biggerbearmom

2 hours ago, Sojourner02 said:

We have just canceled our Viking star 17 day cruise in February 2024. 10 days at sea and we do Not want to spend them with dogs on board, sitting on dining chairs, etc. Thanks for letting us know.

I hope that you shared with Viking the reason for your cancellation. We did the Panama Canal in February, I am glad that we did it before finding about about the dog issue.

3 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Just curious.  Did you quarantine on ship or have to disembark in a foreign country. 

It was on the Iceland/Norway ocean cruise and we were confined to our stateroom.

We received $7,000 in vouchers last August for having to quarantine due to Covid. It was very specific in the terms that once we applied the vouchers to a trip, any changes or cancellations would void the vouchers and they’d no longer be available for use.
 

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

The portion in your posted letter that did not ring true was ‘isolated instances of improper behavior of service animals on board’. I just do not buy that these are ‘service animals’. The behavior shown in pictures are not that of trained ‘service animals’.  Being fed from the tables in restaurants, barking, sitting on furniture - nope. Not buying it. If the argument is made that they need to be close to their owners, then the floor at their feet is close. If in fact they need to be close via furniture, then a well trained  ‘service animal’ owner would know that they should at least put a towel or sheet underneath the dog out of respect to the cruise ship and fellow passengers. So no - this just does not ring true. Something broke down in the vetting process. 

Exactly! 

“I have seen quite a few toy breeds used for diabetic detection dogs, as they need to be carried in the owner's arms or a chest carrier to sniff the owner's breath.  Given that about 1 in 10 US citizens are diabetic, and that number isgrowing, it wouldn't surprise me to see that all four animals were diabetic alert dogs.  Not saying some of them might be fake, but it wouldn't be out of consideration.”

I am not disagreeing with the statements that you made in your post. But are you saying that a dog for a diabetic must always be carried in order to sniff the breath of the owner? That means the dog must always be in proximity of the owners mouth, that just doesn’t make sense. I always thought it was the sweat glands that the dogs pick up on.

53 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Maybe this owner has seizures and the dog is there for detection, but dogs like this should be clearly indicated to the rest of the pax.

 

That may be the case, but true service dogs do not sit at the table while his person is eating. My best friend’s father was blinded in the Korean War. He had German Shepherds as his guide dogs; in all the years I spent in their home, never once did I see it sitting on the couch, on a chair, sleeping on his bed, being fed table scraps, etc. They were well trained and cared for service dogs. I have no issues with service animals in the true sense of the intent, but I’m sorry, this appears to be someone taking advantage of the situation.

43 minutes ago, Viking Cruises said:

Dear Cruise Critic community,

 

We have heard your feedback regarding our policies for service animals. Thank you for the opportunity to review the situation and provide some clarity below.

 

What is Viking's process for vetting service animals? 
In accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and similar laws in destinations where we operate, Viking allows service animals. Guests who request a service animal must provide appropriate documentation to support the request.

 

Does Viking allow emotional support animals or pets? 
Requests for pets or emotional support animals are denied, as per our policy. All service animals are reviewed according to ADA or applicable regulations, and only service animals that have the appropriate documentation for admittance into the countries on an itinerary are permitted on board our ships.

 

What has Viking done to address concerns on board the Viking Star? 
We are aware of isolated instances of improper behavior from service animals in public areas on board our ships. We have updated our policies accordingly to ensure such incidents do not happen in the future.

 

While up-to-date information can be found in the FAQ on our website we welcome further questions about individual bookings at TellUs@viking.com.

 

Kindly,
Viking
 

@Viking Cruises, If you truly believe that the dog in this picture is a service animal then I would like to suggest that there’s a serious problem that needs to be addressed.

Just now, Iloveketo said:

Interesting that it was removed… 

I thought so too, and I did not put the name of CC in my post. I was just trying to direct more traffic to this thread so that more Viking travelers would reach out to Viking about this issue. As long as this remains an issue with Viking, I will not cruise from a US home port.

5 hours ago, Iloveketo said:

Curious… is this being discussed on any other Viking sites?

Also, does anyone think that the emotional support dogs should be allowed?

Just curious… 

 

I posted yesterday about this discussion on a Viking FB group and it generated quite a few responses and then was removed.

49 minutes ago, gincolo said:

The French Polynesia cruise on Orion originated in Los Angeles.

Then it would seem that as TayanaLorna pointed out, this is happening on cruises that originate in the U.S.

13 hours ago, gincolo said:

This dog was aboard our month long cruise to French Polynesia in January 2022 (photo was originally posted by another passenger) We saw the dog around the ship fairly often, usually in a shoulder bag the owner carried it in. We weren’t happy about the dog being allowed on that cruise and asked a crew member about it. He said they had gotten permission somehow. Sure hope Viking stops this practice!

Where did this cruise originate? 

