Shore excursions Vikings Homelands

[philw1776]

Agree with the prior posts advocating spending the bucks on the Flamsbana.  A wonderful experience.

[marpau]

How long is the train ride into Berlin and is it comfortable?  Is the seating first-come first-serve or reserved seating?  Is it first class?  If so, what does that entail?  Thanks a lot for any help. Is the train ride itself scenic?

[SoccerMom#3]

It's about 2 1/2 hours each way into Berlin.  It's somewhat comfortable-not bad but I wouldn't call it luxurious either.  It's first come first serve the same way all the included excursions are.  Basically they filled up one car and then the next and the next until all were on board.  We were in a Deluxe Veranda so I don't know if those in higher class cabins got more luxurious seats.  I do know that when we got back to the ship (Viking Sea) there was a long line to go through the metal detectors for those of us in Deluxe Verandas and Veranda cabins (most of us on the ship) and a separate much, much shorter line for those in penthouse and explorer cabins.  

 

Parts of the train ride are scenic.  It's a long day but if you haven't gone to Berlin before, then I think the day is worth it.

[marpau]

Thank you very much Soccer Mom#3 for all your helpful info.

[seveneleven]

We are looking forward to the Flam rail tour based on your review.  

[aflitzy]

We did the 2 day St Petersburg and the evening Folk show via Alla and they were beyond excellent.  It was easy to meet them when we got off the ship.  The tour was personalized.  Alla handled the Visa in Russia.  Included more than the Viking 2 day tour and less expensive.  

We did the Molli train tour will Alla vs Berlin.  Again I really would recommend.

[Ron532]

We will be on the Viking Jupiter Homelands cruise and will be in St Petersburg on Aug 21-22, 2019.  After reading so many reviews regarding the use of private tour companies, we decided to check out what we felt like were the top 3 for St Petersburg:  TJ, Alla, and SPB.  We are definitely interested in going to the Faberge museum, so we compared the itineraries that included this museum.  All three  itineraries are very similar.  However, we decided on the Alla Imperial Splendors & Faberge museum tour as lunches on both days are included, and it includes a city tour by boat.    Corresponding with Alla, via email, to set-up the cruise and providing the info needed to for the required Visa has been extremely easy.  We are really excited about this this tour!

[SoccerMom#3]

44 minutes ago, Ron532 said:

We will be on the Viking Jupiter Homelands cruise and will be in St Petersburg on Aug 21-22, 2019.  After reading so many reviews regarding the use of private tour companies, we decided to check out what we felt like were the top 3 for St Petersburg:  TJ, Alla, and SPB.  We are definitely interested in going to the Faberge museum, so we compared the itineraries that included this museum.  All three  itineraries are very similar.  However, we decided on the Alla Imperial Splendors & Faberge museum tour as lunches on both days are included, and it includes a city tour by boat.    Corresponding with Alla, via email, to set-up the cruise and providing the info needed to for the required Visa has been extremely easy.  We are really excited about this this tour!

You'll love Alla.  We did the Must See tour last month when we were on the Homelands cruise.  The two lunches are so good and the boat tour is fun although for us it was really cold still so we were bundled up.  

 

Enjoy!

[LoveAces]

We are two active couples and will be on the Viking Homelands Jupiter August 25 out of Stockholm. My question is about Eidfjord...I cannot seem to find an excursion that will allow us enough time to hike around Vøringsfossen, perhaps see some other sites in the area. Viking offers nothing like this and short of renting a car, we are left, perhaps, with a taxi. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks!

[Dauntless]

28 minutes ago, LoveAces said:

We are two active couples and will be on the Viking Homelands Jupiter August 25 out of Stockholm. My question is about Eidfjord...I cannot seem to find an excursion that will allow us enough time to hike around Vøringsfossen, perhaps see some other sites in the area. Viking offers nothing like this and short of renting a car, we are left, perhaps, with a taxi. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks!

 

Haven't done it.  Your source is Go fjords.  They have two tours from your port.  I don't know if they are offered when you are there or not.  They are not cheap but they are there.  See what you think.

[LoveAces]

I have written to them but unfortunately they only offer a limited time at the falls (25 minutes) -- not enough for we active people who would like to walk down to the base (about an hour, I believe)!

