How do I get a refund from Viking River Cruise?

Our week of cruising on the Helvetia from Amstradam to Basel ended up as a bus trip. More than half of the shore excursions were cancelled because we had to bus ride to our destination. Four days on a bus. No refund, no pro-rated reimbursement for pre-paid services. Is this legal? How can they do that to passengers.

Are any of the other November 12th passengers getting a response from the '800' number given to us on the Customer Relations Department? I can't get a response to my messages. Another couple on this trip are also having no luck.

Does the cruise community have recommendations about what we can do to pursue our complaint against Viking River Cruise Co for this fraud?:confused:

Have you read the cruise contract to see what your rights are? Water levels may be considered an act of God. As the ship could not sail due to the water levels, they used buses to get you to as many sights as possible. I would be very surprised if the contract does not allow this.

If you have a facebook account, Viking has a page there. When I didn't get my phone calls answered, I posted there and they reacted. That would be your quickest way of making contact.

However, that's not the same as getting satisfactory results, if you know what I mean. They may sound sympathetic. But their offers are clearly disingenuous.

Viking has an office in California. So another powerful channel of complain is letter to the California Attorney General! I've already done my part. And I'm urging everyone who got shafted to do the same. If they got enough complain, they might open an investigation. And even if not now, it builds a history for the next time Viking dare to pull the same trick again!

I will certainly take your advice and write the State of California. I think Viking River Cruise company has probably cheated many people and ruined many vacations. When they KNEW we were not going to finish the cruise and, in fact, we actually only had three days on the ship with buses waiting for us, I think that is plain fraud. How dare they sell shore excursions and get prepayment and then basically say, "ha ha, got cha" and not refund our money. I can't believe this is legal! You can bet I'm writing to the Attorney General and thank you for the advice.

An act of God is one thing when it is unknown. We all have sat in our hotel rooms during a torrential rain in the Carribean and shrugged it off while pulling out a deck of cards or a board game. It's not a big deal and we always make the best out of the bad river. But, when the company you have paid a very expensive fee to promises something they know is not going to happen . .. this is not an Act of God. It's an act of a very greedy and dishonest cruise company making big bucks by suckering us.

If you have a facebook account, Viking has a page there. When I didn't get my phone calls answered, I posted there and they reacted. That would be your quickest way of making contact.

 

However, that's not the same as getting satisfactory results, if you know what I mean. They may sound sympathetic. But their offers are clearly disingenuous.

 

Viking has an office in California. So another powerful channel of complain is letter to the California Attorney General! I've already done my part. And I'm urging everyone who got shafted to do the same. If they got enough complain, they might open an investigation. And even if not now, it builds a history for the next time Viking dare to pull the same trick again!

I will certainly take your advice and write the State of California. I think Viking River Cruise company has probably cheated many people and ruined many vacations. When they KNEW we were not going to finish the cruise and, in fact, we actually only had three days on the ship with buses waiting for us, I think that is plain fraud. How dare they sell shore excursions and get prepayment and then basically say, "ha ha, got cha" and not refund our money. I can't believe this is legal! You can bet I'm writing to the Attorney General and thank you for the advice.

 

An act of God is one thing when it is unknown. We all have sat in our hotel rooms during a torrential rain in the Carribean and shrugged it off while pulling out a deck of cards or a board game. It's not a big deal and we always make the best out of the bad river. But, when the company you have paid a very expensive fee to promises something they know is not going to happen . .. this is not an Act of God. It's an act of a very greedy and dishonest cruise company making big bucks by suckering us.

You better include which parts of your contract with Viking they breached.

Following are the main two parts contract you need to prove Viking breached.

CARRIER’S RIGHTS. The Ship, either before embarkation or at any time thereafter and whether or not required by any maritime necessity, may remain in port, proceed

by any route and deviate from or change the advertised or intended route at any stage of the voyage and may proceed to and stay at any places whatsoever, although in

a contrary direction to, or outside of, or beyond the usual route, one or more times, in any order, for loading or discharging fuel, stores, laborers, stowaways, Passengers,

or members of the Ship’s company, for this, or any prior or subsequent voyage and/or for any purpose whatsoever that we, as Carrier, or Master may deem advisable. Any

such procedure shall be considered not to be a deviation but within the voyage herein intended as fully as if specifically described herein. The above-mentioned provisions

