Excursion Description

[rmalbers]

I wish each excursion would list more aprox. travel times.  It would be nice to know, 4 hour excursion, 30 min bus ride each way, 1 hour tour and 1 hour on your own.  Something like that,  I know sometimes they list the amount of time on your own but I want to know if it a two hour bus ride or 30 min, type of thing, that's the main thing.

[Murt22]

I agree, but when I did research, I would map out the places to get a feel for the time. Takes time to do - but it gives you a better idea of how much bus time might be involved.

[lackcreativity]

32 minutes ago, Murt22 said:

I agree, but when I did research, I would map out the places to get a feel for the time. Takes time to do - but it gives you a better idea of how much bus time might be involved.

I do that all the time. It's easy enough to do with Google Maps. Enter the destination of your excursion, click on directions, add in the cruise port as the other location and enter. It should come up with the driving time. 

 

I use this also to gauge how far it is to walk from one place to another in a city. You just need to click on the little walking person figure to switch from driving distance. I don't walk as fast as the little Google person, so I always add some time!

[CDR2001]

On Saturn now. Our excursion port talk gives very detailed information about bus travel time, free time, even the number of stairs or rough walking involved. However, the day before is a bit late to get that information.  I also wish details were posted prior to booking the excursion. 

[CDNPolar]

3 hours ago, CDR2001 said:

On Saturn now. Our excursion port talk gives very detailed information about bus travel time, free time, even the number of stairs or rough walking involved. However, the day before is a bit late to get that information.  I also wish details were posted prior to booking the excursion. 

 

Exactly - this is information that I would like to know in advance.

 

We are on West Indies to Iberia in October this year.  Our excursions have not opened for booking yet, but are there to study.

This is the FIRST TIME that I believe that I have seen this in an excursion description. The bus time is 4 hours total (approximately) with 3 hours in Seville.  

 

This would make me question some excursions if I want to do them or not.  It would depend on how excited I am to see Seville.

 

Spend the day exploring Seville, the capital of Andalusia, at your leisure.

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You will travel approximately two hours each way.

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Moderate - Walking portions may be long and somewhat challenging with occasional step-ups, stairs and inclines. Total time walking or standing normally ranges from 1.5 to 3 hours.

[rmalbers]

16 hours ago, Murt22 said:

I agree, but when I did research, I would map out the places to get a feel for the time. Takes time to do - but it gives you a better idea of how much bus time might be involved.

I do that when I can but for the cruise I'm going on, a lot of the descriptions don't really include the information needed to even do that.  Also, some of these ports/stops, it is not even clear where we will anchor.  Anyway, I'll figure it out as best I can but they could make it a lot easier for us.  If I was into conspiracies,  I would almost think they are doing it on purpose to make it harder to book private tours (which I don't do much at all with VO).

[rmalbers]

11 hours ago, CDR2001 said:

On Saturn now. Our excursion port talk gives very detailed information about bus travel time, free time, even the number of stairs or rough walking involved. However, the day before is a bit late to get that information.  I also wish details were posted prior to booking the excursion. 

Yes, that is exactly the type of thing I'm talking about.

Edited May 3 by rmalbers

[Peregrina651]

It's okay to moan and groan here but if we really want to see changes, then we should be flooding the inbox with e-mails asking that there be changes -- and listing those changes we want to see.

 

 TellUs@vikingcruises.com

[CDNPolar]

26 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

It's okay to moan and groan here but if we really want to see changes, then we should be flooding the inbox with e-mails asking that there be changes -- and listing those changes we want to see.

 

 TellUs@vikingcruises.com

Done

 

Emailed them asking for bus travel times to be included in all excursion descriptions moving forward.

[KBs mum]

There's usually a stop at a random church, and if out over lunch time there will be an hour stop for that. If in a town we leave them to it and meet back at the bus at a prearranged time

[LindaS272]

On 5/3/2024 at 11:13 AM, rmalbers said:

I do that when I can but for the cruise I'm going on, a lot of the descriptions don't really include the information needed to even do that.  Also, some of these ports/stops, it is not even clear where we will anchor.  Anyway, I'll figure it out as best I can but they could make it a lot easier for us.  If I was into conspiracies,  I would almost think they are doing it on purpose to make it harder to book private tours (which I don't do much at all with VO).

I would also like them to be more detailed about if/when food is offered. I have declined to book some optional excursions over a meal time when they just say “snack” or in some cases no food at all. And there is also the problem of trying to bring my own food when the country has restrictions on bringing food off the ship.

Edited May 5 by LindaS272

[Hockeyump]

On the Bangkok to Hing Kong cruise last month we had an excursion that was 5 hours with no food. Spoke with guest services and got a lunch bag. Sandwich, fruit and cookies. Not advertised and we were the only people who had this.

