B2B on VO

[natshala]

Does VO offer any incentive or discount on B2B cruises?

thanks!

[JM0115]

27 minutes ago, natshala said:

Does VO offer any incentive or discount on B2B cruises?

thanks!

Don’t think so!

[ropomo]

Yes, but only when they are listed as a Grand Voyage or some other name like that. Did a TA Miami to Barcelona and Barcelona to Rome in March this year and it was listed on the website as a single cruise but was actually the two mentioned B2B. The savings when comparing the individual bookings to the combined was about $2k pp.

[island lady]

We are separate cruises...on two different ships (Venus and Orion) and actually one day apart.  Disembarking Venus, and boarding Orion the next day. 

 

We are having to book and pay for our own hotel on that off night between.  So to me...it is not even close to a B2B...but Viking insisted on making it a "Grand Voyage" with one reservation number.  

 

That meant I had to pay the full deposit, not the promo 25.00 per.    And we received no incentive or discount at all.  

[shipboy]

Earlier this year we did the Pacific Coast and Panama Canal cruise and remained on board to continue with the Atlantic Crossing cruise. We didn’t receive any incentive, but we did have dinner with the captain and chief engineer. Does that count 😀

 

p.s. we didn’t want to disembark when we got to Barcelona

[millybess]

4 hours ago, natshala said:

Does VO offer any incentive or discount on B2B cruises?

thanks!

We had a Med Odyssey and an Empires of the Med joined as b2b against our wishes.

 

When it came time to choose shore excursions, we could book excursions for both cruises on the booking day for the first cruise.  I suppose that's a perk.

 

We also had double the restaurant reservations available to book, which, for us, wasn't very useful.  

[CCWineLover]

6 hours ago, island lady said:

We are separate cruises...on two different ships (Venus and Orion) and actually one day apart.  Disembarking Venus, and boarding Orion the next day. 

 

We are having to book and pay for our own hotel on that off night between.  So to me...it is not even close to a B2B...but Viking insisted on making it a "Grand Voyage" with one reservation number.  

 

That meant I had to pay the full deposit, not the promo 25.00 per.    And we received no incentive or discount at all.  

This is apparently a brand new Viking policy.

 

We've done B2B's before on Viking with two back to backs, even with space in between, with 2 different booking numbers.

Now the new policy is - as told me by my Travel Agent, who unsuccessfully fought Viking on our behalf to get 2 cruises separated . . .

 

If you have a Viking cruise booked and then try to add another one, whether it is the continuation of the previous ship's itinerary, or if it is a new ship, and even with several days in between on your own - if you do not go home in between the cruises, they will consider it one voyage and you'll get just one booking number.   Our agent said Viking told them this new policy is for simplification for them and the customer.  Yeah right.

 

You may say, so what?  But it's often advantageous if you have 2 cruises near each other to have separate booking numbers.

1.  If you want to or have to cancel or change the 2nd cruise, you cannot do so without cancelling the entire 2 cruises.  They are not separated.

2.  Often the OBC's you'll get from your TA will be less with one cruise, since it tops out at $500 pp.  If you have 2 two week cruises with days in between, you would get $300 plus $300 or $600 pp if they were 2 different booking numbers.  You could also have the case where your OBC would be say $500+$300 or $800 and yet would be only $500 if just one booking number.

3.  Often with 3rd party insurance, costs rise substantially for vacations over 30 days, so if you have say two 14 day cruises with many days in between, you'll likely pay more for travel insurance as well.

 

So - the customer is hurt by this new policy.

I asked how much separation - and they said 30 days or more before they'll consider 2 cruises as different booking numbers.

I asked what if you book cruise one first and then wait a few months and book cruise 2.  They said their systems now tell alert them that you have cruise 1 and so they will add the 2nd cruise onto the original booking number and call it an "update".

[MikeyB]

This has been discussed before.  

It is not a new policy.

It has been employed by Viking since at least the "Welcome Back" cruises after Covid.

Viking calls it a "Butterfly" cruise.  Sounds erotic, doesn't it?

And they tried lumping two of my cruises together.  I didn't need an agent to argue a three day gap between cruises is two separate cruises.

[CCWineLover]

22 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

This has been discussed before.  

It is not a new policy.

It has been employed by Viking since at least the "Welcome Back" cruises after Covid.

