Dukefan

On 5/20/2021 at 1:24 PM, LindaS272 said:

The CDC has said their data shows fully vaccinated people are safe to remove masks both indoors and out. Our federal mandates say you must still wear masks on public transport. Many state and local entities, including businesses, are still requiring masks for all. The CDC doesn’t mandate anything—they just do the research and share the data. So they are absolutely going to be influencing decisions in many countries.

 

There are several challenges businesses are facing as they open up.   This is especially true for the cruise industry that needs to meet the requirements of each of the countries they will sail in.  I think you understand that any major Covid outbreak on a cruise line will be catastrophic for that cruise line.  Since we enjoy cruising so much, I for one, have no problem with Viking preceeding with extreme caution.   Every country's disease control organization is still learning on this virus that has only been out there for less than two years with vacines that have only been out there for less than a year and are still being studied.   The US CDC has changed its direction several times in this two years as it learns more and more about controling this virus.  The vaccine is not 100% effective - the best of them are 95% effective which is one of the reasons you are seeing several breakthrough cases for people that have been vacinated - my neighbor is one of those breakthrough cases.   Two weeks after she received her second Pfizer shot she was convienced she was protected and went every where without a mask or social distancing.  A month later she got Covid and ended up hospitialized.   The good news is that she is now OK and back to wearing a mask around people she doesn't know like in stores and is practicing social distancing.   Maybe a few months from now we will know more about the breakthrough cases and how to prevent them.   For now, I am comfortable eating at restaurants without a mask but I still wear one when I go in or go shopping.  When we have vacinated friends over, we ask what everyone feels comfortable with doing.   If one person wants to wear a mask, then we all wear a mask and don't make fun of their choice.  It is one of the things friends do.  It is like when you are going for a walk with a group, we all walk at the speed of the slowest friend.   Bottom line is if Viking wants us to wear a mask when going about the ship, I'll wear a mask.   If they would want me to wear one in my cabin or on my veranda, then I would cancel my cruise.

We gererally book our two highest priority excursions - then checkout.  Then book our three next most important excursions and again check out. Finally we book all our remaining excusions and check out.   This sytem has worked will on every Viking cruise as we have been lucky enough to always (knock on wood) get our choices.  This works well mainly because most folks go after the same excusions.  For example on this cruise, I would guess the Golden Circle (Reykjavik) and Northern Iceland's Natural Treasures (Akureyri) were probably two excursions that went fast.

29 minutes ago, cadburysmom said:

Viking novice here and considering an upcoming Bermuda cruise in July. 

I like that they're offering passengers a "two week prior to cruise cancel policy" and would be fine receiving a voucher in that case but what if VIKING cancels due to rise in Covid levels, whether it be on ship or in Bermuda? 

....hopefully not, but trying to plan ahead.  Would cruise passengers be offered full refund or would we get a voucher instead?

During this Covid period, whenever Viking cancels a cruise they have been offering passengers an option of getting a future cruise credit of 125% of what they have spent for the canceled cruise or a full cash refund of the monies they spent with Viking.

27 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

So bardstowntraveller, I am confused. You said you’re going with a more comprehensive option as none of the travel plans include paying for a quarantine hotel should you test positive.  What insurance have you found that covers that?  

The Delta Air Policy temporary covers Quarantine at $500 per day and rebooking of air if you end up being quaranteed in Iceland.

40 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

It is a better choice for coffee anyhow -- and it is open 6am to Midnight. The self serve machines are glorified kuerig machines. The Living Room is an espresso machine, just like you find in the cafes of Europe, with cups ground and brewed as you watch.

The Living Room makes the best Lattes and Cappuccinos on the ship.   It is well worth the walk there in the morning and return to your cabin before getting clean-up or having breakfast.

2 minutes ago, MarkTapley said:

In my view, this is not good news.  I am not happy at all about Viking’s proposed plan to release excursions to all cabin categories at one time.  Since we have no option to book excursions on our own, which we have done many times on our other Viking trips, we booked PS knowing we would have priority to book optional excursions early in the queue. We’ll have to see how this all shakes out.

I agree, that this will not be a normal Viking Experience.   On all of our other Viking Cruises we have done a mixture of Viking Excursions and our own Private Excursions (often times set up on Cruise Critic).   There will be far more limited exposure to local culture on this trip.  But these are not normal times, and I for one am happy to be traveling again, even in a more limited way than I would prefer.

1 hour ago, Donaghadee said:

They say you have to have the dongle on your person at all tiles.  That doesn't bother me much, it's just something else to forget and have to retrieve.  Since it probably doesn't have a belt clip and I steadfastly refuse to wear a lanyard, might as well wear it ankle monitor style.  I have yet to forget my shoes.

