Is Viking shortening the list of available excursions?

[eddieg07410]

Went to my voyage and noticed that for the ports that had posted excursions there were maybe 5 at each port. This seemed very short to me based upon my pre-covid cruising with other lines.

[KBs mum]

That's fairly usual, lots of Viking passengers don't book group excursions. There will often be several groups going on each 

[BornLucky]

I think a related problem appears to be that capacity has been cut, so more are showing as sold out quicker. If you are not in a P cabin expect to have a restricted choice. For some activities there may be a physical capcity restriction, but too many that are showing as sold out merely require another bus and guide. If you look at roll calls here on CC it seems to be that more passengers than usual are opting for third party small group tours.

[TayanaLorna]

An upcoming cruise of ours shows between 1 and 15 excursions available in each port.  Go figure.

[Mr Luxury]

I do not do tours on any ship

You can have all of mine 😁

[katlew]

I think Viking is experiencing the same issues the tourist industry as a whole is, not enough people to work. It's hard to find bus drivers and your guides. We are doing the NZ/Aus cruise in December and I've heard from folks in New Zealand that it is a real issue there. We've decided to book our own private tours in some ports and are finding many companies are out of business, or tours are all sold out already, and so on. 

[lackcreativity]

Katlew is on the mark. So many tourist industry employees had to find new jobs during the pandemic, and so many of them have chosen not to come back. As much as we want to travel, travel isn't yet like it was prior to Covid.

We really enjoyed our eastern Mediterranean cruise this spring, but we went with the expectation that things would not be exactly the same. I suspect that things will not be the same for quite some time yet. At seventy years old and very nearly seventy, we personally don't have time to wait. We will continue to travel, and accept that the great crew at Viking will do the very best they can to make our trip a pleasure.

[CCWineLover]

Excursions have been reduced post Covid because like everywhere in this world resources are now scarce.  Viking scrambles to find tour operators but many have lost staff.  It is just the Covid fallout here (again!). 
if they could find operators Viking would certainly do so.  It also explains why some area are worse than others (lack of people).  So many moved on to other professions during Covid and of course like the USA, many have simply chosen not to work anymore.  I think it will be a long time, if ever, before the far reaching effects of Covid are gone..

Edited September 7, 2022 by CCWineLover

[WNcruiser]

On 9/7/2022 at 4:16 AM, BornLucky said:

I think a related problem appears to be that capacity has been cut, so more are showing as sold out quicker. If you are not in a P cabin expect to have a restricted choice. For some activities there may be a physical capcity restriction, but too many that are showing as sold out merely require another bus and guide. If you look at roll calls here on CC it seems to be that more passengers than usual are opting for third party small group tours.

For Viking? I have 2 cruises in the next 4 months and both roll calls are DEAD. I cant even find 2-4 others to join me on private tours. The South America tour prices are crazy high. 

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

The South America tour prices are crazy high. 

 

High demand, low supply. They can charge what they want and someone will pay it.

 

 

 

[eddieg07410]

9 hours ago, WNcruiser said:

For Viking? I have 2 cruises in the next 4 months and both roll calls are DEAD. I cant even find 2-4 others to join me on private tours. The South America tour prices are crazy high. 

I also have a celebrity cruise next year. And that roll call is dead as well. I see roll calls on cruise a couple of months passed and a few months into the future. Maybe five posts in each one. Why do you think this is sp?

[Travel R]

We cruised in Alaska a few months ago and took a whale watching excursion (3rd party).  The owner of the company was our captain. She said that she usually has three boats going out each day, but only has two this season due to lack of qualified people to drive a boat.  Her competitors were flying captains up from Seattle to work for them that season (she operates 6 pax boats, so it did not make sense for her to do so).   This is just another side-effect of the pandemic, which hopefully will get better as we more forward.

 

Sorry if I am hijacking this thread, but I have a few excursion-related questions . . .