Viking calls it a "Butterfly" cruise.  Sounds erotic, doesn't it?

And they tried lumping two of my cruises together.  I didn't need an agent to argue a three day gap between cruises is two separate cruises.

Hi Mikey -

Viking did say it was before a "loose" policy.  In fact, I have had 3 B2B cruises since Welcome Back that were on separate booking numbers.  Now they've decided to make it a "tight" 100 % no exceptions policy.  That is the difference.  Thankfully I have a great Travel Agency, as you know, and they went to bat for me, and since Viking is now enforcing this policy, they will this time make up the difference lost.   But it is a warning for the future for people.

[MikeyB]

9 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Hi Mikey -

Viking did say it was before a "loose" policy.  In fact, I have had 3 B2B cruises since Welcome Back that were on separate booking numbers.  Now they've decided to make it a "tight" 100 % no exceptions policy.  That is the difference.  Thankfully I have a great Travel Agency, as you know, and they went to bat for me, and since Viking is now enforcing this policy, they will this time make up the difference lost.   But it is a warning for the future for people.

Hi Kent,

What you say may be true.

However, B2B cruises are sometimes sold by Viking as one cruise.  I once took a Viking 15 day cruise in the Mediterrean that I found out later was also being sold as two cruises.  I booked it as one cruise.  I had no right later to say it was two cruises.

However, when you book two cruises that has a gap in which you are responsible for lodging and in my case a flight to another city, it's two separate cruises.

And yes, our Ms Tracey is a gem.

[island lady]

14 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

This is apparently a brand new Viking policy.

 

We've done B2B's before on Viking with two back to backs, even with space in between, with 2 different booking numbers.

Now the new policy is - as told me by my Travel Agent, who unsuccessfully fought Viking on our behalf to get 2 cruises separated . . .

 

If you have a Viking cruise booked and then try to add another one, whether it is the continuation of the previous ship's itinerary, or if it is a new ship, and even with several days in between on your own - if you do not go home in between the cruises, they will consider it one voyage and you'll get just one booking number.   Our agent said Viking told them this new policy is for simplification for them and the customer.  Yeah right.

 

You may say, so what?  But it's often advantageous if you have 2 cruises near each other to have separate booking numbers.

1.  If you want to or have to cancel or change the 2nd cruise, you cannot do so without cancelling the entire 2 cruises.  They are not separated.

2.  Often the OBC's you'll get from your TA will be less with one cruise, since it tops out at $500 pp.  If you have 2 two week cruises with days in between, you would get $300 plus $300 or $600 pp if they were 2 different booking numbers.  You could also have the case where your OBC would be say $500+$300 or $800 and yet would be only $500 if just one booking number.

3.  Often with 3rd party insurance, costs rise substantially for vacations over 30 days, so if you have say two 14 day cruises with many days in between, you'll likely pay more for travel insurance as well.

 

So - the customer is hurt by this new policy.

I asked how much separation - and they said 30 days or more before they'll consider 2 cruises as different booking numbers.

I asked what if you book cruise one first and then wait a few months and book cruise 2.  They said their systems now tell alert them that you have cruise 1 and so they will add the 2nd cruise onto the original booking number and call it an "update".

 

Uggh!!!   That is so not fair to us.   I will stay away from two booked near each other from now on.   We have B2B on Octantis next year, but same ship, same day...so no worries there.  

 

But what they did to me...and you...is definitely not a plus for we the cruisers.  Only for Viking.  

 

Yes, that is what happened with us.   I had the first cruise booked for a few months, then decided...since we were already down there...stay overnight and add on one for NZ as well.  The agent caught that indeed and made it seem as if it was advantageous for me to have it as one booking...but also did not seem to give me a choice.  I should have argued more about it...but gave up.  

[Baron Barracuda]

Back in July we booked a b2b (15 nights BIE London - Bergen + 29 nights GINB Bergen to NYC) on the Sky.  We booked direct through Viking and I made sure we received the prevailing promo ($25 deposit, $1k discount + double past guest) for each leg.  Viking assigned us 1 booking # and lists the sailing as London - NYC.  We later transferred the booking to our TA who will be giving us a sizeable post-cruise credit.  At this point we are quite satisfied.

