Vikings poor refund policy

[Cruzingmlt]

Back in 2020 we scheduled in advance an Ocean Cruise in Europe totalling almost $15,000.  It included the trip insurance.   Covid broke out and was raging in the area and around the world.  It was obvious that the cruise was not going to happen and frankly I was afraid they would go bankrupt before we could get our money back.  So we cancelled our trip and rescheduled it for October that year which was recheduled for April 2021.  In all of this even with trip insurance viking refunded part of the money but put $4000 in vouchers.  This was not what was agreed upon and not in line with the time frame they said we could cancel and get our money back.    Now our vouchers are supposed to expire in a few days.   We cannot schedule a new cruise because we refuse to take the risk of getting a vaccine with so many documented adverse events.   Viking has not changed their policy on their vaccine policy.  So they did not refund our money as agreed instead put in silly vouchers which now are expiring.   Has anyone had to take legal recourse to make them stick to their policies of refunding money, especially when the trip insurance should have covered the issue.  We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

[duquephart]

Sounds like a fine print deal, unfortunately. They've got lawyers stacked in huge piles. How many you got?

[CurlerRob]

12 minutes ago, Cruzingmlt said:

Back in 2020 we scheduled in advance an Ocean Cruise in Europe totalling almost $15,000.  It included the trip insurance.   Covid broke out and was raging in the area and around the world.  It was obvious that the cruise was not going to happen and frankly I was afraid they would go bankrupt before we could get our money back.  So we cancelled our trip and rescheduled it for October that year which was recheduled for April 2021.  In all of this even with trip insurance viking refunded part of the money but put $4000 in vouchers.  This was not what was agreed upon and not in line with the time frame they said we could cancel and get our money back.    Now our vouchers are supposed to expire in a few days.   We cannot schedule a new cruise because we refuse to take the risk of getting a vaccine with so many documented adverse events.   Viking has not changed their policy on their vaccine policy.  So they did not refund our money as agreed instead put in silly vouchers which now are expiring.   Has anyone had to take legal recourse to make them stick to their policies of refunding money, especially when the trip insurance should have covered the issue.  We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

 

I'm afraid your post is very unclear and inconsistent.

 

You say that you cancelled and rescheduled your trip. Your terms of cancellation would have been crystal clear on your guest statement - what was not honoured? Emerging with some cash and some vouchers is inconsistent with most pax experience during Covid.

 

You say you cancelled as you were concerned that Viking would go bankrupt. Why in the world would you rebook with them - giving them more time to fail?
 

Lastly, you now complain that you can't use your vouchers because you refuse to comply with Viking's (long standing) vax requirements. Tough old world. 🍺🥌

[oskidunker]

They have a right to require vaccinations . 

[mhb1757]

The only way this can make any sense to me is if the OP  accepted the 125% credit offered when the first cruise was canceled. Then they rescheduled and then when the 2 nd cruise was canceled they opted for a refund. Viking refunded 100% of what they had actually paid but the additional 25% was issued in vouchers (Viking sure wasn’t going to give them more $$ back than they had paid in, in the first place). And now they are mad because they are not going to use those vouchers. 
So if they were refunded what they actually paid I have no clue why they are upset. 
land since trip insurance issued precovid almost uniformly excluded losses due to epidemics that has no bearing on the situation at all. 
 

Or do I smell a troll?

[Azulann]

15 minutes ago, mhb1757 said:

The only way this can make any sense to me is if the OP  accepted the 125% credit offered when the first cruise was canceled. Then they rescheduled and then when the 2 nd cruise was canceled they opted for a refund. Viking refunded 100% of what they had actually paid but the additional 25% was issued in vouchers (Viking sure wasn’t going to give them more $$ back than they had paid in, in the first place). And now they are mad because they are not going to use those vouchers. 
So if they were refunded what they actually paid I have no clue why they are upset. 
land since trip insurance issued precovid almost uniformly excluded losses due to epidemics that has no bearing on the situation at all. 
you see that you are correct. these second cruise was cancelled because eat Viking Sun was sold.

Or do I smell a troll?

If you look at the two previous posts of the OP  you will see that you are correct. The second cruise was on the Viking Sun which was sold.  Now  OP says their vouchers will expire in a few days....

Welcome to Cruise Critic .

 

[Squawkman]

32 minutes ago, mhb1757 said:

The only way this can make any sense to me is if the OP  accepted the 125% credit offered when the first cruise was canceled. Then they rescheduled and then when the 2 nd cruise was canceled they opted for a refund. Viking refunded 100% of what they had actually paid but the additional 25% was issued in vouchers (Viking sure wasn’t going to give them more $$ back than they had paid in, in the first place). And now they are mad because they are not going to use those vouchers. 
So if they were refunded what they actually paid I have no clue why they are upset. 
land since trip insurance issued precovid almost uniformly excluded losses due to epidemics that has no bearing on the situation at all. 
 

