Viking Legend

[no fuss travel]

No aspirins for sale. They had fleecies, shirts, jackets, hats, umbrellas with Viking logo on them and several on consignment goods representing the countries you visit. There was no toiletries sold on board. If you need items like that you are stopping in a town each day and would be able to purchase there.

[no fuss travel]

perfect timing. wetting our apatite

 

Getting itchy feet are you now? You will have a wonderful cruise.

[bbsiming]

I can't thank you enough for the pictures. I'm starting to get really excited - like a little kid.:)

[no fuss travel]

I can't thank you enough for the pictures. I'm starting to get really excited - like a little kid.:)

 

You are welcome. I didn't post any pictures we took of the places visited so that nothing would be spoiled for anyone. It was a great trip minus the ship problems.

[sailorgrammy]

hello all! We are booked for this fantastic voyage in 2010...June 13th from Budapest to Amsterdam. All the comments and those great pictures have me really excited. Thanks for all the comments/advise...they really help.

[Topaz_M]

Hi No Fuss,

 

Loved your pictures, especially the one of the swan looking in ... lol.

 

I'm off on the Viking Pride in December so it gave me a good idea of what to expect. I'll be on deck 2 so really glad I picked a cabin above the water line.

 

Thanks so much for all the information too.

 

Cheers,

Moira :)

[no fuss travel]

hello all! We are booked for this fantastic voyage in 2010...June 13th from Budapest to Amsterdam. All the comments and those great pictures have me really excited. Thanks for all the comments/advise...they really help.

 

Hope it will be cooler in Budapest than it was for us. Very hot and humid in July. The rain storm we had cooled it down though very quickly. Your countdown is now less than 365.:D

[no fuss travel]

Hi No Fuss,

 

Loved your pictures, especially the one of the swan looking in ... lol.

 

I'm off on the Viking Pride in December so it gave me a good idea of what to expect. I'll be on deck 2 so really glad I picked a cabin above the water line.

 

Thanks so much for all the information too.

 

Cheers,

Moira :)

 

Deck 2 should be much better. You will not have the water carrying the sound of other ships. It was very noisy but by half way through the trip you got to the point where it disturbed your sleep, you acknowledged it and rolled over and went back to sleep. Do let us know what the Christmas cruise is like. That is something we cannot do until I retire. A few more years yet.

[billinyucatan]

Live from the Viking Legend... now cruising along Austria....

 

We sat by a couple from Texas today that do not share our high rating of this ship. They say they prefer ocean cruising that the husband has not been able to get around well at the ports, that thet food is not good, and that it is boring without entertainment. They said that the ocean cruises they have been on were much better.

 

... a Brittish couple also stated that the food was ok but not excellent and that all of the Americans on board damage the cruise.. that if more brits were on board the atmosphere would be more formal and much better.....

 

 

.... so there you go... different folks have different opinions.

 

We still like the food, we think the service is great, we like the new diesel-electric enigne (quiet, efficient, smooth) and we like the destinations and scenery along the river. We are younger than most of the cruisers and prehaps have simpler tastes... don't know.

 

We note that some folks were upset that for 6-days the upper sun-deck was closed. That is because of the low bridges. In otherwords, I think most ships going along the Main river and Main-Danube canal will have the sundeck closed during 6-days of the cruise from Mainz to Passau. I see no way around it. THey do not advertise that fact.. so be aware. If you have 3rd deck room with French balcony.. that is not so bad. If you have a 1st deck room with small high window.. that could be a bummer. It pays to pay a little more on one of these cruises for a better room. If you go into the cruise realizing that the upper deck will be closed much of the time, you may not be as upset as some passengers are.

 

We are now in Linz, Austria. For the first time we are docked on the outside of another ship.. the Viking Danube. We had to go across it to get off the ship. I took a look around. The Viking Legend is a MUCH nicer ship. The Danube was built in 1999, has no french balconies, smelled somewhat, and was just not as nice a ship as the 2009 Viking Legend.

 

Today when cruising an old man was yodeling along the shore. It could easily be heard onboard... really neat!

 

We continue to enjoy the cruise. We go on some of the excursions but opt out of others... mainly becauase I do not like to be in a herd of people That has worked out well with us... plus, of course, on 3 stops, we met friends who live here. For example, we met friends in Regensburg... spent the night there and rejoined the ship in Passau. The combination of taking some tours, meeting up with friends, and going on our on, has been quite nice for us.