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Back in July we booked a b2b (15 nights BIE London - Bergen + 29 nights GINB Bergen to NYC) on the Sky.  We booked direct through Viking and I made sure we received the prevailing promo ($25 deposit, $1k discount + double past guest) for each leg.  Viking assigned us 1 booking # and lists the sailing as London - NYC.  We later transferred the booking to our TA who will be giving us a sizeable post-cruise credit.  At this point we are quite satisfied.

We did a very similar thing last May/June:  BCN-Bergen + Bergen-Reykjavik.

We had not problem getting it as two separate cruises with all the promos, etc.

 

My point is:  what's happened in the past is not relevant anymore.

 

The new policy Viking told us (and our Agent) started September 1 and is being strictly enforced.  There might be some hope.  Our Travel Agency is a huger booker of Viking Cruises and is at this time talking with Viking about the absurdity of this policy.  Whether Viking backs off or not is unknown.

[TayanaLorna]

On a Med/Adriatic cruise this past winter we booked Legs 2 & 3 (Rome to Athens) of a 4 Leg cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul.  It was sold as a 2 week cruise called Italy, the Adriatic & Greece.  When i realized it was part of a 4 leg cruise, i looked up the cost of each leg sold separately and the cost of our 2 legs was less then if each leg added together.  Another surprise was that when excursion booking came available we were able to reserve for our entire 2 weeks which was before the folks who came on board for leg 3.  We also got a reservation at each specialty restaurant for each week which was a jump on other guests.  

[CCWineLover]

3 hours ago, TayanaLorna said:

On a Med/Adriatic cruise this past winter we booked Legs 2 & 3 (Rome to Athens) of a 4 Leg cruise from Barcelona to Istanbul.  It was sold as a 2 week cruise called Italy, the Adriatic & Greece.  When i realized it was part of a 4 leg cruise, i looked up the cost of each leg sold separately and the cost of our 2 legs was less then if each leg added together.  Another surprise was that when excursion booking came available we were able to reserve for our entire 2 weeks which was before the folks who came on board for leg 3.  We also got a reservation at each specialty restaurant for each week which was a jump on other guests.  

Hi Lorna - yes I remember, since we were on this with you!

Good point - that is likely the one advantage of having one booking # for B2B cruises.

But again, that cruise, along with many that Viking sells, are B2B's that are actually "sold" as a B2B or even >2 consecutive legs.

 

My point was that 2 completely different itineraries on 2 different ships and different departure cities (and definitely not sold as a multi-segment cruise) when the "gap" between cruises is less than 30 days are now going to be forced into a single booking number.  Unless, however, you prove that you are returning home and then flying back to the 2nd cruise in between.  The example they gave me was:

You take a 2 week cruise in Europe, let's say British Isles on Viking Venus.  You book a cruise then out of Barcelona in the Med on Viking Saturn 25 days after disembarking in Bergen.  Unless you show you are returning home during those 25 days, it will now be considered a single booking.

[TayanaLorna]

2 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Hi Lorna - yes I remember, since we were on this with you!

Good point - that is likely the one advantage of having one booking # for B2B cruises.

But again, that cruise, along with many that Viking sells, are B2B's that are actually "sold" as a B2B or even >2 consecutive legs.

 

My point was that 2 completely different itineraries on 2 different ships and different departure cities (and definitely not sold as a multi-segment cruise) when the "gap" between cruises is less than 30 days are now going to be forced into a single booking number.  Unless, however, you prove that you are returning home and then flying back to the 2nd cruise in between.  The example they gave me was:

You take a 2 week cruise in Europe, let's say British Isles on Viking Venus.  You book a cruise then out of Barcelona in the Med on Viking Saturn 25 days after disembarking in Bergen.  Unless you show you are returning home during those 25 days, it will now be considered a single booking.

I guess my point was that if someone is looking to save on B2B cruises they need to look for ones that are sold with 2, 3 or 3 legs.  It's a bit of research to do.  One has to start with one ship, like the Saturn we were on, and look at sailing dates and duration.  They are not advertised as Grand Voyages.   I notice many of the TA's list something like FLL to Barcelona, then a cruise from FLL to Rome with the same departure date in FLL.  Many repositioning cruises are like that.  Now if the longer cruise is cheaper then adding the cost of the 2 shorter cruises, I don't know.  That would be homework for someone looking to save.

 

But I agree, considering 2 totally unrelated cruises with different arrival/departure dates, days on land independently or different ships as B2B really sucks.