are not to be considered as restricted by any words of this Passenger Ticket Contract whether written, stamped or printed. The Ship may adjust compass, drydock or go

on ways before or after commencement of the voyage and may sail without pilots, tow or be towed, and assist vessels in all situations and deviate for the purposes of

saving life or property. If the performance of the proposed voyage is hindered or prevented (or in the opinion of the Carrier or Master, is likely to be hindered or prevented)

by war, hostilities, blockage, ice, labor conflicts, weather, surf, shallow waters, insurrections, disturbances, on board or ashore, restraint of any Governmental Authority,

breakdown of the Vessel, congestions, docking difficulties or any other cause whatsoever, or if we, as Carrier, or the Master of the Ship consider that for any reason

whatsoever, beyond the control of the Carrier, proceeding to, attempting to enter, or entering or remaining at any port may expose the Ship to risk of loss or damage, or be likely to delay the Ship, you and your baggage may be landed at any port or place at which the Ship may call, in which event our responsibility shall cease and this

Passenger Ticket Contract shall be deemed to have been fully performed, or if you have not embarked, we may cancel the proposed Cruise and refund your Cruise Fares

as paid, with no further liability of any nature.

VIKING RIVER CRUISES, INC.: Viking River Cruises, Inc. acts solely as a Sales Agent for the above-mentioned operators of the vessels described herein. Viking River

Cruises, Inc. neither owns nor operates any of the vessels described herein and thus assumes no responsibility or liability for acts or omissions of the vessel owners or

operators in regard to the cruises described herein.

The whole contract is at http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/pdfs/2011%20PAX%20Ticket%20Contract_EU.RU.UK.pdf

I have to say that I'm surprised by your post and experience. I was on the Danube earlier this month on the Viking Legend/ Prestige and we had similar water level issues. Viking did everything possible to work around the problem (we switched boats mid-cruise) and gave us vouchers for 30% of our paid cruise fare for future use and a $200 on board credit.

There are historically low water levels this year. Not much Viking can do about that.

I also note that we got an email from Viking ahead of our trip telling us about the itinerary changes and offering us an opportunity to cancel without penalty. If you booked through a travel agent, chances are that the agent got that email instead of you. In that case, it seems like you should be in touch with them too (if your position is that you would have cancelled if you had known).

Ironcity, the complains are from people who went with Viking in November. They got no advance notice, no onboard cash. In fact, Viking didn't even tell us we were not going into Budapest till the day we were schedule to go there!

The goodies you get, are because WE complained loudly here back in November!

(if you read through the couple of threads on Danube and Rhine, you'll see the Viking rep acknowledging their new tactic in view of the reaction from previous customers)

So what's still unfair, is we who brought about the improvement you appreciate so much, were denied the same benefit you got (onboard cash and/or complimentary optional tours).

I was on the 3rd week of the affected trip. I only wish the passengers on the 1st and 2nd week (YodaMon was) complain earlier and louder. I might have had the same benefit you had at a later cruise!

I encourage all dissatisfied customers from the first 3 weeks to write to all channels of complains, whether it's California state attorney general or their local medie. So future customers will be spared any such ill treatments.

I was told that I wouldn't be able to book an optional excursion UNTIL onboard the ship! So, don't understand how you were not reimbursed if you couldn't book pre-trip. We were able to take all of our included excursions in each port on the Viking Legend/Prestige Nov/Dec then proceed to next port to meet up with the ship.

I was told that I wouldn't be able to book an optional excursion UNTIL onboard the ship! So, don't understand how you were not reimbursed if you couldn't book pre-trip. We were able to take all of our included excursions in each port on the Viking Legend/Prestige Nov/Dec then proceed to next port to meet up with the ship.

Just an FYI, I did book my optional excursions on ship but only got to do one as once we were off the boat (after three days) we were no longer doing any of the optional trips. 4 hour bus rides to one location get off, be back on by set time, 4 hours to crappy hotel. And i forgot to mention the six hour little boat ride from hell. Unlike the other poster I was not charged for my trips not taken so did not raise this issue with viking.

I will certainly take your advice and write the State of California. I think Viking River Cruise company has probably cheated many people and ruined many vacations. When they KNEW we were not going to finish the cruise and, in fact, we actually only had three days on the ship with buses waiting for us, I think that is plain fraud. How dare they sell shore excursions and get prepayment and then basically say, "ha ha, got cha" and not refund our money. I can't believe this is legal! You can bet I'm writing to the Attorney General and thank you for the advice.

