Viking Cruises

We just returned from our Viking cruise and I wanted to provide you with some feedback:

The Stateroom that you sold us was a major disappointment. The very moment we stepped into the room we could smell the odor of raw sewage. My sister and our other friend’s rooms did not experience the same smell so we inquired and were told the smell was coming from the river. The smell should subside once we were underway. This was not case since we were experiencing the same nauseating odor after we were underway.. We were then told that ship’s septic system is scheduled to be emptied once we arrive in Vienna and that should solve the issue. Once again, this was not the case and my wife and I were forced to sleep with the balcony door open at all times to include while were sleeping. I once again complained and was told the drains in our stateroom needed to be cleaned. The drains were then checked by both the cleaning person and the ship engineer and we were finally told there was nothing the engineer could do to alleviate the odor. All parties however, to include the engineer, agreed there was a strong odor but again nothing could be done to alleviate the odor. I initially asked to move to another room but I was told moving to another room might not be an option since the ship was full in capacity. After four days of insisting, they finally moved our room.

After enduring raw sewage odor for four days of the seven days, my wife became ill and I quite frankly find this completely unacceptable.

Clearly, there is something wrong with that particular stateroom and we, or any other quest, should not have been assigned that stateroom.

As you are well aware, this Viking cruise was very expensive and my wife and I should not have had to endure smelling raw sewage in our stateroom for four days.

Please forward this email to Mr. Hagen and I look forward to a response.

Regards,

Michael McKenzie

Cell: [protected]

email: michael. j. [protected]@usdoj.gov

Booking # 6485665

Cruise departed Milwaukee, 9/24/22. Ship is docked in an industrial area, no way to walk to anything. Booked a 7 days cruise, before we left they cnx. one stop, choose to remain in Milwaukee for an extra day. Once aboard they cnx. another stop, now we will spend 2 days in Toronto. Seven days became 5!.

The only place to eat aboard the ship, except for a 30 passenger dinning room, is a cafeteria. If you were ever in the military...now you are standing in lines again to get your meals. Once seated at a table, you will need to go find someone to bring you water, a soft drink or wine. There are no cruise terminals on the Great Lakes, so when they do dock you will be in a gravel pit or in some warehouse area. The carriage ride of Mackinac Island, sounded nice. The carriage carries 35 people 7 rows of 5! It travels though a woods...that's it a ride in a woods. The Ford Museum tour in Detroit could have been nice except the guide took us on a bumpy ride of downtown for a hour+ leaving little time to tour incredible museum. They had to use the tenders at most ports and were very difficult to get in/out off. This was our4th and LAST Viking cruise!

I was scheduled to take the Viking Southern Atlantic Crossing “Jupiter” cruise which embarks from Barcelona, Spain on November 10, 2022 and disembarks at Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 1, 2022. However, Viking advised of a change in itinerary on September 23, 2022 that the ship would not be stopping in Dakar, Senegal allegedly because of “port closure issues” but instead it will stop at Mindelo, Cape Verde. I have taken 5 ocean cruises over the past 15 years and I tend to be "port focus". In this case Dakar, Senegal was of primary interest to me because of its historical importance; it is the port that millions of African slaves were deported across the Atlantic to the American shores.

Dakar is primarily a commercial port with cargo ships being its primary customers. Viking's claim of frequent port closures does not hold up as one of its competitors, Silver Sea- Silver Cloud, docked there on October 14th for 12 hours. Another competitor will be docking in Dakar on October 26th for 12 hours. Viking was offering 7 excursions for its original stop in Dakar, including Goree Island (the Slave House & the "the door of no return") and a Bandia Reserve Safari(which was sold out immediatiately upon posting). I had signed up for Goree Island. To date they have not issued any excursion options for its stop in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

I paid $11,066 not including excursions and have requested a full cash refund. Viking has been defiant in stating that it has a right to "change an itinerary" and will not provide a cash refund. They are only offering a Viking voucher which has all kinds of restrictions. I am not interested in a voucher, as I have no intention of ever traveling on a Viking cruise again. Btw, Viking is only offering the voucher because I purchased "trip insurance" with a cancel for any reason waiver through Viking. It's very difficult to trust "a bait & switch scammer". Viking has violated its original itinerary because of a "probable navigation/logistic "screw up" on its part. This is not a weather related nor political unrest related issue.

