$25 Deposit promo after $50 Promo Already Booked

[Sebbiesgrammy]

New Viking customer here. Because of the preference of dear friends for V we booked Sept 2025 during the $50 deposit promo last May. That requires full payment in Dec 2023, a full 22 months before sailing but we understood the terms and reluctantly agreed. Now the new $25 deposit promo is available for the same cruise, which still shows availability for our cabin category. The terms under that promo don't require full payment until March 24. Also, the air offer is less expensive. Maybe this sequence of events is unique, but any experience with making this kind of change appreciated. Our wonderful TA is researching it for us but curious about others' experience. Thanks

[CDNPolar]

We have taken advantage of this kind of change of promo before but you will have to change the dates of your cruise by a week or two either earlier or later.

 

Here is what we did:

 

Booked cruise with NO promotion other than $25 deposit.

Months later Viking offer the same cruise with Free Air.

 

Call Viking and they tell us that we have to revise our booking and effectively cancel the first booked cruise and book a new cruise.  They would give us the free air, and "revise" the booking so we had the same booking number but we had to change the dates.

 

Actually this is the cruise that we are leaving for on Monday.  Originally we had an early September date and the only way to get the free air was moving the dates and to get the same cabin type we had to choose the dates we have.

 

Good luck.

 

Oh, and if one reservation agent says it can't be done, hang up and call back until you get someone that says it can be done.  If all else fails ask for a supervisor, because they can do this.

[CDNPolar]

Just to be clear for anyone reading, I am Canada, and the same rules should apply to the USA.  These rules may NOT apply to UK or Australia.

[stephenandrew]

20 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

New Viking customer here. Because of the preference of dear friends for V we booked Sept 2025 during the $50 deposit promo last May. That requires full payment in Dec 2023, a full 22 months before sailing but we understood the terms and reluctantly agreed. Now the new $25 deposit promo is available for the same cruise, which still shows availability for our cabin category. The terms under that promo don't require full payment until March 24. Also, the air offer is less expensive. Maybe this sequence of events is unique, but any experience with making this kind of change appreciated. Our wonderful TA is researching it for us but curious about others' experience. Thanks

Hi….if I understand you correctly, the promotional change would allow you to get a cheaper airfare and hold on to your cash for a few extra months.   I  don’t know how Viking does things,  but in a worse case, wouldn’t you just be able to cancel your original booking with a loss of your deposit ($100 for two people), and be able to rebook?  If the savings from the new airfare is more than $100, you’d come out ahead, plus having the benefit of a not paying in full until later.  Hopefully, Viking and your TA will come up with a resolution that makes you happy.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

58 minutes ago, stephenandrew said:

Hi….if I understand you correctly, the promotional change would allow you to get a cheaper airfare and hold on to your cash for a few extra months.   I  don’t know how Viking does things,  but in a worse case, wouldn’t you just be able to cancel your original booking with a loss of your deposit ($100 for two people), and be able to rebook?  If the savings from the new airfare is more than $100, you’d come out ahead, plus having the benefit of a not paying in full until later.  Hopefully, Viking and your TA will come up with a resolution that makes you happy.

Good suggestions - but there are limited dates for this itinerary in 2025 and we are somewhat limited by our traveling companions' schedule. As previously suggested, V might require us to change the sailing date to take advantage of the new offer.  But all options are open.  Not sure the reduced airfare will actually apply to us (they tell you that at the time of booking) but just getting 4 more months to pay would be worth an extra few dollars to us.  I'm guessing that the reason they changed the full pay date from the $50 reduced deposit offer is they were getting some push-back.  In the new program, all payments for 2025 are due in March 2024.  Our sailing isn't until Sept. 2025 so it's still an awfully long time for them to hold our $ and, not for nothin', requires us to pay for insurance way in advance to protect the full payment.  Expensive all the way around.

[CDNPolar]

Note however that unless you are worried about losing the deposit, you do NOT need to buy insurance to cover the amount paid until penalties kick in.

 

Penalties in USA and CAD are 120 days from sailing.  

 

If you pay in full a year out, but cancel for any reason 121+ days from sailing, you get all your money back but $100 per person.

 

Look at the penalties on the invoice.  They just want your money up front as it deters tire kickers, but you get it all back if you cancel 121+ days in advance.

 

Don't pay for insurance before the 121 days out. 

 

[AuntieWerewolf10]

We booked a cruise at the end of December 2022. The first week of January, the same cruise was offered with a reduced cabin fare, free gratuities, free silver beverage package, $25 deposit and a later final payment date. 
I talked to our Viking rep, she said we could change to a different sailing then come back a couple days later to see if there was availability to change to our original cruise. Cancellation was $100 per person. We had two cabins booked, so we processed the cancellation and rebooked. My referral credit did not carry over. 
Our travel insurance was with Travel Guard. Because we were within two weeks of the original booking, Travel Guard allowed us to modify the policy. We received money back because our trip cost was reduced. Not sure if Viking’s insurance would transfer.

