Avoid Viking River Cruises
 

In August 2015 my wife and I along with three other couples from Savannah booked a 7 night Viking River Cruise from Amsterdam to Basel for $15,491.00 per couple. At the same time our local travel agent found $4200.00 per business class flights from Savannah to Amsterdam with one stop in NYC for a 14 hour total flight time. Viking Cruise Agent Igor S. told my wife that Viking could get us from Savannah to Amsterdam in business class for $3800 per ticket with flight details to be arranged later. In order to save $600 my wife agreed to let Viking Cruise arrange our airfare. We have a September 2015 email from Viking/Igor confirming that fact. In March Viking Cruise flight team called my wife and told her that leaving from Savannah we had several choices of flights. We could go through Chicago, Detroit Washington DC or NYC. She told them to go through NYC. In May our tickets came but did not include any flights from Savannah to New York. We had business class tickets with Iberia from NYC to Amsterdam via Madrid for 12 ½ hours of flying. When I called Viking Cruise to ask about the error in ticketing they steadfastly refused to help arrange for our travel from Savannah to NYC. They claim that my wife instructed Viking to leave from NYC and not through NYC. Viking claims that the telephone call recorded my wife saying that she wanted to leave from NYC and not Savannah. Despite multiple attempts to hear the recording we were left hanging. We had already paid Viking Cruise a non refundable $23,091.00, so my wife and I bought tickets from Savannah to NYC and had to add $850 on top of the cash we had already paid. It took 24 hours of flying in order to get from Savannah to Amsterdam. The Jet Lag was awful. Viking wrecked our cruise even before it started.
From our experience Viking Cruise does not have a customer service department. They have a customer harassment department. They made a dumb mistake and failed to correct it. By not allowing us to hear the recording that Viking Alleges has my wife asking to begin our trip in New York, they are quilty of a simple coverup. In response to an email I sent Viking, their customer service offered us a $100 on board credit at their gift shop. Stated another way, Viking caused us to pay an extra $850 for the discomfort of 10 hours of additional time spent in transit so they could sell us overpriced merchandise from their on board Viking apparel. NO THANK YOU!!!!
NEVER AGAIN VIKING.

This illustrates the value of email. Or at least an email confirmation of a conversation.

Is Viking disputing their own email in which you say "Viking Cruise Agent Igor S. told my wife that Viking could get us from Savannah to Amsterdam in business class for $3800 per ticket with flight details to be arranged later." The email didn't say NYC to Amsterdam for $3800 per ticket; it said Savannah?

If anything, I think this situation illustrates that one shouldn't agree to (and pay for) anything without getting all the details in advance in writing. Flight times, routing, etc.

FWIW, during the March phone call, I would have asked why you couldn't route through Atlanta.

And I don't want to minimize your complaint, but you "saved" $800 on the Viking-arranged flights (compared to what your travel agent quoted) and then spent $850 to add the Savannah-JFK flight.

I hope the cruise was enjoyable!

$14,500 for a week's holiday for two

WOW

Sorry this has happened to you, get contracts in writing, as we used to say, "a verbal contract is worth the paper it is writen on"

bil: When the OP vacations, the OP doesn't mess around.

An email or some verification would at least give you something to present to your CC company to dispute the charge.

vince, so my £100 for a week in Malta was just playing at vacation ;-)

The cruise was likely just fine.. so why say "Avoid Viking Cruises".. just to damage their business right?

You should say "Be careful arranging air through Viking Cruises".. that would have been a fair statement .

Personally I would have been more careful than your wife.. the amount of money you are talking about is huge to me.. so even when I arrange trips to Europe for half what you pay ( and more than twice as long).. I ALWAYS check and double check all arrangements before I pay , give my cc number. .or hit the "pay now" button.

Sounds like this was a communication breakdown. Typical and usually not done maliciously .

Double check everything always.

You might want to post this on Fodor's Cruise Forum. This is relevant for travelers considering using a cruise companies' flight department.

