Sold Out Optional Tours/Dining Reservations Prior to Sailing

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

4 hours ago, Squawkman said:

Not necessarily true. We had a V1 and we’re told we would get one reservation at Manfredi’s because we hadn’t dined there yet. We we offered 6:30.

There was no issue getting the reservation. But, we couldn’t get one for four people prior to 9:00. I’m glad you didn’t have an issue. 

[Squawkman]

8 hours ago, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

There was no issue getting the reservation. But, we couldn’t get one for four people prior to 9:00. I’m glad you didn’t have an issue. 

Actually, we did make a reservation for 4 - the other couple was a DV. They also hadn’t dined at Manfredi’s yet, so there was no problem getting the 6:30 reservation.

[surfcitygirl]

We booked a PV2 and tried to book for two at both Manfredi's and Chef Table about one half hour after priority booking opened and couldn't get anything before 8:30  or 9 PM and Chef's Table also still doesn't list which menu is offered for which night. We were told to ask when we board, since we are early diners and certainly don't want to be forced to eat that late.

[auburnb]

On 10/24/2022 at 2:01 PM, Pegct said:

Two companies that I would highly recommend for small groups wishing to do same excursions together that are sold out are Barcelonadaytours.com and Italydaytours.ie that were very accommodating, reasonably priced,  excellent communicators, and phenomenal experiences for all our group. 

I couldn't make the italydaytours.ie link work but I am intrigued by the Barcelonadaytours.  All the Viking tours I want (that include getting into La Sagrada Familia) are sold out. Did you do that on your tour?  How many people were on the tour?  Thanks

And did you happen to find a good non-Viking wine tour from Livorno? 

 

[dreamercruise]

On 11/9/2022 at 11:18 PM, auburnb said:

I couldn't make the italydaytours.ie link work but I am intrigued by the Barcelonadaytours.  All the Viking tours I want (that include getting into La Sagrada Familia) are sold out. Did you do that on your tour?  How many people were on the tour?  Thanks

And did you happen to find a good non-Viking wine tour from Livorno? 

 

Like you, I cannot access Italy day tours.it (or .ie). As for Barcelona day tours, I was able to access the website early this morning, but cannot do so now. Is it a reliable operator?

[SantaFe1]

41 minutes ago, dreamercruise said:

Like you, I cannot access Italy day tours.it (or .ie). As for Barcelona day tours, I was able to access the website early this morning, but cannot do so now. Is it a reliable operator?

I do believe they are.  I had two things booked with them in 2020 that we had to cancel.  They were easy to work with, everything was refunded, including the skip he line Sagrada Familia ticket, which they bought for us as a third party.  I haven’t yet booked for March, but plan to do so.

[SantaFe1]

I just went to the site and couldn’t got on right now, either.  But I was on yesterday, pricing private tours vs. group tours.  I’m sure they will be back up shortly.  

[CCWineLover]

On 11/2/2022 at 6:28 AM, surfcitygirl said:

We booked a PV2 and tried to book for two at both Manfredi's and Chef Table about one half hour after priority booking opened and couldn't get anything before 8:30  or 9 PM and Chef's Table also still doesn't list which menu is offered for which night. We were told to ask when we board, since we are early diners and certainly don't want to be forced to eat that late.

Don't worry - you will get what you desire when onboard.  Since COVID Viking has set aside from 50-70 % of the tables for booking on-board.  We are also early diners and have never had an issue getting any reservations before 7:30 when we arrive onboard.  Also, just keep checking if you do have issues, as people cancel - a Viking rep told me that often 50% of the prebooked reservations get cancelled by people when they are onboard.

[Pegct]

Sorry I think I posted the wrong website for the Italy tour operator that I used. The vendor was www.ItalyTours.eu. You can go to that website and look at tours they provide from the port of Livorno.  We originally did not plan on doing wine tasting but the driver suggested a winery for lunch and our group agreed so he made arrangement for it to happen that day. We tasted 6-7 different wines during lunch and the pours were extremely generous. The winery was Tenuta Torciano which was a family owned  winery.  The  staff were great and informative and the outdoor venue wonderful for the lunch and tasting. 

 

Barcelona Day tours were very reliable and responsive to emails and questions. I did not do the La Sagrada tour due to lack of time but I think they offered a skip the line option to La Sagrada after the completion of our Monseratte/Barcelona full day tour.  They have a maximum number of 12 people on small group tours. They will conduct tour with a minimum of 4 people and may combine  additional people from other boats if there is a need.  Our group actually had 13 on tour but that was because 2 of my traveling companions signed up last minute and no one objected.  The mini coach very comfortable and spacious for our group.

[jcnmac]

We are on Viking coming up.  Could anyone tell me what time the complimentary Viking excursion starts?  We want to book other tours after or before the Viking excursion in a port.

