Are the any real advantages to booking my next VO cruise while on board?

[MSEm]

:rolleyes: We will be on our first VO cruise in May 2019, British Ilse May 11 boarding. We have completed 4 Viking River Cruises. We are also planning a New Zealand/Australia cruise for 2020. Are there any advantages to booking the 2020 cruise while on the May 2019 cruise?

Thanks for all the great info.

[cocopico]

See this thread for some of the latest benefits to booking on board:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2655709&highlight=Booking+on+board+benefits

 

Scroll down that thread to see copies of some of the specific offers. The only real downside to waiting until your May cruise to book the 2020 cruise is that your cabin options may be limited or even sold out by then. You can periodically check availability of cabins as your next cruise date approaches, though, and decide whether you want to wait. We did this on our last cruise (waited to book until we were on board) and were fortunate to get one of the cabin locations we wanted. We also booked a cruise for 2020 where cabin choice was already severely limited. So, whether you gamble and wait to book until you are on board may depend on the popularity of the cruise you are interested in.

[molymoo]

There are definite advantages to booking onboard and apparently the "deals" can change from cruise to cruise. We have booked onboard twice and the "deals" on the most recent were better than they were the previous time we met with the onboard cruise consultant. They "upped" the discount for the cruise and virtually doubled the OBC.

 

Cocopico is right, however, as the spaces on the cruise you hope to book can become very limited or even sell out. We had been hoping to book the Italy, Adriatic & Greece cruise for next summer but it was sold out. We booked Into the Midnight Sun instead and in retrospect I'm pleased things worked out that way ... not a fan of the heat and I imagine the weather will be much more to my liking in Norway than it would be in Athens!

[Ellen Linda]

Viking Orion

 

 

 

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[Peregrina651]

Viking Orion

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

VO is Viking Oceans, as opposed to VR, Viking Rivers.

[Peregrina651]

There are definite advantages to booking onboard and apparently the "deals" can change from cruise to cruise. We have booked onboard twice and the "deals" on the most recent were better than they were the previous time we met with the onboard cruise consultant. They "upped" the discount for the cruise and virtually doubled the OBC.

 

Cocopico is right, however, as the spaces on the cruise you hope to book can become very limited or even sell out. We had been hoping to book the Italy, Adriatic & Greece cruise for next summer but it was sold out. We booked Into the Midnight Sun instead and in retrospect I'm pleased things worked out that way ... not a fan of the heat and I imagine the weather will be much more to my liking in Norway than it would be in Athens!

 

molymoo, I think you will both love Midnight Sun. It is definitely not as hot and rather distinct both historically and geographically from Mediterranean Europe.

[cocopico]

There are definite advantages to booking onboard and apparently the "deals" can change from cruise to cruise. We have booked onboard twice and the "deals" on the most recent were better than they were the previous time we met with the onboard cruise consultant. They "upped" the discount for the cruise and virtually doubled the OBC.

 

Cocopico is right, however, as the spaces on the cruise you hope to book can become very limited or even sell out. We had been hoping to book the Italy, Adriatic & Greece cruise for next summer but it was sold out. We booked Into the Midnight Sun instead and in retrospect I'm pleased things worked out that way ... not a fan of the heat and I imagine the weather will be much more to my liking in Norway than it would be in Athens!

 

Molymoo, we did the "Into the Midnight Sun" cruise this past summer and it was great. We had a bit of a heat wave in London, but the temps were great everywhere else. We've also done the Empires of the Mediterranean cruise in the "quiet season" and the weather couldn't have been better. We are doing another quiet season Mediterranean cruise next March/April and hoping for similar good weather. Plus, going during the quiet season cruises is cheaper. You might want to check out those offerings if you consider another cruise in the future.

[MSEm]

Thanks for the great information. I will check the bookings on the Australian/New Zealand cruises for 2020.

Any suggestion for which direction. We also plan to do a pre or post cruise to the Great Barrier Reef.