Viking River Cruise Low Water: NEW 100% Future Cruise Credit Offer | 2026 Update

What is tauck doing?

We took our first river cruise (on Viking) last summer. We were preparing to swap ships due to low water conditions, but in the end we did not need to. The worst part about moving ships would have been leaving the crew behind as we had developed really good relations either them. As a retired Navy officer, I sought out various crew and officers to learn more about the ship and its operations, and they were very accommodating, which I appreciated very much.

That being said, I did my research and was fully aware of the chances of interrupted operations due to levels. The last issue was flooding, especially at Budapest, and low water levels a few years before that. Granted that conditions this year are dramatically worse. Obviously this on not the fault of Viking, or any other line. Would I be upset if our cruise was this year rather than last year? Of course. Would I be blaming Viking for this? Obviously not. Would I appreciate a voucher or other form of compensation as a good will effort by Viking? Obviously, yes. Did my contract with Viking (and I assume other lines) stipulate such compensation? No.

So, this video, and your previous one, gave me the impression (whether or not it was intended) that Viking (or any other line for that matter) OWED passengers compensation as a result of the inability to get the “cruise” experience. I enjoyed your numerous videos before our cruise last year, along with those of Paul Bembridge, but I think that this sense of entitlement to compensation is a bridge too far. (Pardon the pun)

As a leader in the industry, I would expect Viking to do something to try to minimize that disappointment due to natural circumstances in the rivers. And since these circumstances were well nigh catastrophic, and Viking would naturally want to maintain good relations with their customers, those offered compensations would be in accordance with the severity of the impacts to the individual cruises. Not all were impacted in exactly the same way, so it would be natural to expect the levels of compensation to vary accordingly in a sliding scale. To expect every single passenger to receive the same (and maximum) level is, IMHO, unreasonable.

Refund!!!! We can't control the price of the next cruise and might still be out of pocket! The offer should be the exact same cruise with everything included that you already have at no additional costs!

My preference would be a full refund.

No communication until I started complaint via email and pissed consumer, got a phone call after, said that they would update us 21, 14, and 7 days out regarding pour September cruise.
We have insurance through Viking, but regarding the cruise being basically a bus tour, I would rather see my $20,000 dollars rather than a voucher, my reason being more flexibility on my end , and not being held hostage by Viking.

Has anyone managed to get a full refund rather than a voucher? It is for a trip from Amsterdam to Budapest at the end of August this year.

Our booked River cruise is nested in a much longer Europe trip plan – we are on Paris to Alps with a booked and prepaid for late September with four day extension in Switzerland. The cost of the extension is $5k double occupancy. Is Viking offering to refund the extension also if on the same booking? Knowing that could make a big difference in our decision.

Also are the Viking FCC usable for payments on future bookings already made. We have two other Viking Ocean cruises booked but not yet paid.

So no refund, just a credit. Not good enough for us who depart Basel September 15th.

Tauck gave us option of proceeding with revised itinerary or full refund less trip insurance. We are taking refund and will be seeing key cities of interest at our own pace , and staying at 5 star hotels. People who get credit toward future cruise may not have as many choices for cruises in 2027 as many of those may be booked already. We're on wait list for a Tauck Danube. Cruise in 2028 and are thinking of pushing date out to October. Looking at big picture, we are thankful we are healthy enough to adjust to changes like this.

Just returned three days ago from a Viking river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam. It was awful! Five ship changes and over 27 hours of bus travel between ships. They skipped many of our planned itineraries. We were supposed to spend two days in Budapest on a ship, where my grandparents were from, but they didn’t have a ship there. We ended up spending most of the time on a bus transporting us to another ship. Sadly, I doubt I’ll ever get back to Budapest. The staff on some of the ships were not very attentive, presumably because they knew they would not see us again. It got worse from there. I’m really disappointed in Viking. I doubt they woke up the day our trip started and were surprised at the river levels. They should have postponed our cruise. I imagine it would’ve been more expensive to postpone our trip so they decided to make us suffer through a miserable trip to save them some money. We will never take another cruise on Viking.

Due to our own health concerns we would want the cash refund. The timing of the one we have booked was perfect for us but we are unable to be on a bus for any length of time.

Just returned from our Viking river cruise, Zürich to Paris, and we were not able to sail on the Rhine on our Viking ship due to the water. However the team did schedule a scenic sailing through a portion of the Rhine on a different ship so that we were still able to see some of the castles. We were also provided a 40% voucher for a future cruise which me and wife were happy with. While we were disappointed in the lack of sailing we still have a great time and will be booking a future river just not in the summer.

Viking is a big business and businesses (large and small like mine) carry Interruption of Business Insurance. Extra coverage for specific risks like historic low water levels require the purchase of specific riders which Viking likely has as they are the biggest fleet of ships and have been in the river cruise business for many years. Viking's Interruption of Business Insurance should cover their Income and profits, operating costs and payroll expenses. Properly insured, Viking can well afford to cancel the remainder of the Danube crusies for 2026 and issue customers full "cash refunds". Refunds including airfare booked through Viking, cruise costs, and any add on excusions already paid by the customer. This is the best outcome for customers and would ensure Viking customer loyalty years into the in the future. I have a Danube crusie booked for the fall.

