Time/value of Port Talks?

[Moby_Spout]

One reason we chose Viking was their emphasis on knowledge through Port Talks/Briefings. In general - as I respect each cruise is different, as is passengers' knowledge base - have the talks helped you better prepare for the port experience? When (time of day) are the talks usually held?

[duquephart]

Late afternoon. Helpful if you can overlook the hustle/sales pitch.

[CDR2001]

And they are replayed on your TV. I wish they were given 2 days prior to the port so you could change excursions before the 48 hour window, but it’s usually the day/evening before docking. It is very informative, especially if you want details about difficulty and walking time. 

[CDNPolar]

51 minutes ago, Moby_Spout said:

One reason we chose Viking was their emphasis on knowledge through Port Talks/Briefings. In general - as I respect each cruise is different, as is passengers' knowledge base - have the talks helped you better prepare for the port experience? When (time of day) are the talks usually held?

 

We love the port talks on Ocean.  One, because they are informative about the destination and then they go through the requirements of each excursion.  You also have the opportunity to sign up for additional excursions if the space is open.  Perhaps what duquephart was suggesting as sales pitch?  You can also stay after and speak with the speaker(s) if you have other questions.

 

With Ocean these are also recorded and you can watch in your cabin if you could not make the talk.

 

On Viking River, they are not recorded.  If you miss it you miss it.

 

Talks are generally late afternoon, but as I mentioned, on Ocean, they are recorded and you can watch in your Cabin if you miss it.

 

The port talks are a great feature on Viking.

[CDNPolar]

2 minutes ago, CDR2001 said:

And they are replayed on your TV. I wish they were given 2 days prior to the port so you could change excursions before the 48 hour window, but it’s usually the day/evening before docking. It is very informative, especially if you want details about difficulty and walking time. 

 

I really do think that this is somewhat of a "loose" rule.  They want cancellations to be done in advance because on optionals they are paying by a headcount, but if after the port talk there are some that want to join, they will most likely let you out... you just need to talk to them in the minute and we have always found them accommodating.

[OneSixtyToOne]

16 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

A subtle sales pitch is still a sales pitch. Do they talk about the filled up excursions or just the ones still available?

They go into detail of every excursion whether filled or not. It lets you know what to expect, pickup spots, if any, difficulty, schedule, and other useful information. I have never interpreted it as a sales pitch, subtle or otherwise.

 

To the OP, many times the lecturers will bring up something relevant to your port of calls. I’ve discovered many useful things by attending the nightly lectures as well as the port talks. This was especially true before we visited Pompeii and Herculean. The lecturer on the Roman Empire pointed out things we should look for.

Edited March 14 by OneSixtyToOne

[CCWineLover]

22 minutes ago, SantaFe1 said:

I’ve never, ever, in 8 VO cruises had this happen.  All the excursion manager has ever done is talk about what happens on the excursion.  I’ve never heard a mention of whether or not an excursion was filled.

NEVER had any sales pitch.  They have talked always about ALL the excursions, full or not.

 

My issue is that I wish they had the excursion details, photos, etc available (YouTube?) before we booked excursions.  Would have changed my mind a few times.   Other issue is until this last cruise of ours when our Excursion Manager was South African and we could understand him, most of the excursion speakers had such a thick accent, the excursion talk was worthless.

[CCWineLover]

21 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

They go into detail of every excursion whether filled or not. It lets you know what to expect, pickup spots, if any, difficulty, schedule, and other useful information. I have never interpreted it as a sales pitch, subtle or otherwise.

 

To the OP, many times the lecturers will bring up something relevant to your port of calls. I’ve discovered many useful things by attending the nightly lectures as well as the port talks. This was especially true before we visited Pompeii and Herculean. The lecturer on the Roman Empire pointed out things we should look for.

Totally agree, Joe.  

Viking has definitely listened to constructive feedback over the years.  Our last Excursion guy went into great detail about ALL the excursions.  It had NOTHING to do with selling anything.  The assumption was that everyone in the room wanted information on what they were going to be doing on their excursion.

