Bermuda Escape Cruises - insights, information, and more just on Bermuda

[jollyjones]

22 hours ago, stace11 said:

These Bermuda sailings are a 50% solo supplement. I believe some of the other Welcome Back cruises are as well. 

Well that information was definitely not showing on the Viking website when I looked at it just out of curiosity when these cruises were announced. 

 

[CCWineLover]

On 7/7/2021 at 8:33 PM, doggfan7 said:

Thanks!! Glad you're home same now.

Send me an email to kjstong@charter.net  and I will send you all the dailies.  Took pictures after we got home (flew back last Tuesday night).  Finally starting to recover from 4 hour jet lag!

[CCWineLover]

For those interested, here is the California menu for the Chef's Table from the last cruise.  We ate their last Sunday July 4th.  It was wonderful!   Note - Viking left us a voice mail on our room phone during the day to let us know they were sorry but due to shortages they had to substitute the Halibut for Chilean Sea Bass and hoped that would be alright.   So like Viking!    The Sea Bass was absolutely delicious, as were the wines.  Learned that Valerie (from Moscow), who seemed to always find us at Chef's Table, was the one who put together most of the various wine pairings on the menus.

 

[bluesea777]

^^^^^ funny they would substitute the fish … halibut isn’t easy to obtain in Bermuda but Chilean sea bass is available - very expensive at over $30 per pound!

 

 

[aussie1944]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

For those interested, here is the California menu for the Chef's Table from the last cruise.  We ate their last Sunday July 4th.  It was wonderful!   Note - Viking left us a voice mail on our room phone during the day to let us know they were sorry but due to shortages they had to substitute the Halibut for Chilean Sea Bass and hoped that would be alright.   So like Viking!    The Sea Bass was absolutely delicious, as were the wines.  Learned that Valerie (from Moscow), who seemed to always find us at Chef's Table, was the one who put together most of the various wine pairings on the menus.

 

Thanks for posting.  I was curious as to what is California cuisine!!  I know what Tennessee and Alabama cuisine is! LOL!!

[bluesea777]

@aussie1944 hope you are recovering nicely and are back on tour feet very soon. 
 

I don’t know if you are aware or read about this but Viking has extended Orion’s Bermuda Escape season with 6 additional sailings. The new sailings are Friday to Friday and resume on Aug 13th with last sailing being Sept 17. Will you be well enough to make it to one of the later sailings?

 

Get well soon!

 

[B_A_H]

Anyone on 7/13 get their Travel Authorization back yet?  I submitted mine at 2:16AM Bermuda time.  Last hurdle in the process so I'm anxious to put it to bed. 

 

P.S. - If anyone's planning to use U.S. wireless devices for data in Bermuda the two cellular companies support LTE on Bands B12 and B13.  My phone and tablet have those bands but some older devices and carrier branded devices may not. 

[aussie1944]

5 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

@aussie1944 hope you are recovering nicely and are back on tour feet very soon. 
 

I don’t know if you are aware or read about this but Viking has extended Orion’s Bermuda Escape season with 6 additional sailings. The new sailings are Friday to Friday and resume on Aug 13th with last sailing being Sept 17. Will you be well enough to make it to one of the later sailings?

 

Get well soon!

 

I am doing great.  I don't think we will try to do Bermuda this time but I really appreciate your letting me know.  In over 55 cruises, this is the first time we have had to cancel due to medical emergency.  I had surgery and Dr would not allow me to do the trip.  I figured he is the professional, so I would follow his counsel.

Did you do the cruise or is your trip coming up?  We were scheduled for July 20th. 

[Azulann]

6 minutes ago, B_A_H said:

Anyone on 7/13 get their Travel Authorization back yet?  I submitted mine at 2:16AM Bermuda time.  Last hurdle in the process so I'm anxious to put it to bed.

Only one couple Bafinegan got theirs. They  filled out the form at 12:30 am this morning. 

The rest of us think we will get ours on Sunday,  if not ,call them on Monday.

Going to bed knowing that I did everything I needed get approval. 

