Quality of Viking included and optional excursions

[rjp50]

We will be taking our first Viking Ocean excursion this summer (Into the Midnight Sun).  We will be making our excursion reservations soon and I have a few questions. 

 

First, we have generally been disappointed with excursions offered by other cruise lines, finding them to be with too many people and quite impersonal.  As such, we tend to book independent tours whenever possible.  Given that Viking seems to offer a more premium product in general, I was wondering if their shore excursions are also better than the larger cruise lines.  Does it make a difference in terms of quality and number of participants if the tour is included or an optional?

 

Secondly, I see a lot of posts regarding strategies to make reservations before they are filled up.  Is this a concern of just getting the best time for an included excursion or do all/most/many optional excursions also sell out?  Hopefully they always have enough slots to accommodate everyone on the included excursions.

 

Thirdly, when traveling with another couple, can I make reservations for all four of us as long as I have their booking number or does each couple have to make them separately?  If the former, would I need credit card information of the other couple in the case of optional excursions.  If the latter, how can you be assured of getting on the same tour at the same time?

Edited February 11 by rjp50

[CannotSwim]

We have little experience with other cruise lines, but we have been very happy with Viking excursions (River and Ocean). Almost all have been very good, many have been exceptional.

 

What makes an excursion is a good guide. Viking does read reviews and hires guides with good reviews. I've also chatted with some guides and they try to get good reviews to get rehired by Viking. They say that Viking groups are more interesting than the typical (and also tend to tip well).

 

Many excursions sell out, but more so especially interesting excursions or excursions with a limited number of participants. Eventually excursion times sell out when there are multiple excursion times.

 

If you don't care about excursion times you can wait. When you board Viking will always find you a slot on an included excursion, but it might not be the time you want. Time slots matter if you want multiple excursions in a day -- some combinations work and others don't.

 

It also matters what stateroom class you have. V can have slim pickings. For DV you really want to jump on excursions since a large percent of the cabins are DV, but some things will be sold out when you start. PV should expect no problem the first day, but some things unavailable after a few days. Higher levels and only very limited extensions would be a problem.

 

You can also join wait lists on board if you don't get a non-included you want. Sometimes that will work.

 

I don't know if there is a way to combine bookings. I'd suggest sharing passwords and have one person make the shared reservations for both. (You can add payment methods to your MVJ and the person who logs in can use them.) The way I would do it is two separate web browser profiles (or two computers) so you can be logged into both at the same time. (Test this days ahead of time.) Start with the most important shared excursions (you probably won't find all four of you want to go to exactly the same set of excursions) -- reserve them (included) or put them in the card (optional), then check out both accounts to lock in the reservations. Then make a batch of less important reservations and check out, and so on.

 

(And triple-check. It's easy enough to make a problem, like forgetting to add one person to an excursion or choosing the wrong time for one person, when you are working with just one couple. The possibly errors and potential confusion multiplies if you work with more than one account.)

 

I think that addressed all of your questions, but feel free to as again if I missed something or caused you to think of other questions.

[rjp50]

15 minutes ago, CannotSwim said:

We have little experience with other cruise lines, but we have been very happy with Viking excursions (River and Ocean). Almost all have been very good, many have been exceptional.

 

What makes an excursion is a good guide. Viking does read reviews and hires guides with good reviews. I've also chatted with some guides and they try to get good reviews to get rehired by Viking. They say that Viking groups are more interesting than the typical (and also tend to tip well).

 

Many excursions sell out, but more so especially interesting excursions or excursions with a limited number of participants. Eventually excursion times sell out when there are multiple excursion times.

 

If you don't care about excursion times you can wait. When you board Viking will always find you a slot on an included excursion, but it might not be the time you want. Time slots matter if you want multiple excursions in a day -- some combinations work and others don't.

 

It also matters what stateroom class you have. V can have slim pickings. For DV you really want to jump on excursions since a large percent of the cabins are DV, but some things will be sold out when you start. PV should expect no problem the first day, but some things unavailable after a few days. Higher levels and only very limited extensions would be a problem.

 

You can also join wait lists on board if you don't get a non-included you want. Sometimes that will work.

 

I don't know if there is a way to combine bookings. I'd suggest sharing passwords and have one person make the shared reservations for both. (You can add payment methods to your MVJ and the person who logs in can use them.) The way I would do it is two separate web browser profiles (or two computers) so you can be logged into both at the same time. (Test this days ahead of time.) Start with the most important shared excursions (you probably won't find all four of you want to go to exactly the same set of excursions) -- reserve them (included) or put them in the card (optional), then check out both accounts to lock in the reservations. Then make a batch of less important reservations and check out, and so on.