Viking used to be somewhat limited in the info dispursed, but this time, it was very detailed - literally with items like how many steps you'd take, how many stairs, what amount of time walking, standing, riding; when bathroom breaks would be; what/if any food or snacks; how much time for shopping-plus who should not go (such as... if you cannot climb 20 stairs you should stay on the ship or the bus)  - in otherwords, what to expect on your trip.

Viking also implemented on nearly every included tour that was a walking tour - a special leisure group (like the River cruises) - which were quite popular.

[OneSixtyToOne]

3 minutes ago, CCWineLover said:

Viking also implemented on nearly every included tour that was a walking tour - a special leisure group (like the River cruises) - which were quite popular.

In our last Med cruise, there was an insert in the first Viking daily stating they were piloting a new program of “gentle walkers” included tours, similar to what was available on VR. Looks like they may have implemented it fleet wide.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We have never heard a sales pitch. In fact, we love Viking because we haven't heard sales pitches anywhere onboard unless we've asked for the information. We love port talks but always listen to them on the TV as it's easier and more convenient. They really give a clearer picture of what the port is going to include and how to structure our day. 

[rmalbers]

I think on the last cruise I watched all the port talks and a lot of the other lectures on the tv in my cabin.  It's really great that they do that, just so convenient.  

[shipboy]

On this current cruise the port talks have taken place at 16:15 the day before. You do get a lot of additional information as mentioned in previous posts, but you have to sit through all the excursions. The delayed video showing allows you to fast forward, which gets you to your booked excursion quicker 

[Squawkman]

Port talks also give you any last minute details about each excursion. Case in point: we had booked an optional evening boat ride, but were told that the port location of the boat was changed and would require walking a mile+ each way in the heat. We went to guest services to see if we can cancel since the excursion was initially rated easy and we didn’t think we could handle that much walking at the end of the day. Although the rule is 48 hours, they understood our issue and gave us a refund.

 

Duquephart - there are separate sales presentations that answer questions about the different Viking offerings. Don’t confuse these with port talks.

[Moby_Spout]

What a generous group this Viking forum is! So many are willing to take the time to answer with their experience, and each post has provided something useful. Our first Viking cruise should be awesome with a ship-load of folk like you.

[CDNPolar]

7 minutes ago, Moby_Spout said:

What a generous group this Viking forum is! So many are willing to take the time to answer with their experience, and each post has provided something useful. Our first Viking cruise should be awesome with a ship-load of folk like you.

 

I trust that you will have a great time and come back and report to us all the great things.

 

You will find that the vast majority of "us" in this Viking forum love Viking, but still understand that they can have their challenges too.  We are at cruise number 10 with Viking and have four booked now for future dates.

 

Enjoy

[sharkster77]

The only sales pitch I recall from VR port talks is that one ONE day, the vouchers were mentioned, explained VERY briefly, and anyone interested was referred to the front desk at their leisure.  Nothing else.

[CDNPolar]

 

Viking talk about all the shore excursions - sold out and open, optional and included.

 

AND, if they mention that space is still available for some, this is not a sales pitch but information that allows interested guests to go and book onto that tour.

 

Subtle or hard - a sales pitch is a sales pitch, and Viking don't do this.  Viking runs an information session.

[sharkster77]

I've never sailed on other ocean cruise lines, but from what I have heard, what Viking does at its port talks is nothing like the constant selling the other cruise lines employ.  Viking will never have an 'art lecture' that is really a 'please buy these paintings' session.

[Cienfuegos]

What may be confusing here is that some "port talks" are in fact two separate items.  One is the cruise director rah-rah about the port we are about to visit, and the details of buses, etc. Ship's sailing time, etc. And, which excursions are not to be missed, etc.  I haven't perceived that as pushing a particular excursion, but maybe I'm immune to that stuff.

