Flights through Viking?

[CTLeeA]

My TA told me this morning that Viking will not offer any custom air option on flights into Bergen. Said that it was his impression that in the past they used Lufthansa & SAS into Bergen. He did not comment regarding Stockholm, but I suppose that would also hold for leaving from there (reflecting a Bergen to Stockholm itinerary.)

 

I booked air with Viking but..my TA says I can change my mind anytime before they cut the tickets...so if I see a comparable deal 11 months out, I'll probably take it.....I can fly from PHX to Heathrow non-stop, direct on only one airline and it's worth a little extra to me to just take two planes v. three.

[Advisorj]

It makes sense to allow some choice and not just a 90 day notification. This cruise is not cheap and though air is discounted that does not mean people want to sit in the back middle of a two stop connection to get to the cruise. It is early for booking air, but in a year or so Viking should let people upgrade their air and have some input to their flights on the Star voyages. A bad flight experience can affect a whole cruise.

[amarsh]

We've used Viking Custom Air when we went to China. We were able to select our own flights. The only problem that occurred was our seat changing after confirmation. But this is not Viking's problem. This occurs with every airline we have ever flown with. You must continuously, after booking your flights, check to see if the airline has changed your seats, no matter how early you make your reservation. We always check almost just before we go out the door to leave for the airpport! We were so upset having been changed to middle seats (5 across) from our selected 2 side aisle seats that we almost went balistic. Would have been bad enough on a Europe flight but China was going to be a bit longer. Viking moved us to the next category where we had 2 side seats and more room and paid for the difference. Can't promise they would do it again, but for that time, we were truly grateful.

[writer100]

We booked May 2-2015, Bergen to Barcelona...quote]

 

Hi CTLeeA,

Will be on the same cruise with you. We thought this would be a great itinerary since all the ports are new to us. I'm sure we'll be talking over the next two years:eek:

Donna and John

 

Isn't the May 2nd cruise Barcelona to Bergen?

[Sittib11]

have always booked flights w Viking Air, paying extra 50. for custom allowed me to pick my flights and Viking accomodated. Worth the extra fee for custom air.

[bxny]

 

Isn't the May 2nd cruise Barcelona to Bergen?

 

 

You are right. The May 2, 2015 cruise is from Barcelona to Bergen.

[Mendhamcruise]

Well - this is a case of you get what you pay for - Because Viking offered no information in advance on ship info I decided to take their airline package - NEVER again - I have not set foot on the ship and am already upset - so the Christmas cruise starts on Dec 7 from Nurenburg except the flights dont leave Newark until 10 PM on the 7th and with the transfers in Europe as well as transfers from the airport to ship you are lucky on Sunday to get back off the ship and out and about before 6 PM - you lose an entire day. NEVER AGAIN.:(

[Sittib11]

So sorry you had such an experience. We have completed 2 Viking cruises, The Grand European last yeAr and just finished The Rhine Getaway-both were exceptional in all ways! We used Viking air for both of those, opting to chose custom air for the extra 100. , thanks to the advice of a former cruiser. And we were able to choose our flights, connections, etc as we wished through them, still for a less price. We were not able to use our points to upgrade, but we already knew with a bulk ticket purchase as Viking does, airlines will not honor points to upgrade. No worries, once booked, we then purchased on our own extra legroom premium seats for more comfort, worth the few dollars extra. Hope you will have a good experience next time.

[captainmcd]

I'm opening an old thread because last week I got an email asking me to contact viking air to regarding the custom air that I booked over a year ago. When I called them they could not make a reservation. The problem was that they are not booking for Viking Oceans at the present time, only for river cruises. I asked if that was because of an uncertain delivery time for the Viking Star, and they said no, it was a computer program problem. However I wonder if that is the case.

Anyway, I will wait until finalizing a flight to Istanbul, and a return from Venice. At present kayak/air france can give me a price for two in premium economy within $133 of Viking, even with a 2000 viking credit. Of course before booking anything I can cancel viking air and book my own flights, but I will wait and see. I prefer to use viking air in a situation where there may be a delay or cancellation of a particular voyage.

[theclays]

Our cruise - Midnight Sun - departs from Hatwich June 19 2016. Have never used pre-arranged air, but the Viking offer of $995 appeals. Surely the outbound flight would be direct Toronto to London? Cannot imagine a stopover unless they use Iceland Air. Has anyone used Viking from Toronto?

[sitraveler]

They may book with a change of planes, maybe not. Not Iceland, could be Germany or JFK???

[rjscott]

I'm opening an old thread because last week I got an email asking me to contact viking air to regarding the custom air that I booked over a year ago. When I called them they could not make a reservation. The problem was that they are not booking for Viking Oceans at the present time, only for river cruises. I asked if that was because of an uncertain delivery time for the Viking Star, and they said no, it was a computer program problem. However I wonder if that is the case.

Anyway, I will wait until finalizing a flight to Istanbul, and a return from Venice. At present kayak/air france can give me a price for two in premium economy within $133 of Viking, even with a 2000 viking credit. Of course before booking anything I can cancel viking air and book my own flights, but I will wait and see. I prefer to use viking air in a situation where there may be a delay or cancellation of a particular voyage.

 

Captain,

Not sure how they are booking for the Star (we are on the maiden voyage as well), but for the river cruises, Viking typically books their airfare 90-100 days in advance of the cruise.

