Vouchers automatically applied to new bookings??

[OnTheJourney]

Just happened to me. Got an updated invoice for my Mississippi cruise and saw that our vouchers from the March '19 Sky sailing were applied. It wasn't requested by either myself nor our agent at Viking who booked the cruise!  In contacting him I found out that - since there are SO many vouchers out there, the reservation system is (apparently) automatically applying them. Still, he also said that the Sky vouchers were not supposed to be used for anything unless we specifically tell them to, but they got swept up in there anyway. I'm fine with it since we likely planned to use them anyway. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else comes across this similar situation. This happened last year as well - and I was not happy cause the trip was not expensive enough to even use 1/3 of the voucher amount (was also applied without any input by me or the agent) but I was able to get it rescinded and vouchers reinstated. I know there has been some discussion about residual voucher money being usable on subsequent sailings, but I didn't want to take any chances on that. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[SantaFe1]

I have a feeling there are as many experiences as there are people with vouchers here,  but here is ours.  We had a Sept. 2021 cruise previously booked.  Then viking canceled a 2020 cruise and we canceled one, so two sets of vouchers.  They were not applied to the existing Sept. cruise we had booked prior to getting the vouchers, and They sat around in Viking limbo for a couple of months.  Then last week we booked a Dec. 2021 cruise, and the Viking rep I work with said all the vouchers would be applied to the new cruise I was booking.  I asked if I could have them applied to the Sept. cruise instead because it is more expensive.  She said yes and did so.  But seems like as soon as you make a new booking, those vouchers must be applied to one of your cruises.

Edited August 28, 2020 by SantaFe1

[Squawkman]

I agree with SantaFe. Vouchers must be used on new or existing cruises, but you can pick how to do it. The default would be the next payment due, but you don’t have to do that. We have a payment due for an existing March 2021 booking next month but chose to pay cash for that one and applied that credit to a new cruise we just booked. Logic is that credit is face value, but if March 2021 cruise is cancelled, we should get 125%.

[OnTheJourney]

The Sky vouchers apparently are treated differently, or otherwise I would not have been able to rescind them from being applied to a cruise I booked last year. It took several months to get them issued back to us. We were given a 5-year period in which to book something using them. 

Edited August 29, 2020 by OnTheJourney

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Logic is that credit is face value, but if March 2021 cruise is cancelled, we should get 125%.

 

GOOD MOVE!! Once it is a voucher, it is not eligible for the 125% offer.

 

We cancelled our June cruise and re-booked for August just hours before Viking cancelled through the end of June. Our refund was half vouchers and half cash because we were that many days prior to sailing. We missed out on the 125% by maybe two hours. When August was cancelled, we got the 125% only on the cash balance.

 

And since you paid in cash, if the cruise cancels, you can opt for cash back, should you feel at that point that it is right way to go. You have will have options.  If our April sailing cancels, we will not have much of a choice. Most of our payment is in vouchers and it will go back on account -- and we will continue to keep our fingers crossed. Even if offered 125% for the cash balance, I think we will be asking for a refund rather then taking the voucher.

[Squawkman]

If your cancelled cruise was funded with cash and credits, you must have at least $50 in cash to get 125%. Copied from my cancellation notice:

 

Refund
In consideration of the cancellation, a 125% Future Cruise Voucher has been issued to guests whose account balance exceeded $50.00. However, since the balance on your account is at or below $50.00, you will instead receive a refund for the monies paid for your affected booking. The refund will be credited to your purchasing account within the next 21 business days.

 

I should note that my credit was available in 3 days.

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Squawkman said:

If your cancelled cruise was funded with cash and credits, you must have at least $50 in cash to get 125%. Copied from my cancellation notice:

 

Thanks for the heads up. It will be much more than $50 by the time we finish upgrading our airfare.

[Squawkman]

17 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Thanks for the heads up. It will be much more than $50 by the time we finish upgrading our airfare.

 Mine was $2 ($1 each) so I'm not upset about it 🙂

[Peregrina651]

7 hours ago, Squawkman said:

 Mine was $2 ($1 each) so I'm not upset about it 🙂

 

No wonder they wanted to spend as little as possible to actually refund it to you; it would have been a losing proposition.

[Roger88]

10 hours ago, Squawkman said:

If your cancelled cruise was funded with cash and credits, you must have at least $50 in cash to get 125%. Copied from my cancellation notice:

 

Refund
In consideration of the cancellation, a 125% Future Cruise Voucher has been issued to guests whose account balance exceeded $50.00. However, since the balance on your account is at or below $50.00, you will instead receive a refund for the monies paid for your affected booking. The refund will be credited to your purchasing account within the next 21 business days.

 

I should note that my credit was available in 3 days.

This sounds ridiculous really. I mean, whats the point? Why do they need us to have money on our account? I am sure they just want to have this 50$ out of your total refund cause as long as these money is placed on your account, technically it belongs to them, you only see a number on an html site 

[Squawkman]

10 hours ago, Roger88 said:

This sounds ridiculous really. I mean, whats the point? Why do they need us to have money on our account? I am sure they just want to have this 50$ out of your total refund cause as long as these money is placed on your account, technically it belongs to them, you only see a number on an html site 

 

Actually, the opposite is the case. I admit this is a little difficult to follow.

 

When a cruise that was funded both by cash and a FCV is cancelled by Viking, the FCV amount is restored, and the cash amount can be credited back to the cruiser's source account (credit card and/or checking account depending on how it was paid). If the cash amount exceeds $50, it is all automatically added to the new FCV at 125%. The cruiser may contact Viking within a short time period to get the face value of the cash credited back to the source account if (s)he wishes.

 

When the cash amount is $50 or less, it is automatically refunded to the cruiser's source account with no choice for 125% FCV. So my $2 was refunded to my credit card. I rechecked my credit card transactions right now, and I see the credit occurred the next day - not 3 days as I wrote here earlier.