Jet2727

I have booked a Viking Christmas cruise for 2024 - Sydney to Auckland, we will see family in Sydney, Auckland and along the way. Am looking forward to having a no drama Christmas on the ship - I hope the celebrations are low key. 

I found the service excellent, I listed cold wash, delicate etc in instructions. Still finding room number stickers stuck to labels on my clothes 3 months later! 

We are booked on this cruise leaving Sydney 23/12/24, planning to visit family and friends and enjoy the ship and our cabin and have a family and stress free Christmas. Hope to meet some fellow CC members on board.  We did an expedition cruise earlier this year and made some lovely friends from Sacramento.  

Originally from Sydney, first 35 years, last 15 in Melbourne. Love the aesthetic beauty of Sydney but it is a horror to move around, I travel there for work and to visit my family a couple of times a month. I love Melbourne, it’s theatre, food and vibe, I dislike the weather and I winter grey in particular. Have booked Viking cruise syd -Auck next Christmas, I will not be getting off at a number of stops, including Melb, I live in port Melbourne, good way to avoid the family issues re Christmas, visit them in syd and Auck! 

No children, just cats, so spending their inheritance! 

Will do and that’s expedition cruise! 

It’s on the Octantis, it’s Niagara and the great lakes as an exhibition cruise.

Hello, we leave on 1 September on the Great Lakes 8 day cruise and have booked the owners suite for our 10th wedding anniversary- many thanks for the discussion and tips. We are very excited and also think we will struggle to leave the room! 
 

Hoping to meet some friends to share the wine and space with!  
 

We found in our American Queen cruise last December it as easy to get an assigned table for 2 at the late dining sitting.

Hi I am Australian and did an American Queen cruise last December, Memphis to New Orleans. I loved the cruise, had a great time, you will see a few posts from me on the AQSC board.

Re Weather, Memphis was cool, probably 12-15 degrees. As we went down the river it got warm, into the 20s and we were in shorts most days and we did not have rain, we had very good weather. This was the first week in December and we also got a very good sale deal. Let me know if you have any other questions.

My recollection is the folder of information for the ship said there was no laundry service available- save for the self service!

My recollection from december 2015 is there is no off boat service offered New Orleans to Memphis. We used the free onboard machines. In fact we met all Australians and New Zealanders in the cruise in the laundry room!

I did this cruise with my husband in December last year we were 45 and 50. We were almost the youngest. There were a family with small children and another Australian couple who were on their honeymoon who were in their 30s. The cruise is what you make it. I loved being able to watch the world go by reading my book on deck. The towns were interesting and we usually walked into them rather than raking the bus or vice versa. The food was very good and we were on an elvis cruise and I enjoyed the entertainment very much. My husband is a techno geek. The wifi was not great and non. Exultant in our room and he struggled with this. We did the late dinner sitting. Watching people rush and line up and on the first night push to get into the dining room was not for us. Let me know if you have any questions.

We sailed on the American Queen in December 2015. We requested a table for 2 at the late sitting. It is much easier to get a table for 2 at this sitting and once it is allocated it is yours. I agree with the previous comments, we let the staff know our preference early on and they tried very hard to honour it. We had one lunch where we joined a larger group as seating at lunch and breakfast is not pre allocated, otherwise we sat on our own at all meals. Enjoy your trip.

Hi

We are an Australian/New Zealand couple booked on the 5 dec elvis American queen cruise. We are in cabin 521. We are 50 and 45. My husband is in the military. Any comments on the cabin or the premium shore excursions would be appreciated. We are both history buffs and love food and wine so please recommend shore excursions.

Any advice on tipping is also appreciated given we want to do what's right but it is not generally approached in the same way in Aust/NZ.

Thanks in advance ☺️