 

Question as a Viking virgin - someone mentioned that many Viking pax are taking more and more 3rd party tours.  Aren't the complimentary tours one of the main reasons to sail with Viking?   For the itinerary we are looking at, I am thinking about taking all the complimentary tours except in one port - should I be re-thinking this?  We (ourselves and another couple) are also looking at most likely a DV, will we get the bottom of the barrel when it comes to excursion choices?

Edited September 9, 2022 by Travel R

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

Question as a Viking virgin - someone mentioned that many Viking pax are taking more and more 3rd party tours.  Aren't the complimentary tours one of the main reasons to sail with Viking?   For the itinerary we are looking at, I am thinking about taking all the complimentary tours except in one port - should I be re-thinking this?  We (ourselves and another couple) are also looking at most likely a DV, will we get the bottom of the barrel when it comes to excursion choices?

That really depends on the cruise you are on and what your personal interests are. Viking has “privileged access” with some venues meaning you might get special viewing hours or have a behind the scenes experiences. Other times they may offer the opportunity to visit an attraction of particular interest to you. For example we visited The Alhambra with an optional tour. Tickets to that are very limited and cruise lines are allowed only one bus load of passengers. 
 

As far as “bottom of the barrel” is concerned, you need to do research and decide your top priorities and book those excursions as soon as your booking window opens up. Be aware some optional tours may require long bus rides and can be an all day affair with most time spent in transit. Again, research is a must.

Many included tours have suited us just fine. With limited time in port you really need to decide what your interests are.

Also for the included tours, read the descriptions carefully. If it says “you will see” vs “you will visit” it most likely means a drive by on a bus or walking past it.

[katlew]

3 hours ago, Travel R said:

We cruised in Alaska a few months ago and took a whale watching excursion (3rd party).  The owner of the company was our captain. She said that she usually has three boats going out each day, but only has two this season due to lack of qualified people to drive a boat.  Her competitors were flying captains up from Seattle to work for them that season (she operates 6 pax boats, so it did not make sense for her to do so).   This is just another side-effect of the pandemic, which hopefully will get better as we more forward.

 

Sorry if I am hijacking this thread, but I have a few excursion-related questions . . .

 

Question as a Viking virgin - someone mentioned that many Viking pax are taking more and more 3rd party tours.  Aren't the complimentary tours one of the main reasons to sail with Viking?   For the itinerary we are looking at, I am thinking about taking all the complimentary tours except in one port - should I be re-thinking this?  We (ourselves and another couple) are also looking at most likely a DV, will we get the bottom of the barrel when it comes to excursion choices?

With Viking Ocean, we found a lot of the free included tours were mainly a sightseeing bus tour with a few stops. (With Viking River, they tended to be walking tours.) Sometimes, that is all you want in a town & some were very enjoyable, like the one we had in Shetland. They often allow you to get off in town after the tour and you have time to explore on your own. The optional tours tend to go to somewhere further out or a more specific place. For example on our upcoming cruise some of the optional tours will take you to tour old homes, or to a nature preserve, or on a wine train. 

 

For our up-coming trip we've decided to do a mix of included, optional, and book our own tours. We are booking our own tours in a couple ports for a few different reasons.

1. We tend to be on the younger side for Viking passengers, so we like to do things at a little faster pace than some of the larger Viking tours. Booking a private tour lets us see what we want at our own pace.

2. Based on some of the comments in the boards lately, we are worried that a specific tour we want to take will sell out, especially since we are a group of six. Rather than wait and see if that happens for something we really want to do, we are booking our own tour. 

3. Finally, we found that booking a private shore tour is often cheaper than booking the Viking optional tours. For example, Viking is charging $99 for a tour of a nature preserve on our trip. I discovered it is easy to get there from the port and set up a private tour with the preserve for us for just $35 each. 

