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.

We took the free bus into the old town. Valencia is easy to do on your own.