Viking Expeditions Thread

[CharTrav]

I have a question for those who've done the Antarctic trips. We are doing Arctic Adventure this Summer and I'm trying to plan for the medical form that needs to be signed by our doctor. The Viking site provides no information about it at all beyond saying we'll get it shortly before our departure date. What I'd like to know is what is the nature of this form?  If it involves making an appointment with our doctor will this be simply to get it signed - no physical exam - or will this form require an actual physical exam? If the latter, would like to be able to plan for the appointment now rather than getting one on short notice. Thanks!

[sippican]

1 hour ago, CharTrav said:

I have a question for those who've done the Antarctic trips. We are doing Arctic Adventure this Summer and I'm trying to plan for the medical form that needs to be signed by our doctor. The Viking site provides no information about it at all beyond saying we'll get it shortly before our departure date. What I'd like to know is what is the nature of this form?  If it involves making an appointment with our doctor will this be simply to get it signed - no physical exam - or will this form require an actual physical exam? If the latter, would like to be able to plan for the appointment now rather than getting one on short notice. Thanks!

 

I'd am interested in this as well.

[PeabodyMa]

1 hour ago, CharTrav said:

I have a question for those who've done the Antarctic trips. We are doing Arctic Adventure this Summer and I'm trying to plan for the medical form that needs to be signed by our doctor. The Viking site provides no information about it at all beyond saying we'll get it shortly before our departure date. What I'd like to know is what is the nature of this form?  If it involves making an appointment with our doctor will this be simply to get it signed - no physical exam - or will this form require an actual physical exam? If the latter, would like to be able to plan for the appointment now rather than getting one on short notice. Thanks!

 

The medical form pdf is on page 10, post # 229.

Edited March 30, 2022 by PeabodyMa

[deec]

Are there launderettes on the Expediation ships?

[amyr]

16 minutes ago, deec said:

Are there launderettes on the Expediation ships?

The deck plans show launderettes on Decks 3 and 4.  I think there are also cabins on 2, but don't see one there.

[CharTrav]

3 hours ago, PeabodyMa said:

The medical form pdf is on page 10, post # 229.

You're a peach!  Gold star for you! 🌟Thanks!

 

Actually -- I see I read that message at the time and totally forgot about it.. ha!!!😀

Edited March 30, 2022 by CharTrav

[noe4laj]

Has anyone for an upcoming Antarctica expedition attempted to put in a deviation at the END of the cruise in BA? We’ve done that and Viking somehow took our transfer from disembark in Ushuaia to EZE off of our guest information sheet, making it look as if we are on our own to get back to BA, where we planned to spend a few extra days before flying home.

 

This is not correct and Viking acknowledges it is not correct as the transfer is part of the trip. Despite weeks of calling and emailing, asking to speak to a supervisor, etc. they’ve not resolved (by simply adding the missing line back onto our itinerary).

 

We are now at our final payment date with no resolution and do not feel comfortable with “trust us, you’ll be fine even though it isn’t on your paperwork” as a response.

 

If it cannot be resolved, we will have to decide if we take our chances, cancel our extra days, or something else. I’ve never seen so many problems with a booking through Viking. 

Edited March 31, 2022 by noe4laj

[secretcinderella]

On 3/30/2022 at 8:14 AM, CharTrav said:

That's odd. I've always been able to in the past. But you can't do it until Viking actually issues the tickets. Simply booking/reserving the ticket isn't enough.  I've had to pressure Viking Air to take that step earlier than they normally do it - approx 70 days before departure - so I could make sure I could upgrade to Econo Plus while seats were still avaialble. I would have to go thru this kabuke dance with the air agent assuring them that yes I'm aware that if things change after they issue the ticket I recognize that an extra fee might get charged. What I'm not sure of is whether I was able to upgrade to business as well from the United web site.  I certainly did the Econo Plus uograde.  I'm assuming you're a united FF? 