Below is the email I received from Viking announcing this itinerary change.

23SEP2022

Dear Viking Guest,

Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Southern Atlantic Crossing voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of a change in your itinerary.

As you may be aware, schedule or itinerary changes may become necessary due to a number of variables. Due to frequent port closures in Dakar, Senegal, your ship will now call at Mindelo, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde.

São Vicente Island (Mindelo), Cape Verde

The Cape Verde archipelago is a group of ten volcanic islands that enjoy a year-round warm climate, turquoise seas and beautiful landscapes. The isles were first inhabited after their discovery by Portuguese sailors during the 15th century. Mindelo is the capital of São Vicente and birthplace of Cesaria Evora—a singer who rose from poverty to worldwide fame on the international stage. She performed her distinctive morna ballads to audiences while barefoot, which soon became her trademark style; her music is widely celebrated and is a part of Cape Verde's heritage.

A new shore excursion program will be made available for this port of call shortly. If you booked any shore excursions for the original port of call they will be cancelled and refunded to you.

If you used a cruise voucher or shipboard credit to book the excursion, the excursion amount will be added back to the balance of the voucher.

If you purchased the excursion with cash, it will be refunded to your purchasing account.

To see your updated itinerary in full, please visit MyVikingJourney.com.

Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any questions regarding this matter before your departure, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at [protected], Sunday - Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, PT.

Thank you for your understanding and we wish you a great journey.

Sincerely,

Viking

Viking Cruises

If you need any supporting documentation, I will gladly provide it.

Thanks for your assistance.

Recently returned from a Viking Rhine trip on 10/14.

The good:

Rhine water levels were good, no issues. Service on the vessel was A+, excluding one attendant with “attitude” at the front desk. Entertainment was low key but acceptable. Viking succeeds in creating a laid back atmosphere. Viking is like a clock - they run on time. Cabin was nice and shower was exceptional. Most (not all) tours were informative, guides ranged from good to excellent. Tour buses were top shelf with experienced drivers.

The not so good:

All 6 in our group were disappointed with the food (not service but food) all week excluding breakfast. All felt the food offerings got “old” real fast. Food appeared to be prepared in advance and then reheated. Plenty of TV movies, tv and internet reception poor all week.

Most concerning

Viking, customs, and airline never asked to see our proof of vaccination. While Viking did a excellent job in keeping the boat itself clean and sanitized we had an issue on one of the bus tours. A unmasked woman sitting directly behind my wife was sweating & coughing non-stop. Not a occasional sneeze or cough, it was obvious this woman was ill. At the first stop multiple riders relocated to seats as far away from this individual as possible. Regrettably, Viking said/did noting.

Viking claims they are not the Covid police and if we felt compromised we should have put on a mask. Absolutely ridiculous that Viking felt we should have masked but took action to pull this woman aside, require her to mask with a suggestion to see a physician. Again - we’re not talking about normal coughing and sneezing- this woman was visibly ill. Viking was willing to put 30 travelers at risk rather then ask a visibly ill woman to mask up. It’s Vikings boat, tour, bus but they say and do nothing.

Of course 2 of 6 in our group contracted Covid.

Viking had a obligation to do everything within their control to protect us as best possible. In this instance they didn’t even try.

Not trying to trash Viking, just being truthful.

Viking took our money for a Russian cruise and when we had to cancel due to Covid they refused to give us a full refund, instead we were issued vouchers for s a significant portion of our booking. After long and futile conversations, we tried to book the trip again and Russia invaded Ukraine. Again, the stupid worthless vouchers were issued

One last try booked a trip using the vouchers. We had to cancel due to medical issues. Guess what? Tripmate is slowly processing the claim, but again we cannot get the money back for the vouchers. Viking patently explains that the vouchers have no cash value. So, they are keeping our money for 2 cruises that never sailed.

Our advice avoid Viking; take your trip with someone else.

