"This voucher can be used on any new Viking river or ocean cruise" advice please.

[lackcreativity]

I am sorry to be asking a question about a topic that has been covered here in the past. I will admit that my search skills on Cruise Critic are poor and I didn't pay careful attention to the past discussions since we never had future cruise vouchers until now. When the voucher states that it can be used on a NEW cruise, does that exclude future cruises that were already booked but not paid in full? My reading skills lead me to believe that is the case, but my wishful thinking hopes otherwise. 

 

The vouchers are modest amounts that Viking awarded for a trip interruption not under their control, so we were happy to receive them at all. However, the cruise must be booked (not taken) by 4/27/2023. We already have two cruises booked for 2023. When does Viking typically post additional cruises for 2024?

 

Thanks for any advice.

[KBs mum]

We usually book 2-3 years ahead, the cruises don't change much. We just pick the itinerary we want, give the room numbers we are happy with, then ask which dates are available

 

[Squawkman]

They must be a new cruise. Once booked, they cannot be reused should you want to cancel that cruise - so book carefully. There are many 2024 cruises available now and I would guess more will become available before 4/27/23.

[Mich3554]

Do they have to go on a newly booked cruise, or one that you have booked and not yet paid for?

The reason I ask is last year we each got 3 separate vouchers for this for amounts ranging from $1000-3000 due to interrupted service.  On the cruise that was interrupted, I booked 2 additional cruises.  The vouchers went against those cruises, despite us receiving the vouchers long after we were home.

[deec]

My head is swimming about vouchers.  I know they have many inherent problems but I hate to just loose them and cancel our cruise and take cash rather the vouchers! 

 

[donaldsc]

Although this will not help your current problem but this is one more reason to book with a good TA.   We have been using our really good TA for years now.  I would only have had to call her with the question you are posing and she would have sorted it out.

 

This is an example of what a good TA can do for you.  We had a recent trip that started in Athens so we had to fly from Las Vegas to Athens.  We had a 3 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta which should have been plenty of time but for reasons that are unimportant it looked as if we might not make it.  We called her while we were waiting on the plane and asked her if she could find some alternative flights just in case.  She did and had the new flights held if we had to use them.  Turned out that we did make it to Atlanta in time so the new flights were cancelled.  But if we had not made our scheduled flight we would have gotten to Athens in time to make our cruise with the new flights.  

 

Most of the time this problem would never occur but when you travel or when  you are making arrangements to travel stuff sometimes happens.  To me this is more important than the few bucks or the few perks that you can save by either doing it yourself or using a discount agency.

[KBs mum]

43 minutes ago, deec said:

My head is swimming about vouchers.  I know they have many inherent problems but I hate to just loose them and cancel our cruise and take cash rather the vouchers! 

 

Cash is allways better than vouchers if the value is the same (or nearly the same) 

[lackcreativity]

Thanks for all the input. This is like found money in our case, since we did not expect it given the circumstances of the cruise. Never the less, I would hate to lose it. Right now, while there are a couple of itineraries that we could choose for 2024, there is nothing that I am really excited about. I know that I have brought this up before, but I am really hoping that some variety will be introduced in the Mediterranean. Should that happen before our April 2023 expiration date, my problem would be solved!

[CCWineLover]

24 minutes ago, lackcreativity said:

Thanks for all the input. This is like found money in our case, since we did not expect it given the circumstances of the cruise. Never the less, I would hate to lose it. Right now, while there are a couple of itineraries that we could choose for 2024, there is nothing that I am really excited about. I know that I have brought this up before, but I am really hoping that some variety will be introduced in the Mediterranean. Should that happen before our April 2023 expiration date, my problem would be solved!

Good luck!

Some recent poster said Viking Consultant had told them on board that Viking is in the process of creating brand new itineraries for 2025, given that so many people have taken so many of the "traditional" itineraries.  They thought this might be done within 8-10 months, which doesn't help you however.

Are you wedded to the Mediterranean?   There are some interesting itineraries that aren't there.  I always just search putting in a year (like 2024) and seeing all the cruises available.  I've found some interesting new Transatlantics that way.  Also, are you able to use the vouchers on a river cruise?  There are a number of unique river cruises out there.

[lackcreativity]

1 minute ago, CCWineLover said:

Good luck!

Some recent poster said Viking Consultant had told them on board that Viking is in the process of creating brand new itineraries for 2025, given that so many people have taken so many of the "traditional" itineraries.  They thought this might be done within 8-10 months, which doesn't help you however.

Are you wedded to the Mediterranean?   There are some interesting itineraries that aren't there.  I always just search putting in a year (like 2024) and seeing all the cruises available.  I've found some interesting new Transatlantics that way.  Also, are you able to use the vouchers on a river cruise?  There are a number of unique river cruises out there.

The Mediterranean is my favorite, but we will travel elsewhere for an itinerary that appeals. There is the Southern Atlantic Crossing that does look interesting and had a March 2024 sailing already published. However, it is 22 days, and I am currently still working. It's a part-time job and I have very accommodating bosses, but three weeks might be stretching things a bit too far. 

 

We can use the vouchers on a river cruise. We have the Lyon and Provence one next year, so I could review the list of other options there. I guess this is a good problem to have! 

[millybess]

We recently canceled the 2024 World Cruise.  We had the vouchers applied to a Med cruise we are taking in May which we booked in September 2021. Our TA arranged this for us.  
 

We were also able to insure the vouchers with a 3rd party. 

[Squawkman]

16 minutes ago, millybess said:

We recently canceled the 2024 World Cruise.  We had the vouchers applied to a Med cruise we are taking in May which we booked in September 2021. Our TA arranged this for us.  
 

