SUMMARY

This was our first river cruise after 25+ ocean cruises and we had heard nothing but good things about Viking. Our river cruise wound up being about 1/3 European bus tour and while I can not fault Viking for low river levels, I can fault them for misleading information in their sales pitches (upper deck of the ship closed to passengers for 5 of the 14 days??? Really???) and how they handled the itinerary changes due to low water levels – MAXIMUM passenger inconvenience; minimal cost to Viking (more on that later). Additionally, trying to get a refund for ANYTHING you pay for in advance is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE – nothing is refundable. We do a lot of ocean cruising on anywhere from $200 to $350 per day per couple. We expected a lot more at the premium cost of this river cruise other than walking tours with local volunteers (yes, that's right, the tours generally do not cost Viking one dime other than transportation costs when necessary), no reasonable snacks between meals, and a zero refund policy. Bottom line, we decided we are definitely not river cruise people but we did have enjoyable moments on this premium river cruise.

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