Corona Virus Effect on Viking Trip to China

[thdave]

We leave for China in May and stop in Wuhan on May 26, 2020.  That’s the city this Coronavirus started.  Does anyone have insight as to what Viking will do?  What should we do?

Edited January 27, 2020 by thdave

[Peregrina651]

Viking has already posed a notice on the website. Here is what it says:

 

Coronavirus Update

Viking does not have any river or ocean sailings scheduled to call in China until March 2020. We are monitoring the Wuhan coronavirus situation closely and will continue to do so in the coming weeks, heeding guidelines from the U.S. Department of State, the Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. The safety and security of our guests and crew is always our top priority; should we deem a sailing modification or other precaution is necessary, Viking Customer Relations will communicate directly with any impacted guests and their travel agents about the change.

 

###

 

In the meantime, from a comment I read in the VO section about this, familiarize yourself with what your insurance covers and doesn't cover, particularly looking for mention of epidemics, if you decide that you want to cancel even if Viking doesn't. (read the fine print document, not a summary)

 

Read what the CDC has to say and continue to follow it.

 

Read the Viking terms and conditions, especially the cancellations section. Penalties kick in at 120 days prior to sailing. Up until that point, you can cancel and get back all but $100pp of what you paid Viking. If you bought your own air, Viking will not refund that.

 

Also, work on a back-up plan. Is there another cruise that you might want to transfer to, if Viking will let you?  It is too late for you to cancel the cruise without penalties but if you are going to make changes, best to do it soon rather than later, when the penalties are higher. Given the situation, Viking may let you do this without any penalties and it is something you can ask when/if you start the process.

 

[TravelerThom]

13 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Penalties kick in at 120 days prior to sailing. Up until that point, you can cancel and get back all but $100pp of what you paid Viking.

Since the OP is scheduled in Wuhan 26 May 2020, they are already less than 120 days from commencement of the trip. 
Based on the timeline of previous epidemics (SARS etc) I’ll be very surprised if there will be any US tour groups in Wuhan in May 2020. 

[Peregrina651]

35 minutes ago, TravelerThom said:

Since the OP is scheduled in Wuhan 26 May 2020, they are already less than 120 days from commencement of the trip. 

 

Agreed, but other people reading this thread, also looking for guidance, might not have reached the penalty phase.

 

Those who have entered the penalty phase have more to lose but still should be wary of acting hastily (and repenting at leisure) Taking a few hours to understand what they stand to lose if they cancel now before Viking has made a decision vs waiting for Viking to decide can only make the process that much less prone to surprises than for those who simply cancel assuming that they are covered -- and we have already heard from a number of people here on CC who have assumed that they were covered only to find out that they aren't.

 

 

[TravelerThom]

On 1/27/2020 at 3:34 PM, Peregrina651 said:

Those who have entered the penalty phase have more to lose but still should be wary of acting hastily (and repenting at leisure) Taking a few hours to understand what they stand to lose if they cancel now before Viking has made a decision vs waiting for Viking to decide can only make the process that much less prone to surprises than for those who simply cancel assuming that they are covered -- and we have already heard from a number of people here on CC who have assumed that they were covered only to find out that they aren't.

I absolutely agree with your comments. 
 

At the beginning of this week I stated that I’d be “very surprised” if there were US based tour groups in Wuhan in May. I’ll now up that to “extremely surprised”. Delta Airlines has already canceled flights to China for the next three months. Since Virtually all booked river cruise passengers no matter when they depart are subject to loss of deposit upon their personal cancellation, and since OP is already in penalty greater than merely loss of deposit, I’d sit tight and wait for when (not if) the cruise line cancels and you are eligible for a full refund. I’d also advise the OP to be thinking about what they will be doing in May and June since it is extremely unlikely they’ll be in China. 
 

On the bright side it is much better to be sitting comfortably at home trying to figure out what you are going to do, than stuck in Wuhan desperately trying to get out (or worse). 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, TravelerThom said:

they depart are subject to loss of deposit upon their personal cancellation

 

 

Thom, for US passengers,  when you cancel or change your reservation more than 120 before departure, the penalty is only $100 per person, not the entire deposit -- and because of the situation even that may be waived (we don't know for sure).  But, you also have to consider that the insurance is non-refundable if you cancel and whatever you stand to lose if you booked your own flights.

 

Non-US passengers book under different cancellation rules and have different protections under the commerce laws of the country they booked.

 

The latest announcement on the Viking website is that they will start contacting people who are sailing in the next few months this coming week (2/3/2020).

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

But, you also have to consider that the insurance is non-refundable if you cancel and whatever you stand to lose if you booked your own flights.

 

Insurance can be rolled over to another trip if you don't claim against it.  And the airlines are waiving penalties on flights to China [if there are any that they haven't already cancelled].  Still, everything @TravelerThom says about waiting rather than acting precipitously at this point makes absolute sense.

[br111]

Just as a point of comparison, Princess has already cancelled their two roundtrip sailings from Shanghai scheduled for June:

 

https://www.princess.com/news/notices_and_advisories/notices/coronavirus-update.html

[Coral]

It will be interesting how this affects other Asian trips. I have a friend who is doing a Vietnam/Cambodia trip in March.

[jrkstl]

We are scheduled for Viking China in early June, but have started the conversation of what we want to/can do. Hoping to have more clarity this week.

 

Ugh.

 

Jeff

[pully8]

Very sad what is happening in China and spreading to other places now.

It is impacting all travel including cruises and air travel, as well as countries changing rules about who will be permitted to enter or excluded.

Only time will tell how this will be resolved.

