Viking River Cruises

As I haven't heard from you about my compliant, I thought your competition would like to hear from us. Regards Ray

Dear customer service

I'm writing, to thank you so much for great time Patrick and I, had on our recent 10 night Viking Jupiter cruise departing from Copenhagen 9th May to disembarkation 19th May, Stockholm
Your crew and staff gave us superb service and catered for our every need, however prior to the cruise we contacted Viking about whether or not we needed a Russian visa.

We were informed that we being, Australian (Ray Everitt) and British (Patrick Renson -Smith) passport holders we did require Russian visa's. We found when we were on board the Jupiter we did not require visas. Accordingly we purchased the visas to the cost of $232.35 per visa.
Also
There was confusion by your admin. Staff on board ship as Mr Renson - Smith and I wanted the on board accounts, for both of us, to be settled on Mr Renson - Smith's visa credit card.

We advised your staff 3 times in person and 2 times via phone calls from admin to our cabin prior disembarking in Stockholm that all our accounts would be settled on Mr Renson- Smiths card. When I attempted to my final disembarkation, I was stopped by your security personnel, as notification showed, I had not paid my portion of the cabin account.
This was extremely embarrassing to me as fellow passengers were queued up behind me and looking at me as though I was attempting something untoward.
It was then Mr Renson - Smith went back to your admin people on board and got upset with them for the unnecessary and embarrassing situation caused by their slack administration.
One of your admin staff came to security and then gave the all clear to disembark.

Our cruise was the end of 3 weeks of celebrations for Patrick's 70th Birthday on the 5th May, culminating in a week in Sienna Italy, we told our friends who joined us for the celebrations, we were looking forward to our Viking Jupiter Baltic cruise. "They are potentially new Viking Passengers".
We are contemplating another cruise with Viking in 2020 to Alaska, but now we are little hesitant. These two issues have let your marvellous company down.

Please have a look at reimbursing the unnecessary cost of visas to us and have a word to your admin people, your efforts will be greatly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Patrick Renson Smith and Ray Everitt
www.concierge-csa.com.au
[protected]

Yesterday we went to our travel agent to book this cruise. Everything going fine and we're ready to make a deposit. Then we found out that the final payment was due the following month we were confused . We have never seen this before. We would have certainly secured this cruise but 16, 000 dollars is extremely very much for one year in advance. We were looking forward to this cruise but am very disappointed with policy. Please advise me if this policy changes at [protected]@yahoo.com. Thank you Jim

When I made the reservations earlier this year I asked b4 making a reservation by OLGA, if I could have my dialysis solution delivered to the port, I was assured I could do that. Today I received a call from another CSR and was advised they cannot do this. I would not have spent all my time and close to 15K for a trip I cannot go on. Now I have to contact my attorney and fight with these people and get my money back.

Sailed the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam on the Viking Mani end of May 2019.
Three of the six nights the railings above our stateroom rattled so loudly we could not sleep.
In addition, passed the time allowed, passengers wallk on the walking track topside and the noise
is extremely disrupting.
Four of the six days another Viking berthed by tying up next our ship, blocking our our light
and our views. In addition, their sewage treatment caused our ship to smell and the stink was
unplesant. There were many little docks available but Viking does not care about the
passengers blocked views or the stink, as they save money on the docking fees.
The dinner service was extremely slow...on 3 ocasssions our entre did not come for over an hour.
We were staring as the dinner is regimented and late to begin with...commencing at 7:15. Eating
at 8:30 is way too late and not fun. Neither the chef nor the matri di when told were helpful nor seemed
to care.

