Viking River Cruises
reviews and complaints

I am a travel agent with AAA and have done a large amount of business with Viking over my 10+ years. I dont know what is going on over there but agents are giving out incorrect information and then not honoring what is being told.

On March 24 2022, my clients (Ronald Reed) and I got an email stating that their cruise to Kiev had been cancelled for a 3rd time. We started booking this trip for 2020, 2021 and 2023. They were not traveling till 2023 this last time. We did figure it would be cancelled due to the Russian war going on but were hopeful that they may be able to travel.

After 3 times of being cancelled due to covid/war, they decided to book a completely different trip for 2023 to the Capitals of Eastern Europe and use the funds from the Kiev booking to be applied to the new booking to the Capitals of Eastern Europe.

I spoke with a "Ricky" who was not in the reservation department (not sure what department he was in honestly) who I advised that the Reed's had decided to rebook for the Eastern Europe trip, he confirmed that they wanted the vouchers with the additional 10% and even went over how much the vouchers would be since my clients were taking the vouchers vs the refund.

Ricky told me that the current future credits would be available immediately to apply to the new booking and the 10% overage that they were to receive was going to be issued within a day or two and could be added on at that time.

He told me that he would have to transfer me to a reservation agent that would get the new booking set up and could get the vouchers applied.

He then transferred me to a Mikhail Ekchenguer who set up the new booking, once the booking was set up, Mikhail told me that the vouchers werent ready and he would get them applied as soon as they were available and send me a confirmation. Not once did he ever tell me I needed to check back in with him to see if they had to be applied by a certain date or that it would cancel.

I never heard from Mikhail and just happened to be logged in under the agent site and noticed the booking was no longer showing.

I immediately called Viking and was advised that it had cancelled due to lack of payment, the vouchers had been issued but they were the wrong amount. They were supposed to be $6951.31 pp plus an additional $695.13 pp for the 10% overage. The vouchers were only issued for $6751 pp. I had been working with a lady named Aurea Stichter.

The pricing of course had gone up also, when I held the booking back on March 28th the pricing for the cruise was $8099 pp with his past guest/early booking discounts. When they had to rebook my clients the pricing was about $400 more.

I went thru everything with Aurea and she was working on getting it set up again. While on hold we got disconnected so I had to call back and spoke with another agent Jeff, who was at least able to get it on hold and I told him would call back on Monday to get it straightened out.

I called today 4/4/22 and spoke with another agent Carol, she informed me that I was given the wrong amounts on the vouchers and at first she said they would not price protect, after telling her that was unacceptable, she got a supervisor who did approve the pricing protection.

However they would not honor the 10% overage on the voucher that both the client and myself were told (my clients were at my desk and heard the conversation with Ricky).

I find it extremely frustrating that I can be told something and then it will not be honored. The agent I spoke with even said there were notes on the booking and she is the one who gave me the name Ricky.

If I make a mistake quoting someone, I have to honor that, how is it that companies now wont honor it even when there are notes and they are able to pull phone calls.

Viking needs to do better.

Client expects for Viking to do what is right and honor the 10% that they were told they were getting. For 3 yrs Viking has had alot of my clients money being held and in addition to this cruise he has two more bookings with them. He is reconsidering keeping those bookings and taking his business elsewhere if this is how they are willing to treat their loyal cruisers.

I never subscribed to your catalog. Nowhere on your website do you list a way to be removed from your physical mailings. Unwanted paper mail is terrible for the environment, you should stop sending these out unsolicited and make it easier for people that do get them by mistake to opt out.

I will never take a cruise with your company because of this deceitful and wasteful marketing policy.

Our 2 groups, including an elderly handicapped woman, her able-bodied son, myself, and a nurse, booked a Mediterranean Sojourn cruise with Viking.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we had to move our cruise date. When this change was made, we were forced to pay an extra $4k, only to be told we no longer had the tier of suites we originally paid for, and had instead been moved across the boat into suites with no view. Sleezy to charge more for less.

Later we find out that Viking Air failed to book the 2 parties on the same flight, as originally agreed upon, leaving the disabled woman in our party separate from her son and the nurse in our party. Especially egregious on such a long and taxing international flight. After asking to switch flights, and after a 30 minute phone call, Viking told the woman in our party there was nothing we could do, unless we shell out an additional $350 per ticket. Why pay them to fix their own mistake.

