Beware of Viking Cruise Lines - More Than Disappointed

My wife and I booked our first river cruise and paid for upgraded flights to avoid a 6 am flight and a 6 hour layover. The upgrade cost us over $400 – which we felt was well worth it. Then Viking changed our flights back to the original flights and kept the $400 upgrade fee. They first told us that our upgraded flights had been cancelled – the airlines said this wasn’t true. Then Viking told us the flights were full – which again according the airlines customer service rep is also not true. The upgraded flight is still available on their website and nothing has changed since we purchased our upgrade 6 months ago. Clearly they are trying to blame the airlines to cover for their mistake. They told us they didn’t try to buy our tickets until 2 months after we booked the upgrade. I suspect that they though the flight prices would go down and they could make a little extra money by waiting. The prices went up and they determined it was more profitable to stick us back on our original flight and keep our $400. They win and we lose. It didn’t work out as they planned and now they want us to pay ~$7,000 to get the upgraded flights that we had already purchased. We leave in 4 days and will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. We are experienced travelers and have cruised 10 to 20 times with our family. Never have we been treated like this – making a mistake is ok – we all do it - but not owning it and fixing it is inexcusable. I don’t recommend doing business with them…...I won’t in the future as they certainly are not customer centric. I doubt we will ever see the $400 we paid for an upgrade that we never received.

Sorry to hear your problem

Just to understand, Viking was upgrading you to business class, both ways for $200.00 each?

Do you have confirmation that you can send to your credit card company to dispute the charge? If you paid for something you are not getting, then I would document everything and dispute.

Sorry for your troubles and that is just bad business practice.

Did you book through a TA? They have more clout than an individual in disputes like this.

Sorry to hear your problem

 

Just to understand, Viking was upgrading you to business class, both ways for $200.00 each?

If you want specific flights, instead of what Viking gives you that is considered to be an upgrade with a charge. It is not in the context of an upgrade in class, only a change to specific flights.

Do you have confirmation that you can send to your credit card company to dispute the charge? If you paid for something you are not getting, then I would document everything and dispute.

 

Sorry for your troubles and that is just bad business practice.

That's where I would start too.

Wow, I would definitely dispute that charge and get the $400 back. Have the credit card company do their investigation. Give them all of your notes with dates, times and people you spoke with during this mess-up. This is one area Viking seems to really be struggling with - customer service.

TellUs@vikingcruises.com <tellus@vikingcruises.com>

Why don't your write to Viking as well? But do the credit card thing also and tell Viking that you are notifying your credit card company. How come you are just now checking your Air Booking? :confused:

There has to be more to this story.....

Did you book through a TA? They have more clout than an individual in disputes like this.

I agree with this. Sometimes it helps to have an expert fighting for you.

Good luck.

I think you are right, Queen.

I had a very seasoned, knowledgeable Viking Air Agent. However, although I paid my $50 each and requested Lufthansa, I ended up with KLM, Air France, and Delta (all partners).

I paid in full in February and the tickets were issued by the Airlines on 12 June; I was told that we would receive our Electronic air tickets together with all the other Viking package 2 to 3 weeks prior to sailing.

Looking at the airlines' websites, I still have the seats I selected using http://www.seatguru.com but I will keep checking in case there is an "Equipment Change."

We will not be getting up at Oh-Dark-Thirty to fly out of Frankfurt but will be able to get the Viking coach for a reasonable 10:30 AM departure. ;)

Is Robert Lockwood a "One-Time Wonder?" :confused:

Still not sure what he paid $400 for and how it went up to $7,000

Is Robert Lockwood a "One-Time Wonder?" :confused:

You think? First post, big complaint. everyone buys into this and gets agitated, and Mr. Lockwood is sitting back with his popcorn? Could be.

You think? First post, big complaint. everyone buys into this and gets agitated, and Mr. Lockwood is sitting back with his popcorn? Could be.

Well let's see....the Mets played this afternoon......the Yankees are off tonight....the Women's soccer team got eliminated....could be we ARE the most entertaining thing available on screen tonight. :D

Well let's see....the Mets played this afternoon......the Yankees are off tonight....the Women's soccer team got eliminated....could be we ARE the most entertaining thing available on screen tonight. :D

Best response I've seen in years. Or ever. You da best, HK. (Do you think we might be just a couple of those cynical NY folk---also known as realists?)

