Viking Cruises was founded in 1997 by current CEO Torstein Hagen. Originally founded as Viking River Cruises, the company had 4 ships, but after acquiring KD River Cruises of Europe in 2000, the fleet totaled 26 vessels, making it the largest river cruise company in the world.
The company overhauled many of their ships, targeting older Americans who wanted to travel but weren’t necessarily interested in paying for luxury accommodations such as swimming pools and gymnasiums. Viking Cruises opened an office in California in 2003 and China in 2004.
In 2013, the company modified its name to Viking Cruises as it launched small oceangoing ships, christening 10 new ships in a single day.
Most of the ocean cruise ships are one-third smaller than typical cruise ships, which allows the company to dock in smaller ports, offering new cities and land trips for tourists. The company launched its newest vessel, Jupiter, in July 2019.
In March 2019, Viking Cruise ship Sky encountered engine trouble and headed into heavy Norweigean seas, tossing the 1300 passengers about and forcing them to be rescued via helicopter. The company says all passengers were given refunds and tickets for a new cruise of choice.
US headquarters are located in Woodland Hills, California.
I to purchase a long ship Rhine get way in early 2019.. Viking has since come out with new promotion for the same cruise..at 1, 000 each less.
Viking won’t won’t honor the new promotion…very poor business pratice. I will keep this in mind when purchasing another cruise, I’m sure it will be with another cruise line. Viking isn’t the cruise on town.
I made the mistake of requesting a catalog maybe 50 years ago, and since then, I have been harassed all these years with unwanted and unsolicited catalogs. I have contacted your customer service countless times to stop killing trees, and polluting oceans, and killing whales in the interest of your profits. I have yet to receive a reply acknowledging my request. Just continual junkmailers from you. I have no intentions of ever cruising with you…. I think you are a souless corporate entity and I want you to stop all contact with me….What is so hard to understand here? Again, take all of my contact information off your lists….
I booked the Romantic Danube Cruise from Budapest to Nuremberg back in September, 2019..
and paid for two(2) passengers. Viking recently introduced a new promotion and a new REDUCED price
for this cruise…a Savings of $ 1300. After several telephone calls and emails, Viking will not consider
refunding me the $ 1300 Savings….give me a discount on future travel, or even upgrade me to a nicer room. I consider this to be very unfair and unreasonable and a bad business practice.
Why book early on Viking, pay a higher rate…especially when in many cases, there is a substantial reduced later rate?
Gave a “good faith deposit to Viking for a May 2020 cruise. Never told that it was “non-refundable”; how-
ever it is not being credited (-) from the itinerary balance. Agents actually trying to convince me it
was “applied”. It was only noted as a payment received by Viking! Sad
Please be courteous enough after several requests to eliminate all emails to
my address and refrain from any mailings.
PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE: robertross13@ yahoo.com