Tours By Local Excursions

[DCBUS]

Hello,

We have a European cruise in April, and we are trying to schedule Tours By Local Excursions. I am told that Viking has not yet let the ports know their itinerary and that is why when we go to the tours web site, we can not schedule any dates. Is this normal for Viking for the delayed itinerary to the ports? Is there a "Normal" time frame that the cruise lines let ports know their schedule.

 

Thank you JR 

[ropomo]

I ran into this on Vikings Homelands cruise recently in the Baltics for May/June.  I simply copied and pasted the itinerary from my invoice and emailed to the tour organizers for review.  They responded with what they would offer.  HTH

[deec]

Has anyone used tours by locals in Paris?

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 hours ago, deec said:

Has anyone used tours by locals in Paris?

 

Try Paris Walks

http://www.paris-walks.com/index_m.html

[deec]

which one did you do?

At first glance looks like just what I maybe looking for, thanks!!!

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, deec said:

which one did you do?

At first glance looks like just what I maybe looking for, thanks!!!

 

We have been on several London Walks. One of those tours was conducted by one of the founders of the company (they are actually a co-operative of licensed tour guides). He recommend Paris Walks for when we go to Paris. We were extremely satisfied with London Walks, highly recommend them, and were assured Paris Walks was the same type of high quality tour and is legitimate (see below). Some of the guides have worked for both companies.

 

During our conversation he told us a story, confirmed by others on our tour, of a scam being run by a shady East European group who offer "free" walking tours in most of the major cities in Europe. During the "free" tour, you need to provide personal information into an app (this gives his handler a head count). Later during the tour, the guide receives a phone call, acts distraught, and informs everyone that his boss is requiring him to charge a fee for each person in his group. He then apologizes profusely and gives some sob story about losing his job, etc. etc. Typically people fall for it and end up paying more money then what a real tour would cost from a legitimate company. Also, the historical information they give you during the tour may be stuff that they just made up. The pity is that this group is driving the legitimate tour guides out of business. People see "free" and they don't look further. Like most things in life, if it's too good to be true, it probably is.

Edited January 23, 2019 by OneSixtyToOne

[Heidi13]

23 hours ago, DCBUS said:

Hello,

We have a European cruise in April, and we are trying to schedule Tours By Local Excursions. I am told that Viking has not yet let the ports know their itinerary and that is why when we go to the tours web site, we can not schedule any dates. Is this normal for Viking for the delayed itinerary to the ports? Is there a "Normal" time frame that the cruise lines let ports know their schedule.

 

Thank you JR 

Cruise lines normally have the ports booked before releasing an itinerary. If you are talking April 2019, Viking should definitely have the ports booked.

 

If you advise which cruise and list of ports/dates I can do a quick check.

[stretchcruz]

Dee, email me. We rented an apartment in Paris for 4 nights after a river cruise and the person who owned it was a retired professor of American literature from the Sorbonne. She does tour guiding and she took us around for 4 days. Such a wonderful person. I've had a few folks use her since, even if they didn't book her apartment. It was so nice to just wander around with her and she catered our days to us.

[RetroRod]

I experienced the same frustration last year with not be able to review, far in advance, the excursions that would be available at each port. Viking corporate told me excursions for my cruise would be posted 120-100 days prior to departure. It actually turned out to be 97 days prior. Didn’t impact me too much since the window to book, based on our PV cabin, opened up 75 days prior to departure. 

[DCBUS]

Hello,

 

Thank you everyone for the suggestions.

 

JR

[DCBUS]

Hello Heidi13,

 

We are on Viking Star April 13-25

 

Day 1 Venice, Italy
Day 2 Venice, Italy
Day 3 Venice, Italy
Day 4 Venice, Italy
Day 5 Split, Croatia
Day 6 Dubrovnik, Croatia
Day 7 Corfu (Kérkyra), Greece
Day 8 At Sea
Day 9 Naples, Italy
Day 10 Rome, Italy
Day 11 Florence/Pisa, Italy
Day 12 Monte Carlo, Monaco
Day 13 Marseille, France
Day 14 Barcelona, Spain
Day 15 Barcelona, Spain
Day 16 Madrid, Spain
Day 17 Madrid, Spain
 

Thank you

JR

[Heidi13]

I checked the first 3 ports and Viking ships are posted on a number of sources.

 

Venice - Alongside April 13th & departing April 14th

Split - Alongside April 15th, in port with Viking Jupiter

Dubrovnik - Alongside April 16th, in port with Viking Jupiter