Time/value of Port Talks?

[CDNPolar]

14 hours ago, Frisky070802 said:

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.  

 

We love the Resident Historian talks that are on Viking Ocean.  We scan through their offerings and if not on shore, we will go to most if not all.  We have sometimes also altered our shore schedule because we wanted to go to a specific talk.  

 

This is one of the things that sets Viking Ocean apart for us.  This is a country, region, city, town focus that gives you so much advance knowledge of where you are going to visit tomorrow.  

 

These historians tell you about the history, but also the present day that is of interest.  When you visit these cities, you have some background that you may not have had before.

 

Even on River, often the crew is from that area of the world and can shed light on the history.  It was the Cruise Director that shed light for us on Tito when we were cruising Eastern Europe.  We did not understand why Tito was so admired but she really helped us to understand the thinking of the people at that time.

 

This is something that in my mind Viking excels with and especially for new Viking guests, check out the Resident Historians and their talks.

[Frisky070802]

Regarding historian talks, I know I mentioned this somewhere, but probably not CC.  Last summer we were on BIE and one of the historians was really super enthusiastic, a joy to listen to.  We were in the World Cafe with friends and our friend made a comment to that effect.  From the next table we heard "why thank you!"  

We were so glad we were complimenting rather than criticizing a speaker ... I guess the walls do have ears!  

[Cienfuegos]

On one Viking Ocean cruise, we were fortunate to have drinks with one of the resident historians / art and culture specialists.  They mentioned that they choose to be afloat for about 150-180 days each year. And work for several cruise lines.

 

 

[CDNPolar]

7 hours ago, Frisky070802 said:

Regarding historian talks, I know I mentioned this somewhere, but probably not CC.  Last summer we were on BIE and one of the historians was really super enthusiastic, a joy to listen to.  We were in the World Cafe with friends and our friend made a comment to that effect.  From the next table we heard "why thank you!"  

We were so glad we were complimenting rather than criticizing a speaker ... I guess the walls do have ears!  

 

Yes - these folks travel like guests on the ship and are around and in ear shot quite a lot.

 

Most of these historians we have really enjoyed, and there are some that I would pay money to see again because they were so enthusiastic, but then there have been that one or two that remind me of the most boring lectures in university.

[Clay Clayton]

I have added a suggestion to my usual list of recommendations (I include this in the final survey) that port talks be taped and made available in MVJ for exactly the reasons CDNPolar mentioned.  We happened to go to the Living Room after the port talk on Ho Chi Minh City and there was a line for Guest Services almost to the Chef’s Table podium.  When I asked what was up, found out it was everyone who had heard about the difficulty in getting in and out of the tiny boats on the Mekong Delta as well as finding out how claustrophobic the tunnels were all trying to change their excursions.   It sure would be easier for those who aren’t like us and go down a YouTube rabbit hole most nights (we watched 2 minutes of some 20 yo influencer’s video about the tunnel and KNEW it wasn’t for us😂), to be able to hear the port talk in advance. 

[Frisky070802]

5 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

I have added a suggestion to my usual list of recommendations (I include this in the final survey) that port talks be taped and made available in MVJ for exactly the reasons CDNPolar mentioned.  We happened to go to the Living Room after the port talk on Ho Chi Minh City and there was a line for Guest Services almost to the Chef’s Table podium.  When I asked what was up, found out it was everyone who had heard about the difficulty in getting in and out of the tiny boats on the Mekong Delta as well as finding out how claustrophobic the tunnels were all trying to change their excursions.   It sure would be easier for those who aren’t like us and go down a YouTube rabbit hole most nights (we watched 2 minutes of some 20 yo influencer’s video about the tunnel and KNEW it wasn’t for us😂), to be able to hear the port talk in advance. 

Putting talks on MVJ would be fabulous! Also, does CC have a place to aggregate comments and maybe ratings of tours? Or TripAdvisor? 

[Frisky070802]

Also.., responding to the port talks the day before would be too late to cancel for a refund. Which is probably intentional….

