Viking Homelands 2022 Season

[Clay Clayton]

35 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

That would be a welcome deal for us (leaving a week from Sunday). Now ---- kill the daily testing!

Washington Post is reporting it also:

 

[CDNPolar]

51 minutes ago, cmaasfamily said:

I can't address whether TA is a factor; we have not used. Here's a screenshot from "my" MVJ. See the sentence at the bottom... "To purchase transfers..."

 

No idea why you wouldn't be seeing it. Could be TA. Could be Canada. I'm sure you could call or chat with Viking and they'd help.

 

 

Thanks for this.... My screens are different.  I wonder if they offer some benefits to some countries and not others?  Don't know why, but as I said, we have never seen this option.  I will ask on our next call to Viking

 

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Thanks for this.... My screens are different.  I wonder if they offer some benefits to some countries and not others?  Don't know why, but as I said, we have never seen this option.  I will ask on our next call to Viking

 

What I find interesting about Viking and information shared on CC, is that there are often variations depending on who you talk to and when.

 

I just went on chat with Viking about this very issue, and I was told that this can NOT be done on MVJ but I can call reservations and absolutely book transfers as long as our flights arrive and depart on the embarkation and disembarkation dates of the cruise.

 

I asked if this was a Canada vs. US thing?  Told no.  Asked if this was a TA vs. no TA thing?  Told no.

 

However, what I was very pleasantly surprised to find out is that for this particular cruise, I can book transfers FREE even though I booked my own air.

 

NOTE:  THIS IS AN OFF TOPIC POST.  The Free transfers are NOT for HOMELANDS.  This is a different future cruise.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by CDNPolar

[burnabyjean]

Interesting. I'm from Canada and see this.

[CurlerRob]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

Thanks for this.... My screens are different.  I wonder if they offer some benefits to some countries and not others?  Don't know why, but as I said, we have never seen this option.  I will ask on our next call to Viking

 

You appear to have Viking Air booked - as shown by the reference to December 19, 2022. Transfers are included when you use their service, so the transfer form would be redundant. Those of us who see the transfer form don't have air booked with Viking. 🍺🥌

[kchand]

Anyone know if VOC Homeland offers downtown shuttle in Stockholm.  I will be there 3 days (June 22 )

[CDNPolar]

4 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

You appear to have Viking Air booked - as shown by the reference to December 19, 2022. Transfers are included when you use their service, so the transfer form would be redundant. Those of us who see the transfer form don't have air booked with Viking. 🍺🥌

No, we don't have Viking Air booked, but we do have the Viking Air on the invoice.  We have booked our air ourselves now and have had the TA remove the air, so will look again.  Maybe it is there now.

 

 

[CurlerRob]

2 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

No, we don't have Viking Air booked, but we do have the Viking Air on the invoice.  We have booked our air ourselves now and have had the TA remove the air, so will look again.  Maybe it is there now.

 

 

I expect that there will be lag time until Viking removes the previous Viking Air from your file - hard to tell how long that may take 😠

 

If you happen to have another booking in MVJ, that does not have Viking Air, you should be able to download the request form there - it's not an interactive thing, just a pdf form for printing. 🍺🥌

[millybess]

6 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

What I find interesting about Viking and information shared on CC, is that there are often variations depending on who you talk to and when.

 

I just went on chat with Viking about this very issue, and I was told that this can NOT be done on MVJ but I can call reservations and absolutely book transfers as long as our flights arrive and depart on the embarkation and disembarkation dates of the cruise.

 

I asked if this was a Canada vs. US thing?  Told no.  Asked if this was a TA vs. no TA thing?  Told no.

 

However, what I was very pleasantly surprised to find out is that for this particular cruise, I can book transfers FREE even though I booked my own air.

 

NOTE:  THIS IS AN OFF TOPIC POST.  The Free transfers are NOT for HOMELANDS.  This is a different future cruise.

 

 

For our cruise last month we booked our own air and we had a TA. Through MVJ we could have booked a transfer from the ship to Schiphol in Amsterdam. We also could have booked it once we boarded. We decided to wait until a few days before we disembarked. We were glad we waited, as the transfer with Viking would have been more expensive and a lot slower. 

[CurlerRob]

7 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

No, we don't have Viking Air booked, but we do have the Viking Air on the invoice.  We have booked our air ourselves now and have had the TA remove the air, so will look again.  Maybe it is there now.

 

 

Worst case, here's the transfer request that I can see on MVJ ... 🍺🥌

Transfer-Request-Form_2020 (1).pdf

Edited June 11, 2022 by CurlerRob
typo

[CDNPolar]

4 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

Worst case, here's the transfer request that I can see on MVJ ... 🍺🥌

Transfer-Request-Form_2020 (1).pdf 49.63 kB · 4 downloads

Thank you for uploading this....

 

Now we can see it.  I guess we have always added all the elements when we booked - air, air plus, silver spirits, etc.  

 

This is the first time we have booked air ourselves.  Now that the air is removed we see the form.  Thank you all for the information.

 

We have always found Viking to be competitive in the air until this time.  Again - not Homelands - but we saved $2500 per person on Business Class booking ourselves.  I was shocked at the difference.

