Oh, how we wanted to love our first Viking cruise! All the advertising and all our friends and family said Viking’s the best, with all-balcony staterooms, a truly all-inclusive program, no one under 18 and lectures instead of casinos.

And we fully understand that weather happens, and the storm that trapped the Viking Venus in Tromsø, Norway, definitely was beyond Viking’s control. And Viking rallied quickly by chartering three planes to transfer passengers arriving in Heathrow another 4 ½ hours (what jet lag?) to Tromsø and rearranged our itinerary essentially backwards, with Aleșund thrown in for lost time back where the Northern Lights were good, and a weird side-trip to Newcastle to satisfy Norway’s requirement that we visit two other countries.

But that’s where the failures began. This was a once-in-a-lifetime cruise for us, to see the aurora, in style on a Viking cruise. And we ponied up big for it, securing a Penthouse Junior Suite and all that goes with it, including 11am stateroom access on day one of the cruise. Arriving at LHR at 6:30am, with a smooth transfer to where the ship was supposed to be in Tilbury, I figured we’d have almost a full day on board to get acclimated. But we were on the last flight out, whereas we should have been on the first. We didn’t arrive in our cabin until after 11:30pm. For this loss of nearly a full day of cruising and a shortened Northern Lights viewing chance, we were offered $750 each credit toward a future cruise, if we book within one year. Read more