Included Tours

[MrsFops&FopsC5]

Can someone explain how these work?  If they are showing sold out on my MyViking, will I be able to get them?  I just booked very last minute and when I went into MyViking many of these tours are showing sold out.  I thought each port an included tour was part of your fare.

 

thank you.

[HUNKY]

VIKING will arrange additional included tours if they are all sold out for a particular day. As far as optional excursions, they usually cannot add additional. Be sure to check back frequently as people cancel or rearrange their excursions.

[formernuke]

How "very last minute"? All bookings via MVJ are locked out at about T-2 weeks (they transfer the data to the ship), so any bookings will have to happen on the ship at that point. If earlier than that, then the statement above from HUNKY is correct.

[Hockeyump]

Sorry if I am stating the obvious but did you check all time slots? The earliest might show sold out but later times may be available.

[CDNPolar]

For the included, when you board, make one of your first stops Guest Services and discuss getting on the Included Tours.  They will get you on one of the times.

 

You also may find openings for Optional Tours too.

 

Viking will however get you on the Included as that is something that they promise is available.

[Mike07]

To my knowledge, nobody has ever been turned away from an included tour, because they booked too late or too late minute or were indecisive about doing the included tour and missed out on signing up for it.

 

The only thing both the ocean and river ships have footstomped is that if you book a paid tour, they will do their best to hunt you down if you aren't at the muster location at the tour start time. If you miss the included tours, nobody is going to come looking for you.

[Peregrina651]

13 hours ago, formernuke said:

How "very last minute"? All bookings via MVJ are locked out at about T-2 weeks (they transfer the data to the ship).

 

One week prior.  MVJ will say that it is now read-only, or some words to that affect.

 

5 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

For the included, when you board, make one of your first stops Guest Services and discuss getting on the Included Tours.  They will get you on one of the times.

 

While you are standing in line at guest services, use the Viking Voyager app, which only works onboard the ship, to reserve as many of the included tours as you can. Then once it is your turn, you will have less to deal with -- or even better, you'll have taken care of everything and can go unpack.

 

[OneSixtyToOne]

9 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

One week prior.  MVJ will say that it is now read-only, or some words to that affect.

 

 

While you are standing in line at guest services, use the Viking Voyager app, which only works onboard the ship, to reserve as many of the included tours as you can. Then once it is your turn, you will have less to deal with -- or even better, you'll have taken care of everything and can go unpack.

 

You will also need them to printout tickets for any excursions you book.

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

You will also need them to printout tickets for any excursions you book.

 

Most of the time the guides never ask to ever see the tickets - in my experience.

[LindaS272]

If you’re getting on a bus, they always look at your tickets, in my experience.

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Most of the time the guides never ask to ever see the tickets - in my experience.

Interesting.  Over 19 cruises and multiple excursions, I can only think of one guide next the bus that did not ask to collect our paper excursion tickets.  Must be our luck 🙂

In fact, we've had people turned away who did NOT have their ticket (for an optional tour, to be sure).  

[Breckski]

4 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

 

Most of the time the guides never ask to ever see the tickets - in my experience.

We've never had the tour operator not ask for the tickets on included or paid excursions.  I've lost the tickets a couple of times for included excursions, and the tour operator made me ask a Viking rep for a ticket.  The Viking rep looked at their participant log and completed a manual ticket.  Those experiences made me think the tour operator needed the tickets for administrative purposes maybe with a monetary component.

[Peregrina651]

3 hours ago, Breckski said:

Those experiences made me think the tour operator needed the tickets for administrative purposes maybe with a monetary component.

 

My thought as well.

[CDNPolar]

All very different experiences...  I have come home with tickets more often than not.  Sometimes they go in the garbage in the cabin, sometimes they come home as memorabilia, but rarely has any guide taken a ticket from us.  I have scores of them in my trip folders post trip.

 

Perhaps is there a difference between ocean and river?  Where on Ocean you are staged in the Star Theatre and "checked in" kind of?  

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by CDNPolar

[sharkster77]

1 hour ago, CDNPolar said:

All very different experiences...  I have come home with tickets more often than not.  Sometimes they go in the garbage in the cabin, sometimes they come home as memorabilia, but rarely has any guide taken a ticket from us.  I have scores of them in my trip folders post trip.

 

Perhaps is there a difference between ocean and river?  Where on Ocean you are staged in the Star Theatre and "checked in" kind of?  

 

 

We did a tulip cruise this past spring, and tickets were collected every tour.  Have no experience on ocean to compare.

[CDNPolar]

We have an ocean this month and a river in November.  Will see on both of these.

[Breckski]

3 hours ago, CDNPolar said:

All very different experiences...  I have come home with tickets more often than not.  Sometimes they go in the garbage in the cabin, sometimes they come home as memorabilia, but rarely has any guide taken a ticket from us.  I have scores of them in my trip folders post trip.

 

Perhaps is there a difference between ocean and river?  Where on Ocean you are staged in the Star Theatre and "checked in" kind of?  

 

 

Silly me, I thought the discussion was about Ocean.

[island lady]

On every excursion, the host will do a head count.   This should match the number given to them by shore excursion staff.  This way they know if they are missing someone, and if the number is higher...ummmm....

 

Also helps to have head count when reboarding the bus after each stop.  

[OneSixtyToOne]

24 minutes ago, island lady said:

On every excursion, the host will do a head count.   This should match the number given to them by shore excursion staff.  This way they know if they are missing someone, and if the number is higher...ummmm....

 

Also helps to have head count when reboarding the bus after each stop.  

On our last ocean cruise on one excursion they did the above but also did a ticket count and when the count didn’t match they asked if anyone hadn’t handed in their ticket, and of course someone hadn’t.

[island lady]

3 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

On our last ocean cruise on one excursion they did the above but also did a ticket count and when the count didn’t match they asked if anyone hadn’t handed in their ticket, and of course someone hadn’t.

 

Yup, have witnessed that several times as well.