British Isles Lerwick excursion

[MELSMOM47]

Has anyone taken the Rural Shetland excursion? How large a group was there? How long was the bus ride? Did you enjoy it? TIA

[Jim Avery]

30 minutes ago, MELSMOM47 said:

Has anyone taken the Rural Shetland excursion? How large a group was there? How long was the bus ride? Did you enjoy it? TIA

Hi,

The bus was not filled, maybe 30 on each of two busses.  Total bus time about 2.5 to 3 hours.  We enjoyed it.  Pretty much the only way to get around other than hiring a car privately.  Watch out for the ponies, they bite.😳

[MELSMOM47]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

Hi,

The bus was not filled, maybe 30 on each of two busses.  Total bus time about 2.5 to 3 hours.  We enjoyed it.  Pretty much the only way to get around other than hiring a car privately.  Watch out for the ponies, they bite.😳

Thank you. The tour says 4 hours total. So was most of the time spent seeing the countryside?

[Jim Avery]

Yes, "Scenic Tour".  

[MELSMOM47]

1 minute ago, Jim Avery said:

Yes, "Scenic Tour".  

The one with the dogs? Or the included one?

[Jim Avery]

I don't remember if it was an included one or extra.  Once paid for months in advance it's all just gone money...🍹

[MELSMOM47]

4 minutes ago, Jim Avery said:

I don't remember if it was an included one or extra.  Once paid for months in advance it's all just gone money...🍹

👍🏻 Thank you. 

[Twitchly]

My tip, for what it’s worth: for Lerwick, only sign up for excursions you will get reimbursed for if Viking cancels your stop there. Due to weather conditions, they frequently have to skip the Shetlands. Sadly, that was the case for our cruise in September.

[MELSMOM47]

5 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

My tip, for what it’s worth: for Lerwick, only sign up for excursions you will get reimbursed for if Viking cancels your stop there. Due to weather conditions, they frequently have to skip the Shetlands. Sadly, that was the case for our cruise in September.

Thank you. That was my question on another thread. I understand that we can cancel with some number of hours notice. There is some question about that number. It is a ship excursion that I was asking about. If they cancel the port they will refund I assume.

[LindaS272]

4 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

My tip, for what it’s worth: for Lerwick, only sign up for excursions you will get reimbursed for if Viking cancels your stop there. Due to weather conditions, they frequently have to skip the Shetlands. Sadly, that was the case for our cruise in September.

Yes. Sadly, we learned the hard way. Had signed up for the cruise when our booking window had already been open for weeks and excursions we wanted were sold out. So I researched and found a private tour. They wanted half up front though. Then a storm made us miss that stop. That was in 2019. We’ve been trying to get back on our own ever since. Have canceled four times—2x in 2020; 1x in 2021; 1x in 2022!

[CurlerRob]

9 hours ago, LindaS272 said:

Yes. Sadly, we learned the hard way. Had signed up for the cruise when our booking window had already been open for weeks and excursions we wanted were sold out. So I researched and found a private tour. They wanted half up front though. Then a storm made us miss that stop. That was in 2019. We’ve been trying to get back on our own ever since. Have canceled four times—2x in 2020; 1x in 2021; 1x in 2022!

 

Concur on the refundable need for Lerwick - much like the Falklands. We've missed three times - 2 weather, one Covid. Five misses wins! 🍺🥌

[sugarside]

A quick note for anyone who is visiting Lerwick on July 27th this year.

Both Viking Venus and Viking Mars are currently shown on cruise mapper as being in Lerwick that day.

This might have an effect on tour availability that day .

[molymoo]

We took th

18 hours ago, MELSMOM47 said:

The one with the dogs? Or the included one?

We took the "one with the dogs" last summer ... I don't remember what it was called then but it is now know as "Rural Shetland".  We thoroughly enjoyed the excursion, despite the horrible weather!  There were about 20 people and the drive was not noticeably long.   We had lots of time to spend meeting the ponies, learning about the Shetland sheep (and their ponies do not bite) and watching the amazing dogs in action and learning how they are trained.  The visit to the restaurant afterwards was lovely ... it was cozy and warm and the snacks (soup and bread) were delicious.  It is one of our favorite Viking excursions.  

 

Edited March 4, 2023 by molymoo
additions

[MELSMOM47]

33 minutes ago, molymoo said:

We took th

We took the "one with the dogs" last summer ... I don't remember what it was called then but it is now know as "Rural Shetland".  We thoroughly enjoyed the excursion, despite the horrible weather!  There were about 20 people and the drive was not noticeably long.   We had lots of time to spend meeting the ponies, learning about the Shetland sheep (and their ponies do not bite) and watching the amazing dogs in action and learning how they are trained.  The visit to the restaurant afterwards was lovely ... it was cozy and warm and the snacks (soup and bread) were delicious.  It is one of our favorite Viking excursions.  

 

Thank you so much. We booked it for May.  Sounds exactly like I was hoping.