Viking River Cruise 's lack of customer service

[siesta nan]

I booked a cruise thru a big box agency back in July for a trip in Oct '16. I received an email last week telling me that the cruise had been cancelled and that I could re-book for another cruise within 30 days. I'd already booked a land tour preceding this trip and it has a no cancellation policy. After explaining this to the travel agency they contacted Viking and they refused to compensate us for the changes. I can understand this if there was a problem with the water levels on the river or some other last minute issue but this was their decision to re-position and they encourage people to book early. This will be our 3rd trip with Viking and our last. There's no excuse for poor customer service. If we'd changed our minds, they would have penalized us!

[pvlinda]

Let me understand, you want Viking to reimburse you for an nononrefundable excursion you purchased with another company? REALLY???

[Los_Pepes]

They should reimburse you in full for the cost of the cruise but not the land portion that they are not responsible for. This would not happen to be a Tulips cruise next spring?

[Mark_T]

How about your travel insurance, will that not cover this for you?

 

When we elect to 'un-bundle' our travel and book different elements with different companies this is one of the risks we assume, it is always wise to make sure such risks are insured as the contracts we agree to almost without exception will include the right of the travel company to cancel.

[G.M.T.]

Why not just extend the land tour to cover some of the cancelled cruise itinerary?

[Viking Cruises]

Dear siesta nan,

 

We regret to learn of your disappointment in the redeployment that impacted your 2016 sailing.

 

Your satisfaction and loyalty are important to us. If you have not already, please contact us at TellUs@vikingcruises.com for further discussion.

 

Best regards,

Viking Cruises

 

I booked a cruise thru a big box agency back in July for a trip in Oct '16. I received an email last week telling me that the cruise had been cancelled and that I could re-book for another cruise within 30 days. I'd already booked a land tour preceding this trip and it has a no cancellation policy. After explaining this to the travel agency they contacted Viking and they refused to compensate us for the changes. I can understand this if there was a problem with the water levels on the river or some other last minute issue but this was their decision to re-position and they encourage people to book early. This will be our 3rd trip with Viking and our last. There's no excuse for poor customer service. If we'd changed our minds, they would have penalized us!

[JVilleGal]

It would seem a year is plenty of notice and with expensive vacations like this Travel Insurance is crucial! I don't think Viking owes you anything when they are able to advise you this far out. Well of course they owe you a FULL refund immediately on the cruise ;)

Edited October 28, 2015 by JVilleGal

[KathyK13]

Tell Viking you want a refund for the cruise since the other options are not of interest to you. Then look at other cruise lines' offerings for the time you would have been on the Viking cruise. You won't have to pay in full on any of the other lines!

[Rosethorn40]

They should reimburse you in full for the cost of the cruise but not the land portion that they are not responsible for. This would not happen to be a Tulips cruise next spring?

 

I was thinking the same thing, and then realized they wrote October 2016. Don't think there are many tulips that time of year, but then I'm a hick hillbilly from West Virginia. What do I know?

[Los_Pepes]

I was thinking the same thing, and then realized they wrote October 2016. Don't think there are many tulips that time of year, but then I'm a hick hillbilly from West Virginia. What do I know?

 

I guess I didn't read it too closely. The thread seemed very similar.

[Coral]

I hate to say this but any cruise line would treat you the same way. They are not going to make up for your other vacation plans. This is unreasonable to expect IMO.

 

I would check the other lines and see if there is a similar cruise on another line that you can book to replace this cruise.

[Hydrokitty]

I booked a cruise thru a big box agency back in July for a trip in Oct '16. I received an email last week telling me that the cruise had been cancelled and that I could re-book for another cruise within 30 days. I'd already booked a land tour preceding this trip and it has a no cancellation policy. After explaining this to the travel agency they contacted Viking and they refused to compensate us for the changes. I can understand this if there was a problem with the water levels on the river or some other last minute issue but this was their decision to re-position and they encourage people to book early. This will be our 3rd trip with Viking and our last. There's no excuse for poor customer service. If we'd changed our minds, they would have penalized us!

 

Sorry for your disappointment....but Viking only owes you a refund of the money you paid for the trip you booked with THEM. Any other trips you booked on your own pre or post cruise are not their problem. I would do what Coral suggested: see if you can find another cruise to back into your other vacation plans...you have a year and the other plans you made might be willing to work with you on dates.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Hydrokitty

[Rebel54]

I would probably request a refund and then try to find another cruise company with a similar cruise itinerary around the same time. You can always add a day or two here and there to adjust the schedule to fit. I'm sorry, I know it's frustrating. Make some lemonade out of the Viking Lemon.

[mhb1757]

As other posters have said there are lots of other cruise lines and they all follow pretty much the same itineraries give or take a little. In addition Viking has multiple ships running the same routes all year. Instead of going Basel to Amsterdam or whatever, you could tell Viking to book you on the reverse route (i.e., Amsterdam to Basel) and all you would need to do is get to the new starting point....which is usually just a couple of hours on a train or a cheap, short hop flight.

 

Alternatively since you already had a pre-cruise land trip booked, why don't you just move your Viking date back a bit and do the cruise in the reverse direction so you end up in the city you had originally planned to start your cruise in and then you could make your already paid for land trip a post-cruise extension.

 

You have tons of options here and plenty of time to work it out. Don't get hung up on what can't happen, cause it sounds like you have lots of great options still available!

 

And for whatever it's worth cruise lines accept charters and cancel cruises all the time, sometimes a lot less than 11 months out. We had our Holland America ocean cruise for Feb cancelled because of a charter and we were only notified about 6 or 7 months in advance. But we were able to rebook on a different ship....it all works out in the end!

[Coral]

This is a good reminder/lesson for the rest of us to try to always book refundable tours/trips, or at least refundable up until 75-90 days out. I will always choose a company that will do that than one that you have to pay and will not refund 11 months out.

 

Honestly - it will be far easier for you to make alternative plans now. Trying to make them 1-2 weeks out due to low water is far more difficult and usually more expensive. At least this way, you probably haven't made airline reservations yet.

Edited October 29, 2015 by Coral

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I too agree that this is a cautionary tale about booking a trip that's non-refundable a year away. We often take risks booking independent air, but know that we could make other trip arrangements if our cruise gets cancelled. I.e.:

 

Why not just extend the land tour to cover some of the cancelled cruise itinerary?

 

Tell Viking you want a refund for the cruise since the other options are not of interest to you. Then look at other cruise lines' offerings for the time you would have been on the Viking cruise. You won't have to pay in full on any of the other lines!

Ditto!