Quality of Viking Homeland included free excursions

[KyOh]

We are on the July 25th Viking Homeland cruise out of Bergen. I am beginning to look at some excursions through outside vendors. I would appreciate knowing the quality of the included tours. Which ones are just riding around on a bus? We are NOT going into Berlin and we have already booked a tour for St. Petersburg but we'd really like some info on what was worth doing.

 

Thanks to all you pros out there! We appreciate the help.

[Fairfield Nana]

KyOh--great question. I have wondered the same thing as we are two couples in search of making the most of this expensive cruise. I have only been able to pick up bits and pieces of prior reviews of the Viking tours (free and optional$$) for this itinerary. We are on the ship just prior to you and disembark in Bergen on July 24. Tended to discount the earlier reviews a bit as the ship and this itinerary were still in "shake down" mode getting all the kinks ironed out.

 

So far we have booked the following for our main ports of interest, and have been able to join with one or two other couples or have them join us. Rest of ports have pretty good reviews of the ease of getting around and the local "HOHO" systems--also plan to avail ourselves of the various Viking freebies and/or make a reservation on one or two of their paid tours. All the tour companies we selected had lots of great reviews on both CruiseCritic and their sister website TripAdvisor.

 

Alla/ St. Petersburg

Tallinn/ Tallinn Traveller Tours

Warnemunde/ Friends of Dave Tours

Copenhagen/ Hamlet Tours

Flam/VisitFlam

[KyOh]

We, too, have booked with Alla for St. Petersburg. I'll keep hoping that someone who has already taken the trip will add to this discussion. Thanks for the info.

[Captain Hornblower]

Good idea to think about your own excursions. Be aware that the Viking/cruise ship "Russian Visa" only allows shore access with Viking, if doing separate excursions you will need to get a sponsored visa. Plus be aware that have I just experienced Viking making serious changes to my booked and confirmed excursions, without any advice. You may get more reliably NOT doing Viking excursions. I think Viking are struggling to make the transition from river cruise operator to ship operator, plus their My Viking Journey website is only really in Beta version as far as I can see given my experience with its it accuracy and reliability

KyOh--great question. I have wondered the same thing as we are two couples in search of making the most of this expensive cruise. I have only been able to pick up bits and pieces of prior reviews of the Viking tours (free and optional$$) for this itinerary. We are on the ship just prior to you and disembark in Bergen on July 24. Tended to discount the earlier reviews a bit as the ship and this itinerary were still in "shake down" mode getting all the kinks ironed out.

 

So far we have booked the following for our main ports of interest, and have been able to join with one or two other couples or have them join us. Rest of ports have pretty good reviews of the ease of getting around and the local "HOHO" systems--also plan to avail ourselves of the various Viking freebies and/or make a reservation on one or two of their paid tours. All the tour companies we selected had lots of great reviews on both CruiseCritic and their sister website TripAdvisor.

 

Alla/ St. Petersburg

Tallinn/ Tallinn Traveller Tours

Warnemunde/ Friends of Dave Tours

Copenhagen/ Hamlet Tours

Flam/VisitFlam

[Fairfield Nana]

Russian visas are being handled by Alla when we booked our 2 day shore tour with them. Only valid if we stay with them 100% of our shore time. They have successfully been doing this for hundreds of recent passengers, including ones from prior Viking Star cruises this year and last.

[Captain Hornblower]

Given that Viking are stuffing up their on shore excursions, esp in Russia, I suggest passengers avoid the Viking options and take their own independent choices as suggested above.

[TERRIER1]

We, too, have booked with Alla for St. Petersburg. I'll keep hoping that someone who has already taken the trip will add to this discussion. Thanks for the info.

 

We were on the ill fated Viking Homelands cruise last July where the ship died after leaving St Petersburg. We booked privately with Alla and had a great time. We were 8 in a minivan and took the "leisure version" which as very jammed packed. Our guide Marina was great as was our driver.

 

We experienced very few Viking tours since the ship died when it hit Tallinn. The tour for Finland was cursory as was the tour for Stockholm where we boarded. The tours for Estonia were added since we were stuck there for 4 days. You might want to consider private tours for those ports that you want an immersion.

 

We had arranged our own tours for Flam and Pulpit Rock. We never got there so I can't comment.

[screen-gem]

So far we have booked the following for our main ports of interest, and have been able to join with one or two other couples or have them join us.

<snip>

Warnemunde/ Friends of Dave Tours

 

I can heartily recommend Dave (of Friends of Dave). We had a great tour of Warnemunde and Wismar off an Oceania cruise a couple years ago. He was great - one of the best shorex adventures ever.

 

 

Be aware that the Viking/cruise ship "Russian Visa" only allows shore access with Viking, if doing separate excursions you will need to get a sponsored visa.

 

This is not accurate. If you take an excursion with any registered tour company in SPB (such as Red October, Alla, etc), the tour company will do the necessary paperwork to let you enter the country. The primary constraint is that you must be staying on a cruise ship at SPB for < 72 hours. However, if you want to walk off the ship and explore the city on your own (i.e. without a guide), a Russian Travel visa is required.

 

Details found here.

[Peregrina651]

Given that Viking are stuffing up their on shore excursions, esp in Russia, I suggest passengers avoid the Viking options and take their own independent choices as suggested above.

 

 

What do you mean when you say that Viking is "stuffing up" on their shore excursions? I don't recognize the colloquialism.

