Cruise or Lose!

Getting myself onto a tender is complicated enough; getting my mother and a scooter onto a tender would be impossible!

Thanks for the laugh - and for your compassion.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thank you, Hiltner. It’s a very emotional issue for me, because my mother’s choice of activities is severely restricted after a lifetime of sacrificing herself for others. I would understand if Viking had regulations governing scooters, and we would abide by those rules. But an outright ban essentially means that my mother and your friend are not welcome, and I have a serious problem with that. I can’t take it up with Viking, because a complaint letter that begins with “We have never cruised with you, and we will never cruise with you” is more than a little silly. So I get angry, and spout off from my soapbox, and come across as an idiot. Guilty as charged [emoji847]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Just to be clear, the thread did not degenerate with me, although I accept that I lost my cool. The thread degenerated with the disparaging comments about the type of people who cruise mainstream lines. But then again, such blatant stereotypes are common among people who support discriminatory policies.

As for my degrees, the only reason I brought them up is because some of you seem to think that if you don’t sail on Viking, you’re a moron. I can assure you that I am not. Not that I require your approval.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Safety isn’t the primary consideration here, and we both know it. Viking aspires to be an elite cruise line, one that doesn’t require its cruisers to vacation with people for whom they obviously have great disdain. I hope they invent a vaccine for your return to reality.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Any policy that excludes an identifiable group based on immutable characteristics is unacceptable. Period. This policy has nothing to do with safety, and everything to do with desired clientele.

There is no reasonable accommodation available. The scooter is the safest, most convenient alternative we have found - and I will not deny my mother comfort or security to break bread with people who look down on her.

And I’m guilty of harassment because I dare point it out. Clearly I don’t meet SargassoPirate’s high standards.

Funny, that. I have three prestigious university degrees. I have worked for the same employer for 15 years, and have received many commendations for my work. I have cruised extensively in Europe. I don’t drink. Yes, Viking is looking more and more «*cultured*» if it openly antagonizes riffraff like me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I should add that I usually see these issues from the perspective of individual responsibility for individual actions, but this is a violation of Constitutional rights in my country and several others.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’m sorry you had that experience. However, Viking’s practice, because it effectively excludes several apparently undesirable groups from its ships, and because that appears to be the intent of the practice, is prima facie discriminatory.

My mother and many others didn’t ask to get old and frail. They didn’t ask to experience chronic pain. But never they mind, because we will not set foot on one of their ships, and now that I know the truth about this company, I will make sure no one I know does either.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

How frightening that Viking openly discriminates against the elderly and the disabled. Thank you for proving my point. That practice is despicable and should be condemned.

Also, the threads I have seen on this topic on other cruise line forums on this site object to people in scooters ramming others or cutting in line. My mother has more class than that.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I’m 46, by the way, and love 60s, 70s and 80s music. But my mother and I are very compatible nonetheless, and have cruised together often. On HAL. The “floating cemetery”. Oh, the horrors!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I still can’t get past the poster who said he or she disliked seeing scooters and walkers. If my 80 year old mother is not welcome as a fellow passenger, I wonder what kind of community this person lives in.

That attitude alone is a huge reason to avoid Viking like the plague.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Agreed. I’m quite isolated at home, so, while I do not drink, my cruises are my opportunity to break free. I do read a lot on cruises, but I need external stimulation, and that includes my slots addiction.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I would be worried too. Most experienced cruisers avoid North American spring break periods like the plague, and a cruise full of 16 year olds breaking the law with the tacit consent of the cruise line sounds like a nightmare.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Exactly!!!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation...

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The last few cruises, I found myself skipping the big production shows entirely, in favour of losing even more money in the casino 🤦*♀️🤷*♀️

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Please listen to Host Clarea. This letter is critically important. You will be told it is not necessary, but on a recent cruise round-trip Boston to Bermuda, my sister had the letter from her husband in the trunk of our rented vehicle. She was required by Customs to hunt through her luggage to get it.

We had forgotten that two criminals had made a very public escape from prison shortly before we left. We didn’t meet the description, being female and ranging in age from 5 to late 70s, but we could have been in serious trouble nonetheless.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Love reviews from happy cruisers! So refreshing.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Your responsibility to plan your stateroom selection carefully and to figure out when you are due back on ship. The port’s responsibility for their operating hours. At this point, the only fault I would ascribe to HAL is for the table snafu, for which I would have awarded you...a nice bottle of wine.

IMHO, you are entitled to nothing else.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

1. Disembarkation;

2. Mistreatment of crew (includes removal of gratuities);

3. Being crammed into a tube of toothpaste that rocks from side to side just to get there (strangely, I love “the motion of the ocean” as the song says, but flying turbulence terrifies me).

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[emoji847]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have family members whose last name is Bisson, which should be pronounced BEE-SEW. They live in Nova Scotia, where they are known as the BISS-UNs. Yes, it bothers me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

The hard work and relentless good humour of the crew never cease to inspire me.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

You’re kidding...they ignored the history and culture of the area completely?!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

For the second reported usage to become the norm, the spelling of the place name would have to be changed to L’Abadie! L’Acadie is pronounced as “Climb a tree” (I live in Montreal and am fluent in French).

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Not the same.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk