jiminyC_fan

Thanks for the information! We are interested in the Malbork Castle tour and would like to see it plus spend time in Gdansk. After your tour to Malbork, was it possible for you to spend time in Gdansk on your own and get a shuttle back to the bus?

Carol

You're welcome. We did NOT have enough time to enjoy Gdansk on our own. I do wish we did, however. It seems that port times vary between cruises. You might be lucky.

Alla Tours were easy and quick to communicate with them online. No questions went unanswered past 24 hours. We were lucky to only have 3 couples on our tour. The van was new and comfortable. They kept us on schedule so that we could maximize all the sights to see.

I probably booked 5 or 6 months out for St Petersburg. We used Alla Tours. They are outstanding. For Gdansk we took a Viking excursion to Malborg Castle which we enjoyed the drive to it and the castle itself. We didn't take the included. I did hear great things about the included.

We never once waited for no shows on Viking. They were always prompt on leaving.

1. If you booked a private tour and are booked for an included excursion, please cancel your included one. This way it's easier for Viking to Plan how many tour guides/buses they need to have.

2. If you booked an included excursion but then during the cruise decided do not take it, bring your tickets to the Explorer desk the night before the latest (I believe before 6 pm). It happened to us when we found out our friend will be in town the same day as we are. I called Explorer desk to notify them and they asked to bring our tickets to the desk.

Great advice!

Has anyone had any experience with the included tours when there are "no shows" and therefore space on the tour? Are other people free to take these places?

 

Mia

Yep, they are sure able to take the empty spots. We changed plans in one port and wanted an earlier included tour. We went to the Explorer's Desk the night before and asked. They told us to show up at the meeting spot on the ship the following morning. We talked to the one in charge of the tour and they told us just to go off the ship and tell them at the gate. They put us aside and once everyone boarded they then took a head count and allowed us on. They told us that no shows happen often and it was no big deal.

We've used the STEP program before. I can't tell you how many notifications I was getting when Stockholm and St Petersburg had the attacks. Avoid this location, be on the outlook for that, rally's, protests etc. The program is great.

We stay in Cozumel 1-2 times a year. Three weeks at a time. We have locals as friends. We go back in the neighborhoods. Eat off the beaten path. It is safe. We are booked for our next trip in January.

We had a private tour. Our room was port side so we got off the minute we saw people leaving and fortunately so did the other two couples we were touring with. We did not have to wait for ship tours to leave first and we were able to start our tour earlier than the tour company scheduled. This was May/June of this year.

What we DID hear were the slamming doors! Some folks would leave their cabin and instead of easing the door shut they would let it slam, and it would shake the wall. It was crazy. You'd be in bed and hear KERBLAM...SHAKE!!

That's a pet peeve of mine wherever we go, cruising, hotels, whatever. I don't get the slamming of doors.

That is exactly why we decided to choose Homelands. We've never been in those 3 countries. We fell in love with Norway - it's so beautiful!

We fell so much in love with Norway that I am thinking about planning a land trip. Just have to figure out where to start.

Oh, I remember this thread! I followed you in my research for the same cruise :) Thank you very much!

Glad I could offer a little help!

For me, I chose the Homelands cruise because of it stopping in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and it seems poss is interested in them as well. The countries were just as important to me as the fjords. The itinerary most definitely satisfied me.

I used it as the pillow also. It's in the nice pouch and very soft. I would put it under my pillow and voila- nice puffy pillow ;). Yes, it's big but good for me. I'm tall and airplane's blanket often short.

Great idea on the pillow. We always use those neck pillows so we packed the blankets and the neck pillows. We are both tall, too, so the size of the blanket is fantastic for us tall people. Those airplane blankets are "icky" to me. I've read they are sealed but not necessarily cleaned.

Here is at thread that I started. Maybe it is something that can help you. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2508341

We chose the blanket, too. I thought it would be great for the airplane but boy are those blankets huge. I'm actually sorry we packed them. They are very nice!

No, they are not! Unfortunately we joined our neighbors by the wall where our TVs were. Boy, it was loud that we sometimes had to add volume on our side to hear the news or a movie :(. We suspected hearing problem (they talked loud too) and didn't say anything. I guess TV earphones would be nice but they have to be cordless - the TV is right in front of the bed. It would be also nice if we could rotate our TV. I would rather watch it from the sofa than the bed.

How funny. Definitely depends on who your neighbors are for sure. We didn't hear one thing next to us or in the hallway on the ocean cruise like we did on our river cruise. My husband has hearing aids and would hike up the volume. When he wasn't looking I would turn it down, LOL.

We took the Viking Homelands cruise this past May/June. Absolutely loved every aspect of it. We did some of their included tours, explored on our own or hired a private company.

Because we were in Stockholm and St Petersburg right after their attacks, we did register with the US Govt. We left our itinerary including confirmation numbers with our daughters.

However I need to add that this thread is nice and sweet for those who already booked a cruise, but for those doing a serious research, this thread is overly sugar sweet - the only few compliments that are missing in this thread are probably that the sea is blue, water is wet, the sun is hot, and the sky is high - that is why we cruise on Viking!

As you said in your own review, it is the personal opinion of the reviewer. If it sounds overly sweet, perhaps, that's their true feeling. We don't vacation to look for negatives. We love Viking and have zero complaints!

We were in Stockholm and St Petersburg pretty much right after their attacks and we didn't want to cancel. RJ2002, I'm happy you are going anyway. What we found were that the cities and towns were beginning to place items like HUGE rocks to stop cars before this kind of thing happens again. I think it was a Copenhagen guide that pointed it out to us.

The don't offer dinner. They offer sandwiches until 5pm or so and then again some light snacks (and pea soup) after the dinner service is over.

Ah, ok. I misunderstood a previous post then. Thanks. I forgot about the pea soup when we were on the Star. I was going to make a point of having some. Oh well, there is always next time, right?

Silly me. I never realized the Explorer's lounge offered dinner. I guess that shows you that I didn't read the daily word for word. What kind of food do they offer for dinner?

How funny. I never even noticed the plates either warm or cold. Probably it depends on the time you eat and the time it was taken out of the dishwasher. We always ate as soon as it opened.

Welcome home. Glad you had a great time. Too bad about your tv remote. I'm sure it was annoying. Ours worked really well. I didn't read about the battery tea light hint. Great tip. Thanks!

World Cafe was our go to dinner spot. Service is just as wonderful as in any other of the restaurants.

I don't drink so I don't know for sure but can anyone else answer whether or not there are tea bags by the beverage section of the buffet? They keep that portion open so that might be an option.