The river cruise that became a coach trip

Is anyone else still waiting for compensation from Viking for a failed Elbe cruise in June 2013! We spent 4 nights on a moored boat in Magdeburg with progressively long coach trips to places on our itinerary, 2 nights in a hotel in Dresden and the remainder of our 'cruise' on another coach trip to our hotel in Prague. The food at the hotels and on excursions was of a much lower standard than that on board offering little or no choice.

Viking has offered a 50% refund i.e 25% in cash and 25% as a credit off our next river cruise (before 2015)

Think this is misplaced. This forum is for Viking OCEANS - not the River Cruises. Think this belongs on the River Cruising Board.

This is weird...the original message was on the Viking Oceans board as a "moved" message. I replied to it there (Viking Oceans), but my reply appeared here. So please disregard my message above.

Think this is misplaced. This forum is for Viking OCEANS - not the River Cruises. Think this belongs on the River Cruising Board.

Sorry this is the River Cruise Board and has nothing to do with Viking Oceans....the OP is asking about her Viking River Cruise that turned into a bus trip due to the Flooding of the rivers in June.

I wonder why the cruise lines seem to be all over the map in compensation. Friends who were on a 2 week Viking cruise in June ended up with 2 days hotel, 10 days cruise and 2 days hotel. Before they even left the tour they'd been given 75% of what they paid for their cruise as a discount on their next cruise. They got home and immediately booked Viking's new ocean cruise scheduled for 2015. Avalon on the other hand has offered someone I know, they got on the Vista we left in Budapest Jul 7, only $1200 (not sure if that's per person or couple). Our cruise was great with no interuptions, but he also like my Viking friends ended up with 4 nights in hotel which was poor accomodation and poor food.

Sorry this is the River Cruise Board and has nothing to do with Viking Oceans....the OP is asking about her Viking River Cruise that turned into a bus trip due to the Flooding of the rivers in June.

Yeah, But it's showing up in the OCEANS tree as well, where it was originally opened and where I encountered it, even though it's ostensibly been moved, and indeed I see I'm answering it in RIVERS.

Ghost thread :-)

Is anyone else still waiting for compensation from Viking for a failed Elbe cruise in June 2013! We spent 4 nights on a moored boat in Magdeburg with progressively long coach trips to places on our itinerary, 2 nights in a hotel in Dresden and the remainder of our 'cruise' on another coach trip to our hotel in Prague. The food at the hotels and on excursions was of a much lower standard than that on board offering little or no choice.

Viking has offered a 50% refund i.e 25% in cash and 25% as a credit off our next river cruise (before 2015)

Dear welshlady_42,

Please accept our apologies for how your trip was altered due to the conditions of the Elbe during your cruisetour. If you have questions or concerns regarding the provided compensation package we’d be very happy to help you connect with our team in the UK. Please email us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. We do hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Viking Cruises

They were lucky to be able to use their compensation for an Ocean cruise. We've been told any compensation we accept can only be used on a River cruise.

They were lucky to be able to use their compensation for an Ocean cruise. We've been told any compensation we accept can only be used on a River cruise.

I realise that the English language has different meanings for the same word but how can a discount on a future cruise be considered compensation. I thought compensation was returning cold hard cash back to the customer's bank account as a means of showing real concern for the customers problems with the product. Offering a percentage off your next cruise with the same company you had a disagreement with is not in my eyes compensation but simply a discount, within a given time frame, for something you may or may not be able to afford or even want to use in the near future.

Companies that continually offer discounts instead of real compensation to unsatisfied customers with a legitimate complaint would never make my list for future consideration of using their product.

I realise that the English language has different meanings for the same word but how can a discount on a future cruise be considered compensation. I thought compensation was returning cold hard cash back to the customer's bank account as a means of showing real concern for the customers problems with the product. Offering a percentage off your next cruise with the same company you had a disagreement with is not in my eyes compensation but simply a discount, within a given time frame, for something you may or may not be able to afford or even want to use in the near future.

 

Companies that continually offer discounts instead of real compensation to unsatisfied customers with a legitimate complaint would never make my list for future consideration of using their product.

I have never sailed with Viking, but I must say you are absolutely right!! And it's not just travel industry who's guilty. So many times when a product doesn't live up to its "hype" one gets offered a discount on another one! Why would I want to spend the same amount of money on the same product again when the first one was a failure!!

it does seem perverse. perhaps an ideal situation for masochists?

seriously people have so much choice but often little time, why waste time on poor choices? many will vote with their feet and hard earnt.

there will always be a market for river cruises but it is wise to be very selective. it seems quality is not being monitored on some lines. best not to take customers for granted. we talk about our experiences good and bad and are getting harder to fool.

Yes you're right -compensation should be cash which is what we had hoped for from Viking. Their first offer was all credit - no cash at all !

Their first offer was all credit - no cash at all !

Interesting. So there was a second offer with cash?

Is anyone else still waiting for Viking has offered a 50% refund i.e 25% in cash and 25% as a credit off our next river cruise (before 2015)

Oh, how I wish that Scenic and Evergreen did that!

Would save an awful lot of stuffing around with the legal process!

(Some of us were offered the magnanimous sume of $500 refund!)