Sold Out Included Shore Excursions

[kansas2018]

My Viking Journey shows all included tours are sold out so I am unable to book any.

If Viking guarantees an included tour in each port then I would think we should expect to get one.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this where they did not receive their included tours and how did Viking handle  it?

[Treasure Hunter]

Good grief! I would flip out. Please let us know how this is resolved 

[CILCIANRQTS]

The excursion staff has to start with some projected number of busses to reserve them and sign contracts.

When they see they need more capacity, they can:

1. Hire more busses

2. Fill cancellations

3. Increase the load on each bus.

Don’t worry, they will find you a spot. Just monitor MVJ frequently and/or go to Guest Relations the first day and they will set you up.

[molymoo]

We hear of this happening frequently and it always seems to be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.  Watch MVJ as things are ever evolving there.  

[Blackduck59]

We chose to do 2 of the "included" bus tours, we enjoyed 1 but the other not so much. Depending on your ports it may be better to see if there is a simple shuttle into town and explore on your own. Hindsight being 20/20 we would have skipped the bus tour in San Diego and explored around the ship on our own. Even in San Francisco we would have appreciated the option of a drop off at the end, around the Fisherman's wharf area where those who wanted could get off and make their way back to the ship independently. In Astoria they had a free shuttle laid on to drop us in town. There were 2 stops and they did a circuit every 20 minutes or so. Almost like a mini hop on hop off. That worked very well for us.

Take a look at the "included" excursions and see if they suit your needs, don't take it just because it's included in your fare. 

Ironically for us the "optional" excursions we paid for were both cancelled. One for "Covid precautions" was cancelled before the cruise even started. We decided to shift to one in Santa Barbara which was because that tender port was cancelled due to rough weather.

Enjoy your cruise and any excursions you choose whether included in your fare or not.

[Peregrina651]

In Viking-speaking, SOLD OUT is a placeholder.  It can mean "sold out," "we aren't taking reservations at this time," "we aren't actually offer this excursion on this sailing," "it is too early to book" and a host of other reasons that the excursion is not open for booking. 

 

I suggest writing to Viking (skip chat and the call center and go directly to tellus@vikingcruises.com) and tell them how disappointed you are to see that the xyz included tour is sold out and ask for their help in securing seats on a tour that Viking guarantees is included in your fare. Included your booking number andyour phone number. 

[Heidi13]

17 hours ago, kansas2018 said:

My Viking Journey shows all included tours are sold out so I am unable to book any.

If Viking guarantees an included tour in each port then I would think we should expect to get one.

Does anyone have experience with a situation like this where they did not receive their included tours and how did Viking handle  it?

 

An "Included" tour is available in most ports. When an Included Tour is available, the Shore-ex team will ensure every pax that requests the tour will get a ticket. You can contact "Tellus", as per Peregrina's suggestion, or simply wait until you board and the Shore-ex Team will resolve, adding more resources, if required.

 

In our experience, which is only pre-COVID, none of our Included or Optional Tours had busses filled to capacity, so it was easy for them to add additional pax on the pier.

[SailorPaulH]

For our upcoming cruise, it is now 8 days late for the optional excursions to be posted for our cabin category. As many of our ports of call coincide with current cruises that pre-date ours or have the same ports of call that are on different itineraries (for example: 'Iceland's Majestic Landscapes' viz a vis 'Iceland's Natural Beauty') I would have thought this would have been addressed by now. Getting a little concerned now, as the excursions were the main attraction for us for this kind of cruise. Has anybody experienced difficulty in getting excursions they hoped for as a result of these late postings by VOC?

[janetcbl]

1 hour ago, SailorPaulH said:

For our upcoming cruise, it is now 8 days late for the optional excursions to be posted for our cabin category. As many of our ports of call coincide with current cruises that pre-date ours or have the same ports of call that are on different itineraries (for example: 'Iceland's Majestic Landscapes' viz a vis 'Iceland's Natural Beauty') I would have thought this would have been addressed by now. Getting a little concerned now, as the excursions were the main attraction for us for this kind of cruise. Has anybody experienced difficulty in getting excursions they hoped for as a result of these late postings by VOC?

Many face this problem. We are “overdue” by 20 days. According to some chatter on CC, some report that excursions will be available 30 days before departure; others say two weeks….who knows? Though Viking says otherwise, it appears they may be released to the whole ship at the same time, not by cabin category….But, who knows? Lots of rumors, etc., no straight facts of answers from Viking. Best advice: Hang in there😁.

[Peregrina651]

Personally, right now what I think that it all comes down to is that while we are madly ready to return to the seas(and rivers), the rest of the industry is not ready for us. Many people who worked in the industry -- those who work on the ships and those land-based employees, longshoremen, tour guides, bus drivers, etc. -- were forced to find other full-time employment during pandemic. Some will not be returning to the industry at all; others can't afford to return to the industry until they are offered full time employment. Demand is higher than supply -- and new to the industry bus drivers, tour guides and even ship-board personnel take time to train.

 

I think that three tell-tale signs are 1) the number of comments we are seeing on these board about service on board and on shore not being up to pre-hiatus levels; 2) the widespread delays in excursions opening for advanced book and 3) that many Viking ships are sailing well below their stated guest capacities of 900+ and are being marked as 'sold out' long before they even approach capacity (and my gut says that it is by design and not because folks are not ready to cruise).

 

As @janetcblsaid: Hang in there.  Personally, I don't think that these problems will be going away soon and we are going to have to patient while forces beyond even Viking's control can sort themselves out.

 

 

[duquephart]

21 hours ago, SailorPaulH said:

For our upcoming cruise, it is now 8 days late for the optional excursions to be posted for our cabin category. As many of our ports of call coincide with current cruises that pre-date ours or have the same ports of call that are on different itineraries (for example: 'Iceland's Majestic Landscapes' viz a vis 'Iceland's Natural Beauty') I would have thought this would have been addressed by now. Getting a little concerned now, as the excursions were the main attraction for us for this kind of cruise. Has anybody experienced difficulty in getting excursions they hoped for as a result of these late postings by VOC?

 

A cruiser in the OS reported here that they got shut out of desired excursions by lower category cruisers.

[SailorPaulH]

19 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

A cruiser in the OS reported here that they got shut out of desired excursions by lower category cruisers.

Good grief - the only communication someone in the OS should receive is, "Tell us what you would like, and we'll make it happen."

 

I do understand the potential for delays, but I have had different answers on the subject when communicating with VOC about shore excursions: I am putting it down to poor customer service and incompetence at this time - it's not right to provide no pre-emptive warning to customers. I guess I am old school - I don't like paying for a service that I don't (or won't?) receive.

Edited April 19, 2022 by SailorPaulH
typo

[austinetc]

Our adventure begins tomorrow, after two postponements dating back to 2020. Last year Venice closed it's port, forcing Viking to change the port of embarkation from Venice to Fusina, THEN last Friday Viking had to change it to Rasenna, 90 miles south. This morning CVS cancelled today's antigen test, making us find new reservations. There are rumors that no one will even check the tests. Our one precruise day in Venice is forecast to have a 90% chance of rain. Too tired to laugh, too old to cry. But hey, it's an adventure.

 

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.

[BigBee51]

We are on the June 25 Baltic Jewels & Midnight Sun cruise from London. For our cabin category, excursions were to become available March 10 (97 days from cruise start), still waiting, crickets from Viking. I do understand the difficulties COVID has caused for excursions let alone the added nightmare of port changes due to Russia invading Ukraine, but an email explaining difficulties would be nice.