jeffbook

As a follow up to my post of April 11, we received a large part of the refund for our cancelled Mediterranean Odyssey Cruise (March 20 sailing) on April 20 via e-check. 

There is a remaining amount still due us that was paid by credit card.  I was told by a Viking Customer Service representative that we would receive it shortly.  This is complicated by the fact that the outstanding amount was paid to Viking on a credit card that is now past its expiration date.  We had the same situation for our post cruise extension on this journey which Viking cancelled prior to cancelling the entire cruise.  That amount was eventually refunded to us via e-check.

Our March 20 cruise was cancelled on March 11.  I spoke with Viking customer service on Wednesday, April 8.  I was told that Viking had to audit each cruise cancellation with regards t the total amount paid to Viking.  Needless to say, this is a totally unprecedented experience for Viking and the number of cancellations involving  refunds and voucher requests is more than substantial.  The Viking rep ventured that refunds would likely be sent out at the end of April or in May.  This was actually only an estimate by the rep. It would appear that patience in this situation  will be required on all of our parts,

Will wait and see what Viking does now that Venice is under quarantine for our Barcelona departure on March 21 (departure from Barcelona date). Our My Viking Journey's Viking Air web page, we  no longer have any flights listed for us heading to Barcelona or returning from Venice.  Our post cruise extension to Lake Como was cancelled on Tuesday and Delta eliminated our return flight from Milan to JFK.  So, based on what Viking has on our trip web page, we currently have no flight to Barcelona and no return flight to the US from Venice.  (we had Viking do all of our air travel bookings...) So, we will wait and see what happens next.  We still have until March 18 to  cancel and get the voucher, but I think a Viking cancellation of this cruise is a real possibility based on this new quarantine.  Hopefully, we will get an update based on the new quarantine very soon.

EDIT:  Just checked the information page on the Venice Airport website using Google Translate, and it appears that the new quarantine allows flights in and out of airports in the affected areas.  The Google  translation appears next:

"Coronavirus: Open and operational airport infrastructure
Passengers contact airlines for information on their flights
Rome, 8 March 2020 - With regard to the indications contained in the Presidential Decree of
Council of Ministers of 8 March 2020, related to the coronavirus emergency and which has
remodeled the areas and identified additional measures
national, ENAC informs that all airport infrastructures, including those
within the restricted areas, they are open and operational, as indicated
of the Civil Protection Operational Committee.
ENAC invites passengers with flights booked to and from airports within the areas
with restrictions, contact the reference company for information on the status of the
own flight"

I take no responsibility for either the accuracy of this translation or of the information presented in Italian.  It was cut and pasted from the Venice airport website directly into Google translate.  I hope that it is somewhat helpful.

Hi Clay,

I saw the language you italicized on the Delta New Hub.  However, I also viewed the "Alerts and Advisories" link on the top left of Delta's homepage.  When that link is activated and you scroll down to the "Transatlantic Information" it states that all flights to.from Italy are affected.  At the very least, the information does not state that there are any differences between Milan and other Italian airports.  Perhaps I have incorrectly interpreted this as a full shutdown in Italy as the effective dates have changed from Delta's previous information posted here as they did not include dates to the end of April before today to the best of my knowledge. 

However, in my specific case, until or unless Viking re-books our return flights, I have currently have no way home from Milan after our Viking sponsored post cruise extension.  In addition, I have to admit that I am not really keen on traveling into or through an area listed by the State Department and the CDC as one where they now recommend not to travel.  I am hoping that Viking heeds these current warnings as they stated they would in their notification of February 10.

Thanks for your comments.  They are appreciated.  But Viking still needs to let their clients know what is going on.

For anyone flying out of Italy after the Barcelona to Venice cruise on 3/19, you won't be flying on Delta as they have now cancelled all transatlantic flights to and from Italy through April 30.  We booked the post cruise extension that travels smack through the middle of Veneto and Lombardy and are/were booked from Milan to JFK by Viking on 4/4.

Serve is now held by Viking and so far they are on the verge of a double fault by not keeping their clients better informed.

Thanks for the information. Have taken the DLR from the tube system to get to Greenwich. This helps a lot!!

Going to book the "Into the Arctic Sun" cruise from Bergen to London. I was wondering exactly where the ship docks in Greenwich and how far it is to a tube station.

When I started this thread, I was not complaining as we have enjoyed all of our Celebrity voyages, save one. I was simply reporting about the Activities Staff reduction in force for anyone who would be interested.

While the "product" has changed over the 11 years we have cruised on Celebrity, we have changed too and it is still a great match for our cruising vacations.

Also posted this on the Ports board, but I thought fellow Celebrity cruisers might be able to help.

Arriving in Civitavecchia on May 5 on Celebrity Silhouette. I am assuming there are taxis available to take me to the local Avis car rental agency where I have a reservation. Can anyone confirm this or confirm the presence of an Avis shuttle that picks up at the port?

Thanks everyone for your help.

Arriving in Civitavecchia on May 5 on Celebrity Silhouette. I am assuming there are taxis available to take me to the local Avis car rental agency where I have a reservation. Can anyone confirm this or confirms the presence of an Avis shuttle that picks up at the port?

Thanks everyone for your help.

The Activity Staff on Silhouette has been given 2 weeks notice and will be sent packing prior to the Trans Atlantic cruise on April 20.

This was directly relayed to DW and myself by an Activities Staff member on last weeks (3/23 to 3/30) Western Caribbean cruise.

Looks like there could be a lot of holes in the sea day schedules on the cruise from Fort Lauderdale to Rome this month.

We are on this cruise and have a GTY Veranda that we booked on February 7. We were assigned our cabin within 5 days.

If we experience anything unusual as far as large groups go, we will let you know with a post!

We booked Silhouette for the 3/23 on Friday, 2/7 on a Veranda GTY. Got cabin assignment (8339) on Tuesday, 2/11.

After always booking a specific cabin on my past "X" cruises, I have just booked my first "GTY" cabin on the 3/23/14 Silhouette sailing. When does Celebrity typically assign cabins to those with "GTY" reservations?

Thanks in advance for all help on this.

On another thread it was mentioned that priority tender tickets have vanished.... :eek:

 

That was a nice benefit when one needed it.

Spoke with a Captain's Club rep named Jim today. He said that there is no intention of anyone losing any of the old Elite benefits, including priority tendering. He also stated that with all of the changes, there could be some inadvertent omission on the web site. We should stay tined and seed what "corrections' are mad on the web site.

Anyone know where Kirsty Fraser is currently. She was Asst. Cruise Director on Summitt last September.