VikingReviews of viking.com

Just cancelled second cruise after 1 cancelled last this was a replacement Just spent 45 mins on hold to discuss options plus tried again and permanently engaged Have been long time client but you have lost me now as future customer plenty of other river cruise lines

158 DAYS WAITING FOR REFUND Booking Ref: V5475506 Legal action about to commence. Our River Cruise was cancelled at the end of March. It was booked through Iglu Cruises on behalf of Viking. This is causing great stress on our family and does not reflect well on Viking. Who has got our money? David Falconer

I had a trip with Viking River Cruises booked for this month. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the trip was cancelled. My review is for how well Viking handled the situation. The company sent the first emails out in early March advising that anyone could change their trip without penalty. Then, in early April our particular cruise was cancelled. Given the situation, Viking did a great job of responding to inquiries and refunding the cost of the trip. They were even offering 125% of the cost of the trip if you opted for a future cruise voucher. I received my refund a few weeks later. I would not hesitate to book another trip with them when all of this craziness is over. Thank you Viking for being so good to your customers.

I would just like to say how grateful I am with how much effort/care was put into looking after my parents and getting them home to the UK after the whole ship was put into 14 days quarantine in Cambodia when another passenger on their river cruise tested positive for the COVID-19.

We have taken a number of cruises, including luxury cruises, but none with Viking until last December. It was a delightful experience on a beautiful ship the decor of which was Scandinavian chic from bow to stern. The service was scandalously excellent and every crew member was friendly and helpful beyond expectations. On a five day extension the Viking attention to care and comfort never faltered. But I wasn’t half as impressed with Viking’s real devotion to their guests’ comfort and welfare until the worldwide nightmare of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) hit, especially, the travel industry! °Viking: the first in the industry to announce a “compassionate” cancellation policy for its guests °Viking: STILL with the most generous cancellation policy for any guest with a booking, or anyone booking a cruise before April 30th! °To wit: a FCC (future cruise credit, i.e. voucher) for another cruise good for two years......and good if you notify Viking TWENTY FOUR HOURS BEFORE EMBARKATION on a booked cruise! Nobody is matching those terms. Then Viking decided....also first in the industry....that they just couldn’t provide the excellence in service their guests expected under the circumstances. So they cancelled all cruises for the next six weeks and made this offer to the affected guests: 120% the value of a cancelled cruise as a voucher, good for 2 years OR a refund of the price paid And....if you don’t use the voucher within 2 years? THEN you can get a refund! AND....the offer is TRANSFERRABLE! This is astoundingly generous when you consider, for example, that Paul Gauguin/Ponant offered passengers on a cancelled cruise a voucher for the amount of that cruise...good for only 18 months. This when their own written policy states that they will give a refund if they cancel a cruise. But, no, they persisted in telling passengers they they would only “consider” refunds “on a case by case basis”. (They did not even offer a refund when a cruise was interrupted halfway through its itinerary and had to return to Papeete to sit at the pier until time for the “guests” flights home!). This vibrant difference between Paul Gauguin’s stingy treatment of its “customers” and Viking’s care for its “guests” says it all! We have three cruises booked with Viking. We know we CAN cancel them, but we’re comfortable that we’re in excellent- and caring - hands. Thank you, Viking.

I’ve been on two cruises. One on a giant ship touring the far east and a Viking River cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. Both were wonderful experiences. On a large ship you get lost with the masses, It’s a relaxing kind of boring, and going with huge groups on their organized tours is a complete farce (book a private tour with one other couple Sooo much better and about the same price! Except Hong Kong etc so get taxi and go on your own). On a river cruise you are with a small group of people. 150ish people whom you actually get to know a little. You often have dinner With the same click, so much of the enjoyment is enjoying the people that you are seeing all the sights with. Not just friends you go with but the other hopefully interesting people around you. luckily the crew to passenger ratio is great and our cruise directors were very engaging, interesting, talented (one of them sang for us) Even the people who worked in the kitchen etc. were interesting young people and a vital part of the enjoyment of the cruise and feeling immersed in the culture of Europe. And this really extended to the times that we went on excursions. They were so much better on the Viking cruise I really felt like I was seeing the real Germany and all the other countries I’ve visited. They did an excellent job with that So consider this, maybe you’re tired of being on a big ship and want to try something different then this is the thing for you.

My mother and I did a Viking river cruise through Germany to see the Christmas markets in 2017 and were grossly misled, along with the rest of the cruisers, into thinking we would see a Christmas market at all of the stops along our journey. Those cruising had flown on Thanksgiving night to arrive and board the ship the following day. That night, we were informed that most of the markets would be closed and we would see only two on our week long cruise when we had been led to believe it was more like 7 from brochures and the marketing materials. Why would we fly and spend all that money to visit towns where we could see the markets being set up, for the following week? Also, during this time it rained non-stop, the water was high, and our boat could not pass through. I learned that it's a terrible time to cruise in Germany during winter when it rains and water rises they can't clear the bridges. Typically, you are bused anyway on these trips - we were thinking you would get off the boat in these charming little towns and walk into Christmas markets but that is not the case. It's hours on long bus rides, away from the comfort of the cruise ship, and hours back. Often early and late, entire days away and crappy food out in town. The flooding was so bad we eventually had to pack up and be bused off the boat for good and spent 2 nights in a hotel near Cologne, our final port. This meant hours on a bus, packing and disembarking, hours lost of our trip, long lines for buses, hotels, check-in, etc., missed excursions, and missed meals on the cruise ship. So, when we returned home, I requested a refund of most or part of the $10,000 I paid for our fancy suite we didn't get the use or stay in and the hotel we were in was not at all comparable to the suite we paid for on the ship. The majority of the cruise passengers were very elderly, my mother and I were not being 35 and 50, so we noticed quite a bit we did not enjoy about this cruise and the way they seem to take advantage of older clientele by offering up measly $400 vouchers for future cruises when we did not get what we paid for. That means Viking would make more money off people by giving them a free voucher towards another cruise. What? Almost as bad, or worse, than the cruise being a bust was the horrible customer service I got when I got home. Dismissive, rude, unhelpful. They only offered a paltry refund amount and began to negotiate when I began to publicly shame them on social media in various ways, mostly Facebook and Yelp which got a lot of traction. Still, years later, they continue to spam me by sending about 5 magazines to my home weekly though I have called and emailed numerous times telling them I will never, ever cruise with them again.

I am a big fan of Viking Cruises. I have been on 2 Viking Ocean Cruises and 7 Viking River Cruises. The service on Viking can't be beat, from the reservation center to the crew on board. The crew is dedicated to giving passengers a wonderful vacation experience. The food is terrific and cooked to order -- yes there is a set dining time -- but that's because the chef on board is cooking each course. Unlimited wine, beer and soft drinks during dining is a nice perk. At least one excursion a day is included. Optional extra excursions may be purchased and many are unique experiences. I recently took an excursion to a Farm in Bergen Norway. We had the opportunity to meet the farmer, see his farm and experience dining in his home. On another trip, I was able to go to someone's personal Chateau in France, meet with the homeowner, tour the property and dine in his living room. These are the unique type of excursions that only Viking offers and they have made many of our trips memorable. It's nice to take a vacation where you never feel "nickeled and dimed" every moment. The size of the River ships are small and intimate and the Ocean are quite a bit smaller then the large ocean liners. In both cases, Viking is my preferable way to travel!