Booking a new cruise while onboard...

[Mich3554]

5 hours ago, MikeyB said:

None of this answers  my question.

Here is an example of incompetence......she hasn't had no clue about the future cruise vouchers you may purchase on the river cruises.

This makes absolutely so sense.  I’m on the Neptune right now and I KNOW the cruise consultant knows about the river cruise vouchers as she used our’s at my request when she booked us from Reykjavik to NYC last week.  She even told me how many vouchers we have left.

Edited June 3, 2023 by Mich3554

[uktog]

We had to have the first appointment to tell her what we wanted

The second to hear the figures but she couldn’t process the deal then

So back for the third

[CCWineLover]

2 minutes ago, uktog said:

We had to have the first appointment to tell her what we wanted

The second to hear the figures but she couldn’t process the deal then

So back for the third

So sorry for you onboard person.

Again - have NEVER seen that happen.  All of ours (perhaps 6 different consultants on 6 different Viking ships), have, when we tell her (or him since many are male) what we want, they immediately go through pricing and cabin selection, following by processing the deal - as I said all in 30 minutes.

[oskidunker]

Vling lady was wonderful on the Venus in March. Booked Australia-and New Zealand 2025. Transferred to Pam Alexander our travel agent. No problems .

[Mich3554]

5 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

 

 

Whether the consultant knows about them or not, they can be added after the fact (one voucher per guest per cruise for a net saving of $100 per person; in other words, stop worrying about because it isn't worth the bother).  If the question is if you can book a cruise and then buy the vouchers to apply to that cruise, I don't know the answer.

River vouchers cannot be used after the cruise is booked.  They must be used at booking.  
I found this out last year on a river cruise when we bought a dozen, after being told that they could be added to cruises we already had booked.  I was told wrong.  

[CCWineLover]

3 minutes ago, Mich3554 said:

River vouchers cannot be used after the cruise is booked.  They must be used at booking.  
I found this out last year on a river cruise when we bought a dozen, after being told that they could be added to cruises we already had booked.  I was told wrong.  

Same thing here, Michelle.  I now do not believe anything someone from Viking just "tells" me anymore regarding policies regarding vouchers and bookings.

Edited June 3, 2023 by CCWineLover

[LindaS272]

45 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Same thing here, Michelle.  I now do not believe anything someone from Viking just "tells" me anymore regarding policies regarding vouchers and bookings.

Get it in writing! 😉😄

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Got you!

And thank you for all your time on the Egyptian board.  I'm  sure it will be another out of body experience. 

 

It is most definitely an out of body experience!

 

My sister doesn't follow CC but not long after I got back, talking about how amazing the trip was, she booked for 2025. She wanted January but couldn't get Jordan, so she took a February date. A month or so ago I read that two new ships were being added to the fleet and suggested that she have our shared TA keep an eye on it. She now has a January sailing, with Jordan, on Hathor.

[Kiwi Dreamer]

We returned last week from an ocean cruise and booked our next cruise for 2025 and the details were immediately sent to our agent here in New Zealand.  Booking on board offers discounts as shown below

 

Cruise Fare $11,895
Booking Discount $900
Past Guest Level 1 Discount $200

Onboard Booking Savings $300
Voucher Discount (from a river cruise last year) $1,300
Adjusted Cruise Fare Total $9,195 (AUS).

 
Hope this helps.

 

 

 

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Kiwi Dreamer said:

We returned last week from an ocean cruise and booked our next cruise for 2025 and the details were immediately sent to our agent here in New Zealand.  Booking on board offers discounts as shown below

 

Cruise Fare $11,895
Booking Discount $900
Past Guest Level 1 Discount $200

Onboard Booking Savings $300
Voucher Discount (from a river cruise last year) $1,300
Adjusted Cruise Fare Total $9,195 (AUS).

 
Hope this helps.

 

 

 

 

It won't be quite the same for those in the US/CAN market.  The perks are different from market to market.

[Squawkman]

17 hours ago, MikeyB said:

Squawkman- you rock!

Thank you.

My reason for trying to book at sea is because it's an Egyptian cruise that might sell out.  Friends told me the other day that they are going.

My Andrea did a wonderful job of selling a very expensive cruise to a third world country.

At this point I will wait.

Oh, Squawkman told me about his agent that offered a booking discount within 2 weeks of returning.  My Viking agent just told me the same info after 10 years of Viking cruises.

 

 

Glad your Viking agent got with the program. I meant to add to my previous response that when I asked the Viking agent on board if I can transfer to another Viking agent, she replied yes, you can transfer the booking to your travel agent (purposely not saying “Viking agent”). That was almost 5 years ago and I have been using the welcome back credit ever since.

[TayanaLorna]

On 6/3/2023 at 7:56 AM, MikeyB said:

Thanks for these responses.

But I want to be clear...I may move to a land based Viking agent so that she will get the commission.  Correct?

I don't want the ship board agent to make any money from me.

