When to book?.

[Crusin-Suzan]

We want to book the SA Antarctica for 1/2020!  Going on the Viking cruise in July and would like to book onboard to get the credit they give you!  Should we book now to ensure the price and cancel if it works better when we are onboard in July???    Seems like it’s a no lose other than have to pay deposit???  Any advice appreciated 

[oceanmom]

I would book now with a refundable deposit and see what you can get in July. Just be sure to ask for all available pricing in July--refundable or nonrefundable and with or without promos. And by booking earlier, you might have a better choice of cabin.

 

I already booked a cruise for 2020 and another for 2021 with the $1 deposits last week primarily to get my choice of cabin and the Early Booking Bonus promo. I will keep an eye on prices and perhaps rebook later.

[CruiserBruce]

Do you have any Future Cruise Deposits? If not, buy some on board, and then book the cruise.

 

Otherwise, I would probably do as oceanmom suggests, booking with a refundable deposit now.

[aa7yy]

On board is the #1 first choice. If room is not important Future Cruise Deposits.

 

Then, watch the prices and offers and adjust.

[kwb101]

5 hours ago, sueleekey said:

We want to book the SA Antarctica for 1/2020!  Going on the Viking cruise in July and would like to book onboard to get the credit they give you!  Should we book now to ensure the price and cancel if it works better when we are onboard in July???    Seems like it’s a no lose other than have to pay deposit???  Any advice appreciated 

We're booked for the first half of the Antarctic trip, and there was only one fare type per category, with no perks or special pricing. We signed up the end of January, and I've checked prices every few days, with little change, and still one fare class. However...we're only going as far as Buenos Aires, so we'll have 41 days onboard; because we didn't buy the full (77-day) itinerary, and only guarantee cabins were available (we're getting an obscured OV).

We also got a surprise: HAL offered us a 3% discount if we paid in full by the end of this month. The clinker: if we chose not to pay in full, we still had to pony up $6k in May, with the balance in full in September. Our TA disclosed this at some length during the call when we booked, and sent a corrected confirmation with the 3% language in it a couple of days later. 

A final note: we booked through a well-known big box store, which posts a copy of your confirmation and perks on their website. If you buy this way,  be sure to keep checking the copy of your confirmation. I did, and found the Antarctica trip had dipped $500. If this happens to you, call and have then rebook, otherwise the price can go increase up to the original cost (again the TA explained how it works. I didn't receive any note or warning this had happened. A word to the wise. 

Happy travels, see you inboard in January? 

[Tampa Girl]

You are aware that you are on the HAL board, although you mentioned booking aboard while on a Viking cruise?

[avian777]

1 hour ago, Tampa Girl said:

You are aware that you are on the HAL board, although you mentioned booking aboard while on a Viking cruise?

... you think maybe OP used "Viking" as a shortcut to reference her/his HAL "Voyage of the Vikings" cruise???

[Tampa Girl]

2 hours ago, avian777 said:

... you think maybe OP used "Viking" as a shortcut to reference her/his HAL "Voyage of the Vikings" cruise???

 

No.  I wasn't thinking of the VOV.  Obviously, the cruise line came to mind.  But thank you for your enlightenment.  

[Riversedge]

19 hours ago, sueleekey said:

We want to book the SA Antarctica for 1/2020!  Going on the Viking cruise in July and would like to book onboard to get the credit they give you!  Should we book now to ensure the price and cancel if it works better when we are onboard in July???    Seems like it’s a no lose other than have to pay deposit???  Any advice appreciated 

 

 

We are on the VOV this summer as well. We decided to book the January Antarctica cruise now rather than wait. This is a popular cruise and didn’t want to take the chance of there being a sell out of the type of cabin we wanted.  You are not able to use a future cruise deposit as this is a portion or whole of a World Voyage.  There’s is a 3% discount if paid in full by the end of this month.  We booked it a couple weeks ago and were able to take advantage of the private sale offer. 

[avian777]

10 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

No.  I wasn't thinking of the VOV.  Obviously, the cruise line came to mind.  But thank you for your enlightenment.  

You're welcome - happy to have been of assistance to you.

[Crusin-Suzan]

28 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

 

We leave 7/6. For VOV!  Are you on that one??

As for the Antarctic cruise are you talking about the Zaandam ship??? Which ship is doing the world Voyage???

28 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

We are on the VOV this summer as well. We decided to book the January Antarctica cruise now rather than wait. This is a popular cruise and didn’t want to take the chance of there being a sell out of the type of cabin we wanted.  You are not able to use a future cruise deposit as this is a portion or whole of a World Voyage.  There’s is a 3% discount if paid in full by the end of this month.  We booked it a couple weeks ago and were able to take advantage of the private sale offer. 

 

[Riversedge]

7 minutes ago, sueleekey said:

As for the Antarctic cruise are you talking about the Zaandam ship??? Which ship is doing the world Voyage???

 

We are on the Volendam.  

[Tampa Girl]

52 minutes ago, Riversedge said:

 

 

We are on the VOV this summer as well. We decided to book the January Antarctica cruise now rather than wait. This is a popular cruise and didn’t want to take the chance of there being a sell out of the type of cabin we wanted.  You are not able to use a future cruise deposit as this is a portion or whole of a World Voyage.  There’s is a 3% discount if paid in full by the end of this month.  We booked it a couple weeks ago and were able to take advantage of the private sale offer. 

 

The 2020 World Cruise is going to Antarctica on the Amsterdam, but the Zaandam is also going, and you can use your future cruise deposit  on that.  We are booked on the December 18th itinerary, and we did use our FCD.