Viking River Cruises Reviews

Viking changed our flight schedule at very short notice. Wanted us to travel with 3 flights via 2 countries, when we complained they hid behind T & C’s very sneaky & very poor customer service, they cited they couldn’t absorb costs of a more direct flight routing. Cannot recommend whatsoever - there are better cruise lines who deliver & care about providing a decent level of customer experience - avoid them if you can.

Viking Cruise recommends that their customers insure their travel & trip with Trip Mate Travel Insurance. This insurance company is worthless and doesn't live up to the stated reimbursements as advertised in its' brochure. I'm now wondering what the cozy deal is between Viking and Trip Mate, considering the vast number of Trip Mate complaints from Viking Cruise customers. Does anyone know if Trip Mate customers have or are considering a class action suit against the company for fraud?

Viking Venus : cruise round Med and on to Israel.
This was a wonderful itinerary , a beautiful ship , excellent food and service. In fact, everything we have come to expect from Viking except…there were apparently a few cases of a GI infection . As a consequence all water amenities, main pool, infinity pool, jacuzzi and spa were closed for the whole of the cruise!
As compensation we have been offered a derisory £200 voucher towards a future cruise. An insult! We will not be booking with Viking again.

The food was awful , the service bad some waiters were very rude we were forced to do a lot of included tours or couldn’t leave the ship . It was our first river cruise it was 23 days Bucharest to Amsterdam with Viking . We would never do a river cruise again

Just return on our river cruise .
This was our second cruise, I would have to say our first one was wonderful, this one was not bad. The food was excellent.
My husband surprised me with the explorer suite,the room was beautiful,the balcony was amazing. The only problem was it WAS VERY NOISY, couldn’t get a full night sleep due the engine and the bed shaking.
We will go back to the other suites.
The staff was great!

Paid for a cruise in Nov 2021 for an Oct 2022 cruise, 2 days before departure I broke both wrists, contacted Viking about a credit for for a future cruise - a very rude man said Viking would do nothing- they had my money for almost a year and basically told me "to bad"

Took a cruise in May of 2022. The boat did not follow their own Covid protocols and we contracted Covid after two days and were stuck in a German hotel (another story) for 10 days. I had Tripmate insurance--another scam, and after 5 months of frustration, they finally paid us a portion of our trip-after which Viking said we would receive a voucher. Called Viking--despite what they said in multiple previous conversations, they would not give us a voucher. We are out thousands of dollars and hours of frustration. We will NEVER book with them again. Also, beware of TRIPMATE. Awful.

UPDATE: After receiving call from Melesa from Viking, we are now in possession of an appropriate voucher for an upcoming trip. Avoid Tripmate but will now schedule another trip with Viking. It has restored my faith in customer service.

Viking is probably the most unsympathetic/unprofessional company I have ever experienced. My husband and I were excited about our long awaited cruise next May. Unfortunately, my husband unexpectedly passed away last month. Viking has responded to his passing by cancelling the nearly $9,000 I paid for my husbands share of the trip. On top of that, they are asking for me to pay additional same $ 9,000. amount for me to go on this journey alone! I am going to seek legal advice to, but this ridiculous policy has added hugely to my grieving. The dream vacation I have waited for 8 years has gone down the drain. Think 3 times before booking with Viking!!!

My husband and myself are both in our 70's and have worked hard to have a nice vacation and shave given a lot of money to Viking.
We had booked a Mediterranean Cruise for March of 2022, due to different circumstances we had to cancel that cruse. Viking did refund the full money amount we paid for that cruise in the form of vouchers we could use for a future cruise. We booked Panama Canal with 4 additional days in Panama, we were able to upgrade our room to a suite and have booked shore excursions, All paid for with the voucher money.
Now come the problem. Between my husband and I we have almost 4K in vouchers left, the Mediterranean trip was longer and more expensive than the Panama Canal trip.
Apparently, we can't use the vouchers onboard, even though we paid good money for them, they won't move over to shipboard credit, we can't use for Spa Treatments, we can't increase the gratuity. The only thing we can do with the 4K that we still have to spend it to give Viking a tip for allowing us to travel with them. Not the best customer service, they are just keeping our money. I don't understand why they can't move the money, we have already given them, over to shipboard credit. Just a way for them to keep our money.

My wife and I, both seniors, booked a Viking Rhine river cruise 3 years ago. COVID hit and Viking gave us the option of a refund or credit for future use. We took the credit and rebooked for this October. We noticed that the US had raised the threat level in Germany to a level 2, which prompted us to delay the trip. Unfortunately we were ONE Day late in rescheduling the trip for a different date. We lost the WHOLE trip as well as the Airfare. No EXCEPTIONS made. One would think that Viking would at least give a partial credit for future use.
In this environment, a company like Viking cruises should have a little more understanding.
This unfortunately seems to be a recurring theme with Viking cruise line that the public should be aware of.

After checking cancellation conditions online which indicates $200 up to a certain date I booked a river cruise for 2024 the deposit was $2000pp. The confirmation email said cancellation for any reason loss of deposit. Seems the generous cancellation “risk free” ended 30 June and despite booking direct with Viking no mention of the changes was made. If you search Viking the risk free still pops up you have to read the fine print to realise it’s all over so be aware.

Viking is a scam. Cancelled cruises, no refunds, 20k gone. Customer service is incompetent. Very predatory. Google it. Read the stories. It is awful what they are doing to people.

Seven of eight people at our table came down with Covid the day after returning home from our Danube River cruise. There was no testing and no request by the cruise line to provide vaccination documentation. It was not a great experience. Having cruised with all the major lines, this was our least favorite. Additionally, my neighbor took this same journey two weeks ago and they had to switch boats twice due to other issues. Our excursion hotel had air conditioning, thus meriting a star in an otherwise unsatisfactory vacation. It is not advisable to cruise if Covid is your welcome home present.

They will charge you a lot of money but would not care for you at the end of the day.
The places I saw needed much to be desired
I was told that at the airport someone will help us until we boarded our plane. the Lufthansa person told me I need to fill out the form required for returning Americans to USA and she was not helpful .I missed my flight and had to stay overnight to a dingy hotel in tears in a French country who doesn't really want to help you . I will never travel with Viking . Their ad is wonderful but after all is said and done it is all crap.

Had a planned eastern European river cruise starting mid-October for over a year. Just got order from Doctor to cancel due to sudden onset of autoimmune kidney disease. Vikings' policy allows no refund under the circumstances (i.e. , I am out the $3500 no matter what) and a friend who will take my place must pay her full share of the room as well! Viking collects 3 fares for a 2 person room. Don't sail Viking unless you are guaranteed of going on the trip. We will never try Viking again!