When we saw the ad on PBS touting the elegant experience we should expect aboard a Viking cruise, we believed the hype and signed up for their cruise to the Caribbean and Amazon. The itinerary certainly sounded interesting and we were excited.

Having now had it, I can say that this Viking experience was barely average, especially when compared with other cruise lines in the same price point. Oh where to begin... first off, they made the flight arrangements for us instead of doing it ourselves as we typically do. Wouldn’t you know it, they booked us onto a flight at 1:00 AM and selected for us the seats right in front of the bathrooms so the seats couldn’t recline. I chalked it up to their lousy airline travel booking skills or us drawing the short straw, so we took our thump and moved on to looking forward to our trip. We were told we should check in at a certain time, which we did, but the cabins weren’t yet ready at the appointed time, so we asked to wait... only there were just a few chairs in the waiting area, so after a sleepless night, now we had to stand around while waiting in the hot terminal. Maybe a small logistical hiccup, no problem.

Once aboard, we were pleased to see that our cabin was nice. Even though it was our first cruise with them, they had upgraded us to a more spacious unit where free pressing was included. Based on their behavior on board, I did not believe this to be a generous or good-will gesture. I speculated that since we had bought early and paid full price, they upped our category so they could fill unsold cabins at bargain prices. What lead to this speculation is that they say they offered wine at dinner ... which they did, supposedly included .. but the instant I opted for a riesling with my dinner rather than their selected red or white, I was asked to produce my cabin number for an up- charge. So much for free wine with dinner. Read more