Cruise:
Australia & New Zealand, Viking Mars, Feb 21-March 8, Sydney to Auckland
Background:
My husband and I are in our forties, so we understand we’re younger than the typical Viking guest. We have done two Holland America cruises in the past (although in 2010 and 2015, so several years ago) and enjoyed them. We did a Viking River cruise in 2019 and loved it, which was our primary motivator for booking with Viking Ocean. We’re avid readers and generally quiet people, so the appeal of 1) no children, 2) no formal nights, and 3) included excursions were key to us. The included excursions were probably the biggest draw as we loved our included walking tours on the river cruise.
We’re not big drinkers or wine snobs, so we did not see the need to purchase the beverage package. We are content with a glass of house wine at dinner.
We also wanted a smaller ship experience. My understanding is HAL ships have only gotten bigger since our first cruise in 2010 (which was about 800-900 pax).
We booked this cruise in 2020, during the height of the pandemic, because it was such a good deal. The cruise itself was “on sale,” there was some sort of no-risk guarantee, and free airfare. All of this means it we did not pay the price currently listed on Viking’s website, although it was still our most expensive vacation ever.
Our review:
State Room: Great. We booked a DV on deck 4 and were very pleased with it. Comfortable with plenty of storage. We requested firmer pillows and those were quickly supplied. We especially appreciated the free laundry room, as that enabled us to pack even lighter than we typically do. (I took the CC suggestion of doing laundry at dinner time one evening, and that was excellent advice - no waiting!)
Service: Generally excellent. I was a little queasy on our first sea day, so I immediately requested ginger ale at breakfast in the restaurant by and was also brought green apples by the maitre d’ (before the server even arrived) without asking. Twice when we returned to the restaurant after, the same maitre d’ asked how I was feeling. One evening, I left my sweater in the restaurant and it was returned to my room before I even realized it was missing. The only slight downfall may have been our fault as we were confused by the servers in the World Cafe. Are we supposed to self-serve our drinks or not? We seemed to get either no attention at all or were swarmed by multiple servers who wouldn’t even let me get my own latte from the machine.
Food: Good and plentiful but not outstanding. We mostly ate in the World Cafe as my husband, especially, did not want to go through the hassle of changing for dinner (this is contentious, but I wish that casual dress was allowed in the restaurant at dinner like it was on the river cruise; I never saw a “casual” day outfit that would have appalled me in the restaurant). Having said that, I did think the food was better in the restaurant. The best items always seemed to be the seafood and gelato. There was 3-4 special “taste of” lunches and I thought those were high points, as well. Room service breakfast was so-so, but we ordered dinner one night and it was better. We ate at Manfredi’s once and felt it, too, was good but not outstanding. We had no trouble getting reservations on the app while on the ship for the day and time we wanted; I did not book ahead. Afternoon tea was fun, but, again, not outstanding. The house wine was fine, as expected.
Public spaces: Outstanding. This was a highlight for us. As I mentioned, we’re avid readers so we want a light, airy, quiet place preferably with a sea view to read in peace and there was plenty to choose from. We had to make an effort to try them all! My memories of HAL were of darker interiors with few public spaces. We also read outside on deck whenever the weather permitted.
Entertainment: We’re not big on musical reviews nor are we night owls (and were also too young for the target decades), so the only show we went to was the Maori culture show. It was excellent! We also did one of the movies on the pool deck, and that was fun, too.
Enrichment: Good. We enjoyed the lectures from the historian, the wildlife expert, and the art expert. There were so many that we couldn’t even watch them all (we watched them later in our stateroom, not live). I did a craft class and my husband did the Bayeux tapestry tour, which we both enjoyed. My husband went up to do stargazing one night, but he was very disappointed there was no guide/speaker nor any telescopes, etc. He came back after about five minutes.
Port talks: Poor. On HAL, the talks were very specific: “The shuttle bus will be located here (map on screen), you can take the local bus #whatever to see ABC or you can walk to XYZ within ten minutes (map on screen). The closest ATM is here, free wi-fi in the cruise terminal, the closest public restroom is here, taxis are here, here’s how much or if you should tip someone, etc.” None of this was in the port talk on Viking. On this cruise, even Guest Services refused to give me the location of the shuttle bus stop the night before a port “because it might change.” Unlikely, as all the shuttle bus stops were the same locations listed by one of the excellent World Cruise blogs I’m reading (I got more information from that blog than from Viking). And, if it does change, please just announce such.
Optional Excursions: Great. We booked 3 with Viking, and they were all great. Not outstanding, but we enjoyed them and felt they were well organized and fair in price. We would do them again.
