Viking also does not let you reschedule when known adverse conditions exist; they will keep your money at all costs. It took several months, but they finally heard back from the travel insurance. CC Help Jenn Sorry. The total cost was $15,599, including a three-day land add-on and travel insurance. They never disappoint you. 3 downloads. A full refund will be given for most optional shore excursions if you give notice of cancellation at least 48 hours prior to the optional shore excursion. I can't believe this is legal! Are any of the other November 12th passengers getting a response from the '800' number given to us on the Customer Relations Department? *This voucher can be used on any new Viking cruise and will be applied at booking. This guarantee is combinable with all other Viking offers available. In June 2018 we really enjoyed the Viking experience on the Grand European Cruise even though half of the cruise reverted to a bus/hotel tour as the water level was too low for water travel. Copyright 19952023 The Independent Traveler, Inc. Amazing, Funny & Totally Awesome Cruise Photos, http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/pdfs/2011%20PAX%20Ticket%20Contract_EU.RU.UK.pdf, Click here to reload the page in order to enable certain features, Policy regarding COVID related Discussions. we certainly do. When more than one cruise is booked, deposit and payment policies apply per Cruise Fare. There. VIKING RIVER CRUISES, INC.: Viking River Cruises, Inc. acts solely as a Sales Agent for the above-mentioned operators of the vessels described herein. we would not take the risk but are pleased to have been warned about what plan b would look like. They charged us 846.00 each to get a plane ticket. Viking River Cruises Irrawaddy / Mekong / Ganges / Yangtze River Cruises. I was told that I wouldn't be able to book an optional excursion UNTIL onboard the ship! Given the cancer diagnosis we decided the best solution would be to cancel our cruise plans and request a refund. An act of God is one thing when it is unknown. .. this is not an Act of God. Even so, we enjoyed the experience to the fullest and wanted more.Consequently, Viking offered a 25% voucher for future use to offset the unexpected change in the cruise we had taken. How do you know a company will use travel math? Use down arrow key to expand the menu and up arrow key to collapse the menu and hit enter to select the link They replied ' Nope. This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Since you only paid $14K, I'll assume you were on a short cruise of under 35-days, so the cancellation terms were: - Prior to 120-days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of $100 pp. At 50 days, still, no shore excursions were even listed for consideration. The bottom line here is that Viking sold a cruise package that it could not deliver. Viking has an office in California. If its taking your money, its always going to use math that favors it. At Viking, your experience means the world to us. If they got enough complain, they might open an investigation. I was on the 3rd week of the affected trip. I can understand they cannot control water levels, but their business practices and customer service sound awful. It is difficult to categorize a review as both great and terrible at the same time, but this is the case. endobj When they KNEW we were not going to finish the cruise and, in fact, we actually only had three days on the ship with buses waiting for us, I think that is plain fraud. It flows from north to south, through the Irrawaddy Delta, emptying into the Andaman Sea. We were not given the benefit of the Priority Shore Excursion Reservations that we paid for. Wheres the refund? The booking must be cancelled before applying for a refund. Viking should not sell a product that it cannot convey. Viking did a phenomenal job on every aspect, including the really complicated logistics of a land/river tour that included three intra-China flights, feeding people on land and on the river, and, most important of all, providing the best guides you'll ever have. Fosse found the names, numbers and email addresses for Vikings customer service executives on this site. But, GCT consistantly scores high on Naste and has wonderful customer satisfaction. We understand that some of our guests might be hesitant about making a cruise reservation or traveling at this time. Viking's large fleet of over 70 ships and counting sail to a large variety of itineraries in Europe, Russia, Egypt, China and more. Not exactly our idea of an "active" vacation. If the tickets were purchased through a travel agency, you must contact the travel agency for the refund. Shame on them. But for me, the best explanation is that the company is in business. Full Fare is defined as the full cost of any cruise, land or air component purchased from Viking. I encourage all dissatisfied customers from the first 3 weeks to write to all channels of complains, whether it's California state attorney general or their local medie. We understand your disappointment regarding the sold-out optional excursions for your voyage and can assure you that we are working diligently to provide additional excursions based on guest interest and availability. Not much Viking can do about that. #1. 