Shore Excursion questions

[mary_228]

New to Viking and cannot find this information on the website. Shore excursions open today for me and having just booked my sailing a few days ago, I have not been able to adequately research the ports of call. 

 

1) If I book excursisons today and later change my mind, when would I see a credit?

2) If I decide to choose a different excursion, would I have to wait several days for the cancelled one to "clear" and the systm allow me to rebook with the new choice?

3) In some ports of call, I may be able to book my paid excursion and return in time to take the included excursion (15 min leeway). Doable? I assume the system will allow for this as they don't overlap. 

4) If I do schedule as in question, I will miss lunch. Do Viking passengers have an option to bring food off the ship? I have been know to pack a sandwich in a baggie on other ships...

5) Where do you find reviews on Viking shore excursions? This is not provided on Viking's website as it is on Princess, for example.

 

Thank you for your help. Any other tips would be appreciated.

[janetcbl]

58 minutes ago, mary_228 said:

New to Viking and cannot find this information on the website. Shore excursions open today for me and having just booked my sailing a few days ago, I have not been able to adequately research the ports of call. 

 

1) If I book excursisons today and later change my mind, when would I see a credit?

2) If I decide to choose a different excursion, would I have to wait several days for the cancelled one to "clear" and the systm allow me to rebook with the new choice?

3) In some ports of call, I may be able to book my paid excursion and return in time to take the included excursion (15 min leeway). Doable? I assume the system will allow for this as they don't overlap. 

4) If I do schedule as in question, I will miss lunch. Do Viking passengers have an option to bring food off the ship? I have been know to pack a sandwich in a baggie on other ships...

5) Where do you find reviews on Viking shore excursions? This is not provided on Viking's website as it is on Princess, for example.

 

Thank you for your help. Any other tips would be appreciated.

1) Yes. If you cancel by the deadline to do so (2 days before the excursion, I think).2) No, cancel the first one, then book your new choice. 3)Yes, you can book more than one, usually allowing an hour in between, but Viking will work with you if many have booked the same two.4) No mention was made of this. I think some people probably have a granola bar or something, and the restaurant hours are generous.5) Cruise Critic has some. Just ask and someone will likely be happy to offer an opinion.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, mary_228 said:

2) If I decide to choose a different excursion, would I have to wait several days for the cancelled one to "clear" and the system allow me to rebook with the new choice?

 

A cancelled excursion should clear immediately such that you should be able to cancel one cruise and book a replacement in the same session. Cancel first, then book the new one because the booking system is built to prevent overlaps and double bookings.

 

1 hour ago, mary_228 said:

3) In some ports of call, I may be able to book my paid excursion and return in time to take the included excursion (15 min leeway). Doable? I assume the system will allow for this as they don't overlap. 

 

The leeway is closer to an hour than 15 minutes.

 

 

1 hour ago, mary_228 said:

4) If I do schedule as in question, I will miss lunch. Do Viking passengers have an option to bring food off the ship? I have been know to pack a sandwich in a baggie on other ships...

 

Viking has no control over this; it is determined by the country you are visiting. Some countries do not permit you to bring food into the country and that includes when entering a country from a cruise ship.

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, mary_228 said:

New to Viking and cannot find this information on the website. Shore excursions open today for me and having just booked my sailing a few days ago, I have not been able to adequately research the ports of call. 

 

1) If I book excursisons today and later change my mind, when would I see a credit?

 

If you cancel prior to embarkation using MVJ, the cancellation is processed immediately, but it may take up to a few days to see the credit on your Visa. If you cancel once onboard, the credit is immediately applied to your onboard account. Please note that MVJ is locked 1-week prior to the cruise, as the information is sent to the ship. 

 

2) If I decide to choose a different excursion, would I have to wait several days for the cancelled one to "clear" and the systm allow me to rebook with the new choice?

 

Regardless of if you cancel using MVJ or once onboard, the cancellation is processed immediately. Once you cancel 1 shorex, the system frees up that time and you can immediately book a new tour.

 

3) In some ports of call, I may be able to book my paid excursion and return in time to take the included excursion (15 min leeway). Doable? I assume the system will allow for this as they don't overlap.

 

The normal interval between tours is 45 - 60 mins, but in 1 port, we found the system permitted us to book with only a 30 min gap. However, it would never accept 15 mins. Once aboard, if you wish to accept the risk, they may accept bookings with such a short interval.

 

 

4) If I do schedule as in question, I will miss lunch. Do Viking passengers have an option to bring food off the ship? I have been know to pack a sandwich in a baggie on other ships...

 

The Viking staff will always work with you, and we have had the offer of a packed lunch. However, compliance with local regulations may preclude taking some, or any food ashore.

 

5) Where do you find reviews on Viking shore excursions? This is not provided on Viking's website as it is on Princess, for example.

Unfortunately, in the post-COVID world, many of the existing tour vendors are out of business and many of the established tour guides have moved on. Not sure if there is much value in older reviews. We also find the quality of the tour is mostly based on the guide. With Viking, our included tour in Cairns was dreadful, as we learned more about the tour after coming back to the ship from pax on other buses. While it was a good tour, that day we had a poor guide. Compared to Princess, in general, we found the Viking tours slightly cheaper for the same tour and the Viking buses are rarely filled to capacity.

