Waitlisting and monitoring for cancellations

[uktog]

When we booked our northern lights cruise it was at a time when I was not entirely thinking straight. Now with the benefit of hindsight I really would prefer to have a room in a higher category than what I have booked. I am in a DV but would really like to be in a PV or above. It’s not going to spoil the cruise if I can’t get a different room but I asked my agent to contact Viking and ask them about a waitlist for any PV coming available. I am particularly interested in having earlier access to the shore excursions and am slightly concerned that the times of the excursions we will want (because we are being quite specific in combining excursions each day) might not be available by the time they open up to us. 
 

It would appear that as shown on the website that no PVs are available but also there is no waitlist facility to note interest. 
 

Two things I am just checking firstly was my travel agent given correct information and there is no waitlist facility and secondly for our cruise in the middle of March 2022 what might be typical dates that cruisers cancel off rooms and they go back into inventory (if at all!). I know all the deadlines are different for different parts of the world so can’t quite work this one out myself. 
 

Thanks for continuing to answer this Newbies questions - I looked at the very interesting long thread that was guiding new cruisers to Viking but could not find this information. 

[kcpvwill]

Have you considered changing your date of travel?  There appear to be a few (but not many) PV or above in January, February and March.  Just a thought.

[uktog]

29 minutes ago, kcpvwill said:

Have you considered changing your date of travel?  There appear to be a few (but not many) PV or above in January, February and March.  Just a thought.

Unfortunately not an option between other holidays and family events but good suggestion 

Edited October 10, 2021 by uktog

[Peregrina651]

A few things to note about how Viking does things.

 

Viking doesn't keep waiting-lists. Gathered from conversations here, there are a few on-the-ball agents who seem to, but nothing organized.

 

There are certain changes to your booking that Viking might consider to be a cancellation and new booking at the current price. Check the fine print in the Terms and Conditions.

 

Look for cancellations just prior to the 6 month pay in full point and the 120 day "last chance to cancel and get your cash back" point. These are two dates that effect the US/Canada pax, who make up the majority of Viking pax and thus the majority of cancellations; UK/AUS/NZ have different contracts with different pay in full dates and cancellation policies.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited October 10, 2021 by Peregrina651

[uktog]

4 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

A few things to note about how Viking does things.

 

Viking doesn't keep waiting-lists. Gathered from conversations here, there are a few on-the-ball agents who seem to, but nothing organized.

 

There are certain changes to your booking that Viking might consider to be a cancellation and new booking at the current price. Check the fine print in the Terms and Conditions.

 

Look for cancellations just prior to the 6 month pay in full point and the 120 day "last chance to cancel and get your cash back" point. These are two dates that effect the US/Canada pax, who make up the majority of Viking pax and thus the majority of cancellations; UK/AUS/NZ have different contracts with different pay in full dates and cancellation policies.

 

Hope this helps.

Thanks. Really helps. We are passed the 6 month but I will diarise the 120 day as that one sounds quite a large market one. 

[Janet&David]

We returned recently from a cruise on Viking Sea with 497 passengers out of a total capacity of 930 (i.e. just over 50% full). I'd be surprised if Viking are taking bookings for March at more than about 60-65% capacity. This means that currently there are almost certainly unbooked cabins in every category - it just shows as fully booked as they've set artificial limits on availability. You'd think that there should be some way of getting on a wait list for these cabins, but it could be company policy not to. One thing that may be worth trying is to phone Viking directly rather than via your agent. Unfortunately the Viking call handlers in the UK office vary quite a lot - some seem to manage to get around limitations of the booking system whereas others take the line of "computer says 'no'". We dealt a couple of times with Marios, who seemed to be able to work the system better than most - you could try asking for him. 

[kcpvwill]

Not sure if there will be as many vacancies as Janet & David suggest, as there are many people (us included) who have rebooked using the Future Cruise Credits that we got from the Covid cancellations.  We have 8 weeks of fully paid cruises ( including a Northern Lights) knocked on from 2020 and 2021 to 2022 and there are probably many like us.  
 

We returned from a Malta and the Greek Isles cruise last week and there were 540 on board with 147 from UK.  This suggests that people were reluctant to travel with restrictions or were not ready yet with Covid still around, even at a great price.
 

After the flights,  once Viking were ‘in charge’ the organisation and logistics were exemplary, so congratulations to Viking.  As a matter of interest, Viking now have the facilities to live stream things from the Star theatre into the cabins instead of the 2 hour wait from pre-Covid times.  This means those who want to can watch away from other passengers in the cabin without masks.  We did this many times. 
 
Sold outs change regularly so good luck uktog!  

[JeriGail]

Our cruise on the Sea at the end of November is sold out, with the exception of the cabins reserved for quarantines, so I'm not surprised to hear that there are no PVs on your cruise.  Cancellations do happen, so keep checking.

