Viking River Cruises
Reviews and Complaints

date of incident October 13,2022 on Viking VAR. My husband and I were told be owed a balance for items - drink package, tips, and 1 excursion totaling $662.79.

I explained to the Viking rep that we had SBC transferred from the other 2 itineraries that had to be changed due to covid. She said it would have to be resolved after the cruise because she had no way of seeing these accounts, etc.The original cruise booked for 2020 was rescheduled and because a port of call was dropped from the original cruise, we were given a SBC of 500.00 each which was not applied to our cruise.

Family booked cruise to Japan, which was cancelled by Viking. We rebooked a different cruise. The overpayment from the first cruise (over $2500.00) was not refunded nor would credit be applied to another cruise. Our daughter who booked separately has still not been notified of the money she will be losing. Three agents we spoke with parroted the same reply. We must use the credit on the second trip, (which has already been completely paid) or we will lose it.

The conditions are buried in 17 pages of legalese which would take a trained lawyer to interpret. Other cruise lines we have delt with would either refund or carry the credit to future cruises. This may be legal, but is the worst business decision I can remember in 50 years.

On November 2,2020 is booked a cruiseRef #6171261) for September 26,2021 on December 14, 2020 I had to cancel due to my husband's Doctor;s orders,

I had paid $1,082.00 for myself

I had paid $1,082.00 for my husband

We had purchased Travel Protection.

That gave me a travel vouchers in the amount of $2,164.00 to be used in 2 years,

Expires 12/17/2022 12:00 Am

I have tried to get a cruise on the Mississippi for 2 years to no avail

All dates for 2022 had been sold out .( They had some availability in 2023.

However,

My husband's health has deteriorated and we can no longer plan a trip

So please refund me my $2,164.16

On October 22, my husband and I ended our Mediterranean Antiquities Cruise with an extension in Istanbul. The evening of the 22nd we went out to dinner from our hotel The Conrad. When we returned to the hotel we had to go through an X-Ray scanner for security. When I placed my bag on X-Ray Scanner I tripped on a piece of metal over some wires. Two poles holding up a velvet rope fell on me and knocked out my front teeth. Luckily, the hotel took me to a 24 hour Dentist who fixed and restored my front teeth. Viking was no help at all. The Viking Representatives were no help and neither was their AIr Flight Reps. The next day I was in a terrible pain from my fall and my teeth being restored. I was in bed all day. Viking never called and asked if we needed anything, Food etc.. My husband ended up going to Mc Donalds for our dinner. When we returned back to Atlanta where we live no one ever called us from Viking. I had to call them and they were no help at all. They could have cared less.

My husband and I were invited to join our friends, frequent Viking cruisers, to go on a British Isle cruise in May of 2024. We called our agent to book and were shocked that we had to put $1000 down, but ok. After that we were told we had to pay it off a year in advance! What? We have cruised with several cruise lines and never had to pay in full that far out. We have a cruise booked with Norwegian for 2023 and our final payment is due the same day as the Viking curise is required. We cannot budget two cruises in that short of time. It was a hard decision, but we had to cancel the Viking one. Now I find out that the cancellation fee is $100 per person. I've worked as a travel agent, been on numerous types of vacations and I've never heard of penalties for canceling before final payment. I will never be able to use this money and am sick that it cost us $200 for a whim of a dream.

Complaint is with Viking Air, KLM and Lufthansa. October 17th, 1 day prior to departure for 2 day Budapest extension/Romantic Danube cruise, KLM cancelled the connector flight from Amsterdam to Budapest. KLM separated our group of 5 - 2 were put on the 10:25 flight Amsterdam to Budapest. The rest of us were assigned the 2:25PM Amsterdam - Budapest flight. This resulted in an 8 hour layover at the Amsterdam airport. When we asked KLM if we could spend the time in the KLM lounge, we were rudely told no. When asked for meal vouchers, again, rudely told no and that Delta should have provided vouchers. We had paid and extra $50/ per person to fly together - but not on that leg of the trip. We paid extra for upgraded seats - except on the Europe airlines flights? A bit if deception. In addition, due to the flight change, 1 afternoon in Budapest was lost. We paid $499/person for the 2 day extension - we lost the equivalent of $60/per person. We were not allowed to choose seats - despite filling out the Viking Air preference information.