 

Booking your own tours has cons though too. The boat will not wait for you if something happens and your tour is late getting back. Also if the cruise has to skip a port, you may not get your money back. It's important to know the tour company's policies. 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, Travel R said:

Aren't the complimentary tours one of the main reasons to sail with Viking? 

 

Maybe what attracts first timers but it isn't what keeps people coming back cruise after cruise. Life's too short; it would take more than free tours to get me to cruise on a line where I wasn't happy.

 

What keeps me coming back is the people who choose to cruise with Viking, the service (everyone on board is treated as if they are traveling in the owner's suite), the general atmosphere (tranquil) and the itineraries offered.

[Travel R]

5 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

That really depends on the cruise you are on and what your personal interests are. Viking has “privileged access” with some venues meaning you might get special viewing hours or have a behind the scenes experiences. Other times they may offer the opportunity to visit an attraction of particular interest to you. For example we visited The Alhambra with an optional tour. Tickets to that are very limited and cruise lines are allowed only one bus load of passengers. 
 

As far as “bottom of the barrel” is concerned, you need to do research and decide your top priorities and book those excursions as soon as your booking window opens up. Be aware some optional tours may require long bus rides and can be an all day affair with most time spent in transit. Again, research is a must.

Many included tours have suited us just fine. With limited time in port you really need to decide what your interests are.

Also for the included tours, read the descriptions carefully. If it says “you will see” vs “you will visit” it most likely means a drive by on a bus or walking past it.

 

Thank you, this provides some good perspective on what to expect.

 

If you knew me over at the Royal Caribbean Boards, you would know me as an over-planner and researcher.  E.g., I already looked at the complimentary excursions on an itinerary we were considering [which we recently found out is not going to be offered] and had already begun looking at 3rd Parties, since the free tour did not go where we wanted.

 

Note: what interests us is going to be hard to narrow down - we are two couples that are vastly different, and even myself and my DW are complete opposites (probably why we have been friends with them so long and why myself and my DW get along so well).

 

Yes, I found out long ago to pay attention to the details of an excursion - seeing vs. visiting should be taken literally.

 

Thanks again,

 

Travel R

[Travel R]

3 hours ago, katlew said:

With Viking Ocean, we found a lot of the free included tours were mainly a sightseeing bus tour with a few stops. (With Viking River, they tended to be walking tours.) Sometimes, that is all you want in a town & some were very enjoyable, like the one we had in Shetland. They often allow you to get off in town after the tour and you have time to explore on your own. The optional tours tend to go to somewhere further out or a more specific place. For example on our upcoming cruise some of the optional tours will take you to tour old homes, or to a nature preserve, or on a wine train. 

 

For our up-coming trip we've decided to do a mix of included, optional, and book our own tours. We are booking our own tours in a couple ports for a few different reasons.

1. We tend to be on the younger side for Viking passengers, so we like to do things at a little faster pace than some of the larger Viking tours. Booking a private tour lets us see what we want at our own pace.

2. Based on some of the comments in the boards lately, we are worried that a specific tour we want to take will sell out, especially since we are a group of six. Rather than wait and see if that happens for something we really want to do, we are booking our own tour. 

3. Finally, we found that booking a private shore tour is often cheaper than booking the Viking optional tours. For example, Viking is charging $99 for a tour of a nature preserve on our trip. I discovered it is easy to get there from the port and set up a private tour with the preserve for us for just $35 each. 

 

Booking your own tours has cons though too. The boat will not wait for you if something happens and your tour is late getting back. Also if the cruise has to skip a port, you may not get your money back. It's important to know the tour company's policies. 

 

Thank you for all of the helpful pointers.

 

You make a very good point about being "younger" - we are all in our early 50s, and very active, which is something I will have to consider.

 

We are fortunate that we have been on a number of cruises (and have taken many, many land-based tours), non-mainstream cruises is a new animal.  As an over-planner, I want to know everything there is.

