Viking River Cruises
reviews and complaints

I think I am one of many who were misled when we were told of the "risk free" voucher and cancelation policy. In 2019 we booked and paid for a France's Finest cruise for June 2020. Viking canceled that cruise and offered us a "risk free" voucher of 125% for a 2021 cruise. We accepted that offer with the understanding that we could cancel up to the last minute with NO PENALTIES. When the cruise was again cancelled in 2021, we rebooked for the same cruise in 2022. Again with the understanding we could cancel and get our money back for any reason. Since that booking and this is VERY important to us, Viking has changed the contract by requiring a vaccine in order to cruise. That was never stated upon booking. Now in order to cruise we must be vaccinated. If we knew that at the time of booking, we would not have done so.

I have contacted Viking customer service representative. After a two hour discussion, she agreed to cancel the trip and she would TRY to get so our vouchers could be treated and "not being applied" so that in 2023 years we could get money we paid 2019 returned. There is no indication that the trip was cancelled or that we will ever see the money returned. We feel since Viking changed the terms of the contract in addition to never fully explaining what "applying the voucher" means, our money should be returned immediately.

I made reservations for my husband and I for the Romantic Danube cruise with Jerry Maestas who assured me I would have no trouble with my arrangements or if I wanted to cancel . I paid in full by May 1, 2021. I asked him if we could fly out of Newark NJ. He told me there would be no problem with that. Instead he misspelled my husbands last name, booked us out of JFK in NY. (hours away), and we are sitting 20 rows apart. We are flying back on 12/1/21 instead of 12/5/21 and again 20 rows apart into JFK.
I called when I saw the mistakes and was told I could not change anything until 60 days before departure. I called from September 3-4 times per week begging Mr. Maestas to help me fix this. He has never called me back. I spoke with someone in the air department who said I could just cancel or pay $700 to rebook and fix the name mistake. He did not tell me I would lose 75% of the money Viking took so quickly. I am so dissatisfied with the handling of this. A woman named Laura #8642 who at least got the name changed.

I purchased a trip in the fall of 2019 for spring 2020 for my honeymoon with my wife. Due to the pandemic we ended up canceling the trip and accepting a voucher for our trip. We were not offered multiple options ONLY to be issued a voucher for a future trip. As the pandemic has continued (and will continue at this rate) our timeframe for rebooking is coming up fast. There are now EU countries that are banning people from entering the country. We contacted them many times trying to resolve and have only been given excuses. We do not feel comfortable rebooking with the current situation and we do not feel we would be provided with a comparable vacation we paid for. The audacity to blame the customer for canceling and accepting the voucher (no cash value) days before they canceled their own cruises and the shutdown of the country and only then offering a refundable voucher is astounding. We are now out 10.6k of our money and are being FORCED to use a voucher we had no other option to take.

We have booked a viking river cruise in europe for this upcoming november. We paid for the air plus to select our desired airline/arrival and departure times etc... We were notified of a major flight change within the 60 day window of our trip, and then our tickets were apparently finalized 3 days later without notice. We are being told that we can not change our flight without a 350$ per person change fee. However I never received any notification of final ticketing until today (10/2/2021) AFTER I contacted viking air services to try and change our flight itinerary. This seems like extremely short notice and slightly deceptive as there was no clear indication of final ticketing or notification that we needed to contact viking IMIDIATLEY to change flights. We have now lost about a day and a half of trip time due to the flight itinerary change from the original selected flights, and are no longer on our desired airline. Viking customer service has reiterated there is noting I can do unless I pay the 350 dollar change fee.

We purchased a cruise to Alaska and Viking cancelled the cruise. We requested a full refund because we were booked under their "risk free guarantee". The sales agent convinced us to turn our cash into vouchers and rebook. We rebooked the cruise and now Viking is changing the policies for traveling with them. We no longer have any desire to travel with this company. The vouchers were supposed to be a "risk free booking" as well however once they convince you to take their vouchers your money is gone. They claim that the voucher is no longer a cash value! Well what happened to the cash we paid for the cruise they cancelled?! They also convince you to pay with cash by giving a "discount". Don't do it! Use your credit card so you can dispute the charges! We are now out over six thousand dollars and after calling 4 times and being told by 4 different agents that they would send our request to upper management and call back we have received nothing. No call back no help no resolve. Do not book with this company! Unfortunately they are no longer a legitimate cruise line. If you choose to book with this company after reading all the complaints do not ever book with cash and do not ever accept a voucher or believe in the so called "risk free guarantee". That is a scam and they change the policies anytime they like. This is no longer a reputable company!