Edited August 11, 2023 by AuntieWerewolf10

[Sebbiesgrammy]

22 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

Note however that unless you are worried about losing the deposit, you do NOT need to buy insurance to cover the amount paid until penalties kick in.

 

Penalties in USA and CAD are 120 days from sailing.  

 

If you pay in full a year out, but cancel for any reason 121+ days from sailing, you get all your money back but $100 per person.

 

Look at the penalties on the invoice.  They just want your money up front as it deters tire kickers, but you get it all back if you cancel 121+ days in advance.

 

Don't pay for insurance before the 121 days out. 

 

Great reminder to read all details before getting agitated.  Thanks!!

[CDNPolar]

10 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Great reminder to read all details before getting agitated.  Thanks!!

 

Still no one likes to pay that early... but, you don't have to also pay for cancellation insurance until just before 120 days.

 

We buy our cancellation insurance 122 days from sailing.

Edited August 11, 2023 by CDNPolar

[AuntieWerewolf10]

When to buy insurance is a complex topic, we had vouchers that would expire the end of 2022 from Travel Guard that we used from a Covid19 cancelled trip. Most insurance companies require insurance purchase within 14 days of first payment. We have previously only insured the deposit and added coverage when final payment is made. 

[shmabbies]

20 minutes ago, AuntieWerewolf10 said:

Most insurance companies require insurance purchase within 14 days of first payment. We have previously only insured the deposit and added coverage when final payment is made. 

This is what we do too.  Insure the deposit with a private insurer within 14 days of first payment.    This secures pre-existing condition coverage, at least in our state and I believe in the US in general.   Then add more coverage at the time of final payment, whenever that may be.  If we cancel the cruise, in the past we have been allowed to move the coverage to another cruise by paying any additional amounts (if the replacement cruise costs more, for example).  I think it is extremely important in these discussions to identify the poster's country of residence and even states can vary.  Canada may allow you to get pre-existing condition coverage 122 days out with private insurance, but I'm not aware you can do this in the US.  I stand corrected if someone has a company that does this but mine doesn't.  

[CDNPolar]

I am only referring to cancellation and interruption insurance.

 

Insurance is a complicated topic.  If you have pre-existing conditions and you are insuring medical, there may be reason to insure before penalties, but that depends on the policy language.  Most stable periods - most - are 90 days and penalties kick in at 121 days.

 

But if you are not concerned about the medical coverage, and just cancelation then buying before penalty does not make sense.  Now, that also means that you can only cancel for a covered reason.

 

If you want cancel for any reason, that has to be purchased at the time of booking or relatively close to the booking.  This would allow you to cancel for any reason during the 120 day period.

[stephenandrew]

8 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Good suggestions - but there are limited dates for this itinerary in 2025 and we are somewhat limited by our traveling companions' schedule. As previously suggested, V might require us to change the sailing date to take advantage of the new offer.  But all options are open.  Not sure the reduced airfare will actually apply to us (they tell you that at the time of booking) but just getting 4 more months to pay would be worth an extra few dollars to us.  I'm guessing that the reason they changed the full pay date from the $50 reduced deposit offer is they were getting some push-back.  In the new program, all payments for 2025 are due in March 2024.  Our sailing isn't until Sept. 2025 so it's still an awfully long time for them to hold our $ and, not for nothin', requires us to pay for insurance way in advance to protect the full payment.  Expensive all the way around.

Not that I don’t believe you, but why would Viking require you to book another date?  If you cancel, you are subject to losing your deposit…and the agreement between you and Viking would be over.  If you call back the next day and book the same cruise, wouldn’t it be just like starting over…new deposit, new terms, etc?  If they don’t let you do that, I’d be kinda pissed.

[FetaCheese]

10 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Still no one likes to pay that early... but, you don't have to also pay for cancellation insurance until just before 120 days.

 

We buy our cancellation insurance 122 days from sailing.

Using Steve TRIP INS STORE, IMG Itravelnsured policy.

 

Said just buy Min. $500 at deposit time, to get pre existing conditions waiver.  Then pay for increased coverage at each stage of CXL penalties, ie. 20%, then 50%, etc., based on CXL dates on invoice.

 

I like his advice.

 

[DrKoob]

12 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

but just getting 4 more months to pay would be worth an extra few dollars to us.  I'm guessing that the reason they changed the full pay date from the $50 reduced deposit offer is they were getting some push-back. 

Unless you have another cruise booked with Viking, the final payment being due that early is standard procedure. On our first cruise, we had to pay almost two years in advance. Viking does not care about pushback on this. Their customers are the loyalest in the cruising industry and their ships usually sale full. They do this because they can. 

[SJD117]

1 hour ago, FetaCheese said:

Using Steve TRIP INS STORE, IMG Itravelnsured policy.

 

Said just buy Min. $500 at deposit time, to get pre existing conditions waiver.  Then pay for increased coverage at each stage of CXL penalties, ie. 20%, then 50%, etc., based on CXL dates on invoice.

 

I like his advice.

 

We’ve always done this — and we didn’t need Steve’s advice, we thought it through on our own.

