Booking your own flights, but can you still get Viking transfer's?

[Iloveketo]

Can’t get anything other than economy flights though Viking air, which can’t be upgraded. Looking into booking our own flights. Has anyone done this and paid for transfers though Viking?

[RBachmann]

8 minutes ago, Iloveketo said:

Can’t get anything other than economy flights though Viking air, which can’t be upgraded. Looking into booking our own flights. Has anyone done this and paid for transfers though Viking?

Yes you can request Viking transfers to and from the ship $49 per person each way. 

[Peregrina651]

BUT you must land at the airport on Day 1 of your itinerary and/or depart from the airport on the last day. Viking only offers transfers on those days and then only to pax whose air itinerary has them landing or taking off on those days. You can buy one-way transfers -- for arrival only or departure only.

[janetcbl]

We have done this, but Viking will only do this for same day arrivals, departures. Last June we arrived the day before the group arrival  and Viking would not transfer us. Maybe we could have lied about our arrival date, but we didn’t want to do that,  and managed our own transportation to the departure location. Don’t know what others have done in this situation.

[Iloveketo]

33 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

We have done this, but Viking will only do this for same day arrivals, departures. Last June we arrived the day before the group arrival  and Viking would not transfer us. Maybe we could have lied about our arrival date, but we didn’t want to do that,  and managed our own transportation to the departure location. Don’t know what others have done in this situation.

Even with using Viking air, we had to find our own way to the port, because we flew in a day early before our cruise to French Polynesia in January. 
If we end up booking our own flights we wouldn’t be flying in early before our Viking pre or staying past our post with Viking. So, it seems like getting transfers from them might be possible…

Thanks everyone!

[Moonlion]

Can confirm the above information from recent experience.  We are booking our own flights to London for our British Isles cruise next May. Since we're arriving on the first day of cruise (day of embarkation), we were able to purchase one-way Viking transfers from Heathrow to Greenwich for $49 pp. The $98 for the two of us was a better price than booking a private car from LHR to ship.  Plus our flight arrives very early in the morning and we weren't sure how early we could drop off our luggage at the ship if we arrived by cab or private car.   

[Iloveketo]

1 hour ago, Moonlion said:

Can confirm the above information from recent experience.  We are booking our own flights to London for our British Isles cruise next May. Since we're arriving on the first day of cruise (day of embarkation), we were able to purchase one-way Viking transfers from Heathrow to Greenwich for $49 pp. The $98 for the two of us was a better price than booking a private car from LHR to ship.  Plus our flight arrives very early in the morning and we weren't sure how early we could drop off our luggage at the ship if we arrived by cab or private car.   

Thanks!

[Canberra601]

This is great information, thank you.  Do you book the transfers through MVJ or through your agent?

[Moonlion]

4 hours ago, Canberra601 said:

This is great information, thank you.  Do you book the transfers through MVJ or through your agent?

I called Viking directly and booked the transfer. 

[slewis7]

Given the current unreliability of airline schedules It is somewhat unfortunate, that even if you book air via Viking, if you arrive early you do not get the transfer.

[TayanaLorna]

17 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Given the current unreliability of airline schedules It is somewhat unfortunate, that even if you book air via Viking, if you arrive early you do not get the transfer.

If you arrive a day early you need to stay in a hotel.  Can you imagine the logistics nightmare for Viking to get you from the airport to your hotel and then from your hotel to the ship the next day?  That's why they have the pre cruise extensions.  

[Iloveketo]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

If you arrive a day early you need to stay in a hotel.  Can you imagine the logistics nightmare for Viking to get you from the airport to your hotel and then from your hotel to the ship the next day?  That's why they have the pre cruise extensions.  

I can’t even imagine Viking trying to pick people up at various hotels.
On our French Polynesian cruise in January Viking didn’t offer a pre-extension with them or we would definitely have taken it. We went to LA a day early, because we were very nervous about cancelled flights. The address given to us by Viking took us past the ship. Fortunately, our cab driver and my husband saw the ship and figured out how to get back to it .
Whenever possible we book the pre-extension with Viking. Sure we can do it on our own, but we like letting Viking take care of us. 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Iloveketo said:

Sure we can do it on our own, but we like letting Viking take care of us. 

 

Agreed -- and Viking sure took care of us!  Last December, we cruise with Viking out of Los Angeles. We booked our own flights and used Viking transfers only on the departure end. What we booked and what we actually flew were two completely different things; our lunch-time departure turned into a red-eye flight when a few weeks before our flight our mid-day flight was cancelled. But we still had the transfer and were prepared for an all-day wait at the airport.

 

Well imagine our surprise when Viking tells us that they are taking us to a hotel where they had arranged a room for us as part of the transfer -- on them!  We hadn't even booked our air through them and all we were expecting was a ride to the airport.

[Iloveketo]

6 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Agreed -- and Viking sure took care of us!  Last December, we cruise with Viking out of Los Angeles. We booked our own flights and used Viking transfers only on the departure end. What we booked and what we actually flew were two completely different things; our lunch-time departure turned into a red-eye flight when a few weeks before our flight our mid-day flight was cancelled. But we still had the transfer and were prepared for an all-day wait at the airport.

 

Well imagine our surprise when Viking tells us that they are taking us to a hotel where they had arranged a room for us as part of the transfer -- on them!  We hadn't even booked our air through them and all we were expecting was a ride to the airport.

WOW! Incredible!

[slewis7]

7 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

If you arrive a day early you need to stay in a hotel.  Can you imagine the logistics nightmare for Viking to get you from the airport to your hotel and then from your hotel to the ship the next day?  That's why they have the pre cruise extensions.  

