Viking River Cruises
Reviews and Complaints

I am sending this correspondence to complain about my disappointing experience with my recent Viking cruise with a pre extension in Switzerland and a post extension in Amsterdam. upon my encouragement 3 other couples joined us on this excursion and all expressed disappointment, the first problem was the bus ride from the hotel in Lucerne to the ship in Basel, the bus was used to take 4 of us on an optional tour to stansehorn, leaving everyone else waiting at the hotel until they returned. thus we did not leave until 4pm from the hotel, got delayed in traffic and did not arrive at ship until after 6pm. this deprived us of spending time in B asel and having lunch on the ship. this was poor planning. a van could have been used to take the 4 to stansehorn and then back to ship, while the bus could have taken the rest to the cruise ship much earlier in the day. but little did we know that this would be the least of our problems. Midway through the cruise we had to switch ships, because of low water levels in the rhine, we had to repack and spent long hours on a bus ride to cologne, not arriving until late in the evening, then on another day we had to take a 2.5 hour bus ride to a ferry boat so we could see the castles along the rhine, and then another bus ride back.Our cruise was turning into a bus tour of Germany. the way the tours were handeled were far from handicap friendly. In Strassburg we had a very long walk from the ship to the bus in a wind swept rain.. at other times we had to traverse 4 ships to get to the dock to get to the bus. as a token recompense to our hardships we we given an open bar for 1and a half hours. this was insulting. I had a friend who went on a rhine cruise in august and he had a squeaky door for one night and he and his wife were given a free liquor package for the whole week. I blame management for all these problems. the crew themselves were excellent as usual. we should have been given the option of cancelling this cruise, if water levels were too low. I live in a large retirement community in south jersey. and many in my community have gone on Viking cruise based on my recommendations. however, unless there is some recompense from Viking manage ment. I will no longer be encouraging our large community to use Viking cruise lines

Thank you for your email.

While I do realize there's nothing you can do about the Rhine river level, unfortunately it did impact my once in a lifetime river cruise.

I was so looking forward to seeing all the castles while cruising down the Rhine on my own ship and while we did have a ferry experience, it just didn't meet up to my expectations. It was very noisy and crowded and we missed so many of the castles that I wanted to see. Also the bus rides were extremely long and repacking and unpacking again was not a pleasant experience nor what I paid for.

I also was extremely upset with the sewage smells in my stateroom and in the whole first floor in all the ports. We couldn't even be in our stateroom at all while in the ports. The purser explained to us it was because the ships were all dumping their sewage, but there must be a better way to do it. Is it dumped in the river? Last year when we did the Danube cruise I didn't notice the smell.

We were not happy with the cruise even though the crew and especially Candy were extremely nice. The evening entertainment was also pretty much non-existent. On our other Viking cruise we had evening entertainment each evening mostly local entertainers brought in from each port. On this cruise we had nothing but a piano player! Ugh!

Cruise Romantic Danube
Date October 19 2018
Ship Viking Tor

My friend and I have just returned from the above river cruise and sadly to say it was not the holiday you advertised. Your firm has had knowledge of the low water levels for a few months now but continue to charge full price for an experience you cannot fulfil.

We were given 12 hours prior to our flight, to decide whether we cancelled with full refund or continue with our holiday plans, being offered 25% off our next booking. Had we have known the full implications of how our cruise would be affected our decision may have been very different. As such, we ended up with a "cruise" that really wasn't a cruise and, we believe, no where near being value for the money paid and that the information you provided in order for us to make a decision was limited if not deceitful. The offer of 25% Is simply touting for future business and not offering any recompense for the disruption and disappointment felt by your customers who ended up in 3 ships, many long bus journeys
and only had 4 daylight hours of river cruising in one week!

The excursions, the ships themselves and the staff we have no complaints about they provided excellent service, a special mention to Daniel, Tour Director. Until the last day, Daniel had gone by this time, the organisation of our transfer to the air port was poor and left us with a hair raising drive through Budapest and only managing to catch the plane, with the assistance of the Viking Rep, as it was being boarded. We had no apology for the lateness of this transfer from the staff on the Viking Var when I had approached them a few times with my concerns they left me feeling as if I was making "a fuss over nothing" A very stressful end to a disappointing holiday.

We do not wish to accept the 25% offered (as we have no intention of ever travelling with you again) but would appreciate it as a monetary token acknowledging the disruption caused to our holiday.

We would appreciate your swift response to our issues and confirmation of your suitable recompense for this appalling service,

Yours Pat McGregor

We just completed (10/18) the Eastern Seaboard Explorer cruise on the Viking Star. We did the post port excursion staying at the Westin at Time Square NY. Viking scheduled our airport transfer for 10/20 with Center City Limo. Pickup was at 5:00AM. Driver was either sleep deprived or impaired somehow during the drive. He was wandering out of the lanes then scraped the side of the vehicle in the tunnel to Newark AP. During the drive to the AP he was driving radically weaving from lane to lane. About a mile from the AP he stopped in the middle of the freeway, we yelled to him and he started again. At the airport he keep missing the departure turnoff going around twice. On the third attempt he stopped again in the middle of the road and one of our traveling companions moved to the passengers seat and the drive was either asleep or passed out. He awakened the driver and guided him to the proper terminal. It was a terrifying end to a terrific Viking experience.
Mark Baker Booking # 4706550 Society Member # [protected]

A change in port from Limon in Costa Rica to Cartegena has meant that our booked excursion has been cancelled and refunded, which is fine. However we are Deluxe Veranda occupants and being out the evening that we received notification of the change, meant that we were not in time to re-book a similar excursion from the new port, because we were too far down the priority list for re-booking. This within 3 hours of the notification. We feel that we, alongside others who had booked for the excursion in Costa Rica should have been given priority rather than it being passed to the higher paying cabins first. We are very disappointed that we are now told that it is sold out, when originally we immediately booked as soon as we could i.e. when our cabin class allowed us. It was our special wedding anniversary day on the 27th. December. We were not asking for special treatment but it seems that we have missed out because of the class of cabin that we could afford at the outset. We have a call in to talk to a Manage but are not expecting any accommodation on this matter. Viking should change their policy when it comes to re-booking excursions and give priority to those who have already booked.

