Viking River Cruise – Our Story Gets Worse - Don't Do Business with Them

Here is an update to our horror story. One day until we take off for a Viking River Cruise and our problem is still unresolved….and we now have something else to worry about.

#1 - We bought Viking’s Air Plus option and got flights that don’t have us at the airport in Prague a 7 am and have a 6 hour layover in London. To do this we paid an extra $428 – which was well worth the price. We bought this option so we had confirmed flights locked down when we made our reservation.

Then Viking unilaterally changed our flights back to the original (horrible) flights. We got an email that just said “review our flights” 3 months later. It didn’t say that the flights had been changed and it showed the same confirmation number on all 4 flight legs. At a quick glance it looked like what we had purchased….but they changed one leg. I didn’t catch it and they refuse to book us back on the better flights even though there is still room on the plane. They said it would cost them money.

#2 - Then Viking lied and said the airlines caused the change because they cancelled the flight. Our big box TA agent called the airlines and found out the flight has never been cancelled and is still available. When Viking was told this they switched to the excuse that the airlines had changed something else – again a call to the airlines disproved this claim. So Viking made the change and they refused to tell our agent why. Viking promised a Flight Supervisor would call back the last 3 days. They have yet to call. I bet that they made the change as it made them more money.

#3 - On top of this up to 6 Viking employees told our big box TA that they will not for any reason refund us the $428 that it cost for the better flights – even though they were not giving us the better flights we bought. That doesn’t sound legal to me – to keep the money and not provide the service.

New Problem - We also booked extended stay packages on either side of our cruise in Budapest and Prague thru Viking. My wife called them to arrange something special for our 25 anniversary - wait for it - they don’t have our reservation.

So what have we learned?

1. Don’t do business with Viking as they are deceptive and not customer centric - they intentionally (my belief) sent us our flight schedule that hid the fact that they changed our flights without consulting us or our travel agent.

2. Don’t do business with Big Box travel agents.

3. Don’t purchase your flights thru the cruise companies – we have cruised 10 to 20 times and this is the first time we have done it.

We have spent over 4 hours on the phone and writing several emails and letters. Viking keeps ignoring our big box Travel Agent and the big box Travel Supervisor has refused to get involved to fix the problem.

Disgusted in North Carolina

Viking River Cruises Confirmation Number: 2457078

I have booked with Viking, through a big box and have pre and post extras.

All along the way, they sent me itineraries to check within hours of booking. They also carefully and in excruciating detail read back my choices before finalizing my trip.

I did have to make one change to my air routing, which I made before 24 hours had passed... It was no problem.

It is too bad that you are having issues. But alternatively, I had had no problems at all.

I'm just amazed that your TA didn't catch the fact that you weren't booked on the pre- and post-hotel stays. He/she should've seen that on the invoice that Viking sends to TAs. Or, are you saying it was there and then it was lost? Was it on your invoice? If so, then the agency and supervisor should definitely be involved in getting that straightened out.

I just find it hard to believe that all of this was confirmed on invoices which should've been sent to you a.) at time of deposit b.) at time of final payment. Did you see the actual Viking invoice or just a big box TA invoice?

I sure hope you're able to forget about these things while on your vacation and just enjoy yourselves.

The pre and post trip extensions are on our invoice and in our travel books just like they should be.....but when we called to see if they would do something special for our 25th the hotel didn't have us as guests. We paid in full last December.

My wife emailed them to make the arrangements and after saying they would love to do what she was asking - they wrote back and said they have no record of our reservation thru Viking. So we rechecked today - one day before we leave - and they still don't have any record of us.

Homeless in Europe? The nightmare continues.

Is it possible that your reservation is under a block of rooms reserved for Viking and when you actually check in you'll find out that you have a room and the extension, which I'm assuming you already paid for? When we book with Vantage our room doesn't actually go into our names until we check in and show them our passports. I thought this was how it was done by everybody.