So I called them. After a nearly hour long, heated, extremely condescending phone call with a Viking Air Supervisor (during which she blamed their customer service department, claimed Viking had done nothing wrong, and hung up on me) they finally relented and “absorbed the cost to change flights,” only to tell me that I owed them $234 to cover the fare difference. Which they then covertly charged me twice (probably hoping I wouldn’t notice.)

Unprofessional, condescending customer service, sleezy business practices, and preying upon customers with disabilities is not a business I want anything to do with. And you bet we will be warning others against such an oily, predatory company.

It is a shame that this will be our first and last Viking cruise. On a trip costing us more than $44,000 they have lost any future business with us over this $234 (or rather, attempted $468). This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Another swindled customer put it perfectly: they are stepping over dollars to pick up dimes.

Let the buyer beware.

My husband and I booked a cruise on the Viking Octantis called Canadian Discovery. We booked the cruise in November 2020 because of the many varied and interesting included excursions. We have been waiting anxiously to book these excursions but were told there was a delay in scheduling the excursions. We were told we would receive an email when excursions were available for booking. On March 24 I logged into our account and not only were there excursions available for booking but almost all of them were at additional cost. Most of the excursions we were excited about are no longer “included” but considered optional now. This is very disappointing and a case of false advertising. After several chats with customer service we were told Viking only guarantees one included excursion per port. However the Viking website was misleading and false. I have been an avid Viking cruiser for several years and am extremely disappointed in this type of scam.

We booked this expedition cruise a long time ago based on information provided by Viking at the time. I quote " Viking offers a variety of excursions, virtually all included in your cruise fare, from RIB sailings and zodiac landings to tranquil kayak outings and underwater submarine dives. Hike through magnificent landscapes and access remote areas, all led by an experienced team of experts skilled in operating in rugged and polar environments. Or try a unique experience with one of our exclusive, limited-capacity optional excursions."

I have pictures of all the pages pf the shore excursions that were included when we booked the cruise and up to today. I notice that today your website has been changed. All of the tours were "included" in our fare and we expect what we contracted for. Now they want money for most of the tours. This is false advertising.

I have photos of the original tours on your website on another device if you want them.

My wife and I booked a Viking river cruise for June 2022. In January of this year we decided to postpone it to 2023 due to Covid. We contacted Viking and told them we wanted to use our Risk Free Guarantee, so they gave us vouchers, which we then used to book the June 2023 cruise. I subsequently discovered that this means we don't have any trip cancellation insurance because the new cruise was paid for with vouchers. This was never explained to us when we cancelled the 2022 cruise or when we booked the 2023 cruise or when they sold us trip insurance.

My concern is that if we have to cancel the 2023 cruise for any covered reason we will get $0 back and we paid $11,517 for the cruise. I've spoken with 2 customer service reps and 2 supervisors and none of them seem to care, and their only answer is "this is how vouchers work", like we're supposed to know that. When I questioned why I was sold trip insurance they say that "trip insurance covers other things besides cancellation", which is true but cancellation is a big part of what the trip insurance documents state they cover. They also say they cover 100% of the cost of the trip, with no mention of how it was paid for.

We also discovered that we could have just changed our cruise dates instead of using the Risk Free Guarantee, which would have avoided this whole problem. We had no idea we had that option since it doesn't seem to be documented anywhere. If we had known that we would have definitely done that.

Viking clearly is being very deceptive with these vouchers.

Please help!

On March 21, 2022, I called to inquire about an excursion on my extension. I have booked an extension three days prior to arriving on the river boat in Paris. The representative, was rude and insisted with a smirk that there are no excursions with extensions. I informed her that I’ve been traveling with Viking for five years and there have always been excursions offered with the extensions, to check. I was trying to inquire about an excursion I saw on the website, but was no longer posted. I wanted to know if it was offered, no longer available and/or sold out. This representative told me not to be rude. I informed her she was being rude and not helpful. I asked if there was to be a customer survey after our call or could I have her name, she laughed and hung up!

Viking has always had the most helpful and professional representatives, this was a shock! I have never encountered anyone as rude, unhelpful, almost willing to try to be arrogant and obnoxious with the smirking and laughing. I never got my question answered. Where is Viking getting these rude people! I pay way too much to be treated with so much disrespect.

