Two weeks ago as we drove to the airport, we received an email from Viking Cruise Lines that because of rising water levels in Southern France, our ship would not be waiting for us at our departure point in Avingnon. Instead we would be staying at a Novotel. There was no estimate as to how long we would be quartered there. While the hotel room itself was sufficient the food was below Viking's standards - one might say the food was inedible. Breakfast service was chaotic and overall attention to detail was lacking. During the 2 1/2 days we stayed in Avingnon we were bused to our destinations (often on trips that were more than 1 hour long).

Finally we were taken to the ship (the Delling) - another 2+ hours on the bus. After boarding the ship we cruised for a total of 2 1/2 hours, from Vienne to Lyon. Our dream vacation became exactly what we were not looking for - a bus trip - getting up early to get on the bus and then traveling for hours to our next tourist destination. After the cruise was over we were on a bus for over 7 hours to Paris, where our 5 star hotel was a complete joke. The Warwick has seen better days and the room definitely needed to thorough cleaning. We contacted Viking on our arrival home - May 17 and still have had no word from them.

While the ship itself was lovely and we don't blame Viking for the rising waters, we believe that they have handled this problem in an unacceptable manner. It is our understanding that Viking was well aware of the problem at least a week before departure and chose to notify passengers on their way to France the day before so that it would not be possible to cancel.