Welcome Back Cruises 2021 - Malta & Adriatic Cruises and General Discussion

[LindaS272]

2 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Thanks, Linda from Seattle.  (We lived in Seattle near UW for 27 years!)

I am now confused - so sorry.  I read in detail your earlier post regarding your conversation with Viking.  It seemed to imply that a person could NOT fly to Malta ahead of time, stay in a hotel for a couple nights and then board the Viking ship.  (They may not let you board).  This is different that for Bermuda and Iceland so I assumed that Malta was the one putting this restriction on Viking.

But your post above seems to state differently.

I think I will contact Viking tomorrow and ask the same sets of questions and see what answers I get.  It will make a huge difference to us if we cannot visit/see Valetta a few days ahead of time.

Thanks again!

We are still waiting to hear back from a supervisor at Viking TellUs. The agent on Saturday said she was told to tell people they may be denied boarding if they come into Malta a few days early—so I demanded a call from a manager and proof of this since it’s not in the T&Cs. IMO, they don’t have control over you before you get to the ship. And the agent said it was fine that we are doing our own air—how can they control when you get to Malta? The Maltese gov’t. is promoting tourism after June 1, as I mentioned. I just don’t see how Viking can threaten us without putting anything in writing and proving that it’s a requirement from Malta!

[LindaS272]

First link is from early April announcing Malta tourism beginning June 1.

Second link is the Visit Malta Hotel Scheme (not sure when this was announced, but maybe also in April?).

Third link is just one example of a 5-star hotel doing the promotion for non-Maltese (with proof of airline ticket) from June through end of 2021.
 

https://www.multivu.com/players/uk/8879651-visitmalta-announces-malta-is-reopening-for-summer-2021/

 

https://s3.amazonaws.com/document.issuu.com/210518074419-d01b32c6b44628a64d2efb329074d3b3/original.file?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIATDDRE5J7UTFJTQ4W&Expires=1621812031&Signature=dlYiQFVj%2BelXxp3vp4Cysy5aOj0%3D

 

https://www.excelsior.com.mt/visitmalta-scheme-2021

[MRGACRUZR]

2 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

We are still waiting to hear back from a supervisor at Viking TellUs. The agent on Saturday said she was told to tell people they may be denied boarding if they come into Malta a few days early—so I demanded a call from a manager and proof of this since it’s not in the T&Cs. IMO, they don’t have control over you before you get to the ship. And the agent said it was fine that we are doing our own air—how can they control when you get to Malta? The Maltese gov’t. is promoting tourism after June 1, as I mentioned. I just don’t see how Viking can threaten us without putting anything in writing and proving that it’s a requirement from Malta!

I dont think you will get an answer that you can take to the bank. Its early in "our new world of travel" and every situation seems to be tentative.  Viking is negotiating with all of these new Welcome Back to the World ports. Viking probably still doesn't know all the "conditions" Malta will have in place. It's frustrating trying to get facts where there aren't any, yet. We know, we're on the June 15 guinea pig Bermuda cruise.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, MRGACRUZR said:

I dont think you will get an answer that you can take to the bank. Its early in "our new world of travel" and every situation seems to be tentative.  Viking is negotiating with all of these new Welcome Back to the World ports. Viking probably still doesn't know all the "conditions" Malta will have in place. It's frustrating trying to get facts where there aren't any, yet. We know, we're on the June 15 guinea pig Bermuda cruise.

I understand your point, but we, and Viking, would be in a heap of trouble if they actually denied us boarding once we get to Malta. There’s a lot of money on the line and they can’t just make up rules without informing us in time. We very well could have purchased non-refundable airfare after booking last Friday. They told us this whopper the next day, on Saturday, and did not give us a heads up when booking.

[MRGACRUZR]

8 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

I understand your point, but we, and Viking, would be in a heap of trouble if they actually denied us boarding once we get to Malta. There’s a lot of money on the line and they can’t just make up rules without informing us in time. We very well could have purchased non-refundable airfare after booking last Friday. They told us this whopper the next day, on Saturday, and did not give us a heads up when booking.

