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Viking, the Good, the Bad and the very Ugly Part 2


phoebecat

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Viking: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Part 2

 

Our seven night Romantic Danube cruise was affected by the Central European floods. We had to ship swap. Coach trips were substituted for scheduled sailing and walking tours on one and a half days. Being moored in Vienna for forty eight hours meant that we only cruised/physically moved along the river for one afternoon (on leaving Nuremberg), two nights (Nuremberg to Regensburg, Regensburg to Passau) and one evening/night (Vienna to Budapest). A big disappointment, and not what we had paid for.

 

We lost one and a half full days on board and two lunches. Local hotel/restaurant meals were provided instead, but they were not to the ships standard and not what we had paid for.

 

Luggage was transported by Viking in a van between Passau and Vienna. At least three passengers found their luggage irreperably damaged on arrival in Vienna. My fathers case had the wheel and part of the base ripped off. Another passenger found the case handle broken off. Another passenger discovered a large hole ripped in the cases side. Although Viking replaced two of these cases, the replacements were not of the same size and quality as the originals.

 

Following the four hour coach trip from Passau to Vienna, one couple asked Viking to arrange flights for them back to the US, and left the ship.

 

My father fell between the ship and the quay in Vienna, whilst boarding. It was no fault of Vikings that the accident occurred. But, it happened in full view of crew members, and no one assisted. Instead, myself and a fellow passenger pulled him to safety. No one came to our cabin or spoke to us later to ask if he was alright or needed medical attention.

 

Whilst we had no issues with the food on board and enjoyed the meals prepared and restaurant service, others were not so complimentary. Their complaints included reconstituted chicken fillets, breakfast items kept under a heat lamp but not hot enough, tinned frankfurter sausages for lunch in the cafe lounge, and chicken nuggets served as hors d'oeuvres.

 

I wrote my first posting about this cruise on Thursday evening and posted it at midnight, European time. At nine am the following morning, I was told by the Njord hotel managed that 'LA wishes to speak with you this afternoon.' I explained we would be at the concert in Vienna, and that I'd be delighted to talk with 'LA' on Monday 1st July when I returned home.

 

On Saturday morning, whilst waiting to disembark, the Njord receptionist handed me a printed email, from one of Vikings Vice Presidents. It asked that I call them as soon as possible after reading the email, saying they were disappointed to read of my criticism of their staff and product. They said their hotel manager on the Idun was at fault for giving me false information. They went on to say they were reading carefully what i was posting online. The tone of the email was unpleasant and vaguely unsettling.

 

During my three days on board the Idun I never once spoke with the hotel manager. So, a factual inaccuracy. Secondly, attempting to lay blame on an innocent staff member in an email to a guest is totally unprofessional. Thirdly, despite requesting that they ring me on Monday, Viking interrupted my vacation a second time essentially to persuade me not to post online. It couldn't have been to help offer to put things right, because the trip was nearly over and the damage had been done!

 

Monetary recompense is not my objective. I simply wish to give fellow cruisers a taste of my Viking experience. Once again, I stress that whilst the events and occurrences related above are factual truths, my comments thereon can only be my subjective opinions. You must draw your own conclusions from what you read. When I hear Vikings response, I will be happy to share it with you here.

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I wrote my first posting about this cruise on Thursday evening and posted it at midnight, European time. At nine am the following morning, I was told by the Njord hotel managed that 'LA wishes to speak with you this afternoon.' I explained we would be at the concert in Vienna, and that I'd be delighted to talk with 'LA' on Monday 1st July when I returned home.

 

On Saturday morning, whilst waiting to disembark, the Njord receptionist handed me a printed email, from one of Vikings Vice Presidents. It asked that I call them as soon as possible after reading the email, saying they were disappointed to read of my criticism of their staff and product. They said their hotel manager on the Idun was at fault for giving me false information. They went on to say they were reading carefully what i was posting online. The tone of the email was unpleasant and vaguely unsettling.

 

Phoebecat:

 

Is there a chance that Viking was just trying to connect with you while you were on board so they could attempt to resolve some of your issues BEFORE you left the ship?

