Donaghadee Posted June 3, 2021 #1176 Share Posted June 3, 2021 9 minutes ago, Heartgrove said: Yes I understand that there is a shortage of seasonal workers. I am upset with Viking as they oversold their product to us, the consumer. It is a corporation with a number of departments that should have taken all things into consideration. If they had sold the first four cruises and left it at that, chances are this situation would not exist. How could they not think that other cruise lines would not have the same idea? Are they gambling that with 19 departures they could tip availability to their favor? If they had a refund policy like other cruise lines have, I could walk away. But they don't and if we cancel the Iceland cruise we will need to spend MORE money to use what they already have from us. Iceland lives and thrives on tourist bucks. Don't be surprised if the Iceland government puts the spurs to their guest worker program and perhaps offers a monetary incentive to show up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldercruser1 Posted June 3, 2021 #1177 Share Posted June 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said: I paid for Iceland with a voucher. It was a voucher that I had used to pay for the cruise that was cancelled the very same morning that I booked Iceland. Iceland had to be paid for the very next. By the time my TA got on the phone to make the payment the next day, the voucher had been returned to my account and was available to pay for the new cruise. I don't know what it means for your timing but I would not give up on the plan yet. Thank you for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USI Posted June 3, 2021 #1178 Share Posted June 3, 2021 59 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said: Just reminding that we're all guessing at what is actually going on, and what will actually happen once we sail. By treating our guesses as facts, we're just increasing the panic that is happening in this thread. i.e. you may be 100% correct. Exactly…With all the detailed negatives enumerated here by some, I’m beginning to wonder what in their list of pros and cons of going on this trip, what could possibly be listed as pros to outweigh the ever burgeoning list of negatives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyEthan Posted June 3, 2021 #1179 Share Posted June 3, 2021 4 minutes ago, USI said: Exactly…With all the detailed negatives enumerated here by some, I’m beginning to wonder what in their list of pros and cons of going on this trip, what could possibly be listed as pros to outweigh the ever burgeoning list of negatives? I just got a call back from Viking after emailing tellus. She said that she looked at my sailing, July 13, and that it only has 195 bookings, give or take. So less than half sold. Yet the July 13th still doesn't have any shore excursions announced. So this knocks down the hypothesis that we don't have tours announced because they went up to full capacity and can't get tour operators. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Clay Clayton Posted June 3, 2021 #1180 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Volcano claims one https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-57314928 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Clay Clayton Posted June 3, 2021 #1181 Share Posted June 3, 2021 3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said: A question to all about the Travel Requirement document that Viking just sent out. If you are working with a Travel Agent, did you receive the e-mail directly from Viking or through your TA? TIA We haven’t received it at all even though others on our same cruise who booked through our same agent did receive it directly from Viking. Since it didn’t really provide any new information, I’m not concerned about it. Did get an email last night from our TA confirming our new address to send the Viking documents. They are on the way to us now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw1776 Posted June 3, 2021 #1182 Share Posted June 3, 2021 (edited) 27 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said: I just got a call back from Viking after emailing tellus. She said that she looked at my sailing, July 13, and that it only has 195 bookings, give or take. So less than half sold. Yet the July 13th still doesn't have any shore excursions announced. So this knocks down the hypothesis that we don't have tours announced because they went up to full capacity and can't get tour operators. I don't believe that the Viking person is anywhere near correct with just 195 bookings Edited June 3, 2021 by philw1776 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Clay Clayton Posted June 3, 2021 #1183 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 hour ago, Heartgrove said: Has anyone sailed on a repositioning cruise aboard Viking? We have done 3.5 transatlantics on Viking. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartgrove Posted June 3, 2021 #1184 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 minute ago, Clay Clayton said: We have done 3.5 transatlantics on Viking. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Trying to speculate how booked the Portsmouth-Malta cruise would be. The Viking agent today said that all cabins are available for sale. But all cabins (that I can afford! ) are available for booking at a discount of $250 x 2 from the posted discount price at this point. My thought that needing open-jaw flights will discourage potential customers. Only three ports plus both Malta islands might not be that attractive for a 12 day cruise. Thoughts? IAD-LHR RT would be booked using points on UAL but cash for Air Malta MLA-LHR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gramfrog Posted June 3, 2021 #1185 Share Posted June 3, 2021 2 hours ago, Heartgrove said: Has anyone sailed on a repositioning cruise aboard Viking? We are starting to get serious with the "Iberia, the Mediterranean, and Malta" cruise aboard Viking Venus. Sue is chatting with Viking for the second time right now. Hearing today that the 4th Viking Sky cruise is close to capacity and with all of the removal of furniture from the public spaces, I would not want to switch if the Viking Venus has a similar situation and a similar configuration. Just found out that the shore excursions are still under review as well! Leaves in less than a month! 30 Days till it sails. Add in that they are planning on the availability of 930 passengers, full capacity. we sailed a 14 day transatlantic with them in 2018. It was a blast. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSJ711 Posted June 3, 2021 #1186 Share Posted June 3, 2021 12 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said: We have done 3.5 transatlantics on Viking. Happy to answer any questions that I can. Not too many people can claim they’ve done half an Atlantic (excluding the Titanic passengers of course). You’re in select company! 