Viking Sea excursions for St Kitts

[Cyber Kat]

We are on the Viking Sea March 17th sailing from San Juan, and they have changed the itinerary, swapping St Kitts and Antigua - neither of which were badly damaged in the hurricanes. At least not that I have read anywhere. They have no excursions listed at all for St Kitts. We really wanted to ride the St Kitts Scenic Railway train. DH is a big train buff and was all excited about it.

 

I'm not having much luck with getting info from Viking on this port - their reps keep telling me it's due to hurricane damage. There will be no excursions because of the damage - yet they have excursions listed for St Thomas, St Maarten & Tortola. The rep I just spoke to suggested that we book it on our own. I'm okay with that except their web site says you have to book through a cruise line. I checked Viator and it's listed as one of their tours, but not for March 20? I did post on the St Kitts board as well to see if anyone knows how to book a ride on this train.

 

I know Viking monitors this board, and maybe there is someone who can help get me an answer that makes sense. I used the tellus@vikingcruises.com email and got out of office replies. One said the person was on maternity leave until April - huh! I did finally get a phone call from the person mentioned above who kept saying it was due to hurricane damage - they need a better story :rolleyes:

 

Our sailing is the last one on the West Indies Explorer itinerary, so I'm also wondering if anyone cruising before us has excursions for St Kitts?

[broker1217]

We travel through St. Kitts a couple times per year on our way to Nevis. Everything I have read says there was minimal damage to either island and that everything is up and running pretty much as normal.

There are 3 reviews in the last 7 days of the St. Kitts Scenic Railway on TripAdvisor so the tour is operating.

 

Seems that VO is struggling with the shore excursions and is perhaps short-staffed in this department. They seem to be slow to get the shore excursions up on MVJ.

[Viking Cruises]

Dear Cyber Kat,

 

We’re glad to see your travel plans are underway as your voyage aboard Viking Sea embarks in just a few short months

 

While at this time St. Kitts remains a self-exploration port, we hear your desire for clarification of reasoning. We’ll be looking into your individual sailing to research the specifics. Your patience is appreciated and rest assured your request has not gone unnoticed.

 

We are in receipt of your TellUs@vikingcruises.com email, and apologize for any confusion as the phone call you received was a response to that email. While individual inboxes may return out-of-office replies from time to time, please know that our TellUs address is monitored by a team of specialists who can respond to or direct your inquiries during regular business hours.

 

In the meantime, should other guests wish to voice individual concerns, we continue to welcome your communications at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Thank you, and have a lovely day.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

We are on the Viking Sea March 17th sailing from San Juan, and they have changed the itinerary, swapping St Kitts and Antigua - neither of which were badly damaged in the hurricanes. At least not that I have read anywhere. They have no excursions listed at all for St Kitts. We really wanted to ride the St Kitts Scenic Railway train. DH is a big train buff and was all excited about it.

 

I'm not having much luck with getting info from Viking on this port - their reps keep telling me it's due to hurricane damage. There will be no excursions because of the damage - yet they have excursions listed for St Thomas, St Maarten & Tortola. The rep I just spoke to suggested that we book it on our own. I'm okay with that except their web site says you have to book through a cruise line. I checked Viator and it's listed as one of their tours, but not for March 20? I did post on the St Kitts board as well to see if anyone knows how to book a ride on this train.

 

I know Viking monitors this board, and maybe there is someone who can help get me an answer that makes sense. I used the tellus@vikingcruises.com email and got out of office replies. One said the person was on maternity leave until April - huh! I did finally get a phone call from the person mentioned above who kept saying it was due to hurricane damage - they need a better story :rolleyes:

 

Our sailing is the last one on the West Indies Explorer itinerary, so I'm also wondering if anyone cruising before us has excursions for St Kitts?

[RJ2002]

Hopefully you will get some additional information from Viking.

 

I will add that have been to St. Kitts twice, most recently earlier this month. We did not see much damage, and businesses seemed to be up and running. On our previous visit to the island a couple of years ago, we took the train... highly recommended. A relaxing and enjoyable excursion.

[Cyber Kat]

Dear Cyber Kat,

 

We’re glad to see your travel plans are underway as your voyage aboard Viking Sea embarks in just a few short months

 

While at this time St. Kitts remains a self-exploration port, we hear your desire for clarification of reasoning. We’ll be looking into your individual sailing to research the specifics. Your patience is appreciated and rest assured your request has not gone unnoticed.

 

We are in receipt of your TellUs@vikingcruises.com email, and apologize for any confusion as the phone call you received was a response to that email. While individual inboxes may return out-of-office replies from time to time, please know that our TellUs address is monitored by a team of specialists who can respond to or direct your inquiries during regular business hours.

 

In the meantime, should other guests wish to voice individual concerns, we continue to welcome your communications at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Thank you, and have a lovely day.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

 

Well, thanks Viking Cruises! The person I spoke with was lovely and tried to be helpful, but it was clear that she didn't have much information to go on.

