Pre or Posr Umbria extension out of Rome

Has anyone experienced the pre or post Umbria extension from Rome? If so, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts and evaluation.

Thanks.

We have been eyeing this one as well and seriously considering adding it to a cruise next summer. Obviously we have no review but hoping it is as good as the Tuscany extension we took last winter after our Iconic Mediterranean cruise. It, like the Umbria one was pricey but absolutely WORTH EVERY PENNY! Will watch for reviews !

Thanks molymoo. We have booked this as a pre-extension to 2019 summer cruise with no knowledge other than Viking's write-up and some research on the towns included. Still hoping that someone who has done this will post here.

Hi lextrvlr, just curious...did you go on the 3-day Umbria pre-extension?  We are considering adding this to our cruise in December as well.

6 hours ago, kentgal said:

Hi lextrvlr, just curious...did you go on the 3-day Umbria pre-extension?  We are considering adding this to our cruise in December as well.

Hi kentgal, no not yet. We have booked this pre-extension  for July which is coming up soon. I have not been able to get a response from anyone who has done the Umbria extension. We chose it because it is a part of Italy we have not visited in the past as opposed to the others offered. This will also be our introduction to Viking so we are "flying blind" all the way. I will be happy to let you know our thoughts on both Umbria and Viking upon our return, Fingers crossed!

We’re doing this one next Winter.  Surprised there has been nothing in the way of reviews but we will happily “fly blind” on this one after our wonderful experience on the Tuscany extension a couple of years ago.  

We were considering this one as well, but ended up selecting a different cruise, so it was not an option. However, we have been to Umbria twice, and it is one of my favorite areas of Italy. Both Assisi and Orvieto I would go back to in a heartbeat, and the three day itinerary sounds quite good to me. Enjoy Umbria and Viking. We have been very happy with both!

We did the Tuscany tour 2 years ago. It was excellent. Trumpy Tours handled everything. The villa was quaint, the food excellent and the wine Chianti. The guide was probably the best that we ever had on our trips. All meals were included. Italian lunches go on for hours!

It's not for us - countryside is where we live.  Having said that we also have a lot of Roman sites in our area, but this is our personal first priority - so for us, it's a no-brainer, researching and then exploring archeological items which are not on the tourist hit-list in Rome.

Whilst we don't really like city-scapes or busy built-up areas for a couple of days, Rome can be tolerated, but don't forget - Umbria gets bombarded with tourists annually, and in the 'off-season' cooler periods of the year the locals appreciate having their place back to themselves (it's also a time when they refurbish and/or change stuff), so if we were ever tempted to return to Umbria we'd avoid their downtimes.

My wife and I joined the Umbria extension last month prior to our cruise from Rome to the Holy land. We have taken several extensions with Viking and this was the best. The lodging, Castello di Monterone in Perugia was spectacular. The castle was built in the 12th century and has been completely modernized. It is located around 2 miles outside of town although you can not walk into Perugia as it is a steep winding road. We ate dinner with the group here twice and both meals were excellent with wine and top ingredients such as truffles. A tour guide is assigned for the length of the extension and remains with the tour the entire time. Our guide Andrea was one of the best we have had over four Viking Ocean cruises. Expert local guides were assigned for tours in Spoletto and Orvieto. We did not tour Todi as advertised as a visit to Perugia was substituted. The dinner at a local winery was also very good. It was a very small farm with most ingredients used in the dinner grown there as well as the wine. Lunch provided in both towns we toured were good with four courses as well as wine. Although the extension was advertised as limited to twenty, our group totaled twenty six. The tour also included a visit to Assisi and the famous monastery. All in all a busy, excellent extension which is recommended.  

