At the same time Tim and I were selecting Viking’s shore excursions during our trip planning, I was checking Cruise Critic Roll Calls for both of our cruises. Occasionally, passengers will organize a private tour and invite others to join them.
In mid-May, I saw a posting from someone who had arranged private tours in most ports for the British Isles Explorer cruise. I responded that we were very interested, but it soon became clear that there really was no room for anyone else in the vans.
Two weeks later, and two days after we had boarded our ship in Stockholm, Elaine contacted me and let me know that one of the couples had to cancel their cruise due to COVID. She asked if Tim and I would like to take their place.
Tim and I had never thought about taking private tours in all the ports, but this seemed like a great opportunity. A tour with three other couples and our own guide sounded so much better than a motorcoach tour. The other big difference is that most of these tours were all-day affairs, while Viking’s were just for several hours. We knew that we could easily cancel our Viking excursions, and the cost of the new tours was not that much higher than what we had already paid. We quickly told Elaine, “Yes.”
It was a bit hard to decipher Elaine’s spreadsheet to know exactly what we would be doing, but I am sure it will all be grand. There were a few days when her group was taking a Viking included tour, so we kept our own excursions for those days.
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| What Tours Are We Taking? |
Because Tim and I were on our Norway in a Nutshell tour when Elaine and the others boarded the ship, we would not meet them until just before our first tour in the Shetland Islands.
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