My daughter and I traveled in late March in the Bordeaux region with Viking. It was our first with Viking and our second river cruise. We will never travel with Viking again nor could we recommend them. Besides of daily issues with the meal service (it was taking more than 3 hours for 3-course dinners), I became ill and needed medical attention. I spent TWO days asking them to find me a doctor who could either come to the ship or I could go off the boat to see.

It turns out that Viking doesn't have any advance arrangements with physicians or clinics along the route so, according to them, they simply started calling around. First, they said they couldn't find one who spoke English, but when I told them I speak French, their response was: "We didn't know that, and you didn't tell us." (They hadn't asked.)

At the next port, they said they were unable to find a physician willing or able to come to the ship. When I said that I, of course, would be willing to take a taxi to the doctor, they said they hadn't thought of that - although I had already told them I was willing to travel to the doctor! Read more