Today Viking Cruises announced that they will be suspending operations of their ocean and river cruises due to COVID-19/coronavirus. They site the risk of quarantine, the spread of disease, as well as the challenges they're having providing excellent guest experiences as many ports and popular attractions are closed to visitors.
You can see their letter to guests below:
Dear Viking Guests,
Since we started Viking nearly 23 years ago, we have always cared first and foremost about our guests and our employees. I feel we have become one large Viking family of 500,000 guests each year and 10,000 employees. Since day one, it has been our mission to create experiences for our guests that focus on the destination and allow them to explore the world in comfort. This has always been Viking's ambition and will remain so.
I am sure you recognize that COVID-19 has made travel exceedingly complicated. An increasing number of ports, including Venice, Monte Carlo and Bergen, have temporarily closed to cruise ships; major attractions such as the Vatican and other museums have been closed; and some countries are imposing restrictions on public gatherings and visitors.
In recent days we have had an experience where a river cruise guest in Southeast Asia was exposed to COVID-19 while in transit on an international airline. While this guest is not exhibiting symptoms, she has been placed in quarantine. Separately, the remaining 28 guests will also be quarantined.
I am writing today because the situation has now become such that operating as a travel company involves significant risks of quarantines or medical detentions, which could diminish the travel experiences for which our guests have been planning. As a private company with strong finances, we do not have to worry about quarterly profit expectations – and that flexibility allows us the ability to do what is best for our guests and our employees, as we have always done.
Therefore, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily suspend operations of our river and ocean vessels embarking from March 12 to April 30, 2020 – at which time we believe Viking will be in a better place to provide the experiences our guests expect and deserve. This is a decision we made with a heavy heart, but with present circumstances what they are, we are unable to deliver the high-quality Viking experience for which we are known.
For those guests whose cruise falls within this window of suspended operations, we are offering the choice of a Future Cruise Voucher valued at 125% of all monies paid to Viking or a refund equal to the amount paid. Guests will have 24 months to use their Future Cruise Voucher to make a new reservation on any river, ocean or expedition cruise. For additional flexibility, if you are unable to use your voucher, we will automatically send you a refund equal to the original amount paid to Viking after the voucher expires. These Future Cruise Vouchers will also be fully transferable.
Rest assured, our reservations team is currently in the process of issuing Future Cruise Vouchers of 125% of all monies paid to Viking. However, if you would prefer the alternative please call Viking at 1-833-900-0951 or contact your Travel Agent by March 25, 2020.
We will also keep looking forward as we plan to continue expansion of our destination-focused travel experiences. In addition to our many award-winning river and ocean cruises, in early 2022 we will launch our expedition journeys to the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as North America's Great Lakes. And, at the beginning of April 2020, we will announce our newest river voyages closer to home, in America's heartland.
We will stand by our guests, employees and partners in these challenging times and hope that they in turn will stand by us.
Sincerely yours,
Torstein Hagen
Chairman
Billy's Take
The coming weeks and months are uncertain for cruising in general, but for lines like Viking, with smaller fleets, it can be all the more challenging. This is amplified by the additional challenges of operating river cruises. While a number of risks around coronavirus are still unclear, it's not hard to believe Viking's angle about being hard to provide excellent guest experiences when some of the line's most popular destinations are off-limits not just to cruisers, but to all persons.
Will other lines follow? It's hard to say, but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that we'll see at least partial fleets laid up without passengers until the virus and public panic settle down, destinations open back up, and demand for cruising increases. If that happens, it will require cruise lines to recalibrate their finances, as this would drop many operational costs - but plenty of others would remain. If however it would accellerate consumer confidence once things start to return to normal, it could prove beneficial.