Pre-Cruise Extension Questions (General ?s and specifically Ultimate Italy - Lake Como and Verona)

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

We have booked the Pre-Cruise: Ultimate Italy - Lake Como and Verona extension for the Venice to Athens, Empires of the Med cruise.  Viking will pick us up in Milan Airport and take us to our hotel in Lake Como.   I've never done a pre-cruise with Viking and was wondering:

A)  Are these pre-cruise excursions very popular/crowded (specifically the Pre: Ultimate Italy - Lake Como and Verona) ?  Are we talking 10 people or 40?

B)  Do you have to sit around and wait in the airport for all of the people who are taking the excursion to arrive?  I really don't want to sit in the Milan airport for hours, waiting for 30 people to trickle in before we can head to Lake Como!  

C)  Is wine or cocktails included in the meals that Viking arranges or would we have to pay for a glass of wine with the Included Dinners?

D)  Are the Included Dinner times based on when Italians usually eat, meaning we won't be going to eat until after 8pm earliest? 

 

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

Oh, and 

E)  Is the "Viking Tour Director" with you the whole time?  Do you tip him/her?

[millybess]

Great questions!  We are on your roll call for this trip.  We are doing a B2B with a pre-Madrid and then Med Odyssey and we meet up with you in Venice for Empires of the Med.  I can't answer your questions, but I am especially interested in "B".

[anaco_angler]

I can't answer questions specific to the Lake Como and Verona extension but having experienced the Umbria extension prior to our Iconic Western Mediterranean cruise the beginning of October, I can answer your other questions. Bear in mind it was our experience and procedures may change.

(A) There were 12 of us on our extension, six couples, but I don't know what the maximum capacity would have been. (There were only 156 or so on our entire cruise.) My guess, based on fact we were in a small hotel with a limited number of rooms; 20 may have been the upper limit. Viking may be able to give you an answer.

(B) I think eight of our group arrived roughly the same time, around 7 am, on flights from the East Coast US to Rome. They were met by a Viking rep in baggage claim and taken to a bus (40+ passenger bus, which would be the bus for the entire extension) for the three hour drive to Perugia. Our flight arrived at 12:30, we were also met by the Viking rep and escorted to a private van with driver, and off we went to Perugia. It took us only a bit more than two hours. Another couple also arrived later than the early group and they too were transported in a private car.

(C) Wine or beer was included with all the lunches and dinners which were part of the extension itinerary. The wine choices were very nice regional wines from Umbria and Toscana. I do not remember cocktails being offered but they were probably available for purchase. Two dinners were in our hotel and a third was a special dinner at a local winery. And we had two lunches at local restaurants during excursions--fantastic local food and wines.

(D) As i recall dinner times were usually at 7 pm. There may have been one dinner at 7:30 pm, but we were not on a European dining time schedule.

(E) Our Viking contract guide, Cristian, was with the group from the moment the first group arrived in Rome until he dropped us all off in Civitavecchia. (He stayed in our hotel and the bus driver stayed in another hotel, a mile or so away, where there was parking for the big bus.) We also had local guides on each of our daily excursions. I didn't feel there was an obligation to tip the guide but Cristian was so fantastic, did his job seamlessly with the group, we all felt like it was the right thing to do, to tip both the guide and the bus driver. But as always, it's a personal choice.

I hope our experience helps. We were all so impressed with the Viking pre-cruise extension that we agreed when we met as a group our last night on the ship (Jupiter) that the Umbria extension was the absolute highlight of our trip.

Dennis

[Twitchly]

Thanks for the great info. We’re doing the Tuscany pre-cruise extension for the Holy Land and Antiquities cruise in January, so this is very helpful. 
 

Another question: were you in a bubble during the Umbria extension? Or did the bubble start after you boarded the ship?

[Twitchly]

By the way, Verona is lovely. We spent a few days there a while back. It has loads of history and elegance. 

[anaco_angler]

6 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Thanks for the great info. We’re doing the Tuscany pre-cruise extension for the Holy Land and Antiquities cruise in January, so this is very helpful. 
 

Another question: were you in a bubble during the Umbria extension? Or did the bubble start after you boarded the ship?

I would call it a loose bubble. Our hotel wasn't close to town so there was no thought of walking to town in the evening. We were together as a group on all our tours but there was always some time allowed to get a coffee or pastry, shop, check out the wine stores etc. And since we were all on the same bus, that became our bubble in a sense. Two of the lunches were pre-arranged in a local restaurant with a fantastic local menu, and one lunch we were on our own in Assisi. Dinners were always in a group (three tables of four at the hotel, one long table at the winery). It was like being in a bubble without realizing it, if that makes sense. There was no daily testing but we were tested at the port in Civitavecchia (very invasive nasal swab) by local authorities and then again after we boarded the ship.