 

Thank you for your help. Any other tips would be appreciated.

 

Please see responses in red.

[Peregrina651]

1 hour ago, Peregrina651 said:

cancel one cruise and book a replacement in the same session

 

If my fingers would only pay attention to what my brain is trying to say! 

 

That should be excursion not cruise.

[Peregrina651]

28 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

The normal interval between tours is 45 - 60 mins, but in 1 port, we found the system permitted us to book with only a 30 min gap. However, it would never accept 15 mins. Once aboard, if you wish to accept the risk, they may accept bookings with such a short interval.

 

Or, if you want to play the odds that there will be space for you, show up on the dock where the buses are loading and ask if there is space for you.  If there is, they will bill your account and hand you a boarding pass for the bus right then and there. 

 

If avoids paying for a cruise that you might miss because of timing but at the same time there is the risk that there won't be space for you.

 

 

 

[longterm]

2 hours ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

A cancelled excursion should clear immediately such that you should be able to cancel one cruise and book a replacement in the same session. Cancel first, then book the new one because the booking system is built to prevent overlaps and double bookings.

 

 

The leeway is closer to an hour than 15 minutes.

 

 

 

Viking has no control over this; it is determined by the country you are visiting. Some countries do not permit you to bring food into the country and that includes when entering a country from a cruise ship.

Bring a day pack with you; no one will search you when you leave the ship. We always bring light snacks in our day packs. 

[Heidi13]

15 minutes ago, longterm said:

Bring a day pack with you; no one will search you when you leave the ship. We always bring light snacks in our day packs. 

 

We have been in ports where all bags/packs are subjected to a search by local authorities and in other ports where they do spot checks.

 

If local regulations state "Zero" food can be removed from the ship, it is best to comply, as getting caught can result in severe penalties.

[longterm]

On 7/22/2022 at 10:24 AM, Heidi13 said:

 

We have been in ports where all bags/packs are subjected to a search by local authorities and in other ports where they do spot checks.

 

If local regulations state "Zero" food can be removed from the ship, it is best to comply, as getting caught can result in severe penalties.

Interesting; I've been in and out of probably 30 foreign countries on river and ocean cruises, never been subjected to a bag search... but I suppose there's always a first.

[Heidi13]

27 minutes ago, longterm said:

Interesting; I've been in and out of probably 30 foreign countries on river and ocean cruises, never been subjected to a bag search... but I suppose there's always a first.

 

We observed it a couple of times on the last World Cruise - Australia and one of the S/Pacific Islands. Also seen it in US, Canada, Japan and a couple of ports on our 1st World Cruise.

 

Normally the ship receives a warning and make multiple announcements not to take anything ashore.

[lkear]

Does any know the true time Shore Excursion booking time opens now? MVJ says Noon Pacific, but my last cruise in May open sometime in the middle of the night.

[Mich3554]

On 7/22/2022 at 8:24 AM, Heidi13 said:

 

We have been in ports where all bags/packs are subjected to a search by local authorities and in other ports where they do spot checks.

 

If local regulations state "Zero" food can be removed from the ship, it is best to comply, as getting caught can result in severe penalties.

We were waiting forever to get through security in (I think) Chile last Dec.  Other than the normal Covid madness which had slowed things down to a crawl, someone decided to bring some fruit into the country.   Courtesy of this, things slowed down even more as EVERYONE got screened much more thoroughly and our excursions were delayed even further.

We go across the US Canadian border frequently enough that we bring very limited things back or over.  

[dd57]

This was a while ago, but when we were on a cruise in New Zealand, there were beagles at every port sniffing passengers coming ashore.   At one port the beagle sat down next to my husband and looked up expectantly at it's handler.  My husband was using a small bag that he had used onboard to take a towel and an apple to the pool the day before.  Even though there wasn't any food in the bag, the beagle still got a reward from it's handler after my husband explained.

[CurlerRob]

7 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

 

We observed it a couple of times on the last World Cruise - Australia and one of the S/Pacific Islands. Also seen it in US, Canada, Japan and a couple of ports on our 1st World Cruise.

 

Normally the ship receives a warning and make multiple announcements not to take anything ashore.

 

We saw the same in Oz and NZ. As well as foodstuffs, part of the reason appeared to be the high concern that pax might bring wooden carvings acquired in various south seas islands into the countries - along with the various parasites that can be in the wood and spread rapidly. 🍺🥌

[Heidi13]

14 hours ago, CurlerRob said:

 

We saw the same in Oz and NZ. As well as foodstuffs, part of the reason appeared to be the high concern that pax might bring wooden carvings acquired in various south seas islands into the countries - along with the various parasites that can be in the wood and spread rapidly. 🍺🥌

 

Rob - Great point, as I recall we had similar announcements advising, in addition to foodstuffs, not to take any wood products ashore.

[MamaFej]

In Chile, we had our bags X-rayed/scanned in the terminal as we exited the ship for the day to go ashore. They were looking for fruit. I know we have experienced this in at least one other port. I think it was Hilo, Hawaii. The danger of parasite transfer is a very real. It is important to respect the places we visit.