odyssey (Jan 2025, 2026); Mediterranean Antiquities, Iconic Western Mediterranean, and Journey to Antiquities (Dec 2025).

Neptune: Added a sailing of Panama Canal & the Pacific Coast in April 2025.

Yi Dun:  New cruises - Best of China (2024);  Classic China Discovery,  Best of China & Tibet, and Wonders of China & Tibet (2025).

 

Note: Canceled cruises on Venus and Saturn are still shown in the timeline (black shading of canceled sail month(s) and 1st Sail dates not deleted) to make it easier to visualize the changes. Will remove shading & 1st Sail dates the next time this spreadsheet is published.

 

 

 

[harbourside]

34 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Have updated and uploaded the spreadsheet to DropBox.  If you already have a copy of it -- just use the link provided on the ReadMe tab.  If you don't -- use this link to download just the file (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/062f9aow9gvpfr9oruzji/Viking-Ocean-Expedition-Cruises-2024-to-2026.xlsm?rlkey=x2hrknzryauv1xd4b1ksji4op&dl=0) or this link to access the folder containing this file, along with other general viking materials(https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8pm1betyh91wlhf/AABBcPIWuqWJQtR5JrNSFOqMa?dl=0). No DropBox account required to access and download from.

 

 

Venus:  Australia, Asia & the Mediterranean, Voyage of Marco Polo, Passage to India, Across the Bay of Bengal,and Bangkok, Bali & Beyond have been canceled. So far, no new cruises have been scheduled to carry the Venus from Athens to Bangkok to join South Pacific Sojourn on 25 Nov 2024. I'll keep an eye out for them btw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am booked on the Viking Venus  Sydney to Sydney January 20th 2025.  This is the continuation of Viking Venus cruises.  Should I be worried.

[CharTrav]

2 hours ago, harbourside said:

I am booked on the Viking Venus  Sydney to Sydney January 20th 2025.  This is the continuation of Viking Venus cruises.  Should I be worried.

Don't know. Am sure Viking would have contacted you by now,  If you are worried - contact them. I would start with the chat agent connected to MyVikingJourney.  

[millybess]

19 hours ago, harbourside said:

I am booked on the Viking Venus  Sydney to Sydney January 20th 2025.  This is the continuation of Viking Venus cruises.  Should I be worried.

We are on the cruise on Venus just before you.  We board in Auckland on the 6th of January.  I don't see a reason to be worried.  

[island lady]

We are also on the Venus 1/20/25 out of Sydney.  Have heard nothing from Viking.  A "no news is good news" thing hopefully.  We then connect to Orion the next day after we disembark in Sydney.  

[harbourside]

As the connecting cruises bringing Viking Venus to Australia have all been cancelled, they must be arranging to bring her down here via another route, the most logical being from Europe around Africa . l

 

[island lady]

I just hope they work something out.   I most definitely don't want to have my Aussie circumnavigation cruise cancelled.  That has happened twice now with RCI (once for Covid, but once for no reason at all well past restart)...and is the reason  we switched to Viking for that adventure.  

[millybess]

2 minutes ago, island lady said:

I just hope they work something out.   I most definitely don't want to have my Aussie circumnavigation cruise cancelled.  That has happened twice now with RCI (once for Covid, but once for no reason at all well past restart)...and is the reason  we switched to Viking for that adventure.  

I think it’s all good, and a missing piece in the schedule is nothing to worry about. It’s just today’s snapshot. Happy packing 😊

[island lady]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

I think it’s all good, and a missing piece in the schedule is nothing to worry about. It’s just today’s snapshot. Happy packing 😊

 

LOL...I am packing for the last quarter of RCI world cruise out of Barcelona next week.  😉 

[millybess]

4 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...I am packing for the last quarter of RCI world cruise out of Barcelona next week.  😉 

Barcelona is one of my favourites. Enjoy!!

[CharTrav]

1 hour ago, harbourside said:

As the connecting cruises bringing Viking Venus to Australia have all been cancelled, they must be arranging to bring her down here via another route, the most logical being from Europe around Africa . l

 

Given that the World Cruise in 2024 and 2025 is routed around Africa -- that would make sense.

[harbourside]

12 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Given that the World Cruise in 2024 and 2025 is routed around Africa -- that would make sense.

So, shortly they should be advertising some 1 off cruises via Africa.

 

Edited Monday at 10:08 PM by harbourside

[CharTrav]

On 6/29/2024 at 1:47 PM, new2cruise said:

Wow, CharTrav, this is AMAZING!  Thanks for all the work you do to put this together.

