About to book excursions. How to proceed?

My excursions are about to become available to book in a few days. I have a wishlist made of everything that we want to do.

When the time comes, can I pull up my wishlist and book from there, or do I need to go to every port and book individually? When I pick the excursions, are they added to a "shopping cart" where I need to finalize everything when I'm finished? What about payments? Do I need to pay at time of booking or do I have until the day of the cruise? (We are splitting the cost of the excursions and want to know if we can split the payment later or do we need to pay for all at checkout and split the bill later.)

My excursions are about to become available to book in a few days. I have a wishlist made of everything that we want to do.

 

When the time comes, can I pull up my wishlist and book from there, or do I need to go to every port and book individually? When I pick the excursions, are they added to a "shopping cart" where I need to finalize everything when I'm finished? What about payments? Do I need to pay at time of booking or do I have until the day of the cruise? (We are splitting the cost of the excursions and want to know if we can split the payment later or do we need to pay for all at checkout and split the bill later.)

Unfortunately you cannot book from a wish list and yes you need to do them one by one and pay right away. If you would try to "collect" them in the cart some of them might be gone by the time you finish. I would choose to book the excursions you really must have and then work up the rest of them.

And have a backup plan for each port so that in the chance that what you want is sold out you don't waste time trying to figure it out.

Don't bother with adding your name to a waitlist either; it is a dead end. Viking will not inform you if openings occur; the only way to find out is to check back on MVJ every day. If you have booked an excursion already for that time slot, you will have to cancel that tour before you can book another.

The other tip is to be online when booking opens at Midnight Pacific time (which is 1 am Mountain, 2am Central, 3am Easter --and all other time zones will have to do the math because my math is not reliable)--especially if you are in a DV or a V cabin.

It sounds ridiculously complicated. Bit too much of a struggle for a relaxing holiday!

It sounds ridiculously complicated. Bit too much of a struggle for a relaxing holiday!

The hints that have been offered are to maximize your chances of getting exactly the excursions and time slots that you want. Even though we were in the Veranda cabin ( last group to book), I did not get up in the middle of the night to book excursions. I did get up an hour earlier than usual, but I did not check out after each excursion. If there was one particular excursion I had my heart set on doing, I would select it first and then checkout before completing the rest of my list.

While we did not get exactly the list I had planned, we were very pleased with our excursion itinerary.

It sounds ridiculously complicated. Bit too much of a struggle for a relaxing holiday!

When our booking slot became available we went into myvikingjourney, booked the excursions we wanted and that was it. Yes, Viking does have time constraints as to when you're able to book but once it's done there is no struggle, you've booked what you want, paid and it's done. And yes to the OP, you do pay for your excursions at booking. We have friends that booked as soon as their date opened (midnight PST) however we just did it the day it opened, had no problems getting the excursions we wanted and did not pay after each ports excursions, just lumped them all together and made one final payment for the tours.

Don't forget, you'll also need to book the included tours in each port just as you would the optional ones, no charge for the included and you can pick the times they're offered that best suits you.

Happy travel.

I would not worry about the process. Just log in and it will walk you through things.

Great advice in the preceding posts.

I would add that SOMETIMES excursions open up during your cruise and by checking onboard at the Explorer Desk you have a chance to book something, a timeframe or an optional excursion that you were unable to get beforehand as there are cancellations.

This goes ESPECIALLY for the specialty restaurants where folks (like me) cancel reservations and change plans during the cruise.

Thanks for all of the advice. I booked my excursions this morning. Here are my own tips for anyone else that stumbles upon this thread.

1. Use the wishlist. I added items to my wishlist as soon as the excursions were posted.

2. Double check your wishlist a day or two before the excursions are available for booking. My original wishlist was not usable because some of my original picks were cancelled or sold out.

3. Print the wishlist and write down your desired times. For some reason, the wishlist cannot keep track of desired time slots.

4. You can book from the wishlist page. Click on the excursion, select the time, and add to cart. Repeat until all excursions are booked. No need to go day by day to pick excursions.

5. If you have a feeling that your desired excursions will sell out, wake up early. They become available at 12:00 am Pacific Time.

6. Keep checking if you missed out. Some people modify their picks or Viking can make another tour available.

Thank you so much for listing the step by step instructions. I have printed it out and will use it in the future to book my excursions. This is why I love Cruise Critic. Folks helping other folks with their travel plans!

How far in advance are the excursions posted before they can be booked?

On my sailing for this month, the excursion were posted on my MVJ aobut 95 days before sailing. I have a DV cabin so was able to reserve them 67 days before cruise.

Thanks for all of the advice. I booked my excursions this morning. Here are my own tips for anyone else that stumbles upon this thread.

 

1. Use the wishlist. I added items to my wishlist as soon as the excursions were posted.

2. Double check your wishlist a day or two before the excursions are available for booking. My original wishlist was not usable because some of my original picks were cancelled or sold out.

3. Print the wishlist and write down your desired times. For some reason, the wishlist cannot keep track of desired time slots.

