Tips for New Viking Ocean Cruisers

[linda_22003]

3 minutes ago, The Other Tom said:

  I'm not sure about the booking time, though.  And it may be $150 now, I'm not sure.

Thanks for the info.  We are planning extra days in Santiago at the beginning and in Buenos Aires at the end, since we may not be going that way again (who knows?)  And our travel agent did quote us $100.

[Clay Clayton]

11 minutes ago, linda_22003 said:

We will be on the Viking Jupiter from Chile to Argentina in December.  We have lots of cruise experience but this is our first with Viking.

 

Can anyone advise on the advantage to "AirChoice"?  My understanding that the $100 fee gets you confirmed flight reservations farther out than the usual 60ish days.

 

Is it worth it?  Compared to the rest of the cruise this is chump change, but I thought it was worth asking.  Thanks!

I am not familiar with the term Airchoice with Viking.
 

Viking has two separate programs that are add-ons to their air. 
 

One is VikingAir+ which provides the benefits shown in the screenshot below from the Viking website. When you select to add this, you get to work with the Viking Air folks to select your preferred airlines or flights (IF they are available in Viking’s contract). 
 

The second program which can be added allows you to deviate by date or airport. If you do not pay for this, Viking will arrange your flights so you arrive in the embarkation city on embarkation day and fly out on the day you disembark the ship. Note if you elect to “deviate” you loose the airport transfer that is included when you book Viking Air. 

 

In order to deviate and have a say in your flights, you have to request Air+ AND to deviate. 

[Clay Clayton]

8 minutes ago, linda_22003 said:

Thanks for the info.  We are planning extra days in Santiago at the beginning and in Buenos Aires at the end, since we may not be going that way again (who knows?)  And our travel agent did quote us $100.

I suspect that is for your deviation to arrive early and stay after. Smart move I think. We lived BA. We were in Santiago right after the earthquake so couldn’t stay after our cruise. 😢

 

If you want a say in your flights, you will need to add Air+

[DrKoob]

1 hour ago, Clay Clayton said:

I suspect that is for your deviation to arrive early and stay after. Smart move I think. We lived BA. We were in Santiago right after the earthquake so couldn’t stay after our cruise. 😢

 

If you want a say in your flights, you will need to add Air+

You definitely want a say in your flights. I recently saw someone without air plus with three stops to get from Pittsburgh to Budapest. No Air+. She went to Google Flights, found a 1 stop flight, called her TA, got Air+ and they booked her on it. They will put you on the cheapest and easiest for them to book flight.

 

[Clay Clayton]

21 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

You definitely want a say in your flights. I recently saw someone without air plus with three stops to get from Pittsburgh to Budapest. No Air+. She went to Google Flights, found a 1 stop flight, called her TA, got Air+ and they booked her on it. They will put you on the cheapest and easiest for them to book flight.

 

No real disagreement though sometimes it’s not necessary. We had “free” air from Hong Kong to Seattle.  Only nonstop was Cathay Pacific and we figured Viking likely wouldn’t have a contract with them so we were resigned to flying from HK to LAX to SEA or HK to Tokyo to SEA.  Surprise Surprise they put us on the nonstop!  We used the Air+ money we saved to “upgrade” ourselves into exit row seats.  We had the two at the window but when no one sat in one of the center section bulkhead seats, DH moved to it so he had 1.5 seats and I had 2.  It was much more comfortable than the sold out PE cabin we almost spent money to move to. 

[FetaCheese]

5 hours ago, linda_22003 said:

We will be on the Viking Jupiter from Chile to Argentina in December.  We have lots of cruise experience but this is our first with Viking.

 

Can anyone advise on the advantage to "AirChoice"?  My understanding that the $100 fee gets you confirmed flight reservations farther out than the usual 60ish days.

 

Is it worth it?  Compared to the rest of the cruise this is chump change, but I thought it was worth asking.  Thanks!

All my comments disappeared.  Clay has explained it well.

Edited July 29, 2022 by FetaCheese
All my comments disappeared

[deec]

I am a bit peeved with Viking Air Plus right now.  We are flying to Buenos Aires from Detroit to begin Antarctic cruise after Christmas.  We have "free" air and paid $999 for upgraded seats and then purchased air plus but Viking will not let us use air plus for Delta.  We really wanted the Delta miles.  We will be flying American perhaps they will let us change closer to when they will purchase seats. 

