#5291440 Yesterday I received my airline booking for my cruise. My friend and I are NOT on the same flight. I called and was told that for an additional $250 I could change my flight even though I paid the $50.00 when I booked the cruise to have that option. I was told I waited too long to make the reservation. My agent said I would receive the airline reservation 90 days before my trip. The airline agent said I could make my reservation 365 days before my trip. Why are two different personnel at Viking giving me different information? I’m now driving to Newark to get on the plane with my friend. My sister has taken 4 Viking cruises. She has never used the flight option because her husband gets free flights with his work. It’s too stressful to use your flight option. Viking should be upfront with the airline additional cost.
Consumer Reviews and Complaints
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This complaint and/or review was posted on HolySmoke.org on 23:36 pm, March 22, 2019 (CST) and is a permanent record located at: https://www.holysmoke.org/scam/viking-river-cruises/.
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Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
1. 2-for-1 Early Booking Discount. The discount that never goes away. It’s a marketing gimmick. Don’t fall for it. 2. Can’t get unsubscribe from their e-mail list. Have tried several times but still get bombarded. Also can’t find an e-mail for customer service to send a complaint. Can only find a phone number. I want to send an e-mail to document my complaints. 3. Single “supplement” is double the cost of the per person price for two in a cabin. You have to call to find out what the single supplement is because it’s not listed anywhere in their brochures or on their website. Single supplements through other cruise lines or vacations are not double the price. 4. Paid the extra fee for special airline service, but it was useless, and I couldn’t get a refund. Specifically asked to be booked on United so I could use miles to upgrade. When I called United, I was informed that the tickets were not upgradeable. Viking should have told me that. 5. Was told over the phone that I could use a voucher from a previous trip for a cruise this year. Confirmation e-mail did not show the voucher being applied. Called for an explanation but agent was on vacation. Backup agent said the voucher couldn’t be used for the cruise. I canceled.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
About 11:00 AM on 5/20 I booked three rooms for my family on a Viking River Cruise. After discussing this with my wife at lunch and we decided that it was not a great bargain. We sent a cancellation notice (e-mail) at 3:34 PM. Viking withdrew deposit money ($3000 / room or $9000) that night. I complained and they said our money would be refunded in 2 – 4 weeks. I told them this was unacceptable. If they can withdraw the money overnight, they can return it to my account overnight. After several e-mails and discussions, they promised to return the money by 5/30. On 5/30, they did return two of the deposits. They still owe $3000. I believe a tour company should treat this kind of transaction like any other contract with a three day right of recession. They should not take money from my account until a three day waiting period has lapsed. I will not use Viking again and would advise all to be very cautious of their financial practices.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
After four contacts on 17 January 2016 about 1360 hrs. Constantly asked for my booking number which I did not provide. I saw no reason to provide that as the information was generic. I was unable to obtain the arrival time in Amsterdam of Grand Tour of Europe departing 4 June arriving 18 June 2015 in Amsterdam. Now at last another person provided the information. He stated arrival is shortly midnight on 18 June 2016. I find this a bit short on a 14 day cruise. Boarding late afternoon on day on and returning back early 17 June with 0900 to 0930 departing from ship. This is a bit short on days.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
After reading all the complaints listed from passengers on your Air Arrangements Division of Viking I would have thought good business practices would require you to clean up the Air Travel Division. Since you have not, my husband and I have additional complaints to add to extension list. It seems to me if a reservation is made for a husband and wife, same date, same room on board the river boat someone would clue into the fact that during travel their preference would be to travel in adjacent seats. When the travel package from Viking was received, I noticed seating was either not assigned or each of us was in a different section. I called the Air Travel division and they said I had to call my travel agent, my travel called Viking and seats were re-assigned, OR SO THEY SAID. The problem is when I called Polish Air, the seats were not assigned, they had no record of ANY seat assignment being made. I recalled Viking, no answer. VOICE MAIL but requested to leave a message; recalled – no answer requested to leave a message; recalled and again requested to leave a message; AND ON AND ON it went. So far no return phone call. Note to future passengers: Viking Air Travel Division is mismanaged, poorly supervised and generally to be avoided at all costs. Have your travel agent make separate arrangements, it will save you plenty of grief. Note to Viking: clean up your Air Travel Division, it”s a fragile economy these days and it”s costing you business and business is money…
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
After speaking with our representative, travel coordinator Mr. Rafael Rodriguez he passed me on to your department. I had upgraded our flights from Atlanta, GA to Amsterdam and paid for the upgrade myself. Our flight was delayed going out of Atlanta, GA so Delta rebooked us on another flight to Amsterdam but we were unable to get our upgraded seats. When we returned from our viking cruise, I called Delta and asked them for a refund. The Delta case number 2826944 was provided. I contacted Delta today to check the status of our refund. Delta sent the refund to Viking instead of back to us (my Visa card). They sent $170.50 for each airline ticket for a total credit of $341 back to Viking. This credit should have come back to me since we paid for the upgrade. Our ticket numbers our [protected] and [protected]. I do not want a voucher from Viking. I would like to have a credit back to my Visa card for the total of $341. The other issue we had, was we had to pay for our transfer from the Amsterdam airport to our hotel ($50EUROs) and had to pay for our transfer from our Amsterdam hotel to the ship ($30EUROs). Our friends that we traveled with received a transfer from Viking but we did not. My phone number is [protected] VR Rebecca and Steven McWilliams
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
After three calls to correct incomplete statements–that don”t include the Nile cruise of (i believe) 2009 along with eastern European Odyssey & China Yangtze And being told each time that it was taken care of… I received latest statement INcomplete again. Since Viking seems unable to correct such a simple error over much time and customer contact, I ask to be removed from Viking mailings, emails & postings. Customer number on statements–[protected] Thank you, marilee smith
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
After years of traveling with Viking, and spending almost $100, 000 with them, we are very disturbed by our most recent trip to Egypt, Jordan and Israel. We booked a year in advance with Viking and paid for our airline tickets with them. From the beginning, communication about this Viking Cruise was almost non-existent. We kept calling to request information so we could plan accordingly. Four months before our departure we called for our airline information so that we could schedule seating/upgrades/etc. Immediately we noticed that something was wrong with our flight from Amman, Jordan back to the US. For 4 months we repeatedly called about that flight, only to be told “There is no problem. It will all be taken care of 15 days prior to the flight”. It was NOT!!! When we arrived at the Amman airport, we were told that Viking had cancelled our flights back to the US and the only thing we could do was purchase tickets again and hope to get seats home. Of course, last minute tickets were far more expensive, we lost all previous upgrades, and were placed in the worst seats on the plane. Upon return to the US, we applied to Viking for a refund of the tickets we had to re-purchase. After more than 30 days, we received a check from Viking for much less than the price we paid for the tickets we were forced to re-purchase. To date, there has never been an apology or explanation for the reason Viking had canceled our original tickets. This trip was NOT the Viking experience we had come to expect. We were not even put on a Viking ship, but on a ship where half of the travelers were non-Viking guest. The food, staff and services were far below Viking standards. I think what has disturbing us the most is that a company, who spends so much money acquiring new customers, spends such little effort to keep the long-time, loyal ones they have. When Viking projects out the next 5 years, they can leave off our next $100, 000 cruises budget from their bottom line.