Excursion Issues

[vcgeno]

We were on the Viking Mars for the cruise from Auckland to Sidney from January 10 - January 24 and also went on the post cruise Australian Extension afterword.  The on board experience as well as the Post Cruise experience were amazing. The excursions were not good.  I was not going to post anything but in discussing this with my travel agent she suggested I write a note to Viking letting them know my concerns.  After getting Vikings response, where they did not take accountability for the problems with the excursions,  I decided that because I have received such great advice from others on cruse critic I would create this post.  While the future cruise credit is a nice gesture (not sure I am going to use it) I would have rather they would have clamed some accountability.  

 

First my Note:

 

"My wife XXXXXXX and I recently returned from the above cruise (Booking Number XXXXXXX)

 

I discussed the cruise with my travel agent (copied on this note) and she suggested I send you a note. 

 

We thought the ship, food, and crew were excellent and what we have come to expect from Viking.  I, unfortunately, had to use the medical facilities but was gratified by how caring and dedicated your medical staff was. We went on the post-cruise land tour in Australia that was amazing. . All of that was diminished by the disappointing excursions we chose to go on. 

 

We are veterans of 3 Viking river cruises and even though they all had navigation problems (too much water, not enough water, forgot to take the anchor up and it got tangled in the propeller) the excursions were outstanding. We enjoyed those experiences a great deal despite the issues. We went on your Cuba Ocean cruise and thought you did a great job there as well.  We expected outstanding excursions on this cruise as well, but that did not happen  That led to this cruise being a major disappointment. We were looking forward to this trip for a long time and the poor-quality excursions made us feel we did not get a feel for the areas that we wanted. 

 

Three excursions stood out as being particularly disappointing,  "Scenic Bay of Plenty" was an embarrassment.  The scenic drive to the "local village hall" consisted of viewing ship containers, sewage pipes, and loading docks.  Once we arrived at eh "hall" our promised refreshments consisted of some cheap tea and dollar-store cookies.  And our Kiwi experience consisted of some man on a stage barking about the wonderful properties of Kiwi and trying to sell us some of the products they were trying to sell. I am convinced that the vendor pays Viking to bus people to this to sell them stuff.  When we got back on the bus another couple looked up at us and said "There are 4 hours of our life we will never get back".  Given the time, and money your passengers spend to come to Australia, and the image you try to present in your advertising you should not waste our time on this type of excursion.  Shame on you. 

 

The second one "Wines of Marlborough" stood out because of a total lack of planning.  Marlborough is the wine capital of New Zealand and one of the most important wine regions in the world. Instead of giving your guests the experience they should have you cram way too many people into small areas in second-rate wineries and hurry them through the tasting.  Even though this happened at lunchtime there were not any crackers or food of any kind offered.  And to add insult to injury one of the wineries that we visited did not know we were coming leading to a good bit of confusion.  On our return to the ship they ushered us into another room where we did get an apology and were given a 50% credit but I would have much rather had relaxing visits to top wineries and paid the full price.  This was a major missed opportunity. I am kicking myself for not setting up an independent tour of the area. 

 

The third one that stood out as being particularly disappointing was the Ballarat Wildlife Park.  Given the name of the excursion, and the public description we expected it to be a nature preserve with highly trained nature experts where you could see wildlife in a somewhat natural environment.  Instead, we got a private zoo with caged animals with feces-covered walkways staffed by teenagers. This place was only a small step up from the Joe Exotic zoo in the Tiger King.  You should at least be honest with your passengers and not sell them something that you will not deliver. 

 

To be fair my friends who we went on the cruise (copied on this note) attended the "The Rocks Pub-to-Pub" excursion and said it was a lot of fun and the best of the cruise.  I could not attend because of my medical situation. 

