Viking voucher rules seem to change often or are completely unknown to many

[HHI Cruiser1]

Posted in another forum is some 'new' information about Viking vouchers, at least new for me.

> Poster cancelled a river cruise and lost all his vouchers (12k) and on a follow-up call to Viking stated: 

Poster was talking to Viking Customer Service agent who told him what I could and should (my word) have done was remove the vouchers from the cruise, wait couple of days, and then cancel. The vouchers would have been reinstated."

> Poster also stated that Viking can remove vouchers. In his case, Viking removed a voucher from his previous original cruise, split it into two vouchers and then applied one of the split amounts. Viking did that because the voucher was more than the cruise fare (but it took me two or three calls for them to even tell me I could do that). Split only works if the voucher was for more than 10K.

I have never heard about either of these 'unknown' Viking voucher rules.  I know a lot of posters have lost voucher money because they can't spend enough on their cruise or just lost a voucher when they cancelled a cruise (like me).  So these new 'unknow' Viking voucher rules come as a not so pleasant surprise.

[CCWineLover]

We were able to split a voucher into two pieces to put on two different cruises, but only because the voucher was more than 10,000 dollars.  Otherwise wouldn't have been able to do so.  Had nothing to do with the cruise fare.  So I can verify that this is still done.

Edited August 2, 2023 by CCWineLover

[CDNPolar]

This has been discussed endlessly on CC.

 

If you are ever offered a voucher from Viking vs. refund, take the refund.

 

If you decide to take the voucher then know the rules inside out before accepting that option.

 

Some vouchers come without option - we received a 10% voucher for missed cruise ports.  This was a "gift" but had to be applied on your next booking and once applied could not be moved or used on any other booking.  

 

Just know the rules.

 

Same with purchasing FCC vouchers on Viking River.  You used to be able to apply these to a booking that you had previously made but had not made full payment.  Not now.  The booking you apply these vouchers to have to have an initial booking date later than the purchase date on the voucher.

 

Lesson to the above story is just because you did it before does not mean you can do it again.

 

Also be cautious as every Viking rep that you may talk to may have a different story or answer.

 

With a voucher situation we had the Viking supervisor admitted that we were given false information based on the notes the agent made in our file but would still not honour that false information as in their words "You were given false information and we must stick with policy.  I am sorry for the fact that you were given false information but there is nothing I can do."

 

With vouchers it does not even matter what you were told (true or false) and was documented on your file.

 

 

[HHI Cruiser1]

Wow, what a mess with Viking vouchers.  Seems Viking makes the rules up as they go as none of these 'rules' or 'options' are printed on any voucher.

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, HHI Cruiser1 said:

Wow, what a mess with Viking vouchers.  Seems Viking makes the rules up as they go as none of these 'rules' or 'options' are printed on any voucher.

 

The rules often come with the "guarantee" which during Covid there were many different versions depending on when you booked, or they are in the letter / email that accompanies the voucher.

 

Also you will find voucher conditions in the Viking ticket contract.

[molymoo]

We have had several versions of Viking vouchers and the "conditions" have always been spelled out pretty clearly.  We have never had any issues using them when we used them as outlined in those conditions.  We are now working with Viking "voucher free" and glad of it but can't say dealing with them was particularly onerous nor did we ever feel that any entity was trying to "take advantage" of us.