Mediterranean Odyssey in 2027 - Background Information

[tim5055]

New to Viking and this group. We are regular Sandals Resorts visitors so I'm more familiar with how they do things, but I need to learn.

 

We were married on an RCCL ship many many years ago and have done a few other cruises in the intervening years.  As you can see, I joined here a dozen or so years ago for different cruises

 

So, we are looking at the Mediterranean Odyssey in 2027 (2025 and 2026 are already filled in our travel schedule with other trips) with a friend or two/three (one will be a single) so I have a few questions -

 

When does Viking release the new dates? I know Sandals releases a new year in the July/September time frame.  When might Viking release 2027?

 

Does Viking raise prices as the cabins sell? Does booking early save you money?

 

We are looking at an ES suite, but the person we will be traveling with will be a single in a basic V. Reading through posts it appears when it comes time for us to book specialty dining we can add them as a +1 to the reservation in our ES cabin, but is there anything similar with tours?

 

Am I correct I need to make a $500 deposit at booking? Is that per cabin or per person? For the single is that $500 or $1,000? As we are new to Viking it appears final payment for us is 12 months, correct?

 

I keep seeing alcohol in the room is replenished daily. We plan on the Silver Spirits beverage package (remember, we are Sandals regulars where the alcohol isn't a big deal), but can we get regular bottles of wine in the room or is everything minatures? I guess I'm just confused on how booze works on Viking Ocean.

 

I'm sure I will have a bunch more questions as I move forward. I tried this in another Viking group but dropped out after a bunch of search the group (Facebook search is the pits) and call Viking posts. I'm here to learn.....

Edited July 21 by tim5055

[LindaS272]

Many may respond, but here’s a thread that may help: Hint—start in about 2022 for current info

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, tim5055 said:

When does Viking release the new dates? I know Sandals releases a new year in the July/September time frame.  When might Viking release 2027?

This is my guesstimate. The rest of 2026 will be released later this year, probably November. The first part 2027 will probably be Jan or Feb of 2025, and the rest of 2027 later that year.

Discounts

For the US market, discounts are highly dependent on a number of factors. Viking doesn’t “raise” their prices as the cruise fills up. Viking has a base price for their cabins and they discount throughout the year using a number of marketing techniques.
 

For example they may offer free air with a modest discount on cabin price. If you book your own air, this is less attractive, so during the course of the year they may offer a different promotion that attracts a different clientele. They may offer level pricing within a stateroom class (all DV for the same price) and throw in the drinks package. 
 

As far a booking well in advance, the prices on the website will reflect an Early Booking Discount. That amount can vary widely based on itinerary. 
 

Silver Spirits Beverage Package

It’s simply a different way to pay. It offers nothing exclusive. Anything on the wine list is available to anyone for a price. IMO unless your cabin drinks more than $50 a day in non-included beverages, it’s less expensive to buy individual drinks. Cocktails are reasonably priced in the $8-$9 range. 
 

In room bottles are mini bottles.

You can BYOB at anytime on your cruise and consume it anywhere on board. Never a corking or other charge. 
 

Deposit 

Viking has been running a $25 per person deposit promotion for some time now. Not sure where your $500 amount is coming from.

Edited July 21 by OneSixtyToOne

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 hours ago, tim5055 said:

We are looking at an ES suite, but the person we will be traveling with will be a single in a basic V. Reading through posts it appears when it comes time for us to book specialty dining we can add them as a +1 to the reservation in our ES cabin, but is there anything similar with tours?

The rule is you can combine parties to an advanced dinner reservation when the lowest category in the group opens for booking, since a V doesn’t get advanced reservations you won’t be able to book a combined reservation in advance. This isn’t really an issue because you can book the advanced reservation yourself and change it once onboard. I’m sure they will be able to add an additional person.

 

There is no way to get advanced booking of excursions combined. Once onboard, if you both have the same excursion, you can ask to be placed in the same group so you travel together. Many excursions have different time slots so it’s important to make sure you both book the same time slot. Popular optional excursions sometimes book up completely so don’t be surprised if an optional excursion is not available when the V time slot opens. Included excursions will almost always be available. They will add more if needed.

Edited July 21 by OneSixtyToOne

[May B]

And don’t be surprised when your final booking date is MORE than 12 months prior to your sailing date. 😳

 

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Just now, May B said:

And don’t be surprised when your final booking date is MORE than 12 months prior to your sailing date. 😳

 

 

Yes. If they book in late 2025, it will probably be 16-18 months, not 12.

[carolinetodd]

The hard liquor comes in mini airline-size bottles, but the wine is in regular bottles and the beer in 12 ounce cans.

[Peregrina651]

Viking has suffered a steep rise in pricing since the end of the pandemic.  So, yes, it pays to book early. I had one two-week cruise whose brochure price went up over a $1000 for a DV after I booked it and may have gone up even more since I last checked it. Another that I booked in December for 2 years hence has gone up $500 on the brochure price and is not currently offering a booking discount.  In others words, that, too, is currently going for $1000 more than I paid. Those price jumps are well more than $1k pp when you start looking at ES.

 

The final payment date can be 16-18 months prior to sailing but note that cancellation penalties don't kick in until 120 days prior to commencement of the trip.   You can try asking for a later pay in full date but don't expect anything less than a year on a first booking.

 

When you book the single, price check DV6 vs V. Sometimes they skip the booking discount on the V cabins.

[Tom.in.nc]

Always check here for latest deals: 

 

[May B]

I booked a Dec. 1st cruise last June when onboard, so 17 months in advance. It was already quite heavily booked, and then soon sold out. Availability started showing up again but in very small amounts. Now my DV2 is a whopping $2500 more per person than what I paid (and air is $1299, vs. my $1099). 

