Viking Air vs Viking Custom Air

We are booked on the Danube Waltz departing from Budapest early Sept, and included using their basic air package from the midwest (PIA).

I'm looking for response from those who have actually used the Viking regular air on any of their cruises (who did not pay for the Viking Air Plus service).

Were you happy with the itinerary you received? Would you use their basic air service again? or pay for the Air Plus service.

Thanks for assist.

When I went to China with a friend we booked the air with Viking as then the transfers were included. We were picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel.

It was easier to be picked up in a country where we didn't speak the language.

When we went to Holland we went early to stay in Belgium so we booked our own flights and I am going again in March and have booked my own flights again as I am going early to stay in a hotel.

its MUCH easier and better for me to get own air and take a taxi when I arrive.No waiting,no bus,and I get to chose times,seats,schedule,price that fits ME.

Do check out Cruise Air thread below for many comments about this.

Its usually cheaper too.No problem with taxi in BUdapest,they ALL speak English,it seems.Just did it in June,no hassle.:)

We have done two cruises with Viking using their basic air offering, not the custom air. Both times we have been absolutely pleased--no flights that I would have changed. We fly from Texas. To Budapest they routed us to Dulles, then to Frankfort, then to Budapest. For our France cruise they routed us through Chicago to Paris. I will say that as soon as I received the itinerary from Viking I went on-line to the actual airlines and selected seats rather than settle for the ones they had randomly assigned. It was easy and we had the best seats one can get in economy. Depending on the plane configuration we like to get either two on the side or one of the two-seat rows in the back, rather than share a row.

By the way, we loved our Danube Waltz trip; I hope you will too.

A couple of things that I forgot to add in my earlier post above: You'll have up 'til 90 days before departure to make other arrangements so I did watch the airfares on-line, but never was able to see lower fares than what Viking had quoted. Also, we do not have any "miles" to use nor do we have loyalty to a particular airline. As for multiple stops, we fly from Austin which means for international flights (other than Mexico) we have to make connections at a larger U. S. airport, so that extra U. S. stop is not Viking's fault.

I've used custom air from Viking last year. It costs $50 per passenger. I wanted to be able to pick my airline and seats. Since I'm an American Airlines frequent flyer, my status allowed me to reserve exit row seats, which make a significant difference on an overseas flight. It was also nice to be able to pick airports. I fly out of Nashville, so no direct flights to Europe. I chose to fly through DFW rather than ORD. I've generally found passport control/customs to be significantly less painful in DFW compared to ORD.

I always recommend booking the custom air option when working with Viking. This allows you to have a say in the routing/airline and provides your air schedule well in advance of the the other guests on the same sailing. We are also able to select your seats at this time as well - making sure you get good seats. The non custom air itineraries are assigned 75 days prior and custom air can be added as early as 10 months prior.

Hope this helps!

I pay the $100 just to avoid pre-dawn trips to the airport (especially on the last day of my vacation). On both of our cruises, people were leaving the ship/hotel before dawn to get to the airport--and many of these were people who had air arrangements through Viking.

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