Whether Russia river cruises restart in 2024 will depend on how the situation in Ukraine unfolds over the coming months. Get expert advice, insider tips and more. In between, Viking river ships visit the provincial capital of Uglich and the city of Yaroslavl. Some vendors may process your personal data on the basis of legitimate interest, which you can object to by managing your options below. See what a point or mile is worth with our appraisals of a loyalty programs currency, based on redemption values. Like Viking ocean ships, Octantis has an onboard lab that processes over 500 COVID-19 tests daily. Have to agree that when booking thru tour companies or (ta && ta.queueForLoad ? As a frequent traveller and Platinum Medallion client of SkyTeam (Delta, KLM etc.) The move of Viking follows announcements from other cruise lines saying they are monitoring the situation, with Saga Cruises and Atlas Voyages among those who altered sailings. "We will continue to monitor the situation and if necessary make further alterations to our itineraries whilst still ensuring the best experience for our guests.". Thursday wasnt the first time the Viking ship ran into low-water trouble on this voyage. 6 Russian stops on Viking's ocean itineraries will be modified, and impacted guests and travel advisors will be notified. We booked a river cruise (Danube) for March 2022. A Viking river cruise ship heading north up the Mississippi River cant finish its voyage because of low water levels, according to a statement from the company on Thursday. Look for a link at the bottom of this page or in our privacy policy where you can withdraw consent. Another cruise company, Viking Cruises, has canceled all cruises departing from its Kyiv, Black Sea and Bucharest itinerary for 2022 and is "evaluating itineraries that call in Russia in 2022 . "We are notifying our guests and travel partners of this decision and our new plans to visit additional Scandinavian ports in its place. Thus, Viking breached its contract to provide a flight home. As for my next trip in a few weeks? Viking has lost four loyal customers with 10 past cruises between us. Note that the lines Ukraine voyages have been canceled for 2022 due to the war in the country. Celebrity Cruises has yet to announce changes to any itineraries calling on St. Petersburg. Note that, in the wake of Russias invasion of Ukraine, Viking has pulled the St. Petersburg stop, as well as stops in Finland and Estonia from the Viking Homelands itinerary for 2022; the trips instead feature extra stops in Norway and Denmark. We are cancelling our river cruise due to viking's heavy handed covid vaccine requirement. Passengers from across the country say they've. Meanwhile, Scenic Group, the parent company of Scenic Luxury Cruises & Tours and Emerald Cruises, confirmed it had cancelled all 2022 Russia river cruises. On April 1, Holland America Line announced it would use the 1999-built Volendam to house refugees fleeing the conflict. appreciated. Then COVID hit and the trip had to be delayed. All sailings booked by January 31, 2022, scheduled to depart by April 30, 2022, are included in the Cruise With Confidence program. Your contact Ts&Cs says when things go sideways, they will reschedule you. Do not accept a cheap flight if the connections are tight. Memphis has morning showers expected for one day. There are a number of threads on the Cruise Critic Message Boards discussing the ongoing situation, including on Celebrity Cruises, HAL and NCL. $240 Digital Entertainment Credit: Get up to $20 back each month on eligible purchases made with your Platinum Card on one or more of the following: Audible, Disney+, The Disney Bundle, ESPN+, Hulu, Peacock, SiriusXM, and The New York Times. The statement confirmed the line had made "all communication channels" open to crew so they can get hold of their families as well as allowing to leave the ships if they need to get home. Look at the flights to your destination online and see what you like BEFORE anything is booked. A Viking River ship sails in Budapest. The cruise line continues to operate its seven- and 10-night Rhine River sailings onboard Crystal Debussy through the end of the year. As Hagen once told me, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea are what the company considers Viking country a region where it wants to dominate. Jan 26, 2023 01:33pm. It, along with the Viking Sky, is classified as a small ship, with 465 staterooms, capable of carrying 930 guests. "We are in a unique position to accommodate the immediate need for food and housing, so we felt it was very important to work with the City of Rotterdam and charter this ship," said Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line. I can't help but feel that 'Carol H' is rather inexperienced in flights when the world is in turmoil [Wait till the French Air Traffic controllers have their annual strikes] and we are still under the control of 'Covid'. Windstar Cruises has cancelled two itinerarises this sumemr with Russia port calls in the Black Sea and will replace St. Petersburg on its five Baltic cruises with a non-Russian port. More-focused Mediterranean itineraries include the lines nine-night Empires of the Mediterranean voyages between Venice and Athens, which mostly concentrate on stops along the eastern side of the Adriatic Sea in Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro. Return flight from Cairo was running 3 hours late and when we got into London Heathrow we found people who had been waiting for days. Passengers disembarked in groups on Friday and then were placed on a two-hour bus ride to Memphis to catch their flights home, he said. Drought and abnormal dryness continue to develop and intensify from the Plains through the Mississippi River Basin, and have now extended further into the Midwest and Southeast. This card comes with a long list of benefits, including access to Centurion Lounges, complimentary elite status with Hilton and Marriott, at least $500 in assorted annual statement credits and so much more. (ta && ta.queueForLoad ? But what about Andersens vouchers? We should have been in the Sky Priority line with Premium seat assignments. Viking Ocean and River is currently operating all upcoming scheduled itineraries. Only in very rare circumstances are the sailings canceled outright. Azamara has dropped all Ukraine and Russia ports from upcoming Azamara Journey sailings beginning in June 2022. A friend is sailing with Viking next month and while she has had her initial flights for months, they have also been changed several time already. $155 Walmart+ Credit: Cover the cost of a $12.95 monthly Walmart+ membership with a statement credit after you pay for Walmart+ each month with your Platinum Card. That gives them a smaller range of itineraries. View all of our Luxury Cruise sailings and offers. Cruises - Very disappointed with Viking River Cruises - Reservation # 2672768 We were supposed to do a river cruise and ended up doing a motor coach tour due to low river levels. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. It's also advisable to sign up for alerts from the airline you are flying and also have their app on your phone. Viking officials indicated some ports don't want passengers exploring independently so an array of bubble excursions is being developed for those destinations. The current welcome offer on this card is quite lucrative. We were both assigned Economy Class seats. One thing that isn't clear to me is if you must use all of the voucher on a single cruise. Sorry to hear - hopefully you are now recovering at home?? Many cruisers are also understandably worried about crewmembers. Remember, you chose Viking for the high quality cruise, not the air. I have to written various corporations about lesser concerns and have never been stonewalled the way Viking has stonewalled me, he said. Related: The ultimate guide to Viking ships and itineraries. Volendam was scheduled to return to service in May, however as a result of the humanitarian effort, the ship will now be out of passenger service until July 2022. The good news is that there are not the mass cancellations we saw in 2020. "We are currently evaluating itineraries that call. By. he was given 60 days to accept or decline the offer. has written about cruising for more than 25 years and for many years oversaw USA Todays award-winning cruise site. For Further Assistance If you have any questions or need further information please contact Reservations at 1-877-523-0579 or email customerrelations@vikingcruises.com, Monday - Friday, 6:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM, PT. All airlines recommend arriving at the airport at least 3 hours before an international flight. If you are a resident of another country or region, please select the appropriate version of Tripadvisor for your country or region in the drop-down menu. The sailings. The ship was docked in an area just north of Greenville, which is about 150 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. Published: Aug. 08, 2022, 9:30 a.m. Richard Andersen booked a fully-paid Viking cruise with his partner but it was canceled because of COVID. Can I remove the auto- gratuity? At this time, we expect the ship will resume its scheduled operations on February 18, 2023. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Other cruise lines have since joined, with some redeploying ships to other areas and others electing to cancel specific ports. Richard Andersen booked a fully-paid Viking cruise with his partner but it was canceled because of COVID. We had pre booked Premier Inn for an overnight stop as if the flight had been on time it would have been a bit tight and we were so glad. "We stand for peace, and our thoughts are with those who are in harm's way," the company said in a news release. Many people find its better to manage their own pre & after (ta && ta.queueForLoad ? Next time youll know to book your own cheaper and more convenient flights. In Northern Europe, Viking ships mostly sail out of Bergen, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Copenhagen and London as well as Reykjavik. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). What should I know about the cruise contract? Recent updates have been made to cancellation schedules and refund guidelines for various cruise lines. ta.queueForLoad : function(f, g){document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', f);})(function(){ta.trackEventOnPage('postLinkInline', 'impression', 'postLinks-113588373', '');}, 'log_autolink_impression');Flights all over the world at present are in turmoil, partly still being haunted by Covid with staff not being allowed to fly, Ground staff like check-in and security not allowed to report for work because of possible Covid .symptoms, Aircraft & flight crew in the wrong continent never mind country. During summers, in particular, Viking devotes an unusually large number of its ships to itineraries around Scandinavia, the Baltic Sea and other Northern Europe destinations such as Iceland. Apply and select your preferred metal Card design: classic Platinum Card, Platinum x Kehinde Wiley, or Platinum x Julie Mehretu. The company operates around 70 river ships on a broad swath of the continents rivers far more than any other river line catering to North Americans. All Rights Reserved. Some cruise lines will charge extra for flights not originating from a select number of airports on their list, which may mean either using an alternate airport or paying yet an additional fee over and above the Custom Air fee. Can I skip that expense? NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews. In 2023, both Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris will spend their summers in the Great Lakes. The Viking agent said that I would have to pay an extra $9,898. Right now there are flights being cancelled daily (read some of the posts on the Air Travel forum) , largely due to staff shortages.