Excursion Reviews?

[GCBK10905]

Hi - we are new to Viking and will be going on a 12-day Mediterranean Odyssey from Barcelona to Venice in July (Viking Sea).  Is there a section on this site that provides reviews for all of the "included" excursions at each port so that we can determine if we go with a free one or upgrade to a different one?   We are going to:

 

• Barcelona
• Marseille
• Monte Carlo
• Florence/Pisa
• Rome 
• Naples
• Cofru, Greece
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• SIbenik, Croatia
• Venice

Thanks for any advice you have.  I've been reading a ton of these message boards and they have been so helpful.  Just trying to see if I'm missing a section that digs into the Viking excursions specifically so I can better determine what to signup for.  Thank you!

[The-Inside-Cabin]

46 minutes ago, GCBK10905 said:

Hi - we are new to Viking and will be going on a 12-day Mediterranean Odyssey from Barcelona to Venice in July (Viking Sea).  Is there a section on this site that provides reviews for all of the "included" excursions at each port so that we can determine if we go with a free one or upgrade to a different one?   We are going to:

 

• Barcelona
• Marseille
• Monte Carlo
• Florence/Pisa
• Rome 
• Naples
• Cofru, Greece
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• SIbenik, Croatia
• Venice

Thanks for any advice you have.  I've been reading a ton of these message boards and they have been so helpful.  Just trying to see if I'm missing a section that digs into the Viking excursions specifically so I can better determine what to signup for.  Thank you!

There isn't any section here dedicated to m reviews of Viking Included Tours.   

 

They are typical the least expensive tours offered in the port.   I often google the tour name or an excerpt from the description and you can often find reviews on TripAdvisor or similar sites. 

 

Carefully read the description - that's exactly what you will get....

[Azulann]

Look through the Viking  cruise reviews at the top of the forum . There is a link. Many times they include their experiences of the port excursions.

 

[Peregrina651]

Two things, maybe three:

• it is very hard to judge tours postCovid based on preCovid reviews.  The excursion industry was hard hit and training new guides takes time.  
• Look for threads in this forum that are either live threads covering the ports you are interested or threads that are trying to pool information about various regions.
• The search function on CC is not good.  Your best bet is to scan the list of all threads in the Viking Oceans forum. Yes, it is time consuming but not as frustrating as the search function.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Peregrina651

[Peregrina651]

We have done Barcelona thru Naples.  The only included tour that we have done is the one into Rome. 

 

The port is an hour and a half bus ride into Rome, more or less. I slept coming and going because I was jetlagged. It is the reason we chose to do the include:  the price was right for a long nap.  There are two stops where you get off the bus (and maybe there was a bathroom stop before we got into Rome). The rest of the tour is a drive by of the highlights. The first stop was the Circus Maximus and the second was Vatican City where we had about an hour and a half on our own.  Don't expect to see much of the Vatican; most of your time will be spent waiting in line.   We have been to Rome before, so we went for a quiet stroll along the Tiber River, away from the Christmas holiday crowds. 

 

For us, it was a good choice.  We have been to Rome before and just wanted something undemanding that would get us off the ship.

 

We skipped the included tours in the other ports because there other places that we wanted see instead.  

[TayanaLorna]

I can only speak to Barcelona.  We did a TA beginning there with the Viking pre extension.  We had a 3 hour included excursion before boarding the ship.  It was excellent.  We boarded the ship and it departed that evening so there was no "included" excursion on that particular itinerary but if your ship is in port overnight there will be.  The excursion took us up to Montjuic overlooking the harbor and city, to ths Olympic Forum, by the Columbus Monument, past Las Ramblas, through Barceloneta, to Ciutadella Park and the Arc de Triomf.  It was a nice bus tour with some walking at the park up Montjuic and lots of walking in the Ciutadella Park.  It was a nice overview but certainly not the ONLY thing you should do in Barcelona.  Consider getting skip-the-line tickets with audioguide for La Sagrada Familia.  Go early morning or evening when the sun is streaming through the stained glass windows.  A tour up to Montserrat Monestary is awesome.  Consider Parc Guell (another Gaudi site)  or Casa Mila.  Barcelona Day Tours has small group excursions that combine many sites.  They even have one to Montserrat in the AM with drop off (including skip the line tickets) at La Sagrada in the PM.  They also do private tours where you design the iitinerary which is what we did.  Christian our guide was fantastic.

