Problems with Viking and our pre-cruise hotel Budapest

Back in December, my friends and I booked our first river cruise. It's with Viking. Then in March our itinerary and ship was changed. We didn't want a post-cruise stay in Budapest, as we are planning to go to Prague. We were able to get a sailing with the original itinerary a week later.

My friends and I have been working with our travel agent, as we have not yet been assigned a hotel for Budapest. Our agent keeps getting various replies.

Our final payment is coming up next month. We don't want to pay our final bill if our invoice doesn't show our pre-cruise stay. Plus the dates are still wrong - showing the original dates.

Can someone please shed some light on how this works? Does Viking really take that long to get hotels booked when this is part of the cruise package we purchased?

First the change in itinerary and ship; now having to deal with waiting on a hotel and final payment coming up soon. This is leaving a bad taste in our mouth with Viking.

Any insight is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Monica

When does your vacation actually start?

Not sure why your TA hasn't sorted out the incorrect dates etc. by now, but specific hotels may not be confirmed until 3-6 months from departure, can be longer out sometimes but not unusual to be quite close in.

When does your vacation actually start?

 

Not sure why your TA hasn't sorted out the incorrect dates etc. by now, but specific hotels may not be confirmed until 3-6 months from departure, can be longer out sometimes but not unusual to be quite close in.

This is Monica's friend who's also on the Viking cruise. It's not just that specific hotels aren't confirmed. Since our cruise dates were adjusted, Viking has not even re-confirmed the pre-cruise package itself :( !

This is Monica's friend who's also on the Viking cruise. It's not just that specific hotels aren't confirmed. Since our cruise dates were adjusted, Viking has not even re-confirmed the pre-cruise package itself :( !

This is something your TA should have sorted out right after the dates were changed.

This is what they get paid to do and I can't understand why they have not done it.

Keep chasing your TA to get this resolved. It is always possible that the pre-cruise package was lost in the shuffle when the dates were changed, but your TA should have made sure it was reconfirmed.

You should have a booking number. I agree it is the travel agent's job to get this cleared up.

I total agree it's our TA's responsibility. We keep sending emails. I keep asking "just update the invoice!" I know this will get resolved, but it should have been resolved the day the itinerary/date/boat changed.

I won't make final payment until I get this cleared up.

Monica

When does your vacation actually start?

 

Not sure why your TA hasn't sorted out the incorrect dates etc. by now, but specific hotels may not be confirmed until 3-6 months from departure, can be longer out sometimes but not unusual to be quite close in.

Our cruise is April 8, 2017; our final payment is mid June next month.

Monica

I total agree it's our TA's responsibility. We keep sending emails. I keep asking "just update the invoice!" I know this will get resolved, but it should have been resolved the day the itinerary/date/boat changed.

 

I won't make final payment until I get this cleared up.

Clearly, if the invoice is wrong and refers to incorrect dates then you should not pay it, but I'd be more worried that your TA doesn't seem to be communicating well with Viking at this point.

Do you actually have a copy of anything from Viking that confirms the revised booking details?

It would be good to know that you do actually have a booking on the cruise you expect to be going on...

On the original hotel question, it is not unusual to not have a specific hotel when you are still almost a year away from departure.

I total agree it's our TA's responsibility. We keep sending emails. I keep asking "just update the invoice!" I know this will get resolved, but it should have been resolved the day the itinerary/date/boat changed.

 

 

 

I won't make final payment until I get this cleared up.

 

 

 

Monica

I don't blame you for being frustrated. Have you called Viking with your booking number? Something is not right

I don't blame you for being frustrated. Have you called Viking with your booking number? Something is not right

You can fire that TA, up until Final Payment. Just write a letter to Viking and then take over your own booking and deal directly with Viking. That is what I would do. She deserves no commission.

a) OMG ... this far out? Many hotels don't even book this far out

{I see cruise booked for April 2017}

b) Every time my TA talked to Viking, I was there .. on speakerphone .....

{but have seldom booked a cruise more than 3 months in advance . . .}

Way too far out for a hotel. I would think they would assign one about 6 to 9 months before the sailing.

Right now I'd say the hotel was the least of the problems.

Getting a final invoice for the correct cruise would be rather more urgent.