On the Munich to London flight, on 10/28, we were scattered ver the plane - in middle seats. Very unfavorable impression of Viking Air. I spent a lot of time on the phone with Viking Air - and was told “ we have no control over the airlines” more than once. I would prefer not to hear that again.

We booked and paid for our cruise through our travel agency - Tripmatters, in Dec 2021.

The trip was scheduled to depart on Oct 18, 2022.

On the evening of Oct 15, I had an accident, and broke both of my wrists, naturally I was unable to travel. I spent all day of Oct 16 in the emergency room.

I notified the travel agency on Oct 17 and they cancelled the trip.

The travel agent has told me that Viking will not give me future travel credits due to my accident. I have traveled with Viking in the past and have throughly enjoyed the experience. I certainly did not plan to break my wrists and was all set to travel, even had my mail ready to hold. I am not asking for a refund, simply future travel credit on Viking, after all, they had my money for almost a year and did not have to pay anything due to my accident.

I booked a cruise for spring 2024. Right after I booked, we had a family emergency and I did not have a chance to look at the booking, plus we decided it was too expensive. I called to cancel about 12 days after booking. I was told we would not get the trip insurance money, $1400, because I only had 10 days to cancel. I do get my booking fee back, $50.

I have not canceled the trip but will.

My wife and I booked a cruise (booking # 6762829) to Panama Canal & Central America for February 21, 2023. Unfortunately we had to cancel (October20, 2022) because of medical issues. Which is approximately 124 days before embarkation. I don't mind Vikings $100/person cancelation fee.

What I have an issue with is TripMate's Travel Protection Plan Fee (plan GR425V) and their refusal to refund the $1,238.00. Yes, I have reread the plan and under "Schedule of Benefits" part A. Initially if looks like you're covered for "Cancel For Any Reason Waiver" with the little asterisk after the "Up to Trip Cost". When you read the fine print it states that the Cancel For Any Reason Waiver "is not an insurance benefit underwritten by Generali-U S Branch". Yet when you read section titled "Benefit Summary" trip cancellation it sounds like they cover it.

I contacted Generali about the $1,238.00 premium refund for the TripMate plan because they provided no services and/or accrued any expense and we canceled the trip 124 days ahead of embarkation. I spoke with Customer Relations (Trevor) and then Customer Services (Kyle) and they both said it is a non refundable fee but perhaps I should speak with Viking.

We just returned from our Viking cruise and I wanted to provide you with some feedback:

The Stateroom that you sold us was a major disappointment. The very moment we stepped into the room we could smell the odor of raw sewage. My sister and our other friend’s rooms did not experience the same smell so we inquired and were told the smell was coming from the river. The smell should subside once we were underway. This was not case since we were experiencing the same nauseating odor after we were underway.. We were then told that ship’s septic system is scheduled to be emptied once we arrive in Vienna and that should solve the issue. Once again, this was not the case and my wife and I were forced to sleep with the balcony door open at all times to include while were sleeping. I once again complained and was told the drains in our stateroom needed to be cleaned. The drains were then checked by both the cleaning person and the ship engineer and we were finally told there was nothing the engineer could do to alleviate the odor. All parties however, to include the engineer, agreed there was a strong odor but again nothing could be done to alleviate the odor. I initially asked to move to another room but I was told moving to another room might not be an option since the ship was full in capacity. After four days of insisting, they finally moved our room.

After enduring raw sewage odor for four days of the seven days, my wife became ill and I quite frankly find this completely unacceptable.

Clearly, there is something wrong with that particular stateroom and we, or any other quest, should not have been assigned that stateroom.

As you are well aware, this Viking cruise was very expensive and my wife and I should not have had to endure smelling raw sewage in our stateroom for four days.

Please forward this email to Mr. Hagen and I look forward to a response.

