Beware Viking River Cruise Free Air ain't free and certainly is not easy

[HarleyYogi]

On Friday I called Viking River Cruise Air Department mid afternoon to book our flights for a trip in late November so that we could ensure that we got premium economy seats. After waiting on hold for over 25 minutes, M. Gray answered, listened to the reason for my call and then placed me on hold for 10 additional minutes.

 

Now with 35 minutes invested in the call, M. Gray comes back on the phone and immediately starts in with booking details even though we have not even discussed the details. We had paid an extra $50/person for the option of picking our flights and we had also decided to pay the up-charge for not flying out of a hub.

 

I slowed her down and explained what I wanted to do, she actually was helpful except for the fact that it was obvious that she did not want to complete the booking even though 1) I wanted to, and 2) the trip was paid except for the non-hub up-charge which I was ready to pay then.

 

We went over the various flight options and, because of a long layover which I wanted to discuss with the rest of the group, she convinced me that she could hold the flight options, send me a new invoice/itinerary with the details, and that I could call back. Great, looking forward to another 35 minutes on hold but that was my choice.

 

Within 5 minutes of the call ending I get the invoice/itinerary and it does not have any updated flight information so I reply to her asking where the updated information is. This is later on Friday afternoon.

 

By Monday midday I have not received a reply so I make a second request and copy my VRC internal agent, Paul. Paul replies immediately asking what's going on (he was out the prior week), says he's got it and to give him an hour. Several hours later, I ping Paul again and he makes another request of the Air Dept and of M. Gray. Again, he does not get a reply. Tuesday comes and goes with Paul sending additional emails to M. Gray and the travel dept. I ask Paul to escalate and he gives me an email address that I can escalate to. I decide to call in and ask for a supervisor only to be told that I have to wait on hold for the Air Dept (another 25+ minutes of my life lost?) because only an Air Dept supervisor can help.

 

As I'm sitting here writing this I am seriously debating cancelling the entire trip. Given all of the flight problems we have in the world today, I am seriously concerned that the team that I would have to deal with in the event of a problem is so inaccessible. What if we were stranded on a connection? Would I have to call and wait 25 minutes? Would I hang up after thinking the problem was solved only to find out that the person didn't do their job? Would I have to wait several days for a reply? If this is the type of service that I can expect from Viking just trying to buy their product, I wonder how bad service is for the rest of trip. Maybe I should get out now while I can still get a full refund and book elsewhere.

[HarleyYogi]

Update: I sent the above to Viking's supervisor email address to give them a chance to at least respond prior to posting. That was over 24 hours ago and I have not heard a peep from them.

[John99]

Sorry to hear about your problems. I was looking at a Danube cruise with Viking and AMA for 2017.

 

If you cancel, how will you get your money back? Or will receive a travel voucher? AMA is starting to looking better all the time. Now I will reconsider my cruise options.

 

I wonder how AMA treats their customers relative to air arrangements?

 

John

[HarleyYogi]

John, it's going to cost me $100 per person but for the piece of mind of not having to worry about their lousy customer service, it will be worth it. Lesson learned.

[Viking Cruises]

Dear HarleyYogi,

 

Thank you for allowing us an opportunity to respond to your comments. We sincerely regret to learn of your disappointing interaction with our air department and the absence of returned email correspondence you’ve described.

 

Your satisfaction in both your air schedule and our customer service is important to us and, if you have not yet received response from the email you sent to a supervisor, we would encourage you to contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com to continue discussion.

 

HarleyYogi, we look forward to the opportunity to provide an agreeable air schedule, regain your trust and reinstate your anticipation in your upcoming cruise!

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

On Friday I called Viking River Cruise Air Department mid afternoon to book our flights for a trip in late November so that we could ensure that we got premium economy seats. After waiting on hold for over 25 minutes, M. Gray answered, listened to the reason for my call and then placed me on hold for 10 additional minutes.

 

Now with 35 minutes invested in the call, M. Gray comes back on the phone and immediately starts in with booking details even though we have not even discussed the details. We had paid an extra $50/person for the option of picking our flights and we had also decided to pay the up-charge for not flying out of a hub.

 

I slowed her down and explained what I wanted to do, she actually was helpful except for the fact that it was obvious that she did not want to complete the booking even though 1) I wanted to, and 2) the trip was paid except for the non-hub up-charge which I was ready to pay then.