 

The other part is the subject matter expert who will opine on the art, what to observe, unusual historical aspects, etc. On our Viking cruise to Cuba, one former state department official went into detail about the hand crafting of replacement parts for a 1955 Ford, etc. And on to cultural sensitivities and political concerns (don't film graffiti, for example)

[CDNPolar]

32 minutes ago, Cienfuegos said:

The other part is the subject matter expert who will opine on the art, what to observe, unusual historical aspects, etc. On our Viking cruise to Cuba, one former state department official went into detail about the hand crafting of replacement parts for a 1955 Ford, etc. And on to cultural sensitivities and political concerns (don't film graffiti, for example)

 

These are the Resident Historians that Viking have on board and they are separate on the agenda to the Port Talks, however they often are giving a very deep history of the next days port, country, or city.

[NanciEA]

In reference to what CCWineLover stated, our only complaint on our last Viking Ocean cruise was the shore excursion person who gave the daily talks. Her very thick accent made her talks extremely difficult to understand. Numerous passengers also told us they also stopped attending for this reason. Since most of the passengers on our ship had as their native language English, and shore excursion information would have been very helpful to passengers, I recommended to Viking it would be helpful to have someone whose first language was English give these presentations. 

[CCWineLover]

7 minutes ago, NanciEA said:

In reference to what CCWineLover stated, our only complaint on our last Viking Ocean cruise was the shore excursion person who gave the daily talks. Her very thick accent made her talks extremely difficult to understand. Numerous passengers also told us they also stopped attending for this reason. Since most of the passengers on our ship had as their native language English, and shore excursion information would have been very helpful to passengers, I recommended to Viking it would be helpful to have someone whose first language was English give these presentations. 

Yes indeed!  That is why we were so glad to have the new Excursion Director on Saturn now who is easy to understand.  Just a very "soft" South African accent.  Also - much more fact oriented with amazing details about everything you'd want to know, as I said, including number of steps, number of stairs, the slant of the slope you might be walking, how much standing time, how much walking time, how much riding time, how much toilet time and when . . .  an extremely helpful excursion "itinerary"...

[CDNPolar]

15 hours ago, NanciEA said:

In reference to what CCWineLover stated, our only complaint on our last Viking Ocean cruise was the shore excursion person who gave the daily talks. Her very thick accent made her talks extremely difficult to understand. Numerous passengers also told us they also stopped attending for this reason. Since most of the passengers on our ship had as their native language English, and shore excursion information would have been very helpful to passengers, I recommended to Viking it would be helpful to have someone whose first language was English give these presentations. 

 

First, I am not disagreeing with you about the understandability of anyone standing on a stage and delivering a talk.  Some folks - me included - do very well with accents and some do not.  I get this because my role is Global over 8 countries and I am in training, and learning and development.  Most folks would believe that because my first language is English that everyone is going to understand me, but no, that is not the case in some of the countries that I work in.  Many people that I work with read English with full comprehension but don't necessarily understand me speaking English to the same degree.

 

Most often in my experience the person giving the informational part of the talk on each shore excursion is actually the shore excursion manager.  Viking hire and promote people from all over the world and as an employer that appreciates diversity, equity, and inclusion, in their workforce should not make decisions about a person doing their job based on their accent.  

 

This is my opinion, and I know that some folks will disagree with me...  that is ok.

 

My personal suggestion is keep the person that is best for the job - the manager - and Viking should create a set of Closed Captions / Sub-titles on either the large screen or on a large monitor on the stage so that you can follow along.  My experience is that they are also often reading from a script.  That would not take much effort with the tech ability that Viking have to remedy the situation.

[CCWineLover]

Good suggestion.  Certainly the ShoreEx managers are quite competent.  The tough part is in the portion that requires explicit communication to the passengers on key information regarding excursions.  Perhaps the cc would help, since as you say, they know what they are going to say (although often there are last minute items such as slight change in docking location or tendering or weather conditions, etc).

[Frisky070802]

I liked the port talks and would go when I was able to.  One time I tried to play in my cabin and the audio quality was too poor so I  gave up.  

 

I really liked the historian talks, though, and consider that a huge plus.