Meeting with CEO Hagen and Team

[rbslos18]

Mr. Hagen is clearly a visionary businessman. He and his leadership team have built impressive loyalty. But in many businesses success and accolades can lead to complacency.  If you were invited to a sit down with Tor and his team what would be the one thing you would advise them to do?

 

 

 

[LindaS272]

1.) Give better customer service at the LA office.

 

2.) Adopt the policy that “the customer is always right.”

 

3. Ditch the out-sourced Viking Air call center & bring it back to the main office with experienced personnel. 

[longterm]

43 minutes ago, rbslos18 said:

Mr. Hagen is clearly a visionary businessman. He and his leadership team have built impressive loyalty. But in many businesses success and accolades can lead to complacency.  If you were invited to a sit down with Tor and his team what would be the one thing you would advise them to do?

Talk to a sports fan, and often you'll hear their strong opinion on how the team should be managed.

 

I loved what Jeff Fisher, former coach of the Tennessee Titans, said years ago when asked about fans' opinions on who should be leading his team: "When I start listening to what the fans are saying, that's when I'll be sitting in the stands."

[lackcreativity]

12 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

1.) Give better customer service at the LA office.

 

2.) Adopt the policy that “the customer is always right.”

 

3. Ditch the out-sourced Viking Air call center & bring it back to the main office with experienced personnel. 

Sorry, but I have experience in retail and I am not sure I agree that the customer is always right. The customer should always be treated with respect, but in my experience, sometimes they are not right. 

[CCWineLover]

57 minutes ago, rbslos18 said:

Mr. Hagen is clearly a visionary businessman. He and his leadership team have built impressive loyalty. But in many businesses success and accolades can lead to complacency.  If you were invited to a sit down with Tor and his team what would be the one thing you would advise them to do?

 

 

 

Communicate to the customer.  Viking is too silent on key matters.

Like:  not informing people why things are changed (ports, etc) or what the reasoning is behind things

Keep the website updated to reflect what is really happening (like ship ports, etc)

Don't advertise ports that obviously will never be visited (like Nicaragua, Key West, and Bar Harbor).

Be more open

Design better feedback forms (no more "meets expectations") that will provide more meaningful information (perhaps grades of 1 to 10 on each subject)

[lackcreativity]

2 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

 

Design better feedback forms (no more "meets expectations") that will provide more meaningful information (perhaps grades of 1 to 10 on each subject)

 

I always struggled with this. Once we completed our first cruise, then for future cruises, our expectations were pretty high. "Meets expectations" would be accurate, but somehow seemed less than complimentary.

[OneSixtyToOne]

13 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Design better feedback forms (no more "meets expectations") that will provide more meaningful information (perhaps grades of 1 to 10 on each subject)

Add the feedback to the app. I’m not filling out paperwork on vacation. I would however fill out an e-form on my phone while sitting somewhere on the ship. A paper form feels like homework and I ignore it unless something goes really bad.

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Breckski]

My belief is that Viking is much more susceptible to issues in the future than others if they don't recognize their business model of old may not suite the next generation of cruisers.  So, I'd make incremental changes to attract the next generation of cruisers.  But the issue is how to make these changes while increasing capacity without upsetting the current customer base.

 

In a post a while back, I remember someone asked about adventurous excursions a Viking cruise and someone's response was don't go on a Viking cruise if you want adventurous excursions.  I think that mindset will work in a niche cruise market, even in the future, but it's hard to grow niche products and it appears growth is what Viking desires.  And remember only a certain percentage of the population can afford $10k cruises.  Luxury brands can only grow so much due to the relatively small population of potential customers.  And all of the big cruise companies have luxury lines so there is certainly competition.

 

I just don't see how they can grow the river cruises significantly.  The rivers can only hold so many ships/barges.  

[Jim Avery]

Include tipping in the cruise fare.  With all the things Viking does include, and with their marketing saying everything you need is included, adding on tips is sort of tacky.  Viking is expensive up front and this simply should be something one doesn't have to add on.

[Jim Avery]

1 minute ago, mwike said:

My belief is that Viking is much more susceptible to issues in the future than others if they don't recognize their business model of old may not suite the next generation of cruisers.  So, I'd make incremental changes to attract the next generation of cruisers.  But the issue is how to make these changes while increasing capacity without upsetting the current customer base.

