Compensation for cancelled port visit

[Adriatic2024]

I just returned from Viking’s Western Mediterranean Explorer cruise.  We were unable to visit Monte Carlo due to high seas.

 

I received the follow email from Viking:

 

“Welcome home and thank you for traveling with Viking. We understand that due to inclement weather, your sailing experienced itinerary changes which included missing the port in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

The safety of our guests and crew is of utmost importance. While weather conditions are beyond our control, please know we made every effort to minimize the impact to your itinerary. We apologize for any inconvenience the modifications may have caused. 

At your convenience, we invite you to discuss your concerns or any questions you may have by calling our Customer Relations team at 1-833-367-5312, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, PT.

Thank you for sailing with us and we wish you well wherever your next journey takes you. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you on board again soon.

Sincerely,

Viking”

 

Has anyone had a similar experience?  What, if any compensation did you receive for your missed port visit.

 

Many thanks.

 

[JM0115]

3 minutes ago, Adriatic2024 said:

I just returned from Viking’s Western Mediterranean Explorer cruise.  We were unable to visit Monte Carlo due to high seas.

 

I received the follow email from Viking:

 

“Welcome home and thank you for traveling with Viking. We understand that due to inclement weather, your sailing experienced itinerary changes which included missing the port in Villefranche-sur-Mer.

The safety of our guests and crew is of utmost importance. While weather conditions are beyond our control, please know we made every effort to minimize the impact to your itinerary. We apologize for any inconvenience the modifications may have caused. 

At your convenience, we invite you to discuss your concerns or any questions you may have by calling our Customer Relations team at 1-833-367-5312, Monday through Friday, from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, PT.

Thank you for sailing with us and we wish you well wherever your next journey takes you. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome you on board again soon.

Sincerely,

Viking”

 

Has anyone had a similar experience?  What, if any compensation did you receive for your missed port visit.

 

Many thanks.

 

Almost never receive compensation for missed ports.

[Jim Avery]

Compehsation rarely given for weather related missed ports.

[LindaS272]

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, though. People have reported on CC that they have received $$$ for missed ports just by complaining to Viking.

[millybess]

26 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Squeaky wheel gets the grease, though. People have reported on CC that they have received $$$ for missed ports just by complaining to Viking.

And apparently you don't have to be the squeaky wheel.  Maybe on our TransAtlantic in March someone else was the squeaky wheel and we got a surprise in our inbox.

[Zippeedee]

My trip insurance (Nationwide Luxury Cruise) pays for missed ports. I’ve only received compensation from the cruise line (not Viking) when the decision was not weather related -they decided to go into dry dock early.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

And apparently you don't have to be the squeaky wheel.  Maybe on our TransAtlantic in March someone else was the squeaky wheel and we got a surprise in our inbox.

I seem to recall you were on a TA that missed Madeira? Ours missed it too and we got nada!

[millybess]

10 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

I seem to recall you were on a TA that missed Madeira? Ours missed it too and we got nada!

I remember that Linda. And we were on a Baltic cruise with you and Dave when we missed Bornholm. We were enjoying being on the ship so much, we didn’t care. We felt the same about Madeira.  So, I guess there was a squeaky wheel on our TransAtlantic. 

 

If it was a multi-day stop, for example, Tokyo on our upcoming cruise, I would feel differently. 

[MikeyB]

6 hours ago, Jim Avery said:

Compehsation rarely given for weather related missed ports.

Except for Jim's spelling he is correct.

However, it's a different matter when Viking drops a port one week before sailing because they realize the port day falls on Christmas or New Years!

[CDNPolar]

Others have posted here receiving compensation for missed a missed port.  We were on the same cruise as one member that claimed to receive $1000 voucher, but we did not complain / call so we got nothing.  Not even an email, just an announcement by the Captain that the winds were too high to dock.

 

All you can do is call or write and see what happens.

[melgirl]

We had two missed ports on our August Bergen to New York cruise this year. On board advice was “ no compensation “. I rang Viking when I returned home to query their policy and received the same response. However the staff member with whom I spoke suggested I send an email outlining my query. I thought it wouldn’t be worth the effort, so was very impressed when this same staff member rang some three weeks later to advise that she had been proactive in following up. We now have $500 future cruise credit. Needless to say we were impressed with this staff member.

[Breckski]

Why would one feel Viking is responsible for passenger compensation due to a weather-related missed port?  I feel Viking wants to dock at each port advertised - that Viking isn't skipping ports to save money.  I may be naive, but I certainly feel Viking cancels ports for legitimate safety concerns with a side of legal concerns.  For weather-related cancellations, Viking is in a lose/lose situation at no fault of their own.

