Sky Transatlantic March 6 2020 Almost Live

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Yesterday was another lazy day for us...trivia was fun, we came in second.  If we had only known that the first cinema in the US was in New Orleans we would have gotten into a tiebreaker.   So hopefully today will be OUR day!

 

We has a delicious dinner last night at the Chef’s Table-the Lotus menu which is our favorite of all of the menus. Even the amusè bouche which in the past has just been meh, was amazing-not a dense potato cake over Overcooked spinach but instead a light airy puff served on top of a spinach sauce that tasted like saag paneer without the cheese. 
 

And of course their was the chocolate extravaganza!

 

Gained 10 lbs just looking.

[Clay Clayton]

I’m going to cheat and not type everything over..just posted about our last day 😢aboard on my blog.  
 

If you’re interested in learning about today or the Story behind the pictures below head over to www.cruisinwithclay.com!  

[Clay Clayton]

Just left the Farewell Gathering which was extra special this afternoon as I think everyone aboard tried to really show their appreciation to the crew who have gone above and beyond!  
 

We also learned that plans have changed and with the closing of all Europe announced earlier today, rather than heading back across the Atlantic tomorrow after dropping (kicking?) is off, the Viking Sky is going to be anchoring off the coast of Florida “until further notice”. 

 

As the Captain put it, while not ideal, at least the weather is better than in the north! 

[Clay Clayton]

Uneventful disembarkation this morning. Not even a temperature check!  Just a glance at our passports, did you buy anything and a wave through to the waiting buses. A quick ride to the airport and we are now ensconced at the Turkish Airlines Lounge (courtesy of our Priority Pass that we get as a benefit from a credit card). So now a four hour wait for our flight. 
 

Did have our traditional farewell breakfast...love them lamb chops and the pistachio roll! And had some fresh squeezed oj and Mike a V8. 
 

Happy St Patrick’s Day all!

[CCWineLover]

Safe travels to you both!  And thank you again for taking the time and effort to share your experiences - it has been much appreciated!   Hoping we can meet sometime on a future cruise.

[cruisebug722]

4 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

Uneventful disembarkation this morning. Not even a temperature check!  Just a glance at our passports, did you buy anything and a wave through to the waiting buses. A quick ride to the airport and we are now ensconced at the Turkish Airlines Lounge (courtesy of our Priority Pass that we get as a benefit from a credit card). So now a four hour wait for our flight. 
 

Did have our traditional farewell breakfast...love them lamb chops and the pistachio roll! And had some fresh squeezed oj and Mike a V8. 
 

Happy St Patrick’s Day all!

Have a safe flight home and happy cruising - hope to see you both on board one day!

[jebbs]

Thank you for your efforts in keeping us informed.  We were supposed to board Jupiter in Buenos Aires on March 15 to Barcelona.  Pulled the plug rather than fly to BA on March 11....while I’m sure it’s beautiful there, glad we made the right choice! You’re entries on the forum have helped with my cruise withdrawal!

 Happy traveling, today and in the future.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

Safe travels to you both!  And thank you again for taking the time and effort to share your experiences - it has been much appreciated!   Hoping we can meet sometime on a future cruise.

Just paying it forward!  And that would be great!  Let’s hope it doesn’t take too terribly long before we have the opportunity. 🤞

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, jebbs said:

Thank you for your efforts in keeping us informed.  We were supposed to board Jupiter in Buenos Aires on March 15 to Barcelona.  Pulled the plug rather than fly to BA on March 11....while I’m sure it’s beautiful there, glad we made the right choice! You’re entries on the forum have helped with my cruise withdrawal!

 Happy traveling, today and in the future.

Most welcome!  We almost booked “your” cruise.  Glad now we didn’t.  Hopefully this will all be resolved in time for next year’s transatlantics!  

[JerryInIL]

Glad you had a safe cruise.  Thanks for keeping us informed.

