First time UK customer

[DaveA]

My wife and I have enjoyed many cruises and are now considering a first one with Viking.

I have always booked cruises through a TA before, but our usual TA does not deal with Viking. It seems that most of the main UK cruise travel agents don't deal with Viking Ocean. 

At the start of the Viking online booking process there's a prominent box for me to enter an offer code. This makes me feel I must be missing out by not using one. I have read through most of the 43 pages of the 'post offer codes' thread in this forum but they seem to be US offers.

Can any UK-based Viking cruisers suggest whether I'm likely to get an offer if I wait? I am not used to paying the quoted price with any other cruise lines!

Thanks

Dave

[shipboy]

We have had emails with discount codes, but these were for specific cruises and not for every cruise in their catalogue. We always book through Viking and if you ask nicely, you may get an onboard credit (OBC) and if the cruise is ≤ 15 days duration, ask for the Silver Spirits Package (SSP) to be included free of charge

[Frenchberet]

Hi DaveA, on the US Viking site, there are tabs that give you the option to enter your email - Why Viking, Complimentary Brochures, Sign Up To Receive Updates From Viking.  Check the UK site to see if you have something similar.  I think this might trigger some nice offers for a first timer.  Hope you enjoy sailing with Viking as much as we do!

[DaveA]

Thanks for those suggestions. I did sign up for emails but haven’t received any yet. I will give them a call and see if I can wheedle anything out of them.

[Meander Ingwa]

Not sure if Viking corporate (US) deals with the global IT system, but it is a holiday here so it might not be until Monday that the system updates and starts sending you, perhaps, more e mail than you want

[Goosebear Mum]

I have not yet booked my first Viking cruise (I’m UK too) but yes, I certainly get (more than) my fair share of daily emails AND post! I'm afraid so far they have been binned, so I cannot share any codes with you.  I’ll look at booking with Viking in a year or two, when (hopefully) the mortgage is out of the way. Till then I’m with cheaper P&O… I never realised Viking would spend so much on postal marketing… 

[KBs mum]

Book through a TA. We had a dispute with Viking relating to UK law and trading regulations. They kept quoting federal legislation. Wrong country! Our mistake was booking direct and expecting Viking to understand UK law. 

Their call centres are now not in the UK, and are somewhat hopeless. An email generated a reply bot answer. 

Our preferred TA no longer deals with them, following customer feedback, but others might. 

 

We are former Viking loyalists now looking elsewhere, we no longer consider them worth full price, the ships are nice, but the food is now chain pub standard at best. Also the brochures now say the itineraries are a guide only, they think nothing of changing or eliminating ports prior to departure, (half of them, and another country substituted) As we discovered. 

If you are happy with whichever line you use, I'd stick with them. 

We'd book with them, but only via a TA and for a hefty discount

Edited November 23, 2023 by KBs mum

[KBs mum]

2 hours ago, gardening_diva said:

 

If you book through a TA and the itinerary changes 'significantly' before you travel then you should be eligible for refund or re-book. Doesn't help if you've already departed though of course! 

I know this, you know this. Viking don't, as it turns out. 😊

[shipboy]

Coincidentally I received a discount code this morning, for an Antarctic expedition cruise. Well I hope it was coincidence 

[Hobson1754]

We’ve booked all our Viking Cruises through a TA.  I tend to contact Viking first, get the price, with any discounts I can & also ask for the SSP to be thrown in - up to now I’ve always got it! I then contact my TA who gives me cash off total price.  Viking also have my TA details on file & know you will be going through them - they are not bothered at all. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to give any TA details out on Cruise Critic, however if you access the large nationwide TA’s I’m sure you’ll find one that will deal with Viking,

As for the food - we’ve never had a problem with the food - granted I don’t think it has the WOW factor we used to get when we first started cruising in the 90’s, but I also think that’s true of all cruises now.  Think it’s partly the standard isn’t as good now but also think as you get older your expectations are higher, you’re more fussy as you’ve become used to eating/living better 😂

[dunromin]

We have been on 3 Viking trips in Vietnam, China and Ukraine and we are about to go on our first ocean cruise with them. The only discounts we managed to get were one for early booking, the repeat customer discount and £50 when we used a travel agent. They did give us a good discount on the next cruise for sticking with a booking made before covid, but I think the circumstances and the discount are exceptional. As Viking include flights there is little risk in them handling the booking, I also found their flight department very helpful with routings and dates enabling us to organise our own extensions and stopovers with little or no impact on cost. The service is exceptional from the meet and greet at the airport, the way the luggage disappears and reappears in your cabin or hotel room and the friendly professionalism of the Viking team.

[KBs mum]

7 hours ago, gardening_diva said:

And I should have clarified - "if you book through a TA IN THE UK and the itinerary changes....."

Viking UK are legally a TA, but no longer a good one. Which is aggravating, as they used to be as good as any other limited market firm