Danube Water Levels Low

[greenman1168]

Hate to be the bearer of bad news. Just came back from the "Viking Danube Bus Tour". So here's you preview of Viking's "back up plan":

 

As report by the OP, the Legend was not able to complete the journey. At Nuremburg, we were first put on the Legend's sister ship Prestige, which was basically confined at the Mien-Danube Canal not able to sail pass Pasau (first port of call on the Danube). The sailing on the canal, not surprisingly, is kind of ... meh.

 

Starting from day 3, it's bus ride after bus ride after bus ride, until we got bused into Budapest at the end of a 3 and half hr bus trip. So instead of a half day guided tour followed by an afternoon of free time, we got TWO HOURS of daylight in Budapest! So the guided city tour consist of guides telling passenger what they can see during the day. :rolleyes:

 

Other sight-seeinng was similarly curtailed. Pratcally no free time can be found between the bussing and repeated packing and un-packing.

 

 

Viking's attitude?

 

"You're lucky, you got to sail on 2 ships instead of 1" -- we got bused from the Prestige to Legend, but was only able to sail for one day on the Legend before we got bused into Budapest.

 

Instead of docking at Passu and walk to the sights, we were dropped by bus there. So walking back to the ship for lunch was not an option. We were "treated" to a free lunch. But we had to pay for our own drink, even non-alcohol ones! ;)

 

Same story for lunch in Budapest. Pay our own drink at lunch. We were not able to check into the hotel at Budapest till the evening.

 

"When you get home, you'll find a letter from Viking with compensation" -- The only Viking correspondence so far is more marketing material.

 

Two more weeks since the first cruise-turn-bus-tour of the Legend and Prestige. One of the passenger had a friend doing a cruise next week, no warning from Viking, no offer to re-book as of now.

 

Too bad you didn't buy insurance. Or it would be easy to simply cancel. Still, I don't think it would hurt to e-mail them (so there's a "paper" trail) and request a re-scheduling of the cruise. If they have the audacity to deny you, you have a much stronger case to demand compensation if it comes to that.

Wow, at NYC! Thanks for the preview... About as gloomy a prospect as I feared it would be...and to think we paid the big bucks for a business class flight, so our flight would be as "luxurious" as the cruise...even if we got a voucher for another cruise, I doubt if they would rebook the flight, even though we booked it through Viking.

I originally did email Viking with my concerns, and their response was that I should call their customer service department. I will write them again...may I attach a copy of your report? They should have some of their people reading Cruise Critic forums, but maybe they will sit up and take notice if they are reminded from various sources that the word of their poor substitutions is getting out.

Thanks for your report and the link to the article. I will give it another shot and see if we can cancel for a similar cruise (and hopefully the flight as well, since that costs again as much as the cruise).

I am well aware how little daylight there is in the dead of winter in Europe. Bussing and packing and unpacking further robs what precious daylight there is. We could do it ourselves much cheaper and more comfortably in a rented car...but then we wouldn't go in the dead of winter. Only lure of the river cruise made the Christmas Market season visit appealing.

You didn't mention what the stop in Vienna was like. That is on our itinerary for Christmas Eve day, and we were so looking forward to the classical music concert, the ride through the Vienna Woods, the Schoenbrunn Palace tour, and the midnight Christmas service. Doesn't sound like there will be time for any of that, what a way to spend Christmas!

One of their selling points is that you get unlimited free beer or wine with lunch and dinner...I guess they don't honor that when they "treat you to a free lunch" at an eatery of their choosing when they can't provide the shipboard TLC.

I am really sorry that you had such a disappointing experience...I gather from some of the other posts, it seems that other cruise lines are offering their customers a more satisfactory alternative than Viking is. They sure spend a lot of money on expensive brochures and advertising, that is how they got our attention... but if they don't offer a satisfactory alternative, all the advertising in the world isn't going to make me want to cruise with them again, and their reputation will be seriously damaged as unhappy cruisers report en masse on how they handled a foreseen situation.

I'll post again as things transpire.

Cheers!

