Shipboard Credit

[Flgreg]

Hopefully this will be my last question for a while:

 

Can shipboard credit be used as payment for optional excursions?

 

Thanks.

[shadowlover]

yes but depending on the type, you may need to wait until you are on board to use it thus delaying your excursion purchase.  If you look on your MVJ you will be able to see if you have usable credit.  

[Flgreg]

Where would I see the credit in MVJ?

[shadowlover]

If I remember correctly, if it is ship board credit that comes from viking then it will be available immediately.   In the past it was visible right when I logged on.  I don't have any for an upcoming trip except for what my TA is giving me and that doesn't show until I board the trip.  I believe it was on the page with my booking summary in the past..  

[TayanaLorna]

Shipboard credit means just that.  Monies to use while on the ship.

 

Voucher credit is what must be used before the cruise begins.  If a passenger pays for the cruise with the voucher and there are monies remaining, it must be used beforehand.  People typically use it to pay for optional excursions, Silver Spirit Package or pre paid gratuities.  Use it or lose it.

 

On board credits can be used for optional excursions however you stand the chance of not getting what you want as many excursions sell out soon after available.  On board credit can be used once on the ship for the Silver Spirit Package, Gratuities, Spa Treatments, drinks or wine upgrades ( if you don't get the SSP) and on board store purchases.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

Shipboard credit means just that.  Monies to use while on the ship.

 

Voucher credit is what must be used before the cruise begins.  If a passenger pays for the cruise with the voucher and there are monies remaining, it must be used beforehand.  People typically use it to pay for optional excursions, Silver Spirit Package or pre paid gratuities.  Use it or lose it.

 

On board credits can be used for optional excursions however you stand the chance of not getting what you want as many excursions sell out soon after available.  On board credit can be used once on the ship for the Silver Spirit Package, Gratuities, Spa Treatments, drinks or wine upgrades ( if you don't get the SSP) and on board store purchases.

Not quite accurate, because OBC can be used to purchase optional excursions in advance as well. We did that this year with some OBC Viking advanced to us last year for a poor customer service experience. We thought it could only be used once on the ship, but when we reserved optional excursions they used our OBC to pay for them. One excursion was canceled when onboard the ship and they refunded the amount to our onboard account to be used before the end of the cruise—i.e., non-refundable.

[TayanaLorna]

18 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Not quite accurate, because OBC can be used to purchase optional excursions in advance as well. We did that this year with some OBC Viking advanced to us last year for a poor customer service experience. We thought it could only be used once on the ship, but when we reserved optional excursions they used our OBC to pay for them. One excursion was canceled when onboard the ship and they refunded the amount to our onboard account to be used before the end of the cruise—i.e., non-refundable.

Thank you for the correction.  Any monies awarded us after a bad experience on one cruise came as a voucher for the next cruise not as an OBC.

[Clay Clayton]

FWIW, on our last cruise (Iceland July 2022) the usual shipboard credit from our Travel Agent showed up in MVJ well before the cruise.  We used it to book optional excursions on the first day they became available. The remainder showed up in our account onboard. 
 

Previously, we hadn’t seen the onboard credit until we saw our account on the ship. Not sure if that was a one-off or if that is how it will be in the future.  Hopefully some day we will have another cruise booked and be able to find out🤞

[duquephart]

Viking can be very sloppy in this and many other regards. And just try to get a straight answer from them.

[hbtraveler]

We used our shipboard credits from the TA ($200 pp) to pay for part of our optional excursions for our upcoming June cruise.  The credits can be found on MVJ in the Payments & Cart tab.