Fed up with Viking Ocean's lack of communication?

[willygram]

My wife and I are experienced cruisers and have been booked for over a year on the Star's May 2 "Passage through Western Europe". We have been exasperated with the errors and deficiencies of Viking's communications or lack thereof about our voyage.

 

Most significantly now is that the "Cruise Itinerary" for this leg ("Passage through Western Europe" and the longer cruises which include this leg) which one receives with the current-most invoice, as well as the listed port times which Viking phone reservationists use, show a major change in itinerary. Both show that instead of the promised two days each in Rouen (for Paris) and Greenwich (for London), there is only one day (each) ending with a midnight departure followed by a day at sea; i.e. two days in prime ports replaced by two days at sea. I've called twice about this (1/14 and today, 1/16), and after long periods on 'hold' while the rep talks with her supervisor, I've been informed that they note the confusion between the listed port times and the listed itinerary. They think that the published itinerary (on the website) is correct, but the incorrect port times continue to be displayed/announced and they have failed to confirm the published itinerary in writing.

 

This is, of course, just one in a long series of confusions (like Wi-Fi -- free or restricted?, or descriptions of shore excursions -- non-existent or which make no sense) and missed promised dates for information (like dinner reservations dates for earlier legs noted on other threads) for which Viking takes no responsibility.

 

After having published and sold the itinerary since 2013, and collecting full payment since the beginning of 2014, it should be inconceivable that Viking would eliminate two prime port days -- isn't it?

[id4elizabeth]

Yep Willy! Agree!

[algaes]

This stop may not be on your cruise but they dropped Flam altogether.

 

And it is true that Paris and London are single day stops. This has been confirmed on updated invoices since Jan 13th and on excursions lists provided to those booking excursions at this time.

[Vineyard View]

They have changed too much -

Actual ports

Overnights to midnight departures

Wifi

Reservations

Updated website

 

But more concerning....it is still changing. And they are not telling anyone the correct information, including their CS department. Nor their already paid in full customers.

Try to get past their CS to their management...I filed a complaint online. Twice. Doesn't appear to work.

Viking Oceans is a fiasco

And we loved their river cruises

So disappointed

[Mr Luxury]

They have changed too much -

 

Actual ports

 

Overnights to midnight departures

 

Wifi

 

Reservations

 

Updated website

 

 

 

But more concerning....it is still changing. And they are not telling anyone the correct information, including their CS department. Nor their already paid in full customers.

 

Try to get past their CS to their management...I filed a complaint online. Twice. Doesn't appear to work.

 

Viking Oceans is a fiasco

 

And we loved their river cruises

 

So disappointed

 

 

I know it's very disappointing but I would give them six months before booking a cruise so that they have a chance to sort things out.

It's a learning curve for everyone at the moment.

[Vineyard View]

Too late to give them 6 months for those of us who paid in full by end of 2013...

 

Now that I just found port times today, from another CC poster (Leo thank you)I can at least start working on tours for the ports we want to go separate from Viking excursions or DIY....i

[sitraveler]

I just looked up Viking's posts. The haven't responded to anyone since November.

 

I've e-mailed my past contact to remind her about Turkish visas.

[kathy9]

I have been frustrated with Viking Oceans over several things

The lack of of guest web portal

The lack of communication

being the two biggest but I am really excited about sailing on The Star on April 11th.

I am sure there wil be a few glitches but I am expecting to board a beautiful ship in Istanbul, be greeted by a great staff , eat delious food and meet wonderful fellow passengers!

Kathy

[Fairfield Nana]

Oh well--Viking strikes again--or misses! Here is what I received in reply to my query of them per my posting #24 above----

 

Thank you for your recent email.

 

Please refer to our website for a detailed day to day itinerary for your cruise tour, at this time nautical schedules are not publicly released. http://www.vikingcruises.com/oceans/cruise-destinations/baltic/viking-homelands/itinerary.html. Further details will be forthcoming from your personal travel agent, whom we will be managing your reservation through. All requests must be filtered through your personal travel agent.

 

Regards,

 

Viking Cruises

 

Viking Cruises|vikingcruises.com

Viking Cruises: 1-855-338-4546

Representatives are available from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (PST) Monday through Friday

7:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (PST) Saturday and Sunday

[Vineyard View]

Wow....again. Somehow all other cruise lines are able to publish "nautical schedules". They must think that they are dealing with first time ocean cruisers....from my end at this point....they will never get a dime from me again.

This cruise better be over the top to change that position. Even then not sure it will. So sad. They had such a great opportunity to do this well and be the envy of the industry. Instead they are becoming the laughingstock.