Good sign,  if you believe in such things: my sister got her COVID test in Nashville at a clinic. The doctor  had been a doctor in Bermuda. After she got her shot , he talked to her about Bermuda for the whole 15 minutes. To me and her that is a sign, the  stars are aligned for  this roll call!!!!!

 

Patti

 

[C-sea]

11 hours ago, Azulann said:

Only one couple Bafinegan got theirs. They  filled out the form at 12:30 am this morning. 

The rest of us think we will get ours on Sunday,  if not ,call them on Monday.

Going to bed knowing that I did everything I needed get approval. 

Good sign,  if you believe in such things: my sister got her COVID test in Nashville at a clinic. The doctor  had been a doctor in Bermuda. After she got her shot , he talked to her about Bermuda for the whole 15 minutes. To me and her that is a sign, the  stars are aligned for  this roll call!!!!!

 

Patti

 

This morning (about 18 hrs after submitting the request to BTA) we received our "green travel" authorization back from the Bermuda Government. You will need to initial in a small box and then "sign" your name  in the large box (don't worry how your signature looks) accept it. Download to PDF, then print it out ( we did 3 copies). These printed copies have a time stamp at the bottom of page and a bar code in upper right corner of page. 

We believe we are all set to go.

[B_A_H]

Just got mine too.  I guess from this point forward it's just routine travel stuff to get to the ship.  That is as routine as COVID permits.  One thing good about traveling on a Tuesday is that the airports are less insane than they around around weekends. 

[Azulann]

4 minutes ago, B_A_H said:

That is as routine as COVID permits

The new normal for us who are traveling out of the country for the near future.

First time in an airport Inver 14 months... it should be interesting.  

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, B_A_H said:

Just got mine too.  I guess from this point forward it's just routine travel stuff to get to the ship.  That is as routine as COVID permits.  One thing good about traveling on a Tuesday is that the airports are less insane than they around around weekends. 

 

Good luck to you all!   And when you land, keep that green authorization form out as you use it, with your boarding pass, and passport at every single checkpoint (maybe 6 or 7 of them?).  People would put them away in their bags, and then have to stop and get them out again.

 

Also - we were stunned at how absolutely crowded the airports were - even on Tuesday.  It was absolutely packed, throngs of people everywhere - like the old pre-COVID days in summer.  Every flight we had was overbooked and completely full.  Crazy!  Just lower your expectations and go with the flow!

 

Have a fantastic trip, all of you on the July 13 cruise!!!

Edited July 11, 2021 by CCWineLover

[B_A_H]

@CCWineLover With authorization in hand and in retrospect the process really isn't all that bad.  The problem is that based on the timeline there is zero margin for error.  That's where the anxiety comes in.  Knock on wood from this point forward it's all normal travel-related stuff.  Granted there's still room for problems but they are the same problems we've all faced getting to a cruise even in pre-COVID times.  

 

Then there's this. :(

 

[molymoo]

For those preparing for the 7/13 cruise … I’m jealous!  Our cruise is winding down and it has been absolutely lovely!  The weather has been great … what little rain fell was light and short lived.  The crew has been amazing and we have felt pampered and spoiled every step of the way!  Have a wonderful time everyone … and stay safe!  

[WanderingBrit]

I notice that not only have there been an additional 6 sailings added, but it looks as if Viking have increased the capacity on some of the previously released cruise dates. On our cruise there are now many categories of room showing availability that were previously sold-out

 

Just as FYI

[Bandctravels]

When I saw the new sail dates added, I called Viking. We booked for the reduced capacity, Welcome back cruise. I was told they were sailing at full capacity now. I pointed out that we booked at reduced capacity on the Aug 3rd sailing and capacity should stay the same for the welcome back dates.  She responded that things had changed and pointed out that wording ‘reduced capacity’ only meant not 100%. This is our first Viking cruise and we are not getting a good feeling right now. 

[Tom.in.nc]

42 minutes ago, Bandctravels said:

When I saw the new sail dates added, I called Viking. We booked for the reduced capacity, Welcome back cruise. I was told they were sailing at full capacity now. I pointed out that we booked at reduced capacity on the Aug 3rd sailing and capacity should stay the same for the welcome back dates.  She responded that things had changed and pointed out that wording ‘reduced capacity’ only meant not 100%. This is our first Viking cruise and we are not getting a good feeling right now. 

