Sky Transatlantic March 6 2020 Almost Live

[jonthomas]

Thanks Clay. Good to know.

[jacquesmm]

An email from Viking arrived offering some compensation. Those who were on the cruise should get the same one. It is not as much as I hoped but it isn't bad. I am not going to post what they propose right now or my thoughts about it because of the previous argumentative reactions by some forum members that were not on the cruise. Let them guess . . .

[Clay Clayton]

LOL.  Good move Jacques!  I have responded to their email asking them to confirm that the same portion of refund will apply to the prepaid gratuities. 

[jonthomas]

Yup, got the email.

[DaveSJ711]

16 minutes ago, jacquesmm said:

An email from Viking arrived offering some compensation. Those who were on the cruise should get the same one. It is not as much as I hoped but it isn't bad. I am not going to post what they propose right now or my thoughts about it because of the previous argumentative reactions by some forum members that were not on the cruise. Let them guess . . .

I hope you don’t sue Viking for breach of contract!

[jonthomas]

I was just told that it would take 12 to 15 weeks to get our refundable obc back onto our credit card. 

[jacquesmm]

34 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

LOL.  Good move Jacques!  I have responded to their email asking them to confirm that the same portion of refund will apply to the prepaid gratuities. 

We did not prepay the gratuities and on our final bill, we were charged less gratuities than expected. Viking charged for the number of days on board, not the planned length of the cruise. I am certain that they are very busy right now and I will not only be patient but very supportive. I want them to stay in business. As Bottomfeeder wrote, if there is a loss on the cruise expense, it is nothing compared to what we lost in our retirement portfolio. We keep that in perspective.

[Clay Clayton]

26 minutes ago, jonthomas said:

I was just told that it would take 12 to 15 weeks to get our refundable obc back onto our credit card. 

Wow that’s a long time. 🤞it’s faster than that. Did Viking tell you that?

Edited March 24, 2020 by Clay Clayton

[jacquesmm]

OK, Susan and I decided how we will spend that discount offer: we will go on the next around the world cruise. We can afford it now. 🙂

[Owlfred]

2 hours ago, jacquesmm said:

We did not prepay the gratuities and on our final bill, we were charged less gratuities than expected. Viking charged for the number of days on board, not the planned length of the cruise. I am certain that they are very busy right now and I will not only be patient but very supportive. I want them to stay in business. As Bottomfeeder wrote, if there is a loss on the cruise expense, it is nothing compared to what we lost in our retirement portfolio. We keep that in perspective.

 

Jacques -- Great meeting you and the many others who attended the Manfreddi's dinner on board and a special shout out to Clay for arranging. I also received my Viking "offer". It seems reasonable but for those of us doing both legs of the journey (Trans-atlantic and Mediterranean to Venice) the refund amount seems based on a straight pro-rata basis(Total paid for cruise x number of days vs total days booked). it seems that this should be based on the separate cost of each leg of the trip since the 2nd leg of the trip was significantly more expensive.

 

In any event, we tentatively booked  a similar Viking Sky cruise departing Miami 3/21/2021. Hoping Viking survives and that the virus is eradicated by then. Anyone else going on that itinerary??

Edited March 24, 2020 by Owlfred

[jonthomas]

Can this 50% FCC be used for an upcoming cruise or must be a new booking?

[jacquesmm]

1 hour ago, Owlfred said:

 

In any event, we tentatively booked  a similar Viking Sky cruise departing Miami 3/21/2021. Hoping Viking survives and that the virus is eradicated by then. Anyone else going on that itinerary??

 

We may  very well be on that cruise. Living in Florida, we can't do the West bound transat. We want to be in Florida during the hurricane season.

My sister who lives in south Spain tells me that it is freezing cold and rainy there since 10 days. We would not have been very happy in Spain.

Edited March 24, 2020 by jacquesmm

[jacquesmm]

BTW, I may be wrong when I posted about the 50% discount. If we read the Viking email, it does not say that we will receive a 50% discount on any cruise but that we will receive a voucher for 50% of our paid cruise fare. That could be like a 50% refund of what we paid for this cruise in the form of a voucher.

I prefer the 50% on any cruise.

Let's wait until we get the voucher.

[jebbs]

For what it’s worth, my husband and I were to be sailing on the Jupiter, March  15 to April 8.  We decided to cancel, doing so on March 8 which was before Viking cancelled everything.. .  We got a check refund, for optional tours booked, in the mail on March 23.  We were surprised by the prompt service.

Wish we were sailing now, but haven’t left my house......Enjoy your day😎😎😎

 

[Owlfred]

2 hours ago, jacquesmm said:

 

We may  very well be on that cruise. Living in Florida, we can't do the West bound transat. We want to be in Florida during the hurricane season.

My sister who lives in south Spain tells me that it is freezing cold and rainy there since 10 days. We would not have been very happy in Spain.

 

[Owlfred]

My Susan and & I would love to hook up with you and your Susan, Jacques. Stay well and keep in touch. I know, I know we had too many Susans!

[jacquesmm]

44 minutes ago, Owlfred said:

My Susan and & I would love to hook up with you and your Susan, Jacques. Stay well and keep in touch. I know, I know we had too many Susans!

Yes but we share the same liking for dancing at the Thorshavn. If we are on that same transat, let's have another Manfredi, Clay may be therre to.

[Clay Clayton]

Ya never know!  But since Viking says they aren’t refunding the prepaid gratuities for the three days we didn’t sail, Im not exactly happy with them at the moment.  

[Peregrina651]

7 hours ago, jacquesmm said:

As Bottomfeeder wrote, if there is a loss on the cruise expense, it is nothing compared to what we lost in our retirement portfolio. We keep that in perspective.

 

In 1987, the market dropped 25% in one day. A few months later is was back to where it started.

 

It is too early to worry about your portfolio. Keep in mind that is only a loss if you actually sell the stocks. If you can avoid taking money out of your portfolio until it rebounds, you have lost nothing.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Peregrina651

[Clay Clayton]

And Peregrina therein lies the problem.  Those of us who use our holdings as income are in a pinch.  🤞crossed that things rebound but methinks it’s not going to do so fast enough for those of us who don’t have regular income from elsewhere. That means we will be selling stock to pay bills which in the long run means a big hit to our retirement planning.   
 

Despite my overall anxiety about this situation, I fully Recognize that we are in much better shape than those with no portfolio and who find themselves without a job. 

[Hanoj]

16 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Ya never know!  But since Viking says they aren’t refunding the prepaid gratuities for the three days we didn’t sail, Im not exactly happy with them at the moment.  

 

If they actually go to the staff, then I'm okay with this, especially when it's not my money 😎. Question about whether these gratuities actually go to the staff arose on the Ultimate WC thread. I realize it aroused considerable opinions, but I never read any definitive answer about the question. I don't prepay the gratuities, in part for the reason Clay an other experienced with their interrupted cruise.

[Clay Clayton]

I won’t be in the future!

[Clay Clayton]

Good News!

After five emails and four phone calls, Viking has agreed to refund us the unused portion of our prepaid gratuities. They offered them first as an obc on a future cruise but after I requested they said they would send them in a check. The email says 14-21 business days!  Hope both it and the prorated cruise refund come that quickly!

[jonthomas]

That is very good.

Ours were not prepaid, deducted each day for 11 days. 

 

[duquephart]

On 3/24/2020 at 7:53 PM, Clay Clayton said:

Ya never know!  But since Viking says they aren’t refunding the prepaid gratuities for the three days we didn’t sail, Im not exactly happy with them at the moment.  

 

So there's an argument for not pre-paying "gratuities" which, if you think about it, makes them something other than gratuities in the first place.