Viking Venus - What is the status of her build?

[harbourside]

19 minutes ago, harbourside said:

I wonder where Viking Tellus build is at.  It also has a build date of 2021.  

 

 

I think I have just answered my own question.    The Viking site shows new ship listed " Viking Mars."  (must be a replacement name for Tellus). 

Edited August 28, 2020 by harbourside

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, harbourside said:

I think I have just answered my own question.    The Viking site shows new ship listed " Viking Mars."  (must be a replacement name for Tellus). 

 

Considering that one of the home office departments already uses the TellUs name in their e-mail** and has for many years now, I am surprised that it has taken them this long to change the name on Number 8.  As soon as I saw the tentative name, I thought how nice of them to name a ship after a most deserving group of employees.

 

Tellus to Mars is not the first name change. Orion was originally Spirit. Personally I'm sorry they gave up the S names for the ships -- but I am still hoping that one of the ships is eventually named  Saga.

 

** TellUs@vikingcruises.com -- the people to contact when you have a problem or just want to share something nice about the company

[harbourside]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Considering that one of the home office departments already uses the TellUs name in their e-mail** and has for many years now, I am surprised that it has taken them this long to change the name on Number 8.  As soon as I saw the tentative name, I thought how nice of them to name a ship after a most deserving group of employees.

 

Tellus to Mars is not the first name change. Orion was originally Spirit. Personally I'm sorry they gave up the S names for the ships -- but I am still hoping that one of the ships is eventually named  Saga.

 

** TellUs@vikingcruises.com -- the people to contact when you have a problem or just want to share something nice about the company

The first cruise I can find for the new Viking Mars is May 28th 2022  Barcelona to Bergen

[CCWineLover]

11 hours ago, harbourside said:

The first cruise I can find for the new Viking Mars is May 28th 2022  Barcelona to Bergen

One can't help but wonder if they are embarking on a "solar system" naming scheme.    Sun, Jupiter, Venus, Mars,  . . .

Perhaps a Mercury, or Saturn, or Neptune in the future?  Pluto may be too controversial and Uranus will get mispronounced all the time!

[jebbs]

CCWineLover, did you get a real refund from TAP airlines yet?  Although they told me on July 23, yes I’d get a refund to my credit card, none has appeared yet.  My credit card company is looking into it, but I was curious of your status with them?

Thanks....

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, jebbs said:

CCWineLover, did you get a real refund from TAP airlines yet?  Although they told me on July 23, yes I’d get a refund to my credit card, none has appeared yet.  My credit card company is looking into it, but I was curious of your status with them?

Thanks....

I had to file a dispute with CitiBank, who put the credit on my account, for the outbound flight.  (The one that was supposedly processed by TAP on July 25).  Strangely a week later I got the actual refund posted from TAP for the return flight (but not the outbound flight).  Citi notified me that the dispute is still ongoing under investigation.  Bizarre.

[CCWineLover]

17 hours ago, harbourside said:

The first cruise I can find for the new Viking Mars is May 28th 2022  Barcelona to Bergen

 

Back to naming of the ships . . .    anyone heard anything about future ships status?  probably depends on how things turn out the next couple of months and years.   Surprised that the Mars is actually on the itinerary schedule already.

 

So, if not planets, perhaps galaxies or other objects?  Andromeda, Quasar, Nebulae, ....

Or perhaps famous ocean explorers?  (though nowadays likely not politically correct) such as Magellan, Columbus, Vespucci, Cabot, Drake, Amundsen, Cousteau, . . . .

[Heidi13]

The Viking Ocean ships were given the same names and in the same sequence as the Royal Viking Fleet, which was operational back in the 1970's & 80's. The same sequence continued for the first 4 ships - Star, Sea, Sky & Sun. However, again similar to Royal Viking, the 5th ship didn't follow the same first letter, as Royal Viking's 5th ship was Royal Viking Queen.

 

However, it is interesting that Royal Viking Queen was much smaller than the previous ships and these days would be known as an expedition vessel. Yet another comparison between Viking Ocean & the old Royal Viking Line.