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How do they know which passenger Phoebecat was? Appalled to hear about your poor Dad`s fall and lack of offers to help. Is this "Health and safety" gone mad? Are staff afraid to physically assist passengers for fear of some sort of legislation? or just burnt out, fed up staff who know there`s little chance of big tips any more?!

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Viking know who I am because I wrote a positive review of Viking Sun last year after our Rhine cruise. They got in touch, via CC and I was happy to say which passenger I was. I had, and have nothing to hide.

 

With regards the attempts to reach out to me whilst still on board, I agree with you remydiva, only that's not how it came across. By this point there was nothing that could be done to remedy the situation. And especially when the second email came through, as I was about to disembark. The tone suggested to me that Viking were concerned with what I might or might not say online. However, that was only my perception.

 

Now I'm home there is plenty of opportunity for them to reach out, and I sincerely look forward to hearing what they have to say.

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I would like to know where the Cruise Director was in all of your situations? I am new to River Cruising, but from what I learn here on CC, the CD either makes or breaks the river cruise.

 

Whom should one speak to if there are any issues that need remedying while on board if not the Cruise Director?

 

Phoebe, your review seems very balanced, and I am glad to know that the corporate heads realize that folks on CC will inform their fellow cruisers about their experiences.

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I would like to know where the Cruise Director was in all of your situations? I am new to River Cruising, but from what I learn here on CC, the CD either makes or breaks the river cruise.

 

Whom should one speak to if there are any issues that need remedying while on board if not the Cruise Director?

 

Phoebe, your review seems very balanced, and I am glad to know that the corporate heads realize that folks on CC will inform their fellow cruisers about their experiences.

 

We lost our first cruise director after two days. His wife was involved in an accident in the UK and he had to leave to be with her. Our second cruise director came online, so to speak, immediately and took over. Both were very good and couldn't have done anymore than they did, I feel. It's not their place to tell fellow guests how to behave nor could they have stopped dad falling. Maybe I could have remonstrated with them that their staff weren't caring enough to ask after dad or help him, but by that stage, it was a bit too late. Either the staff help and care, or they don't. In this instance, they plainly didnt. Anita did assist with the damaged suitcase and I thanked her. However, the Viking staff who loaded those cases damaged at least three. A cruise director could not be expected to oversee the crew loading luggage. If they don't know how to treat guests belongings with respect, not much a CD can do.

 

On reflection, I feel that a CD can only do so much. They can't do all the crews jobs nor inform their attitudes. I feel the Viking malaise starts far higher up the food chain, with executive decision making thst CDs then have to put into practice, and which often, is not compatible with guest satisfaction eg: turning a river cruise into a partial coach tour.

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Phoebecat,

 

Thank you for your post. I remember reading your Viking Sun posts with delight since we were sailing on the Sun later that year (we equally had a great time on our Viking Sun cruise). I'm so sorry to hear that this experience didn't live up to that one for you and your father. It was disappointing to read some of your experiences. While I took some of the earlier posts at the beginning of the flood with a "grain of salt," objective posts such as yours and a few others make me start to question Viking. I have two cruises on the books with them next year, and I'm praying I encounter nothing like you and your father did. I hope that most of your experiences were due to some lingering effects of the flood situation and not a trend for Viking. I'll equally be looking forward to hearing Viking's response. Again, so sorry this cruise didn't live up to your expectations.

 

Tim

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We lost our first cruise director after two days. His wife was involved in an accident in the UK and he had to leave to be with her. Our second cruise director came online, so to speak, immediately and took over. Both were very good and couldn't have done anymore than they did, I feel. It's not their place to tell fellow guests how to behave nor could they have stopped dad falling. Maybe I could have remonstrated with them that their staff weren't caring enough to ask after dad or help him, but by that stage, it was a bit too late. Either the staff help and care, or they don't. In this instance, they plainly didnt. Anita did assist with the damaged suitcase and I thanked her. However, the Viking staff who loaded those cases damaged at least three. A cruise director could not be expected to oversee the crew loading luggage. If they don't know how to treat guests belongings with respect, not much a CD can do.

