Excursion payment question

[SoBaycruiser]

Tomorrow I can finally pre-book excursions.  I prefer to pay by credit card rather than directly from my bank account (despite the discount).   On My Viking app under Cart and Payments, I have added our credit card under the “on-board” payments.  I am assuming I can use it as payment for the excursions now prior to boarding.  Am I correct?  I won’t be asked to input the information again during checkout, right?  I don’t want that added delay.
 

I find it confusing as a first timer.

[OneSixtyToOne]

No, sorry, the card is only for on board purchases. You will need to enter your card information at checkout.

[SoBaycruiser]

7 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

No, sorry, the card is only for on board purchases. You will need to enter your card information at checkout.

Can that be avoided if I enter the direct bank account info?

[formernuke]

Yes. If you select the electronic drafts it will charge it without any additional effort 

[SantaFe1]

18 minutes ago, SoBaycruiser said:

Can that be avoided if I enter the direct bank account info?

The bank account  info is automatically applied.  If you want to use the credit card, added on MVJ or not, you will have to register-enter the account info.  It doesn’t cost you much time, especially if you have it as an auto add feature.

[SoBaycruiser]

16 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

The bank account  info is automatically applied.  If you want to use the credit card, added on MVJ or not, you will have to register-enter the account info.  It doesn’t cost you much time, especially if you have it as an auto add feature.

It is registered for on board payments.  So you are agreeing with OneSixtytoOne that I have to enter it at check out time. 

[SantaFe1]

Yes.  You have to enter the credit card info even if entered as you on board CC.  You do not have to enter the bank info if it is already entered in MVJ.  I have no idea why.  But this is the case.  

[SoBaycruiser]

Another question:  I have now accepted that I’ll have to do the electronic payment to be faster.   I am booking the excursions for both my husband and myself.  When I add the electronic payment method they asked whose name is on the account.  It’s actually both of ours but they only let me choose one. So I chose mine.  Do I have to add the same account again with my husbands name or is the one account good for payment for both?  
 

I have cruised other lines many times and I don’t ever remember having to prepay for excursions.  This sure complicates things.

[SantaFe1]

No, our account is in both our names.  I just have it registered in mine on MVJ because I am the one who does this.  It’s fine.  You are being meticulous, as I am.  But it really is easy and no cause for concern.  Nothing in life is guaranteed.  But this is close.  Just pick your excursions, pick your payment method, and check out.  I bet all will be well.  
 

ps.  I don’t think that the few seconds it will take you to enter the CC info should deter you from using that form of payment, if that is what you prefer.  

Edited December 31, 2022 by SantaFe1

[SoBaycruiser]

11 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

No, our account is in both our names.  I just have it registered in mine on MVJ because I am the one who does this.  It’s fine.  You are being meticulous, as I am.  But it really is easy and no cause for concern.  Nothing in life is guaranteed.  But this is close.  Just pick your excursions, pick your payment method, and check out.  I bet all will be well.  
 

ps.  I don’t think that the few seconds it will take you to enter the CC info should deter you from using that form of payment, if that is what you prefer.  

I really appreciate all the help and understanding.  I wasn’t really panicked until I saw that two of the excursions are already sold out before the DV rooms have a chance to book.  We are going on a Northern Lights trip and because of our age, we are somewhat limited to what we feel we can do.  We aren’t feeble by any means but this trip has been postponed due to COVID and those couple of years had made a difference.

 

Thanks again.  I’m ready!

[SantaFe1]

Oh my, we are you!  We also assess what we can do.  But even the demanding excursions have never been that demanding.  My anecdote to you is that on our first Viking cruise in 2017, there was an excursion that I thought we “must” have and it was sold out.  Eventually, it opened up, as most of them do, and we booked it, and it was the worst excursion we ever took.  So, it will be well.  Almost any adventure on Viking is a good one.  And sometimes the second choice is even better.  I know you will have fun!