 

We went over the various flight options and, because of a long layover which I wanted to discuss with the rest of the group, she convinced me that she could hold the flight options, send me a new invoice/itinerary with the details, and that I could call back. Great, looking forward to another 35 minutes on hold but that was my choice.

 

Within 5 minutes of the call ending I get the invoice/itinerary and it does not have any updated flight information so I reply to her asking where the updated information is. This is later on Friday afternoon.

 

By Monday midday I have not received a reply so I make a second request and copy my VRC internal agent, Paul. Paul replies immediately asking what's going on (he was out the prior week), says he's got it and to give him an hour. Several hours later, I ping Paul again and he makes another request of the Air Dept and of M. Gray. Again, he does not get a reply. Tuesday comes and goes with Paul sending additional emails to M. Gray and the travel dept. I ask Paul to escalate and he gives me an email address that I can escalate to. I decide to call in and ask for a supervisor only to be told that I have to wait on hold for the Air Dept (another 25+ minutes of my life lost?) because only an Air Dept supervisor can help.

 

As I'm sitting here writing this I am seriously debating cancelling the entire trip. Given all of the flight problems we have in the world today, I am seriously concerned that the team that I would have to deal with in the event of a problem is so inaccessible. What if we were stranded on a connection? Would I have to call and wait 25 minutes? Would I hang up after thinking the problem was solved only to find out that the person didn't do their job? Would I have to wait several days for a reply? If this is the type of service that I can expect from Viking just trying to buy their product, I wonder how bad service is for the rest of trip. Maybe I should get out now while I can still get a full refund and book elsewhere.

 

Update: I sent the above to Viking's supervisor email address to give them a chance to at least respond prior to posting. That was over 24 hours ago and I have not heard a peep from them.

[HarleyYogi]

So I did contact VRC at the email they provided here. They say that someone will contact me within 24 hours. Wow, I'm glad they are getting right on it!

 

I wonder why they think the air dept will reply now instead of the 2 emails I've sent over the last 6 days and the 5-6 emails my internal agent has sent on my behalf and the email that was sent to their "supervisor" email address of vcmail@vrc.com?

 

Stay tuned. One can say that I'm skeptical at best.

[Cyber Kat]

I was going to suggest emailing TellUs@vikingcruises.com but it seems Viking beat me to it. I don't know why some people have problems and others don't. The Viking Air people we dealt with were wonderful, but our air wasn't part of the free deal. We got a discount, but it wasn't free.

 

I called to make our arrangements in October for our August 2016 cruise. I had paid the fees to choose our own arrangements. We wanted United out of Newark Liberty. The agent informed us that because their agreement with United wasn't as good as with some other airlines there would be an additional fee. Understood - we agreed on that and made the arrangements.

 

Afterward we talked it over and decided since this was a "treat ourselves well trip" to upgrade to business/first. I called Viking Air again. Again the agent informed me that United was going to be more, but she could do Delta for less. We're not that loyal to United, so we did the Delta flights.

 

The return flight from Zurich was going to have a stopover and plane change in Paris (CDG). I thought - it's going to be day time. We're going home - no rush, so we were good with that ... until I started to hear horror stories about CDG. We weren't going to have a lot of time to do this, so I started to worry about it.

 

I did a little digging and I found that Delta has a direct, non-stop flight from Zurich to JFK. We're not wild about JFK, but it sounded better than the plane change in Paris. So I called back :)

 

The agent said - "no problem." Couple of clicks of her computer keys and we were done! We're set. I checked the Delta web site - we're booked and have our seats. I was even able to move us back a couple of rows.

 

None of the phone calls lasted longer than 20 minutes or so. No long holds. Easy Peasy and the agents Rita and Rosemary were wonderful. I would have thought myself a PITA, but they couldn't have been more helpful.

 

So I'm thinking perhaps Viking needs to work on consistency, because I've heard tales from both sides good and bad. I'm quite glad I was one of the lucky ones! ;)

 

But I'm very much looking forward to cruising with them.

[id4elizabeth]

HarleyYogi - regarding what happens if there's flight delays or you miss a connexion - I think you're stuck with dealing with whatever airline carrier you're on. I don't think Viking gives you any support in that case. Basically, they just book the flights

 

As Cyber Kat says - from these boards you get some good experiences related, but I'd say many more negative experiences than positive with Viking Air. We've never used them, as we book our own flights, but also have never been offered "free air" before either.

