Dining Reservations No Longer Guaranteed

[photopro2]

It seems that Viking’s promise of a guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant no longer applies – at least to those in DV category cabins.

 

When dining reservations opened and I was unable to make a booking I queried this with guest services and received the following response by email “The higher grade staterooms do have access to pre-book their dining earlier, and regrettably by the time the dining was open for you, all of the tables of two have already been selected.”

 

At first, as with all information from guest services, I took this with a grain of salt. My brother-in-law (who is on a different cruise) subsequently received exactly the same explanation over the phone. Yesterday @crimmj posted in another thread that “Someone in our rollcall finally contacted Viking and was told that all the reservations had already been taken by the higher ranking cabins.” The consistency of the explanations indicates that this was not a glitch in the system but a change in policy which has removed the assurance that priority reservations for DV cabins are “guaranteed”.

 

I have no issue with Viking modifying their policies, they are perfectly entitled to do so and things will naturally evolve as time goes on. Nor am I particularly worried about getting reservations once on the ship, as this has been no issue in the past.

 

What I do find very troubling is that Viking still claim on their website and within their publicity material that DV cabins will have “1 guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant”. They have then failed to provide those in DV cabins with the opportunity to make any advance reservations at all when the relevant booking date is reached. This strikes me as what I believe is known in the US as “bait and switch” i.e. advertising something as part of the package which is not delivered when the time comes.

 

As I say, I have no problem with a change of policy. However, I will be contacting Viking again to suggest they should immediately remove that valueless “guarantee” from their promotional material so as not to mislead customers who book in future.   

[philw1776]

Where were your complaints last year when viking's guarantee that PV etc. cabins got priority booking on excursions when instead it was an unannounced free for all that many of us PV folks were unaware and were shut out?

Bleep happens.

[Mich3554]

Being able to make a reservation on board is still an advanced reservation.  If you get shut out of a reservation once onboard, then there is a problem.  But I don’t see how making a guaranteed reservation NOW complies with their promise.

[Cienfuegos]

How is Viking Ocean handling the return of tables to the Chef's Table and Manfredi's rooms? 

 

I understood that some % of tables had been removed, have all been returned?

[cruisinchrissy]

1 hour ago, philw1776 said:

Where were your complaints last year when viking's guarantee that PV etc. cabins got priority booking on excursions when instead it was an unannounced free for all that many of us PV folks were unaware and were shut out?

Bleep happens.

The point is Viking should not advertise guaranteed dining or priority bookings for PV when they can’t  deliver. Isn’t there a law against false advertising ???

[duquephart]

36 minutes ago, cruisinchrissy said:

The point is Viking should not advertise guaranteed dining or priority bookings for PV when they can’t  deliver. Isn’t there a law against false advertising ???

 

If there was 95% of businesses on the planet would be in violation.

[Heidi13]

5 hours ago, photopro2 said:

 

It seems that Viking’s promise of a guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant no longer applies – at least to those in DV category cabins.

 

When dining reservations opened and I was unable to make a booking I queried this with guest services and received the following response by email “The higher grade staterooms do have access to pre-book their dining earlier, and regrettably by the time the dining was open for you, all of the tables of two have already been selected.”

 

At first, as with all information from guest services, I took this with a grain of salt. My brother-in-law (who is on a different cruise) subsequently received exactly the same explanation over the phone. Yesterday @crimmj posted in another thread that “Someone in our rollcall finally contacted Viking and was told that all the reservations had already been taken by the higher ranking cabins.” The consistency of the explanations indicates that this was not a glitch in the system but a change in policy which has removed the assurance that priority reservations for DV cabins are “guaranteed”.

 

I have no issue with Viking modifying their policies, they are perfectly entitled to do so and things will naturally evolve as time goes on. Nor am I particularly worried about getting reservations once on the ship, as this has been no issue in the past.

 

What I do find very troubling is that Viking still claim on their website and within their publicity material that DV cabins will have “1 guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant”. They have then failed to provide those in DV cabins with the opportunity to make any advance reservations at all when the relevant booking date is reached. This strikes me as what I believe is known in the US as “bait and switch” i.e. advertising something as part of the package which is not delivered when the time comes.

 

As I say, I have no problem with a change of policy. However, I will be contacting Viking again to suggest they should immediately remove that valueless “guarantee” from their promotional material so as not to mislead customers who book in future.   

 

Having ceased their COVID testing & masking mandates, it is long past time for Viking to return the operation to normal, or at least those parts of the operation that are fully under their control.