Your big box TA should be handling this for you.....as we all agree...As for purchasing air through the company providing your cruise, I have booked air through Vantage 6 times and never had a problem. I think your problem might be more with the big box agent than Viking (and I'm not known to stick up for Viking). I probably don't have to tell you this, but bring copies of your paid invoice showing the hotel, extension, and everything else you paid for, with you.

Good Luck and I hope you have a wonderful European Anniversary in spite of all the attempts by Viking and your TA to derail it.

The pre and post trip extensions are on our invoice and in our travel books just like they should be.....but when we called to see if they would do something special for our 25th the hotel didn't have us as guests. We paid in full last December.

 

My wife emailed them to make the arrangements and after saying they would love to do what she was asking - they wrote back and said they have no record of our reservation thru Viking. So we rechecked today - one day before we leave - and they still don't have any record of us.

 

Homeless in Europe? The nightmare continues.

Have to contacted Viking directly?

Have you asked the hotel to connect you with the Viking representative on site and talked with them?

Is it possible that your reservation is under a block of rooms reserved for Viking and when you actually check in you'll find out that you have a room and the extension, which I'm assuming you already paid for? When we book with Vantage our room doesn't actually go into our names until we check in and show them our passports. I thought this was how it was done by everybody.

 

.

I am guessing this is probably the case. The hotel reservations are in Viking's name as far as a block of rooms and not the passenger's name until the passenger gets to the hotel.

Yes, I have reached out to Viking directly - they told me to go thru my TA and refused to talk with me. So I called their customer relations number, emailed their customer relations department and wrote the President and sent it overnight last week. I have heard nothing from them - the silence has been deafening.

I too hope we have a wonderful vacation and everything going forward will go without any problems. I love to be able to write nothing but great things about our vacation. I dreamed last night that when we got to the airport they have upgraded us to business class, and our ship cabin and hotel rooms were upgraded too. They I woke up - but if they do, I will tell everyone that it took them awhile but they finally did the right thing and more!

Yes, I have reached out to Viking directly - they told me to go thru my TA and refused to talk with me. So I called their customer relations number, emailed their customer relations department and wrote the President and sent it overnight last week. I have heard nothing from them - the silence has been deafening.

 

I too hope we have a wonderful vacation and everything going forward will go without any problems. I love to be able to write nothing but great things about our vacation. I dreamed last night that when we got to the airport they have upgraded us to business class, and our ship cabin and hotel rooms were upgraded too. They I woke up - but if they do, I will tell everyone that it took them awhile but they finally did the right thing and more!

You need to put pressure on the Big Box travel agency for answers.

Best of luck. I am hoping when you get to your destination, it will be better and you can enjoy your trip.

I'm sorry for all of your problems, but I think the majority of the issues are going to be down to a few misunderstandings on your end and quite probably poor communication between your 'TA' (and I use that term loosely) and Viking.

Your pre and post extensions are confirmed in your documentation, so what exactly is Viking supposed to have done wrong there?

The hotel will have a number of rooms allocated to Viking but they will not have 'your' room specifically allocated to you under your name yet so if you call the hotel directly they will not know who you are.

If you book using a TA then when you call Viking they are going to refer you back to your TA as it is their job and responsibility to handle your booking, that is normal.

Regarding your flights, I still think we are missing something somewhere.

Can you list the original flight numbers you were offered before you paid for the variation. The flight numbers after the variation but before the change and the flight numbers as they are now...

I'm wondering if although one of the flights has changed from the one you wanted, the others are still different to the original flights you were first offered before the variation, hence the payment you made is still valid.

There are many things an airline can do to alter the viability of a flight, for example if the flight time changes so that the time between your arrival and departure on a connection is too short then you have to be moved to another flight. This doesn't involve a flight cancellation and the original flight can still be there with plenty of empty seats on it but you can't use the flight because of the connection time.

