Viking’s new payment policy is RIDICULOUS

[AllisonJames]

We loved our Viking Ocean cruise and were ready to book our first Viking River Cruise yesterday.  Was told by Viking full payment for our 7/5/20 river cruise was due 1/31/19!  NOT. HAPPENING.  Viking maybe you will attract new customers but you won’t keep them.  So many better options out there will a FAIR payment schedule.  Good luck.  

[Peregrina651]

It is not so much a new payment policy as a return to the old one. Viking had always collected payment in full within a month of booking. If you wanted to book under the deal of the month, you paid in full by the end of the month. That was the policy in effect when we booked our first river cruise in 2009; we paid with in a month of booking. When we booked our first VO, in June, 2014 for June, 2016, I fully expected that we would be paying in full by the end of June, 2014--because that is what it had always been. We booked a Spring, 2015 river cruise at the same time and it was due by the end of the month but I was pleasantly surprised that we did not have to pay in full for our 2016 cruise until December. 2014 -- 18 months before we sailed-- and the cruise was sold out.

 

For those who have been with Viking since the river only days, this is a return to the old policy but for those who have just started sailing with Viking recently, especially since the 6 month policy became the norm, this change is quite a shock. Some people are taking the attitude of no way am I paying that far in advance and other are saying, I want to sail on Viking so that is what we will do.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Peregrina651

[dogs4fun]

Yes, the payment policies for ocean cruises vs river cruises is quite different and often a bit of a shock for first timers. 

[English Voyager]

Yet in the UK, Viking's  terms are a deposit of 25%, and final payment no later than 10 weeks prior to departure.

 

If the booking is made within 10 weeks prior to departure then full payment is required.

 

What deters me as a solo traveller from sailing with Viking is their 100% solo supplement.

[philw1776]

Again, I'm hoping that policies like pay in full a year OR MORE early and 3AM excursion bookings deter potential Viking customers.  I'm frustrated that too many Viking cruises I want are full over a year ahead so I hope folks try elsewhere so I can book.

[4774Papa]

We have never done a Viking River cruise.

I first became interested in river cruising because we received a Viking sales catalogue in the mail.

Prior to booking our first river cruise, I checked several other cruise lines with similar itineraries and included tours.

 

We chose Vantage World Travel and have done three with them.  They are great and they always beat Viking for price and itinerary.  Also, you don't have to pay a year in advance.  You can pay early and get a nice discount, but we don't do that.

 

We did cruise once on AMA and loved it, but their cruises have become more expensive and their prices are just too much.

 

One cruise line that keeps coming up with the best  prices is Gate 1.   It is a budget line, but it gets excellent reviews.  Their cruises do have more optional tours that are extra, but considering that, they still come in with a fantastic price.  I was researching for a safari in Kenya and Tanzania for 2020 and found a great Gate 1 safari that is half the price of companies like Vantage, and one third the price of firms like Abercrombe and Finch.

[dogs4fun]

21 hours ago, 4774Papa said:

We have never done a Viking River cruise.

I first became interested in river cruising because we received a Viking sales catalogue in the mail.

Prior to booking our first river cruise, I checked several other cruise lines with similar itineraries and included tours.

 

We chose Vantage World Travel and have done three with them.  They are great and they always beat Viking for price and itinerary.  Also, you don't have to pay a year in advance.  You can pay early and get a nice discount, but we don't do that.

 

We did cruise once on AMA and loved it, but their cruises have become more expensive and their prices are just too much.

 

One cruise line that keeps coming up with the best  prices is Gate 1.   It is a budget line, but it gets excellent reviews.  Their cruises do have more optional tours that are extra, but considering that, they still come in with a fantastic price.  I was researching for a safari in Kenya and Tanzania for 2020 and found a great Gate 1 safari that is half the price of companies like Vantage, and one third the price of firms like Abercrombe and Finch.

We have cruised Viking and just completed our first Gate 1 cruise in November (Danube). The Gate 1 cruise was wonderful - it did not include all the bells and whistles of Viking nor the longer included tours. (This did not bother us in the least as we choose our cruises for the itinerary and not the ship and, as we have previously visited many of the cities on our itinerary,  we often prefer to ditch the included tours and explore on our own.)

Gate 1 staff aboard ship was wonderful. And yes, there was a substantial savings over a similar itinerary on the more pricey Viking Danube cruise.

 

[RDC1]

2 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

We have cruised Viking and just completed our first Gate 1 cruise in November (Danube). The Gate 1 cruise was wonderful - it did not include all the bells and whistles of Viking nor the longer included tours. (This did not bother us in the least as we choose our cruises for the itinerary and not the ship and, as we have previously visited many of the cities on our itinerary,  we often prefer to ditch the included tours and explore on our own.)

