Don’t book too soon!!

[Curx94]

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but trying to save everyone a lot of money.  First time posting. Heads up if you are planning on booking an expedition cruise with VikingCruises  don’t book too early, wait for a deal!!  Just lost $4000 pp on a cruise booked too soon. Was offered $100 OBC as compensation. Can you say Nat Geo for my next cruise?  Poor customer retention. 

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Curx94 said:

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but trying to save everyone a lot of money.  First time posting. Heads up if you are planning on booking an expedition cruise with VikingCruises  don’t book too early, wait for a deal!!  Just lost $4000 pp on a cruise booked too soon. Was offered $100 OBC as compensation. Can you say Nat Geo for my next cruise?  Poor customer retention. 

 

Personally, when we book a cruise, it involves a number of factors, not just the cost of the base fare. Cabin location and availability are also key considerations.

 

When you look at all Viking Ocean & Expedition cruises, the ratio of price increases to drops is most likely weighted towards price increases. The last cruise we booked, increased $12,000 pp about 9 months after the cruise was published.

 

You clearly understand the contract you agreed to by paying the deposit. So, if you expect a refund when the price drops, are you also willing to pay extra, if the price increases. If you wish to renegotiate the contract terms, surely that has to be available to both parties.

[Curx94]

Viking is absolutely within their T&Cs but I think it is worth noting that they significantly dropped their prices on the Canada expedition voyages as well.  They are a company trying to make money, but we can be smarter consumers by understanding their processes.  I just want everyone to understand the process and possibly save some money. If you don’t need a specific room….wait and enjoy significant savings. I’m still going on the trip and I’m sure I will 100% enjoy the experience. Viking has a great product but this much of a price drop and absolutely no consideration 2 months out stings quite a bit. I could have bought a river cruise for the amount I have overpaid. 

[Breckski]

2 hours ago, Curx94 said:

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post but trying to save everyone a lot of money.  First time posting. Heads up if you are planning on booking an expedition cruise with VikingCruises  don’t book too early, wait for a deal!!  Just lost $4000 pp on a cruise booked too soon. Was offered $100 OBC as compensation. Can you say Nat Geo for my next cruise?  Poor customer retention. 

 

Don't book early/don't book late.  Always bet on black.  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  

 

I'd have a lot more wealth if I knew for certain what the future held, especially stock values.  

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, Curx94 said:

Viking is absolutely within their T&Cs but I think it is worth noting that they significantly dropped their prices on the Canada expedition voyages as well.  They are a company trying to make money, but we can be smarter consumers by understanding their processes.  I just want everyone to understand the process and possibly save some money. If you don’t need a specific room….wait and enjoy significant savings. I’m still going on the trip and I’m sure I will 100% enjoy the experience. Viking has a great product but this much of a price drop and absolutely no consideration 2 months out stings quite a bit. I could have bought a river cruise for the amount I have overpaid. 

 

Personally, I don't wait until after I have booked to learn the process, which is why I spent 2-years researching Viking before booking with them.

 

BTW - this very subject has been discussed numerous times over the years. I'll suggest the regulars on CC already fully understand the process, and the inherent risks.

[Curx94]

Thank you for your comments.  I do know their policies and spend a lot of time researching my own trips as well.  I am sure that the individuals using cruise critic are informed.  Just thought it might be worth noting that a Viking expedition is subject to huge price differences much more so than their river cruises or ocean cruises.  Sorry if this offends or has been said many times before.  

[CurlerRob]

2 hours ago, Curx94 said:

... Just thought it might be worth noting that a Viking expedition is subject to huge price differences much more so than their river cruises or ocean cruises.

 

Information is always worthwhile, but I believe you are in error to suggest that the price trend is always down (i.e. "wait"), or that the expedition variances are larger than those of VO.

 

Our next VO trip is in April 2024. It was booked July 2022 - the same cabin price is now $4000 pp more, with very little inventory. Unlikely there will be any last minute sales on that one.

