Viking Cruises Reviews

My husband and I recently had an issue with Viking Cruise Line. A representative suggested that we put a $50 deposit on a future cruise to hold our place and decide if we wanted to book the cruise. We decided not to take the cruise and unknown to us they used two cruise vouchers we had from them and applied it to the cruise we did not take without our permission or authorization. When we booked another cruise with them and attempted to use the vouchers, we were told by several representatives that they were applied to the cruise we did not take and could not be applied to our new cruise. So beware of Viking applying a voucher to a cruise you do not take. This will be our last cruise with Viking and our friends as well.

Do yourself a huge favor and avoid Viking Cruises and their recommended partner, Trip Mate Insurance, at all costs! You’ll appreciate this advice when things go wrong, and rest assured, they will. You’ll encounter useless customer service where they simply send endless boilerplate “that’s our policy” excuses without addressing your specific issue. Viking Cruises and Trip Mate constantly avoided our repeated requests to communicate via email so they could avoid leaving a “paper trail” before finally communicating with us by email. After 4 months of dealing with Viking Cruises/Trip Mate, they finally offered us only 30% of the $2000 vouchers. Viking cruises not only refused our reasonable counteroffers (60%) for a cash refund of their $2000 vouchers for the trip fiasco, Viking Cruises subsequently cancelled the vouchers they offered in the first place as compensation for the problems they caused! We paid for our trip in cash and encountered a skipped port and a 24-hour delay getting home due to Viking’s ground transportation failure. Viking Cruise’s response was only useless vouchers for another hellish trip with Viking, which we declined because we will never travel with Viking Cruises again. On top of that, it took over 4 months of extremely frustrating calls and emails just to finally be reimbursed by Viking’s recommended trip insurance partner, Trip Mate, for our documented, fully covered out-of-pocket expenses (hotel, meals, etc.) after paying $1,600 for trip insurance. Viking left us waiting on board the ship for 6 hours while numerous buses departed before finally transporting us to the airport after our flight departed. Viking had ample opportunity to get us to the airport on time for our flight but failed to do so, resulting in a 24-hour delay in getting our flight home. By finally reimbursing us for the costs of Vikings Cruise’s needless delay, Viking Cruises/Trip Mate acknowledges that it was their fault. No one should have to go through this just to be reimbursed for an insured trip. The Viking and Trip Mate contracts, which you must accept, allows Viking to avoid any and all responsibility when things go wrong, even when it is 100% their fault. Viking Cruises and Trip Mate will only spend more time denying your legitimate claims than resolving the issues they caused and for which you paid trip insurance. Think long and hard before you book with Viking and/or their Trip Mate racket.

We took the Alaska cruise from Anchorage. The trip was very informative and comfortable. However, a note of caution. I contracted COVID on the trip despite vaccinations and 3 previous COVID infections. A friend had a recent similar experience on a Viking rhine excursion. Viking used to screen for COVID but travelled and other cruise companies apparently objected. There were also influenza cases on the Alaska trip. I would think having a covid test kit and a few days of paxlovid might be worth thinking about

I went to Antarctica with Viking and can honestly say it was the most memorable vacation my travel companion and I have ever taken. The ship was beautiful, destination/activities were incredible, and the staff was second to none. Highly recommend.

Booked a cruise direct on 1-8-25 for a cruise 11 months later, 12/23/25. Told agent this was our first cruise, so I had no experience with the ins/outs of cruises. Later, I get inundated with Viking information, my head was spinning, but I thought I had a month or so to digest it all. Agent DID NOT mention a cancel fee of $100/per person! I paid a $25/pp booking fee which I knew was non-refundable. This is an unacceptable and deceptive business practice! The cancel fee should be clearly stated & understood at the time of booking.Now I’m out $200 for a cruise 11 months away. Viking is not compromised in any with this cancelation. 2/1/25 We find out our daughter is PG and need to cancel cruise. Mind you I’m cancelling less than 30 days after making the booking for a cruise 11 months away! I get told there is a $100/pp cancel fee! Unacceptable! I will never do business with Viking. There are lots of other cruise lines.

