LIVE from "Iceland's Natural Beauty" -- All Sailings, 2021

[firefox33]

The following was posted after the first Jupiter event.
 

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, BQEC said:

Hello Twichly, It is Viking (not any country to my knowledge) which has the tracking/daily testing requirement. In the absence of  a Viking's positive finding and/or a symptomatic passenger, Iceland's quarantine policies would not come into play. (i.e. positive or close contact of positive - including Viking excursion bus passengers).

Iceland does have a phone app which they "suggest", not require, be used for tracking purposes, available for citizens and visitors. Viking tracking device is mandatory for all passengers. 

Opinions are all over the map about this. Sometimes it may just come down to whether and how the individual posting has been negatively affected by the Viking's daily

testing/tracking/quarantine/disembarked policies.

So, yes, it is the potential negative result of Viking's daily testing - as well as other factors - that continue to be a deal breaker for many .... 

 

 

 

It IS Iceland’s policy that is the problem here. They don’t take into account Viking’s contact tracers, nor masking of pax, nor contact traced pax testing negative. Glad we didn’t attempt an Iceland cruise and canceled our Malta/Adriatic. Now, just to get info from Viking about the policies for our TA in Nov. from Barcelona to SJ.

[susanlik]

6 hours ago, Independent said:

Thank you for the info.  I wonder if you literally had to stand around, or if there were chairs available?  I’m now debating taking my chair/cane.

A few cushioned benches

Out side bench or stay in large breakfast room

[susanlik]

On jupiter now

First time viking cruiser

It is ok...not out of this world but better than I feared

Positve.

.staff very friendly want to please

 

The resturant food very nice

 

Thermal spa great

 

Explorer lounge is always empty

 

The bridge will call us if they see any northern lights

 

Guest service good but not everyone give same information about changing policies with outside tours...they were stopped again this week..

 

No so good

 

Over crowed transfer bus from airport...our guide told us nothing about the are we were driving through

 

Crowded theater to get sent to your bus for excursion

 

Our guide on golden circle was unable to walk through 3 of the 4 stops because she was physucal incapable due to being out of shape...she told us to read the signs posted I'd we want to understand what we were seeing

 

We had 34 people on our bus the other busses were 16 to 24...

 

No announcement in theater to keep mask on unless you were drinking...20% did not wear mask

 

We are on day 3 and not see the sun...but we can help that...

 

Looking forward to a safe rest of trip

[susanlik]

1 would manager see how busses are filled...and have more detailed questionnaire

1. Easy to understand

2 knew material and made it interesting

3.s

3.Walk with group to show and expline the hot pool  steam heat volcano eruptions ect...and if do not go to see a horse nor lurid crater it is viking be jeap

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

7 hours ago, Independent said:

Thank you for the info.  I wonder if you literally had to stand around, or if there were chairs available?  I’m now debating taking my chair/cane.

I'm not person you asked, but I can tell you that there were plenty of tables and chairs for everyone on my August 3 cruise for breakfast. I think we were assigned to a particular large group, in keeping with attempts to create pods of people when possible, but I may not be remembering that correctly.  Yes, the cold quiche was not to my liking, but the croissants were good, as were the Icelandic yogurt and coffee and one o the juice choices.   But of course food likes/dislikes are subjective,  plus you're eating Icelandic food, so opinions will vary.   At  11 my coach left for the ship, where after a short safety introduction, we could go eat lunch.  I only ate 2 forkfuls of cold quiche, ate the rest, and was fine until I got lunch on the ship.  I don't know if tours were available during the wait at Harpa.  But this was before a bubble was imposed (reimposed?) so I simply walked out and did my own tour. 

 

While waiting to be taken to the ship, there were a lot of people standing around inside the Harpa Concert Hall on the lower level.  There were seats if you wanted to sit (and I did - on a cushioned bench) but not many, so you had to look for them.  I suppose there may have been more upstairs, but I didn't look, so don't know.  Of course, everyone always wants to be the first to get on a coach, so I think a lot of people were in the lobby there waiting for coaches before they were asked to be, causing a bit of congestion.