We just got home from our third Viking cruise (1 river, 2 ocean) sailing from Amsterdam to Barcelona on Viking Sky, leaving October 6. We booked the cruise over a year ago and were initially very excited. It seemed to hit a lot of high spots for us--2 days in Amsterdam, 1 day in Paris, 1 day in England, several days in Spain including Barcelona, and passage through the Strait of Gibraltar.

A few months out we noticed that the itinerary was changing. What had originally been marketed as 2 days in Amsterdam changed to arrival day only in Amsterdam and the 2nd day was no sailing at 7:00 a.m. This meant that since we arrived from the airport at about 3:00 p.m., and we knew there would be a mandatory safety drill, we would have only that evening for touring on our own. No excursions were offered. (Interestingly enough, the Viking Daily for Day 2 Amsterdam said the best way to get around Amsterdam is on foot. Really? We are at sea!)

Our day in England had originally been marketed with as many as 13 tours including Stone Henge or a tour of London as well as a number of other tours that all sounded wonderful. Checking the website before we were able to book our tours, we saw that there were only two options--a walking tour of Portsmouth Port where we would be docking (and in fairness, those who took this tour thoroughly enjoyed) or a bus trip to Winchester to tour the cathedral with a second stop to see King Arthur's roundtable (Spoiler alert--NOT!)

These two changes were enough to send off alarms for us. We contacted our travel agent who got in touch with her Viking representative. The representative told her to have us check back daily as things "were changing." He also told her that others had voiced concerns. Needless to say, things never did change. We had expressed our desire to cancel the trip and re-book another if the cruise didn't pull more in line with their original marketing. Our travel agent contacted Viking several more times and was told the same thing. Keep looking. Tours are being added. Eventually it was too late to cancel without losing our money, and nothing changed. This trip had become almost a full-time job.

These are the things we knew before we got on the ship. After we got on board there were more surprises. The days in England and Cartegena were only 1/2 days as were at sea again shortly after noon. So, all told, we were 4 days at sea instead of the original 2 days. All known to Viking before we departed. Short days in port and long bus rides for excursions also meant there was no free time. Of course, part of that is due to the excursions we chose, but most days touted "free time" and "shopping" and there was none until Barcelona on the final day. Days at sea seemed to be opportunities to sell spa services, offer gemstone lectures and book more cruises. We felt as though everything was very hurried. Half a day here, half a day there.

The Strait of Gibraltar was also mentioned in the original marketing. We had no idea when we would pass through, but this was also exciting to us (husband was a history teacher). You can see both Africa and Europe at the same time from our ship. Well, we were told that we would pass through between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. Not ideal, but we're up for it, so we and about a dozen other passengers chose a good vantage point and hoped for the best. We aren't sure what we saw. Wouldn't this have been a good time to send a crew member to point it out to us? With radar assistance they would know exactly where it is.

Those were the disappointments. Of course, we did have a wonderful time overall. As always, the food and service were very good. The staff is quite accommodating. We had a once-in-a-lifetime lunch in the Eiffel Tower (though the bus ride to Paris was almost 3 hours each way--at least it was scenic). We toured the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (We've seen a lot of churches, cathedrals, etc. but none like this!) We went on 2 food and wine tours that were quite enjoyable. The tour guides were all knowledgeable and entertaining.

Since Viking didn't address our concerns and the cruise shifted significantly from the original plan, we think we will look into other options for our next overseas visit. While we understand that many things are out of the control of the cruise line--water levels and weather--we feel that our issues could have been handled with more honesty. These cruises are expensive, and, unfortunately, it's often the disappointments that color our overall impression.

We were given the opportunity to either do a walking tour or ride the tram through Colmar, Germany with the tour guides. We chose to take the tram due to one of our friends having a difficult time walking that day.

While on the tram the Guide would mention some of the sights just as we were approaching them and the Tram would not slow down to let us see or take pictures of the sites. We did not have enough Time! to enjoy the City.

It was a complete waste of time and money for this tour.

I am requesting that the monies for my wife and I be refunded. to us.$ 69 each

Dear customer relations... no name offered in your correspondence,

Thank you for the consideration of compensation for our inconvenience but as a retired police officer, volunteer fireman and a former emergency management coordinator in Pennsylvania, I must express severe criticism of your emergency procedures aboard the Viking ship we were transported to after the Vilhjalm could not continue the voyage to Budapest.

We arrived at our new ship, The Idun, without any problem, secured our staterooms and proceeded to enjoy Budapest. After several hours we returned to a ship without any electric or water. We were unable to get to our staterooms or have any sanitary facilities available. I was shocked to find there were no emergency lights in any corridors or common areas. I saw the watertight doors had closed but I could hear people behind them and we had the doors opened but they had to be blocked as they continued to attempt to close and caused elderly people to stumble in the dark conditions. Others were trying to get thru the corridors in pitch black conditions, and were stumbling due to the fact very few had any hand held lighting. We further discovered some people were locked inside their rooms and were attempting to open the doors and you could hear the beginnings of panic, fortunately that did not take place and they were able to exit.

I must say I am still shocked at the lack of any safety protocol and or guidance from the crew as to what to do. I suggested at least bringing water to the lobby and directing everyone to a safe section of the boat. The water was brought but ships company was not very evident or informative. The need for safety lighting and trained personal in emergency procedures, other than abandoning ship, should be resoundingly addressed and remedied post haste.

Please advise me as to the remedies that have been initiated. We are considering future cruises with Viking but that will depend on your response to this letter and action taken.

