A Regent cruiser on Viking

[newlondon]

Islandhalls, I'm sorry you thought Tauck was only OK. I'm quite surprised by your comment that the staff was less than personable, are you referring to any particular group. Ioo the Tauck employees were outstanding and the Scylla staff went above and beyond service wise in addition to being always smiling and friendly. Yes the dining room could be improved, but when we wanted to have a table for two we went to the Lido. I have also said many times on these boards "you get what you pay for" we had a suite 300sq/ft and a spectaculat bathroom in some ways better than Regent, not as well designed though.

Got to say it's always a question of expectations. On our cruise we never had a proplem with the walking groups; and the Tauck specials always made us excited!

Admittedly we did AMS-BUD,not the Rhone:)

[nearly there]

OP back. It's been so interesting to read everyone's comments. It's made me think that perhaps I shouldn't judge all river cruising by our experiences on Viking. I've been reading the Viking Idun thread on the River Cruising board and it seems that the Odin is not the only new Viking ship with problems. Several posters have pointed out that Viking isn't a luxury line; the problem is that here in the UK that's certainly how they're marketing (and definitely pricing) themselves. I guess we might consider another river cruise if it was the best way to see extremely interesting places; thinking a Nile cruise or the Yangtze, but for a pretty standard European itinerary, not for us.

 

Interesting that on the River Cruise Idun thread, Viking has responded to the poster saying customer services will be in touch. On the next to last night of our cruise, a letter was read out to all passengers telling us the same thing, that Customer Services would contact all passengers on their return. 2 weeks after coming home, we're still waiting.

[newlondon]

Nearly there, Why am I not surprised:cool:

[Travelcat2]

OP back. It's been so interesting to read everyone's comments. It's made me think that perhaps I shouldn't judge all river cruising by our experiences on Viking. I've been reading the Viking Idun thread on the River Cruising board and it seems that the Odin is not the only new Viking ship with problems. Several posters have pointed out that Viking isn't a luxury line; the problem is that here in the UK that's certainly how they're marketing (and definitely pricing) themselves. I guess we might consider another river cruise if it was the best way to see extremely interesting places; thinking a Nile cruise or the Yangtze, but for a pretty standard European itinerary, not for us.

 

Interesting that on the River Cruise Idun thread, Viking has responded to the poster saying customer services will be in touch. On the next to last night of our cruise, a letter was read out to all passengers telling us the same thing, that Customer Services would contact all passengers on their return. 2 weeks after coming home, we're still waiting.

 

 

The Viking river cruise that was just completed has put my friend off of river cruising forever. The only reason I would even consider river cruising is because I thought they docked in towns that cruise ships can not access (as they do on the Nile -- my only river cruise). Now that I know this is not always the case and that passengers can require a bus ride for an hour to get into town, there is no way I will chance it.

 

As with cruise ships, many new river boats are being built -- IMO too many. The other downside to river cruising is the requirement (on some boats) to have dinner at the same time. It would seem that 180 passengers (as was the case on Idun) sitting down at the same time would have the same result as when 400-500 passengers go to Compass Rose after the Captain's Reception.

[nearly there]

The Viking river cruise that was just completed has put my friend off of river cruising forever. The only reason I would even consider river cruising is because I thought they docked in towns that cruise ships can not access (as they do on the Nile -- my only river cruise). Now that I know this is not always the case and that passengers can require a bus ride for an hour to get into town, there is no way I will chance it.

 

As with cruise ships, many new river boats are being built -- IMO too many. The other downside to river cruising is the requirement (on some boats) to have dinner at the same time. It would seem that 180 passengers (as was the case on Idun) sitting down at the same time would have the same result as when 400-500 passengers go to Compass Rose after the Captain's Reception.

 

Exactly, Travelcat. Difference is that you can always choose to go to La Veranda or just sit quietly in a comfy bar and wait for the rush to be over. On Viking, you have no choice. Dinner is at 7 sharp with just enough seats for every passenger and no re-setting of tables.

[Viking Cruises]

OP back. It's been so interesting to read everyone's comments. It's made me think that perhaps I shouldn't judge all river cruising by our experiences on Viking. I've been reading the Viking Idun thread on the River Cruising board and it seems that the Odin is not the only new Viking ship with problems. Several posters have pointed out that Viking isn't a luxury line; the problem is that here in the UK that's certainly how they're marketing (and definitely pricing) themselves. I guess we might consider another river cruise if it was the best way to see extremely interesting places; thinking a Nile cruise or the Yangtze, but for a pretty standard European itinerary, not for us.

 

Interesting that on the River Cruise Idun thread, Viking has responded to the poster saying customer services will be in touch. On the next to last night of our cruise, a letter was read out to all passengers telling us the same thing, that Customer Services would contact all passengers on their return. 2 weeks after coming home, we're still waiting.

 

Dear nearly there,

 

We very much appreciate you starting your detailed review (original post) with such kind praise for the crew of Viking Odin. We are immensely proud of them and always enjoy hearing positive remarks. You’ve provided some great feedback regarding river cruising in general and while your disappointment with some aspects of your cruise is disheartening for us to read, we do still appreciate it, as we are always working to improve the customer experience. The issues that Viking Odin had during your trip are unfortunate and we would like to take the opportunity to once again apologize.

 

Regarding your not having been contacted yet by Customer Relations — this must be a mistake on our end, and for that we also apologize. We hope you will email us your name and contact information at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com so that we may have Customer Relations get in touch.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

[nana541]

I am really impressed that Viking actually has staff watching Cruise Critic....they could maybe give lessons to another Cruiseline (whose thread we are posting on)! Sometimes just a thoughtful comment goes a long way in PR and defusing a long thread full of misinformation that could be easily set right!!