When my wife's mother died 5 days before our August river cruise, Viking told us the "Risk Free Guarantee" they gave us at booking no longer applied after they canceled our June trip. Now there could be no refunds nor rescheduling—we simply lose everything we'd paid. Rather than lose all, my wife and I decided I would go without her.
Then Viking called the night before I left to say I owed $6, 971 more for a single supplement—despite having already paid $13, 145 for two. Only after long phone conversations with multiple people only interested in collecting more money was I "allowed to go" without paying more.
When I (and at least one other passenger) got food poisoning from a meal onboard I had to skip two excursions. Their only concern was that I understood the excursions were "non-refundable."
We love travel and cruising and have even organized several groups to cruise with multiple cruise lines. None of them has ever treated us the way Viking did.
No more Viking for us!

My husband and I booked a sailing to Norway in December of 2019 (booking number [protected], paid in cash ) and Viking canceled it in December of '20 due to covid. Along with the cancelation notice they sent us vouchers good for 125% of what we had invested, with the promise in writing that using them to re-book was Risk Free. The voucher letter even states that if we used the vouchers to re-book that the Risk Free Guarantee would apply to our booking. DON'T BELIEVE THEM IF THEY OFFER THIS TO YOU! Instead of dealing with the cash refund offer that was also given, and then using that same cash to re-book the very same cruise for 2022, we ignorantly just used the voucher to immediately re-book. Same everything but the dates. (Booking number [protected], paid with resultant voucher.)

When we re-booked, the Viking agent assured us that we were taking NO RISK in doing so! We could make changes or cancel at any time up to 24 hours before departure without penalty and get a refund. The new paperwork all came showing that we had used the voucher as payment on Page 1 of the Guest Statement, the Standard Cancelation Schedule is on Page 2, and the Temporary Cancelation Policy that was also attached clearly put us into the covered category -- with choices of either a refund or a voucher again should we need to make any changes. All good, right?

Now our ability to travel has changed significantly due to covid restrictions so we need to cancel...and Viking 3 days ago tells us that our reservation now has NO REFUNDABLE CASH VALUE! They are standing firmly behind an UNpublished policy that they say states that since a voucher was used and no 'new money' was applied to this trip we can now get NONE of our money back! (Totally opposite of what all of our paperwork says!. And nowhere does it say that any 'new money' has to be used to qualify! In fact, it CLEARLY states in the voucher letter that using the voucher does qualify for the guarantee! And the guarantee CLEARLY has 2 choices!)

We might get a voucher (that now has no cash value) good for another 2 years -- but our ability to travel is unlikely to change in that time and then the voucher will be useless. And they will have had a significant amount of our money (about $11, 000) for 4 years by then, with no refund certain even then, and no services provided! Guest Services personnel hide behind the tiny little writing at the bottom of the Guarantee page that says 'other restrictions might apply'.

Again, DO NOT TRUST anything they say, even in writing it seems. We now have NO respect for this company and their underhanded and unethical business practices! It is a shame really as we had liked traveling with them before and had planned to do so regularly as long as we were able. Not any more...this experience has totally soured us on the whole company.

My name is Karen Kehm. I booked a cruise to Alaska (as did my brother and sister-in-law). My reference number is CRBK3014175. My booking number is 6321642. We were scheduled to sail from Vancouver in July 2021, but the cruise was canceled. We had also booked an extension to Denali (Pristine Denali). When we rebooked to sail in July 2022, we were told the Denali extension was already sold out and we could not receive a refund for that portion of the trip. As a result, we booked a second cruise to the Caribbean to use the $7, 000 worth of money we had expended for the Denali extension. Now as I am checking the Viking website, it lists the Pristine Denali as an available option. We wanted to cancel the Caribbean cruise in February 2022 and add the Pristine Denali extension (which is what we originally paid for). Viking claims "we cannot apply future cruise credits to a booking that's already paid for." My question is why not? Thank you in advance for your help.
Karen Kehm
email: [protected]@hotmail.com
phone: [protected]

Apparently, Viking can change the terms of their cruise agreements at any time? We booked a cruise, Viking cancelled the cruise and offered a voucher. We took the voucher and then Viking implemented the mandatory vaccine. We cannot take the vaccine and asked for a refund. They denied a refund and our "No-risk" insurance was not honored. Is anyone seeking a refund based on the new Viking vaccine policy? Is a class action suit indicated?