I booked with viking river cruise in 2019, but with COVID we weren't able to reschedule until Dec 2022. I encouraged others to join us and viking credited me with vouchers. Unbeknownst to me, they credited only me and not my wife. They will not allow me to share these vouchers, so they will become worthless as I would have to pay more to include my wife on anything I use them for (Sliver Package, Gratuities, etc.). Why they don't let me use the vouchers for both of us is, quite frankly, stupid. When my friends mentioned that I had recommended them, the operator only credited me and not my wife. Therein lies the problem. Why can't they just split the vouchers is beyond me other than that is their policy. I spoke with Courtney (the Senior Manager) and he said that is their policy and nothing can/will be done. This policy needs to be changed to include both parties in the cabin as if I wanted to use the vouchers for gratuities BOTH parties in the cabin must sign on. It really is a very bad policy.

My river cruise was for a party of six. On the departure & return air travel arrangements made by Viking Air representative assured the guest who made initial overall cruise arrangements of the following:

-seating for all flights would be 3 and 3

- special accommodations for 1 guest with mobility issues requiring a wheelchair would be taken into consideration when preselecting seating

- 1 guest with mobility issues would be seated for every flight with her caregiver .

This did not happen (Departure ):

-Flight 1 to Atlanta kept us together but we were in row …. ,

-Flight 2 ,the special needs traveler & caregiver were seated together but 20 rows from other 4 guests that were going to assist with special needs guest.

-Flight 3 , the caregiver & special needs traveler with Alzheimer’s were separated and seated at end of plane making reasonable access to the restroom impossible resulting in soiling issues .

The misrepresentation of Viking Air on (Return):

- Viking cruise representative took all 6 of us to Lufthansa representative

to make all of our travel arrangements .

-The nightmare got worse for the entire 6 guests traveling.

- Lufthansa representative is told , now 3 returning guest in our party require special assistance at each returning gate .

Flight 1 to Munich leaves late

-special needs traveler with Alzheimer’s is separated

from caregiver , no assistance from flight attendants .

- other 4 guests are separated towards front of plane closer to restrooms .

Flight 2 to Atlanta (due to delay flight 1 ,time to get to gate of connecting flight is minimal).

- The guest with Alzheimer’s is transported by wheelchair to connecting flight gate with her caregiver & 1 other member of party of 6.

- the remaining 3 members of our party of 6 now requiring transport assistance as told to Lufthansa ticket agent in beginning ,are left at gate awaiting airport transport assistance.

- 1 is picked up to go to next gate & other 2 of our party are left behind making it impossible to make the connecting flight to Atlanta that all 6 of us were supposed to be on.

- 1 guest that made it to connecting flight on time refused to board plane & leave 2 of our party in foreign country .

-my special needs guest is seated with me (caregiver )in row 46 of the plane ,

25 rows from closest restroom . More loss of dignity for disabled person

requiring access to restroom.

- the 1 member of my party of 6 that made it on second return flight with me was seated 25 rows away towards only restrooms we had access to .

- due to seating I could get my special needs person to restroom 1 time , she soiled herself again & suffered more indignity.

- flight attendants were useless in providing any relief to our challenges .

- the food on this 8 plus hour flight was horrible , soft drink in first hour or so & 7 hours later a disgusting sandwich.

Flight number 3 Atlanta to Sarasota Florida :

- We are informed we are required to physically get our luggage & have it taken to delta ticket agent for this final connecting flight to Sarasota Florida.

- our luggage was not located in Atlanta so we were told it would be delayed

getting to Sarasota but it would get there .

- I as the caregiver for the special needs guest with Alzheimer’s attempt to get boarding passes from Delta ticket agent for us both to our final destination and am informed my connecting flight ticket for boarding pass is not showing up & can not get my boarding pass unless I reach Lufthansa rep. to correct coding issue & will only get a boarding pass this way or else I will have to purchase a now $700 ticket .

- After various attempts over 3 hours to reach a Lufthansa representative seeking assistance, a second Delta representative by the grace of god heard my story and within 25 minutes was able to produce for me a boarding pass at least sitting in same row as my disabled person.

Luggage upon arrival to Sarasota Florida :

- myself and my disabled person I was traveling with did not receive our 2 pieces of luggage with medication & hearing aides until 4 days after our arrival on 10/5/22.

The lack of care or consideration for disabled people & misrepresentation of personal Viking air handling seating arrangements at every stage of flight is false advertising.This 6 person ,first time ,Inter. trip that was planned as a last trip for 2 of the 6 attending due to age & illness.

