Yet another disappointed Viking customer

[stitchinthyme9]

In late 2019 my husband and I booked a river cruise (Belgium/Netherlands) for 2020. This cruise was cancelled due to covid and we were offered a credit towards a future cruise which would expire in August 2022. I was a little dubious about this since we didn't know whether the pandemic would be over by then, so I emailed customer service asking if it could be refunded or extended if we couldn't use it in time; I was assured that it could. The documentation did say that once redeemed, the credit would not be extended or refunded and would have no cash value, but we didn't expect there to be any problems. We booked another cruise (Amsterdam to Budapest) with extensions on either end; we were supposed to depart on December 14.

 

On December 12, we were informed that my father-in-law was not expected to live more than a few days. The next day we cancelled the cruise, and my FIL died on December 14, the day we were supposed to leave. By this time, due to the stress from a death in the immediate family, we had forgotten about the credit from the 2020 cruise and once we did realize it, we thought our trip insurance (TripMate, purchased through Viking) would cover our loss. We were shocked to discover that it would not and that we would lose the more than $7000 we had paid towards the 2020 cruise and applied to this one. TripMate said that Viking sets the policy and they had specifically excluded vouchers from previous cruises.

 

My husband called, and I sent multiple emails to Viking's customer service explaining the situation and asking for a little compassion as cancelling the trip was unavoidable at that point, but all they will say is, "Sorry, that's our policy". I guess my FIL should have chosen a more convenient time to die.

 

I'm aware that we don't have any legal recourse here, but I think that issuing vouchers that are completely unrecoverable even with their trip insurance, is a horrible way to do business. Furthermore, it also encourages people who are sick with covid or norovirus to board their ships, if the choice is between that and losing thousands of dollars.

 

Now that I've been looking for it, I see that this has happened to many others and Viking has been similarly lacking in any compassion, so I'm posting this in the hopes that maybe someone will see it and think twice before booking with them, and especially before accepting a credit for a cancelled cruise.

[Squawkman]

Sorry for your loss.

 

If the future cruise credit was issued before 2/28/21, you most likely could have had your voucher refunded if you contacted Viking on 12/12 when you first heard about your FIL’s medical status. This past April, my wife broke her small toe 2 days before we were to fly out and we were able to salvage the FCV with no issues. We since rebooked that cruise, but now are aware there is no recourse if we can’t make it. 
 

while I’m sorry for your predicament, I can’t heed your advice in your last paragraph - Pax need to read the contract, regulations, etc. before accepting a FCV.

[stitchinthyme9]

@Squawkman- Do you really think the extra day would have made a difference? (For what it's worth, we got the call that evening, not early in the day.)

 

[stitchinthyme9]

Also - sometimes things do happen that force you to cancel within a day of departure, and I still think that Viking should at the very least change its policy with TripMate (which they said Viking wrote) such that vouchers issued for cancelled cruises are included in the trip insurance. My complaint is that there is no way at all to recover the loss if you are forced to cancel. It's not like we had any idea that we'd have a death in the family before we decided to accept the voucher.

Edited December 31, 2022 by stitchinthyme9

[Host Jazzbeau]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.  If this terrible experience [and I completely sympathize with you] hasn't turned you off river cruising entirely, I suggest that you peruse the 'sticky' threads at the top of this forum to learn about other river cruise lines that might provide more inclusive and more empathetic treatment.

 

BTW there is a separate forum on Cruise Critic for Cruise/Travel Insurance.  While I'm not an expert and don't know if you would have had better luck with a third-party policy [because once you take an FCV you have closed out the original cruise], the overwhelming consensus there is never to buy trip insurance from a cruise line.  We have had very good service with Allianz, especially with their Journey policy that our TA sells.

[CPT Trips]

16 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

While I'm not an expert and don't know if you would have had better luck with a third-party policy [because once you take an FCV you have closed out the original cruise],

First, sorry for OP’s losses. 
I also am not an insurance expert. That said, I had a couple of trips (for which I had third party insurance) canceled, one due to Covid and the other due to low sales. The tour company was offering credit, plus a bonus, for a future trip. I contacted the insurance company as soon as I had written confirmation of the cancellation, credit, and other details of the tour company’s offer and inquired about what insurance options were available. 
TBH, at this point I’m somewhat fuzzy on all the details and time frames. I was able to transfer the policy with its existing terms and conditions to an undetermined future trip. There were time limits on how long I had to book the trip and advise the insurer of the dates, destination. I don’t recall exactly how much time I had, but it was quite reasonable. 
A higher price for one trip meant a higher premium which also seemed reasonable. As I didn’t need to file a claim, it’s purely speculative that whether I would have been reimbursed had I cancelled for a covered reason. That said, I don’t know of any basis they would have for denying a claim. 
 