CharTrav,

 

Correct on both points.  We're United FF and Viking has "ticketed" or issued the flights after much begging on my part.  It was explained to me that since my airfare at the time of booking in Jan. 2020 was "free" that United had no way of knowing how much the third party (Viking) had paid for them in order for me to pay actual money for the upgrade.  This was directly from United who did allow me to be waitlisted for business (there were no business seats even booked on this flight ) with miles for both of us and a $75 pp fee.  We'll not know if we win the Business Lotto until possibly 24 hrs. beforehand.  I won't be falling for the "free airfare" pitch again as we always fly business when available on given planes.  This is not out of snobbery on my part but rather for my cantankerous back.  😉 

 

Thanks for you input,

Cindy 

[CharTrav]

36 minutes ago, secretcinderella said:

It was explained to me that since my airfare at the time of booking in Jan. 2020 was "free" that United had no way of knowing how much the third party (Viking) had paid for them in order for me to pay actual money for the upgrade.

guess that makes sense. I've never gone thru doing an upgrade for a "free" ticket". i've always done it with paid tickets with Viking or when I bought them for business travel back when I worked full time. In the case of the latter had to always wait until the next day after our travel service actually executed the  purchase to upgrade to EconoPlus on my own dime. 

[eylarson]

FYI-  No "Business Center" on Octantis. If you need to print something it must be e-mailed to the ship and they will print it for you.  

[RavensFan2011]

Cruising on Octantis in August.

 

i think I saw that masking was no longer required on ships?

Does anyone know if PCR testing is still daily?

 

Thanks!

[Cadodge]

21 hours ago, RavensFan2011 said:

Cruising on Octantis in August.

 

i think I saw that masking was no longer required on ships?

Does anyone know if PCR testing is still daily?

 

Thanks!

Yes.

[eylarson]

PCR Testing, health questioner, and temperature check daily.  Contact tracer to be worn or carried. Masks optional. 

 

  

[secretcinderella]

On 4/1/2022 at 1:30 AM, CharTrav said:

guess that makes sense. I've never gone thru doing an upgrade for a "free" ticket". i've always done it with paid tickets with Viking or when I bought them for business travel back when I worked full time. In the case of the latter had to always wait until the next day after our travel service actually executed the  purchase to upgrade to EconoPlus on my own dime. 

Learning curve I guess.  Never occurred to me that the free airfare offered as part of an early booking bonus would not be eligible to upgrade later.  Also never occurred to me United wouldn't want to take my money especially after these last 2 years.  Won't make that mistake again.   Was already disappointed that my brilliant B2B planning didn't work out!  😜

[Clay Clayton]

9 hours ago, secretcinderella said:

Learning curve I guess.  Never occurred to me that the free airfare offered as part of an early booking bonus would not be eligible to upgrade later.  Also never occurred to me United wouldn't want to take my money especially after these last 2 years.  Won't make that mistake again.   Was already disappointed that my brilliant B2B planning didn't work out!  😜

Just an fyi, sometimes the “free” airfare can be upgraded.  We did so on American in 2019. At that time we had status with AA (which may have helped with getting the upgrade but I think only in getting us up the list) and paid for VA+ so we could request flights on AA. We used certificates to upgrade flights from Miami to San Juan and used 25k points + $300 to upgrade to business from Rome to Philadelphia. Obviously, it all depends on what fare Viking purchases.
 

Unfortunately, I really think until Viking purchases the tickets that there is no way to know if they are upgradable or not. 😢

[Jim Avery]

Wonder if they might consider using one of the Expedition Ships for a WC?  Think of the places they could go..

[sparkles]

Hi there, Does anyone know if there are any evening activities/entertainment on the Octantis? We’re looking at the Caribbean & Brazil’s Coastal Jewels sailing in October of this year.

Thanks!

[secretcinderella]

7 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Just an fyi, sometimes the “free” airfare can be upgraded.  We did so on American in 2019. At that time we had status with AA (which may have helped with getting the upgrade but I think only in getting us up the list) and paid for VA+ so we could request flights on AA. We used certificates to upgrade flights from Miami to San Juan and used 25k points + $300 to upgrade to business from Rome to Philadelphia. Obviously, it all depends on what fare Viking purchases.
 

Unfortunately, I really think until Viking purchases the tickets that there is no way to know if they are upgradable or not. 😢

Yes, we did purchase VA+ and all flights have been ticketed as of 3/8 (I truly nagged them weekly to do this).  The best United could do was charge us 35K miles and $150 for waitlisting only.  No guarantees makes a Planner very nervous, but c'est la vie (especially in the Time of Covid.)😜

 

Thanks to all for sharing their prior experiences!