[Clay Clayton]

Just now, Frisky070802 said:

Putting talks on MVJ would be fabulous! Also, does CC have a place to aggregate comments and maybe ratings of tours? Or TripAdvisor? 

No but Frisky, sounds like a great idea, let us know when you have the spreadsheet ready for us to fill in! 😂

[Frisky070802]

11 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

No but Frisky, sounds like a great idea, let us know when you have the spreadsheet ready for us to fill in! 😂

I wish. 
 

but I guess the closest you can get is to read the reviews of the full cruise and see if people commented on specific excursions. 

[longterm]

On 3/14/2024 at 1:05 PM, 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 generally talk about all the excursions, including those that may already be filled.

 

I've never found them to be sales pitches; on river cruises it was always a daily routine to arrive 45 minutes early, have a good German beer, then hear the port talk. On ocean cruises we usually watch from our stateroom.

I agree that it would be useful if they were to be a couple of days early so that we could possibly select a different excursion, but the confusion this would cause would outweigh the benefits.

[OneSixtyToOne]

9 minutes ago, longterm said:

I agree that it would be useful if they were to be a couple of days early so that we could possibly select a different excursion, but the confusion this would cause would outweigh the benefits.

That information is in your email prior to boarding. Although not as detailed as the port talk, you do have ample time to see all that is available. After boarding you can ask questions about any of them and get a full rundown. You don’t have to wait until the port talk. I find the port talks really geared for those doing it on their own (the opening of the talk) and those going on specific excursions (the 2nd part of the talk).

[longterm]

7 minutes ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

That information is in your email prior to boarding. Although not as detailed as the port talk, you do have ample time to see all that is available. 

True, but the port talks can be interesting; so far, we've never changed excursions at the last minute. We always spend plenty of time deciding what we're going to do in each port, so on the day booking opens up, I'm ready to grab everything that we want. 

I agree that it would be really useful if there were a 'clearinghouse' where we could look up a specific excursion, get some reviews of it, perhaps details about what's to be expected. It'd be a great resource when planning for booking day.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

4 hours ago, Frisky070802 said:

Also.., responding to the port talks the day before would be too late to cancel for a refund. Which is probably intentional….

Not always true. There are often people wanting excursions that are sold out. We have gone to the place where a specific excursion is meeting and asked if there is anyone wanting to cancel. It has worked very well for us and the person wanting to cancel. 

Also, sometimes there are waiting list so cancelling is not a problem. 

[longterm]

7 hours ago, OneSixtyToOne said:

That information is in your email prior to boarding. 

What I would like would a thread  where previous travelers could offer insight on their experience with various excursions, so that we could get some reviews before deciding to book them. Over time, it could grow to include a lot of the more common excursions that Viking offers.

For the most part, we've liked excursions we've booked, although a few free walkabouts were pretty thin on substance. In those cases we've left the group and continued on our own (after notifying the guide, of course); I'd find it useful to read reviews that might let us know that a particular excursion might be one to skip.

Edited March 18 by longterm

[CCWineLover]

44 minutes ago, longterm said:

What I would like would a thread  where previous travelers could offer insight on their experience with various excursions, so that we could get some reviews before deciding to book them. Over time, it could grow to include a lot of the more common excursions that Viking offers.

For the most part, we've liked excursions we've booked, although a few free walkabouts were pretty thin on substance. In those cases we've left the group and continued on our own (after notifying the guide, of course); I'd find it useful to read reviews that might let us know that a particular excursion might be one to skip.

All good points.

My only thought is - it would be more valuable for that set of excursions that doesn't seem to change (like Alhambra out of Malaga).  Lots of excursions are in a state of flux and new ones being added, including included tours - so currency (recency) would be very important if there were reviews posted.

[Moby_Spout]

Excursion reviews seem to be sprinkled all over CC. But it sounds like you are thinking about a central location that could be dynamic - current experience posted on more static tours and new additions getting their review. Maybe if you didn't want to use the existing CC  Forums on various locations and be Viking specific - could there be something like the Viking Roll Calls, i.e. Excursion Roll Calls with the Alhambra Roll Call, iconic Berlin Roll Call, etc??