Sincerely Yours,

Thomas A. Bradley
1679 Anthem Rd The Villages Fl 32162
[protected]@yahoo.com

Booking number 4749545

Do not cruise with viking river cruises!

We booked and took a viking river cruise from august 6, 2018-august 20, 2018 from amsterdam to budapest.

This was not, in any way, the cruise we were promised via the expensive printed glossy viking brochures. This was a very, very expensive cruise for which we have saved all our lives to take and enjoy.

Our booking number is was 4782487.

We have called and spoken with viking customer service representatives over three times now and today again called to speak with an upper level customer service manager. The service agent I spoke with refused to allow us to talk to an upper level service manager.

This is far from "customer service".

We have been offered "future cruise vouchers" for future cruises which must be taken by september of 2019.

We are not wealthy people and to take another expensive cruise in not in our budget and therefore the future cruise vouchers are of no value to us.

We have asked for cash refund of our cruise for the cost of the cruise, outside of the airline fare and post cruise two day stay in budapest.

The cruise was a disaster as low water level on the rivers, which we were never ever notified of before we left for europe, did not allow for a "river" cruise.. Instead the trip consisted of three different boats, unpacking and packing up on almost no notice and then being bussed to these boats.

Viking knew full well of the low water conditions many weeks before this cruise but yet did nothing to let us know or give us any alternatives for a later cruise at a later date or refund our cruise prior to departure.

We were docked in industrial locations far from city centers and far from the "beautiful" sights promised in your glossy brochures. When we were docked in the promised cities, we were wedged in between two other viking cruise boats and therefore had no view from our staterooms other than to look directly into another boat stateroom.

The crew was so sick in the restaurants that they were taking turns resting and taking each other's shifts to recuperate. This however, resulted in passing their illnesses on to most of the passengers, including myself, my fiancee, tom paltani, my sister anne mccracken and my 82 year old mother, maria waring. As a matter of fact, we were all so very sick that we each spent several days of our lovely journey in our cabins preventing us from enjoying the sights and taking our excursions. We understand that there were even passengers who were so ill that they had to leave the cruise early and be flown back to the us for hospital care.

Additionally, we were not allowed to use the upper level deck of the boat during much of the cruise. The reason for this is still unknown to us.

The final parting gift viking gave us was being placed in our last stateroom which smelled of sewage, had no air conditioning and a toilet that wouldn't flush.

If we are not able to be allowed to even speak to someone who can actually resolve this dispute, we are forced to file a lawsuit to pursue legal remedy.

As of my conversation today with a lady in your customer service, in which I was refused any further communication with viking management on this matter, I have scheduled a meeting with my attorney for wednesday, october 3, 2018 at 10:00 to begin legal proceedings.

Should anyone from viking with a conscience and good business practice wish to contact us, our phone numbers are:

[protected] mary waring
[protected] tom paltani

This is a follow up from my several phone calls to customer service, we are still awaiting any type of resolutions or response from Viking;
*Our Viking representatives at the Corinthia Hotel in Prague were very unorganized and would give very little information. This is the first time we heard about the possibilities of low water and being put on a bus instead of cruising the river. We heard this from fellow passengers when we asked the Viking representative we were told she didn't know that we would get an email. I finally called customer service and was told that yes this could happen and they would keep us informed.

Once on the ship this possibility was not mentioned again until we were in Bratislava. The night before we docked in Bratislava we were informed it was possible but not probable that we would be taken off the ship and bused to another ship. Boris, cruise director said they could get the boat into port but might not get it out and Viking wouldn't want their ship trapped. Was this really our problem!

The morning of our short scheduled stop in Bratislava we all left as usual for our tour of the city, still no word that any schedule change was about to take place. We were all told to be back on the ship by 11:30 am for our beautiful leisurely travel to Budapest. (we were told at the beginning of the trip by the cruise director Boris that this leg of the trip was by far the most beautiful we would see!)
We all arrived on the ship on time and then were informed oops sorry we are now not leaving until 7:30. Why we were not told this before leaving that morning so that we could have enjoyed a slow paced and enjoyable day in Bratslava I simple cannot understand. We were told we could all walk back into town but who would want to do that after you already hurriedly saw everything so you could be back on the boat. We were all looking forward to the beautiful relaxing trip up the river but instead we all just sat around on top of the boat. No drinks or anything special was offered. No information was given, when we asked Boris said he didn't know any additional info and would give us an update that evening. Finally right before dinner we were told we would need to get off the ship in the morning at 8:15 and be bused to Budapest 1 1/2 hours or so away. We then spent our evening packing instead of a relaxing cruise into Budapest. We again called Viking customer service and the person that answered couldn't believe they did not add any activities or offer any drinks or anything for the time just sitting in port. We were told they would email the boat and let them know.
We were told we would get on the bus and once in Budapest we would be taken to our Ship for a quick stop then on to a tour of Budapest.
Once on the Bus the guide told us no sorry we aren't going to the ship first. We arrived in Budapest after 10am then did a bus trip around the city after first stopping at bathrooms for 30 min. The tour of Budapest was supposed to be from 8:30 until 12:30 so we did not get the tour we were promised.
We then arrived to our new ship and spent time unpacking and getting settled back in only to have all the electricity and water to fail. We spend hours with no electricity, no water, no bathrooms... Because of all of this dinner was finally served at 9pm but we were not allowed to choose we just had to take what they gave us, really?
*very unorganized, thankfully we were the young ones on the trip. The older clients were not taken care of at all, they were on their own to figure things out...
* poor communication throughout the trip and before. Cannot understand why we were not informed before going on this trip that low water was an issue and cannot understand why during the trip no one thought it was important to keep us informed or answer our questions.
*poor service while on the ship (we were told when we got to dinner 8 min after 7pm that our friends need to hurry and get there) On the top deck no service is available at all. Tables were full of dirty glasses etc. for hours until someone finally came up to collect. Didn't see this in your marketing...
*we paid for a balcony which is a joke. only once in the whole trip could we use the balcony and that was at 6:00am. By 6:30 another ship pulled up and again you could not see. Nowhere do you say or show that when docked (which is almost always when it is daylight, that you can't see out your balcony because you tie up another boat up next to it! So instead of beautiful views you have to keep your blinds closed.
For this once in a lifetime very expensive trip we literally lost 2 days of the 7 day trip with no compensation. We never mind paying but we definitely feel like Viking did not hold up to their end of any of this trip...………………...

