I am currently in transit with the Budapest to Amsterdam with the Grand European Cruise on the Viking Baldur. Twenty four hours before sailing we received an email that our ship would be the Viking Magni in Budapest, sister ship, exactly the same cabin, no further inconveniences anticipated for our trip. The ship was lovely, the service wonderful, very personal. The second day into our cruise we were informed that halfway through the trip we would be changed over to the Baldur. The information was given to us after the 24 hour cancellation clause in our contract had expired, although Viking must have known well in advance of the change, as the ships are charted by registered name for passage at least months in advance.We were required to repack on the Magni and unpack again on the Baldur. I estimate we lost abou a half day of our vacation with the changeover.
Unfortunately the Baldour has less (and less experienced) staff, particularly in the kitchen and dining area. The service staff is so rushed cordiality is a luxury (they do try), and the food comes out of the kitchen poorly cooked (we had to send back undercooked seafood several times, among other problems.

We are very upset with Viking River Cruises, we had to cancel our cruise due to family illness. The home office in California refused to deal with us regarding refund. We are 18 months out from our cruise and they told us they would be unable to resell our rooms. We had purchased the travel insurance thru Travel Guard. When we contacted Travel Guard they had no info regarding our insurance coverage. We had paid a down payment only, we were within 30 days of final payment, which incidentally was due 18 months ahead of the trip. So, basically Viking pockets the money for the insurance which was $1500.00 and the policy goes into effect only if there is a problem during the trip. We wanted to cancel the policy, same as if you cancel your car insurance . There was no trip so there should be no insurance coverage. After contacting BBB we received one letter stating "too bad" when we filed an appeal there was no response. We had requested copies of emails they claim to have sent that were never received,no response. Think twice before traveling with Viking, putting your safety in their hands in not something I would be willing to do.

@jwaterman1: I'm sorry to hear this, but I suspect there's more to this story, but the important lesson to be learned here is that you never buy insurance from the cruise line directly, even if it's from a reputable company. The terms of those policies are not the same as the terms of policies you purchase individually. The reason for the cancellation also matters, and you have to provide documentation.

I want to know why the travel insurance for the river cruise was $1500. OUCH!! Talk about stick shock!! I don't think I have ever paid more than $200 per person for travel insurance for a single trip and I think that I have been on some pretty nice vacations. Is this the norm for river cruising????

I think the deposit was $1500, but I could be wrong.

When I took the Viking river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg in 2013, we too were docked steps away from the Chain Bridge (on the Pest side) and we never had to haul our luggage anywhere. We found all of our tour guides very interesting and entertaining throughout. The piano player who performed some evenings in the ship's lounge was terrible, however, but the onboard entertainment highlighting each region the ship passed through, such as the waltzing dancers while in Vienna, for instance, more than made up for it.

8/30/2015
We went for our anniversary July 2015 on a Viking Elbe cruise : Berlin to Prague.
THE GOOD: Boats are impeccable.Staff and food above reproach.

THE BAD: Viking convinced us to splurge for room with balcony,and also to pay extra for room away from engine.Well the water level on Elbe was low,and the " cruise" ended-up being a stay on a nice houseboat with frequent bus tour.
Boat could not move and we paid lots of money for a bus tour of East Germany

THE AWFUL,HORRIBLE AND Terrible: we found from boat staff,that no sailing had occurred in 3 weeks because of the low water levels,and therefore Viking knew about it 3 weeks before cruise departure.
They did NOT inform us till the evening before airplane departure,and it was too late for us to cancel and to get reimbursed from the insurance company[ insurance purchased through Viking !!]

THE WORSE : Viking customer service basically laughed at us for asking for a partial refund.
Then a " senior" customer service rep called to offer a paltry $1000 voucher on a future cruise.
That would not ever cover the extra we paid for a room away from an engine that never fired.

These people are unprofessional ,and basically it ended being a scam.

8/30/2015
We went for our anniversary July 2015 on a Viking Elbe cruise : Berlin to Prague.
THE GOOD: Boats are impeccable.Staff and food above reproach.

