Shore Excursions

[janetcbl]

27 minutes ago, Delanequilts said:

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?

If an excursion is sold out, as soon as you get onboard go to the Guest Service desk and try there.mAt least you can put your name on a waiting list. Usually (but not always) this will work.

[Azulann]

Also keep checking back on MVJ after you book your excursions on Friday. Sometimes they open up. People cancel before and during the cruise for various reasons. Or they do add more buses and guides sometimes. Which cruise are you doing and what ship?

 Also on our  sailing, June12-22 Scenic Scandinavia,  others excursions were added in a couple of ports  a coupe of weeks ago. Our cruise is sold out . Looking at my MJV  some of the very small excursion are all sold out but others still available.

BTW, welcome to Cruise Critic . Be sure to join your roll call for your particular itinerary on your Viking ship.  Ask others you will be saying with about maybe doing a private excursion amongst yourselves.

 

[swashbuckling]

I'm traveling with a group, we have 3 rooms. Does anyone know the best strategy to quickly book us all for the same tour? We are under 3 different booking numbers... one for each room.

[Azulann]

I suggest your group decides your first choice ,2nd choice etc. Each stateroom can then book the first choice pay for it and then go on to your 2nd choice etc. Can only book for your stateroom Pick one to do the booking for both of occupants. I suggest you pay with e- check. You can load your bank account number before your day to pick excursions. You also get 3.5% off the price. If some do not get the same excursion you can always see if shows up later on MJV as open. Or when you get on board you can add excursions and cancel (except those booked for the first two days) excusions at guest relations. 

[oskidunker]

If you have two cruises in a row on the same ship, ie NewZealand then  Australia on the Venus in Jan 2025.p, will you have access to excursions for both cruises on the same date?

 

[millybess]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:55 PM, janetcbl said:

If an excursion is sold out, as soon as you get onboard go to the Guest Service desk and try there.mAt least you can put your name on a waiting list. Usually (but not always) this will work.

You’re right,  We have cancelled and rebooked almost all of our Viking excursions since boarding on May 19. We were waitlisted for a very short period of time.

 

We have also cancelled and rebooked most of our dining reservations — most recently today. We were able to get the days and times we wanted with zero problems. 

[millybess]

4 minutes ago, oskidunker said:

If you have two cruises in a row on the same ship, ie NewZealand then  Australia on the Venus in Jan 2025.p, will you have access to excursions for both cruises on the same date?

 

We had access to excursions for our B2B on the same day we were eligible to book the first cruise. That has its drawbacks. For example, we are on the tail end of the Grand Explorer next year. The Grand Explorer sails in February I believe, but we don’t join it until April. 

[cmmaxwell03]

10 minutes ago, millybess said:

You’re right,  We have cancelled and rebooked almost all of our Viking excursions since boarding on May 19. We were waitlisted for a very short period of time.

 

We have also cancelled and rebooked most of our dining reservations — most recently today. We were able to get the days and times we wanted with zero problems. 

Out of curiosity, why have you cancelled and rebooked most of your excursions and reservations?  I'm a sponge and want to absorb all the info I can 🙂 

[duquephart]

31 minutes ago, Azulann said:

I suggest your group decides your first choice ,2nd choice etc. Each stateroom can then book the first choice pay for it and then go on to your 2nd choice etc. Can only book for your stateroom Pick one to do the booking for both of occupants. I suggest you pay with e- check. You can load your bank account number before your day to pick excursions. You also get 3.5% off the price. If some do not get the same excursion you can always see if shows up later on MJV as open. Or when you get on board you can add excursions and cancel (except those booked for the first two days) excusions at guest relations. 

 

3.3%

[millybess]

28 minutes ago, cmmaxwell03 said:

Out of curiosity, why have you cancelled and rebooked most of your excursions and reservations?  I'm a sponge and want to absorb all the info I can 🙂 

Basically we go through various phases. When we are first able to book, we book the excursions and dining we think we want based on available information. When things get closer, naturally we read more or get feedback from CC posters which helps to verify or contradict our initial assumptions. When we actually get here, we get to know things about the area and about how much stamina we have and we make adjustments.
 

For the restaurants, we like some of the chef’s table menus but not all.  Once these  become fixed we again try to make adjustments 

[Nonna2018]

These are some great hints and tips. First Viking cruise coming up for us and this is a totally new way of booking excursions.  Hubby said he's feeling a bit like Leonardo DiCapprio down in steerage class with this booking system. Next time we'll spring for the extra room category so we aren't the last eligible booking group. Live and learn!!

[CHammond]

I would choose at least a deluxe veranda catagory, they get to choose a week earlier than the regular veranda and the price difference is usually only a few hundred dollars between dv6 and regular verandas.  On our cruise, there was only one excursion sold out before the deluxe verandas could choose, within a half hour of the slot opening up many excursions were sold out, and the lowest catagory of verandas still have to wait a week. All of the deluxe verandas, from 1 through 6, choose at the same time, a significant portion of the ship. 

[madmedic]

13 hours ago, Nonna2018 said:

These are some great hints and tips. First Viking cruise coming up for us and this is a totally new way of booking excursions.  Hubby said he's feeling a bit like Leonardo DiCapprio down in steerage class with this booking system. Next time we'll spring for the extra room category so we aren't the last eligible booking group. Live and learn!!