[OneSixtyToOne]

39 minutes ago, jcnmac said:

We are on Viking coming up.  Could anyone tell me what time the complimentary Viking excursion starts?  We want to book other tours after or before the Viking excursion in a port.

That all depends on your specific cruise, port of call, arrival time, and length of the tour. In general the included tours are offered at various times starting in the morning and in some cases extending into early afternoon. 

For example here are two for our upcoming cruise. It will be different in every port of call.

Panoramic Athens & Archaeological Museum

INCLUDED

Day 6 – Athens (Piraeus), Greece

Wednesday

7:45 AM / 8:00 AM / 8:15 AM / 12:45 PM / 1:00 PM

3.5 Hours

Scenic Chania by Foot

INCLUDED

Day 8 – Crete (Souda Bay), Greece

Friday

8:30 AM / 9:00 AM / 9:30 AM / 12:45 PM / 1:00 PM

3 Hours
 

As soon as the excursions are up on MVJ you will be able to see the times when you click on “learn more”

[jcnmac]

thanks one sixty to one - How do you choose the time? First come, first served ( based on Room Class)?

 

[Fieldofdreams]

19 minutes ago, jcnmac said:

thanks one sixty to one - How do you choose the time? First come, first served ( based on Room Class)?

 

Thanks - also interested in same, are times selected when making initial reservation before cruise or once onboard?

[OneSixtyToOne]

16 minutes ago, Fieldofdreams said:

Thanks - also interested in same, are times selected when making initial reservation before cruise or once onboard?

 

You select the excursion time you want in MVJ before you board. The UI will have a drop down box with the available times. It will also show if you have any booking conflicts. Some time slots may fill up so it is highly recommended that you make your selections as soon as you are able.

 

Each stateroom pax selects a time. They can be the same or if for some reason you want to go on different tours, you can schedule independently.

When you board you will be given a packet with tickets for your selected excursions.

BTW Although you may be able to change excursion times after you board, you really need to select everything in advance. This allows Viking to determine how many buses and tour guides are required.

Edited November 14, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[OneSixtyToOne]

9 hours ago, jcnmac said:

thanks one sixty to one - How do you choose the time? First come, first served ( based on Room Class)?

 

 

Room class determines the date when MVJ opens for booking time slots.

 

The excursions will be available for viewing before your date so you can make a plan.

If you are booking optional excursions, target first the ONE you really want and pay for it before moving on. Popular optional excursions may sell out quickly and it's possible it may sell out with the item in your cart before payment. Research the tours and make a plan to be as efficient as possible during the booking process.

 

See my answer above about picking time slots.

 

BTW only one cabin pax may be logged into MVJ to book excursions. The other will get a lock error if trying to book simultaneously.

Edited November 14, 2022 by OneSixtyToOne

[Fieldofdreams]

13 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

You select the excursion time you want in MVJ before you board. The UI will have a drop down box with the available times. It will also show if you have any booking conflicts. Some time slots may fill up so it is highly recommended that you make your selections as soon as you are able.

 

Each stateroom pax selects a time. They can be the same or if for some reason you want to go on different tours, you can schedule independently.

When you board you will be given a packet with tickets for your selected excursions.

BTW Although you may be able to change excursion times after you board, you really need to select everything in advance. This allows Viking to determine how many buses and tour guides are required.

Thank you - when traveling with another couple can you make a reservation for tours and specialty restaurants  in MJV for all 4 in the group or would each couple have to make their reservation and hope that the same times are available?

[OneSixtyToOne]

2 minutes ago, Fieldofdreams said:

Thank you - when traveling with another couple can you make a reservation for tours and specialty restaurants  in MJV for all 4 in the group or would each couple have to make their reservation and hope that the same times are available?

 

For dining reservations, MVJ allows you to link reservations but you must have the booking number and everyone’s cabin class must be eligible to book. For example a PV pax can’t link with a DV until the DV is eligible. It’s also pretty easy to accommodate everyone when onboard.

For excursions you can work that out onboard with a Viking rep. If you have the same time slots you can request to be in the same group. Some slots may have multiple buses/guides and you are assigned groups.

[Fieldofdreams]

58 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

 

For dining reservations, MVJ allows you to link reservations but you must have the booking number and everyone’s cabin class must be eligible to book. For example a PV pax can’t link with a DV until the DV is eligible. It’s also pretty easy to accommodate everyone when onboard.

For excursions you can work that out onboard with a Viking rep. If you have the same time slots you can request to be in the same group. Some slots may have multiple buses/guides and you are assigned groups.

Thanks so much for the info.

[surfcitygirl]

On 11/11/2022 at 2:31 PM, CCWineLover said:

Don't worry - you will get what you desire when onboard.  Since COVID Viking has set aside from 50-70 % of the tables for booking on-board.  We are also early diners and have never had an issue getting any reservations before 7:30 when we arrive onboard.  Also, just keep checking if you do have issues, as people cancel - a Viking rep told me that often 50% of the prebooked reservations get cancelled by people when they are onboard.