 

I will also address the cruise director as "Warden".

Use something little this it you want to hook it to your belt 

The good news for folks on cruise critic wanting to book shorex regardless of room category, there are a miniority of the total folks on each of your cruises that are on cruise critic.   Thanks to the postings on cruise critic each of you should know by now what the excursions are and the ones you want to book as soon as they open up.   If everyone on your roll call checks regularly and when they are posted puts a notice on your roll call, I would think everyone should be able to book the shorex you want before the vass majority of the other cruisers know they are available.  It is one of the major advantages of joining a roll call - being ahead of the game in a lot of areas.

1 minute ago, Minnie29 said:

Thank you so much. 
not too concerned about self-serve drinks. Happy to have waiter service!! 
I understand that you can request specific refills of the mini spirits and sodas in your cabin? We are in a Penthouse veranda and I believe this is refilled each day? 
thank you 

Yes, as soon as we get on board we tell the stewart how we want our mini-bar stocked.  We also have a printed list of what we want taken out and want we want added (i.e. Remove all the beer and add a bottle of red and white wine - Remove the Vodke and Rum and replace with additional Scotch and Gin). By the second day, our mini-bar is set up exactly as we want.  We leave the note in the top of the mini-bar and Viking does a great job of replacing the wine when the bottle get low and in general each day making sure the mini-bar is exactly like we specified.

2 hours ago, Mpc524 said:

Maybe we can bling it out and make it a statement piece! 🤣🤣🤣

Why note bring some glue and gold sprinkles.  Put the sprinkles in a sandwich bag, put glue on the contact tracer, put the contract tracer in the sandwich bag and shake it up - instant gold jewelry!

2 hours ago, ValarieDennis said:

I wish the PV cabins stocked with wine. Not a beer drinker - although hubby will be happy.

 

We always have the beer traded out for wine.  You can tailor your mini-bar in the PV and higher cabins however you want.

5 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

So we have to wear this all day every day?  I hate lanyards!

Take it off the lanyard and put it in a pocket.

I wonder how it will work in the steam room & the snow Grotto.

Alla, TJ Travel and SPG are all very similiar on their standard two-day St. Petersburg Tours and you can't go wrong with any of them.   Of course, the most important thing for success is the quality of the guide that you get.

If you have been to St. Petersburg before and want to design your own tour detailing what you want to see and how much time you want to spend at each site, I recommend talking with each of them.  That is what we did on our last trip to St. Petersburg and it could not have had better results.  The reason we ended up with SPG is that they were able to piece together a tour that met our exact specifications including the Monday visit to the Hermitage.  They did tell us that the Monday visit could not be guaranteed until a day or so before our visit so we put together two schedules with them, one if we could get in the Hermitage on the day it is closed and one if we had to go on the day it was open.   Of course, we were very excited when we found out that they were able to get us in on Monday.

I should add that our tour cost more than their standard two-day tour but it was still less than the Viking two-day tour.   Part of the reason was because there were only six of us.  The other part was because we wanted box lunches for both days.  We couldn't see wasting our valuable time in St. Petersburg doing sit down lunches in cafes when we could eat in our mini-bus between sites.  Their box lunches ended up being great.

4 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Very cool that you got to be there on a closed day. I recall our Alla guide in July 2019 bypassing the long lines waiting to get into all venues and checking us through quickly—we had crowds in places but not too many, and always had enough time to see what we wanted.

Yes the time I was at the Hermitage with Red October Tours as my guide they were able to take us to the front of the line at both the Hermitage and Catherine's Palace but once inside we still had to deal with the large crowds.  Whomever you use, if you are there on a Monday, ask them if they can arrange a tour on that day when they are closed.  It is great.  Since there are limited guards in the building the guide has to have a special licenses I think and can not let you out of their sight.  But it is a wonderful experience. 

2 minutes ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

Can you bring alcohol onboard Viking?  We carry wine onboard a lot of cruises even if there is a corkage fee. 

 

Yes, you can bring as much alcohol on board you want.  They are happy to serve it to you with no cover charge.

I will give a shout-out for SPB Tours that we last used in 2019 on the Viking Homelands Cruise.  They were able to get our group of six into the Hermitage Museum on Monday when it is closed.  We have been to the Hermitage on other trips to St. Petersburg and every time it was overly crowded.  On this trip we were often times the only folks in a room. It was wonderful and the highlight of every other trip to the Baltic.   I gave our guide a list of the art we wanted to see and she was able to get us to each piece where we could study it as long as we chose without having to hurry on and fight through the crowd to see the next piece of art on outr list. Our guide was as excited as we were because she seldom gets to see the art without a major crowd.  She had college degrees in both art and history and was extremely knowledgeable and able to answer all of our questions both on the art and the museum itself.

