Booking question - using 72 hour hold

[Hanoj]

We're considering a VO West Indies Explorer cruise in Nov 2024 (last cruised with Viking in 2019, since cruised with Oceania in Aug 2023 - had 2020 and 2021 VO cruises cancelled, one by Viking the other by us) and I didn't see, though may have overlooked, anything in TC or  Ticket Contract addressing my question, which is: Can I go through the online Price & Build process and place a 72 hour hold and then cancel and do a new booking if the price drops Feb 1 without adverse consequence?

 

Does a hold lock in the booking at the price held assuming I complete it and pay the required deposit when due (in case prices go up)? Would I be able to cancel and make a new booking under February offers (assuming they will have a sale and that terms are more favorable) without loosing anything? I recognize the risks of waiting may mean I won't be able to get a cruise or cabin I want.

[WestW]

2 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Can I go through the online Price & Build process and place a 72 hour hold and then cancel and do a new booking if the price drops Feb 1 without adverse consequence?

 

Does a hold lock in the booking at the price held assuming I complete it and pay the required deposit when due (in case prices go up)? Would I be able to cancel and make a new booking under February offers (assuming they will have a sale and that terms are more favorable) without loosing anything?

We just used the 72 hr hold. It is just that - it holds the stateroom and pricing for 72 hours. Once you place a hold, you get an advance invoice with a booking number for which the deposit must be paid within 72 hours. Viking also sends a reminder at 24 hours. If you ignore or don’t pay the deposit, the booking is automatically canceled 72 hours after the hold date & time. If you wish to pay the deposit via myvikingjourney.com, you just add the booking number and go to payments the section.
 

I don’t recall if there is a cancel option instead of just letting the booking expire and having it go away on its own. If you want to cancel and get the same stateroom under any new pricing,  you may have to call Viking and have them cancel the held booking #. 

Edited January 30 by WestW

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, Hanoj said:

We're considering a VO West Indies Explorer cruise in Nov 2024 (last cruised with Viking in 2019, since cruised with Oceania in Aug 2023 - had 2020 and 2021 VO cruises cancelled, one by Viking the other by us) and I didn't see, though may have overlooked, anything in TC or  Ticket Contract addressing my question, which is: Can I go through the online Price & Build process and place a 72 hour hold and then cancel and do a new booking if the price drops Feb 1 without adverse consequence?

 

Does a hold lock in the booking at the price held assuming I complete it and pay the required deposit when due (in case prices go up)? Would I be able to cancel and make a new booking under February offers (assuming they will have a sale and that terms are more favorable) without loosing anything? I recognize the risks of waiting may mean I won't be able to get a cruise or cabin I want.

 

Not sure that I completely understand, but I think you are asking this:

 

If you hold a booking and make a deposit TODAY, can you then cancel and book something new if in two days February offers come out and there is a better deal?

 

Yes, but in cancelling the booking you would lose the deposit based on the rules for cancelling.  And you may lose the cabin that you chose.

 

The other thing to do is if you book TODAY, and then February offers are cheaper, then you can call Viking and ask to modify your booking (keep the same booking number and deposit) and move to new dates with the new offer.

 

You may still have to in effect cancel and rebook, but we did this with a cruise that after paying the deposit, we saw sometime later that they offered same price cabin but with free air.

 

We had to call Viking but they forced us to modify the dates of our sailing to get the free air but we did not lose anything and we kept the same booking number.

 

So, in essence, yes you can do what you want to do... but it may be a hassle and you may also get different information from different Viking phone agents.

[bookbabe]

I don't know if there's a way to cancel a hold (unpaid deposit) without just waiting the 72 hours for it to expire.  Even my rep at Viking had to do that to get credit for the booking when I put in a hold on his days off and then wanted to pay the deposit with him when he was back at work. 
 

However, I really haven't noticed any sales in the last few years that would be worth the hassle of juggling bookings like that.  Most of the sales are pretty similar, and often apply to a few undersold cruises in the near future.    Check out the Promo Codes thread to see some of the recent sales.  You'll likely get a better deal finding a good travel agent that offers onboard credit.

