Included complimentary tours

[Sinbad Sailor]

Does anyone know whether Viking Star allow the booking of more than one free tour in each port?

 

Alan

[utexplore]

There is only one free tour in each port

[Penguin77]

You have to book the free tour? If you don't, you don't get to go on it?

[utexplore]

Both your statements are true

[Penguin77]

Thanks so much! We just booked the tours and restaurant reservations which I didn't realize we had either.

[rjscott]

And, if you do want to book more than one tour in port, say the included tour and a later ioptional tour, you must allow suffucient time between the tours in order to book.

 

Becki

[id4elizabeth]

And if you have an included tour in the morning, and it's late due to a traffic jam say, they will not hold the optional afternoon tour for you, which is only fair to the rest of the folks who paid for the optional when you think about it. We did two half day optional tours back to back which was scheduled to have 45 min in between. It ended up with only 15 minutes between but we did make it.

[roothy123]

Since Viking usually offers one of their included tours in the afternoon, what I found worked well in Athens was to take a paid tour (Cape Sounion) in the morning and the included tour in the afternoon. I wanted to see Cape Sounion (Temple of Poseidon) more than I wanted to see Athens, as I had been to Athens once before. I figured if something went wrong on the way back from the Cape (and it IS an hour away) and I missed the Athens tour, it was no huge deal. The afternoon tour was nice because only about a third of the bus was full, and I would imagine the morning tours attracted more people. We did several afternoon included tours and they seemed to be much less popular than the morning ones.

 

We got back on time from Cape Sounion, and I had a little over an hour for lunch before I had to head out for the included tour. It made for a full day, but worked well.

[dln929]

Since Viking usually offers one of their included tours in the afternoon, what I found worked well in Athens was to take a paid tour (Cape Sounion) in the morning and the included tour in the afternoon. I wanted to see Cape Sounion (Temple of Poseidon) more than I wanted to see Athens, as I had been to Athens once before. I figured if something went wrong on the way back from the Cape (and it IS an hour away) and I missed the Athens tour, it was no huge deal. The afternoon tour was nice because only about a third of the bus was full, and I would imagine the morning tours attracted more people. We did several afternoon included tours and they seemed to be much less popular than the morning ones.

 

We got back on time from Cape Sounion, and I had a little over an hour for lunch before I had to head out for the included tour. It made for a full day, but worked well.

 

I think you are right about that! We were once on an Azamara catamaran/snorkeling excursion and we chose the afternoon time slot and were pleasantly surprised at how few fellow guests were with us in comparison to the morning. Which is good for us since we are definitely not morning people. We're on the Star in January from Barcelona and I was so happy they had so many complimentary tours offered after lunch. We booked those and I'm looking forward to leisurely mornings. I bet we'll pretty much have the ship to ourselves if we elect to stay on board some days. Nice!

[Space Lady]

Has anyone been on the free Corsica tour? Am curious as to your review. Thanks.

[roothy123]

I think I remember someone commenting on that tour on the maiden voyage. Of course, it was just one person's opinion, but the person thought it was a lot of riding on a bus and not much doing. The person would have preferred a walking tour in the city where you dock, although I think you can do that pretty easily on your own. From what I've read, Corsica is a beautiful place, but I suppose if you are interested in more than just looking at scenery, you may be disappointed. To me, taking a free bus tour out into the country and then going to the town to walk around sounded great, but of course, that's (again) just one person's opinion. Perhaps people in Cruise Critic's Ports of Call section can offer some opinions on what to see and do in Corsica.

[id4elizabeth]

Hi Roothy - the Maiden Cruise didn't go to Corsica. I think you're thinking about my review of Corfu in Greece. Different island. Totally. A review of Corsica' included tour will require someone who's travelled most recently.