We heard that Viking was great for river cruises and had never been on one before. The first evening we didn't get served our supper until 9:45 PM. The food was both cold and overdone (one of our table mates couldn't eat his fish). The lateness of the meal meant we had missed the Bordeaux walk excursion which had started at 9:30 PM. The dining staff, in an effort to cover up for the poor food service, starting pouring too much wine and alcohol. The disappointment was evident through the ship and culminated in a man at the next table yelling at the Hotel Manager about the lateness and poor quality of food.

The next morning both the Hotel and Guest Services Managers left the ship (quit??). The service deteriorated from there and the food quality remained poor throughout our cruise except the one evening where we ate at a winery Chateau. We were consistently given lukewarm or cold food including breakfast where even our Eggs Benedict had stone cold eggs. My husband and I resorted to getting some of our meals off the ship in order to have something hot.

Although we complained to Viking their response has been lacking at best. We would not recommend them as there are lots of other cruise lines to choose from. Read more