Need quick help, first post

[Mlb4chris]

Hi all, first Viking cruise and trying to book the May 2025 “trade routes of the Middle Ages” tomorrow. I’ve only booked one cruise and that was thru AAA. This is a 15 day cruise and they’re giving us a $200 OBC which seemed great. I’m now reading that a trip of that length is normally $500 pp. my appt is tomorrow and there are very few cabins left for PV1 so I want to get this booked asap. I’m confused about the talk of booking direct with Viking then moving to a TA (yay, at least I know what that means😉). If I book with AAA, do I move it to a Viking TA to get more OBC? I’m hoping someone will feel sorry for my ignorance on this subject and help. But seriously, I’m so excited about this trip I’m booking no matter what (but free wine never hurts, right?  Thank you so much in advance. 

[ericosmith]

I believe that's actually a 14 night cruise and nights are what the maximum onboard credits are based on.  For that cruise you could get up to $300pp from a travel agent but not from Viking directly.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

23 minutes ago, Mlb4chris said:

If I book with AAA, do I move it to a Viking TA to get more OBC?

No. The OBC is given by your TA not Viking. There is a maximum amount the TA can give but they are not required to give you anything.

Viking gives you an OBC when you book another cruise when aboard an existing cruise.

 

As far as booking fast, you can book it yourself online and transfer it to your TA afterwards. Your TA still has the ability to give you the OBC.

 

Edited May 23 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mlb4chris]

4 minutes ago, ericosmith said:

I believe that's actually a 14 night cruise and nights are what the maximum onboard credits are based on.  For that cruise you could get up to $300pp from a travel agent but not from Viking directly.  

It shows 15 days but as I told the hubs, if we’re spending 16k, I’m certainly not gonna quibble over a few hundred. 

[ericosmith]

2 minutes ago, Mlb4chris said:

It shows 15 days but as I told the hubs, if we’re spending 16k, I’m certainly not gonna quibble over a few hundred. 

It's 15 days but only 14 nights.  Maximum onboard credits are based on nights and not days.  Different cruise lines count days differently and it's confusing.  Other cruise lines would sell this same itinerary as 14 days.  

[tobique33040]

9 minutes ago, Mlb4chris said:

It shows 15 days but as I told the hubs, if we’re spending 16k, I’m certainly not gonna quibble over a few hundred. 

My agent has only ever given $150 maximum. As mentioned that is at the discretion of the agents organization. $500 OBC I’ve never encountered. 
 

[Mlb4chris]

31 minutes ago, ericosmith said:

It's 15 days but only 14 nights.  Maximum onboard credits are based on nights and not days.  Different cruise lines count days differently and it's confusing.  Other cruise lines would sell this same itinerary as 14 days.  

lol, fine print… thank you!  

[CCWineLover]

We are on the May 24 Trade Routes right now.  It is indeed classified as 14 nights.  15 days is a misnomer since on the 15th day you have to be out of your room at usually 8 am and off the ship at 9am (possibly can “stretch” it to 10 am) - so it really isn’t a real day.

 

max OBC allowed for this cruise by a TA is $300 pp.  Tip:  don’t prepay any gratuities even if offered the chance.  This way if things happen like weather and ports cancelled you might get SBC’s that you can then apply to gratuities and other things.

 

fyi you’ll love this cruise!  It’s been fantastic and we’ve been lucky with the weather!

[CDNPolar]

Note too that there is no obligation for a TA to give you anything in OBC.  Each TA can be different in what they offer.

 

Also you mention $500pp?  Many Viking ads say "up to" so much savings or OBC per person.  You don't always qualify for the maximum.

[Mlb4chris]

8 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

We are on the May 24 Trade Routes right now.  It is indeed classified as 14 nights.  15 days is a misnomer since on the 15th day you have to be out of your room at usually 8 am and off the ship at 9am (possibly can “stretch” it to 10 am) - so it really isn’t a real day.

 

max OBC allowed for this cruise by a TA is $300 pp.  Tip:  don’t prepay any gratuities even if offered the chance.  This way if things happen like weather and ports cancelled you might get SBC’s that you can then apply to gratuities and other things.

 

fyi you’ll love this cruise!  It’s been fantastic and we’ve been lucky with the weather!

Wait!!…. You’re on the cruise I’m taking, you’re a wine lover AND from Paso! That’s awesome. Ok then, how’s the on board wine? Did you get the SS package? I’m super excited to purchase interesting wines in all the ports. Can’t wait to hear about your trip. 