 

On reflection, I feel that a CD can only do so much. They can't do all the crews jobs nor inform their attitudes. I feel the Viking malaise starts far higher up the food chain, with executive decision making thst CDs then have to put into practice, and which often, is not compatible with guest satisfaction eg: turning a river cruise into a partial coach tour.

 

I was not on your cruise, thank God, but it appears to me if guests are disruptive as you described, it is the Cruise Director's place to stop that sort of disruption. If it impacts the enjoyment of others on the cruise, it is the Cruise Director's responsibility to stop that sort of behavior.

It is one thing to be loud, but another when they start spraying champagne all over other passengers on the bus. If not the CD's responsibility, then whose?

Terri

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I was not on your cruise, thank God, but it appears to me if guests are disruptive as you described, it is the Cruise Director's place to stop that sort of disruption. If it impacts the enjoyment of others on the cruise, it is the Cruise Director's responsibility to stop that sort of behavior.

It is one thing to be loud, but another when they start spraying champagne all over other passengers on the bus. If not the CD's responsibility, then whose?

Terri

 

The CD may not have been on phoebecat's bus when the rowdy passenger incident happened. On our Dec viking Danube cruise, the CD was only on our bus for one excursion...all the other times it was some of the ? Hotel/reception staff who maybe were there just as a point of contact?

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The CD may not have been on phoebecat's bus when the rowdy passenger incident happened. On our Dec viking Danube cruise, the CD was only on our bus for one excursion...all the other times it was some of the ? Hotel/reception staff who maybe were there just as a point of contact?

Wasn't somebody in charge? Or was it a free for all. Sounds like a school bus out of control.

Terri

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Put yourself in the person in charge position. You have 8 very rowdy drunk passengers. Could you discipline them yourselves at that time or would you wait until you had backup ? Having been in a situation not as bad, I waited for backup because the individuals that were causing the problems happened to be much taller, muscular and bigger than I was. The Captain should have dealt with the drunks when they returned to the ship.

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Viking: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Part 2

 

 

During my three days on board the Idun I never once spoke with the hotel manager. So, a factual inaccuracy. Secondly, attempting to lay blame on an innocent staff member in an email to a guest is totally unprofessional.

 

Monetary recompense is not my objective. I simply wish to give fellow cruisers a taste of my Viking experience. Once again, I stress that whilst the events and occurrences related above are factual truths, my comments thereon can only be my subjective opinions. You must draw your own conclusions from what you read. When I hear Vikings response, I will be happy to share it with you here.

 

I think you've made your point very clear about how you did not mean to put all people from NC in the same pot, and I hate to bring it up again, but I did want to say there is a particular group of people I've encountered who complain about every single thing. I cringe when I am around them. So there is something to be said about lumping people together! Although not from NC, I am American and have seen ugly Americans as well as ugly ___, (insert name of country).

 

Now to your recent comments. It concerns me about Viking. I took a Viking cruise to China a few years ago and loved it. We had a problem getting on a plane and because the Chinese government does not operate as it does in the US, we ended up waiting in a tiny airport for about 15 hrs. Viking was excellent about staying in communication with us and doing all they could to get us on a plane. We got to the ship about 2 hrs before our excursion was to start, and everyone was really exhausted, but the staff on the ship were professional, nice and friendly.

 

I am, however, reading some disturbing comments about Viking and am really getting concerned. If Viking is indeed reading the comments on here, then I hope they get their act together soon. They are expensive and having to pay in full when you book means you REALLY have to get what you pay for!

 

At least you have the chance to have a discussion about your experiences with Viking. I agree that blaming a staff member is horrible! That only separates the company into sections. Not "team-spirited", that's for sure.

 

Thank you for your posts. And by the way, I've not read further into the threads, but if you didn't answer the question asked previously, as to where the guide was when all the drinking and carrying on, please do answer.

Felicia

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There was no guide on the bus or crew member, because this was NOT a tour. The bus was taking us from one ship, Idun, to the other, Njord, due to the need to ship swap.