 

Note that breakfast is served upstairs.  There are elevators to upstairs; the long flight of stairs is not the only option.  

 

Yes, people were unmasked in Harpa while eating.  But they're going to be unmasked on the ship while eating, and on long plane rides while eating, and on long excursions during lunch, etc.  For those not comfortable with that, even with everyone required to be vaccinated, it may be better to plan another vacation other than cruising.  I'm not sure what other lines require masks on board the ships, but from what I've read, there are very, very few.  So I think overall Viking cruisers have more protection than others.  We'll just have to see how things go on the various lines. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by IWantToLiveOverTheSea

[KarNog]

52 minutes ago, susanlik said:

On jupiter now

First time viking cruiser

It is ok...not out of this world but better than I feared

Positve.

.staff very friendly want to please

 

The resturant food very nice

 

Thermal spa great

 

Explorer lounge is always empty

 

The bridge will call us if they see any northern lights

 

Guest service good but not everyone give same information about changing policies with outside tours...they were stopped again this week..

 

No so good

 

Over crowed transfer bus from airport...our guide told us nothing about the are we were driving through

 

Crowded theater to get sent to your bus for excursion

 

Our guide on golden circle was unable to walk through 3 of the 4 stops because she was physucal incapable due to being out of shape...she told us to read the signs posted I'd we want to understand what we were seeing

 

We had 34 people on our bus the other busses were 16 to 24...

 

No announcement in theater to keep mask on unless you were drinking...20% did not wear mask

 

We are on day 3 and not see the sun...but we can help that...

 

Looking forward to a safe rest of trip

I was on 8/20 Sky. Because of our early arrival, we had a half full bus to Harpa, ate breakfast (while it wasn't my favorite, it tasted pretty good after an overnight flight with no food - lol), and then took a walking tour with a very good guide. We were in the bubble the entire trip which I didn't love, but knew it going in. Because we were the first arriving, we were also the first coach to go to the ship. We were onboard by 11ish to make reservations, have lunch, and meet the bartenders.

My Golden Circle tour was dodgy as well. Our guide was quite talkative, pointing out all sorts of stuff which I later learned was fabricated on the fly. That will teach me to read guide books written by real guides, right?

I didn't expect to see people in masks while eating or drinking. Masking on busses was pretty good consistently. There was one couple who took their masks off every time they sat down on the bus, so I learned quickly to avoid them.

Staff was great - learned our names and favorite drinks by the second day which is pretty impressive imo.

My friends and I did everything we could to fill the Explorer's Lounge every night. We were the boisterous group so you may be better off without a crowd in the Lounge.

This was my first cruise. I'm glad I chose Viking. I'm not sure I'm the cruisey kind, but I'm glad we did it. I'm much more into exploration than coach and walking tours but that's personal preference.

Hope the rest of your cruise is fun. Weather for us was rainy, cold, hot, sunny, windy so at least we got our money's worth there!

[Independent]

Many thanks for the information about seating options!

[Nobbi]

On 8/25/2021 at 11:40 AM, IWantToLiveOverTheSea said:

Yes.  When I first got their email, I ignored it.  Then a day or two later I came on Cruise Critic and asked the same question you asked.  I decided it would be worth the extra money to pay extra to have safer seats (more separation, Covid) and a better chance of actually sleeping on the 6 hour nonstop flight.  Several people responded, saying they had bid and won; several people said they bid and lost.  One helpful person told me that rebids were allowed.   I decided to try hard to win upgrades, and bid somewhere in, but not far in, the green bid zone.  (I'm sorry, I can't remember actual amount).  I also looked on Icelandair's website to see how many Saga seats were available, and where they were.  Only 1 seat showed up as available, although I have no idea if this was the real number of un-booked seats or just some number the computer uses to hasten people along in the booking process!  

 

I really didn't think we'd win the seats because we needed two, and the site says you must bid for all people on your ticket (i.e., you can't just bid for one person if two are on the same ticket).  At the time I bid, it didn't look like two seats were available, and Icelandair in general didn't have all that many Saga seats, so I figured we'd end up in economy. 