At this day and time, knowing what we know about Viking, I would never recommend them. I also think river cruises are the absolute worst way to travel and explore Europe.

We booked the Grand European Tour (Amsterdam to Budapest) with a two day extention in Amsterdam leaving on August 10th through 27th with another couple. We also had friends coming back from Budapest to Amsterdam on the same reverse itinerary ending a day before we were to arrive. We were in contact with them on their journey and they spent 80% of their time on a busses and in hotels. They received a 30% credit for future travel. Based on their experience and using the tips mentioned in the video about checking river gauges, draft and rainfall estimates we called customer service numerous times about our cruise and were told the river levels were perfectly fine for our cruise up to the day we canceled our cruise on August 6th. Unfortunately we did not document the research we did as the video suggests. We did record our conversations with customer service. Apparently on August 10th Viking made their 100% offer for canceling due to disruption of the cruise itinerary which would have been the day we would be in the air. We did have the CFAR Insurance with Trip Mate and are waiting for trip vouchers but don't know what the value those will be. Trip Mate has been vague and apologetic that the amount will only cover specified losses covered in the policy. Makes us nervous. We did contact Viking customer service for reimbursement of the benefits we had for our cruise such as prepaid tips and the Silver Spirits package as credits on our next cruise and were denied twice by management citing our cancelation only cited CFAR Insurance and did not specifically mention low water levels even though we spoke to customer service about that when we inquired on how to fill out the cancelation form. Apparently the recorded line is not included in what they consider when you submit your cancelation. We were instructed to just mention the CFAR Insurance and no other reason would be necessary. Now we are out $4,000 at least with no recourse. I don't mean to trash Viking cruises as our Viking Trip Advisor has been great and we have heard great things about this itinerary and other cruises our friends have taken with Viking but we can't help but feel we received inaccurate information from customer service regarding this unprecedented turn of events and management's disregard to our requests. The fact that they addressed the issue is evident in their latest offer shows they are aware of the problem but it's not being applied across the board. As we asked about our situation we just wanted Viking to do what is fair to everyone affected. Please do what the video suggests and document everything

We had a Rhine/Moselle River cruise scheduled with AMA Waterways from August 9 – 19 from Basel, Switzerland to Amsterdam. It also included four nights in Switzerland prior to the cruise. We found out the night before we were leaving that our cruise was cancelled. We had two options. The first was 100% refund of the cruise portion. We chose the second option. They put together a completely new route for us – in Belgium and The Netherlands, and we also got a 50% future cruise credit. We were very happy with this option. It meant one more flight for us, which they arranged at no additional cost to us – from Zurich to Amsterdam, which is where we started and ended. It was not the cruise that we had signed up for, but we had an awesome time and appreciated the effort that went into all the changes. And we are looking forward to another AMA river cruise.

I would prefer a full refund for my Rhine River Cruise on September 23rd. I planned to take my 44 year old daughter with me for a once in a life time trip. I'm 77 years old and have a heart condition. I'm not interested in a modified cruise in September or a future cruise credit. I'm older and my future health is unknown. I want a trip to get excited about while my health is OK but not so serious where I am unable to travel at all. Thus far the cost hovers over $13,000 dollars and for a retired school teacher that's a considerable amount of my savings.. Even with a cruise refund from Viking, I most likely would not receive a refund on pre-paid airfare that I arranged privately, round trip transportation to and from the airport, special tours for the 2 day extended stay in Amsterdam, taxi transfers from the airport to my hotel and again to the ship, insurances for the Viking Cruise and Airlines, etc.. I'm sure there's more. A refund will provide me with the ability to reset my options as soon as possible… Also, my anxiety is already high and I've been told that I won't get an answer to what offers will be on the table until 3-5 days before the trip. I'll be in Boston getting on my flight 3 days before the trip. Not knowing what options I might have will make it very difficult for me.

Definitely a 100% refund This was our trip… From being told that we were going to stay in a Hotel overnight in Budapest, then with no further communication, arriving at the pier in Budapest to being told we were now going to Komaron via car! The Viking agent at the pier didn’t even have our names, or a list of who was going on the Grand European Cruise! To being squashed in with three other over 70 year old people in the car, with the driver, plus luggage and backpacks between our legs! Then arriving in Komaron at 12.30 with no information as to where we were going or what was happening! We were stuck on a boat which felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. Komaron wasn’t even mentioned in any of the brochures of the Grand European River Cruise. To see a sign saying we were sailing at 6.30, to be told at 6.30 that we would now be busing back to Budapest to do the sightseeing tour and then busing to Vienna in the afternoon to board a second riverboat! The list of distressing events carried on over the whole 14 days of the trip. Four ship changes in total, numerous bus trips, two lock closures, places missed from the brochure because of time schedule changes. No Rhine river cruising, which was meant to be a highlight! No Koblenz or Cologne programme! Four hours 30 minutes on a bus on one day! Bus toilet stops where you and 20 or more other women waited in line for a vacant toilet, at a petrol station!