Or do I smell a troll?

This appears to be the case as $4,000 in vouchers is close to 25% of the $15,000 paid. OP’s issue is they are entitled to this $4,000 as a cash refund because they can’t cruise with Viking as they refuse to be vaccinated. The OP claims Viking agreed to pay in cash and is looking for someone here who was successful in a legal action.

 

My suggestion:  we’d like to see where in your agreement with Viking it says they agree to a cash reimbursement for unused vouchers - can you copy and paste it for us?

[SoBaycruiser]

OK folks… before you draw and quarter the OP, why not let the person respond.  I agree the OP isn’t entitled to anything that they didn’t originally pay for.  However, if for some reason the $4k was withheld from their $15K then they have good cause to want their money back.  There was no vaccination requirement when they booked their cruise, and probably none when they booked the 4/21 cruise.  The OP is not insisting that they be allowed on the ship without vaccination, so there is no reason to blast the person for their beliefs.  We were 3 weeks from sailing on another line in Mar2020.  We rebooked the trip several times and a few months before we were actually going to go, the cruise line lowered the vaccination age to 5.  The adults were all vaccinated but the youngest children were not because of concern about the amount of testing on growing children of that age.  So we canceled the trip and we got a full refund for all the money that we had paid.  We did not get paid the extra 25% and did not expect to.  I doubt the OP will come back after the response they got.  It would have been interesting to know the details.

[Peregrina651]

21 hours ago, Cruzingmlt said:

Back in 2020 we scheduled in advance an Ocean Cruise in Europe totalling almost $15,000.  It included the trip insurance.   Covid broke out and was raging in the area and around the world.  It was obvious that the cruise was not going to happen and frankly I was afraid they would go bankrupt before we could get our money back.  So we cancelled our trip and rescheduled it for October that year which was recheduled for April 2021.  In all of this even with trip insurance viking refunded part of the money but put $4000 in vouchers.  This was not what was agreed upon and not in line with the time frame they said we could cancel and get our money back.    Now our vouchers are supposed to expire in a few days.   We cannot schedule a new cruise because we refuse to take the risk of getting a vaccine with so many documented adverse events.   Viking has not changed their policy on their vaccine policy.  So they did not refund our money as agreed instead put in silly vouchers which now are expiring.   Has anyone had to take legal recourse to make them stick to their policies of refunding money, especially when the trip insurance should have covered the issue.  We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

 

Time to hire a lawyer. When you get your legal advice for free, you get what you paid for.  

 

[duquephart]

Whose $4000 did they keep? Theirs or yours?

[tobique33040]

Yes that’s a good point. 

[Cruzingmlt]

In response to duquephart, they kept our $4000!  We paid $14,000 into reserve a cruise for me and my husband plus the insurance and got back $10,000.   

 

[Spurlady]

1 hour ago, Cruzingmlt said:

In response to duquephart, they kept our $4000!  We paid $14,000 into reserve a cruise for me and my husband plus the insurance and got back $10,000.   

 

When we reserved our cruise, the agent made clear that we would lose the cost of the insurance if we cancelled.  That cost was non-refundable.  I would have to look up the cruise portion cancellation terms.  Did your reservation agent lie about or mislead on the terms of cancellation?  Ours did not.  We knew if we cancelled, we would be out a decent amount of money.

[Jmoondance]

2 hours ago, Cruzingmlt said:

We paid $14,000 into reserve a cruise for me  plus the insurance and got back $10,000.   

 

 Op said clearly they paid 14000$ for the cruise fare plus insurance.

[duquephart]

Indeed. Operative word = plus.

[Jmoondance]

On 2/23/2023 at 8:19 PM, Cruzingmlt said:

Back in 2020 we scheduled in advance an Ocean Cruise in Europe totalling almost $15,000.  It included the trip insurance.   Covid broke out and was raging in the area and around the world.  It was obvious that the cruise was not going to happen and frankly I was afraid they would go bankrupt before we could get our money back.  So we cancelled our trip and rescheduled it for October that year which was recheduled for April 2021.  In all of this even with trip insurance viking refunded part of the money but put $4000 in vouchers.  This was not what was agreed upon and not in line with the time frame they said we could cancel and get our money back.    Now our vouchers are supposed to expire in a few days.   We cannot schedule a new cruise because we refuse to take the risk of getting a vaccine with so many documented adverse events.   Viking has not changed their policy on their vaccine policy.  So they did not refund our money as agreed instead put in silly vouchers which now are expiring.   Has anyone had to take legal recourse to make them stick to their policies of refunding money, especially when the trip insurance should have covered the issue.  We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

Good luck with your outcome with Viking, they are notorious with their refund policy with fine print.