 

 

[formernuke]

8 minutes ago, Moby_Spout said:

Excursion reviews seem to be sprinkled all over CC. But it sounds like you are thinking about a central location that could be dynamic - current experience posted on more static tours and new additions getting their review. Maybe if you didn't want to use the existing CC  Forums on various locations and be Viking specific - could there be something like the Viking Roll Calls, i.e. Excursion Roll Calls with the Alhambra Roll Call, iconic Berlin Roll Call, etc??

 

 

This might be attractive from a CC perspective- it would give advertisers targeted audiences with passengers interested in one specific port

[CDNPolar]

12 hours ago, longterm said:

What I would like would a thread  where previous travelers could offer insight on their experience with various excursions, so that we could get some reviews before deciding to book them. Over time, it could grow to include a lot of the more common excursions that Viking offers.

 

 

I agree that this would be a great idea, but only a great idea...  Why?

 

Because soon the standard excursions would have 1000's of replies with 1000's of opinions and too long and too subjective to read through.  Where would you start and where would you end?

 

The other thing is that as we all know on CC is the discussion would quickly get off topic and might not return to the original topic.

 

I really like @Clay Clayton 's idea to put the recorded port talks on MVJ because first we want to know in advance much of the information they share about the port, or city, or country - minus the day's weather of course.  Then we want to hear about the excursions themselves.

 

I think that they could also really emphasize how demanding the excursion is for these recorded versions so that folks know in advance.  This would help with issues like the Mekong Delta that Clay mentioned.  

This would really help with 

[duquephart]

A better difficulty rating system would be welcome - "moderate" ranges from bus ride to forced march.

[Frisky070802]

It’s true that long comments might be a lot to wade through, but a yelp-like rating system could help. If something gets 95% too ratings, it’s probably better than the one with many low ratings. 

[longterm]

14 hours ago, Moby_Spout said:

Maybe if you didn't want to use the existing CC  Forums on various locations and be Viking specific - could there be something like the Viking Roll Calls, i.e. Excursion Roll Calls with the Alhambra Roll Call, iconic Berlin Roll Call, etc??

Good idea; in reality, a lot of the excursions Viking offers are similar, if not identical, to those offered on other cruises, or by independent tour operators, so a cruise-line-agnostic forum for excursions would be a really useful thing. 

Perhaps each mention could also note the cruise line it was taken with, along with the date of the excursion, so that readers would be able to determine how fresh the information was. 
 

On our 2nd Grand European river cruise in October 2023, most of the offered excursions were the same as what we did back in 2019, and I would guess this is common across most of Viking's cruises.

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

I think that many excursions are very dependent on who the tour guide is, so in some cases it would make a rating system a bit difficult. I've been on tours that weren't good at all, but talked to others who had an excellent tour guide and the excursion was great. We had a tour guide on BIE last summer that said she was hung over from the night before and she basically dumped us at a little library. I'm sure other guides would have had much better reviews. 

 

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, duquephart said:

A better difficulty rating system would be welcome - "moderate" ranges from bus ride to forced march.

 

True - I have seen many have issue with the easiest of rated excursions.  Cobblestones should always be mentioned.

[CDNPolar]

2 hours ago, Frisky070802 said:

It’s true that long comments might be a lot to wade through, but a yelp-like rating system could help. If something gets 95% too ratings, it’s probably better than the one with many low ratings. 

 

A rating system would be great.

 

[CDNPolar]

16 minutes ago, Sunflower & The Scientist said:

I think that many excursions are very dependent on who the tour guide is, 

 

Absolutely.

 

We have been with friends on a cruise and both did the same excursion but on a different bus and guide and our reviews of the excursion have been very different.

 

Again - all subjective which makes the whole exercise difficult to have real value.

 

Once discussion threads get too long - 25 plus responses - I tend to stop reading them unless the subject is really compelling to me.  I feel like these would be pages and pages of responses very quickly and then who is going to read from page one to page 25?