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Viking Homelands Pre-Cruise advise


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Booked on VH in 2019. Looking to compare 3 night Iceland pre-cruise to 2 night Oslo and train to Bergen. Anybody have comparisons or comments that might justify significant upcharge for Iceland? Thanks in advance.

 

Iceland extension includes airfare while transportation to Oslo is by train. Iceland is three nights while Oslo is two.

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We were in Oslo this past November and it is a stunning city. It's clean and bright and has so many things to see and do! Our friends who were with us had just been to Iceland for a 3 day layover and they said they were disappointed in it. Too much bleak nature for them. 😉

 

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Yes, but if you like bleak nature, don’t miss Iceland! :) We went this past September for a short business trip and were just blown away by how beautiful it is. We want to go back.

 

As for the Oslo / Bergen train, we’ve booked that extension in reverse at the end of our upcoming cruise in April. Really looking forward to it!

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Thanks all for the input so far. Has anyone actually done the Viking pre-cruise excursion to Iceland? Is the tour itself of high quality? Or just a sightseeing bus ride? Thanks again.

 

I'm going the Iceland extension in June before my Midnight Sun trip (I did the Homelands in 2016). So, I can let you know then! Based on my reading of the description, we'll get a full day Golden Circle trip and a half day at the Blue Lagoon included. I'm working out what else I want to do on arrival day and the other half of the Blue Lagoon day.

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I'm going the Iceland extension in June before my Midnight Sun trip (I did the Homelands in 2016). So, I can let you know then! Based on my reading of the description, we'll get a full day Golden Circle trip and a half day at the Blue Lagoon included. I'm working out what else I want to do on arrival day and the other half of the Blue Lagoon day.

 

We are going to Iceland post trip in July. This information is good to know.

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We are going to Iceland post trip in July. This information is good to know.

 

If you have time, I strongly recommend taking the Ring Road to Glacier Lagoon. We rented a car and it took about a day to get there. The scenery was stunning and otherworldly. There’s a very nice hotel not too far from there, but you have to book well in advance, especially in high season.

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Booked on VH in 2019. Looking to compare 3 night Iceland pre-cruise to 2 night Oslo and train to Bergen. Anybody have comparisons or comments that might justify significant upcharge for Iceland? Thanks in advance.

 

 

 

We are doing this cruise in May 2019. When are you going? Might check out the Oslo extension. We are going to Iceland this spring.

 

 

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In May as well. We originally booked the Oslo pre-extension with the train to Bergen. Sounds like a great trip. But Iceland is intriguing. With all the Baltic capitals we will stop in we figured we could miss Oslo and do Iceland instead.

 

 

 

We are on the May 9 sailing on the Viking Sea. I am intrigued with Iceland so anxious to go there in May this year. I think you made a good choice. I’m going to price the post-cruise to Oslo.

 

 

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Thanks all for the input so far. Has anyone actually done the Viking pre-cruise excursion to Iceland? Is the tour itself of high quality? Or just a sightseeing bus ride? Thanks again.

Check out roll call for Homelands on Star July 15, 2017. Several people from our cruise have done this pre-cruise and they just loved it.

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  • 3 months later...

We are in the middle of the Iceland precruise to our Midnight Sun cruise starting June 12 in Bergen.

Our thoughts:

We love Reykjavik! The old town, the harbor, both old and new. Restaurants are wonderful. We arrived a day early (booked or own air). We have had reservations for dinners and glad we had them.

Everything is expensive, but we were prepared for that

It is so worth visiting this beautiful country.

But...

Wish we had done this on our own, not through Viking.

The Hilton Nordica is a 30-45 minute walk to town. A taxi ride one way is 25-45 US dollars depending on traffic. There is a bus, it has been raining and we have been too impatient to figure it out,(our bad) so we have walked when no rain, or are paying the taxi fares. There are many hotels in and around town, would have preferred that location. We think this Hilton is too far out.

Our Golden Circle tour was today. A very long day with lots of bus time. Beautiful sites, but again wish we had been on our own time table. We would have spent more time in some places and skipped others. Think we could have added the other side of the island, black sand beach, (the south I think) to the Blue Lagoon tomorrow if we had been on our own.

Viking has bus tour of Reykjavik planned in the afternoon tomorrow, but buses can’t get into a lot of downtown, so

we are going to do the church, Opera house, etc on our own, and skip this last bus tour.