Worst vacation ever! Viking Jupiter Cruise 6/16/2024 to 6/25/2024 We lost touring in Venice due to arriving 18 hours because of an airline delay. Viking made no attempt to find a way for us to tour Venice. We both got sick from some kind of flu bug (not covid) on the 2nd day on the way to Split. My wife was too sick to tour the city. Same for the 3rd day in Dubrovnik and the 4th day in Kotor. 5th day: We managed to tour Corfu because it was mostly travel by motor coach. 6th day: Katakolon to Olympia via motor coach. Temperatures were approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Too much walking, not enough breaks, we couldn't keep up and the group and they were at least a half mile ahead of us. My wife started experiencing chest pain. The tour guide showed no interest in our problem. Somehow, we made it back to the ship and went immediately to the medical doctor in their clinic. They performed a few tests which were inconclusive and gave her some nitroglycerin. She immediately felt much better. They recommended that we go to the hospital on shore. At this point the ship should have left port over an hour earlier. Viking quickly helped me pack our luggage and rushed us off the ship. There was an ambulance waiting for us at the pier and a man said that he was from Viking and would help us at the hospital. We never saw him again. The ship left as soon as we got off. The hospital that we were taken to was a free community hospital on the east coast of Greece. It was dirty and old. We were there for only an hour when another ambulance came to take us to Metropolitan Hospital in Athens. It was a 5 hour drive. Metropolitan Hospital is a private hospital. They did some more tests and said that my wife needed 3 stents which were performed the next morning. They would not let me see her the next day. Then they hit me with the bill. 43,000 euros. They would not accept the insurance that we bought through Viking. When I said that I didn't have 43,000 euros, they asked what I could pay. I said 21,000 euros. They said "OK." It seemed like a possible scam or were they being nice. We will never know. We left the hospital after 2 days against their medical opinion because our flight home was the next day. We finally found a Viking representative at the hotel where the group was staying before leaving Athens. Got to the airport and made it back home. My wife saw her doctors here in Chicago and she is feeling much better. Both her arms were completely back and blue. I spoke with the Viking representative and told him our terrible story. He offered us $500 each off our next Viking Cruise. I said that you must be kidding. He raised the offer to $1000 each. We spent $16,000 with airfare and insurance. Even if he offered us an all paid cruise we would have declined. Lastly, the cruise clinic charged us $1,212 for their services. We got back almost all of the expenses through Medicare part B and the Viking insurance through Ship Mate but it took 6 months. My advice is to skip Viking Cruise’s insurance and get a better travel insurance that is accepted at all of your ports of call. Gary Frisch 1/12/2025

I just got on Trustpilot for the first time today and I’ve got to say my first reaction is that it is very much a resource for grumps! I went to check ratings for a tour company I like and found it rated very low. Having been a professional investigator for many years my first thought was to check out the rating for a company that I know is really above reproach, so I came here to check the Viking Cruises rating. My suspicions were verified. For heaven sakes! Viking is amazing! We went to Alaska and Antarctica with them and they were everything as advertised. Also, they have been over the top fair with us during all the Covid cancellations. Now, has everything always worked out perfectly? You don’t cross the Drake Passage if that is your expectation. The majority of the bad comments here are about flights and excursions, neither of which are necessary to be booked through Viking. Viking gives a stellar product. There are lots of really good cruise lines that are very fun to sail with, where I have enjoyed wonderful experiences. Viking fills a niche, and we are fortunate to have them.

I just talked to agent Carter of Viking cruise. I was told there is no fixed arrival and departure times for viking Ocean cruises. That is not acceptable. How can you plan a port activity without that informaion

FALSE PROMISES BY VIKING AIR PLUS. Viking Air Plus does NOT honor its promises. It FALSELY asserts "We will continue to monitor all schedule changes" and "You will be promptly notified of any such change." Both statements are FALSE. It does nothing to monitor schedule changes and does NOT advise you of any changes. My wife and I paid Viking Air Plus in Dec. 2023 to book Business Class seats next to one another in Row 2. However, in June 2024, two days before our departure, we learned from the Airline that Viking Air Plus had NOT reserved our seats. Thus, instead of Row 2, we were stuck in the row next to the galley. Several hours on the phone with Viking Air Plus as well as Viking's so-called "Customer Service" were a complete waste of time. As a result, we got zero sleep and were exhausted when we reached our destination. Then the exact same thing happened on our latest cruise. My seat, which Viking Air Plus promised me it has reserved suddenly "disappeared". Immediately, we started complaining to Viking Air ten days before our departure but Viking Air did NOTHING to fix the problem. When we return from our upcoming Viking trip (leaving in 2 days) we will cancel all of our future bookings with Viking.