4 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IWantToLiveOverTheSea Posted June 3, 2021 #1187 Share Posted June 3, 2021 9 minutes ago, DaveSJ711 said: Not too many people can claim they’ve done half an Atlantic (excluding the Titanic passengers of course). You’re in select company! Yes, I was wondering where Clay got off - Azores? Madeira? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heartgrove Posted June 3, 2021 #1188 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Just now, gramfrog said: we sailed a 14 day transatlantic with them in 2018. It was a blast. My first 59 years (less my military years) were spent in Chicago. I still have my accent! Just wondering how crowded they might be. We have sailed RT Hawaii on the Eurodam with six sea days each way and was fully booked. Yet never felt crowded and plenty to keep busy with. I enjoy sea days, takes me back to being in the USCG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveSJ711 Posted June 3, 2021 #1189 Share Posted June 3, 2021 2 minutes ago, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said: Yes, I was wondering where Clay got off - Azores? Madeira? His ship was out in the pond when it was called back due to the pandemic. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stilltrucking Posted June 3, 2021 #1190 Share Posted June 3, 2021 48 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said: July 13, and that it only has 195 bookings, give or take. And yet it has shown as SOLD OUT for weeks. Something doesn't compute. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldercruser1 Posted June 3, 2021 #1191 Share Posted June 3, 2021 Flash: Just notified shore excursions available tomorrow for booking - July 17 cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMD Posted June 3, 2021 #1192 Share Posted June 3, 2021 3 minutes ago, eldercruser1 said: Flash: Just notified shore excursions available tomorrow for booking - July 17 cruise Same for July 13th cruise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
id4elizabeth Posted June 3, 2021 #1193 Share Posted June 3, 2021 44 minutes ago, FoggyEthan said: I just got a call back from Viking after emailing tellus. She said that she looked at my sailing, July 13, and that it only has 195 bookings, give or take. So less than half sold. Yet the July 13th still doesn't have any shore excursions announced. So this knocks down the hypothesis that we don't have tours announced because they went up to full capacity and can't get tour operators. Then I'd say you lucked out and are sailing with a lot less than full capacity. Your ship is supposedly Sold Out in all cabin categories, so if there were only 195 bookings, that an absolute max of 390 passengers - less than half full. I'd gladly change places with you since we have 900 I could just move my flights by a couple days and be all set. At least then I could enjoy the ship, even without ShoreX. If not lack of busses and guides, I'd be curious then what the problem is? And why the 1st 3 sailings have had ShoreX for nearly a month? Something happened between the July 10th sailing and ours on the 17th and yours on the 13th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfgrandma Posted June 3, 2021 #1194 Share Posted June 3, 2021 3 minutes ago, LMD said: Same for July 13th cruise Just got mine for the July 20th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyEthan Posted June 3, 2021 #1195 Share Posted June 3, 2021 6 minutes ago, stilltrucking said: And yet it has shown as SOLD OUT for weeks. Something doesn't compute. She was saying that they are holding back cabins to reduce capacity and allow for social distancing. I kinda trust the response from "tell us" more than the standard customer service reps. Perhaps that's just being optimistic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyEthan Posted June 3, 2021 #1196 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 minute ago, id4elizabeth said: Then I'd say you lucked out and are sailing with a lot less than full capacity. Your ship is supposedly Sold Out in all cabin categories, so if there were only 195 bookings, that an absolute max of 390 passengers - less than half full. I'd gladly change places with you since we have 900 I could just move my flights by a couple days and be all set. At least then I could enjoy the ship, even without ShoreX. If not lack of busses and guides, I'd be curious then what the problem is? And why the 1st 3 sailings have had ShoreX for nearly a month? Something happened between the July 10th sailing and ours on the 17th and yours on the 13th. I think you were told that it's sold out by a customer service rep, and I was told 195 bookings by "tell us". Perhaps your rep was wrong. Perhaps my "tell us" was wrong. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cruiser1854 Posted June 3, 2021 #1197 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 minute ago, cfgrandma said: Just got mine for the July 20th. Somehow I foresee a computer crash tomorrow at 9 pt 🤦♂️ 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FoggyEthan Posted June 3, 2021 #1198 Share Posted June 3, 2021 1 minute ago, Cruiser1854 said: Somehow I foresee a computer crash tomorrow at 9 pt 🤦♂️ I'm surprised too. I would've thought they'd stagger the sailings out by at least a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKexplorer Posted June 3, 2021 #1199 Share Posted June 3, 2021 2 hours ago, sleepybobo said: Thanks for the analysis. No, I'm not irritated with Viking. Just have some anxiety planning this trip. We didn't use Viking Air. I plan to redeem some of my Chase Sapphire travel rewards. But I can't book flights until the excursion situation clears up. So I have to monitor both MVJ and flight prices constantly. We have West Indies Explorer booked. Sometimes I think it's just easier to wait until December to cruise again. If so, I have to cancel by June 15. We used my Saphire points to book on Icelandair after Air Canada cancelled our flights. Some weird glitch with flights being booked through Jetblue on Icelandair - result is we cannot prepay for luggage or preselect seats. We're caught in the never-never land between two "partner" airlines whose system can't talk to eachother. Not very happy with that - but at least the cost was half of what we were initially paying for Viking Air (if paying in dollars) so that's a little consolation. Though using points for a budget airline is really a poor way to leverage their value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bardstowntraveller Posted June 3, 2021 #1200 Share Posted June 3, 2021 19 minutes ago, eldercruser1 said: Flash: Just notified shore excursions available tomorrow for booking - July 17 cruise How were you notified? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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