Edie

[Paulmj]

Wow, at NYC! They sure spend a lot of money on expensive brochures and advertising, that is how they got our attention... but if they don't offer a satisfactory alternative, all the advertising in the world isn't going to make me want to cruise with them again, and their reputation will be seriously damaged as unhappy cruisers report en masse on how they handled a foreseen situation.

Edie

 

I think what you're seeing here is an example of a business that is driven by marketing and/or bean-counter people. The cost and concerns of providing customer service is a relatively low priority. If they get "generous" with some kind of compensation, it's probably more of an effort at PR rather than genuine concern for their customers.

 

Unfortunately, most companies are this way, and not just those in the travel business.

 

An example of a company that operates with customer satisfaction being a paramount priority is Apple. Besides offering a superior product, they are driven to make their customers happy. If you're an Apple user and/or if you read the recent biography of Steve Jobs you can see this philosophy in action. For this reason, as well as others, Apple has become a phenomenal corporate success story.

 

I think the next couple of weeks will be a telling experience as to the integrity and customer concern of these riverboat operators. We're scheduled to leave for Europe to join our Christmas Markets cruise in the next ten days. We have the insurance package (cruise, pre-stay hotel, and air arrangements) all booked through the cruise line.

 

Through our travel agent and to the company direct, I've posed the questions of a) how do you plan to deal with the situation such as it is and b) what is your policy if we elect to cancel? Will compensation be in the form of a full refund, a credit on a future cruise, what?

 

At this point, I don't know what we're going to do. Ideally, the cruise company will come up with an action plan that deals with a worst case scenario, a situation that we can live with. Just saying that they'll put us on a bus as needed is really no plan at all.

 

We'll see.

[at_nyc]

I've read through the past posts. It seems another similar situation only resulted in a 30% credit, no cash refund.

 

This being low season, there're quite a few Viking employees taking their complimentory cruise with us. From talking with them, I was told catagorically there will never be any cash refund. Only credits.

 

Given how this one went, especially the contrast of what their competitor did, I have no interest in taking another Viking cruise again. Never mind having to throw more money into it to even "redeem" the credit. (Oh yes, one of the passenger were on this cruise while redeeming a previous "credit"! Too funny ;) )

 

What really makes my blood boil is only about 70% of the passengers on our cruise were paying customers. The rest are Viking employees taking their annual cruise (one of their fringe benefit) and a large group of travel agents doing their "comp" cruise. So they really only have to accomondate a much smaller group of paying passengers and they still won't do squat! I got a bad feeling (which I shared with one of the travel agent) that perhaps Viking might be in financial trouble so they don't give a damn about their reputation any more. I mean, stuffing a bunch of travel agent by requiring them to pay for their own drink after being bused around? Where does Viking think they'll send their future customer???

 

greenman1168, feel free to use my post. Probably more useful to send them a copy of what their representative are telling the press! They can't deny you the change you request after what their announcements on writing! Good luck.

 

I'll do a report in a couple days with more detail. I don't have anything positive to say abou the Christmas Market. Only the Vienna and Budapest ones were open when we were there. And due to all the time wasted being bused around, we didn't have much time to browse there.

 

b) what is your policy if we elect to cancel? Will compensation be in the form of a full refund, a credit on a future cruise, what?

If you have insurance, you can cancel any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. Just on YOUR whimp!

[greenman1168]

paulmj,

funny you should mention Apple. We just bought an iPad2 to take on the cruise, and it's been quite a learning curve after PC for 20 years. We've had to call the customer service line frequently, and they've been more than generous with their time and assistance. Then I ordered a KindleFire so I wouldn't have to pack a lot of books, and so far we are much more pleased with the Apple, even though it cost much more.

 

I've also had an inkling, that with all the advertising done by Viking River Cruises, that there is a reason why...most businesses know that it costs more to win new customers than to retain customers they already have....as you mention, many companies controlled by bean counters are likely not very interested in customer satisfaction.