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, kcpvwill said:

As a matter of interest, Viking now have the facilities to live stream things from the Star theatre into the cabins instead of the 2 hour wait from pre-Covid times.  This means those who want to can watch away from other passengers in the cabin without masks.  We did this many times. 

 

Wow - this is great news!  On our summer Bermuda Cruise, we looked into the Star Theatre a couple times, and decided we didn't feel comfortable there.  Viking wasn't enforcing any social distancing and people were really crowding in there.  Viking did put cloths over the chairs and bench seats, every so often, put people completely ignored them.

 

We will definitely take advantage of the streaming!  Kudos, Viking.

[CCWineLover]

As for ships not sailing full in 2022 - I don't think that will be the case.  We have 3 cruises planned in 2022 and they are all going out at capacity (says Viking to us).  A lot of it has to do with all those 2020/21 cancellations and people using their vouchers to book in 2022.

I would follow the advice given by several above and keep checking or have your TA check.  Certainly be aware that "changing" rooms may be considered by Viking as a cancellation plus rebook at higher rate.  We have actually used the changing rooms intentionally before when the pricing went down by a lot, thereby saving money, but in this case of high demand, I doubt that will occur again.

[Jim Avery]

uktog, I can only speak to our experiences but I am aware that there are some Viking reps better than others.  Just like TAs.  Our 'Guy is very very good.  Three times (1 river, two ocean) we have requested waitlist and all three what we wanted has come available and we were notified.  As always your mileage may vary but it doesn't hurt to ask.  Or change reps for that matter till you find a good one.

[uktog]

Thanks everyone - I decided to include popping past the Viking website as part of my morning online routine.  And there this morning was one PV showing.  Got onto the TA and we have been successful - its a guarantee but we are very happy to take that risk.  My guess is Viking had held back inventory and they are hoping to cruise with a higher % of guests by March.

 

Very happy with our change!

[Eggtuary]

I recently upgraded to PV on our March 2022 Mediterranean Odyssey cruise. Opened up shortly before the Payment In Full date, just like others here said sometimes happens. So excited. Now I’ve only got to wait another 5.5 months! 😀

[WanderingBrit]

7 hours ago, uktog said:

Thanks everyone - I decided to include popping past the Viking website as part of my morning online routine.  And there this morning was one PV showing.  Got onto the TA and we have been successful - its a guarantee but we are very happy to take that risk.  My guess is Viking had held back inventory and they are hoping to cruise with a higher % of guests by March.

 

Very happy with our change!

That was our experience in August - I would check the website each morning until something showed available, and then get online immediately to request it. Twice I missed the opportunity, as the website is apparently updated only daily, but on the third try we were able to upgrade. Availability seemed to vary quite a bit from day to day.

[uktog]

May I come back with a follow up question.  We are still showing online as room still to be allocated, that is no issue.  Our agent has checked with Viking for the new dates that will apply re dining and excursion reservations so we have these, however if I look at My Viking, it is still showing the dates of the previous category of room.  We particularly want to get the excursions booked when booking opens as we have some rather specific combinations we would want.  Will we be able to do this or has the system not recognised our guarantee is in the PV category?  We will not be able to have our agent help as the release date for the excursions is over Christmas when the agent is shut for five days so want to be clear on how this might work now.

 

Thanks

[CCWineLover]

On 10/11/2021 at 4:46 AM, uktog said:

Thanks everyone - I decided to include popping past the Viking website as part of my morning online routine.  And there this morning was one PV showing.  Got onto the TA and we have been successful - its a guarantee but we are very happy to take that risk.  My guess is Viking had held back inventory and they are hoping to cruise with a higher % of guests by March.

 

Very happy with our change!

Wow, uktog - that is great!   What did you wind up with?   Did Viking just allow you to "switch over" without any fees?  That would be good  (as in the past they wouldn't let us do that).

Edited October 24, 2021 by CCWineLover

[uktog]

10 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Wow, uktog - that is great!   What did you wind up with?   Did Viking just allow you to "switch over" without any fees?  That would be good  (as in the past they wouldn't let us do that).

No we paid to move up to the Penthouse Verandah from a deluxe Verandah.  The price was fair and we were happy to do it for the extra space.  The other driver was being able to access excursions earlier which is why we are worrying a little about being able to access them at the same time as other PV guests

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, uktog said:

No we paid to move up to the Penthouse Verandah from a deluxe Verandah.  The price was fair and we were happy to do it for the extra space.  The other driver was being able to access excursions earlier which is why we are worrying a little about being able to access them at the same time as other PV guests

Thanks!

We tried (pre-COVID) once to move from DV to PV and they said we'd have to cancel the complete original booking, pay the penalty (fortunately it was later than 120 days or it'd be worse) and then do a completely new booking at the then current PV pricing.   So not a simple "change" of the cabin reserved.  The prices had gone up so we declined.

Note:  in another case, we saw the prices had substantially decreased on the DV2 room we had booked and thus we were able to cancel the first booking and do a brand new one at the very much less price, and only gave up the $100 penalty.    So it does work both ways.