geffric

the one we still talk about is Passage to India - it was the wonders of the world tour starting in Athens and ending at the Taj Mahal

Also loved Homelands with St Petersburg was an option, last one was British Isles..

we just did the BIE starting in Tilbury and stayed in London for 5 days before our cruise. we stayed near Victoria Station and it was very convenient. Booked a car through Twelve Transfers from the hotel to Tilbury and the Viking Venus. It was not too expensive although I can't find what I paid.. https://www.twelvetransfers.com/bookings/

we did it on our own as did many from  the ship..

we didn't have a blue nose ceremony on the welcome back cruise in August 2021.

On 4/17/2023 at 5:10 PM, KathyA said:

Does anyone know if Viking will allow you to come back to the airport to pick up your transfer if you fly in the day before?  I don't expect them to pick me up at a hotel, but I would like to fly in a day or two early before our BIE tour.  We are on the pretour that starts in Oxford, and I'd rather take the free transfer that is included with the pretour instead of paying my own way to Oxford.  But we would like to come in a day or two early in case of any delay problems.

we are on a BIE in April and will fly in early and ask and asked and called and asked again but the answer was no we could not buy the viking transfer..

we did this after our Passage to India cruise...very well worth it!

Highly recommend it. Hotels, restaurants were fabulous..

any specific questions? 

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Superior, more cost effective small group tours from private tour operators/guides are readily available in most ports. Even if you don't wish to spend time on research, you can use 3rd party resellers such as Viator, Tours by Locals,  Shore Excursion Group, etc.

I often book a 3rd party and found that more sites were included, fewer  people, etc..  and always back on time..so i'm not sure of your hesitation..

55 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

There is a Sheraton across the street from the port.  It is convenient to the docks and walking in Old San Juan.  

we've stayed at the Sheraton..clean and has elevators.  

some of the older hotels are beautiful and very nice to stay in but lugging suitcases up 4 flights of stairs is not wonderful..

On 2/4/2023 at 5:50 PM, jkreitz said:

Question for the group - What are the advantages of using an oyster card vs. simply using a credit card with "tap and pay"?

I too an wondering this..as far as  I can tell I won 't need to buy an oyster card as long as I have a no foreign transaction fee tap card or I can use Apple pay

...

3002, 3004, 3006 are very noisy due to theater;;

I'm following ..as we are on the same cruise on April 29th..

2 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Another question about Air.  All cruise air programs claim to have a "24 hour emergency phone" to take care of the issues that often crop up.  I've heard horror stories over in some of the other forums about how nobody was available when most needed.  Can anybody share (good or bad) experiences with the Viking "emergency" plan?

i had an interesting experience with Viking Air emergency number..the person was not very knowledgeable and I had to talk to Delta and then back to Viking and needed to set up a conference call with both to resolve my emergency. Luckily I was in the US and not calling from overseas.

Copied from the April 29 2023 British Isles thread..

It is indeed easy to get to Tilbury by train, and cheap too.  But if you decide to go by train, get off at Grays (the station before Tilbury).  If you look at the map you'll see it looks about a mile further away, but four good reasons to get off at Grays

(1) there will be taxis waiting at Grays station (unlike Tilbury)

(2) because of the road layout at Tilbury, any taxi would have to backtrack about half the distance towards Grays to get over the railway tracks

(3) more trains call at Grays than Tilbury

(4) you can use oyster/contactless card/phone to cover the fare so you don't have to bother about buying a traditional paper ticket - which you do need if you go one stop further to Tilbury

sent email..hope it helps

On 11/6/2022 at 4:42 PM, Pushka said:

Thanks. That's who we are booking with on Mars for Passage to India next May. Any other tips about this cruise? We are going Mumbai to Athens. Looks fabulous. 

best cruise we have ever taken...pm me directly and i'll give you some helpful hints

we used a wonderful tour from Shalom Isreal for our longer stay. 

On Passage to India on the Viking Orion, we went with Guided Tour Isreal.

Thanks for sharing.. I am on this cruise next August/September on the Jewel OTS..now I am getting very excited..

12 minutes ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Tons of people.

 

We live an hour from PC and just sail whatever ships are there b/c it's an hour drive. Been to several ports enough times that we don't even get off. We're happy to just be cruising and going to Cococay.

 

Along those lines, we did a B2B with nothing but Nassau (which we don't care for at all) and Cococay in July so we could go to Cococay twice and otherwise just enjoy the ship. We're doing another 4-nighter on the same ship/itinerary in 11 days b/c it was super cheap.

 

Everyone has their preferences. Different strokes...

what was said...i just booked one because it is a birthday and I wanted 150 Central Park food for my special dinner..

following as I am doing the same thing in April 2023.

I am booked on a British Explorer cruise from London in April 2023.

I just did a deviation to arrive in London early as the pre excursion was sold out and they did my air plus flights at the same time. That is always subject to airlines changing flights..

I used Columbia hiking boots in Iceland last year. Also remember water proof pants and jacket and a hat..

Yes..I always read about where I am visiting as it makes it more interesting to me..

although I looked at your book  stack first to say "yes I read that and then too look for some other books to read.."

I was wondering that too as I am on the April 2023 tour as well.

Thanks so much..this was very helpful.