 

I keep getting more and more emails and online jabs to book cruises on Viking, including an email about a week ago from Viking patting themselves on the back for getting Cruise Critic's "Best River Cruise Line Award" based on itineraries and ships...no mention of customer service being part of that criteria.

I called Viking again today, and it being Sunday, I got a satellite office in Boston. The rep told me that they were aware of the problems, and at this time they were offering a whopping $100 on-board credit and 25% off a future cruise. I told him that there wouldn't be a future cruise if they couldn't do better than that, such as full credit for a future cruise. He said he would get more information, possibly an update, Monday and call me back after I'd had my first cup of coffee.

Wish you the best of luck on your upcoming cruise, looking forward to your posts. I hope Tauck does a better job of customer service than Viking. It seems that most customers of other lines are more satisfied with the Plan B's of their cruise lines than Viking's.

Looking forward to your reports fromt he cruise!

 

at_nyc,

It's telling, isn't it, that they didn't even try to make the travel agents happy. Do they know that there is no way they will refer Viking after a debaucle like that, not even supplying a free beer or wine...I mean, I could forgive a lot if I get a drink or two to drown my sorrows! Having a lot of non-paying passengers on board also doesn't incentivize Viking to please the remaining paying customers. And that poor passenger who was taking this cruise as compensation for a previous failed cruise...talk about adding insult to injury!

 

Thanks for the permission to send a copy of your post. I did that, also sent them a cut and paste of their spokesperson's remarks in the article, and links to both. I am going to keep bugging them daily if need be, by email and by phone.

I would also encourage other passengers to post their reviews regarding the handling by the various cruise companies of this situation on this forum and others, as it will hopefully result in improved efforts at customer satisfaction.

They kept pushing the prohibitively expensive "cancel for any reason" insurance, but did not indicate why that might be necessary...low water levels and bus tours was something we didn't anticipate, but obviously they knew of the problem at the time I booked. Had we known, we would have bought the insurance, but more likely we wouldn't have booked at all. After stumbling upon the cruisecritic.com page accidentally last week, I've googled relative terms extensively, and found plenty of articles of the Danube having the lowest water levels in 100 years, as far back as April 2011.

At this point, all we look forward to is the business class plane trip there and back, with the Christmas Markets a hopeful diversion from the insult of a $7000 bus tour, schlepping our luggage on and off the bus at every "port".

I'll keep you all posted!

Prost,(looking forward to that gluewein!)

Edie

[Paulmj]

It's telling, isn't it, that they didn't even try to make the travel agents happy. Do they know that there is no way they will refer Viking after a debaucle like that, not even supplying a free beer or wine.

Edie

 

Edie, business doesn't work that way. First of all, I don't think the travel agents give a hoot about how they were treated, because they were comp'd and wined and dined on somebody else's dime. That's where the rubber meets the road. Viking had all these non-revs aboard because the Christmas Markets hadn't opened yet. Few paying customers take a cruise in northern Europe in November when everything is cold, gray and nothing is going on. The Christmas Markets are the appeal, and hopefully Viking knows that for those customers coming up in December, they are going to have to perform a little differently.

 

As far as the travel agents turning away from Viking because of perceived mistreatment, here too, nothing will happen. Nobody cares. If a customer responds to a Viking advertisement and wants to take a cruise, do you really think the T/A will suggest otherwise because of something that happened to the T/A last November? Even if there are some residual hard feelings (and I can't begin to imagine such a thing in the cut-throat travel agent business), Viking will throw a commission sweetener spiff to the T/A and in the end, that's what makes the world go 'round.

 

Finally, to at_nyc, you say "If you have insurance, you can cancel any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. Just on YOUR whimp!", I have no idea what this means. Maybe it's a NY thing? :-) Please translate for those of us living west of the Hudson.

[pacmom]

Paulmj, we all make typos and use the wrong word at times, yours was insurance for assurance. Guess atnyc meant whim not whimp. You are very upset about all of this, hope your trip turns out to be wonderful. Pat

[greenman1168]

Hi paulmj,

I think I can answer for at_nyc re:

Finally, to at_nyc, you say "If you have insurance, you can cancel any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all. Just on YOUR whimp!", I have no idea what this means. Maybe it's a NY thing? :-) Please translate for those of us living west of the Hudson.