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Air France Complaint Continued: Case Number: Delta [protected]. Air France [protected] After all the frustrating and stressful experiences we had getting to CDG, we next had to catch our connecting flight to Bordeaux. As indicated in earlier correspondence with Delta and Air France, because of our age and mobility issues we need to travel business class. That was what was booked for us for our flights from AUS to ATL to CDG to BOD, and BOD to CDG to MSP to AUS. We consider ourselves travelers rather than tourists, and know that one must “go with the flow” when there are reasonable inconveniences. We knew that the aircraft for our flight from CDG to BOD had no business seats but were told we would be assigned “premier” location seats. We were given seats 17E&F. I asked the agent if she would give us any consideration for the “business class” classification of our flight itinerary and the fact that we would slow down passenger boarding if we navigate the aisle for about half of the plane”s length. The counter agent could not or would not offer a better seating option. She offered us pre-boarding, which of course meant we would only put us in the cramped seats for a longer period of time. We spent over one hour crammed into the seats with no leg room. I”m 6″3″” and my wife is 5″10″” tall. It was a very unpleasant experience. I will attach a photo showing my legs in these “premier” seats. With our beautiful Viking river cruise completed we needed to fly back to CDG to catch our flights back to AUS via MSP. The itinerary provided by AF on-line, indicated this would have a business class section in which we would have seats (5C&D). It turned out that this aircraft didn”t have a business class section. For me to fit in the 5C seat I had to infringe on the aisle space. Photo attached. The clearing of Customs & Immigration at the CDG air terminal was a text book example of how NOT to serve the public. Passengers from at least two arriving flights; well over 200 people had to clear the one open station. Surely all travelers appreciated the screening that is necessary and that it is done for their safety. But surely, arrival times for large groups of transiting passengers are known and appropriate number of Customs officials can be in place to accomplish the processing. Eventually additional officials sauntered in and slowly opened their stations. To add to this mind boggling situation, the team of attendants (with one obvious supervisor) were incompetent and clueless about expediting the now bulging lines of people. The supervisor gave no attention to what his team was doing (or not doing) and spent his time selecting people, for whatever reason, and moving them directly to the front of the line of the one open station. Our two hour layover was reduced to about 30 minutes. By comparison, in MSP the process of clearing Customs, identifying baggage and moving it a gathering point for our next flight, and then passing through the security check, took less than 20 minutes.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
ALERT!!! Before you go on a river cruise with Viking, hear my story. Rhine river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel. Aug. 11th to Aug 18th on the Viking boat Hlin. My wife and I (and reportedly half the boat) got sick on Aug. 13th. We were both throwing up and I had diarrhea. My wife started to slowly get better after a few days but I didn”t. I was in my cabin for the rest of the trip. I had cold shakes, but my body was hot. I started to hic cup with stomach acid coming up with every hic cup at 4 second intervals. My throat was burning along with my whole stomach. For 5 days I managed to eat a few crackers and drank a lot of water to try and relieve the stomach acid that was coming up. The Captain told everyone that there was an intestinal bug that was going around that their final report stated only lasted 24 hours. I got home and saw my doctor ( Aug.20th) and had blood work done. It showed that I had an internal infection caused by food poisoning. It has taken two rounds of antibiotics for two weeks to clear up this infection. Viking is taking no responsibility for the illness of their passengers. They are standing behind (with no doctor aboard) the Captains report of a 24 hour intestinal bug with only 5 percent of the boat getting sick.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
All over Vikings website states that you will receive Your booked flights no later than 75 days out. The rest of my party that was true. We are now close to 50 days out and still have not received our flights. I have called weekly with still no resolution or explination. So I can only assume at this point that we will be plane hopping all the way to Europe if Viking can’t get it together. Is this normal? I find it very disturbing that no one can even give me an explination as to why this has occurred. Booking # 4097569
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
As a previous traveler with Viking I was very disturbed that after booking reservations for three of us, Viking Air Department changed the reservations so that we could no longer travel together as we had been informed when our flight reservations were confirmed 2months ago. When Viking was contacted they said there “was nothing that they could do” to restore the flights that had been changed to separate our party. After numerous phone calls and frustrating conversations with the Air Department and promises to” call back and correct the problem”, ( which never occurred). We were forced to book a flight directly with the air- carrier at additional costs. When Viking air Department was asked to problem solve the problem they created they failed miserably and refused to correct the problem. After a few minutes with the carrier the problem was solved by changing one leg of the flights which Viking could have easily done if they had attempted to problem solve rather than refuse to assist me as a customer, my attitude would be different. Incidentally the change of reservations was not discovered until after the deadline to cancel the cruise. The only option we were given was to cancel the air portion and trust that Viking would do the right thing, unfortunately the trust in Viking had already been destroyed. WE will not let the incompetence of the Viking Air Department ruin our trip even though we have paid for air transportation twice in order to travel together as planned . WE Have requested a full refund of the air portion of our trip on the Viking Star and we were told that the refund may not be possible by the agent at Viking. Please document any similar experiences that you may have had with this company, especially the viking air department.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
As I haven”t heard from you about my compliant, I thought your competition would like to hear from us. Regards Ray Dear customer service I”m writing, to thank you so much for great time Patrick and I, had on our recent 10 night Viking Jupiter cruise departing from Copenhagen 9th May to disembarkation 19th May, Stockholm Your crew and staff gave us superb service and catered for our every need, however prior to the cruise we contacted Viking about whether or not we needed a Russian visa. We were informed that we being, Australian (Ray Everitt) and British (Patrick Renson -Smith) passport holders we did require Russian visa”s. We found when we were on board the Jupiter we did not require visas. Accordingly we purchased the visas to the cost of $232.35 per visa. Also There was confusion by your admin. Staff on board ship as Mr Renson – Smith and I wanted the on board accounts, for both of us, to be settled on Mr Renson – Smith”s visa credit card. We advised your staff 3 times in person and 2 times via phone calls from admin to our cabin prior disembarking in Stockholm that all our accounts would be settled on Mr Renson- Smiths card. When I attempted to my final disembarkation, I was stopped by your security personnel, as notification showed, I had not paid my portion of the cabin account. This was extremely embarrassing to me as fellow passengers were queued up behind me and looking at me as though I was attempting something untoward. It was then Mr Renson – Smith went back to your admin people on board and got upset with them for the unnecessary and embarrassing situation caused by their slack administration. One of your admin staff came to security and then gave the all clear to disembark. Our cruise was the end of 3 weeks of celebrations for Patrick”s 70th Birthday on the 5th May, culminating in a week in Sienna Italy, we told our friends who joined us for the celebrations, we were looking forward to our Viking Jupiter Baltic cruise. “They are potentially new Viking Passengers”. We are contemplating another cruise with Viking in 2020 to Alaska, but now we are little hesitant. These two issues have let your marvellous company down. Please have a look at reimbursing the unnecessary cost of visas to us and have a word to your admin people, your efforts will be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards Patrick Renson Smith and Ray Everitt www.concierge-csa.com.au [protected]
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
As many previous reviews have expressed my husband and I were lured in by romantic commercials and false promises of a “cruise” Viking knew they would not deliver. We contracted for an Elegant Elbe” cruise from Prague to Berlin from September 17, 2015 to October 2nd. The company did not inform us that no ships had sailed since late June due to low water on the Elbe until Sept 11th when we were already in Europe and could not change our plans. I guess we were lucky (?) because many of the passengers were not informed at all. We were housed on their boats (2) and fed but spent many hours on buses for our daily excursions. To ease our collective unhappiness we were offered $1, 000 vouchers for future Viking cruises. To echo another disgruntled customer, “most expensive bus trip we”ve ever taken.” Not only is Viking deceitful, it is stupid not to care about the amount of negative advertising it is getting as there have been hundreds of us just this fall alone. We all have friends, relatives, coworkers, etc.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
August 2015 booked a Viking River Cruise for June 26th 2016 to July 3rd 2016 — Paris to Normandy Beaches. Paid extra for a stop in London for my mothers 90th birthday celebration via Viking. Received good airline arrangements initially via email. I called Viking to check the airline arrangements in March 2016 and the agent said that the arrangements in the email I received were incorrect and we hadn’t actually paid for the London stop over — this was wrong since we had proof we had paid. The agent was very helpful and did get everything sorted out after about 4 hours on the phone. She then suggested that we pay $50 each extra to use the Air Plus system and get slightly better flight times, which did work much better and changed us from Newark departure and returns to Philadelphia departure and returns including the London stop over. All was great, then we get another email which said that we would be returning to Newark, not Philadelphia — a problem since our car would be at Philadelphia. Spent another tow hours on the telephone sorting it out — we seem to have two booking now for air. Hope this works out, I am not confident in their ability to get us there and back.