Panglossian321

I’m not sure if Viking does this for all ocean passengers.  If it’s only for retired US Government officials (from any agency or department: not to disparage DIA but I never had any interest in working for that agency) then this appears to be a cruise chock full of us, based on how many passengers have these “business cards” aboard this Viking Sun world cruise.  That might help explain the ongoing vicious political arguments among passengers all around me.  There is one very loud gentleman who constantly rails loudly about politics in the Horizon Café to the point that if he is on the Starboard side, I go to the Port side to eat.  I’m just enjoying the ship and periodically checking this amusing thread.  I have cruised a lot but never realized there were so many people with so much to say online about cruises on which they are not passengers. 😎

Hello Zitsky,

Actually, Viking very kindly provided me and other passengers with printed business cards listing my name and stateroom on them.  I use them sparingly because I tend to spend a lot of time in the Atrium and at Mamsen’s or up with the mind blowing puzzles on Deck 2 and I have met most of the other WCs over the past months since Miami.  

Heidi13, you will love Viking.  The ship and its crew are delightful.m

Just_Don’t, are you on board Viking Sun? Feel free to look for me at Mamsen’s and you can decide for yourself if I am real.  

Zouave stated: “Did you see all of her lectures?  Where you in the Pentagon during the events she lectured about?  No?  I was in the Pentagon during these events and trust me her skewed of reality is off the left side of the rails.  Total wacko.  Glad she was pulled.”

Yes, I have spent a lot of time in the Pentagon and other US Government buildings over the years but never worked with Gwenyth there.  No, I only saw the three lectures Viking had her present.  I saw the other lecture slides in the article.  I am a retired US Federal Government official who just wanted to enjoy the world as a civilian on this lively world cruise.  I found her briefings shocking but, I am sad to say, they rang true.  I realized that I myself was unwittingly complicit during my own career in allowing this sort of behavior to go on around me.

I am sorry that people are still attacking those few people brave enough to speak out.  I worry what my own daughters may have gone through that they have not dared reveal.  

Now, I am going to go back to enjoying the amenities aboard this beautiful ship because that is why I booked this cruise.  

Sorry to disappoint but no, I am actually not Gwenyth and I am not even female.  I’ve never seen anything like this happen on a cruise and I decided to weigh in.  I never felt the need to comment on a cruise forum before but since I was disturbed by this weird story on a cruise ship on which I happen to be a passenger, I thought I’d comment. Is that a “smash and grab”?  I am not sure I understand what that means but, as I said, I found this entire situation to be really unusual. Oddly enough, I heard from a fellow passenger that Gwenyth took a group of WCs on a private tour of Sydney sometime while we were here (we are leaving Sydney now). I wish I had known so I could have gone too but maybe it is just a rumor.  I have not seen anything in the media about the story so it seems she is not talking to the media.  I know some of my fellow passengers are still talking about how badly Gwenyth was treated and I hope the tension dissipates quickly because we still have a long way to go.

The deed is done and Gwenyth has left.  She was very discreet while aboard and I suspect will seek her privacy.  Time will tell.  In my experience, the Cruise Director takes direction from the company headquarters.  If the cruise director acted without checking with Viking HQ I suspect she may have a problem, given the way this was handled.  All I know is what I witnessed, overheard being said to Gwenyth in public areas of the ship and also my own conversations with my fellow.passengers.  There is no point in arguing about this situation because I am only speaking from my own experience after noticing this comment chain.  As we say in the US, “I have no dog in this fight”, other than being very disturbed by what appeared to be appalling behaviour towards this woman.  Feel free to disagree.

Actually, as a passenger myself, I resent Viking denying me the chance to hear the rest of her lectures. I can forgive Viking for denying me the scheduled visit to Easter Island due to the sea state: that was not Viking’s fault.  But denying me the scheduled lectures at sea is Viking’s fault.  Gwenyth was discharged medically after over a week of trying to calm down angry passengers who were demanding she give her talks anyway, not “fired” because she made trouble.  I don’t think guest speakers get paid anyway, although I could be mistaken.  In her case, perhaps Viking should pay her for making her suffer through this gross mismanagement.  As it turned out, her medical discharge was reported in the article due to contracting a gastric virus on Viking, which strikes me as a case of adding insult to injury.  I suspect she was relieved to be offloaded from the Ship of Fools but I suspect she will be gracious despite it all.

I was on this cruise.  I saw Gwenyth in the atrium , at church, in the restaurants, cafes and on excursions.  She was always smiling and helpful and, after the lectures were suddenly canceled,  I overheard guests pressuring her to fight to give her lectures anyway, which invariably had been well attended.  She told them that she wanted them to enjoy their cruise instead of focusing on her lectures, which she said were not worth becoming upset over.  On multiple occasions after that, I saw her accosted by guests in the cafe and passageways asking her to brief them privately.  On one hot tender ride, I even noticed her passing out cool wipes to hot passengers.  In a truly extraordinary gesture, I saw her give local money to a thirsty aged couple on a Viking tour when they could not access the ATM and had no way to buy a drink.  I don’t know if they ever offered to pay her back because she quickly walked away.  This woman was not seeking publicity though there was substantial support for her giving the lectures and palpable anger among a group of passengers at Viking for cancelling them.  I think Viking behaved dreadfully.  I am sorry she fell ill but I can attest that many passengers would enter the cafe without washing their hands, thus gastric viruses were a real threat.  Viking owes not just Ms Todd but also the passengers who were denied the lectures that Viking had advertised.  As for those who did not like the topics, there were plenty of other activities on the ship and ashore to entertain everyone.  Why the sudden censorship?  Ms. Todd behaved in good faith.  Viking did not. Something is rotten in Viking.