Viking customer service for mainland Europeans

[Berlin Bear]

I would be interested to hear what experiences other (potential) Viking customers living on mainland Europe (I.e. not UK) have had regarding queries, questions, chats, etc with Viking customer service.

 

We live in Berlin, Germany and did our first Viking Ocean cruise in 2018. It was not possible to book it with any travel agent in Germany, so I booked the trip by telephone with Viking UK. All interactions regarding the cruise itself were very good, but I was never able to receive any promotional information however often I myself and the UK agent tried to enable this. Possibly because I have a German email address. We now have a second Viking cruise booked for March 2022, again through Viking UK - managed to do this just before the end of the Brexit transition period in December 2020. 

 

Now, however, we are no longer able to access the Viking UK website, although thankfully I still receive information about the upcoming booking from the UK agents. A couple of months ago I sent a query through the US website asking who we could turn to regarding future bookings and promotional material, etc. and have never received a reply. A couple of days ago I „chatted“ with an agent about some Danube river cruises which were being offered to UK customers (read about this on CC) at reduced prices. I gave my details and the agent promised to mail me all the relevant information. Nothing up to now.

 

Viking cruises are not marketed at all in Europe, except in the UK, and I’m starting to wonder whether European guests are simply regarded as a nuisance! With additional ships joining the fleet in the coming years, I would think the company (founded and run by a Norwegian!) would appreciate the additional customer base. Or do we rock the boat…?

 

Greetings from Berlin

Barbara

[Sdma04]

I am just seeing this now as I booked a last minute cruise in two weeks time. My overwhelming feeling is exactly the same! 
 

We were not allowed to use the U.K. sight so I was required to call the US. I found it incredible that there is no toll free EU number only U.K., US and Australia.

 

I have had many questions specifically with regards to our vaccination requirements ( we have Netherlands QR code that cannot be printed out ). I emailed yesterday and hope that I get some sort of response. Had this not been a last minute deal, I would seriously be put off by the lack of access to the company. I am wondering the same thing if they truly do not want anyone from the EU to sail with Viking. 
 

Lastly, I am lucky that I am American ( my husband is from Denmark ) because all payments had to be drawn from my Visa card ( that was issued from a US bank). I am not allowed to use my MasterCard that is issued from The Netherlands. 
 

I had planned to address this with the company after the cruise when I have had the whole experience.
 

I’m really sorry to hear you had similar experiences as it means that more people probably are struggling with this as well- if Viking has a preference for a particular client they should let people know upfront.  

[Berlin Bear]

Really happy to have some feedback - many thanks for sharing your experience. I guess there are very few of us in this position because of the fact that Viking doesn’t market its products in mainland Europe. Similar situation to you - I have dual British/German citizenship:(thanks to Brexit), my husband is German and we pay Viking from my UK bank account.

We really enjoyed our Viking cruise in 2018 - loved the ship and the food and met some very pleasant and interesting people. All in all, a very positive experience. However, we only met one other couple from mainland Europe - a British man with his Polish wife who lived in Spain. He had also booked with Viking UK. So, overall, a homogenous group of English speaking passengers with similar tastes and needs. I’m wondering whether broadening the passenger base to include other Europeans would lead to increased costs for the cruise line as they may have to cater for different tastes and needs. Building (near) identical ships for a fairly narrow passenger base (compared to international cruise lines) most probably has its advantages in this respect.

So, yes, I think Viking is not really interested in gaining a mixed European clientele and our lack of access to Viking UK is probably one of many unintended consequences of Brexit. Still, it was very unprofessional of the company not to reply to my various queries which I mentioned in my first post.

[Sdma04]

Hello again! I completely agree with your thoughts as to the possibility of why they haven’t really welcomed others outside of the core demographics. 
 

I have had to continue to call to confirm and reconfirm their policy with regards to Covid. In fact, I’ll be calling shortly to see if I can get in writing that indeed we are not required as an EU member to get a PCR test. I have about 9 emails stating either yes you must (4) and others stating no as EU you are not required (5). Each time I have had to explain and re-explain what the current rules are for the EU, then ask what is Vikings policy. I know that I can enter the countries unimpeded as we have been to DK, Belgium, Germany and Italy in August and September but I am a tad concerned that the personnel at the boat will not know what to do with us and then barring us from sailing. Sigh…

 

I’m sure we will have a lovely time next week but we may be hesitant to travel with them in the future- strange because there is a huge expat community in EU that would as like to cruise. 
 

Thanks again for posting - nice to know there are others with similar observations! 

Edited September 28, 2021 by Sdma04

[Berlin Bear]

Hello again, I hope you enjoyed your cruise and would love to know whether you managed to get some answers to our various questions and concerns.

I enjoyed a cruise round the Greek islands last week with a German ship (Mein Schiff 5). No customer service problems there 🙂