Our Voucher Redemption Experience!

[vslparis]

19 hours ago, What was that? said:

I agree. It’s a difficult situation and the company and its people are under enormous stress. I hope my post can help sensitize cruisers to risks in the use of vouchers as a result of that stress. 

Well said . It is very stressful for both sides of this coin . As a travel advisor with over 25 years experience, this is making even my brain spin with trying to keep everyone's FCC or refund policies straight 😉.  At least with Viking you can apply the FCC to shore excursions, gratuities,etc before travel.  I have a 125% FCC with Azamara ( which still has not shown after

almost 5 weeks ) and it can  be applied only  to the cruise fare.  Still have to pay the taxes ,which I believe is true for Viking and just about every other cruise line.  Remember - The light at the end of the tunnel is not a train! 

[Squawkman]

24 minutes ago, vslparis said:

Still have to pay the taxes ,which I believe is true for Viking and just about every other cruise line. 

 

Taxes are always included with Viking - not itemized on the statement.

[What was that?]

I had to wait four (4) weeks for Viking to re-issue the voucher that had erroneously been applied to the rong cruise, then it turned out to have an expiration date in the past.

 

Edited May 14, 2020 by What was that?
Spelling error

[duquephart]

1 minute ago, What was that? said:

I had to wait four (4) weeks for Viking to re-issue the voucher that had erroneously been applied to the rong cruise, then it turned out to have and expiration date in the past.

 

Looks about right. Another example of what can be expected of the Viking "experts."

[What was that?]

1 minute ago, duquephart said:

 

Looks about right. Another example of what can be expected of the Viking "experts."

 

You are such an optimist!

[duquephart]

1 hour ago, What was that? said:

 

You are such an optimist!

 

I'll do much better when Viking delivers as promised.

[vslparis]

2 hours ago, Squawkman said:

 

Taxes are always included with Viking - not itemized on the statement.

Very true .

[mhb1757]

I am sorry you all have had issues but honestly my experience has been quite different. The FCV was issued in about 2 weeks, we rebooked the same itinerary for 2021 and used it for the cruise and applied the additional credit toward an extension. No deposit was requested. The FCV was all that was needed to secure the booking.  All was done with a couple of emails to my TA who had no trouble contacting Viking and the booking was made quickly. The TA was swamped and it took her a couple of days to get the confirmation to me but I certainly understood that slight delay. 
I do not feel the rules Viking set up for voucher use were unreasonable.  While I have no idea what their reps were telling people early on it appears to me they are honoring the terms they originally set out. I also thinks this is a great example of why I use a good TA. They can deal with the cruise line and I don’t have to! 

[What was that?]

3 minutes ago, mhb1757 said:

I am sorry you all have had issues but honestly my experience has been quite different.

 

I'm sure we are all happy for you, and do recognize that our difficulties are (probably) not the norm. My problems stemmed from relying on what certain Viking phone agents told me - and my TA - and then trying to untangle the mess while the Viking back office was struggling with the chaos. It's kind of a "perfect storm," so to speak.

 

Having said that, I stand by my previous comments.

[CCWineLover]

On 5/15/2020 at 8:08 AM, mhb1757 said:

I am sorry you all have had issues but honestly my experience has been quite different. The FCV was issued in about 2 weeks, we rebooked the same itinerary for 2021 and used it for the cruise and applied the additional credit toward an extension. No deposit was requested. The FCV was all that was needed to secure the booking.  All was done with a couple of emails to my TA who had no trouble contacting Viking and the booking was made quickly. The TA was swamped and it took her a couple of days to get the confirmation to me but I certainly understood that slight delay. 
I do not feel the rules Viking set up for voucher use were unreasonable.  While I have no idea what their reps were telling people early on it appears to me they are honoring the terms they originally set out. I also thinks this is a great example of why I use a good TA. They can deal with the cruise line and I don’t have to! 

 

Oh- I am sorry to report that our voucher experience recently was almost identical to mhb1757 (above).    We don't have a bad experience, nor did we have to deal with the many issues that many of you had.   I almost feel guilty, given all the mess you all went through.   I guess that we were just lucky, but it went so smoothly I was actually a little suspicious.  Never spoke to Viking though - our TA did all that.

[PKNC]

I am having a nightmare experience with Viking and my travel agent. I was referred to a TA over 2 years ago by a trusted source, and booked a cruise through her. Long story short, there was a mess up with the cash refund I was promised by my TA, and now I can't even get a 125% voucher, they keep saying they will give it to me, but I have only received 100% so far. I have emails from my TA telling me when to expect the cash refund, then I got a phone call saying that it was NOT coming. It was been almost two months since this fiasco started. Of course, I have learned some hard lessons - I'll never use a TA again. I only used her because she travels a lot and I was new to Viking - I wanted someone who could give me good advice and hold my hand through the process, and be responsive. I did not get any big price breaks and didn't expect any. Meanwhile, I booked a new cruise on Viking for 2021 after being told in more than one email that I would get the 125% voucher - by both the TA and Viking. Then a 100% voucher came. They just never fix it. I am getting ready to take the TA to small claims court and let her sue Viking, she has maintained that the reason she messed up my cash refund is because she was acting on info provided by Viking.