[May B]

The included wine is barely drinkable. The SS inclusions are … drinkable. I’m not a wine connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, but that’s my opinion. On a cruise line like Crystal, the included wines are very drinkable, for me. They’re available whenever a bar is open, not just at lunch on dinner. 

 

It’s important to know how many NIGHTS, so you’ll know when you’ll be getting home! 
 

I believe AAA is a travel agency, similar to any other.

[snookie1]

I believe AAA limits the amount of OBC their agents can give.  I ran into the same thing recently and asked my AAA agent why I wasn't getting the $500 I read Viking authorized.  She said that AAA told them they could only ever give $200, and that is what we have gotten for each of the 10 Viking cruises we have booked through her, regardless of the length of the cruise.🤔

[Mike07]

Dumb question in line with OP's question but splitting hairs here....

 

If you have a 17 night "cruise" (no pre or post extension) and say Viking puts you in a hotel for 5 of those nights.... so only 12 on board a ship... would you get that $500 OBC TA cap, or would it be lower b/c you're not actually doing 17 nights on a ship?

[OneSixtyToOne]

5 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

Dumb question in line with OP's question but splitting hairs here....

 

If you have a 17 night "cruise" (no pre or post extension) and say Viking puts you in a hotel for 5 of those nights.... so only 12 on board a ship... would you get that $500 OBC TA cap, or would it be lower b/c you're not actually doing 17 nights on a ship?

Extensions don’t count. It’s the number of nights on the ship.

[Mike07]

1 minute ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Extensions don’t count. It’s the number of nights on the ship.

 

 

I think we're on the same page, but I specifically said no pre or post extension since some of the itineraries pad days in a hotel before or after you head to the ship... Passage to Eastern Europe and its time in Budapest seems to come to mind, but I could be wrong.

Edited May 23 by Mike07

[OneSixtyToOne]

7 minutes ago, Mike07 said:

 

 

I think we're on the same page, but I specifically said no pre or post extension since some of the itineraries pad days in a hotel before you head to the ship... Passage to Eastern Europe and its time in Budapest seems to come to mind, but I could be wrong.

There are some cases with Viking River that include nights in a hotel (Paris and the Swiss Alps is one we were on, but we had no OBC).

 

I would think these nights are considered part of cruise but I doubt you’ll find a cruise where those hotel nights will put you in the next category of OBC amount.

Edited May 23 by OneSixtyToOne

[Mike07]

4 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

 

I would think these nights are considered part of cruise but I doubt you’ll find a cruise where those hotel nights will put you in the next category of OBC amount.

 

 

Agreed... I feel like Clay or somebody else mentioned that once.

[Azulann]

10 hours ago, Mlb4chris said:

I’m super excited to purchase interesting wines in all the ports.

So happy for you  in  booking your first Viking Ocean cruise. One of reasons I love Viking is you can buy wines  and bring them on board.I have done that at many ports  on my various Viking cruises.

My favorite is  Cava from Spain . I always buy bottles when in any Spanish port. Bring to the restaurant in afternoon and  they will have it chilled for you for your  dinner and keep it for the next meal if you don't drink it all. I also keep bottle in my cabin and have  cabin steward bring a bucket of ice every afternoon /evening.

I have  the purchased the SS beverage package for its convenience. It is only $25. pp per day on Viking.  Other's like Celebrity charge  $50 or more a day for  their drink packages.

You have a great itinerary for your  cruise first cruise .

Welcome to Viking Forum .  🥂

  

[DrKoob]

First, I want to address the whole idea of what a good TA can do for you. Our friends who booked directly had huge problems with Future Cruise Credits, rebooking, refunds and everything else during the pandemic. My friends (and I) who had booked through a local TA (not a booking agent or an online agency) have had no problems. We didn't have to sit on hold with the cruise line, the airline or any other providers—our TA took care of all of that.

 

This is my standard comment for people asking about getting OBC or a cheaper price. I have a question for you. When you go to a store and buy something, do you ask the person who helped you to put their hand in their own pocket and give you some money back?

 

For instance, when you buy a pair of shoes at a shoe store, a nice person who works on commission helps you find just the pair you want. He or she brings you several pairs of shoes. When you find the pair you want, you go to check out and pay for them. Then, you would turn to the salesperson who helped you and say, “Could you please give me $10 out of your pocket since I bought the shoes from you?” It is not the shoe store’s money, it is the sales associate’s money, who just spent the last half hour finding you shoes that you love.

