A LOVE LETTER TO VIKING
RIVER CRUISES
Prelude:
Last year my close friends,
Kay, Tom, my daughter, Audrey and I booked a Viking River cruise along the
Rhine. This would be our trip of a lifetime. Viking Cruises are well known for
being the best in river cruises and the length of the Rhine River has some of the
most picturesque scenery of all. Expensive, yes, but we had no doubt it would
be worth every penny.
We flew into Amsterdam early
in order to spend four days exploring every nook and cranny of the picturesque
city before boarding the brand new Viking ship, The Viking Alruna for our week
long cruise. We didn’t waste any time after we landed before we hit the streets
to see all we could see. On the second day, Kay and I took off by ourselves to
explore some of the sights which included a beautiful old cathedral called Old
Kirk. The ceiling mesmerized me, and in attempting to take a good picture of
it, I lost my balance and fell backwards breaking my pelvis in two places. Now
mind you, we had been in Amsterdam a day and a half!
Thankfully, as painful as it
was, I didn’t need surgery. The hospital docs gave me a handful of pain meds
with a note saying I could go on the cruise. Audrey and Tom bought me the
Cadillac of walkers (about the size and weight of one too!), and I managed to
walk with its help onto the ship two days later. The following is my heartfelt
thanks to the wonderful Captain and crew who made the cruise both an enjoyable
and memorable experience:
DEAR CAPTAIN AND CREW OF THE
VIKING ALRUNA:
Thank you for turning what
could have been a tragedy into a very pleasant memory for me. Your
professionalism, genuine caring and attention to my every need are appreciated
beyond words. I am especially grateful to two wonderful people, Captain Bartosz
Balwierz, and Hotel Manager, Peter Burkhard, for upgrading my room from the
bottom level, which required me to take the stairs, to a beautiful cabin with a
balcony on the main floor, all without charge. Instead of watching the castles
of Germany and France pass by at water level, you gave me the gift of enjoying
the scenery from my bed and the ability to join the others at meal times in the
dining room.
And a special thanks to
Concierge Catalin Stancu, for handling all the complicated changes in our
flights, arranging for wheel chairs and escorts and so much more. Your efforts
made it possible for my daughter and I to relax knowing that you had smoothed
our way through all the plane transfers, custom checks and dozens of other
details. Getting home was the most grueling thing I have ever experienced, but
you made it worry free and that is worth a million thanks!
To the rest of the crew, I
will always remember you with great fondness. You never hesitated to serve us
with smiles and to anticipate our every need. You not only made us feel
special, we felt that we actually mattered to you. My family (and I from my
bed) enjoyed every minute of our Viking experience and you can take the credit.
And to you, Liliya, our lovely server who we were lucky enough to share our
meals with every evening, a very special thank you. I considered you a friend
at the end of the cruise.
The following story is just
one example of just how kind and caring you all are: On the first day of the
cruise we stopped in Holland for a tour of the iconic windmills. I, of course,
stayed on board, but I’d asked my friend, Kay, to be on the lookout for a doll
in Dutch costume to buy for my granddaughter. When Kay came back on board she
said she saw some but didn’t know if they were what I had in mind. After she
described them, I told her I wished she had bought one because there would not
be another chance since we were leaving Holland. The crew had already begun to
disengage the gang planks when Kay (bless her) rushed out and asked if it was
too late to go buy one. One of your lovely crew took the 20 dollar bill
clutched in her hand and sprinted down to the gift shop and ran back with it
while the ship waited. Now, THAT is above and beyond superior customer service.
That is genuine caring from all concerned. God bless you all.
With the sincerest of thanks,
Barbara Champlin
www.TheWorldAccordingToBarbara.com