4 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

This sounds like a must-try. 
 

I’m impressed that you travel with orange bitters. Just for this drink, or …?

I also like a few dashs of orange bitters in my Gin Martinis, I also prefer it to the traditional Axgostura Aromatic Bitters in my Manhattans, and I also like adding it to Negronis.   I have a very small bottle with an eye drpper that I can carry around if I am going to a bar that I am not sure has orange bitters.

This was just posted 5 hours ago by a Viking traveler to Bermuda.  It is probably what we can expect for Iceland with regard to boarding the ship:

"Well now we have it!  MVJ is now showing specific requirements for Bermuda cruises ... in the “Before You Go” section under Embarkation Requirements it is spelled out.  
 

 IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CRUISE
BERMUDA ESCAPE Effective from May 11, 2021
The information included in this document is based on current Bermuda regulations and Viking COVID-19 Protocols and Procedures. Both are reviewed continuously and may be updated as your cruise departure date approaches. Please be sure to check this information again in advance of your departure for any changes to requirements.
Digital Health Survey: Five to seven days before your departure, you will be sent a link to the Viking Digital Health Survey that will need to be completed and submitted on MyVikingJourney.com. Developed by scientific and medical advisors, the survey will only take a minute to submit and verify your wellness prior to travel. Depending on your dates of travel, Viking may require you to submit verification of your COVID-19 vaccination status as part of the Digital Health Survey.
Pre-Departure Requirements for US Guest Entry (Bermuda):
1. One to three days prior to departure, you must complete the Bermuda Travel Authorization process online at: https://www.gov.bm/coronavirus-travellers-visitors. Select “Apply for Travel Authorization” at the bottom of the Bermuda government’s web page.
2. The cost levied by the Government of Bermuda is US$75 per guest. The Government of Bermuda only accepts payments by MasterCard or VISA. Please note, this fee covers the cost of the required COVID-19 testing in Bermuda upon arrival.
3. You must take a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and provide a negative result no more than three days prior to arrival in Bermuda.
4. COVID-19 test results must be entered as part of Bermuda’s online travel authorization process.
5. Test results must be presented upon arrival in Bermuda, either as a printed copy or on a charged mobile device.
6. Guests without a pre-departure test will not be able to obtain Travel Authorization and enter Bermuda.
7. Upon arrival at the Bermuda airport, you must undergo a second COVID-19 PCR test administered by the Government of Bermuda.
Important: If you are a cruise-only guest and arranging your own airfare, please ensure that you are aware and follow all local requirements for your arrival port and airline carrier.
Viking Vaccination Requirement: Beginning on May 22, 2021, with the official restart of limited operations— and remaining in effect at least through September 30, 2021—all Viking sailings will be available exclusively for vaccinated guests.
In addition to government regulations within the destinations that we will visit, Viking has introduced its own Health and Safety protocol enhancements which have been implemented to protect our guests and crew as the global vaccine rollout moves forward. Viking medical advisors and operations teams will continue to monitor global vaccination rates and entry requirements and we will adjust our protocol and policies as needed to ensure the safety and well-being of our guests and crew.
    210511 Pre-Departure Requirements (Bermuda) Page 1 of 2 CST#2052644-40

