Disappointment with Viking re: Amsterdam docking

I'm not sure how many ships have been affected by this but I've seen some complaints on TripAdvisor, so I decided to make a post. Several Viking ships have recently been docked in industrial ports outside of Amsterdam. We were put in Suezhaven and I've seen someone else say they were put in Coenhaven. I can only speak of the experience in Suezhaven.

We were right next to warehouses with frontloaders moving cocoa beans (photo attached). It was just extremely disappointing and we certainly didn't have the same experience as the Viking ships docked in the City Center.

Actual issues:

1. We booked our hotel so that we could walk to the center docks.

2. We had not booked transfers after the cruise as we planned to walk to the train station. (We had packed pretty lightly).

3. We couldn't get on/off at our leisure to explore the city as they advertise.

4. The view and smell were bad.

Viking response:

1. They did allow us to get on the shuttle running from our hotel (Movenpick) to the ship with people who had previously arranged transfers, so that was good.

2. After a long discussion with the concierge, they booked a taxi for us at the end of the cruise to take us to the train station. Two other people in the same predicament joined us.

3. They provided a few shuttles to run back and forth to the city. We waited over an hour to get back to the ship from the city because one of the shuttles was caught up in traffic.

4. There was nothing they could do with the view/smell.

We understand that the docking is out of their control, but I think that due to the high season of tulips, they were using as many ships as possible (and probably the other lines were as well) and the docks in town were overloaded. According to one of our shuttle drivers, he had never had to drive to our dock before.

Our concern is that while we overall had a nice trip, this severely impacted our Amsterdam stay which was 1/3 of our trip. And Viking didn't seem to care. That is the part that bothers me the most. They never once apologized. They only acted like it was beyond their control. That may be, but they had ships docking in the middle of town whose passengers were enjoying a much better experience than we were sitting outside of town in a smelly, ugly dock. And we paid the same amount.

I sent a message to Viking about 5 days ago through their website with my concerns. The website promises a response in 2 business days but I have not received one. We are holding off on booking a summer 2016 cruise while we await a response. This is our first Viking trip and may be our last. We aren't tied to them. If and how they respond will determine how we go forward. Honestly, if the staff had acted like it was problem or maybe offered an additional optional excursion or something like that to acknowledge the issue, we would have left with warm and fuzzy feelings and wouldn't be posting this now.

This is definitely a sad state of affairs. One of the major advantages of river cruising out of Amsterdam has definitely been being so close to city center.

Thanks for posting. This is important information for other river cruises.

With the number of new ships that Viking and others have been building it seems very obvious that there is going to be over-crowding in the ports as well as on the rivers. It has now become about the same as deep water ports when 3, 4 or 5 large ships dock. It is always nice to be on one of the first ships arriving at Ketchikan and not the last which might have to tender. And unfortunately there is only so much prime city center docking space. This problem is only going to get worse and we are all going to have to learn to deal with it. :(

Wondering too how this will impact other companies who depart out of Amsterdam. Will need to watch this issue thru the next 3 - 4 months.

Not sure if you have a Facebook page but you might try posting on their page if you do. Add a #VikingCruises #poor #customerservice

Most businesses know the value of a good social media presence and don't like with they get bad press. They monitor it and you will more than likely get attention and response.

I have heard more than one Viking sales rep promote their cruises by saying that they own the docks in European ports and therefore always have the best docking locations........hmmmm!

I have heard more than one Viking sales rep promote their cruises by saying that they own the docks in European ports and therefore always have the best docking locations........hmmmm!

I will not go so far as to say that is a blatant lie, let's just say that it's an inaccurate statement on Viking's part since the docks are owned by the town/municipality in which they are located, which is why the cruise ships have no say as to where they actually dock or where they'll be placed in rafting. That is up to the local dockmaster and he or she has the last word when it comes to everything that goes on at the dock.

I will not go so far as to say that is a blatant lie, let's just say that it's an inaccurate statement on Viking's part since the docks are owned by the town/municipality in which they are located, which is why the cruise ships have no say as to where they actually dock or where they'll be placed in rafting. That is up to the local dockmaster and he or she has the last word when it comes to everything that goes on at the dock.

Yet another reason to exercise caution when considering this cruise line.

I'd say post this on Facebook, but it appears Viking is removing unflattering posts there.

This is just one more strike against them IMO.

With so many new ships it is impossible for all to be docked in town. I have read a similar complaint concerning a Viking ship in Paris.

If the dock master is in charge I would assume this will be an issue with all lines, not just Viking.

When I saw the picture of the canopy with the Viking name, it brought back memories of something I saw last June in Amsterdam at the river cruise docks near Central Station. We were docked there at the start of an Avalon cruise and when we left mid-morning for our included tour of Amsterdam, we saw a Viking canopy just like the one in the picture and it was full of unattended luggage. I could not believe that there was no one watching the luggage. When we came back 2 hours later, the canopy and the unattended luggage was there. Just another in my list of reasons to avoid Viking river cruises.

If the dock master is in charge I would assume this will be an issue with all lines, not just Viking.