Sometimes the actual type of plane changes and that can result in a reduction in the number of seats in a particular class which can have a knock-on effect on the available seats for bulk contracts.

So if you want to post the flight details I'd be happy to try and figure out exactly what went wrong as it seems that between your unfortunate choice of TA and possibly poor explanations and assumptions on the part of the Viking rep, the real story is not getting to you.

... and finally, no, I really don't think I'm going to be avoiding doing business with Viking based on anything you've posted so far, but I certainly won't be doing business with your choice of TA :)

Wow, what a nightmare! Don't think I'll ever cruise on Viking.

Robert Lockwood,

Coral and Mark T. are correct. It all goes back to an Inferior T.A. Threaten a Lawsuit! :eek:

I hope you take Mark up on his offer of trying to figure out the Flight problem. I think he knows what he is talking about. ;)

Please post from your trip and let us know how it is going.

I have learned a couple of painful lessons through-out this process.

Mark – I will look for our original flights we had before we elected the better flights via Viking Air Plus and post them. But isn’t the point more basic than that, I paid for and got confirmation numbers for the better flights and Viking changed them unilaterally – according to the airlines there were no changes to the flights – they were never cancelled or changed. Today they are still available.

The issue is that Viking changed our flights once they were confirmed. If we ordered a new car with certain accessories and when it came in and was not as we ordered. It is missing some of the accessories (think better flights) – the car is less desirable than what we ordered. I’m I supposed to take the lesser car and still pay the price of the superior car?

As a side note – the email notification they sent me to review our flights had the same confirmation number on all 4 legs and all but 1 legs were the same. As I said I missed it as but the confirmation numbers had not changed. Our ticket package shows a new confirmation number on the new flight. Plus the email never mentioned that the flights had changed.

Hi Robertlockwood,

I know at this point you probably don't even want to go after all your issues but please have a very Happy Anniversary enjoy the time with your wife!

Yes, I have reached out to Viking directly - they told me to go thru my TA and refused to talk with me. So I called their customer relations number, emailed their customer relations department and wrote the President and sent it overnight last week. I have heard nothing from them - the silence has been deafening.

 

I too hope we have a wonderful vacation and everything going forward will go without any problems. I love to be able to write nothing but great things about our vacation. I dreamed last night that when we got to the airport they have upgraded us to business class, and our ship cabin and hotel rooms were upgraded too. They I woke up - but if they do, I will tell everyone that it took them awhile but they finally did the right thing and more!

Robert, it is industry practice when you have booked through a travel agent that all communication with the provider goes through your travel agent. This is not unique to Viking; it is also the practice on ocean cruise lines such as Celebrity, Princess etc. If you book directly with the provider, then they assign you a customer service rep (sort of like your own travel agent) and they will work with you directly. Your TA is dropping the ball big time! The TA should be able to confirm your flights, arrange refund of personal choice flight if you did not get it, confirm your hotel reservations and even give you a hotel contact for making the special anniversary arrangements. That is the rationale for using a TA. I tend to be a do it yourself traveler so usually book directly with the providers myself, but when something goes wrong as it seems to repeatedly in your case, your TA should be resolving it. Shame on the TA!

I've booked many trips with this Big Box agency and not had any problems. So as in ALL things in life, YMMV.

I'm sorry that this is happening, but I have to think there is some travel naivete going on, and lack of checking itineraries carefully.

But I ALWAYS book my flights and transfers myself. Control freak ;-)

Hi, Robert Lockwood,

We are all very worried about you. What happened when you called your credit card bank to ask them to delete the $450 charge? Are they gonna do it? :D

according to the airlines there were no changes to the flights – they were never cancelled or changed. Today they are still available.

Thanks for the update, the reason I ask for the flight numbers at each stage of this process is that often you may find that all the information you have given is correct, yet still there is a problem in the details.