Gate 1 staff aboard ship was wonderful. And yes, there was a substantial savings over a similar itinerary on the more pricey Viking Danube cruise.

 

my experience with both Viking and Gate1, having done both on the same River is that they are very very similar in quality and included tours.

 

Viking had a little better food selection, but Gate1 had more local dishes and imo better quality.

Edited December 22, 2018 by RDC1

[dogs4fun]

7 minutes ago, RDC1 said:

my experience with both Viking and Gate1, having done both on the same River is that they are very very similar in quality and included tours.

Right you are.

The biggest difference in tours that I noticed was: more choices for included tours & more choices for optional tours with Viking. If one is into beer/wine, Viking offered complimentary beer/wine with both lunch and dinner whereas Gate 1 offered complimentary wine with dinner only. 

Given the choice, I much prefer the savings received by booking with Gate 1. Sure hope that Gate 1 does not drastically increase their prices in the near future.

[RDC1]

we better stop praising them then.

[rothbury]

I have to agree with the OP on this one.  We did 2 river cruises with Viking and bought vouchers to use on an ocean cruise.  I was ready to book back in November for a 2020 ocean cruise.  Full/Final payment was due by Dec 31, 2018.  I told TA forget Viking and went to a different cruise line for my ocean cruise.  We've written off the vouchers because with this kind of policy we won't be sailing Viking again.

[suspaul]

2 hours ago, rothbury said:

I have to agree with the OP on this one.  We did 2 river cruises with Viking and bought vouchers to use on an ocean cruise.  I was ready to book back in November for a 2020 ocean cruise.  Full/Final payment was due by Dec 31, 2018.  I told TA forget Viking and went to a different cruise line for my ocean cruise.  We've written off the vouchers because with this kind of policy we won't be sailing Viking again.

 

Weve always enjoyed Viking, having done 9 river cruises and 3 ocean cruises with them so far, we do have #10 river cruise April 2019.  That said we will not be traveling with them in the future, no way will we pay in full for travel 18 months away and pay in full now.  Too many other lines to choose from.  

[KathyK13]

On 12/23/2018 at 6:35 PM, suspaul said:

 

Weve always enjoyed Viking, having done 9 river cruises and 3 ocean cruises with them so far, we do have #10 river cruise April 2019.  That said we will not be traveling with them in the future, no way will we pay in full for travel 18 months away and pay in full now.  Too many other lines to choose from.  

 We made a $500 down payment in November for an Avalon cruise June 2019.  Final payment is due 90 days before start of the cruise. I can't imagine giving them the full price 18 months in advance.  I don't think any other cruise company requires the final payment that far in advance.  I wonder if Viking is trying to recoup some of the money they likely lost due to the low river levels this fall.

[dogs4fun]

Viking is currently employing quite an aggressive sales campaign. I daily receive several email "deals" from Viking in addition to their snail mail booklets (approx one a month). 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

Viking is currently employing quite an aggressive sales campaign. I daily receive several email "deals" from Viking in addition to their snail mail booklets (approx one a month). 

This certainly tells me which company not to subscribe to. I always have my doubts about the "one e-mail a day" marketing/sale strategy. I mean, someone spends time composing and sending them. While it is easy to have a program that reaches out to 1000+ clients on the touch of a button, it still needs a human to write text. It is always good to remind oneself that one pays for the marketing some way or other. I wonder how many e-mails other companies send in what time frame?

 

To be honest, I am somewhat tempted to subscribe and see for myself how "inundated" I get.

 

To be fair, it is easy for me to ignore Viking's offerings as they do not work the German-speaking river cruise market. But for the sake of the American consumer I am less than happy with their policy, to say the least. From a European perspective it is a more than doubtful practice and if ever employed could soon be under scrutiny from consumer rights societies, depending on how much they would be alerted to it by the general public. See English Voyager's post about the British terms and conditions of Viking. They are similar to what German river cruise companies do.

 

notamermaid

 

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, dogs4fun said:

Viking is currently employing quite an aggressive sales campaign. I daily receive several email "deals" from Viking in addition to their snail mail booklets (approx one a month). 

 

There are worse offenders than Viking when it comes to daily e-mails. If you don't like the e-mails, you can always unsubscribe. There is so much junk mail out there that it just isn't worth getting worked up over. Just trash it and move on. Save the moaning and groaning for issues  that really deserve it. Much better for one's mental health.

[Canal archive]

Anyone thought that Viking just might have a cash flow problem or should I say challenge!

