Air through Viking

Has anyone been assigned their air flights through Viking if taking the deviation? Thanks.

On the April 11, 2015 cruise and haven't heard anything from my TA or Viking about air..... or excursions. I am tired of writing emails to Viking and getting the same response so I am just waiting for my TA to contact me.

Kathy

We are on 5/16/15 from Bergen... absolutely nothing from Viking even with bi-weekly calls from our TA that does a huge volume of business with them.

I have already started organizing plans for a small group Alla tour in St. Petersburg for May 26-27 because I have loss faith in Viking's planning.

Frustrating!!

Finally gave up and booked my own air. The voyage we are on is not customizable. This is after several conversations I and my TA had with Viking where we were told otherwise. I am allowed to take the deviation to come in early and/or stay later as well as leave from another airport other than the one we disembark. However, they will not allow me to select my flights even for an up charge. I will not know what flights I am on until Viking decides to provide that information which could be as late as 45 days before the cruise. At this point, it is too late to book you own air. I already lost hundreds of dollars since I paid more more booking my air at this later date than when the air originally became available since I waited for Viking to put us in the "queue" for air deviations. We are very much looking forward to this cruise but dealing with Viking up to this point has not been easy between air and port times and having to book excursion through your TA. There is not a lot of communication from Viking - more like none at all.

On the plus side I did get lovely holiday card from Viking........

I am booked on the Empires of the Sun departure from Venice to Istanbul in September 2015, plus the 3 night Italian pre-cruise extension. Despite booking over 16 months ago, and flights both from London to Rome and back to London from Istanbul now being bookable, I am being told I have to wait in the queue until the air booking team get to my booking. I guess not many 2015 River Cruises were booked so far in advance so I guess it must be on departure date order.

I am feeling a little bit unloved as a UK customer, as I have neither had a holiday card or an invitation to take part in a survey regarding excursions.

I am sure it will all be okay in the end and a great holiday but I bit more contact from Viking would be appreciated.

Looking at booking our own air for May 16 2015 voyage...just not comfortable waiting much longer. I can come within $250 of what we already paid which I am thinking is worth being able to choose layover times and number of stops. I already have flights for a September 2015 cruise with Princess....and all of our excursions for that matter. Very fustrating. A river cruise is a whole different thing than an ocean cruise yet Viking is treating this one the same. Cant figure that out.

I have to agree with all of us about Viking's lack of details for both air and excursions. But it's our fault. If we didn't all book and pay so long ago Viking couldn't be so adamant about not providing information.

We'll have to see if its been worth it. AND THEN BLAST THEM IF IT WASN'T!!

We haven't received a holiday card either, but I did receive a lovely email titled "AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO YOUR DESTINATION, BARCELONA" with videos, information about cooking excursions, other excursions, all sorts of wonderful information about Barcelona. Unfortunately, our cruise doesn't go to Barcelona.

We went ahead and used miles for our flights, and we have received a credit back for the airfare paid when we made final payment, so that's something :) I figure it will pay for our pre and post cruise hotels, which are cheaper and better located than the Viking hotels.

how long did it take to get your refund for flights?

We just were told that for our May 15 trip they wouldnt be assigning flights until late January. And we heard it would be October, then December. I really dont feel comfortable with that so we are going to book our own.

I cant get them for what we already paid but I can get close and being able to control layovers and flight times its worth it.

Just got flights for my April cruise

EWR/YYZ/IST We leave Newark at 12:30 arrive Istanbul 9:25 AM

BCN/EWR Non stop.

YAY

went ahead and booked our own air. Too uncomfortable waiting any longer. Now to wait for the refund from Viking.

Julie, I think it took about a month to get our refund.

Just got flights for my April cruise

 

EWR/YYZ/IST We leave Newark at 12:30 arrive Istanbul 9:25 AM

 

BCN/EWR Non stop.

Did you book on your own or are these from viking?

I am planning out 2016 vacations and I think it will be back to AZ or Windstar for us. I really like to be able to book our air and at least look at the excursions and book them online.....and pay final payment at a more reasonable time! I don't like this having to wait to book excursions/restaurant reservations depending on your cabin class either. I think I am about to book our air for the April 11th cruise.

Kathy

Kathy, Viking booked them .

This summer we were in Turkey and I booked IST YYZ EWR on my own for my return.

Well my TA contacted Viking....still have to wait till 90 days prior to sailing to book my air! They told her they are not sure how the excursions will be booked yet......

My email response 12/17/2014 from Viking when I asked them about booking air,suggested they monitor CC, thanked them for the holiday card and if they planned for a guest web portal on the website:

We have advised you prior of the proper date to contact your travel agent to receive further details on your tour scheduled for next April. As we understand that waiting is frustrating, this is the procedure we have in place for setting your options. We are glad that you are reaching out to past passengers, but please note that this is a new product and we do not have past passengers that could speak on their past experience with Viking Oceans as we have not had a tour as of yet; they can speak on the quality of our staff and their past experience onboard our river vessels. We appreciate your sentiment on the card however and we will make note of your comments for further review. Upon your return home, we highly encourage you to write us a complete review of your cruise/land tour experience as we strive to improve the clients experience

Kathy

On March 18,2015 cruise. No air yet.

Redtravel

You're probably on the wrong website. Viking Oceans first cruise is in April.

It took a nudge to my Viking sales consultant but after booking my September 2015 departure on the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise more than 2 years in advance and flights being open for booking for over two months I have just had a call from the flight team at Viking here in the UK and flights have now been booked and my e-tickets issued. Process was smooth and efficient, just a pity it was not a couple of months ago. I guess all's well that ends well. The bonus is that updated invoice issued with the e-ticket also contained details of port arrival and departure times.

Got my air a few weeks ago. It is very good. If I were picking planes myself, I couldn't do better. One change going (no direct planes on that route) and a nonstop direct return. All are at good times. Thank you Viking.

From reading this thread I gather I am too early to start fretting about no air yet from Viking. We are booked on the Star, September 27th, from Toronto, and returning from Istanbul with deviation to London for 6 days.

Anybody got their flights for this cruise yet?

I don't think you need to worry. We are booked on the Viking Star for May 30th Stockholm to Bergen and we still don't have our flight information. I did call them and they said we should receive it in the next two weeks.