 

An act of God is one thing when it is unknown. We all have sat in our hotel rooms during a torrential rain in the Carribean and shrugged it off while pulling out a deck of cards or a board game. It's not a big deal and we always make the best out of the bad river. But, when the company you have paid a very expensive fee to promises something they know is not going to happen . .. this is not an Act of God. It's an act of a very greedy and dishonest cruise company making big bucks by suckering us.

Dear YodaMom,

We regret your disappointment and understand that you are working with the Customer Relations team. Please email us at Tellus@vikingrivercruises.com if you have additional concerns you would like addressed.

Regards,

Viking River Cruises

I'm glad you posted this Yoda Mom. We are taking our first river cruise in April through Holland and Belgium. (In fact, first time to Europe). We have friends who highly recommended GCT. They have used them quite a few times.

However our travel agent recommended Viking & Avalon. I was really torn. The cabins on those 2 sure look nicer especially the beds.

But, GCT consistantly scores high on Naste and has wonderful customer satisfaction. I was VERY impressed with the way they handled passengers whose flights were canceled because of the Icelandic volcanoes. Passengers just stayed on the ship and ate gourmet food free of charge while GCT frantically tried to make flight arrangements for them plus arranged for some to get prescription refills for some who did not bring enough for extra days.

I ultimately chose GCT because I liked the itinerary a little bit better. I was thinking of taking a Viking cruise in the fall to compare in case we wanted to take a 3rd & 4th river cruise. (Sounds like something we would really enjoy.) Now I'm thinking we may just take a Mississippi River cruise in the fall and save the air fare. :) Then just continue with GCT if we like them as much as we expect to.

Cool Cruiser, if you are still considering Viking don't! Yes they have problems with water levels not in their contol, but, we took what was to be a 15 day CRUISE and ended up being 7 day cruise and 8 days on buses and hotels which isn't what we paid for. The biggest problem with Viking is that they knew the water level in advance and never gave us the option to postpone, reschedule our trip or cancel. The same thing happened to the group getting on as we got off.....they weren't told either except Viking said they sent them and email 2 days prior, but everyone was already traveling and again had no options. Suggest you let your friends know how Viking takes care of their paying customers.

Good luck on other river cruises.

Dissappointed2

Cool Cruiser, if you are still considering Viking don't! Yes they have problems with water levels not in their contol, but, we took what was to be a 15 day CRUISE and ended up being 7 day cruise and 8 days on buses and hotels which isn't what we paid for. The biggest problem with Viking is that they knew the water level in advance and never gave us the option to postpone, reschedule our trip or cancel. The same thing happened to the group getting on as we got off.....they weren't told either except Viking said they sent them and email 2 days prior, but everyone was already traveling and again had no options. Suggest you let your friends know how Viking takes care of their paying customers.

 

Good luck on other river cruises.

 

Dissappointed2

Dear dissappointed2,

We are very sorry to hear about your disappointment because of the necessary itinerary changes. If you would like to discuss your concerns in more detail, please email your contact information to us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

:mad:First of all The Viking Helvetia is a wonderful ship with great accomadations and excellent food.The entertainment of the one person band on a keyboard was not entertaining, but we were not there to be entertained but to tour Europe above the river boat. Four days into our cruise, it ended abruptly.The Rhine river was too shallow.We were given no choice but to pack our bags and climb onto a tour bus. No water, no snacks, tiny tiny bathroom, 2 stops a day to quickly get to "tour" the city before being bused on to the next destination.Restaurants that were irritated to have a large group. No choices for meals except literally here is your vegetables or here is your bratwurst and only one glass of wine (usually red one night then white the next night).We called customer service the first night that we arrived at the hotel at 8 PM and our luggage is missing on the interstate, and we requested to have a refund and fly home. We were told to "give it another day". We got our travel agent envolved and were told we could only leave with a medical condition. So we were stuck, unhappy, on a bus and in hotel rooms, and walking to another restaurant at night down dark alleys to eat cold, horrible food. so Viking Helvetia ship is wonderful. Viking Cruise lines, horrible.

Had a wonderful time in Amsterdam!