Hello
To whom this may concern,
My friend and I have a trip booked with you on a River Cruise this November ...we booked it way back in the summer of 2017.
Booking number 4603803
We just up graded our flight from business economy to business class, last week .
Little did we know that all flights are computer generated ..no humans involved...we had just received the flight info.
It was horrendous ..
1)It left a day earlier...than original itinerary, which was not mentioned when we made our upgrade, no info of any kind was mentioned concerning flight itinerary .
2) This also meant that I had to rearrange care for my animals a day earlier..lucky I was able to do so.
3) Besides that we had u.s. Continental flights ..strange since were are flying from Los Angeles to Asia ...why would we fly backwards..to Chicago to again come back to l.a.?
Adds approx. another 10 hours to an already VERY along flight ( going in the wrong direction)
As so as the information was emailed to be, I immediately emailed (Cooper the fellow I spoke to for the upgrade) that this was unsatisfactory .
Never got a response . All this was done in the time frame that was permitable.
4) We had paid for business class..so, on top of the insane flight schedule your automated system put us on ...originally ..you were going to put us in economy coach to fly us with in the UNited States.
..when we called to see what and why these flights were so irrational, we were told that to change them to logical flights..(which your company should have done) that it was going to cost the two of us and extra $300.00. ( 150.00$ ea.)You had us over a barrel.
5) I call to discuss this charge with a superior in your
‘Viking Extra Care' dept. twice. The second woman told me that she could reimburse us the money, but ( the flight itinerary) would go back into the " generated flights' and could not guarantee that the new flight schedule would remain the same.

That's VERY INSANE..and so not customer service friendly /considerate...we're saying to ourselves, can this really be happening ? ..not logical.
It would be like playing Russian roulette .
We didn't want to change our destination..nor did we want to add on any stop overs, or etc. we just want to get to our destination . A human being should have said something to us. You have it written in stone before we can even be aware of what you have booked..we're stuck... can't even question it, and then a slap in the face by charging more..CRAZY
Seems It's a win win for your company to make extra bucks, at our expense ...in this case!
All in all, because of the lack of communication ..the most you should charged us each is $50.00...I personally think it shouldn't have cost us a dime.
Wouldn't you have felt the same way?
Thanks for your consideration
Lorrel Launer

Sent from my iPad

June 5 2018 my husband and I started our 8-day Rhine River cruise from Basal, Switzerland aboard the Viking Herja. This trip was booked for our 45th wedding anniversary as a gift to each other. June 6th was the date of the safetyt drill. Our cabin was on level 3 and we were told to get our life jackets on and head up to the sundeck. As I topped the stairs to the sun deck and asked where I needed to proceed to I could not see a 4-5-inch diameter hose that was strung across the sun deck. There were no caution markers either. The life vest limits one's visibility when looking straight down. I turned to go to the directed assembly area tripping and falling over that hose. I sustained considerable injuries in that fall. My husband and a Viking crew member got me up and took me down the stairs to level 3. A Dr. came aboard and told the ship to call an ambulance and I was transported to a local hospital in Breisach, Germany. I knew my nose was broken and my knee badly bruised without confirmation from the local Dr. as I not only felt but heard it break as I landed. They did X-rays and confirmed the break at the hospital. We returned to the ship from the hospital where no one greeted us nor even asked if we needed lunch or something cold to drink. We did go to the lounge at one point to get a coke and ginger ale and asked for some peanuts as we were thirsty and hungry as we had missed lunch due to being at the hospital. We were charged for these drinks as it wasn't "dinner time or lunch time". I was able to "continue" the trip but not enjoy a trip that cost a considerable amount of money. Our Captain did not speak to me for any reason. Since this is basically the Captain's "house" he should have at least inquired about my condition. The only inquiry Viking made directly to us was to ask us to fill out an accident report which we did. This was done by the front desk staff.
After our return home our travel agent gave us a contact at Viking Customer Relations. Two different times I spoke with them. The first customer relations person, Kayla, informed me she had to stay late to call me. After a few minutes I could tell the conversation was going nowhere after being told again it was my fault she had to stay late so I told her it was probably best to terminate the call. I then wrote an e-mail to Stephanie who is supposed to be a VP of customer relations. A few days later I got a call from Marsha offering me first $500 off another cruise, then $750, then "final offer" of $1000 off another cruise. I was also told by both customer relations staff members that there are no supervisors to talk with me as they are all the same position. They also said Vikings executive staff does not call customers that encounter problems. I have been told by Viking that they do not owe me anything as far as they are concerned. That includes medical expenses, refund of the cruise or even another cruise to replace the one that was totally ruined by their carelessness. I would love to be their best spokesperson rather than feeling like I do.
I'm not real sure why they have customer relations staff except to sell cruises as they showed no real interest in resolving my situation. One can call me too trusting but I really thought Viking would actually care about an injury that occurred on one of their ships due to a totally avoidable incident caused by them. I have found out from may other travelers that life boat drills for 3rd floor guests usually take place in the lounge when a ship is docked due to the hose across the deck. I even overhead our tour director questioning that order as he was discussing it on a tour with another passenger not realizing I was 3 rows behind him on a bus. For 7 days each time I met someone they immediately knew I "was the one" that fell. I, like most people, am not comfortable with that kind of notoriety but with a badly broken and bruised nose no one could miss it. I was very fortunate that each of our fellow passengers were kind and supportive. Each and every one thought, as we did, that Viking would make some kind of overture towards us to make the situation right while we were still on the cruise. At this writing the injuries are still not healed and more care is pending.