 

I think if you do not like walking SLOW or being in busses mostly listening and going at the pace that might not be optimum for you.. do homework on the internet first and go on most excursions by yourself. I am not cutting down their tours which are very good, informative, and well-organized.. we are just don't like tours that much. I rahter research on my own and then view what really interests me at a pace that is more our liking with an uncrowded feel.

 

Summary. Viking Legend = A. Service = outstanding. Friendliness of staff = wonderful (and they have broad smiles if you talk to them in their language.. even if just simple things) Food = we like it. Tours = excellent, but not our thing

[no fuss travel]

Billy

Did you notice that the steps are narrower on the Danube going between the decks? They did have, which the Legend does not a lift for passengers to get between decks on the outside.

It's funny how there is always at least one couple per cruise that is not satisfied. We had a mother/daughter team from the US that were our complainers.

[billinyucatan]

I hope that potential cruisers who were considering Viking Legend were not put off by the report of the first cruise. All problems have been solved.

 

We just returned from the Aug 2 - Aug 16 cruise (returning late because of side trips after the cruise) from AMSTERDAM to BUDAPEST on the VIKING LEGEND.

 

It is indeed a great ship. At this time, it is the newest on the river. It is the only one that did not smell (we went aboard several ships from several lines at several ports to compare and were happier with the Legend than other ships). Certainly, with its new diesel-electric engine, it is the quietest.

 

The scraping sounds in the lock were actually metal floats which are part of the locks scraping, not the ship.

 

The crew now works together wonderfully which is amazing since it had only been sailing 4 weeks before we went aboard. A great crew!

 

The food was good. I never got sick. There was not a tremendous variety of choices per meal.. and I think all Viking ships get the same food. However, we have no complaints. Certainly, we ate well. The dinners are the best. If you have any dietary needs, LET THEM KNOW, and they will take care of it. One couple had complaints about the food. They wanted potatoes for every meal but they were not offered. However, when they told the maitre'd, they had potatoes every meal after that .. just for them. So be nice and ask.

 

The Viking Legend is the newest ship on the rivers right now and with excellent docking including private docking next to the chain bridge in Budapest. We couldn't get a better view (but pick an even number cabin).

 

THIS IS IMPORTANT... Riiver cruising is different from ocean cruising. In ocean cruising all you see is ocean until you reach port. On river cruising, most of the touring is from the ship!!! Low bridges prevent top decks from being open from Nuremburg to Passau...meaning five days at least of viewing from your cabin! Do you really want a cheap low-deck cabin? Answer: NO!!!!! NO!!!!! NO!!!! ... and since most noise is BELOW the water line. NEVER EVER EVER get a lower cabin on a river cruise. Get as high up as possible for the good viewing! Get a room with a french balcony. It makes all the difference. Folks on the 3rd deck were all VERY happy. Folks on the first deck had mixed reviews and some were angry that the upper deck was closed so much.

 

Note that on ocean cruises, we have often taken the cheaper lower-deck and even no-windows cabin without suffering too much. Most of the touring is at the port. River cruising is so different, that you NEVER want lower deck. Believe me, if you learn nothing else from this post... go for the deck 3 with a view cabin. Pay a little more and be much happier.

 

On River cruises most of the touring is on the 6MPH ship cruising more slowly than bicycles along the shore. You will see bicycles passing the ship where paths are along the river. I had a GPS, so I know that most of the cruising was at 7MPH or SLOWER. Only on the Danube did the speed increase at times with a max of 13 MPH. Hence, be entertained by the scenery. We brought books to read, but had little time to do the reading. We are glad we did homework BEFORE leaving on the cruise.

 

Tours were provided but not liking to be part of a herd, we seldom went on the organized tours.. but those we were on were excellent. My suggestion... do your homework on the history, culture, languages, and tour alone for more fun. However, if you like touring with groups, take the tours. Those who took them said that they were all good and with local guides. We had three sets of friends who live in Europe and met us at three different points.. made the cruise even better. We even spent the night in Regensberg and returned to the ship when it was in Passau.. no problem. If you will not be returning to the ship when it leaves, just let them know that you will not be on board and let them know when you rejoin. (Actually, I think we were the only ones to do that, but there were no problems).

 

Unlike Ocean cruises, we could bring our friends aboard the ship and show them around. Also, we could go aboard other ships at dock which we did. Our conclusion, other ships smelled more than Viking Legend. Viking Legend is certainly newer. Some others were more ornate inside, but really the Viking Legend was hard to beat, so we are glad that we lucked out in choosing it. We seldom docked with other ships (I think twice with other Viking ships but only for a short time. The other times, we docked alone and in great locations)

 

The Viking Legend is the newest ship on the rivers right now and with excellent docking including private docking next to the chain bridge in Budapest. We couldn't get a better view (but pick an even number cabin).