That's why we cancelled this cruise. Things need to settle and we can't get answers from Viking that they don't have. The first milestone for us to rebook is what happens in Malta in June? What will there rules be? As of the day before our final payment WAS due, Air Plus still had no return flights to Atlanta that met Vikings requirement of departing after 9 am. They said they expect flights to be added. I told them I'd rather hold my 20K rather them hold it and I get stuck with a gigantic voucher, in case things didn't work out. I want to do this cruise but, I need some stability to proceed.

[philw1776]

Viking adding ships & new 3rd  itinerary to Malta this July
https://cruisereport.com/cruise-industry-news/new-mediterranean-voyages?fbclid=IwAR3nj-omp3eSt3HzUwMO8WmX8LDJmZRt9cYoFCMG7aR1yHOkHWSr5p03dIU

 

[Jchivers]

1 hour ago, philw1776 said:

Viking adding ships & new 3rd  itinerary to Malta this July
https://cruisereport.com/cruise-industry-news/new-mediterranean-voyages?fbclid=IwAR3nj-omp3eSt3HzUwMO8WmX8LDJmZRt9cYoFCMG7aR1yHOkHWSr5p03dIU

 

OK, this is weird.  I was originally booked on  Mediterranean Odyssey in late July, with stops in Barcelona, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Messina and Naples....cancelled.  So then I booked Italian Sojourn in August, with stops in Civitavecchia and Naples....cancelled.  Now Viking has a cruise that hits all the same ports in the same time frame as the cancelled cruises.

 

Sigh.

[lackcreativity]

2 hours ago, Jchivers said:

OK, this is weird.  I was originally booked on  Mediterranean Odyssey in late July, with stops in Barcelona, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Messina and Naples....cancelled.  So then I booked Italian Sojourn in August, with stops in Civitavecchia and Naples....cancelled.  Now Viking has a cruise that hits all the same ports in the same time frame as the cancelled cruises.

 

Sigh.

Things are so complicated in these early stages! All of these new Mediterranean itineraries begin and end in Valetta, so I assume that the government in Malta must have been easier to work with in getting things up and running. I hope it works well, as I would love to get to Malta with Viking sometime after our two cruises in 2022.

[LindaS272]

Okay—great news. Finally got a call back today from a Viking manager. The original TellUs agent was wrong, as I surmised. There are no restrictions for coming in early to Malta—the agent was confused and perhaps thought we were going to embark the ship, then go out on our own in Valletta. That of course would be breaking the Viking bubble—which we would not do.

 

We are coming in several days early, probably, and after a couple of nights in Valletta, will likely rent a car and stay in Gozo. 
 

A great relief to see we aren’t going to be somehow penalized for touring on our own before the cruise. We’ll see what entry requirements for Malta are like by Sept.

[CCWineLover]

15 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Okay—great news. Finally got a call back today from a Viking manager. The original TellUs agent was wrong, as I surmised. There are no restrictions for coming in early to Malta—the agent was confused and perhaps thought we were going to embark the ship, then go out on our own in Valletta. That of course would be breaking the Viking bubble—which we would not do.

 

We are coming in several days early, probably, and after a couple of nights in Valletta, will likely rent a car and stay in Gozo. 
 

A great relief to see we aren’t going to be somehow penalized for touring on our own before the cruise. We’ll see what entry requirements for Malta are like by Sept.

Thank you Linda for the great news!  We were waiting for this.  I also sent a note in for a manager to call me.  We'll see if hopefully it gets the same results.

So let us know what you find out on your airfare.  Will you go Seattle to Europe (Munich? Frankfurt?) to Malta?  and on the return.  Someone did a Malta-Frankfurt-Wash DC-SFO so would assume you could do the DC-SEA portion the same.

Will be looking at hotels as well.   We spent several nights looking at YouTube videos of Malta, Valetta, Gozo, etc.  and are now absolutely enthralled.  Check them out! 