 

We loved the river cruise last that we did last year and loved the way everything was handled. We have this cruise coming up and the Grand European Tour booked for Sept. I think it's wonderful how responsive you are, but my only criticism is that you need to make sure your phone people have all the information they need. I've worked in customer service and there is nothing more frustrating than not having the correct or full information. With that said, I can't wait to get on the ship!

[PROCRUISE]

Dear Cyber Kat,

 

We’re glad to see your travel plans are underway as your voyage aboard Viking Sea embarks in just a few short months

 

While at this time St. Kitts remains a self-exploration port, we hear your desire for clarification of reasoning. We’ll be looking into your individual sailing to research the specifics. Your patience is appreciated and rest assured your request has not gone unnoticed.

 

We are in receipt of your TellUs@vikingcruises.com email, and apologize for any confusion as the phone call you received was a response to that email. While individual inboxes may return out-of-office replies from time to time, please know that our TellUs address is monitored by a team of specialists who can respond to or direct your inquiries during regular business hours.

 

In the meantime, should other guests wish to voice individual concerns, we continue to welcome your communications at TellUs@vikingcruises.com. Thank you, and have a lovely day.

 

Kind regards,

Viking Cruises

Interesting reply Viking. I just visited St. Kitts last week aboard The Celebrity Silhouette. Since I have been there before, I simply walked around the town square with the clock in the center. However, Celebrity had numerous shore excursions that I could have picked from, if I had so wanted.

[Fpacifico]

Well, thanks Viking Cruises! The person I spoke with was lovely and tried to be helpful, but it was clear that she didn't have much information to go on.

 

We loved the river cruise last that we did last year and loved the way everything was handled. We have this cruise coming up and the Grand European Tour booked for Sept. I think it's wonderful how responsive you are, but my only criticism is that you need to make sure your phone people have all the information they need. I've worked in customer service and there is nothing more frustrating than not having the correct or full information. With that said, I can't wait to get on the ship!

 

Ok, I’m booked for the walking tour of st. Kitts on February 14. The tour that you were interested in is still available for our cruise. The safari tour is completely booked. There are other tours to choose from that day also.

[Cyber Kat]

Ok, I’m booked for the walking tour of st. Kitts on February 14. The tour that you were interested in is still available for our cruise. The safari tour is completely booked. There are other tours to choose from that day also.

 

I hope so. It's one of the islands I've never been to and I wanted to do something - even if we can't do the train

[Fpacifico]

I hope so. It's one of the islands I've never been to and I wanted to do something - even if we can't do the train

My included walking tour wasn’t cancelled

[jabrown40]

I booked a private tour with Thenford Grey. Great reviews on trip advisor.

 

 

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[Cyber Kat]

My included walking tour wasn’t cancelled

 

 

 

Good to hear. I hope Viking gets some things set.

 

 

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[Cyber Kat]

I booked a private tour with Thenford Grey. Great reviews on trip advisor.

 

 

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Thanks. I’ll check that out if we have nothing from Viking. I have to see what time we will be in port. That’s part of the problem with the train if we can find out how to book it. They pick up at the hotels at 8am

 

 

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[RJ2002]

Thanks. I’ll check that out if we have nothing from Viking. I have to see what time we will be in port. That’s part of the problem with the train if we can find out how to book it. They pick up at the hotels at 8am

 

 

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I was going to add that if there were other ships in port the same day, it would be likely that entire train cars would be reserved for cruise passengers on excursions... but there are car(s) for independent travelers as well. However, I just checked cruisetimetables dot com, and the Sea is the only ship in port that day. If the train is running (and I can't image it wouldn't with a ship in port), you should have no trouble getting a ticket. Also, the place where the train begins and ends its journey is very close to the pier... maybe 10 minutes.

[Cyber Kat]

I was going to add that if there were other ships in port the same day, it would be likely that entire train cars would be reserved for cruise passengers on excursions... but there are car(s) for independent travelers as well. However, I just checked cruisetimetables dot com, and the Sea is the only ship in port that day. If the train is running (and I can't image it wouldn't with a ship in port), you should have no trouble getting a ticket. Also, the place where the train begins and ends its journey is very close to the pier... maybe 10 minutes.

 

 

Thanks! This information is very helpful. Glad to know it’s close by. DH might be happy to just get pictures. I was hoping to ride. Seems like a Fun trip.

 

 

 

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[ran619ger]

The Viking site lists 8 possible excursions to partake in.

[Cyber Kat]

The Viking site lists 8 possible excursions to partake in.

 

 

 

Yes - they finally came through just in time for us to book. They had no excursions listed on the My Viking Journey site for our sailing. We were able to book the train, so we are now happy campers.

 

We were able to book all the optional ones we wanted and get good slots for the included ones.

 

 

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