boatbunny

As a former 8 year US based former Viking employee, who lived on one of the Viking ships on the Danube for a month as part of a work study program, and have had the distinct pleasure of taking over 8 Viking cruises, I feel the need to speak out. First, my deepest sympathies to the crew members, family, friends snd colleagues of the victims.

Viking does and always has employed the most qualified, professional and dedicated personnel on their ships. The Captains ( and I've met several and served as a temporary crew member) take their positions extremely seriously . You will NEVER see a Captain or First Officer acting in any type of unprofessional manner, including even having a glass of wine at dinner, they are served apple juice for any public toasting event, their interaction with passengers is minimal because their focus is making sure passengers, crew and the ship are always safe. They have to make decisions based on safety that are sometimes not too popular with the passengers, they need to balance comfort, the experience with safety. And yet countless times I've seen them have to make such a decision , whether it's having to arrive or leave later from a port or skip one altogether , and be met with nothing but complaint from passengers.

I have worked for 2 other river cruise lines, on much shorter terms, and have witnessed completely different and drastic conduct. Captains and executive crew members who were more focused on fraternizing, in a highly unprofessional way, with passengers to the point where I was concerned for the safety of all. So believe me, I've seen the comparison and would not for a split second waiver on stepping onto a Viking ship today or years from now.

Has Viking grown fast? Yes, however being someone behind the scenes whose seen it, ship operations around the world have maintained the same level of safety , reliability, comfort and professionalism that they did with 10 ships. I will say that the growing pains are reflected in their US operations and is where the company needs to change and focus on how it's US based employees are treated therefore impacting the pre cruise experience.

Navigating these ships on the river is not easy . There is a lot of analysis by the Captain and his officers going on constantly. While you may think it's a leisurely sail, there is so much going on behind the scenes to insure safety and comfort, you would never suspect .

I won't make a guess as to what occurred with this accident, but one thing I am extremely confident about is that it was not due to unreliable , inexperienced, or lazy executive crew. There will be a lot of inaccurate speculation, and a few comments I've already seen are so ignorant and inaccurate it makes me laugh. So before you start placing blame, wait until the professionals and the accurate information is released before suggesting how this horrible tragedy occurred.

The ships are docked along the canal in Nuremburg which is about 3-4 mikes from the Old Town. Some of the cruise lines will run shuttles, however there are plenty of taxis also at the docks. If you are cruising with Viking and starting in Nuremburg, your only free time will be your arrival day, the next day you will tour with the ship in the morning and then the ship sets sail in the early afternoon at lunch. If you are concluding in Nuremburg, you should still have time after the included tour for free time. Nuremburg is one of the largest markets, but you will be enjoying many other great, smaller ones along the way too