 

Would be curious though on if Malta will be requiring that COVID test when you arrive as well, and if so, how and where we get it.  We'll likely try to arrive 3 days early and stay 3 nights in Valetta or nearby.  Don't want to drive on the left side, even though we've done it often in UK and Australia/NZ.

[LindaS272]

44 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Thank you Linda for the great news!  We were waiting for this.  I also sent a note in for a manager to call me.  We'll see if hopefully it gets the same results.

So let us know what you find out on your airfare.  Will you go Seattle to Europe (Munich? Frankfurt?) to Malta?  and on the return.  Someone did a Malta-Frankfurt-Wash DC-SFO so would assume you could do the DC-SEA portion the same.

Will be looking at hotels as well.   We spent several nights looking at YouTube videos of Malta, Valetta, Gozo, etc.  and are now absolutely enthralled.  Check them out! 

 

Would be curious though on if Malta will be requiring that COVID test when you arrive as well, and if so, how and where we get it.  We'll likely try to arrive 3 days early and stay 3 nights in Valetta or nearby.  Don't want to drive on the left side, even though we've done it often in UK and Australia/NZ.

We don’t have the tolerance anymore for looooonnnng transits, so definitely wouldn’t try the DC route to or from. We’ve gotten a little spoiled with more airlines doing direct flights to Europe out of Seattle in recent years. The one I liked in 2018 was Aer Lingus direct to Dublin—I have lots of Irish ancestry so have been doing genealogy there frequently. That was suspended due to Covid, however, and Ireland is still requiring 14-day quarantine.

 

For Malta, we are probably going to use an existing air booking on Delta to LHR, stay 3 nights in London, then convert an existing BA flight to Inverness to a fly-in to Malta instead. In June 2020 we had a three week trip planned to Orkney, Shetland, & the Scottish Highlands. That got re-routed to this June, and then re-routed again to this Sept. when Britain was not lifting their quarantine quickly enough.

 

We looked into Lufthansa but it’s way too long to go all the way through to Malta via Frankfurt, and we’re not as keen on doing a layover in Germany at this time. Fingers crossed that the UK will let us in easily by Sept. On the way back we will overnight at LHR.

[CCWineLover]

21 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

We don’t have the tolerance anymore for looooonnnng transits, so definitely wouldn’t try the DC route to or from. We’ve gotten a little spoiled with more airlines doing direct flights to Europe out of Seattle in recent years. The one I liked in 2018 was Aer Lingus direct to Dublin—I have lots of Irish ancestry so have been doing genealogy there frequently. That was suspended due to Covid, however, and Ireland is still requiring 14-day quarantine.

 

For Malta, we are probably going to use an existing air booking on Delta to LHR, stay 3 nights in London, then convert an existing BA flight to Inverness to a fly-in to Malta instead. In June 2020 we had a three week trip planned to Orkney, Shetland, & the Scottish Highlands. That got re-routed to this June, and then re-routed again to this Sept. when Britain was not lifting their quarantine quickly enough.

 

We looked into Lufthansa but it’s way too long to go all the way through to Malta via Frankfurt, and we’re not as keen on doing a layover in Germany at this time. Fingers crossed that the UK will let us in easily by Sept. On the way back we will overnight at LHR.

Linda -

I had a very long call yesterday with Viking Manager in Reservations and a call this morning with a Viking Air Manager regarding Malta, and then a discussion with my Travel Agent.  I will try to summarize from my notes - but they all said the same things.   Based on this we will be cancelling Malta.  Give me a bit to put the notes together to post here.

Kent

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

I had a very long call yesterday with Viking Manager in Reservations and a call this morning with a Viking Air Manager regarding Malta, and then a discussion with my Travel Agent.

 

Please find below the notes I summarized from my calls with Viking regarding the Malta Welcome Back Cruises.  My Travel Agent reviewed it this morning and confirmed this to be true and is what their large travel agency is operating on and advising clients.   Whether you believe it or not, since one can likely find 2nd opinions, it is your risk to take.  We've chosen not to take the risk of denied boarding.