Booking number 6051066

About halfway through a cruise on the Douro, with 3 more nights to go, we heard from some guests, at breakfast time, that some other guests with whom we had passed the previous evening, had become unwell during the night and tested positive for covid. I had woken having lost my voice and my partner felt generally lethargic so we went to see reception staff and the boat manager, who said that we could just wear a mask and continue with the cruise, or we could take a covid test.

We thought that the responsible thing was to take a test (although the manager said the responsible thing was to just wear a mask!). As requested, we'd worn masks on all our coach trips. We were told that if the tests were positive, we could abide by Portuguese rules and isolate for 6 nights, but we weren't compelled to do this. We only had 3 nights left on the cruise, so this would have delayed our return to England by 3 days.

We took the test and were both positive so we isolated in our cabin for the rest of the day and opted to follow Portuguese rules as we didn't think it was fair to fly back when we were infectious. In the late afternoon, we were asked to pack our bags as a car was coming to take us to a hotel in Porto, where we would have to stay in quarantine for 6 nights.

In the hotel, we paid over 1000 Euros for the 6 nights bed and breakfast but we weren't told that there was only minimal housekeeping because of infection. After 2 nights wondering what was happening, we were told that towels could be changed if we left them outside the room, and tea bags could be requested. We understood then why full housekeeping (making the bed, cleaning the bathroom etc) couldn't be offered but there was seemingly no price reduction for us. WHY DIDN'T VIKING EXPLAIN THIS?

I was particularly unwell, coughing continuously, and we asked reception if there was a pharmacy nearby, but there wasn't. After 3 nights of misery and in desperation, we asked reception if there was any possible way we could get some medicine. We were given a phone number of a pharmacy which would deliver medicine to our room, so we eventually received some medicine. WHY DIDN'T VIKING TELL US THIS AT THE START, INSTEAD OF LEAVING US WITH NO HELP?

Return flights, 3 days later than planned, were arranged for us, but we discovered, on arrival at the airport, that we had to pay for our taxi there. (Transfers were supposed to be included in the holiday cost.) Luckily, we happened to have enough Euros with us to pay the taxi driver. WHY WEREN'T WE WARNED OF THIS?

We had to have Room Service for all our food. Much of the food was of an appalling quality - nearly always cold, a cheese toastie with toast burnt black and the accompanying crisps could be bent double without snapping, fries which were cold and rubbery (we sent these back), eggs benedict where the poached egg hadn't been drained and the bread underneath was wet through.

From checking via text with other passengers, it appears that they weren't informed the next day of our illness. WAS THIS THE CASE? IF SO, WHERE IS THE TRANSPARENCY PROMISED BY THE BOAT MANAGER AT THE START OF THE CRUISE, AND THE DUTY OF CARE FROM VIKING?

Our AAA travel agent helped us book a grand European river cruise on September 27,2022 for a June 2023 cruise after we attended a Viking presentation.

Our travel agent told the Viking booking agent that we had just attended a Viking presentation and had 4 brochures stating the price $6199 - however she kept saying we needed a code from brochure - when we provided it she stated it wasn’t the right code and the fare was at the regular price.

We went ahead and booked along with doing

an extension trip and a travel protection plan.

Upon further reflection the next day we contacted Viking customer service talked with Maria and sent a letter to

[protected]@vikingcruises.com about advertising the cruise at one price and not honoring that price. We were told our travel agent would need to call.

Our travel agent has called given codes and still is told they can not do a price adjustment. As a last resort he is contacting the Viking cruise presentative and expected to hear back within 2 days.

I am very discouraged with how difficult and time consuming this has been to resolve with Viking. They are suppose to be a high end cruise line but still after 2 weeks we have not been able to resolved this.

Considering canceling because I feel strongly about honoring a brochure price and working with customers.

On a recent VIKING SEA cruise 09/16-22/2022, all passengers experienced a situation that was so poorly handled by the Captain and his crew that we are all complaining to Viking and elsewhere. Our BASE cost for this trip was $18,174. At this time Viking has been sending offers to some passengers for a $1,000. voucher each toward another Viking cruise for us losing FOUR excursions of which included Croatia which we ALL wanted to go to.

Some have received an offer of $2,000. each as I have.

The ship was asked to leave Venice and go to another Port (Ravenna) due to a storm that was supposed to come in to Venice...once in Ravenna we never noticed any real storm but what happened was that the ships lines broke lose from the moorings and another line slipped off causing the tattered lines to wrap around one of the propellers which caused the ship to drift out to the channel that evening. It took 5 tugboats to bring it back to the Port. Divers were not able to clear those lines in Ravenna so we limped all the way to Corfu, Greece taking us away from our Port Excursions...we lost 4 out of 10 excursions. There is much more to this incident with stories from MANY passengers including the fact that there were about 50 Military Retirees who came to the same conclusion that the LINES were inadequate / worn out to handle the winds, Viking's negligence in having proper Lines. Viking needs to do the right thing by speaking with all the passengers and finding out what compensation they believe to be fair to them the passengers, not an insulting $1,000. or $2,000. towards another Viking cruise. Then to top it off we lost power and the use of toilets for the last day on board...why? we were never told. This is how Viking treats it's passengers? Totally unacceptable.

Today (9/30/2022) I found out, quite by accident, that my flights had been changed again for my River cruise in December 2022. I am traveling as a single, with my sister and Brother-in-law, so I checked with them to see if their flights had changed as well. Their inbound flights had changed and still matched mine, however, my outbound flights had changed as well, though theirs had not. Neither of us was informed of this change, though it happened a week ago.

I called the Customer Service line to talk with someone to try to get our flights lined up again. This was anything but a pleasant experience. I was told that my flight from Seattle to Amsterdam was changed because the flight arrival time did not allow enough time to make the connecting flight to Munich. I understand this, but why hadn't my sister's flight also been changed? The representative (Vani) had no idea but said that she would work to put us both on a new outbound flight together.

After being on and off hold with Representative "Vani", for more than 2 hours, the only alternatives I was given were to either downgrade to Economy or pay an additional $2000.00+ to get a seat on the same flight with my sister. This is unacceptable. I asked to speak to a supervisor, but that never did happen. They would not talk to me, also unacceptable. The last supervisor that Vani talked with, Ms. Patrice, said there were no options left. In the end, I had to downgrade to economy to get a flight. A different flight than they had me on with the last change.

These are my complaints:

1. Vani had to talk to a supervisor to do pretty much anything. She was very apologetic, but ineffectual.

2. The supervisor should have been able to resolve this issue and it should not have taken 2 hours to do so.

3. The Supervisor should have talked with me when I asked.

4. I paid extra for Economy Plus, but I am not able to use it. Do I get reimbursed? I have no idea.

5. There are still no guarantees that these flights will not change again.

6. Viking still owes me money (vouchers) for scheduled trips I could not take due to Covid, so asking me for more money now is pretty ridiculous.

Booking No.--6462043, Cabin 252 ES 2

This was newly built vessel and initial cruise. Consequently there were various problems with the ship and numerous challenges for the staff that effected everyone.

However we had a significant issue with our room. There was a horrible rattling in the ceiling that made it impossible to sleep. When the ship was at full speed the room vibrated and quivered violetly and the rattles became unbearable to hear. As a result, we obtained minimal sleep and were quit tired the entire voyage. It was a horrible experience.(Ship technicians said all ceiling sheet rock would have to be extracted to solve)

Although this effected everyone, three port calls/excursions were cancelled and we had minimal time at most other stops.

Talked to Viking customer service and they offered a $1000 voucher, on a ruined trip that cost $20,000 plus!

At the time I booked this trip, I was told I would not need to be vaccinated. After paying for the trip, I was told I had to be. I can not get vaccinated and will never get the COVID vaccine due to health reasons. I am a colon cancer survivor who has had many hospital visits and surgeries that has caused my digestive system to be sensitive to medications and I would have an adverse reaction to the COVID vaccine. At the time of the booking and at the time of canceling the trip, employees at Viking mislead me. They gave hope and promise that the trip would not require the vaccine and even as I call today, they are HOPING the future they will not require the vaccine. That is misleading the public. Then they give voucher of which they keep 75% of your money. That is a scam. And supervisors at the 800 unhelpful. I'm asking that my money be refunded due to the lies and deceptive practices of the company. I was never told that Viking would keep 75% of my paid trip, at the time of booking or at the time of cancellation. 75% is a SCAM!