[Australia08]

10 minutes ago, deec said:

I am a bit peeved with Viking Air Plus right now.  We are flying to Buenos Aires from Detroit to begin Antarctic cruise after Christmas.  We have "free" air and paid $999 for upgraded seats and then purchased air plus but Viking will not let us use air plus for Delta.  We really wanted the Delta miles.  We will be flying American perhaps they will let us change closer to when they will purchase seats. 

We had the free economy air and air+ for the Antarctic cruise too. I opted to back out and arrange my own tickets. I had so much trouble trying to upgrade my air+ tickets for last summer on Delta (our preferred airlines), I decided not to risk the chance. We prefer Delta1 or business for such long flights. I was told by a supervisor last summer that the Delta contract is not as flexible as it used to be so that’s why they’re using other airlines more. Don’t know that that is true but with all the airlines craziness right now, I’d prefer to work with Delta directly. Our flights have changed once since booking, but I could get in and choose other times quite easily. I check my tickets every morning  (we have 3 upcoming trips). That way, I can initiate changes to my liking before Delta even officially contacts us by email about changes to flight schedules. . 

[DrKoob]

On 7/28/2022 at 3:08 PM, Clay Clayton said:

No real disagreement though sometimes it’s not necessary. We had “free” air from Hong Kong to Seattle.  Only nonstop was Cathay Pacific and we figured Viking likely wouldn’t have a contract with them so we were resigned to flying from HK to LAX to SEA or HK to Tokyo to SEA.  Surprise Surprise they put us on the nonstop!  We used the Air+ money we saved to “upgrade” ourselves into exit row seats.  We had the two at the window but when no one sat in one of the center section bulkhead seats, DH moved to it so he had 1.5 seats and I had 2.  It was much more comfortable than the sold out PE cabin we almost spent money to move to. 

Best flight we ever had was on Cathay Pacific. We were lucky enough to have some miles. Enough to fly SEA to AUK through Hong Kong and back in First Class. The most amazing flight ever.

[Clay Clayton]

4 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Best flight we ever had was on Cathay Pacific. We were lucky enough to have some miles. Enough to fly SEA to AUK through Hong Kong and back in First Class. The most amazing flight ever.

We would have loved to be in Biz or First but since the whole cruise was an impulse purchase that we hadn’t budgeted for we made our own class. 😂

[noe4laj]

3 hours ago, deec said:

I am a bit peeved with Viking Air Plus right now.  We are flying to Buenos Aires from Detroit to begin Antarctic cruise after Christmas.  We have "free" air and paid $999 for upgraded seats and then purchased air plus but Viking will not let us use air plus for Delta.  We really wanted the Delta miles.  We will be flying American perhaps they will let us change closer to when they will purchase seats. 

I’m beyond peeved with Viking Air Plus. I’ve spoken to reps 12+ times now (literally hours each week on hold) and still can’t get flights booked.
 

Like you, we do VAP so that we can fly with our preferred airline (Delta). The last few calls they’ve tried offering us back the money we spent on VAP, while claiming that they’ll still honor booking it that way. I’ve refused, because I expect this is a ploy by them to get us onto another airline, like American, who I will not fly and saying that we canceled VAP.

 

If we had booked our own flights when we booked the cruise, it would’ve been about $1000 more a person than the Business/VAP price. In retrospect I wish we had done that. Now the difference would be around $10,000, meaning that we priced ourselves out of an independent booking.
 

VAP also could never figure out how to do the deviation on the end of our trip when we wanted to stay in BA for a few extra days, meaning we had to jettison that as well. The way they worded our itinerary it implied that we’d be on our own to get from Ushuaia to BA, which shouldn’t have been the case. They kept saying don’t worry, of course we get you to BA, yet they refused to put it in writing.
 

I’ve never had this much difficulty booking flights with VAP. TBH, the entire process for getting this trip booked was a real pain as well. More difficult than planning all previous cruises with Viking combined. 
 

It’s definitely draining some of the pre-trip excitement, even beyond the ongoing worry that Polaris won’t be ready in time for our sailing.