 

 

[GVHarrier]

We returned from our Cruise last week. Any Covid information would be dated so I'll skip that except to say, I only heard of one positive case (the historian) who was quarantined onboard  for 4 or t days. The other issue frequently discussed here is transfers. We booked our own air and arrived in Stockholm 2 days early. This was the same flight that many were on who used Viking Air. When we passed the luggage pickup area, the Viking host noticed our tags and welcomed us. We were not using their transfer nor picking up luggage. We took the train, which was much faster and much cheaper. On our return from Bergen, we elected to use the Viking transfer since our flight was early morning and we didn't want to chance any mishaps navigating on our own. Viking left forms requesting transfers in our rooms about a week before the end of our cruise and we had to submit about 3 days prior if we wanted a transfer. I believe i also asked though chat on MVJ prior about transfers and was emailed the form. 

[Kellybc]

Have been on two previous Viking Ocean cruises. We really enjoyed Chef’s Table,  have our two nights reserved, and would like to reserve a couple more when we board. Since their are four of us,  would like to have an idea which menus are served on this cruise. Less than a month to go. 

[sugarside]

I only found out when boarded ship.

Went as soon as convenient to the first customer service desk in the living room.

It is labelled restaurant reservations,the other desks being for general matters.

She had a complete diary of menus for that cruise and on the spot I was able to choose and book exactly what suited me.

 

[Clay Clayton]

7 hours ago, sugarside said:

I only found out when boarded ship.

Went as soon as convenient to the first customer service desk in the living room.

It is labelled restaurant reservations,the other desks being for general matters.

She had a complete diary of menus for that cruise and on the spot I was able to choose and book exactly what suited me.

 

Precovid we were able to do the same via the app or the stateroom TV.  Unfortunately on our last cruise (July 2021 in Iceland) neither medium had the menus posted.  Hopefully that has changed as modifying/making reservations that way was much easier. 

[CDNPolar]

On our cruise in December 2021, the Viking Voyager App had the menus posted for Chef's Table and we found this the most expedient way to book tables.  You can see when the menu changes and book day by day.  I never knew that the room tv system showed the menus, will check that out this cruise.

[oldgeez]

Here's an interesting change to pre-cruise Covid testing:

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/why-viking/health-and-safety/covid-19-testing.html

 

Still need to be vaccinated and AFAIK the daily testing on-board is still in place. I'm happy about that.

[Clay Clayton]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

On our cruise in December 2021, the Viking Voyager App had the menus posted for Chef's Table and we found this the most expedient way to book tables.  You can see when the menu changes and book day by day.  I never knew that the room tv system showed the menus, will check that out this cruise.

On our last precovid cruise (Half Trans-Atlantic) menus for all venues were available on the tv and the app.  Even tea!

[CurlerRob]

6 hours ago, oldgeez said:

Here's an interesting change to pre-cruise Covid testing:

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/why-viking/health-and-safety/covid-19-testing.html

 

Still need to be vaccinated and AFAIK the daily testing on-board is still in place. I'm happy about that.

You are missing another of the announcements - daily on-board testing is suspended for both river and ocean. The pre-board tests are mostly gone, with the exception of selected cruises - Expedition and some Orion trips. Lots of discussion of this on other threads on this board.

 

The language used leaves the door open for re-instituting more restrictive measures if needed, as one would expect. 🍺🥌

[CDNPolar]

23 hours ago, oldgeez said:

Here's an interesting change to pre-cruise Covid testing:

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/why-viking/health-and-safety/covid-19-testing.html

 

Still need to be vaccinated and AFAIK the daily testing on-board is still in place. I'm happy about that.

If you go to the Chairmans video, he announced that daily testing has stopped.  It is available, but they are not mandating it.  

 

https://www.vikingcruisescanada.com/oceans/why-viking/health-and-safety/health-and-safety-program.html

[Kellybc]

An update to my search for Chef’s Table menus available on our Homelands cruise. My Viking Journey today still says Sample Menus coming, but the chat option popped up, so I asked, and Dalton said he’d send them. Of course the actual menus didn’t show, but the names did - Xiang, Lotus and Panorama. Happy with them all, but thought on a 14 night cruise we’d have another one. I also greatly appreciate all the information everyone contributes. 

[CDNPolar]

Generally the Chef's Table menu is on for three nights. We should have 5 menus on the Homelands cruise.

[oldgeez]

On 6/20/2022 at 8:34 PM, Kellybc said:

An update to my search for Chef’s Table menus available on our Homelands cruise. My Viking Journey today still says Sample Menus coming, but the chat option popped up, so I asked, and Dalton said he’d send them. Of course the actual menus didn’t show, but the names did - Xiang, Lotus and Panorama. Happy with them all, but thought on a 14 night cruise we’d have another one. I also greatly appreciate all the information everyone contributes. 

This was what we had last night. Frankly, I wasn’t wild about it. 
 

[oldgeez]

2 minutes ago, oldgeez said:

This was what we had last night. Frankly, I wasn’t wild about it. 
 

This is still my favorite menu:

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

46 minutes ago, oldgeez said:

This was what we had last night. Frankly, I wasn’t wild about it. 
 

Not our favorite either-after having Peking Duck in Bejing I suspect we are spoiled though😂