Upgraded Included Excursions

[photopro2]

It seems that Viking have quietly introduced an additional upgraded excursion in some ports. Unlike the current included excursions, which are generally open to all passengers, the additional excursions have a limited number of places available.

 

Some relatively high value excursions, that were previously optional, have recently been listed as included on MVJ and have been available to book free of charge. Examples are “Secrets of Puna” in Hawaii and a SNUBA adventure, believed to be “Sea Trek Helmet Diving at Pigeon Island” in Castries, St. Lucia.

 

There are indications that “Highlights of Rio” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil might in future be offered as an additional included excursion. The “Highlights of Puerto Madryn & Welsh Tea at Gaiman” in Argentina may also become a top level, limited numbers included excursion with the “Sea Lions at Punta Loma & Ecocenter” added as an included excursion open to all passengers. 

 

The changes have not officially been announced by Viking and maybe experimental at this stage. This move would primarily benefit passengers in higher grade cabins, who are able to book excursions up to 107 days prior to departure. However, they have no effect on Viking’s promise to provide all passengers with an included excursion at every port. Once places on the upgraded excursion have been taken, there will still be availability for all remaining passengers on an alternative included excursion.

 

Does anyone have any more examples of these additional and upgraded included excursions?

 

[Harrietq]

On 9/5/2023 at 3:14 AM, photopro2 said:

It seems that Viking have quietly introduced an additional upgraded excursion in some ports. Unlike the current included excursions, which are generally open to all passengers, the additional excursions have a limited number of places available.

 

Some relatively high value excursions, that were previously optional, have recently been listed as included on MVJ and have been available to book free of charge. Examples are “Secrets of Puna” in Hawaii and a SNUBA adventure, believed to be “Sea Trek Helmet Diving at Pigeon Island” in Castries, St. Lucia.

 

There are indications that “Highlights of Rio” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil might in future be offered as an additional included excursion. The “Highlights of Puerto Madryn & Welsh Tea at Gaiman” in Argentina may also become a top level, limited numbers included excursion with the “Sea Lions at Punta Loma & Ecocenter” added as an included excursion open to all passengers. 

 

The changes have not officially been announced by Viking and maybe experimental at this stage. This move would primarily benefit passengers in higher grade cabins, who are able to book excursions up to 107 days prior to departure. However, they have no effect on Viking’s promise to provide all passengers with an included excursion at every port. Once places on the upgraded excursion have been taken, there will still be availability for all remaining passengers on an alternative included excursion.

 

Does anyone have any more examples of these additional and upgraded included excursions?

 

We leave October 9 for “Far East Horizons” Tokyo-Hong Kong.

 

Offered included tours with the 1-day stop in Taipei are “Highlights of Taipei”, a superior 5 hour tour and “Taipei in Brief” the usual 4 hour bus-drive death-march, take your pictures through the windows tour. The better tour wasn’t even available on PV booking day, as far as I can tell. Long gone for us in DV steerage. Most paid excursions were gone (with a few popping back up after assiduously checking MVJ daily. 🙄) for DV booking. I can’t imagine what slim pickings were left for V. And Japan does not have a great deal of third party (Viator, etc.) choices.
 

Yet more reasons I’m glad to be concluding my business with Viking after this trip (vouchers) and cruising with Azamara, Explora and Regent. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Harrietq
Typo

[photopro2]

Thanks for the information @Harrietq it is good to have further confirmation that this really is "a thing"

Our experience has been somewhat different to yours. We have always sailed in DV and have always got onto the excursions that we wished to. Though, to be fair, we are quick off the mark when the booking window opens.

I wish you the very best for all your future travel, whichever line it might happen to be on.

[Harrietq]

42 minutes ago, photopro2 said:

Thanks for the information @Harrietq it is good to have further confirmation that this really is "a thing"

Our experience has been somewhat different to yours. We have always sailed in DV and have always got onto the excursions that we wished to. Though, to be fair, we are quick off the mark when the booking window opens.

I wish you the very best for all your future travel, whichever line it might happen to be on.

I watched as each level booked excursions and I started checking MVJ four hours prior to DV booking availability as Viking’s times just after COVID were often open early. (They now run exact to the minute.) I had the bookings I could choose complete by 10 minutes past the opening. Also, the fact that this is part of a grand tour and those boarding at Vancouver were able to book earlier than those taking this segment was working a bit against me. But, I know how Viking works and did my best. My wishes to you for continuing safe and fulfilling travels!