[Host Jazzbeau]

58 minutes ago, CPT Trips said:

First, sorry for OP’s losses. 
I also am not an insurance expert. That said, I had a couple of trips (for which I had third party insurance) canceled, one due to Covid and the other due to low sales. The tour company was offering credit, plus a bonus, for a future trip. I contacted the insurance company as soon as I had written confirmation of the cancellation, credit, and other details of the tour company’s offer and inquired about what insurance options were available. 
TBH, at this point I’m somewhat fuzzy on all the details and time frames. I was able to transfer the policy with its existing terms and conditions to an undetermined future trip. There were time limits on how long I had to book the trip and advise the insurer of the dates, destination. I don’t recall exactly how much time I had, but it was quite reasonable. 
A higher price for one trip meant a higher premium which also seemed reasonable. As I didn’t need to file a claim, it’s purely speculative that whether I would have been reimbursed had I cancelled for a covered reason. That said, I don’t know of any basis they would have for denying a claim. 

I never insure the cost of airfare, because my TA says the insurance won't cover it now that airlines have waived change fees.  That's why I think if the cruise line offers 100% or more of the cruise cost in FCC, no insurance policy would cover it as they say there was no 'loss.'

 

But you make a very good point:  with third-party insurance you have the option to roll the policy to a future trip with no loss of premium.  With cruise-line insurance the premium is tied to the trip you bought it for [AFAIK, based on reports here – I have so rarely bought cruise-line insurance that I never had a claim].

[Squawkman]

12 hours ago, stitchinthyme9 said:

@Squawkman- Do you really think the extra day would have made a difference? (For what it's worth, we got the call that evening, not early in the day.)

 

Yes, it could have depending on the 24 hour window and whether or not you were using Viking air. Read the attached file and see for yourself.
 

 

10MAY-210120_RiskFreeGuarantee.pdf

[Coral]

I am so sorry.

 

I think if I have learned anything post COVID, it is to take cash vs a voucher. Not sure if you had that option but in the future this is the way I am going to go.

 

I think Viking should work with you.

[stitchinthyme9]

For anyone who might still be following this, I have an update.

 

Yesterday Viking called us to say they had reviewed our case and decided to extend us new vouchers as a "one-time goodwill gesture", with the same conditions as the original ones had. We received them today and though they're about $600 less than what we paid for the 2020 cruise, we decided to accept them since losing $600 is better than losing $7300. Before we book another cruise, we will be looking into whether we can find trip insurance that will cover the vouchers -- not through Viking, since we know theirs explicitly does not.

[Roz]

@stitchinthyme9, I'm glad to hear you got a somewhat satisfactory resolution to your complaint.  I agree,  getting a $6,700 voucher is better than losing the entire $7,300.

[travelingman]

@stitchinthyme9.  I have used tripinsurancestore.com for a number of years. They deal with 9 or so insurance companies that have vetted.  They have always been happy to work with me on moving insurance on a booked cruise to a new cruise.  As far as the vouchers, they only insurance the amount of the original cruise cost and not any credits the cruise company has added on as good will.  If the cost of the new cruise is more than the original cruise then you will have to insure the additional cost also.

Good luck.

Stan

[notamermaid]

Great to read that you got somewhere with Viking.

 

18 hours ago, stitchinthyme9 said:

Before we book another cruise, we will be looking into whether we can find trip insurance that will cover the vouchers -- not through Viking, since we know theirs explicitly does not.

A wise decision. Sorry to read that the learning came through this sad event.

 

I hope your cruise will be everything you wish for and a most memorable experience in the best sense.

 

notamermaid

 

[jsn55]

On 12/30/2022 at 5:15 PM, stitchinthyme9 said:

In late 2019 my husband and I booked a river cruise (Belgium/Netherlands) for 2020. This cruise was cancelled due to covid and we were offered a credit towards a future cruise which would expire in August 2022. I was a little dubious about this since we didn't know whether the pandemic would be over by then, so I emailed customer service asking if it could be refunded or extended if we couldn't use it in time; I was assured that it could. The documentation did say that once redeemed, the credit would not be extended or refunded and would have no cash value, but we didn't expect there to be any problems. We booked another cruise (Amsterdam to Budapest) with extensions on either end; we were supposed to depart on December 14.

 

On December 12, we were informed that my father-in-law was not expected to live more than a few days. The next day we cancelled the cruise, and my FIL died on December 14, the day we were supposed to leave. By this time, due to the stress from a death in the immediate family, we had forgotten about the credit from the 2020 cruise and once we did realize it, we thought our trip insurance (TripMate, purchased through Viking) would cover our loss. We were shocked to discover that it would not and that we would lose the more than $7000 we had paid towards the 2020 cruise and applied to this one. TripMate said that Viking sets the policy and they had specifically excluded vouchers from previous cruises.

 

My husband called, and I sent multiple emails to Viking's customer service explaining the situation and asking for a little compassion as cancelling the trip was unavoidable at that point, but all they will say is, "Sorry, that's our policy". I guess my FIL should have chosen a more convenient time to die.

 

I'm aware that we don't have any legal recourse here, but I think that issuing vouchers that are completely unrecoverable even with their trip insurance, is a horrible way to do business. Furthermore, it also encourages people who are sick with covid or norovirus to board their ships, if the choice is between that and losing thousands of dollars.