 

I'll still cut them some slack on shore-ex, as this requires external vendors and experienced employees, but meeting the advertised guarantee of alternative restaurant reservations is entirely within Viking's control. Viking know how many covers they can accommodate in each restaurant, each night, so if they wish to maintain the cabin category standards, they should adjust the pax count accordingly. Pre-COVID, I recall the chef advising each restaurant can handle 120 covers per night, so about 25% of pax can dine in the alternative restaurants, each night.

 

Regardless of whether the issue is number of pax, limited number of tables, crew restrictions, stores availability, etc. it is time for Viking to address the root cause and fix the problem. If they can't fix it, then they better change their marketing information, as they will be losing existing pax and new pax may even bail before boarding. We have heard from a number of first timers that won't return, due to Viking not delivering what was expected.

[MSEm]

To philw1776

We agree with you on being "shut out" of booking shore excursioins.  We were in a PS suite. At 6 pm 2

6 weeks after excursiond were to "open" we were shut out of excursions.  I had check at 6 pm, and bookings were not open.  At 10 pm about 1/2 of the excursions we wanted to book were filled. No email or text from Viking that the shore excursions were opening.

[FetaCheese]

2 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

How is Viking Ocean handling the return of tables to the Chef's Table and Manfredi's rooms? 

 

I understood that some % of tables had been removed, have all been returned?

On Venus, December 2021, it appeared to me that, at Manfredi's and MDR, all tables were there (no empty spaces), and set for table service, so as to look "normal".

 

To allow for social distancing, however, they did not fill all tables,   Did not dine at Chef's Table, so can't speak about that venue.

 

Edited July 24, 2022 by FetaCheese
Clarity

[FetaCheese]

32 minutes ago, MSEm said:

To philw1776

We agree with you on being "shut out" of booking shore excursioins.  We were in a PS suite. At 6 pm 2

6 weeks after excursiond were to "open" we were shut out of excursions.  I had check at 6 pm, and bookings were not open.  At 10 pm about 1/2 of the excursions we wanted to book were filled. No email or text from Viking that the shore excursions were opening.

On "my" MVJ:. Shorex page shows date and time of res opening. Was this (1.) Not the case for you? and (2.) Did res open earlier?

Edited July 24, 2022 by FetaCheese
Clarity

[duquephart]

On our recent Homelands alll booking opportunities opened at the same time. There was no advantage to our PS1 booking.

[Peregrina651]

7 hours ago, photopro2 said:

This strikes me as what I believe is known in the US as “bait and switch” i.e. advertising something as part of the package which is not delivered when the time comes.

 

"Bait and switch" is when you intentionally lure customers into your store by advertising a really good deal on something that you don't really have  in stock -- and never intended to have in stock -- and then try to high-pressure the customer to buy a more expensive version of the product at a higher price (it was a prevalent tactic of car dealers).  The website is clear as to what cabin categories are available at the time we book and while an agent may point out that a higher cabin category will get you better amenities, they aren't pressuring us into anything more than we came to buy.

 

I think what we have here is more like false advertising or defaulting on the contract -- but I'm not a lawyer.

 

 

As of today, the Viking website still says "guaranteed":

 

 

[Twitchly]

Wow. So every single table for two was booked in both restaurants at every time period for the entire cruise? Nothing at 8 pm, even? Are they short-staffed or what? 
 

If they can’t accommodate you once you’re on board, they need to offer you a very nice consolation prize. And they need to change their marketing.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Twitchly

[Tas353]

I found that the excursions and dining opened earlier than stated on the invoice. I live in the Midwest. One (excursions/dining) stated it would open at noon pacific time and the other 8pm pacific time. I had read a post from someone saying they opened early and they lost out on some excursions they wanted. I got up at midnight and just kept checking. I booked dining and excursions at around 2 and 3 AM. I’m not sure what I would have found if I waited until noon and 8PM. I did this for 2 different cruises. 

[philw1776]

2 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

On "my" MVJ:. Shorex page shows date and time of res opening. Was this (1.) Not the case for you? and (2.) Did res open earlier?

Not the case.  Reservations opened at a random date & time with no notice to me.

[MSEm]

True my inovice  and MVJ both showed the date that shore excursions would be available for me to book.  I checked 3-4 times a day for the next six weeks and excursions were NOT open to book. When excursions did open, it was after 6 pm and before 10 pm 6 weeks late.. I checked every day at 8am, noon, 6 pm, and 10 pm.

When I checked at 10 pm 6 weeks after my "booking" date 1/2 of the excursions were filled.

[Cienfuegos]

If reservations open at 67 days prior for one group of people, and 90 days prior for another group of people, that seems pretty straight forward.