[bsrkent]

Wow....again. Somehow all other cruise lines are able to publish "nautical schedules". They must think that they are dealing with first time ocean cruisers....from my end at this point....they will never get a dime from me again.

This cruise better be over the top to change that position. Even then not sure it will. So sad. They had such a great opportunity to do this well and be the envy of the industry. Instead they are becoming the laughingstock.

 

+1 on the 'never again' sentiment and I'm just cynical enough to believe the timing and port schedules are designed to protect their in-house revenue.

There are many better answers out there for the future...and are we also ready for a completely untrained staff?

Still looking forward to great shipmates!

[algaes]

Let me tell you about another customer service problem in our lives being handled the opposite of what Viking is doing.

 

We bought fitness trackers from a new company that began shipping product in December for Christmas. As it got nearer the launch, they were open to direct customer contact while they kept an eye on what was being said about them in social media and elsewhere online. As it got closer to December, they started blogging more intensely on their website about progress in shipping the product and in having iOS and Android apps ready.

 

Well, December didn't turn as they hoped. Some shipments were late getting out and iOS app went live but was buggy. The Android app missed Christmas altogether.

 

But the CEO knew customers were looking forward to their product so they ramped up efforts to be transparent about the miss and steps to get things right. They started explaining what were reasonable expectations, brought on temp experts to provide more capabilities, even posted photos of the teams working to get things right, and, most importantly, sincerely apologized. We now get weekly email progress reports from the CEO that include candid responses to the top topics customers are asking about.

 

The punch line to the story - the product involved is free but requires a $12 annual subscription. Think about what that 21st century company is doing to honestly earn your $12 by providing a product and EXPERIENCE that satisfies customers. $12 stinking dollars. Compare that to what your $$,$$$ have bought in pre-cruise experience from Viking.

 

Everyone should have known there'd be bumps in the waves getting Viking Oceans underway with passengers. What I think none of us expected was the total silence from Viking during the run-up to April 11th.

 

This is my last post on what is going on. Our excursions and dining choices are booked and we'll show up in Istanbul in April. We know none of what we are going thru this winter has any bearing on the ship, the crew, the ports, or the sailing experience with Viking Oceans. Lastly, we'll just look the other way when the couple of seconds of sailing up the fiord to Flam appears in Viking's PBS commercials.

Edited January 22, 2015 by algaes
typos

[id4elizabeth]

Say it isn't so Leo - we all enjoy your posts. You can't abandon us now! I think one of the worst things you relayed was the inability to book your musical evening at the Hermitage because you booked the 2-day all-inclusive St Petersburg tour because the systems says you're overbooked. That one was truly spectacular!

[Vineyard View]

I have a question. The port list shows Greenwich for London. Do you take this to mean we will be able to dock in Greenwich rather than Southampton as previously shared? If that is the case, we will be in a much better location.

[id4elizabeth]

Talked with Viking today and have our dining and excursions booked for our 50-day cruise (we're in a PS1 cabin). It took a little over an hour. I have to tell you though, I was totally organized with a spreadsheet - by date, excursion numbers, costs, times, specialty dining times, everything. So I was able to rattle it off to the Viking rep one after another. If you're not that organized, it could take a lot longer. Can't believe they are going to do this by phone for the whole ship - that's a lot of phone calls.

 

When you look at the pdf that Lady Vol posted, you will notice that some of the excursions have been dropped. For example, in Santorini, there's no excursion that takes in Akrotiri. In Rome, there's no excursion to Tarquinia. And has been posted elsewhere, there's no included tour in St Petersburg. (I specifically asked about that today and all I got was "yes, that was dropped but we don't know why.")

 

The only issue I had was I was trying to book two excursions for the same day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There was 15 minutes between them. Apparently they won't allow this - there has to be 30 minutes between tours. This conflict only happened once - all the other times, I had a half hour between and there was no problem booking one tour in the morning and one in the afternoon. Also, often my husband and I want to see different things, and there was no problem with me booking one tour and him another.

 

The port times and excursions do line up. And I have gotten back confirmations for the dining and excursions via e-mail while I was on the phone, so that was good. Still going through the excursions to make sure all is correct, but have verified the dining is correct.

 

Note - you do have to pay with a credit card for any optional excursions. Did not think to ask whether the card would be charged now, or is just to reserve, but my guess is that it's charged now.

 

So have a good look at what Lady Vol posted. It's pretty comprehensive. Don't try and tie it to the 2016 excursion details or the 2015 short pdf on the Viking site - they are both inaccurate. Go by what Lady Vol posted - it's what they are actually booking - all else is illusion at this point.

