Cancelling bus excursions due to fear of quarantine?????

[jdlg4silb]

My question really has two parts:

1- What is the policy of cancelling excursions? We are on the August 17th Jupiter cruise and our My Viking Journey site says that there are no longer changes allowed regarding excursions until you are on the ship.

2- Due to the recent information regarding quarantining of people who are on the same bus as a positive passenger, would you think the policy regarding cancellations of "bus trips" would be more lenient.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Edited August 15, 2021 by jdlg4silb

[hersheyhughes]

Viking normally closes booking excursions on NOV a week before boarding the ship. Once you get on board they will be open again for booking.

Not sure about part 2 of your inquiry.

Hope you have a great trip!

[TayanaLorna]

56 minutes ago, jdlg4silb said:

My question really has two parts:

1- What is the policy of cancelling excursions? We are on the August 17th Jupiter cruise and our My Viking Journey site says that there are no longer changes allowed regarding excursions until you are on the ship.

2- Due to the recent information regarding quarantining of people who are on the same bus as a positive passenger, would you think the policy regarding cancellations of "bus trips" would be more lenient.

Thanks in advance for your help!

You cannot cancel on MVJ but other people have telephoned Viking before they board to do so.  Once on board you must cancel two days before your excursion.  So if you want to cancel something on Day 2 once on board, you cannot.  Day 1 you can cancel Day 3 and so forth.   Each Viking Daily will give you the excursion cancellation deadline date and time.

[Jim Avery]

Once onboard we have been able to freely cancel/change excursions as we want.  I know the shore rules say one thing but the onboard service is light years better.  

[rizello]

We did cancel one of our free excursions because we didn’t want to be on a bus for three hours.  We did one excursion yesterday with only 10 people and we had room to spread out.  Tomorrow we go on a 4 hour bus/walking tour excursion so we are hoping for the best.

[KarNog]

2 hours ago, jdlg4silb said:

My question really has two parts:

1- What is the policy of cancelling excursions? We are on the August 17th Jupiter cruise and our My Viking Journey site says that there are no longer changes allowed regarding excursions until you are on the ship.

2- Due to the recent information regarding quarantining of people who are on the same bus as a positive passenger, would you think the policy regarding cancellations of "bus trips" would be more lenient.

Thanks in advance for your help!

You cannot cancel on MVJ, but I chatted with an agent this morning (Live Chat) who cancelled my Circle tour on the second day of the cruise. She said that changes can be made with an agent up to three days prior to embarkation. Once onboard, you can change excursions with two days notice.

[Cienfuegos]

Once onboard, it seems like the shore-ex staff has a lot of flexibility.

[IWantToLiveOverTheSea]

2 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Once onboard, it seems like the shore-ex staff has a lot of flexibility.

Agree.  They can't open up a whole other excursion slot on short notice, and maybe not even on long notice.  However, things do change with bookings once you get on board.  And they seemed quite accommodating about cancellations and changes.  They do, however, have an official deadline to cancel.  It's stated on each excursion ticket you get when you board the ship and it's listed in the Viking Daily.  And every day in the Viking Daily they ask that if you know you won't be participating in an included excursion, you should return your ticket at least 24 hours in advance so they can let someone else go in that time slot if needed.

[C-sea]

already see answer to my question

 

 

Edited August 16, 2021 by C-sea

[molymoo]

Gosh, things in Iceland seem to be "going South" fast!  I have no wisdom to offer here but am beginning to think that my decision to "skip" Iceland in favor of Bermuda was a wise one!  I understand that Viking is at the mercy of the "authorities" in Iceland with regard to positive cases and quarantine procedures but there seems to be some confusion as to who the "authorities" are: in one case the coast guard seemed to be calling the shots but other times a health minister is in charge.  I also can't help but think that the contact tracing that Viking is doing is a big drawback for passengers.  If you are on a Viking arranged excursion and one of your fellow passengers tests positive the next day it appears that your cruise is over.  If you go out on your own or on a privately arranged tour and come into contact with someone who later tests positive, no one knows or cares unless you personally test positive at some later date.  Are they still allowing passengers off of the ship to "do their own thing"?  

[Woofbite]

On 8/15/2021 at 1:08 PM, rizello said:

.  Tomorrow we go on a 4 hour bus/walking tour excursion so we are hoping for the best.

On those walking tours are there places for limited walkers to sit and drink coffee or at least sit and wait while the group finishes their hike?