 

Stay well,happy travels !

[Vagabond51]

On 2/23/2023 at 10:19 PM, Cruzingmlt said:

 We have contacted them and they continue to refuse.  

 

Cruzingmit... if you are still monitoring this thread after all these helpful posts may I suggest to you that you contact Viking public relations in CA and see if they will extend your vouchers. I found them to be very reasonable in our case. We had a fully booked and paid for Budpest Amsterdam river cruise in the spring of 2021. We made the decision to pull the plug. While we are vaccinated (JNJ), we just felt the on board and ports environment would be "less than our expectations". Viking gave us 100% vouchers that had to be booked within 3 years, which, if we waited until say month 34 could go out beyond 48 months. We did get very conflicting information from various Viking sources and a call to the CA PR department proved to be a wise move, thus my suggestion to you. Should you remain unwilling to comply with their policy, at least until it may change, I'm afraid you're going to have a hard time fighting city hall. I would try to get an extension for that 4K voucher. It gives you time and room to manuever should the environment change. I think you would find them willing to discuss options. They really do want to book a cruise for you. Take advantage of that fact. Hope this helps.

[Heidi13]

23 hours ago, Cruzingmlt said:

In response to duquephart, they kept our $4000!  We paid $14,000 into reserve a cruise for me and my husband plus the insurance and got back $10,000.   

 

 

When Viking cancels your cruise, you are entitled to a full cash refund.

 

Unfortunately, when pax cancel a cruise, the cancellation fees outlined in the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to, by paying the deposit, are applicable. Since you only paid $14K, I'll assume you were on a short cruise of under 35-days, so the cancellation terms were:

  - Prior to 120-days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of $100 pp

  -  120 days to 90 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 15%

  - 89 days to 60 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 35%

 - 59 days to 30 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 50%

 - 29 days or less: NO refund

 

Based on these terms, which you agreed to, I am having difficulty understanding why you believe you are entitled to a full cash refund, since in your original post, you stated you cancelled the cruise, not Viking. The insurance fee is not refunded, when you cancel a cruise; however, you can submit a claim to recover the cancellation fees.

 

Even if you had the risk free guarantee, those cancellations were always refunded entirely with vouchers. When you cancelled, you had a choice of the cancellation terms or the RFG.

 

Please provide the details of how many days prior to the cruise you cancelled, as based on your posts to date, Viking have actually been very generous in providing vouchers in lieu of the cancellation fee.

[oskidunker]

28 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

When Viking cancels your cruise, you are entitled to a full cash refund.

 

Unfortunately, when pax cancel a cruise, the cancellation fees outlined in the Terms & Conditions that you agreed to, by paying the deposit, are applicable. Since you only paid $14K, I'll assume you were on a short cruise of under 35-days, so the cancellation terms were:

  - Prior to 120-days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of $100 pp

  -  120 days to 90 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 15%

  - 89 days to 60 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 35%

 - 59 days to 30 days: refund of fare, less cancellation fee of 50%

 - 29 days or less: NO refund

 

Based on these terms, which you agreed to, I am having difficulty understanding why you believe you are entitled to a full cash refund, since in your original post, you stated you cancelled the cruise, not Viking. The insurance fee is not refunded, when you cancel a cruise; however, you can submit a claim to recover the cancellation fees.

 

Even if you had the risk free guarantee, those cancellations were always refunded entirely with vouchers. When you cancelled, you had a choice of the cancellation terms or the RFG.

 

Please provide the details of how many days prior to the cruise you cancelled, as based on your posts to date, Viking have actually been very generous in providing vouchers in lieu of the cancellation fee.

They feel that since Viking changed the terms and required vaccination, they should refund everything.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

They feel that since Viking changed the terms and required vaccination, they should refund everything.

 

Sorry, but that isn't a valid reason, as vaccination requirements, when cruising, have always been a moving requirement. If you don't have the required documentation, the cruise line has the right to refuse boarding, as per the Terms & Conditions. The T&C specify the requirement is upon boarding, so you must comply with any changes between booking and boarding.

 

Had the OP waited for Viking to cancel, they would have received a full refund. Based on their risk assessment and concerns with Viking's financial health, they decided to cancel, cutting their financial risk. We all make decisions and we should live with the consequences.

 

Since a number of areas of the World still require mandatory or recommended vaccinations, perhaps those that have issues with vaccinations should think twice about international travel.