gr8-2travel

Thank you. Yes, by “better” I meant that we don’t mind paying more if we can get more out of the tour. I appreciate the info and think your idea of “catch-up” is fabulous but not sure DH would survive my anxiety if that ever needed to happen! LOL!

Thank you so much, @Heidi13! This, (like all your responses that I have come across,) is so very helpful and informative! We are scheduled for pre-cruise time in Athens and hopefully that time won’t be taken up waiting for flights at airports between Phoenix, AZ and Athens 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 Given that uncertainty though, I am hesitant to schedule any tours in Athens. I am going to wait to see if things get better with the airlines before scheduling anything formal, otherwise we will go with the flow once we actually land. I will definitely look into your suggestions for the other tours once on board, since your suggestions are extremely helpful to us in deciding what to do in each port. Thank you again!

Souda Bay (auto-correct!!!!)

Athens, Ephesus, Sousa Bay, Messina and Naples. I have been looking at the Ports of Call board and have some ideas already but no one really seems to discuss/compare the costs. Since we have limited shore-ex experience (and no experience with Viking) I figured the experts here would have comments and recommendations. Thanks!

Doing research before the shore excursion sign-up date opens for our late-November Athen-Rome (first Viking) cruise. My question: how do the costs of the NON-INCLUDED shore tours offered by Viking compare to those that may be available through local tour companies? Are local shore excursion companies found to be reliable to get us back to port on time for embarkation? This aspect, more than the cost of the actual excursion tends to make me insecure about going with a non-Viking tour, but at the same time, if there are better shore excursions offered we don’t want to miss out! Any advice and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Sorry…just saw you resolved your issue.

I just went directly to my airline account and changed our seats through their page rather than go through the cumbersome MVJ page that wasn’t at all user friendly. If you don’t have an account with the specific airline maybe you can create one and go that route to make your changes?

This summer has been the “perfect storm” for airlines and airports so I wouldn’t blame Viking. I’m sure they are as frustrated as their passengers, and their agents must be going crazy having to make all the necessary adjustments; hopefully they have enough staff to handle the influx of changes. In mid-June we made an impulse decision, booked a late November cruise and chose to use Viking Air. We had our “booked” flight information within ten days or so of our final payment (made in late June) and all the flights are already showing up on my airline account. That said, I don’t expect that, with all the airline craziness, our current flights will hold up to the exact minute as originally provided on the itinerary, but….one can hope.

Great to know…Thank you!

We are also cruising from Athens in late November but arriving a couple of days early for a pre-cruise extension. It seems that since we are arriving by plane and staying for a couple of days prior to embarkation we will need the pre-flight testing to enter Greece…but, as already noted, who knows how many changes will take place between now and then. SLEEP7 thank you for FANTABULOUS daily “blog!” It makes our upcoming cruise seem more real, but also makes me more impatient for the day to arrive😳

I agree! After my surgery wearing the sling was also a reminder that I was not yet ready to pick up heavy items or make sudden moves that one naturally makes without thinking!

Had same surgery and my therapists use a golf club for that exercise. Not sure if there are any on a Viking cruises but worth asking?

I have been obsessed with reading the suggested “Viking first timers” forum and am impressed with how much information has been shared. I am pretty confident I understand the availability of the soft drinks, beer/wine and liquor made available and replenished depending on the cabin level as well as the Spirits package. I haven’t been through all the forum pages but have not yet encountered a discussion related to my concern… We are not big soda/pop drinkers; what I have not seen, specifically, are mentions of other drinks such as iced teas and juices being available throughout the day. We did not consider getting the spirits package because 1) we only have 1 day at sea; and 2) DH doesn’t drink but for the occasional glass of beer or wine with dinner. That said, we are big iced tea and orange or cranberry juice drinkers…are these available and would we have to pay for them individually as “bar items?” TIA for your answers/comments

Right? Did you book awhile ago? We just booked about 2 weeks ago and it showed Marriott Athens on our payment receipt, but the Hilton was still showing up on our pre-cruise itinerary. Not excited about the Marriott since it seems so far from any places we want to see.😳

We are booked into the Athens Marriott.

Funny you should mention this! I just discovered a few minutes ago that the Hilton is permanently closed. I had not noticed that on our “statement/itinerary description” they do have us booked into the Marriott Athens, even though our MVJ Extension shows the Hilton….Phew….was starting to get a little concerned!

Lots of great information! We are members of the HH program, and we’re happy that we were booked at the Athens Hilton. We only did the 2-day Athens pre-cruise, opting instead for the extra time in Italy post-cruise, so it looks like we are pretty much on our own for the first 2 days. I am going to look at options through Expedia to see what might work for us, and as we get closer to our travel time we will decided if we want to go the “local tour company” route for at least 1 of the 2 days in Athens, or just find a “hop-on hop- off” type system that we have used in other large cities. We always make it a point to ask locals for their favorite eating spots, so we will definitely do that as well. Looks like our time in Florence/Tuscany is guide oriented, so we won’t have to plan anything extra for ourselves. As to going to Rome for a few extra days…that will have to be for another trip as we are limited on how much time we can be away. Truly appreciate all your recommendations…

We had been wondering about the opportunity to do more than one excursion each day and if there was flexibility to do that, although some excursions seem to take all day?

We just scheduled our first a Viking cruise for late November, sailing from Athens to Rome, on the new “Neptune.” We also added the pre-Athens and the post-cruise “Tuscany” extensions. We made a rather “impulsive” decision to take the trip this year, so I am having to learn as much as I can about the cruise line, what shore tours will be offered, etc. So many on this forum have shared great information on various topics, so I hope you can help me as well. Specifically, 1) how much will we be “on our own” during the pre- and post- cruise extensions? Does Viking provide guides at these locations, or should we look to reserve our own tours in Athens, Rome/Florence? 2) being late Fall/early Winter…any insight on what we can expect with weather and sailing conditions? 3) how quickly do shore excursions fill-up? 4) any recommendations on “must see” shore excursions? Any other advice/recommendations is greatly appreciated.