 

This applies to the 2015 maiden voyage only - not later cruises, but it probably is the best info to go on for those cruises too.

[id4elizabeth]

Yes - 2015 maiden cruise ports in Greenwich for London.

[Vineyard View]

Greenwich is sooooo much better than the other two port options that were out there for London. It will allow us so much more flexibility in this port. I am happy about this.....nice to say that finally.

[jkerr]

Id4elizabeth....Did you say they have dropped any included excursion in St Petersburg?? Also, when you are in Norway, are there any excursions from Flam or have they really dropped Flam??

 

 

D & J

[id4elizabeth]

There are no "included" or "free" excursions in St Petersburg - they all cost something. There is 2-day "complete" tour of St Petersburg, but it costs $399 per person. The other optional tours run between $59 to $149. And in St Petersburg, you can't just DIY it without a Russian visa. We were in St Pete in 2012 and got Russian visas; they cost $500 for the both of us, and were a pain to get. So you might want to look at Alla's tour instead. They provide a blanket visa for their customers, but you have to stay with the group; you aren't allowed to go off on your own.

 

They have dropped Flam altogether. There are 2 sea days after London, then 3 days in Bergen, then a day in Stavanger, then a day in Oslo. The middle day in Bergen is the "turn around day" where the Barcelona to Bergen folks disembark and the Bergen to Stockholm passengers embark. If you are taking back-to-back cruises, there are NO excursions offered, included or optional, on this middle turn-around-day. There's no optional tour offered to Flam from Bergen on any day - so yes they have dropped Flam altogether.

 

Keep in mind, the info I have is only for the maiden cruise - the other departure dates may offer something different.

[jkerr]

Wow, really disappointed to miss Flam... We board in Bergen so we won't have the down day in port, but I feel your pain. We have booked an Oslo pre-extension with Viking, so are double disappointed to be routed back to Oslo, especially at the loss of Flam. Will they sail up through the fjords? I have emailed my Viking rep today and have requested a response. Trying not to let these changes taint my excitement for the whole trip.

We have booked a 2 day tour with Alla Tours for St Petersburg, no need for a Visa. $265.00 it is pretty inclusive. Right now we have the comfort tour, but will change to the Grand Tour option when she has others that show interest.

Their reviews on Tripadvisor have been very good and they answer back to email very quickly. Because we are in a veranda room, we can not book excursions until we board, and I was concerned about availability and options for St Petersburg.

Will post when I hear back from Viking.

 

 

 

 

D & J

Edited January 23, 2015 by jkerr

[Fairfield Nana]

When we are able to book tours for our July 2016 cruise, i think we may select Alla Tours as well. With our experience thus far with Viking they may divert our shore tour while in SPB to a Siberian Gulag!;)

[loum140]

Just wanted to tell those considering Alla Tours that a few years ago we (group of 6) were making a return visit (2 day port stop) to St. Petersburg. Since we had previously seen the major attractions, each of us selected another place we wanted to include on our tour and submitted the request to the major tour companies in Russia. Some offered only their stock tours, some ignored us. But Alla worked with us noting museum closings and traffic issues. As a result the tour was a spectacular success at a very reasonable price for a 2 day visit. I recommend Alla 100%.

[id4elizabeth]

Loum140 - we've been to St Pete before too (6 days) and are kind of struggling with what to see/do there this time. So, we're curious what did you go see on its tour with Alla? Are you going this far on the Star? If so, what are you going to do this time?

[rlevin47]

there's no included tour in St Petersburg

 

Hi

 

We are going on the Baltic cruise on May 30th. They still list the included tour in St Petersburg each day while we are there. Are you talking about this or something else?

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Robert

[loum140]

Loum140 - we've been to St Pete before too (6 days) and are kind of struggling with what to see/do there this time. So, we're curious what did you go see on its tour with Alla? Are you going this far on the Star? If so, what are you going to do this time?

 

Hi Elizabeth: We're only doing 2 segments this time -- Istanbul to Barcelona.

 

For St. Petersburg here's what we decided on:

 

1. Inside tour of the Church on Spilled Blood

2. The Victory Monument and Memorial Hall to the Heroes of the Siege of Leningrad. (wonderful and very moving memorial/museum) Sadly we were the only visitors........

3. The Cruiser Aurora which fired the shot that signaled the storming of the Winter Palace and start of the 1917 Revolution

4. The Russian Museum (exclusively Russian artists)

5. The Yusupov Palace (famous for murder of Rasputin)

6. A canal cruise - purely for relaxation

 

Our lunches were in cafes frequented by locals.

 

There's so much to see in St. Petersburg. Good luck!

 

Marsha