[PeabodyMa]

If you request an invoice from MVJ, then the invoice document will show you are flown from Ushuaia to Bueno Aires. It’s a Viking charter flight.

 

To request an invoice from MVJ:

-Go to Account (right above log out)

-Choose invoice from the drop down list

Invoice sent to e-mail includes several additional documents.

 

If a travel agent booked your cruise, then you can not access an invoice from MVJ. Contact your travel agent.

[noe4laj]

52 minutes ago, PeabodyMa said:

If you request an invoice from MVJ, then the invoice document will show you are flown from Ushuaia to Bueno Aires. It’s a Viking charter flight.

 

To request an invoice from MVJ:

-Go to Account (right above log out)

-Choose invoice from the drop down list

Invoice sent to e-mail includes several additional documents.

 

If a travel agent booked your cruise, then you can not access an invoice from MVJ. Contact your travel agent.

I’m not going to go into a long, drawn out conversation on this but putting the deviation on it wiped it out of MVJ…hence why I said we canceled when they refused to put it back IN WRITING. 

[DrKoob]

3 hours ago, noe4laj said:

I’m not going to go into a long, drawn out conversation on this but putting the deviation on it wiped it out of MVJ…hence why I said we canceled when they refused to put it back IN WRITING. 

Ok, I know I will sound like a broken record here but this is a great reason to use a TA. A TA who books a LOT of VIKING will have some sway with them. They will also spend all that time on hold with them and once you have told the TA what you want, it is their problem to get it for you. Find yourself a good one who knows the Viking System and let them do the fighting for you. 

[FetaCheese]

34 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Ok, I know I will sound like a broken record here but this is a great reason to use a TA. A TA who books a LOT of VIKING will have some sway with them. They will also spend all that time on hold with them and once you have told the TA what you want, it is their problem to get it for you. Find yourself a good one who knows the Viking System and let them do the fighting for you. 

I know one cannot recommend a high volume V TA.  Is there a way to search for one?  

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

I know one cannot recommend a high volume V TA.  Is there a way to search for one?  

 

I wore out the shoe leather, while I met with and interviewed prospective candidates. Very happy with the result.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I wore out the shoe leather, while I met with and interviewed prospective candidates. Very happy with the result.

 

What questions did you ask your perspective candidates?

[Lilyskittymom]

On 7/30/2022 at 9:02 AM, deec said:

I am a bit peeved with Viking Air Plus right now.  We are flying to Buenos Aires from Detroit to begin Antarctic cruise after Christmas.  We have "free" air and paid $999 for upgraded seats and then purchased air plus but Viking will not let us use air plus for Delta.  We really wanted the Delta miles.  We will be flying American perhaps they will let us change closer to when they will purchase seats. 

I'm also not happy about having to settle for American, instead of being able to book Delta, for our Antarctica cruise the beginning of December.  We're also in Michigan  I have heard of some people getting flights on Delta, but it must be limited.  And it seems like Delta is operating in its own little world these days. Sigh.  It also doesn't help that a lot of the people in the Air Plus dept are clearly new.  One thing I have noticed, that's available on the MVJ website, is the ability to change your flights on your own.  

 

Once your flights appear, you have the opportunity to upgrade class, change seats or select a new flight.  On another cruise we're booked for, we were given flights that weren't optimum for us.  We were able to choose new flights that got us in a day early, on Delta, connecting in the US.  (We're going to Vancouver.)  There was an additional charge for the flights and they automatically added the deviation fee at checkout.  I'm still waiting for our Detroit to Buenos Aires flights to show up on MVJ so I can see if anything's available, for an additional fee, on Delta.  I might call my guy at Viking to see if it can be dropped into my account.

 

Maria

[Heidi13]

16 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

What questions did you ask your perspective candidates?

 

Unfortunately, the memory isn't so good these days, as it was almost 5-yrs ago. However, I didn't prepare a list of questions, just sat down for an informal chat to get some idea of their experience, what service we could expect, how can they assist compared to me dealing with the vendor directly, and probably most importantly - get a feel from them as a person, if it was a good fit.

 

Very low key, nothing akin to interviews I did during my working days, where even interviewing candidates for exempt positions, we had to have prepared questions and record the answers.

[Twitchly]

18 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

What questions did you ask your perspective candidates?