 

In watching VO and Expeditions over several years, my personal tally suggests a fairly equal number of sales and increases - all driven by ship occupancy. As always, caveat emptor!  🍺🥌

[Curx94]

I’m glad that is your experience.  I typically do book ahead because I like to plan in advance and understand the potential price changes that might occur and understand the possible good & bad of the situation.  I have been on over 15 cruises with several different cruise lines and have experienced the price changes work in my favor and not in my favor.  However, this is the second time I have experienced a huge price drop on a Viking expedition.  I could have saved $3000 pp on the Canada expedition and $4000 pp on the Antarctica expedition.  I’ve experienced it twice within less than 2 years.  This is my 6th overall cruise with Viking and I personally have not experienced these huge price changes on a river cruise or the ocean cruise.  Obviously, I like the Viking product.  The expedition ships are beautiful & in my opinion there isn’t a bad room. I only posted because I thought my experience would be informative and beneficial to some individuals thinking about booking an expedition that have flexible plans.  If you only travel during peak times and need specific dates this post probably doesn’t apply to you. 

[Peregrina651]

8 hours ago, Curx94 said:

 Poor customer retention. 

 

Viking has a huge pool of repeat customers. That they fill their cabins early and quickly speaks for itself.

 

Customer retention is not a big worry for Viking. They have the sense to know that they cannot be all things to all people and that some people will be better served by other companies.

 

Since everyone is talking about the rising prices, I checked the prices of the cruises I have booked. I looked only at brochures prices and ignored the booking discounts. Both are 2 week cruises. For 2024 cruise, my DV cabin is $1100 more today and is showing no booking discount; only 4 cabins available. For 2025, the price is $1300 more and no booking discounts; only 3 cabins available.

 

 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

I don't know if this would apply here or not, because this was not expedition but VO.

 

We booked paid our deposit and then later Viking offered free air on the same cruise.  For us a savings of more than $4,000.00 CDN.  Significant.

 

We called, cancelled the cruise we had and rebooked and got the free air and paid the same for the cabin as original.  

 

Viking have strange policies that allow you to cancel and rebook but not just hand you the savings because it is now available.

 

We were also recently told by the Hotel Manager on a VR cruise, that buying the $100 for $200 vouchers on river cruises CAN be applied to currently booked cruises, but you must call, cancel, and rebook the same cruise and then ask for the voucher to be applied.

 

Seems like a silly system.

[Curx94]

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

I don't know if this would apply here or not, because this was not expedition but VO.

 

We booked paid our deposit and then later Viking offered free air on the same cruise.  For us a savings of more than $4,000.00 CDN.  Significant.

 

We called, cancelled the cruise we had and rebooked and got the free air and paid the same for the cabin as original.  

 

Viking have strange policies that allow you to cancel and rebook but not just hand you the savings because it is now available.

 

We were also recently told by the Hotel Manager on a VR cruise, that buying the $100 for $200 vouchers on river cruises CAN be applied to currently booked cruises, but you must call, cancel, and rebook the same cruise and then ask for the voucher to be applied.

 

Seems like a silly system.

Yes, thank you for the information.  We actually booked the Viking Antarctica expedition cruise on our Viking Canada expedition cruise.  Viking gave us a $200 booking on board discount. 
It has also been my experience that the vouchers are only offered on the river cruises and we have taken advantage of them several times.  
We typically book around a year in advance and the I’ll watch the prices and offers. We actually cancelled & rebooked once and saved $2500 pp (same extra offers) before the cancellation cut off was cost restrictive. The price difference from booking 1 year in advance to 2.5 months in advance would give you a $7000 pp (same extra offers) savings!  That’s a lot of extra cruising money 🛳️ 

[kctwinmommy]

We booked ours a year ago, our first one, and it's only gone up. Not an expedition, just an ocean. I'm sure like anything else, as it gets closer, they offer deals to sell the remaining cabins, but I truly don't know. We looked around at the options when we were ready to book, took a few days, and then booked it. I don't usually spend much time looking at the prices after it's been done. Either way, it sold out within a few months of our booking, and then it wouldn't matter what the prices were. That's the reason we book when we do, to get the cruise and cabin we want.