[knoxclone]

Currently on Sun in St. Petersburg on homelands. .   We did not pre book private tour and urge anyone considering it — do it!  traffic is miserable and with the large coaches that Viking uses, you spend the majority of the tour sitting in the bus.

 

i knew the included panoramic tour would simply be an overview from the bus and  had very very low expectation. Sadly, our paid optional excursion was actually worse. Yesterday, our  5.5 hr tour  consisted of a one hr boat ride,  and less than 15 minutes in both st. Isaacs and the church if the spilled blood. So the rest of the time was sitting on the bus fighting traffic or circling around trying to find a place to offload.   To make matters more annoying the driver missed a turn and we ended up on the wrong side of the canal from where the boat departed and we had to hustle up to the bridge around and then back down the embankment. 

 

The private tours use small mini buses or vans. After hearing the wonderful stories at dinner  from fellow passengers who enjoyed a full day of sightseeing with these smaller groups,  my recommendation is to avoid the Viking excursions. Hopefully Tallinn will provide better excursions. 

[ropomo]

Just home from Homelands on Viking Sea with Iceland extension.  To echo previous post, book private excursion in St. Petersburg!  We organized a group on our roll call for two day St. Petersburg Grand tour with Alla Tours.  It was by far the best shore excursion experience we have ever had in our 30+ years of cruising.  The tour was well organized allowing time unrushed at stops with no wasted standing around time.  We had 15 people in our group and it was perfect.  The guide was fantastic and her knowledge was unbelievable.

[BruceB NYC]

48 minutes ago, ropomo said:

Just home from Homelands on Viking Sea with Iceland extension.  To echo previous post, book private excursion in St. Petersburg!  We organized a group on our roll call for two day St. Petersburg Grand tour with Alla Tours.  It was by far the best shore excursion experience we have ever had in our 30+ years of cruising.  The tour was well organized allowing time unrushed at stops with no wasted standing around time.  We had 15 people in our group and it was perfect.  The guide was fantastic and her knowledge was unbelievable.

SPB REVIEW VK HL May 2018-Superior 2 day Private SPB Tour in St. Petersburg. If you want a Superior 2 day customized private tour, SPB TOURS, is the one to go to. 

2 couples on a Viking Homelands May 2018

Ocean Cruise. Wanted to include

Impressionists Paintings now in a separate building from the Hermitage. Not part of any regular

tours. Also wanted to see

and ride the subway.  SPB put together a great 2 day schedule. Had 2 included lunches that all liked. Loved the borscht!! 

The tour guide Kate & the driver Max were a superb team. They

made excellent use of the time & schedule. All our questions were answered. We learned so much as

Kate was a wealth of information. Max made us feel very comfortable

as we drove in and out of traffic. Again, the 2 day private tour was amazing- no bus crowds, easy access to all sites, cost effective, and a great guide & driver. THANKS!!

—-cost

 The cost of this tour for 6 people total would be $340 USDperson.

As a party of 4 for the price of 375 USDper person.

[geffric]

In ST Petersburg,  we booked TJ..it was unbelievable..1/2 the cost of Viking..6 people we saw more things..great experience..

In Berlin we did Historic Berlin tour with Viking..if I do this again we will do TJ..I did not feel this was well worth it..

We did the Flam Railroad and it was fantastic..

In Stravenger,  we booked Norled for a pulpit rock cruise..fantastic and then had time to do the included excursion too..

[Orangegurl]

On 6/10/2019 at 11:08 AM, LoveAces said:

We are two active couples and will be on the Viking Homelands Jupiter August 25 out of Stockholm. My question is about Eidfjord...I cannot seem to find an excursion that will allow us enough time to hike around Vøringsfossen, perhaps see some other sites in the area. Viking offers nothing like this and short of renting a car, we are left, perhaps, with a taxi. Has anyone done this before?

Thanks!

Some of our cruise ‘neighbors ‘ took a private taxi tour & really enjoyed it. The driver was right in front of the TI, next to the dock. We were on this cruise May 19- June 2 and selected the optional kayaking excursion in Eidfjord. Unfortunately, this was canceled due to weather. We ended up hiking around Eidfjord morning and afternoon. It was wonderful! The trails are well marked and it’s a beautiful area. The yellow route was our favorite. Trail maps and helpful information in the TI.