 

In a post a while back, I remember someone asked about adventurous excursions a Viking cruise and someone's response was don't go on a Viking cruise if you want adventurous excursions.  I think that mindset will work in a niche cruise market, even in the future, but it's hard to grow niche products and it appears growth is what Viking desires.  And remember only a certain percentage of the population can afford $10k cruises.  Luxury brands can only grow so much due to the relatively small population of potential customers.  And all of the big cruise companies have luxury lines so there is certainly competition.

 

I just don't see how they can grow the river cruises significantly.  The rivers can only hold so many ships/barges.  

The next generation is always getting older.  Just as we did.  Not too worried about that for them,  And I think you are right on with the river cruises.  A finite amount of space which already seems full.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

Sorry, but I have experience in retail and I am not sure I agree that the customer is always right. The customer should always be treated with respect, but in my experience, sometimes they are not right. 

Well, you don’t get the sarcasm in my comment. Point being, according to comments on CC (and in our own experience), Viking doesn’t always treat the customer with respect. Respect would be an improvement.

 

With retailers I have known who do seem to have a policy of appeasing the customer, they will bend over backwards to make things right. They get loyal customers that way.

[kcpvwill]

I totally agree with the met expectations comments.  We are about to do our 19th cruise with Viking next month and every time I cross out these headings and make my own, explaining I have high expectations which are invariably met.  I also ask them to change their headings but it never happens.  

[Berlin Bear]

Dear Mr. Hagen,

Stop ignoring your fellow mainland European citizens / potential customers!
Please make it possible for us to book a Viking cruise either through a Viking office based somewhere on the continent or through our travel agents.

Thank you!

 

It’s not going to happen, I know. 

[amtatom]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Add the feedback to the app. I’m not filling out paperwork on vacation. I would however fill out an e-form on my phone while sitting somewhere on the ship. A paper form feels like homework and I ignore it unless something goes really bad.

 

On our Australia & New Zealand cruise earlier this year, I could and did review shore excursions using the Viking app, but it was a pretty simple “click the bubble 1-5” review. When I gave the first shore excursion a poor rating (Sydney panoramic included), I then received a paper form in my state room that asked me for more information. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[Breckski]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

The next generation is always getting older.  Just as we did.  Not too worried about that for them,  And I think you are right on with the river cruises.  A finite amount of space which already seems full.

 

I get your point and really try not to fall into the trap of saying something like:  "the young folks these days....."   Which I realize is essentially what I said.🤪   Guess I failed.

 

And I realize all industries change over time as their client base ages out/changes.  However, it seems to me that Viking is very slow to change.  Likely due to evolving from the river cruises where I always thought their rapid growth was largely due to offering "security" of travel to Europe.  The majority of those loyal customers likely want zero change - they simply want a hassle free, no thought way to see Europe.

 

But I think their desire for growth is the real challenge.  Just don't think the current model will accommodate significant growth.  Maybe they need a cheaper line, but that would cannibalize current sales and possibly tarnish their reputation.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

8 minutes ago, amtatom said:

On our Australia & New Zealand cruise earlier this year, I could and did review shore excursions using the Viking app, but it was a pretty simple “click the bubble 1-5” review. When I gave the first shore excursion a poor rating (Sydney panoramic included), I then received a paper form in my state room that asked me for more information. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Has this been implemented fleet wide? I didn’t notice it on our previous two cruises this year but will be looking for it on our upcoming expedition cruise.

[Selion]

1 hour ago, LindaS272 said:

With retailers I have known who do seem to have a policy of appeasing the customer, they will bend over backwards to make things right. They get loyal customers that way.

Anyone tried to get refund of their Viking cruises from Nordstrom?

[rbslos18]

1 hour ago, kcpvwill said:

I totally agree with the met expectations comments.  We are about to do our 19th cruise with Viking next month and every time I cross out these headings and make my own, explaining I have high expectations which are invariably met.  I also ask them to change their headings but it never happens.  

Your point is well taken. I think everyone has high expectations. For a large majority, at least on this board,  the expectations are met.