 

I know there was also some weird things with the website this week, and many cruises were coming up thousands of dollars more. Ours was now showing our cabin to be a little over $20K/person! We paid $12K. However, after like 2 days, things were back down to more normal, with a small increase since last year.

[Mich3554]

I look at booking a cruise not unlike booking an airfare.  Prices go up, prices go down.  When I find a price I’m ok with, I book it and rarely look back.  But I just did for the next few cruises we have booked.  
We leave in a week for Northern Lights.  There is about a $200 difference between booking and now.  After that, we leave from Bangkok to Vancouver.  That cruise is now $8000 pp more than what we booked.  Next year, the Australia circumnavigation is also $8000 pp than what we booked it.  

[Baron Barracuda]

Last summer we cancelled and rebooked the Grand Hawaii & Polynesia and saved $6k, same sailing, same cabin.  The one downside was Viking wouldn't roll our Tripmate policy from one reservation to the other.  Replacing policy with another insurer cost me $2k.  Still saved money but taught me never to book Tripmate again.  Just something to consider when doing price drop calculus.

[CDNPolar]

Both of our future booked Viking cruises - one ocean and one river - have gone up.

 

River - $1,500.00 per person

Ocean - $2,500.00 per person

 

I agree with others.  We look, and we price, and we decide if there is value for the price and then book or not.

 

If I did see a huge price decline, and I had not made final payment, I would first try the cancel and rebook option and if that was not available, we might cancel all together and book something else.  It is kind of a circular challenge, because other itineraries may be higher priced....

 

Did this when free air was offered on a booked cruise. It worked, but for some reason Viking were allowing us to do this switch, but NOT for the same dates and cabin.  We had to move the dates which we did by 2 weeks.  For the savings I did not argue the point with them, we just changed the dates.

 

[Breckski]

The issue with this thread is that the OP seems to be giving a public service announcement against booking early.  When in the current economic environment, the customer will pay a higher price by waiting to book if one looks at the entire population of Viking cruises.   

 

Sort of humorous to see the comment "trying to save everyone a lot of money" when in actuality this method would cost folks money more times than not.

[photopro2]

Hello @Curx94

 

I have enjoyed reading your well balanced, and erudite posts. Despite your carefully phrased and clear comments it seems to me that most people have missed the key point: That the advice you are giving about not booking too early is in relation to the Expedition cruises rather than Viking as a whole.

 

We took a moderately priced positioning cruise on an Expedition ship and enjoyed it very much, but feel that most of the regular Expedition cruises are at a price level per day that is beyond what we are prepared to pay. If others in Viking's target market feel the same as we do, that would chime with what you have experienced. It appears that Viking may be having to reduce Expedition prices in order to fill what would otherwise be empty cabins as the date for an upcoming cruise draws near.

 

Looking at it objectively, I can't help pointing out that, of course, your loss will have been someone else's gain. They will have benefited by enjoying the same cruise for substantially less than the price you paid. That is not an unusual situation, as a bargain purchase of any sort will only really be a bargain if others are paying more. 

 

It was good of you to take the trouble to bring this information about Expedition cruise pricing changes to the communities's attention. Fortunately, you seem far too sensible to let the issue spoil what I'm sure will be a wonderful Viking journey.

[Breckski]

1 hour ago, photopro2 said:

Hello @Curx94

 

I have enjoyed reading your well balanced, and erudite posts. Despite your carefully phrased and clear comments it seems to me that most people have missed the key point: That the advice you are giving about not booking too early is in relation to the Expedition cruises rather than Viking as a whole.

