Viking Daily and Dock Locations for Portraits of Southern France

[sengsational]

I scanned the daily papers that came in my cabin during an August 2015 northbound Viking Heimdal "Portraits of Southern France" cruise. I also tried to include where the ship docked and the walking tour map (sometimes I added the walking tour route). It's not perfect, but if someone would like to get a real good idea about what happens when on this route, this might be interesting.

 

The image has each day aboard as a row. The first day, along the top shows a green block (touring time), then dinner inside the dashed block. The top bar is grey, indicating the ship is docked. In general you will find that there is a morning tour slot, and an afternoon tour slot (again, tours are dark green). You're always on the ship for all meals (dashed blocks) if you're not making your own tour. Only one morning tour slot is empty due to cruising and one afternoon tour slot is empty due to cruising (yellow is cruising, grey is docked).

 

The scans of the daily paper and maps were bound into a PDF document stored on Google drive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6X74x23Hx7DWjgwYUZwUGt1SjQ/view?usp=sharing

Edited August 21, 2015 by sengsational

[Host Jazzbeau]

Thanks for posting! The pdf came through perfect and the maps will be very helpful even for those on other cruise lines. The thumbnail has the color blocks but no text. Can you post that to the google drive too?

[Lolotte]

Thank you for the excellent report, leaving on Sunday !

[mwoodrowe1]

wow excellent! thank you. we are doing the other direction in Sept. were you happy with the cruise? any must see recommendations?

[theremin]

Wow! Thank you so much for the information. We are sailing 1 Nov on this cruise. Your information is very, very useful. Really well done. Thanks again!!

[sengsational]

wow excellent! thank you. we are doing the other direction in Sept. were you happy with the cruise? any must see recommendations?

I wrote a review that seems to be stuck in moderation. The shore tours were at times a bit crowded, and you need to 'make hay' if you're cruising in good weather with interesting scenery. We signed up for all of the optional excursions, and it turned out to be a bit much. Luckily, they let us bail-out of one without penalty. As for must-see things, that's a matter of taste. I kind of liked the geeky fun of the steam train, but that's just me. My wife liked the wine tastings.

[sengsational]

Thanks for posting! The pdf came through perfect and the maps will be very helpful even for those on other cruise lines. The thumbnail has the color blocks but no text. Can you post that to the google drive too?

Sure, Here you go.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6X74x23Hx7DXzFKcXlBMzliTEk/view?usp=sharing

[mwoodrowe1]

Thank you for the excellent report, leaving on Sunday !

 

Please let us know how your cruise went!

[mwoodrowe1]

I wrote a review that seems to be stuck in moderation. The shore tours were at times a bit crowded, and you need to 'make hay' if you're cruising in good weather with interesting scenery. We signed up for all of the optional excursions, and it turned out to be a bit much. Luckily, they let us bail-out of one without penalty. As for must-see things, that's a matter of taste. I kind of liked the geeky fun of the steam train, but that's just me. My wife liked the wine tastings.

 

Thanks so much! i only wish someone would post the daily sheets in the other direction. I will when i get back. great idea! did you have any meals off the ship?

[Prdancer]

I scanned the daily papers that came in my cabin during an August 2015 northbound Viking Heimdal "Portraits of Southern France" cruise. I also tried to include where the ship docked and the walking tour map (sometimes I added the walking tour route). It's not perfect, but if someone would like to get a real good idea about what happens when on this route, this might be interesting.

 

The image has each day aboard as a row. The first day, along the top shows a green block (touring time), then dinner inside the dashed block. The top bar is grey, indicating the ship is docked. In general you will find that there is a morning tour slot, and an afternoon tour slot (again, tours are dark green). You're always on the ship for all meals (dashed blocks) if you're not making your own tour. Only one morning tour slot is empty due to cruising and one afternoon tour slot is empty due to cruising (yellow is cruising, grey is docked).

 

The scans of the daily paper and maps were bound into a PDF document stored on Google drive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6X74x23Hx7DWjgwYUZwUGt1SjQ/view?usp=sharing

 

Thanks for daily paper & maps. I'll make good use of them in my planning as we are are the same cruise in 8 weeks.

