Final payment due

[helenandfrank]

Good luck with the phone call .. please let us all know how it works out.

[Aussie Gal]

Thanks. I will let you know the outcome of my phone call.

 

Jennie

[cruising kirby]

I have a current booking with Viking for later this year (my first cruise with them) and I found a copy of the terms and conditions that came with the reservation. Here is what is says in relation to "cancellations":

 

CANCELLATION POLICY

For any cruise booking, whether under deposit, partially paid, or paid in full, the following situations are considered cancellations and cancellation charges will apply as noted below: changes to departure date; substitutions of itinerary; substitution of another person for original booked guest(s); or changing to a promotional fare. All cancellations must be in writing. The following cancellation charges will be assessed for all written cancellations received prior to departure up to the scheduled time of departure.

 

Days prior to Cruise/Tour

 

121 days or more

$500 per person

 

120 – 60 days

50% of full fare

 

59 – 0 days

100% of full fare

 

I hope your call to Viking tomorrow brings a different outcome, but from the above it looks like a change in cruise departure date will be considered a "cancellation" and the minimum penalty is $500 per person. Please let us know how you go. Good luck!

[Aussie Gal]

This is what I have read as well. If I had read this when we first booked last June, I wouldn't have gone ahead with the cruise as it goes against all my principles of "fair play". If I receive confirmation of this when I speak to a Viking representative then we will just have to weigh up whether to cut our losses, cancel and lose the $1000 deposit or go ahead and keep the booking even though it would have suited us so much better to change it to a later date. I know that if we keep the original date we will be very critical of the whole "Viking" experience and we will be comparing it to all our other 30+ cruises. Also I would like to know why there are 3 different rules for cancelling - one for the U.S., one for the U.K. and one for Australia.

 

Jennie

[Twitchly]

Well, this has been enlightening. We booked about a year in advance and were told we had to pay in full within just a few months. So we paid in full by June 2017 for our April 2018 cruise.

 

It’s our first cruise and we didn’t go through a travel agent. We just assumed that was typical for cruise lines. We had no idea the deadline was negotiable.

 

Live and learn.

[lackcreativity]

Well, this has been enlightening. We booked about a year in advance and were told we had to pay in full within just a few months. So we paid in full by June 2017 for our April 2018 cruise.

 

It’s our first cruise and we didn’t go through a travel agent. We just assumed that was typical for cruise lines. We had no idea the deadline was negotiable.

 

Live and learn.

 

It is my understanding that there are variations in payment (and other) policies by region, in part based on differences in local laws/regulations/customs. The early payment of final balance seems to be a particular US policy. Recently, some US clients have reported an ability to negotiate that deadline.

[Focused1]

It is my understanding that there are variations in payment (and other) policies by region, in part based on differences in local laws/regulations/customs. The early payment of final balance seems to be a particular US policy. Recently, some US clients have reported an ability to negotiate that deadline.

 

Yes, you can negotiate a final payment date if you work with a travel agent/agency who books a large number of cruises with Viking. We recently booked a December 2019 South America cruise on the Jupiter directly with Viking. They wanted full payment next month. I turned the booking over to my TA who said it was a ridiculous policy and was able to change it to a few months out from sailing.

[molemaui]

I just have a real problem paying in full for something I'm not going to use for a year or more. Most of the cruise lines I've sailed with (Silversea, Windstar, Celebrity, etc.) have final payment dates of 120 days prior to cruise. I think that is reasonable. I have no issue with non refundable deposits as you shouldn't book if you don't think you will go. If you can't go for "covered" reason such as illness, death in family, etc., your insurance would take care of your deposit. The 3.3% credit for paying by check is no big deal-my credit card does better.

 

Viking's full payment mandate is actually a brilliant cash management tool for them. I also realize these terms can sometimes be negotiated. My solution was to book my Viking Ocean cruise 48 days before sailing. Payment in full did not seem terrible!

[lackcreativity]

I just have a real problem paying in full for something I'm not going to use for a year or more. Most of the cruise lines I've sailed with (Silversea, Windstar, Celebrity, etc.) have final payment dates of 120 days prior to cruise. I think that is reasonable. I have no issue with non refundable deposits as you shouldn't book if you don't think you will go. If you can't go for "covered" reason such as illness, death in family, etc., your insurance would take care of your deposit. The 3.3% credit for paying by check is no big deal-my credit card does better.

