VikingReviews of viking.com

I had booked Viking's Rhine Getaway cruise for 1 September through 8 September of this year for me and a friend. Unfortunately, her circumstances have changed beyond anyone’s control, and she is unable to take the cruise. Briefly, here is some background. She is a professor at the university in her hometown in Ukraine. She fled Ukraine when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and arrived in the United States. She would like to return to her city and see whether her apartment is still standing. But she has no money to travel. I paid for her reservation, and the cruise would allow her to get closer to being home. (By the way, she and I first met in 2009 or 2010, and we have worked together at Christian conferences in Ukraine since then. I have been a missionary to Ukraine since 2003, and I already have visited the country two times during the war.) When I knew for certain that she would not be able to travel, I contacted Viking's agents and discussed everything with them. First, logically, I thought I could easily replace her with another friend. But I have been told that our vouchers have been “used” or “redeemed.” Nothing could be further from the truth. No one has gone anywhere. No one has stepped foot on a Viking ship. The cruise is still more than 200 days away. And, again logically, if Viking can declare the vouchers “redeemed,” Viking can certainly declare them “unredeemed” and valid and restored. After all, if suddenly she could go, her voucher would be valid. Secondly, I also thought I could use her voucher to cover my single supplement. Sounds reasonable, right? That, I am told, is also impossible because it has been “redeemed.” It has not, not by me or her. I tried every way I know how so I can go on the cruise. And Viking will benefit nicely. Already has. I have nearly $6,000 invested in this cruise. If I must buy another reservation for $3,000 to cover the single supplement, then you can see that I would have $9,000 invested in the cruise. I cannot afford to do that. I am eager to cruise the Rhine but, with much effort and spending a lot of time on the telephone with an airline, I have changed my itinerary twice. So, it is doubtful that I will be cruising with Viking. Therefore, I have requested a full refund of the money I have paid to Viking – in the amount of $5,967.59. I have talked to at least a half-dozen Viking agents and e-mailed the corporate office in Woodland Hills, CA, all to no avail. Bottom line is: Viking cares nothing about you, only your money. They have mine, and it is mine, not theirs. But they are covered legally in their "terms and conditions." So taking them to small-claims court is futile. Meanwhile, they take a very hard-nosed, intractable position. I warn you -- never, never, never book any cruise with Viking. My story is similar to several I've seen on customer review Web sites. How they do this is beyond me. And isn't "word of mouth" the best advertisement? Or the worst? I am cancelling my cruise and eating the $5,679.59. A refund in that amount is all I want at this point.

We have had to cancel our river cruise because of their ludicrous covid policy. Cannot go on a cruise if not jabbed even to countries which have no covid requirements any more. To go on the cruise people do not have to supply a negative covid test so you still go on the cruise in theory even if you have covid. The vaccinations mean nothing anyway. Utter and total joke.

I have always liked Viking cruises and have been on 13, counting the one I am currently on. However, the most important part of any cruise, for me is the excursion choice. I could sail on another cruise line for a lot less money. It is getting harder and harder to book excursions on Viking cruises, so I would advise anyone planning a cruise with them to think twice, if excursions are important to them. It is February 1st today and I went online to book excursions for a trip almost 3 months from now. Four excursions that I wanted are already sold out. Viking allows those who book the most expensive rooms to book first. Mind you, my cruise cost over $27,000. Not enough for the money hungry cruise line. I have had the cruise booked for probably a year but only now would the allow me the opportunity to purchase the “spoils”. My only hope now is for someone to cancel what I want. About time to give my loyalty to another cruise line.

Viking Air Plus - division of Viking Cruise that arranges flights to meet the beginning/end of Viking Cruises - AVOID. While Viking Cruises are excellent they are seriously let down by their Viking Air Plus, their in-house travel agent. 1) An aggressive, testy Viking Air Plus customer rep very reluctantly answered questions about options while arranging our trip, only wanted us to BUY before she had clarified what is included in the product, seemed unsure about package basics, and made it clear we were taking up her valuable time. She took 5+ working days to answer a simple email question (re: emergency numbers) - making for an extremely and unnecessarily stressful experience. She also failed to add our Frequent Flyer points correctly to the airline booking. We only found out about this failure when we returned and did not see the points in our Am Air account. Am Air then informed us it was too late to add points after the flight had already happened. Viking is an otherwise great cruise company that was severely let down by their agent/they need to train agents to a standard. 2) Viking needs to find an air partner that also has any level of customer service (American Air lost luggage on direct flights - twice in one round trip journey! - and 2 months later still have not compensated. Unhelpful boarding staff, stewards and telephone service agents.) Dealing with missing air points and lost luggage for MONTHS after an otherwise excellent trip, leaves a disappointing taste in the mouth.

Viking changed our flight schedule at very short notice. Wanted us to travel with 3 flights via 2 countries, when we complained they hid behind T & C’s very sneaky & very poor customer service, they cited they couldn’t absorb costs of a more direct flight routing. Cannot recommend whatsoever - there are better cruise lines who deliver & care about providing a decent level of customer experience - avoid them if you can.

Viking Cruises boasts all-inclusive, luxury accommodations for its guests. But, behind the glitz and the glamor, Viking has a dark secret. It supports factory farms that confine hens in tiny, barren cages, subjecting them to unimaginable physical and psychological anguish. These horrific conditions are the furthest thing from “luxury.” Other major cruise lines have already committed to eliminating cruel cages, but Viking hasn’t done anything to address it. That’s why I and thousands of others are calling on Viking Cruises to do the right thing and end the abuse in their supply chain and sign up up to the Better Chicken Commitment.

It was my 70th Birthday and hoping for a memorable time. We went to The Mississippi for a Christmas cruise to celebrate my birthday on the 23rd December. We have previously travelled all around the world on many cruises. Earlier this year we travelled on Viking to the Danube and was fantastic. This was the worse. I had expected first class service from the staff, this didn’t happen with especially the dining staff who were the worst I’ve ever encountered largely down to training i would say. One example … on sitting down for meals often the table hadn’t been laid and we would ask for cutlery, coffee or the table to be cleared. I asked for cutlery one morning and the waiter pointed to the drawer and assumed that meant to help myself as he never spoke. Another occasion the waiter had spilt our coffee and moved us to another table. However he left the table dripping as customers came and went when they saw the mess. After a while he put a white serviette onto the spillage. There were times when staff were not around. Every morning was the same staff rudeness and inefficiency. i would have to ask for granola it would then be put out without any comment. We did not go to the restaurant after Visiting one evening and spending a long time waiting to be served while the staff chatted. We had booked a trip for my birthday and discovered it was cancelled when checking our account and seeing a pending transfer and assumed we would not go. My husband ordered a birthday cake which he had to chase up as didn’t appear. The trip was Such a disappointment, we had three flights there and back with delays and crowding due to the time of the year (Christmas). Never again. We didn’t complain on the boat as we kept thinking it was a blip and would improve. It didn’t.

Viking Cruise recommends that their customers insure their travel & trip with Trip Mate Travel Insurance. This insurance company is worthless and doesn't live up to the stated reimbursements as advertised in its' brochure. I'm now wondering what the cozy deal is between Viking and Trip Mate, considering the vast number of Trip Mate complaints from Viking Cruise customers. Does anyone know if Trip Mate customers have or are considering a class action suit against the company for fraud?