Onboard Neptune now - British Isles Explorer

[Moonlion]

Well, we leave the ship this morning 😢. Yesterday, we explored Bergen on our own, skipping the included excursion. Beautiful weather again today, sunny, warm. We took the funicular to Floibanen. The views of Bergen at the top on a sunny day are to die for. We decided to walk back down. Easy walk on a well-marked, groomed path, and through the forest with nice views all the way down.  Dinner was very good last night in the Restaurant. 
 

We’ve had a fantastic time on this cruise, but it goes by so quickly. We’re independently extending our trip: one night in the Thon Orion Hotel in Bergen; then taking the scenic train to Oslo; and 2 nights in Oslo (Thon Opera Hotel) before heading back to the States. 
 

Bon Voyage to all future travelers!

[DGHOC]

Many thanks for such a positive, upbeat, enthusiastic thread Moonlion. It's been a joy to read!

 

Enjoy your last few days and safe journey home.

[Peregrina651]

@Moonlion, hope you will tell us train ride as an independent and about the Thon Opera.  TIA 

[philw1776]

Stayed the well located Thon Opera and took the train in the opposite direction. Really enjoyed Oslo and the train ride.

 

 

[Peregrina651]

4 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Stayed the well located Thon Opera and took the train in the opposite direction. Really enjoyed Oslo and the train ride.

 

 

 

Hey, Phil! Are are you all doing?

 

Any helpful hints for those doing the train on their own? For the hotel?

 

 

[What was that?]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Hey, Phil! Are are you all doing?

 

Any helpful hints for those doing the train on their own? For the hotel?

No train hints - but in the Oslo Central Station (right behind the Thon Hotel Opera) is a good Italian restaurant - I think it is downstairs. The hotel breakfast is also pretty darned good. We were there before our January 2022 Northern Lights cruise, and unfortunately many of the attractions, like the Viking Museum, were closed. I hope you have better luck.

wwt

Edited May 23, 2023 by What was that?

[What was that?]

Moonlion,

I would like to add my thanks for your upbeat and honest travelogue. It will help us choose activities when we go next year. Knowledge is power!

Cheers,

wwt

Edited May 23, 2023 by What was that?

[Moonlion]

8 hours ago, What was that? said:

Moonlion,

I would like to add my thanks for your upbeat and honest travelogue. It will help us choose activities when we go next year. Knowledge is power!

Cheers,

wwt

@What was that? I believe we were on the same Northern Lights sailing as you in January ‘22.  I can’t remember but thought we may have met up with you at our informal roll call meet-and-greet? It was our first Viking Ocean cruise and, despite the MANY Covid procedures in place both before and during that cruise, we had a great time…and saw the lights! While onboard the NL cruise, we booked this BIE cruise and a future South America & Chilean Fjords cruise for February ‘24. 

Laura and Ernie from Maryland

[What was that?]

4 hours ago, Moonlion said:

@What was that? I believe we were on the same Northern Lights sailing as you in January ‘22.  I can’t remember but thought we may have met up with you at our informal roll call meet-and-greet? It was our first Viking Ocean cruise and, despite the MANY Covid procedures in place both before and during that cruise, we had a great time…and saw the lights! While onboard the NL cruise, we booked this BIE cruise and a future South America & Chilean Fjords cruise for February ‘24. 

Laura and Ernie from Maryland

Oh, yes! I hadn’t made the connection. 

That was a great cruise, wasn’t it, even with the missed and substitute ports? And the rock and roll crossing of the North Sea! 

 

Fred & Gail in Reno

[philw1776]

16 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Hey, Phil! Are are you all doing?

 

Any helpful hints for those doing the train on their own? For the hotel?

 

 

I'd absolutely look into first class if doing train on your own. Many windows in the not first class Viking cars were a bit age occluded but we lucked out with our assigned seats. Bergen to Oslo sit on the left but not a disaster if on right. Thon hotel had decent bar food. Hotel right next to train station. Agree that Italian restaurant in train complex was decent. It's located at end of a beautiful structure that sticks out away from the trains.  Many fast food restaurants there as well. Hotel well located to harbor.

 

We were with family's 1st VO experience in Iceland. Wish we could have spent more time with you guys. 

