We're Done With The L/A Office

[Heidi13]

We still have great memories of our 2020 World Cruise, which ended prematurely with us being 2 of the final 8 pax, I never thought I would be drafting this type of post. The shipboard leadership team and crew were exceptional and Viking provided exceptional management oversight managing the pandemic, to keep us safe. Sadly, we find the customer service provided by L/A is nowhere close to the exceptional shipboard standards.

 

Having just had a 2nd very negative experience dealing with the L/A office, we will not be dealing with them again, so at this time, Viking is no longer our preferred cruise line. I don't see any point in getting into details of both incidents, other than noting that their treatment of customers fell well below our expectations, not once, but twice.

 

I believe Viking's main markets are USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand, and they have sales/booking offices in USA, UK and Australia. Therefore, us poor Canadians are the only major market without a sales office, so although Viking has a Canadian website and pricing in Canadian dollars, all our bookings currently go through L/A.

 

If Viking opens a Canadian office or shifts our bookings to the UK office, then we will again consider booking another Viking cruise. However, if the status quo remains, we are sadly done with Viking.

 

I will continue to monitor the Viking Board, as over these past 5-years, I have met some great fellow pax. However, visits may not be as frequent as before.

[CCWineLover]

Andy - we are so sad to hear about your issues.

We've so enjoyed your wonderful, often humorous, and always informative posts on the Viking threads.  Just so sorry to see this happen to you.

Happy sailing!

Kent

[JM0115]

24 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

We still have great memories of our 2020 World Cruise, which ended prematurely with us being 2 of the final 8 pax, I never thought I would be drafting this type of post. The shipboard leadership team and crew were exceptional and Viking provided exceptional management oversight managing the pandemic, to keep us safe. Sadly, we find the customer service provided by L/A is nowhere close to the exceptional shipboard standards.

 

Having just had a 2nd very negative experience dealing with the L/A office, we will not be dealing with them again, so at this time, Viking is no longer our preferred cruise line. I don't see any point in getting into details of both incidents, other than noting that their treatment of customers fell well below our expectations, not once, but twice.

 

I believe Viking's main markets are USA, Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand, and they have sales/booking offices in USA, UK and Australia. Therefore, us poor Canadians are the only major market without a sales office, so although Viking has a Canadian website and pricing in Canadian dollars, all our bookings currently go through L/A.

 

If Viking opens a Canadian office or shifts our bookings to the UK office, then we will again consider booking another Viking cruise. However, if the status quo remains, we are sadly done with Viking.

 

I will continue to monitor the Viking Board, as over these past 5-years, I have met some great fellow pax. However, visits may not be as frequent as before.

Obviously I don't know what happened but sorry you had such a bad experience Andy.

[SantaFe1]

This really saddens me.  I’m sure you didn’t come to this decision lightly, but I hope you reconsider.  

[Azulann]

Andy , I am so sorry that Viking office in LA was what drives  you away from Viking  in the future. I will miss your frequent posts terribly. You are one of the reasons I read the Viking forum even when I have no cruise on the horizon. 
thank you so much for your kindness, expertise and humor over the years . 
Your suggestion about Canadians having their own Viking office makes total sense. I k ow that people who live in a Europe also have. Hard time booking and gettin good service from Viking too . 
Hope the  powers that be are reading this forum too 

Edited May 13, 2023 by Azulann

[deec]

Andy, so sorry to hear that.  It must have been very serious since you often are a voice of reason amid a barrage of rumors or misinformation.  Can I assume you did escalate your problems and have been in contact with  Customer Service?

[phil1107]

I feel similarly about the LA office but the service onboard is enough to outweigh this.

 

The worst response I had from LA was when I said that I had a number of unresolved issues with them and that I wanted the contact details of a supervisor so that I could escalate. Their response - tell us what your issues are so that we can redirect them accordingly. I.e. send emails critical of the front line staff to the front line staff!

[Heidi13]

47 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

This really saddens me.  I’m sure you didn’t come to this decision lightly, but I hope you reconsider.  

 

Affirmative, this decision was not taken lightly and it is final. We will consider Viking in the future, but will never deal with the L/A office again.

[FetaCheese]

Also very sorry to see you leave V temporarily.  I've learned a lot from you over the past few years.  Thank you.

 

I thought you had the next World Cruise booked, but didn't see it in your upcoming cruises.

 

Looking forward to seeing your posts, however infrequently they may be.

Edited May 13, 2023 by FetaCheese
Addl info

[Heidi13]

41 minutes ago, Azulann said:

Andy , I am so sorry that Viking office in LA was what drives  you away from Viking  in the future. I will miss your frequent posts terribly. You are one of the reasons I read the Viking forum even when I have no cruise on the horizon. 
thank you so much for your kindness, expertise and humor over the years . 
Your suggestion about Canadians having their own Viking office makes total sense. I k ow that people who live in a Europe also have. Hard time booking and gettin good service from Viking too . 
Hope the  powers that be are reading this forum too 

 

Had a great long chat with our TA yesterday and we are not her only clients moving on from Viking because of booking issues. In her experience, Viking's L/A office is the most challenging to deal with.

