mrredman

water level forecast for New Orleans over next two weeks

Water level forecast for Memphis over next two weeks

So why is it that Viking continues to operate this cruise, fully knowing those passengers in the very rear of the ship will be unable to sleep while the ship is in motion? We had 332 passengers on our trip and were not given the opportunity to move our room because Guest Services said the cruise was “fully booked”. Full capacity is 386, which means 27 other staterooms were open. Unexcuseable!

You are correct. The price they charge leaves you to believe everything is going to high end, with excellent customer service and amenities. That is not the case on this Viking Mississippi ship. The food, service and cruising is no where near the quality of European river cruises. Based on my experience this past week, please avoid being sucked into Viking’s marketing propaganda. High price …. very poor value.

Our November 19-26 Viking Mississippi River cruise just ended this morning and we can not wait to get home. Just like the European Airline SABENA - such a bad experience, never again! We were originally booked on the June 25th New Orleans to Memphis cruise, that was canceled 2 weeks before departure, because the ship and crew were not ready. We were offered a 110% cruise credit, which applied to this Nov. 19-26 cruise. The only room available was Explorer Suite #362, which is in the very rear of the ship. Once we arrived in Memphis to start our “cruise”, we were informed the river was closed in Rosedale, MS so Viking was going to bus us to Vicksburg, MS where we would board the ship. This meant instead of us cruising 305 nautical miles, we would only cruise 150 nautical miles, or 50% of the river we signed up for. We found the Explorer Suite to be very nice, u til the ship began to cruise on the evening of day 3. Just as soon as the ship began to move, we experienced violently shaking of the entire suite. We, along with our bed, the pocket door to the bathroom, lamp shades, ceiling and sides of the cabin shake from 10pm to 4am. When we complained to Guest Service in the morning, they said they could do nothing about it. They said the cruise was fully booked and we could not be moved. This violent shaking occurred on 3 other occasions, as the ship traveled. Always at night, from 3 to 6 hours at a time. At breakfast this morning, our wait staff attendant said there were 332 passengers onboard, and not a fully booked cruise as stated by Guest Services. Our suite cost us $16,800 or $2400 a day. We wrote Corporate Guest Services twice during our cruise and no one contacted us. Hence, last night we filed a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Booking the Explorer suites at the rear of the ship is fraudulent knowing this vibration issue has existed since the first cruises in September. Guest Services, the housekeeping staff and the wait staff all know of this problem. So please, please, please, DO NOT book an Explorer suite at the rear of the ship. Other comments: we ordered room service for 8:30 am one morning and by 9:10am it had not arrived. Both the Restaurant and Cafe closed at 9am, so we had to scramble to get breakfast that morning. In Vicksburg they arranged for shuttles every 30 minutes into and out of town. We toured a Civil War and Coca-Cola museum from 1-2:15pm. We walked over to the bus shuttle location at 2:20pm, anticipating getting on the 2:30pm shuttle. It did not show. Nor did the 3pm or 3:30pm shuttles. Our group grew from 6 people to over 60 by the time a shuttle showed up at 3:40pm. The driver could only take 50 passengers, so he left the remaining 10 to catch the next shuttle. It was a very cool and windy day.