Viking Cruises review: Ripped off

After using all our prior guest, onboard, and booking discounts, we paid almost $16,000 for a $17,800 British Isles ocean cruise for 2 people with basic accommodations ... VERY EXPENSIVE for the trip, but we thought Viking was worth it. About 10 weeks before the departure date, my father was diagnosed with 60 +/- days to live. Viking said we could not reschedule and offered to give us a 65% refund. After considering the impact, we agreed to cancel. So Viking sent us a refund of $7,191. When I inquired, the supervisor said that it was now a 50% penalty ... so Viking deducted 50% of the FULL FARE from what we paid, and sent us the difference. They kept the full value of all the discounts! Since we were not "prevented" from taking the trip, and since neither of us were hospitalized, travel insurance was of no value. I've heard that Viking is notorious for making refunds difficult ... so I guess I should consider myself lucky to get back 45%.