Pre / Post Mumbai for March 2025

[CDNPolar]

We have booked "Across the Bay of Bengal" from Bangkok to Mumbai in March of 2025.

 

I know - this is way out there in date now...

 

This is I believe part of a Viking World Cruise?

 

Has anyone done the 6 day post extension from Mumbai - India's Golden Triangle?

 

Can you share your experience with this post extension?  Good, bad, or otherwise?

 

We are considering this vs. building our own post itinerary.  Thoughts?

[Mich3554]

The WC didn’t go to Bangkok, this is a stand alone cruise.  
 

We did our on thing going to Agra and Delhi for 2 days, 3 nights from the WC.  First class flights, 5* hotel, private tour guides for 2 full days and transport to/from ship to airport, airport to hotel cost us under $2000 for 2 of us.  We had very good tour guides through Viator on both days.

 

Viking makes it easy, but you pay for it.  It took me quite a bit of time to make the arrangements, but no tour to Taj Mahal was offered to us.  I imagine adding the extra days on would not cost more than an additional $600 or so.  A big chunk of our cost ($1400) was our flights from Cochin and to Mumbai.

[Pushka]

Taj Mahal. DIY. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by Pushka

[LindaS272]

This is part of a Grand Voyage—Voyage of Marco Polo—Bangkok to Athens—36 days—not the WC. We had briefly booked Athens to Mumbai at one point because of the two or three long days in Egypt. Then decided to go for it and book Egypt separately instead.

 

I agree with others here—book independent travel—sounds like Michelle has a bead on travel outfits that work well. A far cry from our first (& only) independent trip to India in 1987. A different country altogether. I think population has quadrupled since then, along with the tech industry & more of a middle class (?). 

Edited June 14, 2023 by LindaS272

[SJD117]

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

Taj Mahal. DIY. 

Utterly fabulous. We visited the Taj twice during our trip to India and Nepal in 1987. A framed picture hangs in our living room to this day.

[islandchick]

I would say that if you are adventurous and able to deal with anything then go independent, however if you haven't been to a place like this it is very much a system overload and you might want to consider being part of a tour that can take care of anything that comes up. Its really based on what type of traveler you are. 

[lodimom]

My daughter and I had a wonderful experience with The Delhi Way  We booked our own hotels and flights, but they arranged all of the private transportation for us  They provided wonderful private guided tours over nine days in Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.  We corresponded with Divya, one of the owners, over several months and she was able to create an amazing personalized itinerary for us. I had lived in India in the 1970's and had a long list of places I wanted my daughter to see. I know they also provide tour services in other cities, so they could meet you in Mumbai. The great thing is that together you can design a one-of-kind itinerary with the places you most want to see,

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, islandchick said:

I would say that if you are adventurous and able to deal with anything then go independent, however if you haven't been to a place like this it is very much a system overload and you might want to consider being part of a tour that can take care of anything that comes up. Its really based on what type of traveler you are. 

 

We have travelled extensively.  Never to India before but to highly populated countries like Japan and China - many cities in both.

We are good at navigating new cultures and food and fairly fearless in navigating train and transportation systems so we would not be afraid of going out on our own.

 

The main thing about going with Viking is that we then don't have to manage anything... as on the cruise, we just leave it to them.

I think that what I have not gotten yet from anyone is a clear good or not good on this extension from someone that has done it.

We have a few options that we are looking at and tour companies that we would consider on our own, so we will just continue to assess as we have lots of time.

 

Thank you however for your response.

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, lodimom said:

My daughter and I had a wonderful experience with The Delhi Way  We booked our own hotels and flights, but they arranged all of the private transportation for us  They provided wonderful private guided tours over nine days in Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.  We corresponded with Divya, one of the owners, over several months and she was able to create an amazing personalized itinerary for us. I had lived in India in the 1970's and had a long list of places I wanted my daughter to see. I know they also provide tour services in other cities, so they could meet you in Mumbai. The great thing is that together you can design a one-of-kind itinerary with the places you most want to see,

Thank you - we will check out this company as it sounds amazing.

[Mich3554]

14 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

We have travelled extensively.  Never to India before but to highly populated countries like Japan and China - many cities in both.

We are good at navigating new cultures and food and fairly fearless in navigating train and transportation systems so we would not be afraid of going out on our own.

 

The main thing about going with Viking is that we then don't have to manage anything... as on the cruise, we just leave it to them.

I think that what I have not gotten yet from anyone is a clear good or not good on this extension from someone that has done it.

We have a few options that we are looking at and tour companies that we would consider on our own, so we will just continue to assess as we have lots of time.

 

Thank you however for your response.

You probably won’t.  The last WC didn’t make it to India in 2020.  Before then, you are talking 2019 WC since Viking didn’t have cruises to India (other than on WC) until recently.  Nothing like this was available for the 2022-23 WC, so your extension is going to be the first to India in 6 years.  

Edited June 16, 2023 by Mich3554

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Mich3554 said:

You probably won’t.  The last WC didn’t make it to India in 2020.  Before then, you are talking 2019 WC since Viking didn’t have cruises to India (other than on WC) until recently.  Nothing like this was available for the 2022-23 WC, so your extension is going to be the first to India in 6 years.  

 

Not true. Just last month in fact. It was offered for last months cruise as a pre extension for Passage to India which was 20 days and not part of the World Cruise. The cruise started in Mumbai and went through Suez Canal and into Athens as a south north repositioning cruise. It was a fabulous itinerary.  We had a blast. 
 

