Viking River Cruises
reviews and complaints

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.

I was on a Viking River Cruise Amsterdam-Basal in April 14-25, 2022 after rescheduling 3 times. Viking would not refund our money but issued vouchers for 3 years. We rebooked for April 2022. When we arrived at the ship, we were tested every night for Covid. Due to the small ship, social distancing was impossible and most everyone removed their masks for long periods of time when dining. I wore a mask and at times doubled masks. On day 3, I tested positive for Covid. I questioned the results of the PCR test but was told it was accurate. At 9:30 am I was sent to my room to pack and wait to be removed from the ship. At 6:30 pm, I was put in a cab and driven 2.5 hours away to a hotel in Cologne, Germany. When I arrived at 9:00 pm I was greeted by a man who was introduced as a Viking employee and our Host. He advised us we needed to stay in our rooms and we could order room service. He also advised us Viking was paying our hotel bill. I complied with his directions. On day 3, I was told by his spouse, a Viking host, employed by Viking, that I would need to pay the hotel bill when I checked out and Viking would reimburse me. After 10 days, I was booked to fly home. While I retested positive, I was not contagious and was given a Letter of Recovery by a physician in Austria.

I filed claims with Tripmate the insurance company I was insured with. After 90 days, I received a minimal reimbursement. Viking did not cover my hotel bill and Tripmate only covered half. I was reimbursed $99/day out of $699/day I paid for the 4 days I was not on the ship. However, I missed 5 days of cruising.

When I challenged Viking customer service representative about the hotel bill and what I and other people were told by the Viking host, the Viking customer service rep advised me I should have gotten that in writing and they would not be reimbusing me for the hotel bill. I was offered a voucher for $6400 or $3200/person which has not cash value. I declined the voucher since Viking does not honor their word or contracts. The trip cost me $5800 plus $2374 hotel bill. I was reimbursed $2500 total. Nothing directly from Viking.

This trip at it's best was very stressful, frightening to be taken off the ship away from my family members on the trip with me and transferred to a hotel in a strange city, foreign country. Then to be mislead by a Viking Host about the hotel bill and told I needed to have gotten that in writing at 9:00pm when I arrived at the hotel is poor business practice by Viking.

I was one of over 30 people removed from the ship we were on in the same hotel I was taken to and I was told there were 4 other hotels with Viking guests who tested positive also. This handling of a guest who tested positive was something Viking needed to be clear about when we rebooked.

I have traveled with other travel companies with great experiences. I'm very disappointed in Viking.

Viking Paris to the Swiss Alps

I will start with the booking of flights. When Viking books your flight you will almost always have a layover. You will also likely be up over 30+ hours if you want to enjoy your first day of your trip. Our flight home was scheduled for 9:30am which meant we had to have our bags out by 3 AM. We had to cancel a Paris by night tour because it ended at 12:50 AM. We would not have been able to sleep. We booked an extension on the front end of this trip in the Swiss Alps. It was very nice. I enjoyed all of it. When we boarded the ship the trip was basically over. We called many times 2 weeks before our trip started to inquire about low water levels, ship swapping, and the use of motor coaches. We were consistently told there were no issues. The TRUTH is Viking had been using motor coaches and ship swapping for 6 weeks. We got an email once we were in the air on the way to Geneva that we would be on a different ship than what we booked. (ship swap) That ship was unable to sail anywhere really. We paid for a balcony we never got to use. We basically stayed docked in front of shipping containers until we were bused to the ship we were really supposed to be on. Our state room on that ship had a horrible moldy smell. We complained repeatedly about it. They were never able to fix it. This ship was also unable to sail. We did the Rhine by a day ship. Viking was basically using their ships to prevent having to pay for hotel rooms for 160 people. We spent so much time on buses that we opted out of several excursions to avoid being stuck on another bus. 2 passengers tested positive for Covid. The message was if you ask for a PCR test and it's positive you will be whisked away and your trip will be over. They were encouraging dont ask dont tell. I know 60% of our group of 160 caught Covid at a minimum. When we arrived in Paris for the land portion of our trip we were sick. We took rapid Covid tests throughout our trip for the protection of others. We were negative. On our final day in Paris we skipped the panorama tour and canceled our day in Versailles because we were too sick to do anything. As soon as we landed we went to urgent care. (9 hrs) after leaving Paris. We were Covid positive. Viking refuses to refund the money for my balcony and Versailles. Call me crazy but if you lie to people who could have changed their trip or gotten 100% of their money back because they had a no risk booking you have a responsibility. Viking LIED repeatedly about low water levels, ship swapping, and the use of motor coaches. Oh let me not forget that our bus side swiped a construction site with everyone on the bus. I wish we would have listened to our gut and cancelled or pushed the trip out. IF YOU HAVE A VIKING RIVER CRUISE PLEASE CANCEL IF YOU HAVE A CANCEL AT ANYTIME BOOKING. AT THE VERY LEAST PUSH YOUR TRIP TO A TIME YOU KNOW THE WATER LEVELS WILL BE AGREEABLE. VIKING WILL NOT TELL YOU THE TRUTH. ALSO CONSIDER THIS TAKE THE MONEY YOU PAID AND DIVIDED THAT BY THE NUMBER OF DAYS YOU WILL BE ON VACATION. FOR US IT WAS 1300 A DAY. WE COULD DO THAT FOR SO MUCH CHEAPER AND QUITE FRANKLY NICER ON OUR OWN. THIS WAS OUR SECOND AND LAST TRIP. We filed an insurance claim we know will be denied. We also called Viking. They would only offer a voucher on a trip that had to be booked and paid for within a year. Why do i want to give them more money? I filed a complaint with the better business bureau. We will see what comes out of that. Probably nothing. On another note during this trip, we witnessed constant disregard for people with disabilities and for the elderly. It's really a shame someone can't hold Viking accountable. I will say that Viking the machine is the problem. The on the ground employees are amazing for the most part. I want to a refund for my balcony upgrade and my missed excursion due to the situation Viking put us in. I want a $2100 refund not a voucher.