[CPT Trips]

HarleyYogi - regarding what happens if there's flight delays or you miss a connexion - I think you're stuck with dealing with whatever airline carrier you're on. I don't think Viking gives you any support in that case. Basically, they just book the flights

 

As Cyber Kat says - from these boards you get some good experiences related, but I'd say many more negative experiences than positive with Viking Air. We've never used them, as we book our own flights, but also have never been offered "free air" before either.

 

I can tell you that at least one other cruise line provides support when there are work stoppages and weather events that interfere with flights that they have arranged.

[pflorio994]

In early November 2015 when Lufthansa went on strike, Viking went above and beyond to help reschedule everyone involved with flights going home. And all was done in a 1 day.

[zoncom]

I have used Choice Air several times. They E mail you a choice of 3 itins. I like to see it in writing myself.

[Mark_T]

.. but I'd say many more negative experiences than positive with Viking Air.

 

Oddly people rarely bother to go find a cruise forum and post that they had absolutely no problems :)

 

I don't think it is ever possible to extrapolate from the problem posts on here exactly what the balance of good vs bad experiences is for any of the cruise lines.

[HarleyYogi]

I thought that one of the benefits of buying air from the cruise line was that they had the responsibility to get you to the ship (and back home). For example, let's say a flight was cancelled and you missed the sailing. Isn't the cruise line responsible for getting you to the next port? Maybe that was a misconception I had.

 

Update on my adventure. Good news and observation. Within an hour of Viking reaching out on this board, I received a call from Viking. She sympathized with me and promised to follow this through to resolution. Within another couple hours I got a call from someone in Viking Air and we scheduled a time that we could work on this (it wasn't opportune for me when she called). She called back at the appointment time and we must of spent at least 90 minutes on the phone. Bottom line, I am ticketed and was able to go and secure premium comfort seats from the airline (they only had BA and AF and we are on KLM). I was also told that, if there is a travel problem, there is an emergency number that is staff to quickly respond. It would be a different group within Viking.

 

Observation, and I think Viking get this, is that it really is a shame that it took escalation to this forum to get their attention. I spent close to 6 days prior to this posting trying to get this addressed through my internal agent and emails to Viking air and mgt. I even sent this posting to Viking and gave them 24 hours to respond before reaching out to all of you. Trust and reputation, once lost, is hard to regain. I just hope I did the right thing giving them a chance to try and earn my trust back.

 

For all of your comments and suggestions and this board in general, I am grateful. Thank you.

[Cyber Kat]

Oddly people rarely bother to go find a cruise forum and post that they had absolutely no problems :)

 

I don't think it is ever possible to extrapolate from the problem posts on here exactly what the balance of good vs bad experiences is for any of the cruise lines.

 

This is true - which is why I posted my experience with them. I don't know whether I got lucky or whether the OP got unlucky. But I agree that more people who have bad experiences post than those who have good experiences. We do need a balance of both.

[Cyber Kat]

I thought that one of the benefits of buying air from the cruise line was that they had the responsibility to get you to the ship (and back home). For example, let's say a flight was cancelled and you missed the sailing. Isn't the cruise line responsible for getting you to the next port? Maybe that was a misconception I had.

 

Update on my adventure. Good news and observation. Within an hour of Viking reaching out on this board, I received a call from Viking. She sympathized with me and promised to follow this through to resolution. Within another couple hours I got a call from someone in Viking Air and we scheduled a time that we could work on this (it wasn't opportune for me when she called). She called back at the appointment time and we must of spent at least 90 minutes on the phone. Bottom line, I am ticketed and was able to go and secure premium comfort seats from the airline (they only had BA and AF and we are on KLM). I was also told that, if there is a travel problem, there is an emergency number that is staff to quickly respond. It would be a different group within Viking.

 

Observation, and I think Viking get this, is that it really is a shame that it took escalation to this forum to get their attention. I spent close to 6 days prior to this posting trying to get this addressed through my internal agent and emails to Viking air and mgt. I even sent this posting to Viking and gave them 24 hours to respond before reaching out to all of you. Trust and reputation, once lost, is hard to regain. I just hope I did the right thing giving them a chance to try and earn my trust back.

 

For all of your comments and suggestions and this board in general, I am grateful. Thank you.

 

So glad that you were able to resolve your issue! I'm going to be looking for that number and making sure I have it with me!

 

I don't know if it's the cruise lines responsibility to get you to the ship and home - could be, I just don't know. I got it because it was easier and because the discount worked out well for us. I'm not all that familiar with the open jaw (I think that's what it's called) ticketing. We're usually just booking round trip from Newark to Bermuda. I didn't want to handle myself and screw it up!