Viking and their "pay it all within the next 30 days" has caused me to think twice and we've traveled with them in the past and had a very successful experience.

You do have to be very careful and get documentation no matter what IMO.

Welcome to Fodor's ! Always nice to have new posters register here.

who knows, mistakes happen. It could be Viking's fault or it could have been a mistake by the OP's wife. I know I've said things sometimes that were wrong just by mistake, and it wasn't what I really wanted. This is also why I don't ever care to make arrangements by phone anymore, I do everything by email. Even a couple times when I've had to clarify something by phone, I had them to email me a confirmation of what we've agreed to.

I doubt if any company will let you listen to their recordings, actually.

I really can't believe these figures can be right -- $15,000 per couple for a 7 night cruise? Is this even possible? That's over $2000 per day! I know you could spend that much on a room at some top 5* hotel in expensive cities, but still, I am shocked.

WILL YOU GAWDANG GOATS GET OFF MY BRIDGE?!?!?!?!?

-- the OP

the 7 day Rhone cruise that did with my friend in May which was booked through Rivieria was £1500 odd each [so not cheap] which included train travel from St Pancras to Lyon and back from Avignon.

so roughly $4000 for the 2 of us as opposed to $15,500 plus airfares.

I wouldn't go with Viking either!

If one looks at the Viking Cruise website, the 7 night cruise from Amsterdam to Basel does not cost anywhere near $15,000 a couple. OP must be confused.

Anyone who frequents the forums on cruise critic.com knows that Viking comes in for considerable criticism on its customer relations there. The river cruise forum is monitored by Viking and it often intervenes to suggest the complainant contact them by email. Some do come back to report the matter has been settled, but there also appear to be many unresolved issues.

bil: >>vince, so my £100 for a week in Malta was just playing at vacation<<

We consider that the minor leagues of vacationing. Stop by my place in Trump Tower some time and we'll tutor you on the real thing.

BTW, I have a good friend living in Malta. Great place, even at the paltry 100-euro rate.

historytraveller if you really look at the Viking website it is easy to reach the quoted figure if you choose more expensive suites/staterooms. The most expensive however seem to include business class airfare in the price, though that could be an offer on at the moment.

I was going to say that the 15 thou figure is not way off base for some of the Viking offerings much less for many many other cruise lines; depends on the level of accommodation obviously.

Many fail to note that the quoted prices in brochures and on the website are per person.

I did look at the Viking website admittedly a quick glance, but found the prices in that range ( 15,000 per couple ) were the top level of accommodation and included business class airfare. I'll double check on that.

That price quoted would have to be the most expensive cabin and even then yikes..these river cruises don't sound that exciting to me..also a full year later this is posted?

OK, Lois2, so don't go on one. Or are you implying that the OP somehow wasted their money, too?

It looks as if the very best suites are that price, probably without airfare:

http://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/...?gridversion=0

First-time complainers on this board are rarely met with compassion. It's usually the same old people saying the same old thing.

When things go wrong, and it can happen to anyone, I understand the sinking feeling in one's gut and the need to vent.

When two or more people are involved in the planning of a trip, you have to ultimately decide who is going to take responsibility for any mistake that occurs. If you feel you have a legitimate complaint and you're prepared to stand your ground, I always recommend writing the CEO. The process has never failed me.

It gets a little more difficult when you're writing on behalf of your wife's actions. If she's not prepared to fight for a correction, then I'm afraid it may end up being your word against someone else. A tough negotiation to win.

The moral of this story: demand all verbal negotiations in writing. Good service is hard to find, and too many people make mistakes. The only way to clarify details of a phone conversation: the details need to be written again in a letter. It's the proper way to conduct serious business.

For that price you should be able to call Eric The Red to settle the matter.

