Viking Sun World Cruise ongoing review/comments

[stretchcruz]

You were on an overnight excursion in Cambodia? Where is the ship? I am so sorry for you all.

[Eaches]

You were on an overnight excursion in Cambodia? Where is the ship? I am so sorry for you all.

 

 

 

We think the ship is in Bangkok but no one is talking and the floor is nowhere you want to spend your night in Cambodia!

 

 

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[Bridget2010]

Our Vietnam experience was quite different. Our guide was the daughter of former South Vietnamese who supported the US during the war. Her take on the war and the result was very different than the guise Jim had. Vietnam is a amazing place and has advanced quite a bit since the end of the war. Most of them like Americans and harbor no ill will. At least this is my experience.

 

So sorry to hear that people are unhappy with Viking. I am please at how much they do to try to make the world cruise a great experience. In many cases the stuff that happens in not something they have control over. They are learning. 2019 WC should be great. I am looking forward to it.

[Eaches]

Our Vietnam experience was quite different. Our guide was the daughter of former South Vietnamese who supported the US during the war. Her take on the war and the result was very different than the guise Jim had. Vietnam is a amazing place and has advanced quite a bit since the end of the war. Most of them like Americans and harbor no ill will. At least this is my experience.

 

So sorry to hear that people are unhappy with Viking. I am please at how much they do to try to make the world cruise a great experience. In many cases the stuff that happens in not something they have control over. They are learning. 2019 WC should be great. I am looking forward to it.

 

 

 

Well. Come and switch places on the floor next to me and the other WC travelers! Some stuff does happen but this is unprofessional! This whole problem could have been eliminated if our guide checked and confirmed our fights instead of laying by the pool . I will give Viking all the great comments and praise but not this time . They screwed up again !

 

 

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[stretchcruz]

So you were supposed to fly to Bangkok to meet the ship? I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. The least they could do is get you back to a hotel for the night if you are stranded, right? How awful.

[watchdiva]

Unbelievable. I would have a major hissy fit if my very expensive world cruise was “a learning experience” for Viking. Unless and until they had several world cruises under their belt I would look at other cruise lines with more experience in world cruises.

 

 

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[Eaches]

Unbelievable. I would have a major hissy fit if my very expensive world cruise was “a learning experience” for Viking. Unless and until they had several world cruises under their belt I would look at other cruise lines with more experience in world cruises.

 

 

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We are finally back at the same hotel we started out at this morning except 7 plus hours later . No flight , not sure about the tours everyone had booked . We now have to wait until the rooms are cleaned before we can lay down to a long nights sleep until 6 am to try this again !

 

 

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[watchdiva]

Just so that I am clear....this was a ship sponsored excursion, correct? Try to get some sleep...what a mess!

 

 

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[Eaches]

Just so that I am clear....this was a ship sponsored excursion, correct? Try to get some sleep...what a mess!

 

 

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Correct - 4 day sponsored excursion. I wouldn’t have been mad - things happen, but it could have been much better if personnel did a little homework and checked on flights . It’s a business and the passengers paid good money to make sure things worked. We all paid over 1600 dollars apiece and we didn’t get the full deal .

 

 

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[stretchcruz]

Holy cow! 1600 apiece! How horrible!

[watchdiva]

So so sorry this happened....

 

 

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[broker1217]

Wow. They stranded over 10% of their passengers who collectively paid them $160K for an excursion.

This is really appalling.

I hope you get back to the ship promptly and there should be some serious immediate compensation.

[SantaFe1]

I, too, am very sad to see this. We had friends on that excursion with you. I’ll have to check their blog to see if they made it. I know how mad you are, but I am sorry to see you say you will not be doing the next WC. We had hoped to meet you. Perhaps things will settle down and you will re-think, again. But so, so sorry. I would be beside myself if I had to spend the night on the floor in a Cambodian airport!!!

[Wagnerite]

I wasn’t there and do sympathize but it seems that they did get everyone to a hotel and, hopefully, you will join us on the morrow.

 

At least there are many more flights to BKK than to Sihanoukville.

[tubeamps]

I wasn’t there and do sympathize but it seems that they did get everyone to a hotel and, hopefully, you will join us on the morrow.

 

At least there are many more flights to BKK than to Sihanoukville.

 

You are far too forgiving. They didn’t get to the hotel until seven hours after being stranded.

These people should receive a major apology and substantial compensation for this experience, and I don’t mean $100 OBC.

IMO Viking should comp the entire cost of the excursion.

[watchdiva]

This is beyond understanding....I probably would be on the next flight home. This is not a case of ship happens, and for many pax this is a once in a lifetime cruise.

