When I asked to speak with a supervisor the "customer service" representative said "I am not allowed to transfer you - the supervisor will give you the same answer." This was really That is why Viking is offering a limited-time offerthe most flexible of any cruise lineso that you can plan your voyage with peace of mind. Call us at 800-454-0927 to speak to a Cruise Concierge today. I also booked this trip years ago when there was not a vaccine mandate.They will not return my money of around $22000.00 They told me I did not need vaccinations for 2022 ,now I found out we do .We do not believe in the vaccinations and I told them that right out front. Passengers from across the country say they've. They said they did not think we could get a refund as our money had been converted to a voucher and vouchers were not refundable with our insurance. When we arrived ************* to get our boarding pass, we were told that viking booked our tickets but did not pay for the tickets. Viking changed their policy after they took all our money, lured us into taking now worthless vouchers. Planning a cruise? Viking Polaris Current cruise: 13 days, one-way from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso-Santiago Viking Expeditions Tracker Itineraries Deck plans Accidents Viking Neptune Current cruise: 137 days, one-way from Fort Lauderdale to London-Tilbury Viking Ocean Tracker Itineraries Deck plans Viking Mars Current cruise: 14 days, one-way from Sydney to Auckland Story Update (September 5, 2022) Viking river cruises have posted an advisory from Danube River cruises that ship swapping may occur. Our ships have a very low draftabout five feet, he explained. You will, however, still get a vacation in Europe, even if its not the one you expected. 2023 Trustpilot, Inc. All rights reserved. Viking booked the hotels for these excursions. The river cruise lines will tell you that low water levels are rare, and that few sailings are altered due to water levels but the truth is the risk is always present. There are no uniform river flows and water levels are unpredictable. Schreiner gives an example of two identical sister ships, AmaLucia and AmaSiena, that both sail the Rhine. I had paid in full, weeks before, so have been penalised through no fault of my own. took the call and told us that schedule wouldn't be available most likely till January 2023. I was told Viking doesnt own the hotel and the hotel will not let me make a change since Viking handled the booking. , I am out the $3500 no matter what) and a friend who will take my place must pay her full share of the room as well! Because we were given a voucher, we can not get out money back. Viking Cruises - Ships and Itineraries 2023, 2024, 2025 - CruiseMapper Credit ranges are a variation of FICO Score 8, one of many types of credit scores lenders may use when considering your credit card application. A *** incentive ********** was offered and accepted by us to use toward future booking. These levels can swing widely both up and down. I was sailing aboard the Avalon Vista two months ago on a cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland along the Rhine River. Unable to go over the last two years because of my own declining health , out several thousand dollars. Also lost out on the cruise vouchers. We were running between the airlines at ***** to find out what was going on, very frustrating. While we may have to make changes to some of our itineraries and have had to cancel a few voyages, impacted guests and travel partners have and will receive transparent updates and the opportunity to re-book onto another sailing, shared Ellen Bettridge, president and CEO of Uniworld, in an email to TPG. Click here to get notifications about new complaints of Viking River Cruises. Posted May 4, 2021. Verification can help ensure real people write reviews about real companies. ************************************* Cruises that was set to sail in April 2020. This was not the case. Not for the voucher amount. Winston Folkers. At Viking, your experience means the world to us. No partial refund was given and I lost the total deposit of $1000.I understand that the T&Cs outline the refund policy. If you book a river cruise, you acknowledge that you might not get the exact itinerary you signed up for. Risk-Free Guarantee Future Cruise Vouchers are transferable, so that you have the flexibility to gift them to a loved one. Start with these stories: The credit card offers that appear on the website are from credit card companies from which ThePointsGuy.com receives compensation. Jim. In May, Viking canceled that cruise. Sometimes it's worth a large investment to reap the benefits of a great credit card. Ive asked that one room in the hotels have two separate beds for our two adult children who do not want to share a bed. They can go up, they can go down, rain can come in.. By. Please DO NOT add attachments that contain your or other peoples personal information, if you dont want it to be visible to the public. Heres what you need to know. Cancellation conditions 2. We accepted and paid an additional insurance premium. I purchased two of each of the following through ACH: This account has been claimed by Viking River Cruises customer service / representatives through our verification process. By. On February 1, the shore excursion booking system opened up for the ocean segment of my trip. We booked a river cruise (Danube) for March 2022. This site does not include all card companies or credit card offers available in the marketplace. This card is also incredibly rewarding for travel purchases, helping you rack up a ton of Membership Rewards points for your next award trip. Enrollment required. 