Viking Air and business class

[Focused1]

A small correction. You pay $50pp for Air Plus (for some itineraries more). In addition, you would need to pay $100pp if you want to arrive/depart earlier/later than cruise dates.

Deviation is $100 pp + $50 pp for Air Plus

 

Actually, no. We paid $50/pp, only.

[Focused1]

Focused1, are you on the Feb 24 sailing? We are as well and we are continuing from Sydney to Bali. How much additional did you pay for business class? We are paying $1395 for the air, then $50 to customize, then $100 add'l because we are staying 2 extra nights in Bali. Thank you!!

Yes, we are on the Feb 24 sailing. We didn’t pay an upgrade fee, just a flat rate for business class with a special they were having last October.

[stretchcruz]

Thanks! I'll ask about the business class. I'm sure it will be too much. There is a small roll call going for our sailing.

[palermo22]

Thanks! I'll ask about the business class. I'm sure it will be too much. There is a small roll call going for our sailing.

 

Stretch - we were with you last year on the Baltic and Beyond cruise April 2017. We are doing something similar now: taking the Bali to Sydney cruise beginning 11/30/2018. Your $1395 fare is just for coach. There is no Premium Economy through Viking - to upgrade to business it's something like $4K additional (one way). Here is how we tackled the business class fare (going both ways): we did SFO to Singapore non-stop and will spend three days there - then a flight to Bali for three days there. I purchased two Premium Economy seats on Singapore Air for $2K each - then used miles (from my Chase credit card) to upgrade to business. The flight from Singapore to Bali - was no cost (they throw that in). Three days in Bali and then our cruise to Sydney. Our TA worked out a deal with Viking - business class for $2500 pp on Virgin Australia non-stop to LAX. So around $4500 pp business class both ways - non-stop. Let me know if you need to know exactly how this was done.

[stretchcruz]

Jerry, thanks. My TA did call today and it would be $4,000 pp extra for business class with premium economy not available...above my pay grade. So I will suck it up. $8,000 will be another cruise. I'll hope that once they give me flights I can pay for exit row or some such. As of today they say that they have no flights loaded into their system for Tucson. That's what I get for living in the boonies.

 

I am rather surprised that you are doing another Viking cruise. You were quite critical. You obviously changed your mind?

[palermo22]

I am rather surprised that you are doing another Viking cruise. You were quite critical. You obviously changed your mind?

 

I was a little critical of the food but other than that I thought it was a great cruise. Here's hoping that this cruise coming up makes the improvements that I was critical about.

[stretchcruz]

I remember you saying that you thought Viking was a step above Carnival so that's where I was confused that you were going on another one. Here is your post. I'm glad that you changed your mind and you are trying another one, we had a fabulous time on our BB and B cruise! When you said that the original poster wasn't negative enough that's what made me surprised that you were doing it again.

 

OK - I will be the exception here: I completely agree with the OP and felt that he was right on with many of his comments (both negative and positive). Taking various subjects:

 

1) Food: one of the main reasons we all enjoy cruising is the food. The food was good - but not 100% of the time - while I can say it was good, overall it was far from great. We had a wonderful server in the main dining room for dinner - whenever one of us had to send something back - you could see on his face some embarrassment). There were many times when the food had to be returned because it was under-cooked or over-cooked - or just not very tasty at all. In many ways the buffet lunch was better than the restaurant dinner. But even the buffet had problems: they would not let you put your salad on your plate - you had to hand the plate to the staff and then you had to point to what you wanted. There were no prepared salads already made up - this was a real weak point. The two specialty restaurants: we canceled our reservations after trying each one - the Italian Restaurant couldn't even make a good plate of pasta - and the maitre'd was just awful: remember the soup natzi on Seinfeld? He now reappears as the maitre'd. Bottom Line on the food: if I were at any restaurant and spending $50 for dinner - then I got what I deserved. When I spend as much as we did for this cruise - then I would expect the food to be perfect - it wasn't - far from it!

 

2) The Tours: we made a huge mistake taking the included tours (glad I had the foresight for a few ports - including St. Petersburg to do our own tours). The included tours were just awful - mot were just drive arounds with perhaps getting out of the bus for a few minutes. Same thing for the walking tours: I felt like we were back in the first grade: every five minutes they were counting the group members to ensure they hadn't lost anyone. My advice: do not take the free included tours!

 

3) Sea Days: good luck in finding something to do on the ship. Except for 30 minutes devoted to Team Trivial pursuit - its was quite boring.

