Viking River Cruises
Reviews and Complaints

Viking kept my bank account number from last year when I paid my fare and used instead of destroying it as promised to charge another passengers fare. I was recommend by Viking to place a stop payment on my bank account and that they would reimburse me the stop payment fee which they are no refusing to do. The bank fee is only $31 dollars and the money isn't really the issue, it's the fact they refuse to pay it when it was their error. I have received no formal apology for them holding my bank account for future use. I have actually received no apology at all from Viking. I haven't taken my cruise yet but if they can't reimburse a mere $31 dollars what kind of business are they running?

On May 2, I contacted Marty as to a refund to my checking account, was told it was due to overpayment for our Lucerne Extension. I contacted my fellow traveler to see if she too got the refund. She contacted Guy McCarthy who told her that my refund was for HER overpayment of 599.25 and mine of 172.90. She paid in full by credit card, I paid in full bye check. He apologized for error and offered us each $100.00 for our trouble.
May 3, I called Sonny to clarify after explaining my issue he said he would call me back.
May 4, I called Sonny, not available, talked to Carol, explained everything again, she said Sonny and Guy not working on weekend and to call Monday.
May 6, I called Guy, not available, spoke to Rosslyn, explained everything again, she this time got Guy who said issue still undetermined, will research and call back May 6 or 7.
May 8, left message for Guy to return my call, no call from Guy. Called and spoke with Crystal, explained everything again, she will research.
May 14, no return calls. Called and spoke with Sophia who transferred me to her supervisor. After 20 minute wait, call was dropped. Called back and was transferred to Veronica, floor supervisor, and explained everything to her. She was to check with Pierra (?) and assured me someone would call back within 24 hours.
May 20, as of today NO ONE HAS CALLED TO CLARIFY THIS ISSUE. What does this say about customer service?

My wife and I have just returned from a Viking River Cruise on the Rhine. Having researched all the various river cruise lines we opted for Viking because they are supposedly one of the top river cruise companies. The ship and crew all lived up to our expectations. However, we had specifically chosen a stateroom with a balcony at great extra expense envisaging sitting on the balcony to enjoy either river or shore views. To our horror on 4 of the days we were moored alongside other Viking ships. This turned our bright sunny stateroom into a dark cell! We had to have the curtains closed at all times to prevent the adjacent stateroom from seeing into ours and the balcony was obviously unusable.The final straw was waking in Cologne to a wonderful view only to return from our walking tour to find a ship moored alongside. It remained there for 12 hours and we were the ONLY ship in Cologne to have a ship moored alongside.
We voiced our annoyance with the Captain and Program Director who apologised but said it was out of their control. We feel strongly that we were misled by your advertising and would definitely have had the same cruise experience in a much cheaper lower deck cabin. Based on this we feel that Viking should refund the extra cost.
We look forward to hearing your views on this matter.

C.Kerry. Booking No. 5139096 Cruise started 5 May. 2019.

After reading your brochure and watching your videos decided on holidaying with Viking to celebrate our 55 wedding anniversary..
Decided on upgrading to balcony cabin for our celebration on the strength of your portrayal in your brochure and videos. This was a very expensive mistake ( £800 ! )
Nuremberg was ok then all downhill after that . Each port after we were moored adjacent to other Viking ships with no daylight and looking into next ships cabin and they at ours! This meant keeping curtains drawn all the time. So much for enjoying either river views or shore views!
Even taking drinks on upper decks views were obstructed by adjacent sister ships., !
Note .—-other ships such as Scenic, Emerald etc were moored without other ships adjacent.
I feel very strongly that I was misled by both brochure and video! I might as well have booked the lowest priced cabin and saved my £800!
With this in mind I feel a refund from you of £800 would be appropriate

Received an email for discounted rate. Used the link in the email where it showed a great price. Offer expired April 30, 2019. Called to book the trip on April 29th. The rep couldn't find the advertised rate. The email with the discounted rate was forwarded to the rep. The rep went to a supervisor for clarification. Rep relayed the emailed rate was a mistake. Regardless, the emailed rate should be honored, especially since the email was received several times over several days.

Booked a Viking river cruise that included airfare for my family of 4. At no time was I told our flights might be different. When I attempted to resolve this and get us all on the same flight, I was given two options - A $25 per person, flight coordination fee or $50 per person air plus fee. Next, I was told the lower fee option does not apply since the flights were book (it is only an option pre booking - but no one told us that in advance).