Thanks so much for your response.

[longterm]

On 10/28/2022 at 10:10 AM, Iloveketo said:

We are trying Viator for the first time in Barcelona on the 14th of November, because of not being able to get the excursions we wanted with Viking. What was your bad experience? We searched multiple Viking sites and Viator was one of the recommended tour companies. 

We've done quite a few Viator excursions; my son and I went to the Normandy coast for a full-day tour; my wife and I have been to Giverny and Versailles; we did a 2nd trip to Giverny; my son and I also did a full-day tour to Stonehenge and Glastonbury.

All of these were excellent; not only were the pickups on time, but everything was as expected, if not better. I know it's luck of the draw, but I wouldn't hesitate to book another excursion with Viator.

[oskidunker]

I will  not use Viator . Better go to their site, find the local  tour operator and book with them direct. Good luck.no email support and you get the Philippines  if you call. We had bad experiences with all our tours. Late, did not show up and bad pick up information. Be careful you book the right city. The confirmation nor the pass you add to appl,e wallet does not show the city. We booked a tour in San Sebastián which actually left from Bilbao, 2 hours away ,yes we got refunds but it was a hassle. 

[Iloveketo]

On 11/15/2022 at 3:39 PM, longterm said:

We've done quite a few Viator excursions; my son and I went to the Normandy coast for a full-day tour; my wife and I have been to Giverny and Versailles; we did a 2nd trip to Giverny; my son and I also did a full-day tour to Stonehenge and Glastonbury.

All of these were excellent; not only were the pickups on time, but everything was as expected, if not better. I know it's luck of the draw, but I wouldn't hesitate to book another excursion with Viator.

We just got back from Barcelona. We used Viator for a 4 hour Skip the Line tour of Park Güell and La Sagrada Familia. We took a cab for $15 from our hotel to the meeting spot. It was an excellent tour!  We had about 12 people in our group. I would definitely use them again!

However, I booked a 48 hour hop on hop off bus with them and when we didn’t use it on the first day it was listed as completed when we went to use it the next day. Also, next time we will just wait and see which bus has a stop closest to our location when we arrive at our location. 

[OneSixtyToOne]

Received a message today from Viking that dinner and spa reservations were now open for our upcoming cruise. I found this odd since it previously stated they opened at 8 PM my time. Instead it looks like it happened at 8 AM. Results: spa reservations available, no dinner reservations available. Guess I'll try at 8 PM and see if this is a glitch or SNAFU.

[CCWineLover]

2 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

Received a message today from Viking that dinner and spa reservations were now open for our upcoming cruise. I found this odd since it previously stated they opened at 8 PM my time. Instead it looks like it happened at 8 AM. Results: spa reservations available, no dinner reservations available. Guess I'll try at 8 PM and see if this is a glitch or SNAFU.

Ouch!  If its any consolation, a month ago we had our DV room day for reserving dinner reservations and similar thing.  Nothing available.  I spoke with Viking and told them I'd never been shut out of dinner reservations before.  She said reservations now are full before any DV's can do it because:  1. Viking now sets aside many more tables than before (50-70%) for on-board booking (left over from COVID) and 2. The high end rooms can reserve so many reservations (6-10) that they fill them all up.  Take heart, most of those folks cancel many if not most of their reservations.  They just book them all to give themselves options.  There's a good thread somewhere that poses ideas for Viking to change this and cut down the number of pre-book reservations that the high end rooms get.

[OneSixtyToOne]

1 hour ago, CCWineLover said:

Ouch!  If its any consolation, a month ago we had our DV room day for reserving dinner reservations and similar thing.  Nothing available.  I spoke with Viking and told them I'd never been shut out of dinner reservations before.  She said reservations now are full before any DV's can do it because:  1. Viking now sets aside many more tables than before (50-70%) for on-board booking (left over from COVID) and 2. The high end rooms can reserve so many reservations (6-10) that they fill them all up.  Take heart, most of those folks cancel many if not most of their reservations.  They just book them all to give themselves options.  There's a good thread somewhere that poses ideas for Viking to change this and cut down the number of pre-book reservations that the high end rooms get.

 

I sent an email to TellUs... asking about the time issue and closed with the following statement. Awaiting their reply.

 

We will be celebrating our wedding anniversary on this cruise and were very much looking forward to a table at Manfredi's to celebrate this special occasion. Not knowing if that is possible reflects badly on Viking and contradicts your DV category advertising: "1 guaranteed priority reservation at each alternative restaurant 60 days prior to departure"

 

If you no longer intend to honor this "guarantee" of prior reservations, I suggest you update your website, advertising brochures, and other promotional materials where this is stated.