Final Payment Due Date

[ssawjo]

We booked a cruise on Viking Orion, South Pacific Sojourn, leaving Syndey on March 30, 2026.  I was informed by my TA that final payment is due on February 15, 2025!  I find this date to be remarkably early.  Other cruise lines that I have been on are, at most, 120 days out for final payment.  Granted, this will be our first cruise on Viking, and we are looking forward to it.  

 

Question:  Is this Viking's usual method for payment?  And is there any way to have the final payment pushed back a few months?  This is a long time for them to have our money and, if we need to cancel, that is a lot to get back in a reasonable amount of time.  The cruise seems to be selling well, so would that be a reason?

 

Thanks, Bill

[Catlover54]

Given interest rates have gone up in the last couple years,  my guess is that their bean counters decided that forcing final payment very early will help their bottom line, because they can invest your money in that year (instead of *you* investing it), but without publishing an official higher "price" of the cruise.

If this starts to deter cruisers, they might back off.  

 

[millybess]

11 minutes ago, ssawjo said:

We booked a cruise on Viking Orion, South Pacific Sojourn, leaving Syndey on March 30, 2026.  I was informed by my TA that final payment is due on February 15, 2025!  I find this date to be remarkably early.  Other cruise lines that I have been on are, at most, 120 days out for final payment.  Granted, this will be our first cruise on Viking, and we are looking forward to it.  

 

Question:  Is this Viking's usual method for payment?  And is there any way to have the final payment pushed back a few months?  This is a long time for them to have our money and, if we need to cancel, that is a lot to get back in a reasonable amount of time.  The cruise seems to be selling well, so would that be a reason?

 

Thanks, Bill

Hi Bill.  You might find some helpful information in this thread:

 

[ssawjo]

16 minutes ago, millybess said:

Hi Bill.  You might find some helpful information in this thread:

 

Thank you, it was very informative.  But still...

[kctwinmommy]

Yep! And often a topic of discussion among new Viking cruisers. I can tell you that if you book a future one while on a cruise, then it's only 6 months out. We did that for our next one.

 

I should add, for me personally, it doesn't matter. I like having things paid off early and out of the way. When we took our cruise, there was very little out of pocket expenses by that point.

Edited Saturday at 06:00 PM by kctwinmommy

[millybess]

1 minute ago, ssawjo said:

Thank you, it was very informative.  But still...

I agree with you.  But their sailings do sell out regularly. Many of us have been in the same situation when first cruising with Viking.  

 

We have a few future cruises with Viking.  A couple of PIFs are 4 months and others 6 months.  But even then, we tried to book a 90 day voyage with them last year and they wanted payment 16 months out -- nonnegotiable.  So we cancelled.

[Hanoj]

Welcome to Viking Cruises. Why the early PIF requirement compared to competing cruise lines? Short answer is because they can.

 

The longer answer is demand for Viking’s offerings has exceeded (on average and especially when their fleet had fewer ships) demand and consumers have been willing to comply. They have relaxed PIF requirements when booking additional cruises while having an existing booking.

 

The strategy has been very shrewd and has undoubtedly saved Viking $millions during its expansion than if they had to borrow these amounts and pay prevailing interest rates.

[ssawjo]

Well, I guess I will pay up but we will pay with an ACH.  At least save a few dollars.

 

Thanks everyone for their insightful comments.

 

Bill

[sharkster77]

If you already have a Viking cruise (river or ocean) booked when making a new booking, the second cruise's final payment gets delayed until 6 months out.

 

Before our tulip cruise this spring had taken place we booked a Viking Alaska cruise for June 2025.  Alaska final payment not due until December 2024.

[zogrand]

We just completed our first Viking cruise today.  It will also be our last.  I refuse to give them my money so far in advance.  I’m sure they won’t miss my business but it is the only way I can show my dislike of their policy.  I also included this in my evaluation of the trip.  Was the trip wonderful- yes, but we have also been on wonderful trips on other lines.  We already have trips planned for the rest of this year as well as next so it was just too early for us to commit to a cruise while on board just to make final payment 6 months early instead of a year.

[millybess]

6 minutes ago, ssawjo said:

Well, I guess I will pay up but we will pay with an ACH.  At least save a few dollars.

 

Thanks everyone for their insightful comments.

 

Bill

We always pay with ACH -- final payment, excursions, and SSBP.  You will find it quick and easy, especially when choosing and paying for your excursions.  

 

Just a tip: we don't prepay gratuities before we board.  You might find that you will acquire some OBC while on board -- possibly booking another cruise (and that OBC must be used before you disembark), or the laundry ruining your favourite skirt, or something like that.