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Avoid Viking River Cruises. Failed to notify customers that its ships can cruise on the Elbe River. Last year I booked a trip with Viking from Berlin to Prague for September 26. I selected Viking because of its advertising and supposed reputation. Today, I was exploring their site and discovered a “change in itinerary” for our trip next week. The change is that their ships are docked and cannot travel on the Elbe River due to low water. The “river cruise” would have consisted of staying in a small floating hotel tied to a dock and bus trips across East Germany and the Czech Republic. I was very disappointed that we were not advised of the water levels earlier in the summer when the problem first arose. Now that I have looked into it, it appears that the condition has existed all summer and Viking has not “cruised” on the Elbe River for a long time. Viking “claims” that it had previously sent me a notification of the change in itinerary. That is simply false. However, I did get such a notification by email after I cancelled the trip. A responsible company concerned with maintaining good customer relationships would have warned its customers of the expected difficulties at a time that would have allowed them to make other travel plans. I am supposed to get a full refund but that doesn’t compensate for ruining our long-planned vacation.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Background: This was our first river cruise. My wife and I have been on most major ocean cruises (45) to nearly all continents. Point being is that we are no novice at cruising. We have been on excellent to bad cruises and have rolled with the punches. We selected three day pre-cruise in Prague. The hotel Corinthia was not the newest but the accommodations were nice and Prague was one of the best cities I have ever been in. Highly recommend. Got an email from Viking that the river was low and we had to go to Passau to board the boat. I got this email only because the Corinthia Hotel had outstanding Wifi. I even made a face book call back to the USA in the bar which was a treat. Point being here was the email from Viking was the only warning that the trip was going south. Got bused to Passau. Viking should advertised this “cruise” as a sit in port then bus. We spend hours on various buses trying to “make the best of it”. I came to hate the phrase as the Viking entertainment director seem to like it a lot. We sat in Passau next to an industrial site with a view of the dumpster for three days. My balcony view was a concrete wall. I requested to leave the ship and get credit. Was told by ship”s personnel that they could not make that decision. Only “corporate” could make that decision and corporate would contact us 5 business days after the cruise. This meant the very distinct and as it turned out likely possibility of paying twice. Go back to Prague or stay on the ship was the choice. Did not have the guts to take a $7000 hit so stayed on the ship. After three days of a seven day cruise, we were not in the best of moods so that may have colored our judgement somewhat. Here are some other observations: Food : Poor to mediocre. Served hot dogs for lunch. Now that is real luxury dining for you. Viking gives the impression of gourmet dining. I have been on cheap ocean cruise ships serving 2, 000 people that did a better job. I was served as an appetizer at dinner a half of a breaded chicken wing on a very large plate. Must be the large plate made it special. Could go on but you get the idea. Think the gourmet chef was on holiday. Room: Cabin was nice so no complaints. The cabin was even wired with 110 volt American style outlets. Entertainment: Small ship so did not expect much in the way of entertainment. Had a piano player that was good. Bar: Spend a lot of time at the bar as we were not cruising. Made a pretty good margarita. Main complaint is we lost three days of the cruise and have hear absolutely nothing from Viking. Seems this low river has been going on for six weeks prior to our arrival. If I had know that this was going on, I would have cancelled before I got there. Viking informed us the day after we arrived and we were told we “had to make the best of it”. Very poor customer relations. Based on the food, lack of cruising, over priced for what you get, and poor customer relations, I recommend that you stay far away from Viking as you can.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booked 6 cabins – Prague to Paris July 2017 This is our 3rd Viking river Cruise, and our 1st using their flight service. Ten of us received our flight arrangements and they came through with Lufthansa. I spoke to our travel agent and explained that I had been reviewing flights and that there was one that we really liked (and it was less expensive) using Air France/Delta. We were still waiting for the last 2 people to be assigned their flights. When he checked, he had their flight assignment and it was on that Very one that I had told him about. So now we have 10 people on 1 flight and 2 people on a different flight. He called the flight department at Viking and was told that if the 10 of us wanted to be on that flight that we would all have to pay a fee, which would amount to $50 per person / $500 for the 10 of us. With a group of us booking like this, I have a hard time understanding this. Viking always says they don’t want to nickel & time people, that is why they price their cruises the way they do. Is there anyone out there that can help us please?
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booked a Viking river cruise that included airfare for my family of 4. At no time was I told our flights might be different. When I attempted to resolve this and get us all on the same flight, I was given two options – A $25 per person, flight coordination fee or $50 per person air plus fee. Next, I was told the lower fee option does not apply since the flights were book (it is only an option pre booking – but no one told us that in advance). Throughout the booking process, Viking agents have made mistakes that I have had to contact them to fix. When I ask to speak to a supervisor, I am told, “there is no one for you to speak with”. There agents have provided inaccurate and incomplete information and the company does not seem to care about remedying their errors. Can not recommend Viking.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booked cruise on the Danube in January – specifying two couples traveling together. Booking receipt notes we were “traveling with…” Called about airlines tickets in April (“will have in May”, called again in May (“will have in June”) Called in June (“will have in July), called in JUly – they emailed details. With just a month left before trip discovered that Viking had booked the couples on different airlines, at different departure times. Called – got “sorry, but it will cost $600 to rebook…” it will cost us $600 to correct Viking”s mistake??? Now to late to get any refund (funny how they timed that), and they want us to pay for THEIR mistake. It”s THEIR mistake – THEY should pay – not us!
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booked river cruise to China, at $ 3625.00 per person, were charged $ 5174.00 per person, apparently we have missed the special dates where you can get the cheaper price. We have unfortunately day before booked the airfares to China and this is not refundable, so we can”t cancel this trip, but hoping to get some adjustment. Customer service is very unhelpful, negative, regardless loosing the customers. If this issue is not resolved, it will be our last trip with Viking. Last year we went to Russia, it was quite nice, a few small problems, but acceptable. This is a much bigger issue, over $ 3000.00 out of our original budget. Awaiting your reply Renee Hemelka
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
booking # 4646601. our flights were arranged by Viking. Our trip to Amsterdam was fine, but our return trip from Paris to San Francisco was the most miserable 13 hours of my life. We enjoyed the Explorer Suite on our river cruise and expected that arrangements were made for a comfort flight home. Maybe in the future Viking can provide a service (escort?) to get English only speaking customers thru the complex maze at the Paris airport. We had the WORST seats on crappy Air France for our miserable flight home. (seat 33g FYI). I will NEVER fly Air France again and would caution anyone against allowing Viking to arrange their flights. My sincere regrets for allowing Viking to arrange this flight for myself and my grandson. It spoiled an otherwise wonderful trip.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking #2357172. We are requesting a refund. We depart from 8/25/2015 at 11:25AM on our way to Krakow, Poland for the 1st leg of our supposedly leisurely vacation. At 2:25 PM 8/25/2105 I received an email from, Senior Mgr, Cust Relations, Viking Cruises informing us that it would be unlikely that our ship would be able to sail, the itinerary changes and that is we wish to cancel our trip to call customer relations. Well it”s is a little hard to cancel when you when you are inflight over the Atlantic Ocean. We later found out that the ships HAD NOT SAILED for several weeks. Viking knew about this! Plus the fact the Viking didn”t even give us any notice until we had already left the USA. Viking can say well your Cruise didn”t start 8/29/2015 so we gave you plenty of notice by sending you the email on 8/25. We had booked with Viking Krakow Pre-Cruisetour Extension…so doesn”t Viking keep track of us. I”d say the problem with all of this is with Viking Cooperate didn”t want to lose any money on this failed excursion and all the other people dissatisfied with being stuck in dry dock. IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THE MONEY!!! Our flight out of Chicago was delayed by 2 hrs causing us to miss our connection in Frankfurt. We arrived at the Krakow airport late. NO ONE FROM VIKING TO MEET AND TAKE US TO OUR HOTEL, transfers included. We tried calling different 800#s so that we could get someone to help us, but the numbers either didn”t work or it was after hours. We finally found a lady that and she would call our hotel for us and the hotel sent out a car to get us. WE WASTED 2 HRS IN THE KRAKOW AIRPORT!!! Again where was our Viking rep??? Once we got to Prague, we were told by our Viking Program Director, that someone from Viking would come and talk to us about our options and what was going to be done to make this trip right. We were told this many times and no Viking rep ever showed! Viking never intended to have anyone come talk to us. We spent extra money to have a nice room with a view and a sliding door that opened out so that we could enjoy the cruise down the river. Instead we were stuck in dry dock looking at brick wall on the Beyla and on the Astrild a muddy bank. Also because you couldn”t sail we had to get up early in the morning to go on these bus tours we didn”t pay for a bus trip of Germany…that is not a leisurely vacation in my book. If we had been notified in a timely matter I would have CANCELLED this trip and rescheduled. The $1000 voucher each to spent on next years cruise.This trip cost us $14000. We are retired and how long do you think it took us to save up for this trip so what makes you think that we can afford another one next year!
