Viking Came Through

[robert lockwood]

Well, it is almost 3 weeks after our river cruise ended. Here is what has happened. I was quick to “trash them” Viking and now I’m going to praise them for doing the right thing. I trashed them before we left on the message board hoping to get someone from Viking would respond…and handle our problem - as they were ignoring my travel and myself.

 

Messed Up Flights

We purchased the Viking Air Plus fight option then paid more for flights with better flight times for us. They had changed those flights to much less desirable times with a huge layover. While on the ship a couple of days we got a note that they put us back on the flights we had paid extra for. When we got home I received a call and was told that they were also going to refund the cost of the Viking Air Plus package and extra cost for the better flight times. So they did the right thing – I was not really expecting the refund but they wanted to compensate me for my time and hassle.

 

Our Cruise was shortened

Viking decided to stop our ship after it had only gone ~68% of the total miles. We were told it was due to low water but other Viking Longships were still going both ways on the river. Competitor’s similar sized ships were also moving up and down the river- but we sat. So our trip was diminished in 3 ways

1. We missed cruising on 32% of the river.

2. We missed 20% of our cruise time because we were on buses longer than the original plan and we left cities at 3 pm to head back to the boat so we missed being able to go into Regensburg and Nuremberg at night after dinner or for dinner.

3. The entire trip – even the parts that went as planned were negatively impacted. It’s like have a great dining experience (wonderful service, food, wine and décor) but it takes you 1.5 hours to get the check. When this happens it diminishes the whole experience.

 

Viking came through and gave us a voucher for a future cruise that must be booked within 12 months that was in line with what we thought we had missed. Way to go Viking.

 

So they came through – but it could have been better I wish they would have told everyone on the ship that they would be offered vouchers. Instead we all got calls when we got home. I was initially offered a much lower percentage for the voucher than our friends. We all had the same experience and we should all have gotten a fair deal. I ended up getting a better percentage after I detailed what I the three things above. I didn’t give them a dollar amount until we agreed that these were valid issues.

 

Despite the unfairness and lack of transparency of the voucher process we will probably use the voucher – and it all because of the crew on the ship. They were great and won us over even when all this craziness was going on.

 

What did I learn? To book my own flights so those are set in stone. Choose a great travel rather than a big box store travel agent. Plan our own pre and post cruise excursions. We did plan our own Segway tours and food tours and they were awesome and much better than the Viking bus tours. I’m also confident we would have gotten a better value on the hotels too. A good/great travel agent would have been a great addition. Live and learn.

 

Again – thanks to everyone who provided suggestions and kind words.

[No Spin]

It was probably all the complaints to the BBB! :D

 

Try to use the voucher in the spring when river levels are not likely to be low. Of course if there's a lot of spring rain, the levels could be too high. :rolleyes:

[cruiseryyc]

Perhaps you should think about either removing your original post or at least change the title if possible.

[ea6b5]

It was probably all the complaints to the BBB! :D

 

Try to use the voucher in the spring when river levels are not likely to be low. Of course if there's a lot of spring rain, the levels could be too high. :rolleyes:

 

Agree with this during the spring time. After living in Germany on the Rhine this was always the perfect time of year :p But what ever happened to that review about the BBB? Deleted of course!

Edited August 7, 2015 by ea6b5

[Hydrokitty]

Perhaps you should think about either removing your original post or at least change the title if possible.

 

I can see your point but Viking did treat him badly and it took them long enough to "do the right thing"....I think that he posted the good news separate and apart from the bad let's everyone know that Viking "fixed" it, but I also think people have a right to know how they treated him before.

[3red7s]

We are sailing (hopefully) on our 1st Viking Cruise on 8/21...Budapest to Nuremburg. The excitement of the upcoming trip has been dampened by all the low river issues and comments regarding Viking. We firmly believe:"if you aren't flexible, then don't travel" Thank you for posting the fact that your situation had a happy ending