Viking has cancelled sailings onboard Viking Orion in Australia next year because of continuing uncertainties around cruising in local waters in early 2022.
Viking Orion’s other itineraries including Asia and Alaska, Far East and Alaska, New Zealand and Indonesia, Southeast Asia and Hong Kong have also been cancelled and put on the back burner.
Passengers who are booked on these cruises will receive a 110 per cent Platinum Voucher which they can rebook and sail before the end of 2023.
Those wanting a refund must submit a request to the line before the end of the month. Bookings made with vouchers will have their vouchers reinstated.
So hasn’t this type of plan (for cruise ship destination ports to be able to accommodate an outbreak of any type of illness on board…. eg diarrhea and vomiting from food poisoning for example) been in place ever? Has each port been crossing their fingers until now, they weren’t going to be the ones to the the unlucky one? I find it difficult to believe it hasn’t been included in travel plans before now. If it had, it would have been a simple transition to risk manage a cruise ship full of Vaccinated and Covid tested Australian passengers, on a cruise within Australia, surely??