We are writing this review to express our dissatisfaction with our recent Grand European Tour “river cruise".
On July 30, three days prior to beginning our journey, we received notification that we would embark on the Viking Skirnir in Amsterdam, rather than Modi due to low river levels. On Aug. 3, at 9:20 p.m., we received notification that our cruise would not sail as described when we booked it, and the Skirnir was not able to make it to Amsterdam. We were not given the choice to cancel, and frankly, it would have been too late, as we had already left for Amsterdam to begin our 3 day extension.
While understanding that Viking has no control over the weather, we cannot be convinced that the company knew nothing of the drought affecting the rivers we were to sail months in advance of our trip. We were told by locals in every city on the cruise that there had been no significant rainfall since May. This fact should have been communicated to the travelers who paid well in advance for a river cruise that was almost certain not to happen as advertised! We should have been given the option to:
Response from VikingS, Community Team
The cabin was overall good and kept very clean, large enough for a river ship, but of course we paid for that luxury. Unable to use the balcony for most of the trip, since we were sandwiched between ships a good deal of the time, and docked in less-than scenic areas. Who wants to have morning coffee on a balcony facing a recycling factory or industrial flats??
We LOVED Amsterdam. We took the extension here. I recommend doing the hop on Hop Off Canal Boats. Great way to explore this fascinating city!
We did a beer tasting tour to experience the Kolsch. Very good! And Cologne is a fun city to see at night.
Charming medieval city of half-timbered houses. Lots of wonderful photo ops!
Docked in an industrial area, but our main focus here was the Romantic Road to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which was lovely in the way that only an old European city can be. More wonderful photo ops.
More cathedrals and palaces. It was starting to all run together at this point, but still loveliness around every corner.
The history here is chilling. We did a panoramic bus tour to see all of the historic spots. Also did a tour of Nuremburg Castle, which offers a wonderful view of the city and landscape.
We had to be bussed back to this port, since our ship couldn't sail in low water, but I would say that though the 2 hour trip there and back wasn't fun, the city was worth seeing. Lots of creativity in store displays and windows!
Fun way to see parts of the city, but almost impossible to hear the driver's commentary over the clippity-clop. Kind of expensive for what you get - we paid 80.00 for two people for a 40 minute carriage ride. It was outr first, so I'm not sure if this is the going rate?