My wife and i recently completed VIKING BOOKING: 6579460. Unfortunately her bag arrived one day late and was turned over to a delivery company in Paris.We were assured for 5 days that it would be delivered to the barge -- it never was nor have we seen it in since we departed over 60 days ago. I approached the cruise director and requested a cab to the airport to retreive it my self and the requested was denied -- SO IN ESSENCE I WAS HELD HOSTAGE ON THE BARGE. Viking indciated they had NO responsibilty to retrieve the bag -- absurd. We trusted Viking as a top flight cruise line but have been sorely disappointed. So two months later still no bag, no offer from Viking to intercede and an offer of $500 for a subsequent cruise. As an American Citizen i find this appaling and will request US Congressional involvment to remedy if required.

This is a copy of letter sent to customer service center a week ago.

To whom it may concern

Regarding $150.00 on board credit

Confirmation number # G 692348

My experience with Viking has been awful and I am extremely disappointed.

Some background info:

I purchased a $150 gift for a friend ( Mr/ Mrs *******cruising with you later this month. When I purchased this certificate I was advised the ****** could use the voucher to ….

- apply to their outstanding remaining balance

- apply to tips

- purchase alcohol

Viking did NOT Send written confirmation or documentation concerning my purchase, luckily I wrote down and maintained my confirmation number as this was the only support I could give my friend to enable her to activate the gift.

Viking asked me for my friends email as they were going to send her a written confirmation of this gift - they also did NOT receive a confirmation.

Ms ***** contacted Viking to apply the $150 to her balance, she was told she could not use it to pay her balance nor could she use it to pay for tips. This couple is a sober couple, hence I would never have purchased this voucher if it couldn’t be used to pay their balance or for tips.

My friend contacted Viking - no one cared about this problem, if you want I can send you copies of her correspondence.

Yesterday, I contacted Viking and spent approximately an hour and half on the phone with various representatives including Serena, Ru and Clarise - I was told Viking does not care about this problem and has no intention of refunding the $150 to me, or allowing my friend to apply to her outstanding balance.

After receiving, no satisfaction with Viking, I contacted Visa and disputed the charge.

My friends are stuck with a useless gift voucher that I would NOT have purchased if your representative had not lied to me- does he or she receive a commission for lying and misrepresenting information to customers .

