jpmackaylive

We will be on Viking's 14 day Ancient Mediterranean Antiquities cruise in early 2023. On day 8 of the cruise while in Athens (3 days), there will be no Viking organized tours that day. The reason, I learned, is that Day 8 is a changeover day when those folks taking only the first week of the cruise end their stay and those folks taking the second half of the cruise begin their stay. The Viking Customer Service person who explained this went on to say that sometimes additional tours are set up once one is onboard. I don't recall, however, whether she described these add-on cruises as being organized by Viking, or just being ad-hoc sorts of tours that are organized by small groups of cruisers. I'm trying to figure out whether I should set up a separate tour in Athens for my husband and myself, or whether there's a decent chance something would be organized once we are onboard. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

Thank you, Cruiser Bruce, for your helpful advice about transfer pickup times. And, thank you also, Marazul, for the two links and your helpful suggestions. I have only been looking at 3rd party tour operators and hadn't thought to investigate tours directly with the sites themselves. I am also now more informed about the issue concerning no tour access on Wednesday mornings at St. Peter's Basilica. The references to closures on many of these 3rd party tour websites didn't specify that they varied by weather. I have now learned that the Papal Audience is held in either St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, or the Audience Hall, depending on seasonal conditions and the number of visitors. Hopefully, we will be lucky and the Papal Audience will be held in the Audience Hall/auditorium on the Wednesday we will be in Rome. Again, thank you both. I really appreciate your helpful assistance!

We will be on a Viking cruise in January that will end at Civitavecchia (on a Tuesday). The published time of arrival is 5 am. My husband and I will be spending a few additional days in Italy before flying home. I am trying to figure out what a reasonable time is to schedule our transport to our Rome hotel, as well as scheduling a tour for the Vatican and either the Colosseum or Borghese museum that day. Not knowing how reliable the 5 am arrival time is (wish there were "on time" arrival reports like airlines have), I'm wondering what a reasonable time is to schedule: 1) private transport pickup from Civitavecchia to hotel in Rome (6 am? 7 am? 8 am?), 2) whether we should schedule the Vatican tour for a.m. or p.m.? (some reviews I've read say earlier is better/less crowded; some say mid to late afternoon is better/less crowded), and 3) what's a reasonable start time for our morning tour (i.e., "not before x" time), assuming we will first drop off our luggage at hotel that is less than 2 km from Vatican and 24 min walk; 15 min car ride away? Thank you for any feedback and/or suggestions you might have. p.s. a Vatican tour on our second day is not option because there won't be Basilica access that morning.