Throughout the booking process, Viking agents have made mistakes that I have had to contact them to fix. When I ask to speak to a supervisor, I am told, "there is no one for you to speak with".

There agents have provided inaccurate and incomplete information and the company does not seem to care about remedying their errors.

Can not recommend Viking.

Dear Sirs or Madame:
I recently went on a river cruise with your company, the Viking Lif, Bucharest to BudaPest.
The Positive: The Staff was cordial and responsive.
The pre-boarding and After cruise personnel were outstanding, we were met and taken care of professionally.
Ports of call tour guides were knowledgeable.

The negatives: Our cabin 125 was barely cleaned. Beds were made, towels were changed--vaccuuming was nil.
The room was not at all a 4 star hotel, we felt the room was very noisy especially at night when the engine sounds were
constant.
The menu and wine were mediocare. Wait staff were slow-they were scurring but were understaffed. Clean dishes may times had baked on food particles.
Tours of Osijek/ Kalocsa were poor, it felt staged and as though put on to get us off the ship. Poor quality.
We were disappointed by Viking, we believed in the hype from the many catalouges that have been sent and the advertising. We have been on your competitors and thought they were the better value. Our Flight from Budapest to Paris was booked and ready, luggage was sent to Chicago, when we got to Paris for our flight to Chicago were on a Standby List. When I complained Air France's staff said aren't you glad you are on the flight even though we had paid for two sears together. We paid extra for isle seats.
Two disappointed customers: Rick and Helen Scarpelli

I have always held Viking Cruises to a high standard due to previous experience, ratings, and their top selling point of complimentary shore excursons at each port.
This was not my experience with the ocean cruise my friends and I booked for this coming May. We were told we could start booking our excursions at 3:01 yesterday and when we logged in to book these many of them, including the Included Excursions were completely booked and we could not get them. Even some of the paid tours we were considering were booked. One of our cities is St Petersburg and you can not go into the city without being on a tour due to the Visas. This seems totally out of character for Viking to not have enough spaces for the guests to book the tours. The reason so many were sold out was the guests who had booked the most expensive rooms were alllowed to book at an earlier date so they took all the spots. None of this information was shared with us before we booked and paid for this cruise. We are extremely upset. So far Customer Service has replied saying we can watch for cancellation spots on tours and go to the excursion desk once we board and see if they have any availability. I didn't pay over $14, 000 to stand in line and see if I can get on a tour while missing the port we are in. At this point if nothing is resolved soon I will have to voice my opinions on social media.

Recently, I booked on a Viking river cruise in russia. This is my third Viking cruise.

When I went to make reservations for Included and Optional tours I was surprised to find out two days which did not ïncluded"tours but offer "optional" tours.

So, in these two days, Viking tells you "you are on your own" in a city like Moscow, foreign language, not knowing where to go, and force you to buy an optional tour.

I presented my claim t a superfisor who offer me $50.00 per person towards a "optional" tour. Nice, but not enough. Viking should have give us a free optional tour. But most importantly, offer an ""included tour" in evary city it stops.

To me this is false advertisement and my lask tour with Viking.

Viking is not honoring dining reservations made online. Very frustrating as reservations online were only available at the late hours, when my grandmother arrived at the designated reservation time she was turned away. This is very disappointing, I thought I could trust this company with my family and apparently I cannot. Thank you for helping me make up my mind about this cruise line.

#5291440
Yesterday I received my airline booking for my cruise. My friend and I are NOT on the same flight. I called and was told that for an additional $250 I could change my flight even though I paid the $50.00 when I booked the cruise to have that option. I was told I waited too long to make the reservation. My agent said I would receive the airline reservation 90 days before my trip. The airline agent said I could make my reservation 365 days before my trip. Why are two different personnel at Viking giving me different information? I'm now driving to Newark to get on the plane with my friend. My sister has taken 4 Viking cruises. She has never used the flight option because her husband gets free flights with his work. It's too stressful to use your flight option. Viking should be upfront with the airline additional cost.

I have been trying to forget my "once in a lifetime" vacation with Viking River Cruises; however, the nightmare continues to haunt my mother and me.

October 19, 2018

We boarded the Viking Var - but not in Budapest as scheduled. We were instead taken on a 90-minute bus ride to a vacant wooded area in Kamaron.

We had upgraded our room to a French Balcony ($1000), but in Kamaron our only view was right inside some couple's room in an adjacent Viking boat. Our curtains were thus closed for two days. To make things worse, something got everyone on the boat sick, including us.