Cindy 

[Clay Clayton]

14 hours ago, secretcinderella said:

Yes, we did purchase VA+ and all flights have been ticketed as of 3/8 (I truly nagged them weekly to do this).  The best United could do was charge us 35K miles and $150 for waitlisting only.  No guarantees makes a Planner very nervous, but c'est la vie (especially in the Time of Covid.)😜

 

Thanks to all for sharing their prior experiences!

Cindy 

Actually that is what we did to get into biz on AA (albeit for fewer miles and more $) but we weren’t charged either until it cleared. I think that waitlisting is usually the case when trying to upgrade from any Economy ticket up to business. Is that not the case on United?

[CharTrav]

On 3/22/2022 at 7:27 PM, miami mama said:

Don't be surprised when trying to book excursions that were originally included in the overall fare. ("Viking [Expeditions] offers a variety of excursions, virtually all included in your cruise fare".) They will cost you. I have booked excursions in two different ports that continue to show as included on the Viking.com website but on MyVikingJourney have a cost associated with them. I raised my concern about this through an email to tellus@. Since that concern was not addressed in their initial response, I have asked specifically why I have incurred costs associated with 2 "included" excursions. 

I just got off a chat with Viking .. asking about this .. and the answer is you are only guaranteed one included excursion at each port.  If you choose to do more than one -- so long as they are more than 45 minutes apart -- those excursions are treated as "optional" .. and yes . you must pay.  Sorry that TellUs didn't get back to you .. but I'm finding the chat option in MVJ is very effective and timely. I admit -- having just checked thru the VE site .. that this distinction isn't made clear.. and agree that it should be.

[miami mama]

We received our final documents today and noticed there are still some excursions not yet listed on MyVikingJourney. The person on the chat, however, was very helpful in booking one of the excursions that was in the excursion literature but not yet up on MVJ. So thanks to several of you for mentioning this possibility.

 

Overall, I am trying to move past the whole snafu with excursions previously being listed as included and then now incurring an expense. In speaking with people at Tellus, they did not directly address this issue. Perhaps addressing this issue may be "above their pay grade", I decided to write directly to Mr. Hagen (with pictures from the Viking website) week before last. I have not yet received a response but am hopeful I will.  An acknowledgement that changes were made and/or were necessary would be nice to receive. Maybe staff was overzealous when listing most excursions as included on the Viking website, maybe someone made a mistake, perhaps economics as a result of the pandemic changed what was possible for Viking. I personally find information transparency leads to greater understanding.

 

All in all, we are still excited about this trip and plan to make the most of it. 

 

We really love this cruise line and feel so comfortable with their approach to "most" things. I have seen them make great efforts to make things right, or if they cannot, at least be transparent in their communications with their guests. 

[CharTrav]

2 hours ago, miami mama said:

We received our final documents today and noticed there are still some excursions not yet listed on MyVikingJourney. The person on the chat, however, was very helpful in booking one of the excursions that was in the excursion literature but not yet up on MVJ. So thanks to several of you for mentioning this possibility.

 

Overall, I am trying to move past the whole snafu with excursions previously being listed as included and then now incurring an expense. In speaking with people at Tellus, they did not directly address this issue. Perhaps addressing this issue may be "above their pay grade", I decided to write directly to Mr. Hagen (with pictures from the Viking website) week before last. I have not yet received a response but am hopeful I will.  An acknowledgement that changes were made and/or were necessary would be nice to receive. Maybe staff was overzealous when listing most excursions as included on the Viking website, maybe someone made a mistake, perhaps economics as a result of the pandemic changed what was possible for Viking. I personally find information transparency leads to greater understanding.

 

All in all, we are still excited about this trip and plan to make the most of it. 