 

4) I do give kudos to Viking for the entertainment - it was better than I thought it would be. The theater is built for sound and that makes all of the singers sound great.

 

5) This shows that they can't think outside the box: they did setup a M&G for the cruise critic members - there were perhaps 50 of us (including spouses) - while they get kudos for setting it up they did not provide and labels or IDs - so that people would know who they were talking to. When I mentioned that to one of the staff members - they said "good idea - we should have thought of that).

 

If you are expecting a cruise slightly better than Carnival and Princess - then you will have a good time. If you are expecting a cruise slightly under Regent - then you will be disappointed. My favorite cruise line is Oceana and I was hoping that our cruise on Viking would be close to that - it wasn't! Quite a few people have commented on this thread that the OP must have dreamed ip some of his comments: my last comment: the OP hit every point right on the nail and if anything some of his negative comments did not go far enough. Unlike him, I will most likely stay away from Viking Ocean Cruises and go back to Oceana.

Jerry K

 

From:Baltimore/Washington, D.C.: As a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State I worked out of U.S. Embassies aro

[Cyber Kat]

noe4laj,

 

 

 

You say "Our return flight starts in Aukland. It doesn't leave until early evening."

 

 

 

Is your flight on December 30, 2018? Are you on the Air New Zealand/United codeshare to Houston? And, is that the flight you requested?

 

 

 

I'm asking because I paid the $50 each for my wife and I for Custom Air, gave my TA the flights I wanted and was told by Viking that they "didn't have the proper fare arrangements with American" (my requested flight) and that they were giving me the above mentioned flight to Houston, which leaves at 7:20 PM, almost 12 hours after having to leave the ship. Viking felt they were doing me a great service as this is a one-stop, versus the 2-stop I requested (which leaves at 3:20 -- more convenient for a 9 AM disembarkation).

 

 

 

Same thing happened for my request for flights to Sydney for the start of the cruise. Didn't get what I requested as neither American nor Delta "offered the proper fare class", and Qantas only offered it out of San Francisco (but not Los Angeles) so we arrive in Sydney at 6:15 AM, about 5 hours before we can board.

 

 

 

I paid $100 and didn't get any of the flights I wanted. But I know Viking will not refund the fee (which Oceania will do).

 

 

 

Oh well. I bet the cruise will be excellent.

 

 

 

One thing I have learned about Viking is that if you don’t like the answer, call back and speak to someone else. Our TA tried 3 times but she got us the flights we wanted, not what Viking initially said we had to do. We paid the $50 for Air Plus precisely to get those flights.

 

Viking wanted to send us from Amsterdam to Frankfurt for a connecting flight to JFK. Ridiculous when there are plenty of direct flights from Amsterdam to JFK.

 

 

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[Heidi13]

Hi, My SO and I are finding cattle class on long haul flights to be dreaded. So my question for those who have experience, if you book business class through Viking Air for a long haul flight - either US to Europe or US to Asia/Australia/etc, how are the fares compared with standard retail? Can they get you a good price break?

 

We fly cattle class for short flights only. Everything of 5 hrs or more we fly Business/First. Between 3 -5 hrs we consider the airline and deals available.

 

If our business flight weren't included with the cruise we would have booked flights with points. We book all long haul flights with points, or specials, using One World airlines. If flying to multiple destinations check out special round the world flights, around Pacific, etc. A few years ago we required flights for our previous WC - Vancouver, Bangkok, Sydney, Vancouver. A round the world airfare was cheaper, so we went round the world visiting extra countries. Added benefit - we accumulated almost 400,000 BA miles.

[palermo22]

I remember you saying that you thought Viking was a step above Carnival so that's where I was confused that you were going on another one. Here is your post. I'm glad that you changed your mind and you are trying another one, we had a fabulous time on our BB and B cruise! When you said that the original poster wasn't negative enough that's what made me surprised that you were doing it again.

 

OK - I will be the exception here: I completely agree with the OP and felt that he was right on with many of his comments (both negative and positive). Taking various subjects:

 

1) Food: one of the main reasons we all enjoy cruising is the food. The food was good - but not 100% of the time - while I can say it was good, overall it was far from great. We had a wonderful server in the main dining room for dinner - whenever one of us had to send something back - you could see on his face some embarrassment). There were many times when the food had to be returned because it was under-cooked or over-cooked - or just not very tasty at all. In many ways the buffet lunch was better than the restaurant dinner. But even the buffet had problems: they would not let you put your salad on your plate - you had to hand the plate to the staff and then you had to point to what you wanted. There were no prepared salads already made up - this was a real weak point. The two specialty restaurants: we canceled our reservations after trying each one - the Italian Restaurant couldn't even make a good plate of pasta - and the maitre'd was just awful: remember the soup natzi on Seinfeld? He now reappears as the maitre'd. Bottom Line on the food: if I were at any restaurant and spending $50 for dinner - then I got what I deserved. When I spend as much as we did for this cruise - then I would expect the food to be perfect - it wasn't - far from it!