 

Now that I've been looking for it, I see that this has happened to many others and Viking has been similarly lacking in any compassion, so I'm posting this in the hopes that maybe someone will see it and think twice before booking with them, and especially before accepting a credit for a cancelled cruise.

Oops!  Just read your good news.  This is WONDERFUL.  But CC people should know about my good friend Michelle Couch-Friedman, who has formed an online advocacy service.  She'd probably have been able to help you get Viking off their 'policy' and show some customer service.  Have a look at Consumer Rescue; Michelle has years of experience and is well known in the travel field.  She has a great many personal contacts at travel providers.  For the record, always purchase trip insurance independently.  

 

At the beginning of the pandemic, Avalon refunded us almost $24K for a cancelled cruise ... and I hadn't even requested a refund.  I do not have much respect for Viking and their procedures ... they spend so much money on advertising that they apparently don't have enough to take care of their customers.  We've booked the same Avalon cruise the length of France in May; good customer service ranks very high in my mind.  Travel providers that stepped up and did their best for their clients during the pandemic are those that should get our business.  

Edited January 17, 2023 by jsn55
punctuation

[rcaruso]

9 hours ago, jsn55 said:

Oops!  Just read your good news.  This is WONDERFUL.  But CC people should know about my good friend Michelle Couch-Friedman, who has formed an online advocacy service.  She'd probably have been able to help you get Viking off their 'policy' and show some customer service.  Have a look at Consumer Rescue; Michelle has years of experience and is well known in the travel field.  She has a great many personal contacts at travel providers.  For the record, always purchase trip insurance independently.  

 

At the beginning of the pandemic, Avalon refunded us almost $24K for a cancelled cruise ... and I hadn't even requested a refund.  I do not have much respect for Viking and their procedures ... they spend so much money on advertising that they apparently don't have enough to take care of their customers.  We've booked the same Avalon cruise the length of France in May; good customer service ranks very high in my mind.  Travel providers that stepped up and did their best for their clients during the pandemic are those that should get our business.  

Let's not talk about Avalon's parent company Globus.  At the start of the pandemic our Poland tour was cancelled and we missed the fine print and could not get a refund, so we held it over.  We found another trip we liked added more money, and then in December this year it was cancelled for no reason, again credits, but we had our travel agent intervene and finally got all our money back.  Left a bad taste in my mouth for that company.

[QueenofEverything]

On 12/31/2022 at 12:53 AM, Host Jazzbeau said:

I never insure the cost of airfare, because my TA says the insurance won't cover it now that airlines have waived change fees.

Not necessarily true.  We had to cancel an August Alaska cruise two weeks prior due to unexpected hospitalization of DH.  Even though the airline gave us a future flight credit good thru 12/23, we had the option of receiving cash for the cancelled flight from our trip insurance.  On the claim form there was a box to check that said we did not have use for the airline credit (which we don't).  We received the refund, no problem. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, QueenofEverything said:

Not necessarily true.  We had to cancel an August Alaska cruise two weeks prior due to unexpected hospitalization of DH.  Even though the airline gave us a future flight credit good thru 12/23, we had the option of receiving cash for the cancelled flight from our trip insurance.  On the claim form there was a box to check that said we did not have use for the airline credit (which we don't).  We received the refund, no problem. 

 I'm glad they offered that option, and it worked out for you since you were already going to make a claim under that insurance policy.  When a cruise is cancelled (by the cruise line), we are better off taking the airline credit and rolling the insurance policy over to a future trip.

[CPT Trips]

12 hours ago, rcaruso said:

Let's not talk about Avalon's parent company Globus.  At the start of the pandemic our Poland tour was cancelled and we missed the fine print and could not get a refund, so we held it over.  We found another trip we liked added more money, and then in December this year it was cancelled for no reason, again credits, but we had our travel agent intervene and finally got all our money back.  Left a bad taste in my mouth for that company.

I also think Globus tastes bad. On March 12, 2020 in the midst of a Norway tour, Globus told us that the tour was over due to the pending US border closing. We were also informed that the Globus tour leader, bus, and driver would be departing on the ferry early the next morning. Before she left the tour leader advised us that a Globus rep would meet with us that next day. Unfortunately that rep had no authority to act, so we were essentially on our own. 
 

Some of the people were scheduled to return to the US the next day, so they were OK. A number of us had booked the extended trip and were scheduled to fly Oslo to Tromso on the 13th and we’re not ticketed to return home until the 16th or later. Plus we had no hotel reservations in Oslo for the 13th and Norway began a quarantine that evening. Fortunately the hotel came through by contacting Globus and getting authorization for us to stay. Of course the biggest issue was getting a flight home “before the world closed.”

 

We were told that the Globus offices were prioritizing people who booked air through them so we should see what we could arrange ourselves. Fortunately we had a TA who was able to arrange a flight change with the airline and we were on what we were told was the last plane out of Copenhagen (we didn’t get the non-stop from Oslo we booked).

 

Although I “never say never,” don’t expect any Avalon trip reports from me.