Sharing our Viking Grand European River Cruise experience, one that we will never repeat. Must say Viking does an excellent job marketing itself, however way under delivers. Buyer beware – don’t even think of sailing with Viking if you are younger than 70 (note to readers – I am a very active 59 year old).

We booked our 2 week bucket list river cruise close to 2 years ago, and at that time, Viking demanded full payment up front, while no other cruise line has ever asked for full payment till 3 months before the cruise. Viking proceeded to “nickel and dime” us regarding our air reservations, which we had booked thru them. Just to speak to a live person cost us $50. pp. We then said we wanted to go 2 days early, so to ensure we did not miss the cruise if we had flight issues. That added another $100 per person on to our tab. They then tried to steer us to their “partner” hotel in Amsterdam and wanted $1200. for the 2 nights, we said forget that – and booked a great hotel for a total of $218. for the two of us. Then the “icing on the cake” was since we booked the air thru Viking, they told us our flight back home was to leave at 5:30 am –meaning we had to get up at 2 am, for a close to hour trip to the airport and then get thru security etc. So, we said a big “No” to that option, and Viking socked us with another fee to change the air.

As part of the package we paid for, which we felt was ridiculously overpriced compared to ocean cruises, (we usually do 2 -3 ocean cruises on Celebrity annually and love them!), we were to have transportation from the airport to our hotel and then the hotel to the ship on embarkation day. Since we did not purchase their overpriced room for 2 nights at their partner hotel, Viking said, “you are on your own to get to your hotel and then to the ship”. They never offered a credit to our account, even though I asked for one, as we had paid for the service as part of our package. So, we were on our own to get to the hotel, which we managed, after we purchased the wrong train ticket, costing us $60. Upon leaving the hotel, we had to take several trains to get to the port. Once we arrived at the port, we were like a deer in headlights, as there were numerous Viking ships, and we had no idea where ours was located. So in pouring rain, we started walking, first one way, then another, as our luggage proceeded to get sopping wet. Read more