THE BAD: Viking convinced us to splurge for room with balcony,and also to pay extra for room away from engine.Well the water level on Elbe was low,and the " cruise" ended-up being a stay on a nice houseboat with frequent bus tour.
Boat could not move and we paid lots of money for a bus tour of East Germany

THE AWFUL,HORRIBLE AND Terrible: we found from boat staff,that no sailing had occurred in 3 weeks because of the low water levels,and therefore Viking knew about it 3 weeks before cruise departure.
They did NOT inform us till the evening before airplane departure,and it was too late for us to cancel and to get reimbursed from the insurance company[ insurance purchased through Viking !!]

THE WORSE : Viking customer service basically laughed at us for asking for a partial refund.
Then a " senior" customer service rep called to offer a paltry $1000 voucher on a future cruise.
That would not ever cover the extra we paid for a room away from an engine that never fired.

These people are unprofessional ,and basically it ended being a scam.

We are planning to take the Viking "Romantic Danube" river cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg. We want travel insurance. Some of these posts are a little scary!

Should we avoid purchasing VIking's insurance? Do others agree that you should avoid Viking insurance?

Should we book the airfar on our own or through Viking? We want to take Luftansia and purchase the "premium economy." They claim that if you buy the "plus" airfare, you get your seats and booking right away.

We've always done independent travel, and made all our own arrangements. Also, we've never done insurance before, but since the cruise will cost about $5,000 per person... it seems like it's worth it to buy insurance. I'm just a little nervous about using their services for flights and insurance after reading these posts.

Any additional advice?

I generally advise anyone traveling to get third-party insurance. It's rarely a good idea to buy insurance directly from your travel provider. I don't know the specifics of the Viking policies, but there could be restrictions and payment could be in credits rather than cash. You have to read the fine print to know if it will work for you.

Just realize that if the problem with your cruise is low or high water levels and you have to jump ships during the cruise, even third-party insurance may not cover you for the problem. If the cruise takes place, that's generally all that's required. Again, read the fine print on any policy and make sure it covers you for the issues you feel are most likely to occur at the time of that cruise.

I tend to buy my own flights. For example, when I took this itinerary from Nuremberg to Budapest, I flew into Munich because it was a nonstop flight for me and I got a good deal. But I had to provide my own transportation from Munich to Nuremberg and then a taxi to the ship. If I'd booked through Viking, that would have been included. So there are pluses and minuses to booking through Viking.

The main problem I find with booking air through cruises is that you sometimes get horrible itineraries. Viking almost always books through Star Alliance, so you'd likely end up with Lufthansa anyway, but you never know. It depends on your point of origination.

We do the same thing Doug. We get travel insurance through a third-party which has proven to be successful twice now when claims have been applied. We also book our own air as one time we booked through princess cruise lines from Chicago to Tahiti and they routed us through Salt Lake City and Los Angeles both there and back . So never again and we book our own air and usually go in a day early just in case of travel snafus

Yes, I'd definitely second what jacketwatch says about going in a day early, particularly in Europe. Strikes, which are usually brief, are common (even on Lufthansa), so if for some reason your flight is cancelled or there's bad weather you have a buffer. I typically don't worry about that on the way home, but it means you have to book a flight for later in the afternoon since you'd probably fly out of Munich, which is 2 hours away.

Nuremberg does have an airport but not a busy one, so if you wanted to fly into Nuremberg, you would probably have to go with Air Berlin or Lufthansa. Air Berlin gives you many fewer flight options from the US and would probably require you to take a flight to JFK and transfer.

A second or third class tour at a first class price. I also did the Grand European in September, 2015. It was very disappointing. Due to low water levels (which Viking knew of for weeks, but didn't tell us until the night before), we had to change ships, and 3 of our trip days ended up as 3 hour bus trips each day, ruining good cruise/port days (and requiring us to leave and meet up at specific times). We couldn't be in port in the evenings as represented. Comparing the two ships, one had way worse service than the other, and the food was generally mediocre (rarely good), and occassionally terrible (with no response when complaints made). The wine was mediocre or poor quality. The ship, going through locks at night, often bumped the lock, waking everyone on board. Due to the ship change, they arranged for a restaurant lunch one day -- but all 188 people from the ship in one restaurant, with 4 women's restroom stalls, two of which were out of order, and one had no toilet seat. Lots of disappointing details. Very disappointing quality of trip.

