Our September 20, 2015 cruise was plagued with problems. We were notified 3 days before our cruise was to begin that the Saone was experiencing high water levels, and the Hermod would not be able to reach our embarkation port, Chalon-sur-Saone. We would board in Lyon instead - disappointed but chalked it up to Mother Nature. The real problem began in Lyon. We were welcomed by crew wearing plastic gloves and asked to use hand sanitizer before setting foot on the Hermod. Not until the evening briefing did we learn that people from another Viking cruise, Paris & the Heart of Normandy, who had been exposed to a gastrointestinal virus, were allowed to board our ship. The procedures we were to follow were: no hand shaking, no touching handrails, constant use of hand sanitizer, crew in plastic gloves, no meals on Aquavit Terrace. A letter placed in our room that first evening said, “a few passengers on board are unfortunately currently suffering from gastrointestinal illness.” Passengers who had been on the Paris & the Heart of Normandy cruise said many passengers and crew on their cruise were ill with GI disease. One passenger said she had never been so sick in her life. It was rumored that around 50 people from that cruise were on our ship so we were very fearful of getting sick. Not sure why Viking would allow people they knew were sick to board a ship and expose healthy guest to disease.

In Viking's defense, there were no new cases of gastrointestinal disease, and Thursday we returned to normal operations - we could enjoy a casual meal on the Aquavit Terrace, serve ourselves at the breakfast buffet, and grab a drink from the cappuccino machine. We enjoyed the cruise from Thursday on but are still annoyed that we were put at risk of illness.

We started the trip with the Paris add-on. The hotel the Pullman Paris Eiffel Tour was perfectly adequate - clean, modern, spacious, former Hilton Hotel. We weren't thrilled with location which is great if you are interested in visiting Eiffel Tower but not walking distance to most tourist sites in Paris. Read more