Viking excursions - come back early or late?

[zitsky]

I'm trying to plan morning and afternoon excursions.  One runs back to back but I checked with Viking and that is OK.  One is just 45 min after the other.  Maybe that doesn't leave enough time if they come back late?  How good is Viking at coming back on the scheduled time?  Do they come back early?

 

I believe you are supposed to be at the meeting point or on the bus 15 minutes before your tour?

 

Most of my tours have about an hour or more between AM/PM.  Should we have enough time to grab a quick lunch at the World Cafe?

[Cyber Kat]

The only one we did back to back was the St Kitts Railway which we did in the morning and we had time to eat lunch before we went on the included St Kitts and Fairview Estate visit. Most all of the other excursions we did on our West Indies cruise were pretty much all day.   This was our first Viking Ocean cruise (we have done 2 river cruises).  We are going on our second in the fall. 

[CCWineLover]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

I'm trying to plan morning and afternoon excursions.  One runs back to back but I checked with Viking and that is OK.  One is just 45 min after the other.  Maybe that doesn't leave enough time if they come back late?  How good is Viking at coming back on the scheduled time?  Do they come back early?

 

I believe you are supposed to be at the meeting point or on the bus 15 minutes before your tour?

 

Most of my tours have about an hour or more between AM/PM.  Should we have enough time to grab a quick lunch at the World Cafe?

 

Viking will try to get back on time.  The issue to deal with is tour passengers who don't abide by the guide's request to return to the bus at a certain time to go back to the ship.  We had an incident in Malaga where that happened - the 2 women disappeared and were nearly 30 minutes late before coming back to the bus.  The guide did call the ship to let them know that 20 or so people would be late and were going on the next tour.   So - it all depends on the courtesy of your fellow cruise passengers!

[eylarson]

They hit the return times most of the time.  On the World Cruise (large sample size) there were misses, a bus breakdown and a traffic jam.  Another time the guide miscounted and we waited for a person that was never there to begin with.  Hey--It happens.  If they are late, have no doubt your money would be credited.  

[CCWineLover]

Just now, Cyber Kat said:

The only one we did back to back was the St Kitts Railway which we did in the morning and we had time to eat lunch before we went on the included St Kitts and Fairview Estate visit. Most all of the other excursions we did on our West Indies cruise were pretty much all day.   This was our first Viking Ocean cruise (we have done 2 river cruises).  We are going on our second in the fall. 

 

CyberKat - we did this exact combo in February with Viking Sea.  Not sure when you did it, but we had no problems at all.  We even got back to the ship from the St Kitts Railway with plenty of time to sit and relax and have lunch in the World Cafe, before heading out on the next tour. (included St Kitts and Fairview Estate)

[Dauntless]

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

I'm trying to plan morning and afternoon excursions.  One runs back to back but I checked with Viking and that is OK.  One is just 45 min after the other.  Maybe that doesn't leave enough time if they come back late?  How good is Viking at coming back on the scheduled time?  Do they come back early?

 

I believe you are supposed to be at the meeting point or on the bus 15 minutes before your tour?

 

Most of my tours have about an hour or more between AM/PM.  Should we have enough time to grab a quick lunch at the World Cafe?

 

[molymoo]

We have almost always gotten back to the shop on time but last summer we did the British Isles cruise which was a new itinerary.  Almost every excursion we were on was late getting back ... some people did miss later excursions because of the delays.

[Cyber Kat]

3 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

 

CyberKat - we did this exact combo in February with Viking Sea.  Not sure when you did it, but we had no problems at all.  We even got back to the ship from the St Kitts Railway with plenty of time to sit and relax and have lunch in the World Cafe, before heading out on the next tour. (included St Kitts and Fairview Estate)

 

We did it in the Spring of 2018. We had no problems either. It was a nice day. 

[_alan_]

It also depends on the port and the distance back to ship from first excursion 

[zitsky]

What tellus told me is that the minimum time between excursions is 45 min.  But yes that depends on everyone getting back to the bus on time.

[cocopico]

On 6/20/2019 at 7:50 AM, zitsky said:

What tellus told me is that the minimum time between excursions is 45 min.  But yes that depends on everyone getting back to the bus on time.

Based on our experience I would definitely say that's a MINIMUM time, but I wouldn't necessarily count on having time to grab lunch.   More often than not, our tours have gotten back on time, but there have been many exceptions where we were anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour late.  Also, you have to figure in how far the bus is from the ship when it drops you off (we've had as much as a 10 or 15 minute walk back to the ship from the bus drop off) and how many folks are with you trying to get back on board at the same time.  Security can affect this, depending on whether it is port-based screening or ship-based screening for that particular stop.  Leave yourself time to get from the bus (or, if a walking tour, wherever they leave you at the end of the tour, which may not be right at the ship) to security, through security and back on board, eating lunch (presumably something quick at the World Cafe) and back to the meeting place in time for the next tour.  We've done a few "back to back" excursions and try and leave 90 minutes between the two if at all possible.  Your results may vary.       

Edited June 22, 2019 by cocopico