40 minutes ago, RJMAROB said:

My wife and I joined the Umbria extension last month prior to our cruise from Rome to the Holy land. We have taken several extensions with Viking and this was the best. The lodging, Castello di Monterone in Perugia was spectacular. The castle was built in the 12th century and has been completely modernized. It is located around 2 miles outside of town although you can not walk into Perugia as it is a steep winding road. We ate dinner with the group here twice and both meals were excellent with wine and top ingredients such as truffles. A tour guide is assigned for the length of the extension and remains with the tour the entire time. Our guide Andrea was one of the best we have had over four Viking Ocean cruises. Expert local guides were assigned for tours in Spoletto and Orvieto. We did not tour Todi as advertised as a visit to Perugia was substituted. The dinner at a local winery was also very good. It was a very small farm with most ingredients used in the dinner grown there as well as the wine. Lunch provided in both towns we toured were good with four courses as well as wine. Although the extension was advertised as limited to twenty, our group totaled twenty six. The tour also included a visit to Assisi and the famous monastery. All in all a busy, excellent extension which is recommended.  

Many thanks RJMAROB. I greatly appreciate your notes on the Umbria extension. Would you mind elaborating a bit on your pick up and transportation to Perugia? We will be doing this in July, using our own air (not Vikings) to FCO and Viking knows our flight and arrival time. Did you experience any problems locating the Viking rep (or their locating you)? Thanks again.

We did not have any trouble locating the Viking rep at the airport. She had a Viking sign and was wearing a company jacket. She was visible as you exit the gate. We did however experience a three hour wait at the airport for our bus to Perugia. We had just missed the last bus and they were waiting for a few more arrivals before the bus left for the hotel. The Viking host accompanied us for a short drive to a hotel on airport grounds where Viking provided a sit down lunch while we waited to leave for Perugia which was appreciated.

Very helpful! Again, thanks.

I agree, this is all very helpful.  Thanks.

On 5/9/2019 at 3:40 AM, lextrvlr said:

Hi kentgal, no not yet. We have booked this pre-extension  for July which is coming up soon. I have not been able to get a response from anyone who has done the Umbria extension. We chose it because it is a part of Italy we have not visited in the past as opposed to the others offered. This will also be our introduction to Viking so we are "flying blind" all the way. I will be happy to let you know our thoughts on both Umbria and Viking upon our return, Fingers crossed!

So how was your Umbria pre-tour and Viking?  We're going in December and we'd love to know your thoughts, tips and recommendations.  We'll be "flying blind" too, and yes I kept my fingers crossed for you.  🙂

6 hours ago, kentgal said:

 

So how was your Umbria pre-tour and Viking?  We're going in December and we'd love to know your thoughts, tips and recommendations.  We'll be "flying blind" too, and yes I kept my fingers crossed for you.  🙂

Outstanding in almost every way. Having made our own air arrangements, we were immediately met by Viking representatives while waiting for our bags at the carousel. Our bags were gathered by them and we were introduced to two others  who had arrived . It was about 8:30 AM local time. We were informed that the arrival of four others would be delayed because of flight delays. We were escorted to the airport Hilton where we where provided a nice buffet breakfast. With the arrival of the delayed four, we were bused to our castle with our host  Andrea (male) who was indeed with us throughout.

The Castelo Monterone was all that could be expected and then some. We were greeted and individually escorted to our rooms by members of the staff. While we rested, others arrived, some late airport arrivals via shuttle and others independently from Rome. We were 18 plus Andrea.

Dinner that evening at the castle. It should be noted that the schedule was not as shown by Viking. According to Andrea it never has been. Another Viking communication breakdown. First two nights dinner at the castle. Third night dinner at a delightful winery. Tour of Perugia replaced Todi. Todi has not been included because of problems getting up to it. All else as given.

All included meals, breakfast lunch and dinner, were outstanding with lunches and dinners properly served on linen and included three or more courses.

I will not spoil the many wonderful surprises. I will note that the only possible negative was that the final lunch lasted so long that our bus didn't reach our ship until 5:00 PM, just a half hour before muster drill.

This for me was the best part of our Viking experience. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Umbria extension gets a 10 while I give the cruise itself an 8+.

Lextrvlr, 

Thank you so much!  It's so nice to finally get some good information and insight about the Umbria pre-tour.  We are really looking forward to this portion of the trip.  And of course, we are looking forward to first cruise ever.  Only 53 more days until we leave on our flight (arranged by Viking).   The description of the Umbria pre-tour sounded so wonderful, we just couldn't resist, and I can't wait to stay at the castle!  I feel like I'll be stepping back in time.  Thank you again, and I'll post here again when we return from our trip and give you and everyone here more information.