12 reviews. Where the European rivers have locks and dams to control water levels, ships can still sail problem-free. Earn 80,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $6,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. An insult! In exchange for the annual fee, you'll unlock access to the Amex Membership Rewards program that let you access airline and hotel transfer partners, along with new lifestyle and travel credits. Sheila Davies is a retired gas industry professional based in Northumberland, England. 2022 is now cancelled and will be replaced with new roundtrip voyages from Southampton to the Caribbean via the Canary Islands and New York. BBB Business Profiles are subject to change at any time. My husband surprised me with the explorer suite,the room was beautiful,the balcony was amazing. Oceania officials said Russian and Ukrainian ports would be removed from 2022 itineraries, while Viking River Cruises canceled . You dont know a week or 10 days in advance what will happen with the water levels. My bag didn't make it. This allowed Viking to retain the majority of our payment since We booked a cruise in 2019 to sail early in 2020. This is why most lines are not offering flexible cancellation policies or waiving penalties for canceling a river cruise because theyre worried their itinerary will get disrupted due to low water levels. BBB is here to help. Maximum capacities of 164 passengers and 47 crew. Expires March 31, 2023. Due to Covid pandemic our cruise got cancelled. We are older and don't want to keep rescheduling this with the hopes of one day being permitted to board their ship. Plus Ups are excluded. In fact, how a business responds to customer complaints is one of the most significant components of the BBB Business Rating. Not at all, according to Rudi Schreiner, president and co-founder AmaWaterways as long as youre willing to be a little bit flexible. A longtime editor at Cruise Critic, Erica has also written for The Washington Post, Fodors and Lets Go travel guides, and numerous print and online cruise publications. Applies primarily to to bookings with the following content. We again purchased Vikings trip insurance through Trip Mate to cover the cost of the trip. A Vaccinated Passenger Tested Positive for COVID-19 on My Icelandic In this case, you will receive a full refund of your cruise fare. "They disembark in the morning, they go on the shore excursion, and they come back on the other side on the sister ship. To go on the cruise people do not have to supply a negative covid test so you still go on the cruise in theory even if you have covid. *In Canada, trademark(s) of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus, used under License. But there is nothing we can do, your vouchers have expired'. I believe this policy and practice is clearly unfair and rather reckless. Utter and total joke. In times of high water, river boats can reduce their height by: Another aspect of river cruising is how much water does the ship draft? *Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. All I got was 'you must pay in full for your trip before booking extras'. It will take of the expiring vouchers and the booking can be changed with no problem whatsoever once a schedule for 2024 becomes available. **** said he would monitor the schedule and will alert us the very day it comes out. This content has not been approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Karin Price Mueller | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. European Cruise River Levels Are Falling To Critical Levels - Travel Codex Call to book now: 1-800-207-7286. This is insulting and is clearly bait and switch type behavior. We are not asking for anything other than our money back. We booked a January 2021 cruise. The Risk-Free Guarantee allows guests to change their cruise date up until 14 days before their planned departureand Viking will waive any fees. The whole point of purchasing trip insurance, especially in this time of Covid, was to protect ourselves in the event of a last minute emergency. River flows are never static and are subject to fluctuations that are unpredictable. coach. We were issued the vouchers that had an expiration date October 2022. Dozens of cruises have been cancelled and some ports in the Caribbean and South America are turning ships away from making . This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. I will never travel with Viking . However, the most important part of any cruise, for me is the excursion choice. That' our policy,. Viking Cruise recommends that their customers insure their travel & trip with Trip Mate Travel Insurance. At this time, we expect the ship will resume its scheduled operations on February 18, 2023. The pandemic has not ended, and some sailings have been cancelled due to too many Covid-19 cases onboard. Yazmin Hope and Libby Gallagher Tauck says it deals with compensation on a case-by-case basis. Viking River Cruises has left an official reply on this complaint. Subscribe to RSS Cruise delayed because of COVID. Viking River Cruises, Inc. | Complaints | Better Business Bureau Profile Not one thing but some flowers in the rain and unsafe steps and more Booking number 7141933 This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback. It is getting harder and harder to book excursions on Viking cruises, so I would advise anyone planning a cruise with them to think twice, if excursions are important to them. Viking, which operates both ocean and river cruises, has canceled all 2022 departures from its Kyiv, Black Sea and Bucharest itinerary . Cailey Rizzo. . If you choose to do business with this business, please let the business know that you contacted BBB for a BBB Business Profile. Why didn't Viking pay to dock? Viking's river cruises are aboard Viking Longships and have a maximum of 190 guests. But it is for us. Instead, in the most extreme cases, AmaWaterways will create a new itinerary. Booking your first river cruise? Before you decide to. Jan 26, 2023 01:33pm. Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews. Viking Mississippi is one of Viking's largest river ships, measuring 450 feet (137 meters) long and weighing approximately 5,000 gross tons. Viking's treatment of it's customers makes no sense.they combined two of my trips (without asking) into one "butterfly trip" which meant when I had to cancel the first, it cancelled the 2nd. He lied. The line confirmed the steps to TTG on Wednesday (2 March) and said it was "deeply opposed" to the . I was never informed that the vaccine would be required to sail and that our money would not be eligible for a refund. Very disappointed with Viking River Cruises - Fodor's Business Section was crowded 8 units wide while first class just in front Only in very rare circumstances are the sailings canceled outright. "Given recent developments and the developing conflict in Ukraine,. We also paid Port Tax for Honduras even though they chose not to book and pay to use the pier there. We would much rather be able to post how considerate Viking has been (as well as how much we enjoyed the cruise!) Learn more. I won't be booking any future cruise with them. Viking Mississippi - As of January 23, 2023 Due to damage from substantial river debris to the Viking Mississippi 's propulsion system, the ship will undergo repairs requiring the cancellation of upcoming departures. The 766-mile Rhine is one of Europe's most important trade routes, with container ships plying their way around its looping bends. Viking Cruises has cancelled all 2022 departures on its Kiev, Black Sea & Bucharest itinerary in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "But its clear that river cruising is not going away anytime soon.". Trip value now ********** On 12 November 2020 we booked another cruise and added an additional ******** to bring our out of pocket total to ********** All transactions took place before before the rollout of a "vaccine", vaccine cards, a Presidential and CDC mandates. Seldom travelers may not get enough value to warrant the cost. South America & the Chilean Fjords - Ocean Cruise Dates & Pricing South America & the Chilean Fjords From $5,999 | 18 Days | 8 Guided Tours | 4 Countries Itinerary Dates & Pricing Resources For current fares, please call a Viking Expert: 1-866-984-5464 or Request a Quote today. Scenic. Ocean cruise ships usually have at least 25 feet or more or more of draft which would preclude them from river cruising. Its infuriating and disrespectful. Claim your profile to access Trustpilots free business tools and connect with customers. We had not received any response from Viking about 10 days. She really needs this positive experience to look forward to. On the other end, river boats are built with a shallow draft of about six feet deep to avoid hitting the river bottom. I explain ship swapping in the section: What Happens If Your Cruise Is Affected By Water Level? Floriade River Cruise Guide 2022 | Cruise Critic Use down arrow key to expand the menu and up arrow key to collapse the menu and hit enter to select the link, Change your cruise date up to 14 days prior to departure, The ultimate flexibility: You have 24 months to select your new cruise date, Combinable with all other Viking offers. They would fly to Italy and take an 8-day Viking River Cruise called . Desired outcome: The food was excellent. With this terrible I thought that Viking was reputable, so I put too much faith in them. On July 10th, 2022 my husband called Viking to inquire when the schedule becomes available. Call a Viking Expert at 0800 319 66 60 or see your Travel Advisor. Refund on premium air payments that we did not receive in premiumservice. I even requested they review the phone call and they refused. AMA Waterways | Travel Requirements & Safety Protocols. I contacted Trip Mate and was told the vouchers were not covered and that I needed to contact Viking because they handled vouchers. We booked a Viking River Cruise with AAA travel in August of 2019 for $14,497 for two people which excludes the insurance cost. If you are concerned about the water level on your upcoming river cruise, do your due diligence before you take any action. Our trip was canceled and a voucher was issued. Viking Neptune is a new ship that will join the fleet in 2022. The problem with river cruises is that they are affected by both high and low water levels. Published on May 21, 2021. Is it cheaper to stay out in the bay and use your own tender? US. 2) Risk-Free Guarantee for guests who made a reservation between March 1, 2021 to October 31, 2021; 3) Risk-Free Guarantee for guests who made a reservation between May 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021; 4) Risk-Free Guarantee for guests who made a reservation prior to April 30, 2020. . During our Antarctica cruise, as suggested by the on board customer services, we submitted our request for the reimbursement with receipts. Refund or partial credit. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and theyll be displayed as long as an account is active. Because there was no time for a further delay, we paid the tickets to the airline. Viking Ocean Ships Currently Sailing: Viking Jupiter Viking Orion Viking Mars Viking Neptune Viking Saturn Viking Sea Viking Sky Viking Star Viking Venus Vikings entire river fleet of over 75 ships is also actively sailing. The draft is the amount of vessel that is below the water line. Companies will need more ships to carry the same amount of cargo, increasing transportation costs all of which have a negative impact on the European economy. Guests and travel advisors with affected departures have been notified. Any time theres a heat wave in Europe, especially if coupled with lighter-than-average spring snow melt or rainfall, you can end up with low water in certain parts of Europe. There are even more places your Platinum Card can get you complimentary entry and exclusive perks. At best, youll do a ship swap mid-cruise, a slight inconvenience that will allow you to follow your planned itinerary. Schreiners advice is simple: Just go. In 2020 we were contacted via email and told that this cruise was also cancelled and we could book another cruise and receive a 125% credit toward a future cruise with a risk free guarantee and it said we could change our plans up to 24 hours before departure. This will surely increase the credibility of your complaint. If the whole itinerary is changed, youll get to sail the new itinerary and receive a 100% future cruise credit to book another cruise. Scheduled and rescheduled elder family care and pet sitting services. The plane returned to the gate and he was transported to the local hospital. Check here before booking an award fare. The first thing that I noticed when I boarded is that all river ships are built to similar dimensions. I took into account the following factors and then made an educated guess: Taking all of these factors into account, we booked for mid-June. What It's Like Aboard an 8-Day Cruise With Viking River Cruises Thats because the weight of the cargo such vessels carry affects their draft (the distance between the ships bottom and the water line). 1. called Business since the middle seats were left vacant. Disappointed with Viking Cruises cancellation policy. The vaccinations mean nothing anyway. NEW! Rather than focusing on the number of complaints, BBB considers how frequently and effectively those complaints are resolved. Just realized that the cruise booked was from Antwerp to Amsterdam. The key dimensions of the Avalon Vista are: River boats are built in such a way that for bridge clearance, the mast, pilot house, and sun shades can be lowered. In this case, you will receive a full refund of your cruise fare. 3. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. They just decided to keep our hard earning money. If you voluntarily cancel your cruise you may only get a partial or no refund depending on how close to departure you cancel your cruise. We Vikings inability to resolve an issue with, Withholding of monies and shore excursion, Refusal to honor its cancellation policy, My bag is still missing and I will request. See details. The first five miles of headwaters have completely dried up. Booking XXXXXXX. Viking Cruises ceases operations in Russia for 2022 Some years, low water levels caused disruptions as early as June and some years as late as October. You can see why people are worried. Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the authors alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Very disappointing. Expected weather conditions during the cruise. It is obvious to the casual observer that VRC is not in financial distress as they have added ships to their fleet and the CEO is listed a a billionaire. Their luggage has been moved over automatically so by the time they arrive on the ship they have their luggage, and then they sail on the other ship back to the destination.. At no point when we rebooked using our vouchers, were we told the vouchers were not covered under the insurance plan. Posted September 18, 2021. Viking is probably the most unsympathetic/unprofessional company I have ever experienced. We have since then tried to book a trip two times, and the required medical of a vaccine status made us cancel again. It would seem to be a reasonable and simple request. The area is protected and thats where you have the low water issues. Viking Mississippi cancels Oct. 15 cruise due to low river levels But due to a serious health issue we along with our Drs said that it was not feasible for us to go. If you are booked on a river cruise for later this year, do not make any snap decisions. them to clean my clothes again and every night I am on the cruise, Read full review of Viking River Cruises and 1 comment, 16 years' experience in successful complaint resolution, Each complaint is handled individually by highly qualified experts, Last but not least, all our services are absolutely free. Plus, your own feed of TPG content. A place on the excursion I tried to book. After many failed conversations with Viking Cruise customer service reps to obtain reassurance that we will automatically receive a refund when our cruise vouchers expire on 2/18/23, two years after the email from Viking dated 2/17/21 notifying us that our second cruise was cancelled.