 

(And triple-check. It's easy enough to make a problem, like forgetting to add one person to an excursion or choosing the wrong time for one person, when you are working with just one couple. The possibly errors and potential confusion multiplies if you work with more than one account.)

 

I think that addressed all of your questions, but feel free to as again if I missed something or caused you to think of other questions.

Thank you for a very detailed response.  This helps a lot.

[CDNPolar]

19 hours ago, rjp50 said:

 

 

Thirdly, when traveling with another couple, can I make reservations for all four of us as long as I have their booking number or does each couple have to make them separately?  If the former, would I need credit card information of the other couple in the case of optional excursions.  If the latter, how can you be assured of getting on the same tour at the same time?

 

This is how we do it....

 

You must ensure that your bookings are "connected" and that is done by calling Viking and ensuring that each booking cross references the other.

 

You may be able to call Viking and make the reservations but we have never done it this way.

 

We discuss with our travel companions what excursions we want to go on.  We almost always have different tastes and can agree on perhaps 50% only.

 

We make our reservations independently on the same day so we know that the availability is open.  You cannot book for another cabin.

 

Because our reservations are linked, we will be assigned to the same bus and guide when our excursion reservations match.

 

We make a check of this when we board the ship with Guest Services and it has always been confirmed that we are on the same tour group.  

 

 

 

[CannotSwim]

Some Viking Ocean excursions have multiple busses. Bus assignments are usually made when you show up to check in (sometimes on the dock, sometimes in Star Theater). You get on the same bus by having one person gather all the tickets and hand the pile to a staff member.

 

For Viking River excursions bus assignments are typically done ahead of time and you can talk to the service desk to get assigned to the same bus.

[FoggyEthan]

If you are someone who prefers private tours, I don't think Viking will change that for you. Most tours will be middling sized groups of 20+, and the guides are going to vary in quality. You'll often be using radio audio devices to hear your guide. Read the tour descriptions very carefully, since often they will mention sites but you may only be driving past them. Also, Viking seems to be charging an 80% mark-up, or at least that's the math I'm doing on my upcoming trip when I could figure out what operator they are using.

[CannotSwim]

17 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

If you are someone who prefers private tours, I don't think Viking will change that for you. Most tours will be middling sized groups of 20+, and the guides are going to vary in quality. You'll often be using radio audio devices to hear your guide. Read the tour descriptions very carefully, since often they will mention sites but you may only be driving past them. Also, Viking seems to be charging an 80% mark-up, or at least that's the math I'm doing on my upcoming trip when I could figure out what operator they are using.

I haven't studied recently, but a few years ago I compared prices in Barcelona. We were doing a pre and I was trying to figure out what to do on our own and what to do with Viking. In some cases the difference in price was lower than cab fare to the start and back after. (And that wasn't counting our wasted time riding the cab.)

[CDNPolar]

18 hours ago, FoggyEthan said:

If you are someone who prefers private tours, I don't think Viking will change that for you. Most tours will be middling sized groups of 20+, and the guides are going to vary in quality. You'll often be using radio audio devices to hear your guide. Read the tour descriptions very carefully, since often they will mention sites but you may only be driving past them. Also, Viking seems to be charging an 80% mark-up, or at least that's the math I'm doing on my upcoming trip when I could figure out what operator they are using.

 

Of course Viking are charging a markup - healthy as we might think it is - but there is a lot of coordination to these excursions and most of all you are paying for the convenience of not having to book yourself.

 

Booking yourself holds a host of challenges that you have to shoulder such as:

 

1) Time of arrival - what is the earliest you can join a tour?

2) Where do you join the tour?  Do you have to Uber to the location where the tour starts?

3) What time will the tour end while keeping in mind the departure time of the ship?

4) Do you have a cancelation option if the ship misses a port due to weather or other reason?

 

Many Viking guests - including ourselves - choose to book and pay the markup for the convenience.  

 

We have booked independent tours, and will likely in the future, but that is because we found something that Viking did not offer that interested us more.  For instance, in a city like Barcelona, we would rather disembark the ship and do the Hop On Hop Off bus instead of a city tour by Viking.

