Viking River Cruises
reviews and complaints

The three of us - my husband, I and our son - took a Danube River cruise on Viking Baldur from Budapest to Passau the week before Christmas, Dec 17-25, 2023. It was cold and raining or pouring most of the days. However, despite the miserable weather, our overall experience with Viking was fairly good and I would give it 4 stars if not an extremely unpleasant event that took place the last night and a return airport transfer poorly planned by Viking.

Unfortunately, our on-board feedbacks and my on-line review sent to https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/contact/cruise-review.html have been ignored by Viking. This is sad and reflects poorly on the company's reputation.

1. About the event of the last night that resulted in three not-so-happy passenger feedbacks which Viking hasn't acknowledged in any way.

We stayed in Passau. Heavy rains caused flooding, so the ship was docked about 5 km (3 miles) from the city center. My husband and I went on a morning shore excursion and returned soaked through, so we rested in the afternoon. Our son was slightly sick, so he slept though the morning and then took Viking's shuttle bus to the city center in the afternoon. He planned to return to the ship with the last shuttle bus at 5:30pm. He was at the bus stop explicitly suggested by the bus driver 10 mins earlier waiting for the bus that never showed up. At 5:30pm he sent me a message saying that there was no bus and he was the only person at the meeting point. I immediately went to see the cruise director, Marco, who said "If there is no bus, he should take a taxi. It is only 10-15 euros". To my surprise, the cruise director didn't even try to find out what happened to the shuttle bus or call our son. He left me to deal with this situation and returned only when I asked the receptionist to find him.

It was our son's first time in Europe. He didn't feel comfortable taking taxi in an unknow location at night. He also didn't have cash, his phone was not on an international plan, and his phone's battery was about to die. All he knew that his foot could eventually take him to the ship as long as his phone was on. And he started walking. However, Mark insisted on taking a taxi. Our son sent a text with his location and asked Mark to call the taxi company they normally work with. Marco tried to call the taxi once but they didn't answer his call. Our son was waiting... The second time the cruise director called for a taxi because I asked to try again, and it was unsuccessful again. By this point I was told that Viking would reimburse our taxi expenses... Hmm.. Then Marco started insisting that our son was in the pedestrian area where a taxi could not go to. It was untrue -- our son was on the road leading to a bridge and cars were passing by. Then Marco advised our son to go to a cafe or the Christmas market and ask anyone to call for a taxi if there were no taxis. There were no taxis. It was dark and raining. The cruise director was preoccupied with anything but trying to get our son back to the ship. I was exchanging messages and tried to call. Marco kept insisting on getting a taxi and not walking to the ship because it would be unsafe considering the weather conditions, darkness and the need to pass a bridge and a tunnel separating the ship from the city. The least I wanted to hear from Marco was a threat to file a report on us for not following his directions, so Viking would not be responsible for our son's safe return. He was completely unhelpful.

Anyhow, our son walked back to the ship. He returned at 6:55pm, wet, tired, upset but just on time for dinner. The rest of the night went uneventful -- really uneventful -- because no one, neither the cruise director not the receptionist, bothered to apologize for this ordeal or check if everything was alright. A simple apology would go a long way here...

2. About a return airport transfer from Passau to Munich (about 3 hours) provided by Viking.

My husband and I were returning to our home in Florida, and our son was returning to his home in Wisconsin. Our son's flight was only 15 min earlier than ours but Viking put our son on the bus leaving at 6:00am while our bus was leaving at 7:00am.

We asked Viking to move our son to our 7:00am bus twice, so we would go together. Besides, our bus was not full -- there were seats available. However, Viking refused to move him to the 7:00am bus explaining this by a limited luggage space. "What if someone would have four suite cases?" said the cruise director. Well, each of us had only one medium-size suite case. If in fact anyone would have four suite cases, I guess, it may be possible to take one smaller item inside the bus.

On the other hand, it was possible to move the two of us to the 6:00am bus if we wanted to go with our son. And we ended up taking this offer, even though I am not a morning person and early wake-ups don't serve me well.

Well, unfortunately, this added an hour to our wait time in the check-in queue at the Munich airport because we had our first connection in Amsterdam and a check-in for a Schengen zone flight can be done only two hours or less before the flight. I guess, that could be the reason we were originally placed on the 7:00am transfer...