[photopro2]

1 minute ago, Harrietq said:

Also, the fact that this is part of a grand tour and those boarding at Vancouver were able to book earlier than those taking this segment was working a bit against me

That makes sense, and I see you certainly did your best 

[gma1]

I think some of our included tours on Viking Polaris "Panama & Scenic South America" 18 day cruise 10/11/23 may be, since they are more hours of duration and an included meal. Also seems like more choices  Maybe too because we have so many sea days, which we love & looking forward to experiencing this awesome new expedition ship.

[photopro2]

17 minutes ago, gma1 said:

I think some of our included tours on Viking Polaris "Panama & Scenic South America" 18 day cruise 10/11/23 may be,

The expedition ships are rather a different case. My recollection is they were originally marketed with almost all excursions included. By the time we sailed on the Octantis, there was a mixture of optional and good quality included excursions which sounds like what you are seeing.

Maybe this is spilling over, in a very limited way, to the ocean ships?

[LinnieRed]

On 9/5/2023 at 9:14 AM, photopro2 said:

here are indications that “Highlights of Rio” in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil might in future be offered as an additional included excursion. The “Highlights of Puerto Madryn & Welsh Tea at Gaiman” in Argentina may also become a top level, limited numbers included excursion with the “Sea Lions at Punta Loma & Ecocenter” added as an included excursion open to all passengers. 

At least on the upcoming southern Atlantic Crossing “Highlights of Rio” is $199 excursion. I know this because I just booked it. It was marketed as one of the included excursions when we booked, but somewhere along the way, they in-excluded it. Very tricky, Viking. 

[photopro2]

28 minutes ago, LinnieRed said:

"Highlights of Rio” is $199 excursion. I know this because I just booked it. It was marketed as one of the included excursions when we booked,

Thanks for that update @LinnieRed

I noticed that it was marketed as included at one point, which led to the theory it might be one of these new upgraded included excursions.

I absolutely agree with you that it is very poor practice by Viking to indicate that a tour of that type is likely to be included at the point people are committing to a particular cruise, only to disappoint them when the excursion booking window opens.

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by photopro2
Missing word

[miami mama]

Photopro2 when we were considering what excursions to take on Octanis (Canadian Discovery) all of the excursions listed as included. I remember remarking to my husband "How can they make a fishing trip as an included excursion? That is expensive." Well by the time we got to booking, the "errors" had been corrected and only one (or possibly two depending on the port) of the excursions were considered incuded. I don't think you can relie upon if the excursion is indeed included or is at a cost until the actual day of reserving.

[CCWineLover]

I came to the same conclusion about these "preferential" included tours.  On our Montreal-FLL cruise, in Charlottetown, PIE, there were 3 included tours offered.  The best one, Green Gables 4 hour extensive tour, was sold out instantly by PV's so it must have had limited numbers.  The 2nd tour was sold out within minutes into DV's.  The 3rd tour, the likely least preferred and more traditional included tour is what was left.

It appears this seems to be the new approach.  Perhaps Viking is testing this approach rather than implementing it everywhere, just to see how it is received.

[photopro2]

10 hours ago, miami mama said:

I don't think you can relie upon if the excursion is indeed included or is at a cost until the actual day of reserving.

Agreed. and I think this is something Viking will need to be careful of if they're not going to be accused of bait and switch tactics.

[janetcbl]

On our recent Great Lakes cruise, we took mainly Included Excursions. They all seemed to be a step up from the Included Excursions on the Ocean Cruises. By that I mean, they usually included a “visit” to something, rather than just a “drive by”. 

[lackcreativity]

12 hours ago, photopro2 said:

Agreed. and I think this is something Viking will need to be careful of if they're not going to be accused of bait and switch tactics.

I am not disagreeing with you, but at the top and the bottom of each page of potential shore excursions, Viking posts "Shore excursions vary by itinerary and are subject to change."  

I suspect that provides them some coverage there. In fact, sometimes they change the actual ports on a cruise even before sailing. If I ever did read the Terms and Conditions of the Viking booking agreement, I certainly don't remember much now (I know, I know...). I bet that provides them much more leeway for changing things than we might wish.

[photopro2]

1 hour ago, lackcreativity said:

I bet that provides them much more leeway for changing things than we might wish.

You are absolutely right of course. You probably realised I was talking more about people's perceptions than the legality of making changes like this. As you say, contractually the cards will be stacked in Viking's favour.

I'm hopeful that they will continue with their culture of being open and transparent. This is why they need to take care that their marketing material is not seen as being deliberately deceptive.

[SWFLAOK]

On 9/6/2023 at 9:35 AM, Harrietq said:

We leave October 9 for “Far East Horizons” Tokyo-Hong Kong.

