Highlight of the trip. Ideally, despite the security concerns, a second day would have been great. We were on the longest excursion -- out side the city to the Roman ruins in Tipasa, and the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania. Excellent guide and sights well worth visiting. Read Less

Excellent tour by retired archaeologist of Tpiano and the Royal tomb. We did not see too much else, except the countryside in a bus. Read Less

Panoramic coach tour with a few photo stops. Would have liked some free time to explore, but due to police caravan of all buses, not possible. Read Less

This was a rugged excursion and the written description did not indicate the difficulties that would be encountered along the way. Read Less

The Casbah Stroll tour combined a good overview of the city with an unforgettable experience of exploring the alleyways and steps of one of the most unique urban neighborhoods in the world. Older people in good health can do this tour, but people with difficulty walking had problems with the many steps and uneven pavement. Read Less

We had no idea what to expect given the lack of experience of this city but we were so pleasantly surprised! The city itself is bright and vibrant with the French influences giving us a comfort level that we weren't so out of place. Our tour buses were led through town by police cars not for security, but rather to move us conveniently through the traffic and people waved at us smilingly at almost every corner. We walked the Casbah and enjoyed it immensely though it is not for the agility-challenged. People engaged us in conversation and welcomed us continuously all while carrying out conversations amongst themselves in English, French, Arabic and Berber. Our VISA did not allow us to shop but it looks like it could be have been interesting. If you are at all worried about safety, DON"T BE! This is a beautiful, welcoming and friendly city. Read Less

Coach trip to see ruins at an archaeological park in or near Tipaza, cookies, mint tea and bathroom break near there, and then on the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania. Wonderful guide, wonderful excursion and worth every penny. Wonderful first visit to Africa and Algeria. Read Less

When we tried to book a tour they were already full. This is due to Viking having an opening date for bookings depending on your cabin type. We told by the company (Viking) that we could take an individual tour of Algiers and by the Algerian embassy that we could also do this so we obtained visas. We then found out 3 days from Algiers that we couldn't. I also only found this out because I went to take back my free tour tickets so someone else could have our spot on the free tour. The cruise services staff had the audacity to tell us that they only just heard this from the port authorities. No apology was provided and they were very dismissive staing that all they could do was waitlist us for a tour. FYI the other staff told us (and this is many of them) that it has always been the case that when the ship has docked in Algiers all staff and passengers have had to go on an organised tours. I also rang the embassy back in Aus they said organized ship tours have always been the case when coming into Algiers by ship. Oh yes, I am very much aware they were still happy to sell us visas. So who is lining whose pockets. In this case no-one was willing to take responsibility, not even an apology. I had to be like a dog with a bone to get them to at least offer a tour as a consolation. They also emailed the representative in Aus to say we had refused to pay for another tour which was an outright lie. This same issue has happened before. I did my research before taking this trip and saw similar posts to this with the same issue. Sarcastic comments from the cruise services staff (Andrew) when I apologised for being upset and stating my partner prefers to walk away, his comment was 'well he's obviously travelled more". Not called for, he has no idea what I have or haven't done. The tour they ended up giving us was wonderful but I am glad I didn't have to pay the outrageous price. We went to Tipasa and our guide obviously loved history. Read Less

Didn't learn much except step foot on Algerian land. Haven't been in such a controlled situation since visiting East Germany in 1983 with USA sports team. Would have been nice to have lunch and shop there but perhaps politics prohibited that at this time. Read Less

We did the included tour and booked another for the afternoon. Save you money and time. Not much to see here. The excursion was $150 and was not worth a penny of it. It was the Casbah tour with Bahia House. The Bahia house was good but the Casbah is not what they describe. There is no market. There are dirty streets and a lot of poor curious people. They have heightened security but still not sure if we were being protected or the citizens of Algiers. View from the ship will be enough. They really should cancel this port. Read Less

Algiers is not ready for tourists. Having a police escort is uncomfortable and the monument was OK. Guide made the most of telling about the progress of Algiers but it's still a third world country and I wouldn't go back if you paid me. Read Less

Although it was a very simple bus tour, seeing the city was quite an experience. My wife and I did not really know what to expect, and thus we were very pleasantly surprised with the architecture, history of the city, and culture. Read Less

This was a restricted and escourted tour. The tour guide was knowelegable and fun. The bus was not the most comfortable for anyone with knee or back issues. Read Less

This port was skipped because of weather, meaning we did not stop at either African port. Huge disappointment and pretty much ruined the entire point of the trip for us. Read Less

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. Read Less

City was dirty and had to return to ship early due to demonstrations. Viking held a party at the gangway to welcome us back! Read Less

Guide was excellent. Passangers remained on the bus for all but one stop to the Monument of Heroes celebrating Algerias' freedom from France and colonial rule. Unfortunately didn't get to visit the kasbah. Very uncomfortable on a bus for that length of time, plus traffic, etc. Read Less

Algiers was the second port that I wanted to see, but couldn’t as it was canceled at the last minute. Very, very disappointed. Read Less

I had been to Algiers in 1968. I was anxious to see it again. Our guide was wonderful. He knew the history and current events of his country and spoke perfect English. We had a police escort. I loved visiting the Casbah where we saw a restored home where some ladies served us tea and dates and showed the women in our group how to fold a head veil. Absolutely fascinating visit. Read Less

We did not enjoy this tour as much as some of the other we took, but we did see some interesting things. We spent too much time at the war memorial. Read Less

Impression of Algiers and the Casbah provided an exploration for the inquisitive traveler. Read Less

We were glad we were well protected and escorted from spot to spot. Very interesting. Read Less

Only once were we allowed off of the bus, and it was to see a communist civil war memorial which was a big block of concrete and patriotic statues, even the Algerians looked bored. Read Less