 

The purpose of my question about the imaginary meeting is to see how the Viking diamond can be further polished.

 

Factoring out the pandemic, which they handled as well as they could:
 

1) Viking has an excellent product for those who do their homework. Negative experiences on cruises are uncommon and not typical. If we aren’t happy, we sure do repeatedly book cruises. 
2) There seem to be periodic Customer Service issues. Yes this is a small sampling but there are some recurrent issues raised on CC.
3) There are aspects of the planning process as experienced and expressed on this board that could be improved. (For example Air Plus)

 

[amtatom]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Has this been implemented fleet wide? I didn’t notice it on our previous two cruises this year but will be looking for it on our upcoming expedition cruise.

I don't know. 

 

I'm personally neutral on digital versus paper reviews. While saving paper is always a good idea, if I want to write something, I prefer to write it out long hand rather then try to type it on my phone (the only keyboard I have available on vacation). Perhaps a longer digital review sent to one's email after the cruise would be beneficial; it would give one time to reflect and more time to respond fully using the device/computer of their choice.

 

Note these app reviews were only ranking-style without room for comment. I suspect I only received the follow up due to my very poor ranking. It would be interesting to know if a mediocre review would have triggered this (I don’t think so based on my Melbourne review). But surely Viking could have learned something, if they truly wanted to know, by asking me why I ranked it mediocre.

 

However, I did like that the app was asking about a specific excursion, and not just all excursions in general.

Edited September 13, 2023 by amtatom

[longterm]

10 minutes ago, amtatom said:

I don't know. 

 

I'm personally neutral on digital versus paper reviews. While saving paper is always a good idea, if I want to write something, I prefer to write it out long hand rather then try to type it on my phone (the only keyboard I have available on vacation). Perhaps a longer digital review sent to one's email after the cruise would be beneficial; it would give one time to reflect and more time to respond fully using the device/computer of their choice.

 

Note these app reviews were only ranking-style without room for comment. I suspect I only received the follow up due to my very poor ranking. It would be interesting to know if a mediocre review would have triggered this (I don’t think so based on my Melbourne review). But surely Viking could have learned something, if they truly wanted to know, by asking me why I ranked it mediocre.

 

However, I did like that the app was asking about a specific excursion, and not just all excursions in general.

We've got an Indonesia>Australia>NZ cruise on our list; could you share why you didn't like the cruise that you did, and which it was?

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, Selion said:

Anyone tried to get refund of their Viking cruises from Nordstrom?

REI.

[Brewgator]

I am a Viking enthusiast (with two ocean and one river cruise in the pipeline over the next two years).  I believe they offer a superior product at a (somewhat) reasonable rate.  I agree with previous posts that they really should go inclusive with the tips.  If we are going to pay it anyway, why not include it and adjust cruise price accordingly?

 

I posted elsewhere that I met Mr. Hagen on a recent cruise and, had I been thinking, I would have sought clarification on Viking's attitude toward single cruisers.  Obviously it has been a conscious decision to not market to single customers either through the provision of (limited) single cabins or by offering discounted single supplements (at least on a wider basis).  As a businessman I am sure he has thought this through and they can make the numbers work without doing this (in other words it is not their business model).  But even a half dozen single cabins on their newbuilds would pay some sort of lip service to a rapidly growing population segment.

[duquephart]

3 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Well, you don’t get the sarcasm in my comment. Point being, according to comments on CC (and in our own experience), Viking doesn’t always treat the customer with respect. Respect would be an improvement.

 

With retailers I have known who do seem to have a policy of appeasing the customer, they will bend over backwards to make things right. They get loyal customers that way.

 

They also get taken advantage of that way.

[formernuke]

I would love to see the excursion descriptions become much more detailed about what to expect and increase the quantities on the optional excursions expanded so it would be more likely people would be able to schedule them in advance. Also consider an excursion credit equivalent to the included, so you could either do the included or apply the equivalent to an optional excursion. 

[duquephart]

4 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Include tipping in the cruise fare.  With all the things Viking does include, and with their marketing saying everything you need is included, adding on tips is sort of tacky.  Viking is expensive up front and this simply should be something one doesn't have to add on.

 

Adding on tips (which aren't really tips in the first place) is not "sort of" tacky.