Venice Departure Changed Again

[hbtraveler]

We are on the Ancient Adriatic Treasures cruise (Venice-Istanbul) embarking this Saturday (6/18) and just received a message from Viking that the departure point has changed.  It was at the Fusina Cargo Terminal, with pickup at the old Cruise Terminal in Venice.  Now, the ship is departing from the Chioggia Cruise Terminal at the south end of the Venice Lagoon, a 45-minute drive from Venice.  The problem for us is that we are traveling independently right now.  We’ll be ending our independent travel in Venice, 2 days before embarkation.  We booked our hotel just a couple of blocks from the old Cruise Terminal.  But, in calling Viking, because we traveled independently (although we booked the air through Viking Air), they claim that they will provide no shuttle from the original embarkation point to this new port.  I’ve called my travel agent to find out what is going on, but Viking quoting contracts instead of providing customer service has got us both quite upset.  Not the perfect way to start a cruise (or keep business).

[glenr]

We just returned from our Viking cruise on the Sky. Barcelona to Rome. Several weeks before leaving we got a notice that the departure port was being changed to Tarragona. We had hotels booked in Barcelona that could not be changed. I called Viking and got the usual runaround but I persisted. After at least an hour on the phone with several people they agreed to provide an onboard credit of about $150. The extra ride cost a little bit more than that so it was almost a wash. The aggravation level was high because we didn’t wanna lose a minute in Barcelona that we didn’t have to. Get on the phone with them and don’t take no for an answer. Other than the rocky start our cruise was excellent.

[hbtraveler]

10 minutes ago, glenr said:

We just returned from our Viking cruise on the Sky. Barcelona to Rome. Several weeks before leaving we got a notice that the departure port was being changed to Tarragona. We had hotels booked in Barcelona that could not be changed. I called Viking and got the usual runaround but I persisted. After at least an hour on the phone with several people they agreed to provide an onboard credit of about $150. The extra ride cost a little bit more than that so it was almost a wash. The aggravation level was high because we didn’t wanna lose a minute in Barcelona that we didn’t have to. Get on the phone with them and don’t take no for an answer. Other than the rocky start our cruise was excellent.

Spent about 20 minutes with the “customer service” agent.  Asked for a supervisor.  After 10 minutes, the same CSA came on and said that a bunch of the agents talked about it and they all agreed it was my problem, not theirs.  I’ll see if my TA can come up with something.  But, for a cruise line that calls itself a premium line, keeping the customer happy after they make a change should be a priority.  It doesn’t seem like it.  I was thinking about the Viking trip to Antarctica in the next couple of years.  That’s a lot of money that I can spend elsewhere if they mess up this trip, our 2nd on Viking.

[crimmj]

I don’t understand - if you are traveling independently why would Viking be responsible to get you to the ship?

[TayanaLorna]

9 minutes ago, crimmj said:

I don’t understand - if you are traveling independently why would Viking be responsible to get you to the ship?

Exactly.  And the cruise terminal authority changes the docking location not Viking.  

[glenr]

23 minutes ago, crimmj said:

I don’t understand - if you are traveling independently why would Viking be responsible to get you to the ship?

Because you’re still a Viking customer and paid a lot of money for the trip? Extra costs will be incurred not to mention a lot of aggravation. There was talk on my trip that it wasn’t the port but that Viking didn’t want to pay the port fees in Barcelona like the big ships do. It may just be luck but I never had this problem with the other lines.

[glenr]

58 minutes ago, hbtraveler said:

Spent about 20 minutes with the “customer service” agent.  Asked for a supervisor.  After 10 minutes, the same CSA came on and said that a bunch of the agents talked about it and they all agreed it was my problem, not theirs.  I’ll see if my TA can come up with something.  But, for a cruise line that calls itself a premium line, keeping the customer happy after they make a change should be a priority.  It doesn’t seem like it.  I was thinking about the Viking trip to Antarctica in the next couple of years.  That’s a lot of money that I can spend elsewhere if they mess up this trip, our 2nd on Viking.

 

Keep at it. By the way, people on our cruise that did have all their transfers handled by Viking were very unhappy. They were picked up at their hotels in Barcelona and of course there were a dozen hotels to stop at. They were on the bus from 8:30 in the morning until 3 o’clock. It was a one hour ride for us in a private car.

[PasadenaDave]

You might want to ask Viking if you can get on one of their busses at Venice Airport.  In the alternative, you are close to the train station which likely can get you close to the ship.  

 

The sailing of this itinerary in late April was moved to Ravenna which is considerably further south.

 

we did this cruise last month but Istanbul to Venice, it is a great itinerary but you will have some very hot weather so be prepared.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, hbtraveler said:

Spent about 20 minutes with the “customer service” agent.  Asked for a supervisor.  After 10 minutes, the same CSA came on and said that a bunch of the agents talked about it and they all agreed it was my problem, not theirs.  I’ll see if my TA can come up with something.  But, for a cruise line that calls itself a premium line, keeping the customer happy after they make a change should be a priority.  It doesn’t seem like it.  I was thinking about the Viking trip to Antarctica in the next couple of years.  That’s a lot of money that I can spend elsewhere if they mess up this trip, our 2nd on Viking.