 

Offered included tours with the 1-day stop in Taipei are “Highlights of Taipei”, a superior 5 hour tour and “Taipei in Brief” the usual 4 hour bus-drive death-march, take your pictures through the windows tour. The better tour wasn’t even available on PV booking day, as far as I can tell. Long gone for us in DV steerage. Most paid excursions were gone (with a few popping back up after assiduously checking MVJ daily. 🙄) for DV booking. I can’t imagine what slim pickings were left for V. And Japan does not have a great deal of third party (Viator, etc.) choices.
 

Yet more reasons I’m glad to be concluding my business with Viking after this trip (vouchers) and cruising with Azamara, Explora and Regent. 

You need to think twice if you think Regent will be better with their included tours. We have 100 days onboard Regent, and another cruise booked next April. We've had some very bad included excursions, and just pay for what looks like the best excursion for us. We pay extra for "small group" tours, but a few times we've been on the same tour boat with those who did not pay for "small group". 

And there is no comparison between the cost of a cruise on Regent and a cruise on Viking.

We have only done one Viking River cruise so far. We booked the 2 room Verandah suite. It was very nice, and we had wine in our suite's refrigerator (and red on the counter), and free laundry for the entire cruise. We bought the beverage package, and did a 2 night pre and a 3 night post, in the upgraded hotels, and paid for the business class upgrade on our flights, although we were bumped from one of our flights, and received only a minimal refund from Viking after contacting them several times. Almost all of our excursions were included, with a few that had a reasonable charge, and there were only 3 where we headed back to the ship without waiting for our guide to take us there at the end of the tour (but we did tell them) since we were in easy walking distance to the ship, and there were a few other places we wanted to stop on the way.

Compared to what we pay for Regent, we considered the Viking River cruise a bargain. And we have never stayed in anything higher than a Penthouse suite, and more often are in a Verandah, with none of them being 2 rooms (a bedroom in a separate room than he living area).

Based on that, we booked our first Viking Ocean cruise in an Explorer suite through the Panama Canal from Panama City to Fort Lauderdale. We could never afford a cabin that large on Regent. There were only 2 excursions that we paid extra for, and we paid for the beverage package. We were able to book first class air from Miami to Panama City for less than the air credit since we only needed it one way since we end our cruise in Florida. Viking Mars is the largest ship we've ever cruised on, so we hope it doesn't feel crowded. We found the narrow halls of the Viking Longship , and the large tables in the restaurant to be difficult to deal with, especially since our river cruise was just 2 months after they started cruising again after the Covid shutdown. We had booked that cruise and paid in full in November of 2017 and took the cruise many years later with no refund offered.

[Vineyard View]

I wonder how much this has to do with a response to Oceania’s “Simply More”. This new program includes wine/beer with lunch/dinner on all new bookings, and also includes an “excursion credit” based on length of voyage to use for any of their excursions, including small group tours. So you can spread it out longer if you book the types of tours included with Viking (historically predominantly bus rides and walking tours), or dump it into a couple of high end tours. Interesting approach because they attract non excursion travelers who are not interested in the tours offered by Viking, as well as those who are. For instance, you have a $1,000 credit to use as you like on a 14 day itinerary. That can be attractive to DIY people. The difference is you can book these excursions anytime after you book, regardless of cabin category. 
When I first read this new policy, my first thought was, they are targeting Viking in a big way.  
My second was, they are doing this at a lower price point. Albeit with either 1248 pax ships, or R class (650ish pax, which need an upgraded cabin to compete for sure). 
So it will be interesting to see how this plays out. It could certainly change up the traditional excursion formula with Viking. 

[Vineyard View]

3 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

You need to think twice if you think Regent will be better with their included tours. We have 100 days onboard Regent, and another cruise booked next April. We've had some very bad included excursions, and just pay for what looks like the best excursion for us. We pay extra for "small group" tours, but a few times we've been on the same tour boat with those who did not pay for "small group". 

And there is no comparison between the cost of a cruise on Regent and a cruise on Viking.

We have only done one Viking River cruise so far. We booked the 2 room Verandah suite. It was very nice, and we had wine in our suite's refrigerator (and red on the counter), and free laundry for the entire cruise. We bought the beverage package, and did a 2 night pre and a 3 night post, in the upgraded hotels, and paid for the business class upgrade on our flights, although we were bumped from one of our flights, and received only a minimal refund from Viking after contacting them several times. Almost all of our excursions were included, with a few that had a reasonable charge, and there were only 3 where we headed back to the ship without waiting for our guide to take us there at the end of the tour (but we did tell them) since we were in easy walking distance to the ship, and there were a few other places we wanted to stop on the way.