I should also add that I transfer my booking to an independent agent within 30 days.

I had a Viking agent I really liked and asked him this question.  He said if we book on board he would receive no commission although he could service our account.  He did say that he would be able to offer us the same deal within two weeks of our return.  We found out he COULD EXCEPT for the shorter final payment period.

[TayanaLorna]

19 hours ago, MikeyB said:

I appreciate all the responses.  Perhaps it's because I'm in the Living Room bar with Iskar that I don't think I'm being clear. 

Can I tell the onboard consultant to transfer my booking to a land based Viking agent.  And then can I transfer my booking to an independent TA?

My goal is to give my regular Viking agent my commission and then also get the OBC from the third party TA.

Your VIKING AGENT IN THE US will not get a commission if you book on board.  I asked mine this specific question.  YES you can transfer any cruise whether made on board or with a Viking agent to an independent TRAVEL AGENT and get their discount and OBC.

[MikeyB]

PS....

Love your Amazon write-up!

[TayanaLorna]

1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

PS....

Love your Amazon write-up!

Wow, thank you so much.  I think i have one more day to finish it up.

[Frenchberet]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

I had a Viking agent I really liked and asked him this question.  He said if we book on board he would receive no commission although he could service our account.  He did say that he would be able to offer us the same deal within two weeks of our return.  We found out he COULD EXCEPT for the shorter final payment period.

Hi TayanaLorna, did your Viking agent say anything about the OBC?  We’ve only booked onboard once, but when we did (in Feb) we received $400 OBC for booking 2 cruises.  We used it to pay the gratuities (thanks to someone on this board for letting us know that was an option).  It was a nice perk.  
 

We book directly with Viking (no outside agent) so we never get OBC unless it’s a special sign up benefit.  We have been able to negotiate the 6 month full pay date since we’ve had another cruise booked.  I considered the Viking agents to be “employees” and never thought about them receiving a commission.  Are there benefits (to me) for dealing with the same Viking agent each time I book?  Thanks for any info!

[Moonlion]

1 hour ago, MikeyB said:

Lorna.... thank you for replying.  It's what I thought.  I don't want my Viking agent servicing my booking without being compensated with the commission.

To repeat my, and only my, experience on the Neptune now....the cruise Consultant  is, to use a nautical term, an idiot.  She must be a new hire from Carnival.  For example,  when I needed to return for a second visit,  she never told me I needed to bring a credit card for the $25pp deposit.  Silly me I thought it would be charged to the cabin.  Therefore. I never did make the third visit.

@MikeyB So sorry to hear about your poor experiences with the travel consultant.  As you know, we just got off the Neptune but didn't book any future cruises while onboard.  We had already booked our upcoming Viking cruise (South America/Chilean Fjords in Feb. '24), along with the May '23 BIE cruise we just took, while onboard our Jan. '22 Venus Northern Lights cruise. The travel consultant on the Venus back then was excellent, took only one appointment to book everything and we received some excellent savings at the time (for the SA cruise: $600 pp for the onboard booking; $400 pp for being a repeat Viking customer; $200 OBC to use on the Venus NL cruise; and the 6-month final payment deal).  I think Viking may have been running special deals in winter '22 to try to get people to cruise again after the Covid pandemic.  Since we had booked the '22 NL cruise through a TA, our future bookings were forwarded automatically to that TA. 

 

Just curious how you're finding the rest of the service and crew on the Neptune? Hopefully, as good as our experiences.  Hope you are enjoying your cruise and it exceeds your expectations (other than the travel consultant)! 

[philw1776]

Booking onboard is usually a good deal but terms vary.
WARNING: The 1st time I did this my cruise had not yet been officially listed. As it was coming out the next week, the onboard agent called LA and got the pricing for me so I could book onboard and get the onboard deal. When I got home I saw that the $ deal posted on Viking website was better than my onboard deal. Viking's response was "Well each month we have a promotion deal. You booked last month" Even though the unlisted cruise had not been published that month and the onboard viking guy called for next week's pricing. So be very very careful booking any yet to be listed soon to be listed cruise.
Since then, booking onboard has worked well for me. 

[TayanaLorna]

2 hours ago, Frenchberet said:

Hi TayanaLorna, did your Viking agent say anything about the OBC?  We’ve only booked onboard once, but when we did (in Feb) we received $400 OBC for booking 2 cruises.  We used it to pay the gratuities (thanks to someone on this board for letting us know that was an option).  It was a nice perk.  
 

We book directly with Viking (no outside agent) so we never get OBC unless it’s a special sign up benefit.  We have been able to negotiate the 6 month full pay date since we’ve had another cruise booked.  I considered the Viking agents to be “employees” and never thought about them receiving a commission.  Are there benefits (to me) for dealing with the same Viking agent each time I book?  Thanks for any info!

