VikingReviews of viking.com

Bait and switch pure and simple. Reserve a cabin at a promotional rate, they cancel. Then, reinstate you at their rate that they want you to pay. Awful. Do not use this cruise line. Many other cruise lines honor their promotions. These people do not!!! Worst experience!!

I had a reservation for the Heart of Delta Cruise including premium economy for the air portion. I was advised after booking and making my deposit that I was being downgraded to economy. I then called and was told if I wanted premium economy I would now have to pay a higher price. This is called bait and switch and is unethical if not down right fraudulent.

Just received an email from Viking informing us that half of the Xmas markets we were suppose to visit will not be open. They marketed the cruise as a Xmas market cruise which is why we booked it. We get the email 3 days prior to our trip and they knew from the beginning the markets would not open until early December. A clear case of bait and switch and will cause us to never cruise with them again.

What a cracking tour with the best guide Chris. Funny, interesting and a great way to see parts of Dublin and hear a bit of history to it too. Definitely recommend ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We were supposed to sail Viking Magni from Amsterdam to Budapest. That was what we booked and paid for until a week before the sailing date I received an email to advise that due to unavoidable scheduling changes, our ship has been changed to an identical sister ship, the Viking Baldur. We did not organize the flight with Viking, we did it our own, as a result we did not receive confirmed communication about where to embark the Viking Baldur in Amsterdam. I rang Viking Rep in Australia two days before I left for Amsterdam and was advised to contact Viking Baldur by phone or by email to know exactly where the ship will be docked in Amsterdam. I sent the email and received the reply one day before the actual embarkation. I was so stressed out and panicking because I need to find out how to get to the docking place and be there on time. Viking embarkation for people who don't book the flight with them was POOR, lack of communication and slack. I gave 1 star for this. Not only we experienced difficulty finding the place, we were not supplied with the MAP to find the exact dock. The information we received was so unclear, even google maps could not tell us. Some of the people who took the taxi or uber also had difficulties in finding the place. Some people took several rounds to finally found the spot but it cost them arm and legs to pay for the uber nor taxi. We took the train and bus to get there. When we got to the area, we could not find it until I went inside the Movenpick Hotel where I found some Viking Rep inside which advised me where to go. Nevertheless none of them offered to help to find the place. We need to find it ourselves without any map nor sign on the road. This is HOPELESS. Viking can do better in future to improve this. Our Program Manager, Marko Juric was a vibrant, helpful, and fantastic guy. He is the only one I can give 5 stars !!! Food was excellent in Viking Baldur with Chester Rico the Filipino Chef. I gave him 5 stars. Crews were very nice and helpful in Viking Baldur. They worked very hard during breakfast, lunch and dinner to serve the customers. Also I appreciate the crews who clean the room twice a day. When we almost got to Regensburg, we received another bad news that the level of water in the Danube was low so we had to change ship to the sister ship Viking Magni. We were bused for 3 hours and were given a credit of 25 euros per person to have lunch outside the ship. We had to pack up and put our cases early in the morning to be transferred to the sister ship. When we boarded the Viking Magni we had to unpack again. Such a lot of inconvenience that we had to endure but we could not help it. I am sure Viking Management knew about this before embarkation but Viking HIDE it from all of us. Above all this negativity, we still had a great time cruising. Our room had a verandah but unfortunately we were staying in the last room near the machinery and staff room so it was quite noisy at night. Early in the morning we could hear the staff talking and moving around. I give 3 stars for the room. We enjoyed the complimentary walking tour everyday. Most of the local tour guides were excellent. I give 4 stars for shore excursions. Entertainment onboard was pretty awful, there was only one guy on the piano every second night and some of the artists and performances who were supposed to perform such as the blow glass person and opera singer were cancelled the last minute. I give 2 stars for entertainment. Disembarkation was good despite we could not dock in Budapest and were bused for 1 hour for two days. We were unlucky with the low level of water in Danube but we were glad we met a lot of nice people from different part of the world during the 14 day cruising.