 

Viking's full payment mandate is actually a brilliant cash management tool for them. I also realize these terms can sometimes be negotiated. My solution was to book my Viking Ocean cruise 48 days before sailing. Payment in full did not seem terrible!

 

I know that this may not be logical, and I am definitely in the minority, but the early payment deadline doesn't bother me. If our bank was paying any interest to speak of, I may feel different.

 

Having the trip itself paid for allows me to feel free to spend some on optional excursions and maybe a few new things to wear without any guilt. It also allows me to start looking down the road for our next trip! We always travel in the Veranda cabins, and they sell out fast, so we have to book quickly when something good pops up. I like knowing our upcoming trip is all taken care of when I check the travel piggy bank for the next one.

[Azulann]

I know that this may not be logical, and I am definitely in the minority, but the early payment deadline doesn't bother me. If our bank was paying any interest to speak of, I may feel different.

 

 

 

Having the trip itself paid for allows me to feel free to spend some on optional excursions and maybe a few new things to wear without any guilt. It also allows me to start looking down the road for our next trip! We always travel in the Veranda cabins, and they sell out fast, so we have to book quickly when something good pops up. I like knowing our upcoming trip is all taken care of when I check the travel piggy bank for the next one.

 

 

 

I agree with you, there are some benefits for paying early as you stated.

 

 

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[philw1776]

I know that this may not be logical, and I am definitely in the minority, but the early payment deadline doesn't bother me. If our bank was paying any interest to speak of, I may feel different.

 

Having the trip itself paid for allows me to feel free to spend some on optional excursions and maybe a few new things to wear without any guilt. It also allows me to start looking down the road for our next trip! We always travel in the Veranda cabins, and they sell out fast, so we have to book quickly when something good pops up. I like knowing our upcoming trip is all taken care of when I check the travel piggy bank for the next one.

 

Agreed. This Viking policy of early pay is a non problem for me.

It's currently not the era where you're losing major bank interest on your money over those few "extra" months ahead.

FWIW for my Viking Ocean cruise coming up in October they offered a don't pay the final $ until April, 6 months beforehand. I've read from others here that this later payment date can be sometimes negotiated at booking.

[Peregrina651]

I just have a real problem paying in full for something I'm not going to use for a year or more. Most of the cruise lines I've sailed with (Silversea, Windstar, Celebrity, etc.) have final payment dates of 120 days prior to cruise. I think that is reasonable. I have no issue with non refundable deposits as you shouldn't book if you don't think you will go. If you can't go for "covered" reason such as illness, death in family, etc., your insurance would take care of your deposit. The 3.3% credit for paying by check is no big deal-my credit card does better.

 

Viking's full payment mandate is actually a brilliant cash management tool for them. I also realize these terms can sometimes be negotiated. My solution was to book my Viking Ocean cruise 48 days before sailing. Payment in full did not seem terrible!

 

You were lucky that there was space available on the cruise you wanted. Viking sells out quickly and many of us who want to sale Viking want to know well in advance that we have the cabin we want on the dates we want.

[molemaui]

You were lucky that there was space available on the cruise you wanted. Viking sells out quickly and many of us who want to sale Viking want to know well in advance that we have the cabin we want on the dates we want.

 

I've been real lucky booking short notice cruises. Just got off one that I booked 22 days in advance. The one I took in December was booked almost 90 days out. I don't get too hung up on any one cruise as there are several competitors in the same class (i.e. last cruise was Silversea-looked at them, Seabourne and Crystal) One before, Celebrity-plenty of options) Really looking forward to Viking Ocean next week-heard so many good things.

[vnb2003]

You were lucky that there was space available on the cruise you wanted. Viking sells out quickly and many of us who want to sale Viking want to know well in advance that we have the cabin we want on the dates we want.

 

This year it was our earliest booking 4months in advance. The previous 2 were a little less than 3 month in advance. I could still see free cabins even on the April sailing.

