gratuities included

[lahlah57]

When we booked about a month ago for January 2016 cruise.....gratuities were not included.

Received an ad in my email from viking which touted gratuities included if book before Decemer 31 2015. So glad because that is a huge expense and besides most cruiselines are including gratuities.

Has anyone else heard the same? With that it is getting closer to an all inclusive cruiseline:D

[Carol From California]

When we booked about a month ago for January 2016 cruise.....gratuities were not included.

Received an ad in my email from viking which touted gratuities included if book before Decemer 31 2015. So glad because that is a huge expense and besides most cruiselines are including gratuities.

Has anyone else heard the same? With that it is getting closer to an all inclusive cruiseline:D

 

We went on two Viking river cruises last year and gratuities were not included. We also booked a Viking ocean cruise for 2015 and I have never heard anything about free gratuities on any Viking cruise. I see nothing about it on their website. You said you got something in the mail about this....if you think you are getting free gratuities you need to confirm that on your reservation. Maybe it's your travel agent who is paying for the gratuities? My travel agent gives 15% off the cruise price which is way better than free gratuities, but I am curious as to who is offering the free gratuities.

[lahlah57]

Viking advertises that the ship gratuities are included as well as wine and beer with dinner...tours....dinner reservations....24 hr room service and the such. I was surprised just to see it:confused:

No the river cruises never included gratuities but ocean liners have been doing it quite commonly as of lately!

[algaes]

There may be a special offer out now but gratuities were never included for 2015 ocean cruises. The restated statement that was issued after picking excursion even included a specific gratuity amount per passenger.

[NeilP57]

In the UK the 2015 Viking Star season has always been marketed as including gratuities, initially if booked by a certain date (initially by January 2014) but this date just kept getting rolled forward and the offer is still being offered.

[id4elizabeth]

Hi Neil - I wonder if you UK passengers paid more upfront for the cruise? I guess there's no way of telling now, what with the change in exchange rates from USD to pounds over the last 18 months. Do you know whether (at the time) you paid more upfront?

 

Something similar happened once to us on an Alaskan trip. The ship imposed a $500 fuel surcharge at the time (petrol had in fact risen steeply), but it only applied to US passengers. British and Australians were exempted because it's against the law to impose fuel surcharges on British Commonwealth passengers according to what we were told.

[NeilP57]

Not sure it will be that easy to compare but just in case anybody else wishes to share their details this is what I have paid.

 

I am paying the brochure/website price as I booked it direct with Viking with a £500 per person early booking discount, bringing the headline price of a Penthouse Veranda Cabin (PV1) down from £4,146 per person down to £3,646. This is for the September 2015 departure from venice to Istanbul (9 night cruise). I then added the 3 night Italian Cities pre-cruise extension that cost a further £899 per person.

 

This includes return air fare from the UK initially to Rome and then back from Istanbul.

 

Other than the different treatment for gratuities, there is a different payment profile. I paid a deposit of 25% when I made the booking on October 2013, and the balance is not then due until July 2015.

 

Anybody from the US on this trip would like to share the $ costs? Or perhaps in the same cabin but on a different duration who can provide a per night equivalent. The Airfares are reasonably cheap, and including an amount for transfers would allow circa £300/person (max) for this item.

 

Also how much is the suggested gratuities?

 

I see that most US customers seen to book through a TA, previously I have been on two Cunard cruises and they do not offer any discounts to TA's so normally book direct with cruise line. At least in this way Viking will talk to me direct.

 

 

 

Neil

[Fairfield Nana]

we booked the Vikings Homeland cruise for July 2016 and it included all gratuities as part of basic price for a DV4 cabin.

[Fairfield Nana]

OOPs-- I goofed and got this cruise mixed up with our Danube cruise with Scenic this summer. Scenic is the all-inclusive one, with tips also--not Viking. If they change our itinerary like they have done on the ones for this year, I may try get them to pay tips instead of some other flaky consideration they seem to be offering to you earlier passengers. Also, I'm trusting they will get all of the bugs ironed out by the time of our cruise. Otherwise--it's back to Oceania.

[cassarina]

When we booked about a month ago for January 2016 cruise.....gratuities were not included.

Received an ad in my email from viking which touted gratuities included if book before Decemer 31 2015. So glad because that is a huge expense and besides most cruiselines are including gratuities.

Has anyone else heard the same? With that it is getting closer to an all inclusive cruiseline:D

We are b ooked on Sun Princes in August gratuities are extra to be added on also I have heard they charge gratuities on each drink bought is this right:confused:

[lahlah57]

If the gratuities are not included I am sure every drink at every bar will tack on their tip too.

I talked to my agent and he said that is their newest promotion for the UK...free gratuities.

He also said we had half off airline tickets at the time of our booking and he thought that was a better deal.

I am hoping by the time we sail in January 2016 maybe Viking will feel the need to be more competitive with the other lines and kick in the gratuities!

[Carol From California]

Not sure it will be that easy to compare but just in case anybody else wishes to share their details this is what I have paid.

 

I am paying the brochure/website price as I booked it direct with Viking with a £500 per person early booking discount, bringing the headline price of a Penthouse Veranda Cabin (PV1) down from £4,146 per person down to £3,646. This is for the September 2015 departure from venice to Istanbul (9 night cruise). I then added the 3 night Italian Cities pre-cruise extension that cost a further £899 per person.

 

This includes return air fare from the UK initially to Rome and then back from Istanbul.

 

Other than the different treatment for gratuities, there is a different payment profile. I paid a deposit of 25% when I made the booking on October 2013, and the balance is not then due until July 2015.

 

Anybody from the US on this trip would like to share the $ costs? Or perhaps in the same cabin but on a different duration who can provide a per night equivalent. The Airfares are reasonably cheap, and including an amount for transfers would allow circa £300/person (max) for this item.

 

Also how much is the suggested gratuities?

 

I see that most US customers seen to book through a TA, previously I have been on two Cunard cruises and they do not offer any discounts to TA's so normally book direct with cruise line. At least in this way Viking will talk to me direct.

 

 

 

Neil

 

I am booked on the same cruise as you. :) We paid the brochure fare of $5449 per person for the same category as you booked. You said you paid £3,646 per person which when using a currency converter translates to the same amount. The difference is, we booked it with a travel agent who discounts the price by 15%, so $5449 per person was reduced by 15% so we saved approximately $1600. Our fare does not include air....we use mileage.

 

Have you joined the cruise critic roll call for our cruise?

[NeilP57]

Carol

 

Indeed I am on the Roll Call, I am even on your summary of current participants that you did back on October 12th. I wonder where are fellow passengers are hiding?

 

As for pricing, I think by the time we adjust your $800 per person headline savings for the fact that airfare and gratuities are included in the price I paid then you will still have better deal than myself but not as large as the headline number suggests.

 

Neil