 

 

[MarkTapley]

2 hours ago, molymoo said:

Are they still allowing passengers off of the ship to "do their own thing"?  

No.  Currently in Iceland we have to take Viking excursions.  We cannot leave the ship to do our own thing.

[carld]

I think Viking is going to lose a lot of revenue as people will cancel bus excursions to avoid the possibility of being quarantined because one person  on the bus was found to have tested positive for covid.  Makes no sense if you were on a bus wearing an N 95 mask that your vacation could be ruined.  We canceled all our bus tours and are getting back a little of $1600 from the canceled excursions.  That is a direct hit to Viking's bottom line.  Maybe the bean counters will see the light and not quarantine anyone unless they test positive.  With everyone fully vaccinated, what is happening now is just overkill. 

[hehny]

Simply being on a bus with a positive passenger does not mean quarantine in Iceland.  Both Sky and Jupiter had positive cases reported this past week. Only one ship required every bus passenger that toured with the positive person to quarantine regardless of status.  This was because the bus stopped for a long lunch indoors where social distancing was not possible.  Indeed, passengers reported being nearly on top of each other without masks.  Both Viking’s Chief Medical Officer and the Icelandic authorities agreed on quarantine.

 

 Keep in mind this was on Thursday and the cruise ended that Tuesday.   You need to have time to account for the transmission time before you test due to an exposure. There was a far greater likelihood of transmission under these circumstances than on the other ship’s bus ride where everyone was masked inside at all times. 

[Heartgrove]

After listening to and reading the Iceland media, it seems that the quarantine of those traced to their proximity of a positive passenger is mostly Viking's call. Iceland is only placing non-vaccinated people in 14 day quarantine. If you are vaccinated then most of the time no quarantine.

 

https://grapevine.is/news/2021/08/16/covid-roundup-55-domestic-cases-yesterday-most-in-quarantine/

 

This appears to be what drives Iceland to worry about the COVID infection and tourists.

 

https://grapevine.is/news/2021/08/17/covid-19-arrives-in-grimsey/

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, carld said:

I think Viking is going to lose a lot of revenue as people will cancel bus excursions to avoid the possibility of being quarantined because one person  on the bus was found to have tested positive for covid.  Makes no sense if you were on a bus wearing an N 95 mask that your vacation could be ruined.  We canceled all our bus tours and are getting back a little of $1600 from the canceled excursions.  That is a direct hit to Viking's bottom line.  Maybe the bean counters will see the light and not quarantine anyone unless they test positive.  With everyone fully vaccinated, what is happening now is just overkill. 

 

Based on the posts on the various threads, Viking's response to COVID +ve cases is not consistent across all regions, as the cruise lines must comply with local health authority requirements. If the local health authority dictate the entire bus must quarantine, the cruise line must comply, regardless of their own policy. Some local authorities have also changed their requirements, based on changing COVID exposure.

 

Another consideration regarding shore-ex is that if pax cancel tours, they will also be cancelling the "included" shore-ex, with the savings offseting the loss of mark-up on the optional tours.

 

If nobody goes ashore, the Captain doesn't need to wait for stragglers and at times can depart early, with the fuel savings from running at reduced speed further offsetting any loss of mark-up on optional shore-ex.

Edited August 17, 2021 by Heidi13

[DaveSJ711]

13 minutes ago, hehny said:

Simply being on a bus with a positive passenger does not mean quarantine in Iceland.  Both Sky and Jupiter had positive cases reported this past week. Only one ship required every bus passenger that toured with the positive person to quarantine regardless of status.  This was because the bus stopped for a long lunch indoors where social distancing was not possible.  Indeed, passengers reported being nearly on top of each other without masks.  Both Viking’s Chief Medical Officer and the Icelandic authorities agreed on quarantine.

 

 Keep in mind this was on Thursday and the cruise ended that Tuesday.   You need to have time to account for the transmission time before you test due to an exposure. There was a far greater likelihood of transmission under these circumstances than on the other ship’s bus ride where everyone was masked inside at all times. 

But what if a future bus excursion happens to schedule a "long lunch" with "passengers nearly on top of each other"? That's a potential quarantine situation according to your comment. I suppose the passengers can always decline lunch if they see the meal setup and it's problematic from a safety standpoint. But shouldn't Viking and the excursion operator ensure that the setup isn't a problem, and that people on the excursion wear masks all the time except when eating? 

