VikingReviews of viking.com

We went on an “Alaska & Inside Passage” cruise on the Viking Orion starting in June 2019. We purchased an optional tour which required use of a float plane. These tours were cancelled prior to our cruise but we were not informed until after we boarded our cruise ship. The Viking letter promised we would “receive an automatic refund”. The Viking finance rep on the Orion told me I would be refunded in 4 or 5 days to our credit card. Many weeks later I had to make a County Court claim against Viking before they repaid us the cost of the tour. The Orion cruise was otherwise very good with a good cabin, good food & good service. I recommend a cruise to this area if you want to see whales, glaciers and the natural beauty of Alaska.

Love Viking! We just did our first Viking Ocean cruise, The Adriatic from Italy to Greece. From start to finish this was amazing. From first calling the booking agent, Marsha, and explaining to her that I was booking this for a surprise retirement gift for my husband. To stepping foot on the boat, she was w/us all the way. Sending emails and calling us. Helping us book extra's. Even booked a river cruise while we were traveling. That one needed visa's and the agents walked us through every step. 100 percent perfect customer service! The ocean cruise was so brilliant, staff was incredible. Food was tasty and a wide choice. The excursions were well thought out, informative, and gave enough free time for exploring on your own. The ship was beautiful, spacious so you could easily find a quiet area if wanted or an area to sit with new or old friends to chat and play cards. I loved that it even had a laundry room, for free! We even got a call and email when we returned to confirm all was well! Can't wait to book again!

Response to Viking's brush-off. Thank you for your response to our recent communications which, based on the information provided by Viking’s website, cruise itinerary and documents, detail in our view the failure of Viking to provide a cruise that met our prior expectations. Sadly, we feel you have chosen to gloss over most of our observations and complaints. For clarity, we expand hereunder the specific reasons that this cruise failed to meet our expectations and this letter should be read in conjunction with our earlier communications. We invite your comment: • Excursions Let us commence with the Ackerman Fortress excursion, one of the serious failings of this Cruise, and which so many of our fellow travellers commented negatively upon. We were asked to pre-book this included excursion before joining the cruise. Our expectation was that this would be a highlight of the cruise which was strengthened by the description in your brochure which in part read: “At the Fortress, surrounded by walls stretching more than a mile and a 20 foot moat, you will tour three courtyards, the residential wings, the garrison and the arsenal. Use your free time to explore, perhaps taking some beautiful photographs of the serene Dniester lagoon from the heights of the fortress walls”. You must agree, as any reasonable person would, that, aside from in excess of five hours in a coach, 45 minutes would be insufficient time to tour the fortress as described above and be able to spend much free time taking photographs at all. Since you comment that this excursion is an integral site in The Ukraine, please explain how it is that, according to your Program Director, so many guests take the decision to avoid it at his suggestion. This was a serious misrepresentation in your brochure and relevant marketing materials. Yes, Viking does state in the Cruise Documents that the excursion duration is 5 hours but if Viking had added that only 45 minutes is spent at the fortress, we would not have booked it and possibly have decided not to take the cruise at all. The night before the excursion, the Program Director did tell passengers to avoid booking this excursion due to the travelling time and bad road conditions but that was far too late. He added that he could not understand why Viking had not withdrawn this excursion. We were left disappointed and annoyed right at the start of our voyage. Your comment that “guests do generally enjoy the site visit” is definitely not what those onboard the ship that undertook the trip commented to us which concurs with online reviews. Viking themselves have long realised the difficulties with this excursion and we therefore wonder why these seriously unfortunate issues have not been highlighted to potential guests earlier and why Viking’s efforts to improve it have failed for so long and why it has not been withdrawn. You mention that Viking’s UK office staff are always happy to answer any specific questions prior to departure. Are you seriously suggesting that potential customers should check with your office that there are no hidden nasties with the cruise before booking? … Really? Contrast this with Viking’s website which states “All you need included, with no surprises or hidden fees”. This was so far removed from what we expect from a Viking River Cruise, and we had undertaken three Viking cruises prior to this. Generally, the included excursions on this cruise were unsatisfactory in content and not a patch on those on the previous cruises we have taken with Viking and other cruise companies. It is apparent to us that The Ukraine is not in a