Yes it does. For instance, when we docked in Amsterdam we were in an industrial area (not as bad as OP) but it was quite removed from Amsterdam and our bus driver (we were coming from Brussels) couldn't find the ship or the dock!! Last year when we docked in Constanta, we were actually docked in a huge shipyard, the only water you could see was the water we were sitting in. I think the problem is how the different companies handle it.Viking may deliver a good product (I don't know from personal experience) but they seem to be lacking in customer relations and it's not just them....too many companies seem to think it's better to lie to the customer than tell the truth and risk the customer being angry. Makes no sense, if you know the truth at least you can deal with it.

I'm guessing that Suezhaven is for extreme overload from town. It is further from town than Coenhaven (the dock where I've also seen complaints). In looking at the dock schedule for the next week or so, I see the Viking Magi at Coenhaven but no one at Suezhaven.

I have traveled many times with Viking and have docked in many industrial areas. Your package of instructions included a map of where the ship "might be" and also included the following:

"Your ship will be docked in one of these locations. Do not dismiss your taxi until you have positively located the ship. The ship‘s docking location is at the discretion of port

authorities, and your ship‘s Captain can be ordered to move the ship without notice. If you encounter any difficulty, call your ship."

True, pflorio, but Suezhaven wasn't listed as a possible dock. I hate to sound like such a complainer but we were very disappointed with that aspect of the trip and especially with Viking's attitude toward it.

The good news is that you now know, and can have a Plan B. It is better to know now, than to be uninformed and shocked when you arrive. Enjoy!

We were on the same cruise and, while we would have preferred docking in town, we just didn't find this to be such a big deal. The shuttle buses dropped us right downtown. We were also on the bus that had the one hour delay because of an accident. When we travel we know that things may happen that are beyond our control and the control of the tour/cruise line. We don't let things like this impact our enjoyment of our trip. We did and saw everything we wanted to see and do in Amsterdam. That was what was important to us. I did not notice any smell at the dock and, while it certainly was not a beautiful location, we were too busy to really pay much attention to the location.

Central docking is supposed to be the big advantage to river cruising, especially in the embarkation ports. I would be most disappointed if this happened.

Now ocean cruises typically dock in outlying areas. I made a mistake booking a holland America ship out of Amsterdam and did not catch the ship really departed from Imjuiden, a forty minute ride out of town. No public transportation to and from. We had to pay for expensive transfers. It was my error but I was shocked at the docking location and felt it was a little disingenuous to even put Amsterdam in the literature.

This was our first river cruise and my first trip to the mainland of Europe. It was definitely a major disappointment though we didn't let it ruin our trip at all. But it seemed to be a problem for quite a few passengers. I was so hoping when we came back to Amsterdam toward the end of the cruise that we would get to dock in town. I truly believe it would have been a different experience to have been able to do so. Overall, we've decided that when we take another it will hopefully be full of stops that we can just walk off/walk on. We spend way too much time on coaches. Overall though, it was a great trip. Not sold on Viking yet though.

We were on the same cruise and, while we would have preferred docking in town, we just didn't find this to be such a big deal. The shuttle buses dropped us right downtown. We were also on the bus that had the one hour delay because of an accident. When we travel we know that things may happen that are beyond our control and the control of the tour/cruise line. We don't let things like this impact our enjoyment of our trip. We did and saw everything we wanted to see and do in Amsterdam. That was what was important to us. I did not notice any smell at the dock and, while it certainly was not a beautiful location, we were too busy to really pay much attention to the location.

I love your post because it illustrates how 2 wonderful people can experience the exact same set of circumstances, and have completely different reactions. You guys probably took this trip to experience the tulips and I'll bet they were spectacular.

FM

The tulips were wonderful!

This was our first river cruise and my first trip to the mainland of Europe. It was definitely a major disappointment though we didn't let it ruin our trip at all. But it seemed to be a problem for quite a few passengers. I was so hoping when we came back to Amsterdam toward the end of the cruise that we would get to dock in town. I truly believe it would have been a different experience to have been able to do so. Overall, we've decided that when we take another it will hopefully be full of stops that we can just walk off/walk on. We spend way too much time on coaches. Overall though, it was a great trip. Not sold on Viking yet though.

Look into Vantage, Lattelady...I've done 6 trips with them and have 2 booked. I also did a price comparison in Feb, 2015 on cruise critic and was astounded to find Vantage cost less than Viking and gives you much better service and much more value for your money...as in all excursions are included, there's only a few optional tours and they tend to be really special and worth the extra money, plus with the single exception of Amsterdam and Vienna, we docked within walking distance at every port.

Hydokitty: The only port Lattelady was complaining about was Amsterdam and that is one of the ports that you were not docked within walking distance of city center. Where the boats dock has nothing to do with the price or quality of a cruise but on numbers of boats coming into the docking areas. Perhaps customer service from Viking is lacking when compared to Vantage, but I am sure Vantage will fare no better than Viking on docking locations.

biker,

I do think that something is going on with Viking in Amsterdam so that they're the only river cruise company docking the Westpoort area of Amsterdam. If you go to marinetraffic.com and look at Amsterdam, you'll see that all the other river cruise boats are docked somewhere near the Centraal Station, whereas the Viking boats are all docked in the Westpoort area. It's been that way for several weeks now.

FuelScience