October 20, 2018

This day was supposed to be a tour of Budapest and a scenic cruise on the Danube Bend, but instead became another three-hour round-trip bus ride. We chose to remain on the boat that day, as a bus tour was not what we signed up for.

October 20, 2018

We packed our luggage and boarded a two-hour bus from Kamaron to Vienna (which included a disgusting 30-minute truck stop, where we had to pay to use the dirtiest restrooms).

We were taken to the restaurant Augustinerkeller. My mother asked for pumpkin soup and the waitress was yelling at her and said she could not have it, even though other guests at our table had just been served it. The main meal was served to everyone and was horrible.

After lunch we had 30 minutes to see Vienna, so we basically never saw Vienna! We then boarded the bus for the optional tour of Schonbrunn Palace.

We checked into the Vienna airport hotel outside Central Vienna. We were told this was the only hotel that could accommodate our large group on short notice - but we found out that Viking had been having problems for at least five months!

October 22, 2018

We took another bus one hour from Vienna to Krems and went on the included tour of the Gottweig Abbey. Viking added a boat ride with an included lunch on this tour. On the boat we were told twice that we could not sit at the tables we wanted and were moved near the stairs. Everyone was once again served the same dish, (whatever happened to the buffet or the menu choices we paid for from Viking?) I couldn't eat the food that was served. If the itinerary was not changed, I could have had lunch and seen Vienna.

October 23, 2018

This was the optional tour I was most looking forward to - "City of Mozart" and "The Sound of Music" in "Salzburg Highlights". This tour cost us $209 each ($418 total). Viking cancelled this tour as it would have been an eight-hour bus trip. They informed us that we would get 100% credit for this cancelled tour, in the same currency we paid (US Dollars on my mother's credit card.) However, my mother received a refund check for only $383.90, which was $34.10 short due to the currency conversion.

We packed our luggage again and checked out of the airport hotel. We had a four-hour bus ride from Vienna to Passau (because our Salzburg tour was cancelled) so we went on the included walking tour of Passau and the "Organ Concert".

We returned to an older ship called the Viking Tor, which had been stranded in Passau, and cruised for seven hours before we struck a bridge, destroying the wheelhouse on the top. At this point we were parked in a residential area near a lock. That night and the next morning there were police aboard our boat due to the incident.

October 24, 2018

We were bused to Regensburg for an included tour. It was very cold, damp, and rainy. Once again, we boarded a bus back to the Tor, which was basically parked in someone's back yard due to the wheelhouse accident the night before.

Back on the Tor, my mother ordered chicken for dinner. When she cut it, the chicken was rare - still red and pink!

October 25, 2018

We paid for an optional tour, "Surviving the War: Art in Nuremberg." When we arrived in the lobby at 6:00 am, we were told the tour was cancelled. Really? Why did they wait until we woke up early to be in the lobby? The tour was paid in US Dollars and Viking refunded my mother NOTHING. The price of the tour was $49 each ($98 total) With the previous $34.10 my mother is now due $132.10! Viking applied the AAA voucher discount of $49.00 x 2 = $98.00 to the tour that they cancelled and charged my mother the $49 x 2 = $98 as well. Technically this cancelled tour (BY VIKING) cost us $196.00.

We were bused into Nuremberg and did the included tour of "Nuremberg Through History."

Final night

Fast-forward to our last dinner on the boat. We both ordered steak well-done which was served to us medium rare. We returned the dinners to have them cooked as ordered. When the meals came back to the table, my mother had vegetables and a half of a dumpling, I had no vegetables and the other half of her dumpling. We were told they ran out of meals.

AAA Credits

We originally booked with AAA Travel and they had given us both $125 to use for onboard shopping, optional tours, or beverage packages. Onboard the Tor I tried to make a purchase, but the AAA Travel credits were not available for me to use, so I ended up having to use my credit card. The credits were gone because when we signed up for the My Viking Journey website and booked our optional tours, Viking automatically applied the AAA credits to the optional tours without giving us the option. My mother was told that the credits would not be refunded, because we didn't buy anything onboard and didn't buy the beverage package, so Viking took this credit to pay for our optional tours!

I paid US dollars for the optional tour (Jewish Prague on October 28, 2018), which was $69.00 each totaling $138.00 with my credit card. When my mother telephoned Viking she was told that the voucher discount is the AAA Travel Credits and if we do not use it, we lose it. Viking charged me $138.00 on my credit card and took another $138.00 from our AAA Travel credits. That tour cost us $276.00. I am due a refund of $138.00. ($69 x 2 = $138.00).

