Viking River Cruisers Beware

[ChrisY]

Viking River Cruisers beware. Can you spend more than planned on a Viking River Cruise (even with travel insurance)?  Yes.  We're sharing our experience so you don't make the same mistake.  We were enjoying our first Viking River Cruise that sailed from Lyon to Avignon last year...until the second last day.  My husband and I came down with food poisoning we suspect was a result of a Viking sanctioned extension tour where we visited a French farm and ate lunch (unpasteurized goat cheese?).  We heard that others at the same lunch became ill over 24 hours later, as we did.  (Without getting too graphic: both ends). We hadn't been that sick for decades.  Choosing NOT go to the hospital, we continued to force ourselves to drink water and eat dried peaches that I had packed in my carry-on.  We missed our scheduled flight back home and had to spend thousands* to reschedule.  My husband has a small business and we needed to return home as soon as we could.  Since we had Viking travel insurance, we filed a claim after we returned but were unsuccessful in getting compensated since we did not have an official doctor's diagnosis.  (Viking river cruise ships do not have doctors on board or any available OTC pharmaceuticals.)  Just thought we would share our story!  

 

Chris Y.

Bay Village, Ohio

 

*(2) rescheduled airfares, transportation to Marseilles (origin of rescheduled flight) and hotel fee    

[LuciJames]

Thank you for sharing your experience—what a tough situation to go through on what should have been a relaxing trip! It’s a reminder of how important it is to double-check travel insurance terms and plan for unexpected health issues, especially when traveling internationally.

I hope you’ve fully recovered since then. It’s also surprising that Viking doesn’t have medical professionals or basic pharmaceuticals on board; that seems like something they should reconsider offering. Your story is a helpful cautionary tale for others planning similar trips.

[Jan115]

Viking River ships have a medical hot line to connect to a doctor on shore. I wonder whether they would have provided something in writing that would have satisfied the insurance requirement. Viking rivers should really have a medical professional on board to provide a diagnosis or some kind of verification that a guest is sick. It doesn’t make sense that they don’t.