Account "Locked for Updates" when time for signing up for shore excursions

[Grettiegoo]

First time Viking cruise. I've read everything I can on this site that I can. Today was our "67-days-out" day to sign up for shore excursions starting at 3 p.m. ET. At 2:45 I went to get ready to do all the things I've read on this forum to get the excursions you want. And I got the "Your booking is currently locked for updates. Please try again later" message!!!  I thought surely it would let me in by 3 p.m. NOPE!! I also had a credit card on file so that info didn't have to be re-entered. We already had my DH's computer ready to go--he was going to reserve one optional excursion while I reserved the other. He and his computer are not really savvy, but he could get in and slowly work through what we wanted for optional excursions. And apparently the credit card is only good for onboard purchases--had to enter cc info for both bookings. Once we had those I went through the included tours and reserved the ones we wanted, reserving for both of us. I then went through the excursion page and verified that we had what we wanted.  And then I went through the calendar. And on the calendar, it was only showing the reservations on the included excursions for him, even though I had clicked reserve on both names. So back to the beginning and again did the reservations for me. And then back again to check the calendar and see that we both had reservations.  It is now 3:45 ET and I am still not able to get into our account on my computer. As soon as I can, I will be emailing Viking and letting them know I am not happy. But be prepared with two computers and two accounts when your time draws near.

[TayanaLorna]

We have not been able to use two different devices to book excursions ever.  Only 1 person is able to log in at one time.

[longterm]

Anytime someone is in an account, it locks all others from entering; that's why you can't be in your MVJ account while speaking with a Viking agent on the phone. It's their way of preventing 2 people from editing a record at the same time. Your account information is, after all, simply a database record in a database somewhere.

 

Most modern databases do the same time, not always quite so severely; for example, if person 1 is modifying a database entry (let's say it's a name and address database), and person 1 is changing the address listing, person 2 might be able to VIEW the same name and address, but not edit anything. In Viking's system, however, if person 1 is viewing their MVJ information, person 2 can't view it at the same time. 

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by longterm

[Grettiegoo]

18 minutes ago, longterm said:

Anytime someone is in an account, it locks all others from entering; that's why you can't be in your MVJ account while speaking with a Viking agent on the phone. It's their way of preventing 2 people from editing a record at the same time. Your account information is, after all, simply a database record in a database somewhere.

 

Most modern databases do the same time, not always quite so severely; for example, if person 1 is modifying a database entry (let's say it's a name and address database), and person 1 is changing the address listing, person 2 might be able to VIEW the same name and address, but not edit anything. In Viking's system, however, if person 1 is viewing their MVJ information, person 2 can't view it at the same time. 

 

It's now 5:15 p.m. and I still can't get into my account and I logged out of my DH's account at least two hours ago.

[OneSixtyToOne]

18 minutes ago, longterm said:

Most modern databases do the same time, not always quite so severely; for example, if person 1 is modifying a database entry (let's say it's a name and address database), and person 1 is changing the address listing, person 2 might be able to VIEW the same name and address, but not edit anything. In Viking's system, however, if person 1 is viewing their MVJ information, person 2 can't view it at the same time. 

 

Being a Database Administrator for 30 years, you have just entered my bailiwick. Let’s go into the weeds: Transaction Isolation Level in an ACID database.

[Grettiegoo]

31 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

We have not been able to use two different devices to book excursions ever.  Only 1 person is able to log in at one time.

It's now 5:15 p.m. and I still can't get into my account and I logged out of my DH's account at least two hours ago.

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 minute ago, Grettiegoo said:

It's now 5:15 p.m. and I still can't get into my account and I logged out of my DH's account at least two hours ago.

Try powering off both computer and logging back on. Something is holding a lock somewhere.

[TayanaLorna]

8 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Try powering off both computer and logging back on. Something is holding a lock somewhere.

Ah bless you.  My DH was a computer tech, support and otherwise and wants nothing to do with a "help" desk in retirement.

[Grettiegoo]

13 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Try powering off both computer and logging back on. Something is holding a lock somewhere.

That's what I ended up doing and I was then able to finally get in. So I am assuming that the whole thing was caused by having the other account opened?  But we didn't open the DH account until after I tried opening mine. Oh well. It's good to know for next week when we can do dining to only open one.  Thanks. 