* On a positive note, I did call back and spoke to a really nice and extremely helpful representative, who was able to answer my question and offered his email, should I have any other questions in the future. This is exactly how Viking is and should be! The rude representative should be dismissed because Viking should not want them representing their outstanding company. I am booked on my third river cruise with them and had the pleasure of my first Viking Ocean Cruise last year.

To reiterate, I have never dealt with a rude representative for Viking. Shame on Viking for having someone like her answer calls, when she had no knowledge about Vikings excursions for pre extensions and how to be polite and resourceful.

On January 23, 2021 my wife and I paid Viking Cruises $21,072.86 for a Mekong River cruise, with a cruise date of February, 2022 with Vikings Risk-Free Guarantee. Due to Covid concerns in SE Asia we cancelled the cruise in October 2021 and we each received a voucher for $10,536.43. In November, 2021 we booked a Viking cruise through the Panama Canal using the vouchers. The problem is that the cost of the Panama Canal cruise was around $5,000 each and Vikings policy is the unused portion of their vouchers is lost. So my wife and I each paid for a $5,000 cruise with a $10,000 future cruise voucher and Viking is keeping the remaining "unused" $5,000. The Viking representative that I talked with in November to apply our vouchers to the Panama cruise did not inform me about losing the unused balance of the vouchers.

I called Viking customer relations on February 25, 2022 to inquire about the unused balance of our vouchers and spoke with an agent who stated "Vikings mistake and the the $10,536.43 vouchers should have been spilt in half and my wife and I each should have been issued two vouchers of about $5,500 ." The customer relations agent stated Viking needed time to review my request and he would contact in a few days. On Monday, February 28, the agent called and said Viking was willing to issue vouchers of one half of the amount of "overage". Viking trying to keep more than $5,000 of our money. The agent also said that I could have asked for the $10,536.43 vouchers to be split in half. How was I supposed to know that?

Viking Cruises used their advertised Risk-Free Guarantee to entice us to pay a very large amount of money in advance. In the information for the Risk-Free Guarantee there was no mention that vouchers could only be used for one trip.

Also, the Booking Terms and Conditions and the Passenger Ticket Contract did not have any statement on travel vouchers.

My wife and I feel we should be issued vouchers for the full unused balance. We paid for the Mekong River cruise cruise in advance in good faith and believed Vikings Risk-Free Guarantee.

All we are asking is for Viking to let us use the money we gave them for a future cruise. We paid Viking in advance when they were having to cancel cruises and needed the cash flow, now we are asking that Viking return the favor and let us use the money we gave them. We are senior citizens and feel Viking Cruises is trying to take advantage of us. It is very shortsighted for Viking to steal our money when they could make a lot more from us in profit if we were happy loyal customers.

In June of 2020 we, along with friends(two couples) booked and paid for the Grand European River Cruise to sail in June of 2021. In April of 2021 we were notified by Viking that our cruise was cancelled due to Covid. We were offered vouchers for 125% of the value to rebook for 2022 which we did.

In late 2021 we learned of your Covid restrictions requiring vaccines, testing and masks. I was vaccinated and had an adverse reaction and chose not to take a booster. My husband refuses to be vaccinated. We contacted Igor Solodukha at Viking and requested a refund. Igor told us we had “Redeemed” our voucher when we rebooked and we would NEVER be eligible for a cash refund. And all 2022 sailings would require vaccines, boosters, testing, and masks. We spoke with our friends and decided to rebook for 2023, hoping the restrictions would be lifted. On February 24, 2022, I contacted Viking and Keanu Meacham rescheduled our cruise for 2023. Our friends also contacted Viking and one couple was able to reschedule and the other couple was told our vouchers expired in December of 2022, at which time we would all receive refunds. They could not reschedule. We all decided to request refunds then Igor reversed himself saying we could not get refunds and we had to sail in 2022 or lose all our funds. Our friends, fearful of losing $14000, decided to go in 2022. We received nothing from Viking about the 2023 cruise, which we don’t want to go on because our friends are going in 2022 and we cannot go in 2022 UNLESS we get vaccines and boosters which we refuse. We also have other friends who booked the same time we did for the same cruise, different sail date. They too accepted the 125% voucher and rescheduled. Dave and Lou Whitemarsh also had issues with the vaccine and they, with the help of their travel agent were able to secure 50% of their cash returned and the difference issued in new Unexpired vouchers. When we accepted the voucher it was NEVER disclosed that we could never get a refund or that we would be forced to get vaccines that we believe are dangerous. Had we been armed with that knowledge in 2021, we would never have accepted the voucher. I I wrote Viking an email on March 3, 2022, sharing all this information and have still not heard from them.