 

 

[tim5055]

11 hours ago, May B said:

And don’t be surprised when your final booking date is MORE than 12 months prior to your sailing date. 😳

 

 

 

11 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Yes. If they book in late 2025, it will probably be 16-18 months, not 12.

 Do you mean final "payment" may be 16 - 18 months?

[formernuke]

Yes

[tim5055]

10 hours ago, carolinetodd said:

The hard liquor comes in mini airline-size bottles, but the wine is in regular bottles and the beer in 12 ounce cans.

Do they have multiple bottles in the room?  Sometimes we drink Pino Grigio, sometimes Cabernet.

[carolinetodd]

Our steward kept us well-supplied, bringing a fresh bottle every day, even though we hadn't finished the first, so we had a good assortment after a while.  I don't know if the beverage package allows them to bring you the fancier wines - we just had the included ones.

[lackcreativity]

17 minutes ago, tim5055 said:

 

 Do you mean final "payment" may be 16 - 18 months?

Yes, and there is not much flexibility on that, unless you have another cruise already booked, when you can request a six month final payment. (That request must be made at the original booking, not later.) 

 

This has been a long standing practice of Viking's, and a source of much complaining. However, it does not prevent many fully booked sailings and most of us who sail Viking regularly accept the reality. There are multiple threads here of discussion on this particular topic.

 

Note: Viking does offer a 3.3% discount for paying by ACH, so that can offset the sting of early payment a bit. In addition, the fact that so many of us are willing to do this may be a strong indication of our satisfaction with the Viking experience! 

Edited July 21 by lackcreativity

[May B]

13 minutes ago, tim5055 said:

 

 Do you mean final "payment" may be 16 - 18 months?

I didn’t proof my post very well, did I? Thx for clarifying.

[tim5055]

13 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Deposit 

Viking has been running a $25 per person deposit promotion for some time now. Not sure where your $500 amount is coming from.

I got it directly from Viking's Terms and Conditions

 

 

 

 

[May B]

2 minutes ago, tim5055 said:

I got it directly from Viking's Terms and Conditions

 

 

 

 

The $25 pp deposit has been in effect since it was a special promo for Viking’s 25th anniversary. That was over a year ago, so evidently they’re happy to keep it in place!

[tim5055]

13 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

This is my guesstimate. The rest of 2026 will be released later this year, probably November. The first part 2027 will probably be Jan or Feb of 2025, and the rest of 2027 later that year.

 

I understand this is all just "guestamites" based on past history and do appreciate the answers.

 

So, right now it appears cruises are released through September 2026

 

Following  your best guess -

 

Oct - December 2026 released November 2024

 

Jan - mid 2027 released Jan/Feb 2025

 

So we "may" have bookings available for July/August 2027 by Jan/Feb 2025

 

Thanks

[tim5055]

4 minutes ago, May B said:

The $25 pp deposit has been in effect since it was a special promo for Viking’s 25th anniversary. That was over a year ago, so evidently they’re happy to keep it in place!

That's nice, but with a $25 deposit and maybe requiring full payment a few months later is kind of funky

 

I have a lot to learn

[Peregrina651]

43 minutes ago, tim5055 said:

That's nice, but with a $25 deposit and maybe requiring full payment a few months later is kind of funky

 

Viking's payment plan has a lot of history behind. As a River cruise company, the plan was simple, announce one season at a time + collect the money up front (within a month of making deposit). When the Ocean division started up, they were now announcing the schedule up to 2 years in advance and they kept a version of the "pay sooner" schedule. Viking did experiment a bit with the PIF timing but in 2018 settled on the 12-18 months in advance unless you book on board or have a future cruise on the books already, in which cases you may ask for 6 months for final payment. (Note: Voyages over 35 days have different terms and conditions).

 

1 hour ago, tim5055 said:

I have a lot to learn

 

Stick with us, keep reading here, keep asking questions and you will understand it all before you even start the booking process.

 

[May B]

2 hours ago, tim5055 said:

That's nice, but with a $25 deposit and maybe requiring full payment a few months later is kind of funky

 

I have a lot to learn

Funky barely covers it. Just be aware that what most cruise lines do as SOP, Viking may not. You’re on the right track, doing research and asking questions.

 

And by noting how many Vikings many of us have done, and are booked on, you’ll see that we tolerate it all! Until the unlikely event that causes us to turn our backs. I’ve taken two and have three booked. I’ve taken a total of 58 cruises, with 22 on Celebrity and 11 on Crystal. 

Edited July 21 by May B

[May B]

Tim, you might want to be glancing at this thread, after your cruise dates are available, as well as after you book. A few cruisers have reported saving big bucks.

 

 

[tim5055]

3 hours ago, May B said:

Tim, you might want to be glancing at this thread, after your cruise dates are available, as well as after you book. A few cruisers have reported saving big bucks.

 

 

Thanks!!  I'll take any help!

[tim5055]

I'll just come full circle on this -

 

First, thanks for all the replies. 

 

As I'm a touch/feel kind of guy I decided to do a Viking cruise to get a feel for it before I fly to Europe.

 

We spend the winters outside Ft. Myers and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale airports are a two hour drive.

 

I just had our agent book the “Classic Panama Canal Passage” for next year.  We can drive to a friends house in Ft. Lauderdale, stay the night with them.  Fly out the next day from FLL direct to PTY.  This would be the day before the cruise.  If there is a flight problem, the day of the cruise there are four flights from Miami that get us to the ship well before it sails.

 

So, back to my reading of old threads.....

Edited July 29 by tim5055