Given the circumstances hopefully Viking will assist you with options if travel in/out of China is still restricted. Good luck. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

One thing I really admire about Viking is their active and helpful presence on this forum.  It's time for them to come here and let us know how they are taking steps to protect – and empower – their customers.  Other cruise lines have stepped up.  Viking should be a leader.

[Peregrina651]

9 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

One thing I really admire about Viking is their active and helpful presence on this forum.  It's time for them to come here and let us know how they are taking steps to protect – and empower – their customers.  Other cruise lines have stepped up.  Viking should be a leader.

 

That is not the Viking way. As past situations have shown, we will see no public announcements as to how they are handling the situation; all communication about the situation will be directly with those effected and their travel agents. Viking will be contacting those effected guests beginning today. 

 

 

 

[TravelerThom]

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

That is not the Viking way. As past situations have shown, we will see no public announcements as to how they are handling the situation; all communication about the situation will be directly with those effected and their travel agents. Viking will be contacting those effected guests beginning today. 

Okay, now I’m really confused. How are you able to make this statement with such certainty and specificity? You are being far from transparent. Are you a Travel Agent? Has Viking contacted you with information? Are you a Viking spokesperson?

Edited February 3, 2020 by TravelerThom

[Peregrina651]

12 minutes ago, TravelerThom said:

Okay, now I’m really confused. How are you able to make this statement with such certainty and specificity? You are being far from transparent. Are you a Travel Agent? Has Viking contacted you with information? Are you a Viking spokesperson?

 

On come on now, Thom. You aren't in the least confused about anything. If you don't like what I have to say or my manner of saying it, you should just add me to your ignore list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, TravelerThom said:

Okay, now I’m really confused. How are you able to make this statement with such certainty and specificity? You are being far from transparent. Are you a Travel Agent? Has Viking contacted you with information? Are you a Viking spokesperson?

See post #6.

[jrkstl]

Update - we just received official word from Viking. Right now, all Viking Yangtze cruises through June of 2020 have been cancelled. They are offering either a full refund, or a $500.00 PP rebooking credit on a different itinerary. We had already made our mind up to rebook on an ocean cruise, so hopefully they'll honor the credit there.

 

Jeff

[pully8]

good outcome and decision.

[jpalbny]

This will be interesting. We are supposed to go with A&K for two weeks in June.

 

We customized the trip and aren't going on the river boat, so we won't be too close to Wuhan. But given the travel restrictions and cancellations so far, I wonder what will happen with this. Certainly quite plausible that we'll be canceled too.

 

So we have started discussing contingency plans, if they do end up canceling. But nothing definite yet.

[Turtles06]

On 2/3/2020 at 10:06 PM, jrkstl said:

Update - we just received official word from Viking. Right now, all Viking Yangtze cruises through June of 2020 have been cancelled. They are offering either a full refund, or a $500.00 PP rebooking credit on a different itinerary

 

I'm sorry about your trip (and of course about the entire public health situation) -- our Viking China trip remains of of the best trips we've ever taken.  I hope you will be able to do it one day.    Re the "full refund or $500 PP rebooking credit" -- I'm confused, since of course your trip cost much more than $500 pp.  Just trying to understand.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do instead....

[jrkstl]

11 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

I'm sorry about your trip (and of course about the entire public health situation) -- our Viking China trip remains of of the best trips we've ever taken.  I hope you will be able to do it one day.    Re the "full refund or $500 PP rebooking credit" -- I'm confused, since of course your trip cost much more than $500 pp.  Just trying to understand.

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do instead....

Hello!

 

Viking offered us a full refund, or a credit of $500.00 per person if we booked another cruise. We took advantage of the offer and had funds transferred to a Viking Ocean booking, and the difference owed was reduced by the $1000.00 credit given.

 

We will definitely plan China again-maybe in 2022? 2021 is already booked 😀

 

Jeff

[thdave]

Original Poster here.  I wish I had stayed up on this thread...not doing so may have cost me $1000.

 

I called Viking last week and told them that i was concerned about going to China and that the real issue is that we can't reschedule my wife's time off.  So, if Viking canceled the trip at the last minute, we'd get the refund but not get the vacation .  Furthermore, the other options we were looking at, namely the Waterway of the Tzars and the Elegant Elbe, were almost filled.  I told them that we wanted to spend our money with them and enjoy a trip.  They said we'd have to put down money on the other trip and then, if the trip to China was cancelled we'd get the China trip money back.  I said that this is not realistic and asked to speak to a supervisor.  They came back on the phone 5 minutes later and switched my trip to the Waterway of the Tzars.  I was very pleased to do so.

 

Until I checked back in here to see the $500 offer.  I'll call Viking and see if I can get that credit.  Geesh!

[Peregrina651]

4 minutes ago, thdave said:

Until I checked back in here to see the $500 offer.  I'll call Viking and see if I can get that credit.  Geesh!

 

 Perhaps not to late. Contact the folks at tellus@vikingcruises.comm(they are higher up the chain than the folks working the phone bank). Tell them what you just told us and ask if you can also get the credit that has been offered your fellow passengers. Give then your name, your China booking number, your Czars booking number and a phone number.

[thdave]

Viking is awesome!  They gave us this credit. We are very pleased and we are looking forward to the Waterway of the Tzars.  

[Phillygirl3]

thdave:  Glad to hear that you got this situation settled.  We are, also, on Waterway of the Tsars, which we booked from the beginning.  Just a warning--don't know when you are sailing, but applying for a Russian visa was quite a time-consuming and a pricey adventure, so you may want to get started on that process.