Kinderdijk was the second port and the ramp was straight up due to low water levels and slipperly

:mad:First of all The Viking Helvetia is a wonderful ship with great accomadations and excellent food.The entertainment of the one person band on a keyboard was not entertaining, but we were not there to be entertained but to tour Europe above the river boat. Four days into our cruise, it ended abruptly.The Rhine river was too shallow.We were given no choice but to pack our bags and climb onto a tour bus. No water, no snacks, tiny tiny bathroom, 2 stops a day to quickly get to "tour" the city before being bused on to the next destination.Restaurants that were irritated to have a large group. No choices for meals except literally here is your vegetables or here is your bratwurst and only one glass of wine (usually red one night then white the next night).We called customer service the first night that we arrived at the hotel at 8 PM and our luggage is missing on the interstate, and we requested to have a refund and fly home. We were told to "give it another day". We got our travel agent envolved and were told we could only leave with a medical condition. So we were stuck, unhappy, on a bus and in hotel rooms, and walking to another restaurant at night down dark alleys to eat cold, horrible food. so Viking Helvetia ship is wonderful. Viking Cruise lines, horrible.

 

 

Had a wonderful time in Amsterdam!

Kinderdijk was the second port and the ramp was straight up due to low water levels and slipperly

Dear Rendalala,

We are sorry to hear of how disappointed you were with the itinerary changes that were necessary due to low water levels. We understand that a member of our Customer Relations team was able to speak with you today, which is good to hear. We just wanted to let you know that we are listening and should you ever want to contact us directly in the future, we’d be happy to hear from you again at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com or by calling your contact in Customer Relations.

Wishing you a great weekend,

Viking River Cruises

fortunately as travel consumers we have lots of choice. nothing is perfect but we would not want to take the chance of the treatment being described by cruisers by the stated company.

we have done 3 river cruises with avalon and have been very satisfied.

its a lot of money to spend and most want value for money. most do research before making an investment in travel products. we certainly do.

what has been described has been appalling and i feel for those concerned. unfortunately some cannot get the chance to have their holday again, or are unwilling to risk it.

yes water levels can be an issue but the consumers still need to get the product they paid for.

it sounds as if the plan b provided was not up to the standard paid for.

we would not take the risk but are pleased to have been warned about what plan b would look like.

Rendalla:

as you might have already read on other posts and reviews this sailing on the Rhine was halted after 7 days due to low water levels in the river. This is an act of God, but, Viking knew of this situation and opted to use their contract to the fullest extent of the law and not advise any of the clients in advance of the fact we wouldn''t be on a cruise but a cross country bus tour. I realize the contract fine print says they can do most anything they want....just doesn't say: " buyer beware" . The worst part is that they out and out lied about it and held a meeting to tell us they just discovered and were advised that they shouldn't go any further on the Rhine......a bold and untrue statement, as even the crew told us later they knew and wished they'd handled it differently.....same thing to the folks on the return trip. Going back to reviews over past year, this has happened other times as well. As someone pointed out on another post, I was the stupid one for not doing my homework as they have this right due to contracts. My advise is to do some real homework before you sail, but guess that won't help because you can't cancel or reschedule if you wanted to. Find another cruise line....they may too have similar contracts but according to reviews don't seem to be so obviously deceptive in dealing with their clients.

Rendalla:

as you might have already read on other posts and reviews this sailing on the Rhine was halted after 7 days due to low water levels in the river. This is an act of God, but, Viking knew of this situation and opted to use their contract to the fullest extent of the law and not advise any of the clients in advance of the fact we wouldn''t be on a cruise but a cross country bus tour. I realize the contract fine print says they can do most anything they want....just doesn't say: " buyer beware" . The worst part is that they out and out lied about it and held a meeting to tell us they just discovered and were advised that they shouldn't go any further on the Rhine......a bold and untrue statement, as even the crew told us later they knew and wished they'd handled it differently.....same thing to the folks on the return trip. Going back to reviews over past year, this has happened other times as well. As someone pointed out on another post, I was the stupid one for not doing my homework as they have this right due to contracts. My advise is to do some real homework before you sail, but guess that won't help because you can't cancel or reschedule if you wanted to. Find another cruise line....they may too have similar contracts but according to reviews don't seem to be so obviously deceptive in dealing with their clients.

Dear disappointed2,

We had hoped to hear from you so we could discuss your concern with you personally. Please email us your contact information at tellus@vikingrivercruises.com so we can call you.