3. What we liked the best:

- very comfortable beds and clean cabins

- well planned shore excursions

- a very professional and nice receptionist

- some very friendly and with a good sense of humor personal in the restaurant -- Andrei was the best

- durable huge umbrellas provided by Viking

4. The food was ok, but not great though (this would cost 1 star under normal circumstances).

- We would prefer quality over quantity -- fewer choices but tastier meals. Not every dish was tasty, and some of them were definitely a miss. On a positive side, it was never a problem with ordering something else as long as the kitchen was still open.

- The Austrian dinner was kind of a disaster -- a never-ending long line to get any meat and not enough fruits. When I was ready for a desert and went to get fruits, the fruit plate literary had one slice of orange, 6-7 single grapes, and 5-6 small pieces of cantaloupe. When I ask if we could get more fruits, I was told "No, we already served two plates.". Hmmm... Btw, these plates were not big by any standards.

- It would be good to be able order a medium-done (not only well-done) burger. It would be good to get a medium-rare ribeye steak when it is ordered "medium-rare" and not "rare".

- It would be good to be able to order an espresso for no charge after a meal in the restaurant. Only regular coffee is served in the restaurant with no change. Btw, coffee machines in the hall by the lounge make much better regular coffee than the one served in the restaurant.

- There were no fancy meats (like lamb, filet mignon, etc.) or seafood on the menu, even once. These items could enhance the overall experience.

5. About shuttle buses provided by Viking.

It would be best to have Viking's representatives at the shuttle bus drop-off /pick-up locations, so no one gets "lost" and everyone can see where to go. We were on several cruises (ocean and river), and this is a very common practice.

I sent my review to Viking Cruises at https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/contact/cruise-review.html three weeks ago, and then I posted it as "Being left behind on the last day of a cruise" at TripAdvisor.com and CruiseCritic.com. I also contacted our travel agent and forwarded my review to her. So far, Viking River Cruises has been ignoring us. At this point, we don't have high expectations for Viking. However, I would say at least an apology would be more than suitable here.

We are receiving many promotional emails from Viking and have been asked to vote for Viking as the best river cruise company (https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/travel/best-river-cruise-line-2024/viking-river-cruises/). I wish they are more concerned about how to become the best one.

Booking Number: 7457903 dated 02-May-23

Short version: Booked trip with Agent Coaster Coe who no longer works for Viking and specifically informed him that our air travel preferences are Business class due to health issues. Apparently, he booked the trip indicating "Economy" despite our instructions and booking an AA-Veranda Suite with Viking Air Plus service. Today I called Viking Air to make flight arrangements and was charged a $2,100 per passenger "Upgrade Fee" for moving from economy to business class! I have spent hours on the phone with Viking Air and River Cruises with no resolution but have been well versed in their "policy"! This is our second similar trip with Viking and I feel I/we have been the victim of the front end agents failure. Please make this right Viking.

I booked a river cruise and then brought four new customers to viking with the promise of a $400 referral discount. Prior to the credit being applied I cancelled and rebooked a cruise to take advantage of lower airfare being offered to the very customer I referred - then later the referral discounts were denied. Note that the discounts had not been credited at that point which the salesperson confirmed, and the salesperson assured me they would be applied when the four entered their information. Today I was informed this had been reviewed and denied. In other words - I brought you $15000+ worth of additional business with the promise I would receive a $400 referral credit - and You never actually gave me the credit. I was lied to and misled. This needs to be corrected immediately.

Please refer to the email attachment. This way, you will be informed of the facts in the exact same manner as Viking.

I'm restating a few items because when I hit submit, I received a warning that my message was too short to be noticed and would likely be passed over.

The email describes:

My 1st attempt to resolve the matter via phone.

My 2nd attempt was to ask to speak to the supervisor.

My 3rd attempt was via email. To date, I've received no response from Viking.

The 2nd attachment verifies payments of over $12,000 to Viking.

Of the $12,000, $6,000 was unearned - $5,200 for the guest who had to cancel + $820 for the 2023 Christmas trip that was cancelled.

We were unable to travel to Israel for our paid-for pre excursion as our flight was cancelled due to the escalation of violence on Saturday October 7. Viking is refusing to reimburse using the excuse that they had still had to pay their workers. We claim that we have paid for a service that they did not deliver. Our travel insurance says we can’t make a claim against an act of war. The money involved would mean little to Viking, but it was a substantial amount to us. Any ideas?

In early September our daughter made a $100 deposit on Romantic Danube for me and my husband. Told we had thirty days to cancel before payment due. Elderly husband felt trip too much for him, so phoned Viking on 9/17 and spoke with agent Paul who told me that we would receive a refund of $698 out of the $948 billed. He went and checked during the conversation and confirmed that the travel protection and deposit would be refunded, with Viking retaining $250 of the the $948 paid.

