The Latest Farce with the Viking office!

I went into MyVikingJourney for the umpteenth time today to make sure all our included excursions were noted.

While there I saw that there was a "1" showing under dinner reservations for Manfredi's.

Giddy with excitement at the prospect of actually booking a table at Manfredi's I called Viking and this is the conversation:-

Me: MyVikingJourney shows I can book 1 reservation for Manfredi's but I can't do it online.

Viking Rep (VR) - Let me check.....

(on hold for 10 minutes) then she returns....

VR- You cannot do advance reservations in categories V1 and V2.

Me - Yes I was told already - (even though that wasn't the case when we booked and paid) but I do realize they changed the rules.

However I have the "1" showing in MyViking Journey. What does it mean?

VR- It means you can reserve a table ...but since you are in V1/V2 you can't.

Me - So does it mean I can reserve it on board?

VR_ No - you can't book.

Me- So actually "1" doesn't mean 1 .. it actually means zero?

VR - Yes.

Me- I'm not blaming you but can you see how absurd that is....

Laughter.

Honestly you couldn't make up this stuff...

There is a little number 2 next to the shopping cart icon at the top in my MVJ. When I click on the shopping cart to check out, the page returned says my shopping cart is empty. Therefore, I cannot "check out" -- meaning all excursions and spa reservations have to be done by phone. My husband's MVJ has 5 items in his empty shopping cart.

The excursions in our empty shopping carts had to be reserved and paid for over the phone. They show up in our Calendar as still requiring payment though I have email receipts from Viking showing payment has been made. Viking assures me this is not a problem--that any excursions paid by phone will show up in our Calendar as requiring payment but not to worry.

Clearly, we are all beta testers, though Viking does not seem interested in feedback.

Dear Onebag,

I agree that Viking are using us as their software testers but have found that they are very interested in my observations.

I have sent in 8 observations to the UK customer services manager, within 48 hrs he has always replied informing me that my observations have been passed on to the USA based technical team.

He then informs me when they have been actioned.

In 5 cases resolved, 2 cases referred for future decisions and one I do not know if it has been done.

The one that I do not know if it has been resolved is that I have been able to book two Chef’s table reservations and MVJ shows that I now have minus 1 reservations remaining.( I should only be able to book one). I am not going to cancel one to see if the problem is fixed.

Dear Onebag,

I agree that Viking are using us as their software testers but have found that they are very interested in my observations.

I have sent in 8 observations to the UK customer services manager, within 48 hrs he has always replied informing me that my observations have been passed on to the USA based technical team.

He then informs me when they have been actioned.

In 5 cases resolved, 2 cases referred for future decisions and one I do not know if it has been done.

The one that I do not know if it has been resolved is that I have been able to book two Chef’s table reservations and MVJ shows that I now have minus 1 reservations remaining.( I should only be able to book one). I am not going to cancel one to see if the problem is fixed.

Perhaps the UK customer service manager has more pull with Viking's USA technical team than the total of four different Travel Sales Support people in LA I spoke with. TSS are the only folks I have been allowed to communicate with at Viking. I have asked repeatedly to be allowed to communicate with someone who might be better equipped to help, and have been denied.

I did not call UK since I am a USA customer. I phoned USA, I also tried emailing directly and also used the website email contact form, and phoned again about our broken shopping cart and faulty Calendar. After the final, lengthy call that got me nowhere, the TSS woman flat out told me the Calendar will never show correctly but I can rely on my email receipt. She promised to "look into" the broken shopping cart and also promised she would get back to me "no matter what" and she even gave me a specific day when she'd get back to me ("Thursday"). And then she didn't. Not Thursday, not ever. That was weeks ago. Meanwhile, our "empty" carts still show we have items in them and we cannot make excursion or spa purchases except by phone. I am not confident that our "paid but still requiring payment" Calendar problem won't cause us problems on board, and at this point I believe that our shopping cart will never be fixed.

Not being able to use the shopping cart or trust the Calendar are still under the category of "minor inconveniences." My issue is that either there is no system for problems reported to but not fixable by TSS to get reported to the right people. Or maybe there is and the breakdown is elsewhere. Or maybe the software is so lousy that nobody can fix it. Or maybe Viking just doesn't care. Whatever the real reason, it does not instill confidence.

As someone said on these boards, the LA USA office is where all communication with Viking goes to die. Save your breathe and deal with it once on board. Bring with you e-mail confirmations. They have honored these on board.

?..Bring with you e-mail confirmations. They have honored these on board.

Very reassuring to hear that from someone on board. Thanks, Elizabeth. :)

Dear OneBag,

Understand that you cannot contact Viking UK . Maybe the difference is that here we have a “Customer Service Department “and in the States you have a “SALES Support Department”. Once I had spoken to the Service Helpline I asked for her to pass an email on to her manager. This done he replied giving his direct phone number and direct email address for all future correspondence. ( and he has had plenty).

I cannot praise him enough during this period and hope that all problems on land are not fixed as they are concentrating on the problems at sea.

Looking forward to my trip on the 30th May.

Perhaps things will improve when Viking fills this position: http://www.cruisejobfinder.com/jobcenter/display-job/1886478/Director,-Customer-Advocacy.html?searchId=1431617778.66&page=1

Ingra Tor

Perhaps you could share with me the contact details of the customer services manager here in the UK. I have raised a number of issues myself with the customer service staff and most have been resolved satisfactorily but it is always good to have details of a manager in case I have a problem in the future.

Thanks

Neil

Hi Neil,

Can you please give me an address to send the information to or you can contact Viking UK at 02087807900 and ask for the contact details for the Customer Services Manager.

Ingra Tor

If you could drop me an email on neildpreston57 at gmail dot com that would be appreciated.

Regards

Neil

The foregoing dialog points up my limited experience with questions of the Viking LA home office since we booked our July 2016 cruise over a year ago. I'm a happy camper now that I've decided to accept their normal reply of "we only deal with your TA on issues". Of course he gets same idiot treatment, but I'm OK with that as he gets paid to deal with this poor customer service. Besides--nothing I can do about it but follow someone's earlier advice of "wait till you get onboard". I would expect the majority of my concerns and questions will melt away as bugs on-board their maiden cruise will be effectively resolved. I keep remembering why we booked this cruise in the first place--it satisfied our "bucket list" of places to visit on the Baltic & Scandinavia better than any other cruises we have seen. Not interested in on-board entertainment, spa, gambling, or pool usage. Food is a different matter--but we will be chowing down pretty well on our shore excursions, most of which we are used to booking on our own. Or...I may just shoot myself!

Perhaps things will improve when Viking fills this position: http://www.cruisejobfinder.com/jobcenter/display-job/1886478/Director,-Customer-Advocacy.html?searchId=1431617778.66&page=1

Did get a chuckle reading Viking's Want AD for a "Director-Customer-Advocacy" position. Do you think they just realized that they might need one? Wonder what the salary for it is. Would imagine it must be millions! Would have to be. Who in their right mind would want it for anything less . . . . unless they are a masochist? I'd rather clean houses than Viking's mess right now.

Amarsh....some jobs just ain't worth having eh?! LOL! :D