 

The other excursions we went on were acceptable but no better than excursions we could have gotten on Princess or other mass-market cruise lines. I'm thinking the cruise lines all use the same vendors to do the excursions which, if you are going primarily for the destination, begs the question why are we paying a premium to go on Viking?   We have done a lot of Ocean cruises on Princess but we usually set up our own excursions in port because our experience has been similar to what we experienced on this cruise.  We did not do that on this cruise because of the wonderful excursions we have been on when river cruising incorrectly assuming you were bringing that same level of experience to your ocean cruises. We were wrong.  We are booked on your Iceland/Norway cruise this July and based on this experience I am going to start looking at independent excursions for that cruise because I don't want to waste that opportunity as we did on this trip. 

 

Thanks for reading I sent this so you can learn so that future passengers have a more satisfying experience." 

 

In hindsight I may have been a bit dramatic but it was accurate and it was fair. 

 

What caused me to post this was the total lack of responsibility in this response from Viking: 

 

We are extremely grateful that you took the time to send us your feedback about your experience with the shore excursions. I read through your feedback carefully and consider your feedback to be very insightful. I will pass it on to our team to see if they can implement any of these changes in the upcoming cruises.

 

While the greatest care has been taken to offer the finest services available, all arrangements for certain optional Shore excursion, including air transportation, hotel accommodations, ground transfers, and shore excursions, are made by Viking with third-party services. These contracts are what help us keep the costs low and at a flat rate. It’s an added convenience for our guests. However, it is important for us to know your experience, so thank you.

 

Further, As I understand it, you faced additional challenges in addition to those faced by the rest of the passengers on the ship. We kindly ask that you contact me as soon as you can. I would like to discuss your experience in detail to ensure any concerns you may have been fully addressed.

 

So basically what they are telling you is that anything you pay Viking for that they contract out is not Vikings responsibility.  I would have preferred they tell me something like "despite the excursions being managed by contractors we take responsibility because we choose those contractors and will reevaluate those agreements and make changes where we have fallen short".   I also the fact that they use the contactors "to keep the cost low".  The excisions are not low cost and if most Viking passengers wanted to save money they would have booked on Carnival.   When I went to call them back to give them more detail the receptionist refused to put me though because they had given my my credit and the case was closed.  That's when I said screw it I am going to post this. 

 

There you have it.  Flame me, agree with me, or ask me questions I will be happy to help.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeyB]

Very well written and poorly handled by Viking.

Vikings excursions are always hit or miss depending upon the area visited.  This part of the world should have offered better.

[oskidunker]

I avoid wine cruise  tours. They are never good. 

[Pushka]

1 hour ago, oskidunker said:

I avoid wine cruise  tours. They are never good. 

The Marlborough winery area in NZ is fabulous. They are our favourite wines. It's such a shame that this excursion was handled poorly. It could have been wonderful. I'd hope that the Barossa Valley in SA would put on a much better experience than this. The platters the wineries serve are excellent. I'd hope that Viking communicates these issues back to the wineries. 
 

Im presuming these were Paid For excursions and not the included ones?  

[CurlerRob]

3 hours ago, vcgeno said:

What caused me to post this was the total lack of responsibility in this response from Viking: 

 

We are extremely grateful that you took the time to send us your feedback about your experience with the shore excursions. I read through your feedback carefully and consider your feedback to be very insightful. I will pass it on to our team to see if they can implement any of these changes in the upcoming cruises.

 

While the greatest care has been taken to offer the finest services available, all arrangements for certain optional Shore excursion, including air transportation, hotel accommodations, ground transfers, and shore excursions, are made by Viking with third-party services. These contracts are what help us keep the costs low and at a flat rate. It’s an added convenience for our guests. However, it is important for us to know your experience, so thank you.

 

Further, As I understand it, you faced additional challenges in addition to those faced by the rest of the passengers on the ship. We kindly ask that you contact me as soon as you can. I would like to discuss your experience in detail to ensure any concerns you may have been fully addressed.

 

Personally, I don't see how you find a lack of responsibility in this response. They acknowledged your concerns, did a little deflecting, then asked you to connect directly for further discussion. You don't indicate what level of person asked you to contact them, but there's a clear attempt to open the lines to you.

