Viking Danube low water solution

[Bob7]

Hi to my discount Viking air buds,

We are on the Tor, Nurenburg to Bud, and we're getting the boat switch midway due to low water. They announce this on day 1 before dinner. On the Nuren to Bud route we are stopped at Ragensburg, and the Var going the other way is stopped at Melk, so on day 5 we swap ships. Viking is throwing in some freebees to easy the hassle, the Figaro's Wedding opera, and a free tour to Munich on Passau day, so a choice of either of those 2 that day. The ship is lovely, crew are super. Only one chance to get on the sun deck so far, locks and bridges interfere with that. Net is slow and spotty as usual on boats, hope this posts before dying. All the best,

-Bob

[Margarita Jane]

Thank you for the update Bob. Switching boats has to be a hassle, but better than a cancelled cruise. How is the weather? Any chance that rain will change the need to switch boats?

 

~ Jane

[GoInOnaCruz]

Hi to my discount Viking air buds,

We are on the Tor, Nurenburg to Bud, and we're getting the boat switch midway due to low water. They announce this on day 1 before dinner. On the Nuren to Bud route we are stopped at Ragensburg, and the Var going the other way is stopped at Melk, so on day 5 we swap ships. Viking is throwing in some freebees to easy the hassle, the Figaro's Wedding opera, and a free tour to Munich on Passau day, so a choice of either of those 2 that day. The ship is lovely, crew are super. Only one chance to get on the sun deck so far, locks and bridges interfere with that. Net is slow and spotty as usual on boats, hope this posts before dying. All the best,

-Bob

Well sounds like Viking is trying their best to ease the sting. Our cruise starts on Saturday in Budapest and they have not posted anything regarding that sailing yet but I'm assuming there will be a switch in the future for us. I would LOVE to see Munich so I hope that is still on offer then! Have a great rest of your trip!

[Coral]

This is great that Viking can do this! Well, a little bit inconvenient, so much better than spending 6 hours per day in a bus. I hope the rest of your cruise is wonderful.

[3red7s]

We are on the Viking Tor, from Budapest 8/21,ending at Nuremburg 8/28. This is our 1st river cruise...not sure what to expect...just hoping for rain. We are going into Budapest 3 days early. What would be my best way to check regarding any changes for the trip? or do I just wait to hear when I board? thank you

[roberts2005]

We are on the Viking Tor' date=' from Budapest 8/21,ending at Nuremburg 8/28. This is our 1st river cruise...not sure what to expect...just hoping for rain. We are going into Budapest 3 days early. What would be my best way to check regarding any changes for the trip? or do I just wait to hear when I board? thank you[/quote']

 

Your little book has the email and phone of the ship. Contact them direct and they will respond

[wrp96]

This is great that Viking can do this! Well, a little bit inconvenient, so much better than spending 6 hours per day in a bus. I hope the rest of your cruise is wonderful.

 

Friends on another Viking trip are stuck on the buses. And communication has not been handled well for them.

[bananawindnj]

Friends on another Viking trip are stuck on the buses. And communication has not been handled well for them.

 

This is one of the reasons why we won't go on these river cruises in Europe!

The weather is so different anymore, it's not worth the hassle to get there from the US and then get disappointed. Just my opinion.

[Floridiana]

Book a cruise on a section of the Danube that has deep water such as from Passau downriver. Check a map to see where you are going!

[Hows the Serenity]

Its the bit between Passau and Regensberg that is the problem need to be sailing from Regensberg through to Amsterdam or Passau to Budapest to avoid the low water issues. We made it through on the Scenic Opal and will reach Amsterdam on Tuesday...............we have a great captain and crew, who worked all night while we were cruising that area, checking depths etc and slowly, slowly getting us through.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[bobecus]

Last week we began our Viking Cruise at Budapest on the Viking Var. 3 days into the cruise we were told to pack everything to be changed to the Viking Tor. Basically we were on busses and tours from Melk to Passau to Regensburg. . The crew and program director were great, however for the money paid for this trip, we missed quite a bit of water time. Water levels seemed fine from Budapest to Melk and from Regensberg to Nuremberg.

[Sharra13]

Thank you for posting!! This makes me feel so much better. We leave in less than 3 weeks for the same route and I have been really stressing out about the possibility of cancellation (which COULD still happen). I'll take a ship switch and an extra bus excursion any day over no trip! Munich sounds awesome--I kind of hope we get that option, haha.

[chitraveler]

I am taking the Viking Jarl from Nuremberg to Budapest on Aug 23rd. I'm doing a pre cruise stay in Nuremberg, leaving Chicago the 20th. I am hoping if anything changes they notify me before I leave the states. I have been following posts on Facebook & cruise critic & check Vikings website for info on changes.

[bobecus]

We were notified by email of a ship change from the Tor to the Var by email a few days prior. Since both ships were identical we all ended up in the same exact cabin and room #. All in all they did it quite well.

[pully8]

seems to be more ship swaps this year? bussing about is not river cruising. a bus tour is much cheaper and a different experience.

using ships as floating hotels I suppose is better than staying in 2nd rate hotels. lets hope things improve for all.

[chitraveler]

Everyone start doing the rain dance! I sure hope things improve. Was wondering if you are given an option of cancelling instead of busing or ship swapping. I did take out trip insurance &my flight was booking thru Viking.

