Viking : the software support of the Seas

[turbobob]

I booked a Caribbean cruise for New Year's, which included not only a discounted price but economy airfare. The good part is Viking did book the flight from ATL to SJU on Delta - good because it is a direct flight and also because if you live in ATL you fly Delta. Then the bad. No Viking cannot upgrade the class of service from back of the plane on Delta. Then the bad, after more than a week and four telephone calls, oops today was the fifth, and four assurances that the flights would be ticketed within the next 24 hours or by close of business that day so I can upgrade class of service through Delta the flights have not been ticketed. When I call I get "Yes, I see your request and that is something we certainly can do but something has prevented us from ticketing the flights" (sounds like "reload your all your software to me"). Today I thought I would try to bump this up to someone not in the trenches .......5 hours later, no call back from a supervisor. This is not the treatment I expected from a premium cruise line and certainly not a newcomer to ocean cruising trying to take market share from established lines.

[CharTrav]

Send a note to Valerie Kepler - Valerie.Kepler@vikingcruises.com. She should be able to help you. She has the magic touch.

 

 

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[inborn traveler]

I found Viking Air to be full of problems on one of the river cruises. No one was able to help us with seat assignment or flights. Once ticketed the airlines's seats were picked over. We don't like to put anyone but us in controp of our flights. We are not willing to risk an uncomfortable flight. Paris to Seattle to LAX on our return when Viking booked us! That's a waste of our time! Never again. On our next cruise, V Ocean, we booked our own flights on our favorite airline, Lufthansa Premiun Economy.

 

Regarding viking's agent Valerie Kempler, she is great to work with and actually returns calls and emails!

 

 

 

I booked a Caribbean cruise for New Year's, which included not only a discounted price but economy airfare. The good part is Viking did book the flight from ATL to SJU on Delta - good because it is a direct flight and also because if you live in ATL you fly Delta. Then the bad. No Viking cannot upgrade the class of service from back of the plane on Delta. Then the bad, after more than a week and four telephone calls, oops today was the fifth, and four assurances that the flights would be ticketed within the next 24 hours or by close of business that day so I can upgrade class of service through Delta the flights have not been ticketed. When I call I get "Yes, I see your request and that is something we certainly can do but something has prevented us from ticketing the flights" (sounds like "reload your all your software to me"). Today I thought I would try to bump this up to someone not in the trenches .......5 hours later, no call back from a supervisor. This is not the treatment I expected from a premium cruise line and certainly not a newcomer to ocean cruising trying to take market share from established lines.

[Vineyard View]

Totally agree about Valerie. She is a great representative for Viking.

 

We NEVER use ANY cruise line for booking air. For all of these reasons....

Edited August 23, 2016 by Vineyard View

[Viking Cruises]

Dear turbobob,

 

We are excited to welcome you aboard. While Valerie is a great contact, the rest of the team is just as wonderful so we encourage you to email us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. This will help us help you in case she is out of the office.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

I booked a Caribbean cruise for New Year's, which included not only a discounted price but economy airfare. The good part is Viking did book the flight from ATL to SJU on Delta - good because it is a direct flight and also because if you live in ATL you fly Delta. Then the bad. No Viking cannot upgrade the class of service from back of the plane on Delta. Then the bad, after more than a week and four telephone calls, oops today was the fifth, and four assurances that the flights would be ticketed within the next 24 hours or by close of business that day so I can upgrade class of service through Delta the flights have not been ticketed. When I call I get "Yes, I see your request and that is something we certainly can do but something has prevented us from ticketing the flights" (sounds like "reload your all your software to me"). Today I thought I would try to bump this up to someone not in the trenches .......5 hours later, no call back from a supervisor. This is not the treatment I expected from a premium cruise line and certainly not a newcomer to ocean cruising trying to take market share from established lines.

[Vineyard View]

Viking - the TellUs link you provided does get great reviews! Good point.

[turbobob]

After my initial post on this topic an email appeared in my inbox saying the flights had been ticketed and that would be a great end to the story but.....

 

Delta still would/could do nothing because of the bulk purchase fare. The Viking Air representative told me Delta was wrong and I should call Delta back or even move to economy comfort using the Delta website ....... which I was logged into. When that did not work the Viking Air rep asked if it would help if SHE called Delta. Half a hour later she returned and said for an additional $100/ticket all would be well and I could upgrade to economy comfort in 24-48 hours.

 

That was less than 12 hours ago. I am holding my breath.

[turbobob]

Shortly after my extended call last night during which the Viking Air rep talked directly with Delta I received a new air itinerary with economy comfort seats. Hosanna!!

 

It seems that once again "systems" fail and people who are willing to go above and beyond make the difference.

[CharTrav]

My experience (one time I admit) with Viking Air Plus on a VR cruise was excellent. However my approach was one where I'd done my own research on flight itinerary options with the assumption that I would reserve our seats when I upgraded our seats to EconomyPlus. Thus, when I called Viking Air I had in front of me a list of 4 flight itineraries so that it was simply a question of finding which ones were on their list of "pre-reserved" bookings. Option #2 was the winner. After that it was a question of when the reservation was actually ticketed so I could execute the upgrade. I was happy with how things worked out for us. And btw - I stay away from Delta and have for many years.

 

 

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Edited August 24, 2016 by CharTrav

[Fpacifico]

Viking - the TellUs link you provided does get great reviews! Good point.

 

Sorry but when I use the tell us link, I never have a problem

[jiminyC_fan]

Used custom Viking Air twice. The first time I didn't even think about upgrading to economy plus but this time I did it. It was easy but it was United not Delta. I did it myself. Both times my flights were excellent. Decent layovers and times. Assigned seats were perfect.

[Vineyard View]

Fpacifico - that is what I was saying - that the Tell us link does get great reviews and responses.

[turbobob]

So...... Viking Air came through, and went above and beyond. Their final resolution was we were booked into economy comfort by Viking. If only that had happened a week ago.... but the final result is what counts the most.

[Vineyard View]

Thank you for all the encouraging information about the custom air options through Viking.

[philw1776]

Shortly after my extended call last night during which the Viking Air rep talked directly with Delta I received a new air itinerary with economy comfort seats. Hosanna!!

 

It seems that once again "systems" fail and people who are willing to go above and beyond make the difference.

 

I had issues with upgrading my Delta flight booked thru Viking Rivah. However, I had my travel agent work the issue with Viking travel and 48 hours later we got (and paid for) our upgrades. Happy.

 

On a prior Viking cruise where Air France was involved I get an AF email 72 hours before giving me a fantastic upgrade offer for Business class. I went to the AF website to book as advertised but the site crashed. Then it would not let me back in. I'm computer savvy. Pissed off after 2 days and several futile AF phonecalls, I finally went to the AF desk on check in and as they say Viola! we were able to upgrade to those last 2 comfy Business Class beds and arrived in France well rested. Even though we were stuck with middle beds in 2 different cabins, my wife enjoyed the experience of sleeping with two young Frenchmen. :eek:

[rjscott]

I finally went to the AF desk on check in and as they say Viola! we were able to upgrade to those last 2 comfy Business Class beds and arrived in France well rested. Even though we were stuck with middle beds in 2 different cabins, my wife enjoyed the experience of sleeping with two young Frenchmen. :eek:

 

Ooo-la-la! ;) :D

 

Becki