 

[philw1776]

Did Verona & Como post cruise.
Meals were the best I'd ever had in Italy. Usually ate well before 8PM.
Beer & wine included lunch & dinner.
Around 14 to 20 people max. I forget.
Tour guide (not viking) stays with you entire time. Tip well.
Outstanding extension despite tons of ankle deep rain.
I've got Umbria booked future.

Edited November 2, 2021 by philw1776

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

On 11/2/2021 at 11:10 AM, philw1776 said:

Did Verona & Como post cruise.
Meals were the best I'd ever had in Italy. Usually ate well before 8PM.
Beer & wine included lunch & dinner.
Around 14 to 20 people max. I forget.
Tour guide (not viking) stays with you entire time. Tip well.
Outstanding extension despite tons of ankle deep rain.
I've got Umbria booked future.

Thanks PhilW.  Did you do the Cooking Class/Dinner in Lake Como?   Did you really do any cooking? Or just watch someone?

 

[LunaSeaRetreat]

On 11/1/2021 at 8:10 PM, anaco_angler said:

I can't answer questions specific to the Lake Como and Verona extension but having experienced the Umbria extension prior to our Iconic Western Mediterranean cruise the beginning of October, I can answer your other questions. Bear in mind it was our experience and procedures may change.

(A) There were 12 of us on our extension, six couples, but I don't know what the maximum capacity would have been. (There were only 156 or so on our entire cruise.) My guess, based on fact we were in a small hotel with a limited number of rooms; 20 may have been the upper limit. Viking may be able to give you an answer.

(B) I think eight of our group arrived roughly the same time, around 7 am, on flights from the East Coast US to Rome. They were met by a Viking rep in baggage claim and taken to a bus (40+ passenger bus, which would be the bus for the entire extension) for the three hour drive to Perugia. Our flight arrived at 12:30, we were also met by the Viking rep and escorted to a private van with driver, and off we went to Perugia. It took us only a bit more than two hours. Another couple also arrived later than the early group and they too were transported in a private car.

(C) Wine or beer was included with all the lunches and dinners which were part of the extension itinerary. The wine choices were very nice regional wines from Umbria and Toscana. I do not remember cocktails being offered but they were probably available for purchase. Two dinners were in our hotel and a third was a special dinner at a local winery. And we had two lunches at local restaurants during excursions--fantastic local food and wines.

(D) As i recall dinner times were usually at 7 pm. There may have been one dinner at 7:30 pm, but we were not on a European dining time schedule.

(E) Our Viking contract guide, Cristian, was with the group from the moment the first group arrived in Rome until he dropped us all off in Civitavecchia. (He stayed in our hotel and the bus driver stayed in another hotel, a mile or so away, where there was parking for the big bus.) We also had local guides on each of our daily excursions. I didn't feel there was an obligation to tip the guide but Cristian was so fantastic, did his job seamlessly with the group, we all felt like it was the right thing to do, to tip both the guide and the bus driver. But as always, it's a personal choice.

I hope our experience helps. We were all so impressed with the Viking pre-cruise extension that we agreed when we met as a group our last night on the ship (Jupiter) that the Umbria extension was the absolute highlight of our trip.

Dennis

Dennis,

Thanks for all the information. We are booked on the Umbria extension next fall.  It sounds wonderful. I have one additional question.  Did everyone use Viking air ?  I am considering booking my own airfare for this cruise, and I'm not sure how that would work.  Any information you can give me will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Cynthia

 

 

 

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

1 hour ago, LunaSeaRetreat said:

Dennis,

Thanks for all the information. We are booked on the Umbria extension next fall.  It sounds wonderful. I have one additional question.  Did everyone use Viking air ?  I am considering booking my own airfare for this cruise, and I'm not sure how that would work.  Any information you can give me will be appreciated.

Thanks,

Cynthia

 

 

 

For the extensions, I don't think it matters whether you use Viking Air or not - they'll pick you up (or drop you off if it's a post-cruise extension) at the airport as part of the package.  

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

For the extensions, I don't think it matters whether you use Viking Air or not - they'll pick you up (or drop you off if it's a post-cruise extension) at the airport as part of the package.  

Yup. We made our own flight arrangements, but Viking will pick us up at the airport for our pre-cruise extension (and take us back to the airport after our post-cruise one).

