Organized tours on Viking changeover days -- common or uncommon?

[jpmackaylive]

We will be on Viking's 14 day Ancient Mediterranean Antiquities cruise in early 2023.  On day 8 of the cruise while in Athens (3 days), there will be no Viking organized tours that day.  The reason, I learned, is that Day 8 is a changeover day when those folks taking only the first week of the cruise end their stay and those folks taking the second half of the cruise begin their stay. The Viking Customer Service person who explained this went on to say that sometimes additional tours are set up once one is onboard.  I don't recall, however,  whether she described these add-on cruises as being organized by Viking, or just being ad-hoc sorts of tours that are organized by small groups of cruisers.  I'm trying to figure out whether I should set up a separate tour in Athens for my husband and myself, or whether there's a decent chance something would be organized once we are onboard.  Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? 

[Peregrina651]

Welcome to Cruise Critic and the Viking Oceans forum,

 

Once you get on board, Viking will make tours available for continuing guests.   They are not available to guests who are boarding that day, hence are not listed on MyVikingJourney.com. At least this is how it worked a few years ago when our changeover day was in Rome.  I can't confirm that they have it worked out for Athens, but I am sure that someone will be along shortly who can.

 

The tours offered will be the same as what is already being offered on the other days, which are listed on the itinerary for tour cruise on the Viking website and run by the same providers handling the rest of the tours in Athens. 

 

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Peregrina651

[SantaFe1]

10 hours ago, jpmackaylive said:

The Viking Customer Service person who explained this went on to say that sometimes additional tours are set up once one is onboard.  I don't recall, however,  whether she described these add-on cruises as being organized by Viking, or just being ad-hoc sorts of tours that are organized by small groups of cruisers.

We are doing Med Antiquities, Athens to Barcelona, in Feb., with the turn around day in Rome.  When I asked the chat person, she said that the first day of the cruise Viking would make available tours for those on the 15 day cruise  to choose from for Rome.  She sent me a page with the usual, listed tours for Rome, so I could get a feel for what was there.  Having been to Rome many times, we are not interested in an 8-10 hour tour, being bussed into the city.  We hope to visit Ostia.  She said that was on the usual menu of shore ex and we should be able to get it.  Hope this helps.

Edited December 16, 2022 by SantaFe1

[Peregrina651]

29 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

 We hope to visit Ostia.

 

That was our changeover day choice. Really enjoyed it.

[MikeyB]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:35 AM, SantaFe1 said:

We are doing Med Antiquities, Athens to Barcelona, in Feb., with the turn around day in Rome.  When I asked the chat person, she said that the first day of the cruise Viking would make available tours for those on the 15 day cruise  to choose from for Rome.  She sent me a page with the usual, listed tours for Rome, so I could get a feel for what was there.  Having been to Rome many times, we are not interested in an 8-10 hour tour, being bussed into the city.  We hope to visit Ostia.  She said that was on the usual menu of shore ex and we should be able to get it.  Hope this helps.

We did this last month on the Neptune.  Nothing was available on MVJ until we got on the ship.  I recall Viking only offered three tours.  The included was a drive by of Rome.  The two option's were Rome on your Own.  The other was the Vatican.  That was it.

Also note the following-  I had a DV cabin.  I couldn't make any reservations for the specialty restaurants until I got on board.  And then I could only make it for the first week.  I was told to wait until the second week to book Manfredi's.  So at 8:00am, while in Rome I tried booking.  It was completely full!  A quick, unnecessary trip to Guest Services resolved my "problem".

 

In regards to the original question asked- If day 8 is your first day in Athens then you are guaranteed a tour.  It should be added later.

 

[Peregrina651]

On 12/15/2022 at 11:06 PM, jpmackaylive said:

On day 8 of the cruise while in Athens (3 days),

 

Answering MikeyB's question, Day 8 is most likely the middle day -- one day of touring Athens for the first segment, changeover day, one day of touring for the second segment.

 

Still, we haven't hear from anyone who has done a changeover day in Athens. Anyone out there who has experienced a changeover day in Athens? 

[SantaFe1]

32 minutes ago, MikeyB said:

I recall Viking only offered three tours.  The included was a drive by of Rome.  The two option's were Rome on your Own.  The other was the Vatican.  That was it.

Also note the following-  I had a DV cabin.  I couldn't make any reservations for the specialty restaurants until I got on board.  And then I could only make it for the first week.  I was told to wait until the second week to book Manfredi's.  So at 8:00am, while in Rome I tried booking.  It was completely full!  A quick, unnecessary trip to Guest Services resolved my "problem".

Well, if these are the only choices, we will enjoy a “sea day” in Rome, or book something ourselves.  As to restaurants, we are a PV1, and I was able to make all our reservations in the specialty restaurants when our window opened, with reasonable times, for us, anyway (6:30-7:30).  In fact we have a reservation at Chef’s Table the night we are in/leaving Rome.