Viking Cruises cancels all cruises until May 1 due to coronavirus pandemic
Viking Cruises announced it is cancelling cruises through April 30, becoming the first major cruise line to take such drastic measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Viking chairman Torstein Hagen wrote in a letter to passengers Wednesday that the company had made the “difficult decision to temporarily suspend operations” for river and ocean cruises beginning Thursday through April 30.
“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,” Hagen wrote. “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.”
A female traveler on a 29-passenger Southeast Asia river cruise was exposed “in recent days” to coronavirus “while in transit on an international airline,” Hagen told passengers, adding that she was not exhibiting symptoms but had been quarantined. “Separately, the remaining 28 guests will also be quarantined.”