My husband and I are not novice travelers. We had intended to book at least two more Viking River Cruises as we travel several times a year and most of those trips are a cruise of some sort. The disappointment and frustration, not to mention the physical pain of such a fall that I experienced has been great. I would love nothing better than for Viking to contact me and make this situation right. This is the first negative review I have ever written, as I much prefer to tell others about our wonderful times. Viking states in their terms and conditions that they aren't liable for any injuries and so forth that is caused by them. Anyone considering booking a cruise just read all the fine print real close and weigh the risks and benefits. I never thought I would be the one hurt on a trip.

Flying with Brussels airlines was the worst flight experience of my travel. We went on river cruise from Porto on the Douro. Our return flight was on the 6th September with Brussels airlines from Porto to Brussels with a connecting flight to Birmingham. The plane left Porto at 2.pm instead of 12.30. This resulted in us missing our connection From Brussels to Birmingham. We were them offered boarding passes for a flight to Frankfurt with a connecting flight to Birmingham. This resulted in a delay of 5 hours altogether at Birmingham UK airport. We were offered a 5euros each for food and drink at Brussels airport. This was completely unacceptable. There was no apologies offered. We then had to pay extra 52 pounds in taxi fare as our driver had to go away and come back to collect us. When I booked with Viking cruises I did not expect to fly with this budget airline and the substandard service throughout. We have travelled with Viking before and had wonderful experience. The holiday experience in Portugal was exceptional spoiled only by the return appalling flight.

This is the letter that was sent to Stephanie Maldonado on September 10th. The response today from Evan Sterling was $0 compensation and no apologies.

My husband and I recently went on a Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise on the Alruna (ALP18018). We had heard very positive reviews over the years from family and friends and were excited about our first river cruise with a company whose reputation was built on river cruising.

However, to say that we were disappointed with the week-long cruise would be an understatement. We have numerous complaints, thus am outlining these grievances along with requesting compensation from Viking. I will attempt to be brief and provide concise information, however given the problems we experienced, I appreciate your indulgence to read this letter through to the end.

TRIP PLANNING
- With several phone calls to your Customer Service area and our flexibility on dates, it was disappointing to find out that EVERYTHING is closed on Mondays in Cologne. This ended up being the one and only day in which we were in city during the day and early evening. We only saw the Cathedral and could not visit anything else. It would have been helpful to have been advised this when we were planning our trip.
- As we had booked the Amsterdam pre-cruise extension, I wanted to find out how the embarkation day time table would work so we could plan our day. I was told before trip that the bus would pick us up in Amsterdam hotel at noon. It ended up being 3pm and I could have booked another time slot at a museum that day. (We were told at the Hotel that morning that the time would be 3pm, so the day was not wasted.)
- We were told that we would be docked in every port and able to walk to/from the ship. This was only true in Cologne - in which everything was closed, as stated previously.

CHANGING SHIPS
- We understand that the weather was not under Viking's control, HOWEVER -how things were handled and communicated were under your control. Both were abysmal!
- On the embarkation date -18 August - we were not told until late that evening that we might have to change ships. Thus, we and many, many other passengers had already fully unpacked. When we were getting on ship, there should have been an announcement that there was a strong possibility of changing ships, thus don't unpack everything.
- Due to changing ships from the Alruna to Tialfi on Tuesday, August 19th, we missed 150 miles of the Rhine. We were shuttled onto a "day" tour ship for 3 hours of the boat change. The commentary during our "river cruising" was a single statement made by Sebastian (title?) who stated at one point, "This is my favorite castle". That was it! We also were told (and you'll find that this is a pattern of Sebastian's) that we'd be on the "day" ship for 1-2 hours. It ended up being 3 hours with no shade on the upper deck.
- On getting on to buses after our day trip, the bus drivers and Sebastian were outside talking for more than 20 minutes while final coordination was made with the bus drivers and the Alruna staff who had come with us to serve lunch. (These ladies did a great job!) One bus had to have someone ask the bus driver to close the doors and turn on the AC given how hot we were just sitting and waiting.
- We were then told, by Sebastian, that the drive would be 1 to 1.5 hours. It took us over 3 hours to get to an industrial park in Strasbourg.
- The staff of the Tialfi were standing outside to greet us, which was nice. And Sebastian announced that there was an open bar for the 30 minutes before dinner. However, there was a single bartender and we were charged for our wine. Again, another false statement/promise!
- The staff on the Tialfi except for the room service staff, were not friendly nor provided good service during meals. The only night they seemed happy was the last night before everyone disembarked.

Heidelberg, Germany - August 22nd

-This was the worst day of our river cruise and another example of Viking representatives "just not thinking".
-Given that we had to change ships, we then had to drive 3.25 hours BACK to Heidelberg. This left us with a 25-minute castle tour and a 1.5-hour lunch in a restaurant with only 2 servers and no A/C. Lunch should have been announced that it was optional and an end time of when to be back on the bus announced in the morning. Sebastian could not be found during lunch to ask how much time we had in the afternoon to explore Heidelberg. We ended up leaving before dessert just to walk 1-2 blocks to see something of Heidelberg. We then drove 3 hours back near Strasbourg. In my opinion, Viking owes us a day in Heidelberg.

Change in the end of our trip

- After the horrible day in Heidelberg and my husband getting sick, on the afternoon of Thursday, August 23rd, we asked the customer service desk to book us on flights going home on Saturday versus staying in Basel for the extension. In the early evening, according to Evelyn, Viking flights/customer service that supports the ship staff told her that there would be a $400 per person change fee to take the exact same flights with British Airways on Saturday versus Monday. That evening before dinner we confirmed in person that we would like to go ahead and have the flights changed. We were told that documentation of the change would be sent to the ship.