We were on a Princess Cruise to Mexico in February 2022. There was a young couple that had a dog in a stroller. I first became aware of it as they were two tables away from us in one of the main dining rooms. I was shocked they were allowed to bring it into the dining room. That was a first for me and our last time ever that we will cruise with Princess. I have no problem with true support dogs, but I think we all know that the whole support dog issue has been abused.

We were on the Star in February and the days I happen to use the pool the roof was open, and also noticed it being open when having lunch at the grill. Not sure why it would be different now…

1 hour ago, SempreMare said:

To those who have been in quarantine, how have you / are you keeping yourself entertained? 

The first three days of quarantine I was sick with fever, headache, cough and body aches. All I wanted to do was sleep and occasionally eat. My husband on the other hand, who tested positive but felt mostly okay had a harder time. He watched TV, movies on the Ipad, read and napped. By day 5 I was feeling better which was the day we were in Flam. It was a beautiful day and I was melancholy as I watched people leave the ship, knowing they were all going off for a wonderful day of exploring. Having previously been to Flam, I knew what I was missing out on. When we arrived in Bergen we were ready to be off the ship, so we disembarked a day early and traveled on to Sweden.

We did this on our own last April after the Trade Routes cruise and it’s truly wonderful. The left side traveling towards Oslo definitely has better views, I had also read that the right side was better and booked our seats as such. But as noted by the OP, moving around from side to side is not an issue.
Our only issue was the train was over 90 minutes late in leaving Bergen which caused us to miss our flight out of Oslo to Sweden. This August prior to our British Isle cruise, we will fly into Bergen four days early and take the train to Flam, spend two night there, and then take either the train or ferry back to Bergen for the start of the cruise. 

19 hours ago, CoolBeansVA said:

TayanaLorna’s observations in the infirmary — passengers being told that if they tested positive for Covid, they’d have to isolate for six days, did they want to be tested, no thanks — imply that Viking has replaced its focus on passenger wellness with indifference.  I am deeply disappointed.

 

We didn’t experience this look-the-other-way coercion because we showed up in the infirmary announcing that we’d self-tested positive that morning.  So the jig was up.

When we self tested last August and came up positive, we called the medical center. I told the nurse that we wanted a PCR test to confirm our positive self test

(I had symptoms so I was pretty certain). The nurse told me the the same thing, if she came up to test us, and if we tested positive that we would be in quarantine, and then asked if we still wanted to be tested. We chose to test and spent the remainder of the cruise in quarantine. I was too sick to do anything else, plus as others have said, it’s the right thing to do.

On 3/17/2023 at 2:43 PM, MELSMOM47 said:

How about to the airport? Should we pre-arrange transportation?

Last April we had no issues getting a cab to the airport after disembarking.

I believe we paid around $50.

We did this train ride in 2017, we thoroughly enjoyed it and is so easy to do on your own.

Are you aware that Viking will compensate you on a pro-rated basis for the days missed while in quarantine? We contracted Covid last August while on our Iceland cruise and based on the passenger contract, we were given a generous voucher for the days missed.

Last August we disembarked a day early in Bergen.

We just had to let Guest Relations know of our plans and had no issues walking off a day early.

We disembarked on February 11 at Fuerte Amador and there was no problem whatsoever. We collected our luggage, boarded a bus and off we went to the Panama Hilton.

On 2/15/2023 at 2:46 PM, millybess said:

And were you able to get the discount over the phone?

We are able to get the 3.3% over the phone with our travel agent.

1 hour ago, Camden lady said:

Thank you for your response.  I am thinking I may do some tours outside of Viking.  I am afraid the Flam railroad will be sold out before we get to book excursions.  I really appreciate your insight.

The first time we did the Flåm Railroad in 2014, we bought our own tickets directly through the railroad website. It was something we really wanted to do and we were concerned tickets through the ship would be sold out (we were on Celebrity). 
It was super easy, and Flam is so small that you walk off the ship and the rail station is super close. We took the early train, and then when we returned to Flam we still had the remainder of the afternoon so we took the ferry to Gudvagan, which was spectacular. Once in Gudvagan we took the bus back to Flam. The scenery is absolutely stunning.

18 hours ago, Camden lady said:

Did you do the Flam railroad excursion? If so,did you do the Viking or on your own?  Any excursions you highly recommend?  

We did it on our own, and it’s easy to do. I bought tickets for the train directly through their website a few months in advance and preselected our seats. We had planned to change trains in Oslo that would take us to the airport for a flight on to Sweden. But due to over an hour delay out of Bergen, we missed our flight out of Oslo, so we ended up taking a train from Oslo to Sweden. We are doing the reverse this coming August, starting in Oslo with a stopover in Flåm and then on to Bergen.

As far as tours go, all the tours we took were really good. 
We did the included tours in Torshavn and Seydisfjordur.

The Golden Circle tour through Viking was excellent as is the train in Flam.

3 hours ago, Camden lady said:

Thank you Clay. That eases my mind. I am not usually a nervous flier but the idea of only 2 planes was a little daunting. Lookin forward to Norway and Iceland in July. This will be our 5th Viking cruise.  

We did this cruise last August and it was just fabulous.