Just back - great cruise but not great shore excursions

[tgg]

My husband and I were considering Viking Ocean but we were a little concerned about the quality of the shore excursions. So I came over to the Viking board - and I'm so glad I did. (We were looking at the same itinerary for next December.)

 

After reading about your experiences, we've decided to choose a cruise line that doesn't include shore excursions.

 

Thanks kjbacon for helping us decide. Your posts came at the perfect time for us.

[garycarla]

My husband and I were considering Viking Ocean but we were a little concerned about the quality of the shore excursions. So I came over to the Viking board - and I'm so glad I did. (We were looking at the same itinerary for next December.)

 

After reading about your experiences, we've decided to choose a cruise line that doesn't include shore excursions.

 

Thanks kjbacon for helping us decide. Your posts came at the perfect time for us.

 

You do not HAVE to take all of them. On our recent cruise we skipped two of them and enjoyed our time onboard.

 

I will tell you from experience, way more people will come here and complain than those that come to say they loved things. Changing cruise lines for this reason just seems....well... trying to be nice... silly.

Edited January 11, 2017 by garycarla

[tgg]

You do not HAVE to take all of them. On our recent cruise we skipped two of them and enjoyed our time onboard.

 

I will tell you from experience, way more people will come here and complain than those that come to say they loved things. Changing cruise lines for this reason just seems....well... trying to be nice... silly.

 

When I read that someone had some major problems with a cruise line's included shore excursions, I listen to the details. And when that person says that the onboard staff was unresponsive or hostile, I take note. When a cruise line's description lists a ferry - and it turns out to be a 40 minute speedboat ride, I listen.

 

I'm not "changing" cruise lines. I just decided that the cruise that kjbacon described is not for us. I'll just stay with Oceania, Azamara, and Seabourn and continue to book private excursions.

 

I've been posting on Cruise Critic for more than 15 years, so I'm well aware that there are both positive and negative reviews. What you call "complaining" I call warning others about problems.

 

Not so silly really.

Edited January 11, 2017 by tgg

[Host Jazzbeau]

My husband and I were considering Viking Ocean but we were a little concerned about the quality of the shore excursions. So I came over to the Viking board - and I'm so glad I did. (We were looking at the same itinerary for next December.)

 

After reading about your experiences, we've decided to choose a cruise line that doesn't include shore excursions.

 

Thanks kjbacon for helping us decide. Your posts came at the perfect time for us.

 

This makes sense -- if the Viking cruise costs more than the alternatives that don't include shore excursions. Otherwise, you could just lump them with any other onboard amenities that you don't plan to use.

[hypercafe]

Al tho we have yet to take our first Viking trip my impression is that their is one included shore trip in each port. From what I have read it is a general bus tour or walking tour. That said, I would not put Viking in the category of a line that includes shore trips such as Regent.

[Fpacifico]

Al tho we have yet to take our first Viking trip my impression is that their is one included shore trip in each port. From what I have read it is a general bus tour or walking tour. That said, I would not put Viking in the category of a line that includes shore trips such as Regent.

 

Ok, you've never taken Viking and you're making a broad generalization. I'm sure that regent is nice , I just happened to have gotten hooked on Viking.

[kjbacon]

When I read that someone had some major problems with a cruise line's included shore excursions, I listen to the details. And when that person says that the onboard staff was unresponsive or hostile, I take note. When a cruise line's description lists a ferry - and it turns out to be a 40 minute speedboat ride, I listen.

 

I'm not "changing" cruise lines. I just decided that the cruise that kjbacon described is not for us. I'll just stay with Oceania, Azamara, and Seabourn and continue to book private excursions.

 

I've been posting on Cruise Critic for more than 15 years, so I'm well aware that there are both positive and negative reviews. What you call "complaining" I call warning others about problems.

 

Not so silly really.

 

I'm glad that you found my feedback helpful and I agree with you, the boards are a valuable source of info for choosing itineraries, cruise lines, etc.

 

A couple points:

Not all excursions are included. There was one complimentary shore excursion per port included that was usually a 2-3 hour informative tour (mostly by bus). We did 4 of these and one was excellent, two were good, and one was fair.

 

We did 4 shore excursions that carried a fee. The one in St. Lucia was excellent and I will give more of a review a bit later. The one in Guadeloupe was very good and I did give a review earlier (the hike to Carbet Falls). The one in Tortola (the Baths) was bad and the one in St Kitts was the kayak tour disaster that I will provide more info on later.

