Viking Ocean - Combined Cruise Schedule

[CharTrav]

On 8/22/2024 at 10:48 PM, CharTrav said:

How about a pale hot pink? 

FYI - looked up Mira in Wiktionary and while it may be a hot chili pepper it is also the name of a binary star in the constellation Cetus, a winter constellation in the northern sky resembling a whale. Thus the name Cetus. Given that I’ve already established the color code for Mira to be a pale hot pink and have no idea what color to associate with a whale other than black or deep blue - will leave what I’ve done as is. 😉

Edited August 25 by CharTrav

[OneSixtyToOne]

8 hours ago, CharTrav said:

have no idea what color to associate with a whale other than black or deep blue

Gray Whale ring a bell?

[CharTrav]

3 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Gray Whale ring a bell?

Oooo!  Yeah!  May look better for sure. Hot pink is a bit jarring to look at in the chart next to all the other muted colors. Thanks! Will make that change. 

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, CharTrav said:

Oooo!  Yeah!  May look better for sure. Hot pink is a bit jarring to look at in the chart next to all the other muted colors. Thanks! Will make that change. 

 

Too bad Vela is white already - white would also have been a fit from Beluga whales (or Ahab's nemesis). Could always flip them ... 🍺🥌

[CharTrav]

3 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

Too bad Vela is white already - white would also have been a fit from Beluga whales (or Ahab's nemesis). Could always flip them ... 🍺🥌

I actually made Vela more of a creamy white. I could have done some shade of blue but I already have a blue for Sky and blue based shade for Octantis. Have to pick something that is easily distinguishable from the other ships. Just like I've trained my eye to recognize the pictures used for each of the ships so I don't have to actually read what ship is used for each sailing while I go thru the VO dates & pricing page. 

[CharTrav]

On 8/26/2024 at 1:52 AM, CharTrav said:

I actually made Vela more of a creamy white. I could have done some shade of blue but I already have a blue for Sky and blue based shade for Octantis. Have to pick something that is easily distinguishable from the other ships. Just like I've trained my eye to recognize the pictures used for each of the ships so I don't have to actually read what ship is used for each sailing while I go thru the VO dates & pricing page. 

OK OK I decided to change the color of Mira again to a blue gray. 

[millybess]

2 hours ago, CharTrav said:

OK OK I decided to change the color of Mira again to a blue gray. 

Blue whale, grey whale.  Good choice!🙂

[CharTrav]

OK -- took a while -- many many changes to respond to the inability of Venus to use the Suez Canal.  Please refer to the Log Notes tab for details on all the changes. As I've written and read on another CCF, Venus will deadhead from its last cruise in the Med around the southern trip of Africa to Singapore.  From here Venus will spend 2025 and 2026 cruising in the Pacific, including taking over the cruises the Sea had been scheduled to do .  To make this work, the Sea is now scheduled to cruise between the West Indies and the Med -- taking over the cruises that Venus had been scheduled to do in the Med and will continue this through 2026. And -- as I've already written -- Viking will be launching a new ship called the Mira in June 2026.There were a few changes to the Star (in response to the situation in Gaza) and some tweaks to Saturn,Jupiter, Sky, Orion, Neptune, and Yi Dun. No changes to Mars, Vela, and Vesta.

 

I also need to apologize for not having caught the major changes to Venus and Sea earlier. My typical method for detecting changes in Viking's cruise schedule failed me. It's not able to handle re-deployments; it presumes once a ship is assigned to a cruise sailing - the most that happens is either the cruise itself is cancelled or the sail dates are changed, the ship assigned to it doesn't change.  So all I normally do is check various kinds of counts (cruises per year & month; cruise sailings per year & month) to detect changes. Bottom line -- this time I did more -- checked what ship was assigned to each cruise sailing after which I went through all my usual count checks.

 

So, as before -- if you already have a copy of the spreadsheet, use the link on the ReadMe tab to download a fresh copy.  If you don't, download the spreadsheet called "Viking Ocean & Expedition Cruises (2024 to 2026).xlsm" from my DropBox folder (no account required) -- https://www.dropbox.com/sh/8pm1betyh91wlhf/AABBcPIWuqWJQtR5JrNSFOqMa?dl=0

 

 

[midwife]

Venus&Orion Hong Kong to Vancouver 

Apparently Venus will be doing this cruise next May. We are cut booked on the Orion Vancouver to Hong Kong in September. I have checked the web site both ships are listed doing the cruise leaving Hong Kong on the same date with the exact same cabins in the PV1 class listed. Thought it was strange. CharTrav can you clarify please? 

[OneSixtyToOne]

29 minutes ago, midwife said:

Venus&Orion Hong Kong to Vancouver 

Apparently Venus will be doing this cruise next May. We are cut booked on the Orion Vancouver to Hong Kong in September. I have checked the web site both ships are listed doing the cruise leaving Hong Kong on the same date with the exact same cabins in the PV1 class listed. Thought it was strange. CharTrav can you clarify please? 

We just booked the Venus from Hong Kong to Tokyo. It departs on April 3rd, 2025. Orion leaves May 2nd.

 

Edited September 12 by OneSixtyToOne

[midwife]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We just booked the Venus from Hong Kong to Tokyo. It departs on April 3rd, 2025. Orion leaves May 2nd.