 

I am a big fan of 3rd Party tours, and have usually been happier - smaller groups, and as you mentioned, sometimes cheaper and booking through the ship.  When we took a cruise that went to St. Petersburg I booked a semi-private 3rd Party excursion.  We visited more sites than what the ship tour offered, including meals, and also were able to go to a few places we wanted to see, such as the Gold Room at the Hermitage, which most other tours (through the ship or even other 3rd Parties) did not offer. The cost was only $10 per person more than the the price of the cruise line tour, which went out by the busload.

 

One thing I tell people about booking third parties is that they have a lot to lose if they do not get you back to the boat on time. I have always been comfortable booking with them - if the location is not too far away from the port.  If it requires a long distance (e.g., port in Warnemunde and want to visit Berlin), I would stick with the ship's tour, since they guarantee you getting back on the ship.

 

We have also been known to go off on our own DIY. I do all the research and will go to the items I want to visit, and have even focused the tour for the audience. E.g., here's a DIY tour I created a few years ago for ourselves and our kids in Copenhagen, with a HCA theme . . . . 

 

 

[Travel R]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

Maybe what attracts first timers but it isn't what keeps people coming back cruise after cruise. Life's too short; it would take more than free tours to get me to cruise on a line where I wasn't happy.

 

That is a very, very good point!!!!

 

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

What keeps me coming back is the people who choose to cruise with Viking, the service (everyone on board is treated as if they are traveling in the owner's suite), the general atmosphere (tranquil) and the itineraries offered.

 

Which I hope to experience!!!

 

[PS: Viking has just released their schedules for August 2024, which is when we can cruise with our friends; so we can now begin to really discuss and chose which itinerary we like the best (and works best for us).]

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

you would know me as an over-planner and researcher.

 

No problem. Here many of us are equally afflicted, so you are among friends. Plus, many of us are over sharers and will happily share our resources and experiences, (especially if the question is very specific).

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, Travel R said:

As an over-planner, I want to know everything there is.

 

 

I may also tend to plan excessively and am happy to share. Since we have nothing booked at present, I am updating my port docs.

 

If you drop me an email, listing your ports, I'll provide a copy of any port doc I have on file. One of my email addresses is included in our travel blog - wwwAndyandJudi.com

[Azulann]

11 hours ago, eddieg07410 said:

I also have a celebrity cruise next year. And that roll call is dead as well. I see roll calls on cruise a couple of months passed and a few months into the future. Maybe five posts in each one. Why do you think this is sp?

If Celebrity has  dead roll calls, it is probably due to the lack of participation on Cruise Critic by  cruisers! Also the  demise of CC meet and greet also is a factor. the roll  calls on Viking in 2021, which joined   were slow  too. Many new posters who  came from the other social media site and were new to CC.

My current roll call for June 2023 is also very slow. Bu the two or three folks who posted are a delight.
Final  point: my friend looked at her upcoming roll call for Viking Mars in  late Sept. She said I would never  post there ,  they are all couple and I am traveling with my long time friend.

So there you go.... many reason that  roll calls have changed from the old days here on CC. 

[Travel R]

17 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

I may also tend to plan excessively and am happy to share. Since we have nothing booked at present, I am updating my port docs.

 

If you drop me an email, listing your ports, I'll provide a copy of any port doc I have on file. One of my email addresses is included in our travel blog - wwwAndyandJudi.com

 

Thank you very much. Once we make a decision, I shall let you know.

[Travel R]

17 hours ago, Azulann said:

Many new posters who  came from the other social media site and were new to CC.

 

On our last cruise the Facebook page for that cruise was a lot more active than the CC roll call.

[Azulann]

1 hour ago, Travel R said:

 

On our last cruise the Facebook page for that cruise was a lot more active than the CC roll call.

I do access one FB page about  Viking , it is not the infamous one which I left after the Bermuda  cruise of 2021 fiasco.

I find it very hard to have a discussion on  the site.  Most of the the threads are for river cruises. I personally do not like FB or most social media.