VikingReviews of viking.com

Food, ship, staff, drinks, excursions 5/5. However, only 3 stars/5 rating by me due to problem with our room. Paid premium $$ for a two room suite with wrap around balcony. Beautiful and spacious. Unfortunately, when the ship moved, the fact that our room was directly over the motors was VERY apparent: could hear the engines, could feel the room shudder and worse a constant rattle in the ceiling above the bed !!!! All so noisy that we had to wear our noise cancellation ear pieces to drown out the noise to able to fall asleep😖

This was our 3rd cruise with Viking,,,,but this one was the worst. We travel with them over Christmas and the New Year. No special dinners for Christmas or New Year. The food was very poor. My husband has an allergy and for the first few days nothing was prepare for him. They told us that some food come already prepare. Also Viking stops in big city's very far from the centrum. I’m not sure why? As other ships stops in very central location. I don’t know why for Viking was high water level and for other not. On one occasion we wait 1.5 hour in cold weather for the ship to arrive and collect us. Absolutely not acceptable. Very disappointed cruise. People should really be careful booking with them. The good thing they have is the great staff. On our ship all staff was fantastic. Well done. Viking lost his spark and they don’t care about the quality any more. Other river cruises are much better. For us that was our last cruise with Viking!

We were supposed to sail Viking Magni from Amsterdam to Budapest. That was what we booked and paid for until a week before the sailing date I received an email to advise that due to unavoidable scheduling changes, our ship has been changed to an identical sister ship, the Viking Baldur. We did not organize the flight with Viking, we did it our own, as a result we did not receive confirmed communication about where to embark the Viking Baldur in Amsterdam. I rang Viking Rep in Australia two days before I left for Amsterdam and was advised to contact Viking Baldur by phone or by email to know exactly where the ship will be docked in Amsterdam. I sent the email and received the reply one day before the actual embarkation. I was so stressed out and panicking because I need to find out how to get to the docking place and be there on time. Viking embarkation for people who don't book the flight with them was POOR, lack of communication and slack. I gave 1 star for this. Not only we experienced difficulty finding the place, we were not supplied with the MAP to find the exact dock. The information we received was so unclear, even google maps could not tell us. Some of the people who took the taxi or uber also had difficulties in finding the place. Some people took several rounds to finally found the spot but it cost them arm and legs to pay for the uber nor taxi. We took the train and bus to get there. When we got to the area, we could not find it until I went inside the Movenpick Hotel where I found some Viking Rep inside which advised me where to go. Nevertheless none of them offered to help to find the place. We need to find it ourselves without any map nor sign on the road. This is HOPELESS. Viking can do better in future to improve this. Our Program Manager, Marko Juric was a vibrant, helpful, and fantastic guy. He is the only one I can give 5 stars !!! Food was excellent in Viking Baldur with Chester Rico the Filipino Chef. I gave him 5 stars. Crews were very nice and helpful in Viking Baldur. They worked very hard during breakfast, lunch and dinner to serve the customers. Also I appreciate the crews who clean the room twice a day. When we almost got to Regensburg, we received another bad news that the level of water in the Danube was low so we had to change ship to the sister ship Viking Magni. We were bused for 3 hours and were given a credit of 25 euros per person to have lunch outside the ship. We had to pack up and put our cases early in the morning to be transferred to the sister ship. When we boarded the Viking Magni we had to unpack again. Such a lot of inconvenience that we had to endure but we could not help it. I am sure Viking Management knew about this before embarkation but Viking HIDE it from all of us. Above all this negativity, we still had a great time cruising. Our room had a verandah but unfortunately we were staying in the last room near the machinery and staff room so it was quite noisy at night. Early in the morning we could hear the staff talking and moving around. I give 3 stars for the room. We enjoyed the complimentary walking tour everyday. Most of the local tour guides were excellent. I give 4 stars for shore excursions. Entertainment onboard was pretty awful, there was only one guy on the piano every second night and some of the artists and performances who were supposed to perform such as the blow glass person and opera singer were cancelled the last minute. I give 2 stars for entertainment. Disembarkation was good despite we could not dock in Budapest and were bused for 1 hour for two days. We were unlucky with the low level of water in Danube but we were glad we met a lot of nice people from different part of the world during the 14 day cruising.

Viking Cruise Line is like Jekel and Hyde. The ocean cruise team is beyond wonderful and services on board could not be better... so much so, that no other cruise line I've experienced can compare. The staff was attentive to the smallest details. Passengers lack for NOTHING except for some of the chronic negatives on other cruise lines such as casinos, poor food prep, nickel and diming passengers for EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. One could not ask for a better, more gracious onboard experience. On the other hand, the Viking Air team is beyond terrible... and everyone at Viking seems to know this. I was so tired of being lied to, and asked to do the work for Viking Air, that I had to solicit help from the cruise team to FINALLY get honesty and service. Even on board, passengers and staff alike acknowledge chronic, terrible complaints and problems regarding Viking Air... and I am not taking about airlines, which are no treat, but the actual Viking air service team. I was lied to, given bad information, asked to contact airlines myself only to discover that my efforts were in vain because terrible Viking Air did not pay for my actual flight... just a reservation. With just 10 days to go, a Viking Air employee told me that she would ask her supervisor to use the Viking Air credit card so that could get seat assignments (all I wanted was a seat next to my wife... nothing more). As wonderful the cruise people are... the air team is equally terrible... so much so that it certainly hurts their brand and nobody seems to care. Viking has a well-earned and guarded reputation for quality. Passengers get what they pay for. Perhaps Viking should raise prices on air services so they can provide the quality of service that passengers expect.

