Viking -the early bird gets the shaft

I hate to be correct when its costing me money but I was correct in concluding that Viking was having trouble filling up its summer European River Cruises. The category f on July 8th Paris to Normandy is still quoted at $2656 the e is $100 dollars more. Is now being offered at $2172 for the f and 2272 for the category e. The early bird airfare from Miami when booking early, to save money, was $695 it is now $400. This will be our 2nd river cruise with Viking hopefully we will take river cruises in the future but not with this cruise line.

I hate to be correct when its costing me money but I was correct in concluding that Viking was having trouble filling up its summer European River Cruises. The category f on July 8th Paris to Normandy is still quoted at $2656 the e is $100 dollars more. Is now being offered at $2172 for the f and 2272 for the category e. The early bird airfare from Miami when booking early, to save money, was $695 it is now $400. This will be our 2nd river cruise with Viking hopefully we will take river cruises in the future but not with this cruise line.

Curious... Which Viking river vessel will you be on?

We will be on the Kadlin flying in 3 days early to spend some time in Paris.

We will be on the Kadlin flying in 3 days early to spend some time in Paris.

What is the date of your cruise? We are booked on the Kadlin for August 12, 2016

Thanks for your inquiry we depart on July 8th

I think there's a reluctance on the part of some people to visit Europe in general due to recent events in Paris and Brussels. I just booked another Danube river cruise for 2017 and will continue to travel unless violence becomes widespread. I'm not surprised Viking is having trouble filling its ships, and I'm sure it's not confine to Viking.

Roz

It may not be a matter of the cabins not booking--it may be that people cancelled their trips with the new "cancel at any time" policy. They get a little balky with perceived threats and bail.

I was amazed that our Vikings and Windmills trip a few weeks ago was not at capacity. We heard chatter on board that a lot of people had considered cancelling after the Brussels attacks. This trip did include stops in Antwerp and Ghent with day trips to Brussels and Bruges. There was also a lot of negative chatter about the perceived lack of security on board and how we were all at RISK of being attacked by terrorists. Of 190 potential passengers, on the fullest night in the DR when we were sailing, we counted 140 or so guests. We realize some may have been in cabins or Aquavit...but given this was a limited seasonal trip and often sold out, we were surprised at the vacancies in the dining room.

This is no different than any other travel company selling late into the season. The price on our upcoming Holland America cruise on their newest ship dropped by 1/3 after final payment day. Fortunately I got a good rate when we booked plus some perks otherwise :mad:. Airfares to Amsterdam now are crazy high, nearly 3 times what I paid. Airfares are hurting the cruise industry but they continue to go up.:(

What is the date of your cruise? We are booked on the Kadlin for August 12, 2016

Hi....We'll see you onboard..also doing the France's Finest tour....I heard that the price had dropped and inquired as to if we could get a higher grade cabin, since we're pd in full and I was told the higher grades were sold out.....

We're flying out on Aug. 11 via AF....we did get a $800 pp price break on that...I learned that Viking was having a sale on sale and they did lower our air...now we're getting prem eco for the price of eco...

Not unusual for Viking. They call it "dynamic pricing" and say that airlines do it, so why not river cruise lines. Two years ago we cruised Bucharest-Budapest with Viking: they had the only such itinerary at the time at the time we wanted to travel. Dealing with corporate Viking was horrible, while the ship and crew were nice.

- Viking wanted all the money up front a year out.

- Viking "offered" us a deal on air, which was really $500 each over what the airlines had on their websites for the exact same flights.

- Viking refused to arrange several additional days at their hotel in Bucharest: "don't even ask."

- Viking was reluctant to keep us informed of low Danube water levels as the trip date neared and passengers were being bused between ports. The Viking rep was "upset" that I was aware of the issue and asked how I knew. CC of course. No interest in keep us informed: "we'll send an email" which is little good if you are already enroute. No email.

We will stick with Uniworld.

Not unusual for Viking. They call it "dynamic pricing" and say that airlines do it, so why not river cruise lines. Two years ago we cruised Bucharest-Budapest with Viking: they had the only such itinerary at the time at the time we wanted to travel. Dealing with corporate Viking was horrible, while the ship and crew were nice.

 

- Viking wanted all the money up front a year out.

- Viking "offered" us a deal on air, which was really $500 each over what the airlines had on their websites for the exact same flights.

- Viking refused to arrange several additional days at their hotel in Bucharest: "don't even ask."

- Viking was reluctant to keep us informed of low Danube water levels as the trip date neared and passengers were being bused between ports. The Viking rep was "upset" that I was aware of the issue and asked how I knew. CC of course. No interest in keep us informed: "we'll send an email" which is little good if you are already enroute. No email.

 

We will stick with Uniworld.