In 2019 my husband and I booked the Viking Homelands Cruise and it was cancelled by Viking in 2020 due to the Pandemic. No complaints. We received a cash refund. We immediately booked a 2020 cruise but we cancelled in plenty of time and also received a full refund. In 2021, I booked a Viking Homelands cruise from 7/24/22 to 8/13/22, including the Iceland pre-cruise excursion, for six (6) people leaving in July, 2022 and I paid for it from my personal funds as a gift to my siblings. One of my siblings could not go on the cruise after a month passed, and so Viking arranged for a refund to me but charged unexpected penalties even though I had booked all three bookings under the no-risk policy. I understood that when one person in a cabin must cancel then the other person must pay as a single-person traveler which is expensive but accepted by me. In any event and fast forward to 2022, and the Russian outbreak occurred plus one other sibling has undergone various surgeries and was required to cancel. on March 9, 2022, I cancelled all three bookings because I had paid for the cruises which total amounted to $99,000. This cancellation was done more than the required 120 days and so, as in the past, I expected a full cash, less the $100 cancellation fee per person, refund as we truly intended to try to rebook again next year (2023). To my great surprise and dissatisfaction, various penalties were charged to the total amount of almost $9,000. I am so shocked as once again I was not told about this when I booked these bookings under the no risk policy and after repeated phone calls and emails to Viking, I have been ignored. I understand the $100 charge per person/cabin and I also understand a no refund to the travel insurance which is very expensive to begin with but the other penalties on my siblings bookings (not my booking) for excursion penalties are so unfair on the part of Viking. I am asking for Viking to respond to me and give me a refund which is fair and reasonable under the circumstances. I do not appreciate being ignored. Barbara Sloan. Booking numbers 6376177; 6399917 and 6399938. [protected]@aol.com

A group of 4 couples booked the Danube Waltz cruise in March, 2019 for a late May 2020 departure. Due to COVID, it was cancelled by Viking. Did we want to reschedule? Sure, we did, and we picked the same cruise for the same week in 2021. Viking again cancelled the cruise due to COVID, which was understandable. We were contacted shortly thereafter about rebooking a third time. Some of us were uncertain at that point; we are all almost 70 years old, and several of us have developed health concerns in the past few years. We were told that if we wanted our money back, we could do that, or, behind the other door, we could receive a voucher for 125% of what we had originally paid, and we had 24 months to rebook. We understood that if we wanted a refund, it was not the 125% We were told this was a "risk-free guarantee" and that we could cancel this trip up to 24 hours in advance of the cruise departure. We are 8 intelligent people with some travelling experience. In fact, this sounded perfect for our group, due to age, health and world situations, right? So, we rescheduled for May 2022. Fast forward to Feb. 2022, and the Russians have just invaded Ukraine. We do not feel comfortable being that close to what is now a war zone, and the frequent COVID testing, although perhaps understandable is, off-putting. I understand that COVID has wreaked havoc on Viking's business, but clearly many of us have been victims of the classic bait and switch tactic. The wording and meaning of "voucher" has been tossed around by Viking representatives to now imply that those of us who agreed to let Viking "keep" our thousands of dollars for 3 years were informed up front that by doing such, we'd lose the opportunity to ever be refunded. In fact, that is not what we were told. That is why it was a risk-free guarantee.

Viking cruisers are primarily an older population, and I believe the company is counting on them to remain afloat. That is simply bad business.

Booking numbers #[protected]), #[protected]) and #[protected]).

