ONGOING local restrictions

[jc522]

I received this in an email after I made the final payment for the cruise:

 

Dear Viking Guest,

Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Classic Panama Canal Passage cruise. We would like to take a moment to advise you of a change in your itinerary.

Due to ongoing local restrictions, the scheduled port call to Key West, Florida will not be possible. The VIKING STAR will now spend the day at sea. Please note, our website will reflect this change to your itinerary in the coming days.

 

If this is due to "ongoing local restrictions" (established almost a year ago), didn't Viking have to know about it well before the final payment was due? I most likely wouldn't have spent $16K to go on a 10 day cruise that had 4 days at sea.

Edited December 1, 2022 by jc522

[LindaS272]

Sorry you are late to Cruise Critic. This has been discussed on these boards the last few weeks.

[jc522]

A link or two would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Peregrina651]

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2884166-key-west-cancelled/?do=getNewComment

 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

This goes back over a year ago.  We did Panama on Viking December 2021 and Key West was still listed as a port however all excursions showed sold out on MVJ.  We were only told a couple weeks before that Key West would be a sea day instead.  This is Key West blocking cruise ships.

 

My understanding was that originally Key West was blocking ships with more than 1000 passengers, and that would allow Viking to dock.  Obviously something is still up with this.

 

I do agree however that Viking SHOULD have something on the cruise description and itinerary that speaks to the fact that Key West will probably not happen.

[TayanaLorna]

It's been in national news for months and months.  The Venice issue has also been in the news in case you are thinking of that cruise.

[Squawkman]

CDN - I read somewhere the person counts for Key West include cruisers and staff, hence Viking ships are way over 1,000.