Kristelle

Amsterdam t o Budapest or reverse. this is certainly the most popular river cruise for Australians and is 14 days long.( I know you are not Australian but I see yo u wanted a cruise of about that length of time) Several companies offer this. We did this with Scenic. 160 passengers,no children. Most people were i n the over 50 age bracket. Similar experience to JJK2008's post above ,except drinks at all times are included We went in September, no issues with water levels - I believe Scenic does similar though with ship swapping if neccesary.

1) I dont dispute your experience. Just pointed out it isnt the experience of others so doesnt seem typical of Viking. 2) so you pre paid gratuities thinking that gave you preferential or superior service to others. No it doesnt work that way and that isnt why most people pre-pay them Your sentence after that doesnt really make sense to me. Yes I would pre pay them purely for convenience - indeed that is what I do, I go on gratuities included i n the price, for convenience, or pre pay them at beginning of a trip (eg Wendy Wu tours, you pay tips in local cash at beginning of trip) 3) yes, possibly was a newer crew, possibly needed more training. But the level of service would be the same, whether poor service or excellent service, - pre paying tips does not get you any better service than anyone else.

I've been on these forums for about a year. I have not gone into Viking threads more than other threads. But I have seen lots of discussion about tipping and gratuities paying in that time.

I don't think anyone is objecting to your report of poor service. Although it isn't the experience others have reported. the pushback was more to the expectation that you would receive preferential or superior service than other guests because you pre paid gratuities.

Although I dislike tipping and go on trips that have tips included in the set price (obviously reflects Australian culture) even I can see the difference between pre paying tips before the service expecting preferential treatment (bribe style) and paying tips afterwards as thankyou/acknowledgement of exceptional service already delivered. (not saying everyone who pre pays tips is expecting preferential treatment, I realise many people just do it for convenience)

Kosice?

Serbia? #random country south of Estonia

So you thought you would get preferential treatment by pre paying gratuities?? That isnt how it works either. I don't care if people pre pay them, pay them at the end or go on gratuities included set price trips But thinking Viking should be ashamed of not giving you preferential treatment because you did it x way ?? Sounds very entitled to me.

Scenic

Our Mekong river cruise is 11 days - 4 land days in Cambodia then 7 night cruise

Clearly some people enjoy having butler service. Just isn't something I want or need for my enjoyment of trips.

We are going on land/ cruise of Cambodia and then Mekong river down to HCMC. No flying after we g et there ( obviously flying to arrive and depart the trip) I guess if you do add ons of Hue and/ or Hanoi you would need to fly within the trip as well. We have been to Vietnam on land trip b efore so we are not doing that.

I agree. I didn't book Scenic because of butler service, butler service wasn't a pro or con in our decision making. For us it was a fancy sounding term ( hyperbole if you like) that we didn't need to use. ( except one night of dinner room service, not sure if butler brought that)

I didn't stop them doing their job - but I'm with Bubbeh, I dont need to be waited on so I didn't ring my butler for anything. I'm not comfortable ringing to get a coffee or cocktail brought to my room when I am perfectly capable of walking down the corridor to get it myself. I take the view cruising itself provided jobs for people.

I'm not sure what you mean by an "egyptian face mask" On our trip in September last year - nobody wore masks. However back in lockdown days when we all had to wear masks everywhere - I had a couple of cloth ones and they were easy to hand wash and dry overnight - perhaps she did that. Or had more than one identical mask so it wasnt really the same one every day

I dont think we used our Scenic butler - he did come in when we arrived and explained how everything worked and how to contact him - DH once had his dinner in our room via room service, not sure if the butler brought it/ organised it or who did (I went to dining room as usual) We did not contact the butler for anything else. I'm sure he would of given excelllent service - we just didnt really want any service. "Butler service" sounds fancy - but, for us, we enjoyed our cruise perfectly well without ever using or wanting to use one (that I know of, perhaps there are things a butler does that you do not notice - but not sure what they would be?)

Ateneul Român?

Bucharest National Theatre?

Poland?

Croatia?

I have no understanding of the political situation but I do also hope the above. Far more important than whether ports are open for cruises.

Bolshoi theatre, Moscow?

Hungary?

Germany?