Docrox12

I put a deposit on a river cruise March of 2024. Final payment hadn't been made yet. My TA asked Viking and was told "no" by two agents. On the third call he got one that said "yes".

5 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Just one more data point as you consider your options. It’s unclear how long your cruise is but the amount Viking allows a TA to reimburse is based on the length of the cruise. $250 per person isn’t the max allowed for any of the lengths so I suspect the TA you’ve gotten that offer from is holding at least $50/pp back. 
 

To maximize your value, you may want to find a travel agent that provides the maximum kickback of their commission that Viking allows-$150pp on cruises up to 7 nights, $300pp on 8-14 night cruises, and $500pp on cruises of 15 nights or more.

 

Like others have mentioned, some agents like the one we use provide this as refundable onboard credits-whatever we don’t use, we get in a check from Viking about two weeks after the cruise. 

Good to know. I'll keep that in mind for the next one.

Thanks everyone. I've asked the TA and he said it is refundable. He also said he could give me $100 of the total $500 before the cruise. It sounds like a great deal.

I am also reading that some are refundable and others are non.????

I have one travel agent offering $100/per person to take over a booking and another offering $250 each OBC. We have booked Viking Homelands 4/26. I'm not a spa person and we aren't big drinkers so we wouldn't use that much for alcohol. We could use it for gratuities.

Which one is better? Cash in hand or more total??? (I did search for this answer but didn't find it posted previously).

We are booked on Viking Homelands on the Vela April '26. In cabin 6017. The diagram says aft. Does that mean if I'm lying in bed that my head will travel before my feet? Ha. Trying to picture what facing forward actually means in a bed. If sitting in the chairs in the room, would I be travelling backwards? I think that might bother me more than in bed.