My wife and I have always wanted to take a river cruise with Viking. Their commercials are enticing and we thought we would have a wonderful trip. We agreed with Viking’s CEO, Torstein Hagen, that travel was broadening and time was short. This cruise was expensive and we saved a long time to take it. Unfortunately, reality did not meet expectations. We we were forced to take long bus rides to destinations that we could not sail to because of the low river levels (Bratislava and Budapest). The bus rides were tedious and exhausting and because we used buses, which took time away from the excursions, one of the optional trips we booked was canceled. In addition, my wife got very sick and was unable to enjoy the rest of the cruise because of the long rides. If we wanted to ride buses we would have booked a guided tour. They did send two emails, one three months and another one two days in advance of the cruise, but the lead time was too short to cancel without full penalty. It does mention in the Terms and Conditions that “Itineraries are subject to change and may need to be altered or canceled specifically because of water levels or wind or other factors.” but some kind of compensation should have been offered. Other river cruise companies did offer partial refunds. A company with Viking’s reputation should have been more caring toward their customers. Because of this we will never book another Viking Cruise, river or ocean.