This was my second Viking Cruise. I chose Viking again because the first cruise was so great. But in the three years between the cruises, Viking services deteriorated to the extent that I will never take a Viking cruise again. While the staff was friendly and nice, the service and food were mediocre. I never met my room steward. I could have handled the fact that the Rhine River was so low we had to leave our ship mid-cruise and board another ship (can't control weather) but we weren't even offered a travel voucher for our trouble. Every other person on every other line that I met who traveled when the Rhine conditions were not great received a travel voucher for future travel even if they weren't inconvenienced as we were. We were compensated with some free wine one night. Whoopee! The first time I traveled with Viking, the wine was free all the time!

And I don't limit my critique to the cruise. Every time I contacted Viking ahead of time for more information or advice, I was given the same response, which was "I don't know." My theory is that Viking has chosen money over service. I would chose the opposite.

Additionally, my husband couldn't travel with me and we had to use our travel insurance for reimbursement for his part of the trip. I got back less than the cost of the travel insurance, Very different from when my friend sought reimbursement for their Viking River Cruise and got the whole thing back - but that was four years ago. Read more