Viking Danube Story

[pmm0724]

My friend and I booked a Viking Cruise last December that began on March 29, 2014. We arrived at the airport on Saturday for our flight and my friend was told that her passport was not valid for travel as it expired in June, 2014. Needless to say, we were devastated. She immediately called Viking and they asked if she had trip insurance. When she told them that she had not purchased it as she is in excellent health, they told her that there was nothing they could do as their web site clearly stated that the passport must be valid for 6 months after the trip.

 

This is the statement on the website about travel documents:

 

“STEP 3 – MAKE SURE YOUR PASSPORT IS UP TO DATE

Your passport’s expiration date must be at least six months after your return from your trip; if it is not, you must renew your passport. You will need a valid, up-to-date passport for each person in your party in order to accomplish the next two steps.”

 

Only the bold information shows up unless you click the link. She assumed her passport was fine as it did not expire for 2 months so did not click the link.

 

The next step said:

 

“STEP 4 – COMPLETE YOUR GUEST INFORMATION FORM

You must complete a guest information form, or GIF, for each passenger in your party. We use this information to create all your travel documents, airline reservations and so forth, and to make sure you receive the information and documents you need in a timely manner.”

 

She filled out their form, but was never notified that her passport would not be valid and she never received any travel documents.

What we cannot understand is why they did not take the time to notify her that her passport would not be valid when she put the expiration date in their form. They had the information in December and a simple email would have told her she needed to renew her passport.

It would seem to me that Viking is partly responsible for the debacle and at the very least should allow her to take a replacement cruise. She has called Viking daily and gets nothing but a run around. I am very disappointed in Viking’s response to this situation.

[nana541]

Really a sad story, plenty of fault to go around in this mess. I am assuming you did not book thru a Travel Agent? They are worth their weight in gold and would have caught this early on.

 

The ultimate responsibility however rests with your friend.

 

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Edited April 8, 2014 by nana541

[IT industry vet]

Although it would have been good if Viking had flagged the problem, I agree with nana541. I don't think that Viking is ultimately responsible. They are just reminding people of the law; they don't make the law.

 

I recently renewed my passport (I'm in Canada) because it expires in August, and I'm sailing in May. I can't remember how I realized that I needed to renew my passport now, but I didn't find out through Viking.

[nana541]

I'm pretty sure that having Travel Insurance would not have helped in the case.

 

 

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[Mark_T]

She assumed her passport was fine as it did not expire for 2 months so did not click the link.

 

Looks like the assumption is where it went wrong.

 

Given how far ahead we book these cruises I'm sure many people are putting expiry dates on the forms that are not going to be valid for travel as they do not want to renew passports too early.

 

I'm not surprised that it was not immediately flagged up as a problem since it is our responsibility to ensure our passport/visa etc. are in order.

 

For our China trip later this year, the passport expiry date I put on the form was a month before our planned travel date, I doubt this is unusual.

 

The problem with expecting Viking to query invalid dates, especially those related to expiry beyond the travel dates is that the rules are complex and vary depending upon nationality, visas that may be held, other countries you plan to visit before/after your cruise etc., so it is safer, for them at least, to just make us responsible for ensuring our own documents are valid for the travel we plan to undertake.

 

Also agree that most insurance would be useless for this, even the 'cancel for any reason' wouldn't help I suspect due to the need to give notice before the holiday starts.

[steamboats]

“STEP 3 – MAKE SURE YOUR PASSPORT IS UP TO DATE

Your passport’s expiration date must be at least six months after your return from your trip; if it is not, you must renew your passport. You will need a valid, up-to-date passport for each person in your party in order to accomplish the next two steps.”

 

Only the bold information shows up unless you click the link. She assumed her passport was fine as it did not expire for 2 months so did not click the link.

 

I´m totally sorry for your friend. But Step 3 clearly states that the passenger is responsible for having a valid travel document. Viking requires 6 months (after the end of the trip). Legally 3 months upon entry would have been enough for a Schengen visa. Anyway. With a travel date of March 29th and a passport expireing in June you might not even have met the legal requirements.

 

Step 4 doesn´t say Viking does check whether all your personal documents are good for travel. They just state that they do need your data for issueing their travel documents (flights, cruise voucher). Viking is not responsible for checking your passports.

 

steamboats

[Stratheden]

As Nana541 said - a good TA would have picked this up. They are definitely worth using IMHO.