 

To be fair, I have been contacted by the Viking home office and the rep spoke with me at length about the shore excursions. She asked good questions and I truly felt that she was both listening and hearing me. She said that my feedback was much appreciated as this itinerary is new for them and that they are learning the area. I'm torn on my feelings on this as you can well imagine.

 

In my initial post, and I will repeat, this was a great trip for us with so many other bright and positive points. I've many mixed emotions!

 

We are starting to look at Oceania for our next trip and hope to learn more about that line. Like you, I will include these boards as a source of info.

[hypercafe]

Ok, you've never taken Viking and you're making a broad generalization. I'm sure that regent is nice , I just happened to have gotten hooked on Viking.

 

 

Actually we have a 15 day trip booked for October, NYC to San Juan. I do not think I made a broad generalization, just restating what I read on the cruise description. I wasn't trying to discredit Viking, just saying I would not group them with lines that include most shore trips.

[aquidneck1]

The worst and scariest shore excursion that we have been on was with Crystal which has a very good reputation for shore excursions. Sometimes the infrastructure is not available to ensure reliability. That said, Crystal was totally non responsive to our concerns. We are looking forward to a Viking Cruise and we will see for ourselves, but there is no sure thing out there.

[philw1776]

We've done Virgin Gorda. Loved it. It can be a challenge if you're not agile. Agree it should have BOLD warnings.

 

As to your failed kayak, etc. excursion, I'd possibly fault your Cruise Director. Not for the excursion itself but for how he/she handled the issues. We just finished a great Viking River cruise. One paid for wine tasting excursion was no disaster but it was especially lame, not worth the Euros. Those on the tour were quite dissatisfied and many unloaded on our Cruise Director. We didn't bother because the poor guy had been so beaten up by others although he took it well. The local guide who had arranged this particular tour with Viking and given the tour was fired. The CD was very apologetic and took immediate action.

 

I suspect that the TDs etc. on Viking Ocean lack the sailing experience in their newly assigned areas such that there are likely more failed tours. But that s no excuse for not handling the situation well with the paying customers.

[t&c_traveling]

I'm really surprised that you found it demanding and Viking didn't inform you of that. We did the Viking Homelands Cruise and the paperwork we got on the excursions were very detailed in the fact of demanding or not. Even with the details we received, we had a tour that very clearing said demanding and there were people on it that couldn't keep up. I think some people may not do enough research or read the information thoroughly. Personally we didn't have any problems with any of the tours we did with Viking.

 

Sent from my SM-G920T using Forums mobile app

[MVCACruisers]

We are currently on the West Indies cruise and my husband and I were signed up for the Virgin Gorda Baths tour. I believe that Viking was very upfront about the difficulty of the tour. In the documentation it was rated a "d" for demanding. Because my husband has a bad hip, the rating caused me to look it up on YouTube. The videos show how tight the maneuvering is at the Baths. So he cancelled out. At the port talk the tour director also made the same warning as well as the chance for rough seas on the ferry ride over.

 

I went on the tour and it was simply wonderful. The hike down was a bit difficult as was the trip though the boulders, but the conditions and circumstances on any particular day do make a difference. We had calm seas, there was no rain and the path down was not slippery. There was only one ship in port and the park was not very crowded. We had an easy trip through the boulders and the water was fine. There was an easier way down to the right and I noticed that an older couple took that route down and chose not to go through the cave at all. You can still see the unique bolder formations.

 

My suggestion is to read all the Viking material carefully, listen to Viking port talks and you'll have a great time.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[kjbacon]

I'm glad that current passengers are beginning to benefit from our experiences. When the Viking Rep called me the other day, she did say that they had revised the rating from Moderate to Difficult because of the feedback so that is good. The port talk on our sailing made no mention of the issues and we attended them daily so it sounds like that has been stepped up too.. I do wish it had been in proper order to help those on our sailing! A side note on the "ferry" ride over: the choppy water is only part of the issue, the other issue is that it is a high speed boat ride and should be described as such.

[MVCACruisers]

Wow, if the tour was previously rated m for moderate, it really did need changing. The tour company used must have multiple ferries. Our ferry was not high speed. It was quite similar to the speed I've experienced on many ferries I've been on before, and lulled me to sleep on the return trip. [emoji4]