[Grettiegoo]

46 minutes ago, longterm said:

Anytime someone is in an account, it locks all others from entering; that's why you can't be in your MVJ account while speaking with a Viking agent on the phone. It's their way of preventing 2 people from editing a record at the same time. Your account information is, after all, simply a database record in a database somewhere.

 

Most modern databases do the same time, not always quite so severely; for example, if person 1 is modifying a database entry (let's say it's a name and address database), and person 1 is changing the address listing, person 2 might be able to VIEW the same name and address, but not edit anything. In Viking's system, however, if person 1 is viewing their MVJ information, person 2 can't view it at the same time. 

 

I ended up closing everything down and starting over and got in. I can see you "edited" your comment. Can you please tell me how you edit in this forum? I can't find edit or delete and would really like to know how to do that 😉  

[OneSixtyToOne]

15 minutes ago, Grettiegoo said:

I ended up closing everything down and starting over and got in. I can see you "edited" your comment. Can you please tell me how you edit in this forum? I can't find edit or delete and would really like to know how to do that 😉  

You can only edit your post for a few minutes (20?) after you post. The option is available when you click on the ellipses on the top of your post.

Edited September 4, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[FetaCheese]

You can for edit for 20 min.  Look for 3 dots--upper right corner of your post--select edit.  Then edit and save.

[FetaCheese]

3 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

You can only edit your post for a few minutes (5?) after you post. The option is available when you click on the ellipses on the top of your post.

Ellipses--much better word than 3 dots!

Edited September 4, 2022 by FetaCheese

[Grettiegoo]

1 hour ago, FetaCheese said:

Ellipses--much better word than 3 dots!

I guess you have to be fast. I just typed up something and went back to it and had the edit option. Thanks for your response.

 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Grettiegoo

[longterm]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Being a Database Administrator for 30 years, you have just entered my bailiwick. Let’s go into the weeds: Transaction Isolation Level in an ACID database.

I'm a database developer and run a hosting company that hosts databases since 2000. My 2nd career... 🙂

[millybess]

In the past, when we have booked excursions for popular destinations, we have done exactly what the OP and her DH were attempting to do.  We have never had a problem with both of us being logged in at the same time. I would book and pay for a few and DH would book and pay for a few.     Maybe things have changed since our cruise earlier this year. 

[Mimiya11]

20 hours ago, millybess said:

In the past, when we have booked excursions for popular destinations, we have done exactly what the OP and her DH were attempting to do.  We have never had a problem with both of us being logged in at the same time. I would book and pay for a few and DH would book and pay for a few.     Maybe things have changed since our cruise earlier this year. 

Well this is an important piece of information to know.   Anyone else have success doing this? 

 

[longterm]

18 hours ago, Mimiya11 said:

Well this is an important piece of information to know.   Anyone else have success doing this? 

 

We've been going on Viking cruises since 2019, and I *think* it's always locked out other users while someone is logged into the account. I know that it's that way these days, because I spent some time on the phone with a Viking rep just a couple of weeks ago, and she had to ask me to log out of my MVJ account so that she could look at it.
 

[millybess]

2 hours ago, longterm said:

We've been going on Viking cruises since 2019, and I *think* it's always locked out other users while someone is logged into the account. I know that it's that way these days, because I spent some time on the phone with a Viking rep just a couple of weeks ago, and she had to ask me to log out of my MVJ account so that she could look at it.
 

So DH and I tried this again just now and we are both logged in at the same time. We aren’t booking excursions yet, but we were both logged in and booking excursions several months ago for our cruise last May. I’m not sure why this doesn’t work for some people. 

[LindaS272]

I was on the phone with a Viking rep a few months ago and they confirmed that you can’t be logged in to MVJ at the same time. And in fact we are locked out every time if we both try to log in from different devices. No clue why it works in Toronto! 😄

[millybess]

55 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

No clue why it works in Toronto! 😄

COTU I guess 😂

[Grettiegoo]

2 hours ago, millybess said:

So DH and I tried this again just now and we are both logged in at the same time. We aren’t booking excursions yet, but we were both logged in and booking excursions several months ago for our cruise last May. I’m not sure why this doesn’t work for some people. 

DH and I were able to do it prior to trying to book excursions. As long as you know it might not work if both are on at the same time, you know what to do.