I await your response

Regards,

Sent from my iPad

Sent from my iPhone

We booked a river cruise back in January of 2020 for a $10,000 trip that was planned for April of 2020. They refused to give our money back but instead offered us a travel voucher. After several rebooking (cancelled by Viking) and an additional $2000 (air fees and increased cruise costs) we were scheduled to sail 4/15/22. We also purchased insurance again. But, on 4/12 (1 day prior to pre extension hotel check in and 3 days prior to embarkment) one of us tested positive for COVID. We called the Viking hotline and we’re told to secure a place to stay, save our receipts, and let them know when we are ready to go home. We were left to fend for ourselves hotel, food, medical. Twenty days later and $4000 of additional expenses (hotel/medical/food) we tested negative and could fly home. Viking is now saying, because we were on a voucher, we are not eligible for a travel claim. Trip mate insurance responded that we are not eligible for a claim. The policy they sold us did not say that! Our risk free guarantee said we could cancel 24 hours before hotel check in

This is theft, fraud, and deceit on the part of Viking. I am very much interested in a class action lawsuit against Viking.

Booked a Nile cruise in 2019 to sail in February 2021. When Covid made it appear this wasn't going to happen rebooked for April 2022 absorbing the penalty for canceling into the new booking. Did this since 2022 was filling up fast and we wanted to make sure there was availability. This cruise was ultimately canceled due to the Osiris not being ready. They rebooked us on the Aton for May 2023. This to has now been canceled since the ship will not be ready. They refuse to refund the original penalty of 3079.40 which was rolled into the subsequent bookings. We are being penalized for a product they can't deliver and they incur no liability.

Romantic Danube river cruise, 13/8-20/8/2022.

We had been booked on a 6am flight with KLM from Edinburgh to Budapest via Amsterdam, where we were to begin our river cruise.

We checked in 24hrs before departure and had been issued with boarding passes by KLM.

We left home at 3am to travel to Edinburgh Airport.

On arrival at Edinburgh Airport, we proceeded to airport security gate to access departure hall only to be advised by security personnel that our KLM flight had been cancelled.

As KLM has no physical presence at Edinburgh Airport we were advised by airport staff to book into local hotel and return to airport the next day!

In checking e-mail we thought it odd that Lufthansa were informing us that the Munich to Budapest flight was full and carry on luggage to be checked in! This was sent at 03.15, no mention of KLM flight cancelled.

We then contacted Viking help line,who made no mention of KLM flight being cancelled, but later phoned advising us we were on Lufthansa flight to Budapest via Munich departing at 10.50.

When we eventually arrived in Budapest, the Viking staff seemed friendly and helpful but inexperienced. After a lengthy delay at airport the transfer to ship, which we were told would be 45minutes was in fact 90 minutes.

We eventually arrived at our Viking ship at 10pm, having left our home at 3am.

We were then welcomed by staff who advised us to go to check in then dinning room where we would be offered a meal. At check in desk we were advised only a sandwich will be brought to our room! There appeared to be significant communication issues.

For the return journey we were advised re departure information for our 12 mid day flight. We were informed that transfer to airport was at 5.30am, 6hrs 30 min pre flight! We were told that restaurant would be open for continental breakfast, it wasn’t. We were also told that we would be provided with a ‘snack sack’ from reception which was not offered/ available. There again appeared to be significant communication issues.

There seems throughout a number of significant communication issues during our holiday.

We booked an 8 day river cruise as stated in your brochures, we had a 6 day holiday and meals provided on 6 days only.

Booked a cruise with viking cruise line for a trip to antarctica 2/20/23. Reservation #6916113, I had to cancel for personal reasons and did so within 120 days so I had to pay a $100 cancellation fee. Fine with that, then I found out they were charging me $2099.00 for trip mate travel protection fee which I never asked for. When I made the deposit it was supposed to be $25.00 according to the brochure. When I checked my email a week later, the charge on my card was $2,124. I didnt know why but I just thought ok... So im that much paid up. I paid another $10,000 a few weeks later. Then I realized I had to cancel, so I followed the rules and sent a letter cancelling. I got an email which was for my $12,124 minus the $100 (which I was aware of) and then $2,099 for the trip mate travel plan which apparently was non refundable. I never asked for this insurance. I have health and life insurance and I dont give a crap about clothes being lost. I have travelled many times on planes and trains, and never buy insurance. So I tried to fight to get my $2,099 back. I called viking and I also called trip mate. They both denied my claim. I am out that money... I dont know who is getting that money (viking, or trip mate) but it isn't me. Dont book with viking cruises. They will rip you off selling you insurance that you might not want! I have tried everything to get my money back but nothing worked. So I am warning people. Thanks.

I am Gail Ericsson and I sailed on Vikings Grand European Cruise on July 13, 2022. Cruise ED: # EMB220713. We also booked 2 days extra in Budapest and 2 extra days at the end in Amsterdam. The cities were amazing and the tour guides that were provided were very knowledgeable.

