Viking included excursions in Vienna and Budapest

[Luv2travlX2]

My husband and I are taking a Viking Romantic Danube cruise in October. Are the included excursions in Vienna and Budapest just bus rides or walks past different sites? If you don't actually go into any of sites, we may just skip those tours and take public transportation to the things we want to see. What do you recommend?

[CastleCritic]

I would suggest taking a look at the "Viking Mimir Grand European Tour 7-1-22; "Live"" thread starting tomorrow as there is a board member just about to arrive in Vienna for what looks like the same basic itinerary.  From their site it looks like you would have time for both.

 

Also depends what tours you choose.

[pontac]

Tours can differ depending on the cruise you are on.

 

The included tours tend to give you an orientation, and are walking tours or bus & walking tours. How difficult the walking is depends and is rated on the Viking website. Sometimes they go into buildings

 

The Viking website give a clear indication of how difficult the walking element is, and the tours are fully described there.

 

We went on  included tours in Budapest and Vienna when we took Romantic Danube

 

I think the Budapest included tour - which is coach & walking covers a lot of ground that you couldn't do in the time - on both sides of the river - plus you get an explanation from the guide. On that tour you enter Matthias Church.

 

As one now has to book the included tours on MVJ I recommend you do so,   you can later decide not to go on them. The excursions should be described the evening preceding by the Programme Manager in the lounge before dinner

 

As the included tours take only half the day you can do your own thing the other half.

[pontac]

Have you browsed the River Cruise Ports sub-forum of this forum?

[2017newcruiser]

19 hours ago, Luv2travlX2 said:

My husband and I are taking a Viking Romantic Danube cruise in October. Are the included excursions in Vienna and Budapest just bus rides or walks past different sites? If you don't actually go into any of sites, we may just skip those tours and take public transportation to the things we want to see. What do you recommend?

On the MVJ site you will have all your excursions - included & extra cost - laid out per day with the ability to reserve them.  I've found in my (limited) experience than 'Panoramic' usually = bus ride...not to be confused with the possible short bus ride you may have from boat to town for your tour.   The excursion descriptions are usually pretty clear.  Have a fun trip!  We are doing that cruise in November w/ a pre in Budapest.

[mhb1757]

Personally I found the Vienna included tour pretty sad on our June Romantic Danube cruise. It might just have been the luck of the draw, but our guide was weak, we spent a lot of time on the bus sitting in traffic, and didn’t see much on the walking portion. 
Budapest was better.  Provided a decent overview of both sides of the river. It covered a lot of territory but some was just drive by.

I had done Vienna and Budapest with Avalon a few years ago and their included tours in both cities were far superior. Honestly I would skip the Vienna included tour altogether and just visit things you want to include on your own. You have 2 full days there and some of the optional excursions were quite good, but the included one was a bust IMHO.  In Budapest I’d probably do the included in the am and do my own thing in the afternoon. 

[Luv2travlX2]

Several people have mentioned that the Vienna tour was the weakest of the bunch. I signed up for all of the included ones, but I may end up canceling that one. The MVJ excursion descriptions aren't always very clear. The verbs are ambiguous. "See the magnificent Hofburg Palace, admire the great Gothic St. Stephan's cathedral, view the beautiful Vienna State Opera concert hall." Do we see, admire, and view from the outside or the inside?

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, Luv2travlX2 said:

Several people have mentioned that the Vienna tour was the weakest of the bunch. I signed up for all of the included ones, but I may end up canceling that one. The MVJ excursion descriptions aren't always very clear. The verbs are ambiguous. "See the magnificent Hofburg Palace, admire the great Gothic St. Stephan's cathedral, view the beautiful Vienna State Opera concert hall." Do we see, admire, and view from the outside or the inside?

Those all sound like outside terms to me.  'Tour' is the only safe one.

[CastleCritic]

I would say more "visit" tour can definitely be 'you will walk by' or "you will drive by/near'

[CPT Trips]

7 hours ago, Luv2travlX2 said:

Several people have mentioned that the Vienna tour was the weakest of the bunch. I signed up for all of the included ones, but I may end up canceling that one. The MVJ excursion descriptions aren't always very clear. The verbs are ambiguous. "See the magnificent Hofburg Palace, admire the great Gothic St. Stephan's cathedral, view the beautiful Vienna State Opera concert hall." Do we see, admire, and view from the outside or the inside?

Perhaps from inside . . . of a coach.

[gnome12]

The verbs visit and/or tour combined with words about the interior of a building to me mean an interior visit. 

[pontac]

15 hours ago, Luv2travlX2 said:

. The MVJ excursion descriptions aren't always very clear. The verbs are ambiguous. "See the magnificent Hofburg Palace, admire the great Gothic St. Stephan's cathedral, view the beautiful Vienna State Opera concert hall." Do we see, admire, and view from the outside or the inside?

 

I beg to differ. Earlier in that description it says

 

 Meet your guide and drive into the city for a half-day motor coach and walking tour, 

 

Given that the excursion lasts a max 3.5 hours which includes free time (denoted by 'Shopping' at the top), the excursion shows you the sights of Vienna from the coach, plus a walking tour with free time to do your own thing. I took this tour, and thought it did an admirable job of exactly that. As we didn't want to shop, we had a pastry and coffee in a café. From the information given by the guide about the metro, we made our own way back to the centre later. There's a metro station close to the river morning.

 

There's not enough time in 3.5 hours to enter and tour Hofburg Palace,  St. Stephan's cathedral, the Vienna State Opera concert hall and have time for shopping and a walking tour.

 

If you already know the city or prefer to visit certain places by all means skip this excursion. We didn't and enjoyed it.

 

mhb1757 had the bad luck to have a poor guide and get stuck in traffic. Luck of the draw, but our guide was good, explained a lot and gave a history, all of which was new to us. 

 

 

[Canal archive]

Vienna is one of the easiest European cities to get around using their metro system. Enjoy.

[dcl999]

Vienna was part bus, part walking. We stayed on the outside except we had time to go into the church (not a Sunday). We did get quite a bit of the history and a decent orientation to the city. We stayed in the city and took the metro back to the ship. Our guide gave a good orientation at the end. We went to the Albertina museum on our own. It was a nice mix of half small collection of famous artists and half palace rooms. 
Budapest is also part bus, part walking. Good orientation to the city and one of the easier ways to get to see heroes square and castle hill and hear some of the history. The cathedral was crowded since all the tours arrive in the morning. 
We went to the hospital in the rocks on our recent cruise. They have tours in English that last about an hour.