The Virtual Explorers' Lounge

[Sleep7]

😊What a fun topic for such a well traveled group.

I would love to cruise South Africa (Capetown to Capetown) or Asia (Hong Kong to Bangkok) or take a river cruise on the Mekong.  Add a land tour of Myanmar (especially Yangon and it's colonial era buildings) and those are my top 3 travel bucket list items.

Besides the fact that DH still works and isn't keen on taking 2 or 3 or 4 weeks off in a row.. the distance is actually stopping me from bugging him too much about it.

Two weeks ago we were away in Honolulu and flew nonstop from JFK to HNL. The 11 hour flight kind of cured me from drooling over the aforementioned trips too much.  So for now I'm happy with western Europe.. flights I can stand and a time change that isn't too hard to overcome.😊

[OneSixtyToOne]

12 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Well, here’s a fun game we are playing tonight.   Where is it that you haven’t been and don’t have booked, that you really want to get to?  Last chance bucket list.  We are so fortunate to have traveled extensively and hope to keep traveling the next couple of years.  Ours are Istanbul and Santorini.  

We’ve been to Australia but we never made it to New Zealand 🇳🇿 

[CCWineLover]

18 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

We’ve been to Australia but we never made it to New Zealand 🇳🇿 

Joe - you['ve got to make it to NZ!  Both Islands - so different - and the whole country is unique and spectacular!!

[CCWineLover]

We've ticked off so many bucket list items . . .

And we'll get one of them done next year (with Japan and Hong Kong).

 

But for us the big one is South Africa (safari, Namibia, Victoria Falls, Capetown, and more).  Had friends who just got back from a Rhodes Scholar tour and were absolutely raving about it.

[duquephart]

Is there still such a thing as a safari? Sounds a little hokey.

[CCWineLover]

4 minutes ago, duquephart said:

Is there still such a thing as a safari? Sounds a little hokey.

Don't understand . .   are you serious?

Please explain.

[SantaFe1]

21 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

We've ticked off so many bucket list items . . .

And we'll get one of them done next year (with Japan and Hong Kong).

 

But for us the big one is South Africa (safari, Namibia, Victoria Falls, Capetown, and more).  Had friends who just got back from a Rhodes Scholar tour and were absolutely raving about it.

You will love it!  Did this on our 2019 WC. And yes there are safaris!!!  We did two.

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

Is there still such a thing as a safari? Sounds a little hokey.

 

1 hour ago, duquephart said:

Is there still such a thing as a safari? Sounds a little hokey.

Yes, still exist.  The only difference is you shoot them with water pistols now......

[SantaFe1]

Or in our case, cameras!

[duquephart]

5 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Don't understand . .   are you serious?

Please explain.

 

Maybe I watched too many "Tarzan" movies.

[SantaFe1]

I think some time ago there was a thread on this question but I can’t find it.  So, here is my question.  We have a cruise in the fall that it appears, for many reasons, we aren’t going to be able to take.  We got the $25 pp deposit offer, so $50 is all we have down.  Final payment is May 6.  The cancellation table of $100 pp up to 120 days out was clearly intended for the regular $500pp down payment.  So if we just skip the final payment, is Viking going to come after us for another $150.  And if so how are they going to get it?  Thanks for any help.

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, SantaFe1 said:

I think some time ago there was a thread on this question but I can’t find it.  So, here is my question.  We have a cruise in the fall that it appears, for many reasons, we aren’t going to be able to take.  We got the $25 pp deposit offer, so $50 is all we have down.  Final payment is May 6.  The cancellation table of $100 pp up to 120 days out was clearly intended for the regular $500pp down payment.  So if we just skip the final payment, is Viking going to come after us for another $150.  And if so how are they going to get it?  Thanks for any help.

I've considered this before. I do not know the answer but assume that they will not come after you for the remaining $150 but I assume you paid by credit card for the $50 in which case I guess they could charge the card but doubt they would do that.  I guess you could ask them?

[Clay Clayton]

1 minute ago, SantaFe1 said:

I think some time ago there was a thread on this question but I can’t find it.  So, here is my question.  We have a cruise in the fall that it appears, for many reasons, we aren’t going to be able to take.  We got the $25 pp deposit offer, so $50 is all we have down.  Final payment is May 6.  The cancellation table of $100 pp up to 120 days out was clearly intended for the regular $500pp down payment.  So if we just skip the final payment, is Viking going to come after us for another $150.  And if so how are they going to get it?  Thanks for any help.

And while we are at it, let’s presume SantaFe booked onboard and got $100 onboard credit for the cruise underway when the booking was made.  Is Viking going to try to claw that back in addition to the cancelation penalty? (Asking for a friend😂)

[SantaFe1]

Well, no and no. I used bank draft and actually only paid $48.35.  And didn’t book onboard, so no OBC. I have taken my CC and bank draft number off that particular booking on MVJ.  I was hoping someone had actually done this. 