 

Common to the both companies is the CEO - Torstein Hagen.

 

Unfortunately, Royal Viking was sold, so they never built any more ships, that might have provided some insight on how Viking Ocean will name the future ships.

[CharTrav]

On 8/29/2020 at 1:04 AM, harbourside said:

The first cruise I can find for the new Viking Mars is May 28th 2022  Barcelona to Bergen

I gave a shout-out to @Peregrina651 regarding the news about Viking Mars (she'd emailed me directly)  -- but she promptly corrected me -- it should have been you.  FYI (if you don't already know) I maintain a spreadsheet on ship schedules for Viking Oceans and Viking Expeditions (decided Viking River is simply too much).  Updated it yesterday to include the name change from Tellus to Mars and add the 5 cruises she's scheduled to do in 2022.  Announced the update in this thread (where I announce all updates to this "Combined Cruise Schedule"): https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2651194-viking-ocean-combined-cruise-schedule/.  

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by CharTrav

[What was that?]

Thanks to Peregrina on another thread, I have learned that Venus' first port call in Bergen is listed as 29 May 2021 on this site: Bergen Port Call Schedules. We are scheduled to board her in Barcelona on 26 Jan 2021 for the Iberian Explorer B2B with the Northern Lights 2-14 Feb ending in Bergen. It looks like the Viking Star is scheduled (on this list) for all of the Northern Lights port calls in 2021.

[OnTheJourney]

On 9/1/2020 at 1:21 PM, What was that? said:

 It looks like the Viking Star is scheduled (on this list) for all of the Northern Lights port calls in 2021.......

 

......instead of the Venus??  If so, that's most interesting since it would give them flexibility to change the current Invitational and Iberian cruises. Otherwise, they're sort of locked into having to get the Venus to London for the start of the Northern Lights schedule. 

 

I can't seem to find the lists referred to that have some of these schedules. I tried the dropbox link but don't see any info on the Venus. 

Edited September 3, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

......instead of the Venus??  If so, that's most interesting since it would give them flexibility to change the current Invitational and Iberian cruises. Otherwise, they're sort of locked into having to get the Venus to London for the start of the Northern Lights schedule. 

 

I can't seem to find the lists referred to that have some of these schedules. I tried the dropbox link but don't see any info on the Venus. 

 

CharT told me offline that she is working on yet another edition of her spreadsheet as the schedule has been extended and folks are reporting that new brochures are out. Give her a couple more days to update things.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2020 by Peregrina651

[CCWineLover]

5 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

......instead of the Venus??  If so, that's most interesting since it would give them flexibility to change the current Invitational and Iberian cruises. Otherwise, they're sort of locked into having to get the Venus to London for the start of the Northern Lights schedule. 

 

I can't seem to find the lists referred to that have some of these schedules. I tried the dropbox link but don't see any info on the Venus. 

 

OTJ - On Viking's own web site (today) with all the new schedules, I see they STILL show Viking Venus for the Iberian Explorer that you are on in January - and also the Venus for all 4 of the "In search of the Northern Lights" cruises in February 2020.   They now show the Star doing the Trade Routes of the Ages in April 2020 (Bergen to Barcelona).   Of course, they probably have contingencies in place if the Venus is not ready in time.

[GoesBoom]

So, Viking Star arrives in Barcelona from the Caribbean on March 3rd.  She is scheduled to sail the Mediterranean for the next several months.  Not quite sure why she is listed on Bergen’s port call schedule for March.  One crazy possibility is - Venus isn’t ready until March 3rd.  (Very possible). Venus launches and takes over the Star’s Mediterranean cruises.  The Star heads to London from BCN on March 4th.  Star then does all of the highly profitable Northern Europe cruises.  This requires all January and February sailings of the Venus to be canceled.

 

second crazy idea.  Cancel all of Star’s cruises in the Caribbean.  Relocated Star to BCN early in January.  Star then takes on all of Venus’s cruises.  Venus launches late and assumes all of the Star’s Mediterranean cruises starting in BCN on March 4th.

 

if the virus is bad in Norway and not the Caribbean, then execute option 1.  If the Caribbean is open, but the EU isn’t, execute option 2.

