If Internet access is not important to you then Viking is a fine, even a great, cruise line. However, if you really need (or want) internet access then try some other line, and do some research before you book. We took the Viking Danube Waltz River Cruise May 8-16 on the Viking Hermod, starting in Budapest, plus two extra days in Prague. Everything was great, as advertised, except for internet access; essentially, there was none. Every question was met with a foolish explanation involving mountains, bridges, blank spots, weather, etc. However, there was no internet access in our stateroom even when docked in Budapest with not a mountain, bridge, or cloud in sight. In eight days we had perhaps one hour of internet access. We talked to other passengers about internet access and most reported similar results.

The Viking Hermod supposedly is only four years old, so there is no excuse for its not offering an acceptable level of internet access. True, satellite access may be interrupted occasionally by terrain and weather, but those interruptions are comparatively rare and access is almost always available to the ship. (The momentary interruption when passing under a bridge would be so short, if any, that it was foolish of the crew member even to mention it. That was pure twaddle put out by someone trying to tap dance around the real problem.) If the ship has satellite access but no internet access for its paying customers then the problem must lie with the signal distribution system. If wi-fi propagation is problematic within a steel ship then the ship should have been wired for ethernet when it was built. There is absolutely no excuse for not having done so. Internet access simply was not given a high enough priority by top management in the ship’s design. Then the captain and crew were given the badly designed ship and put in the unenviable position of having to absorb the abuse from irate passengers who were promised something that the captain and crew cannot deliver and over which they have absolutely no control.

It is beyond question that this problem has been reported time and time again; even a cursory search shows that the Internet is full of it. However, Viking continues to advertise internet access even though Viking management has to know that it is, in the main, a lie. Because of that dishonesty we never will book with Viking again. It is a shame that the Viking Hermod’s stellar ship and hotel crews have to work for such duplitious management.