On September 30 my daughter still had not received any refund. I phoned and spoke with agent "Royalty" who said no refund would be given. She then transferred me to "Saith", a supervisor?, who absolutely quoted the party line and would not budge an inch.

Definitely not great customer service, and removes any interest in future travel on Viking. There are too many alternatives.

Regretfully,

Mary K Dana [protected]@me.com

Reservation 7586383 for Viking Egil 30Mar2024

Hello. My booking number is 6989189. I purchased upgrade seats from Economy to Delta Comfort Plus as part of the Rhine Getaway Cruise i took from 6/26/23-7/3/23. While I received the upgrade seating on my departing flights, I was placed in economy during my return flight. Delta had cancelled my flight and put me on a flight where there were no upgraded seats available. I paid $1,295.25 for Air Plus and my upgraded seats. I contacted Delta and they sent the refund for the unused upgrades directly to Viking. Now I'm having an issue getting my own money back from Viking. I made several phone calls and today was told by Viking that I would be receiving $342.25 back via a check within 30 days. I am actually owed $647.63, which is half the cost of my upgraded seats. I want this amount credited back to my credit card on an expedited basis. I do not want a paper check and I should not have to wait 30 days. Very poor service from supposedly such a highly rated company.

Claim filed on Feb 5, 2013, more info requested and info was sent. Many calls and many emails and many reasons why they have not paid - to no avail. Tripmate seems think they can treat their customers as they want. Please do not use them. They are offered as they only insurance Viking will take. You can purchase other trip insurance for less with better ratings. Don't settle for what Viking offers. Better yet - don't use Viking because they don't stand the insurance they offer through another vendor.

08/20/2023 afternoon after boarding Viking Rinda in Constanta, Romania, we arrived at our stateroom 108 and found our large piece of luggage with the retractable handle extended and bent. It was a brand-new piece of luggage.

We took photos of the luggage and notified the service desk.

My husband was able to bend it back enough to retract the handle, but it is now very difficult to use.

At the JW Marriot we had left our luggage outside our door for transportation to the Viking Rinda in Constanta. The handles were retracted on all our pieces of luggage and had been working perfectly prior to leaving for pickup.

In November 2022 I booked the above-referenced cruise on the Danube River, and paid for it in full. In July of 2023 my wife was diagnosed with blood cancer. We were still hopeful that we could go on the cruise, but on August 18, 2023 her oncologist said that it would be unadvisable for her to go without treatments for the 2 weeks that we were to be gone. On August 7, 2023 we paid for transfers from Munich airport to the port. Viking's response to our dilemma "you should have purchased travel insurance". They would not even refund the transfers that we did not use stating that this was "part of the penalty".

As you will read from the complaints, our flight was also cancelled "last minute" and instead of a one way flight to Amsterdam we had a layover in Londan and due to our flight being late we had to stay 9 hours in the airport. We missed a full day of Amsterdam and missed all the sights we had hoped to see. We then got onto the boat and after the first day, the boat caught on fire We had to evacuate the boat and sit in the sun for at least an hour or two. My husband has skin cancer. We had no shade, and it took forever to get water. From that point on the cruise was off schedule We missed our excursions, and the ones we did have were cut way to short to enjoy and were rushed. This was the worst cruise of my life, the worst vacation of my life

Very disappointed with you support desk for Viking airline cooperation. Staff is not knowledgeable, gave out wrong info, totally useless. Confirmed all tickets and seats prior to departing. The day before return, found out that all seats on KLM got changed. Called Viking support staffs for information. A woman gave us old confirmation info. After long discussion, she finally found out the changes. Total waste of our time.

For our first river cruise experience on Viking, mostly disappointing. We enjoyed Viking ocean cruise.

We were supposed to start our river cruise on Viking on the 28th of July on the Danube, first starting a pre trip in Prague. We live in Florida and were due to fly to New York for our flight to Prague on the 27th. Unfortunately our flight was cancelled. We could not get another flight to New York on the 27th or the 28th on any airline. There were all kinds of problems with flights at that time. So our flight to New York and Prague did not happen. We contacted your department that deals with such problems and were told that we could get a flight from Miami to Prague for $5,000. Since we had already paid for the trip, we accepted. However, I think it was unconscionable for Viking to charge us this amount of money since it was not our fault and we had no other alternative. Who ever heard of a one way flight from Florida to Prague costing $5,000? Not only that, but we had paid the round trip flight from New York to Prague and did not take the leg that went from New York to Prague.