Ladiewillow

Being new to river cruising, we chose Viking air plus for our first river cruise in 2017.  Found a straight flight to Amsterdam from Houston and paid an additional 150 per person for that flight. Once I received the airline confirmation,  I was able to upgrade the flight to premium through United for 200 per person. We purchased another river cruise for 2020 and we paid for airplus. I've been working out flight info and called to compare pricing and route info. I wanted to upgrade to premium. I was told that it would be 1000 per person to upgrade. I was confused by this since the price difference from economy to premium economy (on website) was 125. When I booked the trip, we paid 699 pp for airfare. I was told that we would have to pay the difference on the airflight we wanted if it cost more. Every airflight that I found, was in Vikings scope and there wasn't a difference. But when I tried to upgrade it was over 999pp. I wondering if I have Viking do the economy booking and once I receive the airline confirmation try to upgrade. Will this work and I will not have to pay the 1000pp? Why is it 1000 pp to upgrade? I've asked airplus but am getting different answers. 

No, there was not an additional fee to change flights or to change the city that we will be flying from to Europe. I changed it from Boston to Houston. 

Thankyou all for your replies. Finally, I was able to contact them. The deviation fee is $100 per person and will stay due to the fact that we made our own reservation through Movenpick in Amsterdam for 3 days before the cruise starts. We will be flying back right after the cruise but a deviation fee is a deviation fee. If we made all the arrangements with Viking then we would have a credit or a refund. I made them on the side since they saved us a few pennies... but it didn't in the end... =(

Good morning from Texas. We booked our 2nd Vikings Rhine cruise for 2020 last year. We had plans to fly to London, spend 3 days and then travel by Eurostar to Amsterdam. In addition, our plans included to stay an additional 3 days in Lucerne after the cruise. Well, as always, plans change and we do not have the additional time to stay extra days before or after the cruise. We paid $100 per person for deviation fees. Will these be refunded? Or can they be credited to the account to use for airlines upgrades, etc? Viking is not open this early in the am and so I'm reaching out to the boards. 

Thank you! 😃

Yes. Did not use a travel agent. I find it easy and less complicated to book directly!

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We were extremely satisfied!! Paid the extra $50 pp and an addition $100 pp on the Flight we wanted.. zero layovers. The Viking Rep was amazing and helped out with flying to Amsterdam and flying back from Basel. I had several questions afterwards and they answered all of them. I'm very satisfied with Viking and the service!

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Thank you Notamermaid! I was an avid follower for the 2016 thread and glad to see you started 2017. Cruise is July 2nd... Our first ever anything cruise and our first time to Europe! Really looking forward to the vacation! Thank you for being a great resource for many of us!

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Two years ago I took Viking's Rhine Getaway and loved it. I also did the pre-cruise of Lucerne through Viking which was also great. We stayed at the Radisson Blu in Lucerne, convenient and a nice hotel. You can do pre and post on your own for a price that is cheaper, just depends on how much research you want to put into it. The link to my review is in my signature if you're interested.

Love your review!! Several posts had me laughing, especially about the "applesauce" and " Hersey kisses". Thank you for sharing! Enjoyed it :)

:D

Definitely check out the very active 2016 roll call for Rhine Getaway and the just-as-helpful 2015 roll call. Read, join in, and enjoy the anticipation! You might like looking at this travel blog as well: https://offthebeatenpathdc.wordpress.com/category/viking-river-cruise/ I read it and took a lot of notes. ;)

Thank you for the info! I like the blog! Will defiantly keep looking at this in the future! :) Also, they stayed in the exact cabin we booked. How exciting!

Hi Ladiewillow,

 

Welcome to the excitement of pre-cruise planning and anticipation :)

 

First of all, be sure to check out this thread in the River Cruise Roll Call section for all Viking Rhine cruises for 2017: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2337826

 

It's not very active yet, but it will be. You'll also want to read through the roll call thread for all Viking Rhine cruises for 2016 as it will give you tons of helpful info. Go here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2230700

 

I'm looking forward to our Rhine Getaway in April 2017, and thanks to Cruise Critic boards, have already gained a ton of knowledge.

 

This will be out 3rd Viking cruise, and we've been very happy so far with all of the tours handled by them. I'm not sure when this info will be up for next year on the MyVikingJourney website, but read through the other threads to get a good idea what to expect.

 

Jeff

Thank you for the info. Already looked at the links and reading away! :D

Hello! My husband and I booked the Rhine Getaway River Cruise with Viking for July 2017 :D. We are very very excited. Well, I am. My husband is starting to to get excited. The trip is still 358 days away! :eek:

This is our first ever cruise of any kind. My husband and I have never been excited or even been on an ocean cruise... too many people on one boat. When the opportunity came up to go on a vacation without the kids ( in our 40's) ... we (actually, my husband) chose Viking Rivers Cruise. I think this has to do with watching Downtown Abbey and seeing the advertisements for the river cruises. Well, I put my thinking and planning hat on and I was able to make it happen. I have to admit that there were some tears because I was planning to go this summer and my husband kept telling me no. So, we booked for next year.

Since the cruise is still 350 days away, does anyone know when the tours and optional tours will be available on MyVikings website? I have been researching tour companies in Amsterdam and Basel since we are staying pre and post stays... must make it as exciting as possible. If anyone has booked pre and post stays, did you use the Viking tours that were offered/ or go off on your own or do both! :) Tour guides or companies that are recommended?

I appreciate any help with this and thank you for letting me share some excitement!! :D

Hello! Thank you for the welcome =)

I booked directly with Viking. I'll give them a call to see if they can add it on.I was able to access all the pre and post stays through the MyViking Journey but when I paid for the entire booking, it was not available.

As for the air, I booked through viking. I've read alot of issues with booking with viking air. Some of those issues of not having enough time to get to the boat because they book the cheapest airfare. I thought one way around this is to book pre and post stays.

I have already booked my 2017 trip on the Rhine Getaway. When I booked, I added the pre stay in Amsterdam. Now, I would really like to add the post stay. My Viking Journey will not allow me to look at 2017 bookings or shore excursions. Is this because it's still 400 days out? Would it be O.k. to wait until all the info is available on My Viking Page or call them to add?

Another reason why I'm adding the post is the info that I'm receiving about Viking air. It's best to have a pre and post added to the trip. Is this correct?