Swiched booking/ penalized $100pp

[The A Train]

We had to cancel a booking due to a family conflict. We simultaneously re-booked another sailing......and, Viking doesn't transfer the deposit to a new booking. We were charged again for the $1000 deposit and will be refunded $800 after a $100pp penalty.

 

Pretty ridiculous!!

[philw1776]

Yes, it's Viking stated policy. It happened to me, 3 reservations $600. I knew it going in. Viking has a right to have policies that we don't love.

[RJ2002]

Yep, that is Viking's policy. We had to swallow the $100/pp penalty when we cancelled and re-booked the same cruise / same category because of a price drop. It was clearly spelled out in the original booking documents.

[dln929]

We had to cancel a booking due to a family conflict. We simultaneously re-booked another sailing......and, Viking doesn't transfer the deposit to a new booking. We were charged again for the $1000 deposit and will be refunded $800 after a $100pp penalty.

 

Pretty ridiculous!!

No, not ridiculous in the world of cruising. Many (if not all) lines do this in one way shape or form. Even worse when you give your booking to a travel agent who has great perks...and then you have to cancel and get socked with cancellation fees from two sources!

 

I daresay most of us have paid fees. Trust me, you soon learn to read the fine print before you book cruises. [emoji6]

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Forums mobile app

[broker1217]

I am new to cruising so I don’t know what is typical for most lines.

But $100/pp does not seem outrageous. They held a cabin, then had to deal with cancelling that booking. It is an inconvenience for them, plus I can see how they need to have a disencentive in order to prevent people from booking and cancelling with no penalty. An anti-churn policy.

 

Viking seems to cater to customers who book early to get the itinerary and category they want. They are not dumping cabins at 80% off a couple weeks prior to the cruise. So their business model lends itself to discouragement of holding a cabin with no penalty-but feel free to disagree.

I am by no means an experienced cruiser!

[MMDown Under]

I know it is policy. But I think, as a good will gesture, if a passenger books another cruise (not same cruise) with $1000 deposit they could waive the $100 fee for cancellation.

[Azulann]

I am new to cruising so I don’t know what is typical for most lines.

But $100/pp does not seem outrageous. They held a cabin, then had to deal with cancelling that booking. It is an inconvenience for them, plus I can see how they need to have a disencentive in order to prevent people from booking and cancelling with no penalty. An anti-churn policy.

 

Viking seems to cater to customers who book early to get the itinerary and category they want. They are not dumping cabins at 80% off a couple weeks prior to the cruise. So their business model lends itself to discouragement of holding a cabin with no penalty-but feel free to disagree.

I am by no means an experienced cruiser!

 

Good phrase "anti churn". I have seen many posters in the last ten years brag about booking a number of cruises when the sailings are first posted, knowing they can cancell without penalty until final payment. Viking does not lend itself to that model.

I am not saying the OP did this , they had a particular reason for cacelling, but the rules are very clear when you first book a Viking cruise.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The future booking consultants on many ships encourage people to book a cruise they don't want in order to lock in the benefits, and then later switch to a cruise they do want. So the cruise lines themselves have been encouraging 'churn.' Now that the economy is better they are trying to tighten up on that. The trend seems to be toward some kind of penalty on all booking changes or cancelations [i know this sounds same old-same old to our British friends]. Celebrity has started featuring lower rates with a penalty. Even Crystal in the full luxury category is implementing various penalties:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2621117

[The A Train]

Over the years, I've had to cancel a sailing for reason, but, simultaneously re-booked another, twice on Oceania and once each on Cunard and Princess, with no penalty. On Cunard, I canceled once with no re-book and was not penalized.

 

It's my understanding that Regent and Silversea charge $100pp penalty for PURE cancellations. There may be others.

 

And, now, received my invoice with final payment due NINE months in advance.

 

That may well be my final payment to Viking!

[RJ2002]

Yes, another fun feature for Viking... full payments due very early. I've read on other threads that some have been successful in negotiating for more time until the final payment is due.

[Cyber Kat]

The future booking consultants on many ships encourage people to book a cruise they don't want in order to lock in the benefits, and then later switch to a cruise they do want. So the cruise lines themselves have been encouraging 'churn.' Now that the economy is better they are trying to tighten up on that. The trend seems to be toward some kind of penalty on all booking changes or cancelations [i know this sounds same old-same old to our British friends]. Celebrity has started featuring lower rates with a penalty. Even Crystal in the full luxury category is implementing various penalties:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2621117

 

If I'm remembering correctly the Future cruise consultant on Viking (we booked another cruise onboard) said that we would be able to cancel/change the booking within 60 days with no penalty. After that standard rules apply. He gave us a printout of benefits to booking onboard, but I don't have it handy.