[anaco_angler]

Correct; the extension includes a transfer.

[philw1776]

21 hours ago, BlairsvilleCruiseGirl said:

Thanks PhilW.  Did you do the Cooking Class/Dinner in Lake Como?   Did you really do any cooking? Or just watch someone?

 

My wife was the only person who volunteered for the cooking demo before the dinner. It consisted of preparing & rolling some pasta which was not used in the dinner. The dinner was wonderful.

[LunaSeaRetreat]

Thanks everyone for the info about the transfers.  I'm getting excited.  Hopefully, by next October things will be close to normal.

Cynthia

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

Bringing this back up in the queue, hoping someone might have done this tour recently.  If so, how were the two hotels (Albergo Terminus in Lake Como and Hotel Accademia in Verona)?  And were the meals at the hotels?

[mariavii]

Years ago I stayed in the Terminus travelling independently.  As far as I recall it was quite lovely with a very good location facing the lake.

[BlairsvilleCruiseGirl]

Just got off this extension and wanted to update the forum in case anyone came searching in the future.  Based on our experience, I wouldn't recommend it.  We found out when we got our final documents that they changed the hotels from the ones advertised to ones which were miles outside of Como and Verona.  This meant we had to be bused to/from the towns and tours, eating into our exploration time. 

The food was not good, it was served banquet style/plated for all 3 dinners and the lunch.  There were no options - you got what they put in front of you.  Vegetarians had mixed responses to "I don't eat meat."  Sometimes they were given just a simple salad (dinner in Verona), other times they got a better meal then we did (lunch in Verona)!  The first night's dinner was in a restaurant on the water in Como, but in this small room, with no view of anything.  The second- and third-nights' dinners were in the hotels' restaurants.  The hotel in Como's dinner was fish, but not very tasty (the table next to us bailed out about halfway through dinner and went down the street to a pizzeria!), the hotel in Verona served "Grilled Beef Tartare" .... yes, Beef Tartare is supposed to be raw, but this was a very thin slice of way overcooked beef.  Dessert was "Chocolate Mousse Cake" but was actually a very dry chocolate muffin.  I'm going to guess there were translation issues?  But that didn't excuse the quality of the food.  

It was especially frustrating that the hotels that were advertised on Viking's website were right in the middle of Como and Verona and we walked past them on the way to/from where we had to meet the bus.  

The positive was the day we took a boat tour of Lake Como, had free time in Bellagio and Como - that was great.  However, the "cooking demonstration" was in the hotel ballroom. An Italian-speaking chef stood up front, using a pasta rolling machine to make sheets of pasta and stamp out ravioli.  A few people "assisted" but, since the chef only spoke Italian, our Viking rep had to try to translate what was going on.  I felt sorry for the chef - he lost most of his audience half-way through, chatting amongst themselves, playing on their phones... to be honest, the Proseco they served was the highlight!

Yes, we all mentioned these issues to our Viking rep who encouraged us to write it up when we got the review form on the bus from Verona to the port.  Hopefully, it will be addressed for future cruisers!

[philw1776]

Had a different experience 3 years ago. Stayed at Albergo Terminus in Lake Como and Hotel Academia in Verona. Terminus was right at the lake. All meals were terrific with lunches and dinners at very fine restaurants. Not at the hotels. Cooking demo was at a different hotel across the lake. Weather was down pouring rain with streets flooded ankle deep. Nothing is perfect.

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by philw1776

[JerryInIL]

Also saw some negative comments on a fb group.  Viking has booked us into the Splendid Hotel at Lake Maggiore for our May 2024 post cruise extension. Guess I will have to watch for changes and reviews.

[JerryInIL]

Viking has changed our hotel from the Splendid Hotel to the Grand Hotel Majestic on Lake Maggiore. Any comments on this change?

[AdelPetersen]

Here's my take on your questions: From my experience, Viking tends to keep their groups relatively small, so you're likely looking at a more intimate size, maybe around 10-20 people. It really adds to the experience, in my opinion, as you get to know your fellow travelers better. Ah, Italian dinner times! Yeah, they tend to eat a bit later than we might be used to. But hey, embrace the Italian way of life, right? Use that time to soak in the atmosphere, maybe enjoy a leisurely stroll by the lake. And speaking of lakes, if you're into summer fun, I stumbled upon this cool guide to Lake Clementine: Lake Clementine Guide to Summer Fun https://www.mklibrary.com/lake-clementine/. Looks like a great spot to check out!

Edited March 12 by AdelPetersen