[CasaM]

The daily sheets are very helpful....thank you for posting them. We're leaving in 2 weeks.

 

I see that some days there are two different tours in the same time slot...do you have a choice of these? For the extra tours that you pay for, they are listed as "optional tour". But the following are listed in the same time slot:

 

*Walking Tour: Arles

*Van Gogh Theme Tour: Arles

 

*Shore excursion: Steam Train

*Shore excursion: Tain L'Hermitage

 

*Walking tour: Lyon

*Cooking workshop: Lyon

 

If you've been on this itinerary, please clarify for me if I'm reading this correctly. And I'd like to hear comments about which tours you chose and if you enjoyed your selection.

[mwoodrowe1]

The daily sheets are very helpful....thank you for posting them. We're leaving in 2 weeks.

 

I see that some days there are two different tours in the same time slot...do you have a choice of these?

 

you have your choice of those tours as the included tour. i don't think they had the cooking in Lyon on my cruise. i didn't hear anything about the van gogh tour. i suppose if you are a huge fan, it's probably good. we did the regular areas walking and you visit a couple of van gogh sites.

 

i did opt for the steam train tour. you get a quick walk through town and then off to the old fashioned steam train. its very pretty scenery up into the hills. you come back down by bus. HINT if you go sit on the right hand side of the train. i think most people did the winery & the chocolate shop. i saw lots of bags of chocolate on my return. but we decided to do something different.

 

its a very nice cruise. i found plenty of lovely things to look at on land as we cruised too!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Just be aware that while Arles has lots of Van Gogh connections, that doesn't include his actual paintings. There is a series of Easels erected around town at various spots where he painted, with a copy of the painting -- many of these would be covered in the normal walking tour of Arles. The alternative tour may include the asylum in St-Remy, near Les Baux, where he spent the last year of his life.

[Talisker92]

Instead of the asylum or hill town tours in Arles, we opted to see the Carrieres de Luminaires exhibition. It is in an old limestone mine outside Arles. Taxi was 40 Euros each way, but worth it.

They have projectors and surround sound. When we were there they were displaying paintings by Van Goch and Gauguin.

Here is the link:http://carrieres-lumieres.com/en/preparing-your-visit/opening-times-and-access

At this time they are doing DaVinci, Michalengelo and Raphael. It is an experience not to be missed!

[Host Jazzbeau]

Instead of the asylum or hill town tours in Arles, we opted to see the Carrieres de Luminaires exhibition. It is in an old limestone mine outside Arles. Taxi was 40 Euros each way, but worth it.

They have projectors and surround sound. When we were there they were displaying paintings by Van Goch and Gauguin.

Here is the link:http://carrieres-lumieres.com/en/preparing-your-visit/opening-times-and-access

At this time they are doing DaVinci, Michalengelo and Raphael. It is an experience not to be missed!

 

I'll second that. It's also just outside (I mean a short stroll) the town of Les Baux, so once you are there you might as well see them both.

[theremin]

Wow! I loved the site you've both recommended. I am on a Viking cruise 1 Nov in this area and will definitely put this on my personal itinerary.

Do either of you know whether a tripod is permitted inside to assist with photography? I can manage without, but it's much easier on a solid base.

Any insight you might have is appreciated.

Regards,

Thom

[Host Jazzbeau]

Wow! I loved the site you've both recommended. I am on a Viking cruise 1 Nov in this area and will definitely put this on my personal itinerary.

Do either of you know whether a tripod is permitted inside to assist with photography? I can manage without, but it's much easier on a solid base.

Any insight you might have is appreciated.

Regards,

Thom

 

I don't even remember whether photography is allowed. My camera would not have been able to cope with the low light, so I didn't even bring it in. The images change and move a lot -- maybe if you have low-lux movie capability you could get something, but I think you would miss more by fooling with the camera and not just experiencing the feeling of being underwater in the most beautiful grotto [even better than the Blue Grotto in Capri].