May 31, 2019 booked a cruise Bergen to Montreal expecting to later book a deviation on the flights, paid $100 each to be able to vet flights, did some research and decided to spend 4 days in Iceland on the flights from Toronto to Bergen on the Iceland air route picked by Viking. Then told, by a surprised Viking agent "no deviations with stop overs". We book a deviation/stop-over with almost all the 18 or so cruises taken, for example in April this year stopped in Lisbon on Budapest to Toronto flight. Pursued with Viking how to make a Iceland stop over but faced a stonewall even after escalating to manager, answer was always "air contract does not allow" asked Viking to check with customer service and marketing to see if something could be done as it seemed like a win-win situation especially since Iceland air offer a no charge stop over in Iceland on the flights booked. In desperation I asked "what if I take deviation for 3 days early throw away the Iceland to Bergen flight and purchase my own ticket from Iceland to Bergen 3 days later", answer from Viking manager -"we will cancellation all your further flights on the flight"! Nothing to do with any contract for flights just Viking policy, not customer service and lack of key information on usual flight products not being available. Booking too late to cancel but really like the idea of an Iceland stop-over. Very disappointed with Viking

Viking kept my bank account number from last year when I paid my fare and used instead of destroying it as promised to charge another passengers fare. I was recommend by Viking to place a stop payment on my bank account and that they would reimburse me the stop payment fee which they are no refusing to do. The bank fee is only $31 dollars and the money isn't really the issue, it's the fact they refuse to pay it when it was their error. I have received no formal apology for them holding my bank account for future use. I have actually received no apology at all from Viking. I haven't taken my cruise yet but if they can't reimburse a mere $31 dollars what kind of business are they running?

On May 2, I contacted Marty as to a refund to my checking account, was told it was due to overpayment for our Lucerne Extension. I contacted my fellow traveler to see if she too got the refund. She contacted Guy McCarthy who told her that my refund was for HER overpayment of 599.25 and mine of 172.90. She paid in full by credit card, I paid in full bye check. He apologized for error and offered us each $100.00 for our trouble.
May 3, I called Sonny to clarify after explaining my issue he said he would call me back.
May 4, I called Sonny, not available, talked to Carol, explained everything again, she said Sonny and Guy not working on weekend and to call Monday.
May 6, I called Guy, not available, spoke to Rosslyn, explained everything again, she this time got Guy who said issue still undetermined, will research and call back May 6 or 7.
May 8, left message for Guy to return my call, no call from Guy. Called and spoke with Crystal, explained everything again, she will research.
May 14, no return calls. Called and spoke with Sophia who transferred me to her supervisor. After 20 minute wait, call was dropped. Called back and was transferred to Veronica, floor supervisor, and explained everything to her. She was to check with Pierra (?) and assured me someone would call back within 24 hours.
May 20, as of today NO ONE HAS CALLED TO CLARIFY THIS ISSUE. What does this say about customer service?

My wife and I have just returned from a Viking River Cruise on the Rhine. Having researched all the various river cruise lines we opted for Viking because they are supposedly one of the top river cruise companies. The ship and crew all lived up to our expectations. However, we had specifically chosen a stateroom with a balcony at great extra expense envisaging sitting on the balcony to enjoy either river or shore views. To our horror on 4 of the days we were moored alongside other Viking ships. This turned our bright sunny stateroom into a dark cell! We had to have the curtains closed at all times to prevent the adjacent stateroom from seeing into ours and the balcony was obviously unusable.The final straw was waking in Cologne to a wonderful view only to return from our walking tour to find a ship moored alongside. It remained there for 12 hours and we were the ONLY ship in Cologne to have a ship moored alongside.
We voiced our annoyance with the Captain and Program Director who apologised but said it was out of their control. We feel strongly that we were misled by your advertising and would definitely have had the same cruise experience in a much cheaper lower deck cabin. Based on this we feel that Viking should refund the extra cost.
We look forward to hearing your views on this matter.

C.Kerry. Booking No. 5139096 Cruise started 5 May. 2019.

After reading your brochure and watching your videos decided on holidaying with Viking to celebrate our 55 wedding anniversary..
Decided on upgrading to balcony cabin for our celebration on the strength of your portrayal in your brochure and videos. This was a very expensive mistake ( £800 ! )
Nuremberg was ok then all downhill after that . Each port after we were moored adjacent to other Viking ships with no daylight and looking into next ships cabin and they at ours! This meant keeping curtains drawn all the time. So much for enjoying either river views or shore views!
Even taking drinks on upper decks views were obstructed by adjacent sister ships., !
Note .—-other ships such as Scenic, Emerald etc were moored without other ships adjacent.
I feel very strongly that I was misled by both brochure and video! I might as well have booked the lowest priced cabin and saved my £800!
With this in mind I feel a refund from you of £800 would be appropriate

Received an email for discounted rate. Used the link in the email where it showed a great price. Offer expired April 30, 2019. Called to book the trip on April 29th. The rep couldn't find the advertised rate. The email with the discounted rate was forwarded to the rep. The rep went to a supervisor for clarification. Rep relayed the emailed rate was a mistake. Regardless, the emailed rate should be honored, especially since the email was received several times over several days.