Summary

We obviously do not blame Viking for the weather or the low water conditions - BUT, we do blame Viking for being fraudulent, dishonest, and negligent about the situation, since they knew this has been a continuous issue for five months now.

Viking gave us a voucher for 100% off a future tour of $3, 449.00 each, which expires on October 31, 2019. However, considering everything we experienced, we're entitled to a 100% cash refund ($3, 449.00 each), the remainder of the $132.12 owed (to my mother) for the cancelled tours, and $138.00 to me for the money paid for the Jewish Prague paid both by the AAA voucher discount and my credit card purchase. I do not intend to give VIKING any future business (or recommend Viking to anyone). On a week-long cruise we "cruised" a total of 11 hours.

I am in the process of contacting a network affiliate TV station in California that I have contacts with. I'm also sharing the experience on social media.

John of Baltimore MD, we will join you or anyone else in a class action suit!

Viking River Cruise European Sojourn October 18 through May 10.

Our long awaited (and very expensive) 23-day river cruise from Bucharest to Amsterdam bore absolutely no resemblance to the trip that was advertised. Instead of unpacking once and relaxing on a three-week long journey, we were forced to change to 3 other boats in order to complete our trip.

Instead of leisurely cruising through beautiful scenery and past lovely villages and towns, we were bused on super highways and saw nothing.

Instead of docking at each of the cities we were supposed to visit, we had two to three hour bus rides from some isolated industrial docking area.

Instead of the time we were expecting to be in each town we visited, our tours were truncated or skipped because of the time it took us to reach our destinations by bus.

While we certainly agree that Viking cannot be held responsible for the low water in the Danube and Rhine, they are responsible for failing to notify us that they had been unable to make this cruise since May! Our only "heads up" was an email received a couple of days before our departure saying that there might be a problem between Passau and Regensburg. Knowing how close these two cities are to one another, we were not concerned.

What Viking neglected to tell us is that the entire trip was iffy and, in fact, the problems began in Bucharest. Our expected transfer to our boat from Bucharest actually involved an all day bus ride. We spent the morning touring Bucharest and then were taken to an awful restaurant where we had a terrible meal and then spent the next 3 hours riding by bus to our ship. When we arrived in some unknown small docking area, it was dark. The guide on our bus pointed out our boat or at least the lights of our boat that we could make out through the woods. We had to make our own way down a wooded, unlit path on our own. When we eventually reached the ship, we could see the effect of the low water because the gangway was at a very steep angle. It was so steep that I had to go down sideways holding onto the ropes with both hands. Upon reaching the boat, we had to tell the crew waiting inside the boat that there were passengers who were using canes or were pulling carry-on luggage and could not possibly get down the gangway unaided.

For the first seven days we were able to stay on one boat although we were bused to all of our tours. Again, we did not pay for a bus tour! After that, we were told that we had to change ships and we needed to pack and have our luggage outside our cabins by 7:00 am.

We took another long bus ride to our next boat and tried to settle in as quickly as possible. At no point did Viking tell us that we would have to do this again two more times even though they knew that the river cruise was impossible!

The endless bus rides for shortened visits on our excursions continued and many passengers decided to stay on the boat rather than be stuck on a bus for long periods of time.

When we got to Regensburg--or at least an industrial area within a two-hour bus ride from Regensburg--we were offered an all-day trip into the city. Upon arrival, there was a short guided tour and then the passengers were told that they had free time to explore the city and have some lunch on their own. What Viking failed to tell the people on the tour was that it was a holiday and everything was closed! Worse, when the group finished their lunch and found that nothing was open, they had to wait for almost 4 hours for the return bus to come and pick them up. The ship's Program Director was aware of this and yet did nothing to call the buses for an early pick up to take care of the thoroughly bored and really annoyed passengers.

To compensate for this disaster, Viking initially offered a 25% credit toward another Viking cruise. For us, it was a credit of $3800 for a $22, 000 trip. When I complained to Viking, they came back and offered a 50% credit toward another cruise. Other passengers who complained were offered anywhere from 35% credit to a full refund (if they were willing to sign a non-disclosure form and refrain from making any more negative reviews of Viking).

We feel cheated and deceived. Viking knew months before our trip that the cruise we purchased was not possible and did nothing to alert us to that certainty. At a minimum, Viking should have given us the opportunity to reschedule the cruise or select another itinerary. But nothing like that was offered. I guess that Viking was pretty sure that losing several hundred returning passengers was worth the money it collected from people who purchased one product and got something else entirely.

