angelbear911

I am in the exact same situation as my cruise ends in Dubai and my klm flights are the next day at 2 am. I will follow this hoping someone recommends a good tour company 

Perfect can't wait for more info. We are doing 4 days Paris/3 days London before we hop on our British Isles cruise. 🙂

On 4/25/2019 at 3:12 PM, cyncyn129 said:

 

We are sailing out of Southampton next month and would also like to visit Stonehenge on our way. Would you mind sharing what tour company/coach transportation you used? Thank you!

We are doing this for our September cruise

https://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/london-heathrow-to-southampton-via-stonehenge.html

It's the same one as mentioned above from the London Toolkit site. They will pick you up from your hotel or airport on the way. They also handle your luggage at the end and get it to the porters. Prices are a little high, but we have such a short amount of time to see the sites we decided to splurge.

Would anyone who has done the Brewers tour in Berlin this year like to comment on it? Thinking about it for next April and was wondering how your experience was. Looking to take Vikings included tour for the transportation then picking up with Brewers once we arrive.

We did take the Brewers tour but a week before the trip we were told they were bought out by another company, but they assured us that the tour would be the same. It was not good and was the first time I have ever been disappointed in a tour. It could have just been the guide they gave us. He was so controlling and rude. We asked to be taken back an hour ahead of schedule to meet up at the Viking point. If you go ahead with them make sure you don't get "Jonathon" as a guide!

We just returned a few days ago. Agree that the Flam tour with Viking was great, so don't miss that :)

The best included tour for us was the Copenhagen one because of the awesome guide we had. The worst was the Tallin walking tour because of a horrible guide. I think it is hit and miss depending on who you get.

My personal favourite was the Day in the Life of Vikings in Aalborg, but that might be because I am a Viking nut :) It included a visit to the Lindholm Hoje (viking graveyard with 100s of rock grave stone markers).

Yes, I was planning something in Stockholm on the day that we were scheduled to depart and mentioned on the Baltics forum that we departed at 2:30. Someone checked the port scheduled and corrected me. I then double checked the MJV and saw all of the changes. I had a printout of the MJV calendar from the previous week which was totally different. I am lucky to have figured this out before we departed.

I will keep checking ours and thanks for the heads up. Again so sorry that they are doing this at such short notice. Especially Helsinki 3 hours short of the original time. :(

Renee

Wow, that would be very disappointing! Did you see the changes in MVJ? we are on the May 29th Homelands and there are no changes yet that I can see with ours.

angelbear911

UPDATE RE BERLIN Shore Excursion





I had called Viking twice and had gotten the info I posted above in #14. however I still was not sure so I emailed tellus@viking ************ yesterday. I got different info from them.





See below for their reply:

.

Here is the description of the Berlin Your Way Tour

 

"Follow your own interests in Berlin, from its most historic sites to its lesser-known gems. Transfer to the city early in the morning by train with your escort, who will provide you a map and some tips during an orientation tour. Set off on your own in the city center, with 3½ to 4 hours to explore. Visit Checkpoint Charlie and see remnants of the Berlin Wall or explore Alexanderplatz. Admire the remarkable glass cupola of the Reichstag or visit a museum on the renowned Museum Island. There are ample options for lunch on your own, perhaps at a sidewalk café where you enjoy a fine German wine and watch modern Berliners stroll by. At an allotted time, you will meet your escort at a prearranged location and return to your ship via train in time for dinner. Note that on July 25 the Gendarmenmarkt will have limited accessibility."







Berlin is not by the port that we will be docked at as it is not seaside so you will get there by train. You will leave for the train ride at 6:30 AM and the ride is about two and a half hours and arrive at approx. 9:00 - 9:45. I'm assuming the station in which you will arrive will be the main station Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station), a very beautiful building that is a train station and also major shopping center, however, it is not easily accessible by foot and is a long walk from the major landmarks. From there you will take a motor coach ride to the city center, this is what people are talking about when they mention the bus ride. This will give you an overview of the city with major points. Most likely, one of these major landmarks will be the meeting point to get back on the bus to Hauptbahnhof and back home. "

So it looks like we do get a bus ride.

Thanks that is way better news :)

I am a Hokie on Viking Homelands this May and am planning on a private Brewer's Berlin Tour after the Viking train ride to Berlin. We had hoped for the included Viking bus overview, but just read the recent post that the bus overview is no longer included. I have contacted Viking for their update, as they had sent me the original information which included the bus overview. But, in all fairness, they did say it was based on last year's tour. So - they may have revised the included tour and eliminated the bus overview. I will post an update when I hear back from them.

 

So Wahoo - which Homelands May cruise are you taking? And (a little off topic!) all the best on the NCAA tournament. UVA is my pick for the championship.

Let us know what Viking says. We are also booked with Brewers for Berlin.