 

Edited May 24, 2023 by philw1776

[What was that?]

7 hours ago, philw1776 said:

Thon hotel had decent bar food. Hotel right next to train station. Agree that Italian restaurant in train complex was decent. It's located at end of a beautiful structure that sticks out away from the trains.

Phil,

Thanks for the photos of the train station! I can't believe I didn't take any. If all goes as planned, we'll be back there after our Sept 2024 BIE, after taking the train on disembarkation day - your photos of the scenery certainly are enticing!

Cheers,

wwt

[famcruisefun]

Thank you Moonlion for the wonderful trip report - I've enjoyed reading all of it. We are seriously considering the BIE cruise for next year as Orkney and Shetland Islands are high up on my bucket list. I saw the list of excursions that you posted a while back (sorry - just found this post yesterday) and I have a question. It looks like there was only on excursion offered for Orkney. Was that the case? I was hoping to see more than what's offered in the included excursion - just wondering if this is typical as there are 6 or so excursions for Orkney shown on the website - so not sure if it's typical to only offer one on the actual cruise (or maybe I'm reading the list wrong).

We haven't sailed with Viking before - just trying to learn the ins and outs before we book. We appreciate greatly all of the wonderful posts on this board! Thank you!!

[Moonlion]

2 hours ago, famcruisefun said:

Thank you Moonlion for the wonderful trip report - I've enjoyed reading all of it. We are seriously considering the BIE cruise for next year as Orkney and Shetland Islands are high up on my bucket list. I saw the list of excursions that you posted a while back (sorry - just found this post yesterday) and I have a question. It looks like there was only on excursion offered for Orkney. Was that the case? I was hoping to see more than what's offered in the included excursion - just wondering if this is typical as there are 6 or so excursions for Orkney shown on the website - so not sure if it's typical to only offer one on the actual cruise (or maybe I'm reading the list wrong).

We haven't sailed with Viking before - just trying to learn the ins and outs before we book. We appreciate greatly all of the wonderful posts on this board! Thank you!!

The Orkneys were unusual. When shore excursions were first listed in MVJ last December, there was the included excursion and 6 or 7 optional excursions available. A month or two later, all the optional excursions were suddenly removed from MVJ and only the included tour remained. I never learned why but someone onboard had heard that Viking was not satisfied with the quality of the local tour vendors in the Orkneys on our sailing. The May 13th Viking Venus stopped in Orkney the same day we did, and they also had no optional excursions available to them, just the included. We wanted to visit Scara Brae which was not on the itinerary of the included excursion and thus booked a 4-hour tour of the Orkneys with Craigie’s Taxi. We were very happy with our experience. 

[photopro2]

Thanks for your brilliant trip report @Moonlion 

 

1 hour ago, Moonlion said:

I never learned why but someone onboard had heard that Viking was not satisfied with the quality of the local tour vendors in the Orkneys on our sailing.

 

It is no criticism of yourself as you were just reporting the comment as "hearsay" but I can't help pointing out that it seems rather unfair to the tour vendors on the island and that it is probably not the whole truth. May I suggest that the problem was not the quality of the tour vendors but the quantity?

 

The mainland of Orkney is a small island with a population of about 17,000 people. Even though the tourist industry is very important to the islands there are obviously only a limited number of people available that can provided tours. It may well have been the case that Viking could not contract enough high quality optional tours to service two ships on the same day, and therefore (perhaps in an attempt to be "fair" to customers on both ships?) decided not to contract any at all.

 

From personal experience I know that Viking found enough good quality tour vendors when we visited the Orkneys with them on a midnight sun cruise. We were offered a range of optional tours and choose a cliff walk to Skara Brae, which was excellent.

 

It is also worth noting that they currently indicate on their website that a range of optional tours will be available (See below) Again, this suggests to me that they are generally happy with the quality of local tour vendors and the issue had more to do with this being one of the rare occasions when they had two ships in Kirkwall on the same day.  

 

Glad you enjoyed your day on the island, nonetheless 🙂

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by photopro2
Missed out last line

[Mich3554]

30 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Thanks for your brilliant trip report @Moonlion 

 

 

It is no criticism of yourself as you were just reporting the comment as "hearsay" but I can't help pointing out that it seems rather unfair to the tour vendors on the island and that it is probably not the whole truth. May I suggest that the problem was not the quality of the tour vendors but the quantity?

