What's up with having different dates for when excursions can be booked

[OnTheJourney]

Richard and Jim...both points well taken. Rather than get drawn in here any deeper than I already am, I simply thank you for your comments. 

Edited January 8, 2019 by gretschwhtfalcon

[OnTheJourney]

I should add that I did not mean any offense to anyone when starting this thread. Probably time to leave it go at this point. At the risk of incurring any additional disagreements, I won't be adding anything further. Thanks again to all who responded. 

[Jim Avery]

23 minutes ago, gretschwhtfalcon said:

I should add that I did not mean any offense to anyone when starting this thread. Probably time to leave it go at this point. At the risk of incurring any additional disagreements, I won't be adding anything further. Thanks again to all who responded. 

No offense at all here. My point is to try and help folks relax and not stress about this perception of “must hurry “. It will be ok. 

[Wendy The Wanderer]

What I like to do, if we can make friends with someone who's taking the same cruise, is to share private tours. We've done this in Spain, France, Quebec, Brazil.  Obviously you have to be careful about embarkation times; ship's tours will always be safer that way.  But doing private is so great usually.  And in parts of Asia, South America and other third-world areas, private tours are very cost-effective and can be truly private!  We've done this in Thailand, Laos and Peru and had fabulous tours.

 

How big do the groups tend to be on the Viking tours?  Included versus extra cost?

Edited January 8, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[Jim Avery]

In our experience, the tours use full size coaches.  Some more comfortable than others but usually around 45  persons per bus.  In 4 months we never had one with a toilet so that means potty breaks every two hours or so.  That makes for slow going.  We are of the same mind as you and had some very well done private tours for the same (or even less in a few cases) money as the extra cost Viking Tours.  We stopped doing the included fairly early on as "Panoramic Tour" is code speak for a bus ride.  For some of the longer tours and the overlands we did they only filled the coaches to about 30 people.  That helps somewhat but a bus ride is a bus ride is a bus ride.....🍸

[Peregrina651]

On 1/7/2019 at 2:46 PM, zitsky said:

Can someone remind me where I can find the dates for when I can book excursions and dining?  This is my first time on Ocean.  I'm in a DV cabin.  (2x river cruiser).

 

I found the answer but it doesn't say when excursions are viewable (not bookable).

 

 

Shorex for your sailing will be posted to MVJ about 120 days prior to sailing; this date is not set in stone.

 

Somewhere on your invoice it should give you the date for when shorex and dining become available for booking.

 

If not, once the shorex are posted on MVJ, they will include a countdown until booking.

[zitsky]

7 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Shorex for your sailing will be posted to MVJ about 120 days prior to sailing; this date is not set in stone.

 

Somewhere on your invoice it should give you the date for when shorex and dining become available for booking.

 

If not, once the shorex are posted on MVJ, they will include a countdown until booking.

 

Are shorex and dining the same date?  DV is 67 days for excursions.

[cruzzzinma]

3 hours ago, zitsky said:

 

Are shorex and dining the same date?  DV is 67 days for excursions.

60 days for dining.

[Cyber Kat]

On 11/26/2018 at 7:26 PM, gretschwhtfalcon said:

Thanks again to all who replied.

 

Jim...encouraging words much appreciated and good advice on being flexible. I must admit to being one of those who likes all my excursions booked well before the trip. I'm not one of those who is a fan of standing around the shore excursion desk trying to figure out what I want to do. Better things to do once onboard! But, as you said, there is a need to be flexible.  

 

That’s another thing that’s so very civil about Viking. There is not one shore excursion desk with long lines of people. There is a nice area with 4 desks IIRC and a sitting area for those who are waiting. You sit at the desk and discuss your options in comfort. 

 

For our first VOC we booked a DV4 cabin, but we were upgraded to a PV1 in the last few days before. I had already booked our excursions and gotten all the ones we wanted. But we really liked that room and booked PV1 for our next 2. 

 

I really like the way Viking does it.  It worked out fine and it will be nice to have a perk for our next 2. I hate that whole loyalty level nonsense on other lines. People get so wrapped up in their status. Everything about the Viking onboard experience is so civil and downright serene.  

[zitsky]

Viking is still elitist b/c they allow booking dinner and excursions at different times based on cabin type.  Same as many other cruise lines.

[TayanaLorna]

On 11/26/2018 at 5:35 PM, gretschwhtfalcon said:

Just did a bit of research on all this.....using the Star as an example (I suppose the room breakdown on the Sky is similar or even the same maybe)...there are the following:

 

V - 42 rooms; DV - 266 (I'm DV2), PV - 116, PS - 32, ES - 14. 

 

So this means that approx. 300 rooms get to book roughly the same date (within 7 days difference for the V category), and then the other roughly 162 rooms get to book earlier.....77 days prior to departure for PV, 87 for PS, and 97 for ES.  All well and good...but IF I'm unable to get one of the excursions I want for this arctic trip...it'll probably be the first and last time I sail with Viking. As I mentioned earlier, I, along with everyone else, is already paying considerably more for this cruise than what some other lines charge, so somehow shift the perks for the higher cost rooms into some other amenities rather than penalize the lower classes by not being able to book excursions at the same starting date. It just feels a bit like the old "1st, 2nd, 3rd class" treatment from the days of White Star Line, etc. Could all wind up being a moot point. It's been my experience on cruises that many people wait till onboard to book anyway. It's just that this cruise is different than the run-of-the-mill Caribbean trip relative to offering some rather unique shore experiences. 