 

We took a moderately priced positioning cruise on an Expedition ship and enjoyed it very much, but feel that most of the regular Expedition cruises are at a price level per day that is beyond what we are prepared to pay. If others in Viking's target market feel the same as we do, that would chime with what you have experienced. It appears that Viking may be having to reduce Expedition prices in order to fill what would otherwise be empty cabins as the date for an upcoming cruise draws near.

 

Looking at it objectively, I can't help pointing out that, of course, your loss will have been someone else's gain. They will have benefited by enjoying the same cruise for substantially less than the price you paid. That is not an unusual situation, as a bargain purchase of any sort will only really be a bargain if others are paying more. 

 

It was good of you to take the trouble to bring this information about Expedition cruise pricing changes to the communities's attention. Fortunately, you seem far too sensible to let the issue spoil what I'm sure will be a wonderful Viking journey.

 

I completely understand the OP is referring to Expedition cruises and stand by my opinion that most would benefit from booking early rather than late.  On Expedition it may be less of a majority than on Ocean/River.  But I don't see how any objective person would think that booking later would save "everyone a lot of money" knowing that everyone only refers to those booking Expedition.

 

Maybe the OP booked at some high price bubble???  But that certainly isn't reason to tell everyone that they will endure a financial loss for booking early.  Just giving poor financial advice because they lost money based on their purchase decision.

 

I'd imagine you are correct that Viking has availability on some of these Expedition cruises and lowered prices to fill certain cabins (certainly not over 1/2 of the cabins are empty).  But that doesn't mean everyone will benefit by waiting to book.  Those that wait are gambling that the price will go down vs up.  Always two sides to every trade!!!!  Or transaction in this instance.

[Cienfuegos]

Supply and demand, trying to estimate a price coming out of Covid, lots of elements go into setting a price 18 to 24 months out..

 

Almost by definition, Viking Expeditions don't traffic in highly competitive routes. So, filling as many cabins as possible early, and letting supply and demand handle the rest is not a bad strategy.

 

I'm sure everyone here has a story about a last minute grab of a Caribbean cruise out of Miami or San Juan for $100 per night. Whether that translates well into a 450 passenger ship on an exotic route is another story.

[Curx94]

5 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Hello @Curx94

 

I have enjoyed reading your well balanced, and erudite posts. Despite your carefully phrased and clear comments it seems to me that most people have missed the key point: That the advice you are giving about not booking too early is in relation to the Expedition cruises rather than Viking as a whole.

 

We took a moderately priced positioning cruise on an Expedition ship and enjoyed it very much, but feel that most of the regular Expedition cruises are at a price level per day that is beyond what we are prepared to pay. If others in Viking's target market feel the same as we do, that would chime with what you have experienced. It appears that Viking may be having to reduce Expedition prices in order to fill what would otherwise be empty cabins as the date for an upcoming cruise draws near.

 

Looking at it objectively, I can't help pointing out that, of course, your loss will have been someone else's gain. They will have benefited by enjoying the same cruise for substantially less than the price you paid. That is not an unusual situation, as a bargain purchase of any sort will only really be a bargain if others are paying more. 

 

It was good of you to take the trouble to bring this information about Expedition cruise pricing changes to the communities's attention. Fortunately, you seem far too sensible to let the issue spoil what I'm sure will be a wonderful Viking journey.

Thank you for this reply!  I’ve been a bit surprised by some of the comments.  I hope my loss is other people’s gain. That has been the whole point of the post. 
Of course, it does sting a bit to lose that amount of money knowing the other travels I could have booked.  
The Viking expedition ships are amazing and so are the crew. The Viking expedition has been my best cruise experience to date. However, after overpaying twice I’ll definitely try to catch a deal next time 🤓

[FetaCheese]

@Curx94

 

If not already viewed, see topic "Post Viking Promos"

Edited January 14 by FetaCheese