This is a main reason we do not look at Regent or SS. We are almost always DIY travelers. So with all three of these lines, you are paying for the ‘free excursions’, because they are banked into the pricing. This is incredibly attractive to a whole lot of travelers. 

[Harrietq]

7 hours ago, SWFLAOK said:

You need to think twice if you think Regent will be better with their included tours. We have 100 days onboard Regent, and another cruise booked next April. We've had some very bad included excursions, and just pay for what looks like the best excursion for us. We pay extra for "small group" tours, but a few times we've been on the same tour boat with those who did not pay for "small group". 

And there is no comparison between the cost of a cruise on Regent and a cruise on Viking.

We have only done one Viking River cruise so far. We booked the 2 room Verandah suite. It was very nice, and we had wine in our suite's refrigerator (and red on the counter), and free laundry for the entire cruise. We bought the beverage package, and did a 2 night pre and a 3 night post, in the upgraded hotels, and paid for the business class upgrade on our flights, although we were bumped from one of our flights, and received only a minimal refund from Viking after contacting them several times. Almost all of our excursions were included, with a few that had a reasonable charge, and there were only 3 where we headed back to the ship without waiting for our guide to take us there at the end of the tour (but we did tell them) since we were in easy walking distance to the ship, and there were a few other places we wanted to stop on the way.

Compared to what we pay for Regent, we considered the Viking River cruise a bargain. And we have never stayed in anything higher than a Penthouse suite, and more often are in a Verandah, with none of them being 2 rooms (a bedroom in a separate room than he living area).

Based on that, we booked our first Viking Ocean cruise in an Explorer suite through the Panama Canal from Panama City to Fort Lauderdale. We could never afford a cabin that large on Regent. There were only 2 excursions that we paid extra for, and we paid for the beverage package. We were able to book first class air from Miami to Panama City for less than the air credit since we only needed it one way since we end our cruise in Florida. Viking Mars is the largest ship we've ever cruised on, so we hope it doesn't feel crowded. We found the narrow halls of the Viking Longship , and the large tables in the restaurant to be difficult to deal with, especially since our river cruise was just 2 months after they started cruising again after the Covid shutdown. We had booked that cruise and paid in full in November of 2017 and took the cruise many years later with no refund offered.

Thank you for your insight. Right now, we feel Viking doesn’t have itineraries that are interesting to us. We have six river and seven ocean trips on Viking.
 

We’ve found Azamara’s itineraries very much to our liking. I’ve said I’d have my dream cruise line with a Viking ship and Azamara crew, itinerary, and food. Regent is nice, but more “fussy” than I like. It is spendy, for sure.
Happy travels to you!

[KBs mum]

10 hours ago, lackcreativity said:

I am not disagreeing with you, but at the top and the bottom of each page of potential shore excursions, Viking posts "Shore excursions vary by itinerary and are subject to change."  

I suspect that provides them some coverage there. In fact, sometimes they change the actual ports on a cruise even before sailing. If I ever did read the Terms and Conditions of the Viking booking agreement, I certainly don't remember much now (I know, I know...). I bet that provides them much more leeway for changing things than we might wish.

In the latest brochures all the itineraries are marked as subject to change, so they should be taken as examples only. Also look out for the port not being in the city named, example Tilbury and Greenwich both being listed as London. Greenwich is in London, Tilbury is a mostly container port outside London. 

 

We rarely book excursions,  preferring to use local transport, but we find the lack of information about accessibility and how much time will be at the listed attraction absurd. The easy / moderate / difficult descriptions mean little in practice, and time is often wasted at a random church, or to accommodate a long lunch break

Edited September 8, 2023 by KBs mum

[hersheyhughes]

Looks like Viking is experimenting with several aspects of their excursions. On our Eastern Seaboard cruise in July and August we had 2 optional excursions ($169 each for 6 hours) which included lunch.  At the 1st restaurant we were advised we would be responsible for any beer and wine we drank. On the 2nd excursion we were advised on the bus if we had beer or wine we would be responsible.

It was very surprising considering all of the other cruises and excursions we have taken with Viking. On our cruise in Nov of '21 bottles of wine were on the tables for us to enjoy. During that cruise we had 7 long optional tours and we were never asked to pay.

I questioned the practice last month and was given the explanation it had to do with it being a foreign port and what their practices were.  A pretty flimsy excuse, at best. Seems Viking is cutting corners where they can. 