 

DEMOGRAPHICS... We were some of the youngest cruisers.. but with teenagers, we are no spring chickens. Yet.. we felt like babies somewhat on the cruise. There were however younger cruisers, too. There were at least six teenagers.. mostly bored, so we are glad that we left our teenagers at home.. though we think they would have liked the old castles and ruined that we hiked to. There were a few couples in their 20s and a few in their 30s. There were some non-US cruisers. We were the only ones living in Mexico. There were some from UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. The VAST majority, however were over 65 and from the US.

 

ELECTRIC.... There is one 110 v outlet in each cabin. Bring a power strip with you to plug into that outlet. NEVER plug a power strip into a 220v outlet even with a 220v/110v travel converter. Most power strips will act a s a short circuit and blow the circuit and fry the power strip. Then you would not have it for the rest of your cruise. There are many 220 v power strips throughout the cabin and bathroom... more than most other ships. We used travel converters in those outlets but did NOT put a power strip into them.

 

We purchased a cheap cell phone in Amsterdam and used it for our entire cruise. It was great keeping in touch with our kids in Mexico, relatives in the states, and our European friends.

 

Internet is not reliable. There is little bandwidth in the satelite connection.. often not functioning in locks and under bridges.. when it does connect, there are often passengers who hog bandwidth with online video-games (the teens) and huge downloads... making the connection crawl. Hense, buying the cell phones in Europe was great. We could always communicate with the cell phones and the rates were very cheap for texting and talking to other countries.

 

Overall, we rate our trip on the VIKING LEGEND very high, and recommend the trip to all.

[sailorgrammy]

Thank you, thank you Mr. Bill! You have given us yet another thing to look forward to....we have an even numbered cabin on the top deck for our Budapest to Amsterdam cruise! Hooray, we will be able to gaze at the chain bridge all night long. So glad to hear that your trip was grand and we really appreciate all your comments.

[no fuss travel]

Bill So glad all the bugs are out of the system. As I stated before we enjoyed the cruise but the one thing that bothered us was the lack of communication when there was problems. The dining room staff on the first cruise was fantastic then and now that they have jelled together must be even better. You were right about the food being the same on all the ships. While on the galley tour the chef told us that they use the same menu on each ship but where you will see the difference is in the spices that the chefs use. The same menu makes for ease of buying allows Viking discounts. you are correct about the deck 1 cabins though and that was something that I was glad you repeated. Part of the complaints on our ship was that people had booked higher deck cabins and Viking changed them to Deck 1 cabins without their knowledge. Again a communication problem.

Glad to hear you had a fantastic time and good to hear that you made it back safely.

[billinyucatan]

Thank you for starting this thread, too. It was very useful to us since the ship was brand new. Certainly, it should help future cruisers. Any cruiser who reads this thread and books ANY river cruise with any company YET picks a lower deck has only themselves to blame.

 

I think anyone who books an upper deck on the Viking Legend will have as wonderful a river cruise as possible. It is now a wonderful ship with a great crew. They have some of the best docking spots along the river.

[ddean52]

we are on legend on our way to amsterdam! the cities have been wonderful! the ship has been a mess. pwoer and water outages . the ship broke down and we had to spend 2 days in Frankford!!!! we bused for hours from Frankford!! breakfast and lunch fine! dinners a total mess!! internet very spotty! will post once we are settled in our amsterdam hotel.

Dean

[sailorgrammy]

we are on legend on our way to amsterdam! the cities have been wonderful! the ship has been a mess. pwoer and water outages . the ship broke down and we had to spend 2 days in Frankford!!!! we bused for hours from Frankford!! breakfast and lunch fine! dinners a total mess!! internet very spotty! will post once we are settled in our amsterdam hotel.

Dean

 

Oh dear:eek:...hope all is fixed soon. Let us know.