[Lucky Granny]

I also wonder what "stuffing up" means. lol

[Captain Hornblower]

Stuffing Up means making a mistake, getting it wrong, ruining the relationship with their customer, or in this case of VIKING Ocean Cruises, changing a booked cruise option without any notice to the passenger. The Viking booking system implies a high degree of booking integrity. The system sets out in considerable detail all the shore excursion options many months in advance of a cruise. It allows passengers to place an excursion on a Wish List, many months in advance. Viking would be able to see how many passengers are choosing what possibilities by analysing the Wish List data. Then Viking allows bookings in a staged process, with time priority by cabin price. When a booking is made (payment is required at time of booking) Viking issues an acknowledgement and an invoice/receipt for paid for options. Just as you would when buying any product on line, once the seller has taken your money and issued an invoice with a "product description" you would expect to receive the product as contracted for. Of course if the seller has a problem with supply, he would normally contact the buyer, and seek resolution, maybe suggest an alternative, or make a refund. In the case of Viking, they have just changed the product, and not bothered to contact the customer. The customer is left to discover the change for themselves by searching on the Viking website. Of course with most other Viking offerings now sold out, the passenger misses out, unless he choses private options. So Viking has stuffed up the passenger, stuffed up their brand because they, in my view, are having trouble transitioning from a river cruise business to a larger ocean cruise business.

[Captain Hornblower]

this is what I meant with Russian visas, it is my understanding that you either use the "restricted" Viking cruise ship visa, or get a sponsored one via a tour operator

[Peregrina651]

Stuffing Up means making a mistake, getting it wrong, ruining the relationship with their customer, or in this case of VIKING Ocean Cruises, changing a booked cruise option without any notice to the passenger. The Viking booking system implies a high degree of booking integrity. The system sets out in considerable detail all the shore excursion options many months in advance of a cruise. It allows passengers to place an excursion on a Wish List, many months in advance. Viking would be able to see how many passengers are choosing what possibilities by analysing the Wish List data. Then Viking allows bookings in a staged process, with time priority by cabin price. When a booking is made (payment is required at time of booking) Viking issues an acknowledgement and an invoice/receipt for paid for options. Just as you would when buying any product on line, once the seller has taken your money and issued an invoice with a "product description" you would expect to receive the product as contracted for. Of course if the seller has a problem with supply, he would normally contact the buyer, and seek resolution, maybe suggest an alternative, or make a refund. In the case of Viking, they have just changed the product, and not bothered to contact the customer. The customer is left to discover the change for themselves by searching on the Viking website. Of course with most other Viking offerings now sold out, the passenger misses out, unless he choses private options. So Viking has stuffed up the passenger, stuffed up their brand because they, in my view, are having trouble transitioning from a river cruise business to a larger ocean cruise business.

 

Well may be it is better that you are getting your anger out now before you sail so that you won't be making everyone else on your cruise miserable. You certainly have done your best here on Cruise Critic to express just how unhappy you are with things, going from thread to thread with the same angry message.

[id4elizabeth]

Captain Hornblower - I actually totally get where you're coming from. My suggestion is once you board, go IMMEDIATELY to the Excursion Desk part of the Exploder's Desk, along with your original documentation and demand they straighten it out and put you on your originally scheduled excursions. Be polite but firm. We found dealing with Viking pre-cruise was a colossal waste of time. Although the process was lenghty, we found the Excursion Desk part of the Exploder's Desk was at least willing to work with us.

[Viking Cruises]

Dear Captain Hornblower,

 

We are in receipt of your comments and apologize for any disappointment we may have caused you.

 

Your satisfaction is important to us and, to review your shore excursion schedule and to discuss your concerns as they relate to your booking, we would encourage you to contact us directly at TellUs@vikingcruises.com.

 

We appreciate the opportunity to respond and look forward to your email message.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

Good idea to think about your own excursions. Be aware that the Viking/cruise ship "Russian Visa" only allows shore access with Viking, if doing separate excursions you will need to get a sponsored visa. Plus be aware that have I just experienced Viking making serious changes to my booked and confirmed excursions, without any advice. You may get more reliably NOT doing Viking excursions. I think Viking are struggling to make the transition from river cruise operator to ship operator, plus their My Viking Journey website is only really in Beta version as far as I can see given my experience with its it accuracy and reliability

 

Stuffing Up means making a mistake, getting it wrong, ruining the relationship with their customer, or in this case of VIKING Ocean Cruises, changing a booked cruise option without any notice to the passenger. The Viking booking system implies a high degree of booking integrity. The system sets out in considerable detail all the shore excursion options many months in advance of a cruise. It allows passengers to place an excursion on a Wish List, many months in advance. Viking would be able to see how many passengers are choosing what possibilities by analysing the Wish List data. Then Viking allows bookings in a staged process, with time priority by cabin price. When a booking is made (payment is required at time of booking) Viking issues an acknowledgement and an invoice/receipt for paid for options. Just as you would when buying any product on line, once the seller has taken your money and issued an invoice with a "product description" you would expect to receive the product as contracted for. Of course if the seller has a problem with supply, he would normally contact the buyer, and seek resolution, maybe suggest an alternative, or make a refund. In the case of Viking, they have just changed the product, and not bothered to contact the customer. The customer is left to discover the change for themselves by searching on the Viking website. Of course with most other Viking offerings now sold out, the passenger misses out, unless he choses private options. So Viking has stuffed up the passenger, stuffed up their brand because they, in my view, are having trouble transitioning from a river cruise business to a larger ocean cruise business.