Edited February 8 by SantaFe1

[GRACIECA]

4 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

And while we are at it, let’s presume SantaFe booked onboard and got $100 onboard credit for the cruise underway when the booking was made.  Is Viking going to try to claw that back in addition to the cancelation penalty? (Asking for a friend😂)

I would call Viking and give the you booking # and ask if you by waiting until the final payment is due will only cost you the $50. MY guess is that is correct, but my experience has not been good when it comes to their practices. Get the name of the person you speak to and have them put it in writing. 

[JM0115]

2 minutes ago, GRACIECA said:

I would call Viking and give the you booking # and ask if you by waiting until the final payment is due will only cost you the $50. MY guess is that is correct, but my experience has not been good when it comes to their practices. Get the name of the person you speak to and have them put it in writing. 

Hope someone tells us their experience with this. 

[SantaFe1]

1 minute ago, GRACIECA said:

I would call Viking and give the you booking # and ask if you by waiting until the final payment is due will only cost you the $50. MY guess is that is correct, but my experience has not been good when it comes to their practices. Get the name of the person you speak to and have them put it in writing. 

Well, I sort of didn’t want to give them a heads up that I was going to cancel. And I think I would have to cancel through my TA. So what I really want to do is just let them keep the deposit and default on the final payment. Will it just fall through if I don’t pay it?

[GRACIECA]

1 minute ago, SantaFe1 said:

Well, I sort of didn’t want to give them a heads up that I was going to cancel. And I think I would have to cancel through my TA. So what I really want to do is just let them keep the deposit and default on the final payment. Will it just fall through if I don’t pay it?

Ask your travel agent. That is their responsibility to get this answer for you.

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, SantaFe1 said:

Well, I sort of didn’t want to give them a heads up that I was going to cancel. And I think I would have to cancel through my TA. So what I really want to do is just let them keep the deposit and default on the final payment. Will it just fall through if I don’t pay it?

Seems like your TA could ask them the hypothetical easier than you could.

[Peregrina651]

What about just moving the booking? Or will they roll the penalty into the new booking?

[SantaFe1]

1 minute ago, Peregrina651 said:

What about just moving the booking? Or will they roll the penalty into the new booking?

 It’s more complicated than just the date. Not to get into details here, I just thought I remembered that some people had actually done this and wondered what happened. Thanks everyone for helpful suggestions. 

[Twitchly]

About that bucket list … Meteora, the family farm in northern Norway, more of Italy, more of Ireland. I didn’t get to see much of the latter when we were there on the BIE cruise due to a sprained knee. 

[CurlerRob]

3 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

I think some time ago there was a thread on this question but I can’t find it.  So, here is my question.  We have a cruise in the fall that it appears, for many reasons, we aren’t going to be able to take.  We got the $25 pp deposit offer, so $50 is all we have down.  Final payment is May 6.  The cancellation table of $100 pp up to 120 days out was clearly intended for the regular $500pp down payment.  So if we just skip the final payment, is Viking going to come after us for another $150.  And if so how are they going to get it?  Thanks for any help.

 

A real-life, recent example. We had a placeholder cruise booked for August 2024 with the $25 deposit. I proactively cancelled it in early January/24 (PIF was early March). I immediately received a cancellation 'invoice' - no further requests for additional payments. This was all through my TA.

 

Pragmatically, the cost to Viking to try and chase down $75 would be vastly more - and that's before the pax discontent kicked in! Frankly, if they had sent me a bill for the extra $75, I would have paid it - that was the agreement and I would have honoured it, but I had zero expectation that they would do so. Most other lines offering el cheapo deposits are operating the same way.

 

I would go ahead and cancel - that opens the slot for someone else, rather than delaying until PIF and just not paying. 🍺🥌

[bookbabe]

15 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

 It’s more complicated than just the date. Not to get into details here, I just thought I remembered that some people had actually done this and wondered what happened. Thanks everyone for helpful suggestions. 

We just did a date/itinerary swap earlier this week, so I can tell you our experience.

 

Had Pharoahs & Pyramids booked for March 2025, British Isles Explorer for September 2025.

Our PCC was able to turn P&P into BIE, similar but not identical dates, kept same booking number and deposit.

Had to email vcmail@viking.com to cancel the extra BIE since our PCC said he couldn’t do that.

Emailed with booking number, itinerary/dates, passenger names and a brief reason for cancellation.

Got a cancellation confirmation email the next day.

Only lost the $25pp deposit on the BIE that was cancelled.

 

[FetaCheese]

Hello V friends,  

 

If anyone interested, @SantaFe1  and others are on Star 14 February 2024, Hawaiian Islands Sojourn.

 

He will be posting observations by piggy backing onto my earlier topic:

 

"LIVE from Viking Star-- Hawaiian Islands Sojourn -- 28 Dec. 2023 --13 January 2024"

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2981581-live-from-viking-star-hawaiian-islands-sojourn-28-dec-2023-13-january-2024/page/6/#:~:text=Cruise Critic Community-,LIVE,-from Viking Star

 

Edited February 14 by FetaCheese
Clarity