We were also able to insure the vouchers with a 3rd party. 

Your 2024 world cruise was probably booked at least 1 year ago, correct? That’s why you were able to do that as Viking was still offering CFAR vouchers. We did the same thing too with our Viking agent.

[millybess]

Yes, we booked The World Cruise in October 2021 and cancelled it in August of this year. 

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

The Mediterranean is my favorite, but we will travel elsewhere for an itinerary that appeals. There is the Southern Atlantic Crossing that does look interesting and had a March 2024 sailing already published.

Good eye!  We want to take this sometime.  We've cancelled twice (once COVID and once because Africa and Brazil are still closed to Viking and those would be highlights to us, as well as still having do do COVID morning test tube testing).   We will likely try again for this in 2024 (March or November) if things improve a little in South America.

[Mich3554]

33 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Good eye!  We want to take this sometime.  We've cancelled twice (once COVID and once because Africa and Brazil are still closed to Viking and those would be highlights to us, as well as still having do do COVID morning test tube testing).   We will likely try again for this in 2024 (March or November) if things improve a little in South America.

We did this last year when we lost both Morocco, Senegal and Brazil.  I still want to do it again when those ports become more available.  Earliest I can see us doing this is late 2024 sailing west, with what we have scheduled.  Hopefully, by then the BA Opera House will still be having shows.  They shut down late Dec until March, and I really want to hear a show there, the acoustics are fabulous.  

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Good eye!  We want to take this sometime.  We've cancelled twice (once COVID and once because Africa and Brazil are still closed to Viking and those would be highlights to us, as well as still having do do COVID morning test tube testing).   We will likely try again for this in 2024 (March or November) if things improve a little in South America.

We are currently booked for this TA in Nov. 2023 but final payment not due until May. We’ll see how things are looking then. Wouldn’t want to go if Africa & Brazil are closed, but we are also rethinking being away for so many days—starting to have a tough time getting live in pet sitters for our brood of three cats!

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, Mich3554 said:

We did this last year when we lost both Morocco, Senegal and Brazil.  I still want to do it again when those ports become more available.  Earliest I can see us doing this is late 2024 sailing west, with what we have scheduled.  Hopefully, by then the BA Opera House will still be having shows.  They shut down late Dec until March, and I really want to hear a show there, the acoustics are fabulous.  

Same with us, Michelle!  Likely Fall 2024 and yes, hopefully the Opera House is having shows.  Remember when we were there in Buenos Aires in Jan 2020, all you could do was take the tour. (which was still good).  Perhaps we'll see you in a couple!

[Mich3554]

39 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Same with us, Michelle!  Likely Fall 2024 and yes, hopefully the Opera House is having shows.  Remember when we were there in Buenos Aires in Jan 2020, all you could do was take the tour. (which was still good).  Perhaps we'll see you in a couple!

Hope so.  Spring 2024 is the last cruise I have booked where we are doing Bangkok to Vancouver.

[TayanaLorna]

21 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I am sorry to be asking a question about a topic that has been covered here in the past. I will admit that my search skills on Cruise Critic are poor and I didn't pay careful attention to the past discussions since we never had future cruise vouchers until now. When the voucher states that it can be used on a NEW cruise, does that exclude future cruises that were already booked but not paid in full? My reading skills lead me to believe that is the case, but my wishful thinking hopes otherwise. 

 

The vouchers are modest amounts that Viking awarded for a trip interruption not under their control, so we were happy to receive them at all. However, the cruise must be booked (not taken) by 4/27/2023. We already have two cruises booked for 2023. When does Viking typically post additional cruises for 2024?

 

Thanks for any advice.

Did you ask Viking if the vouchers could be used in payment of one of the cruises already booked.  I ask because you received them for a Viking trip interruption (whether or not it was Vikings fault) and not because you cancelled your cruise.  It's a little different...just saying it might be worth the question.

[deec]

We too hope to sail the same cruise from SA to Barcelona becasue of last year's was adjusted.  The Verde Islands were not great but we did really enjoy Madeira.

[CCWineLover]

23 minutes ago, deec said:

We too hope to sail the same cruise from SA to Barcelona becasue of last year's was adjusted.  The Verde Islands were not great but we did really enjoy Madeira.

Fantastic, Dee!!   (We also enjoyed Madeira - an unexpected jewel, on our TA last Dec. )

[Mich3554]

43 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Fantastic, Dee!!   (We also enjoyed Madeira - an unexpected jewel, on our TA last Dec. )

Agreed, Madeira wasn’t on our radar until we went…..we will return.

[LindaS272]

We had terrible head winds and high seas on our TA last March/April, plus apparently a gimpy engine. As a result, we had to bypass Madeira, one of only a small handful of ports on that crossing (Viking Sea—SJ to BCN). 🥲

[lackcreativity]

11 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

Did you ask Viking if the vouchers could be used in payment of one of the cruises already booked.  I ask because you received them for a Viking trip interruption (whether or not it was Vikings fault) and not because you cancelled your cruise.  It's a little different...just saying it might be worth the question.

Our payment of the final balance is due this week, and I do plan to ask them. I see the distinction you have brought up, and I will be sure to mention that in my call!

[lackcreativity]

On 11/28/2022 at 7:06 PM, lackcreativity said:

Our payment of the final balance is due this week, and I do plan to ask them. I see the distinction you have brought up, and I will be sure to mention that in my call!

Just to report the outcome, our vouchers awarded for trip interruption were accepted without question as part of our final payment on a cruise that was already booked when the vouchers were issued. So at least in this case, it did not have to be a "new" cruise as mentioned in the voucher documentation.