Edited May 17, 2020 by PKNC

[Viking Cruises]

Dear PKNC,

 

We’re sorry to learn you’ve encountered difficulties during your cancellation process. We would welcome the opportunity to assist, and invite you, and any guests with lingering inquiries, to email tellus@vikingcruises.com with details.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best,

Viking

 

22 hours ago, PKNC said:

I am having a nightmare experience with Viking and my travel agent. I was referred to a TA over 2 years ago by a trusted source, and booked a cruise through her. Long story short, there was a mess up with the cash refund I was promised by my TA, and now I can't even get a 125% voucher, they keep saying they will give it to me, but I have only received 100% so far. I have emails from my TA telling me when to expect the cash refund, then I got a phone call saying that it was NOT coming. It was been almost two months since this fiasco started. Of course, I have learned some hard lessons - I'll never use a TA again. I only used her because she travels a lot and I was new to Viking - I wanted someone who could give me good advice and hold my hand through the process, and be responsive. I did not get any big price breaks and didn't expect any. Meanwhile, I booked a new cruise on Viking for 2021 after being told in more than one email that I would get the 125% voucher - by both the TA and Viking. Then a 100% voucher came. They just never fix it. I am getting ready to take the TA to small claims court and let her sue Viking, she has maintained that the reason she messed up my cash refund is because she was acting on info provided by Viking.

 

[What was that?]

3 minutes ago, Viking Cruises said:

Dear PKNC,

 

We’re sorry to learn you’ve encountered difficulties during your cancellation process. We would welcome the opportunity to assist, and invite you, and any guests with lingering inquiries, to email tellus@vikingcruises.com with details.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Best,

Viking

 

 

 

Viking Social (at the given email address) has helped me with my difficulties, so I recommend them. I am closing in on the final stages of unscrewing the mess we have been in, but every time I think "That's it - we're done!" I find something else needs attention. That is when I call in these folks.

[tsakishuman]

We have also had an unusual experience with our vouchers. Our May 2020 cruise was cancelled by Viking on March 30 and on that same day we instructed our TA to book the same itinerary for April 2021 using the 125% voucher. It was all completed on that day and we used the extra from the voucher to add on an Iceland pre-extension and we still have a bit left over. About a week later, we decided to also book an additional cruise - Canadian Discovery for October 2022 and put down a $1,000 deposit.  Last week we mysteriously received a credit on our credit card for $1,000. I called my TA to see if she knew why the credit. She told me that she had been working with Viking for over two weeks due to the fact that for some reason they applied the vouchers to the 2022 cruise and not the one we originally booked for 2021. So now I have a cruise that is 30 months away that is paid in full and one in 2021 that is now not paid for and the final payment is due next month. Seriously? My TA is still trying to get this fixed. 

[What was that?]

UPDATE:

Our situation is lumbering to a conclusion. I now see both vouchers applied to our Jan-Feb 2021 VO cruise, and am promised - in an email - a refund of excess payments, including our $500 deposit and $700 (each) TripMate insurance overpayment. Note that the insurance cost dropped from $1,019 to $319 when we applied the vouchers. Not sure why... Also we will be refunded $1,200 that was supposed to be applied to tour 2022 VR GE cruise, because Viking cannot transfer the funds from one cruise to the other. I'll have to make the payment to the 2022 cruise and wait for the refund from the 2021 cruise.

 

Bottom line is: we are approaching the finish line on this SNAFU.

[SuSuTrav]

I am so glad we took the 100% refund for our canceled cruise in June after reading all of this. The woman who helped us with the refund was excellent, much much better than the Viking sales agent with whom we had booked the cruise. Refund was in our credit card account in about a month.

We would not even consider going on a cruise until there is a vaccine.

[What was that?]

On 5/20/2020 at 8:06 AM, What was that? said:

UPDATE:

Our situation is lumbering to a conclusion. I now see both vouchers applied to our Jan-Feb 2021 VO cruise, and am promised - in an email - a refund of excess payments, including our $500 deposit and $700 (each) TripMate insurance overpayment. Note that the insurance cost dropped from $1,019 to $319 when we applied the vouchers. Not sure why... Also we will be refunded $1,200 that was supposed to be applied to tour 2022 VR GE cruise, because Viking cannot transfer the funds from one cruise to the other. I'll have to make the payment to the 2022 cruise and wait for the refund from the 2021 cruise.

 

Bottom line is: we are approaching the finish line on this SNAFU.

 

FINAL UPDATE: The vouchers have been applied, and the promised $3,100 refund has been returned to my credit card (within 5 days!). What began on 8 April has been properly resolved as of 22 May. I am satisfied that what should have never happened in the first place (had I been given the full voucher rules) has been resolved. I received assistance at a few critical points from Viking Social (TellUs@VikingCruises.com), for which I am grateful.

I hope Viking is resolving the situations of others with similar issues.