Perks for booking onboard? Perks for B2B?

I agree with you. It’s not fair business practice to charge people more for a not-yet-posted itinerary. In your case, you really should get compensated with the price difference.

 

 

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No chance, according to Viking.

They keep responding that they won't offer me the "best rate available". That is not my request. I simply want the actual PUBLISHED rate that very month I booked instead of the pre-published rate I was quoted verbally onboard.

No chance, according to Viking.

They keep responding that they won't offer me the "best rate available". That is not my request. I simply want the actual PUBLISHED rate that very month I booked instead of the pre-published rate I was quoted verbally onboard.

This has convinced me to never deal directly with Viking if I am booking a cruise. Very untrustworthy, We are sailing with them on the 24th of this month and I will share your story with people on the ship.

This has convinced me to never deal directly with Viking if I am booking a cruise. Very untrustworthy, We are sailing with them on the 24th of this month and I will share your story with people on the ship.

Let me clarify that others who booked onboard (I checked with some of them) had no problems, as their cruise prices were already posted on the internet. I have booked with Viking both direct & with a TA previously, no problem.

My criticism is how Viking corporate handled my rare case of no cruise price posted at the time of booking so I had to take their word, but a the different much lower price first posted days later in the same month.

We were on Star in July and paid a deposit on a 2019 cruise ... which at that time had not been advertised to the public. Our deposit was actually held against a 2018 cruise by the on board agent and he was planning to transfer it to the 2019 cruise once it become available.We were offered all sort of generous discounts and benefits to book whilst on board. In the interests of full disclosure ... I had several wines with dinner before talking to the agent and probably didn't think things through very clearly. Luckily the next day I emailed our Viking agent in Sydney to tell her the good news ... and she advised me that most of what I had been told was incorrect and I would most certainly not be able to 'transfer' the deposit from a 2018 cruise to a 2019 cruise. I took the email to the on board agent and I also asked for the on board Customer Service Manager to look into the situation. After several days and several direct (but not impolite) discussions with anyone from the crew who would listen, we received a full refund of the deposit paid. The on board agent indicated in some countries it is possible to 'transfer' a deposit to a not-yet-advertised cruise - but he also claimed he had only just learned Australian consumer law does not allow such a process. Whether either of these statements are true or not ... from now on I will only book directly with a Viking Agent in Australia. We have now booked Bergen to Reykjavik in May 2019.

I had been thinking about booking on board for our next cruise and then transferring the booking to my TA but after all that I have read here, I have decided that the extra discount is not worth the potential pitfalls.

Well, we were very happy and saved a lot of money (Our TA's discount plus $700 pp off the price plus $250 onboard credit).

We also had NO problem transferring a booking to another cruise once the cruise we wanted became available to book. I did however check almost daily to know WHEN that cruise became available to be able to secure a V2 cabin. I think the "coupons" offered on the River Cruise seem to work a little more seamlessly. As I remember the amount off was dependent on the cost of the cruise and the onboard credit increased if you booked more than 1 cruise NOT the cost of the cruise. We had up to 4 months before the cruise to change and we do not have to pay for the cruise until 6 months before we leave.

We used OBC to defray cost for our Silver Spirit Package.

If we book on board again I will definitely heed problems that others have had and get everything in an email from the onboard "cruise consultant."

FYI our consultant was VERY busy and appointments were hard to get later in the cruise.

Dee where's the next one after the world cruise?

We are going next November to Caribbean to the Amazon. We did the Amazon from Peru ( on a small boat) and really wanted to see the other end!!! It wont be the same experience that we love about small ships ( 50 people) but could not find an affordable one from Brazil. I am sure it will be great. I am hoping that Viking will offer more South America itineraries as we have not traveled much there and the time zone changes are so much more friendly! Really getting excited about the WC but feeling VERY overwhelmed with all the preparation/ organization.

Dee, sounds great!!

You are right, our onboard consultant was SO busy....especially at the end of our 3 week cruise. We originally booked one week (Sydney to Bail), then decided to add Auckland to Sydney. I signed us up for another meeting but wrote him a note and gave it to him and he called us and we did it over the phone, thus opening up the other appointment for someone else. I think one shipboard credit for one cruise was either $100 and the other $150...total $250 for booking 2 cruises. And our money off was $700 per person plus our TA's discount. So, yes, we were happy and had no problems at all. The price of our cruise has increased significantly since we booked. He did make it clear that we could switch to any other itinerary up to 4 months in advance of the cruise that we booked. And Dee found that to be true.

We are going next November to Caribbean to the Amazon. We did the Amazon from Peru ( on a small boat) and really wanted to see the other end!!! It wont be the same experience that we love about small ships ( 50 people) but could not find an affordable one from Brazil. I am sure it will be great. I am hoping that Viking will offer more South America itineraries as we have not traveled much there and the time zone changes are so much more friendly! Really getting excited about the WC but feeling VERY overwhelmed with all the preparation/ organization.

Time zones are great but our flight to Buenos Aires was as long as our flight to China.

My TA told me today that Viking is not allowing TA discounts on prices only on-board credit and that is limited.

My TA told me today that Viking is not allowing TA discounts on prices only on-board credit and that is limited.

That is right. No discounts and no rebates. :(

I just looked at my invoice again and we got $900 off per person plus $400 off per person for past passenger, plus $250 shipboard credit that we had to use on the cruise we were on. When we got home we got 12% off of that from our TA. I was disappointed because it used to be 15%, and then a few weeks later Viking decided TAs couldn't do the discounts any more. So we got lucky.

That is right. No discounts and no rebates. :(

Speaking about discounts. What kind of discount past guests usually have? After one cruise we got $250 pp off the second cruise promotion price. Will the discount be large after two cruises? How many levels of discounts past guest have?

Thank you.

Only ever got $200 per person from Viking for being a past customer.

Was told even that was not available on Bordeaux cruise. Could not get an explanation.

I booked 2 back to back cruises. Sorry, I should have made that clear.