- On Friday, in Colmar, we were the first tour group to leave the ship at 8:15am for the WWII memorial tour. When we arrived back at 12:45pm, I checked in at the customer service desk to inquire about our new flight reservations for the next morning. Igor and Evelyn talked to us and stated that now the airfare would be $5, 200 per person for business class (on top of the $3390 that we'd already paid when we made our initial trip plan). Igor said that he had tried to find us in the morning to tell us about this change, which I do not believe given that we were at breakfast and on the tour. I stated that this was unacceptable and felt like we were being held hostage by Viking to continue our extension in Basel. Igor and Evelyn had me so upset that we missed the last tour of The Black Forest. About 2 hours later, I checked back in with them to find out what the Viking air/customer service area had found for us. We were told to be patient, even though it was going on 5pm Friday evening. Igor did get on the phone with us with much prompting and eye-rolling by Evelyn to find him. Leo Munsalud said that he was working on finding us something via business class or premium economy.

- We went to dinner that evening at 7pm and my husband checked in with the customer service desk around 8:30pm to see if flights had been finalized. They had not. It was not until after 9pm that Igor knocked on our door to let us know that flights had been found and documentation was being emailed directly to us from Leo. Once confirmed, Igor then told us that there wouldn't be any change fees assessed and finally seemed to get in gear to assist us with luggage tags and a taxi in the morning.

Again, one of the worst vacations we've ever taken! Viking's business model seems to only support "when everything is normal". Once "something" occurs that is out of the norm, the business isn't adequately prepared to ensure a pleasant cruise nor assist with changes.
Given that nearly fifty percent of our trip was either interrupted and/or did not meet the experience as outlined and documented by Viking's website, brochures, and ship representatives this is the refund amount that would seem fair to us. However, I realize that Viking's business model will not sustain a 50% refund, thus I am asking Viking to provide a cash refund that you deem appropriate via our credit card. An amount payable via a Viking future cruise credit is not acceptable to us. The $500 "token voucher" that Viking sent to everyone after the cruise is only 4% of our total cost, not transferable, and expires within a year. This makes it an empty gesture, in my opinion.

My wife and I recently returned from the Romantic Danube River Cruise. Pre-Cruise 8/21-24, Cruise 8/24-31. Booking #4847366. We began our journey with a pre-Cruise package in Prague. It was a disaster. The Hilton Hotel in which we were booked was under construction. The noise from construction: constant hammering and power tool noise was unbearable...it began early in the morning and lasted until evening...lasting until 8:30 one night. The noise was loud and obnoxious. It sounded as if it were just above us. We asked hotel management to be moved. We were told the hotel was sold out and could not move to another room. The night before we were to leave the hotel, they finally told us we could move to another room...at 10PM. We contacted Viking customer service, we were told they had no idea the hotel was under construction...yet the hotel management told us the hotel had been under construction for 2 years and would be under construction another two years. They told us all users had been notified of the construction...someone isn't telling the truth. Two of the three days we had to use the stairs or service elevator. My wife has a leg injury that doesn't allow for her to climb stairs; our travel companion is in a wheelchair. Viking having known about this construction should have been pro-active and booked us in another hotel in Prague. My wife became physically ill because of the noise. We also booked excursion tours in Prague. We always book "easy" because of physical limitations. The first was Panoramic Prague. We went to Castle Hill and were able to tour there, when we returned to the bus for the next segment, the tour guide Hanna strongly suggested we return to the hotel and not continue on. Hanna said there would be about 20-25 steep steps to acess The Charles Bridge and then a 4 1/2 mile walk over heavy cobblestones to get where the bus would again pick us up. We went back to the hotel. That evening we were booked on the excursion Prague by Night. The tour guide was very weak. But again, the two stops each had 25-30 steps to acess the sights. So once again, we stayed on the bus. During this tour the guide described how beautiful it was to see Prague light up at night...beginning at dusk an area of the city turns on it's light, then in 10 minute intervals each area of the city turns on it's light until the city was lit up. She said it was an amazing sight...but that amazing sight wasn't part of our Prague by night tour?
The following day we hired a private car/tour guide so we could see Prague.
During our stay in Prague we were notified that the river levels were low on the Danube and our cruise would be impacted. We were told to prepare for possible hotel stays and ship changes. After the fact, we learned that Viking had known this information for several weeks, maybe months. We we should have been notified before we left the USA and given the opportunity to re-schedule or cancel. The morning of our departure from Prague even the the tour guide did not know where we would meet our ship until the bus driver told her. We did have to change ships. We had to pack and unpack again. A 3 hour plus bus ride to the new ship. Not what we signed up for. We chose the river cruise to unpack and be settled in for the week. The crew on the first ship was outstanding. The second ship the crew was not us to par. The dining staff seemed to be understaffed. We would be seated for meals for quite a long time before anyone came to offer drinks or take our orders. This was after we "flagged" them down.
We spent more time being bussed to cities than seeing the cities. We had less than 1 1/2 hours in Vienna and less than an hour in Budapest. Lots of time on the bus, but you don't get to see much when you are on the bus.
Viking has given us a voucher for 25 percent off the cost of our cruise to apply to another cruise with them, which at this time we would not chose to ever cruise with them again. There has been no offer of compensation for the nightmare in Prague.
We would like a full refund for our pre-cruise in Prague, plus the excursions we paid extra for; and a 25 percent refund of monies from the River Cruise.

FROM: Leesa Morgan-Baker
2100 Valley View Drive
Woodland Park, CO 80863

TO: Viking River Cruises, Inc.
5700 Canoga Avenue
Woodland Hills, CA 91367

[protected]@vikingcruises.com;
[protected]@vikingcruises.com

Danube Waltz - Budapest to Passau (August 5, 2018- August 12, 2018)
RE: Booking Number: 4773582 Service Recovery

Dear Viking River Cruises:

I am writing to request additional service recovery of an additional 25% on the trip we booked with Viking River Cruises as referenced above. This trip was intended to be a multigenerational, once in a lifetime event with my 84-year old mother, niece, sister-in-law and longtime friend.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. Due to low water we were bussed from Budapest to Bratislava. The compensation offered at this point was 25% toward another cruise. It seemed adequate compensation. We boarded the ship in Bratislava and sailed in the dark to Vienna. We never left the port due to failure of the generator on the ship in Vienna.