We recently switched TAs. The first one was reasonably knowledgeable, but she didn’t listen well. She ended up doing something we’d expressly asked her not to do (canceled our cruise before we’d had a chance to cancel our excursions, which meant they all went onto our voucher rather than into a refund). So when we looked for a new TA, I looked for someone who listened well. We’re happy with her so far, but I’m not sure we’d book a cruise with a TA again rather than just directly.

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Twitchly

[DrKoob]

23 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

I know one cannot recommend a high volume V TA.  Is there a way to search for one?  

Heidi 13 got it right. You have to do a little interviewing. Just like you would with a new insurance agent or a real estate agent. You are going to spend a lot of money on travel and these people aren't going to cost you a penny. The best deal ever. Just Google Travel Agents in your local area. Then make some calls and ask how many Viking cruises they have booked and/or sailed. Both are important. 

 

[SempreMare]

37 minutes ago, DrKoob said:

Then make some calls and ask how many Viking cruises they have booked and/or sailed. Both are important. 

 

Great tip. 

What # would you rate as "enough"  / good / great for each question ?

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by SempreMare

[DrKoob]

On 7/31/2022 at 4:01 PM, SempreMare said:

 

Great tip. 

What # would you rate as "enough"  / good / great for each question ?

 

I would be looking for someone who has booked at least 15-20 Viking cruises (river, ocean, expedition). And taken at least one ocean and one river. Also ask them if they have taken all the Viking training. 

[Steerpike58]

On 7/28/2022 at 2:41 PM, DrKoob said:

You definitely want a say in your flights. I recently saw someone without air plus with three stops to get from Pittsburgh to Budapest. No Air+. She went to Google Flights, found a 1 stop flight, called her TA, got Air+ and they booked her on it. They will put you on the cheapest and easiest for them to book flight.

 

We're planning our first ever cruise and are confused by the flight process. I'm familiar with the 'Air Deviation' service ($100) and the 'Air Plus' service ($100) - arrive early/depart late (air deviation), get a say in airline and routing choices (air plus).  What I don't understand is the timing. As of now, flights aren't known or ticketed. Can we 'see what we get' first, and then decide whether to buy 'air plus' at that time, or is it too late? I was also told yesterday by a Viking agent that if we CHANGE tickets, it will be a $350 change fee (or similar). So is there a period between being told what your routing will be, and actually purchasing the tickets, where you can decide to go with 'air plus' and fine tune things without being hit by change fees? 

 

Also - if we want to consider business class, how do we explore that option (and do they have access to better upgrade deals than the average consumer)? 

 

On 7/31/2022 at 7:10 AM, Lilyskittymom said:

... One thing I have noticed, that's available on the MVJ website, is the ability to change your flights on your own.  

 

Once your flights appear, you have the opportunity to upgrade class, change seats or select a new flight. 

 

Is this a feature of the 'Air Plus' service or is this standard?  And does this imply there is a period of time during which they have 'reserved' a seat for you, but not yet ticketed it? Hence the ability to change it without a 'change ticket fee'? 

 

On 7/31/2022 at 7:10 AM, Lilyskittymom said:

On another cruise we're booked for, we were given flights that weren't optimum for us.  We were able to choose new flights that got us in a day early, on Delta, connecting in the US.  (We're going to Vancouver.)  There was an additional charge for the flights and they automatically added the deviation fee at checkout. 

The 'day early' aspect triggered the deviation fee, obviously, but the choosing of new flights - did that require 'Air Plus'? 

 

On 7/28/2022 at 3:08 PM, Clay Clayton said:

... We used the Air+ money we saved to “upgrade” ourselves into exit row seats. 

 

So changing your seat position to an exit row did NOT require you to have purchased Air Plus?  I got the impression you needed Air Plus to have any say over your flight arrangements, even down to the seat selection.  

Thanks! 

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Steerpike58

[Squawkman]

1 hour ago, Steerpike58 said:

Is this a feature of the 'Air Plus' service or is this standard?  And does this imply there is a period of time during which they have 'reserved' a seat for you, but not yet ticketed it? Hence the ability to change it without a 'change ticket fee'? 

 

It's standard. However, there will probably be more choices with Air Plus. When your flights are posted on MVJ, you have the option to change - some flights with additional cost; others without.