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Category: Where we have been

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 37-39 – Sydney, Australia

    Cruise days 37-39, Feb 10-12 We finally arrived at Sydney around noon on the 10th, and the silver lining of missing Melbourne was an extra half-day here.  The city – especially the harbor – is amazing, more than pictures can convey.  With a population approaching 5 million, I don’t even want to mention what traffic…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 35-36 – Pigging Out at Sea

    Since our departure from Hobart, Tasmania, the weather had wreaked havoc on us during the days at sea.  In fact, it was so bad that our stop at Melbourne had to be canceled due to huge storms in the area.  We were upset because we’d planned to meet up with our friends Stan and Gigi…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 34 – Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

    Cruise day 34 – Feb 7 After leaving Dunedin’s harbor we sailed around the southern tip of New Zealand and cruised through Doubtful Sound.  After looking at the jaw-dropping landscapes there we continued on to Dusky Sound.  These weren’t stops for the ship, but rather a day of sailing through some of the most gorgeous…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 30 – Dunedin, NZ

    Cruise day 30 – Feb 3 Today we docked at Dunedin, completing our last port stop in New Zealand and the first month of our cruise.  During the first week as we crossed the Pacific Ocean it seemed like four months at sea would be forever, but now that we have a fourth of it…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 29 – Akaroa, New Zealand

    Cruise day 29 – Feb 2 We pulled into the bay of this mountainous seaside city around 7:30am and set anchor.  This is the New Zealand we remembered from our honeymoon cruise in 2006 – gorgeous mountains surrounding small towns spread around a massive crater that created the terrain millions of years ago.  Last time…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 28 – Wellington, New Zealand

    Cruise day 28 – Feb 1 After leaving Rotorua, our next scheduled stop was at Napier the following afternoon.  The winds were strong on the way there, so strong that we had trouble doing our laps around the deck without getting blown over: As we approached Napier’s port the wind got even stronger, and I…

  • Behind the scenes on the Viking Sun – ship’s tours

    In addition to all of the included and optional shore excursions we’ve taken during the past few weeks, we recently stumbled onto some other tours of operating areas within the ship.  These weren’t published anywhere, and we only found out through word of mouth from another passenger.  So, if you take a cruise you may…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 26 – Rotorua, New Zealand

    Cruise day 26 – Jan 30 Visit Rotorua (Port of Tauranga), New Zealand – Another brief stop at a beautiful place that we wished we had a lot more time to explore.  As all cruisers know, although cruising has many upsides for travelers, one downside is that the stops are too short – usually one…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Days 24,25 – Auckland, New Zealand

    Cruise days 24,25 – Jan 28,29 This is our first cruise stop in a big city (Auckland has a population of almost two million), and we spent two days here while the ship was re-stocked with supplies and personnel.  It gave us a chance to get updated about life and culture around the port and…