Again, 2 different Viking managers AND my travel agent confirm these Malta regulations.  Our agent even said that other cruise port countries are beginning to adopt this "total bubble concept" from home to cruise ship.

 

Maltese Government Regulations for U.S. Cruise Passengers

Malta does not allow U.S. residents to enter Malta.  Malta and Viking have put in place a special agreement to allow U.S. residents to cruise on Viking ships in and out of Malta – ONLY under the following restrictions.

 

Maltese Government Rules

-U.S. passengers MUST arrive by air on the day of boarding the Viking ship.  No exceptions.

-You must fly directly from your home airport to Valetta, Malta with no stopovers in ANY city (including the U.S. or Europe) along the way.

-U.S. passengers are not permitted to stay anywhere overnight in Malta before or after the cruise.

-Maltese government will seek proof that passengers arrived on the day of boarding only and with no stopovers.

-If passengers arrive early to Malta or had stopovers, they will be denied boarding by the Maltese Government and must return home to the U.S. immediately at their own expense.

 

COVID-19 Entry Requirements

-U.S. passengers must provide proof of vaccination ahead of time

-They must provide negative results to a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of boarding their airline flight (not 72 hours ahead of arrival).  This can be a Rapid Test.

-Viking will provide daily saliva tests

-Viking will provide the COVID-19 test at end of the cruise

-All passengers must immediately be taken to the airport and leave on their flights

-No pre or post visiting to Malta is permitted

 

Air Transport to Malta from the U.S.- as part of the agreement with Malta

-U.S. Passengers may use Viking Air or make their own arrangements

-If passengers book their own air transport:

-You must arrive only on the date of cruise boarding and have no stopovers from your home city – or you will be denied boarding by Maltese Government

-You must proceed immediately upon arrival to the ship; no deviations; no hotels; no stops

-You must meet the COVID-19 entry requirements

-You must take all risk of flight delays or cancellations that might cause them to miss the ship

-If passengers use Viking Air:

               -There is no Viking Air Plus applicable

               -No deviations are allowed – passengers will go directly from airport to the ship

               -Viking will choose the airlines, airline flights, connections, and assign them -

no choice from passengers

               -Passengers will all be assigned Economy Seats – no “custom” class

               -The Viking Air flights cannot be booked as Biz Class or Premium Economy – only Economy

               -Viking will take requests for Biz Class & Premium Economy but cannot guarantee those requests

               -There will be 1 or more Charter Flights that Viking is working on that will carry airline passengers

 

 

 

[DaveSJ711]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Linda -

I had a very long call yesterday with Viking Manager in Reservations and a call this morning with a Viking Air Manager regarding Malta, and then a discussion with my Travel Agent.  I will try to summarize from my notes - but they all said the same things.   Based on this we will be cancelling Malta.  Give me a bit to put the notes together to post here.

Kent

Hi Kent,

 

This is Linda's not--so-better half. I was the one who talked with the Viking manager (Laura) two days ago about arriving early in Malta.

 

What the Viking managers told you flatly contradicts what Laura told me. This is extremely upsetting. Obviously we will cancel, too, if we can't get the arrival issue resolved very shortly and with certainty.

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to send your comprehensive notes to Laura and ask her for an explanation. It would also be helpful to have the names of the managers with whom you spoke. Can you provide this information?

 

Thanks, David    

[MikeyB]

I hope people don't overreact to this post.

Cruises begin July.  Things are rapidly changing.  I'm happy I made a booking.

I cannot believe Viking would gamble on passengers from the US being denied entry.

[DaveSJ711]

2 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

I hope people don't overreact to this post.

Cruises begin July.  Things are rapidly changing.  I'm happy I made a booking.

I cannot believe Viking would gamble on passengers from the US being denied entry.

We're not overreacting by asking Viking to resolve contradictory information -- especially when the information is relevant as to whether and when we can arrive in Malta.

