Risk Free on Viking? Not really.

[SailingGuy458]

My wife and I were invited to join family members for a July 2020 Viking Romantic Danube Cruise. We were looking forward to it until the COVID outbreak in early 2020. We were optimistic that it would all over with by then. Of course, we were wrong, and our cruise was cancelled. We re-booked for later that year, even though the rest of the family was no longer going and it was just us. Then THAT one was cancelled, and we hung on with Viking and didn’t accept the cancellation but re-booked for 2021 and talked some friends into joining us. Then THAT was cancelled, and Viking announced their daily testing protocols. Our friends (wiseley, as it turns out) took the cancellation, but we re-booked for August of 2022. Then at the end of 2021, Viking announced that all passengers on all cruises in 2022 would have to be vaccinated. THAT changed the terms of the deal. My wife and I cannot be COVID vaccinated for personal religious reasons and would never booked the cruise in the first place if that had been a requirement. I immediately began the process of trying to cancel our booking and getting a refund, only for the monies paid, not for any extra voucher credit. I agreed to go ahead and book after the last cancellation because I was assured it was safe due to Viking’s “Risk Free Guarantee.” Now I am being told that I cannot get a refund BECAUSE I booked. If I had just left the money “on hold” I could get it back, but because I put it towards a cabin, it is considered committed. Now they want to wait until April of 2023 to see what the situation is like. Well, they are already saying that all passengers have to be vaccinated in 2023, so the situation is not changing. They want us to sail in another year, but I have told them repeatedly we are retiring at the end of 2022 and will not have the spare budget for the extras to go on a cruise like this. They’re just earning interest on my money. One Customer Service rep offered me a 50% refund and told me “that’s the best we can do.” Obviously not true. If your policy is that I can’t get anything, but you’re giving me 50%, then you are already outside your policy. Go ahead and give me the rest. My position is that when they imposed the requirement for vaccination, they changed the terms to which I agreed to condition to which I CANNOT agree – under no fault of my own. Don’t believe it when they say, “Risk Free Guarantee.” It only means “Risk Free” for Viking.

[Squawkman]

Sorry, but if you read the terms and conditions when you originally booked, you would have seen the following or something similar:

 

Warranties and Fitness: You warrant that you and all other Passengers traveling in your party are physically, emotionally and otherwise fit to undertake the cruise or cruise tour; that you and they have received all medical inoculations necessary; 

 

I copied and pasted the above from my T&C document dated November, 2019 (also attached). Similar language appears in my other pre-Covid T&C documents. None of this has anything to do with risk free - the T&Cs issued at any time gives Viking the right to require inoculations, which would include vaccinations for Covid. This is a standard requirement as outside of Covid, some countries require other inoculations.
 

Don’t blame Viking as the requirement was always there. 

 

 

 

 

 

vrc_us_contract.pdf

[Fouremco]

13 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Sorry, but if you read the terms and conditions when you originally booked, you would have seen the following or something similar:

 

Warranties and Fitness: You warrant that you and all other Passengers traveling in your party are physically, emotionally and otherwise fit to undertake the cruise or cruise tour; that you and they have received all medical inoculations necessary; 

 

I copied and pasted the above from my T&C document dated November, 2019 (also attached). Similar language appears in my other pre-Covid T&C documents. None of this has anything to do with risk free - the T&Cs issued at any time gives Viking the right to require inoculations, which would include vaccinations for Covid. This is a standard requirement as outside of Covid, some countries require other inoculations.
 

Don’t blame Viking as the requirement was always there. 

 

 

 

 

 

vrc_us_contract.pdfUnavailable

The wording may vary depending on which country's website you access. The wording is slightly different, but the T&C on Viking's Canadian website are easily found and include the following:

 

INOCULATIONS, HEALTH AND MEDICAL ISSUES
You are required to obtain any required inoculations and to provide for your own specialized health or mental care if required during your cruise and all such arrangements are your responsibility. A certificate of fitness is required of all passengers with significant health issues. Please see the Passenger Ticket Contract for more detailed information.

https://www.vikingrivercruisescanada.com/terms-conditions/index.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Fouremco

[Haqdeluxe]

Haven't looked as I'm vaccinated and it was required at the time of my last trip to Europe... Can you even get into any of your involved destination countries without being vaccinated? What are your plans for contracting the virus, becoming sick and testing positive? There still are quarantaine protocols in place all across Europe.