We had scheduled a Rhine River cruise with Viking for mid September 2021, plus pre and post cruise excursions. In early September the EU declared the US a high risk country due to Covid. As a result, the Netherlands imposed new stringent restrictions for people traveling to their country, including a mandatory 10 quarantine period if one stayed there for longer than 12 hours. Because we had booked a two day pre-cruise excursion, our firm flight arrangements took us into Amsterdam two days before the vessel was scheduled to disembark. Viking cancelled the pre-cruise excursion along with all other Netherlands activities, leaving a truncated and [censored]ized cruise. Nor could Viking offer any assurances that neither the EU or other countries would impose additional requirements. As a result it was simply not possible for us to take this cruise. We reached out to Viking, and tried get a refund, or at least a credit to enable us to reschedule for next year when hopefully the pandemic would have passed. Viking refused point blank. They said that because all this occurred within 30 days prior to sailing, we could not cancel or reschedule, and instead we were subject to a 100% cancellation penalty. I.e. they are keeping our money, and telling us too bad. This is despite the fact that there are exceptions to their policy if one were to contract the virus. The airlines and hotels that we had booked were willing to work with us, but not Viking. It is clear that Viking does not care about their customers, good will, or anything other than money.

After having a wondeful first Viking river cruise from Paris to Zurich in 2019 we booked booked a Portugal River Cruise for the summer of 2020. With the pandemic that trip has been rescheduled twice and now scheduled for November 2021. We were already concerned about any travel with ongoing Covid problems and then the recent CDC warning last week warning against cruises especially for older people has made us decide to cancel. Called today and spoke to an agent named Roslyn and were basically told no refund since we used the 125% vouchers. Viking has had our money for almost two years and we want it back. Since original booking we are two years older and not really wanting to chance our health. Have read other similar complaints on this site. It's time for Viking to step up and make things right instead of flooding our mailbox and TV with ads.

My mother and I finally booked our dream trip: an Egyptian Nile Cruise! We were supposed to go in Nov 2020 and it was paid in full, but we understood when things got too uncertain and Viking canceled. Our huge mistake was accepting the voucher, because it was 125% and we immediately booked again for Jan 2021. Again Viking canceled and we rolled with it, booking again for Nov 2021. But suddenly, now that they had us locked into vouchers, all pretense of caring about customer satisfaction was gone. Every simple issue was met with a dismissal that there was nothing they could do. Finally, they implemented the vaccine mandate, which excludes us from being able to travel with them at all. Surely they'd have to refund our original paid amount now? No.

Viking will never be transparent about this, so please let me warn you up front and clearly: do NOT accept vouchers from Viking if you (or they) cancel your cruise! Get a refund in real money and save it towards a later cruise. Once you accept vouchers, your money is gone. Viking can keep canceling your trips forever, or they can make up new requirements every week that eventually make you unable to travel with them, and you will never be able to get back the money you paid them. You know that part in the terms & conditions that say a company can alter the agreement in any way at any time without notice, but you always agree to it because you think it'll never happen? Viking will do exactly that - going as far as medical and religious discrimination - and there is no flexibility, no exceptions, no mercy or understanding in these difficult times. They will keep your money and act like it never existed before the vouchers.

Even before the 3rd cancelation/rebooking of our trip by Viking, the system was so infuriating to deal with. You can't look at your travel info while a representative is looking at it because you can't both be viewing the same booking at the same time. You can't use your voucher balance to purchase things for the other person in your cabin under the same booking number. They can't give you info to help fill out your travel visa. They won't try to match the value of the cruise they cancelled with the new one you've booked, where the same excursions are suddenly more expensive. There's no effort to try to be flexible, find workarounds, problem-solve, or make up for the trouble they've put you through. Every request is met with "our system won't let us do that, no exceptions." They do not care if the customer is satisfied or not, they treat every situation with robotic intransigence.

