As mentioned in the previous post, we paid an additional fee so that we could choose our flights from Columbia, SC to Buenos Aires, Argentina for this trip.
We initially chose a departure date for the trip of Saturday, February 4, 2023. This would give us an arrival in Buenos Aires on the morning of February 5, 2023. I had originally chosen this date because there were more available seats on the flights I had pre-selected for the trip using Google Flights for information, especially on the overnight flight to Buenos Aires. I had selected Delta Flights because we only had to make one connection in Atlanta and then had a direct flight from there to Buenos Aires. We also liked this flight because it was on a Boeing 767, and there are two seats on the outside of the row next to the windows, which is our preference for overnight flights. We don’t want to get interrupted by any other persons in our row, and vice versa.
Just to be prepared, I also looked at a few other flights, mostly on American Airlines. These were somewhat cheaper than the Delta Flights when I looked at all of the flight information for those on Google Flights.
Once we had actually booked the cruise reservation, we also had to pay the entire cost of the cruise package because we were only about 30 days form the cruise departure, well inside the normal final payment due date. During the booking process, I had made sure that if we were unable to actually pick our flights that we would be refunded the Air Plus Fee, which is stated as non-refundable. I also asked about that before we finalized the payment, and I was told that if you end up taking flights chosen completely by Viking Air, then the fee was never used, and therefore refundable.
After paying for the entire cruise (ouch), I was transferred to the Viking Air Department, and that is when all of the fun started.
I asked about the Delta Flights, and was initially told that they were not available on Saturday, February 4. I then asked about Sunday, February 5, and the agent told me that they could book those flights on Sunday, so we proceeded. Our travel date on Saturday was initially selected because I could see there were a lot more seats available on the Saturday flight then on the Sunday flight. I guess seat availability is not necessarily part of the equation for Viking to be able to get tickets on a particular flight at their discounted rate.
After going through all of the motions to get the Sunday flight on Delta, and another favorable one connection flights for the return, also on Delta and connecting in Atlanta, the agent then told me that those flights would cost an additional $1,100 per person. I was stunned, never during any conversation was “available flights”, tied together with a tremendous cost increase discussed with me by the agent. I was under the impression that “available” meant available for me to get within the free airfare flight promotion.
Now we had to start all over, which was frustrating. I then asked about some of the American Airlines flights that I had also selected through Google Flights and written down on my list of possibilities. The flight down to Buenos Aires was not terrible, leaving out on the same Sunday afternoon, going to Dallas-Ft Worth and then from Dallas-Ft. Worth direct to Buenos Aires, with just the one connection. The return flight were less favorable, connecting through both Miami and Charlotte before arriving home in Columbia. The flights leaving Buenos Aires are generally late at night, so they are all overnight flights back to the USA, the same as flying down.`
I was once again told these were available, but would cost $800 more per person. I asked what happened to the “free” airfare that was advertised as part of the promotion, but apparently it is only free as long as it meets their cost allotment, which was not disclosed.
I then asked what flight we could be put on that would not cost us any more, and the representative worked on that for several minutes before I got my answer. The “included cost” flights available were routed in completely bizarre directions. One solution was for us to fly to Charlotte, then to Philadelphia, then to Miami, and then to Buenos Aires. That was not acceptable, I do not want to go north to Philadelphia in the winter time only to then route back south to Buenos Aires. And, four connections, that is just asking for disaster for lost luggage and delays, especially when starting out on the trip. Lost luggage coming home is an inconvenience, but nothing more.
I was not happy, and by this time, I had already spent 90 minutes on the phone. Not having the ability to see flights and know the connection times while talking on the phone just makes it harder, there is nothing for me to see to evaluate what I was being told and then be able to make good decisions.
Once again, I expressed my frustration with all of the flight selections, and told the representative I was ready to cancel the entire trip, and that this airfare experience had ruined the vacation for me before I had even gotten started. She placed me on hold and apparently talked with a supervisor because when she came back on the line, she told me that Viking was willing to put us on the American Airlines flight schedule that we had given as our second choice, and there would not be an additional cost. Now we were getting somewhere.
In my mind, we should be given some type of allowance since we had already paid $200 more for the deviation and $300 more to use Air Plus to select our flights.
Since we now had flights, I needed to pick our seats, and I had to actually go to the American Airlines website to log in, and select the flights we were on as if I were booking them so that I could see the available seats. There were no issues selecting seats on the flights except that flight from Dallas to Buenos Aires was quite full, and the only seats available side by side were on a window and middle seat in a row fairly far forward. I could see one of those seats was listed as a “premium” seat with an extra cost on the American Airlines website. However the rep selected those seats anyway, and I thought all was good, but a little leery about the premium cost seat selection.
However, I received the Flight Itinerary confirmation from Viking via email, and all of the seat selections were listed. By this time, I had a headache, but at least we had decent flights. I do not know why Viking makes the airfare so difficult, but it is a chronic complaint by almost anyone who has used them for their flights.
We were now fully engaged in this trip, we had paid all of our cost in full, selected the Viking Travel Insurance option in case something happened before or during the trip, and had our airfare reservations.
We normally get travel insurance on our own, but the Viking insurance gave us 100% coverage if we had to “cancel for any reason”, and the best we could purchase on our own was 75% coverage if we cancelled for something other than a covered reason. The Viking refund is in a credit for a future cruise, so that is the only downfall. However, both give us refundable cash coverage for covered cancellation reasons, and we were mostly worried about both of our mom’s health being the reason to cancel, and these are generally covered. In the end, the cost for the insurance was comparable between Viking and independent, so we chose to go with Viking for this cruise.
The total cost for this so far was $17,528.00, or $8,764.00 per person. This price includes everything other than tips and our cost to stay two nights in Buenos Aires before the cruise. It seems like a lot of money for only a 13 day cruise, but many of the Antarctic Expedition cruises we had looked at while doing our research prior to committing to this cruise was a lot higher. A lot meaning an order of magnitude of 1.5 to 2,5 times more.
Some comparable cruise ships were smaller, some larger, but overall, with the special pricing we received, which we determined was about 33% off their normal pricing, and airfare for that higher fare had not been listed as “free” like the Viking promotion we booked under.
Stephanie and I also discussed the guarantee cabin situation, and made the determination that if we selected another day and got just a slightly better cabin, we would be paying anywhere from $600 to $1,000 more per person for the same cruise. That cost increase certainly would cover our pre-cruise stay, and in the end, we hope that we are not spending a lot of time in our cabin anyway, so why pay more. The majority of the cabins we would book are all the same size, and have the same features, and all are what is described by Viking as a Nordic Balcony, meaning they all have a large window, and the top half will lower via electric motor to provide a pseudo balcony experience. We may be in the very bow or stern of the ship on the lowest level, but that is not all bad.
We also looked at the pricing for this same Viking cruise in December of 2023. The price for our same cabin classification starts out at $12,995 per person with the “free airfare”. With travel insurance added in, plus the same airfare charges we paid, the total cost without any promotional discounts would be around $14,300 per person, or $28,600 total. At that price, we would probably look elsewhere for another expedition ship experience, or at least evaluate more of them since the pricing would be more comparable to that higher Viking cost.
In the end, we were satisfied with the pricing we were able to get for this cruise. It is expensive, but it could be a lot more without the promotional discount that we were able to lock in at the last minute. We have certainly found that with travel specials, you just have to move quickly or they evaporate. The old adage, if you snooze, you loose has been our experience over the years with great deals.
A future post will describe the actual trip, and some of the features that make this an Expedition Cruise.