viking ocean

[espresso68]

Going on viking star in april.making a stop in Barcelona.does any one know

of tour groups that go to Gaudis Sagrada Familia form the ship.

[NavyVeteran]

Is Barcelona a disembarkation/embarkation day for your cruise? Even if you booked it in the middle of a two-week cruise, check to see if the two weeks are offered separately.

 

If Barcelona is disembarkation/embarkation for many - if not most - people on your ship, then you may have trouble finding any ship's tours there. Other cruise lines with larger ships often offer tours on turnaround days, but Viking may not have enough continuing passengers to be able to do it.

 

If you check TripAdvisor, you can find several companies that offer shore excursion tours of Barcelona. Some of them offer small group tours picking you up and dropping you off at the ship. I don't want to recommend any specific one because I haven't used one yet, but I have been researching possible tours at the end of my Civitavecchia to Barcelona cruise on the Viking Star next January.

[rjscott]

I have been looking at Barcelona Day Tours on Trip Advisor that does pick up at the port. If you are staying on in Barcelona, they will also take your luggage and at the end of the tour drop you and luggage at your hotel.

 

Becki

[id4elizabeth]

This is information from last April, so things may have changed. Viking offers NO tours on "turn around" day. This was true in Venice, Barcelona, and Bergen. So if you're sailing on from Barcelona, you'll have to make arrangements for yourselves on the middle day. Viking did spend 2 nights in Barcelona (2 1/2 days).

 

If you want to go to Sagrada Familia, there were a couple Viking tours on the first and third days that did go there. One was the Gaudi Architectural tour, but you also go to several other Gaudi sites as well as the church. It's an optional tour (pay extra) but we enjoyed it.

 

I can highly recommend Barcelona Day Tours. We used them on our "turn around" day to go to Montserrat. They picked us up at the ship's terminal and dropped us back there at the end of the day. The trip was fabulousx and they were easy to work with.

[inborn traveler]

We board the Viking Sea on April 24, 2016. We fly in on the 23rd and are staying at The Radisson Blu. I bought "skip the line" timed tickets for the 24th which include the interior of the Segrada . We will store our bags at the hotel, taxi to the Segrada for our tour, then back to hotel for our bags, and taxi to the ship for boarding. I think this should work quite well for us. The next morning, the 25th, I have booked SpainDayTours for a 4 hour city tour. We will be back to the ship in time to sail at 6:00. I have been putting this on Cruise Critic with hopes other passengers will join us as we need 10 people for the tour to "go". If Viking Sea cruisers are interested, let the tour company know you wish to be on Lynda Brown's tour.

Hope this gives you some suggestions.

[espresso68]

Thank you all

[id4elizabeth]

Inborn traveler - don't know how close you are to getting to 10, but we used Spain Day Tours (affiliated with Barcelona Day Tours) in Cadiz to take us to Seville (another fabulous trip). We needed 10 there too but only had 8. All the tour company really cares about is that they get paid for 10. So the 8 of us agreed to split the cost of the extra 2 and we entered 2 extra people on the website and paid for them before we left. Of course these 2 people were no shows, but we all chipped in to pay for the 10. Hope that makes sense. Of course, this wouldn't work if you only had 4 people, but if you're close to 10 and willing to pay a bit more, it's better than nothing.

[inborn traveler]

Elizabeth,

Am glad to hear you split the cost of the 2 needed people. I have been thinking of asking fellow cruisers to do just that if we don't reach ten. Thanks

Lynda

[inborn traveler]

If you are on the Viking Sea, which will be in Bergen May 8-9, you may be aware that there are no Viking shore excursions available. I have been in contact with "Bergen Walks" and they are willing to provide two tours for us, eventhough they have nothing regularly scheduled. One is a two hour city walking tour and the other is a three hour excursion with transportation to Evard Grieg's home. They need to know how many people are interested before they will provide us a per person cost. If you are interested, please give me your names, which tour you'd want, and which date you prefer. I am willing to act as the contact person with "Bergen Walks". Take a look at their website.

Lynda

[Lucky Granny]

Please check MyVikingJourney again for the May 8 Viking Sea cruise. Mine shows that there are excursions available on May 9, both the complimentary tour and a few paid tours. The complimentary tour is a 2.5 hour walking tour at 8:45 am, leaving time before departure for touring on your own. Rick Steves says most everything is within walking distance, including the funicular.

[Mpc524]

In December we used Barcelona Day Tours and were EXTREMELY happy with them!

[Vineyard View]

You might also consider purchasing online tickets that are specified in a window of time that you will be there...as mentioned before you skip the long lines and it works so smoothly. We used hop on / hop off and were able to visit Sagradia at our leisure.

We continued on and visited Park Guell on our own at our leisure (again, pre purchased tickets), ending at Casa Batlo (prepurchased tickets).

We have spent quite a bit of time in Barcelona over three different visits. It is a great city to explore independently if that is your style.

Just a different thought.

[inborn traveler]

I contacted Viking. Only passengers who stay on ship for the next leg of the cruise can participate in the ship's Bergan tours. What a disappointment! Thanks tho "Granny" for giving me the tip.

Lynda

[Lucky Granny]

Lynda, my post reflects the fact that we are boarding the Sea in Bergen on May 8. Apparently those disembarking on that day can't take the tours. I hadn't thought of that. Hope you find a great tour.