Viking European River Cruises issues with current water levels !!

[ols]

Well,
One week out and we received final notification that the tour will indeed go ahead.
We have been offered 60% of our paid fare to use on a future cruise.

Would have been happier for it to have been cancelled and full refund,
Wanted to "unpack once" and was really looking forward to watching the world go by while floating down the river.
We were going to use the time to plan further what we want to do on our road trips round Scotland and Ireland.
If cancelled I'm sure we could have had plenty of fun filling in 15 days somewhere making our way from Budapest to Amsterdam where we will fly to Edinburgh.
Not looking forward to long bus trips and little cruising time.

 

[tgh]

Ocean cruise ships have a well earned reputation for failing to deliver as promised.
The fine print in an ocean cruise contract only requires the company to provide a "cruise" (anywhere) and many cruisers have
suffered disappointing outcomes with 0 redress.
You have a choice, not very palatable, but at least a choice

 

[drron]

We have a very good TA for cruising and have always got more than adequate compensation.

 

[AuSammy]

We did Amsterdam to Budapest several years ago on Avalon Waterways. The ship was maiden voyage. Absolutely fantastic.

Much prefer to Ocean cruising (if you are fit - need to be able to walk up and down stairs onboard). Arrive in the middle of the city and walk off for the day, changing scenery on either side of the ship Instead of more water. No being bundled onto 60 seater buses for company sanitised/ curated tours at some distant cruise terminal.

We went in May IIRC.

 

[Pushka]

Well,
One week out and we received final notification that the tour will indeed go ahead.
We have been offered 60% of our paid fare to use on a future cruise.

Would have been happier for it to have been cancelled and full refund,
Wanted to "unpack once" and was really looking forward to watching the world go by while floating down the river.
We were going to use the time to plan further what we want to do on our road trips round Scotland and Ireland.
If cancelled I'm sure we could have had plenty of fun filling in 15 days somewhere making our way from Budapest to Amsterdam where we will fly to Edinburgh.
Not looking forward to long bus trips and little cruising time.

I'd go back and ask for cash instead of voucher for full refund. Ask for it to be sent to higher management.

Maybe check this site too for your cruise. You can plug in the route and date you leave.

Rivercruisewatch.com.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

We have never done a river cruise apart from the Nile.

However we often Cycle in Europe, often along river valleys, and the last time we did this along the Main River in Germany which just happened to be in flood. All the River Cruises were halted and the cruisers were be bussed about while staying on their booked boats. We met a number, and part of the degree of acceptance with the situation was influenced by where each cruiser's boats were stuck at. Some where in the heart of old towns in good locations, whereas others were moored up in ugly industrial areas.

We struck a similar situation in England when my wife and I were doing 4 -Day Pub Crawl along the Thames River starting in Oxford. Heavy rains had seen all the locks closed as being considered to dangerous to operate, and while there were no river cruise boats to be affected there were many private canal boats unable to move.

We met one Australian Couple from Geelong who rather than hire canal bought, had bought one which they were going to use for about 6 months, and then sell it. They believe this was a much cheaper option for extended us. They had already done this one other time before. So interesting idea.

Oh and yes the Pub Crawls was fantastic. My wife and I just walked along the Thames each day with day backpack stopping at a Pub for Lunch, or afternoon tea, well a Pint maybe and would overnight at a Pub each night. Oy was a lovely peaceful walk, but while not too busy with walkers you met enough along the way to have a good chat with, including various people living or holidaying on canal boats.

 

[Pushka]

A route map from someone just returned from the Danube.

 

[RooFlyer]

The fine print in an ocean cruise contract only requires the company to provide a "cruise" (anywhere) and many cruisers have
suffered disappointing outcomes with 0 redress.

Not sure how ocean cruises pops up in a thread on river cruises, but by 'anywhere' do you mean my cruise from Southampton to New York might end up being Miami to Miami? That would be a downer!

Ponant's General Terms and Conditions of Carriage say inter alia that the itinerary may be changed due to a number of factors, which I think most cruisers understand, not that the ship might do something entirely different from what was booked.

 

[tgh]

While Drron correctly notes that compensation is generally achievable for cruise truncations, especially with high end cruiselines and competent Ta's
It is not always so . I am not however , prepared to spend the morning scanning cruise critic for evidence to prove my point.
S.Whisper sat in New York for 3 or four days waiting for a hurricane to pass ; eventually sailing into the tail just to achieve 70% of the Itinerary.
Compensation was extracted, not offered. Caveat Emptor.