[pacmom]

To all sailing the Legend or the Sun, it is my personal opinion that they are just too large for lovely river cruising. Also think Viking hasn't had a sufficient increase in crew size for the larger boats. One of the true joys of river cruising is the smallness of the boat and a passenger complement of 100 to 130. Serving 200 people in the one dining room at one sitting must be a nightmare for the crew. Lunch is served in 2 places and breakfast is totally buffet with a time span of about 2 hours. On our recent trip on the Sun, there were always 5 buses and very little extra room. Thank heavens for the voxboxes! Viking on the Elbe was such a wonderful trip--smaller groups, wonderful food and a great CD (Christian). We will try one more time in Russia. Please enjoy the wonderful towns you will visit and the great people you will meet. Pat

[no fuss travel]

pacmom, I agree with you. There is simply not enough staff to handle all of the passengers in the dining room on the Legend. They need probably another 4 servers and another 2 chefs to speed up the process. They also need more cabin staff as well.

[bbsiming]

We just finished the August 30 sailing on the Legend from Amsterdam to Budapest and I thought I would contribute my review to this blog that I have been reading for several months. I have some good news, some bad news, and some advice I wish someone would have shared with me a few months ago.

The good news is that the Legend is, in my opinion, a good boat (I have trouble thinking of it as a ship). It is clean, well-designed, and well-run. I found the cabins to be small but efficiently laid out. The toilet facilities were better than I expected in that the shower with its built-in temperature regulator worked very well. The toilet was noisy when it flushed (evacuated is probably a better word) but the toilets appear to be sound proofed so the noise did not affect those in the cabin. The beds were particularly comfortable, which is a surprise because the mattresses are only 6 to 8 inches thick! One benefit of thinner mattresses is that all of our empty luggage and a walker could be stored under the bed, freeing up a lot of space in the cabin. I personally did not watch any television while on the cruise except for a few minutes of BBC World in the mornings but my travel companions, who are television watchers, did and had no complaints about the television.

I found the food on the boat to be very good. The breakfasts were the traditional European buffet breakfasts with the usual assortment of fruits, breads, cold cuts, eggs (both scrambled and cooked to order), breakfast sausage, and some of the best bacon I’ve tasted in years. I am now in the early stages of bacon withdrawal. The wait staff was very attentive and would do all they could to accommodate any request. For example, one woman on our cruise was allergic to wheat gluten and the staff went out of their way to advise her of any dish that she should avoid and to suggest alternatives. One of the members of my party liked his bacon less cooked than the bacon on the buffet and his bacon was cooked to order every morning. Lunches were served buffet style with a choice of soup, sandwiches, and salads and at least one hot entrée. I found them to be very good. Dinners were interesting. I personally found the dinners to be fine but I must say that several of the passengers, including members of my own party, were not happy with the dinners at all. All Viking cruise ships on the Rhine and Danube serve exactly the same menu on any given day. The menus are planned before the season starts by the fleet’s head chef. The dinners appear to be that chef’s opinion of what an American tourist would consider to be fine cuisine. Every dinner consisted of a choice of appetizers, a choice of soups, and a choice of a meat, fish, or vegetarian entrée. Desert was usually a choice of an ice cream concoction, something baked, or a cheese selection. Second helpings were available and on several occasions the waiters came to the table after the initial serving of the entrée with a platter of additional helpings. Caesar salad, broiled steak, or broiled chicken breast was always available as an alternate to those who wanted it. The food was always presented well and nothing came out of the kitchen with out being served on a plate with garnish. The objections I heard to the dinners fell into one of two categories. They were: “They don’t cook fish that way in Des Moines” or, “I can get a bigger portion than that in Denny’s”. All I can say is I never left the table hungry and I tasted some very interesting things on that trip. But food is a very personal taste and I would be less than honest if I told you that everyone was ecstatic about every meal.

To whoever gave the tip about sitting close to the galley – thanks! We always sat as close to the front of the boat as we could at meals and our service was wonderful. Seta and Josef quickly learned our preferences and anticipated our needs.

We found the boat to be very quiet and would never have known the boat was moving if it wasn’t for the gentle sound of the water lapping on the side of the boat. I could sit for hours in the cabin with the door open and watch the world float by. There was some occasional vibration in the hull but the captain explained that this was caused when the boat was making an unusual movement like negotiating a tight turn or docking. When you consider that putting the boat into any of the 68 locks on the route to be sort of like sliding a 430 foot cigar into a tube with about a foot on each side, it is amazing how little bumping occurred but there were the occasional bumps in the night. One of my companions said it rocked her to sleep when it happened.