 

The site says you may have to wait until the day of the flight to learn of an upgrade, but we got notice we'd won at least a day before the day of our flight.  But the seats weren't assigned until we got to the airport.  My spouse's ended up being in what one person called the "King's Chair"  - with aisles on both sides of him.  I was in a seat across the aisle from him, with someone next to me in the window seat, separated by a stationary armrest.  (See my scary photo).  

 

Saga Class is, I guess, not quite as cushy as some other airlines' business class, but it did provide more room, a quieter, more private & experience, and food - fairly good (but cold) nicely seasoned chicken skewers and a few other nibbles for dinner, including a cute tiny "hamburger" tiraisu. The meal was served soon after we got up to cruising altitude.  I don't drink, and I did little besides sleep, so I can't tell you more about what they offered to those who weren't so anxious to go to sleep. All in all, it was a nice experience.  We had traveled on Icelandair twice before, and found it an adequate airline, despite the fact that it's budget.  But if you're in economy, be aware that food is usually not provided, only offered for purchase on board.   

 

Good luck!  

 

 

 

Greetings!

 

At first I booked us United Polaris flights from SFO via EWR to KEF. It was RT $6000+ pp.

 

So I changed to UA SFO-JFK and then FI JFK-KEF. That second leg RT was only a little munder $3500 RT/PP in Saga. And yes, it not lie flat. But the price is so good. And the flight is not that long. Why take the chance with bidding for upgrades?

[philw1776]

Gotta say that unlike the above experiences our 3 July Viking Golden Circle tour had an excellent guide. Guy was a school teacher. Knowledgeable. Knew when to talk and when to give it a rest like all the best guides do.

[KarNog]

12 hours ago, Nobbi said:

 

 

 

Greetings!

 

At first I booked us United Polaris flights from SFO via EWR to KEF. It was RT $6000+ pp.

 

So I changed to UA SFO-JFK and then FI JFK-KEF. That second leg RT was only a little munder $3500 RT/PP in Saga. And yes, it not lie flat. But the price is so good. And the flight is not that long. Why take the chance with bidding for upgrades?

Wow! We paid $650 RT/PP on a non stop from Denver, but we had to bring our own Cheez-Its. Next time I'll pop for a sandwich, too. 

I hope you enjoyed your trip! I know we did.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

20 hours ago, KarNog said:

I was on 8/20 Sky. Because of our early arrival, we had a half full bus to Harpa, ate breakfast (while it wasn't my favorite, it tasted pretty good after an overnight flight with no food - lol), and then took a walking tour with a very good guide. We were in the bubble the entire trip which I didn't love, but knew it going in. Because we were the first arriving, we were also the first coach to go to the ship. We were onboard by 11ish to make reservations, have lunch, and meet the bartenders.

My Golden Circle tour was dodgy as well. Our guide was quite talkative, pointing out all sorts of stuff which I later learned was fabricated on the fly. That will teach me to read guide books written by real guides, right?

I didn't expect to see people in masks while eating or drinking. Masking on busses was pretty good consistently. There was one couple who took their masks off every time they sat down on the bus, so I learned quickly to avoid them.

Staff was great - learned our names and favorite drinks by the second day which is pretty impressive imo.

My friends and I did everything we could to fill the Explorer's Lounge every night. We were the boisterous group so you may be better off without a crowd in the Lounge.

This was my first cruise. I'm glad I chose Viking. I'm not sure I'm the cruisey kind, but I'm glad we did it. I'm much more into exploration than coach and walking tours but that's personal preference.

Hope the rest of your cruise is fun. Weather for us was rainy, cold, hot, sunny, windy so at least we got our money's worth there!

I'm not totally into coach and walking tours either, preferring to go off on my own with my camera and trip notes compiled pre-trip.  But once the world wins the Covid battle, you'll have time to explore on your own on cruises.  On Viking, with its included tours, I often do the included tour in the morning (or sometimes afternoon) and then stay in town and/or go back out after lunch to explore.  People often mention to me that they didn't think they'd like the structured world of cruising.  But it really does give you a lot of latitude to do what you want to do, whether it's hiring a private guide, taking a ship excursion, jumping on a train, bus, boat or taxi, just walking around the port area on your own, or just staying on the ship and relaxing! 