 

I don't know details of Viking's port/excursion/supply replenishment (etc.) contracts.  And not really sure if the terms of any such contracts impacts the decision relating to passenger compensation.  

[Breckski]

Maybe someone should offer a travel insurance policy for missed ports?

[Hobson1754]

3 minutes ago, mwike said:

Maybe someone should offer a travel insurance policy for missed ports?

They do in UK - you can add an option to your policy for this very reason at an additional cost of course.

[PRH]

At at a minimum, you should be refunded port fees for missed ports.

[SusaninCO]

Our ship (Orion, AUS-NZ) was diverted through the Cook Strait and up the west coast of NZ because of a cyclone. We missed two ports and excursions were canceled in Auckland. We did not expect to receive any compensation and were just glad to arrive safely. We also had a fire on the ship in Sydney.  We were surprised that Viking sent us an email after the trip with vouchers for our inconvenience. We felt so good about Viking, we booked for Viking Homelands next year. 

[Jim Avery]

22 minutes ago, PRH said:

At at a minimum, you should be refunded port fees for missed ports.

Not sure Viking gets p0rt fees refunded if cancelling  a port call at last minute.  Ports are in the money making business as well.

[scidee]

Remember that excursions are included the price we pay for the voyage.  When a port is skipped Viking doesn't have to pay the excursion providers and we don't get our excursion.  Thus I feel we should get an excursion refund.

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, scidee said:

Remember that excursions are included the price we pay for the voyage.  When a port is skipped Viking doesn't have to pay the excursion providers and we don't get our excursion.  Thus I feel we should get an excursion refund.

Do you know for a fact they don't have to pay penalties for short notice cancellation?  I don't know either but most do have penalties.  I do know if I have a private car tour and don't show I get charged.  They booked that time out for me so they lost the chance to resell it.

[Baron Barracuda]

Not a missed port but our recently completed Grand Polynesia on the Star originally called for two days in Bora Bora which pre-cruise Viking shortened to one day, replacing the other with a sea day.   Because of this change they awarded everyone a $200 OBC.  During the actual cruise however Viking announced that extra sea day was being replaced by a visit to Raiatea, a new to Viking port.  Turned out to be a small, lovely island that unlike most of the other French Polynesian islands processed a real dock, so no tendering.  Considered that a nice win.

[taiwan_girl]

We have an upcoming Athens - Rome cruise starting in just a couple of days.  (Yay!!!).  It was supposed to stop in Crete on Christmas day, but received an email about a month ago that Crete was cancelled as most everything would be closed on Christmas.  We were given a USD$200 ship credit.

[Reaniel]

2 hours ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Not a missed port but our recently completed Grand Polynesia on the Star originally called for two days in Bora Bora which pre-cruise Viking shortened to one day, replacing the other with a sea day.   Because of this change they awarded everyone a $200 OBC.  During the actual cruise however Viking announced that extra sea day was being replaced by a visit to Raiatea, a new to Viking port.  Turned out to be a small, lovely island that unlike most of the other French Polynesian islands processed a real dock, so no tendering.  Considered that a nice win.

 

I really like the way Viking is using new ports like this.  Replacing lost days with ports that's coming in new itineraries.  For our Cities of Antiquities & The Holy Land sailing that we completed a couple of weeks ago, they replaced the 3 days in Israel with 2 days in Malta and 1 extra day in Cyprus.  The day in Cyprus was meh, but Malta was awesome.

 

Saturn also made local news, which we didn't know until after we left (lol)

[wp bob]

In March Auckland to Sydney we missed Napier (typhoon several weeks earlier trashed the town),Christchurch (broken freighter was unable to move from our dock) and Tasmania - broken ship engine and had to go slower to get to Melbourne. Lots of extra days at sea - we got onboard credit, free drinks one day, extra free tour in Melbourne and when we got home 25% of our cruise cost for future booking. Everyone was upset about Tasmania. Viking knew about Napier weeks before but said nothing until we boarded and we had to cancel our Viator booking there and also Christchurch. Our vendor knew and told us before the ship told us that ports were cancelled.

[donaldsc]

If you read your cruise contract the cruise line has no responsibility for Acts of God.  Since Viking did not cause the bad weather I don't why Viking owes you anything.  In fact I would suggest that you should thank Viking for protecting you from possible problems caused by the bad weather by missing the port instead of looking for compensation.

 

DON

[Pushka]

Not ocean but river cruise. Christmas on the Rhine. We missed five ports, had to ship swap (not uncommon) but that ship then did not move for three nights. Have heard nothing from Viking. It's been a week.  It was a known event before our cruise started. 

Edited December 23, 2023 by Pushka