VikingReviews of viking.com

We took a cruise on Viking Buri an 4th August. We were due to fly, from LHR on a BA flight arranged as part of the package, at 1000am. As we were travelling from Bath this meant a very early start and, with it, an early night beforehand. During the night we received a notification from BA to say that our flight was cancelled and we were now booked on 6th. As it was only a week's holiday this was no good. During the night and the following day, though they tried to give wrong information initially, with the help of Viking, and having cancelled and rebooked taxis,we travelled at 1700, arriving at the ship around 2215. The refreshments on the flight were the meanest we'd ever encountered, a tiny, tiny packet of corn and a bottle of water. I say all this to demonstrate that we were tired and hungry. As Viking had been kept informed of our delay and progress imagine our surprise when they said they had a sandwich waiting for us. It was a bit disappointing. This was our 3rd Viking cruise and we were further disappointed that, having got themselves a formula, Viking hadn't changed a thing. Thus was again disappointing. You have to move in. There were no surprises save for the fact that they abandoned any commentary. For us, this was a loss of enjoyment. We have raised our concerns and been offered modest vouchers. But given that we missed meals, the chance to bond with fellow travellers and the chance to look at Avignon we don't think this really acknowledges this and it became clear that customer services were interested in dealing with correspondence and moving it on rather than addressing issues. They said that they had raised concerns with senior management but it turned out that this was senior management of the ship rather than the company. This is asking the pupil to mark their own homework. In the light of this, I emailed a senior executive of the company but received no response. Given we thought this a high end holiday this was all disappointing.

In 2023 we took a Viking river cruise from Bucharest to Vienna. The cruise itself was wonderful; the food on board very good and the metre D and chef took special care dealing with my allergies. however, the entertainment on board was very poor; there was a great keyboard artist who, when he was permitted to play, played wonderfully and we could dance, but he was often preempted by rather inane talk from the cruise host about some of the places we were visiting. There was very little local talent brought on board. We were just made to learn from both management and some crew on board that our staff gratuities were not in fact divided among the staff on board Kept by a Viking. We were given a rather halfhearted Explanation that they were put toward “staff events” but on discussing the issue more with staff, we were told that they’ve never heard of such events and certainly never participated. it became obvious that our staff gratuities were simply kept by Viking. our cruise included airfare, arranged by Viking, which we were forced to take because they would not give us a credit and let us arrange our own airfare. Were included. Arrival at the airport in Bucharest, the driver did not have our name on his list and never heard of us. despite the fact that Viking insisted on arranging the airfare and transfers. We purchased upgrades to premium economy, but for some inexplicable reason, although we paid, we did not receive those upgrades on two of the legs; one outbound and one return. On the return, we were downgraded after it was confirmed we had premium economy. Viking was useless when we contacted them to correct the issue. We took the issue to the airline who looked into the matter and reinstated our premium economy for that leg, which was from Toronto YYZ to Victoria, British Columbia YYJ.

My wife and I took the Viking Grand European River Cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam on Viking Skirnir, ending on October 14, 2024. The cruise was delightful until the very end after passenger reviews were turned in. The Viking bus dropped us off over half a mile away from Schiphol airport in Amsterdam in an unmarked remote area, while other buses dropped their passengers off right at the airport departure entrance. 70+ year olds had to drag their heavy suitcases over streets and curbs at a brisk pace set by the young Viking guide. My partially disabled 72 year old wife with an artificial shoulder, dragging two suitcases behind her, didn’t see one of the many curbs at the halfway point. A wheel caught the curb and turned the suitcase into her ankle, causing her to fall heavily onto the pavement. She suffered knee and arm injuries, with her arm injury bleeding through her blouse. The suitcase wheel was broken beyond repair. Two other kind passengers took her suitcases and we all struggled on with no medical assistance made available. The guide left us at departures sweaty, worn out, and hurting, and recommended she get medical attention. Until this last crucial point in our trip, we would have rated Viking five out of five stars. But Viking turned the trip into a one-star nightmare.

This was not our first cruise with Viking but our 4th. The 3rd had issues but this one was a financial disaster! How many companies keep your money by issuing credits for what they cannot provide and then give you a couple of days to spend the credits or donate them to Viking? They could not provide the rail trip on the Glacier Express and then countless lunches which we had to buy in different towns. We paid for a leisurely river trip and spent hour after hour, day after day in buses. When all this adds up to $900+ in credits it’s the biggest rip-off ever. I have not received as much as an acknowledgment of receipt of my complaint from Viking. I guess that is not surprising considering how they do everything else.

Our cruise started on the Sunday from Lyon France however we didn't leave until the Tuesday, during most of that time in dock we had another river boat tied up at the side of ours , our view from the room balcony was another bedroom on the other boat which meant we had to close the curtains as the other bedroom was occupied, this happen a number of times throughout the voyage and one boat had its engine running for hours, this sent diesel fumes throughout our boat. We booked an excursion to the Ardeche this included a visit to a lavender farm and a visit to its museum, what they didn't tell when booking is that the lavender had been harvested, they showed us a video of what we should have seen. Included in this excursion was lunch, this was a set meal for all which consisted beef and veg, no choices ( although the restaurant had an extensive menu) it appeared pre cooked plated and ready to serve, My wife and a couple of other guests who said they don't not eat meat were not offered an alternative they just took the meat off the plate. The boat had a top deck with sun loungers, tables, chairs and awnings from which you could view the surroundings, there is also a games areas and a smoking point, once the boat left dock all these items were folded down and stowed away, we were told this is to allow the boat to sail under there bridges across the river, the meant that whenever the boat was moving we were confined inside to our cabin or the lounge. Had we have known about the above we would not have booked this type of river cruise

My mother and I booked the River tour of the capitals of Eastern Europe which was supposed to be a safe and comfortable way to travel together. We received a few confusing emails in advance of the trip about seasonal weather and a reminder that their policy is no cancellations. When we arrived, it was not simply seasonal weather patterns- there was full-scale flooding on the Danube: people had died, ships were stranded, city walls had crumbled. And Viking simply loaded us onto the ship and pretended everything was okay. After 4 days of being on the docked boat that was unable to move, they started planning to bus us from port to port, turning the trip into a bus tour rather than a luxury cruise and missing more than half our ports. Feeling unsafe and uncomfortable with being bussed to areas of the world in continued flood patterns, my mother and I elected to return home and flee the flooding area. We had to pay to fly ourselves home; there was no discussion whatsoever about crediting us for the trip and we were home for over a week before I finally reached out to Viking- not a single customer service person checked in or made sure we were okay. Now that we are trying to get a trip credit and travel reimbursement, I am getting the full runaround- being tossed from person to person and made to wait for days before they phone me out of the blue with no consideration of my time. I would not recommend anyone to cruise with Viking. They put us in an unsafe area of the world, completely refused to admit the issues and now provide no customer service to fix the problem.

Romantic Daube Cruise in Viking September 12-20, 2024. Danube river closed due to flooding. Boat has not moved from port. Long bus rides to see anything. Started on this Var and transferred to the Tor boat. They keep us hanging on that we might sail but other ships lines have cancelled their cruises through the 24th. This is like staying at a $20,000 a week motel without a car. Paid for a cruise and am not going to get one. Worst vacation of all time. Viking should have cancelled as soon as the Danube closed. Terrible, terrible experience.

Always excellent and first class. No wonder Viking has been rated the number one cruise company in the world. Don’t listen to the bad comments. People sometimes complain about anything and they don’t look at the big picture. I am on my third Viking cruise right now and it is excellent as always