[travelordie]

We are on the Viking Sky cruise which embarked on August 28th and disembarks tomorrow.  There have now been two positive COVID cases on this cruise.  The Captain announced one over the loudspeaker yesterday and a second over the loudspeaker today.  Both cases are asymptomatic and have had no impact on our enjoyment of the cruise.  I suspect there have been similar incidents on other ships but those other ships do not test passengers daily for COVID.

[KarNog]

26 minutes ago, travelordie said:

We are on the Viking Sky cruise which embarked on August 28th and disembarks tomorrow.  There have now been two positive COVID cases on this cruise.  The Captain announced one over the loudspeaker yesterday and a second over the loudspeaker today.  Both cases are asymptomatic and have had no impact on our enjoyment of the cruise.  I suspect there have been similar incidents on other ships but those other ships do not test passengers daily for COVID.

It's striking how the response to positive tests has varies from an announcement to suspending all poets to sending several negative testing patrons home due to close encounters. I feel very lucky that there were no announcements or interruptions on our cruise.

 

 

[travelordie]

12 hours ago, KarNog said:

It's striking how the response to positive tests has varies from an announcement to suspending all poets to sending several negative testing patrons home due to close encounters. I feel very lucky that there were no announcements or interruptions on our cruise.

 

 

Despite the two cases, it was a fabulous cruise.  I just looked at the Viking schedule for the next two years, and the Viking Jupiter sailing three days from now will be the last circumnavigation of Iceland by Viking.  After that, Viking will have some cruises ending or beginning in Reykjavik but no more circumnavigations beginning and ending in Reykjavik.

[BarbRN]

6 hours ago, travelordie said:

Despite the two cases, it was a fabulous cruise.  I just looked at the Viking schedule for the next two years, and the Viking Jupiter sailing three days from now will be the last circumnavigation of Iceland by Viking.  After that, Viking will have some cruises ending or beginning in Reykjavik but no more circumnavigations beginning and ending in Reykjavik.

Wonder why

[MacTeacher]

It’s still sad that those of us who felt that we couldn’t safely cruise now won’t have the chance to choose this cruise later when, Lord willing, things are safer…

[anaco_angler]

I agree. Maybe given the popularity of this itinerary Viking will reconsider and run it again in 2022.

[stilltrucking]

1 hour ago, BarbRN said:

Wonder why

Because the circumnavigation cruises around Iceland were a special case offering as part of Viking's "Welcome Back" cruises.  They were never scheduled beyond 2021.  They were offered to us back in Spring, when we all reasonably hoped things would return to some approximation of normal by 2022.  No such luck.  Let's see what Viking decides to do now.

[Kerrfamily]

for those of just finishing Iceland Cruise, is the  no outside exploration or excursions still affect?thanks! 

 

[Snit13]

We were supposed to be on the August 31-September 7 cruise but decided to cancel due to the rules and conditions.  I have seen very few posts from brave cruisers who did not cancel.  Wonder how their week went.  

We took advantage to the Grand European river cruise for 2022 with our future cruise credit.  They were not offering the free drink package but were offering free airfare.  Since Viking supposedly offers beer and wine for us the free air trumped the free drinks as we are not big drinkers.  Now we just have to hope and pray Covid has run its course and goes away forever.

[carld]

2 hours ago, Snit13 said:

We were supposed to be on the August 31-September 7 cruise but decided to cancel due to the rules and conditions.  I have seen very few posts from brave cruisers who did not cancel.  Wonder how their week went.  

We took advantage to the Grand European river cruise for 2022 with our future cruise credit.  They were not offering the free drink package but were offering free airfare.  Since Viking supposedly offers beer and wine for us the free air trumped the free drinks as we are not big drinkers.  Now we just have to hope and pray Covid has run its course and goes away forever.