[bbsiming]

Now let me share some of the bad news. Internet access on the boat is spotty. I don’t think it has as much to do with the number or types of users on the boat as suggested before on this blog. I think the problem is inherent in the satellite system used on the boat. I found that I had good wireless connectivity in all the spaces on the boat from my cabin to the lounge, the dining room, and even my favorite spot on the boat, the library in the aft on the third level. But good wireless connectivity is meaningless if the uplink to the satellite is poor. As reported earlier, the connectivity (and television reception) would go out whenever the boat was in a lock or going under a bridge, but I found it to also go out whenever the sky was overcast or cloudy. This turned out to be a problem because it rained quite a bit on the first week of our cruise. On the night we docked in Cologne the boat was docked so that the satellite dishes were under a bridge. We had no connectivity that night at all. In Budapest I resorted to “borrowing” connectivity from the Sofitel hotel near the dock.

Speaking of docking, I specifically chose the middle deck of the ship so that the members of my party, some of whom have mobility problems, would be able to get off and on the ship and to move from our cabins to the dining room with ease. In several ports we were docked in such a way that it was very difficult to get off and on the ship. In some cases the gangway was rigged from the third deck. This is understandable because of the changeable level of the rivers. In some cases we were docked alongside another boat and we had to pass through that boat to get to shore. But in some cases, because of the water level and the combination of boats being docked together the only way off the Legend was to climb to the sundeck, walk across a ramp to another boat and then to walk down two flights of stairs to get to shore. This proved to be insurmountable to some of the members of my party.

Viking River Cruises is a European company that operates in Europe. As a result they are not governed by American law. While this is not a real issue in most cases, there is one area in which it is significant. In the Unites States a law was passed in 1990 called the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) that mandated that all public buildings and places in the US be fitted with whatever it takes to make all spaces accessible to people with disabilities. There is no such law in Europe. As a result Viking is not required to make any provisions for people with mobility problems and they don’t make any. There are no ramps or elevators (lifts for you Brits) on Viking boats. This, together with the way they dock make their boats unsuitable for people with mobility problems. I have a feeling that they will figure this out eventually given the demographic they are marketing to. At 62 I was one of the youngest passengers on our cruise. The fact that the boats do not accommodate people with disabilities is probably moot however because the entire continent is not handicapped friendly (see my advise below).

[bbsiming]

And now let me pass on some advice. I cannot think of a simpler way to put this so I will just put it out there. If you or anyone in your party is not physically fit, and by that I mean able to climb up and down two flights of stairs and then walk at least a mile on uneven surfaces in a 30 minute period, do not book this cruise! If you are not fit as I described above and are booked on the cruise you need to decide if you are willing to forego most, if not all, of the shore excursions and stay on the boat or cancel your booking now. As I mentioned above, the Viking boats are not suited for persons with disabilities but in fairness neither is most of the areas in Europe that you will be touring. Streets and sidewalks (when they exist) are very uneven and the terrain is hilly. There are no ramps at crosswalks. There are no ramps to access many buildings. Most of the tours involve climbing stairs and negotiating narrow alleys and corridors. I spent a good part of the time leading up to the sailing date trying to determine how to provide two of my companions with wheelchairs while on the cruise. Not only were the Viking personnel in California of no assistance but they would have better served me, my companions, and their own company if they had done all they could to dissuade us from booking the cruise. We ended up using a wheelchair and a walker that we carried over ourselves but one of our companions could not participate in any of the shore excursions except one and the other was able to participate partially in two of the excursions. I can’t tell you how bad this made them feel and frankly, since the cruise is all-inclusive, we subsidized those people who were able to take the tours.

Not all European cell phone networks are created equal. I have an unlocked GSM phone that I have used for several years now. I simply buy a SIM in a tobacco shop or a market when I arrive and then pay as I go for the duration of the trip. I learned two things regarding this strategy on this trip. First, since most of the itinerary is in Germany I should have waited until I got to Germany to buy the SIM card and that way I would have had a German phone number so my calls would not have been as expensive (once we left the Netherlands all my calls were international). Second, I have used various networks on previous trips. These include Orange and Vodofone. In the past I have always been able to get the carrier to switch my language to English so all my messages from them are readable. With Vodofone NL I was never able to get them to change the language so all the way across Europe I continued to get messages in Dutch that I could not understand. Orange is much friendlier in this regard. I was still able to use the phone however and was able to communicate with my friends in Europe, with the reception desk on the boat when I was ashore, and with my kids in the states.

I hope this information I have given is helpful. River cruising is a wonderful way to travel and the Viking line is a good one to travel with. I just wish I had been forewarned about a few things and hope my experience will be beneficial to you.

