Promised wifi is a bust. Only one device can be used, lockout occurs when shutting down and attempting another device, there is a 1.5 hour wait (their estimate) for resolution, and latency (ping) is poorest signal quality seen in years. Don’t believe them when they market wifi aboard their line – it’s a no-go.
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Published22 December 2019
Submitted by: fambus2009
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This complaint and/or review was posted on The Skeptic Files on 01:55 am, December 22, 2019 (CST) and is a permanent record located at: https://www.skepticfiles.org/review/viking-river-cruises/.
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Taylor Cabellero
We booked a river cruise from Paris to Normandy for our 40th wedding anniversary which sailed Oct. 26, 2015 to Nov. 2, 2015. Our suite on the Viking Rinda was beautiful, although the pillows way too soft, the staff was very competent and the food good. However, one big problem was that we were docked in Le Pecq, France, not Paris as advertised in the Viking brochure. While Viking did advise us of this change a couple of months before departure, we were also told shuttle buses would be provided to and from Paris. However, there was a very limited number of buses provided to and from Paris i.e. one bus in the morning and two returning in the afternoon. If you are supposed to be docked in Paris and not the “parking lot” which was LePecq, there should have been multiple shuttle buses provided for the passengers. At the end of the cruise, those of us who booked a post tour extension to Paris were rushed off the boat on the morning of Nov. 2. The 24 passengers were on the shuttle to Paris at 9:15 am to arrive at the Paris hotel at 10:00am where the rooms were not ready until 3pm. While we understand they had to get the boat ready for the arriving passengers, we could have stayed in the lounge until later in the morning. Or, they could have provided a bus tour of Paris on the way to the hotel if they needed us off the boat so early in the morning. This was a very disappointing end to the cruise. Also, the day trip to Normandy included a two hour bus ride to and from Normandy which was not mentioned in the brochure. That meant 4 hours of bus time for a 10 hour day trip to Normandy. We were taken to the American cemetary and Omaha beach the last 2-1/2 hours of the tour. We should have been given more time at these sites.
Glinda Jaco
We paid the extra fee to be able select our flights for an upcoming cruise. The flights were booked and were noted not only on the Viking website (MyVikingJourney) but also with Lufthansa. Noticed tonight that the flights were switched to a non-premium flight without any notice or consultation. Called Viking. They blamed Lufthansa saying the flight was no longer available. NOT TRUE. I contacted Lufthansa and the flight is available at the class of service we paid for. VIKING LIED! They have us now on this utterly poor flight with a chance of not making it in time for embarkation. Their only solution was to show up in the middle of the night the day the ship embarks. Incredibly tone deaf and poor customer service!. Booking NO.5024867
Jeraldine Wagenknecht
RE: Booking Number 5040887 (Russia), Aug 8 TO Aug 20 I must report a situation that this is slowly turning into a nightmare. Our luggage, part of which includes my disabled husband’s wheelchair, was lost. We are going into the third day now, and I just got word that we will not get it until we arrive in Moscow—an additional 7 days! The Viking Helgi crew has been very accommodating, no problem there. Our clothes are being washed every day. They are contacting the airlines several times a day. However, I cannot connect with the local authorities of the airlines (Air France and Aeroflot). We have a claim number LEDSU99482, but it keeps giving me a recorded message that “tracking is taking place.” I do not understand why a wheelchair that sits unclaimed at the airlines could not have been prioritized. Luckily, the Helgi had a wheelchair to lend. Another problem: We held only enough medicines for four days in our carry-on luggage. The rest of our meds are in the lost baggage. So we had to see the Viking on-board physician to obtain as much similar heart and Parkinson’s meds as possible for my husband. He currently is very dizzy and has already fallen once on this trip in our cabin (from veranda back into the room). My question to Viking: Is there anyway that you can intervene to get our luggage to use sooner than in SEVEN more days when we get to Moscow? Theresa Ann Pinney [protected]
Delaine Devoogd
We booked a trip on Viking to the West Indies for 12/5-12/16/17 on 6/29/17 prior to the hurricanes. Viking Cruises posted there new itinerary, 10/10/17, 2 days in Puerto Rico MAJOR DAMAGES, added 2 days at sea included a stop in St. Kitts & added Nevis: 42 Million Dollars in public Damages And other ports with Major Damages. We called and talked to there Customer Services and explained that 1 person in the group had open heart surgery and needed to have some access to possible medical, 1 had a heart attack in Aug. 2016 and needs to have surgery when returning home due to a heart valve aneurysm measuring 4.7. When we booked this was OK, not after the Hurricanes!!! Customer Service explain this was our problem and would only allow a 50% refund. Buyer beware before booking with Viking, they are not customer friendly!
Brittani Auton
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.
Eva Fertik
We returned on September 21, 2015 from the Budapest, cruise, post Prague trip and were very disappointed that we had to change ships midway through the cruise down the Danube. Not only did we have to pack all of our belongings, but we were subjected to another 4 hour bus ride! When we asked for compensation, we were basically ignored! The thing that is so disconcerting is the fact that this cruise was so expensive and the company knew well in advance that we would have to change ships. Upon reading complaints from other travelers, the situation has been repeating itself over and over. Deceit and dishonesty-we certainly will not be recommending Viking to any of our friends, nor will we be taking another cruise on that line.