What I am complaining about is a number of things:

1. We were booked on the Embla but when we arrived, we were put on the Agan. Which was fine with us. They are all the same type of ship. What I did not realize is that we were going to have to pack-up all our things and be inconvenienced and be put in a hotel for two days and then transfer to the Embla.

2. The chef on this 1st ship appeared young and as it turned out he was. The food was mediocre. I was expecting top drawer food but he was unable to pull it off. Even the pasta dish was bland (not just from me but others we were seated with). I even suggested to the pasta chef that a little burnt butter would improve the pasta - but to no avail. Once on the Embla the food improved 100%.

3. At every port we were ushered onto coaches/buses (very nice buses) to be taken to our destinations. When I was on my 1st Viking cruise (Amsterdam to Basel) when we got off the ship the cities were (mostly) right there or a few steps away. On this cruise they were a long ride away, which took away from the time we could experience the city. When we did get near a city we could walk to, Viking was unable to moor there and quickly moved our ship.

4. Because of the low water level we had to stay 2 days in a hotel. Nice room but we had to pack and repack to get back on another ship (Embla). I understand the fact that low water levels were the cause, but we were never informed that we would be staying TWO days in a hotel. The packing and unpacking were "a pain in the neck." The food at the hotel was, to put it blankly" not very good. Adequate at best.

5. The crew went out of their way to make this our "best cruise ever" but we all commented at dinner that we could see the problems that they had to overcome. The manager (Dan) was run ragged with the last-minute changes, but he had to work like the devil to make it all come together for us. We applauded him.

6. We made many friends on board ship and were happy with the cocktail hour and the informative talk about the follow day and what we could expect. Our room with balcony was just perfect but we were not expecting to have our view of another ship, moored along-side us and blocking our view or having to crawl through two other ships to get to ours, was not what we were expecting.

Booking 6588410 On August 6, 2022, our United flight #3934 was cancelled and no noticed was given to us. We were traveling with family. My brother-in-law just happened to check the flight status. We immediately called Viking and was put on hold for a long time. Was told there was a flight in Lexington but never offered to get us on it. Was told we would have to go the next day. When my brother-in-law said we would miss a day in Paris, Viking said oh maybe you should go to the airport. After checking, there were enough seats on the airplane in Lexington, if Viking had immediately booked us, we could have driven the hour to Lexington and made the flight. But we lost time going to the Louisville airport. When we got to the airport, we were told there were no more flights available and rebooked us for the next day. Therefore, we missed a day in Paris. Upon arrival the next day, the excursion bus was pulling out as we were pulling in, so we missed part of our Scenic Paris excursion. Viking did arrange to connect us to the second half of the excursion. Paris was the main reason for our trip. We started booking this trip in December of 2019. Due to covid we were cancelled twice. We were so excited to get to finally go. We were traveling with my 3 sisters and brother-in-laws. A trip of a lifetime! Therefore, we were so very disappointed to miss the first day in Paris and half of the excursion the next day. We really wanted to go up in the Eifel Tower and walk around Paris and see the street vendors and little cafes. Probably won't be another trip to Paris. It has always been my dream to go so you can understand what a disappointment it was. I though you would want to know that Viking dropped the ball. Viking shouldn't provide you with an emergency travel number that is not helpful at all.

We pleaded for VRC to see a sensible alternative to requiring every passenger to be shot and boosted by the experimental vaccines. We have natural immunity, no comorbidities, would sign a waiver if needed but will not get a shot that doesn't protect against Covid anyway.

I emailed the CEO, the Medical Director and got no response other than referral to their policy. The Passion Play in Oberammergau was changed from 2020 to 2022 and we're going to miss it again. Who knows if we can travel in 2030? As big as the disappointment is over missing this event is that our funds are "held hostage" which means we don't have any vacation funds to travel there on our own. Who can afford to pay $30K and not be refunded. I won't travel with Viking again and I am a repeat customer.

Latest incident; booking #6740729.

Viking has processed three unauthorized and erroneous credit card charges;

3 May 2022 for $570, 31 May 2022 for $940.64, and 3 August 2022 for $940.64.

I initially contacted Viking on the first charge. The person stated Viking didn’t do it since only the travel agent processes charges (aside from deposits). My travel agent showed me that it was Viking who processed the charge. I contacted Viking again. They now stated that they did process the charge, but couldn’t talk to me. They would only discuss the matter with the travel agency (who had nothing to do with the charge). According to the travel agency, Viking admitted there was a computer problem and a credit was issued (over thirty days later) in the beginning of June.

