We are off to a sort of rough start with our Viking river cruise this coming October, 2025. When I booked the cruise back in May of this year I was excited about the prospect of a $1000 shipboard credit. However, as of today I find out that this credit was only applicable back in May and since they don't seem to have any record of my putting the code in when doing the booking on May 12, we were not going to get any of the credit. After two phone calls and two emails, I finally got to a supervisor who helped us a bit. He gave us a $300 credit (30% of what I thought we had) and stated that this was all he was permitted to give us at this time. He said if we had called 4 months ago he may have been able to fix it then. I actually thought all this time that we were going to see this $1000 credit when we boarded the ship. I pointed out that the guest statement has a line near the bottom that says "Shipboard credits on this booking, if applicable, are not included in the amount above". Viking says this statement is only meant to apply to the Travel Protection Plan, not the rest of the statement which is also "above". I just find the explanations from Viking hard to understand. I might also add that I booked this trip on the day of my cancer biopsy which turned out to be positive. I am now undergoing cancer treatment and will continue to do so after our cruise. That is not an excuse in itself, but I am usually very diligent about following directions when filling out an online form. Perhaps I should be happy to get 30% of what I thought we were receiving. It just feels a bit harsh for such a large corporation to be this inflexible about their bookings, given my understanding of the situation which I conveyed to three different employees of Viking.
Posted by
3699 posts
Viking spends so much on advertising, but not so much on customer service.
They know they were offering a $1K shipboard credit when you made the booking. But thank goodness you didn't enter the proper code. Viking sounds more like third world grifters than a first world cruise line.
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
6574 posts
This situation is precisely why I always use a travel agent who is very familiar with cruises, whenever I book a cruise. You HAVE to pay close attention to every detail when booking a cruise with any line, not just Viking. And you need to scrupulously check every detail immediately on receiving confirmation of the booking. Had the OP caught the missing OBC at the time of booking, odds are she could have corrected the omission. Any decently competent travel agent certainly would have.
As for Viking's response to the OPs complaints, she is more than lucky to get anything from them. They are a business and are responding according to the terms and conditions of the cruise contract, which the OP agreed to when she paid the deposit. They are not a charity, and none of this was their fault. They wouldn't be in business long if they acceded to every story asking for special treatment.
Posted by
Idaho, USA
8824 posts
I hope this trip doesn’t cause you any more stress during your trip, and I wish you a good outcome fighting the cancer. Hugs!
I started doing photo screenshots of every transaction, reservation, etc. It seems like duplicate effort, but it has been helpful - especially during the COVID travel reservations but even now, too.
Posted by
TX
2972 posts
Your cruise is right around the corner and I will be looking forward to a trip report.
Wishing you both a wonderful cruise and a good heath recovery.
In doing a lot of cruise research, I only heard and read the best things about Viking. Your post and the responses are an eye opener for me.