Tamatha Ryen
STAY AWAY FROM VIKING RIVER CRUISES. THEY ARE INTENTIONALLY DISHONEST AND WILL CHEAT YOU IF ANYTHING GOES WRONG. Here is what happened to us. We just returned from what was intended to be a 7-day Danube Waltz cruise from August 5-12, 2018. The day we arrived in our embarkation port, Budapest, we got an email from Viking telling us that low water levels prevented the boat from getting there and we would have to be bussed to our boat in Bratislava. We learned later that Viking knew about the water issues over a month before we arrived, but of course never told us because they wanted us locked into their hot mess of a cruise so we couldn’t demand a full refund before we flew to Europe. When we finally got to the boat and a shortened stay in Bratislava, we had only 1 night cruising. The next morning they told us the generator broke down. We had no toilets and menu items were unavailable since the kitchens were down as well. They told us to use the public restrooms on the boat docked next to us. We also had a high pitched screech in our room from midnight until about 3:30 AM and the room smelled like old socks. We spent several hours on a bus each way to see the Abbey in Krems. Never got to see the town, and the next day were told the generator couldn’t be fixed and we’d be bussed to our disembarkation port of Passau. We spent 6 hours on a bus. They did stop so approximately 100 of us could pay to use the restrooms in a gas station. Then they put us up in a hotel 30 miles outside of town. We got a letter shoved under our hotel room door the night before the “cruise” ended telling us we’d get 25% of the base fare back. Because this didn’t include airfare and our extension in Prague, we got back $1, 724 after spending more than $12, 000 on this trip. Viking’s concealment of the low water levels was intentionally deceptive – commonly referred to as fraud. This was our worst cruise experience on many levels. Viking is only concerned about its bottom line. It cannot be trusted. We wrote a letter to the Chairman and got no further compensation or apology.
Rebbecca Mozier
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.
Kaitlyn Marrero
We were first time cruisers on Viking. The cruise director announced that there would be a party for repeat cruisers one evening and also said that first time cruisers were not invited and could go play board games in the library while the party was going on. Hardly the way to make first time cruisers feel welcome and apparently did not care about the possibility of repeat cruising. These cruises are expensive and we expected to be treated well. We were not.
Gertie Matsu
Sailed the Rhine Basel to Amsterdam on the Viking Mani end of May 2019. Three of the six nights the railings above our stateroom rattled so loudly we could not sleep. In addition, passed the time allowed, passengers wallk on the walking track topside and the noise is extremely disrupting. Four of the six days another Viking berthed by tying up next our ship, blocking our our light and our views. In addition, their sewage treatment caused our ship to smell and the stink was unplesant. There were many little docks available but Viking does not care about the passengers blocked views or the stink, as they save money on the docking fees. The dinner service was extremely slow…on 3 ocasssions our entre did not come for over an hour. We were staring as the dinner is regimented and late to begin with…commencing at 7:15. Eating at 8:30 is way too late and not fun. Neither the chef nor the matri di when told were helpful nor seemed to care.
Joni Wernicki
VRC # 4887786. My wife and I took a Viking River Cruise in France from July 13 to July 20, 2018 W missed our original flight on July 12 from Orlando, Florida to Paris with an intervening stop. We subsequently booked two tickets on another airline on the same day at a cost of$2260.00. The cruise was very enjoyable including the excursions. We are mostly ocean cruisers but enjoyed the river cruise. Since we missed our original flight, we were greatly concerned about our return flights. We were assured by VRC personnel on at least two occasions that our return flights were booked and that we would have no problems returning home. When we arrived at the Paris airport accompanied by a VRC employee we found we had NOTHING in the way of return tickets. As soon as the VRC identified there was a problem, he quickly and discreetly abandoned us. This caused us great anxiety. It would have been nice to have a lifeline back to the ship. Being in the US without tickets is one thing. Being in a foreign country without tickets is another. Through the efforts of a Delta employee, including seven telephone calls, we were issued tickets to our destination of RDU and then on to Orlando. We went to the gate and realized our tickets were marked SBY (standby). Through the efforts of another Delta employee, taking about 30 minutes, we were finally issued seats on the original aircraft. When we finally arrived at RDU we encountered the same problem no tickets from RDU to Orlando. We went through the process of obtaining tickets which we did. The purpose of this document is twofold. One is to register a complaint with VRC and to see if VRC would be willing to offer us some monetary compensation for the anxiety we went through. The second is to help VRC improve its operations. I am sure we were not the first passengers to encounter travel problems and won’t be the last. If VRC employees tell travelers something, especially about travel, they need to verify the information is accurate. Depending on how VRC responds to this request will determine whether we would recommend VRC to others. Part of the situation was our fault and we handled expeditiously and efficiently. The second part was yours and it was not handled as such. I am 73 years old and my wife is 74. Neither one of us has ever been treated as shabbily as we were treated by Viking River Cruise Lines a company that prides itself on the quality of service they provide. Free wine is fine although neither my wife or I partake of it. True service is in the belly of the beast and you are not there. Since our return we have been asked by three church members about our trip. We have hedged our bet with all three. Please advise us as to what course of action VRC is considering.