We just returned from a Viking Eastern European River cruise. We are so disappointed. We believed Viking was a premiere travel company; this is so not the reality. One of the worst, and most expensive, trips we have ever taken. The flights they booked for us to and from were both 23-hour ordeals. Days were then cut off the beginning and end of the cruise due to low water on the Danube… something they informed us of the day before we left, (even though they knew this was the case well in advance). A third of our “Danube cruise” was instead spent crammed on uncomfortable buses. And, we were crammed into buses for hours daily for crowded excursions. The excursions were not very good, either, with dozens of people being herded around seeing very little. Dining on the boat, and even on extra paid dinner experiences, we were also crammed together. It was always loud, and rushed, and uncomfortable. We often couldn’t carry on a conversation comfortably. Our group of five friends always struggled, and often failed, to find seating together. Everyone ended up sick by the end of the vacation. It was pretty bad. Very sad. I am embarrassed because the trip was my idea, and I subjected five people to quite a bit of misery. Needless to say, Viking is not a company I will ever use again.

We have taken many river/ocean cruises with Viking. For over a year we have been planning a trip to Jerusalem and Egypt. Our primary goal was to visit Jerusalem. On October 10th, 2023 Viking cancel our trip to Jerusalem which we understand. I called Viking and asked to have our trip rebooked to next year. Both the representative and manager I spoke with refused to rebook without a penalty of 75%. I explained several times we would not have booked a trip to Egypt without including Jerusalem. Viking at one time provided excellent customer service, we have been greatly disappointed in the last few trips we've taken and especially our Jerusalem Trip. I do not recommend traveling with Viking.

TO WHO DARES TRAVEL WITH VIKING THEY SHOULD KNOW THE RISKS THEY CAN RUN On August 20, 2023 my husband 80 and I 76 years old, boarded a Viking ship to cruise the south of France, Arles to Lyon. We have done more tha 15 cruises on river and sea. Even though we had read bad comments about Viking’s service we took the risk and committed a terrible error embarking with them, having to suffer personally all said and worse. On one of the tours Thursday 23 of August, I injured my knee when getting off the bus that took us on the tour, having trouble walking and with an excrutiating pain. When we requested for medical assistance from Ivelina Giorgeva and Rafael Poblete, since we had purchased the travel insurance that Viking offers to its passengers, I was surprised to hear that they needed the copy of the insurance so they could give me any aid. I explained to them that Iwe received the statement of purchase but never a copy of the contract. They stated that they did not carry on board any of the passengers information (can you believe this?) and that if I did not have the copy and number I would have to seek medical attention on my own. We should pay with our credit card and present the documents to the insurance company when we got home for a reimbursement. We should not present them to Viking because they were only “intermidiaries” for the insurance carrier and that it was our total responsability. The worst part of all this situation was that none of their personnel or leaders had any intention in helping us in any way. So in a torrential downpour in Lyon we had to find the nearest hospital and limp up 15 stairs to the terrace of our ship, cross throw another ship which was docked on the pier, go down their steps to shore and walk many blocks without a companion (nor wheelchair ) in an unknown city, not knowing the language. They left us totally on our own When we got back we requested Rafael Poblete if someone onboard could assist us to obtain the prespcription they gave me at the hospital, given that we would pay for everything. He answered, again, that the ship did not have that service. Never in all the cruises we have done, have we seen passengers with similar problems be treated in such an inhuman and lack of empathy from the personnel after paying US$20.000.oo for the trip. We communicated American Express that viking had robbed and scammed us selling an “insurance” that we had not been able to use, and we were immediately reimbursed. Viking accepted that we were ill treated, called and wrote to offer us a US$2000.oo voucher for a next trip. They can do with their voucher what ever they want. We advice all Viking passengers not to buy their insurance because it is an expensive and total scam. Additionally to all this, we were informed by some crew members that they had never recieved one cent of the tips Viking requests from the passengers to be distributed among them. We consider, my husband and I, that this trip in all its aspects was abominable and the most traumatic one ever done by us. We have all the correspondence between us and Viking to demonstrate what we assert in this letter. TO WHO DARES TRAVEL WITH VIKING THEY SHOULD KNOW THE RISKS THEY CAN RUN