Had booked a Viking River Cruise for two (Danube Waltz) far in advance for cruise to start on 10/11/15 from Passau to Budapest. Deposit made and contract called for bal some 3 months prior to cruise. But 11 months before the cruise, was advised my booking was being cancelled due to non payment of $ due. Pointed out the written contract but still got cancelled out. Got 80% refunded w/20% taken as a penalty. Thank goodness the deposit had been put on a credit card and I got that 20% by filing claim w/the credit card co.

Was upset at the cancellation as I had already booked my own airline tickets to/from Europe, forcing me to convert the trip to a land tour. But the land tour turned out really great, getting in all the major sights + more that was to be on the cruise. And it was done $3,500 cheaper! After reading all the horror stories on Viking River Cruises, I am now very happy that they cancelled out my booking. Thank you Viking River Cruises! Thank you! You'll never see any more of my $$.

I know some of these posts are very old but the issues raised are general.

1. RE balcony contracts and views:

A ship is not like a hotel, since the latter's views are fixed and more or less predictable whereas the views from a ship in normal operation are constantly changing. While it is understandably disappointing if the view from the balcony doesn't meet the expectations raised by promotional materials, remember that being disappointed and contract default by the vendor are not necessarily the same thing. Even should the level of the river be high enough to permit cruising, it is quite possible that competing ship traffic could block views constantly, for example. Or river or sea fog be so thick you can't see your outstretched hand. Or birds constantly crap on the cabin window so that no matter how often it is cleaned, the view isn't visible ;). So it is highly unlikely that any cruise company even could, let alone would, ever guarantee a 'pleasurable' view. So be careful not to let hope be your guide when buying a travel service like a balcony.

2. RE meals not being 'up to par':

In the same vein, if the contract specifies meals, be prepared for the reality that what would be deemed fit for human consumption as deemed by the health department, versus what a star chef would say, are likely different. Nutritious food isn't necessarily delicious food. I would hate for my steak to be overdone, but I can't claim it would be unhealthy or unfit to serve, in fact the likelihood of live bacteria surviving such a treatment is less, not more. One <i> hopes </i> the food will please one's taste buds, one </i> hopes </i> the wine will be at least palatable, i.e. not vinegar, but as with views from a balcony, <b> don't let hope be your guide when making a travel purchase. </b>

2. On option to cancel if the water levels preclude cruising.

This would not likely be practical for any company dealing with mass market tourism to do, even if they had three weeks advance warning that the water levels would be low.

The problem is not that the company didn't have advance knowledge of low water levels, the problem is that they are in all probability contractually obligated to run the tour, if they can find some way of doing so, i.e. even with substitutions. While I can appreciate that a bus tour is a very different experience from a cruise, remember that this is mass tourism and we masses don't all think alike. What ruins the tour for some would be deemed acceptable if not ideal by others. When it comes to a cruise or tour, it either departs or it doesn't; either way, someone is likely going to be disappointed.

IN SUM: I am not saying anything one way or another about Viking, I have no experience with them. I am saying that one is going to be less likely to be surprised if one knows the difference between luck and guarantee. Don't listen to any travel agent reassurances, at least not verbal ones; the only reassurance you get is what is in the contract, which may be a lot less than what one assumes or hopes for.

OMG! An ad for what amounts to a witch doctor. How original. :D. I got a kick out of this but alas it's destined for the mods knife.

Will he help me get my juju back?

If not then maybe we can ask Jobu. :D. If you ever saw "Major League" they you know what I mean. :D.

Someone here mentioned, " We had been monitoring the Viking website for current sailing conditions for a few weeks prior to our trip".... so how can I "monitor" the conditions? And if I am able to monitor and find out they are not sailing, then how do I cancel the trip and/or get a refund?

Just had a big disappointment with VRC, leaving April, '16 going on a river cruise followed immediately by an ocean cruise. My roommate cancelled, out of the blue, with no refund to her.
I could go, IF I paid the upcharge premium ($5000) for a single occupant in both cabins. I had to cancel as well.
They have a policy for that happening so read the fine print.
Her cancellation came out of the blue for me; you never know what will happen in your life to cause a cancellation and VRC had no mercy or forgiveness for life happening. Just stating my experience with VRC.