I have been a repeat, loyal Viking customer over several years. On this upcoming trip to Greece in April, I was flying from orlando fl to greece, but returning to VT. Because I am under drs care for surgery on my leg and need to return to FL after trip to see the Dr again before I go to VT for summer, I requested a change to my last connection from VT to FL. Because of some contractual problem, Viking would charge us $350 each extra for this change. The actual price for this American Airlines is $156 each! Very disappointed in Viking. It will be cheaper for me to make our own change! I think Viking should be more flexible and customer friendly. So disappointed in them. Hope something better is done for us.

several of my friends all booked a cruise for Paris and several other places and then covid hit the world, Viking cancelled this cruise in 2020 we were issued travel vouchers because we were looking to go on this trip, next trip was scheduled for August [protected] , my husband suddenly passed away with a massive heart attack on August 5th 2021 I advised Viking of this and also that i was not able to travel, again, Viking told me that they would issue travel vouchers , I tried again to tell them my husband was deceased and i would not be able to travel, they told me to contact TripMate , which i did they said that they were not going to issue a refund because i took the travel vouchers, Viking has been very underhanded about the whole situation, I can't afford to just hand them over $11,000.00 , bottom line, Viking does not explain their underhanded business practices when they want all their money upfront, it is not only a heartbreaking situation that i lost my husband but now i have to deal with this please help me get this resolved,

In January of this year I booked a river cruise for September 2023 with Viking. Earlier this week, a personal matter arose and I had to cancel. I sent my rep at Viking an email explaining the situation and asking for a refund under their published terms , full price less $100 per passenger , as stated in the terms. She replied that I would be receiving approximately $300 instead of the approximately $1,800 I expected.

My Viking rep explained that the trip protection insurance, $1,600, was paid for in full from the deposit and the refund , less a $300 cancellation fee, would be sent within 30 days. When I saw this, I emailed my Viking rep in an attempt to reschedule but she said the cruise had already been cancelled when she saw my email and management would not consider reinstating it.

No where in the 19 pages of ticketing documentation is it clearly spelled out that the insurance is treated as a separate item. The cancellation fee schedule makes no mention of charges or costs that are not eligible for refund upon request. The only invoice I received from Viking had all of the charges detailed , including insurance, which I feel should be refunded as well. My reasoning is that it is not clearly excluded from being refunded and is listed on the invoice as part of the total cost to the customer. As of today, we're 20 months from the planned cruise date so this isn't a matter of a last minute change.

Be extremely careful in dealing with these folks . They will wave the agreement in your face and are not flexible at all nor do they understand customer service. Just an oily bunch, they don't understand customer relationships, just transactions. They are stepping over dollars to pick up nickels.

My husband and I are scheduled for a Mediterranean cruise departing Athens April 30, 2022. We were informed via email on Jan 25, 2022 that we must now have the booster vaccination in order to sail. At the time we booked and paid for the cruise, there was no booster requirement. If there had been, we would not have booked the cruise. We booked the cruise while we were on a thoroughly enjoyable Panama Canal cruise in Nov 2021. We took 2 Viking cruises in 2021 and were anticipating our third.

We were informed of the COVID vaccination change less than 120 days prior to departure so could not give written notice of cancellation to accrue the least stringent cancellation fee. Both my husband and I have called Viking reservations and have both been told that our options are 1) to cancel now with a 50% cancellation fee and file a reimbursement claim with travel insurance or 2) get a voucher which will be good for 24 months.

Viking changed the requirements after we had paid our money in good faith and will not consider our suggested solutions 1) grandfathering us for the cruise since we booked pre-booster requirement, 2) accepting natural immunity since we have both had COVID or 3) giving us a full refund.

We booked a cruise in 2019, paid in full by June 2019, for a 2020 river cruise. The cruise was cancelled due to Covid. I called to see what the status was and was told that I missed the cut off date, a email was sent to me about the cancellation. I NEVER RECEIVED AN EMAIL! We were told that we could rebook and would receive 25 percent more in "Vouchers". We were not told that our original money was rolled into "Vouchers" and would become worthless. And we were not told that the Tripmate insurance we purchased did not work with "Vouchers". We rebooked for this July 2022. I had a bad knee injury in June 2021 and was told I needed both knees replaced. So after a lot of consideration my husband and I decided to cancel and get our money back. So to my shock I was told the "Vouchers" had no cash value and the insurance would not work. My only choice was to cancel and they would renew the vouchers for 24 months. I have been emailing back and forth for a month now! I can not understand why our initial cash investment was not just rolled over along with the insurance since we had no decision in the cancellation of the first trip. Viking is very deceitful and misleading. After reading a lot of the same issues I am surprised that there is not a class action law suit about this. Viking seems to have plenty of money for commercials but unwilling to take care of the customers. I wonder how long they will stay in business when treating people like this!

