Viking River Cruises - when did you book flights or select hotels on packages

[zitsky]

I have two questions for anyone who has traveled with Viking River Cruises:

 

How far in advance did you book your flights? I'm going coach. Trip is in late September, early October (Avignon-Lyon). It's only been maybe 2 weeks since I put down my deposit. I'm just curious what the average time is for booking flights.

 

Also, I am paying for an add on package, French Riviera / Nice. If you booked this package, did you get the hotel mentioned in the brochure (Le Meridien, I believe) or was it something else?

[JVilleGal]

Are you booking your own flights or are you having Viking handle your air arrangements? Was not quite clear.

[Alberta Quilter]

I booked our flights 355 days in advance but that was because we were booking with points and for business class seats.

 

As for the hotel in Nice, yes, we did get Le Meridien. Seriously consider upgrading your room at check in. A partial sea view costs 45 Euros a night; full sea view costs 90 Euros a night. We were very happy we took a partial sea view as it allowed us a balcony, plus the view. We ate a couple of meals on the balcony. The Viking rooms face the inner courtyard which has only some HVAC machinery; it was really rather ugly.

[Rosethorn40]

According to Cheapair.com, the best time to book international flights is 81 days from departure. Of course all kinds of things come into play, mostly supply and demand. So I would watch your favorite travel booking site, and when you find a good price on air, book it, and don't look back.

[LoneStarCruisinCouple]

I have two questions for anyone who has traveled with Viking River Cruises:

 

How far in advance did you book your flights? I'm going coach. Trip is in late September, early October (Avignon-Lyon). It's only been maybe 2 weeks since I put down my deposit. I'm just curious what the average time is for booking flights.

 

Also, I am paying for an add on package, French Riviera / Nice. If you booked this package, did you get the hotel mentioned in the brochure (Le Meridien, I believe) or was it something else?

Howdy zitsky,

This is LoneStarCruisnCouple, Lisa and Gary from Sugar land,Texas where life is simply just a little Sweeter.

We are booked for a similar trip for September of 2017 but is with Scenic and is called Spectacular South Of France with Paris. An Evening in Paris at The Scribe hotel by Sofitel and then by TGV train To Chalon-sur-Saone with a Twelve day cruise down to Tarascon and then over to Nice for a return Flight.

Our Trip also like you includes Airfare but this is for coach only. If you should choose you can either get a credit towards your cruise in our case is $1000 each and or get $1500 each towards an upgrade into Business Class. Most airlines is normally about seven months out as to making reservations.

We like you are flying over to Paris several days ahead of time but staying at The same Hotel that Scenic uses so we won't have to pack and relocate. At the end similar to you we are spending several days in Nice and also at The La Maridian, also used by Scenic. Our trip is for September 15,2017 thru until the 28th but we are flying out on the 11 arriving into Paris on the 12 and having the extra days there and flying out of Nice on October the 2 returning back into Houston.

We have cruised with Scenic before and like the ALL Inclusive as not being Nickle and Dimmed to Death and like the Transfers and The Private Butler and The Sun Lounge that all Balconies have and The E Bikes and The Tailormade GPS systems.

Looking forward to another Great and Wonderful Cruise.

Yes the cruise that we are going to be sharing is Terrific, with all The Wineriies and the Tastings,but it is about the Folks That You meet and The Friendships that are Formed as Those Ships Shall Sail Forever.

Hi JVilleGal, Not long now..

Gary

[zitsky]

Are you booking your own flights or are you having Viking handle your air arrangements? Was not quite clear.

 

Viking is booking our flights, will book our flights, has not happened yet. I normally do the work myself. This time I want to take advantage of having Viking arrange all transfers so I don't have to think about it.

 

Thanks for the info and advice!

Edited February 15, 2016 by zitsky

[Rosethorn40]

Both times I've sailed Viking I have booked my air through them. We got our air arrangements about 3 months before our sail date each time. However, on our first cruise with them, the airline made a change on one of our flights, necessitating Viking to rebook us on another set of flights about a month out. This change actually worked in our favor, and we got much better flights.