 

Now, however you were blocked from getting back to them, that is not acceptable. You can email tellus@vikingcruises.com, which is a higher-level group that deals with issues. Give them your name, booking number, the letter you wrote and advise that your attempted contact was refused. They will typically arrange a call back to you within a few days. Let us know how that unfolds.

 

Hopefully that will start a process of resolution or at least understanding. 🍺🥌

 

 

[Frenchberet]

“When I went to call them back to give them more detail the receptionist refused to put me though because they had given my my credit and the case was closed.”

 

I think Viking already compensated the traveler for the excursions.

[Nippy Sweetie]

I don't think it's just a matter of compensation though. I value this initial post as it seems an important issue to highlight. Viking needs to know about these seriously sub standard excursions and that Viking guests expect better.

I think that the poster is looking for some reassurance that his valid complaints have been heeded and, perhaps, changes made. 

[LibertyBella]

Just because Viking markets itself as a luxury cruise line does NOT necessarily mean its shore excursions are any better than other cruise line, including Carnival. You are mainly paying for the on-board ship experiences.  Viking cannot necessarily control the quality of local sights and local personnel, or how visitors will react to them.  It also seems that many of the "free" excursions are just short overview introductions, nothing too complex or rigorous.

 

After Covid, many local contacts ceased operations or found other employment, so the land arrangements may have had to be reconstructed from scratch all over again. Additionally, I think some local companies may want to make a stronger profit on tourists now, so they might undercut the experience, or they do not really know how to handle large numbers of passengers, or those less mobile, etc. Weather, time of year, staff availability, cultural norms, country socio-economic level and other factors can also influence a shore excursion.

 

Do I want to feed the kangaroos in Australia?  I believe that is what the wildlife park is really known for, and many people seem to like that hands-on interaction with the animals.

 

However, people do react quite differently to the same excursion.  Before I take ANY ship excursion I read about all the stops, look them up online, read Tripadvisor and other reviews about them, etc.  I calculate the time we will spend on a stop, and whether the experience will be worthwhile for me. I finally go to the cruise review, and read what people have most recently posted about the excursion. If I find the ship excursions lacking I will definitely create my own independent excursion.

 

Yes, in my life I have had some very poor excursions, and some wonderful and excellent choices.  I will say I have spent hundreds of dollars on some Princess excursions and they were out-of-this world memorable (glacier trek in Alaska with a helicopter ride, visiting two Russian palaces in one day in St. Petersburg), etc.  The worst shore excursion I ever had personally was riding horses in the ocean in Turks and Caicos--the saddles were of poor construction and not fastened well.  Honestly I thought I was going to fall off into the water and get crushed by the horses' hooves.  It was a lesson learned that local poverty factors can impact my own personal safety, so I will not choose to ever do that again. 

 

I feel for your disappointment, but I do understand Viking's response.  I do hope the positive cruise experiences will outweigh your negative ones in the long run.  Have a great trip to Iceland-- I was just there in November, and enjoyed all of my experiences!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CDNPolar]

1 hour ago, LibertyBella said:

However, people do react quite differently to the same excursion. 

 

Very true.  I have gotten back on a bus at the end of an excursion thinking that I will never get that 3 or 4 hours of my life back and then I hear couples or small groups discussing how much they loved the excursion.

 

I am not trying to lessen what the OP is saying here, but I look at this through two lenses:

 

If an included excursion, then it can be hit or miss and we have to take it as such.  (Although we have rarely been disappointed with optional excursions)

 

If you pay for an optional excursion, it should deliver a higher expectation.

 

We have had poor experiences with both, but also put this down to Viking is not leading this excursion on an Ocean ship.  This is a contracted supplier, BUT the ShoreEx group should be checking the quality of these and how the marketing write up displays the experience.