position, yet, to accept foreign tourists and that really there is little of interest within a reasonable distance of where the ship docked. Consequently there are long coach journeys to visit something of debatable interest and which often turned out to be just another opportunity to buy souvenirs, which is not what we came on holiday for (indeed, Kherson ‘free time to explore the market’ was actually a contrived market; half a dozen stalls set up specifically for the Viking tourists visiting the memorial). This is the opinion of many online reviews too. ‘Poetic licence’ really is the order of the day on this cruise. Focussing upon your comments relating to the excursion to the Opera, please could you expand upon your statement that the date of the opera was changed for “operational reasons”. The news from guests was that it was due to a mistake by Viking. We should have left Odesa in the late afternoon, but we were kept in Odesa because of another unplanned optional visit to the opera which considerably shortened our planned visit the next day to the port at Kherson. We chose not to apply to join any of the optional excursions on this trip for, in common with all Viking cruises, the cost is totally unreasonable. Examples are: • The Opera. Viking charge £68 per guest. During that day, we walked to the Opera and found that tickets were available that evening for around £12 per person. • The Besarabsky Market. We also took the 20 minute walk to the Besarabsky Market which was obviously free to enter whilst Viking chose to charge £38 per person. The Metro system is very inexpensive. • The Shustov Cognac Museum. The most expensive ticket on the Museum’s website is around £20 per person. Viking charge £68. The museum is just a short drive from the ship. Viking have stated that excursions are sometimes provided by third parties. Just looking at the small sample above, we consider that either they or Viking are making hefty profits at the expense of guests. Viking say that there are no “hidden fees” which is debatable when considering over-charging. Is this something that Viking’s guests should expect? • The Ports In general, the ports themselves were unpleasant. Odesa terminal was deserted and we felt quite unsafe when walking in the early morning or evening. The ports were generally dirty and shabby with many hazards for guests, particularly the elderly/infirm. At one, Dnipro, we had to traverse steps leading up to a walkway on a half-built block, avoiding dog poo/human excrement and litter and then walk down crumbling steps to access the coach. It was dreadful and a health and safety nightmare. Not what we expected of ports used by Viking. • Entertainment After dinner there was very little to entertain us and when in port, we certainly did not wish to leave the ship and wander in the dark, particularly when the pavements were so poor. At Dnipro, our guide told us there was a pleasant walk along the illuminated river front. To get there it would be necessary to bypass a building site and walk quite a distance in the dark. Do Viking seriously expect their guests to put themselves at risk? We have enjoyed some great evening entertainment on Viking and other ships which is an integral part of our expectations. When there has been a free evening, at least it has been safe to walk from the ship into a town. When sailing in the evening, there has always been something happening onboard. Could we not have expected the Program Director to have organised more than the two pathetic quizzes? • Inappropriate behaviour by Viking employee We have previously made clear our view of the abysmal attitude of **********, your Program Director. In our view, he is not a company man, complained about Viking’s service in relation to excursions and his comments to my wife should have resulted in his immediate dismissal. We were both left upset and disappointed at the very beginning of our holiday. This regrettable action is definitely something that would be far less than we could ever have expected upon a Viking River Cruise. • Medical Services During the cruise, my wife had cause to visit the onboard Doctor. The service she received was cursory and not helped by the fact that the Doctor did not speak English. Surely that would be a drawback when discussing detailed medical issues. We would have expected that guest safety should be paramount for Viking. We cannot imagine how this Doctor would handle an emergency. • Viking’s follow up to complaints In your position as Senior Guest Services Executive, you will undoubtedly be aware of feedback posted on the internet and not just the feedback provided directly to Viking. Given your comment that Viking take all feedback very seriously and that it “is always followed up with action where necessary” we would be grateful to learn if you could have allayed any fears we may have had should we have read the negative reviews before booking this cruise. Conclusion: This trip was a terrible disappointment, far from Viking’s usual standard and perhaps why the marketing is so low key in the UK. Generally speaking, we have lost faith with Viking, especially after your deplorable response of 3rd September which left us with the belief that you just don’t care about customer service. We are unsure if we will ever book with Viking again which is a shame since we were considering Viking’s new ocean cruises.