Viking cruise around Iceland July 2024, Experienced a great Viking cruise from Barcelona to Puerto Rico in 2023, poor pre and post cruise hotels, but the cruise was really good. So we booked on the Viking Mars to sail around Iceland. Unfortunately it rained for 5 of the 7 days and the penultimate port was cancelled due to bad weather - all of the foregoing outside of Vikings control. However we noticed a distinct decline in staff and crew attentiveness, service and engagement from our previous cruise with Viking. Cabin steward was really very good, and the Maitre D at the chefs table was good, but otherwise no interest from the cruise director, the hotel director or staff, who made no obvious effort to raise the moral of the passengers crew or staff. It would seem that the weather got to everyone. Nice cabin, average food, good cabin staff, uninspiring excursions, and from our experience disengaged crew and staff. Off with Silversea next.

The two of us did a Viking cruise through the Panama Canal and really enjoyed it. The ship was fantastic. The service and food was excellent. I like the fact that no children are on board. I deducted one star because I saw the cruise discounted 60 days before departure. We had already paid. I requested an onboard credit of the difference and they were firm about saying no. Watch your wallet with them. I noticed that a lot of these negative reviews had to do with Viking air. I would never let a cruise company handle my air reservations. Viking is a cruise company not an airline.

Purchased upgraded airline seats because my husband is large. Even though we paid and were assured we would have aisle seats in business or first class, we got stuck in economy. Still trying to get my money back.

We just returned from a Viking Eastern European River cruise. We are so disappointed. We believed Viking was a premiere travel company; this is so not the reality. One of the worst, and most expensive, trips we have ever taken. The flights they booked for us to and from were both 23-hour ordeals. Days were then cut off the beginning and end of the cruise due to low water on the Danube… something they informed us of the day before we left, (even though they knew this was the case well in advance). A third of our “Danube cruise” was instead spent crammed on uncomfortable buses. And, we were crammed into buses for hours daily for crowded excursions. The excursions were not very good, either, with dozens of people being herded around seeing very little. Dining on the boat, and even on extra paid dinner experiences, we were also crammed together. It was always loud, and rushed, and uncomfortable. We often couldn’t carry on a conversation comfortably. Our group of five friends always struggled, and often failed, to find seating together. Everyone ended up sick by the end of the vacation. It was pretty bad. Very sad. I am embarrassed because the trip was my idea, and I subjected five people to quite a bit of misery. Needless to say, Viking is not a company I will ever use again.

We have just got off the phone with Viking Air - the latest of several. Viking Air gave us one hour between when they sent us our itinerary and told us they booked the flights. We had no chance to respond. The return flights call for us to be flying to Dallas for 27 hours with a 3-hour layover in Doha. We initially asked them to let us lay over in Doha so we could get some rest. They proposed an 8-hour layover instead of 3. Since you have to collect bags and then return through security there was no sense in taking the option. On this latest call they gave the option of paying $350 each to get a longer layover even though we would never have accepted this itinerary in the first place. No matter how good the cruise is, what I'll remember are the horrendous flights home.

On August 8th, Hurricane Dora made landfall on Maui, unleashing powerful winds reaching speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. These formidable gusts resulted in downed power lines that sparked fires, ultimately engulfing the entire of Lahaina, Maui. Tragically, the disaster claimed the lives of many, along with the destruction of countless homes and businesses. While our own residence miraculously escaped the flames, it remains uninhabitable due to the absence of both electricity and water. Regrettably, even after a span of two weeks, power has yet to be restored. The forecast suggests a daunting additional weeks of darkness and inconvenience. My place of employment also burned to the ground leaving me with no income. Given the extraordinary circumstances, both mental and physical limitations prevent us from embarking on any travel. We had a 10 day Viking Cruise scheduled for our 37th wedding anniversary. Viking would not give us a credit or any money back (which we could really use at the moment). They had no concern or empathy for what we experienced. They should be ashamed of themselves for not giving us a credit or our money back.

This was my first, and now last, Viking cruise. One of the excursions we took was completely misrepresented–fewer than half of the promised activities occurred, and those that did were sad excuses for the kinds of things one can reasonably expect. The highlight of the trip was a soggy piece of tasteless pancake with a line of whipped cream sprayed on it in front of us, which we received after waiting in the rain for 20 minutes. It was not just a waste of $400, but of one entire day of the cruise. The trip was led by a 19-year-old who was pleasant enough, but did not know how to run an excursion. He mostly talked about himself and TV shows–on a trip focused on how 19th Century farmers lived! I explained the problems in detail upon getting back on the ship and a few days later received a message from the excursion director–Sasha, I believe. She summarized my complaint with the least important details while leaving out the important ones, and offered 10% credit. So I would only be paying $360 for wasting an entire day on a misrepresented excursion run by a kid barely out of high school! Viking obviously does not vet their excursions with care, and does not stand by their products. They saved themselves 90% of my payment–and lost 2 customers for life. There are many other cruise lines that do take care about whom they entrust their guests to and do care about their guests’ satisfaction–stick to them and avoid Viking.