[rizello]

We did cancel any of our extended excursions that were just in the bus the entire time. We are continuing to take excursions that are part bus ride and part walking tour and hoping all goes well.  
 

it is interesting that France is level 4 but no limits on independent exploration and no contact tracing devices, but on ocean cruises there is contact tracing and staying in bubble for same Levi 4.

 

given all that, the excursions have been wonderful and everyone socially distanced and wearing masks.

[sleepybobo]

1 hour ago, hehny said:

Simply being on a bus with a positive passenger does not mean quarantine in Iceland.  Both Sky and Jupiter had positive cases reported this past week. Only one ship required every bus passenger that toured with the positive person to quarantine regardless of status.  This was because the bus stopped for a long lunch indoors where social distancing was not possible.  Indeed, passengers reported being nearly on top of each other without masks.  Both Viking’s Chief Medical Officer and the Icelandic authorities agreed on quarantine.

 

 Keep in mind this was on Thursday and the cruise ended that Tuesday.   You need to have time to account for the transmission time before you test due to an exposure. There was a far greater likelihood of transmission under these circumstances than on the other ship’s bus ride where everyone was masked inside at all times. 

Not sure if the post from "Sea-Traveller" is still in the Live thread or not.  Sea-Traveller reported that about 12 people from the Sky sailing were sent home early.  I don't think the quarantine situation is ship specific.  Also, some reported that Vikng didn't enforce mask wearing rigorously.  How do we ensure that all on the bus wear masks the whole time and wear them the right way (not as chin guard). 

 

We really don't have the true numbers of people being in quarantined or sent home.  There's no official statistics.  

 

[Cienfuegos]

Has the information about folks being sent home early been independent!y confirmed?

[Janet&David]

As all passengers and crew should be double vaccinated, COVID is most likely to be brought onto the ship by vaccinated passengers who have still unfortunately been infected before they boarded, probably on the plane flight (particularly long-haul) or hugging their unvaccinated grandchildren before leaving home.

So someone is most likely to test positive 2 to 4 days into the cruise. Avoiding bus tours for the first couple of days sounds like common sense. After that the risk (either of catching COVID or being quarantined because you were close to someone infected) should drop steadily.

[hutch1994]

15 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Has the information about folks being sent home early been independent!y confirmed?

Do you think they were going to lie about this?  Posted on this site and other Viking sites with pictures and first hand accounts by other passengers on the ship who saw them departing.

[Squawkman]

12 minutes ago, hutch1994 said:

Do you think they were going to lie about this?  Posted on this site and other Viking sites with pictures and first hand accounts by other passengers on the ship who saw them departing.

No, not knowingly. But someone hears or reads something, tells someone who tells someone, etc. then puts it on Facebook. Like when my mother-in-law turned her granddaughter’s small minor cyst into cancer when she told her friends.

[MarkTapley]

17 hours ago, sleepybobo said:

Also, some reported that Vikng didn't enforce mask wearing rigorously.  How do we ensure that all on the bus wear masks the whole time and wear them the right way (not as chin guard). 

Just my observations from being on Sky for the past five days: Viking seems to be doing their best to get people to wear their masks, or be socially distanced.  The cruise director mentions this requirement every time she’s doing an announcement. And Captain made a special announcement about this yesterday. And tour guides mention it.  But Viking may have decided that there was only so much they could do to get people to adhere to the Covid mask rules.  I think most people are wearing their masks as they should.  But it’s maddening to see people wandering around public spaces on the ship and riding on busses with their masks on their chins, or under their noses.  We have tried a time or two to coax people near us to mask up, but that is a losing venture.  We have our own strategy to stay safe and it’s worked fine for us (so far) during our week driving around the island and 5 days onboard.

[hutch1994]

1 hour ago, MarkTapley said:

Just my observations from being on Sky for the past five days: Viking seems to be doing their best to get people to wear their masks, or be socially distanced.  The cruise director mentions this requirement every time she’s doing an announcement. And Captain made a special announcement about this yesterday. And tour guides mention it.  But Viking may have decided that there was only so much they could do to get people to adhere to the Covid mask rules.  I think most people are wearing their masks as they should.  But it’s maddening to see people wandering around public spaces on the ship and riding on busses with their masks on their chins, or under their noses.  We have tried a time or two to coax people near us to mask up, but that is a losing venture.  We have our own strategy to stay safe and it’s worked fine for us (so far) during our week driving around the island and 5 days onboard.

Have seen the same thing on pictures posted on another site.  Using the glass of water on the table in front of them ploy while they are sitting in public places.