Yes, you are right.  My complaint makes no sense. Unfortunately the Viking extensions are pricey, so we tend to avoid them.  Our next scheduled Viking cruise starts in London and we will arrange our own hotel and transport.

[CCWineLover]

32 minutes ago, slewis7 said:

Yes, you are right.  My complaint makes no sense. Unfortunately the Viking extensions are pricey, so we tend to avoid them.  Our next scheduled Viking cruise starts in London and we will arrange our own hotel and transport.

We just did our own arrangements for our summer cruise beginning in London (Greenwich).  It was quite easy.  (Hopefully you are going out of Greenwich and not Tilbury).  It was an easy Tube ride to our hotel in London, where we based our do it yourself touring of many days.  We then took an amazingly inexpensive Uber from our hotel (in S.Kensington) to Greenwich.  Piece of cake!   And all for less than Viking transfers cost, even if we had been eligible to purchase them.  Good luck!

[rmalbers]

Interesting, we had viking air, pre hotel and transfers and came in a day early and had viking van transfer to the hotel, we were the only ones he had to pick up at that time, he add others later.  This was for viking expedition great lakes so maybe that was different.   I think how they do it is if you don't have many/any other options, maybe.  But these days, you have to fly in at least a day early,  really two days early is better, right, so maybe things are changing.  

[Peregrina651]

15 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

Interesting, we had viking air, pre hotel and transfers and came in a day early and had viking van transfer to the hotel,

 

Did you arrange the hotel on your own or did Viking?

[MSEm]

If you book your air separately but also book Viking Transfer to/from airport and ship YOU must complete your flight arrival form.  That form list your name, ship, and flight arrival info.  That form gets you on the  Viking Airport greeter list of guest to get transferred from the airport to the ship or hotel.

[rmalbers]

On 10/13/2022 at 6:20 PM, Peregrina651 said:

 

Did you arrange the hotel on your own or did Viking?

Our TA arranged both, the hotel and transportation where both thru Viking and on our viking invoice (trans isn't listed separately on invoice).   To get to the ship Viking used a bus that was, I would guess, 2/3 full.  I think Viking must have used more than one, night before, hotel in Milwaukee.   I just looked at the invoice, the Westin Milwaukee was $0 and included under the Air Fare as 'Additional Item'.  The trans from airport to hotel and hotel to ship are not even listed on the invoice.  Our TA has been in the business for a while and really knows what she's doing.     

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by rmalbers

[Peregrina651]

28 minutes ago, rmalbers said:

Our TA arranged both, the hotel and transportation where both thru Viking and on our viking invoice (trans isn't listed separately on invoice).   To get to the ship Viking used a bus that was, I would guess, 2/3 full.  I think Viking must have used more than one, night before, hotel in Milwaukee.   I just looked at the invoice, the Westin Milwaukee was $0 and included under the Air Fare as 'Additional Item'.  The trans from airport to hotel and hotel to ship are not even listed on the invoice.  Our TA has been in the business for a while and really knows what she's doing.     

 

 

Unusual. It may have had to do with Viking not being able to get people into Milwaukee in a timely fashion on Day 1. It has happened on other itineraries but to my understanding Viking will only put you up overnight when it is their choice to have guests come in early.

[rmalbers]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Unusual. It may have had to do with Viking not being able to get people into Milwaukee in a timely fashion on Day 1. It has happened on other itineraries but to my understanding Viking will only put you up overnight when it is their choice to have guests come in early.

Yes, I think that was part of it but our travel agent also had to say that whatever they had for day1 travel would not work for us.  The story is even more crazy actually: on the return they wanted us scheduled to get off at 3AM.  Our TA said there is no way and had that straightened out to the later flight 11:00am, for a while, then they reverted it back to that 3am thing.  It gets crazier, at end of cruise we are waiting at 3am to get off and they announce the flight has been cancelled.   We end up on the 11:00am flight that we were actually scheduled on originally.  It's so crazy I hardly believe it.  It was a 22 hour trip home and not even that far, I could have driven it in 1/2 the time.   Oh, I didn't know we could say prices here but I saw another post that had price stuff in it.  That trip did/was part of a $399 airfare deal that was going on, I think, the first part of aug or last part of July if that makes any difference. 

Edited October 18, 2022 by rmalbers

[dwlmg]

Day before arrival in Paris. I am investigating where I would stay if I arrived in Paris the day before embarkation. I have the latest (published Oct 2022) edition of Rick Steves' Paris book. He lists two budget value hotels near the Eiffel tower. Hotel de la Tour Eiffel (www.hotel-toureiffel.com) and Hotel Kensington (www.hotel-eiffel-kensington.com), Budget value is a relative term. These are still over $200 per night. They do not provide airport shuttle service and if you are on Viking Air, they will not do the transfer so that is something to consider.

[OneSixtyToOne]

47 minutes ago, dwlmg said:

Day before arrival in Paris. I am investigating where I would stay if I arrived in Paris the day before embarkation. I have the latest (published Oct 2022) edition of Rick Steves' Paris book. He lists two budget value hotels near the Eiffel tower. Hotel de la Tour Eiffel (www.hotel-toureiffel.com) and Hotel Kensington (www.hotel-eiffel-kensington.com), Budget value is a relative term. These are still over $200 per night. They do not provide airport shuttle service and if you are on Viking Air, they will not do the transfer so that is something to consider.

What cruise are you on?

[Jazmyn49]

Be aware that Viking transfers for those arranging their own flights must be booked well in advance.  I think it's a month but with the way things are changing.......check, check, check.