Shore Excursions

[RexMesiter]

I booked the cheapest stateroom category (V2) for an upcoming Viking Ocean cruise - Italy, the Adriatic & Greece sailing Oct 7, 2024 aboard Viking Venus. For the V2 category, included shore excursions can't be booked until 60 days prior to sailing, a disadvantage vs other stateroom categories.  Is it likely that some shore excursions will be full by the time I get to choose?

[oskidunker]

Yes. Book the ones you are paying for first,one at a time do not wait until your cart full. This way you will beat people who do this. Thats what i did. Got almost everything we wanted. Am V2

[CCWineLover]

54 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

Yes. Book the ones you are paying for first,one at a time do not wait until your cart full. This way you will beat people who do this. Thats what i did. Got almost everything we wanted. Am V2

Good advice to RexMesiter.

It's what we do as well, and also have been successful.  Also, have several options open (Plan A and Plan B) ahead of time.   I layout each port day which included times and / or optional excursions we'd like with priorities in a block/graphical format and have that in front of me when we book, so I can be quick and efficient in the choices.

[miami mama]

Also, if you don't at first get the excursion you really truly need to do, keep checking MyVikingJourney right up to 7 days before sailing. People change their minds and all of a sudden spaces open up. This is also true once you board. Make sure to inform Guest Services that you would like to be on a waitlist and as others change from that excursion to another, they inform people of the openings. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, RexMesiter said:

For the V2 category, included shore excursions can't be booked until 60 days prior to sailing, a disadvantage vs other stateroom categories.

Included excursions will always be available. They will add more tours if necessary, although they may not be at your preferred time. You will need to book these in advanced because Viking needs to do capacity planning.
 

The most popular optional excursions are the booking issue.

Edited March 1, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Clay Clayton]

And if all the above still doesn’t get you into the excursion you want and you don’t want to book it independently, then head to the area where the bus you want to be on is waiting, find one of the excursion folks (usually wearing a red windbreaker or coat) and ask if there are any openings.  Sometimes, folks oversleep and miss their excursions. 🤞

[CHammond]

If you can afford the extra 300 pp, you can switch your cabin to a dv6, all of the dv cabins choose at the same time, and the veranda cabins don’t get to choose excursions until a week later, so it is a significant advantage to be in a deluxe veranda if you are worried about getting excursions. We are doing the same cruise this October and choose a dv6 primarily for that reason.

[Pushka]

Make sure you are ready to book the instant excursions open. Book the one you want immediately and pay for it straightaway. Have your credit card details very close by.
 

Our DV bookings opened last Sunday morning, OZ time. A couple had sold out before my window was open. The week before Viking clearly added another bus for one of them as that suddenly became available again. Within 30 minutes of my window many had sold out. As well as the recently reopened one. We have one port where every single excursion is sold out, including the Included one. That will have to change but think there may be logistical issues as it's only a short port stop and a tender to boot. There just may not be enough time to put on another included time slot. V don't open until next Sunday. 
 

We also booked some private ones as the one that every one wants to do, is Petra. It's a long involved trip from Aqaba. I've been stressing about excursions for ages. But always had plan b and which I needed to use. 

[Astromaid]

My window opens up while we are on a cruise, which might make things difficult. But I have notes with my most important choices listed first. And I have read this forum to give me my best chances, and that is not using a credit card but signing up to use direct withdraw from a bank account and paying for each one as I book it. Not only does that give me a small discount, but I don't have to waste precious time entering my card information each time. Of course I will be on my last sea day fretting about when the window actually will open. 

[HUNKY]

I'm ready to book today at 3PM eastern time, but I wonder if Viking ever opens shorex early?

 

I keep checking every 30 minutes or so.

[Peregrina651]

Keep checkinging.  Ya never know. 

