retiredrunners

Just spoke with Viking Air. These people are a waste of time and money. Had the rudest person on the phone who was not helpful,  had extremely poor enunciation and gave me the "Bum Shuffle". We love Viking and  have had one previous (ocean) cruise and are now planning a river cruise next year.  Bought the Viking Air for the advertised benefits of choosing or working with the air travel coordinator. hahahahahaha. The cruise advertises "free economy airfare". I called to inquire about any credit for economy to upgrade to Premium economy, as the published prices for Premium Economy are good. I wanted to know if Viking would give credit for the price of their economy flights against the published price for Premium Economy. I was told that their budget for "Free Airfare" was $2400.00 per person, but they "weren't just handing out money" to people, and I could not use it to book an upgrade. Looking at the difference between a published economy fare and a premium economy fare, it was $1494.00 Cdn per person. Viking wants $1798.00 per person. I wanted to know if it were possible to pay the difference on the published prices, as the economy fare published was still well within their budget. The fellow at the end of the phone said no, it was "set in stone". No explanation, and as I questioned him, he became increasingly agitated with me. I asked to speak to a supervisor or manager, as I just didn't understand. I was told no one was available. I offered to leave my home phone number and have someone call me back, but was told that no one would call me back because they are an inbound call centre. He said I would have to call back, but couldn't say when or whether anyone would be available. While I can see that the Premium Economy airfare is still a better deal than if I paid for it as advertised, the very lovely people at Viking (Sales) , who can call me back, and were knowledgeable about their product could have sold it to me without me paying an additional $50.00 and a very frustrating, useless and insulting conversation with Viking Air. If anyone at Viking monitors this, maybe they would like to replay my " All calls are recorded" experience and see if this is how they want to be represented. Save your money folks, drive in rush hour if your blood pressure needs exercising.