Buyer Beware

[Sailor Sam 407]

We cancelled our April 2022 Viking Mediterranean cruise, after getting written and verbal (on three separate occasions to our TA) assurances from Viking that our FCC would be valid for two years. Based on that information, we canceled and booked a Northern European cruise for August 2023 and used said vouchers.

Turns out the information that was provided to us by Viking was not accurate and we are now required to use the vouchers by year's end. It wouldn't be so bad if the 2023 cruise was offered in 2022, but it's not.

So, I'm just writing this as a cautionary tale and hopefully it doesn't happen to you!

[duquephart]

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

--- Pete Seeger

[dreamercruise]

37 minutes ago, duquephart said:

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

--- Pete Seeger

Please explain.  I am about to get one of these mysterious FCC for the first time.  Please educate me about the potential pitfalls and corresponding actions for avoiding problems in rebooking.

Sailor Sam 407, doesn’t your invoice/guest statement for the new cruise (2023 Northern Europe) indicate payment by FCC (before you pay deposit)?

[Sailor Sam 407]

There were 2 vouchers that were indicated on the new guest statement. We had 2 other vouchers and when our TA saw that they weren't included he contacted them. Those are the vouchers in question.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Sailor Sam 407 said:

There were 2 vouchers that were indicated on the new guest statement. We had 2 other vouchers and when our TA saw that they weren't included he contacted them. Those are the vouchers in question.

 

Your experience is not consistent with any of the vouchars we have received.

 

All of the FCV's we have received include a date of issue and an expiry date, which is 2-years from the date of issue. The fine print states they must be used on booking a new cruise before the expiry date and also before the cruise final payment date. We have multiple variations, but all have the same small print requiring booking, not sailing before the expiry date.

 

I note, FCV's issued under the CFAR waiver in the Viking sold insurance are only valid for 1-year.

 

Do the FCV's you have state a 2-year validity and that they must be used on a new booking before expiry, regardless of sailing date. If they include this information, I suggest your TA should be escalating the issue to Viking management in the call centre.  

[Sailor Sam 407]

The 2 vouchers that were applied to the 2023 cruise showed the two year window to book by, not sail by. So there are no concerns there.

The 2 vouchers in question show the book and sail by the end of 2022. The issue is that Viking, in writing and verbally (they have this recorded), initially indicated that those two vouchers would be treated the same as the first two. i.e. two years to book. 

So, based on that, we cancelled the Med cruise. It wasn't until the actual vouchers were received did we note the change from what they had previously stated.

They will not accept responsibility that their staff made documented errors. Had we been given the correct information in the first place, none of this would have happened.

Yes, we are moving up the chain of command. 

[Squawkman]

Our most recent cancellation by Viking (April, 2021) required a FCV must be used for a 2021 or 2022 cruise to be eligible for 125% value. We would have preferred a 2023 cruise, but my Viking agent told us there’s no way we can get the extra 25% for a 2023 cruise. Weighing everything, we decided to book for 2022. Prior cancellations by Viking gave us 125% for booking within 2 years (as Heidi13 indicates). We used one of these for  a 2023 booking made before our April, 2021 cancellation.

 

Read the fine print and ask questions BEFORE accepting vouchers!

[Sailor Sam 407]

Squawkman - We did ask questions and got answers in writing and verbally (3 times) directly from Viking, before we made the decision to cancel. It was after the fact that they changed their response.

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, Sailor Sam 407 said:

The 2 vouchers that were applied to the 2023 cruise showed the two year window to book by, not sail by. So there are no concerns there.

The 2 vouchers in question show the book and sail by the end of 2022. The issue is that Viking, in writing and verbally (they have this recorded), initially indicated that those two vouchers would be treated the same as the first two. i.e. two years to book. 

So, based on that, we cancelled the Med cruise. It wasn't until the actual vouchers were received did we note the change from what they had previously stated.

They will not accept responsibility that their staff made documented errors. Had we been given the correct information in the first place, none of this would have happened.

Yes, we are moving up the chain of command. 

 

The 2 vouchers in questions, are these  FCV's that were issued for a cancelled cruise that you paid in full with cash, or did you use previous FCV's to partially/wholly pay for the cancelled cruise.  

[Sailor Sam 407]

The 2 vouchers in question were mostly from the cancelled cruise and were a combination of previous FCV's and cash. I have no issue with the T&C's of the FCV.

As I said, had we had been given the correct information (on 4 separate occasions) in the first place, none of this would have happened.

[Heidi13]

2 minutes ago, Sailor Sam 407 said:

The 2 vouchers in question were mostly from the cancelled cruise and were a combination of previous FCV's and cash. I have no issue with the T&C's of the FCV.

As I said, had we had been given the correct information (on 4 separate occasions) in the first place, none of this would have happened.

 

It is unfortunate the information you received, but the T&C's on the FCV's are clear, in that they will not be re-issued once used.

 

On another thread, Insanityx4 has posted that Viking graciously re-issued FCV's used to pay for a cruise that was cancelled, but they are only valid for 1-year. This seems to be consistent with your experience.

[jonthomas]

Buyer beware indeed. There are lots of examples of loss when you have cancelled a booking and are trying to use your FCVs. Not only did we lose a lot of OBCs, but have to be careful since we have two types of FCVs...one with a one year expiry, one with two. 

 

Only remedy, is to finally sail and hopefully use them up. 

[zalusky]

The other remedy is to cancel questionable cruises at the 120 day mark and not take the FCVs.

[jonthomas]

Unless you are already using FCV that will be void if you dont. Lots of money lost. And that is what Viking is counting on. 

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, jonthomas said:

Unless you are already using FCV that will be void if you dont. Lots of money lost. And that is what Viking is counting on. 

 

It is classic risk management.

 

When Viking offer 125% or 110%, both the cruise line and pax are assuming risk. As a pax, nobody is going to provide me 10 or 25% uplift on my money, without me carrying some risk. As with any financial transaction, it is imperative to fully understand the terms & conditions, as Viking also provided the option of 100% cash refunds, if requested.

 

Personally, if somebody is offering me 10 or 25% uplift on my money, I fully expect there to be significant risks involved. Hence the reason, when we disembarked Viking Sun, based on my research, we took the cash refund, rather than the 125% FCV, as based on the amount of money involved, the risks inherent in the terms & conditions were way too high.

 

By offering the 10 or 25% uplift, Viking obviously expect that some will be unable to fully utilise the FCV's. It is most unfortunate that some will lose, but by accepting a FCV, you are accepting the risk in return for a potential reasonable profit.

 

The option for FCV's is no different than investing in the stock market, some days you win, some you lose.

[jonthomas]

We dont have the 125. Just money spent, now became vouchers for same cruises at higher prices. OBCs lost as they are no longer offered as promos. 

 

So the dilemma is spend more and have more to lose or bite the bullet and lose many thousands of dollars. I only have one such cruise. Some here have many more. Going forward, I will not make any final payments on any cruises, on any lines. 

[KBs mum]

1 hour ago, jonthomas said:

We dont have the 125. Just money spent, now became vouchers for same cruises at higher prices. OBCs lost as they are no longer offered as promos. 

 

So the dilemma is spend more and have more to lose or bite the bullet and lose many thousands of dollars. I only have one such cruise. Some here have many more. Going forward, I will not make any final payments on any cruises, on any lines. 

No final payment, no cruise. We're with Heidi on this, we took the cash for one and transferred the one we had a deposit down for to a less covid disruptable itinerary. final payment soon due. If cancelled by Viking we'll take the cash.