 

We took our concierge with us, but he wasn't on our bus. Our cruise director from Idun had flown back to the UK that am due to a family emergency. Our new cruise director Anita either joined us in Vienna or was on one of the other buses. IF she was on ours and kept quiet I'd be horrified.

 

It's Monday 1st July and I'm looking forward to hearing from Viking today. Ill keep you all updated.

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There was no guide on the bus or crew member, because this was NOT a tour. The bus was taking us from one ship, Idun, to the other, Njord, due to the need to ship swap.

 

We took our concierge with us, but he wasn't on our bus. Our cruise director from Idun had flown back to the UK that am due to a family emergency. Our new cruise director Anita either joined us in Vienna or was on one of the other buses. IF she was on ours and kept quiet I'd be horrified.

 

It's Monday 1st July and I'm looking forward to hearing from Viking today. Ill keep you all updated.

 

Thank you for clarifying that. I could not imagine a tour director letting something like you describe continue.

Terri

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I am more concerned with the father falling in front of crew members and nobody coming to his aid than of the drunk passengers. The drunk passengers, though unfortunate, were using alcohol to make a bad situation better, and poor Phoebe happened to be sitting too close. I doubt that they purposely meant to spray her. Of course they should have apologized.

 

If my father had fallen and no staff came to his aid, I would have been sure to seek out somebody on the vessel to make it known what had happened. Simply stating, my elderly dad fell, and there were three crew members standing there, and not one offered to help him. Maybe there is a breakdown in communication from management to the ship, and this can't be addressed if the powers that be are not informed.

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I am more concerned with the father falling in front of crew members and nobody coming to his aid than of the drunk passengers. The drunk passengers, though unfortunate, were using alcohol to make a bad situation better, and poor Phoebe happened to be sitting too close. I doubt that they purposely meant to spray her. Of course they should have apologized.

 

If my father had fallen and no staff came to his aid, I would have been sure to seek out somebody on the vessel to make it known what had happened. Simply stating, my elderly dad fell, and there were three crew members standing there, and not one offered to help him. Maybe there is a breakdown in communication from management to the ship, and this can't be addressed if the powers that be are not informed.

 

The drunk passengers, I can assure you, were not using alcohol to make a bad situation better. They were having a whale of a time, and didnt care one jot about the boat swapping or the comfort of other guests. To thst end, they were often found on Deck 2 in the early hours of the morning, standing outside each others cabins, drinks in hand, conversing loudly.

 

I'm sure they didn't mean to spray us, nor make such a nuisance of themselves to other passengers, instead, that was simply their normal modes operandi, and whoever got in the way, well, tough luck.

 

My dad fell in full view of many crew members and many more passengers. The crew were too busy handing out wet towels, drinks and apologising about the four hour bus trip to bother with an elderly man dangling between ship and quay. Dad is now home, and has restricted mobility in his hand where it was trapped, and his leg is bruised and cut. Being a man, with the pride of the elderly, he wouldn't admit at the time, that he had hurt himself. Not that any crew member came to see or ask after him.

 

I've been home nearly forty eight hours and have yet to hear from Viking either on here or by phone or email. I appreciate LA are nine hours behind UK time, but Viking have a London office which has been open since 9 am this morning. As a British customer of theirs, I'd have thought London staff would be the first to respond.

 

Interesting, that whilst I was on the ship and posting they were keen to get in touch, now I'm home they don't want to know.

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Phoebecat,

I do hope your Dad is on the mend an will recover from his injuries quickly.

 

As for Viking, I wonder if you will hear from them. You have stated two things. Monetary recompense is not your objective and you will never sail with them again.

 

They figure they have lost you as a customer so why bother. I hope this is not so, but given the way they have been responding lately, it would not surprise me if they do not get in touch with you. And if they do, what will they offer you? Another cruise? You won't sail with them again. You know they are not parting with one cent of anyone's money. That's been very clear from all the responses on this forum.

 

Terri

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Phoebecat,

I do hope your Dad is on the mend an will recover from his injuries quickly.

 

As for Viking, I wonder if you will hear from them. You have stated two things. Monetary recompense is not your objective and you will never sail with them again.