 

Hope you have an awesome cruise and your troubles are all behind you!

[caviargal]

I don't know if it's the cruise lines responsibility to get you to the ship and home

 

We were on a Christmas market cruise with Avalon several years ago when an unexpected blizzard hit. Some of the family (who booked their flights with Avalon) was caught up in the myriad of delays.

 

I went to the cruise manager to check on them and was told that it was totally up to the airline to get them there and up to passengers to communicate with the boat and advise them of their arrival, as well as to meet up with the boat. They took no responsibility and had no number to call where I could try and get them help.

 

They end up having to delay sailing as so many were coming in very late and they made it on board but that was due to airline and not Avalon.

[ural guy]

This is true - which is why I posted my experience with them. I don't know whether I got lucky or whether the OP got unlucky. But I agree that more people who have bad experiences post than those who have good experiences. We do need a balance of both.

 

Cyber Kat- I'm with you, don't know if it was luck, but went on a Viking Cruise w/ free air. We booked 35 days before sailing. I wasn't sure at the time which of the kids would be able to go (I was booking 2 cabins), so I couldn't provide the agent with all 4 names just then.

 

The guy kept right on me for 2 days until I knew for sure who was going. We were then ticketed, no issue. I was also able to upgrade to economy plus for my wife and I directly with the airline.

 

We had a great 14 night cruise w/ airfare for $4,000 a person. I looked up airfare, and at that time JFK-AMS, BUD-JFK, on the same flight, was $1400. So for me it was somewhat free and very easy.

 

Harley-Yogi- Hope your cruise goes well and you are able to enjoy. I do understand how frustrating this would be. Viking does monitor these boards; it's a shame that you have to resort to this to get customer service. (FWIW, I think any cruise line should be reading these boards, and jumping in to clarify issues or solve problems. Especially river cruising, as it is more of a newly developing tourism option, without a lot of coverage).

 

More free airfare, Vantage has a 7 night sailing for $1500, including airfare. It's the Rhine Discovery, only thing is you sail 28 March. Just mailed out our passports for renewal, unfortunately.

 

https://www.vantagetravel.com/whyvantage/last-minute-deals

[Capt_BJ]

We book our own air/trans always ... well we ask and compare and have yet to choose THEM

 

We booked a balcony cabin on QM2 for less than the cost of business class on any airline

 

Hamburg to NYC

 

got the time?

[sofietucker]

Holy moly... So glad to be reading all this. As river-cruising virgins, we'd planned to jump on a 2-for-1, free-air deal with Viking that ends 31 March--for April 2017, so we have a good long time to iron out details.

 

And we too have ALWAYS arranged our own flights (often doing pre-post stuff on our own, etc.). But we figured that the "free" air (okay, even with seat upgrades, and even on a less-preferred airline) would make the overall cost of the cruise truly a deal.

 

But gee, I sure don't like to hear about the lack of responsiveness from Viking.

 

I do agree about folks tending to post complaints more so than praise. Just read an unintentionally hilarious & lengthy review of a Viking cruise, along the lines of "the food was bad and they gave us hardly any, plus it was French... Day after day of nothing but castles and medieval villages... We never got to meet any actual French people; no one spoke English..."

 

I do have one small point to add re: the ship's responsibility: regardless of the way you arrive, if you take a ship's transfer, you at least avoid the gamble of getting to the pier in a timely fashion. Last fall we sailed out of Ijmuiden (now the port for Amsterdam, but a 45-min. drive out of the city). Even though we'd been in town for days, we did take their transfer from city center and thank heaven we did: lots of folks nearly missed the boat trying to get there on their own.

 

We've also taken the ship's transfer from Schiphol to Rotterdam days after arriving (train back to the airport first) to alleviate logistical headaches. Ditto Rome to Civittavecchia.

 

All that being said, we're now looking at Avalon...

Edited March 13, 2016 by sofietucker

[Host Jazzbeau]

Holy moly... So glad to be reading all this. As river-cruising virgins, we'd planned to jump on a 2-for-1, free-air deal with Viking that ends 31 March--for April 2017, so we have a good long time to iron out details.

 

I hope you have picked up that Viking "2-for-1" deals NEVER end!

[id4elizabeth]

The "free" airfare is not always there though. We booked over a year ago for a Viking cruise this Spring and got the 2 for 1 plus an early booking discount of $300, but had to pay our own air and had to pay big time for trip insurance instead of the "cancel for any reason up to 3 days in advance" offer that Viking is offering now. I wish we would have waited to book in hindsight, but of course you never know.