[millybess]

7 minutes ago, zogrand said:

We just completed our first Viking cruise today.  It will also be our last.  I refuse to give them my money so far in advance.  I’m sure they won’t miss my business but it is the only way I can show my dislike of their policy.  I also included this in my evaluation of the trip.  Was the trip wonderful- yes, but we have also been on wonderful trips on other lines.  We already have trips planned for the rest of this year as well as next so it was just too early for us to commit to a cruise while on board just to make final payment 6 months early instead of a year.

That's the thing with Viking -- there's always somebody willing to take your place.  🤷‍♀️

[kctwinmommy]

25 minutes ago, ssawjo said:

Well, I guess I will pay up but we will pay with an ACH.  At least save a few dollars.

 

Thanks everyone for their insightful comments.

 

Bill

We actually paid most of it with our credit card because we get 3% back from them, so it's almost a wash. Plus, as we learned, they give travel protection. My only mistake was that we did do a little bit with the ACH. So, because it wasn't ALL on the card, there's no protection. We'll definitely put it all on our card for our next one. Of course, our next one is about 1/3 the cost of our last one. LOL!

[millybess]

12 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

We actually paid most of it with our credit card because we get 3% back from them, so it's almost a wash. Plus, as we learned, they give travel protection. My only mistake was that we did do a little bit with the ACH. So, because it wasn't ALL on the card, there's no protection. We'll definitely put it all on our card for our next one. Of course, our next one is about 1/3 the cost of our last one. LOL!

Besides the ease of booking excursions, another thing we liked about ACH, is that if we cancel an excursion, which we often do, we receive the money back into our account almost immediately.

[oskidunker]

I booked two cruises back to back starting jan 6 2025 while on a cruise. Final payment was due April 30 2024. Go figure. Maybe because its over 30 day cruise. Still better than paying a year in advance. 

[kctwinmommy]

1 hour ago, millybess said:

Besides the ease of booking excursions, another thing we liked about ACH, is that if we cancel an excursion, which we often do, we receive the money back into our account almost immediately.

We used ACH for our excursions because that is easier to do. But, when we cancelled a few of them onboard, it just went to our onboard account. Which was fine, we don't pay our gratuities in advance, so it just rolls over to cover that.

Edited Saturday at 08:05 PM by kctwinmommy

[millybess]

19 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

We used ACH for our excursions because that is easier to do. But, when we cancelled a few of them onboard, it just went to our onboard account. Which was fine, we don't pay our gratuities in advance, so it just rolls over to cover that.

We've never had that happen.  

 

If we cancel excursions before we board, the payment goes back to our bank account.  There is a week before we board where we can't access MVJ, so if we want to change/cancel excursions, we have to wait until we board.

 

After we board, if we make adjustments, the payment either gets redeposited into our bank account or sometimes to our credit card.  I'm not quite sure why it's one or the other, but we have been told it's up to the office in California.

 

We have never had a payment for an excursion applied as OBC -- refundable or non-refundable.

 

But like everything else having to do with their office in LA, it could be who's behind the desk.

[kctwinmommy]

@millybess don't know then. Us, and the people we were hanging with on our cruise, all had it posted to our account. Which again, was fine because we had things on there to pay for anyway. So it's all a wash.

[Hanoj]

29 minutes ago, kctwinmommy said:

@millybess don't know then. Us, and the people we were hanging with on our cruise, all had it posted to our account. Which again, was fine because we had things on there to pay for anyway. So it's all a wash.

Different handling of these refunds may be due to residency as countries have differing consumer protection laws.

 

[millybess]

40 minutes ago, Hanoj said:

Different handling of these refunds may be due to residency as countries have differing consumer protection laws.

 

That’s a very good point!

[Breckski]

..

Edited Saturday at 10:29 PM by Breckski

[Breckski]

4 hours ago, millybess said:

That's the thing with Viking -- there's always somebody willing to take your place.  🤷‍♀️

The last few years I would certainly agree.  But on our cruise a couple weeks ago (Norway, Svalbard and Iceland they stated there were about 750 passengers.  I know this is anecdotal, but not sold out like many cruises in the past.

[kctwinmommy]

2 hours ago, Hanoj said:

Different handling of these refunds may be due to residency as countries have differing consumer protection laws.

 

Well, all our friends that we had on the ship and ourselves are from the U.S.

[Squawkman]

5 hours ago, sharkster77 said:

If you already have a Viking cruise (river or ocean) booked when making a new booking, the second cruise's final payment gets delayed until 6 months out.

 

Bit you must ask for the 6 month PIF. It is NOT automatic.

[Hanoj]

Just now, kctwinmommy said:

Well, all our friends that we had on the ship and ourselves are from the U.S.

Yes, and @millybess, whose experience was different is from Canada.