However, Viking did it again (unauthorized and erroneous charge) on 31 May 2022. Again I contacted the travel agency who contacted Viking. Viking again admitted their mistake and promised a credit back to the card. This went on for almost two months as Viking postponed the credit (I had to pay the credit card company). The credit was finally processed on 27 July 2022 (almost two months).

Third time is the charm. On 3 August 2022, Viking processed another unauthorized charge to my account. I just notified the travel agent of this. Meanwhile, I’m still out the $940.64 for their “computer problem”.

Pertinent points.

1. I changed my credit card number, but Viking used the old number to process the third charge. Apparently this contradicts the credit card policy, but they did it anyway.

2. The credit card company, Visa issued by Pentagon Federal Credit Union, wouldn't do anything since Viking had my original card “on file”.

3. Due to the timing of the charges, I had to pay upfront before getting a refund on the first. I’m still out the $940.64 paid on the second and now the third.

4. Based on my experience, be very reluctant to let a company keep your credit card “on file”. Especially Viking!

Booking number: 6244229

This was our fourth cruise on Viking. We found the tour guides completely unacceptable to Viking’s previous standards. Their rapport with the passengers was robotic and most guides needed training on how to use a microphone without garbling their words and over enunciating every word!

As we had done in the past, we decided to extend our stay in France by arriving three days prior to the cruise on May 10, 2022. We were booked in the Le Meridien Etoile, Paris. A filthy hotel with an overpriced bar and restaurant. The floor we were assigned to was under construction. The room was extremely small, dirty, and smelled. The bathroom was a falling hazard. The tub was approximately 22 inches high without a slip guard on the floor in the shower. We requested a non-slip floor matt on arrival and received it three days later the day of departure. So much for the Viking statement, “Travel the World in comfort.”

Our first leg of our trip we boarded the boat to discover none of the crew wore N-95 Masks. We brought 60 N-95 masks and wore them every day. The crew wore black surgical masks. As the first leg of our trip progressed, we noticed that the crew kept losing staff. Didn’t think much of it then but we guested that they had contracted Covid.

We arrived onboard the Viking Delling on May 31, 2022, for our second leg of our cruise with a destination of Nice, France. Upon arrival most of the working crew seemed to be new to the ship. We were offered a buffet lunch which was nothing more than cold leftovers. Most of the waiters seemed to be in training. We also notice that the size of the crew both waiters and other staff was considerably smaller.

On June 1, 2022, my wife Marlys Hakim tested positive for Covid. Although she was not experiencing any illness? We were shocked because we brought 60 KN95 masks and only unmasked for dinner. We did not use the ship masks because prior to departure Vikings written information stated that we should bring and use KN95 masks even though Viking’s crews were not following this process. On June 2, 2022, we spent the day quarantined in our state room 217. A member from the crew told us that we would disembark on June 3, 2022, to be quarantined in a hotel room but were given no information on where the hotel was located. At noon, two members of the staff came to our stateroom and escorted us to a waiting van. We were told that we were returning to Paris a 6-hour drive from our location of Vienne, France. We arrived at the Paris Marriot, Charles De Gaulle Airport Hotel and were placed in quarantine in room 118. The room was extremely uncomfortably hot. The best way to describe the room was it was nasty. I called the front desk and asked if someone could come and adjust the air-conditioning. The clerk at the desk said she could send up a fan (which would have just blown hot air around the room). I declined. She said because we were in quarantine no maintenance personnel could enter the room. I then asked if we could change our room and she said that would not be possible. The room was filthy. My wife ended up mopping the entire room with towels. Please see attached picture. We then tried to order room service and was told we could not order off the regular menu only the Viking menu? The food was horrible and often arrived cold and late. There wasn’t a thing wrong with our taste buds! There was no Viking representative to greet us when we arrived at the hotel and later that night, we receive a call from Rebeca Popa (Viking Host), stating that she didn’t realize that we had arrived, and she would see us tomorrow. We never did see her during our entire stay. We had booked an extended stay in Nice and two additional shore excursions and wanted to rejoin the three couples (the Blumsteins, Barnhills, and Partins) we had convinced to come on this trip with us. Rebeca stated that even if my wife tested negative for covid, we would not be able to rejoin our group in Nice, France. I then called Viking Relations to attempt to get a refund on the two paid excursions and was told even though it was within the 48-hour requirement for cancellation Viking could not refund payment and I would have to file a claim through the paid insurance. Speaking of insurance, Viking Guests who contracted covid and did not have insurance did not have to pay for their hotel stay? To sum it up in a few words our experience with Viking and the treatment of us was unacceptable. Again, so much for the Viking statement, “Travel the World in comfort.”

