Viking Eir Review
Rating by category
Additional details
When friends and family, and a local travel agent, asked about our September 2015 Rhine River seven-day cruise on Viking, they were surprised to hear that we don’t give a rave review. “I thought Viking was supposed to be a upscale experience – they sure have great ads,” said one friend. “What happened?”
PRO: There were positives. The longship design is bright and airy. Public spaces are comfortable, with good outlooks. The 24hour coffee bar was great. Cabins are efficient and have lots of power outlets. Bathrooms are compact but workable and nicely equipped. Staff was well trained, pleasant, and anxious to please. Excursions and tours were well organized. Disembarkation was not pushy, unlike other lines that basically say Scram at 6am!
CONS: Unfortunately, two general issues and one cabin-specific issue made the trip much less enjoyable than we had hoped.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Stateroom
Cabin-specific: AVOID AVOID AVOID Cabin 101, and probably also Cabin 100 across the hall. Cabin 101 suffers from lots of extra noise and much daytime darkness, also has only a ½ size hanging closet.
Cabin 101 is nearly below the concierge desk. Every time [including late evenings!] someone in heels walked above, it was like a woodpecker on our ceiling.
Cabin 101 is by the electric motor that opens and shuts the large sliding glass door on the next deck up. All day and night, at random intervals, we were treated to the whine of the motor and then the rumble of the door opening or closing. Not loud, but very annoying.
Cabin 101 is below the marine locker area on the embarkation deck. Although the seamen themselves were very quiet [we never heard their voices], doors were opened and shut at odd hours, items were stowed or moved around.
We have cruised before, and know that ships have noises and echoes. What we experienced in Cabin 101 was way beyond any reasonable expectation. We had continuous but random noises, day or night. No fun.
But wait – this isn’t the worst of it…. When we were docked on our side [starboard/right], this cabin was completely blocked by the local docking pier, always a hulking grim slimy charcoal grey steel or concrete pillar. Then, there was NO light, no way to tell if it was night or day, sunny or rainy. Basically, the cabin became a truly unpleasant Black Hole, gloomy and depressing. No amount of cabin lighting [or a better bed] would relieve the situation. Also, because of the proximity to the boarding ramp, you were treated to the sound of footsteps; at one point at the Cologne stop it sounded like a parade of elephants above us.
We know that sometimes river cruises raft-up for mooring, and many cabins’ views are affected. But even when rafted, other cabins could at least get some glimmer of light, not the Black Pillar of Doom, as we came to call the docking piers. Cabin 101 [and 100, on the port side] appeared to be uniquely affected by the docking piers. This is not a minor view issue; it’s truly ugly and very dark.
Finally, and far less bad in comparison, but still irritating – Cabin 101’s hanging closet is narrow due to a pillar: about half the size of other cabins’. We could only use 5 hangers total, and it was crammed at that. Added insult to the above cabin problems.
We feel sorry for those who have already booked this cabin for future cruises. It is not nearly the equivalent of similar-priced cabins on the deck. We believe Viking needs to re-do its marketing and pricing for Cabin 101 [and probably also 100]. Some warning would have helped; at least we could have decided whether to accept this impacted cabin. The pricing should be commensurate with the quality, and it was not. We felt cheated and misused, not to mention tired and uncomfortable.