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking #4688311 Our cruise ended in Odessa on June 15. We were foolish and chose the “free air” and let Viking book our flights. Viking had us having to leave the ship at 4 am to make a 7 am flight from Odessa to Kiev. Upon arrival at the airport in Odessa we had to wait for the ticket counter to “open” at 6 am, approx 25 minutes. We had checked in online and printed our boarding passes. Luggage was weighed and not overweight. Then we were told we had to pay for our luggage as the tickets were for “carry on” luggage ONLY. Viking must have thought we were on the ship for 12 days without any clothing! The “transfer agent” just shook her lovely head and left. We were forced to pay approx $200 for our suitcases. But that took almost 45 minutes as the office where we had to pay was without power! Now we are 25 minutes from the flight and have yet to get through security. We asked repeatedly at the counter that our luggage be checked through to our final destination, Detroit. We were told “no”. No reason was given, just “no”. (Let me add here that there were two other couples from our ship on the same flights – neither had any problem with checking their luggage without paying any extra fees, nor did they have any issues with their luggage being checked through to their final destinations in the US). Obviously whoever made our return flight reservation screwed up. In Kiev we spent 2 hours in lines with our luggage to get it transferred via Ukranian Airlines (same airline we flew from Odessa to Kiev) to Paris and then via Air France to Detroit. Now the luggage was overweight as it is 6 lbs. too heavy on the scales. Forget the fact it wasn”t in Odessa or that our own scale indicated the luggage was 3.5 lbs. underweight. Now we must pay another fee of approximately $200 again and literally run through the airport to get to our flight. One of us recently had a hip replacement. The handicap assistance we had asked for never showed up. We arrived in Paris and our luggage had been checked through to DTW. Small victory! So we had a horrible trip home and spent several hundred extra dollars on our “free air” from Viking. I might also add that Viking booked us on Air France, an airline that has been experiencing rolling strikes for some time, and certainly when the booking was completed. I tried emailing Viking while onboard during the week to inquire how this would be handled if AirFrance was on strike the day of our return flights, but never received any reply to that email. The cruise was certainly not as wonderful as our first cruise several years ago. Some of that was the region of travel, some the vessel we were on, some the crew. We had to literally ask every day for toilet paper. Seriously. I asked to speak to the Hotel Manager about the concern we had with AirFrance return flights and was told by the desk clerk that he said to tell us “Viking will take care of any issues.” I asked again for a direct line and name of who to call but never heard back from him. We also paid close to $200 for an extra shore excursion for a Ukranian National Folklore Dinner. The brochure photo shows dancers, etc. Looked really wonderful. Well, we were stuffed into a too-small restaurant with someone playing the bandura. sitting on top of us. That was the entertainment. The photo in the brochure is totally misleading. We were allotted one very small glass of wine. When we asked for more the waiter said “no, not allowed.” The dinner was worth no more than $75 total. Overall, we were extremely disappointed with the Viking River Ukranian tour. The food on board was nothing like our Rhine Cruise several years ago. We got the feeling Viking was trying to cut corners everywhere – perhaps to see if the cruise would be a success. I”ve waited a few weeks since our return to make sure I wouldn”t come across as angry as we were at the time, but just typing this has brought all those feelings back to the surface. We have learned a great deal about Viking and will never book a cruise with them again on our own – if we ever do. Advice to anyone reading this: Go through a travel agent so you have someone on your side and a person to call if needed, and certainly do not believe everything you read in the Viking brochures.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking #5060647, originally booked May 22 2018 We booked a Viking Alaskan Cruise 2 years in advance, to sail June 5th, 2020. We are loyal customers and have taken 6 cruises, ocean and river. We recently received notice that the itinerary had changed for our Alaskan cruise and would no longer go to Skagway but would go to Wrangell instead. We researched Wrangell and determined that it was a big loss to us, so we called to see if we could go on the next cruise with the same itinerary(including Skagway), same month, and same category that we originally booked, at no extra charge. We had already checked to see that there were still rooms available and we were told by Matt Doyle, a Viking representative, that we could make the exchange for no extra fee. Then when we received the e-mail invoice, it said we owed $2400. I repeatedly called the rep and left messages, as well as emailed him, but he never returned my phone calls. So, after making many other phone calls, sharing our story, Viking told us that even though the rep told us it was possible, it wasn”t, and furthermore, Viking doesn”t honor verbal contracts! So, I asked them, “Why do you have a recorded line? What difference does it make if you aren”t going to go by your word?” If this is not worked out, then we will no longer cruise with Viking and will tell all of our friends to do the same because apparently Viking no longer cares about customer service! So Viking will refund our money and in the meantime, loose yearly cruisers for $2400! What kind of math is that? Thank you for researching!