__________________

He was referring to the "cancel for no reason" third-party insurance that Viking offers, the one that cost 10% of the total package (and why we didn't think it was worth the chance take it, not knowing about the 100-year water level crisis). Had we taken that insurance, we could have called Viking and said "cancel!" and just been out the price of the insurance.

 

I know you have a lot of travel experience on every imaginable conveyance in every part of the world, on plenty of cruises large and small, so I take to heart your analysis of the business aspect of the TA / travel provider relationship.

I do remember, in the 1990's, being steered to some pretty skanky digs by our local small-town travel agent in destinations as diverse as Ireland and Las Vegas, which absolutely could not have had anything to do with any positive personal experiences they had there. They were motivated by the bucks. That was when we started planning our own trips, and never used a travel agent or canned tour again...until now.

 

I guess we fell for the myriad Viking ads popping up on any internet site I visited, the glossy brochures they sent for years being dumped into the recycle bin immediately, having left us shocked at the price. We'd been on day cruises on several rivers (Rhine, Neckar, Seine, even a one-week Med cruise) as side attractions in our travels. But I never got to see the Christmas Markets, as they started after we returned home before Advent. We've been to Europe to visit family in the grey of November, and I remember everything being closed, as it was neither spring, summer, fall, or ski season. Nostalgia about a vaguely remembered long-ago European childhood Christmas caught me in a weak moment. I read somewhere recently that most people who take Viking River Cruises are Americans in their 60's, have some connection to the area, and want to visit the home of their ancestors. Just our demographic! So that bombardment of advertising must work for them. Trouble is, it only works ONCE. We're not so old that we can't arrange a much more pleasurable vacation on our own, for far less money, just like we've been doing for the last couple of decades.

Really appreciate your expert input!

Wishing all of you cool cruisers a truly memorable and enjoyable experience.

Think I will go and make some gluehwein now :-)

Cheers!

Edie

[greenman1168]

***

being Sunday, I got a satellite office in Boston. The rep told me that they were aware of the problems, and at this time they were offering a whopping $100 on-board credit and 25% off a future cruise. I told him that there wouldn't be a future cruise if they couldn't do better than that, such as full credit for a future cruise. He said he would get more information, possibly an update, Monday and call me back after I'd had my first cup of coffee.

---------------------------

well, I never got a call back as promised, but I did get a Cyber Monday deals email from CruCon Cruise, in which Viking offers 10% off a new booking on a cruise...so that brings their sad 25% off a future cruise offer to compensate for a bus tour down to just 15% off what they are offering the general public today. Not good PR.

Hope they improve their compensation offer if this disaster continues.

[at_nyc]

Edie, business doesn't work that way. First of all, I don't think the travel agents give a hoot about how they were treated, because they were comp'd and wined and dined on somebody else's dime.

I'm no travel agent so I'm not up on how the business works. But I'm guessing the T/A can take a comp cruise after they booked x number of clients. Well, if the T/A don't enjoy the cruise, there goes one of the incentive to send clients Viking's way. If the client doesn't know any better and sending them to say, Uniworld or Avalon will get the T/A on one of THOSE cruise ships, you know which one they'll recommend? ;)

 

More over, although they don't have to pay for the cruise, they still out the money for the flight, which is not a travial sum if you're from the west coast!

 

Even if there are some residual hard feelings (and I can't begin to imagine such a thing in the cut-throat travel agent business), Viking will throw a commission sweetener spiff to the T/A and in the end, that's what makes the world go 'round.

That would cost Viking a lot more than a couple of free drinks on board!

 

Somebody is not abke to count. Or they couldn't care less because they're going down. Sometimes you wonder why all of a sudden one company is advertising all over the place at cut throat prices. Maybe it's because they're having a cash flow problem and needed the income in a hurry!