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Please find below the notes I summarized from my calls with Viking regarding the Malta Welcome Back Cruises.  My Travel Agent reviewed it this morning and confirmed this to be true and is what their large travel agency is operating on and advising clients.   Whether you believe it or not, since one can likely find 2nd opinions, it is your risk to take.  We've chosen not to take the risk of denied boarding.

Again, 2 different Viking managers AND my travel agent confirm these Malta regulations.  Our agent even said that other cruise port countries are beginning to adopt this "total bubble concept" from home to cruise ship.

 

Maltese Government Regulations for U.S. Cruise Passengers

Malta does not allow U.S. residents to enter Malta.  Malta and Viking have put in place a special agreement to allow U.S. residents to cruise on Viking ships in and out of Malta – ONLY under the following restrictions.

 

Maltese Government Rules

-U.S. passengers MUST arrive by air on the day of boarding the Viking ship.  No exceptions.

-You must fly directly from your home airport to Valetta, Malta with no stopovers in ANY city (including the U.S. or Europe) along the way.

-U.S. passengers are not permitted to stay anywhere overnight in Malta before or after the cruise.

-Maltese government will seek proof that passengers arrived on the day of boarding only and with no stopovers.

-If passengers arrive early to Malta or had stopovers, they will be denied boarding by the Maltese Government and must return home to the U.S. immediately at their own expense.

 

COVID-19 Entry Requirements

-U.S. passengers must provide proof of vaccination ahead of time

-They must provide negative results to a COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of boarding their airline flight (not 72 hours ahead of arrival).  This can be a Rapid Test.

-Viking will provide daily saliva tests

-Viking will provide the COVID-19 test at end of the cruise

-All passengers must immediately be taken to the airport and leave on their flights

-No pre or post visiting to Malta is permitted

 

Air Transport to Malta from the U.S.- as part of the agreement with Malta

-U.S. Passengers may use Viking Air or make their own arrangements

-If passengers book their own air transport:

-You must arrive only on the date of cruise boarding and have no stopovers from your home city – or you will be denied boarding by Maltese Government

-You must proceed immediately upon arrival to the ship; no deviations; no hotels; no stops

-You must meet the COVID-19 entry requirements

-You must take all risk of flight delays or cancellations that might cause them to miss the ship

-If passengers use Viking Air:

               -There is no Viking Air Plus applicable

               -No deviations are allowed – passengers will go directly from airport to the ship

               -Viking will choose the airlines, airline flights, connections, and assign them -

no choice from passengers

               -Passengers will all be assigned Economy Seats – no “custom” class

               -The Viking Air flights cannot be booked as Biz Class or Premium Economy – only Economy

               -Viking will take requests for Biz Class & Premium Economy but cannot guarantee those requests

               -There will be 1 or more Charter Flights that Viking is working on that will carry airline passengers

 

 

 

I wouldn’t believe a lick of this militant response from Viking unless they will put it in writing from corporate. I just went over the T&Cs for our booking and the Health and Safety Program on the website and there is NO mention of specific Malta terms and conditions. We are going to run it up the chain to find someone who can actually prove—in writing—what you were told. Because, as we say, we had a manager tell us the exact opposite.

[CCWineLover]

2 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

I wouldn’t believe a lick of this militant response from Viking unless they will put it in writing from corporate. I just went over the T&Cs for our booking and the Health and Safety Program on the website and there is NO mention of specific Malta terms and conditions. We are going to run it up the chain to find someone who can actually prove—in writing—what you were told. Because, as we say, we had a manager tell us the exact opposite.

Linda and others -

I do agree with you.  I asked to have this in writing, but Viking said no.  They basically said you do what you want but you take the risk.  For us, the risk that this version of the truth might be correct was too much for us to chance it.   Thank you for running it up the chain as well.

What unnerved me was that our own Travel Agent also confirmed these exact points today when I ran it by her.  I did tell the Viking people about various people I knew who had heard completely different from Viking - and at the very least, putting out totally contradictory information when large amounts of money are at stake is not a good thing for Viking.

