Viking -Foreign transaction fee

[cadreamer]

We just got our credit card statement and we discovered we were charged a foreign transacation fee for a payment we made by credit card to Viking Cruises for an upcoming trip. I was told by Viking to pay it and submit my statement to them and they will reimburse me. He told me they have a financial center in Switzerland and 50% of the criedit card business goes thru there. I asked if they would do this when I make my final payment in full which will be substantailly bigger and he said there was a 50% chance it would happen. It is inconvenient to have to pay an extra 3% of the cost of the cruise and then wait to be reimbursed. Is this a common occurrence? Is it really 50% of the time? He also told me you can get a 3% discount if you pay them electronically. This is an option worth considering. Has anyone else encounter this? If so how llong did the reimbursement take to arrive?

[bxny]

Same thing happened to us, but only on the final payment. I would have used a card without a foreign transaction fee if I had been told it would go to Basel. AfterI saw the fee on the credit card statement, I called and it took a few weeks to get a check back.

They need to let the public know about this.

[pjtraveler]

I would caution against paying an electronic payment as you do not have the protections that paying with a credit card would give you.:(

[Old Pete]

I opted against an electronic payment and instead paid in full using my credit card. There were no foreign transaction fees (at least this time)

 

Of course it raises an interesting question as to the matter of final bill (i.e. ship charges)

 

Viking states that at the time of settiling of the bill it will convert the amount to either US dollars or Euros at the "current exchange rate" but I guess we have to keep our fingers crossed :rolleyes:

[kiawahdon]

We just got our credit card statement and we discovered we were charged a foreign transacation fee for a payment we made by credit card to Viking Cruises for an upcoming trip. I was told by Viking to pay it and submit my statement to them and they will reimburse me. He told me they have a financial center in Switzerland and 50% of the criedit card business goes thru there. I asked if they would do this when I make my final payment in full which will be substantailly bigger and he said there was a 50% chance it would happen. It is inconvenient to have to pay an extra 3% of the cost of the cruise and then wait to be reimbursed. Is this a common occurrence? Is it really 50% of the time? He also told me you can get a 3% discount if you pay them electronically. This is an option worth considering. Has anyone else encounter this? If so how llong did the reimbursement take to arrive?

 

I do not think Viking is shooting straight with their clients. They are a U. S. corporation that charges clients in US dollars. Clients should expect that when they pay in US dollars there will be no foreign transaction fees! I wonder if Viking is processing client credit card payments off-shore to achieve a lower merchant discount charge the card companies/banks impose on merchants to process the payments? If Viking saves 1% on all those payments, that is a lot of $'s. I also wonder how many Viking clients never catch the foreign transaction fee on their statements? More money for Viking. Viking needs to clean up their act IMHO.

[Mickie]

We just got our credit card statement and we discovered we were charged a foreign transacation fee for a payment we made by credit card to Viking Cruises for an upcoming trip. I was told by Viking to pay it and submit my statement to them and they will reimburse me. He told me they have a financial center in Switzerland and 50% of the criedit card business goes thru there. I asked if they would do this when I make my final payment in full which will be substantailly bigger and he said there was a 50% chance it would happen. It is inconvenient to have to pay an extra 3% of the cost of the cruise and then wait to be reimbursed. Is this a common occurrence? Is it really 50% of the time? He also told me you can get a 3% discount if you pay them electronically. This is an option worth considering. Has anyone else encounter this? If so how llong did the reimbursement take to arrive?

 

This subject has been discussed on various Cruise Critic boards over the last few years. The best bet for many of us is a Capital One credit card which does NOT charge a FTF. No, I don't work for them, but found out through reading a lot of these boards. Put "foreign transaction fee" in a search bar on any part of Cruise Critic and watch how many hits you get.

 

Mickie

[jcrandle]

While the Fair Credit Billing Act does provide some protection for credit card transactions that debit cards (and electronic debits from your bank) may not have the same protection. The FCBA states that "this dispute must be received by the creditor within sixty days of the statement date on the account statement that first contained the billing error."

 

So for a cruise booked and billed more than 60 days in advance, the ability to dispute a charge due to non-fulfillment, may NOT be protected. One must consider the cycle date of the credit card and make certain that your dispute is received by the credit card provider within 60 days of the billing date.

[jotabecu]

We just got our credit card statement and we discovered we were charged a foreign transacation fee for a payment we made by credit card to Viking Cruises for an upcoming trip. I was told by Viking to pay it and submit my statement to them and they will reimburse me. He told me they have a financial center in Switzerland and 50% of the criedit card business goes thru there. I asked if they would do this when I make my final payment in full which will be substantailly bigger and he said there was a 50% chance it would happen. It is inconvenient to have to pay an extra 3% of the cost of the cruise and then wait to be reimbursed. Is this a common occurrence? Is it really 50% of the time? He also told me you can get a 3% discount if you pay them electronically. This is an option worth considering. Has anyone else encounter this? If so how llong did the reimbursement take to arrive?

 

 

 

Took me about 3 weeks, got a check from Viking

[Lair Bear]

Took me about 3 weeks, got a check from Viking

 

Was that for the total cost, including anboard expenses?

We made reservations and were told on the phone that the transaction goes through Basel. So I was going to use my Capitol One card, but then decided I rather have the ff milage on an other card, as long as I get reimbursed by Viking for the transaction fee.

[janines]

I happened to read this posting and noticed on our 2 payments for the cruise that we were charged a total of $252. I took your advice and called Viking. I explained what I read on this posting and was told to fax the cc bills blacking out all but last 4 digits to them and they would credit us. Ihope this works for us. I also contacted friends wer are traveling with and gave them this info.

Are you also stating that on the cruise itself using cc there was extra foreign transaction fees from Viking besides the cc company fees?

I discussed 2 years ago with my husband getting a capital one card for overseas cruises. This maybe the year for us to do it.

I glad to have read this posting and thanks for writing up this info.

janines