I don't think price paid is relevant.
I am a good communist but as long as those who have money don't steal it frome I don't see where it is shocking.
I find it however light from both OP and Viking to part with that money without it being clear what we get for this money.
And customer care seems to suck there too.
However I also find these one time posters boring.
And one year after ...
And a whole holiday ruined because you have to take several planes ?
Come on! There are worst thing in life than having long flights/connections. In business class.
I have no real sympathy here for these reasons.
But since OP can't check on what she buys I am not surprised he posts on the wrong forum.
Careless OP careless buyer ...

I don't believe it's "one year after". They booked in 2015 but received the tickets May, 2016; I assume the trip took place within the last couple of months.

However Whathello made a good point, it is hard to sympathize when someone says their whole trip was ruined because of a less then great flight situation.

I think this is what some would say is real first world problem.

I remain having sympathy with the OP. I don't see why a company should not share recordings with a client, in fact I suggest that part of the recording is owned by the OP but I agree with Christine it will be tough to get it.

So, I wonder how the OP is getting on with his negotiations...

I think my other actions would have been
1) gone balistic with management earlier in the process (not the call centre minion but a manager
2) gone balistic with the Viking rep on arrival
3) elevated the issue on FB and twitter, Tripadvisor

but the real issue would be to raise the issue early with someone allowed to do make a decision.

not sure that my actions would have worked but maybe

What I do struggle with is why Vikiing would have gone out of their way to P@@s off a couple prepared to pay that much soldi. Why kill the golden g?

I bet Putin could get hold of the recording ....

If you want 100% control over flights don't take the package..book cruise only..clearly price was not an issue here...sorry I Read the 2015 wrong and yes they must have booked very early.

>>I think this is what some would say is real first world problem.<<

Isn't every problem here a first-world problem?

I have no qualm with posts such as the OP's. The person, assuming sincerity, is warning us about a problem with Viking. After the fact, it's easy for the rest of us to sniff, "Oh, nothing in writing?" OK, that was a mistake. We all make them. But that's no reason to criticize the OP for alerting us to what I consider a problem any of us could encounter.

And those who focus on the "ruined vacation" aspect are missing the point, IMHO. It's not about how the OP felt or didn't feel. It's about a legitimate issue with Viking.

NYFood has a point that having more than one person deal with a vendor can cause problems and confusion, but that doesn't lessen the legitimacy of the complaint or even the reasonable expectation that the complaint should be addressed by the company.

<i><font color=#555555>"I think this is what some would say is real first world problem."</font></i>

A disdainful, dismissive rebuke from someone who has issues with anyone who has more money than her.

<i><font color=#555555>"the amount of money you are talking about is huge to me"</font></i>

Douglas Adams had the last word on this.

Which particular last word were you thinking of, bilbo?

presumably not that there is a pain in the diodes all down your left side.

The point is that this is the first posting by this person and it is a complaint. Somehow I guess, he trawled the Internet and found travel boards and cut and paste his complaint.

You feel itchy not because he wants to help anyone else but to air his $15,000 grievance to the widest audience possible.


And that is what makes it a first world problem.

They booked a year ago (August 2015) we don't know when the cruise took place.

Ann,

"The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question 'How can we eat?' the second by the question 'Why do we eat?' and the third by the question 'Where shall we have lunch?"

Bilbo - that was one quote I'd forgotten.

Radio 4X is about to run it all again from the beginning. Even though we have it on cassette tapes that we bought our kids as Christmas presents [yes, even our kids are that old] I'll be listening again to every glorious word.

any other Zaphod Beeblebrox fans out there?

My retired parents have been on so many trips , they are thinking of setting up their own TV channel.

They travel at all levels : cruise, villas, cottages, 1* hotels, 6* hotels on Bora Bora, caravans .... The lot.

By far and away the most disappointing 5 days they have ever spent in 72 years of travel was a a trip on the Danube with Viking. This being three years ago.

I could write a book about the off hand attitude Viking adopted but the only part of the trip which matched the promises in the brochure was the fact that it was "a cruise" on a "river".

Major cities were skipped, suites double booked, staff hassled for tips when they had been assured that tips were included. It was an endless lists.