BTW, I envy---really envy, in the nicest possible way---your cruise & trip list. Wow.

Best response I've seen in years. Or ever. You da best, HK. (Do you think we might be just a couple of those cynical NY folk---also known as realists?)

 

BTW, I envy---really envy, in the nicest possible way---your cruise & trip list. Wow.

Noo Yawkas cynical??? Naaaahhh. Glad somebody appreciates my warped sense of humor!!!

I have been very fortunate in my life..

Well let's see....the Mets played this afternoon......the Yankees are off tonight....the Women's soccer team got eliminated....could be we ARE the most entertaining thing available on screen tonight. :D

Did I miss something? Is that the Women's soccer team that is playing in the Final on Sunday? [OP = Robert Lockwood; location Winston-Salem] Or were you rooting for Germany or England? :(

But seriously, folks -- we're not supposed to question the OP's motives or lack of posting history. If you harbor these suspicions, use the Red Triangle to suggest that I give him a yellow card. Otherwise, no harm no foul. [OK, bad analogies/puns out of system. Back to regular programming. ;)]

do not understand the upgraded flights bit...different flight/airline/class? however if you were told to pay $400 for this upgrade by Viking, and paid that amount to them and now Viking say the upgrade is not available, then you are not getting what you paid for.

simple the $400 must be refunded.

Seems like not all of the sharks in a feeding frenzy are off the coast of the Carolinas--some are on this site!---ouch!

Seems like not all of the sharks in a feeding frenzy are off the coast of the Carolinas--some are on this site!---ouch!

Lol :)

Thank you for the suggestions. I will work with my credit card company for the $400.

To Clarify: Viking gives you a specific flight when you book with them and you can pay to change this flight to one that doesn't leave at 6 am or have a 6 hour layover. So what I called an upgrade is really just paying for better flight times and not an upgrade to first class.

So they charged us the $400 for better flight times but waited a couple of months to book the actual tickets thinking the prices would come down and they would make more money. The prices didn't come down so they put us back on the original flights with the long layover and kept our money.

I really don't want our money back - I want the better flight times. My travel agent (TA) and I spent over 2 hours on the phone with them yesterday - and even more time the days before that. We have been waiting for the elusive Flight Supervisor to call my TA back - the supervisor hasn't returned her call for the last 3 days.

I also called Viking's customer relations department and they said they sent the money to the airlines - so they don't have it to refund. Then they said they would not ask their partner airlines for my money back. They also said they wouldn't put me back on the upgraded flights as it now would cost an additional $7,000 as they would have to purchase an entirely new ticket. Of course they said that if I wanted to pay the $7,000 they would issue a new ticket.

I have faxed the President of Viking and have not heard anything back and probably will not before we leave in 3 days.

What a mess - I hope the rest of the trip will go better than this! Anyone have a suggestion on how to get to someone who can resolve my problem?

Did you go online and price the flights you want yourself? Curious....

You could call them out on Facebook, Viking likely won't allow an unhappy post to stay long as they have been known to delete those posts. But posting there might get you some help!

It would appear that the contracted, discounted opaque airline tickets that all of the cruise lines use has reared its ugly head again. If you are willing to buy tickets from Priceline then you are a good candidate for getting tickets through the cruise line. Otherwise it is always best to get rid of the middleman and work directly with the airline. The Viking air department may or may not be any different than of the other cruise line air departments, but it seems their commitment to customer care is lacking.

do you have a paper trail of all this? emails etc that state $400 was paid to viking on their request to change flights? and now those flights will not be supplied despite payment.

your ta should be assisting you. were you given written details of flights purchased? we get emailed details of any travel product we purchase, flights/cruises.

if you paid extra for a flight and that flight cannot be supplied you must be refunded. it is very short notice to be trying to sort this out now. the e tickets were no doubt issued sometime ago? when were you informed the flights were changed? seems odd.

how far in advance did you pay?