[CCWineLover]

Another technique - have the screen open to the excursion you want the most.  if it does go at 3 PM, you will see the time slot "open up" right on the dot, you click it put it in the cart and immediately go pay for it!  You can be done in 30 seconds, particularly if you have cut and pasted the credit card information (if you use cr cards) already to go.  (I put all my info into a new temporary note and can copy and paste any info I want quickly, then exit without saving).

[Clay Clayton]

It opened at exactly noon pacific today as promised. 

[HUNKY]

Opened at Noon.  Suggestion to Viking: be able to add your credit card info to your account.  Copy and paste were annoying.

 

I booked EVERYTHING I wanted, except one.  I will check MVJ (My Viking Journey) every time I'm online.

 

Too bad someone hasn't created an app like Mousewatcher or Expertflyer to let you know in real-time when bookings open.

[Clay Clayton]

23 hours ago, HUNKY said:

Opened at Noon.  Suggestion to Viking: be able to add your credit card info to your account.  Copy and paste were annoying.

 

I booked EVERYTHING I wanted, except one.  I will check MVJ (My Viking Journey) every time I'm online.

 

Too bad someone hasn't created an app like Mousewatcher or Expertflyer to let you know in real-time when bookings open.

#yourmilliondollaridea

[WanderingBrit]

On 5/13/2023 at 5:41 PM, HUNKY said:

Opened at Noon.  Suggestion to Viking: be able to add your credit card info to your account.  Copy and paste were annoying.

 

I used ACH to pay, and avoided needing to enter payment details as I already had it on file.

[Pushka]

On 5/18/2023 at 3:02 PM, WanderingBrit said:

I used ACH to pay, and avoided needing to enter payment details as I already had it on file.

Only for USA folk. 

[bookbabe]

8 hours ago, Pushka said:

Only for USA folk. 

Have you tried?  Works for Canadians

[Pushka]

On 5/20/2023 at 4:25 PM, bookbabe said:

Have you tried?  Works for Canadians

Ah yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have posted. We have different banking systems. Also if I use tellus@ the US Viking simply sends my email straight to the Aus office. 

[Siammau]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

Ah yes. Otherwise I wouldn't have posted. We have different banking systems. Also if I use tellus@ the US Viking simply sends my email straight to the Aus office. 

Same here. 

[cmmaxwell03]

On 3/1/2023 at 10:41 AM, oskidunker said:

Yes. Book the ones you are paying for first,one at a time do not wait until your cart full. This way you will beat people who do this. Thats what i did. Got almost everything we wanted. Am V2

Holy crap!  That is the best advice yet!  Thank you 🙂  I'm less than 30 days out from the excursions opening up. 

[Redtravel]

Booking shore excursion procedure is crazy.  Booking opened for my cabin category earlier today.  Previous to today, some of the excursions were sold out.  We stuck to mostly included excursions. As we started to select excursions and times, we watched some times gone.  Fortunately, I read the postings. We reserved the excursions that we really wanted first.  They sold out quickly.  Had we booked excursions in the order of the ports, we never would’ve gotten our most desired choice.

I prefer cruises that allow you to book excursions as soon as you book and pay for your cruise. Book early, pay early, book excursions early.  Book late, pay late, book excursions that are leftover.  

[CCWineLover]

Yes, the whole excursion thing on Viking is quite crazy!

 

In fact, since we started traveling with Viking Ocean - this seems to be one of the top 5 topics discussed the past years on Cruise Critic.   Your idea has also been presented and offered up a few times, and I'm sure that Viking has heard a lot of feedback on this topic.

(The subtopic has seemed to be the mobility/non-mobility of passengers on tours - and should Viking create special tours for the Ocean ships like they do for River.)

[Pushka]

I was trying to convince others who have cruised on Cunard, Princess and Celebrity on a Viking cruise. When they heard about the policy of booking excursions based on the price of the stateroom you booked they refused to move to Viking. So we will be booking our joint cruises on a different cruise line. 

[Delanequilts]

we don’t sign up.for excursions until,Friday, but looking at the excursions, several of the ones we want are already sold out.   Any chance more will be added before Friday or are we out of luck?