Algiers, Algeria

Where to begin? As one passenger stated, "that city is like being on the set of Slumdog Millionaire." I was really looking forward to this port, which sounded exotic, but it was NOT as Viking advertises, in a myriad of ways. We started the morning with the included tour, which was supposed to take us to a number of stops. All tours required a police escort (our first indication this was not going to be like other ports) - instead of seeing any of the sites we were supposed to see, we saw ONE (the Martyrs monument, which as our guide admitted, is marred by the cell tower they have attached to the top and the "eternal" flame only lit twice per year). The rest of the time, the police led our 5 buses on a winding route through what looked like slums, with people on the street starting at us like animals in a zoo, often giving unkind gestures. Our guide said he had nothing to tell us about where we were being led, because he said he had no idea where we were or why we were in that area! Everyone was so ready to get off the sub-par bus and bewildered as to why we saw only one of the many sites we were promised, much less why Viking would bring us to this port of call at all. Based on the misrepresentation of the included tour, we had no faith that the optional tour we signed up and paid for would be as promised, so we cancelled and asked for a refund. We were told they could not give us a refund but we could call customer service upon our return to the States. Only later did we find out from a fellow passenger that the reason we had been rerouted was because of political demonstrations in the City Center. Strikes and protests had been going on for 4 months, something Viking should have known and forseen causing problems. But when we returned to the States and called Customer Service as instructed, we were given the runaround and had to go through many departments, and in the end were still denied a refund, with no explanation. Sad that we would be treated this way, especially since this was our 3rd trip with Viking. After our experience, we read several articles detailing all of the city's problems. Also, when it comes to safety, Algiers gets a 4 out of 5, with 5 being "avoid at all costs." As far as development and what it has to offer, Algeria ranks 80 out of 80 as the worst of all African countries. We were told by the Shore Excursions manager, "well we just wanted to give them a shot." This experiment should not be done on Viking passengers' dime.

Visited: Feb 01, 2018

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Unfortunately this tour was a bus tour of the city only letting us off to see the veteran's memorial at the top of the hill providing a beautiful view of this diverse place. It was very interesting to see the town and people-we would have loved to experienced a snack/meal and shopped a little in this city.

Visited: Feb 15, 2018

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Had to take Viking excursions.

Visited: Jan 29, 2017

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Special to go here. Would have loved free time there but the cruise doesn't allow it - better safe than sorry .

Visited: Jan 15, 2017

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We went on the walking tour of the Casbah. After a short “escorted” bus ride from the pier, we were dropped off, along with our minders, at the top entrance to the Casbah. Our tour guide spoke very good English and did a very good job detailing the history of this district in Algiers. We stopped mid-way for some local pastries and mint tea, which was fantastic. We finished up in Martyr’s Square where we got back on our bus and were escorted back to our ship. As with Oran, it would have been nice to explore more of Algiers while we were in port.