Why such early final payment deadline?

[CDNPolar]

1 minute ago, May B said:

Hopefully your buddies will be able to join you, when it’s six months from one of your cruises.

It would be nice but unfortunately not much cabin inventory is available at 6 months out and what is available is generally expensive.  

[May B]

My next Viking is $16,000, not $50,000, but b/c I booked it on my Viking a few weeks ago, we got the six month final. That cruise sold out, a few days after I booked it (for Dec. of 2024). I would’ve booked it sooner, actually, to get a higher priced stateroom, but Mr B was adamant about not booking until we had experienced Viking Ocean. Even with the $25 deposit 😳.

 

Having to pay 18 months in advance is against my DNA, so I’m with Andy on that; plus there’s actually one important consideration. While unlikely to extremely unlikely to ever come into play, your credit card company may not go back as far as 18 months prior to your cruise, to protect you against financial insolvency. Trip insurance can protect against that, but that’s another pricey line item.

[May B]

12 minutes ago, CDNPolar said:

It would be nice but unfortunately not much cabin inventory is available at 6 months out and what is available is generally expensive.  

I agree, but to my very unpracticed eye, it’s the most expensive that go quickest. I had to settle 🙃 for deluxe veranda on my now-sold-out booking. 
 

Since you have so many booked, hopefully one will be available that’s appealing to one of the couples, and they can go and have the experience we think is so great.

[Redtravel]

If you don’t want to pay in full for a Viking cruise, wait to book.  You won’t have as good a selection of cabins.  The cruise may sell out. If the cruise is selling well, prices may rise.  If the cruise isn’t selling well, you may get a lower price. It’s a gamble. 
Other cruise lines are more flexible with final payments and price adjustments. As long as Viking fills their ships, they will continue with full payments on demand. Once you book and pay, cruise price is fixed.  It’s like buying airline tickets.

[toolworker]

22 hours ago, Lexus550 said:

We have always been able to make our final payment 6 months out whether we have another cruise booked or not.  If it was further out than that, I doubt we'd book.  With their current promotion of $25 down (although in some cases the penalty is $100 for cancellation) and with payment 6 months out, we think it's a good deal.

Exactly what is the current policy? This blog post, dated April 6, 2022, says in part:

• Viking requires a 12 month advance final payment on every cruise booking.
• If a person is a past guest and has a sailing scheduled already within one year, and makes a request for payment delay, they can have a 6 month advance final payment.

It also says deposit time may be longer on some special cruises, and shorter if a guest has a promo code. And Viking can change the policy at any time.

 

Holding the booking for $25 or $100 may work if you don't need insurance or are willing to take Viking's. We're older, and always buy a superior TravelGuard policy with included pre-existing condition coverage and reasonably priced CFAR (cancel for any reason). To get either of these, the amount paid needs to be insured within 15 days of initial payment. So we pay about $1000, nonrefundable, to hold a booking.

[oskidunker]

2 hours ago, Redtravel said:

If you don’t want to pay in full for a Viking cruise, wait to book.  You won’t have as good a selection of cabins.  The cruise may sell out. If the cruise is selling well, prices may rise.  If the cruise isn’t selling well, you may get a lower price. It’s a gamble. 
Other cruise lines are more flexible with final payments and price adjustments. As long as Viking fills their ships, they will continue with full payments on demand. Once you book and pay, cruise price is fixed.  It’s like buying airline tickets.

There is high demand for small ship sailing. As the traditional lines continue to build huge ships,the supply and demand will have more impact on Viking, Oceania etc. 

[pavementends]

The way I look at it- there are some activities that it makes sense to sell only if almost entirely full at a particular average price. These things include river rafting and small ship cruising (particularly Antarctica). These things do sometimes see discounts to fill available slots but- at least as far as I have seen- not extreme discounts. By getting the money up front Viking knows they will have enough customers. Presumably this allows them to commit for various purchases (food, fuel, etc.) at a better price.

 

Yes, when I pay up front I forgo some interest income. Not that much these days but I figure that lost income is part of my cost.

 

If, as a matter of principle, you object to this then you pay in potentially lost experiences. Your choice. Maybe you get lucky with last-minute bookings. Maybe not.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FetaCheese]

5 hours ago, May B said:

I agree, but to my very unpracticed eye, it’s the most expensive that go quickest. I had to settle 🙃 for deluxe veranda on my now-sold-out booking. 
 