I tend to agree with the others, time to fire your TA or at the very least tell them if this isn't resolved within 48 hours you will be firing them and dealing direct...

Only reason I'd hesitate to fire them and give them a last chance is if they have not actually booked the correct cruise for you Viking will know nothing about the change and may have problems getting you on to the correct one now so you might need the TA to cover the costs of fixing the problem ...

Can you see the details of your booking on the Viking website?

Our cruise is April 8, 2017; our final payment is mid June next month.

 

Monica

Monica,

Hope everything gets straightened out soon for you. I was reading in December about you going on your first river cruise and how it was a decent deal and Carl and I booked. Another couple is going with us. It was a decent deal. Thought since your date has been changed we might be on the same cruise, but we are leaving March 30. Thought maybe with the change in your itinerary we might be on the same river cruise.

Hi everyone,

Just an update. My friends and I received an updated email on the 27th with corrected invoices reflecting our two days pre-cruise hotel and correct number of days for the trip. Not sure what took Viking so long, but we are happy now that we're back on track.

It wasn't our TA's fault, but Viking for not making the correction when they moved us to a different date/ship. They could have easily handled it better.

Monica

Monica,

Hope everything gets straightened out soon for you. I was reading in December about you going on your first river cruise and how it was a decent deal and Carl and I booked. Another couple is going with us. It was a decent deal. Thought since your date has been changed we might be on the same cruise, but we are leaving March 30. Thought maybe with the change in your itinerary we might be on the same river cruise.

We were first given March 30th as an alternate, but that was the reverse itinerary that we wanted, so they moved us to April 8th. Our friends Carol and Glenn are on the March 30th cruise.

Monica

It wasn't our TA's fault, but Viking for not making the correction when they moved us to a different date/ship. They could have easily handled it better.

Glad it is all sorted, but remember, any time a problem gets past your TA and reaches you then it is your TA's fault :)

No point having them if they don't fix stuff that the cruise company gets wrong before it reaches the point where it is worrying you...

Alls well that ends well. Your TAs job is to take care of things. That's how she earns her commission. If you wanted to handle it yourself you could book directly

Glad it is all sorted, but remember, any time a problem gets past your TA and reaches you then it is your TA's fault :)

 

No point having them if they don't fix stuff that the cruise company gets wrong before it reaches the point where it is worrying you...

Alls well that ends well. Your TAs job is to take care of things. That's how she earns her commission. If you wanted to handle it yourself you could book directly

Thanks for your comments. I'll definitely keep that in mind for the future!!

Monica

I got a quote from Viking for a similar date and cruise. When the Viking representative stated final payment was due over 9 months in advance for April 2017,I said good bye!

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I hate Viking's pay almost a year ahead of time policy.

Have you compared Viking's prices with other cruise lines. Check out Vantage, they always beat Viking. Can you cancel with Viking.

Vantage doesn't use travel agents and they give more discounts. They have a great product.

I hate Viking's pay almost a year ahead of time policy.

 

Have you compared Viking's prices with other cruise lines. Check out Vantage, they always beat Viking. Can you cancel with Viking.

 

Vantage doesn't use travel agents and they give more discounts. They have a great product.

Yes, I could cancel this Viking cruise, but my friend and I are set for our trip; plus it's a $200 cancellation fee. While Viking has a very early final payment policy, I will have trip insurance to cover anything that might happen between final payment and the cruise.

My friend and I picked Viking based on our other friends experience with Viking. They loved their cruise and had a great time. We are looking forward to our first river cruise together.

We will, of course, look into other companies for future river cruises to see what they have to offer and to compare with Viking.

Monica

We are new to River Cruising. Just booked a Viking cruise for this coming October. Our final is not due until late July.

Hmmmm

We're cruising in September and our payment was due in late March (which was still too early). Why do Viking's payment policies vary so much?

We're cruising in September and our payment was due in late March (which was still too early). Why do Viking's payment policies vary so much?

It is only really North America where the policy is anything more onerous than most other cruise lines.

Some prices come with an advance payment requirement, that isn't all that unusual, several lines do that, but I'd always suggest pushing back if asked to pay that far in advance without some associated discount.

The river cruise market is not so strong that they can afford to let people walk away ...