Our experience on the Viking Long Boat - Idun

We just came back from a 15 day river cruise on one of the Viking Long Boats. Shown below is our review:

Overall Opinion:

Considering all the points below, we will stay away from Viking and use other means to see Europe. For the prices they charge for their cruises, you can travel in first class on Canard’s or other luxury cruise lines for the same or lower costs.

Value ($)

The cost of our 15 day river cruise was just under $17k. This is equal or more per day to the top tier luxury cruise lines. You can use other options to see major Cities and still enjoy the river cruise experience.

Security:

Basically there are no security procedures on the Viking boats. Anyone can board and walk thru the boats.

In our stateroom, our door was opened during the night by unknown person(s). When we woke up the next morning the stateroom door was open. When we brought this to the attention of the Front Desk the staff advised us that it was our fault. After asking for the Captain, we were greeted by the Hotel Manager, Gerald Hauswirth. Gerald accompanied us to our stateroom to check the door lock system. After several attempts that confirmed the defect, he apologized for the behavior of his staff. He was able to reset the door lock. The key to remember there are no means of locking your stateroom door if someone has a key card or the lock system fails.

Accommodations:

We selected the AA Veranda Suite ( 324 ). The room was very nice for a river boat. However in the hallway the Viking boat has electrical panels in-between the Suites on the starboard side. During the day and night, we would hear a loud buzzer sound in the stateroom. Three or four times each night we work up to the buzzing noise. The response from the Viking staff was “that is one of the issues on the long boats!

Dinning:

On the Viking, there are no seat assignments. Thus the quality of the service was a function of the waiter. It went from excellent to very poor. The concept of enjoying your meal and talking to your fellow guests . The waiters are focused on serving you the food as fast as possible. The require you give them the full order ( appetizers, entre, desert). There are no substitutions. Thus, you are pressured to finish the meal and leave.

Lounge:

Unfortunately, the lounge is the only place to sit down and talk to fellow guest. The upper deck is closed for most of the trip. This is caused by the 80 locks you go thru.

Drink Package offer:

Viking has a “Drink Package” that you can buy before your trip or on board. We did this only to

to realize the service staff avoids asking you for drinks. My recommendation is not to buy it

Overall Service

There are 2 to 3 waiters that are assigned to the Lounge. Most of the time, they are behind the

Bar talking to each other. So to get drinks you have to go to the bar and order. Bottom line

their service level is “Poor”

Excursions:

At each port ( one per day), they have free excursions. Most involve “walking tours” with contract tour guides. If you like seeing every Castle, Church and Statue, then this is a great feature. We decided to go to the City Center and do it ourselves.

I am sorry you were disappointed by your experience with Viking. I would not have been pleased either based on the issues you experienced.

I have not cruised with Viking so cannot comment on any personal experience with the line.

We are not a fan of the included excursions for the most part and prefer to see things on our own, at our own pace.

I am one of those eaters who always has a special request and have never had any issues on the lines we have cruised with in getting substitutions or special preparations. I am surprised to read that they were not accommodating and that is definitely a negative.

I do not believe any river boats offer assigned seating in the dining room. We did learn to sit in sections where we most enjoyed the level of service provided by the wait staff in that area. We would prefer more flexibility in dining times so that there is not a mad rush to get to the dining room when it opens. I would be delighted to be on a boat/line that offered open dining between 6 and 9 so we could choose to dine late as we prefer.

Thanks for sharing and sorry you did not enjoy your cruise.

I agree with the OP in as far as the costs being high. A riverboat cannot have the economies of scale that a 2-3000 passenger ship does.

However, We have been on 3 cruises with Vantage and have a 4th one booked for next year.

IMO, Vantage offers more bang for the buck especially when you consider the higher grade cabins.

The dining was great, because you meet all of the people on the boat at one time or another. There is no pressure to hurry up and eat. I have seen this comment on other Viking posts. I do not know if that is just the person's impressions or a fact.

Also, we have never had a problem with the upper decks closed going through the locks for the most part.