This all outside anything involving Viking...

Edited July 16, 2022 by Haqdeluxe

[milling73]

I sympathize with your vaccination issues, and I sort of agree that when you booked the cruise originally, none of these COVID rules were in effect, and the "medical inoculations" clause is at best a vague catch-all.  COVID rules are relaxing, and many countries are not asking for vaccine records.  However, every cruise line is at this time, requiring proof of vaccinations.  

As I see it, you have the option of:  1) rolling your trip another year and see if the vaccine requirement is dropped;  2) takes the 50% refund, or  3) try to change the name on your package and sell it to someone else.  (I am not 100% sure Viking allows this, but I think they do allow the reservation to be transferred to another party - probably for a fee)

If you trip is fully paid, and I am assuming it is, because Viking requires that soon after the booking, I would probably suggest rolling it until mid-late 2023.  Once on board, you don't have to book optional tours or really buy anything.  Except for tips to the crew, their cruises are pretty much all-inclusive.  You don't have to spend much more to go, especially if you included air in your package.

Hope you get it resolved.  Viking really is a wonderful company to travel with.

 

.

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, milling73 said:

I sympathize with your vaccination issues, and I sort of agree that when you booked the cruise originally, none of these COVID rules were in effect, and the "medical inoculations" clause is at best a vague catch-all.  COVID rules are relaxing, and many countries are not asking for vaccine records.

This is how I would see it.

 

1 hour ago, milling73 said:

 However, every cruise line is at this time, requiring proof of vaccinations.  

Arosa is not anymore. There is one other European small line that does not either. Not sure if others will join the "normality club" soon. I reckon many will prefer to keep the requirement up to the end of 2022.

 

The issue at this point would be getting into and out of Europe back into the US. It is different from the "house rule" of Viking and it is the wording here of Viking that I do not like. However, having booked in the US and being in the US, I see no way to resolve the issue for the OP other than taking it to a lawyer. Could it be possible to make it public (more than on this somewhat small platform, I mean like a newspaper or local TV, etc.) and get a result? I tend to doubt it but it may be worth attempting.

 

As a side note, I know that at least one German company stated in the small print that if you had booked before the covid vaccination rule was enforced, you could cancel your contract. Viking may have the regulation in the fine print, but they do not have to enforce it. They have come towards the OP with the 50% offer, true. Negotiating, that is okay. But I understand that the OP finds it not good enough. Coming from what I know is possible, I agree.

 

@SailingGuy458 I hope things work out for you.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

 

[GTarrant]

I agree with those stating that your best bet is to roll it to 2023 when it's quite likely many of these restrictions will be lifted. No one can predict the future, but 8 weeks ago Viking still had daily testing onboard, and quarantined people off-ship if they tested positive. And now they don't, and I don't see it returning, no matter what new variants arrive - the public will just isn't there for it.

 

However you also have to be mindful about the rules for the countries you are visiting - for example, on paper, the Netherlands (where we flew into a few weeks back for our late June cruise) requires proof of vaccination to enter, and they do not make exceptions for religious objections. However, in practice, the lines were so long and they were processing people so quickly that we walked right through customs without them asking anything...they didn't even ask to see the "mandatory" Netherlands vaccine attestation form that it said we had to print out. But they COULD have asked, and there's always the chance they do it like a random sampling thing, and if you get asked at customs, you may be turned around last-minute.

 

But I simply don't see these requirements lasting into 2023. A number of EU countries have actually dropped vaccination requirements (I guess it's always possible as a last resort to fly into one of those).

 

We just returned from a Viking cruise; they don't care right now. People can be coughing and sniffling up a storm; no one will be asked by the staff to take a test unless they specifically ask for one. And no one does because they don't want to be quarantined. It's every individual for themselves.

[Deb922]

The US has just approved Novavax, a vaccine that uses no fetal cells in their development, which would be an option since religious objections are the reason for not being vaccinated. 
 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/02/24/novavax-covid-vaccine-religious/

 

[Canal archive]

I will start by saying sorry for what I’m going to write but I can understand Viking about the vaccines with the various laws, by laws and country requirements it would be very difficult for them to exempt anyone for whatever reason as, as far as I understand even medical exemptions were not allowed by regulations. Look at how at the height of the pandemic some non mask wearers were treated. Viking could have been a bit more gentle but the way all the companies are scrabbling for customers I’m not really surprised at how they have dealt with you.