Question about Viking vouchers purchased on board a cruise

[sharkster77]

We will be on a Viking tulip cruise next month.  We recall from our previous cruise that one can buy vouchers on board that have double value when used to pay a future Viking cruise.  There is a limit, of course ($400 --> $800 per couple maybe?).

 

We have a Viking Ocean cruise booked for 2025.  Could those vouchers if purchased by applied to paying for that cruise, or are they good for new bookings only?  Don't want to ask this on board, get a wrong answer, then be sitting on them until we book again.

[Squawkman]

1 hour ago, sharkster77 said:

We will be on a Viking tulip cruise next month.  We recall from our previous cruise that one can buy vouchers on board that have double value when used to pay a future Viking cruise.  There is a limit, of course ($400 --> $800 per couple maybe?).

 

We have a Viking Ocean cruise booked for 2025.  Could those vouchers if purchased by applied to paying for that cruise, or are they good for new bookings only?  Don't want to ask this on board, get a wrong answer, then be sitting on them until we book again.

As of last April: each person on river cruise may purchase up to six $200 vouchers for $100 each. Only one voucher per person per NEW BOOKING (ocean, river or expedition) may be used. There have been reports here on Cruise Critic that this program has been discontinued effective 2024, but when we were on a VO cruise this past January, the sales agent assured us the program was still available for river cruises.

[CDNPolar]

We were on Treasures of the Rhine December 2023 / January 2024 and they were still available.

 

Earlier in 2023 we were on Viking's Eastern Europe river cruise and it was suggested that these vouchers and the program was to be retired sometime in 2024.  I don't think that there has been any formal announcement about this.

 

NO, you cannot buy vouchers on the river ship and apply to anything to do with that cruise.  Not allowed.

 

You can ONLY based on terms and conditions of these vouchers apply them to NEW bookings where you are applying the voucher number at the time of booking.

 

If you book a future cruise today and place a deposit, then go on a cruise next week and buy vouchers, technically, by the T&C's you cannot apply that voucher.

 

We had conflicting information on our last cruise given to us.  The cruise director told us in front of everyone in the lounge during the port talk that they could be applied to existing future bookings, and I did not call him out during the port talk but went to guest services after and the Guest Service "Angel" as they called them on this cruise, countered that statement and said NO you cannot apply them to a already booked future cruise.  (This had been confirmed to us through both the telephone customer service and tellus@vikingcruises.com email as well)

 

The Guest Services Manager found us and apologized, but said he was certain that they could be used, and he would investigate and would come back to us.

 

Two days later he said this:

 

For a future booked cruise that has only a deposit, call customer service, and tell them you that you want to apply one (or two) of these vouchers.  They will cancel the booking, reinstate it and then apply the voucher as the new booking date and the voucher applied date will meet their terms.

 

This is a "work around" from their policy, and risky in many ways.  One agent may say they will do this and one may not.  You may be charged the cancellation fee by one and not another if they are even willing to do this.  You may get away with "modifying" the booking but again, one agent my do it and another may not.

 

We ended up NOT buying any vouchers because we always have several future bookings, and the hassle of having to go through Viking or our TA to modify future bookings is frankly NOT worth $200 bucks that you would ultimately save.

 

For us there are too many conditions and rules on these vouchers to give Viking more money to sit on, even if the vouchers apparently never expire.

 

 

[Squawkman]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

For us there are too many conditions and rules on these vouchers to give Viking more money to sit on, even if the vouchers apparently never expire.

The only condition is that vouchers have to be applied when booking a new cruise. If you cancel the booking, the vouchers are returned back to you. They are completely transferable as well. So if you plan on booking any additional Viking cruises in the future, I suggest buying them. We also have several future cruises booked - each one had vouchers applied. The only mistake we’ve made was not buying enough on our last river cruise.

Edited March 16 by Squawkman
Spelling

[sharkster77]

Thanks to all for the replies.  So the answer is that any vouchers purchased in a couple of weeks cannot be applied to our ocean cruise whose final payment is due in December.

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

Thanks to all for the replies.  So the answer is that any vouchers purchased in a couple of weeks cannot be applied to our ocean cruise whose final payment is due in December.

 

Correct - not by the terms of the vouchers when you purchase them.  They can only be applied at the time of booking the cruise, so if you don't have a voucher when you book, you cannot apply them later...

 

BUT....  as per my post #3, we were told directly by the Hotel Manager, that he checked with reservations and you can call and find a work around to apply them - either cancel and rebook, or do some modification to the booking.  We just decided that the hassle of calling reservations and attempting to do this was too much.  (This is where Viking shared information sometimes breaks down... one person says this, you call and then that information is contradicted.  We don't trust that this is actually doable.)

 

We have four advance Viking cruises booked.  We won't buy the vouchers because if we are not successful in applying them to our current bookings, then we will be sitting on them for at least 2 years, and even longer before they are actually redeemed.  We are booked now into 2026, so we would not qualify to apply them until a 2027 cruise.

[sharkster77]

If we rebooked, I'd be afraid of someone swooping in and taking our sold-out post cruise in Alaska. Thanks for the info--knowledge is power!

Edited March 17 by sharkster77

[CDNPolar]

19 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

If we rebooked, I'd be afraid of someone swooping in and taking our sold-out post cruise in Alaska. Thanks for the info--knowledge is power!

