Passage to India 1/16/2025 CANCELLED

[soundcruiser]

For those of us booked on this cruise, i just received an email from Viking stating that the Saturn has been redeployed to the Mediterranean. For those that paid in full, they are offering a voucher for 110% of monies paid. You may instead request a refund of monies paid.  Deposits will be refunded as well.  A $250 pp shipboard credit will be given to those rebooking on one of Saturn's new voyages:

(1) Empires of the Mediterranean, embarking 12/20/2024, from Athens to Venice.

(2) Mediterranean Odyssey, embarking 1/8/2025, from Venice to Barcelona.

(3) Malta, Morocco, and the Mediterranean, embarking 1/20/2025, round trip Barcelona.

 

We are certainly disappointed but had been hoping to hear of the plans for Saturn as transit of the Red Sea and docking in Israel seem to be unlikely in the near future. Good job, Viking, to proactively plan some excellent alternatives. 

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, soundcruiser said:

For those of us booked on this cruise, i just received an email from Viking stating that the Saturn has been redeployed to the Mediterranean. For those that paid in full, they are offering a voucher for 110% of monies paid. You may instead request a refund of monies paid.  Deposits will be refunded as well.  A $250 pp shipboard credit will be given to those rebooking on one of Saturn's new voyages:

(1) Empires of the Mediterranean, embarking 12/20/2024, from Athens to Venice.

(2) Mediterranean Odyssey, embarking 1/8/2025, from Venice to Barcelona.

(3) Malta, Morocco, and the Mediterranean, embarking 1/20/2025, round trip Barcelona.

 

We are certainly disappointed but had been hoping to hear of the plans for Saturn as transit of the Red Sea and docking in Israel seem to be unlikely in the near future. Good job, Viking, to proactively plan some excellent alternatives. 

 

Just a quiet warning about the voucher offer.

 

Be careful before accepting the voucher for 110% as these are very tempting because it is essentially free money, but Viking want to keep your money with them.

 

The voucher restrictions are tight and unless the voucher rules have changed, the voucher must be used in its entirety on your next cruise.  You cannot divide it between two cruises of lessor cost.

 

Additionally - again, unless the rules have changed - once applied to your next booking you cannot move that again, or you will lose the value.

 

If all goes to plan, the voucher is a great offer, but if there are any glitches in your next booking you may not be pleased with your options.

 

Also, you may not be able to insure a trip for cancellation when you are paying with a voucher - some insurance policies don't allow coverage for vouchers.

 

If I were in your shoes now, having some previous experience with vouchers that was less than optimum, I would take the cash refund.

 

Other Vikings, please correct me here if I am wrong on these rules or statements.

[Peregrina651]

Agreed! Take the cash. Terms are too restrictive. Everything CDN has said is true. 

 

Read the cancellation email carefully and respond before the cutoff date.

 

 

[philw1776]

I took covid vouchers at 25% and made out fine, but due to the risks cited above and other uncontrollable events I would never do so again.

STRAIGHT CASH HOMIE!

Edited March 22 by philw1776

[Selion]

TAKE. THE. CASH!

[OneSixtyToOne]

Interesting that this cruise is cancelled but the new promo of the 2025 World Cruise is still showing a Red Sea transit.

[Peregrina651]

1 minute ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Interesting that this cruise is cancelled but the new promo of the 2025 World Cruise is still showing a Red Sea transit.

 

Keep watching.  The website can be the last step of the process.  

 

[soundcruiser]

I totally agree about the problems with vouchers.  Cash is usually the better option.  In our case, we had not reached the final payment date yet, so we only had our $50 in deposit in the game. We were going to cancel before that date unless an acceptable alternative itinerary was presented, and even then some of the very reasons we booked this itinerary in the first place (Israel, Suez Canal, Egypt) were not going to exist.

So, we have now added the Bali-Bangkok leg to our already booked Bangkok-Hong Kong cruise April 2025! It is our hope that the Passage to India itinerary re-emerges when, hopefully, the Middle East can find peace.

[Cienfuegos]

I wonder what the deployment route will be, and whether that will produce another itinerary.  Maybe southern and western  Africa?

[Pushka]

We were on the last Passage to India just 10 months ago. Of course this was inevitable but it was the most fabulous  itinerary. 

[LindaS272]

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

We were on the last Passage to India just 10 months ago. Of course this was inevitable but it was the most fabulous  itinerary. 

We had this booked a couple of years ago but had to cancel for various reasons. Have just rebooked it for Dec. 2025-

Jan. 2026 so 🤞.

[Pushka]

6 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

We had this booked a couple of years ago but had to cancel for various reasons. Have just rebooked it for Dec. 2025-

Jan. 2026 so 🤞.

Yes. Same history with ours. 2020. 2021. 2022. Finally - 2023. 

[Seumas20]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:58 PM, soundcruiser said:

For those of us booked on this cruise, i just received an email from Viking stating that the Saturn has been redeployed to the Mediterranean. For those that paid in full, they are offering a voucher for 110% of monies paid. You may instead request a refund of monies paid.  Deposits will be refunded as well.  A $250 pp shipboard credit will be given to those rebooking on one of Saturn's new voyages:

(1) Empires of the Mediterranean, embarking 12/20/2024, from Athens to Venice.