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, bookbabe said:

I don't know if there's a way to cancel a hold (unpaid deposit) without just waiting the 72 hours for it to expire.  Even my rep at Viking had to do that to get credit for the booking when I put in a hold on his days off and then wanted to pay the deposit with him when he was back at work. 
 

However, I really haven't noticed any sales in the last few years that would be worth the hassle of juggling bookings like that.  Most of the sales are pretty similar, and often apply to a few undersold cruises in the near future.    Check out the Promo Codes thread to see some of the recent sales.  You'll likely get a better deal finding a good travel agent that offers onboard credit.

 

You cannot - in my experience - cancel the hold yourself on a 72 hour hold booked online.  You either call Viking to ask them to drop the hold, or just let it expire.

[bookbabe]

8 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

You cannot - in my experience - cancel the hold yourself on a 72 hour hold booked online.  You either call Viking to ask them to drop the hold, or just let it expire.

As per my experience, even a rep at Viking cannot cancel the hold.  Mine had to wait for it to expire before he could book that cabin for us.

[Hanoj]

The itinerary we are pursuing (I contacted our TA late yesterday to book a DV5) sails in less than 10 months and has cabins available in every category except OS, DV1 and V2. We usually use a PV2 but want to try a DV this time for comparison (we recently sailed on Oceania Vista in a cabin that was 291 square feet including verandah that was adequate). There are 50 of 74 DV4 cabins midship on deck 4 available. There are 22 of 24 PV2 available on Deck 5 if the schematics of the Price & Build are accurate. Other categories have a plethora of cabins available. Does this appear undersold?

 

My questions arise because I recall reading on this forum that once you book and there is a subsequent price decrease, the new offer is not available without canceling and doing a new booking that may entail some forfeiture of money. Can one still transfer bookings without forfeiture? Or perhaps things change once PIF is made, which since we don't have an existing booking will be almost immediate for us.

 

I've read the Terms & Conditions and the Passenger Ticket Contract. From observation, it appears Viking may at times (when it suits their objectives) relax their requirements. I don't quibble over what I consider a modest dollar amount (e.g., saving $200 wouldn't affect my expectations if I missed out - I accept my decisions which I make based on the best available information - but a  $1,000 or over 12% difference may). If I wait might the discounts be deeper, enough to close the $1,400 gap between a DV5 and a PV3? I realize this is speculative, but I've not kept current with Viking and was quite surprised that this DV5 for a 10 night Caribbean itinerary is only $740 per night after returning guest discount.

 

We are US customers.

[Squawkman]

1 hour ago, bookbabe said:

As per my experience, even a rep at Viking cannot cancel the hold.  Mine had to wait for it to expire before he could book that cabin for us.

Maybe that's a Canadian thing as our Viking rep cancelled a hold for a river cruise within 24 hours and then booked the same cruise for a different stateroom.

[bookbabe]

3 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

Maybe that's a Canadian thing as our Viking rep cancelled a hold for a river cruise within 24 hours and then booked the same cruise for a different stateroom.

Maybe they didn't actually cancel it?  Ours could have booked immediately if we wanted a different cabin or different dates, but to keep the same cabin for the same date as the hold we had to wait for it to expire before he could book it.

[Squawkman]

1 minute ago, bookbabe said:

Maybe they didn't actually cancel it?  Ours could have booked immediately if we wanted a different cabin or different dates, but to keep the same cabin for the same date as the hold we had to wait for it to expire before he could book it.

Pretty sure he did as the next day the cabin we originally booked was shown as available on Price and Build. Regardless, all worked well for both of us.

[Hanoj]

Perhaps it is undersold. I just received a call and an email from a Viking agent who noted I started to book on the website. He's not who we've dealt with before - I think the two agents we previously dealt with are no longer with Viking.

 

I still plan to have my TA handle all this.

[EchoIsland]

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

You cannot - in my experience - cancel the hold yourself on a 72 hour hold booked online.  You either call Viking to ask them to drop the hold, or just let it expire.