 

Exactly!  This is the challenge with modifying or rebooking.  When. you call in do you get a seasoned Viking Agent that knows how to do something like this or will you end up with someone that will put you on hold 10 times because he/she/they is consulting with their Supervisor?

 

We have had both and sometimes it is hard to know who you have until you get part way into the maneuver.

 

Some will outright say it cannot be done, and others will bend over backward to try to do it and please you.

 

You could lose your post cruise booking, or the cabin number that you really wanted.

 

Again - for us - too little value to risk all the hassle.

[Squawkman]

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Exactly!  This is the challenge with modifying or rebooking.  When. you call in do you get a seasoned Viking Agent that knows how to do something like this or will you end up with someone that will put you on hold 10 times because he/she/they is consulting with their Supervisor?

 

We have had both and sometimes it is hard to know who you have until you get part way into the maneuver.

 

Some will outright say it cannot be done, and others will bend over backward to try to do it and please you.

 

You could lose your post cruise booking, or the cabin number that you really wanted.

 

Again - for us - too little value to risk all the hassle.

While I agree with your conclusion, it should be noted that even “seasoned” Viking agents often need supervisor approval, hence being put on hold. We only use the same Viking agent - have been 7+ years. When we inquire about changes, we might be told no problem, he’ll need approval or no way.

[CDNPolar]

26 minutes ago, Squawkman said:

While I agree with your conclusion, it should be noted that even “seasoned” Viking agents often need supervisor approval, hence being put on hold. We only use the same Viking agent - have been 7+ years. When we inquire about changes, we might be told no problem, he’ll need approval or no way.

 

Agree with you on that with your comments about seasoned, but we have not had that experience or had a seasoned agent to work with a second time.

 

Every time we have had a great agent at Viking, we try to email them or contact them in the future, they have been gone, or just don't respond.  Good for you that you have the luck you have had with your 7+ year agent.

[dolphinlover98]

We just spoke to our Viking rep last week about our upcoming Douro cruise (August 2024) and British Isles Explorer (2025) and he indicated Viking is phasing out the vouchers offered on board at the end of the trip. They were available on our two previous River cruises. 

[CDNPolar]

10 hours ago, dolphinlover98 said:

We just spoke to our Viking rep last week about our upcoming Douro cruise (August 2024) and British Isles Explorer (2025) and he indicated Viking is phasing out the vouchers offered on board at the end of the trip. They were available on our two previous River cruises. 

 

 

We were told on a river cruise in September last year that these vouchers were being phased out for sale sometime in 2024, but that they don't have expiry dates and will be honoured by Viking for use at anytime in the future.

 

On a subsequent river cruise we did this past December, we asked and they did not indicate that they were being phased out and that they were still available.

 

So if you want them and have the opportunity to buy them on your Douro cruise, go ahead and buy them as you will be able to use them in the future on Ocean and River.

Edited April 2 by CDNPolar

[pontac]

On 4/2/2024 at 10:29 AM, CDNPolar said:

We were told on a river cruise in September last year that these vouchers were being phased out for sale sometime in 2024,

 

Viking were encouraging us to buy vouchers as at 4 April 2024. No mention of them being phased out.

[CandorCruiser]

On 3/16/2024 at 5:05 PM, sharkster77 said:

Thanks to all for the replies.  So the answer is that any vouchers purchased in a couple of weeks cannot be applied to our ocean cruise whose final payment is due in December.

In November 2023, our cruise director said you can apply vouchers to cruises you've already booked IF you haven't made final payment yet. He said to call Viking and they will apply the voucher value toward your balance due.

 

Check the fine print before signing up for vouchers. If it's not explicitly spelled out the way I've described, ask your CD. If the answer is in your favor, get it in writing. Note that only one voucher per person per booking can be applied, and that seems to be consistently enforced and no negotiable.

 

Good luck, and enjoy your upcoming cruise!

Edited April 7 by CandorCruiser

[pontac]

This is the flyer for Viking vouchers that are placed in cabins

 

 

 

in case the T&Cs at the foot are not clear, here they are

 

If you can negotiate their use on a trip that' already booked, then good luck but it says it's only applicable to new bookings.

 

(I understand cruise directors have a financial interest  in selling these vouchers so I'd be wary of promises that don't match the T&Cs) 

 

 

Edited April 7 by pontac

[CandorCruiser]

On 3/17/2024 at 8:50 AM, sharkster77 said:

If we rebooked, I'd be afraid of someone swooping in and taking our sold-out post cruise in Alaska. Thanks for the info--knowledge is power!

This is a serious concern, and definitely outweighs the $200 in potential savings.

[Squawkman]

It must be a new cruise and applied when booked. What we’ve done on river cruises is buy the certificates, then book our next cruise (any type) with our Viking agent within 2 weeks of disembarkation. This gives us a “welcome back” perk of $400 free shipboard credit. We also apply the certificates to get a net of $200 off fare on top of any promos. As we usually have at least one other cruise booked, we also get PIF 6 months before embarkation.

[CDNPolar]

Too many stories about this.. we were also told by a Cruise Director that they could be applied before final payment, but we would have to call reservations and effectively cancel our reservation and rebook.

 

Good Luck with that!  

 

We opted to not even try.  We all know that this would never end well.

 

Understand that the vouchers are for future cruises and they do not expire.  Keep them for later if that hundred bucks is that important to you.