What is the best way to book a Viking Ocean cruise?

[Nashna]

We are planning our first Viking Ocean Cruise on a July, 2019 Viking Homelands sailing. Obviously, we are looking for the best way to book our cruise which will give us the greatest value and service. Would love to hear past cruisers experiences booking directly with Viking, with a local TA or a large 800 national online store?

[zitsky]

I've done two river cruises with Viking not ocean, but I would think it's similar. Both times I worked with a TA in a small to medium sized company. I was happy with the result. I believe I got a slightly better price than if I went with Viking directly. I did a price check by calling Viking and asking for a quote for a specific cruise.

[Clay Clayton]

Our Transatlantic next April is our first Viking Ocean cruise and we initially booked it directly but after reading on one of the threads here about a TA who offered a significant return of their commission via an OBC, we moved our booking to them. I can't mention the TA on here but if you decide to email me as I did with the person who turned me on to this agency, I will be glad to share their contact info. BigNCBear at aol dot com

[tonyd285]

We booked through our TA, large East Coast brick and mortar outfit. Got a great deal, cabin in perfect mid-ship location. Sailing for New Years 2018/2019 out of Miami. This will be our first Viking Ocean cruise. 15 months away but really looking forward to giving them a try. We typically sail with Celebrity or Holland America so i suspect it will be somewhat different.

[Azulann]

We booked with a TA who has been on a number of Viking Ocean ships. With the in and outs of using Viking Air for our cruise, we decided to use someone with experience. He is prompt with his emails & replies and even responds on weekends and evenings. Great service so far.

Before, we used a big online travel agency for our Celebrity Cruises.

[Richbutnot]

I've always use Cruise Compete to get the best rate from several agencies and book my own air. I ended up booking my last three cruises through the same agent so I'm just going direct to her next time.

[jiminyC_fan]

We first booked with a small local TA and he wasn't there for us during it all. Our last one we booked with an online TA that I got from someone here and we got a huge discount and unbelievable service. We will only use them from now on. It does get a bit frustrating when you want to do something with your reservations but they won't help you. It must go through your TA but that is the case with all cruise lines. It's unfortunate that we can't give the name of the agency on here.

[Vineyard View]

A few months ago Viking pulled the ability to discount all future cruises from their travel agencies. I confirmed this with ours. We already had ours booked so it shouldn’t affect those that were.....BIG disappointment for future sailings with Viking.

That said, I believe that some travel agencies will still try to do something extra for you. The only caveat to booking through TA is that any possible changes need to go through your TA and not Viking directly.

I would love for someone to come back and tell me that the dropping of discounts has been reconsidered and is back in play.

[Peregrina651]

Just a friendly reminder, especially to newer members, that we aren't allowed to name travel agencies (brick and mortar or online) by name or ask for recommendations of agencies or volunteer to share the name of our TA's (even off line). CC is really strict about its TA policy and will delete posts and/or suspend posting privileges and/or lock this thread (see Guidelines). We can talk about our experiences but we can't name names.

 

Please don't shoot the messenger.

[orchestrapal]

A few months ago Viking pulled the ability to discount all future cruises from their travel agencies. I confirmed this with ours. We already had ours booked so it shouldn’t affect those that were.....BIG disappointment for future sailings with Viking.

That said, I believe that some travel agencies will still try to do something extra for you. The only caveat to booking through TA is that any possible changes need to go through your TA and not Viking directly.

I would love for someone to come back and tell me that the dropping of discounts has been reconsidered and is back in play.[/quote

 

 

Many lines do not allow " discounting ". There are many ways around this with TA who wants your future business. We were given a very good deal on a b/ b.

[jiminyC_fan]

Just a friendly reminder, especially to newer members, that we aren't allowed to name travel agencies (brick and mortar or online) by name or ask for recommendations of agencies or volunteer to share the name of our TA's (even off line). CC is really strict about its TA policy and will delete posts and/or suspend posting privileges and/or lock this thread (see Guidelines). We can talk about our experiences but we can't name names.

 

Please don't shoot the messenger.

 

That's exactly what happened when a poster provided her email to me so that I could get the name of the agency. The post disappeared quickly. CC means business.

[larry1365]

Just a friendly reminder, especially to newer members, that we aren't allowed to name travel agencies (brick and mortar or online) by name or ask for recommendations of agencies or volunteer to share the name of our TA's (even off line). CC is really strict about its TA policy and will delete posts and/or suspend posting privileges and/or lock this thread (see Guidelines). We can talk about our experiences but we can't name names.

 

Please don't shoot the messenger.

 

Innteresting, when I click on the Guidelines link in your post and the Guidelines link on the CC home page, I get a warning from McAfee on my PC, that it's a bad site and won't connect me. Though I could access them using my iPad.

[Peregrina651]

Innteresting, when I click on the Guidelines link in your post and the Guidelines link on the CC home page, I get a warning from McAfee on my PC, that it's a bad site and won't connect me. Though I could access them using my iPad.

 

Hey, Larry. How are you?