We went on the Viking Odin on the Danube in May and had a wonderful time. The staff was excellent, the ship brand new, and the food was delicious. After all the wine/beer they poured for free at dinner and lunch, we didn't need many drinks! Our chef even took a few of us with him to shop at a market in Vienna. We met lots of great people and enjoyed wandering the little streets of quaint German towns with our capable guides. The sundeck was lower for a portion on our trip because of the bridges and the water level but we enjoyed the other common areas and our balcony. I would go on another river cruise without hesitation and I would travel with Viking again.

Atlanta World Cruiser,

I have traveled with Viking 3 times already and have my 4th scheduled.

Suite: This must have been your first river cruise as you booked a suite and never read the itinerary and expected to be treated like an ocean liner cruiser.

Lounge: NEVER, have I found that the upper deck is closed for most of the trip because of the LOCKS. The only time that they close the upper desk is for "low bridges".

Dinning: All river cruises have no seat assignments. I have NEVER FOUND that the waiters serve you the food as fast as possible. THIS IS TOTALLY NOT TRUE. There are substitutions if you have read the menu. You are NEVER pressured to finish the meal and leave.

Security: If was your responsibility to make sure that your stateroom is locked. If it was not locking, then you should have notified the front desk immediately as if you were in a hotel.

Drink Package offer/Overall Service: I took the drink package twice and never found the service staff avoiding me. Unless you are a heavy drinker, they watch to see what tables need service and tend to immediately. I have even been given bar snacks when asked.

Excursions: I guess you did not read the itinerary. No one forces you to take the included excursions. But why take a river cruise if you do not take the included excursions which describe the history of the cities you visit. Here you pay for something that was to be included and did not take advantage of - Value.

Hi, if you go on the 15 day cruise we did, the upper deck was closed for 11 days.

As someone said, everyone has their likes and dislikes. River cruises are not for us. Regardless, why one would cruise with the lack of secuity is a wonder to me.

Thank you for the info ...

Hi, if you go on the 15 day cruise we did, the upper deck was closed for 11 days.

 

As someone said, everyone has their likes and dislikes. River cruises are not for us. Regardless, why one would cruise with the lack of secuity is a wonder to me.

On our cruise in June (not Viking ) the sun deck was also closed off most of the trip due to high water

Not much can be done about that

We had the opposite problem with dining ...some nights it was painfully slow

Too bad the cruise lines cannot work some sort of system to have staggered dining from 6:30pm to 8 pm

Sorry you had a bad experience ...I can relate ;)

 

 

Dinning:

On the Viking, there are no seat assignments. Thus the quality of the service was a function of the waiter. It went from excellent to very poor. The concept of enjoying your meal and talking to your fellow guests . The waiters are focused on serving you the food as fast as possible. The require you give them the full order ( appetizers, entre, desert). There are no substitutions. Thus, you are pressured to finish the meal and leave.

 

Yup, definitely a hardship there to have to tell the server at the start of the meal what you want for your entre and dessert. I've had to do that on ocean cruises, too. It's a tough way to vacation.

Yup, definitely a hardship there to have to tell the server at the start of the meal what you want for your entre and dessert. I've had to do that on ocean cruises, too. It's a tough way to vacation.

Do not think I have ever had to order dessert at the beginning on an ocean cruise

They usually bring a dessert menu when you are done with the main meal

Sorry you did not enjoy your cruise.

However here is my message to the Viking: it looks like a lot of people are complaining just about everything trying to take advantage of Viking in getting refunds, additional discounts, future cruise credits etc...

It is not fair to other folks who pay full price and never complain!

Not related to the OP, it is just my opinion after reading many recent threads here during the last few months.

pflorio994, I can't understand why you question the op's experience. I could disagree with you about several of your assertions but will just mention one-waiters do pressure you on occasion to finish asap. They are human like us all and frequently in the evening have plans.

pflorio994, I can't understand why you question the op's experience. I could disagree with you about several of your assertions but will just mention one-waiters do pressure you on occasion to finish asap. They are human like us all and frequently in the evening have plans.