Included Excursions: Poor. The first one in Sydney was downright awful. It was a weaving drive through mostly residential sections of the city with the driver telling us what that particular cluster of pharmacies/Asian take-outs/coffee shops was called and how much the homes in the area cost. There was one stop at a view of the Opera House and Harbor Bridge, but it wasn’t even the best view IMO (we had gone on our own to better view the first morning). Then we stopped for an hour at Bondi Beach in the middle of a rainstorm with high winds. No one was out swimming or surfing, and there was very little else to do in the area. I know Viking cannot control the weather, but there should be a Plan B in place. Everyone from the bus returned by the 30-minute mark except one couple who were trying to find the street of shops the guide claimed was there; they could only find one shop, they said, that only sold tee shirts. They were disappointed and soaking wet. The next excursions we did, in Melbourne and Dunedin, were better but still not good. I know they were all listed as panoramic, but I didn’t think the stops on each tour were the best representation of the cities. There were also fewer stops than I imagined: two in Melbourne and one in Dunedin. The included excursions were so poor that we canceled all our other included tours and just got out and did our own thing.
(We also booked one private excursion through Zealandier and that was excellent.)
App: Good but not being utilized enough. The app always worked well and I loved the idea, but I was disappointed that some things couldn’t be done on it. My biggest peeve was that dining times were not listed. If you can change the menu daily, why not the times? Why could I book a restaurant reservation but not a craft class reservation? Why could I book a shore excursion but not cancel one? One could only do these things by going down to the desk on Deck 1, which was always crowded. If Viking wants to attract younger guests, they need to update their technology.
Transfers: The tale of two transfers! As we had free Viking Air, we got free airport transfers. Arrival in Sydney was outstanding. Prompt, well-organized, housed in a large beautiful hotel space with a full brunch buffet and barista for hours. When we arrived, there were plenty of people to check you off a list and give you a sticker that clearly indicated your bus number and time for transfer to the ship. Carry-on luggage was carefully stacked securely behind the desk, they walked around to confirm we had down our RAT test and would assist if one needed it, etc. However, the departure in Auckland was a complete shambles. The hotel space was not large enough to hold everyone (literally people standing or sitting on the floor everywhere including the hallway), there was only coffee and water even through lunch time, there was initially only one person at a table with an extremely long line to check in for your bus departure time (this was ridiculous and should have included in your documents the night before), and there was no system in place to make sure everyone got on the correct bus. This ended up being an issue because the buses failed (we heard drivers were sick, we heard one broke down, we heard they were stuck in traffic, etc - not sure of the true story), and our group ended up waiting over an hour and a half standing on a busy sidewalk in downtown Auckland to finally be put in transport vans. You couldn’t hear the Viking rep out there, they had no way to monitor if those with earlier flight times were leaving first so made little effort to do so, etc. When our group finally got to the airport, we were dropped off and told a Viking rep would be inside the doors to direct us to our checked luggage. No representative at all and no luggage! Our group walked around for about 20 minutes until I finally called the Viking emergency travel number. Murphy’s law, while I was on the phone, a Viking rep came running up to us telling us we’d been dropped off at the wrong door and the van was being called back to take us to our luggage. Back on the van we went. Finally, we got our luggage and were directed to the correct door. This experience was so poor (including other issues I didn’t list here) that I plan on writing to Viking about it.
Bottom line:
Was it worth the cost? I’m not sure. The shipboard experience probably was, and, as we had several sea days, we spent a lot of time enjoying the ship. However, as our primary draw was the included excursions, I would say they weren’t; they added no value to our cruise and instead felt like a waste of time to varying degrees. Since I’ve returned, I’ve looked up another Viking Ocean cruise we were considering and most of those included excursions are listed as walking tours. Perhaps that would make all the difference, but I’m understandably a little wary now. On the other hand, the Viking shuttle bus service was good and included, as were the bottles of water; we were (over)charged for both on HAL. Can we justify spending twice as much, though, to save some money on shuttle buses? Especially if we’ll have to pay for optional excursions anyway in places where we don’t speak the language or don’t feel comfortable walking on our own? And how will we feel about walking on our own with no information provided before the day of, especially if we don’t speak the language? We wouldn’t be able to study maps to determine the best routes/public transport options from the shuttle bus stops, for example, so it would difficult to plan our day. We were fortunate in New Zealand that we felt 100% safe and comfortable flying by the seat of our pants because as there was no language barrier.
I would like to add I read this board religiously before our cruise for information and I found everything to be helpful and kind. Thank you so much!
Edited by amtatom