[greenman1168]

Promises from Viking for a callback not being forthcoming as their advertisements keep bombarding our internet use, it does make you wonder, doesn't it?

Just have to add this. Although not being involved with any cruise line, for many years I worked in the hospitality industry in our small town that, due to the collapse of the timber and fishing industry, now relies solely on tourism. Never in any of the many inopportune visitations of "acts of god", low or high water levels, or downed power lines resulting in over a week's power outage, or any stretch of anyone's most fantastic imagination would it have been OK for any principal or employee of any of our tourist providers to have the "if you didn't buy the insurance, take a bath, get a job" attitude currently being presented by Viking River Cruises in the current disaster.

[greenman1168]

Editing not being possible after 20 minutes, I rethought the somewhat esoteric "get a bath, get a job" reference to a statement by a current popular presidential candidate might be more easily understood if I replaced that with "you didn't buy the insurance, so too bad, we have your money, good luck getting your value."

[Viking Cruises]

Dear Viking Guests,

 

We understand that you have questions and concerns about how river water levels have affected your cruise, or if your upcoming trip will be affected. Please consider that we always do our best to provide you with accurate, up-to-date information regarding itineraries that are specific to ships and destinations around the world. Weather-related changes that are beyond our control are particularly challenging, but we will continue to do everything in our power to provide you with a wonderful travel experience.

 

If you have recently returned from a cruise and are disappointed with how it was affected by the river levels, please first accept our apologies and then contact us directly so that we may discuss your concerns with your personally.

 

If you have questions about your upcoming cruise, we also encourage you to contact us directly so that we may address your questions on an individual basis as they will pertain to your ship and itinerary.

 

In each case you can reach us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com or 1.877.668.4546, extension 4525 (Customer Relations).

 

With warm regards and best wishes for a happy holiday season,

Viking River Cruises

[at_nyc]

we always do our best to provide you with accurate, up-to-date information regarding itineraries that are specific to ships and destinations around the world.

I've just read the Viking's Facebook discussion page. A passenger departing from Budapest was told 2 days prior departure there's NO WATER ISSUE! When in reality the previous week's cruise wasn't able to reach Budapest and the passengers had been bused.

 

If you have questions about your upcoming cruise, we also encourage you to contact us directly so that we may address your questions on an individual basis as they will pertain to your ship and itinerary.

We were told on board "when you get home, you'll find a letter from Viking detailing the compensation". Well, there's no letter!

 

(Not that I was even interested in some partial credit I can only 'redeem' by sinking more money into Viking's bank account. And how do you compensate the lost of vacation time wasted on a bus on some boring highway?)

 

And as posted by greenman1168, Viking didn't even return his call concerning water level!

[BPCruiser]

Well after reading all the negative posts about Viking's handeling of the river level situation I truly empathize with all of you who are scheduled on Viking upcoming or have completed a Viking cruise/buse tour with disappointment. My point of this post is to give my very best positive compliments to Avalon's handeling of our Budapest to Prague trip from which we just returned. I too was initially very disappointed at the news about being changed from the new ship the Panorama to the older Tapestry but I must now say how lucky I we feel that we were able to spend all 7 nights of our scheduled cruise on a river boat sailing( 5 on the Tapestry and then moved to our final 2 on the Panorama). The Tapestry was apparently designed differently being a older ship and could make it as far as Linz. We overnighted on the Tapestry our 5th night in Passau and only had to take a short bus ride the following morning to Regensburg to meet up with the Panorama late morning to complete our final 2 days of cruising to Nuremburg.

For the inconvenience of having our river boat changed from the Panorama to the Tapestry for 5 days, Avalon offered us a full cancellation refund before we even departed the U.S. They also offered for those who decided to stay with the cruise on the Tapestry a $400/pp refund to our credit card used for trip payment as well as a 100 Euros/pp on board ship credit to use for drinks, extra excursions or whatever. We did take out the trip insurance thru Avalon but did our own airfare and I venture to say from speaking to many people on board that all were so very pleased that they did not cancel as the Tapestry was cozy, comfortable and staff wonderful. Many passangers even hated to have to pack up and switch for the final 2 nights to the Panorama as they were quite happy on the Tapestry. The Panorama as I have said was beautiful as a brand new ship and we are glad we had at least 2 nights to experience her luxury and spaciousness. In my personal opinion, we all came out as winners from the perspecutive that we had a great cruise, felt that we missed out on nothing other then maybe a little extra morning time in Regensberg while being transited there on bus to meet the Panorama, had money extra to spend on board as we wished and money back to our bank accounts.