 

Can you add that link to a whitelist on MacAfee or otherwise override MacAfee's judgment?

[PROCRUISE]

We are planning our first Viking Ocean Cruise on a July, 2019 Viking Homelands sailing. Obviously, we are looking for the best way to book our cruise which will give us the greatest value and service. Would love to hear past cruisers experiences booking directly with Viking, with a local TA or a large 800 national online store?

 

Booked past Viking River Cruise and upcoming Viking Ocean cruise through my TA who works out of her home. Indeed, TA's can no longer quote prices under what Viking states, but I did, and will be receiving OBC from my TA. Also nice to have her available 24/7 and any questions I had, or will have, are answered the same day. Yes, I could do this all myself through Viking but there is no additional charge from my TA for checking out everything and booking for me.

[Vineyard View]

A few months ago Viking pulled the ability to discount all future cruises from their travel agencies. I confirmed this with ours. We already had ours booked so it shouldn’t affect those that were.....BIG disappointment for future sailings with Viking.

That said, I believe that some travel agencies will still try to do something extra for you. The only caveat to booking through TA is that any possible changes need to go through your TA and not Viking directly.

I would love for someone to come back and tell me that the dropping of discounts has been reconsidered and is back in play.[/quote

 

 

Many lines do not allow " discounting ". There are many ways around this with TA who wants your future business. We were given a very good deal on a b/ b.

 

Thank you for that. Good to know. I totally agree with your statement. I can and have been a loyal customer to a TA.....So hopefully we will be in the future. For me loyalty is a combination of relationship, service, and a mutually beneficial outcome.

[geffric]

I believe in TA'S. They help you with all the details that booking direct does not..if you are in a bind..TAS help you..

[vnb2003]

We booked with Viking both river and ocean. Both times it was spontaneous decision after getting a promotion via email with discounts, free Air and free packages (silver package or obc or gratuities). Both times Viking agents were very good especially one for the Ocean cruise. We didn't have any problems with the river cruise. Unfortunately we did have a problem with the Air department on Homelands cruise. Viking agent (her name will be in my review) helped me working with Air department and customer service. Viking fixed the problem and I appreciate this. I believe any company could make a mistake but you can judge them by how they fixing those mistakes.

[G. GIRL]

We have recently booked our first Viking Ocean cruise and we did it direct with Viking by phone.

The service was excellent and we got an extra discount along with the early booking offer that was on. I won't give details but it was well worth our while. We also had very good service from their flight department who was on the phone to us as soon as the schedule was released and got us the upgrade to business class we wanted at a good rate.

So far I am more than happy with the service we've had with them.

[Fpacifico]

I must say that I always book with Viking and I use their Air department. I've never had an issue and they respond within 12 hours by email or phone contact. The one time that I used a TA, it was a disaster. They never returned my calls or email and they never offered us help in booking anything. So I'm just going to stick with Viking.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

We have recently booked our first Viking Ocean cruise and we did it direct with Viking by phone.

The service was excellent and we got an extra discount along with the early booking offer that was on. I won't give details but it was well worth our while. We also had very good service from their flight department who was on the phone to us as soon as the schedule was released and got us the upgrade to business class we wanted at a good rate.

So far I am more than happy with the service we've had with them.

 

 

I have always used a big online TA. For my next cruise I received around a 10% discount. For the following cruise I received an OBC--much less than 10%.

 

I have two questions.

Has anyone else received an extra discount when booking directly with Viking?

 

I have an OBC from my TA. Can I use this for gratuities? I have read that you can't use Viking OBC for this purpose but I'm not clear if you can use a TA's.

 

Thanks, Cynthia

[philw1776]

No, you cannot use any OBC for gratuities on Viking Ocean or River.

Suggest you book a later in the cruise optional tour with the OBC.

[G. GIRL]

I forgot to mention that another perk they gave me was gratuities included in the price.

[Fpacifico]

I forgot to mention that another perk they gave me was gratuities included in the price.

Use obc for drinks

[Peregrina651]

I have always used a big online TA. For my next cruise I received around a 10% discount. For the following cruise I received an OBC--much less than 10%.

 

I have two questions.

Has anyone else received an extra discount when booking directly with Viking?

 

I have an OBC from my TA. Can I use this for gratuities? I have read that you can't use Viking OBC for this purpose but I'm not clear if you can use a TA's.

 

Thanks, Cynthia

 

For an accurate answer, write to Viking at tellus@vikingcruises.com. That way, if you have any problems, you have it in writing directly from Viking.

[Nashna]

Thank you all for your great suggestions. I have contacted a TA that I have worked with in the past. She also mentioned that Viking will no longer allow TA discounts lower than what they are offering. She was able to offer a $600.00 OBC. Plus, she was very helpful in suggesting the $200.00 first time Viking referral from a friend. Since this is a 15 day cruise, I'm sure that we will have no problem spending the OBC. However, I was disappointed to hear that it could not cover gratuities. Oh well, the OBC will just give me a chance to hit the bar!