Monday June 27 2022 - Rhine River Cruise Preamble

A couple of years ago it occurred to me that Laura and Brett and Darren and Sue benefit from our spending on grandchildren while Carla and Tyler do not. I thought it would be nice to do something just for them. Celeste and I discussed it and we came up with the idea of a river cruise. Carla and Tyler did not object, so we booked one for summer of 2020, but the COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of all such travel and activities. By the summer of 2021, the situation had improved, not to the point of making the trip possible, but to where we could see the possibility to book for 2022. So, we did.

We booked a Viking River Cruise with accompanying air travel. We would spend a few days in Munich beer halls, then make our own arrangements to travel by rail to Basel Switzerland for a Rhine River Cruise departing July 5 to Amsterdam and another couple of days of touring.

Our airline bookings arrived in March, departing early afternoon on June 29, and arriving in Munich on the morning of June 30. But we did not notice a discrepancy. Carla and Tyler’s booking did not exactly match ours. About a week before departure, as we compared our seat selections, I noticed that Carla and Tyler had an extra flight. Looking at it more closely, we found that they had been booked on the same flights as us Regina to Toronto to Munich, but then booked to carry on to Basel without stopping.

On the Thursday before departure Carla called Viking to try to delete the last leg but was told that the airline would charge a $700 change fee, plus they would lose a substantial amount they had paid for preferred seating and, if they wanted similar seating again, would have to pay for it again. In addition, there was no certainty that they would get the same flights. I called Viking and asked to speak to a supervisor. After telling her our story she said she would see what she could do, and I got her contact info for follow up.