This pre extension sold out almost immediately it was offered. The whole cruise was sold out a year in advance. 
 

FB reports for Viking Ocean people who did the Viking pre extension (May 2023) raved about it.  Those who booked privately also loved it. Bucket list. 
 

We stayed at Taj Mahal Towers overlooking The Gateway. Spectacular. 
 

 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Pushka

[Pushka]

Details of tours booked last month to Agra.  Read through the thread for further info. 
 

 

[Kiwi Dreamer]

We did the pre-extension before our Mumbai to Athens cruise just last May.  Had a wonderful time.  We felt Viking did a great job.  Visiting the Taj Mahal at 5.30am in the morning before the crowds was one of the many highlights (the hotel was only a 500m golf cart ride from the entrance).  Highly recommended and so good to have all the arrangements and travel sorted. Hotels were fabulous.   We did venture out a little on our own and found we could not cross the road without taking our life in our hands.  The traffic was horrendous.  Do it..         

[Mich3554]

10 hours ago, Pushka said:

 

Not true. Just last month in fact. It was offered for last months cruise as a pre extension for Passage to India which was 20 days and not part of the World Cruise. The cruise started in Mumbai and went through Suez Canal and into Athens as a south north repositioning cruise. It was a fabulous itinerary.  We had a blast. 
 

This pre extension sold out almost immediately it was offered. The whole cruise was sold out a year in advance. 
 

FB reports for Viking Ocean people who did the Viking pre extension (May 2023) raved about it.  Those who booked privately also loved it. Bucket list. 
 

We stayed at Taj Mahal Towers overlooking The Gateway. Spectacular. 
 

 

Then I wonder why Viking didn’t offer it for the WC which was there Mar/April of 2023?  This kinda pisses me off because I called the WC desk asking about it……as did so many other people I talked to.  We were essentially told by Viking that they couldn’t put something together like this because of Covid.  I knew it was a BS answer at the time, this just verifies it.
 

There were a lot of unhappy people about this, and a lot of people scrambling to make arrangements off of others when they found this was possible (with a crappier than usual Wi-Fi).  This was a bucket list destination which many, including us assumed would be offered, but wasn’t.

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, Mich3554 said:

Then I wonder why Viking didn’t offer it for the WC which was there Mar/April of 2023?  This kinda pisses me off because I called the WC desk asking about it……as did so many other people I talked to.  We were essentially told by Viking that they couldn’t put something together like this because of Covid.  I knew it was a BS answer at the time, this just verifies it.
 

There were a lot of unhappy people about this, and a lot of people scrambling to make arrangements off of others when they found this was possible (with a crappier than usual Wi-Fi).  This was a bucket list destination which many, including us assumed would be offered, but wasn’t.

If it's any consolation, it wasn't offered for those disembarking Mumbai from Bangkok. It was only offered for those embarking in Mumbai to travel to Athens. So those passengers sorted their private excursions.  I've found that excursion provision and the way reservations are allocated is probably the most disappointing and frustrating experiences associated with Viking. So many of ours were sold out before DV could book so I gave up and sought private providers.  A much better and cheaper option. 
 

The Covid excuse. It's getting very tiresome these days. Convenient even. 

Edited June 16, 2023 by Pushka

[phil1107]

We did this as a post-cruise extension this year. The historic sites, hotels and guide were great. I would rate it 9.5/10. 
 

I enjoyed it even more then the Across The Bay of Bengal cruise.

 

I would do it again with no hesitation.

[CDNPolar]

8 hours ago, phil1107 said:

We did this as a post-cruise extension this year. The historic sites, hotels and guide were great. I would rate it 9.5/10. 
 

I enjoyed it even more then the Across The Bay of Bengal cruise.

 

I would do it again with no hesitation.

 

Why did you enjoy this more?  Because it was all India?  Were the ports on the cruise not interesting enough?

[phil1107]

Jaipur, Agra and Delhi are all extremely interesting if you like history. They are not as pretty or smart as some of the stops on the cruise. I deducted 0.5/10 for the extension because of the 2 Gandhi-related items which were of no interest to me.

 

But don’t misunderstand me, the cruise itself was great (9/10) - fantastic service, very good food and amenities, and most of the stops were interesting.

 

I found Goa dull and Bangkok not as interesting as I was expecting ( probably not helped by having a guide who seemed to lack knowledge). I wish we had longer in Singapore as we didn’t have time to everything I wanted. I wasn’t anticipating  enjoying KL but I thought it was great.

 

We befriended a couple on the cruise. They were unable to book the extension as it had sold out quickly. So if you decide to do it, don’t wait around.

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, phil1107 said:

Jaipur, Agra and Delhi are all extremely interesting if you like history. They are not as pretty or smart as some of the stops on the cruise. I deducted 0.5/10 for the extension because of the 2 Gandhi-related items which were of no interest to me.

 

But don’t misunderstand me, the cruise itself was great (9/10) - fantastic service, very good food and amenities, and most of the stops were interesting.

 

I found Goa dull and Bangkok not as interesting as I was expecting ( probably not helped by having a guide who seemed to lack knowledge). I wish we had longer in Singapore as we didn’t have time to everything I wanted. I wasn’t anticipating  enjoying KL but I thought it was great.

 

We befriended a couple on the cruise. They were unable to book the extension as it had sold out quickly. So if you decide to do it, don’t wait around.

 

Thanks for your comments.

 

We will likely book the extension privately as we can do so for half the price and achieve the same.