[ddean52]

Welcome back! glad you had a great trip. I must disagree with you about dinner! As I previously posted "breakfast and lunch were fine", but the 2 hours dinners were terrible and the dinning room staff were over worked! While the 'boat" was clean & comfortable it failed to live up to its billing and certainly did not deliver "value" for the money spent! In general, we found the boat staff to be indifferantly professional. I'm very happy you had a wonderful time. We had a great trip too, however, our positive experiences had very little to do with the Legend or the Viking Co. and had everything to do with the cities we visited and the people we met along the way!

 

Dean

[bbsiming]

Welcome back! glad you had a great trip. I must disagree with you about dinner! As I previously posted "breakfast and lunch were fine", but the 2 hours dinners were terrible and the dinning room staff were over worked! While the 'boat" was clean & comfortable it failed to live up to its billing and certainly did not deliver "value" for the money spent! In general, we found the boat staff to be indifferantly professional. I'm very happy you had a wonderful time. We had a great trip too, however, our positive experiences had very little to do with the Legend or the Viking Co. and had everything to do with the cities we visited and the people we met along the way!

 

Dean

 

I have to tell you that my wife agrees with your sentiment exactly. She was not happy with the food at all and did not feel she got our money’s worth.

I happen to agree with you about the staff and their “professional indifference” but I am so angry with Viking River Cruises and their willingness to sell us a package that we were clearly not suited for that I am ignoring the attitude and actions of the cruise staff.

In the past my wife and I always simply booked a flight, rented a car, and wandered wherever we wanted to when we traveled in Europe. I booked this trip because my wife is now disabled and cannot get around without a walker. I figured the idea of unpacking only once and letting the boat bring us from place to place was a good strategy. In fact, it wasn’t. I feel that Viking should have been more forthcoming when I explained my reason for choosing their cruise and when I inquired about accommodations for handicapped people.

 

We also met some wonderful people but unfortunately we did not get to sample much of the local color because we couldn't get off the boat in many places. When we did get off the boat it was with the assistance of the other passengers who helped the four members of our party with the walker and the wheelchair.

 

I'm trying to put a positive 'spin' on it but essentially our trip was a 'bust'. I just want to warn others who may be in the same situation we are in.

 

Bob

[ddean52]

sorry about you experience!! i have posted that the viking co. has business issues and let me use my case as an example;

 

1) viking canceled our cruise because legend was not ready

 

2) viking at first refused to pay the fee for changing air tickets(this went on for a while!)

 

3) only after t/a threated to to rebook us with another lines did they relent

 

4) to make things right they offered a wine package which turned out to be 8 zo of wine per night

 

5)as a back drop to our adventure, i had payed viking in full over a year in advance for some small discount and believing that the viking product was worth it!

 

6)once on the ship we had the food issues and staff issues

 

7) then we had the water, a.c. and electrical outages

 

8) then of course the ship broke down for 2 days in Frankford and we were bused for hours

 

9)there was also the issue with the sun deck. now i knew we would lose it for a bit. turned out it was for more than half the trip. i miscalculated how important it would be. viking should clearly indicate to potential customers that a significant amount of down time will be experienced do to the nature of the iten. and the ship. it is sort of like buying a car only to find out later that the trunk was not included!!

 

10)when we returned home i emailed upper management and still have not heard from them!!!!! talk about bad business models, what they dont want repeat business????

 

we are seasoned travelers and have witnessed a lot of good and bad business practices! for some reason viking just pushes mu buttons with their

aloofness and insincetivity to my story!!!

 

Let the flaming begin!!!!!!!!!

 

again sorry about your experience!!!

 

Dean

[pacmom]

Dean and others,

 

In 2006, we took the viking Schumann on the Elbe--knew that the ship cabins were small. They have since been refurbished. It took 3 days to get our a/c fixed. No one believed us. DH finally took The head engineer by the hand and put him in our cabin. They took off the front of the a/c. It looked like the filter hadn't been changed in years. That taken care the rest of the trip was wonderful. Our trip in the Sun this spring was disappointing. The lower deck was very very noisy plumbing wise. One passenger fell and broke her ankle and was confined to the lounge deck, because Viking has no elevator. The staff didn't serve her meals in her cabin. Her husband carried the meals to her. That mey have been her preference. Also thought the staff stretched to thin, not just in the dining room. We met some wonderful people and saw fantastic cities. Not thrilled with industrial area docking or far from some towns docking. I do see a change for the worse in the 3 year span. All that said we are going to Russia with them because the 2 refurbished boats have larger cabins. Pat