We were on the Jupiter August 24 sailing.  When I heard about people being sent home because they were on the same bus as someone testing positive, I did have some doubts about my sanity for deciding to go ahead with the trip.  However I did some changes to my planned trip (canceled my long bus ride Viking excursions) and since we were arriving a day early, we spent Monday the 23rd touring Reykjavik on foot and I arranged for a private tour of the Golden Circle excursion for the 24th.  After the tour by private jeep, just the driver and the two of us,  (we were picked up from our hotel and our luggage was with us for the entire tour) which actually cost less than the Viking bus Golden Circle tour, the tour driver dropped us off at the cruise port around 5PM so we got on board in time for dinner.  On board the cruise was great, we felt safe and we enjoyed the excursions that were included which were mostly short outside walking tours.  My only complaint was since we were all masked inside except while eating, it really did cut down on meeting other passengers.  No shared tables so we were sort of in a bubble (my wife and me) within a bubble (the ship passengers unable to mingle with people on shore).  I wanted to visit one of the natural hot water spas on an excursion but that would have required a long bus ride so we canceled that.  Instead, since we had a late flight, I arranged for a visit to the Blue Lagoon on the way to the airport.  So, despite changing some plans, we did get to see Reykjavik, we did get to do the Golden Circle tour and we did get to visit the Blue Lagoon and get the hot water experience.  We also had great food on board, got to eat at the Chiefs Table twice, and enjoyed a nice cruise. It was different, with daily spit tests, masks when outside of your room, and lack of meeting new people at share tables but we  were glad we went.  

[BarbRN]

19 hours ago, Kerrfamily said:

for those of just finishing Iceland Cruise, is the  no outside exploration or excursions still affect?thanks! 

 

On Aug 21-28 yes. One agent told me it was lifted. When we got there, not true. 

[KarNog]

4 hours ago, Snit13 said:

We were supposed to be on the August 31-September 7 cruise but decided to cancel due to the rules and conditions.  I have seen very few posts from brave cruisers who did not cancel.  Wonder how their week went.  

We took advantage to the Grand European river cruise for 2022 with our future cruise credit.  They were not offering the free drink package but were offering free airfare.  Since Viking supposedly offers beer and wine for us the free air trumped the free drinks as we are not big drinkers.  Now we just have to hope and pray Covid has run its course and goes away forever.

I'm sorry your cancelled your trip! But I'm sure you'll enjoy your GE river cruise.

 

My partner and I were on the Aug 21 Sky sailing. I met up with a couple of friends from Florida and their four friends, so we were quite often in a group of 8 which gradually expanded during the cruise with new friends made over dining and lounging experiences.  We were able to chat over meals with nearby guests and shared a table with "strangers" (none stranger than us) a few times.

We took one long bus tour (Golden Circle) and several shorter ones as well.  My friends did the long bus tours each day with no issues other than the requisite "Another waterfall? Really?" In our group, we enjoyed horseback riding, kayaking, a five hour Bataan death march (don't ask), shopping in stores closed off to all but Viking guests, whale watching, city tours in all ports (three in Reyjkavik alone), puffin hunting by boat, free time in Botanic gardens, the Vok baths, free time at the Perlan (an excellent museum with an ice cave!) and way too much eating and drinking! Sadly, we missed the last port but a day of rest  by the pool did us good.

Would I have preferred more free time off the ship? Yep. Did my vacation suffer because of it? Nope. Was there pre-trip stress that I don't ordinarily experience?  Yep. With that being said, I wouldn't trade this experience (my first cruise ever) with my old friends and many, many new friends for anything.

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, Snit13 said:

We were supposed to be on the August 31-September 7 cruise but decided to cancel due to the rules and conditions.  I have seen very few posts from brave cruisers who did not cancel.  Wonder how their week went.  

We took advantage to the Grand European river cruise for 2022 with our future cruise credit.  They were not offering the free drink package but were offering free airfare.  Since Viking supposedly offers beer and wine for us the free air trumped the free drinks as we are not big drinkers.  Now we just have to hope and pray Covid has run its course and goes away forever.

I don’t know that we were brave but we enjoyed our Iceland cruise even with the protocols that we knew were in place prior to booking. 
 

You can delete the “supposedly” from you post.  Viking offers beer, wine, and soda at all meals…even breakfast aboard the River Boats as there was a bottle of sparkling on the buffet when we sailed.