 

That is Customer Service in the long run and I think is what will bring so many of those who were on this particular cruise back to Avalon in the future, including myself!! Thank You Avalon for changing my initial very disappointed and disgruntled attitude about the changes to our cruise to being a an avid promoter of why others should seriously consider Avalon for their river cruises. We left this cruise with many wonderful memories, new friends and look forward to future cruises. I am so glad we did not cancel! :)

[greenman1168]

BP Cruiser wrote: That is Customer Service in the long run

 

BP Cruiser, Thank you for posting your experience! I am very glad that it was a positive one. This will hopefully give Viking an idea of how good customer service in adversity, such as what you and others have reported with Avalon, will profit them more in the long run than their heretofore cavalier attitude and paltry compensations.

 

I just received a call from Viking regarding our concerns about our upcoming cruise in light of their previous unsatisfactory responses to the disruptions...they have definitely read the posts on these forums, and seem to be taking them to heart. The person I spoke with was very helpful, and offered a definitive solution that we can live with. That was followed up with a couple of emails and a promise to keep in contact as the situation develops, that we should know within a week of flying out if we can rebook at a later date.

 

at_nyc, I hope that you and others on recent and current Viking itineraries will receive satisfactory compensation from Viking River Cruises. It sounds like they listened to us.

Cheers!

Edie

[shoshona2]

To BP Cruiser,

 

So glad to hear that Avalon did a good job of handling the situation for your river cruise.

 

to greenman1168,

 

So glad to hear that Viking has responded to you in a positive way.

 

Sheila

[ninthisland]

Well after reading all the negative posts about Viking's handeling of the river level situation I truly empathize with all of you who are scheduled on Viking upcoming or have completed a Viking cruise/buse tour with disappointment. My point of this post is to give my very best positive compliments to Avalon's handeling of our Budapest to Prague trip from which we just returned. I too was initially very disappointed at the news about being changed from the new ship the Panorama to the older Tapestry but I must now say how lucky I we feel that we were able to spend all 7 nights of our scheduled cruise on a river boat sailing( 5 on the Tapestry and then moved to our final 2 on the Panorama). The Tapestry was apparently designed differently being a older ship and could make it as far as Linz. We overnighted on the Tapestry our 5th night in Passau and only had to take a short bus ride the following morning to Regensburg to meet up with the Panorama late morning to complete our final 2 days of cruising to Nuremburg.

For the inconvenience of having our river boat changed from the Panorama to the Tapestry for 5 days, Avalon offered us a full cancellation refund before we even departed the U.S. They also offered for those who decided to stay with the cruise on the Tapestry a $400/pp refund to our credit card used for trip payment as well as a 100 Euros/pp on board ship credit to use for drinks, extra excursions or whatever. We did take out the trip insurance thru Avalon but did our own airfare and I venture to say from speaking to many people on board that all were so very pleased that they did not cancel as the Tapestry was cozy, comfortable and staff wonderful. Many passangers even hated to have to pack up and switch for the final 2 nights to the Panorama as they were quite happy on the Tapestry. The Panorama as I have said was beautiful as a brand new ship and we are glad we had at least 2 nights to experience her luxury and spaciousness. In my personal opinion, we all came out as winners from the perspecutive that we had a great cruise, felt that we missed out on nothing other then maybe a little extra morning time in Regensberg while being transited there on bus to meet the Panorama, had money extra to spend on board as we wished and money back to our bank accounts.

