Excursions on Viking

[Kiwi-gal]

Hi Everyone

 

New here to river cruising and doing a lot of research at the moment.

 

In regards to Viking river cruise excursions I have a couple of questions.

 

I see that they have an included excursion at each stop. I also seen other excursions that are available.

Do you get time to do more than 1 excursion or is time only available for 1? 

 

Can anyone tell me roughly what I should budget for these tours as there is no price on them?

 

Thanks

    

[pontac]

My Viking Journey (MVJ) will state the cost of optional tours, also the start & end time; also it won't let you book two tours that clash.

 

You have to go to MVJ to book included tours, so for example, if you book an included excursion that runs from 09:00 - 12:00 and then try to book an optional tour that runs 08:30 - 12:30 on the same day then it will tell you they clash and you can do  only one. If you prefer the optional tour, then you unbook the included excursion and then you can book the optional.

 

There's also full details of what all these excursions include.

 

Most excursions are in the morning or afternoon timed so that you have time for lunch on the boat and are back in time for dinner. A few are all day excursions where lunch on the excursion may or may not be included.

 

Note: the excursions are not available for booking until about 6-9 months in advance of the cruise. I suggest you book all included excursions; you don't have to go on them if you decide on the day but they have laid on enough coaches (where necessary) to include you.

 

https://www.myvikingjourney.com/

[Planning to cruise]

Note that you do have to make a booking for any included excursion, just not pay anything.  

[twototravel]

@Kiwi-gal We just had all the excursions pop up on our My Viking account last week. We went through each day. There is a included excursion in each port. If you stay at a port more than one day, there will only be optionals available. From what we saw, you may not be able to do both the included and an optional, so be sure to go through everything and choose wisely. We only chose a few optionals, and then reserved almost all the included tours. Prices for the optionals went from around $100 to $400. 

[sharkster77]

On our tulip cruise in April, we were able to do both an included and an optional tour on the same day 3 times..  None of them were all day tours so it all worked out.  Not all the offered optionals were over $100)

[CDNPolar]

We often do two excursions in one day and depending on the sailing time find time to go back into the city.  We are generally exhausted on a River cruise for this reason.

 

Sometimes however if you really want one optional excursion you may have to miss the included because they conflict in time.

 

We look at every excursion and the times available and then book the best selections for us.

 

You cannot book a conflicting time excursion on the Viking site, it won't let you.

[JordanF]

General advice I have seen and agree with is to sign up for all the included tours so you get into them, and then only sign up for the paid tours you really want (I have not been on Viking, but other lines are similar).  Also to consider, it is nice to have free time to wander around town, or to just chill on the boat.  Have a great trip!