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 hours ago, SoBaycruiser said:

I really appreciate all the help and understanding.  I wasn’t really panicked until I saw that two of the excursions are already sold out before the DV rooms have a chance to book.  We are going on a Northern Lights trip and because of our age, we are somewhat limited to what we feel we can do.  We aren’t feeble by any means but this trip has been postponed due to COVID and those couple of years had made a difference.

 

Thanks again.  I’m ready!

Even if it it is sold out it may open up in a few days. Keep checking MVJ everyday. Sometimes they will add additional tours and sometimes there are cancellations. Our upcoming cruise opened excursions in mid Nov and a couple were sold out. Two weeks later they were available for a few days, then sold out again. Also sometimes there are cancellations when aboard. Ask to be placed on a waiting list.

[SoBaycruiser]

27 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Even if it it is sold out it may open up in a few days. Keep checking MVJ everyday. Sometimes they will add additional tours and sometimes there are cancellations. Our upcoming cruise opened excursions in mid Nov and a couple were sold out. Two weeks later they were available for a few days, then sold out again. Also sometimes there are cancellations when aboard. Ask to be placed on a waiting list.

thanks!  Great suggestions.

[sugarside]

Many experienced cruisers book any really must do excursions individually first and pay for each one immediately to secure their booking and then move on down their list in  order of preference .If you leave payment until all excursions entered and then pay you risk your most wanted having sold out during your booking process.

This is more likely if you are in a lower category cabin.

Edited December 31, 2022 by sugarside

[sugarside]

I never took too much notice of how Viking categorised an excursion until my recent mediterranean cruise when we did the tour of Herculaneum which was deemed demanding.

We had two falls before the tour really got going, marble stairs being the reason.

Then the steep descent and long steep climb into the site proper became two much for one passenger who the guide then had to find someone to help get out of the complex.Filling in accident form work also took more of the guides time.

The guide did ask had Viking not said this tour was demanding.Yes they had.

Many others of us only managed by helping each other up or down differing ground levels as we moved around.

 

[SantaFe1]

4 hours ago, sugarside said:

I never took too much notice of how Viking categorised an excursion until my recent mediterranean cruise when we did the tour of Herculaneum which was deemed demanding.

We had two falls before the tour really got going, marble stairs being the reason.

Then the steep descent and long steep climb into the site proper became two much for one passenger who the guide then had to find someone to help get out of the complex.Filling in accident form work also took more of the guides time.

The guide did ask had Viking not said this tour was demanding.Yes they had.

Many others of us only managed by helping each other up or down differing ground levels as we moved around.

 

Oh, dear, now you have me worried.  We are doing this excursion in March. I had read that it was easier than doing Pompeii.  In my experience, excursions marked demanding have never really taxed our limits.  Well, I guess time will tell, but if anyone else wants to chime in with their experiences, that would be helpful.

[Squawkman]

45 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

Oh, dear, now you have me worried.  We are doing this excursion in March. I had read that it was easier than doing Pompeii.  In my experience, excursions marked demanding have never really taxed our limits.  Well, I guess time will tell, but if anyone else wants to chime in with their experiences, that would be helpful.

We did Herculaneum 4 years ago and our guide was fantastic. There were a couple of spots that explained the “demanding” classification, but she had work arounds for those of us who felt challenged. My suggestion is to talk to your cruise director ASAP and let her know your concerns.

[The Other Tom]

Don't know for sure, but I think you're ok if you have the excursions in your cart and don't close your browser.  IOW, I think you'll have time to add your cc info.

[OneSixtyToOne]

11 minutes ago, The Other Tom said:

Don't know for sure, but I think you're ok if you have the excursions in your cart and don't close your browser.  IOW, I think you'll have time to add your cc info.

Until the items in your cart are paid, your reservation is NOT booked. People have reported not getting an excursion because it sold out before they completed checkout. That is why people recommend prioritizing your optional excursions then selecting and paying for each one separately. Included excursions can be done last.