[PasadenaDave]

Clay,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed reading of your travels.  I enjoy reading blogs and finding your posts on this thread led me to your blog and I am now up to date to January.  I especially like hearing about the satisfaction with Viking.  I have done Princess four days from Los Angles, Los Angeles to Hawaii roundtrip, and Vancouver to Los Angeles and my wife has done the Panama Canal.  We have reserved for Viking Venice to Istanbul in April 2021 with a pre-cruise stay in Venice.

 

We are concerned that after a Viking Cruise we can never return to a lesser cruise line.

 

We find that when flying Los Angeles to Europe, it is good to have a few days with downtime to adjust and be fresh when the real fun begins, not that we don't have fun during our time adjustment period

[CCWineLover]

5 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Clay,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed reading of your travels.  I enjoy reading blogs and finding your posts on this thread led me to your blog and I am now up to date to January.  I especially like hearing about the satisfaction with Viking.  I have done Princess four days from Los Angles, Los Angeles to Hawaii roundtrip, and Vancouver to Los Angeles and my wife has done the Panama Canal.  We have reserved for Viking Venice to Istanbul in April 2021 with a pre-cruise stay in Venice.

 

We are concerned that after a Viking Cruise we can never return to a lesser cruise line.

 

We find that when flying Los Angeles to Europe, it is good to have a few days with downtime to adjust and be fresh when the real fun begins, not that we don't have fun during our time adjustment period

 

You are so correct, PasadenaDave!  I grew up in Pasadena and still enjoy it (well - maybe in the future when we are allowed to leave our houses after the Governors orders on Seniors).

We have taken several Viking Cruises now and cannot go back to anywhere else.   We certainly hope that the crisis will be over by 2021 so we can sail again.  It might take that long.  Viking has been so good at offering decent packages to move to future years on existing cruises.    We fly either LAX or SFO to Europe and can't agree more that some days of downtown are essential.  We can't imagine flying into Europe and immediately boarding the ship!  Talk about stress and tension - we are beyond that now.  Hope we can meet up sometime on a future Viking Cruise!

Kent and Pam

[Clay Clayton]

6 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Clay,

I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed reading of your travels.  I enjoy reading blogs and finding your posts on this thread led me to your blog and I am now up to date to January.  I especially like hearing about the satisfaction with Viking.  I have done Princess four days from Los Angles, Los Angeles to Hawaii roundtrip, and Vancouver to Los Angeles and my wife has done the Panama Canal.  We have reserved for Viking Venice to Istanbul in April 2021 with a pre-cruise stay in Venice.

 

We are concerned that after a Viking Cruise we can never return to a lesser cruise line.

 

We find that when flying Los Angeles to Europe, it is good to have a few days with downtime to adjust and be fresh when the real fun begins, not that we don't have fun during our time adjustment period

Glad you enjoyed and I am suspect you will enjoy Viking. I can say for us it has spoiled us and So we sharpen our Pencils to make Viking work when we can...that usually means we have to wait for a promo on a slower selling cruise....which is why we have mostly done transatlantics or half transatlantics LOL!

 

We also love then since we are both y’all and not skinny so flying long haul is no fun...even in business class...much nicer to arrive via ship!

[PasadenaDave]

19 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

You are so correct, PasadenaDave!  I grew up in Pasadena and still enjoy it (well - maybe in the future when we are allowed to leave our houses after the Governors orders on Seniors).

We have taken several Viking Cruises now and cannot go back to anywhere else.   We certainly hope that the crisis will be over by 2021 so we can sail again.  It might take that long.  Viking has been so good at offering decent packages to move to future years on existing cruises.    We fly either LAX or SFO to Europe and can't agree more that some days of downtown are essential.  We can't imagine flying into Europe and immediately boarding the ship!  Talk about stress and tension - we are beyond that now.  Hope we can meet up sometime on a future Viking Cruise!