Regards,

Michael McKenzie

Cell: [protected]

email: michael. j. [protected]@usdoj.gov

Booking # 6485665

Cruise departed Milwaukee, 9/24/22. Ship is docked in an industrial area, no way to walk to anything. Booked a 7 days cruise, before we left they cnx. one stop, choose to remain in Milwaukee for an extra day. Once aboard they cnx. another stop, now we will spend 2 days in Toronto. Seven days became 5!.

The only place to eat aboard the ship, except for a 30 passenger dinning room, is a cafeteria. If you were ever in the military...now you are standing in lines again to get your meals. Once seated at a table, you will need to go find someone to bring you water, a soft drink or wine. There are no cruise terminals on the Great Lakes, so when they do dock you will be in a gravel pit or in some warehouse area. The carriage ride of Mackinac Island, sounded nice. The carriage carries 35 people 7 rows of 5! It travels though a woods...that's it a ride in a woods. The Ford Museum tour in Detroit could have been nice except the guide took us on a bumpy ride of downtown for a hour+ leaving little time to tour incredible museum. They had to use the tenders at most ports and were very difficult to get in/out off. This was our4th and LAST Viking cruise!

I was scheduled to take the Viking Southern Atlantic Crossing “Jupiter” cruise which embarks from Barcelona, Spain on November 10, 2022 and disembarks at Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 1, 2022. However, Viking advised of a change in itinerary on September 23, 2022 that the ship would not be stopping in Dakar, Senegal allegedly because of “port closure issues” but instead it will stop at Mindelo, Cape Verde. I have taken 5 ocean cruises over the past 15 years and I tend to be "port focus". In this case Dakar, Senegal was of primary interest to me because of its historical importance; it is the port that millions of African slaves were deported across the Atlantic to the American shores.

Dakar is primarily a commercial port with cargo ships being its primary customers. Viking's claim of frequent port closures does not hold up as one of its competitors, Silver Sea- Silver Cloud, docked there on October 14th for 12 hours. Another competitor will be docking in Dakar on October 26th for 12 hours. Viking was offering 7 excursions for its original stop in Dakar, including Goree Island (the Slave House & the "the door of no return") and a Bandia Reserve Safari(which was sold out immediatiately upon posting). I had signed up for Goree Island. To date they have not issued any excursion options for its stop in Mindelo, Cape Verde.

I paid $11,066 not including excursions and have requested a full cash refund. Viking has been defiant in stating that it has a right to "change an itinerary" and will not provide a cash refund. They are only offering a Viking voucher which has all kinds of restrictions. I am not interested in a voucher, as I have no intention of ever traveling on a Viking cruise again. Btw, Viking is only offering the voucher because I purchased "trip insurance" with a cancel for any reason waiver through Viking. It's very difficult to trust "a bait & switch scammer". Viking has violated its original itinerary because of a "probable navigation/logistic "screw up" on its part. This is not a weather related nor political unrest related issue.

Below is the email I received from Viking announcing this itinerary change.

23SEP2022

Dear Viking Guest,

Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming Southern Atlantic Crossing voyage. We would like to take a moment to advise you of a change in your itinerary.

As you may be aware, schedule or itinerary changes may become necessary due to a number of variables. Due to frequent port closures in Dakar, Senegal, your ship will now call at Mindelo, São Vicente Island, Cape Verde.

São Vicente Island (Mindelo), Cape Verde

The Cape Verde archipelago is a group of ten volcanic islands that enjoy a year-round warm climate, turquoise seas and beautiful landscapes. The isles were first inhabited after their discovery by Portuguese sailors during the 15th century. Mindelo is the capital of São Vicente and birthplace of Cesaria Evora—a singer who rose from poverty to worldwide fame on the international stage. She performed her distinctive morna ballads to audiences while barefoot, which soon became her trademark style; her music is widely celebrated and is a part of Cape Verde's heritage.

A new shore excursion program will be made available for this port of call shortly. If you booked any shore excursions for the original port of call they will be cancelled and refunded to you.

If you used a cruise voucher or shipboard credit to book the excursion, the excursion amount will be added back to the balance of the voucher.

If you purchased the excursion with cash, it will be refunded to your purchasing account.

To see your updated itinerary in full, please visit MyVikingJourney.com.

