Cost of Excursions

[palermo22]

We will be on the 22 day cruise next April - Barcelona to Stockholm. Usually when we cruise we do our own excursions because many of the cruise lines almost double the cost of what you can get it for on your own. HOWEVER, a few people have told me that while Viking is still more expensive than do it yourself - their cost is actually reasonable. First time on Viking - so I have to go to the community and ask if this is true. I know they include a free excursion at every port (but most - from what I have seen - are the typical bus around the city or a walking tour that doesn't take a genius to duplicate). Just wondering if anyone out there has matched the cost of excursions from Viking and compared them to the outside?

[JVilleGal]

Have you gone to their website and set up your acct? You should be able to see typical excursions and pricing if not for your cruise, another similar.

 

 

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[Dauntless]

We will be on the 22 day cruise next April - Barcelona to Stockholm. HOWEVER, a few people have told me that while Viking is still more expensive than do it yourself - their cost is actually reasonable. First time on Viking Just wondering if anyone out there has matched the cost of excursions from Viking and compared them to the outside?

 

Well, that depends, as usual. When I was researching for Viking Homelands I did find most prices inflated over DIY. We were the last to be able to sign up and I really wanted to see Malbork Castle in Gdansk. To fit the criteria of our time in port, in this case I could not find it cheaper on line so the ship would be first choice for the budget and as luck would have it, there was more than one bus and we able to go without the hassles of a short early stop on a Sunday in Poland.

[Peregrina651]

Prices are available for some but not all tours on your cruise.

 

Go to this page, the day by day itinerary for your cruise. Down the left side of the page are the days of the cruise. Click on the day/port, then scroll down the page a bit to see what tours are offered at that stop (not all of them will be offered on your cruise) and click on the tours you are interested in (where it says "quick look"). A price may or may not be given as part of the description. Price are tentative and will not be fixed until the tours are posted on My Viking Journey (which happens about 100-120 days prior to the cruise). At least you now have a starting point for making comparisons. The port pages are generic for all cruises and not all of the tours may be offered on your sailing.

[Vineyard View]

We were on a similar itinerary

Sat year Barcelona to Stockholm, although it was 29 days, so I am not certain which ports are different. We most often DIY or private tour - with DIY being most common. With Viking we still do this.

There were sometimes just shuttle bus that will transport you to a location you are interested in....and sometimes a tour destination point worked, we exited the bus, let the guide know we will explore independent (with a tip of course) and determined what time to reconnect.

Some ports we could walk from the ship - some ports we had private guides. And honestly, some ports we did take the Viking tours.

I would say that of The tours Viking charges - some were very reasonable particularly compared to other cruise lines - but in deciding that, for us private was frequently the most attractive way to go for a number of reasons outside of and including price.

So all that said, I am looking at our next journey with Viking as a continued combination of all of the above!

You will have a fantastic journey - do what works best for you. JMHO

Edited November 8, 2016 by Vineyard View

[Fitzall]

Just wondering if anyone out there has matched the cost of excursions from Viking and compared them to the outside?

We did a mixture of Viking freebies, Viking paid & private excursions.

 

It really wasn't based on price, but what you got for the paid excursions.

 

Remember that the Viking free & paid excursions will be busloads of 40 people.

As Viking appeals to the 'more mature' traveller, loading/unloading the bus & walking around could take a little longer due to the age of some of the travellers which was fine some of the time.

 

For ports that piqued our interest, we decided on outside private tours booked pre-cruise where there was only the 2 of us; we could spend time in the places that interested us and, by not having to wait for a group to reassemble, we got to see a lot more. With private tours, we were able to massage the tour to include what we wanted to see. Pricing was generally cheaper than Viking, but that wasn't at the forefront of our decision-making.

[Peregrina651]

Plus, when it comes to choosing between DIY, private guide or Viking shorex, there is always the trade off between cost and convenience. For example, I am capable of taking the train from Livorno to Florence or from Civitavecchia to Rome and back but with the limited amount of time we will have in port, I'm happy not to waste time on both ends getting to and from the train station or in being tied to the train schedule. I want something that will fetch me at the ship and bringing me back at the end of the day. For me, the convenience of using the Viking On Your Own outweighs the cheaper cost of taking the train.

[1stimecruiser]

Plus, when it comes to choosing between DIY, private guide or Viking shorex, there is always the trade off between cost and convenience. For example, I am capable of taking the train from Livorno to Florence or from Civitavecchia to Rome and back but with the limited amount of time we will have in port, I'm happy not to waste time on both ends getting to and from the train station or in being tied to the train schedule. I want something that will fetch me at the ship and bringing me back at the end of the day. For me, the convenience of using the Viking On Your Own outweighs the cheaper cost of taking the train.

 

well Said . . .

 

Not been on an Ocean Cruise yet but from my River experience the Viking shorex were only a little more expensive than DIY and when there were 40 on the bus they would break us up into smaller groups of 20 or less, each group with their own guide to allow us the smaller group experience. Also did this on the included tours.

 

We do both DIY or Viking Shorex and find good points in both.

 

I'm 60 days from my first Viking Ocean cruise and can't wait.

[Dauntless]

well Said . . .

 

Not been on an Ocean Cruise yet but from my River experience the Viking shorex were only a little more expensive than DIY and when there were 40 on the bus they would break us up into smaller groups of 20 or less, each group with their own guide to allow us the smaller group experience. Also did this on the included tours.

.

 

I can't speak for other shore excursions than the cruise I was on but there was no splitting a group of 40 into 2 groups of 20. If you were on the bus, you were with everyone all the time. I really can't remember how many made up a group with the walking tours. I would say might have been the smallest group but I'm sure there were larger groups as well. With the voice box, the guide can always be heard as long as you are close enough to pick up the frequency.

[Vineyard View]

So many good points and great advice here.

I would second that Oceans, on our few excursions, kept the bus in a large full bus group.

I also agree with the private tours vs 40 People when it makes sense. There are times we will absolutely go with just the two of us or a small group vs 40 in a bus. There are times that excursions make sense. It's all individual. I do like the option of having included options in each port - this provides you such varied choices.

[palermo22]

I just wanted to get an idea before I began planning excursions. I have lived and traveled all over the world - so doing it ourselves has never been a problem. If however Viking had some good deals on certain ports I would certainly consider those.

[JVilleGal]

I'm not sure Viking and good deal is something I've ever seen expressed in the same sentence ;)

 

 

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[Lottie A]

Well I think the cost of the Viking Excursions for our January cruise are very reasonable compared to costs on Azamara and Oceania. We do usually arrange private excursions on other cruise lines but on this occasion have booked two ship tours, one to Aix en Provence and one to Nice. I think they are rather good value. We will DIY the other ports as we know them well.

 

Of course, we won't stay with the tour group in Aix as we want to do other things, but it is easy to meet up with them at the prearranged time and place for the transfer back to the ship. The Nice tour is Nice on your own and we know exactly what we will be doing there. We look at the tours as transport there and back and then leave the group. I doubt we could get a taxi there and back in the very expensive French Riviera for the cost of these tours, so yes I do think they are good value.

 

The included tours don't appeal to me so much, as we have been to our ports of call many times. I suppose if you were new to the ports then they may serve to orientate you, but they are not really for experienced Med travellers.

Edited November 13, 2016 by Lottie A