Viking needs to treat their customers fairly!

[lke]

We have LOVED our Viking cruises.  In fact, on our last cruise we booked 3 upcoming cruises.  Unfortunately, 2 of these got cancelled by Viking due  Covid and the selling of one of their ships.  We re-booked the 2 that were cancelled, but found they wouldn't give us the discounts we had on our orignal bookings.  Now they want over $3000 more even with their "so called" 25% vouchers. As I said, we thought Viking was  fantastic compared to other cruises we've taken. We have decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves by continuing with our re-bookings, but I deeply feel they have not treated us the way a trusted company should treat their customers, and I seriously wonder if we will EVER book with them again.

[duquephart]

24 minutes ago, lke said:

We have LOVED our Viking cruises.  In fact, on our last cruise we booked 3 upcoming cruises.  Unfortunately, 2 of these got cancelled by Viking due  Covid and the selling of one of their ships.  We re-booked the 2 that were cancelled, but found they wouldn't give us the discounts we had on our orignal bookings.  Now they want over $3000 more even with their "so called" 25% vouchers. As I said, we thought Viking was  fantastic compared to other cruises we've taken. We have decided to give them a chance to redeem themselves by continuing with our re-bookings, but I deeply feel they have not treated us the way a trusted company should treat their customers, and I seriously wonder if we will EVER book with them again.

 

Viking needs to treat their customers fairly!

No, they don't. If they did they would.

 

[Cienfuegos]

For what it's worth, I suspect there will be so much demand for at least the initial cruises, that Viking won't offer any incentives.

 

They won't need to.  Between pent-up demand and FCV, there won't be sufficient space for everyone.

[austinetc]

I did a lot of research before my cruise was finally canceled and was intrigued that some cruises did not have any price increase and others did.  In my own situation, the 2022 cruise was the same price as 2021, but the airfare incentive had gone down.  I hadn't paid Viking for airfare on the cancelled booking, but added it to my rebooking.  The 25% paid for it.

 

Inflation and increased demand are things that happen.  I don't think Viking is out to fleece the customer. 

[oakridger]

2 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

For what it's worth, I suspect there will be so much demand for at least the initial cruises, that Viking won't offer any incentives.

 

They won't need to.  Between pent-up demand and FCV, there won't be sufficient space for everyone.

I agree, all the cruise lines seem to have a huge demand for after restarting.  They won't need to discount and will be increasing fares in many cases that I have checked.  I have decided to wait until after cruising actually starts up to book another cruise.  It was so disappointing getting several cruises cancelled that I don't want to go through that process again.  Waiting to book something new, however, is really, really hard to do!!  

 

~Nancy

[lackcreativity]

I also recognize that Viking ( and other cruise lines of course) , will be seriously in need of trying to make up for lost revenue from the the shut down during the pandemic. I am not saying that as a criticism, but as a financial reality. They have used the 25% bonus to try to hold on to money that was in hand, but that was an additional, unbudgeted  expense. I would be surprised if discounts are going to be readily available in the early days. 

 

I look forward to cruising with them again soon. We have two cruises booked for 2022, and hope that we will still be able to find trips in our price point after that!

[vslparis]

Viking is not alone in this policy of not  moving promotions to the new bookings. I had an Azamara cruise that has been cancelled twice and lost my On Board Credit . I think this is where the additional 25% comes into play.  This situation is not due to any “ fault “ on the part of Viking or any other cruise line.  Like many companies, they are just trying to survive this unprecedented  situation .  As we are trying to survive without cruising   for the last year 😉. 

[Porcupine 52]

The cruise industry has gotten a bad rap... right or wrong I don't know.  All of the buffets are opening up in our neck of the woods. Had some friends go to a NV casino last week...already some are opening up.    Seems like the pandemic is over.  I think Viking will do every thing they can to get back sailing and to survive.  For myself I haven't made up my mind yet on what to do if we get this Aug Viking homeland canceled.  I was looking at Hawaii stuff today and I can take the kids to a 4 star condo over Xmas and have money left over.  Some of the extensions that we made reservations on we can do on our own later.

 

If Viking cancels Antarctic I'm kind of done. My wife was so excited about this trip. It gets very complicated getting the kids vacation (both are teachers) scheduled and babysitters for them and of course cat sitters for me.  Just hope it doesn't come to that.

 

 

[Denny01]

In my experience with Viking and any other Cruise Line (I cruise with Celebrity a good deal plus 4 others), I’ve not heard of a company providing some original discount/benefits when changing to new cruises unless they specifically list that up front. And not sure what the ‘so called’ comment about the 25% voucher is meant by, I don’t understand how it’s ‘so called’ when it is provided when a cruise was cancelled by the Line and the customer accepted it. Could have got the full funds back, but had the choice of the the additional 25%, so not sure where ‘so called’ comes in. And I assume there was no mention previous ‘deals’ would carry over.

 

You may disagree and think Viking should do this, and I’m not familiar with every other Cruise Line, but moving over to another Line because of this isn’t going to solve anything, because this is how other Lines do business so what’s the point, except maybe complaining and hoping Viking gives a poster the ‘deal’ they want so they’ll quit publicly complain

 

Den

[Squawkman]

There are many facets to the final booking price of a Viking cruise, and they can go up or down when booking with FCV.  I feel Viking has been more than fair with the 5 cruises I had cancelled (4 due to covid; 1 due to the Norwegian Sea accident 2 years ago). Given the flexibility to use FCV on any ocean or river cruise, I kept an open mind, followed monthly specials, etc. and am very happy with Viking’s handling of each situation. Two of the 5 cruises are no longer offered, and new itineraries have been added. A little patience and research is advised - we came out way ahead.

[cruiselvr04]

We’ve had another cruise line double their price since Covid.  Be careful if you want to jump ship.  You’re probably going to pay a lot more and might not even be aware if you didn’t frequent them.  I’m afraid it’s the way it is, at least until demand goes down.  People have been trapped at home too long and most can’t wait to get back to some form of travel.