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2.9

My husband and I recently went on a Rhine Getaway Viking River Cruise on the Alruna (ALP18018). We had heard very positive reviews over the years from family and friends and were excited about our first river cruise with a company whose reputation was built on river cruising.

However, to say that we were disappointed with the week-long cruise would be an understatement. We have numerous complaints, thus am outlining these grievances along with requesting compensation from Viking. I will attempt to be brief and provide concise information, however given the problems we experienced, I appreciate your indulgence to read this letter through to the end.

TRIP PLANNING

-With several phone calls to your Customer Service area and our flexibility on dates, it was disappointing to find out that EVERYTHING is closed on Mondays in Cologne. This ended up being the one and only day in which we were in city during the day and early evening. We only saw the Cathedral and could not visit anything else. It would have been helpful to have been advised this when we were planning our trip.

-As we had booked the Amsterdam pre-cruise extension, I wanted to find out how the embarkation day time table would work so we could plan our day. I was told before trip that the bus would pick us up in Amsterdam hotel at noon. It ended up being 3pm and I could have booked another time slot at a museum that day. (We were told at the Hotel that morning that the time would be 3pm, so the day was not wasted.)

-We were told that we would be docked in every port and able to walk to/from the ship. This was only true in Cologne โ€“ in which everything was closed, as stated previously.

CHANGING SHIPS

-We understand that the weather was not under Vikingโ€™s control, HOWEVER โ€“how things were handled and communicated were under your control. Both were abysmal!

-On the embarkation date โ€“18 August โ€“ we were not told until late that evening that we might have to change ships. Thus, we and many, many other passengers had already fully unpacked. When we were getting on ship, there should have been an announcement that there was a strong possibility of changing ships, thus donโ€™t unpack everything.

-Due to changing ships from the Alruna to Tialfi on Tuesday, August 19th, we missed 150 miles of the Rhine. We were shuttled onto a โ€œdayโ€ tour ship for 3 hours of the boat change. The commentary during our โ€œriver cruisingโ€ was a single statement made by Sebastian (title??) who stated at one point, โ€œThis is my favorite castleโ€. That was it! We also were told (and youโ€™ll find that this is a pattern of Sebastianโ€™s) that weโ€™d be on the โ€œdayโ€ ship for 1-2 hours. It ended up being 3 hours with no shade on the upper deck.

-On getting on to buses after our day trip, the bus drivers and Sebastian were outside talking for more than 20 minutes while final coordination was made with the bus drivers and the Alruna staff who had come with us to serve lunch. (These ladies did a great job!) One bus had to have someone ask the bus driver to close the doors and turn on the AC given how hot we were just sitting and waiting.

-We were then told, by Sebastian, that the drive would be 1 to 1.5 hours. It took us over 3 hours to get to an industrial park in Strasbourg.

-The staff of the Tialfi were standing outside to greet us, which was nice. And Sebastian announced that there was an open bar for the 30 minutes before dinner. However, there was a single bartender and we were charged for our wine. Again, another false statement/promise!

-The staff on the Tialfi except for the room service staff, were not friendly nor provided good service during meals. The only night they seemed happy was the last night before everyone disembarked.

Heidelberg, Germany โ€“ August 22nd

-This was the worst day of our river cruise and another example of Viking representatives โ€œjust not thinkingโ€.

-Given that we had to change ships, we then had to drive 3.25 hours BACK to Heidelberg. This left us with a 25-minute castle tour and a 1.5-hour lunch in a restaurant with only 2 servers and no A/C. Lunch should have been announced that it was optional and an end time of when to be back on the bus announced in the morning. Sebastian could not be found during lunch to ask how much time we had in the afternoon to explore Heidelberg. We ended up leaving before dessert just to walk 1-2 blocks to see something of Heidelberg. We then drove 3 hours back near Strasbourg. In my opinion, Viking owes us a day in Heidelberg.

Change in the end of our trip

-After the horrible day in Heidelberg and my husband getting sick, on the afternoon of Thursday, August 23rd, we asked the customer service desk to book us on flights going home on Saturday versus staying in Basel for the extension. In the early evening, according to Evelyn, Viking flights/customer service that supports the ship staff told her that there would be a $400 per person change fee to take the exact same flights with British Airways on Saturday versus Monday. That evening before dinner we confirmed in person that we would like to go ahead and have the flights changed. We were told that documentation of the change would be sent to the ship.

-On Friday, in Colmar, we were the first tour group to leave the ship at 8:15am for the WWII memorial tour. When we arrived back at 12:45pm, I checked in at the customer service desk to inquire about our new flight reservations for the next morning. Igor and Evelyn talked to us and stated that now the airfare would be $5,200 per person for business class (on top of the $3390 that weโ€™d already paid when we made our initial trip plan). Igor said that he had tried to find us in the morning to tell us about this change, which I do not believe given that we were at breakfast and on the tour. I stated that this was unacceptable and felt like we were being held hostage by Viking to continue our extension in Basel. Igor and Evelyn had me so upset that we missed the last tour of The Black Forest. About 2 hours later, I checked back in with them to find out what the Viking air/customer service area had found for us. We were told to be patient, even though it was going on 5pm Friday evening. Igor did get on the phone with us with much prompting and eye-rolling by Evelyn to find him. Leo Munsalud said that he was working on finding us something via business class or premium economy.

-We went to dinner that evening at 7pm and my husband checked in with the customer service desk around 8:30pm to see if flights had been finalized. They had not. It was not until after 9pm that Igor knocked on our door to let us know that flights had been found and documentation was being emailed directly to us from Leo. Once confirmed, Igor then told us that there wouldnโ€™t be any change fees assessed and finally seemed to get in gear to assist us with luggage tags and a taxi in the morning.

Again, one of the worst vacations weโ€™ve ever taken! Vikingโ€™s business model seems to only support โ€œwhen everything is normalโ€. Once โ€œsomethingโ€ occurs that is out of the norm, the business isnโ€™t adequately prepared to ensure a pleasant cruise nor assist with changes.

Given that nearly fifty percent of our trip was either interrupted and/or did not meet the experience as outlined and documented by Vikingโ€™s website, brochures, and ship representatives this is the refund amount that would seem fair to us. However, I realize that Vikingโ€™s business model will not sustain a 50% refund, thus I am asking Viking to provide a cash refund that you deem appropriate via our credit card. An amount payable via a Viking future cruise credit is not acceptable to us. The $500 โ€œtoken voucherโ€ that Viking sent to everyone after the cruise is only 4% of our total cost, not transferable, and expires within a year. This makes it an empty gesture, in my opinion.

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Monetary Loss: $10000.

Preferred solution: Let the company propose a solution.

Location: Schรคferweg 18, 4057 Basel, Switzerland

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VikingCruises

Hello, and thank you for providing us your feedback on your recent Viking experience. It is with regret that we learn of the disappointment youโ€™ve described in the necessary changes due to uncooperative weather, and we hear your dissatisfaction with the proposed solution.

Our records indicate our Customer Relations team has recently worked closely with you to come to an agreeable resolution, however should you wish to continue the discussion and revisit your options going forward we invite you to contact us directly at 1-877-523-0579. Thank you, and have a pleasant day.

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