[Heidi13]

32 minutes ago, deec said:

Andy, so sorry to hear that.  It must have been very serious since you often are a voice of reason amid a barrage of rumors or misinformation.  Can I assume you did escalate your problems and have been in contact with  Customer Service?

 

Dee - affirmative, they have been escalated to the highest levels.

[Heidi13]

8 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

Also very sorry to see you leave V.  I've learned a lot from you over the past few years.  Thank you.

 

I thought you had the next World Cruise booked, but didn't see it in your upcoming cruises.

 

Looking forward to seeing your posts, however infrequently they may be.

 

We were booked on the just completed World cruise, but cancelled a year ago due to a health issue.

[stretchcruz]

Andy I'm so sorry. I enjoy your posts. And your blog.

[OneSixtyToOne]

Why do you assume they are in LA? When I had an issue with the air department, it was obvious it was outsourced to another country. You could be dealing which a prison phone bank for all we know.

[Lizofwisconsin]

Andy, reading your blog about your Covid shortened World Cruise influenced me to try Viking.  So sorry about your bad experience; hope someone higher up in Norway is paying attention. You have been a Viking ambassador till now. I enjoy your posts, for their content and for the Scottish sea type language. Always know it’s you!

[KBs mum]

Unfortunately the UK office has also gone downhill, we suspect it to be a front for a US call centre, the people answering the phones seemed to be lacking in basic UK general knowledge. When we said that Birmingham or Heathrow were equally fine for flights they seemed bewildered. We live equidistant. As would be fairly apparent to anybody in England. 

They also don't seem to be aware of UK consumer law. 

We have also abandoned Viking as first choice, they are going downhill rapidly, they are now mass market. 

Their UK adverts are so far removed from the reality that we consider them false advertising. 

Heidi, if you find another line that is like Viking used to be, can you let us know, we are struggling to find anything acceptable

[KBs mum]

@Heidi13if we don't encounter each other on these forums again, KBs Dad and I wish you and yours the best, particularly your son in his career 

 

[Heidi13]

23 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Why do you assume they are in LA? When I had an issue with the air department, it was obvious it was outsourced to another country. You could be dealing which a prison phone bank for all we know.

 

I'm not assuming anything. I know exactly who I dealt with and some of them are a little above customer service agent or supervisor levels.

[Heidi13]

25 minutes ago, KBs mum said:

Unfortunately the UK office has also gone downhill, we suspect it to be a front for a US call centre, the people answering the phones seemed to be lacking in basic UK general knowledge. When we said that Birmingham or Heathrow were equally fine for flights they seemed bewildered. We live equidistant. As would be fairly apparent to anybody in England. 

They also don't seem to be aware of UK consumer law. 

We have also abandoned Viking as first choice, they are going downhill rapidly, they are now mass market. 

Their UK adverts are so far removed from the reality that we consider them false advertising. 

Heidi, if you find another line that is like Viking used to be, can you let us know, we are struggling to find anything acceptable

 

Sadly, I don't believe that exists at the present time.

 

We are ramping down our onboard expectations and focussing on itinerary for future cruises. Currently researching a 130+ night cruise where 58 of the 68 ports are new to me. Smaller ship, just a little bigger than the Viking ships.

[Jim Avery]

Having had the opportunity to discuss this with yall personally we fully agree with your decision.  It could be worse, you could be on Nieuw Amsterdam with 2,500 of your new besties in heavy seas, storms, missed ports, and now in Valdez, Alaska having to line up for busses to do anything.  And, oh joy, they just announced there's some noro going around.  😱🥃

[SJD117]

I’m sorry to hear about your negative experiences and your decision not to cruise with Viking.

 

You say you might reconsider your decision if Viking opens a Canada-based sales/booking office. I’m curious about your thinking here. If the two LA incidents were as bad as you state, then that suggests a systemic problem within Viking rather than something that’s unique to a particular office. It’s difficult to imagine that a Canadian office would serve your needs any better than the LA office.

 

[TayanaLorna]

Well I am going to miss you too.  So sorry you have Viking problems that could not be resolved.  I first "met" you when following your World Cruise reporting at the beginning of Covid which i very much enjoyed.   I always respected your input as a maritime professional when a ship's functioning, sea condition/handling or maritime rules/law came up.  Going to miss the balance you often brought to the discussion.

[Jazmyn49]

So sorry to hear of your problems and decision.  We enjoyed the Magical Mystery Cruise with you so very much, and all the info you give on these forums is outstanding.  We just got home from World Cruise #4 and were fortunate enough to have zero real problems and only a couple of annoyances, so minor that we've forgotten what they were about.  We're missing you already.

[HUNKY]

Unfortunately, all cruise lines seem to have a huge disconnect between the landside office and the ships themselves.

 

Heidi13 - I'm assuming your travel agent was unable to get you any help either.

[lackcreativity]

Heidi13,

 

Add my name to the list of those who will be sad over your reduced presence on this thread, and who also regrets very much whatever you experienced to make this decision. Viking has lost a very knowledgeable and supportive member of their clientele. I would hope that your experience was a real anomaly, but I fear that is not the case. 

 

Warm regards and best wishes,

Joanne