At the time (2021), our Viking agent said he could give us whatever OBC was offered for a future cruise.  At the time the offer was double the Explorers Discount ($400 pp) and $200 pp OBC for the future cruise.  He could not give the OBC for cruise we were already on since we had to use it while on the cruise and we were already home.  And he could not get us a shorter 6 month final payment.

 

On our last cruise in February, the offer was $100 pp OBC for current cruise for each cruise booked.  Pretty pathetic compared to the 2021 offer.

[Mich3554]

39 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

At the time (2021), our Viking agent said he could give us whatever OBC was offered for a future cruise.  At the time the offer was double the Explorers Discount ($400 pp) and $200 pp OBC for the future cruise.  He could not give the OBC for cruise we were already on since we had to use it while on the cruise and we were already home.  And he could not get us a shorter 6 month final payment.

 

On our last cruise in February, the offer was $100 pp OBC for current cruise for each cruise booked.  Pretty pathetic compared to the 2021 offer.

Nothing is like the 2021 offers.  This is why I was so pissed when Viking canceled Homelands on the Neptune.  I had booked it under one itinerary with the BI cruise as an extension from the world cruise.  When Homelands got canceled on the Neptune last July, so did BI and I lost all the savings we got on both cruises (which were pretty substantial).  My Viking agent did some wrangling, and got us about 60% back of what we lost in OBC (we had nearly $2500 in discounts each for booking during Covid).  
Current onboard offers don’t come close to what we got then.  

[FetaCheese]

Regrettably, I did not book onboard in Dec. 2021, (1st V cruise). Offer was really generous.  Double past pax discount, extra nice OBC for current and future cruise, fare discount.

 

Yes, economics of ample supply and low demand made for such fine offers in 2021.

 

In contrast, in Dec. 2022, onboard booking incentives were minimal.

Edited June 4, 2023 by FetaCheese
Addl info

[MikeyB]

7 hours ago, Moonlion said:

@MikeyB So sorry to hear about your poor experiences with the travel consultant.  As you know, we just got off the Neptune but didn't book any future cruises while onboard.  We had already booked our upcoming Viking cruise (South America/Chilean Fjords in Feb. '24), along with the May '23 BIE cruise we just took, while onboard our Jan. '22 Venus Northern Lights cruise. The travel consultant on the Venus back then was excellent, took only one appointment to book everything and we received some excellent savings at the time (for the SA cruise: $600 pp for the onboard booking; $400 pp for being a repeat Viking customer; $200 OBC to use on the Venus NL cruise; and the 6-month final payment deal).  I think Viking may have been running special deals in winter '22 to try to get people to cruise again after the Covid pandemic.  Since we had booked the '22 NL cruise through a TA, our future bookings were forwarded automatically to that TA. 

 

Just curious how you're finding the rest of the service and crew on the Neptune? Hopefully, as good as our experiences.  Hope you are enjoying your cruise and it exceeds your expectations (other than the travel consultant)! 

I had one bad experience of very slow service in The Restaurant.   Just like you had.  I find the hostess,  Karen amazing.  She remembers everyone's name.

And then tonight I had dinner at Manfredi.  Service was horrible.   Any my side dish of the tiger shrimp  was still alive. I received apologies from everyone but I am still annoyed.  Then my Pistachio  cake was dry.  My Sea bass was good and my wife's rib eye the same.

The crew is great.  Supply chain issues with Bailey.  I thought the entaintainment that came on board is great.  But the onboard talent is mixed.  The singers have done enough over 2 weeks.  The classical Duo is amazing.  And the guitarist Tomas CA not sing.

Let me end  my saying that Northern Norway is just beautiful.

 

[Moonlion]

38 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

I had one bad experience of very slow service in The Restaurant.   Just like you had.  I find the hostess,  Karen amazing.  She remembers everyone's name.

And then tonight I had dinner at Manfredi.  Service was horrible.   Any my side dish of the tiger shrimp  was still alive. I received apologies from everyone but I am still annoyed.  Then my Pistachio  cake was dry.  My Sea bass was good and my wife's rib eye the same.

The crew is great.  Supply chain issues with Bailey.  I thought the entaintainment that came on board is great.  But the onboard talent is mixed.  The singers have done enough over 2 weeks.  The classical Duo is amazing.  And the guitarist Tomas CA not sing.

Let me end  my saying that Northern Norway is just beautiful.

 

Yes, we found the food quality very mixed at Manfredi's, one night the rib eye was good, the next just terrible.  We also liked the Classical Duo, and also the Contemporary Duo (husband and wife musicians) in Torshavn.  Hopefully, they bring some local guest talent onboard.  They did on our cruise.  Agree with you about Tomas.  We didn't make a point to go listen to him in the Explorer's Lounge.  The guitarist/singer, Zeus, on our 2022 NL cruise was phenomenal.  

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[ericosmith]

If you get onboard credit for the current cruise, is it refundable or non-refundable?

 

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, ericosmith said:

If you get onboard credit for the current cruise, is it refundable or non-refundable?

 

 

Not refundable.