Maybe their ships are nice. Maybe the excursions are nice. I'll never know, because Viking is preventing me and my mother from traveling with them, and the thousands of dollars we saved up for a nice vacation are now gone forever.

We booked a river cruise back in January of 2020 for a trip that was planned for October of 2020. The trip was paid in full shortly after booking. Viking canceled the trip in August of 2020 due to covid. At the time they offered us the ability to rebook for 2021 and gave us 125% of the value for all our troubles. We quickly rebooked. Who wouldn't?
Now they will not let us go on our cruise this October because we have not been vaccinated. That is not what we agreed to when we gave them over$10, 000 back in January 2020. No vaccine existed back then. They refuse to give us our money back. This is theft, fraud, and deceit on the part of Viking.

As the Federal Government has recently stated NOT to travel to Malta or Greece, we have reservations about going on this cruise. We have not, as yet, cancelled as we are hoping that Viking cancel and we can have a cash refund minus the travel Insurance, which I am sure Viking receives a commission! However we did ask if we could use the credit towards a trip we booked for November 2022. NO was the response, only for NEW bookings.

Also the idea of being isolated, for the duration of the cruise, in one's cabin due to being in contact with a person testing positive is not conducive. Even worse, being dumped in Greece to isolate if one is tested positive. Horror stories of people having to isolate in specific hotels, in the UK and being fed uneatable food is not our idea of fun! Even a 5 star hotel in Greece with 24 hr. room service would be unbearable.

We had lots of trips planned for 2020 and unfortunately we had to cancel or they were cancelled. All the cruise companies, Tauck tours, and all the airlines we had booked with totally refunded our money. Viking was the only one who kept part of our deposit. We have traveled with you several times in the past and are extremely unsatisfied with the way you kept our money on a cruise/tour that never even happened.
We have two trips/cruises booked for 2022 one a 32 day and another a 30 day booked with other cruise companies where we got our total deposits back during this time.
We have enjoyed traveling with you in the past but because of the way you have kept our money during these times we will no longer. Tauck does a similar tour tot become we had planned with you and we will be using them.

We have booked our original cruise with Viking in September of 2020 for the sailing in July 2021. Eastern Europe Passage July 19-31, 2021 #6165887.
This sailing was cancelled due to COVID-19.
They gave us a voucher for 125% of the price we have paid.
Viking have informed us that we could get a refund if we wanted to. My husband and I wanted to travel, so we accepted a voucher and re-booked it right away for a next available sailing - Aug 31-Sept 10, 2021 #6332421.
At the time of booking I have asked what was their COVID-19 protocol, and the answer was: testing within 72 hrs and mask wearing on the ship. We agreed to this and booked.
In July 2021 we received our flight itinerary and an email with Viking NEW HEALTH PROGRAM, which requires ALL guests to be vaccinated.
We have a strong conviction regarding vaccination and are not going to partake it now or in the future.
I have called to Viking multiple times with desire to resolve this issue: we are healthy individuals and happy to take a test and wear masks, but it did not go well, we were supposed to give a proof of vaccination.
In the end we had to cancel our booking and received our vouchers back.
We have been refused to get a money refund.
So now we have a problem: we can't go travel with Viking (we really wanted to) and we can't get our money back (somewhat $10, 000 which is a big money for us).
So, please, help us to resolve it.

Booked trip with Viking for Baltic Sea and Russia through their contact Bryce Trainor, trip number 6274246.
Made him aware that I was under charged and my travel partner was overcharged by the same amount. Bryce said he did not check the figures because he was too busy.
Repeatedly since June have requested via phone calls and e mails that Bryce correct the inaccuracy. He is not responding to me or my travel partner.
I want the invoice corrected, my account and my travel partners account adjusted and a corrected invoice sent to me and my travel partner. She will then send the payment for her share of the cost of the trip. To date she has executed two stop payments on checks that were inaccurate based on incorrect numbers provided by Viking.