[jrkstl]

 

But gee, I sure don't like to hear about the lack of responsiveness from Viking.

 

 

Just thought that I'd add to the conversation to say that we're getting ready to take our second Viking cruise in June, and for both we used Viking air. The specials on RT airfare were fantastic, and made the trips much more affordable. Also? No issues with flight schedules, etc., and when I spoke with them before our trip last year, they were wonderful.

 

Carry on...

 

Jeff

[TravelerThom]

I hope that everyone on these boards comprehends that NOBODY (not Viking, not Vantage, not Oceania, etc) is giving you free air. Nor free drinks nor free anything. Some companies include some items (tips, drinks, air, etc.) all the time, some include some of these items as sweeteners to get you to book when their sales are below quota. Free air is often an attempt to distract you from looking at your bottom line.

 

IMO step 1: pick a cruise you are interested in (eg 7 night on the Rhine). I always look at nights to equalize those "8 day" cruises, which are in fact 7 nights, and really only include 6 full days plus 2 partials (indeed the final "day" is often only a few hours before heading to the airport).

 

Step 2: look at your per person all-in price: base fare, port fees, air, transfers, tips on day tours, tips for boat crew, tips for tour directors, drinks you will have on the boat, etc.

 

Step 3: now that you have attempted to establish an all-in price, consider quality. Room size, service reputation, tour group sizes, tour options, food reputation, company reputation when things don't go as planned (eg water level issues), etc. Be aware of where your cruise starts and where it stops - especially on the Seine, there are LARGE variations between cruise lines.

 

There is no "right" answer as to the best cruise line, but marketing attempts to put the best spin on things - our task as consumers is to figure out which is really the best deal for our needs and desires.

 

happy cruising

Thom

 

PS: I have quite a number of times taken the "free" air when it results in the best deal IMO. Sometimes if you decline free air you get a lower price, sometimes not. I declined Oceania "free" air in November when we went to Cape Town for a cruise, and took Oceania's $1100 price reduction in lieu of air so that we could do our own schedule (did a 2.5 week safari before the cruise).

[Cyber Kat]

I hope that everyone on these boards comprehends that NOBODY (not Viking, not Vantage, not Oceania, etc) is giving you free air. Nor free drinks nor free anything. Some companies include some items (tips, drinks, air, etc.) all the time, some include some of these items as sweeteners to get you to book when their sales are below quota. Free air is often an attempt to distract you from looking at your bottom line.

 

IMO step 1: pick a cruise you are interested in (eg 7 night on the Rhine). I always look at nights to equalize those "8 day" cruises, which are in fact 7 nights, and really only include 6 full days plus 2 partials (indeed the final "day" is often only a few hours before heading to the airport).

 

Step 2: look at your per person all-in price: base fare, port fees, air, transfers, tips on day tours, tips for boat crew, tips for tour directors, drinks you will have on the boat, etc.

 

Step 3: now that you have attempted to establish an all-in price, consider quality. Room size, service reputation, tour group sizes, tour options, food reputation, company reputation when things don't go as planned (eg water level issues), etc. Be aware of where your cruise starts and where it stops - especially on the Seine, there are LARGE variations between cruise lines.

 

There is no "right" answer as to the best cruise line, but marketing attempts to put the best spin on things - our task as consumers is to figure out which is really the best deal for our needs and desires.

 

happy cruising

Thom

 

PS: I have quite a number of times taken the "free" air when it results in the best deal IMO. Sometimes if you decline free air you get a lower price, sometimes not. I declined Oceania "free" air in November when we went to Cape Town for a cruise, and took Oceania's $1100 price reduction in lieu of air so that we could do our own schedule (did a 2.5 week safari before the cruise).

 

LOL - gee good sound advice with no hyperbole - how refreshing! :D

 

Price is usually not my first consideration. I pick out what I want to do, then I see where the price lies. I don't always go with the cheapest (because the old adage "you get what you pay for" usually holds true) but I never go with the most expensive ... while almost never!

[Hydrokitty]

LOL - gee good sound advice with no hyperbole - how refreshing! :D

 

Price is usually not my first consideration. I pick out what I want to do, then I see where the price lies. I don't always go with the cheapest (because the old adage "you get what you pay for" usually holds true) but I never go with the most expensive ... while almost never!

 

I've been saying this all along....there is no such thing as "free" in travel!! There's lots of "included" but "included" ain't "free"!! :D

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hydrokitty