Our original booking in Europe was made two years prior, just before Covid hit. My wife and I decided to support Viking though this difficult period and take a future travel voucher. We wanted to see Europe after it had returned to some sort of new normal.

Early in 2022, we finalized plans to take a Fall cruise. The travel voucher did provide the same level of cabin, no longer had free drinks as part of the package. We accepted this reduction and waited for our trip to begin.

Over the last 18 months, my wife and I received two vaccine doses and two booster shots. We met all the requirements of Viking and the Netherlands after completing a Declaration Statement.

In September we flew from the US to Amsterdam through a flight arranged by the Viking Flight department under reservation # 6357517 to arrive a couple days prior to boarding on Sept 19. We wanted a few days to overcome jet lag and visit friends in the Netherlands. While in the airports, we wore masks to protect ourselves. We arrived on a Wednesday morning and took a train to 60 miles east of Amsterdam, still wearing our masks. We had two good two days of exploration and conversation with friends, most of it outside in the fresh air.

On Friday, I had some minor symptoms I interpreted as a cold or allergy. On Saturday, the next day the symptoms remained minor but I still took a covid test I had brought with me from the states. I could not in good faith board the ship and put other passengers at risk. Even though the Viking website said a pre test was not required, I felt it was needed. I was shocked – it was positive. I did another test with the same result. I had a physician friend conduct a test. A formal test done by the NL Health Department confirmed the situation.

I reached a Customer Support Number, explained our situation and asked a representative for my options, expecting that I would need to pay our way back to the state but receive a voucher for most of the funds I had paid in advance including about $2000 in excursion fees not used. I recognized that Viking had bought a ticket to get us to Amsterdam.

The customer representative seemed interested in getting me to say I was cancelling the cruise. I asked him if we could board the same ship in Budapest and return to Amsterdam one week later or just reschedule to a spring 2023 cruise. The gentleman said he could not make any revisions or changes to the cruise. He explained I would lose the all the monies paid to date, the basic charges and the all excursion fees as well.

I then send an email to my Viking contact in the states and her replay noted “you have contacted several people at Viking” but offered no help or suggestion. I had previously read the ticket contract and thought it said that if you got Covid, you would get a refund for a pro rata portion of the cruise. We never made it on board. And if on board, almost all if not all additional excursions could have been cancelled and refunded to me. We seem to have been viewed as a last-minute cancellation-not passengers who prior to boarding self-identified as having Covid.

We waited two years with a voucher to take our dream trip. We trusted Viking would survive and deliver our trip. Only one day before boarding, I called to self-identify as having Covid. I do not see this as only an insurance matter and ask again for reconsideration and a voucher for Spring 2023 travel.

Claim # 7114245

Viking River Cruises Contract # 6533933

Trip Mate Contract # GR425V

Viking Buri Trip: April 10-17, 2022, with a Paris extension of April 17-20.

_______________________

We purchased an additional insurance policy AT VIKING’S RECOMMENDATION and we expect Viking and its insurance partner Tripmate to stand by this policy and compensate a portion of the $15,000 paid by us for a trip we did not get.

At the very least, Viking and Tripmate should have had the courtesy to respond to our requests to speak with a representative with knowledge of our claim and authority to resolve it short of a lawsuit. We gave them multiple opportunities to do so with no success. Our 49th wedding anniversary cruise continues to be a nightmare.

Trip Details and Steps Taken

On April 10, 2021, we arrived for our 7-day cruise vaccinated, boosted, and armed with current negative Covid test results, as was required by Viking policies.

On our first full day, a crew member shockingly informed us that (despite all the shots, negative tests and having not 1 symptom) one of us had received a positive Covid test result when we first boarded the afternoon before: a false positive result that we expected would be corrected and clarified with a second and third Covid test.

Two subsequent tests were conducted after the first test and before we were removed from the boat, but the results were never revealed because of Viking’s failure to consider retesting results. One oral swab test and we were done with our trip.

We were told that even with no symptoms and 2 negative retests we would have to immediately quarantine in our room and leave the boat immediately as soon as they could arrange a ride to Paris for further quarantine there.

What followed was 5 days of isolation, chaos, frustration, and misinformation, followed by what has now been almost 5 months of delay, misrepresentation, nonexistent follow-up, unfulfilled promises and months of unexplained silence re our claim against Viking policy cover-ups and insured losses by their carrier.