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking #5134934 September 11-13. We were very disappointed in our stay at Resort Villa La Veronica. We do not feel that this was up to par with our expectations from Viking. We’ve stayed in villas in Spain, Mexico, and Portugal that made La Veronica look like an old farm house. First of all, it was so far our it required a small 24 passenger bus to get us there on a dirt road. 6+hours on a bus that small was very uncomfortable. We were in room #3 and experienced a hot water shortage the first day. There was only enough water for one person to shower. I reported the problem and they assured me it was fine, but it wasn’t. The next morning there was enough hot water again for only one person so we ended up showering one of us in the morning and one of us in the evening to solve the problem. The room was dark and dingy. We needed adapters to charge our electronic devices and were given one. We gladly would have brought our own if we knew that the villa couldn’t provide 2. The stairs leading up to our room had ropes not actual rails to hold on to. Considering the average age of people traveling with Viking this could be very dangerous. We also wondered what would happen if there was a medical emergency because there is not easy access to this villa. The night we arrived our main entree at dinner was a salad with chicken on top. Way below our expectations being in Italy. We were also told that we were each allowed only one glass of wine with dinner. Really? Some people didn’t even drink wine but this was pretty insulting considering what we paid for this excursion. The tours were fantastic the next 2 days again with the exception of being told that each person was only allowed one bottle of water. This again is a ridiculous policy. I guess the hardest part of this is our traveling companions did the same extension, rode in a nice large comfortable bus, and loved their sleeping accommodations. I’m pretty sure we paid the same amount of money for this excursion but we do not feel like the experience we had was worth the money we spend. We’ve already booked our next Viking cruise but I will definitely investigate the pre and post excursions before I decide to spend the money. Thanks for your time and consideration. Barb Burris.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking Number 5356727 I booked this Danube Waltz because I saw it was on a new Viking Ship Sigyn. The boat was changed to Uller & then to Ve. The problem is Ve is a 2015 boat & we were looking forward to a brand new ship. I called Viking & spoke to Estel Smith in Arizona (who was very nice). I asked for some compensation & she had to speak to her supervisor in California. The supervisor offered $75 each for on ship spending. Seeing that I spent over $14, 000 for this cruise & residing in a Veranda Suite AA, I felt this offer was tacky. I then countered requesting Silver Spirits for both of us & the supervisor told Estel no. Needless to say I was disappointed. Anything you can do would be appreciated. Thank you.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Booking Refernce 4601922 I will write at greater length when we are somewhere where the Wi-fi works better but I must say how incredibly disappointed we are with this holiday. We are a party of 6 (3 separate bookings) and have now been on board the vessel Foresti since Saturday at 2pm. In this time, the ship has moved on only one occasion with us on board which occurred on Monday afternoon when we were in motion for 6 hours. I do not know how you can call this a cruise when the ship does not move!!! The rest of the time we have been stationary. Moist of that time we have been double parked with another ship so that we are either looking at the bank (some 10 yards from the window) or at the Sid elf another boat parked right alongside us., There is no bview of the river unless we walk to shore and see it from the land. The staff on board are lovely and helpful but even they are saying “it is unusual that the ship does not move very much”. On top of that, we elected to upgrade to the premium silver wine pack openly to be told that the ship had exhausted suppplies of Rose by the second night and would not restock for 2 days and then last night it also ran out of the better white wines on the menu. This is very very poor indeed. The town at which we are moored for last night and tonight is mor like a village with almost no facilities and very little reason to get off the boat. If you read the advertising material accompanying this holiday put out by Viking (which was obviously our motivation to book the trip in the first place) you would not believe the five days we have just had. For what we have seen, it would have been easier to rent a car and stay in hotels along the way. I will write ore when less annoyed. Simon Davis
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Company refuses to unsubscribe us from their annoying e-mails. No one in our family contacted them for information and this is a lousy way to do business. We have added them to our junk mail filter and automatically delete them. If we did take a crusie, it wouldn’t be with them.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
copy of letter sent to Viking River Cruises 28 August 2018 From: Patrick Stapleton 3785 NW Loma St. Poulsbo, WA 98370 Patrick.m.[protected]@gmail.com To: Viking River Cruises, Inc. 5700 Canoga Ave Woodland Hills, CA [protected] Dear Sir or Ma’am, My wife and I just returned from our “Romantic Danube Cruise” (Booking no. 4735439, Aug [protected]). Like all the other passengers aboard, we were greatly disappointed. The river cruise turned out to be more of a bus tour (with stops at autobahn gas stations as highlights) with occasional water travel. We did not simply unpack and relax, we unpacked, packed, unpacked and re-packed several times occupying a total of three different Viking ship, used more as floating hotels than for cruising. Tours were canceled, rushed, combined or forced to choose between actually cruising, or seeing a tour. Not at all relaxing, certainly not “romantic”. During the tour we heard that the problem with Danube water level had been affecting cruises for two months. Yet, the first we heard about it was an e-mail dated the 16th, when we were already in Europe. The e-mail itself did not seem to indicate the problem as being serious and tried to brush it off as a minor inconvenience. While our tour director did her best, the overall feeling was that Viking had lied to us by failing to tell everyone the severity of the situation and that they already knew we would be traveling so much by bus before we even arrived. If we had known this, we would almost certainly have rescheduled or changed plans in some fashion, but we were not given that choice. Vikings’ offer to compensate us by allowing 25% off on a future cruise (if used within the year) was rejected by just about everybody aboard as being totally inadequate. Vikings offer stands in contrast to what we heard when talking with people on other tours, using other lines, some of whom said they had been offered $80/day compensation for their troubles, and still felt slighted. All things considered, my wife and I would prefer receiving a 25% refund on our wrecked vacation rather than some nebulous future offer. Please consider this missive as a formal request for that compensation. Copies of this missive will be posted online to cruise review sites, and shared with other interested parties. Sincerely, Patrick M Stapleton Leslie M Stapleton
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Cruise was 6/3/2017 Into Midnight Sun, Viking Star This was our third trip with Viking and the first two were excellent. Most of the problems came with the Iceland extension. First the flights from Iceland to Bergen were wrong( backwards).Corrected but we lost a whole day and cost us $170 for two bags. We waited well over an hour in a van at the airport for two people who decided to eat before going to check in at the hotel. We also waited in the van again(an hour or so) on the way to the airport for two people who decided to go on their own. Friends who booked with Viking a month or so before the trip got to Bergen direct and in the am and no bag fees. We arrived Bergen 8:30pm. Via Copenhagen. My biggest problem was with the difference in treatment by Viking. I called and explained the situation and was offered a $300 voucher. Our friends who we traveled with on all trips called after they found out I got a voucher and they got a $500 voucher for the same thing. When told that I wrote off Viking and didn’t plan on using Viking again. Well now they would like to book another trip with Viking and I agreed if Viking would make it right. We tried and the agent Tatiana Pirog could not equate the situation. As a result I declined not to book. My friends the Smolinskis will not go unless we go. What is fair for one should be fair for the other. If it would be made right the four of us would book. Barry Aspenleiter booking#4014580
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Date: June 13, 2018 Re: Booking #:4768577 Dona Ruth Wildove. Donna Marie Gargas Booking #:4772346 Jonathan and Malory Wildove Amsterdam pre-extension 9/4-6 Rhine River Cruise, 9/6-13 To Whom it May Concern: I am writing this letter regarding the confusion and disorganization that has taken place since receiving my flight itinerary. Due to this, I have had to make multiple calls to Viking (5-10 within the past few weeks) with a call on June 10 lasting more than 60 minutes. The following has occurred which has caused much confusion and frustration for me: -Jonathan Wildove and Malory Wildove contacted the Viking travel agent regarding completion of the Guest Information forms (GIF) since there was some confusion about them, and he stated that they would be completed. -Upon recently contacting Viking customer service regarding another matter, I was told that Jonathan and Malory’s (GIF) were still incomplete. Jonathan contacted that customer service provider, explained the situation, and she stated that the forms will be completed by her. Again, when I spoke to customer service this past Sunday, I was told that there was still missing information on Jonathan’s GIF. Jonathan emailed Viking with required information. During that call, I was also told that Jonathan and Malory’s itinerary had been sent to them. I spoke to Jonathan today, June 14, and the itineraries have not been received. -I received an email that my GIF was incomplete. I called customer service and was told that it was complete. -Upon receiving the itineraries for Donna Marie Gargas and myself, the accompanying email emphasized that the name on our passports should be identical to the name on the flight ticket. They were not, so I contacted customer service to correct this matter. Note that our full names were on the GIF. Also, my ticket indicated that I was Mrs. Dona Ruth Wildove, and it should’ve read Ms. Dona Ruth Wildove, as on the GIF. My return flight itinerary was incorrect and I was contacted by customer service about this problem. Again, I had to contact customer service to correct this error. When speaking to customer service regarding one of the above issues, I was checking to be sure that Donna Gargas would be on the same flight as Jonathan and Malory Wildove, as I had paid the additional $50 for this so they could travel together. She was not on the same flight. Of course, this was corrected, but added to my frustration with this process. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I can be reached at [protected]. cc:Torstein Hagen President and CEO Sincerely, Dona R. Wildove