 

Viking just your being willing to post and address a comment read by many future river cruisers says alot about your company.

You have just earned an extra star in my book for being concerned about what folks are actually saying about your company and showing you care!

[WesW]

+1 Nana

[pingpong1]

"Hear, Hear, Viking" - I totally concur with Nana's comment. Perception can, at times, be reaility. Regards.

[freddie]

Nana - Like you, I would be delighted if Regent would show even a remote indication that it monitors this board and takes any notice of the concerns posted hereupon.

 

However, where we diverge in opinion is with regard to considering a stock placative response from a cruise line (Viking) as "a thoughtful comment", rather than the usual "tell-'em-something-to-get-'em-off-the-phone" response, the latter of which is the usual Viking post on the River Cruising board, and, I would suggest, is pretty much the genuine content of the Viking post today on this thread.

 

Like a number of other posters on this thread and on several threads on the River Cruising board, we remain excited about our river cruising adventures but would emphatically not consider Viking as the provider of such.

[nyfeds]

Freddie, you and Pat will have a wonderful time river cruising with Tauck! Enjoy!

 

Taking notice is one thing; taking necessary and positive action, quite another :) Remains to be seen if resolution follows. I hope those who have had issues will post resolutions or lackthereof. Then, we can each make educated decisions on where we want to spend our travel dollars. Tauck remains our #1 choice for land touring and river cruising.

[nana541]

Still impressed they even had the curtesy to Give a thoughtful post no matter the motivation.....as for DH and myself, AMA is likely our next adventure provider.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

After a post and then a review I made about my Viking Cruise and the response from Viking I was offered a miniscule ship board credit to try them again. My vacation time is too important to me to go again with them. I would categorize them on the same level as Royal Carribbean or NCL;

 

The ship was nice - as a matter of fact - you do not have to dine at 7pm; But the passengers rush to be seated at the same time.

[TheSeaAroundUs]

I'd think that the need to take tour buses due to damage to the ship is not a normal part of river cruising, and that saying "I'll never" because of that possibility is like saying "I'll never" take an ocean cruise because of the Voyager pod problem that cancelled my IST->FLL wc segment. It happens, but it's not normal, and I have cruised on Regent since.

 

As for the exigencies of cruising on such a smaller ship, i.e. a noisy dining room or small cabins, well, when travelling alone, I could find happiness in a youth hostel (aside from laptop security - that item is always on my person even in my home city). Itinerary can compensate for such inconveniences. Of course, if I wanted to impress a lady friend, we'd be on Regent, no question atall....

[Hambagahle]

We love Regent and decided we wanted to river cruising and visit France, so we did both last September with Tauck in a cruise that was billed as being wine focused, since we were there during harvest.

 

This makes no sense to me! The vendange time (grape harvest) is the positively worst time to try to visit vignerons and have tasteings... everyone is totally occupied with getting the grapes in and starting the press etc that they never have time to put on a proper tasteing. What a shame you went then!

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Viking River Cruises are also heavily advertised here in Canada, both on television and in the newspapers, and positioned as luxury.

 

Sounds fine to me, but their pricing policies bother me. I like early-booking discounts as much as anyone else, but when you are told that you must pay in full more than a full year in advance to get this discount, I'm out, sorry--nobody gets to keep my money for that long.

 

I think it's commendable that Viking responds on the boards. All the cruiselines should. But yes, Fred is right, fairly canned responses are easy enough to cut and paste.

[Travelcat2]

Although river cruising is not something I would consider, I give credit to Viking for responding. Obviously they have someone with the responsibility to read CruiseCritic and respond to comments regarding Viking. The fact that they found a Viking thread on the Regent board is admirable. Who cares if they cut and paste? Whatever responses they give are better than on Regent, Silversea, Seabourn, etc.

[nearly there]

Dear nearly there,

 

We very much appreciate you starting your detailed review (original post) with such kind praise for the crew of Viking Odin. We are immensely proud of them and always enjoy hearing positive remarks. You’ve provided some great feedback regarding river cruising in general and while your disappointment with some aspects of your cruise is disheartening for us to read, we do still appreciate it, as we are always working to improve the customer experience. The issues that Viking Odin had during your trip are unfortunate and we would like to take the opportunity to once again apologize.

 

Regarding your not having been contacted yet by Customer Relations — this must be a mistake on our end, and for that we also apologize. We hope you will email us your name and contact information at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com so that we may have Customer Relations get in touch.

 

Sincerely,

Viking River Cruises

 

It was nice of Viking to respond to my post and I'm impressed that they found it on a Regent board. What started as a review will now hopefully turn into a dialogue I can have directly with Viking. I've contacted them as requested and will wait to see what happens. Thanks everyone for interesting posts in response to my review.

[DeepFreeze63]

We adore Regent (cruised 25 nights and have another 51 booked) but we took Viking in Russia last August and loved it! From reviewing the CC boards, I knew that there would be somthings that I wouldn't like (the long bus ride on tours in Moscow, the small cabins, no exercise facilities, and the limited dinner menu). But the tours (we did 2 or 3 each day), the service, the lectures, and what I ate for breakfast and lunch (salad/ fresh fruit and fish) were better than I got on Regent. Plus we got to visit several smaller Russian towns as well as extending in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The "new" Russia is fascinating!