Rose Brooks

Episode 548 – PLANNING! Our World Cruise Excursions Are Booked!

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138 days.

29 countries.

59 ports, with 72 total days in port (46 single day ports and 13 overnight ports) – at last count!

That’s a LOT of potential excursions, given that sometimes two can be jammed into one day – especially when we’re in port overnight, allowing for evening activities ashore.

We got our first look at the available Viking excursions on August 4th, but our cabin class was not eligible to book until today (September 3rd). That meant that some of our first choices could be (and were) sold out, so we tried to be prepared with second – or even third – choices for each port day.

Our priority was booking our safaris in Africa, followed by excursions in Australia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Singapore – all places we’ve never been before. After that, we dealt with the rest of the itinerary roughly in date order. About 1/3 of what we’re doing are “included”(no extra cost) excursions, and in some already familiar places (Cabo, Los Angeles, Greenwich) we’ll simply get off the ship and do entirely our own thing.

In the end, we booked excursions in 56 ports:

  • Cozumel, Mexico: An Insight Into Mayan Culture
  • Cartagena, Colombia: Panoramic Cartagena
  • Colón, Panama: Fort San Lorenzo
  • Puntarenas, Costa Rica: Panoramic Puntarenas
  • Oahu, Hawaii: Honolulu Highlights & Pearl Harbor
  • Kauai, Hawaii: ‘Ōpaeka’a Falls & Kilohana Plantation
  • Bora Bora: Glass Bottom Boat
  • Moorea: Lagoon & Scenic Cruise
  • Tahiti: (1) West Coast Highlights, (2) Walking Tour
  • Rarotonga, Cook Islands: (1) Island Discovery, (2) Muri Beach Village
  • Bay of Islands, New Zealand: (1) Panorama, (2) Kerikeri Hostoric Buildings & Rainbow Falls
  • Auckland, NZ: Highlights Tour
  • Rotorua, NZ: Geothermal Rotorua
  • Napier, NZ: Gin Tasting at Napier’s Art Deco Gem
  • Wellington, NZ: Seal Watching at Tongue Point
  • Sydney, Australia (2 days): Sydney Harbour Cruise, plus a full day in the Majestic Blue Mountains
  • Mooloolaba, Australia: Steve Irwin’s Koalas
  • Whitsunday Islands, Australia: Sailing the Whitsundays
  • Cairns, Australia (2 days): Jungle Train, Wildlife & Skyrail
  • Thursday Island, Australia: Intro to Thursday Island
  • Darwin, Australia: (1) Northern Territory Museum & Art Gallery, (2) Crocodile Cruise
  • Komodo National Park, Indonesia: the Komodo Dragons!
  • Bali, Indonesia (2 days) : (1) Market Visit & Balinese Hindu Temple, (2) Twilight Dinner $ Traditional Dance, (3) Temple Wonders
  • Semarang, Java: Semarang & Hilltop Temples
  • Jakarta, Indonesia (2 days): Natural Indonesia, Puppet Collection at Museum Wayang
  • Singapore (2 days): (1) Iconic Singapore, (2) Singapore After Dark, (3) Mandai Bird Paradise
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: KL’s Blue Mosque & Other Highlights
  • George Town, Malaysia (2 days): (1) Penang in a Day, (2) Temples & Traditional Crafts
  • Phuket, Thailand: Shrines & Temples
  • Colombo, Sri Lanka (2 days)m (1) Ceylon Tea Experience at Irgiriya, (2) The Architecture of Geoffrey Bawa
  • Malé, Maldives: (1) Malé on Foot, (2) Highlights of Malé City
  • Mahé, Seychelles: Praslin & La Digue Islands
  • Mombasa, Kenya (2 days): (1) Best of Mombasa, (2) Tsavo Safari
  • Zanzibar, Tanzania (2 days): (1) Stone Town, Zanzibar’s UNESCO Gem, (2) Sunset Cruise, (3 – Rose only) Maruhibi Palace Ruins & Spice Farm; (Ted only) Natural Beauty of the Jozani Forest
  • Nosy Be, Madagascar: Lemuria Land & Marodoka Village
  • Maputo, Mozambique: Mozambique’s Charming Capital City
  • Richards Bay, South Africa: Zulu Nyala Safari
  • Durban, SA: (1) Tala Private Game Reserve, (2) Scenes of Durban
  • East London, SA: Xhosa Cultural Experience at Khaya La Bantu
  • Port Elizabeth, SA: Addo Elephant Park
  • Cape Town, SA (day 1): Aquila Private Game Reserve (full day – Ted only); Introduction to Cape Town (am) and Table Mountain & Signal Hill Sundowners (pm) for me
  • Cape Town, SA (day 2): Table Mountain (Ted), Kirstenbosch & Constantia Winelands (me)
  • Lüderitz, Namibia: Lovely Lüderitz
  • Walvis Bay, Namibia (overnight): Nature, Hostory & Artisan Tastings
  • Luanda, Angola: Highlights of Luanda’s Heritage
  • Praia, Cabo Verde: Panoramic Ilha de Santiago
  • São Vicente Island, Cabo Verde: Panoramic São Vicente
  • Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands: Impressions of Tenerife
  • Agadir, Morocco (overnight): Postcards from Agadir
  • Casablance, Morocco (overnight): El Jadida Portuguese Fortress Town
  • Seville, Spain: Cádiz Walking Tour
  • Portimão, Portugal: Eastern Algarve & Fado Performance
  • Porto, Portugal: Porto by Foot
  • Vigo, Spain: Santiago De Compostela (although we’ll ho on the waiting list for a privileged access castle tour that was already sold out)
  • A Coruña, Spain: Panoramic Costa da Morte & Cape Finisterre
  • Honfleur, France: Explore the Mediaeval Town
  • Dover, England: Britain at War

Now I can spend the next couple of months researching the history, geography, and culture of each of our destinations. I’ve found from past experience that I get much more from our travels when I make an effort to do some pre-learning. Of course, there will be all of Viking’s enrichment lectures to help with that too. Cooking classes on sea days will come up for booking in a month or so as well – as if there’s not enough to do already!

26 comments

  2. I was feeling a little daunted by trying to prioritize the minimal excursions on our upcoming Viking expedition cruise down the coast of Chile! I’m a little surprised Viking wants all of the bookings so far in advance for a world cruise. It seems like asking for endless reschedulings and rebookings when plans go awry. It will be great to follow along again, especially since we don’t have anything on the schedule after this fall. Vicarious cruising with Rose and Ted! Thanks very much for sharing.

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    • It was the same process in 21/22, even though we eventually had to toss out all the plans and re-book new destinations. Naturally, we’re hoping that this time around not nearly as much goes awry!! From the point of view of tour providers, 6 months away is not long at all, so booking March safari operators probably allows for personnel and equipment planning. At any rate, it sure gives us things to look forward to!

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  5. we are booked for 2026. We sailed the 22/23World cruise. How expensive were the African safari options? We are sailing Oct 1 on Longitudinal cruise IV and the excursions to Galapogas and ManuPichu were pricey…. Of course we still did one of them for my husband, but i know we will both want Safari experience. Can’t wait to follow you on this cruise

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  6. We did the 2023 WC, so you are visiting a few places we did. But oh myyyy…Africa! Safaris! Morocco! I can’t wait to re-live our memories, and see the new places through your blog and photos!

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    • I did them in 4 groupings, checking out between each. Quite easy overall. Took just under 2 hours with waiting for payments to process AND going through the calendar feature to catch what I’d missed (Thailand and Indonesia!!) and add those days.

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