 

2) The Tours: we made a huge mistake taking the included tours (glad I had the foresight for a few ports - including St. Petersburg to do our own tours). The included tours were just awful - mot were just drive arounds with perhaps getting out of the bus for a few minutes. Same thing for the walking tours: I felt like we were back in the first grade: every five minutes they were counting the group members to ensure they hadn't lost anyone. My advice: do not take the free included tours!

 

3) Sea Days: good luck in finding something to do on the ship. Except for 30 minutes devoted to Team Trivial pursuit - its was quite boring.

 

4) I do give kudos to Viking for the entertainment - it was better than I thought it would be. The theater is built for sound and that makes all of the singers sound great.

 

5) This shows that they can't think outside the box: they did setup a M&G for the cruise critic members - there were perhaps 50 of us (including spouses) - while they get kudos for setting it up they did not provide and labels or IDs - so that people would know who they were talking to. When I mentioned that to one of the staff members - they said "good idea - we should have thought of that).

 

If you are expecting a cruise slightly better than Carnival and Princess - then you will have a good time. If you are expecting a cruise slightly under Regent - then you will be disappointed. My favorite cruise line is Oceana and I was hoping that our cruise on Viking would be close to that - it wasn't! Quite a few people have commented on this thread that the OP must have dreamed ip some of his comments: my last comment: the OP hit every point right on the nail and if anything some of his negative comments did not go far enough. Unlike him, I will most likely stay away from Viking Ocean Cruises and go back to Oceana.

Jerry K

 

From:Baltimore/Washington, D.C.: As a Foreign Service Officer with the Department of State I worked out of U.S. Embassies aro

 

If you have a problem with what I stated 15 months ago - send me a private message. In one sentence is my comment: I standby many of the things I said (especially the food and included tours) and will admit to being more critical than need be on on others - I have never been on Carnival and never will - hate Princess and believe Viking and Oceania are comparable. We are giving Viking another chance (especially because we like the itinerary.

[stretchcruz]

Perfect! I'm glad. We were just surprised that you were giving it another try.

[Jeanneagnes]

In the US we use Viking Air Plus and pay the $50 pp fee to get the flights gets we want. If they are offering a flight price incentive we pay the difference for our upgrade. All this should be done before they ticket. You or your TA work with Vikings Air agents. We use a TA and have been happy with the results. The air offer for our upcoming trip was $395 and we upgraded to Comfort Plus seats. Here they invoiced:

 

Airfare $1,595

- Air discount $1.200

+ Air Differential $244

+ Air Plus Confirmed $50

Adjusted Air Total = $689

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

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Thank you, this was very helpful. We will be traveling from Newark, NJ to Venice next summer and also chose air plus

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We are going in two days earlier to acclimate with the time change. You are correct in your assumption that if you are using Viking air, they will get you to the ship one way or another at their expense. Don’t worry about it and fingers crossed that you won’t get stuck in one of those Midwest storms. We are coming in from Raleigh which has been known to have snow storms or ice storms in February.

 

We booked our flights through our TA today. Since we are going to be traveling around a holiday, to get a direct flight from the US to Auckland, Viking wanted to charge us $3000. My TA told the Viking rep to check the day before and we were able to get a direct flight without adding any additional cost. So in the end...we are going to be flying in a day early which will ease the concern about weather delays. Now we just have to figure out hotel arrangements and transportation.

 

We will be flying United on the way and Virgin Australia on the way back.

[Focused1]

We booked our flights through our TA today. Since we are going to be traveling around a holiday, to get a direct flight from the US to Auckland, Viking wanted to charge us $3000. My TA told the Viking rep to check the day before and we were able to get a direct flight without adding any additional cost. So in the end...we are going to be flying in a day early which will ease the concern about weather delays. Now we just have to figure out hotel arrangements and transportation.

 

We will be flying United on the way and Virgin Australia on the way back.

 

Glad to hear you were able to secure the best flights that work for you. Have a great trip.