Shore excursion reviews

[huntwc]

Is there a site that reviews the Viking Ocean excursions?  We are on the Saturn in September.  It is hard to choose without any ratings and limited descriptions!  
 

Ports are

 

Koper Slovenia

Zadra Croatia

Dubrovnik

Kotor Montenegro

Corfu Greece

Olympia (Katakolon) Croatia

Santorini

Athens

 

Many thanks!

[CurlerRob]

42 minutes ago, huntwc said:

Is there a site that reviews the Viking Ocean excursions?  We are on the Saturn in September.  It is hard to choose without any ratings and limited descriptions!  
 

Ports are

 

Koper Slovenia

Zadra Croatia

Dubrovnik

Kotor Montenegro

Corfu Greece

Olympia (Katakolon) Croatia

Santorini

Athens

 

Many thanks!

 

No dedicated thread / site, but if you check one of the prior Roll Calls for your cruise, you'll find lots of comments regarding ports and excursions. 🍺🥌

[lackcreativity]

Did you know that on the Viking website Itinerary for an individual cruise, when you view the display of potential excursions in each port you can click on each excursion for a more detailed description?

 

The Empires of the Mediterranean with Viking was our first ocean cruise. We used the included excursions in most of the ports, supplemented with time on our own and the use of Viking shuttles to return post excursions. For example, in Dubrovnik the included excursions was very good, but we remained after the tour to have lunch and walk the walls on our own.

 

We did select the optional excursion in Athens to be able to go up to the Acropolis, and an optional one in Koper to go the Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle. Both were good choices for us, in particular because of a personal obsession with castles. Your choices may vary.

 

The included excursion in Zadar was less than satisfactory, but it was seven years ago and I thought our guide was disappointing. If you like Old Towns and churches (and I do) that is a location very easy to do on your own. If you like natural beauty, the optional excursion to Krka National Park from Zadar seems to be highly regarded on Cruise Critic. 

[kctwinmommy]

I'm working on my review and each excursion we did. We didn't go to all of these ports, but we did hit 5 of them. Otherwise, I went to the ports of call pages to start finding information, I read through the descriptions, Googled a bit, and then we just picked what we thought we'd enjoy the most.

[TayanaLorna]

20 hours ago, huntwc said:

Is there a site that reviews the Viking Ocean excursions?  We are on the Saturn in September.  It is hard to choose without any ratings and limited descriptions!  
 

Ports are

 

Koper Slovenia

Zadra Croatia

Dubrovnik

Kotor Montenegro

Corfu Greece

Olympia (Katakolon) Croatia

Santorini

Athens

 

Many thanks!

We did the Krka Waterfall walk from Sibenik and it was awesome.  Longer drive from other ports but if nature and hiking are your thing...

 

Dubrovnik we did an all day Wine & Food excursion.  Went to a family farm where there was a demonstration of a 200 year old olive press followed by a light meal at their house consisting of of farm grown and locally sourced food.  Next we visited a local winery where we sampled 6 liquors and 3 wines.  Them we had a walk about at Ston, then went to Mali Ston where we boarded a traditional fishing boat which we took out to tge oyster beds.  We dined aboard on freshly harvested oysters on the half shell and a cooked fresh mussel dish.  The drive and scenery was gorgeous.  The ship was scheduled to be in Port until 10 pm but was changed to 6 pm so we totally missed seeing Dubrovnik which we planned to do that evening.

 

Kotor - you MUST be up and on deck at least 2 hours before ship is scheduled to dock.  The sail in scenery is gorgeous.

We did Lady of the Rock & Perast excursion and then walked Kotor on our own.  The church on the Rock is lovely as are the stories.  Perast was a charming walk about.

 

Katakolon we did the Olympia & Syrtaki/Greek Food tour.  Olympia is interesting but the Syrtaki was one of the best excursions.  We could learn how to make 3 Greek foods (or not) and eat them.  Then the lunch spread was served - 3 buffet tables of all kinds of delicious choices.  Then they cleared the cooking tables for dancing.  It was wild!  Great dancers performing several different dances, then dance lessons for us guests, breaking plates on the floor, dancing on the tables.  So much fun and a beautiful setting.

 

In Athens we used George's Transfer Tours for their 5 hour Taste of Athens. Excellent!  Went to the Acropolis Museum on our own. 

 

Corfu we went on the Monestary Excursion to get a sense of the island terrain followed by some time in Corfu Town.  Monetary was lovely.  Wanted more time in town.  Wished we had stayed and taken shuttle back.

[Podgieree]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:25 PM, kctwinmommy said:

I'm working on my review and each excursion we did. We didn't go to all of these ports, but we did hit 5 of them. Otherwise, I went to the ports of call pages to start finding information, I read through the descriptions, Googled a bit, and then we just picked what we thought we'd enjoy the most.

I would second reading @kctwinmommy’s posts. Her reviews of the tours she has taken are very detailed and she explains why she chose what she did. Now I have to plan more cruises to hit some of the spots they traveled that won’t be on our next itinerary!  😁

[kctwinmommy]

Thanks @Podgieree! I hope it helps people. I'm working on getting through it as quickly as possible, without just doing it all at once. I do have others things to work on. LOL! But I also kept a journal with me (and short notes on my phone), so that has helped with remembering the details of things.