Viking "Custom Air"-what would you do?

[parkie]

I took a taxi from the Prague Old Town Hilton to the airport about three years ago and it was fine; I paid the hotel directly and they arranged the taxi. I don't recall the fare, but it was not high. Cannot address Budapest; have been there but transportation was pre-arranged.

[Viking Cruises]

I'm going on a Viking cruise June 2012 and have been overwhelmed by the negative posts but I try to remember that people are more likely to comment negatively than positively in any case.

 

I'm praying for good water levels, decent flights, decent weather and trusting that this trip will be as wonderful as the trip I took with Viking in China. From the minute I stepped on that boat I thought "I'm cruising with Viking again some day". Time will tell.

 

Dear laurmorr,

 

We are truly happy to hear that you had a wonderful time with us in China and we’re honored that you decided to cruise with us again in Europe this June. There has been a lot of talk on these boards about water levels in Europe over the past few months and we understand how reading all of the posts can be overwhelming.

 

Low water conditions on European rivers are rare and hard to predict. There is no 'dry' season, and no 'wet' season. Although rainfall throughout the year in most European countries where we sail is not divided exactly even over the months, it also does not display a pattern of extremes. The drought and low water conditions we experienced in the fall of 2011 were highly unusual. In fact, in the last thirty years, only three other instances have been recorded that came anywhere close. In the unlikely event that your upcoming cruise would be impacted, we would inform you as soon as we had a clear picture of such an impact.

 

An advantage that Viking travelers in Europe often have, should water levels effect their itinerary, is that we sail sister ships on the same itinerary in opposite directions. That means that should for some reason your ship be unable to continue sailing as scheduled, we are able to “swap ships” and our guests continue their cruise in the same cabin number and with their same fellow travelers, just on a ship with a different name. A vast majority of the time this strategic procedure works and causes minimal inconvenience to our guests, if any at all.

 

In addition to that, we brought your concern to one of our executives who has 10+ years of experience with water levels in European rivers and he said that June has not previously been a month for extreme low water variations. We hope that this helps alleviate some of your apprehension. If you would like to discuss any of this further, or ask any additional questions, you can always contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com. We’d be very happy to hear from you.

 

We’re looking forward to June and hope you are too.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

[burrma]

Dear laurmorr,

 

We are truly happy to hear that you had a wonderful time with us in China and we’re honored that you decided to cruise with us again in Europe this June. There has been a lot of talk on these boards about water levels in Europe over the past few months and we understand how reading all of the posts can be overwhelming.

 

Low water conditions on European rivers are rare and hard to predict. There is no 'dry' season, and no 'wet' season. Although rainfall throughout the year in most European countries where we sail is not divided exactly even over the months, it also does not display a pattern of extremes. The drought and low water conditions we experienced in the fall of 2011 were highly unusual. In fact, in the last thirty years, only three other instances have been recorded that came anywhere close. In the unlikely event that your upcoming cruise would be impacted, we would inform you as soon as we had a clear picture of such an impact.

 

An advantage that Viking travelers in Europe often have, should water levels effect their itinerary, is that we sail sister ships on the same itinerary in opposite directions. That means that should for some reason your ship be unable to continue sailing as scheduled, we are able to “swap ships” and our guests continue their cruise in the same cabin number and with their same fellow travelers, just on a ship with a different name. A vast majority of the time this strategic procedure works and causes minimal inconvenience to our guests, if any at all.

 

In addition to that, we brought your concern to one of our executives who has 10+ years of experience with water levels in European rivers and he said that June has not previously been a month for extreme low water variations. We hope that this helps alleviate some of your apprehension. If you would like to discuss any of this further, or ask any additional questions, you can always contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com. We’d be very happy to hear from you.

 

We’re looking forward to June and hope you are too.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

I feel much better reading this nice message from you.

[nordski]

Wonderful responses you have made about Viking and I also like your optimistic attitude.

I must say: Viking customer relations did call me; haven't had time to return their call; very busy preparing to cruise this weekend but was impressed that they read CC and are so willling to work on the negatives. Will certainly post my reviews after their cruise.