 

That is Customer Service in the long run and I think is what will bring so many of those who were on this particular cruise back to Avalon in the future, including myself!! Thank You Avalon for changing my initial very disappointed and disgruntled attitude about the changes to our cruise to being a an avid promoter of why others should seriously consider Avalon for their river cruises. We left this cruise with many wonderful memories, new friends and look forward to future cruises. I am so glad we did not cancel! :)

Glad to hear that your Avalon experience turned out well for you. Having read your posts about the progress of your cruise I was somewhat optimistic about our Avalon cruise from Nuremberg to Vienna leaving on the 27th November. I did ask my T/A to check and Avalon assured her that everything was as per the itinerary. We boarded the Panorama in Nuremberg on the 27th and now late on the 30th we are still in Regensberg. We have been told at midday that we are to disembark at 8.00 am tomorrow morning but have no idea as to what will happen then. As we were due to arrive in Vienna in the afternoon of the 1st of December I can only imagine that we will be bussed to Vienna in the morning.

One of the reasons that we chose a suite with the very large windows was that we could view the Danube from our cabin. So far a large majority of this time we have been moored against another ship so that we must keep the curtains drawn for privacy,

I realize that some things are out of the control of the company, but being honest about the situation, keeping the passengers informed and aware and attempting to make this holiday what we had planned is important. So far Avalon have done none of these things. We wait until tonight to see of we receive any information other than we are being offloaded here in Regensberg tomorrow at 8 am.

I came all this way to see the Danube and so far have seen almost none of it.

[BPCruiser]

Glad to hear that your Avalon experience turned out well for you. Having read your posts about the progress of your cruise I was somewhat optimistic about our Avalon cruise from Nuremberg to Vienna leaving on the 27th November. I did ask my T/A to check and Avalon assured her that everything was as per the itinerary. We boarded the Panorama in Nuremberg on the 27th and now late on the 30th we are still in Regensberg. We have been told at midday that we are to disembark at 8.00 am tomorrow morning but have no idea as to what will happen then. As we were due to arrive in Vienna in the afternoon of the 1st of December I can only imagine that we will be bussed to Vienna in the morning.

One of the reasons that we chose a suite with the very large windows was that we could view the Danube from our cabin. So far a large majority of this time we have been moored against another ship so that we must keep the curtains drawn for privacy,

I realize that some things are out of the control of the company, but being honest about the situation, keeping the passengers informed and aware and attempting to make this holiday what we had planned is important. So far Avalon have done none of these things. We wait until tonight to see of we receive any information other than we are being offloaded here in Regensberg tomorrow at 8 am.

I came all this way to see the Danube and so far have seen almost none of it.

 

So sorry to hear of your situation:(. I truly understand how disappointed you are. I am not surprised to hear that you cannot get further down river then Regensberg since we were bussed from Passau where we got off the Tapestry because it could go no further up river due to low water levels to reach Regensberg. Apparently there is a very low stretch of water difficult to transit between Passau and Regensberg right now. You will probably be bussed to Passau and hopefully still given the option to do the day trip to Salzburg as it was quite lovely with the Christmas Markets and then on to Vienna. Hopefully Avalon will communicate in a timely manner what the remaining trip plans are to the passangers, either on to another boat for the remainder of your downriver trip to Vienna or Hotels. I can understand your disappointment about not being able to enjoy the view from your Panorama suite. I can only hope that Avalon does right by their guests under weather circumstances beyond anyone's control yet wanting their passangers to have as much of the enjoyable vacation they planned for. I hope you have been able to take advantage of your time on the Panorama and get to make the most of the stops in the ports you will be visiting. Keep us posted for how the situation is handled on your trip as I know all cruises are handled differently. Is Robert Z. your Cruise Director for your trip? Best of Luck, I will keep my fingers crossed for you.:)

[at_nyc]

BP Cruiser wrote: That is Customer Service in the long run

 

BP Cruiser, Thank you for posting your experience! I am very glad that it was a positive one. This will hopefully give Viking an idea of how good customer service in adversity, such as what you and others have reported with Avalon, will profit them more in the long run than their heretofore cavalier attitude and paltry compensations.

