Difficulty Level of Shore Excursions

[DrBanjo]

In looking at our included shore excursions on "My Viking Journey" I noticed that most of the included shore excursions for our upcoming Empires of the Mediterranean Ocean Cruise are listed with a difficulty-level of "Demanding". This includes Athens, Santorini, Kotor, Dubrovnik, and Zadar. And the included shore excursions for Katakolon,and Koper are listed as "Moderate". All of them are coach tours, scenic drives, or walking tours, which I would not expect to be particularly strenuous. Does anybody have an explanation about what Viking Ocean Cruises is trying to communicate? Are they trying to discourage passengers from participating in these included tours?

DrBanjo

[Vineyard View]

This is more to assist physically challenged passengers so they can make good decisions for themselves. We were on a walking excursion last year on our Viking trip in Lisbon - there were a lot of hills involved, and it proved to be too challenging for some in the group. Their feedback to Viking was to improve on their explanations of the levels of difficulty. So my guess it that Viking is trying to assist people when they are making choices on excursions.

[CharTrav]

Viking mentioned this when we were on the Viking Homelands cruise which ended last week. The concern is not just hills but also cobblestone roads that may not be easy to navigate even if the road is flat.

 

 

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[Vineyard View]

Very good point CharTrav!!

There was evening excursion where some people wore the wrong shoes (regardless of time of day in my opinion) - there were a lot of cobblestones. They complained to Viking for not informing them - calling it dangerous.

Again, this was the Maiden voyage of the Star - so Viking has had to make sure that they forewarn people.

[rjscott]

Another thing to look at on those "demanding" tours is the length of time. Many may be 8 or 10 hours, which for some may be more than they wish to take on, especially with only one sea day with which to plan nothing.;)

 

 

Becki