Warm regards,

Viking River Cruises

Rendalla:

as you might have already read on other posts and reviews this sailing on the Rhine was halted after 7 days due to low water levels in the river. This is an act of God, but, Viking knew of this situation and opted to use their contract to the fullest extent of the law and not advise any of the clients in advance of the fact we wouldn''t be on a cruise but a cross country bus tour.

Not to defend Viking by any means but Uniworld did this to a friend. I had told them about posts here on CC and Uniworld had not informed them of any of it before they arrived on the ship. They essentially had a bus trip in Europe.

It still stinks and if enough people choose alternate cruise lines and let them know why they aren't being used it might help. Again, they are holding all the cards but still doesn't make it any better.

Thanks and good luck on your trip,

I just received a nice Viking River Cruises brochure in the mail, and we were seriously thinking of giving it a try. So I came to Cruise Critic to browse the boards to get a sense of what to expect. Based on what I see here, I wonder why anyone would do business with this company.

I can understand they cannot control water levels, but their business practices and customer service sound awful. Needless to say, I won't be taking a Viking River Cruise.

OK, you didn't get your river cruise. It wasn't the cruise line, it was the river.

Instead they provided hotels, buses and meals. You still had your local tours and many other items included.

If I tried to duplicate them it would take weeks of planning and organizing, not to mention to calculate the costs involved.

Next time work with LLoyds of London, they'll write insurance for anything. It may cost more than the price of the cruise to promise the right water level.

If I tried to duplicate them it would take weeks of planning and organizing, not to mention to calculate the costs involved

If you don't want to spend the time of planning, you can duplicate that by taking a bus tour that covers the similar itinerary.

You'll find it cost considerably less. (And you'll typically have a much larger room in a nice hotel).

Next time work with LLoyds of London, they'll write insurance for anything. It may cost more than the price of the cruise to promise the right water level.

Tell that to Viking!!!

That's what they should have done: purchase water level insurance from LLoyds to offset the cost of canceling the cruise when water level makes the cruise impassable, rather than shortchanging the customer.

It won't cost more than the price of the cruise. Unless, of course, there're so many claims... (we were constantly told these are RARE occurrence!!! :rolleyes:)

On that note, anyone considering Viking can actually work around this issue the same way: buy the cancel-at-your-whimp insurance. AND watch carefully of the water level prior to departure! That way, you can cancel if the water level disrupt your RIVER CRUISE. When the water is right, it could be a nice experience. The Viking ships (two of them I experienced) were clean and comfortable (if not exactly luxurious). So it could be a good experience, as long as you do your own homework.

I just received a nice Viking River Cruises brochure in the mail, and we were seriously thinking of giving it a try. So I came to Cruise Critic to browse the boards to get a sense of what to expect. Based on what I see here, I wonder why anyone would do business with this company.

 

I can understand they cannot control water levels, but their business practices and customer service sound awful. Needless to say, I won't be taking a Viking River Cruise.

I would never rule out a cruise line because someone else had a problem. Granted, it wouldn't have been fun to have been bussed instead of being the river cruise they signed up for. I'm hoping that doesn't happen to us. However, Viking gets HIGH remarks from many, many people on this board. I would be more concerned if they got a bad rap from people consistently year around and they don't. We're looking forward to sailing with them in June.

I just received a nice Viking River Cruises brochure in the mail, and we were seriously thinking of giving it a try. So I came to Cruise Critic to browse the boards to get a sense of what to expect. Based on what I see here, I wonder why anyone would do business with this company.

 

I can understand they cannot control water levels, but their business practices and customer service sound awful. Needless to say, I won't be taking a Viking River Cruise.

Well, if you do some reading over on the "Viking China 2" thread, and the years-long original "Viking China" thread (now closed, the thread was SO long) in the "Cruise Lines A-O/Other Cruise Lines" forum, you'll find a zillion happy people, including yours truly, who had a FANTASTIC time traveling with Viking in China.

Our trip last May was extraordinary. Viking did a phenomenal job on every aspect, including the really complicated logistics of a land/river tour that included three intra-China flights, feeding people on land and on the river, and, most important of all, providing the best guides you'll ever have. Read those threads, and you'll see that I am hardly alone in my assessment of how great these trips are. (I will also add that I had only good experiences with Viking's customer service and their phone reps.)

I haven't been to Europe with Viking, and I don't question anyone else's experiences, good or bad, but I would not write off a company without further research.