 

Expecting refundable OBC from a TA is pretty much the same thing. TAs (not online booking agents) make commissions from the cruise line, not from you. And unlike that shoe salesperson, TAs aren’t paid hourly. They work on commission only. If you ask them to do a ton of work and then book with someone else, they don’t get paid for that time. You are charged the same price whether you book through them or not. When they give you OBC, it comes out of their own pocket. Why would you expect them to do that? They are doing a bunch of work for you for free, and yet you still think that a “good” TA will give you OBC out of their own pocket.

Now, if they give it to you without asking...that's awesome. But I just have a problem with new cruisers who have heard that their friends get x-amount of freebies. That's their first question (even before they book the cruise)...how much will you give me?

 

My TA gives us lots of great stuff, but I never ask for it. I come to her with just about everything finished (or maybe we booked on board), so she has little work to do other than a single phone call or computer booking. And believe me, there are lots of small moms and pops everywhere. We accompanied our TA on a ship visit last summer here in Seattle. She and about 100 other travel agents got to tour and have lunch on the NCL Bliss (quite a ship), and I would say that more than 80% of the agents were either booking from home, working with a franchise (which means they make at most 7.5%) or working for another small agency. None of those people get paid by the hour. They get paid when they sell a cruise, and every penny that they give back is one they don't get to feed their families, take their cruises or whatever they do with their money.

 

And I understand the sales job thing, having been in sales and marketing for more than 39 years before I retired. I can't count the number of presentations I have done where the client has gone another way. I have no problem with that (yes, I do, but I get it--they like something that someone else has better than what I have), but when they go into the sales process, has already decided that no matter what this person does for me, I am buying from the absolute cheapest I can find, that's wrong. If you want the cheapest, go to Costco. You will get the service you deserve (God help you if you have a problem) , but you will cruise cheaply.

 

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

[MikeyB]

1 hour ago, DrKoob said:

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine.

Also a "pet peeve" of mine.
So is a cliff notes summary of what you are saying is that if your TA just gives you the OBC (or equivalent) without asking is okay, but under no circumstances should you have to ask for it?

Sounds like the same thing.

[Microman123]

22 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

We are on the May 24 Trade Routes right now.  It is indeed classified as 14 nights.  15 days is a misnomer since on the 15th day you have to be out of your room at usually 8 am and off the ship at 9am (possibly can “stretch” it to 10 am) - so it really isn’t a real day.

 

max OBC allowed for this cruise by a TA is $300 pp.  Tip:  don’t prepay any gratuities even if offered the chance.  This way if things happen like weather and ports cancelled you might get SBC’s that you can then apply to gratuities and other things.

 

fyi you’ll love this cruise!  It’s been fantastic and we’ve been lucky with the weather!

I was just going to PM you with questions about Tarragona and Barcelona based on your post last year, but then I found you’re on the Trade Routes cruise and active online. My wife and I will be doing the Trade Routes AND Mediterranean Odyssey cruises back to back in September. So, we’ll have 3 days in Tarragona/Barcelona! Where did you board your TR cruise? I’m hoping they picked you up in Barcelona and then moved to Tarragona.  
Any special recommendations for us as we travel from Bergen to Barcelona to Venice? 
BTW, your “wait to pay gratuities” suggestion is appreciated.

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Microman123 said:

I was just going to PM you with questions about Tarragona and Barcelona based on your post last year, but then I found you’re on the Trade Routes cruise and active online. My wife and I will be doing the Trade Routes AND Mediterranean Odyssey cruises back to back in September. So, we’ll have 3 days in Tarragona/Barcelona! Where did you board your TR cruise? I’m hoping they picked you up in Barcelona and then moved to Tarragona.  
Any special recommendations for us as we travel from Bergen to Barcelona to Venice? 
BTW, your “wait to pay gratuities” suggestion is appreciated.

We were on the Mediterranean Odyssey last year from Venice to Barcelona. Here is my writeup.

 

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

There are some cases with Viking River that include nights in a hotel (Paris and the Swiss Alps is one we were on, but we had no OBC).

 

I would think these nights are considered part of cruise but I doubt you’ll find a cruise where those hotel nights will put you in the next category of OBC amount.

 

Our TA does NOT consider nights in a hotel even if it is part of the cruise package and not a pre or post extension.  OBC always comes to how many nights ON THE SHIP.  We argued this piece but it is very clear in their literature and offering that it is nights on the ship.