 

I have to really think this over. Unfortunately I already booked airfare or might have considered canceling this for now

 

Edited January 9, 2019 by TayanaLorna
Delete. Already said.

[zitsky]

It's insane to get up at 3am to book excursions. You shouldn't need to do that. 

[Dauntless]

14 minutes ago, zitsky said:

It's insane to get up at 3am to book excursions. You shouldn't need to do that. 

 

I've only done V cabin and I've never done that.  I do it when I wake up, usually around 6:00.  There was an excursion in Dubrovnick I wanted and it was booked.  I knew I could do it on my own if need be but Viking added an afternoon excursion and I was able to switch my included to the morning.  In Monaco there was a fee excursion I wanted that was sold out but someone had started a group (6) tour here and we were able to do that.

[Dauntless]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

Viking is still elitist b/c they allow booking dinner and excursions at different times based on cabin type.  Same as many other cruise lines.

 

That's not elitist.  It's called you get what you pay for.  Personally, I feel the increase in price of a DV over a V is not worth the extra money for the perks offered.   I'm happy to save the money there t be able to have it to spend on other aspects of the cruise.

[TayanaLorna]

35 minutes ago, zitsky said:

It's insane to get up at 3am to book excursions. You shouldn't need to do that. 

Yes, booking excursions is rather uncivilized.  We rose at 3 am because we wanted what we wanted and to be done with it.  I followed Roll Calls from previously cruises on the same itinerary and learned what sold out right away.  Perhaps not all itinerary Optionals are as popular.  Booking includeds for us is no big rush because we like later excursions unless we want to do an included and optional on same day and need to coordinate time.  Seems most people like AM excursions.

[Hockeyump]

When you are researching your holiday and which cruise to take the different booking times for each cabin type is very clear.  If you don't like it don't book.  If you book without doing the research don't then try and say Viking should do it differently.  Just my view!

[zitsky]

I don't remember having trouble getting excursions on river.  Maybe ocean is different.

 

I'm not going to apologize for having an opinion!

Edited January 9, 2019 by zitsky

[Dauntless]

5 hours ago, zitsky said:

I don't remember having trouble getting excursions on river.  Maybe ocean is different.

 

I'm not going to apologize for having an opinion!

 

I guess we just assumed you were talking about Ocean since that is the thread you are on.

[zitsky]

16 minutes ago, Dauntless said:

 

I guess we just assumed you were talking about Ocean since that is the thread you are on.

 

Um.  Yes, we are talking about Ocean.  Isn't that the forum we are in?  I suppose there are many of us who went from river to ocean.

 

Thanks.

[Parsley Cruises]

On ‎1‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 2:21 PM, Jim Avery said:

I prefer Viking's way compared to many other lines.  Cunard, for example, have certain areas of the ship reserved only for the upper accommodations.  On Viking the entire ship is open to all.  

Believe you me, that is a pain in the neck!  It feels that there is a constant 'invasion' of privacy when people from the lower grades push their way into the Grills.  I've seen people having tantrums at not being allowed into a Grills restaurant, and I've also seen people pushing their way onto the Grills deck (especially when there are nibbles and snacks being brought around) who have absolutely no right to be there.  As I said, it's a pain in the neck, and we simply don't do that any more.  

 

On Cunard, the ship/cabin cards give away several things - grade in the loyalty thing, drinks package, and whether or not the passenger is Grills or Britannia (and muster station).

 

Anyway, we much prefer VO.

Edited January 10, 2019 by Parsley Cruises
addition

[Pushka]

I’ve never seen any of this behaviour on Cunard although the sun decks is a little confusing. I much prefer Brittania restaurant anyway. 

[Pushka]

18 hours ago, zitsky said:

It's insane to get up at 3am to book excursions. You shouldn't need to do that. 

In Australia we are lucky. It’s 6pm for us!

[Jim Avery]

23 hours ago, zitsky said:

It's insane to get up at 3am to book excursions. You shouldn't need to do that. 

You don't need to do that....

[zitsky]

4 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

You don't need to do that....

 

Thanks.  We are guaranteed an included activity in each port.  Then we can always do private tours if we don't get what we want.

[Jim Avery]

5 hours ago, Parsley Cruises said:

Believe you me, that is a pain in the neck!  It feels that there is a constant 'invasion' of privacy when people from the lower grades push their way into the Grills.  I've seen people having tantrums at not being allowed into a Grills restaurant, and I've also seen people pushing their way onto the Grills deck (especially when there are nibbles and snacks being brought around) who have absolutely no right to be there.  As I said, it's a pain in the neck, and we simply don't do that any more.  

 

On Cunard, the ship/cabin cards give away several things - grade in the loyalty thing, drinks package, and whether or not the passenger is Grills or Britannia (and muster station).

 

Anyway, we much prefer VO.

I'm with you.  I am a lifetime Cunarder going back to the old Queen Mary (as a kid) and Cunard has portrayed itself as this formal, exclusive, blah, blah, blah.  They do a poor job on QM2 of enforcing anything.  Funny though is that the QE2, when launched, was very trendy and hip.  Not formal at all.  The tiny Princess Grill was the only "exclusive area" on the ship.  One could even get a drink at the hard to find Princess Grill Bar even if in Steerage.  There was no Queens Grill, that was originally the 736 Club, the very popular disco. For the most part, imho now, Carnival Corp has seriously screwed Cunard up.  And the obsession with selling the formal "ocean liner" experience to those who have no idea how to behave is laughable.  One of many reasons we much prefer Viking and have not sailed Cunard in quite a while.