Viking included excursions

[texasjan]

Did you feel that you were able to get a good feel for the areas by doing the these excursions? 
is it easy to do things on your own?

 

[cruiser02]

I felt that the included tours gave a good over-view of the areas.  If an additional tour takes you to a place you are interested in - go for it.  The ship is usually "right there" so being on your own is super easy.  Of course you can always break off from the organized tour and continue on your own.

You do need to reserve the included tours on-line pre-cruise just like the paid-for tours

 

[sharkster77]

If you go off on your own or book your own tour, be sure the ship will be there when you return.  Often on included tours you are bussed to the old town, and after the walking tour you are bussed to the ship's new location.  The time during tours is often used to queue up and navigate locks.

[banditoo]

Has anyone been on Viking's Vienna Sights Up Close included excursion? It is listed as demanding though description sounds far from demanding. 

[pontac]

On 1/30/2023 at 8:53 PM, texasjan said:

Did you feel that you were able to get a good feel for the areas by doing the these excursions? 
is it easy to do things on your own?

 

Yes and Yes.

 

And the tours include 'free  time' so you can take the guided tour and still have an hour or 90 minutes to do things on your own.

 

When the boat is moored you can walk off any time and do your own thing. Make sure you get back before boat casts off.  If the town centre is a bus ride away then - if staying in the area, they'll likely be shuttle buses laid on. Strasbourg was some way from the river and we were bussed for the included Strasbourg tour in the morning ( with free time); we could go back to the boat for lunch and there were shuttle busses to Strasbourg in the afternoon - or one could stay in Strasbourg all day and come back on the last shuttlebus.

 

As @cruiser02 says, make sure you book all included tours on MVJ, you can decide on the day not to go.

Edited February 8, 2023 by pontac

[sharkster77]

We did the Rhine Getaway in 2019.  Examples of free time:  

--included morning tour of Cologne, free time in the afternoon

--included morning tour of Strasbourg, free time in the PM

--same for Heidelberg, although this stop may no longer be included, replaced with Speyer???

--after returning to the ship in Speyer (after Heidelberg visit) cruise director walked us into Speyer, pointed out how to get back to the ship, and we had a couple of hours of free time there before dinner

 

In all cases, your choices are --return to ship for lunch and stay there

                                                    --return to ship for lunch then take shuttle to return to the city/town

                                                    --stay in town and have lunch on your own.

 

We chose the third option, to make best use of our time.  There were multiple shuttle times back to the ship.