[Harrietq]

2 hours ago, hersheyhughes said:

Looks like Viking is experimenting with several aspects of their excursions. On our Eastern Seaboard cruise in July and August we had 2 optional excursions ($169 each for 6 hours) which included lunch.  At the 1st restaurant we were advised we would be responsible for any beer and wine we drank. On the 2nd excursion we were advised on the bus if we had beer or wine we would be responsible.

It was very surprising considering all of the other cruises and excursions we have taken with Viking. On our cruise in Nov of '21 bottles of wine were on the tables for us to enjoy. During that cruise we had 7 long optional tours and we were never asked to pay.

I questioned the practice last month and was given the explanation it had to do with it being a foreign port and what their practices were.  A pretty flimsy excuse, at best. Seems Viking is cutting corners where they can. 

Wow. So much for “no nickel and diming”. I don’t even care, as I don’t drink alcohol. Viking has loudly and proudly touted “wine and beer included at lunch and dinner” since forever. 

[CCWineLover]

20 minutes ago, Harrietq said:

Wow. So much for “no nickel and diming”. I don’t even care, as I don’t drink alcohol. Viking has loudly and proudly touted “wine and beer included at lunch and dinner” since forever. 

They proudly tout wine and beer included at lunch and dinner ON THE SHIP.

These are external excursions and indeed are dictated by 1. Rules of the countries involved and 2. Costs of alcohol that must be borne by someone.

If this bothers you, time to use another cruise line.

[SWFLAOK]

19 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

This is a main reason we do not look at Regent or SS. We are almost always DIY travelers. So with all three of these lines, you are paying for the ‘free excursions’, because they are banked into the pricing. This is incredibly attractive to a whole lot of travelers. 

They definitely aren't "free excursions" on Regent although I think they recently called them that in one of their brochures. They're included excursions, because they're included in the cost of the cruise.

Since Oceania is owned by the same company as Regent, we have always received many brochures for their cruises. We are not interested in a ship with over 1200 passengers. Some of the ships are in our passenger range, but with O plus, we would have to pick one of the pluses we get on Regent. We could pay more and get all 4 pluses, and get a smaller cabin and still need to pay for more if we want the Regent experience. If you don't need everything that Regent includes, and don't mind a larger ship, then I think Oceania is worth looking at.

We don't mind going out on our own to explore a port that we're docked in. We have done this a number of times since a port that you dock in often is close to a town worth exploring, but not always. If we need to travel to get to a place we can explore on foot, then it needs to be a shuttle provided by the cruise line. We avoid independent tours unless we are in a very small port like Fakarava in French Polynesia, where locals can give you a nice car tour of the island where they were born, and will be sure to get you back to the tender dock on time to return to your ship. For large, crowded ports, we don't trust independent operators to get us back to the ship on time.

[SWFLAOK]

4 hours ago, hersheyhughes said:

Looks like Viking is experimenting with several aspects of their excursions. On our Eastern Seaboard cruise in July and August we had 2 optional excursions ($169 each for 6 hours) which included lunch.  At the 1st restaurant we were advised we would be responsible for any beer and wine we drank. On the 2nd excursion we were advised on the bus if we had beer or wine we would be responsible.

It was very surprising considering all of the other cruises and excursions we have taken with Viking. On our cruise in Nov of '21 bottles of wine were on the tables for us to enjoy. During that cruise we had 7 long optional tours and we were never asked to pay.

I questioned the practice last month and was given the explanation it had to do with it being a foreign port and what their practices were.  A pretty flimsy excuse, at best. Seems Viking is cutting corners where they can. 

On our 2 week Viking River cruise, one red and one white were offered with lunch and dinner onboard. If you asked for something other than what was offered, you were almost always charged for the bottle, even if you only had 2 glasses from it, and an additional glass wasn't offered from it. We know this because we looked at our bill online on the first afternoon onboard, and found that we had been charged over 40 dollars for the bottle that our 2 glasses of wine were poured from. We had already paid for the Silver Beverage package when we boarded, but it wasn't entered in the computer. The Batr Tender at Happy Hour made that he entered it before we wasted any more money on wine. Most of the wine was not very good. The Happy Hour cocktails were better.

The exursions on Viking River clearly indicated whether or not a drink was included, whether lunch was included or not. We stopped at a brewery that said that 2 small glasses of beer where included, and that food was not. They did have pretzels, and those who wanted an extra glass of beer received it until we left a short time after the tasting. On a few other excursions that were an additional cost, one beer, wine or soft drink was included as described, and one that had fewer people than expected since quite a few people who had signed up didn't show up encouraged us to have as more of their local beer and wine before returning to the ship by foot.