[Cyber Kat]

Yes, another fun feature for Viking... full payments due very early. I've read on other threads that some have been successful in negotiating for more time until the final payment is due.

 

There's really no negotiating involved - only asking. I asked. My rep said, "when do you want to pay?" We picked a reasonable time - we didn't say, "Day before the cruise." ;p She said, "No problem!"

[Cyber Kat]

We had to cancel a booking due to a family conflict. We simultaneously re-booked another sailing......and, Viking doesn't transfer the deposit to a new booking. We were charged again for the $1000 deposit and will be refunded $800 after a $100pp penalty.

 

Pretty ridiculous!!

 

Better hope you don't have to cancel and rebook airline tickets! My change cost me $200pp PLUS, I had to pay for the upgrade to Economy plus again!

[Peregrina651]

If I'm remembering correctly the Future cruise consultant on Viking (we booked another cruise onboard) said that we would be able to cancel/change the booking within 60 days with no penalty. After that standard rules apply. He gave us a printout of benefits to booking onboard, but I don't have it handy.

 

When we booked on board in January, one of the stated benefits was that we would be able to change our reservation up to 4 months prior to departure without penalty. I don't know if this is a standard benefit or a limited time offer.

[kentchris]

Over the years, I've had to cancel a sailing for reason, but, simultaneously re-booked another, twice on Oceania and once each on Cunard and Princess, with no penalty. On Cunard, I canceled once with no re-book and was not penalized.

Welcome to my world. As Host Jazzbeau pointed out, in my neck of the woods once you've paid a deposit to secure a cruise booking you lose it if you cancel, regardless of whether you re-book or not. At least Cunard (and Viking UK amongst other lines) don't treat transferring a booking to a later date as a cancellation so it's not all gloom.

 

On the brighter side, Viking UK don't game the final payment date in the same way as Viking US seems to for special offers. The T&Cs say 10 weeks and I haven't seen any UK customers complaining about Viking messing them around trying to get earlier payment.

[Cyber Kat]

When we booked on board in January, one of the stated benefits was that we would be able to change our reservation up to 4 months prior to departure without penalty. I don't know if this is a standard benefit or a limited time offer.

 

Could have been 4 months - I don't remember, and I don't feel like digging the paper out. I do know that there was a penalty free period.

[azdrydock]

Booked a future cruise and was told I could change with no penalty until final payment. Only other condition was that the new cruise had to be same number of days or greater. About 3 months latter we called our TA and switched to a river cruise, kept all the on board perks and completed the transaction while on hold with TA. The river cruise was already in the final payment due stage but Viking gave us a few additional days. Deposit was moved to new cruise.

[Marylebone37]

Are you subject to the 100 p/p admin charge if you choose to upgrade your cabin category (to a more expensive cabin) on the very same cruise?

[vnb2003]

Are you subject to the 100 p/p admin charge if you choose to upgrade your cabin category (to a more expensive cabin) on the very same cruise?

 

I don't know about Ocean but we upgraded our cabin while on Viking river cruise. It was more than twice cheaper on board than I was quoted by Viking before cruise. Both times no one mentioned any fees.

[The A Train]

BREAKING NEWS: After almost two weeks of pitching (sp), my T.A. was able to get the $100pp penalty waived and my final payment due 6 months out rather than 9 months.

[Azulann]

BREAKING NEWS: After almost two weeks of pitching (sp), my T.A. was able to get the $100pp penalty waived and my final payment due 6 months out rather than 9 months.

Thanks for taking time for the update.

You have a good TA willing to work for you when things happen.

Enjoy the rest of your planning for your Viking Cruise.

[xeena]

our TA has gotten final payments to be due 6 months prior (one river and one ocean). i would rather 3 months, but Viking said no to that.

 

I was happy with 6 in the end.....

[OKCowboy]

I recently booked a future ocean cruise with the onboard cruise consultant I didn't realize until too late that he indicated I didn't accept the insurance so I had to forego the section A coverage. I don't recall the insurance being offered at the time. I wish Viking would institute a form which one could signi indicating the insurance was declined. It would spell out the consequences.

[The A Train]

You NEVER want to book the cruise lines insurance....you do it on your own!!!

[Pushka]

It’s $500 pp in Australia. But we don’t have to pay in full until much later.