Rather than cruising on a Riverboat for our 49th wedding anniversary, we spent the rest of the week in a hotel room at the Paris airport. No books. French language TV only. Not once during what was to be “our luxury 7-day excursion” did we experience a single element of cruising. No sitting on the deck, gazing at the view and breathing in the fresh countryside air and taking in the countryside views. No socializing or 5-Star dining experiences. No participation in any activities or entertainment.

Rather, we:

Packed and unpacked twice on successive days awaiting removal from the boat and the ride to Paris we were told would be coming but didn’t arrive for 2 days.

During this time, we could not leave our (viewless) cabin on the boat. For most of the hours, we were tied up to a sister boat, staring directly into a cabin on that boat.

The remaining days of our trip included a 7-hour car ride to Paris followed by 3 days of further isolation in an airport hotel room, which we could not leave, followed by retesting and directions by Viking to leave Paris within 24 hours.

All meals on the boat awaiting our removal and at the hotel were left outside our doors. We were indeed pariahs. All over one false positive Covid test.

One thought sustained us during this nightmare. We had followed Viking’s advice to purchase their own recommended travel insurance so that we would be compensated for unused portions of any trip interrupted by Covid. Again, we were wrong.

Today it is September 2022, and here are the steps we’ve taken, to no avail:

Submitted several insurance claims to Viking’s Tripmate Insurance company and followed up numerous times, with more information and repeated requests for payment of our claim and closure of the matter.

Contacted Viking’s “Customer Service Department” a number of times, which has resulted in no offer to mediate, compensate or intervene in any way re its own, unannounced Covid “one and done” testing policy, which caused this whole debacle, or with Tripmate for coverage under the insurance policy that Viking recommended to cover this very occurrence.

Tripmate continues to reject (by its silence, since there has never been a formal denial of the claim) the very insurance claims they promised to cover when we purchased the additional insurance policy.

Trip Mate also blatantly ignores our numerous attempts and requests to speak with a Tripmate supervisor so that we can come to some sort of fair resolution. No “supervisor” has ever called us despite repeated promises that our claim was being escalated and that we would receive “prompt follow-up.”

Peggy and Steve Brigance

My husband and I initially booked a 2020 21-day cruise to the Mediterranean and Adriatic. Because of Covid, Viking cancelled the cruise, and we were offered to either rebook or receive back what we had paid (around $34,000). Knowing that we still wanted to take the trip (and Viking only schedules it once a year), we chose to rebook. Mistake number 1! The statement for the 2021 trip showed a Voucher Discount of $6419.75 per person and it looked as we owed an additional $8,994.25. So, I called Viking, spoke to a very nice person, Lachelle at ext. 16023, who couldn't explain what the voucher discount was but assured me that we did not owe additional funds for the cruise portion of the trip, had to repurchase trip insurance. Things were such a mess at this point with all the cancellations and rebookings, I dropped the matter. Mistake number 2. Of course, this trip was also cancelled and once again, we rebooked for 2022. Yeah, we got to go! Unfortunately, on day 11 of the cruise, I became ill. After 4 Covid tests, 1 day quarantined in my room, 2 days spent in the Medical Facility receiving IVs, we got a flight to come home. The personnel of the ship could not have been nicer---the kitchen fixed me a baked potato midafternoon because it was the only thing I could keep down; the housekeeping crew came to our room to clean when I was not throwing up; the people that scheduled all the tours actually refunded every excursion we did not get to take; and, the crew in the Medical Facility were wonderful! They did blood work, came to the room to give me an injection of Zofran, sent a wheelchair to take me downstairs for the IVs since, at this point, I was too weak to walk.

After arriving home, I am thinking, thank goodness we have travel insurance. We paid right at $4,800 for it since we scheduled 3 times and each time was viewed by the insurance company as a new trip. I prepared the claim and sent it registered mail to Trip Mate on June 27, 2022. I could go through all the details of my interactions with TripMate, however, these contacts where eventually documented on their website under claim number 7139526. Bottom line, I will not be compensated for the 4 days I spent on the ship unable to take part in the trip, I will only be compensated based on a per person rate of $6,777.25, instead of the $13,197.00 per person rate that we actually paid because they do not reimburse on the amount of Voucher Discount. Viking will not issue a voucher showing what we actually paid. I have called Viking no less than 7 times. I have spoken to some very nice people in both Customer Relations and Reservations, who sympathize with my plight but can't or won't do anything about it and can't explain while a partial discount voucher was issued. Bottom line... I missed 11 days of a 21 day cruise and have been reimbursed by TripMate a total of $1,936.36 per person. And nobody will help me. We should have been reimbursed $6,912.73 per person...a difference of $4,976.37 per person. As you can see, we are out almost $10,000.00!