[Vineyard View]

We’ve sailed on multiple cruise lines. Ship excursions are not that different, including on the ‘luxury’ lines. There are only so many tour groups to employ, and they all tend to have that same pool to choose from. Luck of the draw with your guide. A filled bus of passengers, is a filled bus of passengers regardless of how you dice it. We are DIY or Private excursions people.  One tactic we employed with the ‘walking tours’ with Viking was to take the bus to the location, ask the guide what time to meet back at the bus and where for the return. We always tipped them so they did get affected negatively new wandered off on our own and met back up for the departure, making sure we returned 15 min before they told us so as not to hold anyone up. It worked quite well. On the ‘scenic’ excursions that is often a bus ride, on Viking or any other line, so you are mostly riding in the bus. The bus can vary depending on where in the world you are traveling - large air conditioned to smaller open vehicles. 
 

Bottom line, if you are not ship excursion people, you aren’t. That’s just my opinion. 
 

But you will love your experience on Viking! Have a great trip!

[Azulann]

Every optional excursion I have taken with Viking have been well worth the money. The guides are outstanding on these tours and  groups can be anywhere for 5 to 20 people.On our Scenic Scandinavia cruise in the Baltic last June, our optional  tour of Aland Island, Gdansk, and Copenhagen were worth every penny. Learned so much and enjoyed the openness  of the guide to answer questions and give us some great history of the places we were visiting with humor and passion.

Edited February 13 by Azulann

[Vineyard View]

To clarify my earlier post, I was referring primarily to the included excursions. Since we don’t use ship excursions, we did not often participate in the optional. I do think that regardless, the guide you get, makes all the difference. 

[May B]

When traveling with another couple, I get the other couple on speakerphone and we look, and book, together, each doing our own.

 

Then follow instructions above to be sure you are on the same bus, in post #5. As soon as you get together on embarkation day, compare tour tickets, to be sure you are booked at same times. 

[Mike07]

I've done both the free and paid tours on Viking River. I have had great experiences on most of these tours. Of course, some guides were better than others, but most were really good. Paid tours were reasonably priced. I did do an included tour on Viking Expedition, and it was also excellent.

[chipmaster]

YMMV,  having done many cruises lines and tours I would say there is little difference between a Viking tour and any other line in terms of big bus.  If anything be ready for a different demographic and slower pace.

I do think the guides and schedules are more considerate of the demographics of the customers 

 

[longterm]

On 2/13/2024 at 1:16 PM, Azulann said:

Every optional excursion I have taken with Viking have been well worth the money. 

Most of the optional excursions we've booked have been excellent, there have been a couple of stinkers though.

We're doing the British Isles Explorer in July, and have booked a half-dozen private tours. Having done other touring off-ship (Rick Steves, Odyssey), we've seen the same (or similar) tour guides on those tours as well. Viking clearly pulls from the same pool of local guides, though they have favorites with whom they probably contract with well in advance.

We've had great success with toursByLocals.com, and have a couple of tours scheduled with them this summer. Our toursByLocals guide in Rome (Marisa) was absolutely fantastic.

[PRH]

18 minutes ago, longterm said:

Most of the optional excursions we've booked have been excellent, there have been a couple of stinkers though.

We're doing the British Isles Explorer in July, and have booked a half-dozen private tours. Having done other touring off-ship (Rick Steves, Odyssey), we've seen the same (or similar) tour guides on those tours as well. Viking clearly pulls from the same pool of local guides, though they have favorites with whom they probably contract with well in advance.

We've had great success with toursByLocals.com, and have a couple of tours scheduled with them this summer. Our toursByLocals guide in Rome (Marisa) was absolutely fantastic.

If you’re interested in the political history of Belfast, I highly recommend Tours by Locals Frank (Francis).  He is excellent, picks you up at the ship in his Mercedes van and you will see and hear far more than Viking.  Our 23 year old nephew who was with us on this cruise was blown away.  Frank lived through the Troubles and is a historian—he really does give a fairly balanced account of what happened and where things stand now.

[duquephart]

12 minutes ago, PRH said:

If you’re interested in the political history of Belfast, I highly recommend Tours by Locals Frank (Francis).  He is excellent, picks you up at the ship in his Mercedes van and you will see and hear far more than Viking.  Our 23 year old nephew who was with us on this cruise was blown away.  Frank lived through the Troubles and is a historian—he really does give a fairly balanced account of what happened and where things stand now.

 

Watch The Wind that Shakes the Barley.

[longterm]

50 minutes ago, PRH said:

If you’re interested in the political history of Belfast, I highly recommend Tours by Locals Frank (Francis).  He is excellent, picks you up at the ship in his Mercedes van and you will see and hear far more than Viking.  Our 23 year old nephew who was with us on this cruise was blown away.  Frank lived through the Troubles and is a historian—he really does give a fairly balanced account of what happened and where things stand now.

Thanks... we did book a toursByLocals in Belfast, but with a man named Pat. 

Edited February 22 by longterm