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Jost Van Dyke

Anniversary We we did Budapest to Amsterdam sept 13 sailing with extensions in Prauge and Amsterdam.  Long bus from Prauge to Budapest. Got on Viking Modi, embarkation was easy except after numerous times tellng them it was an anniversary cruise not birthday and date correction.  We immediately had to travel upstream due to low water then bus back to Budapest to tour. The crew including barstaff were excellent. After 7 days we had to repack and move to a different ship.Viking Skinir.  Bar staff which happened to be our wait staff as we dined on the aquavit were rude and never called us by name.  Then they almost didnt bring a cake for our anniversary but a fellow traveller went to the cruise director and advised and out they come with  a BIRTHDAY CAKE and started singing Happy Birthday UGH and we spent this much money why.   Tours were good except in Cologne where the Turkish Presidnet was there and protests all over and we asked if it would disrupt the pm tour to hunting lodge and palace and they assured us it wouldnt WELL got by the airport and sat in traffic.  Tour guide asked if we wanted to go on and could maybe salvage the palace so we kept going then (no fault of Viking) and critical accident but we ended up driving 4 1/2 hours driving around on a bus.  Corporate,the tour company, and the Cruise Director shouldve cancelled tour.  I think they have traffic reports.  We had a Balcony room and most of time parked in industrial area, wall, or against another boat.VERY Disappointing!!!Disembarcation in Amsterdam to the hotel and the luggage was promised by 11 am well it didnt show up until 430 and the weather got really bad that afternoon but our extra clothing had not shown up yet so another day wasted and we went to do hop on hop off tour but didnt have the right clothes.  We spent how much money ( the most out of 30 cruises and it was a HUGE dissapointment) They gave a 15% discount towards another river cruise but that is an insult.  They should maybe consider cancelling cruises if there is continued low water. Oh and dont hurt yourself cause there is not a bandaid on board or a doctor... Cruise was a disaster, rude staff on Skinir, bus rides for hours

Community Team

Very Disappointed

Fanning Island

After enjoying several (15+) ocean cruises on different cruise lines, we wanted to experience river cruising as we had heard about Viking river cruising through ads everywhere and direct mailing coming to us every few days.  

And it was all marketing hype and I am not sure what factors are considered in their ranking as our experience was very disappointing. 

To start with, because of low water level somewhere, we were put on Viking Modi when we started in Budapest. Our group of 22 was promised vegetarian food (Indian style) everyday but staff on this ship was not aware of this request and that turned into week-long disappointment for food.  The worst part ?  If you can't satisfy your hunger at the designated time and place, there is nothing else available except chocolate chips cookies if you are hungry at any other time !!! After the first week on Modi, we were transported by 3 hour bus ride to our designated ship Viking Skirnir where experience with vegetarian food was little better. Entertainment on the ships ? A pair of musicians/singers for week-long entertainment.  Nothing else for other entertainment.  Nothing for any activities.  If you are not in a group to spend time together, this would be the most boring period unless you are looking for some quiet and/or solitary time for yourself. Lounge not big enough to hold ship's 180+ people for lecture or music. Some of the excursions are good with knowledgeable guides but the others were ok or so-so. 

Post-cruise experience has been very disappointing. Personally, when giving optional gratuities at the guest services, more money was charged than I asked them to charge because of the conversion to Euros.  So following up with customer relations where agent dismissed my question with "nothing can be done" and then a letter to Viking River Cruise CEO Torstein Hagen did not even receive an acknowledgement or response.  

All in all, very disappointing. If you are looking for good food for vegetarian (Indian style), then think twice.  

After my reminders, customer relations agent called back and offered coupons towards future cruise on Viking.  It is like saying, "If you did not like our product, buy some more in future" !!!

Very disappointing experience

Viking Cruise Review
My wife and I have been inveterate travelers for the last forty years and have been to many countries and have used many travel and tour companies. So I write this review with some degree of travel experience. We just completed the Tulips and Windmill cruise (May 2-11). This was our second Viking cruise, the first being the Paris to Normandy cruise, last summer ( which was excellent ). I wish I could say the same for the Amsterdam cruise. While the service was excellent and most of the itinerary was satisfactory, we have several serious issues with the cruise. 

First and foremost was the food. While most of my meal selections were satisfactory (not great), my wife was not able to enjoy any of her dinners. The fish dishes were grossly over or undercooked, the prawns were served cold and tasteless, the scallops were like hockey pucks. In other words, the dinners on this cruise could not compare to the wonderful meals we enjoyed on the Paris cruise ( one of the main reasons we chose to cruise again with Viking). 

Second, the dockage at Amsterdam, both times, was atrocious. We docked far outside the city center and needed to be bused for 30 minutes to get into town. This made visits to the center cumbersome and time consuming and is counter to the Viking sales image of vessels always docking in the heart of the city or town being visited. 

To compound our problems with this cruise, the WiFi service was atrocious. We ran into a similar problem, although not as serious, on the Paris cruise but was told then that the ship was one of the older ones and that WiFi/ internet service in the new ships would be greatly improved (another reason we chose the Amsterdam cruise since the Skinir was one of your newest ships). Well, the service was not improved at all and was actually considerably worse. The tour director tried to explain that while cruising the ship often was in poor internet reception areas. If they think this is a valid position then they either need a new IT consultant or are unaware of present day internet technologies. I fly very often and I can get perfect wifi internet connections at 30,000 ft traveling at 600mph. On cruise ships I can get great reception hundreds of miles out to sea. Why can't you get a decent signal gently cruising down a river in one of the most densely populated places in Europe?  

Finally, my biggest concern was the issue of Rotterdam. This city is clearly indicated on the itinerary as a port of call and "time for independent visits" to the city are clearly stated in the itinerary. Instead we arrived in the early evening and stayed for three hours, in an out of the way dockage with no supplied transportation into the city center. Even if shuttles were provided there was no time for a visit.  To us this was a completely misleading part of the itinerary. 

In closing, I can't think of a more disappointing experience. Not because the cruise was so bad. It was however far below what we expected and I think below the standards of Viking River Cruises. I might expect these issues with cut rate or discount tour companies but not with Viking. We will certainly be taking other river cruises but I think we will be considering taking those cruises with other companies.

Second Viking Cruise a Disappointment

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