Up sells?

[Mpc524]

We are sailing on 12/15, Mediterranean Getaway. We are planning on just relaxing in each port; just taking the free overview tour and then relaxing, strolling and maybe seeing just one sight in depth in each port. We have never been on a cruise before. Will Viking do a hard sell to get us to go on their pay excursions? We don't want to spend a lot of time in buses. We just want to soak it all up slooooowly!!

[id4elizabeth]

There's no hard sell. If you go to the port talks, there might be some, but I would not call it a hard sell. And of course you can skip the port lectures entirely, then there's no sell. If you get a good guide book you'll be in great shape.

[eaglewatchers]

We are sailing on 12/15, Mediterranean Getaway. We are planning on just relaxing in each port; just taking the free overview tour and then relaxing, strolling and maybe seeing just one sight in depth in each port. We have never been on a cruise before. Will Viking do a hard sell to get us to go on their pay excursions? We don't want to spend a lot of time in buses. We just want to soak it all up slooooowly!!

 

Check the DETAILS of the included tours with the folks at Explorer's Desk and/or go to port talk. There is no upsell, but you should listen to the description of included tours carefully if you do not want to be on buses a lot. SOME are ALL bus. The Explorer's Desk has detailed itineraries and can tell you exactly how much time at photo stops, "on your own" etc. for the included tours. Some folks opt to simply go into town on their own if it is walkable. Viking also provides shuttles, but you need to know pickup location and time so you don;t end up stranded in port!

 

Our experience in July was our first cruise, and if we had it to do again we'd have opted out of a couple of the included tours (or left them early) to simply do things on our own (and avoid buses). Depends a LOT on the port. Read posts on CC about how close the ship is, etc. to decide. You can always book the included tour with your online access a couple months ahead, then drop out of it the day before... or leave the group part way through if on foot. MANY do that! It's just hard to do if the port is a 30 min drive from the actual town. Ask the staff... and preferably not the newest member. Tour GUIDES always can tell you where to pick up shuttles, if there are any.