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Hockeyump said:

On the Bangkok to Hing Kong cruise last month we had an excursion that was 5 hours with no food. Spoke with guest services and got a lunch bag. Sandwich, fruit and cookies. Not advertised and we were the only people who had this.

Yes, I did that once. But so many problems—not knowing in advance, and food restrictions ashore.

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, Hockeyump said:

On the Bangkok to Hing Kong cruise last month we had an excursion that was 5 hours with no food. Spoke with guest services and got a lunch bag. Sandwich, fruit and cookies. Not advertised and we were the only people who had this.

 

What time did the excursion leave and return to the ship may I ask?

 

I guess that we look at the description and know if there is a snack or a meal, and we plan accordingly.

 

Most excursions we go on typically leave in the early morning and are back for lunch or leave after lunch.

 

In the morning excursions if we want to stay in the town/city we have lunch there on our own.

 

We typically don't gravitate to the excursions with a meal included.

[Hockeyump]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

What time did the excursion leave and return to the ship may I ask?

 

I guess that we look at the description and know if there is a snack or a meal, and we plan accordingly.

 

Most excursions we go on typically leave in the early morning and are back for lunch or leave after lunch.

 

In the morning excursions if we want to stay in the town/city we have lunch there on our own.

 

We typically don't gravitate to the excursions with a meal included.

I think it was 10:00 to 15:30 with no meal break.  Many of the excursions on that cruise were longer due to the distances from the ports to the main destinations. 

[CDNPolar]

3 minutes ago, Hockeyump said:

I think it was 10:00 to 15:30 with no meal break.  Many of the excursions on that cruise were longer due to the distances from the ports to the main destinations. 

 

I fully understand your concerns with this, but for an excursion like this we have breakfast late and then lunch when we return.  We work around the times.  

 

I understand the concern of food going ashore but for us, in a case like this we will grab a banana or piece of fruit at breakfast and take it with us.  We have been known to grab a couple of croissants or muffins.  We always travel with many extra ziplock bags - our travel saving grace - and the food goes in those and in our backpack.

 

We did get quite sternly reprimanded in one country - don't remember which one - by the bus driver for eating on the bus.

[janetcbl]

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

I fully understand your concerns with this, but for an excursion like this we have breakfast late and then lunch when we return.  We work around the times.  

 

I understand the concern of food going ashore but for us, in a case like this we will grab a banana or piece of fruit at breakfast and take it with us.  We have been known to grab a couple of croissants or muffins.  We always travel with many extra ziplock bags - our travel saving grace - and the food goes in those and in our backpack.

 

We did get quite sternly reprimanded in one country - don't remember which one - by the bus driver for eating on the bus.

Be careful taking fruit into some countries. It is often not allowed and penalties can be severe. Discovered this the hard way when, as a tour guide, one of the people on my tour didn’t listen and the results were unpleasant.

[CurlerRob]

5 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Be careful taking fruit into some countries. It is often not allowed and penalties can be severe. Discovered this the hard way when, as a tour guide, one of the people on my tour didn’t listen and the results were unpleasant.

Second this and it often applies to ANY food taken off the ship. Oz, NZ, Hong Kong and Japan are all live examples with various restrictions and penalties.🍺🥌

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

Second this and it often applies to ANY food taken off the ship. Oz, NZ, Hong Kong and Japan are all live examples with various restrictions and penalties.🍺🥌

 

Chile required everyone to go through agricultural inspection when leaving the ship.

 

if you ever drive cross country into California they do the same. It’s to protect the agriculture industry from invasive insects.

Edited May 7 by OneSixtyToOne

[CDNPolar]

13 hours ago, janetcbl said:

Be careful taking fruit into some countries. It is often not allowed and penalties can be severe. Discovered this the hard way when, as a tour guide, one of the people on my tour didn’t listen and the results were unpleasant.

 

7 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

Second this and it often applies to ANY food taken off the ship. Oz, NZ, Hong Kong and Japan are all live examples with various restrictions and penalties.🍺🥌

 

4 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

Chile required everyone to go through agricultural inspection when leaving the ship.

 

if you ever drive cross country into California they do the same. It’s to protect the agriculture industry from invasive insects.

 

We are fully aware of restrictions... but thank you for clarifying for someone who is not.  I should have been more clear in my post.  This happens in countries where there are no restrictions.

[WanderingBrit]

Just to calibrate expectations: on our recent Virgin Voyages cruise, 2 out of 3 excursions did not match the description. One did not start where it was supposed to and did not visit the landmarks called out in its description, the other was described as a "walking tour of ..." but in actuality was 3 hours of bus with 2 stops for photos and a shopping destination.

 

Yes, there are ways that Viking could be even better, but they're already better than many.

[KBs mum]

If not sure of lunch availability we just have a sizeable cooked breakfast, full English/Scottish/welsh/irish not being available, we improvise. Room service is available if we return hungry before evening food service starts