 

When you tell me in your marketing material that:  The scenic drive to the "local village hall" consisted of viewing ship containers, sewage pipes, and loading docks.   Then you should deliver scenic.  However the reality is that many port areas connected to towns are not scenic.  This may be a fail on Viking's copy writers where they just needed to drop the word "scenic" and instead said "The drive to the local village hall....".  Marketing add the word "scenic" to make you book the excursion...

 

I however do hear your frustration and need for Viking to take ownership.

 

We have had our "battles" with Viking.  In a nutshell, we LOVE the onboard experience with Viking but what we have found after 7 cruises is that sometimes the PRE cruise issues, the reservation issues, the voucher issues, and the mis-information that is often given by one person and then disputed by another is often extremely frustrating. 

 

We have had customer service tell us A and then when we call back to do A, then we are told no, you cannot do A.  We have escalated and the Supervisor confirms that we were told A, but unfortunately A is against policy and that customer service agent should not have told you that you can do A.  I ask, well, so you are admitting that we were told incorrect information and now you are not willing to honour what your rep says, how can we ever believe what one of your reps says?  They just apologize and insist that policy does not allow A.  We sit here now scratching our heads wondering ***** and so we just have to accept it and move on.

 

Viking have a serious training issue with their customer service staff and they need to address that.

 

We have one more booked Viking cruise and we are considering another but if we continue to experience these "off ship" issues, then we will move to another cruise line.  We were content in the beginning to remain with Viking, but our eyes are open now to the world of other cruise lines that offer very comparable experiences and we are trying out the competition.

 

Viking has not lost our total loyalty as a customer YET, but is moving very close to that as we are spreading our wings and looking around.

 

The truth is that Viking really offers nothing of true value for loyal customers anyway.  $100 or $200 past guest discount...  drop in the bucket.  Viking could buy our loyalty if their policies and pre/post customer service issues were better.  AND it is not always about a credit or voucher, it is about owning the issue.

[KBs mum]

I used to work in the travel/tourist sector, that reply from Viking is a stock generic 'brush off' letter. It doesn't mention the specific points raised (valid or not is irellevant when replying to a complaint) and address them. 

I would expect at least a partial refund, vouchers are a token gesture that costs the company nothing and are usually part of an attempt to dismiss the complainant. 

Not being prepared to discuss things further and providing contact details for a named individual is appalling. 

Particularly at Viking's price point and how they market their cruises

[FlyerTalker]

2 hours ago, KBs mum said:

Particularly at Viking's price point and how they market their cruises

 

The positioning and price aren't matching the product that is delivered.

 

Sooner or later, this will catch up with them.

 

 

[Heidi13]

19 hours ago, vcgeno said:

 

So basically what they are telling you is that anything you pay Viking for that they contract out is not Vikings responsibility.  I would have preferred they tell me something like "despite the excursions being managed by contractors we take responsibility because we choose those contractors and will reevaluate those agreements and make changes where we have fallen short".   I also the fact that they use the contactors "to keep the cost low".  The excisions are not low cost and if most Viking passengers wanted to save money they would have booked on Carnival.   When I went to call them back to give them more detail the receptionist refused to put me though because they had given my my credit and the case was closed.  That's when I said screw it I am going to post this. 

 

A very well written letter to Viking post cruise.

 

In my experience, the customer service levels provided by Viking's Los Angeles Office are dreadful. The customer service provided onboard is normally vastly superior to that provided by L/A. May I suggest that shore-ex issues are best resolved by bringing the matter to the attention of the Shore-ex Manager, shortly after returning from the tour. If shore-ex feedback forms are not provided after the tour, feedback can be provided to the Manager, or one of his/her subordinates.

 

With respect to cruise line shore-ex, they are all provided by contractors in the respective ports, and as the vendor supply is limited, many cruise lines use the same vendors. The cruise lines endeavour to monitor the vendors, with crew members provided complimentary seats, regular formal audits and pax feedback. The comp crew seats are limited and formal audits aren't overly frequent, so pax feedback is the primary reporting tool. Therefore, it is critical feedback is provided onboard.

