This was my wife’s retirement cruise which had been delayed a couple of times because of the pandemic. Without repeating what others have said about how wonderful the ship and the staff are, I’ll comment about what could have been a negative that turned into a big positive
About five day into the cruise I tested positive for Covid using a home test kit we had along. A call to the medical office confirmed it with a PCR test. My wife tested positive the next day so we were confined to our cabin for five days. Neither of us had severe symptoms but what stands out as a really positive memory is how well Viking handled our situation. We received daily visits from the ship’s nurse and each morning we received a copy of that day’s restaurant menu and we could order anything we liked, not just from the room service menu. In the afternoon someone would bring us a plate of finger food from the afternoon tea in the Wintergarden. Our room stewards insured that our cabin was kept clean and well stocked. All of the educational and entertainment programs were available on our TV. We were even given credit for the excursions we had paid for but we’re unable to take.
So the Viking Mars met and exceeded our expectations in all of the usual categories. But what really makes this particular trip stand out is how the crew turned what could have been a real downer into a very positive memory.