We were repeatedly assured that the generator would be fixed so waited patiently as we were bussed to our tour destinations. We only sailed on the Danube for one evening. We never sailed the Danube in the daylight and were moored between two ships so couldn't even avail ourselves of the French Balcony windows we selected purposely for being able to view the Danube while sailing.

To finish the tour we were bussed again to a resort outside Passau where we spent the remaining time. Once again we had to unpack and then pack up again we went to Passau for the end of the tour. I can't call this a cruise as we were on land the majority of the time.

The compensation requested seems fair and I am so disappointed that Viking has not lived up to their reputation as the best cruise line in the world. A multinational, multimillion dollar company has failed to extend a fair and adequate compensation of $1800. It seems your good will and reputation would be at least worth that.

I have been promised that someone would call me back in 5-7 days after speaking to a representative on the phone and am still waiting on day 12 for that callback. I look forward to your prompt response to this letter.

If my request has not been honored by September 30, 2018 I will feel feel compelled to utilize various social media outlets to inform the general public of your lack of adequate response.

Sincerely,
Leesa Morgan-Baker
[protected]

I had purchased Viking Cruise for May 2019 on August 15, 2018. I was ask to pay Travel Insurance which I did. 18 days later I had to cancel the trip. I was not aware I was going to lose over 2000 for the insurances. I called Viking to see if they could stop the cancellation and put the $3028 over to another trip that did not cost $28.000. They would not accommodate my request. The person that answered my call was rude and not willing to help me. I then called my salesman Nolan. He did try put was unable to get them to help me. Viking customer service lacks for the high prices charged for their cruises. We have traveled with Viking and yes it was a memorable dream trip. I just felt I need to tell consumers my bad experience. Beware do not buy Trip Mate Insurance. Read their reviews rate 1 star. I will never travel Viking again. I was willing to pay for another trip but no they chose to not see how we could come to some agreement

This trip was a once in a lifetime trip for my mother, my aunt, myself, and my 82 year old grandmother on the Danube. We were not made aware, prior to our departure from the U.S., of the low water issues happening on a continuous basis on the Danube River and the management of mechanical issues that proceeded to follow are unacceptable for the caliber of cruise line advertised by VRC. Had we been made aware in a timely manner, we would have been able to use our VIKING provided travel insurance to opt out of the trip and reschedule. Instead, Viking waiting waited to inform us until everyone was already in or en route to Budapest. We were offered a 25% voucher for another cruise (to be used within a year), and $100 of onboard ship credit (which we weren't able to use because we only spent 2 days on the boat).

We were set to board the ship on Sunday, August 5th, and were informed on the evening of August 3rd, the water level was too low and we would be spending extra unplanned days in Budapest.

 On Tuesday, August 7th, we had to pack and board motor coaches to Bratislava, where we boarded the boat around lunch time.  We toured the town that afternoon and sailed early in the evening for Vienna.  We woke up on Wednesday, August 8th, in Vienna and the day proceeded as planned.  That evening we learned the ship had suffered a mechanical failure and we could not sail. At times, our toilets wouldn't flush and the power had to be shut off.  All the while, we are docked between 2 boats so when we opened the windows to our "French balcony" we were staring at another boat. These 2 boats were also cooking all the food for our ship as we had no power to cook anything. We were told the ship would be fixed shortly and we would be sailing at some point during the night.  

When we awoke on the morning of Thursday, August 9th, we were still in Vienna docked between 2 boats.  Viking Cruises was again forced to bus all passengers to our Krem tours (which was supposed to be our port that morning).  We didn't see the city but were able to do our tour of the Gottewig Abbey.  At this point, we were waiting on a part to arrive to fix the boat so we lost an entire afternoon being stuck on the boat in Vienna "waiting" .



On the morning of Friday, August 10th, we spent the whole morning on board the ship (which has no entertainment) awaiting further instructions.  At about 11:30 we finally learned that we would AGAIN need to pack our bags and be off the ship by 2pm that afternoon.  We would board motor coaches and be bussed to just outside Passau, Germany for the remainder of the trip.  This was a 3+ hour bus ride.  We stopped and boarded a public sightseeing boat for a tour of the Wacchau Valley that we were supposed to see on our cruise.  Due to the rain and the inability of a sight-seeing boat to accommodate weather circumstances, we did not see much in our 30 min cruise. We arrived at the hotel in Germany and although it was a nice hotel, they were not prepared for 180 passengers from a cruise ship and the food was sub-par at best. Viking did cover all drinks and mini bar purchases while we were there, but this was yet another unpleasant experience in an endless chain of continuing events. 



On Saturday, August 11th, we were bussed 30 min into Passau for our scheduled tours. We skipped the port of Linz all together which was an advertised port of call for our itinerary.  The evening, a piece of paper was slipped under our door offering us a 25% refund on our cruise as well as the 25% voucher for a future cruise. Mind you, this was a $7k trip, just for me. Plus all the extra expenses that were spent using public restrooms and buying snacks/water on our bus transfers.

Sunday, August 12th, we were shuttled to the airport where we left the resort late and barely made our flights out of Munich, Germany.  We were literally the last ones to board the plane. We spent more time on alternate ground transportation than we did being able to relax, in one home base location, on the boat.

All of this to say, the biggest disappointment, is Vikings refusal to rectify the situation. I have sent emails, and spoken to representative many times to no avail. I was literally told once that 25% refund + 25% voucher equaled the 50% refund that I was requesting. Viking has also REFUSED to acknowledge the broken ship. I have spoken to 2 different representatives who both continually told me how the low water is beyond their control and the best offer I could get was a 35% voucher on another cruise. It's as if they have been coached on what to say. As if, I would ever set foot on another Viking cruise.