 

Assuming they follow those rules...

[LunaSeaRetreat]

2 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Not the case.  Reservations opened at a random date & time with no notice to me.

From the top page of each of my excursions in my MVJ.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

PRINT

 

 

Shore Excursion booking opens July 26, 2022 starting at 12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time.

[LindaS272]

18 minutes ago, LunaSeaRetreat said:

From the top page of each of my excursions in my MVJ.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

PRINT

 

 

Shore Excursion booking opens July 26, 2022 starting at 12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time.

 

 

 

Good luck. Hope it works out for you!

 

[Tas353]

2 hours ago, LunaSeaRetreat said:

From the top page of each of my excursions in my MVJ.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

PRINT

 

 

Shore Excursion booking opens July 26, 2022 starting at 12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time.

 

 

 

Mine said the same thing but I just happened to wake up at 2 AM and they were open. I booked then. My brother and sister in law were able to get into the same excursions the next morning. Definitely don’t wait til noon to check. Good luck!

[photopro2]

13 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

"Bait and switch"

I appreciate the information on appropriate use of that expression. I do generally try to qualify my use of American phraseology after all, as George Bernard Shaw may have said, we are " two countries divided by a common language" 😁

13 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

As of today, the Viking website still says "guaranteed"

It is the continued use of the word "guaranteed" on the website that I am challenging. I think it is fair to say that on both sides of the Atlantic that word is used to indicate the strongest and most formal assurance a company or individual can give. Now we have evidence that Viking have failed to deliver on that guarantee it has no value. In future no one can be sure if they will be able to make advance restaurant bookings until the booking window actually opens or, as in our case, does not.

[photopro2]

18 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Where were your complaints last year when viking's guarantee that PV etc. cabins got priority booking on excursions when instead it was an unannounced free for all that many of us PV folks were unaware and were shut out?

The fact that I didn't post back then does not mean that I was unsympathetic, I simply didn't feel I had anything useful to add to the conversation. 

 

As it happens Viking have never guaranteed priority excursion booking in any cabin category, the particular word "guaranteed" is only used in relation to restaurant bookings. This may well be because, as Heidi13 has eloquently pointed out, the provision of excursions requires the cooperation of third parties while the organisation of restaurant bookings is completely under Vikings control. 

[philw1776]

10 hours ago, LunaSeaRetreat said:

From the top page of each of my excursions in my MVJ.

SHORE EXCURSIONS

PRINT

 

 

Shore Excursion booking opens July 26, 2022 starting at 12:00 PM (Noon) Pacific Time.

 

 

 

This is now. Back to the prior years of Viking operation.
Once again, my point was that we did 2 ocean cruises where this was disregarded with surprise mass bookings of excursions.

[DGHOC]

Not sure if I missed it but have you contacted 'tell us' directly at Viking photopro2?

 

It was all pretty chaotic for the recent Chairman's cruise as there was little warning of it. Trying to reserve excursions and dining options was nigh on impossible online. The online booking system seems fairly unreliable since Covid hit. I've had to call the London office about a number of issues and I've always found them really reliable, really switched on. Did you try calling them directly, speaking to a manager?

 

As has been mentioned on this site a zillion times, it is possible to reserve tables onboard. We have previously cancelled pre-booked tables and also just turned up on other occasions and asked for a table on the off chance. I do, however, totally get the frustration of being promised/guaranteed something that then doesn't materialise. It seems to be symptomatic of this world we are living in at the moment as everyone still struggles with the problems generated by covid, dreadful wars, Brexit and economic difficulties. The use of any transport system is fraught with issues. I remember when we might hope that our planes wouldn't be delayed, now it's a case of hoping we might get to our holiday destination at all! Don't get me started on BA and Heathrow airport!!

 

I do hope you find a resolution. Your posts have always been very positive and upbeat and I feel your current frustration!

[Queenie1603]

Its not just DV staterooms.  We are in a Penthouse Deluxe and were only able to make two reservations for  a two week cruise. I only saw reservations on the My Journey open twice and was only able to make one reservation each time both at 9 pm and one of those was on the last night! I was told that the reservation had been open but I challenged that as I checked daily when the reservations were supposed to open for the Penthouse DV. Not a happy bunny as we have two reservations for each Spec Restaurant each week. I contacted a lady in Customer Services who told me to contact them personally 2 weeks before the ship sails only to find out she was out of office until after the ship will have sailed. We are due to board the ship in 6th August. Still waiting to hear from Viking if my specific requests will be honoured. Let see what happens.