VikingReviews of viking.com

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.

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?

Viking Venus : cruise round Med and on to Israel. This was a wonderful itinerary , a beautiful ship , excellent food and service. In fact, everything we have come to expect from Viking except…there were apparently a few cases of a GI infection . As a consequence all water amenities, main pool, infinity pool, jacuzzi and spa were closed for the whole of the cruise! As compensation we have been offered a derisory £200 voucher towards a future cruise. An insult! We will not be booking with Viking again.

Be very, very careful with invoices from Viking. We've booked a Nile cruise with them and when the final bill came they were trying to overcharge us by a very substantial 4 figure sum. They'd lost part of our original deposit, failed to give us an agreed reduction and hidden everything in one lump sum which they called a 'discount'. When I finally got them to break all the figures down the size of the overcharging became apparent. Did they apologise? No, they just sent us a revised bill. So if you're travelling with Viking, make sure you check and double check any invoices as their accounting leaves much to be desired. We could have paid for a very nice second holiday with the amount they nearly overcharged us by.

Booking experience terrible - had to walk away before they would agree to arrange our direct flight. Boat not of the quality promised. Rude, uninformed and argumentative staff. Food acceptable but not of the quality expected. Tours were as promised and worth doing but on the day we were looking forward to a meal away from the boat in a chateau we discovered they had transported the staff from the boat to the chateau to feed us! More average food. The first and only time we will use Viking.

Cruised the Danube on Viking Gullveig. The experience was at the bottom end of my expectations coming nowhere near the experience of other river cruise operators. The most positive thing my partner and I got from the experience, was a positive covid test on our return home!

Went on Paris-Normandy cruise July 2022, after being rescheduled from 2020, due to COVID. First, it sailed in 2021 in July but was told it was booked, we had to go in 2022. We did use the 125% voucher, but Viking played “games” and did not give us identically what we had/paid for in 2020! Needless to say, we paid more out of pocket for this cruise. We did a pre extension in Paris, the Pullman Hotel put us on the first floor overlooking AC units, it was a tiny twin room with no dresser. I asked to change rooms, hotel said Viking requested that room. I called Viking and they were told by hotel there no more rooms it was booked. Not true… a customer complained she was given the wrong room requested and lady at front desk said “not a problem I can change rooms for you”Other passengers were put on 4th and 8th floors modern/updated rooms with dresser. We all pay the same price for the extension! Viking needs to do a better job of making sure rooms are equal. When we got on the boat, and checked in, to later to found out no one told us at check in about the complimentary walking tours one at 1:30 or 3:30, did not tell us about the mandatory muster station review(I was literally pulled out of the shower), which was 45 minutes before dinner and two days later on the cruise we get a letter in our room that we did not register a credit card with them. It was so tacky and made us feel like we were ripping them off! Vikings service has really gone downhill, hotel manager and cruise director not friendly nor were they engaging. Passengers were coughing, had to sit with people, no restrictions at all! Breakfast was a buffet(kinda a cheap way of doing things), food was good but seemed more limited, and never changed up breakfast. No personal towels or drinks when we got back from excursions and the areas were the boat docked were full of litter and worn down looking. Not very presentable on Vikings part. Our tours were always middle of the day when places were the most crowded, and we were there during a unusual heatwave. There were times the heat index was 104! We actually had a lady pass out in Versailles Palace, she wasn’t even in our tour group, but our tour guide stayed with her and we lost 40 minutes of our tour! I know when the rivers get low, Viking has to change things, but when it’s so hot, we should not be doing tours at the hottest time of the day. I was not impressed with most of the tours, like I said too hot and crowded to enjoy. I have been on two other river cruises and one ocean with Viking. I have seen a dramatic change in service! Tours in the past were at great times, and never crowded. Always were handed a refreshing cool towel and drink when we returned from tours. Viking did compensate us for the hotel room by giving us… get ready… a $250 voucher towards another cruise! Of course! We have to book by June 2023 for a future cruise or it’s not valid. A joke right? We are really hesitant about going with Viking, and may try another small cruise line.