Cruise cancelled as Viking Star suffers from an electrical malfunction

Viking Star, the first ship from Viking Ocean Cruises, has suffered an electric transformer malfunction, forcing the cancellation of its current voyage.

The unusual mechanical issue surfaced on Saturday while the cruise ship was docked in Tallinn, Estonia, as part of a 14-night Viking Homelands itinerary from Stockholm to Bergen. The ship had visited Helsinki, Finland, and St Petersburg, Russia, before arriving in Tallinn.

A Viking Ocean Cruises spokesperson said: “The mechanical issue is related to the electric transformers in one part of the ship’s propulsion system. Engineers are working on board and Viking has decided to cancel the remaining portion of this cruise.”

The ship will no longer call at Gdansk, Poland; Warnemunde, Germany; Copenhagen, Denmark; Alborg, Stavanger and Flam, Norway. Instead passengers have been offered options to either continue their journey to Bergen or return home from Tallinn at Viking’s expense.

Viking Ocean Cruises has offered all guests compensation although the company refused to specify the amount.

The cruise line has said it has contacted all guests affected on the current itinerary and it is liaising with guests booked on the next cruise itinerary scheduled to depart from Bergen on 8 August.

Viking Ocean Cruises had said that Viking Star‘s next voyage, a 14-night cruise from Bergen to Barcelona, was unaffected. However, a letter sent to guests suggests this is no longer the case with a new, revised itinerary now in place. Passengers will instead stay in a hotel in Bergen for two nights before boarding the ship on 10 August. Calls to Greenwich, London, and Rouen, France have been replaced with calls to Copenhagen, Denmark, and Le Havre, France. The remainder of the itinerary, calling at Lisbon, Portugal; Cadiz, Spain; Gibraltar; and Cartagena, Spain, is currently unaffected.

UPDATE: Viking Ocean Cruises has informed World of Cruising that more than 500 guests opted to travel on charter and commercial flights from Tallinn to Bergen. In relation to the next voyage originally scheduled to depart on 8 August, the cruise line has now set the embarkation point as Copenhagen, Denmark. Passengers will arrive in Bergen as planned and will be hosted in a hotel for two nights, with guided tours included at Viking’s expense. On 10 August passengers will board a charter flight from Bergen to Copenhagen for embarkation.

(Photo credit to Viking Ocean Cruises)