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, please see below. During the recruitment of new candidates in Kyiv/Ukraine on February 13th 2018 I had an opportunity to have a face to face interview with Senior HR Manager from Viking Ocean cruises. I have applied for a job at Viking Ocean cruises via local crewing agency and after pre-screening interview with Ismira agency and their office in Litva I was invited to attend personal interview in Kyiv. During detailed pre-interview presentation senior HR Manager did informed all of us, that all our CV”s were carefully revised and checked by Viking prior personal interview as well about Viking cruises criteria for personnel. At my face to face interview the Senior HR manager looked up at my CV in her hands and after we went through my employment history she raised her eyebrow, looked again in my CV and asked me in a loud and very unfriendly tone “Why you don”t get a boyfriend and don”t settle down? How old are you?” This attitude and question first made me speechless. Keep in mind, we were not alone in the room, another candidate had his face to face interview with Head Recruiter from Viking at the same time and I was simply shocked by the attitude and question I was asked while applying for a job. Indeed I did not had any job related questions (applied for shore excursion position) from Senior HR Manager at all. The final question from her side was ” What the biggest challenge, I think, I would have at Viking cruises?” The biggest challenge from any job interview I had before in my life, was that a person who represents such a reputable company in the industry as Viking, was so non-ethical and non-professional to say the least. Obviously if my age is over for the position which I applied for, then I should not be invited to Kyiv to make 500 km one way to attend face to face interview. And none of recruiters is allowed to speak about candidate”s personal life, especially in such a rude and harassing way and in public. I did not even called the agency for the interview feed back, as everyone knows “You can not make the first impression twice”. The first impressin from Viking ocean cruises represented by their senior HR manager was simply way below expectations. Or probably the expectations were too high. Best regards, Tetiana Kyrylenko
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Dear Ryan, In regard to your correspondence dated July 20, 2018, there is no misunderstanding; rather, there is a total misrepresentation on your part. Each and every time we met on Viking Hermod regarding the West Indies Explorer cruise, you stated unequivocally that we would get an automatic free upgrade to one of the three higher category cabins because both the Deluxe Veranda and Deluxe Veranda V rooms were sold out. When we received the booking confirmation on June 18, 2018, it did not contain any information regarding a cabin upgrade. We were not comfortable with that and questioned you in person, again on the Viking Hermod, about this omission. At that time you assured us that we would get an upgrade, you even opened the Viking pamphlet and showed us that we would get one of the three upgraded rooms. We still did not feel comfortable, we met again before getting off the ship and you said that you would send an email documenting that fact. No email was received, which prompted my emails of July 11, 2018 and July 18, 2018. At no time during any of our discussions on board did you state that the guarantee category for a “free upgrade” was for a different booking date. You were consistent throughout each and every one of our meetings regarding the West Indies Explorer cruise that we would get a free cabin upgrade. Nor did you ever inform us that there would be an additional cost in order to get the cabin upgrade. This is our third Viking cruise. Unfortunately, the experience for the West Indies Explorer cruise has not been satisfactory to date. Please rectify this to adhere to Viking’s impeccable standards.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Dear Sir I am a frequent Viking traveller. It appals me to see the extent of plastic waste each time I get on and off your boats. I am concerned about the plastic waste from your free distribution of water bottles. I am sure the Senior Management of Viking would be aware of the damage to the sea environment from the use of plastic. Our supermarkets have rid themselves of plastic bags and I am puzzled why Viking does not show similar regard for the environment. Each passenger could be given a re-usable bottle at the beginning of each cruise. This could be replenished by means of a tank of cold water at the bottom of the gang plank. This way passengers will still have fresh cold water on disembarkation before trips. I would like to contact the Viking CEO about such a scheme. Could you please send me his email address and telephone number. Yours sincerely Ivan Blumenthal
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Dear Sirs or Madame: I recently went on a river cruise with your company, the Viking Lif, Bucharest to BudaPest. The Positive: The Staff was cordial and responsive. The pre-boarding and After cruise personnel were outstanding, we were met and taken care of professionally. Ports of call tour guides were knowledgeable. The negatives: Our cabin 125 was barely cleaned. Beds were made, towels were changed–vaccuuming was nil. The room was not at all a 4 star hotel, we felt the room was very noisy especially at night when the engine sounds were constant. The menu and wine were mediocare. Wait staff were slow-they were scurring but were understaffed. Clean dishes may times had baked on food particles. Tours of Osijek/ Kalocsa were poor, it felt staged and as though put on to get us off the ship. Poor quality. We were disappointed by Viking, we believed in the hype from the many catalouges that have been sent and the advertising. We have been on your competitors and thought they were the better value. Our Flight from Budapest to Paris was booked and ready, luggage was sent to Chicago, when we got to Paris for our flight to Chicago were on a Standby List. When I complained Air France’s staff said aren’t you glad you are on the flight even though we had paid for two sears together. We paid extra for isle seats. Two disappointed customers: Rick and Helen Scarpelli
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Dear Viking Representative, I want to thank you for sending this 25% voucher, but it is insufficient. I want to bring to your attention a multitude of issues that we experienced on this trip. But, first let me mention a positive experience we had with Viking in December 2016. We went on the Rhine Getaway for the Christmas Markets. It was a very enjoyable experience beginning with the air flight. The carrier was Lufthansa and we were in economy class. When we arrived at the airport for our departure, Lufthansa was initiating their Premium Economy Class and we decided to pay the extra money for these seats.We enjoyed the flight. There was one glitch when we arrived at the airport in Basel, Switzerland; there was no Viking representative to greet us at the airport. The airport is right on the border of France and Switzerland; one door leads to France and another leads to Switzerland. Finally, we talked to an airport employee who told us which door to exit. As we exited the door we could see a Viking representative walking to the door. The other and more major complaint was that this was advertised as a Christmas Markets cruise, but what we discovered was that if you went on the included tours at each city you had little time to shop the Christmas Markets. By the way, visiting the Christmas Markets was the main reason why we went of that trip. Otherwise, we did have a wonderful cruise. This Grand European cruise was a disaster: 1. It began with our flight. We, again, traveled on Lufthansa, but we were unable to upgrade to Premium Economy because there were no seats available. We did upgrade to more leg room. The flight was on a Boing 747-400 and we thought there would be plenty of room. There was”t. We were in the middle rows and there was more leg room, but the width of the seats was like a can of sardines. We understand that you have no influence on seat width, but you were the one who put us on this aircraft. The second leg of the flight was more comfortable on an Airbus 320/321. 2. When we arrived at the Budapest airport we got our bags and found the Viking representative. She told us to wait in a certain area and not to move from there. There were no seats in this area past customs. We gave her our names and she checked us off her list. She got the names of all of the people there except she said we were waiting for two people. My wife had to find a seat at a restaurant since she has a knee injury and could not stand for any long period of time. After standing for about an half hour in an non-airconditioned hot area, I and others asked her if we could help her find the couple, she told us to just continue standing in that area. Some of us went to other Viking groups in that area to see if we could find the missing couple and others offered to go back into the airport to see if they could find the couple but she was adamant that we needed to stay in this one area. The other three Viking groups in this area, from the same airplane, quickly left the airportAfter three-quarters of an hour of standing, I asked her who the couple was we were waiting for and she said it was the driver. It didn”t make sense to me that the driver of the bus would be coming through customs at the airport. Finally, after an hour of standing, she told us that the bus is coming but it is in traffic. So there was no couple we were waiting for, the bus was just delayed! I would have thought that Viking would have anticipated traffic problems and have the bus there on time, and not come up with an excuse that we are waiting for a couple that didn”t exist. This was the first incident of a lack of coordination. 