125% Future Cruise Vouchers: The Ultimate in Flexibility and Value. We opted to take the grand European cruise with Viking and visit as many communities in Europe as We booked a cruise which included Turkey. The worst part is that they out and out lied about it and held a meeting to tell us they just discovered and were advised that they shouldn't go any further on the Rhinea bold and untrue statement, as even the crew told us later they knew and wished they'd handled it differently..same thing to the folks on the return trip. Cruise was amazing! He asked the couple to submit a medical claim with the travel insurance company. We look forward to hearing from you. Check out Elliott Advocacy Today, our free, daily newsletter with links to your favorite commentary, tips and news about consumer advocacy. Attempts to engage either Viking directly or Viking's in-house travel insurance, TravelMate, have been met with spectacular indifference and silence. But why cant I get a refund? Read those threads, and you'll see that I am hardly alone in my assessment of how great these trips are. It seems the cruise industry knew the COVID-19 situation was dire. Stanley Keyles looks at the Viking River Cruise website. I received the refund 02/21/2023. Well, if you do some reading over on the "Viking China 2" thread, and the years-long original "Viking China" thread (now closed, the thread was SO long) in the "Cruise Lines A-O/Other Cruise Lines" forum, you'll find a zillion happy people, including yours truly, who had a FANTASTIC time traveling with Viking in China. I had told them about posts here on CC and Uniworld had not informed them of any of it before they arrived on the ship. Called on 5/28/2020 notified Viking I wanted a refund not voucher for future travel. While the travel vouchers are good for 24 months, given the state of the pandemic and its global reach, and our medical conditions and age, we will not be traveling any time soon and certainly not in the next 24 months especially on a ship of any kind, Keyles said. On 9/18/2021 at 12:41 PM, CCWineLover said: 19952023, The Independent Traveler, Inc. City Tours, Walking Tours, Sightseeing Tours, Food Tours, Self-Guided Tours & Rentals. A: Some cruise lines are at least holding out the prospect of a refund for people who cannot get vaccinated, although no promises are being made. Ask yourself: Why is it doing this? . However, if the above conditions do not exist for your cruise, expect misleading and perhaps devious information about water levels (not enough water to cruise meaning busing to the next destination or more), cancelations of previously established onshore visits, mooring in a backwater that may smell like refuse and next to up to 6 ships side to side so your expensive veranda is useless for multiple days while youre being bussed around, etc., you get the picture. 125% Future Cruise Vouchers can be applied to a new reservation on any river, ocean or expedition cruise. Refunds are made upon receipt and depend on the working times of banks. Their claim was denied and the couple let Viking know. What Viking would have kept if you had cancelled is now, under the No-Risk guarantee given, to you as a voucher for you to use on a future cruise. Instead, Viking made the shore excursions available to all passengers on our sailing and several others simultaneously. for mandatory gratuities.They say everything is includedunless you get sick. Vrbo took my $1,270! Four days on a bus. Ten days later, on March 30, Viking announced the cruise was canceled and 100% cash refunds would be given to customers but only for those who hadnt canceled previously. However, that's not the same as getting satisfactory results, if you know what I mean. to join our vibrant team at Viking Crew in Abroad. After all, its her second Viking cancellation. Since we knew with our health concerns and our ages we would likely not take any other cruises, we did not want to risk losing any more money by waiting.. It's worth noting that the ship is docked in the port at Valletta for the first two days anyway, so people have plenty of time to board to the ship if using another airline?They're loss. This is a critical policy for Viking guests to understand before agreeing to purchase a cruise. A: Viking should fully refund your cruise. 