Iceland's Natural Beauty General - 2022

[bardstowntraveller]

Does Viking do anything special if you are celebrating a special occasion. We will celebrating our anniversary onboard

[Azulann]

10 minutes ago, bardstowntraveller said:

Does Viking do anything special if you are celebrating a special occasion. We will celebrating our anniversary onboard

Check out your MJV under "beofre you go." It has a" special occasion " section. You will need to call them

Congratulations!

Edited June 8, 2021 by Azulann

[Mehroswitha]

Congrats on your anniversary! Good to register it as Azulann suggested above but not always necessary. Several years ago we boarded our very first Viking cruise on my husband's birthday and found a really beautiful (and delicious!) cake waiting in our cabin. I had made no special request so assume they got the date from our booking data. 

[gramfrog]

I hate it when I get a dummkopf on the Viking line...  can anyone tell me definitively when the Iceland excursion bookings begin?  A number of us are on the August 24-31 cruise; our reservation says June 18;  I read on cruise critic June 11; and the agent on the Viking site said either June 16 or June 17.....  he "wasn't quite sure"...  

and at what hour can you book?  he said "around midnight".  when I asked whose midnight, Pacific time, Eastern time (where my client it), Central time (where we live)?  and his reply was, "like, maybe my time midnight?  So is that earlier or later on the east coast?"  

At that point I just said thanks buhbye

 

[5353]

On 6/2/2021 at 1:01 PM, Seaharvest said:

OMG My husband will love this. A spread sheet! His favorite way of organizing things. Thanks

I'm booked on 8/10 cruise and don't have shorex available for booking yet.  This sheet will help

my planning a lot.  Thanks for your sharing.

[Clay Clayton]

3 minutes ago, gramfrog said:

I hate it when I get a dummkopf on the Viking line...  can anyone tell me definitively when the Iceland excursion bookings begin?  A number of us are on the August 24-31 cruise; our reservation says June 18;  I read on cruise critic June 11; and the agent on the Viking site said either June 16 or June 17.....  he "wasn't quite sure"...  

and at what hour can you book?  he said "around midnight".  when I asked whose midnight, Pacific time, Eastern time (where my client it), Central time (where we live)?  and his reply was, "like, maybe my time midnight?  So is that earlier or later on the east coast?"  

At that point I just said thanks buhbye

 

We all feel your pain, especially those folks on the July 17th Sky cruise. I don’t think you will ever get an answer. It seems no one really knows.  Last week, the July 17th and a number of the Jupiter cruises for an email that excursions would be available beginning at 9am PDT.  
 

A few who logged on early reported they were able to book an excursion or two, however at 9 or shortly thereafter, the system became overwhelmed and shortly thereafter they took it offline. 
 

Later that afternoon, it was back up and running but lots of folks weren’t able to get the excursions they wanted. 
 

Regarding the phone representatives, I strongly believe that either Viking laid off it’s experienced folks OR staffed up with people who were not familiar with Viking OR did a lousy job of sharing there information for the Welcome Back cruises. .I reached this conclusion when on a call with one I was told that I didn’t need to make reservations for the Restaurant as it was open seating.  Which was clearly not the case since Viking had emailed me to tell me of the new covid protocol requires us to make reservations. 
 

 

[FoggyEthan]

9 minutes ago, gramfrog said:

I hate it when I get a dummkopf on the Viking line...  can anyone tell me definitively when the Iceland excursion bookings begin?  A number of us are on the August 24-31 cruise; our reservation says June 18;  I read on cruise critic June 11; and the agent on the Viking site said either June 16 or June 17.....  he "wasn't quite sure"...  

and at what hour can you book?  he said "around midnight".  when I asked whose midnight, Pacific time, Eastern time (where my client it), Central time (where we live)?  and his reply was, "like, maybe my time midnight?  So is that earlier or later on the east coast?"  

At that point I just said thanks buhbye

 

You have about 63 pages of discussion here, mostly on that exact topic. In summary: they were making things up because they don't really know. It is not working the way it normally does. The first three cruises all had their options appear at the same time around a month ago. The next three or four sailings just had their options appear a few days back. No advantage given based upon cabin category. No advance knowledge of what the options will be. It becomes a race to book excursions before they sell out, and then hope that new options get added for anything you wanted but didn't get.

 

I don't think any August cruise has yet had excursions open up. It stinks, but there's no alternative except to be patient. We (on the recent batch of sailings that just opened up) were notified the afternoon previous that bookings would start at 9AM the next morning. At 9AM exactly, their computers crashed. Hopefully they'll do it better the next time.