I do not like the idea of giving Viking my money in full a year ahead of time, that is why I booked with Scenic May15/2017 Amsterdam to Budapest. When I was comparing the prices Viking for the same cruise was $1,000.00 more than Scenic and with Scenic I got way more perks (alcohol 24/7 anything you want, fridge stocked with whatever you normally drink, 1 kilo of laundry each done halfway through the cruise, butler, highend excursions, the others say free excursions but the highend ones will be $125 per person) You really have to sit down and price each and every one of them. I know Scenic is fairly new being advertised there, but in Canada there is a head office in Vanc. B.C. has been around for awhile.

Marlster

Not unusual for Viking. They call it "dynamic pricing" and say that airlines do it, so why not river cruise lines. Two years ago we cruised Bucharest-Budapest with Viking: they had the only such itinerary at the time at the time we wanted to travel. Dealing with corporate Viking was horrible, while the ship and crew were nice.

 

- Viking wanted all the money up front a year out.

- Viking "offered" us a deal on air, which was really $500 each over what the airlines had on their websites for the exact same flights.

- Viking refused to arrange several additional days at their hotel in Bucharest: "don't even ask."

- Viking was reluctant to keep us informed of low Danube water levels as the trip date neared and passengers were being bused between ports. The Viking rep was "upset" that I was aware of the issue and asked how I knew. CC of course. No interest in keep us informed: "we'll send an email" which is little good if you are already enroute. No email.

 

We will stick with Uniworld.

I am looking at Viking - July 2017 - however this LOW DANUBE thing has me thinking.... how common is this.. I do NOT want to spend the kind of $$$$ needed for a 23 day cruise +air fare ONLY to be bussed from port to port??

Low water and high water are always concerns for river cruising. A quick perusal of thread titles over the past few years in this forum will show you that ;)

I am looking at Viking - July 2017 - however this LOW DANUBE thing has me thinking.... how common is this.. I do NOT want to spend the kind of $$$$ needed for a 23 day cruise +air fare ONLY to be bussed from port to port??

One of the real advantages Viking has is the large number of ships they own. We had friends that were affected on the Danube last year by the low water. They were going from Budapest to Amsterdam and the ship couldn't get through. But they were able to continue. They were told one evening to have all their bags packed the next morning and leave them in the room. They left the ship by bus for their excursion and after the excursion, they were returned to an identical Viking longship upstream where their luggage had been delivered to the same stateroom on the new ship. Sometimes being large is a good thing.

FuelScience

One of the real advantages Viking has is the large number of ships they own. We had friends that were affected on the Danube last year by the low water. They were going from Budapest to Amsterdam and the ship couldn't get through. But they were able to continue. They were told one evening to have all their bags packed the next morning and leave them in the room. They left the ship by bus for their excursion and after the excursion, they were returned to an identical Viking longship upstream where their luggage had been delivered to the same stateroom on the new ship. Sometimes being large is a good thing.

 

FuelScience

Had the exact same thing happen last Oct-Nov but going the opposite direction. Did a ship swap same as your friends. It could not have been handled any better and was seamless. Then when we arrived in Vienna we could go no farther. This gave us an extra night in Vienna and a free symphony for everyone. An extra night in Vienna. Who doesn't want that? We were taken by bus (great chance to see the countryside) to Budapest and put up at the Intercontinental Hotel right on the Danube next to the Shoe Memorial and chain bridge. Great location. That night they put us on a smaller boat to cruise Budapest so as not to miss the sights of Budapest all lit up. Spectacular!!!!! We did not miss anything we wanted to do and felt we had gotten our moneys worth. We did not blame Viking for the low water problems. We did not complain but just enjoyed. 8 days after we arrived home we received an email from Viking. It included 2 vouchers for 25% of our money back for the entire cruise. We did not ask for this and did not expect anything. We will use the vouchers for a trip with Viking next year. We are taking an ocean cruise with them this year. Ok, now you negative people can give the other side.

Other cruise lines also discount cruises with remaining cabins as the date gets closer, and the Paris to Normandy itinerary is one that seems to go on sale the most often. Last year we booked a mid-September Paris to Normandy cruise on Avalon in mid-July. The Avalon sale price + travel agent discount + Avalon return passenger discount came to $3000 for the two of us. We hadn't planned on doing a cruise last fall but decided that the combination of the discount and the low Euro were too good to pass up. AMA and I think Uniworld also had the same itinerary on sale, but the Avalon dates worked better for us.

The cruise prices can be moving targets. If you want to make sure that you are booked for a specific date, it makes sense to buy your ticket ahead of time. Some cruises that have less frequent dates and are very popular sell out faster than others. If you can be flexible with dates and choice of cruise, it can pay to wait.

Ship swaps are still making lemonade because you've got a lemon on your hands. Better to be on a ship that just keeps sailing without requiring you to pack and unpack and take long bus rides. Just do your homework before booking your cruise -- not about the water levels (which can't be predicted) but about past history dealing with them.