 

In our experience, the Shore-ex staff do accept responsibility for vendor failings and were very quick to provide refunds, even when they weren't expected.

 

Note - I don't have specific experience with Viking audits of shore-ex, but have myself completed them for another cruise line. I fully expect Viking do the same. I have also seen crew members, lecturers, etc receiving comp tickets on excursions.

 

Regarding the winery tour - you mentioned being brought into a room immediately upon return to the ship. The vendor's failings were probably brought to the attention of the shore-ex Manager by one of the comp tickets attending the tour. The ship did the right thing, as I have also experience. Had you brought the other issues to the attention of the shore-ex dept, I have little doubt you would have had similar resolutions.

[Goosebear Mum]

10 hours ago, LibertyBella said:

The worst shore excursion I ever had personally was riding horses in the ocean in Turks and Caicos--the saddles were of poor construction and not fastened well.  Honestly I thought I was going to fall off into the water and get crushed by the horses' hooves.  It was a lesson learned that local poverty factors can impact my own personal safety, so I will not choose to ever do that again. 

If you do happen to, always check the girth after being on a horse for a few minutes… some horses are known to ‘breathe in’ when tightening girths! After a few minutes of riding, they can be properly tightened!  Obviously a tour place should check these too 😉 

[Vineyard View]

On 2/15/2023 at 6:18 AM, FlyerTalker said:

 

The positioning and price aren't matching the product that is delivered.

 

Sooner or later, this will catch up with them.

 

 

Viking has increased their pricing to the point that, when you add up all the “included aspects”’, and those not included, then do the same with other lines in the smaller ships segments, they are no longer  at the level they originally positioned themselves. From a purely total cost standpoint, and depending upon what the sale of the day or week is with each company, they are competing with Seabourn, Regent, SS, Tauck, Explora. That did not used to be the case.

‘The rest of the package needs to be at the level that commands their new pricing position moving forward. In fact, I am seeing many options when the total daily cost to sail on Viking, compared to these other lines, is higher, and best case in the same range. We love Viking, but their repositioning, without adding any benefits, has created a change in our viewpoint when looking at cruises moving forward. In the past, we didn’t necessarily feel that way. 
 

[Jim Avery]

13 minutes ago, Vineyard View said:

Viking has increased their pricing to the point that, when you add up all the “included aspects”’, and those not included, then do the same with other lines in the smaller ships segments, they are no longer  at the level they originally positioned themselves. From a purely total cost standpoint, and depending upon what the sale of the day or week is with each company, they are competing with Seabourn, Regent, SS, Tauck, Explora. That did not used to be the case.

‘The rest of the package needs to be at the level that commands their new pricing position moving forward. In fact, I am seeing many options when the total daily cost to sail on Viking, compared to these other lines, is higher, and best case in the same range. We love Viking, but their repositioning, without adding any benefits, has created a change in our viewpoint when looking at cruises moving forward. In the past, we didn’t necessarily feel that way. 
 

I agree with you completely.  Viking was a lot of bang for the buck.  But then so was Safeway grocers....

[Vineyard View]

1 hour ago, Jim Avery said:

I agree with you completely.  Viking was a lot of bang for the buck.  But then so was Safeway grocers....

Priceless!  
 

 I’m certainly not giving up on Viking, but my eyes are wide open. As a result, we are trying another small ship line this year that we would likely never have looked at in the past, believing it was above our pay grade, so to speak. It pencils out better per day and is highly regarded. So we will see. Time will tell. 

[Joanandjoe]

2 hours ago, Vineyard View said:

Viking has increased their pricing to the point that, when you add up all the “included aspects”’, and those not included, then do the same with other lines in the smaller ships segments, they are no longer  at the level they originally positioned themselves. From a purely total cost standpoint, and depending upon what the sale of the day or week is with each company, they are competing with Seabourn, Regent, SS, Tauck, Explora. That did not used to be the case.