4. You can book from the wishlist page. Click on the excursion, select the time, and add to cart. Repeat until all excursions are booked. No need to go day by day to pick excursions.

5. If you have a feeling that your desired excursions will sell out, wake up early. They become available at 12:00 am Pacific Time.

6. Keep checking if you missed out. Some people modify their picks or Viking can make another tour available.

At last they have gotten that to work. Used to be that you couldn't just click the iten in the wish list and using the wish list was just a waste of time? Do you have to navigate back to the wish list each time you add an excursion to your shopping cart?

At last they have gotten that to work. Used to be that you couldn't just click the iten in the wish list and using the wish list was just a waste of time? Do you have to navigate back to the wish list each time you add an excursion to your shopping cart?

I had all of my desired excursions in my wish list. On the morning of booking, I pulled up the wish list on MVJ. I clicked on the first one listed. A popup appeared with a picture, available times, description, and "add to cart" button. I picked my time, clicked add to cart, and closed that popup. The wish list was still there with all of my desired excursions. I worked my way through the list and went to the shopping cart to pay for them.

So, to answer your question, I did not have to navigate back to the list. It stayed there and clicking on an excursion created a popup.

I had all of my desired excursions in my wish list. On the morning of booking, I pulled up the wish list on MVJ. I clicked on the first one listed. A popup appeared with a picture, available times, description, and "add to cart" button. I picked my time, clicked add to cart, and closed that popup. The wish list was still there with all of my desired excursions. I worked my way through the list and went to the shopping cart to pay for them.

 

So, to answer your question, I did not have to navigate back to the list. It stayed there and clicking on an excursion created a popup.

Thanks for the update. It is very good to hear that the Wish List is now functioning the way it should.

That's great news--thanks! We get to book our excursions on Tuesday and I'm much more relaxed now! (but not so relaxed that I don't feel the need to set my alarm for 3:00 a.m EST).

Is there a way to look over the options for excursions before the booking comes available for our cabin category?

Thanks!

Is there a way to look over the options for excursions before the booking comes available for our cabin category?

 

Thanks!

Options are posted to MVJ for all categories at the same time (usually between 120 and 100 before sailing). This posting will give times and prices for your sailing.

They are also available--without times and prices-- on the Viking website, for any itinerary, on the main page for that itinerary scroll down to where it gives the day by day of the itinerary. Each day is actually a link to a generic page for that port of call. Click on a link and then scroll down to see a list of shorex. This is a generic list and not all the shorex shown may be offered on your sailing. If it is a new port of call, there may be nothing listed yet and you will have to check back at a later date.

Is there a way to look over the options for excursions before the booking comes available for our cabin category?

 

Thanks!

Yes. I was able to see mine around 90-100 days out (I think, it was a long time ago.) I wasn't able to book until 60 days.

I added excursions to my wishlist as soon as I could, so I wouldn't lose track of what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, some of them were either cancelled or sold out. Just be sure to check the availability of your desired excursions a day or two before booking opens.

This is a thread which virtually answers my question about booking excursions - are you saying that when we are about 90-100 days from departure that we can browse the planned excursions available? That would be great, and let me get on and read up stuff before deciding. Then I think we have to wait for our cabin grade dates for excursions to come up - right? Hope so.

This is a thread which virtually answers my question about booking excursions - are you saying that when we are about 90-100 days from departure that we can browse the planned excursions available? That would be great, and let me get on and read up stuff before deciding. Then I think we have to wait for our cabin grade dates for excursions to come up - right? Hope so.

Once the shorex are posted on MVJ, it will tell you how many days until they will be available for booking. On your invoice, it will give you the date of when booking opens for you (so you can mark your calendar).

Thank you for the advice to add the excursions to my wish list. It made it super easy at 3 am this morning to book all our choices for our upcoming Viking Homelands. Took less than 15 minutes.

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This is some good advice. I had two excursions open up but if one out of two people in the room is already on the excursion it wouldn't let me know there was an opening on MVJ.

My daughter really wanted to go to Pompeii but there was only one seat left so I got her on and I went back to the included Naples tour for myself. I had to check daily and they did indeed add a time slot but for me to see it I had to cancel Naples every day.

This is some good advice. I had two excursions open up but if one out of two people in the room is already on the excursion it wouldn't let me know there was an opening on MVJ.

 

My daughter really wanted to go to Pompeii but there was only one seat left so I got her on and I went back to the included Naples tour for myself. I had to check daily and they did indeed add a time slot but for me to see it I had to cancel Naples every day.

For others in the same situation, if Pompeii doesn't work out, consider Herculaneum. It is another Roman town that was destroyed in the same Vesuvius eruption but it is 1) more compact than Pompeii, 2) better preserved than Pompeii in certain respects and 3) closer to Naples. We did this tour this past January and enjoyed it.

Herculaneum is far superior to Pompeii - I'd go back to Herculaneum in a heart beat. Far more interesting, far more accessible with less closed-off bits, and fewer school tours going around. Also better choice of modern day stuff closeby (shops and restaurants and stuff). Pompeii tends to get really crowded.