We will never cruise with Viking again and will be sure to spread the word that Viking is not a reliable, honest company.

When I booked and fully paid for this cruise in September and December 2017 I was advised that I could deviate the departure dates by Mr. Landon Martinez. Nothing was mentioned about a $200 deviation fee or $100 Premium fee. Nothing was mentioned in the confirmation email and nothing is noted in the online contract. I spoke to Mr. Martinez today along with another employee and they simply quoted me policy.
R McKay

I had hoped to not have to write a review like this. It has been a month since we returned from our November 2018 visit to Prague and Danube River Cruise. While we experienced the same low water levels that so many have commented on, this was out of Vikings control and we can hardly blame them for it. We also consistently encountered friendly staff at the pre-cruise hotel and on board the three ships we used for this journey. We did (and do) have an issue however with how Viking handles Customer Service issues such as lost bags and refunds of cancelled excursions.

We visited Prague on a Viking pre-cruise extension, staying at a hotel for a few days prior to the bus ride to the ship. Following instructions from Viking staff, we left our luggage by the bus and then boarded the bus for our trip - it is the last time we saw this bag. That afternoon when it was not delivered to our stateroom, and almost every day afterward on our trip we inquired about where our bag was. After we returned home I sent a picture of the pattern on the bag from a companion piece of luggage (it's distinctive), and we have followed up since our return numerous times as well. To date we have only received a phone call indicating they will look into it (and this 2 weeks ago). We have consistently had to take the initiative and ask, ask, ask - nobody at Viking has given us any kind of status, and frankly they don't seem to want to deal with the problem. At this point we haven't asked for any money - we haven't filed a claim - we've just asked for our bag back!

Additionally, it has been a month since we left the ship with almost 100 Euros of credit balance (from an excursion Viking cancelled). We were told at check out that they couldn't help us with this (we wanted to use it to partially offset the $200 tip we left for the crew) and that Customer Service would credit it back to us on the card we used to pay for the cruise. You guessed it, nothing has been credited.

To say that we are disappointed with Viking from a customer service perspective is an understatement. We are frequent/annual cruisers and have experience with six other cruise lines - in our experience Vikings customer care stands out in a negative way in this instance. I'm not saying you will experience this bad customer experience, but we have so far.

Dear Viking Representative,

I want to thank you for sending this 25% voucher, but it is insufficient. I want to bring to your attention a multitude of issues that we experienced on this trip. But, first let me mention a positive experience we had with Viking in December 2016. We went on the Rhine Getaway for the Christmas Markets. It was a very enjoyable experience beginning with the air flight. The carrier was Lufthansa and we were in economy class. When we arrived at the airport for our departure, Lufthansa was initiating their Premium Economy Class and we decided to pay the extra money for these seats.We enjoyed the flight. There was one glitch when we arrived at the airport in Basel, Switzerland; there was no Viking representative to greet us at the airport. The airport is right on the border of France and Switzerland; one door leads to France and another leads to Switzerland. Finally, we talked to an airport employee who told us which door to exit. As we exited the door we could see a Viking representative walking to the door. The other and more major complaint was that this was advertised as a Christmas Markets cruise, but what we discovered was that if you went on the included tours at each city you had little time to shop the Christmas Markets. By the way, visiting the Christmas Markets was the main reason why we went of that trip. Otherwise, we did have a wonderful cruise.

This Grand European cruise was a disaster:

1. It began with our flight. We, again, traveled on Lufthansa, but we were unable to upgrade to Premium Economy because there were no seats available. We did upgrade to more leg room. The flight was on a Boing 747-400 and we thought there would be plenty of room. There was't. We were in the middle rows and there was more leg room, but the width of the seats was like a can of sardines. We understand that you have no influence on seat width, but you were the one who put us on this aircraft. The second leg of the flight was more comfortable on an Airbus 320/321.

2. When we arrived at the Budapest airport we got our bags and found the Viking representative. She told us to wait in a certain area and not to move from there. There were no seats in this area past customs. We gave her our names and she checked us off her list. She got the names of all of the people there except she said we were waiting for two people. My wife had to find a seat at a restaurant since she has a knee injury and could not stand for any long period of time. After standing for about an half hour in an non-airconditioned hot area, I and others asked her if we could help her find the couple, she told us to just continue standing in that area. Some of us went to other Viking groups in that area to see if we could find the missing couple and others offered to go back into the airport to see if they could find the couple but she was adamant that we needed to stay in this one area. The other three Viking groups in this area, from the same airplane, quickly left the airportAfter three-quarters of an hour of standing, I asked her who the couple was we were waiting for and she said it was the driver. It didn't make sense to me that the driver of the bus would be coming through customs at the airport. Finally, after an hour of standing, she told us that the bus is coming but it is in traffic. So there was no couple we were waiting for, the bus was just delayed! I would have thought that Viking would have anticipated traffic problems and have the bus there on time, and not come up with an excuse that we are waiting for a couple that didn't exist. This was the first incident of a lack of coordination.

