Disadvantage of Vantage

[4774Papa]

I first became interested in taking a river cruise because we received a brochure in the mail from Viking. Our first river cruise was the Russian River cruise in 2011. As usual, I did my research, comparing Viking (expecting them to be the best) with three or four others, including Vantage.

 

At that time Vantage was the only company offering hotels in downtown Moscow and St. Petersburg instead of staying on the cruse boat and commuting through traffic (although some firms in SPB offered commutes on high speed boats). Also, we found Vantage's price was only beat by the budget company Gate 1, which charged extra for tours, etc.

 

We selected Vantage and did the pre and post extensions to Kiev and the three Baltic countries and loved the trip (although, I understand Vantage no longer offers a Russian River cruise). So we did the three week China trip with a four day river cruise and it was even better than the Russian one. Our last Vantage was the Douro River of Portugal, which was excellent.

 

I have had little reason to contact Vantage customer service, but those few times have demonstrated that clearly customer service is not their strongest point. Emails seem to be ignored. We only have one or two more river cruise that we are interested in taking and will probably give Vantage a go again, as long as they are the best value, price and product considering.

[Thoth]

I love Cool Hand Luke.

 

Another famous saying from the movie by Strother Martin was that Luke needed "to get his mind right."

 

We have done three great cruises/trips on Vantage, but it seems they need to get their mind right.

Vantage's air support has much better than Viking. This one gent on the phone seems to have his mind right :D

[Thoth]

Price ? Advantage to "Vantage" over Viking. :cool: My week long Rhine trip is costing about $1000 cheaper than the week on the Danube with Viking. Of course that's likely a special deal or compensation for re-scheduling me.

If March's cruise goes well, I'll certainly give that Boston customer service office a second chance. ;)

[Hydrokitty]

Price ? Advantage to "Vantage" over Viking. :cool: My week long Rhine trip is costing about $1000 cheaper than the week on the Danube with Viking. Of course that's likely a special deal or compensation for re-scheduling me.

If March's cruise goes well, I'll certainly give that Boston customer service office a second chance. ;)

 

No argument there....I took the Rhine/Danube cruise and priced it out between Vantage and Viking and came up about the same price you got.....but that was then....now that trip costs nearly twice what I paid for it! But then so does everything else!! :D

Edited December 23, 2016 by Hydrokitty

[ebtrip]

I have booked Vantage for our first river cruise, a 15 day from Budapest to Amsterdam. I have contacted customer serve twice with no problems. I wanted my "free air" ticketed as the seats I wanted started to sell out. Within 1 hour I had my ticket numbers and was able to book my seats. The price was outstanding and could not pass it up.

I am elite on Celebrity and have cruised over 40 times. I also had recommendations from a friend as how wonderful their Vantage cruise was.

I'm glad to hear that so many of you are repeat cruisers.

Thanks for your input as any negatives have been erased.

[Hydrokitty]

I have booked Vantage for our first river cruise, a 15 day from Budapest to Amsterdam. I have contacted customer serve twice with no problems. I wanted my "free air" ticketed as the seats I wanted started to sell out. Within 1 hour I had my ticket numbers and was able to book my seats. The price was outstanding and could not pass it up.

I am elite on Celebrity and have cruised over 40 times. I also had recommendations from a friend as how wonderful their Vantage cruise was.

I'm glad to hear that so many of you are repeat cruisers.

Thanks for your input as any negatives have been erased.

 

Glad to hear it!

[Tom47]

Vantage did not give us luggage tags for last two trips. I asked for them and was told "We don't give those anymore.":confused:

[mkam2821]

We're booked for Paris to Normandy in May. I have had to contact customer service a couple of times (including changing the date of our booking) and must say that each time I received EXCELLENT customer service. The agent was very helpful and courteous and followed through on what they said they'd do. I only hope that the actual cruise will go as well!

[Hydrokitty]

We're booked for Paris to Normandy in May. I have had to contact customer service a couple of times (including changing the date of our booking) and must say that each time I received EXCELLENT customer service. The agent was very helpful and courteous and followed through on what they said they'd do. I only hope that the actual cruise will go as well!

 

It will....Vantage "ground" crews are terrific!!