 

Thanks. I have sent a note to our Viking rep to see what is available 

Edited September 13 by midwife

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 hours ago, midwife said:

Thanks. I have sent a note to our Viking rep to see what is available 

FYI the Venus April sailing for the Hong Kong - Tokyo leg is on sale with promo code ASM24. Not sure if Venus is going to Vancouver. I don’t see it on the website yet. The ship was just added to the schedule and as of today there are only a few dozen cabins taken.

[midwife]

32 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

FYI the Venus April sailing for the Hong Kong - Tokyo leg is on sale with promo code ASM24. Not sure if Venus is going to Vancouver. I don’t see it on the website yet. The ship was just added to the schedule and as of today there are only a few dozen cabins taken.

Thanks for the code. We are in Australia so not sure if we can use that code, but will try. On the web site it was showing the HK to Vancouver on Venus but will wait and see what our TA with Viki g says. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

8 hours ago, midwife said:

Thanks for the code. We are in Australia so not sure if we can use that code, but will try. On the web site it was showing the HK to Vancouver on Venus but will wait and see what our TA with Viki g says. 

 

Interesting that it is showing on the Australian website but not the US. 
Maybe because you’re a day ahead of us in California 😉

[wolfie11]

I’m looking at the Venus from Tokyo to Vancouver North Pacific Passage cruise April 17-May 11, 2025.  

Edited September 13 by wolfie11

[island lady]

16 hours ago, midwife said:

Venus&Orion Hong Kong to Vancouver 

Apparently Venus will be doing this cruise next May. We are cut booked on the Orion Vancouver to Hong Kong in September. I have checked the web site both ships are listed doing the cruise leaving Hong Kong on the same date with the exact same cabins in the PV1 class listed. Thought it was strange. CharTrav can you clarify please? 

 

We are doing the Hong Kong to Vancouver in 2026.  Looking forward to it.  🥰

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 hours ago, wolfie11 said:

I’m looking at the Venus from Tokyo to Vancouver North Pacific Passage cruise April 17-May 11, 2025.  

That sailing is not listed on the U.S. website 

[Lilyskittymom]

But if you look at the itineraries that Venus sails, both the North Pacific Passage and Far East Horizons come up - even though they only show the dates for Orion.  Looks like they haven't updated everything yet.

[midwife]

34 minutes ago, Lilyskittymom said:

But if you look at the itineraries that Venus sails, both the North Pacific Passage and Far East Horizons come up - even though they only show the dates for Orion.  Looks like they haven't updated everything yet.

That’s how I found it also. Still waiting for my Viking TA to get back to me. 

[wolfie11]

If you look at the Alaska port schedule it shows the Sea (now the Venus) arriving in Vancouver on May 11. We know she’s arriving in Tokyo on April 17, so those would be the dates for the North Pacific Passage.

 

Edited Saturday at 03:58 AM by wolfie11

[OneSixtyToOne]

57 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

If you look at the Alaska port schedule it shows the Sea (now the Venus) arriving in Vancouver on May 11. We know she’s arriving in Tokyo on April 17, so those would be the dates for the North Pacific Passage.

It’s quite odd that there is no Tokyo-Vancouver segment listed for Venus on the website yet. The website has the Seward to Vancouver May 11-21 segment listed. Maybe they want to open the Alaska cruise first and see what the availability will be?

Edited Saturday at 04:48 AM by OneSixtyToOne

[island lady]

That's odd that I was able to book 2026 months ago for Orion Hong Kong to Vancouver already.  

Apparently it is the 2025 schedules in question?  

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 01:58 PM by island lady

[OneSixtyToOne]

37 minutes ago, island lady said:

That's odd that I was able to book 2026 months ago for Orion Hong Kong to Vancouver already.  

Apparently it is the 2025 schedules in question?  

 

 

 

 

Venus was only recently moved to this itinerary after the Red Sea situation is forcing her to sail from the Mediterranean to Singapore without passengers later this year. There still is no Tokyo extension listed for the April 2025 sailing so there must be a logistical issue or some other problem like crew availability or provisioning contracts. It’s entirely possible, but unlikely, she sails from Tokyo to Alaska without passengers. We shall see but it’s 7 months away and that doesn’t seem enough time to book enough people for a long, expensive,Tokyo to Vancouver cruise.

Edited Saturday at 02:35 PM by OneSixtyToOne

[island lady]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Venus was only recently moved to this itinerary after the Red Sea situation is forcing her to sail from the Mediterranean to Singapore without passengers later this year. There still is no Tokyo extension listed for the April 2025 sailing so there must be a logistical issue or some other problem like crew availability or provisioning contracts. It’s entirely possible, but unlikely, she sails from Tokyo to Alaska without passengers. We shall see but it’s 7 months away and that doesn’t seem enough time to book enough people for a long, expensive,Tokyo to Vancouver cruise.

 

Indeed, just came off of a 3 month cruise that had many changes and cancellations.  "Poop" happens I guess.  Hoping all goes well with our 2026 Hong Kong to Vancouver cruise...looking forward to it!  

 

 

[wolfie11]

6 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Venus was only recently moved to this itinerary after the Red Sea situation is forcing her to sail from the Mediterranean to Singapore without passengers later this year. There still is no Tokyo extension listed for the April 2025 sailing so there must be a logistical issue or some other problem like crew availability or provisioning contracts. It’s entirely possible, but unlikely, she sails from Tokyo to Alaska without passengers. We shall see but it’s 7 months away and that doesn’t seem enough time to book enough people for a long, expensive,Tokyo to Vancouver cruise.

I’m wondering if they’re waiting to give the Orion more time to fill up.  Frankly mid-April’s not a great time to be in the northern Pacofic.