Booked a Viking river cruise that included airfare for my family of 4. At no time was I told our flights might be different. When I attempted to resolve this and get us all on the same flight, I was given two options - A $25 per person, flight coordination fee or $50 per person air plus fee. Next, I was told the lower fee option does not apply since the flights were book (it is only an option pre booking - but no one told us that in advance).

Throughout the booking process, Viking agents have made mistakes that I have had to contact them to fix. When I ask to speak to a supervisor, I am told, "there is no one for you to speak with".

There agents have provided inaccurate and incomplete information and the company does not seem to care about remedying their errors.

Can not recommend Viking.

Dear Sirs or Madame:
I recently went on a river cruise with your company, the Viking Lif, Bucharest to BudaPest.
The Positive: The Staff was cordial and responsive.
The pre-boarding and After cruise personnel were outstanding, we were met and taken care of professionally.
Ports of call tour guides were knowledgeable.

The negatives: Our cabin 125 was barely cleaned. Beds were made, towels were changed--vaccuuming was nil.
The room was not at all a 4 star hotel, we felt the room was very noisy especially at night when the engine sounds were
constant.
The menu and wine were mediocare. Wait staff were slow-they were scurring but were understaffed. Clean dishes may times had baked on food particles.
Tours of Osijek/ Kalocsa were poor, it felt staged and as though put on to get us off the ship. Poor quality.
We were disappointed by Viking, we believed in the hype from the many catalouges that have been sent and the advertising. We have been on your competitors and thought they were the better value. Our Flight from Budapest to Paris was booked and ready, luggage was sent to Chicago, when we got to Paris for our flight to Chicago were on a Standby List. When I complained Air France's staff said aren't you glad you are on the flight even though we had paid for two sears together. We paid extra for isle seats.
Two disappointed customers: Rick and Helen Scarpelli

I have always held Viking Cruises to a high standard due to previous experience, ratings, and their top selling point of complimentary shore excursons at each port.
This was not my experience with the ocean cruise my friends and I booked for this coming May. We were told we could start booking our excursions at 3:01 yesterday and when we logged in to book these many of them, including the Included Excursions were completely booked and we could not get them. Even some of the paid tours we were considering were booked. One of our cities is St Petersburg and you can not go into the city without being on a tour due to the Visas. This seems totally out of character for Viking to not have enough spaces for the guests to book the tours. The reason so many were sold out was the guests who had booked the most expensive rooms were alllowed to book at an earlier date so they took all the spots. None of this information was shared with us before we booked and paid for this cruise. We are extremely upset. So far Customer Service has replied saying we can watch for cancellation spots on tours and go to the excursion desk once we board and see if they have any availability. I didn't pay over $14, 000 to stand in line and see if I can get on a tour while missing the port we are in. At this point if nothing is resolved soon I will have to voice my opinions on social media.

Recently, I booked on a Viking river cruise in russia. This is my third Viking cruise.

When I went to make reservations for Included and Optional tours I was surprised to find out two days which did not ïncluded"tours but offer "optional" tours.

So, in these two days, Viking tells you "you are on your own" in a city like Moscow, foreign language, not knowing where to go, and force you to buy an optional tour.

I presented my claim t a superfisor who offer me $50.00 per person towards a "optional" tour. Nice, but not enough. Viking should have give us a free optional tour. But most importantly, offer an ""included tour" in evary city it stops.

To me this is false advertisement and my lask tour with Viking.

Viking is not honoring dining reservations made online. Very frustrating as reservations online were only available at the late hours, when my grandmother arrived at the designated reservation time she was turned away. This is very disappointing, I thought I could trust this company with my family and apparently I cannot. Thank you for helping me make up my mind about this cruise line.