3. When we arrived on the Viking Udun, we discovered that our 100 level room did not have elevator access. When we booked this excursion, we didn't anticipate that the elevator would not go to the 100 level rooms. When we were on our previous Viking cruise in 2016 we knew that the ship had an elevator but our room wasn't at the 100 level so we were unaware that it did not access the 100 level rooms. My wife badly injured here knee in February of this year so we assumed that the elevator which we knew was on the ship would have access to our room level. We were wrong!
While we were at breakfast between 7:00 and 8:15 a.m. on the Udun our sheets were being changed and our personal items in the room were moved. We could not get off the ship until our buses were ready at 9:00 a.m. We did not expect that they would enter our room while we were at breakfast. In fact, we were appalled. We did not secure valuable items because we absolutely did not expect anyone to enter our room without us being present. We understand that they needed to prepare for the next guests but they could have waited until after 9:00 a.m. or have us board buses earlier if you needed the room ready that early. This was the second incident of a lack of coordination.

4. When we realize we didn't have access to an elevator, I asked the tour director if there were any vacant rooms on the upper level. He said the ship was full but there might be one or two rooms but he would not be sure until the next day when we boarded the Viking Vili. I asked him if he needed our room number or my name and he told me that he knew who we were and he didn't need my name. He never got back to us on this issue. I know he had a lot of issues to deal with considering the low water levels but I would have expected an answer. Since he didn't respond, we decided not to pursue this issue, however, we should have received a response positive or negative. This was the third incident of a lack of coordination.

5. We were extremely unhappy when we discovered that Viking doesn't have a mobility policy to allow individuals with mobility issues to board the buses first. As you know, there can be long walks to the buses from the ship and by the time my wife and I boarded the buses many times we had to sit in the back. The time needed to go to the buses on this trip was further complicated by steep walkways from the ship to the land because of low water levels. People with mobility issues are given priority in boarding airplanes, so why does Viking not have a priority boarding policy for boarding buses? This is the fourth incident of a lack of coordination.

6. We missed two optional excursions because of the necessity of boarding buses in order to be at our next destination. We missed the Hungarian Horsemen optional tour in Budapest and the Moselle Wine Tasting optional tour. We were unhappy that you simply didn't refund the cost of these optional tours to our bank account, instead you gave us a shipboard credit to use. We understand that you refunded the balance of the credit after the cruise. This appears to be a marketing tool that Viking uses because if you have a credit there is a greater likelihood that you will spend more money on ship than if you did not have a credit. We were very disappointed that we were not able to attend the Moselle Wine Tasting tour. This was one of the highlights of the cruise that we were very much looking forward to. My wife is part German and she loves white wines.

7. We purchased the Munich Highlights Optional tour. When we were told to go to our buses we left the ship, and we were not among the first to leave, I literally ran to the different buses to find 43H. There were at least 8 buses in the parking lot and I ran to each, not wanting to be left behind, and to my surprise there was no 43H. The bus driver had not changed his sign until after the Viking representative went around inquiring. This was the fifth incident of a lack of coordination.

8. We were very disappointed in the Munich Highlights Optional Tour. This was a very expensive tour at $398.00 U.S. dollars. We didn't go into any buildings, except the restaurant where we ate lunch, because it was only a highlights tour as it was explained to us by our guide. We were not allowed to enter any buildings. In regards to the restaurant experience it was fair. Getting the attention of the waitress was difficult. I understand it was lunch and they were busy, but I expected better service. One other complaint about the restaurant was the pork sausages that came with the meal. They were no different than the pork sausages that I could get from the Jimmy Dean brand in the United States. It would have been better to have the white sausages that we learned Munich is famous for.

9. The Nuremberg motor coach tour (included tour) could have been enhanced. It would have been a better tour if we could have done a few photo stops where we could have gotten off the bus for a couple of minutes to take photographs of a few historical sites such as the exterior of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice and the Nazi Rally Grounds. Unfortunately, this was not the case as your had to take pictures through the window glare of a moving bus.