 

I just received a call from Viking regarding our concerns about our upcoming cruise in light of their previous unsatisfactory responses to the disruptions...they have definitely read the posts on these forums, and seem to be taking them to heart. The person I spoke with was very helpful, and offered a definitive solution that we can live with. That was followed up with a couple of emails and a promise to keep in contact as the situation develops, that we should know within a week of flying out if we can rebook at a later date.

Edie, glad you had a satisfactory aggreement. Enjoy your trip, whatever form it turns out.

 

at_nyc, I hope that you and others on recent and current Viking itineraries will receive satisfactory compensation from Viking River Cruises. It sounds like they listened to us.

Not yet.

 

I have the review ready, including a couple of Christmas Market we did manage to hit. But waiting till tomorrow to hear whatever Viking's latest offer will be. Review will get a final touch base on that.

[greenman1168]

How do you get that partial quote to turn blue? I've only managed to quote the whole post in blue...

at_nyc wrote:

Not yet.

 

I have the review ready, including a couple of Christmas Market we did manage to hit. But waiting till tomorrow to hear whatever Viking's latest offer will be. Review will get a final touch base on that.

................

It appears that Viking prefers to negotiate with passengers individually, rather than having one standard policy for all who were/are/will be affected. But they seem to be negotiating in good faith, so keeping fingers crossed.

I wish you the best of all possible outcomes. Looking forward to reading your review when you publish it.

Edie

[at_nyc]

How do you get that partial quote to turn blue? I've only managed to quote the whole post in blue...

Two ways to do partial quote:

 

1) Hit the quote button on the lower right corner of the post you want to quote. That quotes the whole post. Delete the part not needed.

 

2) hit the quote ("") icon on top of the reply box. Copy and paste the part you need, put it inside the quote bracket

 

It appears that Viking prefers to negotiate with passengers individually, rather than having one standard policy for all who were/are/will be affected. But they seem to be negotiating in good faith, so keeping fingers crossed.

I wish you the best of all possible outcomes. Looking forward to reading your review when you publish it.

Edie

Actually, Viking had made a blanket offer of 30% CREDIT towards future cruise. Considering they didn't deliver even half of the cruise as advertise, they have the guts to keep 70% of the money we paid! And they probably wish everyone just accepts that and few will actually ever use that "credit"!

 

It's those who want more than that they have to negociate individually.

 

They still hadn't got back to me. And the day (and work week) is dwindlinging faster than the day light of Budapest on our last day of (non-)cruise! That leaves me with a full weekend to tell everyone I meet on our club Christmas party what kind of company Viking is and how they "take care of customers" on their bus tour.;) You bet they'll be rushing to book with Viking, right?:rolleyes:

[at_nyc]

Who cares?

 

Those who're about to cruise with Viking and don't want to be shanghai'ed. I'll keep the thread on top for as long as necessary.

 

I wonder why you're reading the water level thread if you don't care. And if you find a thread boring, you always can skip it. What gives?

 

But thanks for bring the thread up to the top anyway. ;)

[greenman1168]

at_nyc,

thanks for the updates, we really appreciate them. WE CARE.

Maybe travel agents, cruise line employees, frequent travellers who have experienced these cruises in better conditions before, and people with deeper pockets than ours, can be nonchalant about a multi-thousand dollar 11-day bus tour in the dead of winter...who knows? It really does matter how cruise lines treat their passengers under less-than-optimal conditions.

[at_nyc]

at_nyc,

thanks for the updates, we really appreciate them. WE CARE.

Maybe travel agents, cruise line employees, frequent travellers who have experienced these cruises in better conditions before, and people with deeper pockets than ours, can be nonchalant about a multi-thousand dollar 11-day bus tour in the dead of winter...who knows? It really does matter how cruise lines treat their passengers under less-than-optimal conditions.

I'm glad I was able to help others with my story.

 

There will be others returning tomorrow. They'll find a thread to add their new tale of Viking bus tour.

[greenman1168]

:-)