1 0 obj By choosing a refund, the added value 125% Future Cruise Voucher will become invalid. But all was not lost. We appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention, jaxxx2016, and regret to hear of the situation you have described. Can I get a refund for my Marriott Vacation Club Points? Travel companies always do the math so it favors them. In doing that they converted all the credit money to euros and back so we were still shorted over $70. Most Viking cruises offer extensions either at the start or the end of the trip. Thank you. This is an act of God, but, Viking knew of this situation and opted to use their contract to the fullest extent of the law and not advise any of the clients in advance of the fact we wouldn''t be on a cruise but a cross country bus tour. #24 states a different situation than yours, so maybe your TA is at fault. You will be able to leave a comment after signing in, By If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. TravelMate travel insurance has a very strong firewall and does not respond to any attempt to contact them nor do they show any indication that they are reviewing our claimno relief there.We now join the growing crowd of very unhappy Viking customers. Passengers wishing to request refunds must do so on the cruise line's website. When we purchased this cruise, we paid for Deluxe Accommodations. Great advertisement but horrendous customer relations. We had such a pleasant experience with Viking in spite of the inconvenience, and with great expectations we immediately booked the Ocean/River Cruise for 2019. I emphasized that we did not randomly make the decision to cancel when we did and that we had called Viking and consulted with one of their representatives first.. Further, Viking added that "non-compliance . 60% of Full Fare. Cash compensation would not necessarily cover the full amount owed and the travel insurance premium is not eligible for reimbursement in any event.. x}[S\G#aVef|tZ1YO~Y^5no?Gg~? The cruise line offered her future cruise vouchers worth 125 percent of her fare. 4 0 obj Refunds are made based on the cancellation conditions. Posted August 21, 2020. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The total cost was $15,599,. I'm glad you posted this Yoda Mom. However our travel agent recommended Viking & Avalon. Our week of cruising on the Helvetia from Amstradam to Basel ended up as a bus trip. ROYAL VIKING LINE LAST BROCHURE 1995 ROYAL VIKING SUN & QUEEN INCL DECK PLANS. We have friends who highly recommended GCT. Not to defend Viking by any means but Uniworld did this to a friend. This is an act of God, but, Viking knew of this situation and opted to use their contract to the fullest extent of the law and not advise any of the clients in advance of the fact we wouldn''t be on a cruise but a cross country bus tour. That way, you can cancel if the water level disrupt your RIVER CRUISE. After all, this too shall eventually pass. 6. After 24 months, if you are unable to use your 125% Future Cruise Voucher, simply return your expired voucher to Viking and we will send you a refund equal to the original amount paid to Viking to the original form of payment. Unfortunately, during the voyage, I became ill. We decided to fly home from Rome (as originally this was part of the trip). Notification must be received as follows: For those with flights arranged by Viking, it must be received at least 14 days prior to the date of flight departure. . With all What was her trick, other than contacting the right person? I wouldnt have. She responded that it would not be fair to all the others who cancelled early and that if we had waited 10 more days, we would have received full reimbursement, she said. I just received a nice Viking River Cruises brochure in the mail, and we were seriously thinking of giving it a try. We hope that the flexibility provided by this guarantee truly puts your mind at ease when it comes to the decision of whether or not to travel. at least month before we went on our trip in October for optional cruises that were subsequently cancelled. I've travelled extensively and have never experienced that short of discrimination in the past. In July, the representative sent the couple an email that got them to agree to file a claim with the travel insurance policy. As a private company, we have the flexibility to do what is best for our guests and our employees, it said in an email. Author. Reviewed December 16, 2018 People who take river cruises need to know how Viking handles refunds if the optional cruise (s) they paid for before the trip are cancelled. By choosing a refund, the added value 125% Future Cruise Voucher will become invalid. They can not control water levels, but they finally heard back from the '800 ' number given to.. A product that it could not deliver can understand they can not control levels... Cruises Irrawaddy / Mekong / Ganges / Yangtze River Cruises BROCHURE in mail... Bottom line here is that the company is in business and customer sound. Hardly alone in my assessment of how great these trips are the Helvetia from Amstradam Basel! 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