Talking Viking

[tine-tine]

Can Viking regulars shed any light on "talking viking"? We were supposed to be taking our inaugural Viking cruise at the end of January so are newbies to Viking and their peccadillos or strengths.

 

I was contacted recently to partake in "talking viking" which among other things was supposed to be group zoom discussions about viking and what you liked or not, I thought this strange as I had not yet cruised with the Viking but they assured me my participations was relevant. I enjoyed the experience of the discussion but I have also been contacted for surveys which I feel my be aimed more towards marketing of gathering information for other companies, has anyone else been involved with this and am I naively thinking it something of value. My instincts are telling me otherwise?

 

There are forums, blogs etc and you can earn community points, whatever they are, for participating in surveys, I couldn't find any mention on CC of this aspect of talking viking so what is the deal?

 

 

[Heidi13]

Been following Viking for a number of years, but never heard of "Talking Viking". However, it could be a Viking UK initiative, not available in Canada/US.

[Peregrina651]

Andy, it is available in the US.  I just joined to check it out. It is a new entry into the social media/data gathering market. IMHO, it is data gathering device clothed in social media garb -- and not a place where I would feel comfortable chatting or reviewing cruises the way we do here. Also, it is not clear who owns your words once you have shared them on the site.

 

[Heads up:  Not to rain on @tine-tine 's parade or to close the discussion down, t-t has an interesting question, but it may be against the CC guidelines and maybe closed down or even deleted without notice.]

 

 

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Andy, it is available in the US.  I just joined to check it out. It is a new entry into the social media/data gathering market. IMHO, it is data gathering device clothed in social media garb -- and not a place where I would feel comfortable chatting or reviewing cruises the way we do here. Also, it is not clear who owns your words once you have shared them on the site.

 

[Heads up:  Not to rain on @tine-tine 's parade or to close the discussion down, t-t has an interesting question, but it may be against the CC guidelines and maybe closed down or even deleted without notice.]

 

 

 

Thanks for the update. I Googled it this morning and didn't receive anything, but if it is data mining, I will give it a miss.🙂

[Peregrina651]

18 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Thanks for the update. I Googled it this morning and didn't receive anything, but if it is data mining, I will give it a miss.🙂

 

found it by Googling "talking Viking" in quotes. Viking does not let Google view the page, but it does let them share a link.

 

 

[kcpvwill]

I did some feedback to the ‘Talking Viking’  site in the UK and one month in the community points draw a got two tickets to the Tutankhamen exhibition in London.  (This was pre Covid ) As I was unable to go at that time I checked that I could gift it to a friend and the people at Viking UK  said it was OK.  My friends were going to London for the rugby so added the exhibition to their itinerary.  They gave a donation to the charity that I support, so a win situation all round.  
I’ve not won anything since, but have not had any feedback for them to get points since lockdown.  I don’t get any more communications from Viking as a result of feedback. 

[Peregrina651]

5 hours ago, kcpvwill said:

I did some feedback to the ‘Talking Viking’  site in the UK and one month in the community points draw a got two tickets to the Tutankhamen exhibition in London.  (This was pre Covid ) As I was unable to go at that time I checked that I could gift it to a friend and the people at Viking UK  said it was OK.  My friends were going to London for the rugby so added the exhibition to their itinerary.  They gave a donation to the charity that I support, so a win situation all round.  
I’ve not won anything since, but have not had any feedback for them to get points since lockdown.  I don’t get any more communications from Viking as a result of feedback. 

 

As the membership grows the odd of winning get worse. Right now the membership is at about 2600 members. Pre- Covid, it must have been much smaller -- hence much better chance of winning. Timing is everything.

 

I'm happy to answer polls and surveys but I can't see myself getting involved in yet another Viking social community -- and not one that combines collecting data along with offering socialization. All I can say is that at least they are quite clear that they are gather dating -- it just bothers me that I don't how much data gathering beyond the surveys/polls is going on. I may continue to follow them, out of sheer boredom and frustration with how little is going on here, but I don't expect to be an active participant in the conversation (especially since I signed up with an e-mail that Viking recognizes).

[tine-tine]

I suppose what began to concern me more was the recent invitation through "talking viking" to participate in the book club reading survey. Parts of it seemed relevant to interest in what types of books you read and I thought maybe they want to know for the book club page or the on board library. There were questions and references on where you buy your books giving logos of these different companies like Amazon, bookstores, supermarkets etc plus some of the questions were slanted towards companies and locations where you purchase books. While happy to participate, probably out of lockdown boredom and partly as a panacea for my likely cancelled forthcoming cruise, I am slightly concerned that I may be giving my trust to Viking not to use a slight of hand to trawl for marketing by stealth too generously!

 

I suppose  the answer should be if you have alarm bells ringing then you should heed them but as I have still to do my inaugural Viking cruise and have not been in a position to discuss with other cruisers for their experience I though I would reach out as CC has always previously been a wealth of knowledge.

 

Thank you to those that responded, as it is early days of joining 'talking Viking' `I will hang on a bit a see how the requests progress!