Since you have so many booked, hopefully one will be available that’s appealing to one of the couples, and they can go and have the experience we think is so great.

In my opinion, DV's on V are very nice, larger than on some of the RCL's, X, HAL, etc.,  with adequate veranda space, and a large bathroom and shower.  Many pax here on CC, including us, are happy with DV's.  Enjoy your voyage.

Edited July 16, 2023 by FetaCheese
Addl info

[May B]

41 minutes ago, FetaCheese said:

In my opinion, DV's on V are very nice, larger than on some of the RCL's, X, HAL, etc.,  with adequate veranda space, and a large bathroom and shower.  Many pax here on CC, including us, are happy with DV's.  Enjoy your voyage.

First of all, I do not consider RCL, X, HAL, and etc. to be Viking’s competition.

 

That having been said, we are totally happy in a DV, except for the risk of missing some important shore excursions on the particular cruise we booked. Therefore, I decided we may as well also enjoy the extra space and amenities of a penthouse veranda or penthouse junior suite, while increasing our chances to get a few optional tours that I think are very appealing. Alas, I had to wait for Mr B’s “approval to book”, so I missed out. I’m watching, to see if any open up, believe me!

 

Sometimes people say, going on a better cruise line, or in a better stateroom, will ruin you for your future bookings. I guess we’re weird! We seem to be able to juggle our expectations, from cruise to cruise.

[May B]

2 hours ago, toolworker said:

Exactly what is the current policy? This blog post, dated April 6, 2022, says in part:

• Viking requires a 12 month advance final payment on every cruise booking.
• If a person is a past guest and has a sailing scheduled already within one year, and makes a request for payment delay, they can have a 6 month advance final payment.

It also says deposit time may be longer on some special cruises, and shorter if a guest has a promo code. And Viking can change the policy at any time.

 

Holding the booking for $25 or $100 may work if you don't need insurance or are willing to take Viking's. We're older, and always buy a superior TravelGuard policy with included pre-existing condition coverage and reasonably priced CFAR (cancel for any reason). To get either of these, the amount paid needs to be insured within 15 days of initial payment. So we pay about $1000, nonrefundable, to hold a booking.

We sometimes buy protection for just the deposit amount and can add the rest of the coverage at final payment, or at first penalty. I think the minimum to be covered initially is $500 pp, not the $25 deposit Viking is now offering.

 

While your trip insurance premium is non-refundable, it CAN be transferred to a new cruise or trip, if you change your mind about going on the trip you originally purchased it for, all those many months prior.

Edited July 16, 2023 by May B

[kctwinmommy]

2 hours ago, toolworker said:

Exactly what is the current policy? This blog post, dated April 6, 2022, says in part:

• Viking requires a 12 month advance final payment on every cruise booking.
• If a person is a past guest and has a sailing scheduled already within one year, and makes a request for payment delay, they can have a 6 month advance final payment.

It also says deposit time may be longer on some special cruises, and shorter if a guest has a promo code. And Viking can change the policy at any time.

 

 

 

Interesting! We booked our first Viking this past January. When we booked, we were given this past June 30th as our final payment date. That is about 9 months out from our sailing date, a little more actually. But not 12 months. Again, I didn't care or question it, we knew we wanted this cruise and like I commented earlier, I like having it all paid off.

 

As far as booking 6 months out, our entire cruise has been sold out for the past 2 months I think. When we booked ours, there were already several cabins that were also sold out. In fact, all 3 cruises that are like ours (same time/destination) are sold out for next year.

 

Like others said, I booked earlier and was willing to pay it, so that we got the cabin we wanted. This will be our first Viking cruise too. After several times on another line, we wanted to try something different, and decided to make a big one.

[FetaCheese]

1 hour ago, May B said:

First of all, I do not consider RCL, X, HAL, and etc. to be Viking’s competition.

 

That having been said, we are totally happy in a DV, except for the risk of missing some important shore excursions on the particular cruise we booked. Therefore, I decided we may as well also enjoy the extra space and amenities of a penthouse veranda or penthouse junior suite, while increasing our chances to get a few optional tours that I think are very appealing. Alas, I had to wait for Mr B’s “approval to book”, so I missed out. I’m watching, to see if any open up, believe me!