 

Becki

[roothy123]

I am on a late September 2015 Venice to Istanbul cruise. Right now it looks like I can get flights cheaper on Kayak than booking with Viking, so I will probably do that. However, I guess I was wondering if anyone with more European experience could tell me whether it would be better to book now or take a wait and see approach, since we're talking about flights almost 11 months from now. I normally subscribe to the "book early" approach for flights and hotels, but we are talking about over a thousand dollars (and quite honestly, I assumed it would be more from DC to Venice and back from Istanbul) so I don't want to take too many chances on making the wrong decision. So far all I know is what my TA said, which is that Viking doesn't have contracts in place yet for 2015, so she doesn't know what airlines they might be using.

 

If someone doesn't mind, could they please take the time to explain the basics of Viking Star air? I have flown to Europe several times using Viking River Cruise air, but I was less picky then, and don't remember how it went. We want to go early and stay late, so I know I'll be paying a deviation fee ($100 per person?) Does that give me a choice in which flights I'll get, with some perhaps costing more than the brochure-stated price of $1795? If I wanted to use frequent flyer points (if I have any, sigh!) to upgrade to a better class, how does that work? What if we want business class (although I probably can't afford that)? I think I read above that we can sign up for Viking's air and then drop it later if I find something good, right? At this point their offer doesn't look too appealing price-wise for where I live (Wash. DC area) but I don't want to completely ignore their air if I think it might be best.

 

Thanks for any help you are willing to take the time to provide. I know a lot about Oceania, but they're easy - the price of air is always included in their cruises, and always a good deal, so it requires less research. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at this time. I just made a hotel reservation for Venice and you would not believe how booked up they are already for a weekend in September 2015. Is George Clooney planning a honeymoon there next year? Sheesh!

Edited October 22, 2014 by roothy123

[rjscott]

Hi, Roothy!

 

We have used Viking Custom Air b/f for our river cruises, and I am assuming it will work the same for the ocean cruises, but they may tweak it a bit. Who knows? ;)

When you book with Viking Air, you will typically find out your air schedule 90-100 days prior to sailing. With some luck, you may find out sooner. We booked a 'Portraits of Southern France' cruise last Dec for this past March 30. sailing, and we got our air in Jan. The flights were very good; in fact, were what I'd have picked. But, on our first cruise, I did use Custom Air, as we wanted to pick our flights. If using Custom Air, you can call them any time prior to your sailing. It is(currently) $50pp to talk with Custom Air, and then $100pp or more for specific flights, depending on whether the cost of those flights is greater than what Viking would have paid/booked for them. Then, as you've said, there are those deviation fees pp for going earlier and/or staying later than your cruise dates unless you are going with the Viking pre/post package. Other than the deviation fees, sometimes you work out well with Viking, sometimes better on your own, as it does includes the transfers. However, Viking has begun offering the transfers, at a fee, to those passengers who don't use Viking Air. That's a nice service for those who don't want to arrange transportation or hassle with their bags.

We are traveling with friends on the Viking Star in April. We did arrange our own airfare and pre and post lodging. We saved enough over Viking's air to pay for our lodging in Venice, and that included purchasing Economy Comfort seats. ;) And, yes, we also experienced an issue with finding good lodging in Venice. I think it's always busy there!

So, should you wait or go ahead? You may be ok to wait until after the holidays. We watched the prices. They were around $1500pp and when they dropped to almost $1000 pp, we jumped. Could we have waited a bit longer? Maybe, but we thought the savings we got were good and didn't want to take the chance of a price spike.

Good luck!

Becki

[Begete]

Well - this is a case of you get what you pay for - Because Viking offered no information in advance on ship info I decided to take their airline package - NEVER again - I have not set foot on the ship and am already upset - so the Christmas cruise starts on Dec 7 from Nurenburg except the flights dont leave Newark until 10 PM on the 7th and with the transfers in Europe as well as transfers from the airport to ship you are lucky on Sunday to get back off the ship and out and about before 6 PM - you lose an entire day. NEVER AGAIN.:(

 

I guess we are not alone. I posted a new thread about how disappointed we have been with Viking, specifically their air arrangement just about an hour ago before reading your post. We discovered today that they booked us on flights to Saigon that would not get us there before the ship sailed! They have since changed our flights....but Cathay Pacific will not confirm anything.

 

This is the very worse experience we have ever had trying to arrange a vacation.

[juliesaddiction]

Well - this is a case of you get what you pay for - Because Viking offered no information in advance on ship info I decided to take their airline package - NEVER again - I have not set foot on the ship and am already upset - so the Christmas cruise starts on Dec 7 from Nurenburg except the flights dont leave Newark until 10 PM on the 7th and with the transfers in Europe as well as transfers from the airport to ship you are lucky on Sunday to get back off the ship and out and about before 6 PM - you lose an entire day. NEVER AGAIN.:(

 

We had this happen last year...we arrived on our first day at 930pm and the ship sailed at 10pm. We knew beforehand that this was an issue and fought with them for months about it...they would not change it and believe me we threatened everything...they did not care. After flying all day with weird connecting flights we werent able to eat regular meals and we arrived starving. We had to rush to the dining room as they were getting ready to close, we had a limited choice due to the hour of arrival. We missed the whole first day. After we got back I happened to post something to their facebook page about our experience and I got a call almost immediately and they bent over backwards to make it right. But you cant get back time so its hard to make it right. In the end I agreed to a credit of one day of that cruise for each of us, which only worked out for us because we had already booked the Oceans cruise and it was credited against that cruise. The experience I have had is that the before hand part of the cruise, booking, flights, information ect Viking fails big time, they are rude and inconsistant and uncaring; the cruise itself is amazing (after you get over being so mad at them for the beforehand part).