Even at 100% capacity these ships will not feel crowded. We have sailed for months with ~850 and, other than special occasions, always felt like the ship was half full.

Tom

 

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, Bandctravels said:

When I saw the new sail dates added, I called Viking. We booked for the reduced capacity, Welcome back cruise. I was told they were sailing at full capacity now. I pointed out that we booked at reduced capacity on the Aug 3rd sailing and capacity should stay the same for the welcome back dates.  She responded that things had changed and pointed out that wording ‘reduced capacity’ only meant not 100%. This is our first Viking cruise and we are not getting a good feeling right now. 

 

We have sailed on Viking with as little as 8 pax, up to a full ship of 930. Even when full, except for special events in the Theatre, the ship isn't crowded. Even at 50%, the queues for the Theatre would not be much different than at 100%, as the Theatre capacity is limited.

 

Only other queues we ever saw was for the MDR just before they opened at 18:00, which is now earlier post-COVID, I believe. This only took a couple of minutes to dissipate.

 

Otherwise, even at full occupancy there was lots of space around the ship in every lounge, bar or the open decks.

[Bandctravels]

Thanks to both of you for your responses about a full ship. How nice that even full, it will not be crazy crowded. 

[aungrl]

13 minutes ago, Bandctravels said:

Thanks to both of you for your responses about a full ship. How nice that even full, it will not be crazy crowded. 

It truly, truly is not.  The last time we sailed, the ship had 927 pax, and there were many afternoons that I would walk the entire length of the ship inside on decks 2 or 3 without running into anyone else.  And these are very public area, with game tables sprinkled about, etc.  You'll be amazed.

[bafinegan]

Last night of our cruise.  It's been WONDERFUL!  Yes, there hiccups and hoops to jump thru that made me wonder what the hell was I thinking.  But I would do it all over again!

 

To those of you with your cruising to Bermuda in the near future, IT"S WORTH IT!!!  The feeling you will have once you hear the "ding" of your card accessing you to the ship (sigh).  Relax, it will get done.  And have a BLAST!

 

baf

[Azulann]

12 hours ago, bafinegan said:

Last night of our cruise.  It's been WONDERFUL!  Yes, there hiccups and hoops to jump thru that made me wonder what the hell was I thinking.  But I would do it all over again!

 

To those of you with your cruising to Bermuda in the near future, IT"S WORTH IT!!!  The feeling you will have once you hear the "ding" of your card accessing you to the ship (sigh).  Relax, it will get done.  And have a BLAST!

 

baf

Totally agree. I wish I met you in person, but maybe I did this last week. Met many fun interesting people who all were enjoying this  cruise. Safe travels 

Patti

[doggfan7]

On 7/13/2021 at 1:13 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

We have sailed on Viking with as little as 8 pax, up to a full ship of 930. Even when full, except for special events in the Theatre, the ship isn't crowded. Even at 50%, the queues for the Theatre would not be much different than at 100%, as the Theatre capacity is limited.

 

Only other queues we ever saw was for the MDR just before they opened at 18:00, which is now earlier post-COVID, I believe. This only took a couple of minutes to dissipate.

 

Otherwise, even at full occupancy there was lots of space around the ship in every lounge, bar or the open decks.

You have piqued my interest. 8 passengers?

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, doggfan7 said:

You have piqued my interest. 8 passengers?

 

The 19/20 World Cruise ended early in Dubai, with Viking flying everybody home. The local authorities own the airline, so demanded Viking only used Emirates. They booked every possible seat, but when Emirates shut down, they still had about 90 pax on board - US & Canadians.

 

Viking chartered a flight, but a certain chap that resided in a white house, refused to let the Canadians land in the US, then catch connecting flights.

 

Viking kept all 8 Canadians aboard the fully crewed Viking Sun, until a port would accept us. Gibraltar agreed to accept us, so we disembarked  3 weeks after leaving Dubai. Best cruise ever.