#5291440
Yesterday I received my airline booking for my cruise. My friend and I are NOT on the same flight. I called and was told that for an additional $250 I could change my flight even though I paid the $50.00 when I booked the cruise to have that option. I was told I waited too long to make the reservation. My agent said I would receive the airline reservation 90 days before my trip. The airline agent said I could make my reservation 365 days before my trip. Why are two different personnel at Viking giving me different information? I'm now driving to Newark to get on the plane with my friend. My sister has taken 4 Viking cruises. She has never used the flight option because her husband gets free flights with his work. It's too stressful to use your flight option. Viking should be upfront with the airline additional cost.

I have been trying to forget my "once in a lifetime" vacation with Viking River Cruises; however, the nightmare continues to haunt my mother and me.

October 19, 2018

We boarded the Viking Var - but not in Budapest as scheduled. We were instead taken on a 90-minute bus ride to a vacant wooded area in Kamaron.

We had upgraded our room to a French Balcony ($1000), but in Kamaron our only view was right inside some couple's room in an adjacent Viking boat. Our curtains were thus closed for two days. To make things worse, something got everyone on the boat sick, including us.

October 20, 2018

This day was supposed to be a tour of Budapest and a scenic cruise on the Danube Bend, but instead became another three-hour round-trip bus ride. We chose to remain on the boat that day, as a bus tour was not what we signed up for.

October 20, 2018

We packed our luggage and boarded a two-hour bus from Kamaron to Vienna (which included a disgusting 30-minute truck stop, where we had to pay to use the dirtiest restrooms).

We were taken to the restaurant Augustinerkeller. My mother asked for pumpkin soup and the waitress was yelling at her and said she could not have it, even though other guests at our table had just been served it. The main meal was served to everyone and was horrible.

After lunch we had 30 minutes to see Vienna, so we basically never saw Vienna! We then boarded the bus for the optional tour of Schonbrunn Palace.

We checked into the Vienna airport hotel outside Central Vienna. We were told this was the only hotel that could accommodate our large group on short notice - but we found out that Viking had been having problems for at least five months!

October 22, 2018

We took another bus one hour from Vienna to Krems and went on the included tour of the Gottweig Abbey. Viking added a boat ride with an included lunch on this tour. On the boat we were told twice that we could not sit at the tables we wanted and were moved near the stairs. Everyone was once again served the same dish, (whatever happened to the buffet or the menu choices we paid for from Viking?) I couldn't eat the food that was served. If the itinerary was not changed, I could have had lunch and seen Vienna.

October 23, 2018

This was the optional tour I was most looking forward to - "City of Mozart" and "The Sound of Music" in "Salzburg Highlights". This tour cost us $209 each ($418 total). Viking cancelled this tour as it would have been an eight-hour bus trip. They informed us that we would get 100% credit for this cancelled tour, in the same currency we paid (US Dollars on my mother's credit card.) However, my mother received a refund check for only $383.90, which was $34.10 short due to the currency conversion.

We packed our luggage again and checked out of the airport hotel. We had a four-hour bus ride from Vienna to Passau (because our Salzburg tour was cancelled) so we went on the included walking tour of Passau and the "Organ Concert".

We returned to an older ship called the Viking Tor, which had been stranded in Passau, and cruised for seven hours before we struck a bridge, destroying the wheelhouse on the top. At this point we were parked in a residential area near a lock. That night and the next morning there were police aboard our boat due to the incident.

October 24, 2018

We were bused to Regensburg for an included tour. It was very cold, damp, and rainy. Once again, we boarded a bus back to the Tor, which was basically parked in someone's back yard due to the wheelhouse accident the night before.

Back on the Tor, my mother ordered chicken for dinner. When she cut it, the chicken was rare - still red and pink!

October 25, 2018

We paid for an optional tour, "Surviving the War: Art in Nuremberg." When we arrived in the lobby at 6:00 am, we were told the tour was cancelled. Really? Why did they wait until we woke up early to be in the lobby? The tour was paid in US Dollars and Viking refunded my mother NOTHING. The price of the tour was $49 each ($98 total) With the previous $34.10 my mother is now due $132.10! Viking applied the AAA voucher discount of $49.00 x 2 = $98.00 to the tour that they cancelled and charged my mother the $49 x 2 = $98 as well. Technically this cancelled tour (BY VIKING) cost us $196.00.