Prior to booking “Frances Finest” my wife was diagnosed with cancer. We booked this trip to have something to look forward to at the end of her year long treatment. All we experienced from Viking was disappointment. We spent over $31,000 for a disappointment of a lifetime! Dr. Michael Hakim

[protected] NW 5th Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73106

On June 17, 2022 , my United flight supposed to take off from Seattle to Budapest at 6:00 am . I received a text message from United Airlines shortly before midnight , just a short few hours before the flight, alerting me that the flight has been canceled. I called the Viking Emergency Hotline and consulted with a Viking representative. She told me that there was no way that Viking could re-issue me a new flight ticket in less than 24 hours in order to get me to Budapest to start my journey on time with the 2-day pre-cruise stay that I bought with the cruise package. She told me the only alternative I could have was to purchase a one-way ticket myself, kept the receipt and asked for reimbursement from Viking after. She also searched on line and told me that there were couple of seats still available through Delta Air, leaving Seattle at 1 pm on 6/17.

After our conversation ended, the time was around 1 am. I called United Airlines and asked whether there was any other alternative flight tat they could offer me to get there . They told me that the next flight I could get on was June 19 and I could arrive late on June 20th. Cruise was leaving late afternoon that day so there was still a strong chance that I could miss the entire trip, if there was flight delay and misconnection.

So I had no choice and told United Airline that they could refund this ticket, in this case, to Viking. Viking received a refund from United Airlines shortly for an amount of $ 2383( I have purchased an Economy Plus seat through Viking).

At 2 am, I went ahead and bought a last minute ticket, economy seat, from Delta Air for $2891.60 from Seattle to Budapest.

I hardly slept that morning, dealing with United, Viking and buying ticket from Delta. What an ordeal! But I was relieved that I still could get on a plane to get to this trip, which I had waited for the past two years. However, I did not realize that getting myself reimbursed from Viking was indeed a false hope .

I wrote Viking immediately after I purchased the air ticket from Delta. An email I sent explaining the flight cancellation detail, the conversation with their representative, on United Airline's refund back to them and attaching my receipt for the new ticket I paid on Delta Air.

When I got on the cruise, I talked to the cruise manager and told her that I had not heard from Viking whether they had received the email I sent them on June17th. She gave me another customer relations email address that I could forward my original email I wrote. So I did. She reassured me that Viking staff would contact me back.

Someone from Viking finally contacted me on Jul 11th. She told me that she was assigned to my case and she would get back to me in couple of weeks with the solution. So I waited, and waited and I had not heard from her again. Her name was Enedena Castillo.

I called Viking again on August 4th and they left a message with Enedina and asked her to call me back that day or the following morning. So I waited until 1 pm on August 5th . With no response, I called Viking Customers Relations again. This time I talked to Natasha Jones. She looked at my file on my flight reimbursement request and she told me their Company's Policy. She said Viking would never reimburse me with money on this case. It was because my trip was cancelled two years ago by Viking during Covid outbreak ( which I paid with Cash in full amount then ) so as a result I was awarded " future credit " to use in the next two years. According to her, I was only using credit spending and there was no " money " involved so I could not be compensated with real dollars. She offered me a $ 500 award voucher to use for future Viking trip . What a joke from a reputable successful Cruise Company that most people, including myself, once thought highly of. I was shocked and disappointed. I told her to consider this scenario if our roles were reversed and how she would feel spending $ 2800 + in order to make this trip after a two years wait. So she came up with increasing the voucher to $ 800.

On August 11th, I received a confirmation email from United Airline showing that they indeed had sent a refund of $ 2383 to a Corporation account ending in 0863.This was for my cancelled ticket on June 17th. If this flight had not been cancelled that morning, I would have taken it and there would have been no refund whatsoever for Viking. Under this circumstance, they should indeed owed me at least this amount they received back . If they are not willing to give me cash back, they should at least give a a voucher of $2383, just to be fair and to show at least they have a heart for their customers.

I have a bitter taste for this company now and have lost my faith with them- at least with their customer relations staff.