Viking booked our flights into Bergen through Oslo,

with an airplane transfer in Oslo. We have talked to some guests who were booked through Viking on a non stop flight to Bergen. I guess it was the luck of the draw. We would have much preferred the non stop.

If we were to plan this again, we would have visited Iceland before the cruise, but made our own arrangements. We have loved Reykjavik! Now on to Norway!

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Thanks all for the input so far. Has anyone actually done the Viking pre-cruise excursion to Iceland? Is the tour itself of high quality? Or just a sightseeing bus ride? Thanks again.

 

If you go back to July, 2017, you will find posts about Iceland pre-extension. 4 or 5 couples from our VH had it. They could provide more details. I know for sure that they liked it very much regardless of weather. :)

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We are in the middle of the Iceland precruise to our Midnight Sun cruise starting June 12 in Bergen.

Our thoughts:

We love Reykjavik! The old town' date=' the harbor, both old and new. Restaurants are wonderful. We arrived a day early (booked or own air). We have had reservations for dinners and glad we had them.

Everything is expensive, but we were prepared for that

It is so worth visiting this beautiful country.

But...

Wish we had done this on our own, not through Viking.

The Hilton Nordica is a 30-45 minute walk to town. A taxi ride one way is 25-45 US dollars depending on traffic. There is a bus, it has been raining and we have been too impatient to figure it out,(our bad) so we have walked when no rain, or are paying the taxi fares. There are many hotels in and around town, would have preferred that location. We think this Hilton is too far out.

Our Golden Circle tour was today. A very long day with lots of bus time. Beautiful sites, but again wish we had been on our own time table. We would have spent more time in some places and skipped others. Think we could have added the other side of the island, black sand beach, (the south I think) to the Blue Lagoon tomorrow if we had been on our own.

Viking has bus tour of Reykjavik planned in the afternoon tomorrow, but buses can’t get into a lot of downtown, so

we are going to do the church, Opera house, etc on our own, and skip this last bus tour.

Viking booked our flights into Bergen through Oslo,

with an airplane transfer in Oslo. We have talked to some guests who were booked through Viking on a non stop flight to Bergen. I guess it was the luck of the draw. We would have much preferred the non stop.

If we were to plan this again, we would have visited Iceland before the cruise, but made our own arrangements. We have loved Reykjavik! Now on to Norway![/quote']

we r booked on the viking star 8/2518 out of bergen. found it better to book icelandair out of boston ma to iceland with a 2 night stay then a direct flight to bergen on way home flight from stockholm to boston with a short layover in iceland

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we r booked on the viking star 8/2518 out of bergen. found it better to book icelandair out of boston ma to iceland with a 2 night stay then a direct flight to bergen on way home flight from stockholm to boston with a short layover in iceland

I think your two day stay in Iceland will be much better than the Viking pre cruise offering.

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Just back from Homelands -- Stockholm to Bergen -- but we did do a post cruise stay, self-organized, in Oslo. We took the train (actually bus as there were track issues) from Bergen to Oslo for a 3 day stay. Such great scenery along the way. Oslo is a very easy city to navigate on your own. If you are worried about managing your luggage on/off train and to hotel between the 2 cities, check out Norway Porter service. They pick up your luggage in Bergen (or Oslo) and deliver it to your hotel in the other location. Worked like a charm. The taxi between the Oslo airport and city is pricey but there are options -- bus or train/subway. The train stations in Oslo and Bergen are in the city and are easy access. When looking for hotels in Oslo and Bergen, check to see what is included. Our Oslo hotel had a great breakfast. In Bergen, the hotel had breakfast, mid-afternoon waffles and a light supper included in the price and was a 10 minute walk to the ship.

 

We did look at the Viking Iceland option, but, after discussing with friends who have toured Iceland, decided to skip the Viking Iceland option and arrange our own, longer, land trip at a later date.

 

(We did our own flight arrangements. If using Viking air, it probably impacts your pre& post cruise options.)

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we r booked on the viking star 8/2518 out of bergen. found it better to book icelandair out of boston ma to iceland with a 2 night stay then a direct flight to bergen on way home flight from stockholm to boston with a short layover in iceland

We highly recommend Messinn Restaurant in Reykjavik. I emailed for reservations before we left.

.

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