I am Canadian and wondering what is a Wahoo? I thought it meant a dummy like a Yahoo? lol :) hubby piped in and he thinks its sports related? Cleveland Indians? LOL

*******************

We are on the May 19 Homelands. I called Viking today about the Berlin Trip. They said there is not a bus tour after we arrive. The train guide will give out maps but only show us the designated spot to meet for the return to the train. Basically we are on our own once we are off the train. Disappointed to hear there is not a bus ride too.

Thank you for that info. Another person had contacted Viking a few months ago and there was a included overview tour. I will have to adjust the meeting points and times with our Berlin guide. It is disappointing that they made this change

thank you for that :)

I contacted TJ tours who we are using for St. Petersburg and sadly they will only arrange tours to Helsinki or Tallinn if a minimum of 10 people sign up. They said that is because tours from the Viking ships for these ports are rare. I totally understand this and I assume they have lost money on arranging tours with only 2 or more people. Based on the info I am seeing in this thread the included Taillinn tour with Viking is pretty good.

We were thinking the exact same thing about Helsinki & Tallinn. The tour company we are using is TJ Tours for St. Petersburg and their prices are very reasonable for those 2 cities. I am wondering how the Viking included tours are? I wonder if it would be worth a few extra dollars to be on smaller tours that will likely see more.

There is also differences in the time in ports depending on which way you go. I know ours Stockholm to Bergen, we have very little time in Gdansk..7-1 pm, but then we have more time in other ports. We really wanted to see a lot of Stockholm and are arriving 2 days early and we wanted to be fresh. I know at the end of a cruise we are usually pretty tired :)

Thank you, now I am really looking forward that day! Rain or shine we love being in nature and snapping photos :)

We didn't take the tour to Flam but I did want to say that it was my favorite port. The walk that a previous poster referred to was our highlight of the trip with exception to Russia. We walked the entire route but you may not have time to do so. It was so peaceful and great to be off the ship, in nature and on our own. Stunning views in the woods and eventually of the ship. We would occasionally meet up with a couple or two but basically by ourselves.

Thank you so much soundcruiser. It's great to hear that it was a good excursion and not sold out! I will make sure I am up early the day our category gets to book.

I was wondering if anyone has take the full day trip to Flam from Eidfjord excursion from Viking

Curious as to the cost? Was it sold out? This is the only port where I really want to get the optional tour but we are in DV category. Would love some feedback

Lots of good suggestions.....but I vote for expanding South America.....expanding more in the Americas ......I like plmesq comments that have longer options available - with ‘B2B package’ pricing.

2nd that vote! South America would be amazing and we would be first to sign up :)

We are also Viking Homelands and for Berlin we decided to do the Berlin on your own for free which includes the train ride and a hour or so overview tour of Berlin. I believe that overview tour includes 1 or 2 stops and then they drop you off across from the Hilton by the Gendarmenmarket. You then have 3-4 hours on your own. We decided to hire a local walking tour with Brewers Tours to meet us and take us on a private walking tour. It is about 200 euros and we can add up to 4 others to split the cost or just do it by ourselves. We haven't decided yet which way we will go with it. They tell me that they can show us the following in the 3.5 hour tour.

Our 3,5-hour tour covers all the major sights and a general overview of the city center, including Prussian and Imperial monuments such as Brandenburg Gate, Museum Island and the Reichstag; WWII and **** history, including the former ministry and chancellery district, the site of Hitler's bunker and the former SS and Gestapo HQ; Cold War sights including the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and both former East and West Berlin; as well as modern Berlin and its colorful and bright new cultural life

This tour company was highly recommended and we are looking forward to it, because if we did try to do it on our own we would likely get lost. Plus we like the fact that we can probably see more than a slower bus tour with a lot of others.

HAs anyone taken this tour? How was the experience?

We did this tour http://www.game-of-thrones-dubrovnik-tour.com/ and loved it!!! Plus you get to play with the props for photos. They even have a shame bell :)

Shippy McShipface?

I like it! Sister ship to Viking Spirit. And Viking Song would be the Sister ship to Viking Saga.

sounds good to me..when do we collect our name finder discounts ;p

Viking Soul?

I was curious about the same tour. Hoping someone can share their experience. It will make for a very long 2 days but it would be so amazing to go at night and see the city lit up!

We are a party of 4, arriving into Venice on the Viking Star. We would like to know who u would recommend for a PRIVATE WATER TAXI, from the cruise pier to our hotel on Venice island. We know it will cost at least 100e, but it is worth the price for the convenience.

Thanks

We used this water taxi company. They were great. Good communication when our ship was an hour late arriving. We took them from ship to hotel and hotel to airport. Yes it was expensive but it was so worth it. We had a ton of luggage and had just been through a very long 12 day port intensive cruise. We felt like royalty. One of best memories was standing at the back of the water taxi and seeing Venice at night. Sometimes it is great to splurge on things.

https://www.motoscafivenezia.it/eng/