 

You are travelling independently, so rather than have Viking accept the risk and cost of getting you to the embarkation terminal, you elected to accept the risk yourself.

 

Surely, you are aware that Venice is closed to cruise ships and all cruise lines are scrambling to find berthing space, which frequently changes. Therefore, it is not surprising the embarkation has changed. 

 

If you did not wish to accept the risk of the embarkation changing and the associated costs, you should have used Viking.

 

Sorry, but you accepted the risk by electing to travel independently and consequently are liable for the cost of any changes. This has been my experience throughout, if we elect to travel independently, we are responsible for getting to the ship wherever it docks.

[Mrs Miggins]

Our September cruise on Sky departs from Tarragona and not Barcelona.  Wonder if this change impacts many cruises .  We still fly into Barcelona.

[hbtraveler]

I guess the lesson learned from this experience is that, if you want to see something that isn’t offered as a cruise line pre-cruise extension, you need to have backup plans up to embarkation day in case the cruise line decides, at the last minute, to change the city that you are departing from.  While Viking could have offered to have a couple of buses at the Venice Cruise Terminal (as originally planned for Fusina) and have any independents meet there at, say, noon on embarkation day (which would have been great customer service), they have no obligation at all to get you to the boat.  I’ll need to remember that when (or if) I plan to go on a cruise again.  As a somewhat novice cruiser, I wonder how many times cruise lines change their embarkation cities within a week of departure.

[Heidi13]

8 hours ago, hbtraveler said:

I guess the lesson learned from this experience is that, if you want to see something that isn’t offered as a cruise line pre-cruise extension, you need to have backup plans up to embarkation day in case the cruise line decides, at the last minute, to change the city that you are departing from.  While Viking could have offered to have a couple of buses at the Venice Cruise Terminal (as originally planned for Fusina) and have any independents meet there at, say, noon on embarkation day (which would have been great customer service), they have no obligation at all to get you to the boat.  I’ll need to remember that when (or if) I plan to go on a cruise again.  As a somewhat novice cruiser, I wonder how many times cruise lines change their embarkation cities within a week of departure.

 

The cruise line doesn't change the berth, as that is the decision of the local Harbourmaster(s) and when using commercial cargo ship berths, you can always expect changes.

 

I have seen it where we arrive at a port, pick up the pilot and once he boards, he advises the Master of a berth change. So rather than changes within a week of departure, I have seen changes within an hour of berthing.

[hbtraveler]

We’re now on Viking Sky.  We ended up getting a private car service from our hotel near the Venice Cruise Terminal and took a little more than an hour (some heavy traffic heading to the beach on the weekend) to get to Chioggia.  Sky was easy to find, as it was the tallest thing in town.  Our driver told the guard at the gate that we were going to Sky and she waved him through.  There is a nice (and looks new) building for cruises to use here.  Everyone was happy to see us.  Chioggia looks to be a nice small beach town.  We may wander around it tomorrow.  Our AAA TA talked to Viking and Viking apologized for the inconvenience and added money to our onboard account that balanced out the cost of the private driver.  So, everything ultimately worked out.  Yay!  Now we can sit back and relax for our cruise to Istanbul.  

[thomsonch]

On 6/15/2022 at 7:14 AM, crimmj said:

I don’t understand - if you are traveling independently why would Viking be responsible to get you to the ship?

CHANGE OF PRODUCT

If you buy a VENICE trip, why would you accept CHIOGGIA as a change.

Viking needs to do better than just cutting you loose. (Like in TITANIC....!!!)

[Pushka]

2 minutes ago, thomsonch said:

CHANGE OF PRODUCT

If you buy a VENICE trip, why would you accept CHIOGGIA as a change.

Viking needs to do better than just cutting you loose. (Like in TITANIC....!!!)

No cruise ships are allowed into the canals anymore. Courtesy of Italian Government. Pretty sure  Viking aren’t happy either. Post is rather OTT. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Pushka

[Peregrina651]

3 minutes ago, thomsonch said:

CHANGE OF PRODUCT

If you buy a VENICE trip, why would you accept CHIOGGIA as a change.

Viking needs to do better than just cutting you loose. (Like in TITANIC....!!!)

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic and to the Viking Oceans forum.

 

You seem a bit naive about how things really work in the cruise industry. Before you go ballistic, you should read more about what the cruise line can do in the normal course of business under the terms of the ticket contract that guests agree to when they book. You will find the Viking documents here; there are two of them:

• Booking Terms and Conditions: http://vikingcruises.com/terms-and-conditions
• Passenger Ticket Contract: http://vikingcruises.com/passengerticketcontract

 

Putting down a deposit means that you accept the terms of these two contracts, so best to read them before you book.

 

Please understand that ships docks where they are told to, not where they want, regardless of what it says on the itinerary. It is not considered a "change of product" as the possibility of such changes in the normal course of business is covered in the Passenger Ticket Contract.

 

 

[Squawkman]

12 hours ago, thomsonch said:

CHANGE OF PRODUCT

If you buy a VENICE trip, why would you accept CHIOGGIA as a change.

Viking needs to do better than just cutting you loose. (Like in TITANIC....!!!)

You still get a guaranteed included excursion to Venice. Your comparison to the Titanic is beyond bizarre.