With the exception that no one knew how long the pandemic would delay cruising, I have to totally disagree with your assessment. Like Heidi13, I found Viking’s FCVs to be very fair and worked very well - as long as one understands the conditions. We booked and rebooked and rebooked - in a few cases, where we changed our minds or Viking canceled/changed the itinerary. When rebooking, if the total cost of the new cruise exceeds the value of the FCV, yes, a deposit is due at booking - to assure you won’t change your mind as with any other booking. FCVs have different conditions, etc. and the it’s the user’s responsibility to check that out with their agent before accepting. We just used a FCV with a promo code and got a better deal than we did the first time in addition to 25%.