The flights may indeed still be available, but all it takes is a time change on the arrival time of the flight and you can end up below what is called the Minimum Connection Time (MCT). If that happens then you have to be moved to a different flight, it isn't optional and it is often automatic.

Similarly if you were moved form your original flights onto new flights and then subsequently one of those flights had to be changed the fees you were charged may still apply.

In any event, enjoy the holiday and if you feel like gaining a better understanding of what happened and who may be to blame, then post all the flight details and we'll see what happens.

Hi, Robert Lockwood,

 

We are all very worried about you. What happened when you called your credit card bank to ask them to delete the $450 charge? Are they gonna do it? :D

I agree. We want the best for your anniversary and are worried about you.

Unfortunately, you will need to work with the Big Box place as opposed to Viking. If you can, I would do your best to stay cool and collected. If you start the conversation defensive, they may not want to help you (even if you are correct). Your best bet is to try to work with them to resolve this.

The question was – did Viking change your return flight because the airlines changed the flight times not allowing for a (MTC) Minimum Connection Time? It is the first leg of our return flights from Prague to London – that was changed. The 3rd leg of our trip.

Below is the original email I received from my TA when we bought the Viking Air Plus package in January. Plus the current times on USAirways website. They have told us there nothing has changed since we purchased our tickets.

The chart below shows that the times on this leg in question has not changed. Actually you can see none of the flight times on any of the legs have changed.

Flight Original Ticket Current Flight Times (1)

# Leave Arrive Leave Arrive

7398 11:15 AM 12:20 PM 11:15 AM 12:20 PM

733 2:25 PM 6:18 PM 2:25 PM 6:25 PM

(1) from US Airways website

Unfortunately I can't import the clips from the email my TA sent me or from USairways website

I am still a little befuddled about the OP's air issues. He stated he opted for custom air option 6 months ago because he didn't like the flights Viking assigned him.... Huh? Since when does Viking assign anyone flights 6 months in advance??? Originally he said after he selected flights and paid the up charge they changed him back to the original flights without notifying him but refused to refund his up charge. Now it seems only 1 leg was changed and he was notified but failed to notice the change. I agree with others who said his TA should have picked up on this and contacted him or at least flagged it on the info sent to him.

When we opted for custom air and let our TA know which flights we wanted she sent us the itinerary from Viking with instructions to check them carefully ASAP and then let her know if anything needed changing and asked if we wanted to go ahead and have the flights ticketed so we could select seats, do upgrades etc directly through the airlines. We had the flights ticketed and within 12 hours could see the flights on the airlines web site and could book seats, etc. since then the airline has changed flight times twice, although the flight and confirmation numbers have not changed....is the OP sure that this isn't just a case of the flight times being changed on the booked flight number?

I feel badly for him with all of the added stress but I think he is angry at the wrong party here. Doesn't sound to me like it was Viking that dropped the ball here.

Hi, Robert Lockwood,

 

We are all very worried about you. What happened when you called your credit card bank to ask them to delete the $450 charge? Are they gonna do it? :D

If I was him I would not go the credit card route until the trip was over. Otherwise who knows what Viking could do concerning the payment.

When I have booked with Viking air plus any change has been called and we have to confirm, I am guessing this is the TA issue. Anyway enjoy your anniversary.

The pre and post trip extensions are on our invoice and in our travel books just like they should be.....but when we called to see if they would do something special for our 25th the hotel didn't have us as guests. We paid in full last December.

 

My wife emailed them to make the arrangements and after saying they would love to do what she was asking - they wrote back and said they have no record of our reservation thru Viking. So we rechecked today - one day before we leave - and they still don't have any record of us.

 

Homeless in Europe? The nightmare continues.

Thank you for answering my questions. I think it's common for the hotels NOT to have specific names for cruise line passengers. I think they just get a list with a specific number of hotel rooms needed in advance. Don't worry too much about that. As long as it's on your invoice and you're paid in full, you're covered. Try to look forward to a great vacation now.