Hi burrma

 

Glad your concerns have somewhat dissipated. We've cruised twice with Viking in Europe and would not hesitate to do so again.

 

Hope you have a great time anticipating your vacation with them.

[jeniliadisuja123]

ya ,i would like to go with viking,its a diffrent type of entertainment.

[pflorio994]

I'm shocked at how many people wished they hadn't booked with Viking and many friends of mine have just booked Danube River Cruise for Oct. 2013. It's been a rough road so far since we booked due to many Viking policies and booking a group of us and I was trying to be positive but from everything I've read, OH MY GOSH! Doesn't Viking read their complaints? Wished I had read CC earlier. I find way more complaints than positives and people that did contact Viking after their negative experience sure didn't get satisfaction. Who wants 30% back on their next river cruise when the one they took was so poor. Hope to hear positive comments from people who have done Danube river cruise with Viking in Oct.

 

I have taken 3 Viking river cruises and have never had a problem with the company. In fact, I found customer service to be very courteous. I have been on the Romantic Danube, Elegant Elbe and the Rhine Getaway. All trips were taken in the last week of October or early November. If people do their research, they will see that water levels fall. In fact, when you are on board, they explain the water levels of the rivers. It is not Viking's fault that Europe did not have a rainy season and the water levels became very low. Look at our own Texas; where people are crying for water because they had severe drought this past year.

 

I am looking forward to doing another trip with Viking this coming November.

[sandune1]

I flew in/out of Frankfurt airport on my way to Budapest for Viking cruise and out of Nuremberg. Had to leave ship at 6A for 8:30A flight to Frankfurt. Some had to leave the ship at 3:30A for a 6A flight. Getting thru Nuremberg was a breeze, but the security line at Frankfurt isn't quick, I can assure you. There are no ATMs outside of the main terminal and I had to re-enter departing terminal second time...ugh. Return home from Frankfurt was even worse. There was a real bottleneck as other flights started closing in to the line. If you only have an hour, you are taking a big chance. I changed originally my flight from Amsterdam to Budapest on a different airline because of only a 1 hour 20 minute turnover which was stressful to think about (my great flights were changed because of an AF cancelled flight from Paris to Budapest which messed me up). The Corinthia hotel in Budapest is suppose to be one of the better ones. My Viking stay was at the Hilton on Castle Hill, but because of water levels we were unable to leave Budapest by ship so we all stayed at the 5-star LeMeridien which was great. The Corinthia is in a very convenient location. My transfers were with Viking and myself and 2 others arrived and were transported by a small van to our hotel by the cruise director and driver. No waiting and left as soon as baggage was collected. Trip to the city is about 30 minutes.

[sandune1]

Desert Gal

 

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I flew in/out of Frankfurt airport on my way to Budapest for Viking cruise and out of Nuremberg. Had to leave ship at 6A for 8:30A flight to Frankfurt. Some had to leave the ship at 3:30A for a 6A flight. Getting thru Nuremberg was a breeze, but the security line at Frankfurt isn't quick, I can assure you. There are no ATMs outside of the main terminal and I had to re-enter departing terminal second time...ugh. Return home from Frankfurt was even worse. There was a real bottleneck as other flights started closing in to the line. If you only have an hour, you are taking a big chance. I changed originally my flight from Amsterdam to Budapest on a different airline because of only a 1 hour 20 minute turnover which was stressful to think about (my great flights were changed because of an AF cancelled flight from Paris to Budapest which messed me up). The Corinthia hotel in Budapest is suppose to be one of the better ones. My Viking stay was at the Hilton on Castle Hill, but because of water levels we were unable to leave Budapest by ship so we all stayed at the 5-star LeMeridien which was great. The Corinthia is in a very convenient location. My transfers were with Viking and myself and 2 others arrived and were transported by a small van to our hotel by the cruise director and driver. No waiting and left as soon as baggage was collected. Trip to the city is about 30 minutes.