 

Sometimes people say, going on a better cruise line, or in a better stateroom, will ruin you for your future bookings. I guess we’re weird! We seem to be able to juggle our expectations, from cruise to cruise.

Agree, on V you'll find many refugees from the cruise lines mentioned.  In my opinion, V provides a fine total experience, so much different than the others.

 

Happy we tried it.  Booked on 3rd later this year.

 

Perhaps you can be placed on a wait list for your preferred cat.  Cabins do open up, so worth a call to V, or a quick email to Tellus.

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

Why wouldn’t Viking demand payment 12 months or more in advance? They obviously have no problem filling their ships. As long as people don’t mind giving their money interest free to Viking they will continue the policy. I’m sure they have studied this issue and have determined that the demographic that sails with Viking has the means to pay in advance without complaining or impacting bookings. 

[HHI Cruiser1]

As was posted earlier, Viking does it because Viking can.  As many posts have clearly stated that Viking randomly enforces early payment of 12 to 18 months and allows some first time cruisers to have 6 month final payments.  So these discrepancies just confirms that Viking does what Viking want to because Viking can.  Viking would change final payment timeframe if more bookings were lost because of it.

[WanderingBrit]

Our upcoming cruise has been completely sold out for over 8 months, so the answer need be no more complicated than that.

 

For the cruise after the one upcoming I emailed customer service and requested final payment be adjusted to 6 months, citing my upcoming booking number, and they complied within a day.

[May B]

17 hours ago, FetaCheese said:

Agree, on V you'll find many refugees from the cruise lines mentioned.  In my opinion, V provides a fine total experience, so much different than the others.

 

Happy we tried it.  Booked on 3rd later this year.

 

Perhaps you can be placed on a wait list for your preferred cat.  Cabins do open up, so worth a call to V, or a quick email to Tellus.

I like the idea of emailing tellus, which I have not done before.

 

Accord g to the onboard Viking salesperson, they actually don’t keep a wait- list. I suppose I could ask for a second opinion!

[17pandd]

I doubt I'll book too far ahead on Viking again.  Our cruise is not full and has gone down by a third and added upgrades.  I don't enjoy reading about how much more I'm paying for a smaller room, but I know it was my choice to book when I did.  I agree -- Viking has its policies because they can.  We booked for the itinerary we wanted and I guess we're paying the price.

[SWFLAOK]

2 hours ago, 17pandd said:

I doubt I'll book too far ahead on Viking again.  Our cruise is not full and has gone down by a third and added upgrades.  I don't enjoy reading about how much more I'm paying for a smaller room, but I know it was my choice to book when I did.  I agree -- Viking has its policies because they can.  We booked for the itinerary we wanted and I guess we're paying the price.

Our first Viking cruise was a river cruise. Several of our neighbors recommended Viking River Cruises, but they often had problems with water levels, and didn't totally enjoy their cruise.

But, we decided to book a cruise for May, from Amsterdam to Budapest with a 3 night post in Prague. We paid in full when we booked in the fall of 2018. I think a 3 percent discount was offered and we went for it.

Unfortunately, our cruise was scheduled for May 2020. No cruise was offered that year due to Covid. No refund was offered by Viking. We were "allowed" to delay our trip to May 2021. Unfortunately, the cruise was also cancelled in May of 2021, and we were "allowed" to delay our trip until May 2022. Viking had our full payment from fall of 2018 until May of 2022. But we did have the same cabin the we  had originally booked. Our included airfare wasn't what wanted since it was through Atlanta from Miami, and we didn't consider an hour to be sufficient for our transfer. Delta once again let us down, and we missed our business class flight that we had paid for, and waited 4 hours for a flight in a 5 in the middle seat that was totally uncomfortable, and considered Delta premium. Delta did refund money to Viking, but it took many months to get it back. I will never accept a Delta flight again from a cruise line.

We did have the same pre hotel and post hotel that we wanted. We enjoyed our river cruise, and half way through our daily Covid testing ended, and no one onboard our 2 week cruise until a "life of the party" guest tested positive at the airport in Budapest going directly there from the ship.

