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2.1

An old adage says, “If a man deceives me once, shame on him, if twice, shame on me.

Not exactly true when it comes to dealing with Viking Cruises. You can cancel your Viking cruise but even with “cancel for any reason” insurance with Viking’s Tripmate, you will pay more. You will only get a voucher for that cancellation, and with that voucher amount you will have to start over (including your air travel and the costs involved with speaking to the air agent for upgrading your travel), for insurance, and for whatever other costs are involved for your trip.

If you cancel your Danube River cruise because the water levels will turn the trip into a bus trip. (Not exactly the vacation you envisioned.) And you decide that you will try to reschedule in the Spring since there would be a better chance for higher water levels, the cost will be at least $1000 to $1500 more. So, try for the fall next year. The cost will be at least $500 more—per person. On top of that you will have to buy new insurance if you want that trip covered. You have only 12-15 months after cancelling to reschedule so you don’t want to blow the opportunity. Viking insurance only allows for rescheduling; the company does not give refunds.

Solution: Buy insurance outside of Viking for refunds.

Keep in mind that your contract of carriage indicates that the Provider may change your itinerary. What Viking does is to give you assurances up to the last minute that your itinerary stays the same or close to it even though they know it will not. This does not give you adequate time to reconsider. And it especially does not give you adequate time when you have already left for the trip.

How do we know, it happened to us.

After five phone calls to Viking wherein we were assured that everything would be fine (oh, maybe one bus trip and one ship swap), we opted to go ahead and take the trip. Instead of the “only unpack once” concept, we packed and repacked for 7 or 8 days because we were on a boat, a bus, in a hotel, a bus, etc. We did not get an upgraded hotel room or an upgraded bus seat for the upgraded cabin for which we paid; we got only the same sort of bus trip and hotel everyone else got. So, Viking gave us a voucher, not a refund. Now we have a voucher for future travel on Viking. Do we really want to chance it again? There are those who were on the same trip who are delighted. I am guessing they believed everything Viking told them and think they are getting the deal of a lifetime.

Our argument with Viking is not that the water levels were low. The argument lies with the lack of transparency and intentional vague and obscure manner of communication.

About a year ago, we sailed on Viking to Cuba (one of their first soirees there). We booked it because we would dock in Havana, go to Belize and Cozumel. None of that happened. We docked in Cienfuegos. That was it, and we were bussed to Havana. I thought that this was Viking’s naiveté with Ocean cruising. Now I know it is the M.O.

For this river cruise The Romantic Danube, yes, the water level on the Danube was the cause of the river cruise changes. Viking knew in early summer what was coming. In fact numerous passengers from other vessels told us the same story—this had been going on for a month. Viking prepared to fend off cancellations and complaints. What Viking should have offered was as follows:

1.Viking should alert passengers far earlier than one week prior when many may have already left the country.

2.Cash back for cancellations.

3.Cash reductions for those opting to go on a bus tour, or cash back for those opting to leave the tour.

4.Hotel upgrades for persons who had suites or Veranda cabins.

5.Dining at finer restaurants instead of roadside McDonalds or places of Vikings’ choosing wherein everyone got the same meal.

Viking Customer Service admitted knowing of a problem and told us “we work with people.” We are still awaiting a resolution which, for us, would be a cash back solution. So far Viking is not “working with us.”

Reason of review: Poor customer service.

Monetary Loss: $15000.

Preferred solution: Full refund.

Viking Cruises Pros: Potential.

Viking Cruises Cons: Communication.

Location: San Clemente, California

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Guest

Same thing happened to us, a family of 8! Now we have to spend more money to use the vouchers in a time frame that doesn't work for all of us.

UGH. I agree with all that is stated here.

VikingCruises

Thank you, LyricalPrawn, for providing us with a detailed overview of your recent Viking experiences, both on board and via phone communications. We hear your concerns as we, too, are disappointed that the originally scheduled program was unable to continue as planned.

Your thoughtful suggestions are appreciated, and though we understand your position, we would welcome the opportunity to resume the conversation at 1-877-523-0579 should you wish to discuss your individual circumstances with us in more detail. We are happy for this chance to connect with you, and hope to hear from you though that outlet.

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