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Category: World Wonders Cruise

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Days 44,45 – New Caledonia, France

    Cruise days 44,45 – Feb 17,18 Our visit here in Noumea, New Caledonia was not on our original itinerary and became a first time stop for Viking.  The ship apparently re-routed here (two days of out-of-the-way sailing east from Brisbane) to allow Viking time to plan further revisions on the way to Bali, and the…

  • World Wonders Cruise Diary – Day 41 – Brisbane, and Major Itinerary Changes

    Cruise day 41, Feb 14 Another fairly rough night at sea due to big swells and big winds (it’s getting old) had us arriving at another big city, Brisbane (pronounced Brisbin).  The approach to the dock was long and slow, as it’s located several miles up the Brisbane River from where it meets the Coral…

  • 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…