[Sharra13]

I am taking the Viking Jarl from Nuremberg to Budapest on Aug 23rd. I'm doing a pre cruise stay in Nuremberg, leaving Chicago the 20th. I am hoping if anything changes they notify me before I leave the states. I have been following posts on Facebook & cruise critic & check Vikings website for info on changes.

 

 

Chitraveler, we will be doing the exact same trip as you, Nuremberg-Budapest with pre-stay in Nuremberg...but just ONE day behind, leaving Texas 21st and boarding the Skirnir 24th. Maybe we'll see each other in passing at the Meridien. :)

[Muffin2]

Hi, Starting our first river cruise on Friday 7th August - should be on Tor from Budapest! Am I correct in assuming that is now in doubt and we will be on another ship??

[Danube8815]

Glad to hear various tales of how Viking is trying to manage ship changes with low water on the Danube. We are on the Budapest to Nuremberg Romantic Danube leaving Aug. 8. I've been calling Viking to see if there are any changes, which they vehemently deny other than saying we have a ship swap, but our cabin is the same and it's basically the same ship. I specifically aked if we will have to be bussed on any part of our cruise or change ships and they were extremely coy with their responses. We were never notified by email as they said we were about our ship swap. They sent me the notification when I asked for them to resend. With the ship they told me we are now going to be on, I looked at the GPS live positioning of the ship and it's going North from Budapest, so I asked how it can be back in Budapest for Sat.? They told me maybe the info on the website I was looking at was wrong. They also said they have no way to see where any of their ships are. Ouch! I'm going on a cruise and Viking does not have visibility where there ships are??? I don't believe this for a minute and feel customer service is told to not be giving information out. Hope water levels change, but getting a bad taste of what Viking is going to be like.

[JVilleGal]

Customer "dis" service is kept in the dark also.... I do not believe they are told any info either. What a way to run a business. Go over to FB and monitor postings over there. They take the angry ones down fast but you may be able to catch them before they are removed. Very enlightening !

[xpcdoojk]

This is one of the reasons why we won't go on these river cruises in Europe!

The weather is so different anymore, it's not worth the hassle to get there from the US and then get disappointed. Just my opinion.

 

So, the Danube has never been low before?:rolleyes:

 

Good lord...

 

jc

[Bob7]

Read a few replies, ship connection very slow, couple minutes to load each page, here's the scoop on the freebee tour to Munich they threw in b/c of the ship swap. Great tour, 1.3 hour bus ride, first stop BMW complex, get a shot of yourself on Tom Cruise's cycle with movie backdrop behind you, stroll the Olympic grounds. Then down to Old Town, castles, cathedrals, and two great shopping streets for the girls, on the map they hand out, first one is the thick orange street Kauflingerstrasse (sp?), pedestrian, no cars, a bazillion people, and for the other one you backtrack to the square, and take Rosenstrasse which quickly becomes Sendlinger. 2-3 euros for beers, lots of cafes.

Tomorrow the ship swap is a 3-4 hour bus ride in the AM, then a free lunch and free tour of Melk in the pm, the short ride to the new ship.

-Bob

[derrick22]

Just home today from the Viking Grand European cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest on the Alsvin. We started with a 2 day pre cruise extension and ended with a 2 day post cruise extension in Budapest.

 

The day before we were scheduled to leave we received an email about the possibility of a ship swap.

 

While on board the first couple of days there was no discussion of the swap. Everyone, especially the crew was hoping this did not happen. On day 5 we were informed of the swap for day 7. No stops would be missed and the transfer would be seamless.

 

Other than having to pack again and spend three hours on the bus one day the crew did not miss a beat. Viking even made arrangements for all of us to eat lunch for free at a restaurant. No small feat for 190 people. Our program director Sasha, and concierge, Attila made the transfer with us to the Viking Ingvi.

 

So we would not miss any tours a bus trip the next day was involved. Viking went above and beyond and offered another excursion that did not involve a lengthy bus ride.

 

I can not say enough about how Viking handled the situation. They did not have to switch ships nor make any of the extra excursions or arrangements.

Low water situations happen and the cruise lines are not responsible.

 

Viking clearly wants to make their customers happy and I did not hear one complaint.

 

Viking did right by the passengers on the Alsvin and I would not hesitate to travel with them again.

 

Denise

[carolb2087]

I also just came home from the Grand European Amsterdam to Budapest cruise. I can not say enough about the excellent service we received. We also had to do a ship swap from the Eistla to the Bestla midway through our cruise. We packed and put our bags out and the rest of the swap was seamless. We had the opportunity to experience the service level on two ships with two different staffs. Other than our program director (David Parker) and our Concierge (Nina Van Loon) they changed ships with us. The service level was impeccable. We were met at the new ship by the entire staff outside waiting to greet us and welcome us aboard. At dinner my usually ginger ale was at the table for dinner without asking for it.. The Eistla crew forwarded all our likes to the new ship and everything went on without missing a beat I give Viking an A++++ for the entire trip. It was the most amazing vacation we have ever experienced and I would highly recommend Viking!!

[carolb2087]

I just reread my reply above and my have miscommunicated one thing. Our program director and concierge (David Parker and Nina Van Loon) were amazing. They were both so attentive, fun and very efficient at their jobs! I was exhausted just watching them throughout the day. Not sure how they keep up with all the demands on them and continue to smile and have a good time with everyone. They went above and beyond to make sure everyone was happy and having a wonderful time!!