Thank you for your understanding. Should you have any questions regarding this matter before your departure, please contact your Travel Advisor or call us at [protected], Sunday - Saturday, 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, PT.

Thank you for your understanding and we wish you a great journey.

Sincerely,

Viking

Viking Cruises

If you need any supporting documentation, I will gladly provide it.

Thanks for your assistance.

Recently returned from a Viking Rhine trip on 10/14.

The good:

Rhine water levels were good, no issues. Service on the vessel was A+, excluding one attendant with “attitude” at the front desk. Entertainment was low key but acceptable. Viking succeeds in creating a laid back atmosphere. Viking is like a clock - they run on time. Cabin was nice and shower was exceptional. Most (not all) tours were informative, guides ranged from good to excellent. Tour buses were top shelf with experienced drivers.

The not so good:

All 6 in our group were disappointed with the food (not service but food) all week excluding breakfast. All felt the food offerings got “old” real fast. Food appeared to be prepared in advance and then reheated. Plenty of TV movies, tv and internet reception poor all week.

Most concerning

Viking, customs, and airline never asked to see our proof of vaccination. While Viking did a excellent job in keeping the boat itself clean and sanitized we had an issue on one of the bus tours. A unmasked woman sitting directly behind my wife was sweating & coughing non-stop. Not a occasional sneeze or cough, it was obvious this woman was ill. At the first stop multiple riders relocated to seats as far away from this individual as possible. Regrettably, Viking said/did noting.

Viking claims they are not the Covid police and if we felt compromised we should have put on a mask. Absolutely ridiculous that Viking felt we should have masked but took action to pull this woman aside, require her to mask with a suggestion to see a physician. Again - we’re not talking about normal coughing and sneezing- this woman was visibly ill. Viking was willing to put 30 travelers at risk rather then ask a visibly ill woman to mask up. It’s Vikings boat, tour, bus but they say and do nothing.

Of course 2 of 6 in our group contracted Covid.

Viking had a obligation to do everything within their control to protect us as best possible. In this instance they didn’t even try.

Not trying to trash Viking, just being truthful.

Viking took our money for a Russian cruise and when we had to cancel due to Covid they refused to give us a full refund, instead we were issued vouchers for s a significant portion of our booking. After long and futile conversations, we tried to book the trip again and Russia invaded Ukraine. Again, the stupid worthless vouchers were issued

One last try booked a trip using the vouchers. We had to cancel due to medical issues. Guess what? Tripmate is slowly processing the claim, but again we cannot get the money back for the vouchers. Viking patently explains that the vouchers have no cash value. So, they are keeping our money for 2 cruises that never sailed.

Our advice avoid Viking; take your trip with someone else.

I booked with viking river cruise in 2019, but with COVID we weren't able to reschedule until Dec 2022. I encouraged others to join us and viking credited me with vouchers. Unbeknownst to me, they credited only me and not my wife. They will not allow me to share these vouchers, so they will become worthless as I would have to pay more to include my wife on anything I use them for (Sliver Package, Gratuities, etc.). Why they don't let me use the vouchers for both of us is, quite frankly, stupid. When my friends mentioned that I had recommended them, the operator only credited me and not my wife. Therein lies the problem. Why can't they just split the vouchers is beyond me other than that is their policy. I spoke with Courtney (the Senior Manager) and he said that is their policy and nothing can/will be done. This policy needs to be changed to include both parties in the cabin as if I wanted to use the vouchers for gratuities BOTH parties in the cabin must sign on. It really is a very bad policy.

My river cruise was for a party of six. On the departure & return air travel arrangements made by Viking Air representative assured the guest who made initial overall cruise arrangements of the following:

-seating for all flights would be 3 and 3

- special accommodations for 1 guest with mobility issues requiring a wheelchair would be taken into consideration when preselecting seating

- 1 guest with mobility issues would be seated for every flight with her caregiver .

This did not happen (Departure ):

-Flight 1 to Atlanta kept us together but we were in row …. ,

-Flight 2 ,the special needs traveler & caregiver were seated together but 20 rows from other 4 guests that were going to assist with special needs guest.

-Flight 3 , the caregiver & special needs traveler with Alzheimer’s were separated and seated at end of plane making reasonable access to the restroom impossible resulting in soiling issues .