[Peregrina651]

1 minute ago, gramfrog said:

I hate it when I get a dummkopf on the Viking line...  can anyone tell me definitively when the Iceland excursion bookings begin?  A number of us are on the August 24-31 cruise; our reservation says June 18;  I read on cruise critic June 11; and the agent on the Viking site said either June 16 or June 17.....  he "wasn't quite sure"...  

and at what hour can you book?  he said "around midnight".  when I asked whose midnight, Pacific time, Eastern time (where my client it), Central time (where we live)?  and his reply was, "like, maybe my time midnight?  So is that earlier or later on the east coast?"  

At that point I just said thanks buhbye

 

 

I don't have a definitive answer for you but I can tell you how it was handled on each of the first two rounds. No idea what they will do on round three. However, I will say,  if you don't already see the shorex on MVJ, there is a good chance that booking availability will not be following the usual scheduled.

 

For the first three cruises, it was a soft opening. No announcement. The actual opening was sometime between 5 and 8pm ET (ie, my dinner time and I was away from the computer). When I got back to the computer, someone had announced that tours were available).

 

For the second round of cruises, those effected received an e-mail saying that booking would open at 9am PT (Noon ET) the next day.  (This is not the normal time that Viking opens booking. It used to be midnight PT but after a lot of complaining, we got them to change it to Noon PT; no idea what it will be in the future). 

[id4elizabeth]

Embarkation details

I talked to tellus@Viking on a different matter and she told me the following as best as I could jot down the info:

 

Official embarkation does not start until 11:00am.  They MIGHT let you onto one of the outside decks before that but you will not be able to leave that area (to make spa arrangements etc) until 11:00.

 

Once you set foot on the ship you are in the Viking bubble and cannot get off.

 

You cannot go to your room until 3:00

 

Some kind of "program" will start around 5:00 giving you info about the rest of the cruise so you do not want to be there later than that (unclear whether this was an in-person program or televised).

 

On disembarking, you have to vacate room between 8:30 and 9:00.  She didn't know whether we could hang out in some public areas on the ship or not after that.

 

Anyway, that's what I was told for what that's worth

[Milliegirl229]

We are booked for the Iceland cruise at the end of the summer and when we booked we knew that this would not be the usual experience. I feel everyone's frustrations about booking dining and excursions and understand that the cruise is costly and everyone has certain expectations based on cost. I also think that those that are not able to be flexible and expect (in some cases seems demand) the same experience or they will cancel, should cancel. You don't want to be on a vacation that doesn't meet your expectations and fellow passengers don't want you on the cruise being miserable. If you don't get your way or feel Viking is not providing the value you expect please cancel. Those that are willing to be flexible and take the opportunity to finally get to travel will enjoy to the experience. I'm tired of so many being negative on this site, don't go but don't make everyone else miserable. Yes this is a site to share experience but limit it to your experience and leave out "if I don't get what I want I'll cancel", just comes off as a spoiled child.

[madrone]

7 minutes ago, Milliegirl229 said:

We are booked for the Iceland cruise at the end of the summer and when we booked we knew that this would not be the usual experience. I feel everyone's frustrations about booking dining and excursions and understand that the cruise is costly and everyone has certain expectations based on cost. I also think that those that are not able to be flexible and expect (in some cases seems demand) the same experience or they will cancel, should cancel. You don't want to be on a vacation that doesn't meet your expectations and fellow passengers don't want you on the cruise being miserable. If you don't get your way or feel Viking is not providing the value you expect please cancel. Those that are willing to be flexible and take the opportunity to finally get to travel will enjoy to the experience. I'm tired of so many being negative on this site, don't go but don't make everyone else miserable. Yes this is a site to share experience but limit it to your experience and leave out "if I don't get what I want I'll cancel", just comes off as a spoiled child.

 

[Heartgrove]

For those doing the "Iceland through the Lens" excursion (Sue is), if this is the company that is the vendor they have a number of videos online. Looks pretty good!

 

 

[sleepybobo]

Excursions for the July 31 sailing will be available for booking tomorrow, June 9, at 9am PDT.  

[MarkTapley]

1 hour ago, sleepybobo said:

Excursions for the July 31 sailing will be available for booking tomorrow, June 9, at 9am PDT.  

How did you find out about this?