(2) Mediterranean Odyssey, embarking 1/8/2025, from Venice to Barcelona.

(3) Malta, Morocco, and the Mediterranean, embarking 1/20/2025, round trip Barcelona.

 

We are certainly disappointed but had been hoping to hear of the plans for Saturn as transit of the Red Sea and docking in Israel seem to be unlikely in the near future. Good job, Viking, to proactively plan some excellent alternatives. 

Sorry you’re missing your trip.  It’s interesting that the same trip, on the Viking Venus, due to leave in October 2024, has not yet been cancelled and according to UK Customer Services today, there are no plans to do so at present.  Saturn was apparently redeployed due to increased demand for Mediterranean cruises in January 2025!  We’re due to join the cruise in Mumbai in November so had asked what was happening and that’s what we were told.  Hard to believe but there you are!

[millybess]

2 minutes ago, Seumas20 said:

Hard to believe but there you are!

And when you are dealing with Viking land, that says it all. If you can find your way through that difficulty without too much stress, it’s worth it. 

[soundcruiser]

Seumas20, that is really interesting! I had assumed ( you know what that can lead to !!) the cancellation was proactively dealing with the political situation in the Middle East, as so many other lines have already done.  I will be following your experience with great interest - I sure hope you successfully complete this trip! We had been looking forward to the itinerary for quite some time. Maybe we can catch it in a few years.

[Seumas20]

Soundcruiser - I’ve been following some other posts on here and it seems Viking are being less than transparent and have certainly not been proactive (see current World Cruisers).  Unless they sail the Venus around Africa and up to Mumbai - or across to Cochin which is where they had to dock on the World Cruise - it’s highly unlikely our cruise will go ahead.  Who knows when they’ll get around to telling us but I would imagine the guests due to leave from the Med in Oct will be asking questions. 

[pmfne]

We are booked on Venus from Athens to Mumbai and then onto Bangkok, in October this year. We haven’t heard of any changes or cancellations yet. However it, along with all the 2025 and 2026 identical cruises (Voyage of Marco Polo) have recently changed from spare cabins in each category to ‘Sold Out’. Viking Australia seems unable to tell us yet what will happen to our 2024 cruise. We are assuming that there will be major changes or a cancellation, and are intrigued to see what this will involve. It would be nice to know soon.
 

[Seumas20]

pmfne - that’s really interesting.  I’ve just checked on the UK Viking site and Across the Bay of Bengal in November is still open for booking.  Frankly, the response we had from UK customer services the other day is ludicrous, if not insulting.  They seem to think passengers live in a bubble and can’t see what’s happening in the world or indeed on their own website or current voyages.  As you say, it would be nice to know what’s happening so that we can all plan ahead.

[Cienfuegos]

8 hours ago, pmfne said:

We are booked on Venus from Athens to Mumbai and then onto Bangkok, in October this year. We haven’t heard of any changes or cancellations yet. However it, along with all the 2025 and 2026 identical cruises (Voyage of Marco Polo) have recently changed from spare cabins in each category to ‘Sold Out’. Viking Australia seems unable to tell us yet what will happen to our 2024 cruise. We are assuming that there will be major changes or a cancellation, and are intrigued to see what this will involve. It would be nice to know soon.
 

Blocking out the unsold cabins is definitely a flashing warning signal. I wonder if consumer protection laws in Australia require transparency in sales? So, selling a cabin on a cruise you are likely to cancel would be a violation.

[Seumas20]

pmfne - I’ve just noticed that your cruise, ie the leg before Mumbai, has disappeared off the UK Viking website.  I don’t know if that is significant but thought I’d flag it up.

[soundcruiser]

Seumas, yes - all future cruises on the Passage to India (Athens to Mumbai) are showing "sold out" in all categories here in the US, though the cruise itself still appears on the website.  I think the handwriting is on the wall.  I was hesitant to call Viking less than transparent, but truly it appears that is the case.

[Pushka]

9 hours ago, Cienfuegos said:

Blocking out the unsold cabins is definitely a flashing warning signal. I wonder if consumer protection laws in Australia require transparency in sales? So, selling a cabin on a cruise you are likely to cancel would be a violation.

There is currently a law suit against Qantas for doing exactly this. 

[CDNPolar]

Viking was actively selling cabins on one of their new Nile River ships with full intent to cancel because the ship had not even been launched at 6 months before the sail date.  We we full payment at the 6 month point.

 

We called Viking and got nothing from them so we cancelled before payment date and moved to another cruise line for the same dates.

 

This has happened before with Viking.  They are hedging their bets to get a sold out ship and then give you a voucher.

[Cienfuegos]

7 hours ago, Pushka said:

There is currently a law suit against Qantas for doing exactly this. 

Thanks, Pushka.

 

I figured there had to be some kind of disclosure law for Viking to block cabins in one market while selling them in other markets.

[Redtravel]

Cash out. Vouchers aren’t a good bet.