We placed an online hold and decided to make a change within the 72 hour period.  I cancelled the hold using the Chat Line ... no problem.  

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, EchoIsland said:

We placed an online hold and decided to make a change within the 72 hour period.  I cancelled the hold using the Chat Line ... no problem.  

 

Interesting... never thought of that, but the hours that I keep based on the fact that I work with 6 countries that are anywhere from 5 hours to 17 hours ahead of my time, I am often not online when the chat folks are available.

 

Lately however when I have wanted to use chat instead of call in, I find I have clicked on that icon only to be informed that all agents are busy - try again later.

[May B]

10 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Not sure that I completely understand, but I think you are asking this:

 

If you hold a booking and make a deposit TODAY, can you then cancel and book something new if in two days February offers come out and there is a better deal?

 

Yes, but in cancelling the booking you would lose the deposit based on the rules for cancelling.  And you may lose the cabin that you chose.

 

The other thing to do is if you book TODAY, and then February offers are cheaper, then you can call Viking and ask to modify your booking (keep the same booking number and deposit) and move to new dates with the new offer.

 

You may still have to in effect cancel and rebook, but we did this with a cruise that after paying the deposit, we saw sometime later that they offered same price cabin but with free air.

 

We had to call Viking but they forced us to modify the dates of our sailing to get the free air but we did not lose anything and we kept the same booking number.

 

So, in essence, yes you can do what you want to do... but it may be a hassle and you may also get different information from different Viking phone agents.

I think OP meant making a booking but not putting the deposit down until Feb. 1st will or won’t show a more favorable offer. 
 

3 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Perhaps it is undersold. I just received a call and an email from a Viking agent who noted I started to book on the website. He's not who we've dealt with before - I think the two agents we previously dealt with are no longer with Viking.

 

I still plan to have my TA handle all this.

 

That does sound undersold. 
 

I think you’re doing your best. It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Feb. 1st.

[CDNPolar]

4 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Perhaps it is undersold. I just received a call and an email from a Viking agent who noted I started to book on the website. He's not who we've dealt with before - I think the two agents we previously dealt with are no longer with Viking.

 

I still plan to have my TA handle all this.

 

I don't know that this indicates undersold, as much as a sales closing technique.  I have taught sales most of my career and we would always follow up someone who puts something on or in their shopping cart but does not complete the sale.

 

This is a personal touch instead of an email that you get from an online shopping site where you put something in the cart, but did not check out.  Then you get the email asking if you "forgot something"?

[May B]

31 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I don't know that this indicates undersold, as much as a sales closing technique.  I have taught sales most of my career and we would always follow up someone who puts something on or in their shopping cart but does not complete the sale.

 

This is a personal touch instead of an email that you get from an online shopping site where you put something in the cart, but did not check out.  Then you get the email asking if you "forgot something"?

All true, but in post #7, Hanoi mentions the number of staterooms still available. I think in my mind I was answering that comment.

[Hanoj]

7 minutes ago, May B said:

All true, but in post #7, Hanoi mentions the number of staterooms still available. I think in my mind I was answering that comment.

 

Yes, and perhaps a better question is, how likely will the price go down? I used to keep all the Viking mailings to infer pricing trends, but I toss them all now so longer have any idea what to expect for better deals ahead. Even though we haven't cruised with Viking in almost 5 years we still get frequent mailings.

 

I didn't check every cabin category nor every section and deck level, but I wouldn't be surprised if this cruise is only 50 - 60% booked (I'm an accountant with an eye for such things) based on what appears using Price & Build. But few things are as they appear. Does Viking do charter groups, but still show available cabins (for location selection purposes), and then once the available number of such individual bookings are filled they show them all sold? For example, lets say they have sold 20 of the 74 DV5 cabins (mentioned earlier showing 50 available) leaving only 30 really available (but 50 for location selection only). Do they do this? That is, allow charter groups to select cabins at a later time to give private party guests greater choice to induce bookings?. I have no idea how sophisticated their system is, but I do expect they are doing everything possible to fill their ships.