I noticed that you've been on the Austrailia-New Zealand cruise quite a few times.  We are scheduled to go on that cruise on the Orion.  It will be our first time to Australia and New Zealand.  Could you tell me the excursions that are not to be missed for a first-timer?  Also did you do any private excursions that you'd recommend?

 

Thank you!

You inspired me to go back to my pictures to remind me of what happened. Did a mixture of optional and included excursions.  Am basing this on notes I took at the time (keep a log using EverNote because I don't have to be connected to the Internet to record my notes).

Auckland - Sky Tower & Sea Life Aquarium
Note that I had signed up for the afternoon  included "City of Sails" but decided after the morning excursion, I was done for the day. Was a good excursion.  Saw many of the locations in a TV series I watch called "My Life is Murder" that is based in Auckland.  The Sky Tower and Sea Life Aquarium are really neat.  And yes -- people do Bungee Cord jump off that Tower! 

Rotorua - Geothermal Rotorua
This was another good one.  Up close and personal with geysers -- better than Old Faithful -- could feel the heat and smell the sulfur. Great cultural program starting with a Maori welcome ritual called powhiri.  Great dancing program.  Asked NOT to take pix except when the fellows were asked to come up and learn how to do the haka. 

Napier - Art Deco Drive (included)
This was a bit of a disappointment.   For reasons never explained our time in Napier was shortened to only 4 hrs in port.  As a consequence ALL the optional excursions were cancelled.  Viking adjusted the included excursion so that it only had 5 slots (had been 6) all in the afternoon 15 min apart.

Wellington - Seals & Wine
A long all day excursion in a ~15 passenger van over roads with lots of hills and curves.  Saw lots of seals -- babies and all at Cape Palliser.  Opportunity to climb up to the lighthouse at Cape Palliser.

 I didn't do it but if you're OK with climbing up gobs of stairs -- go for it.  Am sure I missed out on some great views.  Last stop was a really nice lunch & wine tasting at Moy Hall in Martinborough. Note that there were a number of other excursions that included lunch & wine tasting that afternoon in and near Martinborough so Moy Hall was what our group got.

Christ Church - High Country Explorer
This one was a lot of fun but remember NOT to wear nice shoes!  Beware of cow patties! Rode in a large 4x4 passenger van that navigated up and through farm fields and into the hills (some very tight roads). "Visited" with a number of farm animals - cows, sheep.  When you arrive in Australia you will have to answer questions regarding farm visits -- and assert to them that you didn't bring along any residue of that visit with you.  The excursion concluded with a wild air jet trip in the Waimakariri River Gorge.  Like an idiot I brought along one of my nicer cameras -- and spent a lot of time guarding it with the towel used by folks as they boarded the boat -- when the pilot would make these sweeping heart stopping turns.  When I wrote my notes about this excursion that evening -- "Think I'm still picking out the sand that sprayed on it!"  Fortunately -- the proprietors of Alpine Jet Thrills took pictures of us and then air-dropped them to us.  Here is one of them -- I'm the woman behind the pilot looking like she's holding on for dear life -- which I was while also guarding my very nice Nikon camera.

Dunedin - Penguin Beach at Nature's Wonders
Excursion started with a short visit to Downtown Dunedin (the "e" is pronounced like a long a with  emphasis on the middle syllable). Gorgeous drive out to the Royal Albatross Center after which we traveled to another seal beach.  The penguin beach was a bit of a disappointment but I don't fault them for that -- it's the way it is.   Went on another wild drive in a jeep over the hills at Nature's Wonders. In this case, I didn't even try to take any pix -- the jeep was an experience of billows of dust and general bouncing and holding on even more for dear life.  Enjoyed the day.

Hobart - Richmond & Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary
An all day tour started out with some issues with our coach that was struggling to make it up hills.  Ignoring the issue with the coach -- our first stop was in the town of Richmond. -  pretty little town with good places to buy ice cream cones.  From there it was off to the Wildlife Sanctuary.  We had a lot of fun there.  My husband got into feeding the kangaroos who were everywhere. Trying to pen them in was an exercise in futility.

 Lots of other animal including cute wombats. After a short guided tour we were left on our own to wander thru the park on our own. Note: the description of this excursion says it includes a 2 course lunch and wine tasting.  I'm struggling to recall if we did have that lunch -- we probably did because we had to have lunch but I didn't bother to take any pix there.  Am quite sure it was good.

Melbourne - Train, Wine & Wildlife
The Puffing Billy train ride was a lot of fun.  Our visit to the Healesville Sanctuary was another fun experience.  We were left on our own to wander about. Lots of other animals with more focus on large birds.

Sydney - Photographic Walking Workshop
This was a very small -- less than 10 of us -- excursion  I found it useful and interesting.  The guide we had was great. If you're into photography -- well worth it.