[Peregrina651]

54 minutes ago, GoesBoom said:

So, Viking Star arrives in Barcelona from the Caribbean on March 3rd.  She is scheduled to sail the Mediterranean for the next several months.  Not quite sure why she is listed on Bergen’s port call schedule for March.  One crazy possibility is - Venus isn’t ready until March 3rd.  (Very possible). Venus launches and takes over the Star’s Mediterranean cruises.  The Star heads to London from BCN on March 4th.  Star then does all of the highly profitable Northern Europe cruises.  This requires all January and February sailings of the Venus to be canceled.

 

second crazy idea.  Cancel all of Star’s cruises in the Caribbean.  Relocated Star to BCN early in January.  Star then takes on all of Venus’s cruises.  Venus launches late and assumes all of the Star’s Mediterranean cruises starting in BCN on March 4th.

 

if the virus is bad in Norway and not the Caribbean, then execute option 1.  If the Caribbean is open, but the EU isn’t, execute option 2.

 

If the Bergen harbormaster's information is correct (see post 85 in this thread), it shows Viking Star calling in Bergen on dates that should say Viking Venus and does not have Venus calling in Bergen until May. Someone's information is not correct; the question is whose.

[CharTrav]

6 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

......instead of the Venus??  If so, that's most interesting since it would give them flexibility to change the current Invitational and Iberian cruises. Otherwise, they're sort of locked into having to get the Venus to London for the start of the Northern Lights schedule. 

 

I can't seem to find the lists referred to that have some of these schedules. I tried the dropbox link but don't see any info on the Venus. 

Venus is doing all the Northern Lights cruises -- 2021, 2022, and 2023.  

[CharTrav]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

CharT told me offline that she is working on yet another edition of her spreadsheet as the schedule has been extended and folks are reporting that new brochures are out. Give her a couple more days to update things.

 

 

Yes -- It didn't take as long as I thought it would.  Have posted the next version of my Combined Cruise Schedule -- covering 2021 thru 2023.  After I write this, will update my signature and make a formal posting to the Combined Cruise Schedule thread. 

[GoesBoom]

10 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

If the Bergen harbormaster's information is correct (see post 85 in this thread), it shows Viking Star calling in Bergen on dates that should say Viking Venus and does not have Venus calling in Bergen until May. Someone's information is not correct; the question is whose.

Yes whose.  Now that Viking has collected most of the final payments for Venus’ January and February cruises, the truth about Venus’ real launch date may come out.  Then we will know where the Star end up.  We are in that window between having paid, and 120 prior to sailing for a 100% refund.  A cash strapped cruise line might do anything to collect and keep cash.  Of course these are just my opinions.

[CharTrav]

7 hours ago, OnTheJourney said:

 

......instead of the Venus??  If so, that's most interesting since it would give them flexibility to change the current Invitational and Iberian cruises. Otherwise, they're sort of locked into having to get the Venus to London for the start of the Northern Lights schedule. 

 

I can't seem to find the lists referred to that have some of these schedules. I tried the dropbox link but don't see any info on the Venus. 

which dropbox link are you referring to?  Mine?  My Combined Cruise Schedule has included the Venus for quite a while -- since July 2019.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, GoesBoom said:

Yes whose.  Now that Viking has collected most of the final payments for Venus’ January and February cruises, the truth about Venus’ real launch date may come out.  Then we will know where the Star end up.  We are in that window between having paid, and 120 prior to sailing for a 100% refund.  A cash strapped cruise line might do anything to collect and keep cash.  Of course these are just my opinions.

 

When building a new ship the cruise line has penalty clauses in the contract for late delivery, but the shipyard (S/Y) also has a plethora of similar clauses, of which "Force Majeure" is definitely the first one that comes to mind. It is certainly relevant in this situation.

 

One of my previous companies ordered 3 ships and although it looked like they were behind schedule, the S/Y continuously stated "On schedule". Very shortly after awarding the S/Y another contract, they advised the new buildings were 3 months behind schedule.

 

When Viking makes business decisions on maiden voyages, etc those decisions are based on schedule information from the S/Y.

