auspal

I hope you have a wonderful cruise PEverdell and I am sure Viking will get it right. Looking forward to reading the next reviews.

I have decided to cancel my trip for the December 2018 cruise, and will book an alternative Viking cruise. I very much look forward to taking this cruise once the issues are sorted. As for reviews being taken " with a grain of salt", why bother reading them at all, whether they are good or bad ? I thought that was the whole point of cruisecritic.

I heard back from Viking cruises today with this message

" Thank you for your email that has been forwarded to me from our USA office.

I regret to hear you have read bad reviews regarding your upcoming “From the Caribbean to the Amazon” cruise.

As I am out of the country at the moment greeting our wonderful World Cruise ship, Viking Sun into New Zealand, I have forwarded your concerns to our Australian reservations team and they will respond to you shortly.

Thank you for your patience and please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance." ( from customers relations)

I will share the response with you all.

My opinion too. I was not happy with the response at all. It didnt instill confidence in me Vineyard View.

I have spoken with a Viking travel agent in Sydney re this matter and referred him to the reviews on this post. He read it and said the shortage of food was because of the Caribbean hurricane. Have to say he wasnt really helpful and quite non-committal. He did offer to transfer my deposit to another cruise, which was helpful of him, but still havent had any reply to my email to Viking via the link provided.

Yes will definitely keep you all posted on updates. I believe there is plenty of time to make any necessary changes and there has been some excellent feedback re the itinerary. I really don't want to cancel, and if other cruise lines are having successful itineraries, why re-invent the wheel?

I was quite excited when I saw that reviews had been published for this cruise as we have booked the same cruise for 2018. I as continued to read, my heart sank. This cruise was to be a very special treat for us to celebrate our retirement and not inexpensive especially as we will be travelling from Australia. I cant cancel now either as I would lose our $1000 deposit along with $1500 per person. I chose this cruise for the Amazon component, but don't think we will see much with only 3 ports of call. The colourful toucan in the advertisement is what attracted me to look further at this cruise. Doesn't sound like cruisers saw much wildlife at all. I will contact Viking with my concerns.

Thank you for your replies and suggestions, I will follow up on them. I was puzzled as to why I couldnt find a similar cruise, now I know:)

I have been searching for a cruise that leaves New Orleans and sails to Barcelona for 2015 without success. The following cruise from RC Serenade of the Seas this year caught my eye. Am I too early in looking for this for next year, or maybe looking in the wrong places?

Cruise Itinerary:

Day Ports of Call Arrival Departure

1 New Orleans, Louisiana --- 5:00 p.m.

2 At Sea --- ---

3 At Sea --- ---

4 At Sea --- ---

5 At Sea --- ---

6 Philipsburg, St. Maarten 7:00 a.m. 5:00 p.m.

7 At Sea --- ---

8 At Sea --- ---

9 At Sea --- ---

10 At Sea --- ---

11 At Sea --- ---

12 At Sea --- ---

13 Tenerife, Canary Islands 7:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

14 At Sea --- ---

15 Malaga, Spain 10:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m.

16 Cartagena, Spain 7:00 a.m. 2:00 p.m.

17 Barcelona, Spain 6:00 a.m. ---