VIKING SEA IN BARBADOS- WHAT TIME DOES IT DOCK?

[Gnoelj]

We are going on the Viking Sea on one of their West Indies Explorer cruises - this one starting from San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 9th , 2019.

 

We heard a lot about the beauty of the Andromeda Gardens in Barbados, and as Viking does not provide any excursions there, we had thought of taking an excursion from another tour provider. We have the details and timings of that excursion,  the tour excursion starts at 8.00-8.15am and it lasts for five and a half hours. The agent we spoke to on the phone said a pick-up at the  cruise port could be arranged but she has to be sure that the ship docks in time for  us to catch the excursion.

 

The problem is finding the time Viking Sea docks at  Bridgetown, Barbados on March 14th. We went onto port information websites like www.cruisemapper.com , and although we found that the Viking Sea is listed as docking there on that particular day, unlike other ships listed,  there is no arrival and departure times mentioned. That seems rather odd. Surely, Viking would have known its schedule, especially when they have been plying this route so regularly for a couple of years.

 

We dare not book the excursion until we know that the Viking Sea is docked at Bridgetown in time for us to go on it.

 

It would be appreciated if anyone of you have any information about this (Viking Sea arrival/departure schedule on March 14th). Also, as this is a regular Viking cruise, if you have been on this cruise in the past, perhaps you might recall what time Viking docks and what time it leaves.

 

We looked for the Viking Rollcall for the West Indies Explorer cruise starting March 9th,  2019, but it does not appear to be there yet. So we could not ask anyone in the roll call.

 

May we take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

[KruiserKat]

38 minutes ago, Gnoelj said:

We are going on the Viking Sea on one of their West Indies Explorer cruises - this one starting from San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 9th , 2019.

 

We heard a lot about the beauty of the Andromeda Gardens in Barbados, and as Viking does not provide any excursions there, we had thought of taking an excursion from another tour provider. We have the details and timings of that excursion,  the tour excursion starts at 8.00-8.15am and it lasts for five and a half hours. The agent we spoke to on the phone said a pick-up at the  cruise port could be arranged but she has to be sure that the ship docks in time for  us to catch the excursion.

 

The problem is finding the time Viking Sea docks at  Bridgetown, Barbados on March 14th. We went onto port information websites like www.cruisemapper.com , and although we found that the Viking Sea is listed as docking there on that particular day, unlike other ships listed,  there is no arrival and departure times mentioned. That seems rather odd. Surely, Viking would have known its schedule, especially when they have been plying this route so regularly for a couple of years.

 

We dare not book the excursion until we know that the Viking Sea is docked at Bridgetown in time for us to go on it.

 

It would be appreciated if anyone of you have any information about this (Viking Sea arrival/departure schedule on March 14th). Also, as this is a regular Viking cruise, if you have been on this cruise in the past, perhaps you might recall what time Viking docks and what time it leaves.

 

We looked for the Viking Rollcall for the West Indies Explorer cruise starting March 9th,  2019, but it does not appear to be there yet. So we could not ask anyone in the roll call.

 

May we take the opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Suggest you contact Viking directly!!! Happy New Year!

[Gnoelj]

We will do.

We could be mistaken but it seems that Viking has not included the arrival/departure times on practically all the ports it is visiting on this cruise.

Could it be they are trying to prevent their customers from booking excursions with independent agents?  Hope that is not the case.

In any case, we will contact them directly and find out what is happening. No point guessing.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Gnoelj

[Richard2]

When we book a Viking Ocean cruise, we get a document from Viking entitled "Guest Statement."  The first page has your booking number, room, deposit, and balance due. Page 2 lists the cancellation refund policy.  Page 3 of this statement gives the full itinerary for each day, with port arrival and departure times, and an indication of whether it will be at the dock or by tender. 

There are many reasons why these may change during your cruise - we've see a port pilot arriving late, weather delays, the presence of another ship requiring Viking to switch from docking to tendering, weather requiring an earlier departure, weather requiring skipping a port altogether.

[deec]

Yep most of those things happened  on our last cruise....not Viking's fault.  I was glad we had not pre-paid for a DIY excursion. 

[Gnoelj]

22 minutes ago, deec said:

Yep most of those things happened  on our last cruise....not Viking's fault.  I was glad we had not pre-paid for a DIY excursion. 

Trouble is, we found that on the West Indies cruise, some of the included and even the paid excursions do not go to places which are supposed popular.  For example, Viking does not even have a paid excursion to the Andromeda and Hunte's gardens in Barbados, and it does not have any excursion to see the famous Pitons peaks in St. Lucia. Some of the included excursions, when we read them, they seemed rather underwhelming, but of course, that is just a personal opinion. In St. Lucia, it appears that the included excursion took us in the opposite direction away from the Pitons. Can you imagine that? It's felt almost like going to Paris and being driven away from the Eiffel Tower and not visiting it.

 

Why doesn't Viking offer excursions to some of those attractions mentioned? We just could not understand the reason.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Gnoelj

[deec]

We we were disappointed in the no snorkeling in St. Lucia.  We did do a catamaran sail that was OK and  sailed close to the Pitons.  We went to some cute plantation and had a good lunch.  Although Viking had told us no snorkeling on this excursion the vendor did a swim stop and had we brought our equipment could have snorkeled but I do not think it would have been great.

 

If you go to Antigua we did the Reef Rider snorkel tour and it was fun!!!

 

The included tours that we did do on Antigua and St. Thomas were interesting but we did them in addition to a water focused paid excursion.

 

The West Indies just does NOT offer the same exciting ports that Viking usually visits in the Med, Baltic or Asia....but if you just want a winter escape you cannot beat the Viking Ships as far as I am concerned.

[Gnoelj]

16 hours ago, deec said:

We we were disappointed in the no snorkeling in St. Lucia.  We did do a catamaran sail that was OK and  sailed close to the Pitons.  We went to some cute plantation and had a good lunch.  Although Viking had told us no snorkeling on this excursion the vendor did a swim stop and had we brought our equipment could have snorkeled but I do not think it would have been great.

 

If you go to Antigua we did the Reef Rider snorkel tour and it was fun!!!

 

The included tours that we did do on Antigua and St. Thomas were interesting but we did them in addition to a water focused paid excursion.

 

The West Indies just does NOT offer the same exciting ports that Viking usually visits in the Med, Baltic or Asia....but if you just want a winter escape you cannot beat the Viking Ships as far as I am concerned.

 

Thanks for your response.

 

We have since checked our schedule in My Vking Journey, and in the Calender, there was indeed the arrival and departure times of the ship for all the visting ports.

 

We also learnt there may be paid excursions to some of the places which we would like to go to , but not to all the places.  Alas, that's life, we suppose, can't have everything, and just be grateful what we have!

 

As for snorkeling, we are not too concerned about not having any as we are more keen on visiting gardens and the views. Guess different people have different tastes, that's only natural.

 

Keeping fingers crossed that Viking will visit all the stops on their schedule and not cancel any of the stops! There is no point reserving all those excursions and find that we are not stopping at those stops after all !!!

Edited January 1, 2019 by Gnoelj

[Hockeyump]

Keeping fingers crossed that Viking will visit all the stops on their schedule and not cancel any of the stops! There is no point reserving all those excursions and find that we are not stopping at those stops after all !!!

 

If Viking cancel any it will be for safety reasons which are outside of their control.  Nothing you can do about it and it's one of the 'risks' you take on an ocean cruise.