[CCWineLover]

On 5/23/2024 at 5:28 AM, Mlb4chris said:

Hi all, first Viking cruise and trying to book the May 2025 “trade routes of the Middle Ages” tomorrow. I’ve only booked one cruise and that was thru AAA. This is a 15 day cruise and they’re giving us a $200 OBC which seemed great. I’m now reading that a trip of that length is normally $500 pp. my appt is tomorrow and there are very few cabins left for PV1 so I want to get this booked asap. I’m confused about the talk of booking direct with Viking then moving to a TA (yay, at least I know what that means😉). If I book with AAA, do I move it to a Viking TA to get more OBC? I’m hoping someone will feel sorry for my ignorance on this subject and help. But seriously, I’m so excited about this trip I’m booking no matter what (but free wine never hurts, right?  Thank you so much in advance. 

Hi there - echoing others . . .

This is definitely a 14 night (15 day) cruise, as are many of Viking's Ocean cruises.

Maximum a TA can give for this trip is $300 pp.   TA's can offer less.

PV cabins are wonderful!  We decided to "upgrade" on this trip and do a PV and are so glad we did - so much more room.  But everyone has their own priorities and preferences.

 

We are obviously wine lovers, living in Paso Robles, and enjoy many great wines from that region.  We are not "wine snobs" in any way and enjoy many styles and types of wines.  And we enjoy trying new wines.   We have been very pleasantly surprised on this trip with the included wines.  In the past we've done Silver Spirits, but they have greatly diminished the availability of wines by the glass on this package compared to before. SSBP seems to be more used and beneficial for the many hard liquor cocktail drinkers, not the wine drinkers.

 

Unlike some, we've found on this cruise some very interesting wines and blends.  My wife loves the included sparkling wine and also one of the Chardonnay blends.  I prefer red, and while not totally in the league of Paso Robles IMHO, many are not bad at all.  We enjoyed the Chilean Cabernet and the French Syrah-Grenache blend the most, and some of the Portugal and Spanish wines are also quite good although I've never heard of them before.  I was not happy with the Viking stock in 2021-2023 post COVID but they seem to have elevated the included wines.  Not only that, if the "wine of the day" is not what you want, you ask the waiter or server for your favorite (perhaps from a day or two ago) and they will go find it for you.  (Which they never did before).  That is a game breaker for us!  When you like an included wine, take a picture of the bottle and then you can show it to the waiter in the future!

Happy tasting!

 

Pulled into Bergen this morning - typical weather - rain, mist, overcast - reminds me so much of Seattle!   Had a wonderful included walking tour in the morning.  Nice that Viking now has 2 includeds here - one for bus people and one for walkers.

Here we are pulling into Bergen a few hours ago, with the Neptune already in port.

[TayanaLorna]

32 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Hi there - echoing others . . .

This is definitely a 14 night (15 day) cruise, as are many of Viking's Ocean cruises.

Maximum a TA can give for this trip is $300 pp.   TA's can offer less.

PV cabins are wonderful!  We decided to "upgrade" on this trip and do a PV and are so glad we did - so much more room.  But everyone has their own priorities and preferences.

 

We are obviously wine lovers, living in Paso Robles, and enjoy many great wines from that region.  We are not "wine snobs" in any way and enjoy many styles and types of wines.  And we enjoy trying new wines.   We have been very pleasantly surprised on this trip with the included wines.  In the past we've done Silver Spirits, but they have greatly diminished the availability of wines by the glass on this package compared to before. SSBP seems to be more used and beneficial for the many hard liquor cocktail drinkers, not the wine drinkers.

 

Unlike some, we've found on this cruise some very interesting wines and blends.  My wife loves the included sparkling wine and also one of the Chardonnay blends.  I prefer red, and while not totally in the league of Paso Robles IMHO, many are not bad at all.  We enjoyed the Chilean Cabernet and the French Syrah-Grenache blend the most, and some of the Portugal and Spanish wines are also quite good although I've never heard of them before.  I was not happy with the Viking stock in 2021-2023 post COVID but they seem to have elevated the included wines.  Not only that, if the "wine of the day" is not what you want, you ask the waiter or server for your favorite (perhaps from a day or two ago) and they will go find it for you.  (Which they never did before).  That is a game breaker for us!  When you like an included wine, take a picture of the bottle and then you can show it to the waiter in the future!

Happy tasting!

 

Pulled into Bergen this morning - typical weather - rain, mist, overcast - reminds me so much of Seattle!   Had a wonderful included walking tour in the morning.  Nice that Viking now has 2 includeds here - one for bus people and one for walkers.

Here we are pulling into Bergen a few hours ago, with the Neptune already in port.

Kent, I thought the included wines for our Med/Adriatic cruise were better then those on the Chilean Fjords or Amazon cruise.  Wonder if they are region specific.