Viking Air - Trying to go a few days early

[divot33]

We're booked on an early July Viking Imperial Jewels of China and we wanted to go a few days early to Shanghai to go to Disney.

 

Originally, when I asked Viking what it would cost to change our flight days, they said I only had to upgrade to the AirPlus for $50 per person.

 

I called this past weekend to try to do that and got the full story - the charges kept adding up.

 

All per person

• $50 for AirPlus
  
• $100 for a deviation (since we are changing the dates from the 'normal' Viking dates)
  
• $100 increase in insurance to cover the longer trip
  
• $$$ for paying the difference between the flight credits and the price of the flight
  

In our case, we have a $1247 credit. There are no flights out of our airport to China for less than $1550 - and those are 3 connection flights. To get 1 connection flight is $1661.

 

So, to add 3 days to our trip, we'd have to pay $914 just to change the flights.

 

Was I asking the wrong questions? Anyone know any tips on how we could make the change for less?

 

Thank you!

[pinotlover]

This is common practice for air departments. The Lines offer cheap, or free, air to reel one in, and then smack you if you want to deviate in any manner. I always do my own air, typically for less than the Lines offer, but also for the convenience of choosing air Lines , specific seats, and routing early in the process.

 

Unless one plays strictly by the cruise line rules, normally the only time they offer a truly better deal is on a trans ocean cruise, which doesn't apply to river cruises.

[QueenofEverything]

We added days on both ends of our Christmas markets cruise this December with no problem. I assume there are alot fewer flights to China than to Europe, so it is probably more difficult because of the destination. The more lead time you have, the better the odds of getting what you want with minimal additional cost. I also never use cruiseline insurance. I always purchase it from insuremytrip dot com. I have changed dates on purchased policies a couple of times and have not had price increases due to the additional days.

[mskaufman]

We knew about the $50 for Air Plus and the $100 for a deviation. The insurance only should increase if you put the price of your hotels on it. For us, the price of the ticket was the same for an earlier flight.

[gnome12]

Insurance can definitely depend on the length of your trip. Sometimes it is in blocks of days, but if you move into a new block it costs more. Other times any increase in days will increase the insurance.

[wheezedr]

The $50 air plus and $100 deviation fees were clearly delineated when I booked. I just factored in the $100 when I compared using Viking extension versus my own work and booking. The latter was cheaper so I paid the deviation. If flights from your originating destination are more pricey I doubt you have much choice. The only possibility is if you can find a lower cost carrier who will get you to the nearest Viking gateway for less than the $300-400 you are otherwise looking at. As an example on other trips to SA the flights from LAX have been considerably cheaper than from SFO, so I just use southwest to get to LAX. Means a little more inconvenience with luggage but saves a lot of cash.

[FuelScience]

Look into the issue of transfers as well. We chose to travel early on a Vantage cruise, and we found out that transfers were only included if you flew on the "normal" day.

[gnome12]

Look into the issue of transfers as well. We chose to travel early on a Vantage cruise, and we found out that transfers were only included if you flew on the "normal" day.

But transfers aren't always the most convenient. Sometimes you have to wait quite a while until everyone on a pickup arrives. I mostly prefer doing my own transfer anyway.

[goldenrod]

This is common practice for air departments. The Lines offer cheap, or free, air to reel one in, and then smack you if you want to deviate in any manner. I always do my own air, typically for less than the Lines offer, but also for the convenience of choosing air Lines , specific seats, and routing early in the process.

 

 

 

Unless one plays strictly by the cruise line rules, normally the only time they offer a truly better deal is on a trans ocean cruise, which doesn't apply to river cruises.

 

 

That's amazing you book it for less than free!

 

 

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[mhb1757]

That's amazing you book it for less than free!

 

 

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:'):'):'):') I was thinking the same thing. Just compare costs on what the cruise line will charge for air and what you can book it for on your own. We usually come out better using their air (because we tend to book during promotions) but this summer we came out better doing it on our own. We have often flown on our own to the gateway city and we always get independent insurance coverage (as a previous poster suggested you can look on insuremytrip.com). Coverage there is solely dependent on trip cost and age of travelers, length is irrelevant. Hopefully some of these will save you a little bit.

[goldenrod]

:'):'):'):') I was thinking the same thing. Just compare costs on what the cruise line will charge for air and what you can book it for on your own. We usually come out better using their air (because we tend to book during promotions) but this summer we came out better doing it on our own. We have often flown on our own to the gateway city and we always get independent insurance coverage (as a previous poster suggested you can look on insuremytrip.com). Coverage there is solely dependent on trip cost and age of travelers, length is irrelevant. Hopefully some of these will save you a little bit.

 

 

We try to use our miles but that can be a problem, we're leaving Wednesday's for Amsterdam using Viking Air and flying back from Bucharest, were flying business class on Delta for $1995 per person! Looked up same flights on Delta it was $11800 per person!

 

 

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