This will be our first Viking cruise also and I agree that it's a very complex excursion booking process for us particularly as we're booked in steerage V2🤣. I know that my excursions open up 60 days before but at what time? I'm in the UK. 

As it's an itinerary we've done before we will be flexible with our choices so not worth the extra expense of a DV6 for us.

[LindaS272]

4 hours ago, madmedic said:

This will be our first Viking cruise also and I agree that it's a very complex excursion booking process for us particularly as we're booked in steerage V2🤣. I know that my excursions open up 60 days before but at what time? I'm in the UK. 

As it's an itinerary we've done before we will be flexible with our choices so not worth the extra expense of a DV6 for us.

Excursion selection time is the same for DV1-6. You’d have to spring for a PV to get an earlier selection time. 
 

On the date of your booking, the openining time will be Pacific West Coast US time. It should say on your invoice and/or in MVJ. Usually 12 noon Pacific—since I don’t remember from this thread the date of your cruise, I don’t know if it will be Daylight (PDT) or Standard (PST).

[Hobson1754]

33 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

I know that my excursions open up 60 days before but at what time? I'm in the UK. 

When we booked our excursions at beginning of July they were very prompt opening up at 8 p.m.- i.e. 8 hours difference between Pacific Time & BST

[madmedic]

1 hour ago, Hobson1754 said:

When we booked our excursions at beginning of July they were very prompt opening up at 8 p.m.- i.e. 8 hours difference between Pacific Time & BST

Very helpful I will put it on the calendar for next year thanks 👍. 

[Empehi]

I'm a bit confused by this thread. When booking first opens up should you first:

 

1. Book the included tours? or

2. Book the tours that require an additional payment?

 

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[OneSixtyToOne]

11 minutes ago, Empehi said:

I'm a bit confused by this thread. When booking first opens up should you first:

 

1. Book the included tours? or

2. Book the tours that require an additional payment?

 

e

 

Book the optional tours you most desire first as they may in higher demand and have limited seating. Book each one and pay immediately, then move to the next. Having a reservation in your shopping cart doesn't guarantee a seat until you checkout and it is entirely possible to be shut out while you are "shopping.'"

 

Included tours will be available, maybe not at your desired time, but available. When necessary Viking adds extra guides/busses/times to assure everyone can get an included tour. There are of course exceptions.

 

Also, if you cannot get a desired tour keep checking MVJ daily. Sometimes there are cancellations and for high demand tours, sometimes Viking adds additional resources. Also check when you board as people's plans change and seats may become available.

Edited August 13, 2023 by OneSixtyToOne

[Gail Boertzel]

Today in Live Chat I was told in spite of having signed up for ACH bank draft that I would have to enter the account information for every excursion I will be trying to book. I thought one benefit of ACH bank draft was to avoid having to do this. Does anyone know from experience whether I was given incorrect information? Thanks!

[OneSixtyToOne]

4 minutes ago, Gail Boertzel said:

Today in Live Chat I was told in spite of having signed up for ACH bank draft that I would have to enter the account information for every excursion I will be trying to book. I thought one benefit of ACH bank draft was to avoid having to do this. Does anyone know from experience whether I was given incorrect information? Thanks!

I used ACH recently and this was not my experience. Once entered into MVJ you just select it for your payment type. No muss, no fuss.

[Nonna2018]

7 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Excursion selection time is the same for DV1-6. You’d have to spring for a PV to get an earlier selection time. 
 

On the date of your booking, the openining time will be Pacific West Coast US time. It should say on your invoice and/or in MVJ. Usually 12 noon Pacific—since I don’t remember from this thread the date of your cruise, I don’t know if it will be Daylight (PDT) or Standard (PST).

Yep, just checked the viking website, 5 categories can choose before us. next time, we'll book a higher category. It could very well be worth it to be able to have a better chance at getting our preferred excursion choices. Thanks everyone for the hints and tricks.

 

• Owner’s Suite—107 days from sail date
• Explorer Suites—97 days from sail date
• Penthouse Junior Suites—87 days from sail date
• Penthouse Veranda Staterooms—77 days from sail date
• Deluxe Veranda Staterooms—67 days from sail date
• Veranda Staterooms—60 days from sail date

[LostFan#1]

Thank you for the timetable, Nonna. Once the owner's suite can choose their excursions, I presume descriptions for all excursions will be available? It would help enormously to know what is offered well before I need to choose and pay as quickly as possible.

[SantaFe1]

2 minutes ago, LostFan#1 said:

Thank you for the timetable, Nonna. Once the owner's suite can choose their excursions, I presume descriptions for all excursions will be available? It would help enormously to know what is offered well before I need to choose and pay as quickly as possible.

Yes, I usually start checking about 120 days out.  You will have plenty of time to plan.  

[junglejane]

29 minutes ago, Gail Boertzel said:

Today in Live Chat I was told in spite of having signed up for ACH bank draft that I would have to enter the account information for every excursion I will be trying to book. I thought one benefit of ACH bank draft was to avoid having to do this. Does anyone know from experience whether I was given incorrect information? Thanks!

We just booked and paid for our shore excursions 5 days ago using ACH. We had set it up several days beforehand and did not have to re-enter the information in order to check out. 

[LostFan#1]

Has anyone paid for their optional excursions with OBC? Does that add extra time to the book & pay quickly scenario?