Kent and Pam

I see that you are in Paso, a former colleague of mine owns Pear Valley Vineyards.  I stopped to pick up a case on my way to Monterey last month and I stopped at Opolo on my return for another case.  We have enough wine to get us through this period of odd

[jonthomas]

Has anyone heard from Viking regarding what they may receive in comp?

[jacquesmm]

12 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

Has anyone heard from Viking regarding what they may receive in comp?

No, I'm waiting.

 

[Cienfuegos]

Thanks for sharing your trip with everyone.  Definitely gives depth to "may you live in interesting times"

[MikeyB]

Could someone please tell me why Viking must "compensate" this sailing?

It looked like a great sail (except for the weather).  The captain had to turn around.  It appears no one got sick.

 

[just_dont]

Could someone please tell me why Viking must "compensate" this sailing?

It looked like a great sail (except for the weather).  The captain had to turn around.  It appears no one got sick.

 

Because it was a TA to Barcelona, and the pax weren't delivered to anywhere near their contracted destination.

 

I don't know that anyone is saying they "must," or is expecting a 100% refund, but knowing how generous Viking has been in the past, it seems some who may have not even been on the cruise are curious how generous they will be in this case.

 

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

 

 

 

[MikeyB]

Let's be honest.  Clay expected some sort of refund.  And most everyone reading this wants to know how much.  Because it is Viking, I would not be surprised if it was $250 or $500 towards a future cruise.  But Viking delivered.  I have been on cruises that had ports cancelled or missed because of weather.  It wasn't Viking.  Nothing was expected....nothing was offered.

I think in situations like this, we are always told to "re-read" the cruise line's contract.

[jacquesmm]

The deal was a cruise from Miami to Barcelona but we did not reach Barcelona and that is a problem. A mean lawyer could say breach of contract.

The cruise was very nice, good crew, great food, excellent company, no problem with that part but I wanted to end up in Barcelona.

I have about $ 10,000.00 of cancellations wasted because we didn't arrive in Barcelona.

I don't blame Viking.The decision to turn back was the best to be made but I would love a nice gesture from Viking. A good size voucher would be fine.

[deec]

WOW ...$10,000  you were going to spend a LONG time and 5star hotels in Europe!  Will no one refund your deposits? 

[DaveSJ711]

1 hour ago, jacquesmm said:

The deal was a cruise from Miami to Barcelona but we did not reach Barcelona and that is a problem. A mean lawyer could say breach of contract.

The cruise was very nice, good crew, great food, excellent company, no problem with that part but I wanted to end up in Barcelona.

I have about $ 10,000.00 of cancellations wasted because we didn't arrive in Barcelona.

I don't blame Viking.The decision to turn back was the best to be made but I would love a nice gesture from Viking. A good size voucher would be fine.

 

I've been a lawyer for 38 years.  Nobody in my field would claim this was a breach of contract.  Didn't you read the terms and conditions for the cruise when you signed up?  And how can you claim breach of contract when you also say that Viking's decision to turn back was "the best to be made"?

Edited March 21, 2020 by DaveSJ711

[DaveSJ711]

11 minutes ago, deec said:

WOW ...$10,000  you were going to spend a LONG time and 5star hotels in Europe!  Will no one refund your deposits? 

 

It's pretty remarkable that the poster wants to pin all of these cancellations on Viking.  Pure overreach.

[bottomfeeder]

The other point is that the cruise was 3 days shorter than the cruise we "signed up for." 

 

These are obviously some very difficult times in the world and I don't think anyone would argue that Viking made the wrong decision in turning back.  And compensation is not top of mind for me and probably not for most of the other passengers.  It hardly seems worth wasting my energy on it when this virus is spreading like wildfire and my retirement accounts are dropping precipitously and everyone's jobs are a whole lot more shaky than they were when I left on the cruise.

 

But, based on how Viking treated both those who canceled the cruise at the last minute and passengers on other cruises that were disrupted, I think most of us do expect some kind of compensation.  Have not heard anything from Viking yet, but I'm sure they have a lot on their plate.