Shore Excursions and Cabin Priority Bookings

[molymoo]

I have a question for those who have cruised with Viking recently.  Have shore excursions been available for perusal in time for advertised selection windows?  For example OS – 107 days prior to departure. ES- 97 days, PJS- 87 days, etc.  Is Viking sticking with the cabin level priority once selections can be made? 

 

Our last cruise with Viking was last summer (one of the Welcome Back itineraries) and at that time (understandably) shore excursions were late being posted and by the time they were up and ready there did not seem to be any adherence to cabin priority levels.  It seemed as though it was “every man for himself”.  All worked out and we had a wonderful time but wonder if things have gotten back to what we might consider more “normal”. 

 

We have a cruise booked for July and no shore excursions have been posted … we are still 107 days out but that means only 30 days before our 77 day window supposedly opens.  Just wondering what to expect.

[millybess]

We are sailing in May and we booked our shore excursions and dining reservations at the appropriate time for our cabin level.  

[Senior Gators]

molymoo,

 

We have been having the same problem with our May 2022 cruise on the Viking Octantis. We are now 4 days past the stated date when excursions can be booked. Even with checking for them a number of times each day, we still are getting nothing except the canned statement that,  “.... there are no excursions available for that day...”! The 2 times we have chatted with the online Viking rep, we get conflicting information about when they will become available. The gist of which is, “....we don’t know when Viking will make them available. Please keep checking back in a couple of days.”

 

Senior Gators

Edited March 14, 2022 by Senior Gators

[SailorPaulH]

38 minutes ago, millybess said:

We are sailing in May and we booked our shore excursions and dining reservations at the appropriate time for our cabin level.  

Question: were you able to see and review your shore excursion options prior to your date of being able to book them?

[CCWineLover]

Depends on the itinerary since Viking has to get the excursions put together.  Some places picked right up and others it’s been hard to find operators.

[millybess]

39 minutes ago, SailorPaulH said:

Question: were you able to see and review your shore excursion options prior to your date of being able to book them?

Yes, they were up 3 weeks before our booking window opened.

[PRH]

Ours went up around 60 days and then three weeks out, our itinerary was drastically changed.  We were told can only book excursions on board now (we board on Thursday.). Has made planning and packing a challenge but it is what it is.  Only dining reservations seemed to go by category.

[janetcbl]

13 minutes ago, PRH said:

Ours went up around 60 days and then three weeks out, our itinerary was drastically changed.  We were told can only book excursions on board now (we board on Thursday.). Has made planning and packing a challenge but it is what it is.  Only dining reservations seemed to go by category.

On which cruise are you booked? We are on the combination Midnight Sun and Baltic States and I was wondering what was being done with our trip. Our “window” is supposed to open next week. Thanks for the information.

[Eggtuary]

I’m booked for Mediterranean Odyssey, beginning March 28 (two weeks!)  Excursions were available starting 96 days out, so only a minor inconvenience. I’m in PV and no excursions were sold out until late on the first day they were available to my cabin category.  

[CCWineLover]

Our Norway and Fjords in April had excursions come out late.  Kept checking and finally one day they were there maybe 50-60 days out.  Limited number and expensive.  Viking told us Norway has been challenging.

[Maite88]

We were able to review the shore excursions with enough time before we could book them.  We had no problems booking what we wanted.  Today was our assigned day to book our dinning reservations and was not able to do get one done!  We could not find anything on the restaurant earlier than 8:30, which is too late for me.  
 

For the specialty restaurants I got a message that said “need to make your reservations aboard.  I contacted Viking and was informed that the problem is there is no more reservations available for a table for two?!  I asked what about seating us on a larger table and they said that is why we need to reserve when we are aboard.  
 

Anyone else with the same problem?

[Jjg34219]

Ok since we are new to Viking, what is the normal time for booking excursions ….we are in a DV cabin in August (Alaska)….we are doing Rhine Getaway in late May so Im hoping the excursion booking for Alaska  doesnt coincide with that

[MarkTapley]

5 hours ago, Jjg34219 said:

Ok since we are new to Viking, what is the normal time for booking excursions ….we are in a DV cabin in August (Alaska)….we are doing Rhine Getaway in late May so Im hoping the excursion booking for Alaska  doesnt coincide with that

Check your Viking Guest Statement, which specifies what date excursions for your cruise will be available for booking.

[CILCIANRQTS]

17 minutes ago, MarkTapley said:

Check your Viking Guest Statement, which specifies what date excursions for your cruise will be available for booking.

Or look on My Viking Journey, which is where you’ll see available excursions and sign up for them.

[Mich3554]

10 hours ago, Maite88 said:

We were able to review the shore excursions with enough time before we could book them.  We had no problems booking what we wanted.  Today was our assigned day to book our dinning reservations and was not able to do get one done!  We could not find anything on the restaurant earlier than 8:30, which is too late for me.  
 

For the specialty restaurants I got a message that said “need to make your reservations aboard.  I contacted Viking and was informed that the problem is there is no more reservations available for a table for two?!  I asked what about seating us on a larger table and they said that is why we need to reserve when we are aboard.  
 

Anyone else with the same problem?

Don’t worry about it.  Once you get on board, it is very easy to get a dining reservation closer to when you want to eat.  I never have booked dining reservations any earlier than the day of the event.  I have no idea what I want for dinner tomorrow……let alone 2 months from now.  This was both pre and during Covid.  

[Jjg34219]

8 hours ago, MarkTapley said:

Check your Viking Guest Statement, which specifies what date excursions for your cruise will be available for booking.

Thanks for that info…guess I never read the statement closely but the info is right there!

[CCWineLover]

18 hours ago, Maite88 said:

We were able to review the shore excursions with enough time before we could book them.  We had no problems booking what we wanted.  Today was our assigned day to book our dinning reservations and was not able to do get one done!  We could not find anything on the restaurant earlier than 8:30, which is too late for me.  
 

For the specialty restaurants I got a message that said “need to make your reservations aboard.  I contacted Viking and was informed that the problem is there is no more reservations available for a table for two?!  I asked what about seating us on a larger table and they said that is why we need to reserve when we are aboard.  
 

Anyone else with the same problem?

 

Please don't be too concerned at all.  We've done 2 post-COVID cruises and about to do another.  In each case it was difficult to get any specialty restaurant reservations.  When onboard in December I asked specifically about this - the answer I got was that Viking post-COVID was holding back at least 50% of the tables from being reserved.  (for spacing?  to help others reserve?)   In any case, when we got onboard, there were many reservations available that we wanted (early evening).  Even at that, we probably went a couple more times to CT and Manfredi's by just dropping by and asking if there was any space (like standby).  Never had to wait more than 15 minutes.

Hope this helps reduce your stress!