[Aussie Gal]

I would just like to let you know how impressed I am with Viking. Today one of the Australia representatives phoned me to help me with our query as Head Office in the U.S. reads these posts and wanted to be able to help. The upshot is that we are able to change our booking to 2020.

 

I cannot thank their Customer Relations staff too highly for working out who we were and for making sure that we could be helped. Thank you Viking.

 

Jennie

[helenandfrank]

Well done, an excellent outcome. And well done Viking staff both in US and Australia.

[cruising kirby]

I would just like to let you know how impressed I am with Viking. Today one of the Australia representatives phoned me to help me with our query as Head Office in the U.S. reads these posts and wanted to be able to help. The upshot is that we are able to change our booking to 2020.

 

I cannot thank their Customer Relations staff too highly for working out who we were and for making sure that we could be helped. Thank you Viking.

 

Jennie

Well what an excellent outcome! You must be feeling very happy about that! Well done Viking.

[lackcreativity]

Aussie Gal,

So happy to hear about your satisfactory solution. What's more, I think you will find the cruise experience itself excellent in every way. (Well, I can make no promises about the weather...).

[blmjcs]

I just got off the phone with Viking Ocean. The rep I spoke with was very helpful and bottom line according to Viking Ocean is that when you book you need to negotiate payment at that time. You Viking Rep is supposed to offer this as an option, some do and some don't. Ours did not. The minimum time they will offer is 6 months. CC is a great place to pick up information and tips on cruising. Now we know to negotiate at time of booking. Thx

[suspaul]

Gonna disagree with you on this one. We sign a contract with Viking when we book and that is the time to negotiate the payment schedule. People with payments six month before the sail date negotiated that date at the time of booking. It is like hiring a contractor to do work on your home.You don't sit down and negotiate with the contractor, sign everything and then come back six weeks into the project, when a major payment that you agreed to is due and ask to re-negotiate the payment schedule.

 

It's okay to ask if they are willing to re-negotiate but unreasonable to expect that they will agree to it.

 

I agree with you Peregrina651, we've traveled with Viking many times, 9 river cruises and 1 ocean with 2 oceans this year, we have been able to get our final payment date pushed out a bit in the past but it's been thru our TA and like you said, negotiated at initial booking. I don't like the way Viking requires payment so early but I do have a choice whether to book with them or go elsewhere.:confused::confused:;)

[suspaul]

Oops, didn't mean to end with so many emoji

[Peregrina651]

Oops, didn't mean to end with so many emoji

 

I think something is wrong with the emojis. Last night I ended up with 5 emojis that I couldn't even edit out of the post after I saw what happened. I kept clicking on the emoji but nothing was showing up on the screens. For now, I'm going to use keystrokes to insert them. If I click on See All 36 Smilies, it shows which keystrokes to use for the emoji I want to use.

[suspaul]

Instead of using an emoji I’ll just say HaHaHa

 

 

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[garycarla]

...oking to another date when dealing with other cruise lines such as HAL, Princess, Celebrity, Cunard and Oceania and I have never been penalized.....

 

If you make a change BEFORE the final payment date with most lines, it really is just a payment free cancel, and a new booking. So, no penalty. It has to do with final payment date. If you are a month or so out with those lines, you will get penalized.

 

Viking just has their final payment date way sooner than most other cruise lines. Just the way they do business. Though we usually do not do insurance (other than maybe medical), this is one time getting cancel for any reason might make sense. Thing of the insurance premium as a fixed penalty - you pay it if you cruise or don't cruise. LOL!

[tvmovielover]

I wonder if there needs to be an announcement or something about Viking and final payments. We accidentally found out you can negotiate on our 2nd river cruise because when we booked it and they wanted us to pay far in advance we said wait a minute you let us pay Viking China only 6 months in advance (we did not tell them that was because we only booked it about 6 months in advance, we did also have a Viking loving TA at the time). We are about to go on our 2nd ocean cruise and 6th overall. We enjoyed the 1st so much that I am sad to see people put off and saying "Okay, no" because of the payment issue when it can be avoided. It seems wrong that you only know if you come here BEFORE you make a reservation. I am glad to know Viking helped change a reservation without keeping a deposit too. We have always been satisfied when we dealt directly with them.