New London, as for the top deck being closed the entire trip it was the water level that caused this and Viking has no control of this. As for the waiters, a 2hr. dinner is sufficient unless you are in town; but the ship follows a schedule after dinner. The original poster has his views and I expressed my views and experience with Viking.

If you want to do river cruising, a person should do all the research possible and not blame the company since he in fact stated that river cruising is not for them.

We just came back from a 15 day river cruise on one of the Viking Long Boats. Shown below is our review:

 

Overall Opinion:

Considering all the points below, we will stay away from Viking and use other means to see Europe. For the prices they charge for their cruises, you can travel in first class on Canard’s or other luxury cruise lines for the same or lower costs.

 

 

Value ($)

The cost of our 15 day river cruise was just under $17k. This is equal or more per day to the top tier luxury cruise lines. You can use other options to see major Cities and still enjoy the river cruise experience.

 

Security:

Basically there are no security procedures on the Viking boats. Anyone can board and walk thru the boats.

 

In our stateroom, our door was opened during the night by unknown person(s). When we woke up the next morning the stateroom door was open. When we brought this to the attention of the Front Desk the staff advised us that it was our fault. After asking for the Captain, we were greeted by the Hotel Manager, Gerald Hauswirth. Gerald accompanied us to our stateroom to check the door lock system. After several attempts that confirmed the defect, he apologized for the behavior of his staff. He was able to reset the door lock. The key to remember there are no means of locking your stateroom door if someone has a key card or the lock system fails.

 

Accommodations:

We selected the AA Veranda Suite ( 324 ). The room was very nice for a river boat. However in the hallway the Viking boat has electrical panels in-between the Suites on the starboard side. During the day and night, we would hear a loud buzzer sound in the stateroom. Three or four times each night we work up to the buzzing noise. The response from the Viking staff was “that is one of the issues on the long boats!

 

Dinning:

On the Viking, there are no seat assignments. Thus the quality of the service was a function of the waiter. It went from excellent to very poor. The concept of enjoying your meal and talking to your fellow guests . The waiters are focused on serving you the food as fast as possible. The require you give them the full order ( appetizers, entre, desert). There are no substitutions. Thus, you are pressured to finish the meal and leave.

 

Lounge:

Unfortunately, the lounge is the only place to sit down and talk to fellow guest. The upper deck is closed for most of the trip. This is caused by the 80 locks you go thru.

 

Drink Package offer:

Viking has a “Drink Package” that you can buy before your trip or on board. We did this only to

to realize the service staff avoids asking you for drinks. My recommendation is not to buy it

 

Overall Service

There are 2 to 3 waiters that are assigned to the Lounge. Most of the time, they are behind the

Bar talking to each other. So to get drinks you have to go to the bar and order. Bottom line

their service level is “Poor”

 

 

Excursions:

At each port ( one per day), they have free excursions. Most involve “walking tours” with contract tour guides. If you like seeing every Castle, Church and Statue, then this is a great feature. We decided to go to the City Center and do it ourselves.

Dear Atlanta World Cruiser,

We’re sorry to hear that your cruise with us did not meet your expectations. We received your email and understand that a member of our Customer Relations team was able to speak with you about your concerns. If you have any additional feedback or concerns, you can contact us again at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com.

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

Dear Atlanta World Cruiser,

 

We’re sorry to hear that your cruise with us did not meet your expectations. We received your email and understand that a member of our Customer Relations team was able to speak with you about your concerns. If you have any additional feedback or concerns, you can contact us again at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

.....Wow Atlanta World Cruiser, I sent a registered letter of my concerns to Tauck and I got nothin'...:eek: Maybe I should sail with Viking in the future just for the fact that they get back to you with your concerns....

.....Wow Atlanta World Cruiser, I sent a registered letter of my concerns to Tauck and I got nothin'...:eek: Maybe I should sail with Viking in the future just for the fact that they get back to you with your concerns....