The misrepresentation of Viking Air on (Return):

- Viking cruise representative took all 6 of us to Lufthansa representative

to make all of our travel arrangements .

-The nightmare got worse for the entire 6 guests traveling.

- Lufthansa representative is told , now 3 returning guest in our party require special assistance at each returning gate .

Flight 1 to Munich leaves late

-special needs traveler with Alzheimer’s is separated

from caregiver , no assistance from flight attendants .

- other 4 guests are separated towards front of plane closer to restrooms .

Flight 2 to Atlanta (due to delay flight 1 ,time to get to gate of connecting flight is minimal).

- The guest with Alzheimer’s is transported by wheelchair to connecting flight gate with her caregiver & 1 other member of party of 6.

- the remaining 3 members of our party of 6 now requiring transport assistance as told to Lufthansa ticket agent in beginning ,are left at gate awaiting airport transport assistance.

- 1 is picked up to go to next gate & other 2 of our party are left behind making it impossible to make the connecting flight to Atlanta that all 6 of us were supposed to be on.

- 1 guest that made it to connecting flight on time refused to board plane & leave 2 of our party in foreign country .

-my special needs guest is seated with me (caregiver )in row 46 of the plane ,

25 rows from closest restroom . More loss of dignity for disabled person

requiring access to restroom.

- the 1 member of my party of 6 that made it on second return flight with me was seated 25 rows away towards only restrooms we had access to .

- due to seating I could get my special needs person to restroom 1 time , she soiled herself again & suffered more indignity.

- flight attendants were useless in providing any relief to our challenges .

- the food on this 8 plus hour flight was horrible , soft drink in first hour or so & 7 hours later a disgusting sandwich.

Flight number 3 Atlanta to Sarasota Florida :

- We are informed we are required to physically get our luggage & have it taken to delta ticket agent for this final connecting flight to Sarasota Florida.

- our luggage was not located in Atlanta so we were told it would be delayed

getting to Sarasota but it would get there .

- I as the caregiver for the special needs guest with Alzheimer’s attempt to get boarding passes from Delta ticket agent for us both to our final destination and am informed my connecting flight ticket for boarding pass is not showing up & can not get my boarding pass unless I reach Lufthansa rep. to correct coding issue & will only get a boarding pass this way or else I will have to purchase a now $700 ticket .

- After various attempts over 3 hours to reach a Lufthansa representative seeking assistance, a second Delta representative by the grace of god heard my story and within 25 minutes was able to produce for me a boarding pass at least sitting in same row as my disabled person.

Luggage upon arrival to Sarasota Florida :

- myself and my disabled person I was traveling with did not receive our 2 pieces of luggage with medication & hearing aides until 4 days after our arrival on 10/5/22.

The lack of care or consideration for disabled people & misrepresentation of personal Viking air handling seating arrangements at every stage of flight is false advertising.This 6 person ,first time ,Inter. trip that was planned as a last trip for 2 of the 6 attending due to age & illness.

Booking number 6051066

About halfway through a cruise on the Douro, with 3 more nights to go, we heard from some guests, at breakfast time, that some other guests with whom we had passed the previous evening, had become unwell during the night and tested positive for covid. I had woken having lost my voice and my partner felt generally lethargic so we went to see reception staff and the boat manager, who said that we could just wear a mask and continue with the cruise, or we could take a covid test.

We thought that the responsible thing was to take a test (although the manager said the responsible thing was to just wear a mask!). As requested, we'd worn masks on all our coach trips. We were told that if the tests were positive, we could abide by Portuguese rules and isolate for 6 nights, but we weren't compelled to do this. We only had 3 nights left on the cruise, so this would have delayed our return to England by 3 days.

We took the test and were both positive so we isolated in our cabin for the rest of the day and opted to follow Portuguese rules as we didn't think it was fair to fly back when we were infectious. In the late afternoon, we were asked to pack our bags as a car was coming to take us to a hotel in Porto, where we would have to stay in quarantine for 6 nights.

