Does sold out ever open up?

We are so excited to have booked our first Viking Ocean cruise, Bergen to Montreal in Sept. 2018. We are traveling with friends and another couple would like to join us but at this time the cruise is showing Sold Out. Not being familiar with this phenomenon in cruising, I thought I'd ask you great set of cruisers if you had any experience with this.

Specifically, do rooms open up eventually due to cancellation? Does this happen more often at specific intervals such as final payment. Is there a waiting list? If so is it better to book thru Viking rather than a TA? Anything helpful is appreciated.

Thanks!

Yes, available cabins do appear as the sail date gets closer. Some appear around the 90 day mark, the last day for %100 less $100 refund. More may appear after that if someone has to cancel last minute for health or other reasons. There is no way of predicting these last minute cancellations. For example, the "Into the Midnight Sun" itinerary that was all but sold out a few months ago is now showing a very small number of cabins available. And, on the 2017 "In the Wake of the Vikings" there are cabins available on what was a sold out cruise. There is hope for your friends but they will need to patient and vigilant. However, don't expect last minute reductions in cabin price; that is not Viking's game. If it is really down to the wire and Viking is seeking to unload cabins, they may offer free or very reduced airfare as an enticement--with a lot of emphasis on the rareness of this happening.

If the 2018 cruise should open up again, it is possible that it will open up with a waitlist. I'm not sure how that works exactly but if you look at this year's sailings, you will see that waitlist is one of the options.

Yes they do. In February of this year we wanted to book Empires of the Med for March 2018. The website showed they were sold out except for a few high priced suites over our budget. We called our TA to get on a waiting list for a DV. She contacted Viking and came up with a cabin for us the next day.

So I would say, be proactive and contact a TA and/or Viking. Don't just wait for the website to show a vacancy. With over year to go, your friends might just get lucky!

Never got contacted when waitlisted. Obviously different for different cruises.

Since most US passengers have to pay in full WAY before sailing, I don't think many openings appear in the last 6 months. But things do change, so a waiting list may not be futile.

If your friends really want to take this cruise, then I would suggest they check the availability every day. I was in a PV and wanted to be in a Penthouse Junior Suite and was waitlisted but was never notified when one opened up. If it wasn't for the fact that I found one myself I would never have been able to upgrade I am convinced. I checked each day and sometimes more than once a day and when 1 cabin available showed up in the inventory online I contacted Viking immediately. There is know way to know when someone will cancel and the cabin goes back into inventory right away so checking often is the key as far as I am concerned. Good Luck

In our present booking, the website said waitlist for V2 and most everything else sold out. That wasn't good enough for us because we needed to book the time off. The agent said that he could sell me a guarantee for V1 even though it said sold out. Perhaps your friends can see if they can book a guarantee. (If they are interested)

Mia

I will say being critical of Viking that when you are on their so-called waitlist, they do not call you or email you. Just my personal experience.

My husband and I had the same experience as Sparkygal. We were very interested in the March 2018 Empires of the Mediterranean cruises but they were sold out by the time we could arrange for the time off (all but the Explorer and Owners Suites). They added new sailing dates in May which didn't work as well for us but we began reserving a cabin for May 12. A week later, before I paid the deposit I asked the agent to check the March sailings one more time and he found us a cabin we could afford even though it still said "sold out" online. Maybe people were switching to the later, warmer sailings.

Sandi

Oregon