I believe Viking will soon stop this practice of rewarding complaining customers.

Or eventually it will lead to more and more negative reviews on Viking cruises.

I believe Viking will soon stop this practice of rewarding complaining customers.

Or eventually it will lead to more and more negative reviews on Viking cruises.

How do you know they are rewarding people??

maybe they want to find out what went wrong or what they can do to make the cruise experience better

We complained to the cruise line (not Viking) they were interested in our comments but no reward for giving our opinion & experiences

Not everyone has the same experience no matter how much you research ahead of time, things can vary from cruise to cruise depending on the crew onboard at the time

Atlanta world cruisers, I'm surprised that you have only 2 posts on CC, considering you are "World Cruisers"?????:confused:

Atlanta world cruisers, I'm surprised that you have only 2 posts on CC, considering you are "World Cruisers"?????:confused:

I agree :)

I believe Viking will soon stop this practice of rewarding complaining customers.

Or eventually it will lead to more and more negative reviews on Viking cruises.

FYI....on our Tauck cruise a horrible event happened and the company sent us a check *(sizeable) to "make up for it" I guess. Since the event had in no way involved the company we sent the check back. BUT we did send a letter on shortcomings with their itinery and how they could improve in our opinion nothing more. But we recieved NOTHING in reply. We only wanted to help improve but I guess some companies just don't care......Not everyone wants "to be rewarded"....:rolleyes:

Received a call from Viking. We covered the issues and all she could say was sorry which is sorry. The key items we discussed were Safety which there is non on the Viking river boats. Unfortunately one day something bad will happen to one of their passengers. Viking will be sued for negligence and pay our millions. When all they could do is put a latch on the cabin doors to prevent anyone coming into the cabin when guest are there.

We discussed the top deck being closed which is beyond their control; low bridges. My point is their advertizing is focused on passengers enjoying the scenery during their cruise; a misrepresentation

I forgot one item... The boat does not exchange money. Their information advises you get various currencies. Don't all you need is Euros for all the ports of call

Wow.....we just got back from our trip with Viking and loved it! Amsterdam to Budapest and I did not want to get off the boat!

The Viking Embla crew bent over backwards to make us happy. The waiters would serve us anything we wanted as long as it was on the menu. We could have more of anything w/o batting an eye!

Yes the upper deck was closed at times because of locks but maybe this was a wakeup call that river cruising is not for you!:rolleyes:

Personally....ocean cruising is limiting with multitudes of people as a herd of cattle!

One complaint and we were in room 219 was the ability to hear toilets flushing on a regular basis from above and beside. These things were minor and when we travel we always expect faux pas.........it adds to the adventure;).

The cruise director(Timi) and her staff were gems!!!

The door shutting had to be our responsibility cause it would fly open if you did not take the time to check and recheck!

For us our cruise with Viking will be unforgettable!

Most river boats do not exchange currencies--they will break larger bills if they have the money.

Doors not locking well can be very disturbing--hopefully during the off season it will be remedied.

River cruising is not for everyone. As people realize that there are some very interesting itineraries and lovely new boats, they try a river cruise. It is okay to say you won't take one again. We leave on number 15 in Oct--number 4 withViking. Still say the Elbe was our favorite. Pat

Their information advises you get various currencies. Don't all you need is Euros for all the ports of call

I have never cruise with Viking so have no comments as to the experience.

However, I have traveled extensively in Europe and uniformly you getter better value when using local currency.

When in Prague last year, we were several times given the option to pay in Euro versus CZ koruna - in every case we would lose money were we to take that option.

IMO and IME, it is better to pay in local currency for the maximum value.

I'm sorry that your vacation was not up to your expectations, but part of it may have been due to a lack of research on your part before you left.

In regards to your door locking issue, does Viking not have dead bolts on their doors? I cruised on Avalon earlier this year and we had dead bolts that we flipped whenever we were in the room, in addition to putting out the do not disturb sign. If the bolt was flipped, there was no way that anyone was getting in the room, even with a key. Maybe you didn't do this on your door.