Viking Cruise Line is like Jekel and Hyde. The ocean cruise team is beyond wonderful and services on board could not be better... so much so, that no other cruise line I've experienced can compare. The staff was attentive to the smallest details. Passengers lack for NOTHING except for some of the chronic negatives on other cruise lines such as casinos, poor food prep, nickel and diming passengers for EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING. One could not ask for a better, more gracious onboard experience. On the other hand, the Viking Air team is beyond terrible... and everyone at Viking seems to know this. I was so tired of being lied to, and asked to do the work for Viking Air, that I had to solicit help from the cruise team to FINALLY get honesty and service. Even on board, passengers and staff alike acknowledge chronic, terrible complaints and problems regarding Viking Air... and I am not taking about airlines, which are no treat, but the actual Viking air service team. I was lied to, given bad information, asked to contact airlines myself only to discover that my efforts were in vain because terrible Viking Air did not pay for my actual flight... just a reservation. With just 10 days to go, a Viking Air employee told me that she would ask her supervisor to use the Viking Air credit card so that could get seat assignments (all I wanted was a seat next to my wife... nothing more). As wonderful the cruise people are... the air team is equally terrible... so much so that it certainly hurts their brand and nobody seems to care. Viking has a well-earned and guarded reputation for quality. Passengers get what they pay for. Perhaps Viking should raise prices on air services so they can provide the quality of service that passengers expect.

They canceled 5 out of 9 stops on our Iceland, Greenland Canada to New York Cruise. 2 Because of weather. Understood. 3 because of ice in the water. Greenland always has ice in the water. The weather was ok and they have sonar and radar. What is the deal? I heard they got a dent from a tug pushing them into the dock and it is their brand new ship, Saturn. Their inaugural celebration is in New York after we disembark. Could it be that they don't want more dents before the inaugural? Also heard that they canceled our Newfoundland stop because they didn't have a docking space. So we have to sit here on the ocean for 4 days. And the food isn't very good. It was great on our last cruise. This cruise was a rip off. Oh, and they're offering a voucher. Why would that make us feel better? We're paying $1200 to board our dogs for this crummy trip.

We've had our Rhine cruise booked for months. We Travel Aug 7th 2023 to Basel. We were told we would get our flight arrangements at least 4 months prior to boarding. We received our direct flights as promised and booked our seats. I recently received notification they are changing flights (with layovers) and we won't arrive to the ship 15 minutes before required arrival time (No room for error). In addition, I cannot book seats. First come first serve. They have a department called Air 1. I called and they cannot get me back on the original direct flight, yet they want you to pay $100.00 per person to make any changes. I checked Delta direct flights we were originally booked on and there are many seats still available. What a racquet! not a good start to the upcoming trip. I did reach out to our booking agent (Thiago Luff) He is very helpful but explained because Viking air is a different entity, he had to refer me to Viking Air +. I feel l could have booked my own or with another travel professional and my travel arrangements would feel a bit more secure.

Very disappointed with Viking I would give Viking a minus 10 stars for how they began and ended the cruise. Beware Viking dropped us off in Panama city in a van from the ship to Fuertes Amador. What an ambush of people trying to sell us tours and grabbing our suitcases right out from the storage area of the bus. One man quoted us $80 USD ride from the drop off to our hotel. He was holding our suitcases as hostage. My husband is disabled. When i refused and started to walk away he said $40 usd!! So sad that at the end of an ok cruise trip, it ended like this. We were all sitting ducks getting off that van from Viking. The beginning of the cruise was also terrible. They cancelled without proper warring the key west stop on the cruise with no reimbursement at all for port charges and land tours that were included in the price we paid before the port was cancelled. I am starting a class action suit against Viking for breach of promise and reimbursement. I did complain before the cruise but was met both e-mail and calls with it was just too bad and no refund would be given (it was decided by Viking there would be no refund). And i wrote an onboard review before i left the ship. What happened at the end in Panama city i could not complain to anyone. Our cabin was a bit small. I like having a balcony Our cabin steward was wonderful. His name was Kandi