TayanaLorna

Well good for you! Yes the virtual EL has been quiet. Congrats on your booking. Always nice to have something to plan and anticipate. We booked the Caribbean-Amazon for February 2023 on the recent promo. Viking hasn't run it since Covid shut down. Sure hope it sails as it is not on the books for 2024.

It was on River. Not sure about Ocean.

I don't think it's a blanket yes or no on testing. In some regions, Viking is testing every day and in others they are testing for the first 3 days and then at the end.

Indeed, what doctor or reseach scientist has 500+ people in a relatively closed society following the same protocol for 150 days?

Once you are on board you will be able to look at each menu for Chefs Table and know what dates that menu is served. Sometimes in the couple of weeks before your cruise the Sample Menus will appear in MVJ under the Chefs Table tab. But rarely will the dates for each menu be posted. That is why so many people change their reservations once on board - they dont like the menu. We eat anything so focus on getting the time we prefer. Last cruise we were even able to make reservations once on board for all the menus.

A dinner reservation on boarding day is usually easy to get when booking opens. Given that you probably won't know the Chefs Table fixed menu in advance, i would say Manfredis as the menu has quite a variety of choice.

I know that question has been discussed at length but with no definitive resolution. Probably the best thing to do is ask your insurance carrier - does quarantine on board ship AND quarantine off the ship both count as trip interruption?

@talana Have you joined the February 19 CC Roll Call. We are on the same cruise. Have looked at Iberostar's 3-day cruise boarding same day we get off Viking. Will look at Acqua also.

Thank you D. Some good info and tips. I do lots of research. Starting already for our February 2023 cruise. What struck me is that we arrive in Manaus at Noon on March 2 and disembark in the AM on March 3. Only time for 1 excursion in Manaus or one further up the Amazon. Certainly not enough time at probably the best part of the river. Looking at either taking a small ship cruise for 3 nights up the Rios Negro and Solimoes or staying in Manaus 2 nights and day tripping from there.

Yes it works. Thank you!

A gal who was quarantined in the Med on another Viking ship reported that the quarantine cabins were on Deck 3 forward portside also.

I found out about on a Roll Call for a cruise we were going on.

Thank you. Will look for it. Was that on the Sun?

Viking did two years cruising up the Amazon River to Manaus, Brazil in 2019 and 2020 until Covid shut down. I am interested to hear about your experiences on those cruises. Pros and cons, favorite excursions or sightseeing etc. We are especially interested in hearing from anyone who traveled further up the Rio Negro or Rio Solimoes or did any extra sightseeing in and around Manaus. We booked a February 2023 cruise and are having a hard time finding any reviews or live reports from Vikings previous cruises there. Thank you!

I too am so sorry this happened to Arlona and hope you stay Covid free. If you chose to continue to tour, photograph and write, we will all enjoy it. I think Arlona will also. My DH has taken excursions that were too difficult for me but i was always able to see it through his photos. You can also give us accurate information about life in quarantine on an ocean ship.

@deec. This is totally off topic here - sorry all. But I saw your name as i was looking through old posts about South America. I am specifically looking for info on Vikings Caribbean & Amazon cruises that they ran in 2019 and 2020 - the Amazon portion. If you are willing to share, please PM me (lorna dot tomko at gmail dot com)

Ditto what everyone says here. Plus if I sail on the Star or Sea, which do not have the 3 drawers in the closet, I bring a hanging 3 shelf contraption.

Ah you are much kinder. I was going to ask what rock have you been living under?

Verify is how Viking knows you are vaccinated - a requirement of traveling on their ships. In Verifly you upload your vaccination card, the app confirms it is a valid card and transmits that info to Viking. You never have to show the app to anyone but you still must carry your original vaccination card. It appears to be a third party verification that you are vaccinated. How else would Viking know you are before you leave home? Mail a photocopy of your card? Scan your card and email? Trust an already busy Viking rep to verify that you hold a valid CDC or other country card? Think about it?

@TLCOhioHi, I cannot get to your Live Amazon report on Cruise Critic. I get a warning for that hackers could have access. The only Live one I can reach is Australia. Also went to the Live section on CC and they only go back to 2020.

Our room steward told us to just call Room Service if we want a different beer. I told him why should i do that and wait the 15-20 minutes for delivery when i can come back from an excursion, grab the cold beer that I want from my fridge immediately, and go on my private balcony to drink it. He couldn't fault that logic and 2 porter beers appeared in our fridge daily. (But only if we drank them from the previous day. We never got 4 per day.)

I thought I downloaded the Sample Bar menu at one point but cannot find it. On MVJ under On Board Experience, then Dining & Beverage, then Silver Spirits Beverage Package (Learn More), there is a Sample Menu. We like a Porter and Dark beer and requested those.

On our last PV cruise our fridge was stocked with 2 cans of Carlsburg beer, one of each gin, rum, vodka and whiskey, 2 cans of each coke, sprite and tonic water. Plus the nice bottle of champagne. You wont get another champagne bottle but you can request what kind of liquor, soda and beer you want.

Looking for information about this small boat cruise further up the Amazon from Manaus. Ship, food, excursions, service, cabins etc. Anyone who did a blog etc. I just went through 37 of the 215 pages on SA. Thanks.

We have a cruise from San Juan, PR to Manaus and are considering either staying in Manaus extra days or taking another smaller boat cruise further up river from there. I am so excited to have found this topic on the boards. I see a couple people are still following. Thank you for all this input. I will read it all.