We were bused into Nuremberg and did the included tour of "Nuremberg Through History."

Final night

Fast-forward to our last dinner on the boat. We both ordered steak well-done which was served to us medium rare. We returned the dinners to have them cooked as ordered. When the meals came back to the table, my mother had vegetables and a half of a dumpling, I had no vegetables and the other half of her dumpling. We were told they ran out of meals.

AAA Credits

We originally booked with AAA Travel and they had given us both $125 to use for onboard shopping, optional tours, or beverage packages. Onboard the Tor I tried to make a purchase, but the AAA Travel credits were not available for me to use, so I ended up having to use my credit card. The credits were gone because when we signed up for the My Viking Journey website and booked our optional tours, Viking automatically applied the AAA credits to the optional tours without giving us the option. My mother was told that the credits would not be refunded, because we didn't buy anything onboard and didn't buy the beverage package, so Viking took this credit to pay for our optional tours!

I paid US dollars for the optional tour (Jewish Prague on October 28, 2018), which was $69.00 each totaling $138.00 with my credit card. When my mother telephoned Viking she was told that the voucher discount is the AAA Travel Credits and if we do not use it, we lose it. Viking charged me $138.00 on my credit card and took another $138.00 from our AAA Travel credits. That tour cost us $276.00. I am due a refund of $138.00. ($69 x 2 = $138.00).

Summary

We obviously do not blame Viking for the weather or the low water conditions - BUT, we do blame Viking for being fraudulent, dishonest, and negligent about the situation, since they knew this has been a continuous issue for five months now.

Viking gave us a voucher for 100% off a future tour of $3, 449.00 each, which expires on October 31, 2019. However, considering everything we experienced, we're entitled to a 100% cash refund ($3, 449.00 each), the remainder of the $132.12 owed (to my mother) for the cancelled tours, and $138.00 to me for the money paid for the Jewish Prague paid both by the AAA voucher discount and my credit card purchase. I do not intend to give VIKING any future business (or recommend Viking to anyone). On a week-long cruise we "cruised" a total of 11 hours.

I am in the process of contacting a network affiliate TV station in California that I have contacts with. I'm also sharing the experience on social media.

John of Baltimore MD, we will join you or anyone else in a class action suit!

Viking River Cruise European Sojourn October 18 through May 10.

Our long awaited (and very expensive) 23-day river cruise from Bucharest to Amsterdam bore absolutely no resemblance to the trip that was advertised. Instead of unpacking once and relaxing on a three-week long journey, we were forced to change to 3 other boats in order to complete our trip.

Instead of leisurely cruising through beautiful scenery and past lovely villages and towns, we were bused on super highways and saw nothing.

Instead of docking at each of the cities we were supposed to visit, we had two to three hour bus rides from some isolated industrial docking area.

Instead of the time we were expecting to be in each town we visited, our tours were truncated or skipped because of the time it took us to reach our destinations by bus.

While we certainly agree that Viking cannot be held responsible for the low water in the Danube and Rhine, they are responsible for failing to notify us that they had been unable to make this cruise since May! Our only "heads up" was an email received a couple of days before our departure saying that there might be a problem between Passau and Regensburg. Knowing how close these two cities are to one another, we were not concerned.

What Viking neglected to tell us is that the entire trip was iffy and, in fact, the problems began in Bucharest. Our expected transfer to our boat from Bucharest actually involved an all day bus ride. We spent the morning touring Bucharest and then were taken to an awful restaurant where we had a terrible meal and then spent the next 3 hours riding by bus to our ship. When we arrived in some unknown small docking area, it was dark. The guide on our bus pointed out our boat or at least the lights of our boat that we could make out through the woods. We had to make our own way down a wooded, unlit path on our own. When we eventually reached the ship, we could see the effect of the low water because the gangway was at a very steep angle. It was so steep that I had to go down sideways holding onto the ropes with both hands. Upon reaching the boat, we had to tell the crew waiting inside the boat that there were passengers who were using canes or were pulling carry-on luggage and could not possibly get down the gangway unaided.