In the hotel, we paid over 1000 Euros for the 6 nights bed and breakfast but we weren't told that there was only minimal housekeeping because of infection. After 2 nights wondering what was happening, we were told that towels could be changed if we left them outside the room, and tea bags could be requested. We understood then why full housekeeping (making the bed, cleaning the bathroom etc) couldn't be offered but there was seemingly no price reduction for us. WHY DIDN'T VIKING EXPLAIN THIS?

I was particularly unwell, coughing continuously, and we asked reception if there was a pharmacy nearby, but there wasn't. After 3 nights of misery and in desperation, we asked reception if there was any possible way we could get some medicine. We were given a phone number of a pharmacy which would deliver medicine to our room, so we eventually received some medicine. WHY DIDN'T VIKING TELL US THIS AT THE START, INSTEAD OF LEAVING US WITH NO HELP?

Return flights, 3 days later than planned, were arranged for us, but we discovered, on arrival at the airport, that we had to pay for our taxi there. (Transfers were supposed to be included in the holiday cost.) Luckily, we happened to have enough Euros with us to pay the taxi driver. WHY WEREN'T WE WARNED OF THIS?

We had to have Room Service for all our food. Much of the food was of an appalling quality - nearly always cold, a cheese toastie with toast burnt black and the accompanying crisps could be bent double without snapping, fries which were cold and rubbery (we sent these back), eggs benedict where the poached egg hadn't been drained and the bread underneath was wet through.

From checking via text with other passengers, it appears that they weren't informed the next day of our illness. WAS THIS THE CASE? IF SO, WHERE IS THE TRANSPARENCY PROMISED BY THE BOAT MANAGER AT THE START OF THE CRUISE, AND THE DUTY OF CARE FROM VIKING?

Our AAA travel agent helped us book a grand European river cruise on September 27,2022 for a June 2023 cruise after we attended a Viking presentation.

Our travel agent told the Viking booking agent that we had just attended a Viking presentation and had 4 brochures stating the price $6199 - however she kept saying we needed a code from brochure - when we provided it she stated it wasn’t the right code and the fare was at the regular price.

We went ahead and booked along with doing

an extension trip and a travel protection plan.

Upon further reflection the next day we contacted Viking customer service talked with Maria and sent a letter to

[protected]@vikingcruises.com about advertising the cruise at one price and not honoring that price. We were told our travel agent would need to call.

Our travel agent has called given codes and still is told they can not do a price adjustment. As a last resort he is contacting the Viking cruise presentative and expected to hear back within 2 days.

I am very discouraged with how difficult and time consuming this has been to resolve with Viking. They are suppose to be a high end cruise line but still after 2 weeks we have not been able to resolved this.

Considering canceling because I feel strongly about honoring a brochure price and working with customers.

On a recent VIKING SEA cruise 09/16-22/2022, all passengers experienced a situation that was so poorly handled by the Captain and his crew that we are all complaining to Viking and elsewhere. Our BASE cost for this trip was $18,174. At this time Viking has been sending offers to some passengers for a $1,000. voucher each toward another Viking cruise for us losing FOUR excursions of which included Croatia which we ALL wanted to go to.

Some have received an offer of $2,000. each as I have.

The ship was asked to leave Venice and go to another Port (Ravenna) due to a storm that was supposed to come in to Venice...once in Ravenna we never noticed any real storm but what happened was that the ships lines broke lose from the moorings and another line slipped off causing the tattered lines to wrap around one of the propellers which caused the ship to drift out to the channel that evening. It took 5 tugboats to bring it back to the Port. Divers were not able to clear those lines in Ravenna so we limped all the way to Corfu, Greece taking us away from our Port Excursions...we lost 4 out of 10 excursions. There is much more to this incident with stories from MANY passengers including the fact that there were about 50 Military Retirees who came to the same conclusion that the LINES were inadequate / worn out to handle the winds, Viking's negligence in having proper Lines. Viking needs to do the right thing by speaking with all the passengers and finding out what compensation they believe to be fair to them the passengers, not an insulting $1,000. or $2,000. towards another Viking cruise. Then to top it off we lost power and the use of toilets for the last day on board...why? we were never told. This is how Viking treats it's passengers? Totally unacceptable.