10. At the the beginning of the Nuremberg tour the sixth incident of a lack of coordination occurred. We were waiting for another phantom couple that never showed. It actually was a miscount and there was no couple.

11. The bus driver taking us back from Nuremberg refused to stop while the tour director frantically tried to get the bus driver's attention to allow two more people to board. This was the seventh incident of a lack of coordination.

12. The same Nuremberg bus driver who was returning us to the Viking Gefjon refused to slow down as we were approaching our ship at Dock #1. Realizing that he wasn't slowing down as we were approaching Dock 1, many of us were yelling at him to drop us off at our ship. He ignored us and drove us to Dock #5. He insisted that we get off the bus. So we had to walk back to Dock 1 to board. The other buses behind us got dropped off at Dock 1. This was the eight incident of a lack of coordination because the bus driver should have know some English since we were all English speakers.

13. On one of our bus transfers from Weirsheim to Mainz and Mainz to St. Goar all of the buses came to a screeching halt. None of the buses could go under a stone bridge because they were too tall. So we had to get off the bus with our personal items and walk for about a quarter of a mile to go on to the Stadt Vallendar for our Rhine Unesco tour. So these are German bus companies that are unfamiliar with bridge heights in St. Goar! This was the ninth example of a lack of coordination.

14. In regards to the shortened Rhine Unesco tour on the Stadt Vallendar, it was a disappointment. When we did this tour in 2016, it was twice as long and we were given a list of each castle along the Rhine with a running commentary by the tour director. On this trip, we were not given a list of the castles and the commenting was sporadic. In addition, this tour occurred during lunch with a loud noise level and it was difficult to hear the commentary.

15. On our trip from Marksburg to Cologne by bus, our bus driver dropped us off in the parking lot next to the Rheine Energie Power Plant. It was at night and in the rain, he forced us to take our personal bags and walk to the dock to the Viking Mimir. The distance was about three-quarters of a mile. The two buses after us were dropped off at the dock. This is the tenth instance of a lack of coordination with a German bus company that didn't know where to drop us off. Once at the dock, our ship was the sixth ship. We had to walk over 5 different ships to get to our ship. It look like miniature golf course that we had to traverse and it was slippery. I complement the crews from the ships that helped us to go over the tops of their ship and for the umbrellas that they had.

16. Dining on board the four Viking ships was "hit" or "miss." Some of the deficiencies that occurred were the wrong order, no follow-up to collect dishes or water fill-ups, and milk was given instead of cream. I am particularly sensitive to these issues because I was a former busboy and a waiter. To be fair there were some excellent servers and we personally and generously tipped them.

17. So all total, we were on 4 bus transfers and 5 different ships on this Grand European cruise. The ships that we were on are: 1) Viking Udun, 2) Viking Vili, 3) Viking Gefjon, 4) Viking Mimir, and 5) Stadt Vallendar. As a result of the multiple ships, we had to unpack and repack 4 different times, not to mention getting on and off multiple bus transfers from one destination to another. We paid over $10, 000.00 for what should have been a cruise on a single ship where you unpack once, this was not the case.

18. We understand that you do no control water levels but we know that you actually knew about the water level problems during the summer months. In fact, we learned that you actually cancelled this same Grand European Tour in the summer. You knew about the multiple bus transfers during the summer. With the water issues you had during the summer, I don't understand why you did not give us options before the tour began. You could have:
a. Given us a full credit of the entire amount paid toward a future cruise or
b. Cancel the tour and refund the full amount or
c. Proceed with full knowledge that there would be multiple bus and ship transfers during the trip length and some optional excursions would be cancelled.

Your warning "Please note, additional modifications such as the previously advised mid-cruise ship swap or use of alternate ports may become necessary, if water levels remain low. Your Program Director will confirm any additional changes on board." doesn't do justice for what we experienced.

Because we didn't have options to cancel or ask for a full credit, we missed a 100 year church celebration and my 50th high school class reunion. These are events that will not be repeated in my lifetime.

Our request is to ask for a 100% voucher for a future cruise, which we actually have placed a deposit on; it is Into the Midnight Sun, Viking Booking Number 4787946 . I request that you do not cancel our reservation on Viking Booking Number 4787946 while this appeal is pending.

Thank you for your time and consideration. You have our e-mail address and telephone number in your records.