I am so disappointed to see a company that touts themselves as being a 5 star vacation destination refuse to actually serve the customer. A company's true colors are revealed in a crisis, and my friends, Viking revealed theirs. A company that thinks nothing more than the bottom line of their financial report. They could have made this right from the beginning and had a customer for life.

I am a travel agent and booked my first Viking River Cruise for Danube Waltz
Booking #4924292. Sonny and Pearl Levitt.
Our Friends Cheryl & Nelson Ferreira also booked the same trip. She is now a Travel Agen.
All was well until we received our flight information. We all upgraded to the Premium Economy seats.
When printing out our Air Itinerary all seats were listed except flight Air Canada, Flight 6210, Saturday Oct. 27, from Toronto to Vienna...and...Austrian Airlines Flight #6196 from Vienna to Budapest, Oct. 28.
Having been told that we will get our seat numbers 2 days before and that we might not be sitting with our spouses, which we find unacceptable, we called your air dept and found out that the aircraft that we are taking only has 3 rows of Premium Economy, 10-12, and we have researched to find out that row 10 is limited legroom and row 12 is limited reclining.
The Agent also told us that the only seats available to Viking are D & G in row 10 and 11.
Needless to say we feel that we are going to be stuck with unacceptable seating on the longest leg of our trip and we want some resolution now.

Joining the outcry of disappointed people who have had the misfortune of 'cruising' with Viking Cruises this summer. Our dream vacation, the first ever 2 weeks long, was disappointing and very stressful. We came home tired and exhausted. Our vacation was NO vacation thanks to being misled and in our opinion deceived by Viking over and over again. We are very dissatisfied with the overall ‘cruise' experience and the compensation offered by Viking to make up for the changes in our anticipated vacation.

Our group of three couples was aware of the low water situation a week prior to the scheduled sailing. We contacted Customer Relations and spoke to Megan Miulli on the Monday, August 13th requesting an opportunity to cancel our trip and plan our own itinerary since we were all committed to non-refundable airfare. Customer Relations refused to allow us a full refund prior to the trip and requested that we travel to Europe, embark the ship, and then file a complaint within 24 hours if we were still dissatisfied.

Our trip was scheduled for August 18th. We were officially notified by Viking Tuesday, August 14th at 6:16 p.m. that water levels were low and that the itinerary had been changed. We again reached out to Megan and left a voice message that we were interested a refund and scheduling our own trip. We did not hear back from her before it was time for us to travel.

We flew to Europe and took the train to Nuremberg. Fortunately we took an early train or we would have missed the bus to the ship. We quickly realized how disorganized, stressful and disappointing the trip was going to be. The refreshments at the Le Méridien Grand Hotel Nürnberg were second-rate and were depleted when we arrived. We received mixed instructions from the Viking representatives on hand, an apparent foreshadowing of the days ahead of us. The bus left earlier than we were earlier told, we had no time to explore Nürnberg. After a 2 hour bus ride, with no comfort stop, we arrived in Passau and embarked the Egil on August 18, 2018.

Upon arrival we discovered our cabin's view was blocked by another ship. We did however have a great view of the other ship's guests dirty socks drying on their deck chair. Eventually the ship moved and we had a view, sadly our friends who were on the other side of the ship now had a blocked view.

The night of the 18th the on board crew relayed to us the itinerary changes for the next day. They said they were unable to tell us about the rest of the cruise days because conditions downstream were volatile and changing. We were told that the excursions the next day would be leaving at 8:00 a.m. by motor coach. Unlike most of our fellow passengers we are not retirees. We are employed individuals who came on vacation to relax and get away from the stresses of our busy work lives. We anticipated relaxing evenings on board, cocktails in hand, long restful nights of sleep, awakening leisurely in port before excursions in the adjacent port. Getting up at 6:30 a.m. was not any of our ideas of a good time. None of us wanted to get on a bus first thing in the morning. We therefore skipped the excursions on the 19th and filed an official complaint, as your brochures instruct passengers to do, within the first 24 hours of embarking. Hotel Manager Davis Thomas relayed our complaint to Customer Relations via email that day.

On Sunday, August 19th, Mr. Thomas relayed to us that because the water levels were out of the control of Viking Cruises, no refund of our expenses would be given.

We were very disappointed and frustrated with the lack of refund or financial compensation offered. Viking's offer of 25 percent off a future cruise was completely a slap in the face. We wanted to get off of the boat, not think about planning a return cruise! We wanted to get off and derive our own itinerary. We are very capable of doing so and it would have allowed us to have the relaxing, stress-free vacation we anticipated. While we realize that the water levels are out of control of Viking, what was in Viking's control was the forthcoming communication of information and/or the opportunity to offer financial compensation that would have helped to make us feel less trapped and less taken advantage of. It was very difficult to have our itinerary communicated to us piecemeal by the crew and we feel strongly that this was done intentionally. When we arrived in Budapest we saw a Viking ship that we were told had been stuck there for a month! So, Viking was aware of the water conditions downstream and was not forthcoming with that information.

Our trip was not relaxing. We spent many hours on motor coaches. We spent only 1½ days cruising. We were deprived of hours of relaxation on board that we had looked forward to for over a year. We came home stressed, frustrated and feeling that we had been taken advantage of by Viking Cruises. We've reached out to Viking via their Customer Service phone line several times and at great length. We, and our fellow passengers have been offered 50% off of a future cruise. We've also been offered $500 compensation, if we agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We have declined to accept any of these offers. Instead we will do our best to share our experience with others so that they will not be as unfortunate as we were. Viking has refused to offer decent compensation for a trip that was no where close to what was advertised.

I've attached a photo I took on a bus - that was my view for most of the trip.