 

 

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[larry1365]

This is all all BS. We are on the excursion. It was a group of 100 peassengers. The group was on two flights to Sihanoukville — 40 minutes apart. The first flight with approx 1/3 of the group made it to Sihanoukville in time to make the ship.

 

We had been at the airport for awhile, before the notice was posted that the second flight was delayed 4:00 hrs, until 8: pm. One issue was that the guides from local tour agencies are not allowed in the terminal. But they were around outside trying to help.

 

So the Excursions rep on the excursion and the ship’s GM explored several alternatives to book us other flights directly to Bangkok and find hotel there for approx 66 of us.

 

We walked a short distance from the domestic to the international terminal. All the efforts to book flights tonight to Bangkok came up dry. Two heroic passengers have help relay info in booming voice info currently known to the rest of us. The excursion rep was bombard with multiple questions as she was trying to stay in touch with the ship. The ship ultimately had to move on to Bangkok.

 

The hotels in Siem Rep were heavily book, since high season is just ending. Final arrangements were made for us to return to the original hotel for dinner while rooms were obtained. Some rooms were found at that hotel and other of us were bused 5-10 minutes to a very nice Raffles Hotel. We won’t be here long since the entire group of approx the 65 of us are now booked on a flight to Bangkok,arriving at 1045 Wednesday — even before the ship’s planned arrival at 1230 Wednesday.

 

Now, Viking folks are working on the planned excursions for every one.

 

Yes, it wasn’t pretty. Siem Reap is just a small airport. Food services are just a Starbucks and a small Korean eatery. Yes, it’s been a frustrating day and everyone is tired. But,IMO, these are the vagaries of world travel. Viking has done a good job with a bad situation. I would caution folks to wait and see how it all turns out before venting so strongly.

 

Larry McCracken

1:15 Wed a.m.

 

 

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[larry1365]

This is beyond understanding....I probably would be on the next flight home. This is not a case of ship happens, and for many pax this is a once in a lifetime cruise.

 

 

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Yes this could be a once in a live time cruise, but what did we miss? Yes, we had several hours of frustration and a late arrival at a hotel and an early morning airplane ride. However, we had a wonderful visit to a interesting country with an intriguing past.

 

And for this hiccup today — a delayed flight — you’d be on the first flight home??? And miss all the interest g parts and countries coming up?

 

Larry

 

 

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[lackcreativity]

Yes this could be a once in a live time cruise, but what did we miss? Yes, we had several hours of frustration and a late arrival at a hotel and an early morning airplane ride. However, we had a wonderful visit to a interesting country with an intriguing past.

 

And for this hiccup today — a delayed flight — you’d be on the first flight home??? And miss all the interest g parts and countries coming up?

 

Larry

 

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Thank you so much for sharing the details of what happened with the missed flight. As I imagined, there were extenuating circumstances. A frustrating experience, but those things do happen.

 

Personally, on different trips I have had food poisoning in Venice, arrived at the Barcelona airport to learn our flight home had been canceled, and had a delayed flight cause us to miss our connection home in Frankfurt. But I still loved every one of those trips.

 

I sincerely hope you have enjoyed your trip so far, and that the rest of it will be wonderful. With your outlook, I suspect that you will!

[Eaches]

This is beyond understanding....I probably would be on the next flight home. This is not a case of ship happens, and for many pax this is a once in a lifetime cruise.

 

 

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Viking did a wonderful job getting us back up to speed and maybe I was too harsh in my original message on CC . In my defense :Think about everything bad going on in the world and 1/3 of your group gets a pass back to the ship and you get to sit on the floor with very little information given . Let’s hope all of us have a Great Rest of the World Cruise without any additional travel issues.

 

 

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[Jim Avery]

Thanks Eaches. Heather talked a bit about y'all rejoining us at Bangkok and we are all looking forward to having everyone back. We knew you wouldn't take the next flight home. How else would we get all the pictures?? Hoping you get to share some Angkor Wat pics when back aboard and rested.:cool:

[Eaches]

Thanks Eaches. Heather talked a bit about y'all rejoining us at Bangkok and we are all looking forward to having everyone back. We knew you wouldn't take the next flight home. How else would we get all the pictures?? Hoping you get to share some Angkor Wat pics when back aboard and rested.:cool:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Twitchly]

Oh! Thanks so much for sharing those. Angkor Wat is on my bucket list. How wonderful that you got to see it!

[SantaFe1]

My goodness, you are a trooper. Thanks for the Pictures. Enjoy! Life is short!!

[Wagnerite]

Thank you, especially Larry and Eaches for your fair minded account of things. I know how frustrating it can be to have a flight delayed or cancelled and it must be worse not to be in control. See you .....around the ship.

 

Besides, the best stories are about things that went wrong! Who would read a post about an on time flight?