TomHB

Well… We finished the cruise. There really was a problem for a couple days of loud vibrations keeping us awake at night. They made several attempts to solve the problem, but unfortunately they did not succeed. HOWEVER, it seemed that after a couple days, when we were not pushing so hard against the current, it got better. We did have to change ships midway through the cruise due to water levels being low. I understand that and have no problem with having to do so. Viking handled it well. In fact, all in all, Viking did a great job. Their service and food was excellent. We learned a lot. Riverboat cruising is different. I’m not sure if we will ever do another riverboat cruise or not, but if we do, I would use Viking again. Tom

I am just about certain you are correct about having to change to the Gefjon ship. In fact we were suppose to begin our journey of the Gefjon but received a last minute correspondence informing us of the change. Additionally we know of a couple that just finished their cruise. They began their journey on the Viking Gefjon but finished on the Viking Ve. They had begun their journey in Budapest (just the opposite of us) and concluded in Amsterdam. They informed us to about half way through their voyage they were bussed to the Viking Ve due to low water conditions. I IN NO WAY BLAME OR CRITICIZE VIKING FOR THIS NECESSARY CHANGE! They can not control the water levels and there is no way to predict what might happen within the next week or even within the next few days. As such there is NO reason to alarm the passengers with an event that may not even occur! I am not new to cruising at all however, this is my first river boat cruise. Overall I think Viking has done a pretty good job. I do hope they can solve this noise / vibration problem. We will see how things go this evening. If not, well then I will be VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD to changing ships and hoping for an improvement! If I’m, able I’ll ask our neighbors in room 237 how things are, and I’ll let you know. Tom

Yes. We are currently cruising from Amsterdam to Budapest.

We are currently on the Viking Ve in Room 236, which is in the stern near the engine. The engine noise is quite acceptable in my opinion HOWEVER, there are terrible vibrations coming from the large panel above the bed and also from the ventilation system over the entrance door. The vibrations are clearly caused by the engine and will vary greatly according the the engine speed. Unfortunately, these vibration noises can be quite significant and tend to happen more at night while traveling. As such, we have had a terrible time getting a good night’s sleep! We contacted guest services 3 times on Friday complaining about the noise. It did not appear that any action was taken until our 3rd request. At that time an engineer came down and, we were told, tightened up some fittings around the air conditioning duct. That seemed to help, and we slept better Friday night however, last night, Saturday, the noise was back and again we had a difficult time getting a good night’s sleep. I reported the problem again this morning. Hopefully things will improve. It is interesting to note that when we first boarded I noticed a piece f paper (folded over many times) that was wedged in the panel over the bed (which was the other area that was vibrating). It would appear the former people who used this room had a similar problem. So… the vibrations mentioned above, coupled with water dripping down from near our room door and the “dripping” noise on our first night making it difficult to sleep (we finally put an ice bucket under it halfway through the night) AND that our air conditioning stopped working for a few hours one afternoon, it has not left us with a very good impression on our first Viking cruise. We have another 9 days left on this cruise. I sure hope things get better! Tom

We are currently on the Viking Ve in Room 236, which is in the stern near the engine. The engine noise is quite acceptable in my opinion HOWEVER, there are terrible vibrations coming from the large panel above the bed and also from the ventilation system over the entrance door. The vibrations are clearly caused by the engine and will vary greatly according the the engine speed. Unfortunately, these vibration noises can be quite significant and tend to happen more at night while traveling. As such, we have had a terrible time getting a good night’s sleep! We contacted guest services 3 times on Friday complaining about the noise. It did not appear that any action was taken until our 3rd request. At that time an engineer came down and, we were told, tightened up some fittings around the air conditioning duct. That seemed to help, and we slept better Friday night however, last night, Saturday, the noise was back and again we had a difficult time getting a good night’s sleep. I reported the problem again this morning. Hopefully things will improve. It is interesting to note that when we first boarded I noticed a piece f paper (folded over many times) that was wedged in the panel over the bed (which was the other area that was vibrating). It would appear the former people who used this room had a similar problem. So… the vibrations mentioned above, coupled with water dripping down from near our room door and the “dripping” noise on our first night making it difficult to sleep (we finally put an ice bucket under it halfway through the night) AND that our air conditioning stopped working for a few hours one afternoon, it has not left us with a very good impression on our first Viking cruise. We have another 9 days left on this cruise. I sure hope things get better! Tom