capecodollie

Thanks all for the info!

I've searched the boards for this topic with no luck. We're sailing on the Edge in April after spending a few days in Hawaii. My wife was wondering if the ship offers a deal on a laundry bag at sometime during the 10 day cruise. Any info will be appreciated.

Has anyone been to the Aloha Towers Luau, which I believe is about a ten minute drive from Waikiki? Would also appreciate any other Luau recommendations in the Waikiki area.

I was the original poster of this subject back in March. I just made final payment this week for the 2025 trip. While I contemplated cancelling, I had discounts and vouchers totaling over $3000 committed to this trip. I was "pot committed" so to speak. I also purchased Viking's trip insurance, about $1700 on a $13,000 trip. There were other policies that were less expensive, but Viking's was the rare policy that let's you "cancel for any reason". I felt that was worth a couple of hundred dollars extra. I have learned some of Viking's reasons for the extraordinarily early full payment. As part of their business model they require full payment so they can staff their ships, book personnel for excursions and lock in provisions at today's rates (or as much as possible). So for them, it's an inflationary control. Apparently early, committed (paid in full passengers) has contributed to their success. From the customer's viewpoint, by booking and paying so far in advance, you MAY be locking in a fare that is less expensive than it would have been had you booked it six months ahead of sailing instead of sixteen months. Combine that with the 3.3% they knock off for an ECheck payment, or whatever you may receive on your rewards credit card, and perhaps it's a wash on the interest you would have earned on that money....perhaps.

I'm in the same situation for a Nieu Amsterdam cruise in June, but in reverse. I have a flight with Alaska Air on the way there and AirCanada on the return. No problem with seat assignments on Alaska Air, But a different story with Air Canada. I wasted a tremendous amount of time trying to get seat assignments. I started with Air Canada, then United (who it's actually booked with) and then Flight Ease. Each rep that I finally got connected to would send me off to one of the other reps.....round and round and round I went. After literally hours (I'm retired so I have the time) I discovered that seats with Air Canada will be assigned 24 hours prior to departure. You would think one of the many people I talked with could have told me that fact at some point early on. Anyway don't waste your time as I did, and like myself you'll have to hope for the best as far as seat assignments go. It's possible that 24 hours prior to departure the seat chart will open and you can select your seats. I couldn't get an answer to that question from anyone. By the way it's the first time using Flight Ease. Next time I'll attempt to book my own flights and of course avoid Air Canada if possible. I only say that because their reps were the most cryptic of all the many people I talked with.

Along with another couple, my wife and I were about to book a Viking river cruise in France for April of 2025. Our travel agent gave us all the particulars plus something new. Viking wants final payment this December, 16 months before departure. We've done 5 Viking cruises, 2 river and 3 ocean, and I believe final payment has always been about 6 to 12 months prior to departure. Even that period of time is months earlier than other cruise lines I've sailed with. We're doing Holland America this June and I made final payment earlier this month, a little over 3 months prior to departure. I was never overly concerned because interest rates were near zero for the last several years. But now with interest rates hovering around 5% this is a significant policy change on Viking's part. Simple math computes that the cruise will cost us about $800 in lost interest (assuming of course rates stay the same). Not a huge deal, but significant. Plus multiply that times all cruiser's final payments that Viking with be holding. I have no idea what Viking will be doing with the money, perhaps paying down debt from the covid years. Or perhaps socking it away in treasuries. Either way this is a potential deal killer, primarily because I have to wonder about the viability of their business. Not to mention $800 out of my pocket. Wondering if anyone else is troubled by this or am I just being cheap.