‘The rest of the package needs to be at the level that commands their new pricing position moving forward. In fact, I am seeing many options when the total daily cost to sail on Viking, compared to these other lines, is higher, and best case in the same range. We love Viking, but their repositioning, without adding any benefits, has created a change in our viewpoint when looking at cruises moving forward. In the past, we didn’t necessarily feel that way. 
 

We know where you are coming from.  We mostly sail on Regent but have booked our first Viking cruise.  The penthouse veranda staterooms, the closest in size to a minimal Regent room, are not much lower in cost per day.  When you factor in airfare, extra cost excursions, tips, and a wider variety of included drinks on Regent, the costs are similar, and Viking may be more expensive than Regent. Our chosen Viking itinerary, however, is better for us than we could find on Regent (NYC to Iceland), since it includes a difficult to get to place, L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, where we have long wanted to go.  Will Viking please us as much as Regent?  Ask us after our 2025 cruise.

[Jim Avery]

1 hour ago, Vineyard View said:

Priceless!  
 

 I’m certainly not giving up on Viking, but my eyes are wide open. As a result, we are trying another small ship line this year that we would likely never have looked at in the past, believing it was above our pay grade, so to speak. It pencils out better per day and is highly regarded. So we will see. Time will tell. 

Depending on where you might want to go another very small ship line is SeaDream Yacht Club.  

[Vineyard View]

Thanks for thanks for the tip Jim. I am not familiar with SeaDream & may look at them. Trying to find the right itinerary for 2024. Special anniversary. Spring, likely Mediterranean. Viking offers the same sailings they have for years. A B2B we liked that had the turn around in Venice was changed - no fault of Viking - and we took that off the table. The rest are mostly repeat ports, many of which we sailed on Viking. 

Joanandjoe - I honestly believe you will enjoy Viking if it’s the right itinerary for you. Please do report back, as will I after trying Seabourn. 

[Tsunami74]

Agree with Joanandjoe.

Viking has more interesting itineraries in northern Atlantic region.

However, when going from USA to Asia/Australia, we have found Regent to be the better choice by far. 

Going that far, we need (like) to fly business. When adding the business upgrade with Viking, Regent was about the same or even cheaper. 

AND Regent is all inclusive with alcohol, nice excursions, gratuities, and better food choices.

[Vineyard View]

Tsunami, I may look  at Regent partly due to business class inclusion. We’ve always done a combo of miles and dollars when we travel internationally, but this year that ended up being off the charts. We used miles for our May trip, but it cost 200+% more miles than last year to fly from SFO to Europe RT. That caused a big dent in miles saved. Had we purchased 2, it would have been $10k. Free airfare from Viking hasn’t worked for us due to limited upgrade options. So I would say that is a consideration maybe for either Viking, Seabourn, pr others going forward if costs to fly remain where they are, and business class is important. I know that is not part of the decision for many, but it was a good point to bring up. 

[FinchZ]

Vcgeno, We will be on the Auckland to Sydney cruise soon and read your post with interest. Currently booked for the "Scenic Bay of Plenty" excursion and looking at alternatives. Did you hear anything about the quality of other excursions out of Tauranga?

 

Would also love your take on the Sydney extension.

[vcgeno]

17 hours ago, FinchZ said:

Vcgeno, We will be on the Auckland to Sydney cruise soon and read your post with interest. Currently booked for the "Scenic Bay of Plenty" excursion and looking at alternatives. Did you hear anything about the quality of other excursions out of Tauranga?

 

Would also love your take on the Sydney extension.

The "Scenic Bay of Plenty" is a complete and total waste of time.  You are better off staying on the ship.  Not sure about the other excursions but I'm sure any other paid excursions would be better.  

[KBs mum]

All the Viking excursions tend to be average at best. We've only been on one where we thought the guide added value (Nuremberg rally grounds) The Soviet flashback bus tourin Tallinn was good, but that was just booked through Viking

We use them as transport only, and only then if it's the only realistic way of getting somewhere/visiting something specific. Lots include a unannounced stop at a random church