Great new boat, Viking Osiris for a Nile cruise. Wonderful food and staff on board. Amazing tour guides. But Viking reservations hopeless. No email to contact them. No information re flights until last minute then charged us 2K for 'upgrade' when flight to Egypt was on standard short haul A320 with no leg room. Some ludicrous early starts on transfer days 04.00-05.00 only to them be stuck in a hotel lobby for hours. Some of the worst buses ever for some shore excursions. The i ternal flights on VERY old small plans which was scary. Paying a premium price for poor quality service, profiteering. Then the real kicker, day 1 I heard someone coughing, I just knew what this was and then more and more got ill and on last day I teated +ve, missing a whole week of work. NO attempt to contain on board. I have complained but no reply Further, the final night hotel and food was simply grim

Recently returned from a Viking Rhine trip on 10/14. The good: Rhine water levels were good, no issues. Service on the vessel was A+, excluding one attendant with “attitude” at the front desk. Entertainment was low key but acceptable. Viking succeeds in creating a laid back atmosphere. Viking is like a clock - they run on time. Cabin was nice and shower was exceptional. Most (not all) tours were informative, guides ranged from good to excellent. Tour buses were top shelf with experienced drivers. The not so good: All 6 in our group were disappointed with the food (not service but food) all week excluding breakfast. All felt the food offerings got “old” real fast. Food appeared to be prepared in advance and then reheated. Plenty of TV movies, tv and internet reception poor all week. Most concerning Viking, customs, and airline never asked to see our proof of vaccination. While Viking did a excellent job in keeping the boat itself clean and sanitized we had an issue on one of the bus tours. A unmasked woman sitting directly behind my wife was sweating & coughing non-stop. Not a occasional sneeze or cough, it was obvious this woman was ill. At the first stop multiple riders relocated to seats as far away from this individual as possible. Regrettably, Viking said/did noting. Viking claims they are not the Covid police and if we felt compromised we should have put on a mask. Absolutely ridiculous that Viking felt we should have masked but took action to pull this woman aside, require her to mask with a suggestion to see a physician. Again - we’re not talking about normal coughing and sneezing- this woman was visibly ill. Viking was willing to put 30 travelers at risk rather then ask a visibly ill woman to mask up. It’s Vikings boat, tour, bus but they say and do nothing. Of course 2 of 6 in our group contracted Covid. Viking had a obligation to do everything within their control to protect us as best possible. In this instance they didn’t even try. Not trying to trash Viking, just being truthful.

Booked the Grand European tour for sailing in July 2020. Cancelled due to Covid….bit on the 125% rebooking and rebooked the cruise for July 2022. Cruise began in Budapest and went well until we hit Passau where we were informed we had to change ships due to low water levels. Disembarked at Passau and bussed to Nuremberg to board another ship. This happened again at Kinderjdk in the Netherlands, where it was not handled as well. My main beef with this is that, while they handled it well, it’s difficult on senior citizens, which seems to be their main customer base. They should know of the water level issues before the cruise begins, but they spring it on you when you hit the location. If they say any different, I don’t believe they are being truthful. They’d be better served by telling people it’s going to happen before they set sail. Other complaints: 1. They try to make dinner a “fine dining” experience. After a day of touring, the last thing I want to hear about is a dress code at dinner. I and many other people ignored the dress code and wore shorts. They are not that flexible if you want to deviate from the menu. The best dinner they had on the entire cruise was “German Night” where they had a buffet of all German specialties. I was in my glory that night. 2. In general, the tour guides were good, but there were multiple times when they had thick accents and after a few minutes, I could not adapt and had no idea what they were saying. A few times we just broke from the group and went on our way. 3. Before you give Viking your money, think long and hard because once they have it, you will have an extreme fight to get it back. 4. Advertised that we needed a rapid Covid test before we left. Spent $400 and got the tests, then they dropped the requirement. You can spin this any way you want, bottom line…….$400 pissed away and wasted. They can spin anything they want but I believe all of the above issues are in their control and they can address them.

This review is for the 2nd half of our Frances Finest tour. We arrived in Paris from Lyon and were bussed to the ship (Fjorgyn). Room -- The suite was good and had more storage that on the previous ship (Buri). The ship was clean and the staff OK. Food/Wine -- Adequate but not up to expectations. Mostly tasted the same but with different names. In France -- no excuse. Had the drinks package but again was disappointed. Could get the same wine at local super market!! Tours -- OK but crowded. One example -- Monet's home/garden. Arrived with 3 other tour groups -- a real mess. Had to wear devices to hear tour guide that included ear pieces, so if you happen to be wearing glasses and hearing aides you would have 4 different devices competing for "ear space'. Also too much bus riding and not enough free time to explore. Finally Viking provided cases of plastic water bottle's. Would be much more environmentally friendly to loan/give each guest their own insulated permanent bottle and refill as necessary. Would pay for themselves in short order. Covid protocols -- daily testing and required masking unless eating (including on the bus). After reading other reviews of those dealing with Covid isolation these are a good (if inconvenient) requirements. Staff -- Ok but not was good as those on the Buri. Travel - OK but had to jump thru international VeriFly, French declarations, and EU contact tracing requirements as well as Antigen testing 24 hours before flying. That's right -- you will not know if you can travel until the last minute (especially if you are flying on a weekend). Overall -- Would NOT do again until Covid is more under control. Travel is not the pleasant experience it was BC.