[readsalot]

3 hours ago, id4elizabeth said:

Embarkation details

I talked to tellus@Viking on a different matter and she told me the following as best as I could jot down the info:

 

Official embarkation does not start until 11:00am.  They MIGHT let you onto one of the outside decks before that but you will not be able to leave that area (to make spa arrangements etc) until 11:00.

 

Once you set foot on the ship you are in the Viking bubble and cannot get off.

 

You cannot go to your room until 3:00

 

Some kind of "program" will start around 5:00 giving you info about the rest of the cruise so you do not want to be there later than that (unclear whether this was an in-person program or televised).

 

On disembarking, you have to vacate room between 8:30 and 9:00.  She didn't know whether we could hang out in some public areas on the ship or not after that.

 

Anyway, that's what I was told for what that's worth

Hello,

I tried to email tellus@Vikingocean.com with a question, but the message did not go through. What did I do wrong?

Thanks in advance.  Lynne Westerholm (readsalot)

[sleepybobo]

26 minutes ago, MarkTapley said:

How did you find out about this?

Got an email from Viking today. 

[FoggyEthan]

48 minutes ago, readsalot said:

Hello,

I tried to email tellus@Vikingocean.com with a question, but the message did not go through. What did I do wrong?

Thanks in advance.  Lynne Westerholm (readsalot)

vikingcruises.com

[bardstowntraveller]

5 hours ago, gramfrog said:

I hate it when I get a dummkopf on the Viking line...  can anyone tell me definitively when the Iceland excursion bookings begin?  A number of us are on the August 24-31 cruise; our reservation says June 18;  I read on cruise critic June 11; and the agent on the Viking site said either June 16 or June 17.....  he "wasn't quite sure"...  

and at what hour can you book?  he said "around midnight".  when I asked whose midnight, Pacific time, Eastern time (where my client it), Central time (where we live)?  and his reply was, "like, maybe my time midnight?  So is that earlier or later on the east coast?"  

At that point I just said thanks buhbye

 

We are on the 8/3 sailing. We were supposed to be able to book on 5/18. When I have asked about booking, they said just keep checking MVJ

[bardstowntraveller]

1 hour ago, sleepybobo said:

Got an email from Viking today. 

No email for 8/3 sailing so assume they aren’t lumping all the August sailings together

[sleepybobo]

27 minutes ago, bardstowntraveller said:

No email for 8/3 sailing so assume they aren’t lumping all the August sailings together

After the fiasco on last Friday, it seems Viking realized it’s never a good idea to open excursion booking to multiple sailings simultaneously. 

[patchicago]

I have a question about booking/paying for excursions. I’m traveling with a friend so when I am able to book excursions I will want to book both of us at the same time so we both get on the same excursion. When I put excursions for both of us in my shopping cart will each of us be able to pay for our own excursions separately or is the total amount due going to show up on my side of the account because I put them in my cart? TIA.

[Peregrina651]

15 minutes ago, patchicago said:

I have a question about booking/paying for excursions. I’m traveling with a friend so when I am able to book excursions I will want to book both of us at the same time so we both get on the same excursion. When I put excursions for both of us in my shopping cart will each of us be able to pay for our own excursions separately or is the total amount due going to show up on my side of the account because I put them in my cart? TIA.

 

The contents of the cart goes on one credit card.

 

Three ways to handle things.

 

1. You book everything and pay for everything; travel buddy reimburses you.

2. You get their credit card info and you book everything -- book a couple for you and then a couple for them until they are all booked.

3. You each log into MVJ from your own accounts and work together filling the cart and then paying for your own choices.

[patchicago]

3 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

The contents of the cart goes on one credit card.

Thank you! This is the info I was looking for. Pat.

[FoggyEthan]

6 minutes ago, patchicago said:

Thank you! This is the info I was looking for. Pat.

One caveat -- you cannot both be logged into MVJ at the same time. It'll lock you out with a misleading message that your MVJ is locked for updates. So if your goal is to get your first choices as quickly as possible, or even if you want to be sure that you're on the same times of the same excursions, then the first two options are best.

 

Also, check your dinner reservation times. The system will block you from booking a tour if it thinks you won't be able to make your dinner reservation. If you have early dinner reservations, it will slow you down to have to go back and cancel them before you can book the excursion.

 

Good luck!

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, FoggyEthan said:

One caveat -- you cannot both be logged into MVJ at the same time.

 

No, but they can each have their own separate MVJ accounts and should each be able to log in at the same time.