 

In my experience, with new building or drydocking, if the schedule is impacted, the actual fault may rest with the S/Y, not the owner.

[GoesBoom]

Regarding my previous post on 2 options.  I am now leaning towards option 2.  That is where Viking cancels the Star’s January and February cruises in the overcrowded Caribbean.  Then Star Cruises to BCN and takes the place of the Venus for the January and February cruises.  The Venus then has its maiden voyage out of BCN on March 4th, taking the Star’s Mediterranean cruises.  My reason for leaning towards this option.  First, today I tried to book the Star in the Caribbean in January or February.  On several different booking sites I couldn’t book a cruise.  Kept getting system error messages.  Maybe the Star is unavailable?  Then we have the port of Bergen claiming the Viking Star will be there February to May.  No mention of the Venus.  Sounds like option 2 to me!

 

But I could be totally wrong.  The Tromso port February calendar says the Venus will be there, not the Star.

 

Yes I am betting that Fincantieri can’t deliver the Venus is record time.  In an EU country they want you to hire more people, not pay overtime.  I did work for a couple of years as an Engineer in a large shipyard.  Nothing happens fast.

 

Yes I am bored today, but I do have over $40K, plus airfare, riding on, cruising on, the Venus in February.  It is a 40th anniversary cruise.  Keenly interested in cruising the Northern Lights in February.  Happy wife, happy life.

[OnTheJourney]

On 9/6/2020 at 3:22 PM, GoesBoom said:

Regarding my previous post on 2 options.  I am now leaning towards option 2.  That is where Viking cancels the Star’s January and February cruises in the overcrowded Caribbean.  Then Star Cruises to BCN and takes the place of the Venus for the January and February cruises.  The Venus then has its maiden voyage out of BCN on March 4th, taking the Star’s Mediterranean cruises.  My reason for leaning towards this option.  First, today I tried to book the Star in the Caribbean in January or February.  On several different booking sites I couldn’t book a cruise.  Kept getting system error messages.  Maybe the Star is unavailable?  Then we have the port of Bergen claiming the Viking Star will be there February to May.  No mention of the Venus.  Sounds like option 2 to me!

 

But I could be totally wrong.  The Tromso port February calendar says the Venus will be there, not the Star.

 

Yes I am betting that Fincantieri can’t deliver the Venus is record time.  In an EU country they want you to hire more people, not pay overtime.  I did work for a couple of years as an Engineer in a large shipyard.  Nothing happens fast.

 

Yes I am bored today, but I do have over $40K, plus airfare, riding on, cruising on, the Venus in February.  It is a 40th anniversary cruise.  Keenly interested in cruising the Northern Lights in February.  Happy wife, happy life.

 

Well, at least you've spent $1k on the trip for every year married!  LOL   That rather forensic analysis of which ship might be where is quite impressive!  Of course, Viking could change everything around several times yet before a true schedule is arrived at. IF the Venus sails out of Barcelona in March instead of 1/26 as planned (we're on that one), it obviously also changes the Invitational cruise set for 1/19 (we're on that one too). I have no problem with a delay except that it puts in motion a domino effect of canceling a March cruise we already have booked that was rescheduled from this year. Crap shoot....

Edited September 9, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[GoesBoom]

More evidence of the Venus potentially not being ready for the Northern Lights Cruises.  AMEX Cruises now selling passage on the Viking Sky for Feb 14th on the same Northern Lights itinerary  See attached.  The prices are less than the Venus.  They are still selling passage on the Venus for the same dates and ports.  Maybe AMEX just screwed up and invented this Sky cruise.  The detective work continues.

[What was that?]

And all the dates differ from what is on the Viking site: all one day earlier.

[CCWineLover]

39 minutes ago, What was that? said:

And all the dates differ from what is on the Viking site: all one day earlier.

 

The Plot Thickens!   Perhaps Viking is scheduling 2 identical itineraries and planning on cancelling one of them, or combining them if not many people on them.

 

Would be interesting to see if Bergen,  and other ports actually show the Viking Sky and Venus in their schedules for those various dates.