Sincerely,

Simion J. Catau
Aza M. Catau

My husband and I have traveled with Viking on 4 river cruises and have always been very satisfied with our experiences. On our last trip in May 2018, we decided to book an ocean cruise for April 2020. The information we received in our cabin to encourage us to book while on board indicated that "Onboard bookings are made on behalf of your Travel Agent". No where in any materials we received from the person who booked our trip onboard was there an indication that we needed to do anything or that there was a time frame for an action on our part to transfer this booking. No inquiry was made about our travel agent so I assumed it was something that could be taken care of in the future. When I e-mailed my travel agent today about this trip, she contacted Viking and was told the trip had to be transferred to her with in 6 weeks of the booking. I called Viking and spoke with two people who told me that it was too late to make the transfer and no exceptions can be made. How can this be when no information was given about any necessary procedures or time lines? This trip is still more than a year away and we have made no changes in it at all. Had there been any indication of a procedure or time limit I certainly would have complied. I don't feel this is fair. Is there something that can be done?

November 26, 2018
Viking Cruise Line
Customer Complaint Department
[protected]@vrc.com (this email did not work)

This is a short and sweet communication regarding a long and disappointing "Bus Tour with Floating Hotels". My 84 year old mother and my 63 year old self booked the 2018 Grand European Tour with Viking four weeks before departure Oct. 16 2018. We were in the process of booking for 2019 but my mother decided at 84 her mobility and life expectancy could change quickly, so we decided to sail 2018. Excitement in the air! She has traveled the Rhine area many times before and looked forward to sharing the experience with me.

What we didn't expect:

• Four ships transfers
• Three bus transfers
• Booked Ship VE - 4days/3 nights only out of 15 days
• Numerous staff changes
• Special Dietary requirements hit and missed with each transfer.
• Mobility issues
• Limited balcony access
• Lack of privacy numerous times from our Balcony (another ship serving breakfast, staterooms exposed to other ships staterooms, we could shake hands. What a view!)
• Missed port

And at one point a substituted Middle Rhine River Cruise cut short creating a fiasco of a day. Town of Koblenz was missed and the Marksburg Castle was to demanding for my mother. Disappointment was to say the least… This was the main reason for the trip! My mother felt cheated, this is what she wanted to share with me the most. Our third bus trip to Cologne was further taking the joy out of the trip, we couldn't get on the ship till 4:30pm and by that time my mother was going downhill fast along with me. We sat at a coffee shop waiting for the bus to take us to the ship. Excitement about the trip was gone, tired from the changes, and disappointment had set in. We stayed on the ship for the next two days till we landed in Amsterdam. When we disembarked my mother saw the new group coming on weary from travel, experiencing mobility issues and it broke her heart. She wanted to yell "Stop, don't get on this ship to Hell".

We appreciated the heads up about the first transfer and the willingness of staff to meet our daily needs. But our biggest disappointment was Vikings intent to NOT disclose that numerous changing of ships used on a tour was a normal operation since the end of August. Again, we booked four weeks before departure. We should have been told. In California we have also experienced drought conditions. We were told a rain would help the condition. As I looked at the water table as we cruised, the fix for that condition was an another season, not another rain as we were lead to believe.

Regarding the 25% off on another cruise is a flawed system. My mother paid for the whole trip and felt the 25% should be transferable so she could use it. I agree. We would like to discuss a reasonable compensation for this "Bus Tour & Floating Hotel" experience that we never signed up for. Please contact Gwen Bender at [protected] or Cherie Harth at([protected].

In Good Faith
Cherie Harth

Sail Date November 10, 2018

Our Viking river cruise ended up being more bus travel than river with three boat changes. Due to these multiple changes, several advertised promises of the Viking level of service was not met. Many on the trip were unhappy and some complained to staff. We did not join in this since we knew the staff would not be the proper place to go with this type of complaint and we were assured ou first night that Viking was aware of the impact of these changes and would be in touch with us within 7 days of our return.

However on the last day this changed and now we were told that we should contact Viking if unhappy. Today I called Viking to ask whether we needed to contact Viking or Viking would contact us. Hopefully the person I spoke to is an anomaly because she did not exhibit impressive customer service. She never offered any type of concern, said I could express my feelings if I wanted, said that I had just returned so what did I want even though I had already explained my confusion. She said I would be getting an email with some type of offer from Viking but they were still thinking about it and basically implied that I can express what ever but it was meaningless. Hopefully this is not what the acclaimed Viking customer service is like once the sale has been made and monies collected. I am still holding out hope that Viking will continue their commitment to customer service.