 

The mainland of Orkney is a small island with a population of about 17,000 people. Even though the tourist industry is very important to the islands there are obviously only a limited number of people available that can provided tours. It may well have been the case that Viking could not contract enough high quality optional tours to service two ships on the same day, and therefore (perhaps in an attempt to be "fair" to customers on both ships?) decided not to contract any at all.

 

From personal experience I know that Viking found enough good quality tour vendors when we visited the Orkneys with them on a midnight sun cruise. We were offered a range of optional tours and choose a cliff walk to Skara Brae, which was excellent.

 

It is also worth noting that they currently indicate on their website that a range of optional tours will be available (See below) Again, this suggests to me that they are generally happy with the quality of local tour vendors and the issue had more to do with this being one of the rare occasions when they had two ships in Kirkwall on the same day.  

 

Glad you enjoyed your day on the island, nonetheless 🙂

 

 

I suspect that since there were 3 cruise ships in town, resources are scarce and the Neptune had to share busses with both the Venus and AIDA’s Luna (over 2000 passengers).  That’s 4000 passengers in town.  

[PRH]

We enjoyed both the included tour (including Carol’s ponies) and the historical tour (optional) to Jarlshof and around the island.  You must stop at the airport runway until the traffic lights say ok to cross!  Lots of planes were taking off and landing.

[Moonlion]

7 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Thanks for your brilliant trip report @Moonlion 

 

 

It is no criticism of yourself as you were just reporting the comment as "hearsay" but I can't help pointing out that it seems rather unfair to the tour vendors on the island and that it is probably not the whole truth. May I suggest that the problem was not the quality of the tour vendors but the quantity?

 

The mainland of Orkney is a small island with a population of about 17,000 people. Even though the tourist industry is very important to the islands there are obviously only a limited number of people available that can provided tours. It may well have been the case that Viking could not contract enough high quality optional tours to service two ships on the same day, and therefore (perhaps in an attempt to be "fair" to customers on both ships?) decided not to contract any at all.

 

From personal experience I know that Viking found enough good quality tour vendors when we visited the Orkneys with them on a midnight sun cruise. We were offered a range of optional tours and choose a cliff walk to Skara Brae, which was excellent.

 

It is also worth noting that they currently indicate on their website that a range of optional tours will be available (See below) Again, this suggests to me that they are generally happy with the quality of local tour vendors and the issue had more to do with this being one of the rare occasions when they had two ships in Kirkwall on the same day.  

 

Glad you enjoyed your day on the island, nonetheless 🙂

 

 

Agree, makes much more sense that it was the quantity of tour providers (with 3 ships on the island) versus the quality. 

[Wine4all]

Thank you so much for this trip report! We are taking our first Viking cruise mid-September doing the BIE tour. I didn't realize how beneficial using independent tour operators would be. Seems a lot more personable and better bang for the buck! I'll be glad to do a daily report like yours as we sail along. It was very helpful! Thanks again!

[DesertCruiser2000]

Moonlion -thanks again for the detailed diary as it will help for our BIE (the next May 9th cruise). 
Safe travels back home. 

[Krazy4Kruisin']

On 5/25/2023 at 1:30 AM, Moonlion said:

The Orkneys were unusual. When shore excursions were first listed in MVJ last December, there was the included excursion and 6 or 7 optional excursions available. A month or two later, all the optional excursions were suddenly removed from MVJ and only the included tour remained. I never learned why but someone onboard had heard that Viking was not satisfied with the quality of the local tour vendors in the Orkneys on our sailing. The May 13th Viking Venus stopped in Orkney the same day we did, and they also had no optional excursions available to them, just the included. We wanted to visit Scara Brae which was not on the itinerary of the included excursion and thus booked a 4-hour tour of the Orkneys with Craigie’s Taxi. We were very happy with our experience. 

We will be on Jupiter beginning Aug 9. There are 8 tours listed as of tonight for Orkneys. Maybe they found different tour companies.