3. When we arrived on the Viking Udun, we discovered that our 100 level room did not have elevator access. When we booked this excursion, we didn”t anticipate that the elevator would not go to the 100 level rooms. When we were on our previous Viking cruise in 2016 we knew that the ship had an elevator but our room wasn”t at the 100 level so we were unaware that it did not access the 100 level rooms. My wife badly injured here knee in February of this year so we assumed that the elevator which we knew was on the ship would have access to our room level. We were wrong! While we were at breakfast between 7:00 and 8:15 a.m. on the Udun our sheets were being changed and our personal items in the room were moved. We could not get off the ship until our buses were ready at 9:00 a.m. We did not expect that they would enter our room while we were at breakfast. In fact, we were appalled. We did not secure valuable items because we absolutely did not expect anyone to enter our room without us being present. We understand that they needed to prepare for the next guests but they could have waited until after 9:00 a.m. or have us board buses earlier if you needed the room ready that early. This was the second incident of a lack of coordination. 4. When we realize we didn”t have access to an elevator, I asked the tour director if there were any vacant rooms on the upper level. He said the ship was full but there might be one or two rooms but he would not be sure until the next day when we boarded the Viking Vili. I asked him if he needed our room number or my name and he told me that he knew who we were and he didn”t need my name. He never got back to us on this issue. I know he had a lot of issues to deal with considering the low water levels but I would have expected an answer. Since he didn”t respond, we decided not to pursue this issue, however, we should have received a response positive or negative. This was the third incident of a lack of coordination. 5. We were extremely unhappy when we discovered that Viking doesn”t have a mobility policy to allow individuals with mobility issues to board the buses first. As you know, there can be long walks to the buses from the ship and by the time my wife and I boarded the buses many times we had to sit in the back. The time needed to go to the buses on this trip was further complicated by steep walkways from the ship to the land because of low water levels. People with mobility issues are given priority in boarding airplanes, so why does Viking not have a priority boarding policy for boarding buses? This is the fourth incident of a lack of coordination. 6. We missed two optional excursions because of the necessity of boarding buses in order to be at our next destination. We missed the Hungarian Horsemen optional tour in Budapest and the Moselle Wine Tasting optional tour. We were unhappy that you simply didn”t refund the cost of these optional tours to our bank account, instead you gave us a shipboard credit to use. We understand that you refunded the balance of the credit after the cruise. This appears to be a marketing tool that Viking uses because if you have a credit there is a greater likelihood that you will spend more money on ship than if you did not have a credit. We were very disappointed that we were not able to attend the Moselle Wine Tasting tour. This was one of the highlights of the cruise that we were very much looking forward to. My wife is part German and she loves white wines. 7. We purchased the Munich Highlights Optional tour. When we were told to go to our buses we left the ship, and we were not among the first to leave, I literally ran to the different buses to find 43H. There were at least 8 buses in the parking lot and I ran to each, not wanting to be left behind, and to my surprise there was no 43H. The bus driver had not changed his sign until after the Viking representative went around inquiring. This was the fifth incident of a lack of coordination. 8. We were very disappointed in the Munich Highlights Optional Tour. This was a very expensive tour at $398.00 U.S. dollars. We didn”t go into any buildings, except the restaurant where we ate lunch, because it was only a highlights tour as it was explained to us by our guide. We were not allowed to enter any buildings. In regards to the restaurant experience it was fair. Getting the attention of the waitress was difficult. I understand it was lunch and they were busy, but I expected better service. One other complaint about the restaurant was the pork sausages that came with the meal. They were no different than the pork sausages that I could get from the Jimmy Dean brand in the United States. It would have been better to have the white sausages that we learned Munich is famous for. 9. The Nuremberg motor coach tour (included tour) could have been enhanced. It would have been a better tour if we could have done a few photo stops where we could have gotten off the bus for a couple of minutes to take photographs of a few historical sites such as the exterior of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice and the Nazi Rally Grounds. Unfortunately, this was not the case as your had to take pictures through the window glare of a moving bus. 10. At the the beginning of the Nuremberg tour the sixth incident of a lack of coordination occurred. We were waiting for another phantom couple that never showed. It actually was a miscount and there was no couple. 11. The bus driver taking us back from Nuremberg refused to stop while the tour director frantically tried to get the bus driver”s attention to allow two more people to board. This was the seventh incident of a lack of coordination. 12. The same Nuremberg bus driver who was returning us to the Viking Gefjon refused to slow down as we were approaching our ship at Dock #1. Realizing that he wasn”t slowing down as we were approaching Dock 1, many of us were yelling at him to drop us off at our ship. He ignored us and drove us to Dock #5. He insisted that we get off the bus. So we had to walk back to Dock 1 to board. The other buses behind us got dropped off at Dock 1. This was the eight incident of a lack of coordination because the bus driver should have know some English since we were all English speakers. 13. On one of our bus transfers from Weirsheim to Mainz and Mainz to St. Goar all of the buses came to a screeching halt. None of the buses could go under a stone bridge because they were too tall. So we had to get off the bus with our personal items and walk for about a quarter of a mile to go on to the Stadt Vallendar for our Rhine Unesco tour. So these are German bus companies that are unfamiliar with bridge heights in St. Goar! This was the ninth example of a lack of coordination. 14. In regards to the shortened Rhine Unesco tour on the Stadt Vallendar, it was a disappointment. When we did this tour in 2016, it was twice as long and we were given a list of each castle along the Rhine with a running commentary by the tour director. On this trip, we were not given a list of the castles and the commenting was sporadic. In addition, this tour occurred during lunch with a loud noise level and it was difficult to hear the commentary. 15. On our trip from Marksburg to Cologne by bus, our bus driver dropped us off in the parking lot next to the Rheine Energie Power Plant. It was at night and in the rain, he forced us to take our personal bags and walk to the dock to the Viking Mimir. The distance was about three-quarters of a mile. The two buses after us were dropped off at the dock. This is the tenth instance of a lack of coordination with a German bus company that didn”t know where to drop us off. Once at the dock, our ship was the sixth ship. We had to walk over 5 different ships to get to our ship. It look like miniature golf course that we had to traverse and it was slippery. I complement the crews from the ships that helped us to go over the tops of their ship and for the umbrellas that they had. 16. Dining on board the four Viking ships was “hit” or “miss.” Some of the deficiencies that occurred were the wrong order, no follow-up to collect dishes or water fill-ups, and milk was given instead of cream. I am particularly sensitive to these issues because I was a former busboy and a waiter. To be fair there were some excellent servers and we personally and generously tipped them. 17. So all total, we were on 4 bus transfers and 5 different ships on this Grand European cruise. The ships that we were on are: 1) Viking Udun, 2) Viking Vili, 3) Viking Gefjon, 4) Viking Mimir, and 5) Stadt Vallendar. As a result of the multiple ships, we had to unpack and repack 4 different times, not to mention getting on and off multiple bus transfers from one destination to another. We paid over $10, 000.00 for what should have been a cruise on a single ship where you unpack once, this was not the case. 18. We understand that you do no control water levels but we know that you actually knew about the water level problems during the summer months. In fact, we learned that you actually cancelled this same Grand European Tour in the summer. You knew about the multiple bus transfers during the summer. With the water issues you had during the summer, I don”t understand why you did not give us options before the tour began. You could have: a. Given us a full credit of the entire amount paid toward a future cruise or b. Cancel the tour and refund the full amount or c. Proceed with full knowledge that there would be multiple bus and ship transfers during the trip length and some optional excursions would be cancelled. Your warning “Please note, additional modifications such as the previously advised mid-cruise ship swap or use of alternate ports may become necessary, if water levels remain low. Your Program Director will confirm any additional changes on board.” doesn”t do justice for what we experienced. Because we didn”t have options to cancel or ask for a full credit, we missed a 100 year church celebration and my 50th high school class reunion. These are events that will not be repeated in my lifetime. Our request is to ask for a 100% voucher for a future cruise, which we actually have placed a deposit on; it is Into the Midnight Sun, Viking Booking Number 4787946 . I request that you do not cancel our reservation on Viking Booking Number 4787946 while this appeal is pending. Thank you for your time and consideration. You have our e-mail address and telephone number in your records. Sincerely, Simion J. Catau Aza M. Catau