Health/Travel Documents: Please remember to bring the appropriate travel and health documentation to ensure all requirements have been accommodated.
1. Printed copy of your Bermuda Travel Authorization form.
2. Printed and/or electronic copy of your pre-departure COVID-19 PCR test result.
3. Printed copy of your Proof of Vaccination certificate.
4. Valid U.S. Passport. Passport must be valid for 6 months beyond your planned trip dates.
Embarkation Procedure (Bermuda): Upon arrival, you will be required to undertake a COVID-19 PCR test (nasal swab) administered by the Bermudan Government.
This test will be in addition to the embarkation test required by Viking. Special Note: The ship is designated as a Bermuda quarantine area for Viking guests. You will be transferred to your ship as you await confirmation of a your negative COVID-19 PCR test result. You will then proceed to your stateroom where you will be required to provide a saliva sample. Please refrain from consuming any food or beverage item or smoking for at least one hour before submitting your saliva sample. While waiting for your test results, you, will be able to use the public spaces on board while observing current mask and social distancing requirements.
You will also need to undergo the following COVID-19 screening prior to your cruise:
• Temperature check (a temperature reading of less than 100.4°F/38°C).
• Questions in relation to your general health, COVID-19 symptoms, or possible exposure.
• Accept and agree to using contact-tracing technology during your cruise.
• Complete any required check-in procedures.
During Your Cruise: You will be tested periodically, on board the ship, as required by Viking and in coordination with the Government of Bermuda.
Disembarkation/Return Flight: Prior to leaving your Viking ship, you will be required to undertake a final COVID-19 test to satisfy the requirement for pre-flight testing before arrival into the U.S.
       Pre-Cruise Timeline Summary:
1. At least 14 days prior to departure, be fully vaccinated with a FDA/WHO approved COVID-19 vaccine.
2. No more than 3 days prior to your departure/arrival in Bermuda—you must receive a negative COVID-19 test result.
3. At least 1 to 3 days prior to travel—A Travel Authorization application must be submitted (with your COVID-19 PCR test results) to the government of Bermuda.
4. When you travel—be prepared to show proof of your vaccination, negative COVID-19 PCR test result and valid passport.
  Questions: If you have any questions regarding the Viking Health & Safety Protocols, please visit the Viking website at Health & Safety FAQ.
Travel Insurance: As always, we recommend you purchase travel insurance to protect your travel investment and ensure you have the appropriate medical coverage for any unforeseen incidents that may occur during your journey.
Updated May 11, 2021
The information included here should be considered current for all guests. Specific protocols and procedures may evolve over time to adapt to various conditions or travel regulations in the destinations in which we operate. Please continue to check this link for the most up-to-date Bermuda information, or visit https://www.gov.bm/coronavirus-travellers-visitors for additional details.
  210511 Pre-Departure Requirements (Bermuda) Page 2 of 2 CST#2052644-40"
 

I agree with Clay and Peregrina651, ask.  I would think if it is a medical situation, Viking would work with you on this especially if you tell them you would be willing to get something from the doctor if they needed it.  

I have found that the Wine Stewards (I don't believe they are certifed Sommeliers) at both the Chef's Table and Manfredi's are well trained and good at finding a wine by the glass that you will like. Give them the type of wine you enjoy and they will often bring out a few bottles, unless they are really busy, for you to taste if you are on the SSP so you can choose something you like.   Another advantage of the SSP, is that you can select a different wine with each course.  I will often ask the Wine Steward in Manfredi's to pair a wine with each course that they would recommend.  I have seldom been disapointed.  Of course, at the Chef's Table they always pair a different wine with each course, even if you are not on the SSP.

14 minutes ago, Travel2Learn said:

With the included wines at dinner, do you have a choice other than yes, no, red, white? 

We have always had the SSP, but in talking with folks that haven't, they have told me that if they don't like the white or red wine of the day that they have been able to change it to another red or white wine, often times one that was serveed earlier.   The learning like everything else with Viking, if you don't like something, tell them and they will do their best to fix it.  This is especially true of the esch ships crew and service staff.

One of my favorite drinks is a "Gangster" - it is two parts wiskey, one part sweet vermouth, one part compari, three dashs of orange bitters, on the rocks with a twist of orange peel.  I have taught a bar tender in the Viking Explorer Lounge to make it for me on every cruise.   On some cruises I did have to provide my own orange bitters but since it is always a part of my travel kit it was no problem.  On one cruise, the bartender went out and purchased a bottle of orange bitters while we were in port the day after I fist ordered it.  Typical Viking service that has me sold on them.

1 hour ago, jtwind said:

Has Viking or Iceland published contact tracing rules for this cruise?  Time limits?  Indoors or outdoor? etc?

Not yet!

Here is what I just found on the UK cruise site which is the first cruises Viking has sailing:

"Key points from the latest update received by email from Viking:

• Upon arrival at the cruise terminal, passengers will be provided with a welcome pack containing a cruise card and a contact-tracing dongle.
• After passing through security, a designated shuttle bus will transfer passengers to the ship. Passengers will then proceed to their stateroom where they will be required to provide a saliva sample. Passengers are asked to refrain from consuming any food or beverage item or smoking for at least one hour before submitting the saliva sample.
• While waiting for the test results, vaccinated guests will be able to use the public spaces onboard while observing current mask and social distancing requirements, or they may remain in their statement and enjoy a welcome snack and complimentary refreshments.
• Passengers will be tested periodically on board the ship as required by Viking.
• All guests must leave the ship by 8:30AM on the morning of departure."

7 minutes ago, DJVKN said:

 

• Restaurants, bars and cafes may admit up to 50 guests and must close by 11pm (no new guests permitted after 10pm).

I guess if I get to join the pub crawl it will be an early, very short pub crawl!