[Selion]

12 hours ago, GCBK10905 said:

• Cofru, Greece
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Venice

Can't answer for the other ports...  We cruised in March, 2022.  Here's my take on included tours:

 

Corfu - A complete waste of time.  A 30-minutes ride for a photo stop (15 minutes) for "Mouse Island", followed by another 20-minutes into town punctuated by another photo stop for the Old Fort.  The walking tour in town lasted 40 minutes.  Neither Old Fort or New Fort was part of the tour.  If you just want to spend time in the town of Corfu, this could work or take the shuttle.  If you want to see more outside of Corfu, I'd suggest to book something else.

 

Dubrovnik - It's pretty good for an included tour.  Lots of history and a visit to the Dominikan Monastery.  Use the tour to orient yourself in old Dubrovnik, then stay after the tour ends to explore on your own.  Easily a full day in Dubrovnik after the tour ends.  But if you are looking for a structured tour for a whole day, then this is not for you.

 

Venice - If Italy allows independent exploration when you cruise, then it's not a bad way to see part of Venice.  Just stay after the tour ends (at St. Mark's).  The tour consisted of a 20-minutes ride from Venice cruise terminal (so it actually started with a 20-minutes bus ride to cruise terminal), a walking tour about 1.5 hours that practically ended at St. Mark's Square, followed by a 40-minutes boat ride in the Venetian lagoon and back to the cruise terminal.  I'd prefer more time in Venice, on foot.  But it was a half-day port (embarkation the day before) and Italy was being...tight about cruise passengers back in March, we still had a nice time in Venice.

[20Cruise20]

We enjoyed the MO cruise on the Viking Sky from 3/28/22 - 4/9/22. 

 

TayanaLorna provided a nice summary of Barcelona and the comments match my thoughts. I also recall all of the infrastructure around the port. Taxis were readily available. The included shuttle was really easy and added another convenient option to docking in Barcelona. 

 

As for the other ports, we completed included excursions in Corfu, Livorno, and Marseille.

 

Corfu was average. A little history shared by a bus ride and a short walking tour. If I had a do over, I would still take the included, tour the fort or the museum on my own, and take a shuttle back to the ship. Our weather wasn't the best. As such, we didn't spend any independent time in Corfu. If you like to shop, a nice variety of shops available.  

 

The Livorno included tour was our Plan B. (We had wanted to tour Florence, including the Uffizi Gallery. Unfortunately, independent traveling to Florence was not an option until two days before we arrived. Since the change happened over a weekend, we weren't able to pull together the exact Florence itinerary that we wanted. And, Viking did not offer any excursion that included the UG.) Plan B took us to Pisa. And, it was a very enjoyable surprise since I had not completed area research. A reasonable bus ride and a walk to the Square of Miracles. Outdoor viewing of the trinity architecture only. However, our guide advised how/where to pick-up entry tickets (free) into the Pisa Cathedral. It was an easy process and well worth it. The Cathedral was so beautiful. Most others in our group enjoyed a snack and a coffee. It truly turned out to be a very nice Plan B. 

 

In Marseille, we were scheduled for the afternoon Aix-en-Provence optional excursion. We decided a day or two before our Marseille port arrival to add a morning included excursion to our itinerary. While our included guide was not the best, we were enjoyed the time in Marseille. A short bus ride, a photo stop, a walking tour, and free time to explore, take photos, shop, or grab a coffee/snack. We returned to the ship timely, had about an hour for lunch, and make attire adjustments to accommodate the weather change before heading off to our optional afternoon excursion. 

 

Happy to answer other questions, if helpful. 

[lackcreativity]

On 4/25/2022 at 8:39 PM, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Carefully read the description - that's exactly what you will get....

I have always advocated for that, and I still do. However, we just completed a cruise in the western Mediterranean, and the included tour of Barcelona had an outside visit to Sagrada Familia (out of the bus but not inside the church) that was not mentioned in the description of the excursion. It was a pleasant surprise, so we could see what has been completed since our last visit there four years ago. I can't guarantee that each tour includes that stop, but ours did.

[austinetc]

There is a live thread for Venice to Istanbul with comments of the ports. Check it out. Yes, I'm promoting my own thread!

[Peregrina651]

Here's the link:

 

Live from Viking Sky April 20 - May 7 Venice to Istanbul

[GCBK10905]

Wow - thank you for all of the great advice and recommendations.  Looking very forward to this trip!  Thank you!

[Peregrina651]

You're welcome! Our pleasure!

[Stuster]

GCBK - I posted a reply on the message board roll call for the cruise - we are on the trip as well.   You can reply there if you have any questions about what I posted.   Cya on the Sea!