We were somehow booked on another Ship from our traveling companions.

[Rusty Shackleford 2]

We are new to the river cruises and myself and another couple took a night and booked a vacation in early May on Viking Down the Danube from Passau to Budapest.

 

At the time, on the web page we never saw any choice of boats,  and now we somehow got put on two different boats! It looks like they added a boat later and split us up not knowing that we were traveling together. I say this because the Atla was our boat from the beginning but they had no boat until they paid a month later and got the Aegir. 

 

Does anyone know of any way that we can get swapped back on one boat or the other? We both paid for the Veranda size cabins and would happily switch boats. I called Viking and they want us to cancel and rebook but that seems extreme. Any one have a number of someone I could call to discuss this situation and perhaps work out a solution.

 

Thanks 

[Roz]

If you had booked thru a travel agent, they could probably straighten it out for you.  Also, they would have linked the 2 reservations.  

 

If it doesn't cost anything to cancel and re-book, that's what I would do.  Not extreme, in my opinion.

[Rusty Shackleford 2]

[Rebel54]

Have you tried calling Viking and asking them to resolve it? They should be able to move you or them to the same cruise.

[Roz]

The OP said they already tried calling Viking. 

[CDNPolar]

I have not had this particular situation, but with Viking, it would seem that sometimes fixing things does require the cancel and rebook.

 

Now that is where you need to ensure a couple of things... sometimes this is "language" with Viking.  You may not want to "Cancel" because there are fees, but you would "Modify" your booking, from one side or the other to the same ship.

 

You just want to ensure before you do it that Viking will confirm:

 

* No cancelation fee charged

 

* Same price for same cabin category on the other ship.  (It is possible however that this is not available depending on what is available on the ship you are moving to)

 

* Ensure that your bookings are linked as this was probably not done before or you would be on the same ship.  (When we book with others, we always provide our booking number and have them give that to Viking so they ensure we are on the same ship.  On many River cruises, there are too many boats going back and forth and some departing the same dates it is easy to get the wrong ship.)

 

This may be what you have to do....

[terry&mike]

I would be curious to see their original invoice. I've seen many Viking invoices over the years, and none have not included a ship name. The Aegir has been sailing that route for many years, and was not added recently.

 

For newbies, the Viking web site may be confusing, as when you are searching for a cruise, it will bring back a list of cruises that is not a complete list, it is actually "Selected Sailings". The site will initially show you the cruises that have more availability at that moment, displayed as a drop down list. When you click on More Info, it will show you the name of the ship and the cabin's availability and price. At the top of this list, there is a toggle button that you can move to All Sailings, and this will show you every departure date and sailing -- this toggle button is preset to Selected Sailings. My guess is you chose from a Selected Sailings list, same date, and your friends chose from a different Selected Sailings list, same date. 

[terry&mike]

Out of curiosity, I went in to look at sailings and availability on Viking. Based on the information you provided of early May (I'm assuming 2024?), and that you wrote the direction of Passau to Budapest, and gave ship names of Atla and Aegir, I think you must be booked on May 12 departures, correct? 

 

You are actually not on just different ships, but different itineraries. 

 

May 12-19, Aegir, Danube Waltz itinerary from Passau to Budapest. (Currently, there are no Verandah cabins available, but there are French Balcony cabins available.)

 

May 12-19, Atla, Romantic Danube itinerary from Regensburg to Budapest. (There are no Verandah,  but there are French Balcony.)

 

If you had the directional incorrect, then you could be on the May 5 sailing, and here are the details:

 

May 5-12, Aegir, Danube Waltz itinerary from Budapest to Passau. (Verandah cabins are available.)

 

May 5-12, Atla, Romantic Danube itinerary from Budapest to Regensburg. (Only Standard cabins are available.)

[Roz]

Another example of why booking through a TA can head off a lot of problems,  especially for newbies. 

[CDNPolar]

22 hours ago, terry&mike said:

I would be curious to see their original invoice. I've seen many Viking invoices over the years, and none have not included a ship name. The Aegir has been sailing that route for many years, and was not added recently.

 

 

Maybe this is a difference country by country, but on 10 Viking cruises, both river and ocean, every invoice we receive from Viking and then subsequently our TA (if we used one) have the ship name on them.  

 

We travel with friends and family occasionally and that is one of the first things we check when the booking is complete.  We consolidate the invoices and make sure we are on the same ship, same dates, and same direction.

 

Edited February 7 by CDNPolar

[terry&mike]

38 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Maybe this is a difference country by country, but on 10 Viking cruises, both river and ocean, every invoice we receive from Viking and then subsequently our TA (if we used one) have the ship name on them.  

 

We travel with friends and family occasionally and that is one of the first things we check when the booking is complete.  We consolidate the invoices and make sure we are on the same ship, same dates, and same direction.

 

The Original Poster is from Houston (Texas, US), so presumably they are seeing the information presented in the same format as I see it (in Florida, US), which is identical to the format that CDNPolar (in Canada) has posted above. I have handled a high number of these invoices, and they all follow the same format that is posted here.

 

In 2021, there was a Christmas Markets sailing with 4 cabins booked, in which Viking made a change -- the over-abundance of communication that they provided was impressive. They are not a company that would slip a change by a consumer quietly. 

 

I'm no Viking Cheerleader, preferring the river products of Scenic and AMA, but I can honestly say that Viking's Administrative side and booking documentation is as straight-forward as you can get in the industry. They are a solid company, offering a solid product, so I don't love seeing a post that implies that Viking randomly changed a booking on a guest without cause -- this type of post can have the effect of other consumers not having confidence in the product. I would like to see proof to support these claims. 

 

As CDNPolar said, a quick consolidation of the invoices would have uncovered the different Ship, Cruise ID, Cruise Name, etc. 

 

Going forward, how to correct this is the challenge. As OP has booked directly, you'll need to be your own advocate with Viking. I'd suggest calling again, apologizing for having made an embarrasing booking error, asking for "help" in getting it straight (that word often prompts people to get involved with a solution), having options of what you are willing to do ready to present to Viking (such as Booking A is willing to move to same sailing as Booking B and accept a French Balcony cabin rather than a Verandah). If you meet with some resistance, then politely request to move this up the chain of command. Possibly you will get this resolved in your favor, possibly it will cost you some fees, possibly you will not be able to get it resolved and you'll still both have great trips, just cruise separately. Had you booked with a travel agent, they would be advocating on your behalf, and would have a different route to take on this matter.

 

Best of luck in getting it resolved, but no matter what, it will still be a great trip. 

[Rusty Shackleford 2]

Well I hope you’re right,  but a reputable cruise line would work to solve the problem no matter what happened.  I have never sailed Viking but the nonsense about us being novice to sailing is completely without merit. There were four intelligent well educated people that will testify that there was one ship scheduled to leave Passau  on the 28 of April and now there are two. If you look at the schedule now you will see that there are only one on the schedule for the rest of the year. We booked them together the same time and have booking numbers one digit apart. But assigning blame is irrelevant.   If Viking is so reputable they will fix this.  Which is easily done with just a phone call.  If they don’t, we will go on our trip and forever after steer all those that will listen away from their  door step.  Norwegian, Carnival and other cruise lines I have been on this would have been an opportunity to demonstrate how efficiently they can help solve a customer’s problems.   Viking is showing how they only care about money and playing a blame game.