Just got back from Viking Star Athens to Venice

[Ready to Sail!]

5 minutes ago, acwmom said:

It depends on what you want to see. The first involves climbing 80 steps to see the Acropolis, in person. The second goes to the museum, and you only see the Acropolis in the distance. Do you have access to the descriptions from MVJ? If not, I can copy and paste them for you.

 

Robin

Funny Robin, guess we were both responding to this post at the same time.  We both must be in planning countdown!  

[Mautakono54]

16 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Funny Robin, guess we were both responding to this post at the same time.  We both must be in planning countdown!  

 

 

Thank You!

 

[acwmom]

5 minutes ago, Ready to Sail! said:

Funny Robin, guess we were both responding to this post at the same time.  We both must be in planning countdown!  

Oh, I'm definitely in countdown mode! It's almost time to start looking at the weather forecast, so I know what to pack

 

Robin

[Ready to Sail!]

6 minutes ago, acwmom said:

Oh, I'm definitely in countdown mode! It's almost time to start looking at the weather forecast, so I know what to pack

 

Robin

I have all the ports weather on my iphone and have been checking just about 2-3am each night.  to us mid 60's to low 70's are good and we are getting there.  Ljubljana/Lake Bled definitely cooler but we all still have about 3 weeks to go.  

 

Just to stay on topic for the OP, I would definitely not miss going up to the Acropolis but have heard the museum is worth a visit.  Both are included in our excursion with the Athens extention luckily so don't have to choose.   

[BruceB NYC]

On ‎6‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 3:04 PM, G. GIRL said:

 

Hi,

Just to clarify, our tour took in the Plaka district but only goes to the Acropolis museum, not the monument itself. There is a photo opportunity of the Acropolis from the outside cafe area. It was £49 per guest, what ever that equates to in other currencies I’m not sure.

There were other tours that actually went to the monument.

Hi G. Girl,

Change in my plans. Doing Athens to Venice 2020. Plan to arrive early morning in Athens. Do you recall if Viking has the shuttle bus on the day of arrival?

Thanks, Bruce B.

[MarkTapley]

15 hours ago, BruceB NYC said:

Hi G. Girl,

Change in my plans. Doing Athens to Venice 2020. Plan to arrive early morning in Athens. Do you recall if Viking has the shuttle bus on the day of arrival?

Thanks, Bruce B.

 

Bruce B,

 

On our cruise in August, on embarkation day, VO ran a shuttle to central Athens, with the first bus leaving the ship at 1 PM.  They stopped on the street adjacent to Hadrian’s gate.

 

MT

[BruceB NYC]

11 minutes ago, MarkTapley said:

 

Bruce B,

 

On our cruise in August, on embarkation day, VO ran a shuttle to central Athens, with the first bus leaving the ship at 1 PM.  They stopped on the street adjacent to Hadrian’s gate.

 

MT

Mark,

Thanks for the info. Although a year away I’m always doing research. 

Bruce B. 

[BruceB NYC]

On ‎5‎/‎24‎/‎2018 at 8:42 AM, G. GIRL said:

We have had an incredible journey on the Viking Star. I shall do a review but if anyone has any questions fire away!

We're doing the Athens to Venice cruise April 2020. Plan to get to the Viking Star on arrival early morning. Can you recall if the Viking shuttle bus into Athens was available that first arrival day? Thanks,

BruceB

[G. GIRL]

Hi Bruce B,

When we embarked in Athens from the UK we found that many US passengers had been on the ship either the day before or very early that day as we did see people coming back onto the ship in a group as if they had been on an excursion. It maybe something to check with Viking themselves. 

[KyOh]

We're taking this cruise in September 2019.  Has anyone used a private company for the tour to Krka National Park?  We will be last to book and I'm concerned that there won't be any slots left on the Viking excursion.

[Ready to Sail!]

On 5/14/2019 at 12:48 PM, KyOh said:

We're taking this cruise in September 2019.  Has anyone used a private company for the tour to Krka National Park?  We will be last to book and I'm concerned that there won't be any slots left on the Viking excursion.

We did this excursion last month.  There were 2 Krka excursions to choose from: Krka/Zadar and Krka/Falconry Center.  We were in DV and both were available when we booked but I believe initially both did sell out.  I watched (for future reference) to see if additional excursions would be added and they were.  I can't remember if both or just the Krka/Zadar.   

 

I did do a little research for private tours and don't remember finding much but you should check it out.  I think I did find one but it did not fit the time frame, and we decided to just stay with Viking.    It is a long day that gets you back to the ship with not much time to spare.  We did the Krka/Falconry as I thought my husband would enjoy the Falconry center which he did.  I thought it was interesting but took up too much time which I would have rather spent at Krka.   Don't know if the Krka/Zadar (walking tour) would have given us more time in Krka.  If I remember right we barely had an hour not allowing us to do all we wanted without trying to beat the clock.   Krka is spectacular and well worth the effort.  If we were to do it over I would have prefered to find an excursion that just went to Krka.  

[Mpc524]

We did the Krka/Zadar tour and loved it.  The weather was perfect for our leisurely stroll through the park. It was definitely nice to spend a lot of time there. In fact, our Zadar portion was cut short due to time, but we had time to explore on our own! They did still have openings for this tour when we got on the ship. 

[moatenote]

We did the Viking optional Krka/Zadar walking tour and really liked it!  It was fun walking the many boardwalks crossing the water areas and seeing various fish and plant life.  There was free time at the end of the walking tour and you could go see the big waterfall area.  Then there were many very steep steps to get out of the park (and some folks with mobility issues had not been forewarned about this).  We had a short bus ride and then had an included lunch that was good.  Back at Zadar, the guide told us about the sea organ at the dock--our ship, the Star was docked very near it--a very interesting feature.

[travelingman]

We did a private tour to Krka Waterfalls and Zadar Tour (Portal Tours - Split Excursions) with a total of 8 people from our cruise which was a lot cheaper than the Viking tour.  The key is to get enough other people to go with you to bring the cost down.  We used the Cruise Critic Roll Call to find others.

 

Stan