Have done 10 cruises with Viking and have found them to be outsandingly good. Staff are always pleasant and willing to help, menus are varied with appropriate local specialities. I would recommend Viking River Cruises to anyone as goos value for money and well organised with a good enrichment programme ofculture, music and other interests.

They have great cruises but their payment policies suck! Your full payment depending on the cruise has to be made 1 to 2 years in advance yes I’m not joking. They keep your money for 1 to 2 years before you ever get to use their product. Then to add insult to injury if you cancel they keep your money for additional 30 days. Their greed is like no other in the industry. Shame, shame shame Viking! I guess you forgot about how bad business was after 911 or 2008, once again Viking, you’ve got a great product but your corporate greed is typical of this day and age and extremely disappointing.

Emailed Viking Cruises to ask about their recent polluting cruise ship outside my flat. I was very polite but no response at all. Shame.

The main idea of my post is that I strongly recommend you to refrain from taking Viking Cruises. I was dreaming of a round-the-world cruise and decided to a 3-month journey with Viking Cruises. It turned out into a total disappointment. Beautiful website descriptions and vivid manager speeches have nothing to do with reality. I have huge experience in sea journeys and have traveled with almost all well-known companies, thus I have a lot to compare with. Personnel qualification level is very low and does not correspond with the one declared by the company. The crew is occasionally rude and careless. Throughout the whole journey I felt discriminated against basing on age and nationality. From my personal observations, the company focuses its services on aged clients but there is nothing to learn this information from and managers will not inform you about that. The quality and variety of meals is very poor: the menu barely differs from day to day and it’s not tasty at all. Meal courses are mean and thrifty, quality of service is very very low. Here’s an example, we were given an apple (a single one) and were constantly stared at, harassing us and signaling us to leave. Here’s my story: My acquaintance with company started with my personal manager almost ignoring me shortly after I purchased the voyage. Later on, he totally disappeared. It turned out occasionally that he quit the company and forgot to hand over me to another manager. It was almost impossible to verify the status of my special requests before the start of the journey. And that’s what they call and individual approach to every client. The first day on board ended up with room service team breaking all the buttons on my new suit, which was quite expensive and purchased exactly for the trip. My friend faced the same situation. The only thing offered to us as compensation was to attach black buttons used for the crew uniform. As soon as we boarded, we informed guest service about food allergy. Despite this, kitchen crew ignored this information and served dishes with products we are allergic to during 2 months of our journey. Guest service never intervened and helped us, we were able to fix the situation only after a huge argument. Soon after leaving South America, the entire ship was left without internet. Guest service managers made up various excuses: something broke down, no signal and many else. The connection was restored only at French Polynesia islands. This information was published in daily bulletin along with new excuses for the situation. Be aware that cafe waiters are very tardy and lazy. You may spend an hour or two waiting for your order to be cooked. The guest service explained the situation in a way that cruise focuses on elderly customers and thus everything is done slowly on purpose for the convenience of aged people. That is a real problem, instead of making the crew work faster the guest service justifies their lack of action. Moreover, the waiters behave themselves very unfriendly. Another serious problem faced throughout the whole journey - dirty dishes and cutlery, in all of the ship’s restaurants and room service as well. Dirty spots and leftovers from previous clients were noticed on a daily basis. Waiters never reacted to this situation! After contacting officers, the only answer received from them was an explanation of the factors that may lead to these leftovers not being completely washed off. This is not the information that I am willing to receive as a guest. I require proper service, not the explanation why the dishes are dirty. Sanitary conditions were a very serious issue, so keep this in mind while booking a cruise. Be extremely careful while ordering chicken eggs during trips on Viking ships. It was a common issue to receive dirty eggs for breakfast while ordering room service. There were several occasions when eggs were messed up in something black or had feathers stick to it and something else, supposedly feces. Multiple complaints to guest service ended up in nothing, Ana, the manager, set it off and stated that she doesn’t know whose fault it was. Fish dishes were of low quality, the fish itself was literally old and tough, absolutely impossible to eat. It felt like fish was frozen several times killing all the taste and flavor. I faced certain problems with Australian visa and turned to officers on board for help. Officer Rodrigo pretended he was helping me. I was made to pay for new visa with no guarantees for success, and I felt that Officer wanted me and my friend leave the ship. We got lucky that my friend found a way to solve the problem and Officer had nothing to say against us. Discrimination was also present during this journey. Me and my friend felt being discriminated against every time we went for dinner. Waiters were extremely friendly and gallant with Americans and blatantly ignored other guests. Furthermore, we faced negligent attitude as we were the youngest on board. Discrimination against nationality and age is present and it is unacceptable for international company! Shame on Viking company. The entire crew of Viking’s ship turned our journey into a nightmare with constant problems arising due to their actions or inaction, and nobody except us tried to solve those issues. Financial issues are not properly solved by the personnel. As the journey started, I was told that residuals on my on board account will be refunded at the end of the cruise. The day before the journey ends, I was told that residual funds will be sent to my credit card. Two weeks later I discovered the fact that residual money will be sent to me in check via mail services. This is a total incompetence of the crew and purposely misleading. I’d also like to pay your attention to the uniqueness of cruises declared by Viking company. Small ships used for Viking’s voyages should be able to visit unique ports as it’s claimed by the company. This is a trickery. During our 3-month trip the ship often made stops far from main city ports forcing the passengers to spend 50-60 minutes each way to reach the cities. There were several occasions when the stops were made in absolutely uninteresting and empty ports. The way Viking company contacts its clients after the trip requires special description. All my inquiries are being ignored and none of my e-mails were replied. Official complaint took very long time to be replied and in the end the only thing Mr Cohen could offer me was a 250$ refund for the spoilt 3 months or discount voucher for further cruise. This sounds like mocking rather than serious approach to problem management. I encourage all readers and those who traveled with Viking to write reviews and leave comments on things thaw went wrong during your trip! Currently, the company services are just overvalued and its ratings are absolutely unreasonable!

In June of 2017 we took a Danube Cruise. In Budapest the hotel was supposed to be in the historical center if the city. It was switched to a hotel quite far from the center of the city on a street so busy that you could only cross it by going into the subways. We were able to take the subway 4 or 5 stops to sightsee, but it was annoying In Bucharest the situation was worse. The whole day was lost. Instead of the promised hotel in the center of the city where we could have explored the city, we were put on a bus and dragged around to a restaurant that had very bad food, dragged around on the bus some more and finally put in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. The was an inedible buffet for dinner. Some people had the energy to get a refund for this miserable last day. I would never go on a Viking cruise again.