[philw1776]

Maybe they have a cash flow problem right now building ships.  I'm a financial guy. However, look at their cruises.  2019 is heavily booked and some 2020 cruises already are heavily booked. Anyone looking to loan Viking cash would be impressed with the bookings and would likely lend them money to build MORE ships, assuming Viking is not selling cabins below cost, which I seriously doubt.  Potential lenders have access to this information.

Viking prefers the interest free cash loans we advance deposit customers give them. 

 

I'm not worried about Viking building more ships per se.  The issues that really concern me are:

1) too many ships and passengers overwhelming river sites' quality of experience, overcrowded docking & tours 

2) finding, training and keeping enough good employees to keep up the excellent quality of onboard experience.

 

I for one receive very few Viking emails and were I to be inundated, I'd simply unsubscribe.

 

 

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by philw1776

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

There are worse offenders than Viking when it comes to daily e-mails. If you don't like the e-mails, you can always unsubscribe. There is so much junk mail out there that it just isn't worth getting worked up over. Just trash it and move on. Save the moaning and groaning for issues  that really deserve it. Much better for one's mental health.

"getting worked up"? "moaning and groaning"?

Odd that you would come to this ill conceived conclusion when I was simply stating a fact.

[Got2Cruise]

I’m just glad the other lines are not following this business model. 😀. If they offered a discount for paying in full by echeck then maybe I can understand paying in advance. 

[lackcreativity]

14 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

I’m just glad the other lines are not following this business model. 😀. If they offered a discount for paying in full by echeck then maybe I can understand paying in advance. 

Viking does offer a 3.3% discount when paying by echeck. We have booked Paris to the Swiss Alps for April 20, 2020 with a $500 per person deposit. Final balance is due on April 20, 2019. We paid the deposit by echeck and received the 3.3% off, and will do so again for the final payment. 

[philw1776]

15 hours ago, Got2Cruise said:

I’m just glad the other lines are not following this business model. 😀. If they offered a discount for paying in full by echeck then maybe I can understand paying in advance. 

 

So with 3.3% check discount I guess you understand paying in advance

[dogs4fun]

In addition to Viking, Gate 1 offers a 5% discount for payment via check (however, Gate 1 does not currently require full prepayment at the time of booking - deposit only at time of booking - full payment required 3 months prior to cruise). The 5% discount is valid for payment via check when full payment is due. Don't know about discounts regarding payment via check for other cruise lines but, IMHO, worth exploring if contemplating a cruise. 

We sailed Viking in China and enjoyed our cruise - we were not required to make full prepayment at time of booking - it is my understanding that full prepayment is a recent policy.

In any event, if Viking were to offer an itinerary that appealed to us above itineraries offered by other lines, I would not hesitate to book (travel insurance is my friend). 

[lackcreativity]

7 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

In addition to Viking, Gate 1 offers a 5% discount for payment via check (however, Gate 1 does not currently require full prepayment at the time of booking - deposit only at time of booking - full payment required 3 months prior to cruise). The 5% discount is valid for payment via check when full payment is due. Don't know about discounts regarding payment via check for other cruise lines but, IMHO, worth exploring if contemplating a cruise. 

We sailed Viking in China and enjoyed our cruise - we were not required to make full prepayment at time of booking - it is my understanding that full prepayment is a recent policy.

In any event, if Viking were to offer an itinerary that appealed to us above itineraries offered by other lines, I would not hesitate to book (travel insurance is my friend). 

There has been so much written about the Viking payment policy, and I know there are differences from country to country and for longer cruises, but I don't think there is a requirement to pay in full at time of booking, unless perhaps you are booking within a year of sailing. My experience with a new booking in November,  and my understanding from what I have read, is that a $500 per person deposit is required with payment in full one year from the sail date. 

 

Also, I certainly share your theory that "travel insurance is my friend". It is expensive, but an expense I am willing to pay. With pre-existing medial conditions, the security of cancel for any reason insurance is essential for us. I think there is even insurance which will cover a loss incurred by bankruptcy for those who fear that possibility.

[dogs4fun]

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

There has been so much written about the Viking payment policy, and I know there are differences from country to country and for longer cruises, but I don't think there is a requirement to pay in full at time of booking, unless perhaps you are booking within a year of sailing. My experience with a new booking in November,  and my understanding from what I have read, is that a $500 per person deposit is required with payment in full one year from the sail date. 

Ah, I see. Thank you for the clarification. Full payment was not required (at time of booking) on our Viking cruises of Egypt or China and, since I have not cruised with Viking since December of 2017, I incorrectly assumed that this is now the case. You know what they say about assumptions ...

Edited December 30, 2018 by dogs4fun