[biggerbearmom]

14 hours ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Good suggestions - but there are limited dates for this itinerary in 2025 and we are somewhat limited by our traveling companions' schedule. As previously suggested, V might require us to change the sailing date to take advantage of the new offer.  But all options are open.  Not sure the reduced airfare will actually apply to us (they tell you that at the time of booking) but just getting 4 more months to pay would be worth an extra few dollars to us.  I'm guessing that the reason they changed the full pay date from the $50 reduced deposit offer is they were getting some push-back.  In the new program, all payments for 2025 are due in March 2024.  Our sailing isn't until Sept. 2025 so it's still an awfully long time for them to hold our $ and, not for nothin', requires us to pay for insurance way in advance to protect the full payment.  Expensive all the way around.

Do not use Viking insurance. What you can do to get the pre existing condition on the insurance coverage is you only have to insure the deposit amount. Once final payment is made you then up the insurance to cover the full amount of the cruise. I learned this from Steve at the tripinsurance store.com

If for some reason you cancel before final payment you aren’t out a ton of money, plus the tripinsurancestore.com will allow you to move it over to a new vacation.

[CDNPolar]

11 hours ago, stephenandrew said:

Not that I don’t believe you, but why would Viking require you to book another date?  If you cancel, you are subject to losing your deposit…and the agreement between you and Viking would be over.  If you call back the next day and book the same cruise, wouldn’t it be just like starting over…new deposit, new terms, etc?  If they don’t let you do that, I’d be kinda pissed.

You could do that but why would you lose any money if you did not have to?  

 

And, if you had any vouchers on the booking you would lose them where revising the booking and keeping the same booking number would allow you to keep those vouchers.

 

This is exactly what happened to us.

 

We booked this trip while onboard an Ocean cruise, and had a larger discount for booking onboard.  We also had vouchers - to the tune of almost $2,000.00 combined.

 

If we canceled we would lose all that.  Because we revised our booking - which we had to change the dates according to Viking - then we kept all that.

[Sebbiesgrammy]

So here's what I learned after my TA called V to ask for a change to final payment date:

 

We would have to cancel and rebook.

 

Old $50 deposit and $25 deposit offers are same base price for D2 cabin which is still available

 

Air quote for PE is the same for both offers.

 

The big difference is the "discount" on the base fare -- $1000 on the old offer and only $200 on the new.  We would loose $100 pp deposit if we changed. My math skills are not the best, but it seems like it would cost about $1800 total to delay payment for 3 1/2 months.  We're going to suck it up and keep it. My TA agrees with those that say V doesn't sweat this stuff. Their customers are loyal and they sail full every time so they are not motivated to make exceptions.

 

Thanks for your input and advice

[stephenandrew]

8 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

You could do that but why would you lose any money if you did not have to?  

 

And, if you had any vouchers on the booking you would lose them where revising the booking and keeping the same booking number would allow you to keep those vouchers.

 

This is exactly what happened to us.

 

We booked this trip while onboard an Ocean cruise, and had a larger discount for booking onboard.  We also had vouchers - to the tune of almost $2,000.00 combined.

 

If we canceled we would lose all that.  Because we revised our booking - which we had to change the dates according to Viking - then we kept all that.

From the original post, I'm under the impression that Viking won't allow poster to cancel their cruise and rebook the same itinerary/date.  Just strikes me as unfriendly customer policy.  I didn't recall vouchers being part of the issue in question.

Edited August 12, 2023 by stephenandrew

[Sebbiesgrammy]

1 hour ago, stephenandrew said:

From the original post, I'm under the impression that Viking won't allow poster to cancel their cruise and rebook the same itinerary/date.  Just strikes me as unfriendly customer policy.  I didn't recall vouchers being part of the issue in question.

Viking would allow me to rebook same date, but pricing differences made it unattractive to me.  The suggestions that date would have to change was made by others.

[stephenandrew]

55 minutes ago, Sebbiesgrammy said:

Viking would allow me to rebook same date, but pricing differences made it unattractive to me.  The suggestions that date would have to change was made by others.

That makes complete sense.  The idea that they would not allow you to rebook the same sate after you canceled the original booking does not.

[CDNPolar]

16 hours ago, stephenandrew said:

From the original post, I'm under the impression that Viking won't allow poster to cancel their cruise and rebook the same itinerary/date.  Just strikes me as unfriendly customer policy.  I didn't recall vouchers being part of the issue in question.

 

I was simply stating that for my situation we had vouchers and if we cancelled the booking we would lose the voucher value, and the value given for booking on board during a cruise.''
 

I was not suggesting that vouchers were mentioned in the OP, I was just sharing that is why we were forced to revise rather than cancel and that a revision could not be made to the same booking to get the free air, we had to change dates.

[gfkcruiser]

I have not cruised with Viking and I am looking at an Ocean one in June 2025.   Veranda room and $25 pp deposit.  Is the final payment always due so far in advance?  Chat person said due in February 2024.  Been on a lot of cruises and mostly due 90 days prior.  I see from this post that different promos may have different requirements and perks.  Wait or reserve?  This is 15 days Bergen to London.

 

Thanks for any advice 

[LindaS272]