 

They figure they have lost you as a customer so why bother. I hope this is not so, but given the way they have been responding lately, it would not surprise me if they do not get in touch with you. And if they do, what will they offer you? Another cruise? You won't sail with them again. You know they are not parting with one cent of anyone's money. That's been very clear from all the responses on this forum.

 

Terri

 

I agree with your sentiments exactly. I'm neither use nor ornament to Viking. I'm a lost cause in terms of satisfied customer, and I'm not going to be 'bought off' as I neither want to sail with them again, nor do I seek monetary recompense.

 

I guess they might want to 'shut me up' but if that was the case I'd have thought they would have been online, on here, and said something before now. They were keen enough when I was on the ship!

 

I really think it is worth stating the following again. Dad and I paid £6,900 for this holiday. We could have done three ocean cruises, of a fortnight each for the same amount of money. Or three package holidays. They wouldn't have included drinks, but I don't drink alcohol at all, and Dad has one glass of wine with dinner. They wouldn't have included tours each day, but the quality of those we had weren't worth the money by a long shot. They wouldn't have included welcome back drinks and bites of salami or chocolates, but frankly, is that enough to justify the mark up Viking charge?

 

What they would have included is a CHOICE of entertainment EVERY evening, access to a ship's doctor if the crew had bothered to offer one, food of an equitable standard, WHEN we wanted, and NOT at a specified, non-negotiable time we had to rush for each evening. And, we would have had the luxury of being able to put distance between ourselves and the obnoxious crowd.

 

There is, to my mind, no justification whatsoever, for the prices Viking charge. In my opinion they do not offer anything like value for money.

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I've been home nearly forty eight hours and have yet to hear from Viking either on here or by phone or email. I appreciate LA are nine hours behind UK time, but Viking have a London office which has been open since 9 am this morning. As a British customer of theirs, I'd have thought London staff would be the first to respond.

 

I could be wrong, but I believe that you'd be no closer to a satisfactory resolution of anything if the call came from the UK office.

 

You need to here from the right person rather than someone in the right time-zone, I'd hang on for LA to call.

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I could be wrong, but I believe that you'd be no closer to a satisfactory resolution of anything if the call came from the UK office.

 

You need to here from the right person rather than someone in the right time-zone, I'd hang on for LA to call.

 

And what will they offer her? 75% off a future trip?

Terri

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I really think it is worth stating the following again. Dad and I paid £6,900 for this holiday. We could have done three ocean cruises, of a fortnight each for the same amount of money. Or three package holidays.

 

There is, to my mind, no justification whatsoever, for the prices Viking charge. In my opinion they do not offer anything like value for money.

 

first off Phoebecat, no question you did not enjoy your Viking cruise for a bunch of reasons...especially when you compared it to your other Viking cruise.

 

But to now switch your basis of complaint to the fact that you 'could have' done 3 ocean cruises or package holidays for what you paid for your river cruise seems unfair to Viking and the other river cruise companies and definitely off topic to what you started off to complain about.

 

Ocean cruising by virtue of their huge size can offer more entertainment, more food options, more more more. But you knew that before you booked and paid for this river cruise.

 

We ALL know that river cruising is not cheap....especially when compared to ocean cruising of which you and I have done plenty. You just can't compare the two...smaller boat with less people (rude and otherwise) means they can dock in places that the huge ocean cruisers can't.

 

It is a different cruise experience from ocean cruising and that is why we have all chosen it...different, more intimate, smaller towns, We did NOT choose river cruising because it was CHEAP!

 

I think you are fully peed off and are now lashing out at everything no doubt due to the emotion tied to your huge disappointment , probably more so because you were travelling with your Dad. :(

 

Phoebecat, I hope you try emailing Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com AGAIN (many here had to email several times to get a response due to the sheer numbers no doubt in Viking's 'inbox') leaving all your contact info and booking number AGAIN.

 

Hopefully Viking will still want to contact you in spite of the fact you have said you will never cruise with them again, so they can at least have your complaint on file and try to correct whatever they can. Then someone else who is a future Viking customer may not have to experience your disappointment. :o

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