For the first seven days we were able to stay on one boat although we were bused to all of our tours. Again, we did not pay for a bus tour! After that, we were told that we had to change ships and we needed to pack and have our luggage outside our cabins by 7:00 am.

We took another long bus ride to our next boat and tried to settle in as quickly as possible. At no point did Viking tell us that we would have to do this again two more times even though they knew that the river cruise was impossible!

The endless bus rides for shortened visits on our excursions continued and many passengers decided to stay on the boat rather than be stuck on a bus for long periods of time.

When we got to Regensburg--or at least an industrial area within a two-hour bus ride from Regensburg--we were offered an all-day trip into the city. Upon arrival, there was a short guided tour and then the passengers were told that they had free time to explore the city and have some lunch on their own. What Viking failed to tell the people on the tour was that it was a holiday and everything was closed! Worse, when the group finished their lunch and found that nothing was open, they had to wait for almost 4 hours for the return bus to come and pick them up. The ship's Program Director was aware of this and yet did nothing to call the buses for an early pick up to take care of the thoroughly bored and really annoyed passengers.

To compensate for this disaster, Viking initially offered a 25% credit toward another Viking cruise. For us, it was a credit of $3800 for a $22, 000 trip. When I complained to Viking, they came back and offered a 50% credit toward another cruise. Other passengers who complained were offered anywhere from 35% credit to a full refund (if they were willing to sign a non-disclosure form and refrain from making any more negative reviews of Viking).

We feel cheated and deceived. Viking knew months before our trip that the cruise we purchased was not possible and did nothing to alert us to that certainty. At a minimum, Viking should have given us the opportunity to reschedule the cruise or select another itinerary. But nothing like that was offered. I guess that Viking was pretty sure that losing several hundred returning passengers was worth the money it collected from people who purchased one product and got something else entirely.

We will never cruise with Viking again and will be sure to spread the word that Viking is not a reliable, honest company.

When I booked and fully paid for this cruise in September and December 2017 I was advised that I could deviate the departure dates by Mr. Landon Martinez. Nothing was mentioned about a $200 deviation fee or $100 Premium fee. Nothing was mentioned in the confirmation email and nothing is noted in the online contract. I spoke to Mr. Martinez today along with another employee and they simply quoted me policy.
R McKay

I had hoped to not have to write a review like this. It has been a month since we returned from our November 2018 visit to Prague and Danube River Cruise. While we experienced the same low water levels that so many have commented on, this was out of Vikings control and we can hardly blame them for it. We also consistently encountered friendly staff at the pre-cruise hotel and on board the three ships we used for this journey. We did (and do) have an issue however with how Viking handles Customer Service issues such as lost bags and refunds of cancelled excursions.

We visited Prague on a Viking pre-cruise extension, staying at a hotel for a few days prior to the bus ride to the ship. Following instructions from Viking staff, we left our luggage by the bus and then boarded the bus for our trip - it is the last time we saw this bag. That afternoon when it was not delivered to our stateroom, and almost every day afterward on our trip we inquired about where our bag was. After we returned home I sent a picture of the pattern on the bag from a companion piece of luggage (it's distinctive), and we have followed up since our return numerous times as well. To date we have only received a phone call indicating they will look into it (and this 2 weeks ago). We have consistently had to take the initiative and ask, ask, ask - nobody at Viking has given us any kind of status, and frankly they don't seem to want to deal with the problem. At this point we haven't asked for any money - we haven't filed a claim - we've just asked for our bag back!

Additionally, it has been a month since we left the ship with almost 100 Euros of credit balance (from an excursion Viking cancelled). We were told at check out that they couldn't help us with this (we wanted to use it to partially offset the $200 tip we left for the crew) and that Customer Service would credit it back to us on the card we used to pay for the cruise. You guessed it, nothing has been credited.

To say that we are disappointed with Viking from a customer service perspective is an understatement. We are frequent/annual cruisers and have experience with six other cruise lines - in our experience Vikings customer care stands out in a negative way in this instance. I'm not saying you will experience this bad customer experience, but we have so far.