[CCWineLover]

24 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

I hope people don't overreact to this post.

Cruises begin July.  Things are rapidly changing.  I'm happy I made a booking.

I cannot believe Viking would gamble on passengers from the US being denied entry.

MikeyB - I said the same thing to the Viking Managers.   The response was two fold - Viking has negotiated the special arrangement with the Government of Malta and the primary portion of that is to have U.S. passengers be in the bubble from the time they leave home, at Malta's direction.

Second - any of us is welcome to do what they want but they bear the risk of not going on the cruise and flying home, thanks to Malta government, not Viking.  I lamblasted Viking for not making this well known on their web site and heard that they are working on it.  I said there will be lots of unhappy customers and bad publicity.  The answer:  "Duly Noted". 

Again - the risk is too much for us to take.  We'll go another year.  The air issue really did it for us.

[CCWineLover]

28 minutes ago, DaveSJ711 said:

Hi Kent,

 

This is Linda's not--so-better half. I was the one who talked with the Viking manager (Laura) two days ago about arriving early in Malta.

 

What the Viking managers told you flatly contradicts what Laura told me. This is extremely upsetting. Obviously we will cancel, too, if we can't get the arrival issue resolved very shortly and with certainty.

 

If you don't mind, I'd like to send your comprehensive notes to Laura and ask her for an explanation. It would also be helpful to have the names of the managers with whom you spoke. Can you provide this information?

 

Thanks, David    

Yes please send the notes I crafted from my calls to "Laura".  I spoke with Alicia out of Boston late yesterday.  We had maybe an hour call, and I made sure I had every point she made down quite clear, and then repeated it all back to her just to verify it.  She was emphatic.   As I said, I told her this was bad for Viking not to have told people about these terms that Malta is imposing.

What made it serious for us is our Travel Agent this morning - I went over it with her and she knew every one of these points, and in fact highly recommended we do not do Malta, at least at this time as it was quite risky given the restrictions the Maltese Government is imposing.

Oh - I did not mention you and Linda by name but I did indicate another Viking manager was telling people the exact opposite just days ago.

[Jchivers]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

You must fly directly from your home airport to Valetta, Malta with no stopovers in ANY city (including the U.S. or Europe) along the way.

And yet Viking booked me on a flight to Valletta with a stopover in Frankfurt.  Unless they mean "stopover" to mean something more extended than changing planes, something's not jiving here.

[sleepybobo]

Viking really needs to be more transparent about the Malta entry requirements. Don’t assume everyone reads the fine print. In this case the fine print doesn’t even provide clear answers. 
 

 

[CCWineLover]

8 minutes ago, Jchivers said:

And yet Viking booked me on a flight to Valletta with a stopover in Frankfurt.  Unless they mean "stopover" to mean something more extended than changing planes, something's not jiving here.

I asked that same question.  "Stopover" is leaving the airport in a connection city.  i.e.  if you flew to London and spent a couple days, or if you flew to Frankfurt and spent a couple days before going on to Malta.  You have to go directly from home to Malta, so changing planes is fine.

[CCWineLover]

4 minutes ago, sleepybobo said:

Viking really needs to be more transparent about the Malta entry requirements. Don’t assume everyone reads the fine print. In this case the fine print doesn’t even provide clear answers. 
 

 

Sleepybobo - I totally agree with you and am so frustrated with Viking with this whole thing.  I very calmly let them all know that they shouldn't be selling cruises without letting people know everything - the devil is in the details.  And to put things in writing!!   How is anyone supposed to make an educated decision on whether to travel or not!

[Jchivers]

13 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

You have to go directly from home to Malta, so changing planes is fine.

OK cool - thanks for the clarification.

 

On the other hand, My Viking Journey has locked my air itinerary for "adjustments" - perfectly routine don't worry, it says.  And my travel insurance policy was just cancelled, with no reason given.  I have a bad feeling about this.