Edited December 31, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[The Other Tom]

1 hour ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Until the items in your cart are paid, your reservation is NOT booked.

Thanks for the clarification.  

[Snowcat1]

Another questions about booking excursions from a first time Viking cruiser. We will be booking ours in March for our Homeland cruise end of May.

 When you book an excursion, are you able to say how many people or excursion places you want to book, i.e. 2 for my husband and myself? Or do you have book twice, once for each person?

[SantaFe1]

9 minutes ago, Snowcat1 said:

Another questions about booking excursions from a first time Viking cruiser. We will be booking ours in March for our Homeland cruise end of May.

 When you book an excursion, are you able to say how many people or excursion places you want to book, i.e. 2 for my husband and myself? Or do you have book twice, once for each person?

When you go to MVJ to book, you will click on the excursion you want, and then on the right will be your name, the time you want (if there is a selection) and add to cart (or reserve if it is an included excursion.)  Then below that there will appear your husband’s name, the time, and add to cart or reserve.  They do it this way, I guess, because every now and then we want to do different excursions.  In that case, you book yours, then go to the other excursion, and book his.  It’s pretty easy.

Edited December 31, 2022 by SantaFe1

[Snowcat1]

Thank you so much for the information SantaFe1.

[SoBaycruiser]

As the OP I want to thank everyone who was so helpful.  I still stumbled some but I got the excursions I wanted except for the time on the last included excursion.  Had I not prioritized and done them individually I would not have gotten the one most important to us as it showed full at the end of bookings.

 

I made up a list for first timers that summarizes a lot from this thread the a couple details  that caused me problems.

 

This is what I learned from the process: (I used the MVJ app with an IPad)
A) Register beforehand an account for direct payment if speed is important to you.
B)Registering a credit card for on board payments doesn’t help with excursion payments during this early booking time.  You will have to enter the info again.

 

After the excursions become available:
C) select your excursion and select each persons name who is going on the tour and select the same time for each.  Put EACH name into the cart individually.
D) go to the cart.  If you’ve registered a bank account that method will be PRE-selected.  If you choose to use that method, be sure to look below at the drop down box that says “accounts”.  This allows you to select the specific account the money will be taken from.  Then you can select to pay.  (Since I had uploaded only one account, I didn’t pay attention to that drop down box and couldn’t make the payment because I hadn’t selected an account).  Using the direct payment from an account is the fastest way to check out .
E) since I had trouble with the direct payment, I went to the credit card payment.  I had entered my credit card into auto fill to make it faster for checkout.  It turns out that the expiration date is from drop down menus so Autofill didn’t help.  Maybe it would on a desktop computer.  Basically I had to enter everything by hand except the credit card account number and my name.  

I then went back and selected the next excursion.  This time I saw the “accounts” box and so the direct payment went very quickly.

caveat: I might add that this was for a northern lights trip and everyone going has one thing in mind… to see the northern lights… hence causing all this competition for the spots.  Another venue may not have this demand for tours.

[Pushka]

15 hours ago, sugarside said:

I never took too much notice of how Viking categorised an excursion until my recent mediterranean cruise when we did the tour of Herculaneum which was deemed demanding.

We had two falls before the tour really got going, marble stairs being the reason.

Then the steep descent and long steep climb into the site proper became two much for one passenger who the guide then had to find someone to help get out of the complex.Filling in accident form work also took more of the guides time.

The guide did ask had Viking not said this tour was demanding.Yes they had.

Many others of us only managed by helping each other up or down differing ground levels as we moved around.

 

The marble pavements get me frequently in Greece and I seem to slip randomly and not because of any undue activity. They are deadly. Id choose a demanding excursion as I'm fit and mobile but the marble is a different issue. 
 

I think Aussies only get credit card option so have copied the details down so I can do a quick copy and paste when my excursions open up next month. DV only. 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Pushka