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Deposited funds with Viking to book a river tour in Russia. Viking cancelled my booking and refunded all but $1900.00 of my deposit. They sent me a check for this amount, but made out in the name of my long-deceased Wife, who obviously had no part in the booking. After several conversations and emails, they have failed to send me a check made out in my name. I am pursuing Small Claims Court jurisdiction in the matter.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Despite the fact that their web site “Terms and Conditions” clearly states that payment in full is not due until 90 days before departure, they actually demand it 6 months before. Their justification is that is you have a “special rate” the contract doesn’t apply. the agent said that the contract doesn’t apply to 99% of their customers and i recorded her saying that. I understand that they want to float my money for 6 months and i don’t even object. What i object to is the underhanded way that they do it. EVERY business should be very clear on their terms and conditions and i am going to file a complaint with the FTC.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Francine and I cruised on Viking River Cruises this summer. We arrived in Paris on June 28th and were to meet our ship the Rinda at Ponte de Grenelle. This is almost under the Eifel Tower and walking distance to the city of Paris. Days before we were to arrive Viking contacted us to inform us they were not able to get dock assignment at the last minute and we were to arrive at our ship at the dock in Le Pecq 11 miles from the city of Paris. As we were leaving our ship, the next group informed us they had the same bad luck. At the last minute the ship had to dock outside of Paris. This is an inconvenience to the passengers hoping to visit the city. We also had a cabin room 237 which had a view of the underside of the dock for the two days before we left Paris on our cruise. When we returned for the last two nights, we had the same view of the underside of the wooden dock. If there are future cruises, we will get cabins above ground level. We paid a lot for this 8 day cruise and were disappointed that Viking docked outside of Paris at our cost. They docked blocking any view for those of us on our side of the ship below the 3rd floor. These are things to consider when booking a river cruise.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
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]
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Good day, Hereby please see described my bad experience with Senior manager recruiting from Viking Ocean cruises. On 06.06.2017 I received an email being asked to do necessary to continue my application for HR shipboard manager position. I received very clear instructions and guideline about all documents which I need for further steps. I sent them and due one missing document the application was on hold until 09.12.2017. The reply was :”Thank you for your e-mail and provided document. Well received. I have taken note of your date in October and looking forward to re-connect upon your return home to continue with a skype interview.” Due missing follow up I inquired about the application, receiving another requirement never mentioned before:”Thank you for your reply. Are you able to present your new employment offer.” I do understand any company can set their own set of criteria for their recruitment, but excessive personal data gathering made me suspicious about a tentative of fraud or lack of professional approach. In each case your brand may suffer. Kindly please investigate and hope you will come back as well to me. With consideration, Martin Alexandru Rusneac
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Had booked a Viking River Cruise for two (Danube Waltz) far in advance for cruise to start on 10/11/15 from Passau to Budapest. Deposit made and contract called for bal some 3 months prior to cruise. But 11 months before the cruise, was advised my booking was being cancelled due to non payment of $ due. Pointed out the written contract but still got cancelled out. Got 80% refunded w/20% taken as a penalty. Thank goodness the deposit had been put on a credit card and I got that 20% by filing claim w/the credit card co. Was upset at the cancellation as I had already booked my own airline tickets to/from Europe, forcing me to convert the trip to a land tour. But the land tour turned out really great, getting in all the major sights + more that was to be on the cruise. And it was done $3, 500 cheaper! After reading all the horror stories on Viking River Cruises, I am now very happy that they cancelled out my booking. Thank you Viking River Cruises! Thank you! You”ll never see any more of my $$.
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Have decided to book this river cruise with a pre- extension in Instanbul. On Viking website it states free companion flight and complimentary silver drinks package on certain dates (plural). Our date selected 28 May, 2020 was not included. I find this false advertising and a hook to get people’s attention. Viking cannot advertise this for certain dates and just have it available on one. It also smacks of agents cherry picking which clients dates to give this offer. We are considering not going ahead. Would appreciate advice. Rina Bonner
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Have traveled with Viking River Cruises twice before and had no major complaints. Always considered them a top-notch company. We put down a deposit for the Castles & Legends Cruise aboard Viking Prestige for Oct 26-Nov 6. 2016 (first 4 days on land with Oct 30-Nov 6 on the actual ship). Just got an email from our AAA agent that the ship is going to be re-deployed then and our reservation has been cancelled. Our refund check is in the mail. They didn”t really give an explanation on what”s up or even offer another cruise date for a different ship or give us any additional $ back for our possible next cruise. Really bad PR from Viking. Guess they have gotten “too big for their britches.”
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Hello, I purchased the Christmas in Germany Viking trip for four in January, 2017. This will be our third Viking trip. We are planning our fourth trip for July, 2018 on the Danube Waltz. Up to this point, we LOVED Viking river cruises. BTW, I am 58 and retired and my wife and I are committed to taking at least one Viking cruise every year until we can no longer travel. Long story short, I am very disappointed and frustrated in three (3) areas with the way Viking (especially Supervisor Paris) addressed my concerns regarding our scheduled Christmas in Germany trip. 1) Supervisor Paris did address the concern that I was recently made aware of on our Rhine Getaway cruise, that Christmas Markets would only be available to be visited on 12/22 and 12/23 in Cologne during our 8 day Christmas in Germany cruise. Although, I am requesting that in the future that Viking update their online literature and daily itinerary to clearly state that Christmas Markets will NOT be available in all ports after 12/23. After spending time in Munich last November and being introduced to their Christmas markets, that was the primary reason I booked this river cruise for my family. Paris stated that one could assume that Christmas markets would not be available after Christmas. Quite the contrary, when your literature and itineraries state otherwise and my scheduled travels to Prague and Vienna after the Viking Cruise includes Christmas and Winter markets. I really did not appreciate Paris’ condescending toned interruptions to me during our conversations. I hope you record these calls so you can use our conversations as a training tool of how NOT to talk to a customer. 2) Second, I purchased AIR PLUS for all four family members for our flight from IAH – CGN. I booked the travel to purposely arrive early enough (12:15 pm) in Cologne so we could spend relaxed time visiting the Christmas markets. Our flight was changed without my approval to arrive 6 hours later at 6:15pm. By the time we get out of the airport and into our rooms it will be close to 8pm, assuming we don’t have any delays. This will NOT allow us time to go out and visit Cologne’s Christmas markets that evening. I attempted to change the flight back and was told it was fully booked. I looked on the United website and saw over 120 coach seats available as of 8/31/17. Your Air Group insisted the 12:15 pm arrival flight was fully booked and had no more availability. I don’t understand why I was given this response when it is clear that their are so many seats remaining on Flight 880. I was given a refund for the AIR PLUS, but that does not satisfy me and my family as we wanted to arrive into Cologne six hours earlier. I would still like my family to be put on our originally scheduled earlier flight that arrives at 12:15pm in Cologne. 3) While on the Rhine Getaway river cruise (7/26 – 8/2/17) our cruise director Diana showed us a powerpoint late one afternoon on how we could save money on future Viking cruises. One of the slides clearly stated that if you book another Viking cruise within 30 days of this one, you would receive $400 per person repeat customer credit on your next river cruise, instead of the customary $200 per person cruise. I told this to Paris, she told me it was a “Gray Area” and went on to explain to me the reasoning using her cruise ship vocabulary. Her explanation was very difficult for me to follow, but I thought she said that she would make sure we would get the $400 repeat customer credit for booking another Viking cruise within the 30 days. She knew we would be speaking with Sergey that afternoon to book the Danube Waltz, and she told me to have Sergey ask her if there were any issues. As it turned out, Sergey was not aware of the $400 credit and when he followed up with Paris, was told that a $400 per person repeat customer credit does not exist. Although, Sergey initially told me that there was a $400 credit if you book within 14 days of your last cruise. There is a serious communication breakdown within Viking regarding repeat customer credits. Please clarify for me and let me know was the powerpoint we saw on the Rhine Getaway correct, is Paris correct or is Sergey correct? I shouldn’t get three different answers from three employees within the same organization. I look forward to you addressing and correcting my three concerns and communicating your response in a timely manner. Please do not have Supervisor Paris contact me regarding these concerns. Thank You Richard James Booking #s 4426219 & 4426216
Viking River Cruises Reviews & Complaints
Hi my name is Sarah Sorenson. My husband and I booked our honeymoon for the grand European and are currently on board. We have had two horrible experiences, 1 the thermal bath optional excursion was horrendous with smelly facilities, gross water smelling of bacteria infestation and dirty people smelling everywhere. We paid 79 euros each and spent 30 mins total as we couldn”t get out of their faster. The worst of the two issues is our stateroom last night was so creeky it sounds like someone on a seesaw. When we notified the front desk and engineer came and said oh it”s the boat and left after my wife couldn”t sleep all night. This problem still has not been solved and we have one more night on the boat and to say this is luxury with constant noise in our balcony stateroom is hard to say. We would like an immediate response, we feel they should have offered us a room change since there are a few open ones to provide adequate customer service for the uncontrollable noise. Thanks!