[molymoo]

On 5/25/2023 at 1:43 PM, Wine4all said:

Thank you so much for this trip report! We are taking our first Viking cruise mid-September doing the BIE tour. I didn't realize how beneficial using independent tour operators would be. Seems a lot more personable and better bang for the buck! I'll be glad to do a daily report like yours as we sail along. It was very helpful! Thanks again!

Do bear in mind that if you book an independent tour read the contract carefully regarding last minute cancellations.  We have done the BIE twice and hit some of the same ports on our Midnight Sun cruise and every time we missed at least one port.  Orkney (Kirkwall), the Shetlands (Lerwick) and Ullapool are all subject to weather related issues that can make docking impossible.  On our last cruise we missed Kirkwall after about a half an hour of the crew trying valiantly to tie up at the dock.  The wind was ferocious and apparently the harbor master eventually called it and we had an unscheduled sea day.  We watched their attempts from our stateroom and it was disheartening to see all the busses and vans lined up waiting to take us on our excursions.  I'm fairly certain that it is a situation they are accustomed to and a refund would be offered but always a good idea to check.

 

[Wine4all]

Thanks for the reminder. How disappointing that must be to be so close but then have to back away.

[Moonlion]

3 hours ago, molymoo said:

Do bear in mind that if you book an independent tour read the contract carefully regarding last minute cancellations.  We have done the BIE twice and hit some of the same ports on our Midnight Sun cruise and every time we missed at least one port.  Orkney (Kirkwall), the Shetlands (Lerwick) and Ullapool are all subject to weather related issues that can make docking impossible.  On our last cruise we missed Kirkwall after about a half an hour of the crew trying valiantly to tie up at the dock.  The wind was ferocious and apparently the harbor master eventually called it and we had an unscheduled sea day.  We watched their attempts from our stateroom and it was disheartening to see all the busses and vans lined up waiting to take us on our excursions.  I'm fairly certain that it is a situation they are accustomed to and a refund would be offered but always a good idea to check.

 

Agree completely with this comment.  I had done quite a bit of research (on CC. TripAdvisor and FB) before booking our independent excursions.  I was well aware that Orkney (Kirkwall), the Shetlands (Lerwick) and Ullapool can often be missed at the last minute because of weather conditions. For this reason, we booked Craigie's Taxi on the Orkney Islands which allowed payment after the tour was completed, therefore mitigating our financial risk if ship was not able to make the port. I did not arrange independent tours in Ullapool or the Shetland Islands, instead booking Viking optional and included excursions. Although they may exist, I wasn't able to find independent tour operators at Lerwick or Ullapool that offered a full refund if ship couldn't dock. 

 

I booked our remaining independent tours (Holyhead, Liverpool, Belfast and Invergordon) through TripAdvisor/Viator which offered a more generous cancellation policy (full refund up to 24 hours before tour) versus booking directly with the tour providers.  The TripAdvisor/Viator tour costs were about 10-15% higher but worth it in our opinion for the 24-hour cancellation policy. 

 

The quality of all our independent tours ranged from excellent to outstanding and included many fewer passengers than on the Viking excursions we took (both Viking optional and included). Our independent tour prices were about half of Viking's optional excursion prices, and were generally longer/more comprehensive, covering more sites. 

 

The downside, of course, with an independent excursion is not making it back to the ship in time for sail-away.  However, all the independent tour companies we booked are very experienced with conducting shore excursions and have an excellent reputation for returning passengers to the ship at least an hour before departure time.  Of course, rare incidents can still occur causing passengers to miss the sail-away but all the companies we went with had good backup plans and even "guarantees" in place. Their reputations depend on it. However, for "zero risk" of missing the boat, you'll need to stay with the ship's excursions. 

[Moonlion]

12 hours ago, Krazy4Kruisin' said:

We will be on Jupiter beginning Aug 9. There are 8 tours listed as of tonight for Orkneys. Maybe they found different tour companies.

As discussed in some of the previous posts, we've concluded that Viking probably cancelled the optional excursions in the Orkneys because there were three ships on the island that day - the Viking Neptune, the Viking Venus and AIDA’s Luna (over 2000 passengers).  With 4000 passengers in town, there may not have been enough tour operators to service the two Viking ships.  

[deec]

Even a 24 hour cancellation is not helpful as last minute cancellations might happen due to weather!

I have occasionally found tour operators who will let you cancel if weather related.