 

We really love this cruise line and feel so comfortable with their approach to "most" things. I have seen them make great efforts to make things right, or if they cannot, at least be transparent in their communications with their guests. 

did you notice my post earlier today? I've been hunting thru the VE site to find where it states that even tho each port stop lists multiple excursions all labeled "Included" -- you really can only pick one of them as your "included" excursion. That the policy is to offer one included excursion in each port is "the" policy whether on VR, VO, or VE. When I wrote up the consolidated report for Arctic Expeditions and posted it to DropBox (https://www.dropbox.com/s/fq74xmo3cegnw0b/Arctic Adventure %26 Undiscovered Iceland Rev 0.pdf?dl=0) a year ago, I included the following note: "Unless indicated otherwise, all Shore Excursions are included with the “pick-one-per-port” caveat ".  I can't remember why I knew or how I learned that was the policy - did I ask my Viking TA about this? I may have. In any case, I wasn't even aware at the time that one could choose more than one excursion in a day or what the policy was if you did. 

 

Bottom line -- I don't think you should conclude that Viking has pulled a bait-and-switch on you. What they have NOT done .. clearly .. is communicate how multiple choices of included excursions are handled. Having had experience myself in writing a note to Chairman Hagen, I'm quite sure you will hear from somebody in Customer Relations tomorrow .. be expecting a phone call!  That's what happened to me!

 

Also -- regarding MVJ not showing all the same excursions as you see on the main VE site -- it's important to remember that the list of excursions shown on the VE site is nominal.  The excursions offered on YOUR particular sailing may not exactly correspond to what is shown on the main VE site -- it may be a subset and it may even contain excursions specific to your sailing, i.e, not shown on the main VE site at all. So don't worry about it.

Edited April 5, 2022 by CharTrav

[CharTrav]

23 minutes ago, CharTrav said:

Also -- regarding MVJ not showing all the same excursions as you see on the main VE site -- it's important to remember that the list of excursions shown on the VE site is nominal.  The excursions offered on YOUR particular sailing may not exactly correspond to what is shown on the main VE site -- it may be a subset and it may even contain excursions specific to your sailing, i.e, not shown on the main VE site at all. So don't worry about it.

In fact, I just checked the excursion listing for the first stop in the Great Lakes Collection .. and way down at the bottom in teeny tiny print is the following: "Shore excursions vary by itinerary and are subject to change. "  which is another way of saying what I wrote earlier.😄

[Strangford]

6 hours ago, CharTrav said:

did you notice my post earlier today? I've been hunting thru the VE site to find where it states that even tho each port stop lists multiple excursions all labeled "Included" -- you really can only pick one of them as your "included" excursion. That the policy is to offer one included excursion in each port is "the" policy whether on VR, VO, or VE. When I wrote up the consolidated report for Arctic Expeditions and posted it to DropBox (https://www.dropbox.com/s/fq74xmo3cegnw0b/Arctic Adventure %26 Undiscovered Iceland Rev 0.pdf?dl=0) a year ago, I included the following note: "Unless indicated otherwise, all Shore Excursions are included with the “pick-one-per-port” caveat ".  I can't remember why I knew or how I learned that was the policy - did I ask my Viking TA about this? I may have. In any case, I wasn't even aware at the time that one could choose more than one excursion in a day or what the policy was if you did. 

 

 

Listed under 'Why Viking' - 'The Viking difference' - 'Viking Inclusive Value' - 

WE INCLUDE MORE FEATURES & SERVICES THAN OTHERS:

One complimentary shore excursion in every port of call

[photopro2]

12 hours ago, CharTrav said:

I just got off a chat with Viking .. asking about this .. and the answer is you are only guaranteed one included excursion at each port.  If you choose to do more than one -- so long as they are more than 45 minutes apart -- those excursions are treated as "optional" .. and yes . you must pay.  Sorry that TellUs didn't get back to you .. but I'm finding the chat option in MVJ is very effective and timely. I admit -- having just checked thru the VE site .. that this distinction isn't made clear.. and agree that it should be.

 

While what you say might well be correct, I must point out that it has not always happened like that in practice. Some of us certainly have had issues with Viking erroneously promoting excursions as "included" and then making the very same excursion optional only when bookings opened on MVJ

 

To give just one example, we based our decision to book on the information below on the viking website and I planned to take the Gros Piton Hike.

 

However when the hike became available to book it was chargeable, (even though it was the only excursion I wished to do in that port) as shown below in this screenshot from MVJ

 

Viking have stated that when we originally saw the excursions as included there "was a technical error on the system" and we have been given some OBC in compensation.

 

I don't personally think that Viking have deliberately pulled a bait-and-switch, however I can certainly see how some people might interpret what has happened in that way.