On our recent Viking River Cruise , Amsterdam to Basel, I purchased transfers from our destination airport to the ship. Viking travel agency arranged our flights and transfers.

They booked us on Air Canada and because of many delays and cancellations we did not get into Amsterdam until 9:00 Pm. We were suppose to arrive 10:00 am. There was not a Viking person to meet us. Our documents said to call the emergency number if no on was there. Apparently the number given to us was not an international number and our phones would not let calls go through. The next instruction was to take a taxi to the pier. We did not know if the ship had left port and were afraid to leave the airport by ourselves. We were two elderly women alone in a foreign country and none of the airline personnel would help us. I found two wonderful policemen who made the necessary phone calls and put us in a taxi. I am very upset that Viking does not track the airline flights to make sure their customers are taken care of. We are paying for a service for peace of mind. I never would have thought Viking would treat customers so badly.

We booked a River cruise on August 10,2022 through Viking. We paid the price of the cruise as per the website of Viking. At the time of the booking we also purchased travelers insurance through Viking, which is non-refundable. The price of the insurance is $1,400. You must purchase the insurance within 10 days of the booking.The insurance is non refundable. The price was $6,999 per person. We received a brochure from Viking in the mail for our identical cruise today (9/2/2022) for the price of $6,699 which is $300 per person less. In short we paid $600 more than we should have paid. (We booked 2 cruises since my husband and I are going. (This is our 50th anniversary)We called Viking and made them aware of this. They adamantly refused to adjust our price to the lower fare. This is a true ripoff of $600. We strongly recommend that you beware of Viking’s shady business practices.

Viking sold us a trip to Alaska including booking of two round trip flight tickets from Philadelphia to Vancouver to board a Viking Orion to travel to Alaska from 6/12/22 to 6/22,2022, booking number: [protected] for my sister Anna Grabowska and Danuta Jegorow for which I paid to Viking $10,489.05. Per Viking invoices, their charge included the entire travelling, inclusive VIKING's booking of the flights from Philadelphia on 6/12/22 via Toronto to Vancouver to be there on or before 3:00 PM., and from Anchorage to Philadelphia on 6/22, PLUS the trip insurance by their agent, TripMate offered via Viking. I agreed to both services as VIKING's all inclusive offer for the amount of $10,489.05.

I entered into a contract only with VIKING. I had not paid any airlines nor any insurance companies for their services - Viking represented to me that they would deal with them. Never before offering the insurance by Viking I even heard about TripMate. All my requested charges of $10,489.05 under the contract as stated were solely to Viking. I received all confirmations, flights itineraries and insurance information solely from Viking on Viking letterhead.

On the day of the trip - 6/12/22 at 5 AM, at the Phila Airport ready to go, we were informed that the flights booked by Viking were cancelled and/or delayed making it impossible to get any connecting flights to Vancouver as scheduled by VIKING, to board the Viking ship before 3 PM. The uncooperating and rude Viking Customer Service called from the airport told us to go home about 12;00 PM and file a claim for a refund because we had the trip insured.

There was nothing else we could do. In good faith following their advise we did, and filed a claim immediately. After 10 weeks with no refund, I am learning that the insurance company seems to believe that I booked the tickets even though I sent them all the documents with Viking booking. I did not pay Air Canada or Alaska Airlines for the tickets - Viking did. I had no knowledge about Viking's dealing with any airlines. I just purchased Viking's inclusive trip so it has become clear that after Viking breached their contract by not delivering the promise under the contract number 6242048 despite the fact that they received a consideration of $10,489.05, they are trying to avoid any liability for the same. Please, look into this matter asap and contact me to resolve this claim in amicable manner or have the TripMate to pay $10,489.05 as promised under their coverage as offered by their agent(s) via Viking.