Despite our Viking River experience, we booked a Viking Ocean cruise through the Panama Canal in December of this year. Once again, we were asked to book the full payment when we booked about a year ago. Since we wanted an Explorer Suite, we paid in full. Now we would only need to pay 25 dollars down for a reservation. But we would not be able to book an Explorer suite since they've all been sold out for a long time. There are sone tiny Veranda suites still available, but that's not what we're looking for on this cruise.

[toolworker]

On 7/16/2023 at 2:31 PM, FetaCheese said:

Agree, on V you'll find many refugees from the cruise lines mentioned.  In my opinion, V provides a fine total experience, so much different than the others.

 

Happy we tried it.  Booked on 3rd later this year.

 

Perhaps you can be placed on a wait list for your preferred cat.  Cabins do open up, so worth a call to V, or a quick email to Tellus.

Agents will say they put you on a waitlist for a cabin class change. Don't hold your breath.

 

I've had success with several cruise lines by keeping an eye on the Suites listing on the web page. If your class suddenly becomes available, call quick. Many lines clear waitlists manually, even the waiters for bookings. On one cruise, all of a sudden a bunch of sold out classes became available. Maybe a block reservation cancelled or expired.

 

We care about cabin location, not just class. If we're in a bad location, every so often I go through the online booking process to cabin selection, and sometimes get lucky. Calling an agent might be just as fast.

 

And re total experiences - not naming lines, but one we sail on waitlists for shore excursions and almost always adds enough capacity to accommodate everyone. But it costs more than Viking. Everyone's got to find their balance of experience and value.

[Winne]

Folks, my wife and I have never taken a cruise before. We gave Viking $25.00 each as a deposit with the almost $18K balance coming due 7/31/2023 for a cruise leaving September, 2024. The more I think about this the more irritated I become. Unless Viking is willing to extend the deadline to 6 mos. out, as some suggest they will do, we will cancel. If they do extend the deadline does anyone know what deposit % they request? Many thanks for your input. Winne.

[ARDXXX]

I do not know why you folks like to pay your final balance so early, we always pay three months prior to the Cruise date. We are on a Cruise lasting over six weeks this November from Bangkok to Auckland and have only paid our deposit, I will be paying the balance sometime next month.

[FetaCheese]

16 minutes ago, Winne said:

Folks, my wife and I have never taken a cruise before. We gave Viking $25.00 each as a deposit with the almost $18K balance coming due 7/31/2023 for a cruise leaving September, 2024. The more I think about this the more irritated I become. Unless Viking is willing to extend the deadline to 6 mos. out, as some suggest they will do, we will cancel. If they do extend the deadline does anyone know what deposit % they request? Many thanks for your input. Winne.

don't think you'll get 6 mo. FP, at this late stage.  Others have reported you must request 6 mo., when making booking -- and you usually must have a future cruise under deposit.

[LindaS272]

16 minutes ago, Winne said:

Folks, my wife and I have never taken a cruise before. We gave Viking $25.00 each as a deposit with the almost $18K balance coming due 7/31/2023 for a cruise leaving September, 2024. The more I think about this the more irritated I become. Unless Viking is willing to extend the deadline to 6 mos. out, as some suggest they will do, we will cancel. If they do extend the deadline does anyone know what deposit % they request? Many thanks for your input. Winne.

Worth a try, but doubtful that they will extend it. (See other threads on CC about “why does Viking get away with requiring payment up to two years in advance?”). If they do extend it to six or nine months, there is no further deposit owed for U.S. customers. I believe folks in the U.K. have to put 30% down, but I think their final payment is only at three or four months. Consumer protection laws in the U.K.

[KBs mum]

12 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Worth a try, but doubtful that they will extend it. (See other threads on CC about “why does Viking get away with requiring payment up to two years in advance?”). If they do extend it to six or nine months, there is no further deposit owed for U.S. customers. I believe folks in the U.K. have to put 30% down, but I think their final payment is only at three or four months. Consumer protection laws in the U.K.

25% non refundable, final payment 90 days. We also don't have cancel for any reason insurance

[Mackdogmolly]

I just booked an August 2025 cruise on a competing small ship line, because of the attractive itinerary. Final payment is due in April of that year. No way I would make final payment as far in advance as V would likely demand for a similar cruise.