we had a cruise booked for 2020 and Viking cancelled the cruise because of covid, they issued travel vouchers, i also purchased the travel plan protection , we booked another cruise for August 14 thru the 24 and even paid for extra days in Paris, my husband passed away on August 5th 2021 and i sent Viking documentation to that effect, they sent me a e-mail that my vouchers had no monetary value, i then contacted the tripmate plan , got a e-mail from them 02-18-2022 after several months and calls , they informed me that they were closing the case and there was NO refund due, if death is not a reason for refund please let me know what is and also the plan plainly states that a refune will be paid in the event of death, this is already an emotional issue and Viking and Tripmate are making it worse, Tripmate is the protection plan company .

I booked an Alaska cruise in 2020 for June 2022. I was sent an itinerary and a "Risk-free Guarantee". I called viking in Feb 2022, 104 days before sailing. Due to circumstances, I needed to cancel the booking. I was told that I would receive either a voucher good on another cruise or a 20% penalty. I would be unable to use the voucher and had to accept the penalty.

The cancelation penalty was NEVER mentioned by the agent during booking.

This is theft by viking cruise line.

We booked the Rhine river cruise in 2019, for a 2020 trip. In 2020 my husband was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer with a 90% cure rate. The cruise was rescheduled for 2021 due to covid. We asked for our money back then but were talked into the voucher because Viking said it will take two years to get a refund so just reschedule your trip with a voucher. My husband's cure rate was 90% and we had every intention of taking the cruise so we agreed. We also purchased their trip insurance two times, once in 2019 and also in 2020. The 2021 cruise was also cancelled due to covid by viking. Again we purchased the insurance. In early 2021 my huusband's cancer went to stage 4, so much for 90% cure! We asked for our money back and were told we couldn't have it because we took the voucher. The voucher that they talked us into because they said we wouldn't get our money back for "two years anyway". In December 2021, my husband's kidneys started being attacked by the keytruda infusions that he is on for the cancer. AT that point his oncologist said you cannot travel especially out of the US, due to your cancer and now the kidneys. Viking will not give us our money back. They told me to file an insurance claim, which I have done but now I am seeing people that say the ins co won't refund it either.

It appears that alot of us were intentionally deceived by Viking for the purpose of minimizing customer refunds. As the pandemic was in its early stages, Viking offered nervous customers a chance to postpone their trips and receive a voucher. Then, ten days later after numerous scared people took the offer, Viking then offered a full refund, except to those who took the vouchers. ( that was our group) When asked, Vikings explanation was that voucher holders were not eligible for a refund, as though there was some insurmountable rule that wouldn't allow it. The fact is that Viking simply chose not to accommodate voucher holders, and now the reason is clear. The offering of vouchers was simply a ploy to reduce the number of refunds it would have to give. No other explanation makes sense. This short sited policy decision will undoubtedly cost Viking a lot of future business, as repeat customers like me book with their competitors and warn friends and family of their deceptive practices.

I understand Covid-19 threw the whole world into a state of uncharted territory but this is no way you should treat all your customers. Other customers who have expressed disappointment with this policy were told that a "service specialist" would contact them. This was simply another ploy to give the impression that the issue would be resolved, when, in fact, Viking has no intention of correcting this unfair practice.

We booked in 2019 for a Rivercruise down the Rhine for April 2020 from Basel Switzerland to Amsterdam. We also invited 2 other couples who have never sailed with Viking cruise and since we had we gave viking raving reviews. Now here we are 3 yrs later still trying to go one the cruise. Covid still a issue in Europe and all the different regulations in place. We must be Fully vaccinated that includes Booster if eligible, wear mask on the boat and off the boat, must have a covid test with negative test before you fly, before embarking plus stay in your room up to 3 hrs while you wait for test results. We did not sign up for this, this is not the Rivercruise we all purchased to celebrate my 60th and my friends 65th birthday and a honeymoon for the 3rd couple. I would love for a service Specialist to call me and resolve our complaints and issues.