Australia and New Zealand

[ClevelandKid]

Hi, Considering the Australia and New Zealand ride sometime in the future and have a question for anyone that has done it.  On the Australia part, we noticed a couple of evening excursions that lasted 5 hours.  What time does the ship leave port?  On both stops, Sydney and Melbourne, the next day is a sea day.  Also, while I believe the answer is yes, let me just ask - can you do multiple excursions on any given day?  Like Opera House during the day and the twilight cruise?  I don't see why they wouldn't except that they may want to make sure people who are only doing 1 excursion get first priority.

[Peregrina651]

 Yes, you can do multiple excursions in a day as long as they are at least 30(?) minutes apart --but only one included tour per port. The downside is that if your first tour is late to return for whatever reason, you second tour will not be refunded, nor is it likely to be held up for you.

 

One way around this is not to book the second tour but to show up on the pier and talk with the Shorex staff to see if there are any seats available for the tour you want. Even if they say no, ask if you can wait and see if there are any no-shows. They will bill your account right on the pier

 

Another is, if there are included tours running all day is to book an optional for the morning and sign up for the included tour in the afternoon.

 

As for what time does the ship leave port, it depends on the port and can vary from sailing to sailing due to the tides or weather.

 

 

[Frenchberet]

Yes, if time permits, you can book more than one excursion per day.  We did an optional and included on a Norway cruise and it worked out fine.  

We did this cruise March 2020, cut short when Australia closed its borders due to COVID.  Missed Tasmania and Australia 😕.  We arrived in Auckland a few days early and did an all-day tour to Hobbiton and the Waitomo glow worm caves, highly recommend!  

[Mich3554]

More than once we booked 2 excursions in one day.  When I booked them, I tried to make sure that we had enough time between the excursions.....more than 30 min.  If possible, I’d do the paid tour first and the free one when we returned.

[stretchcruz]

We did Auckland to Bali March 2019. We loved the cruise. It was HOT!!! A lot of things you can book on your own, or in Sydney take a ferry to what you want to see. But be prepared for the HEAT once you get to Australia. New Zealand was cool and we even wore down jackets at the beginning, but it got hotter as time went on. Mostly the humidity, that we are not used to since we live in AZ. I would drink 8 bottles of water on a tour. Frankly, I don't remember if we included and optional on the same day, but certainly doable. We did some independent tours in Lombok and Darwin and maybe somewhere else. You will have a great time. We absolutely loved it.

[MSEm]

FrenchBeret

We were also on the NZ/Australia cruise that got stopped  We are now booked on the Bali to Sydney with a Melbourne post cruise. We will have 1 night in Sydney before flying to Melbourne.

 

 

 

[MSEm]

We have taken more than 1 excursion on the same day. We usually allow at least 1 hour between the return of  a tour and the beginning of the 2nd tour. We have found that it is very easy to take a morning tour and then a late afternoon or evening tour.  One thing to check is the drive time between the location of a tours ending and the time back to the ship.

On hte Hong Kong to Bangkok cruise it was at least a 1 1/2 to 2 hr drive between the end of a tour in town and back to the ship.  Several people stayed in the city and meet the second tour at its first stop.

[OnTheJourney]

Have to say that this is one part of the world I have no interest in doing by cruise (well, maybe if I lived closer). I think a comprehensive land tour of both is the best way, especially since Australia is so large. Been on my bucket list for a long time - but thinking will probably do both with Collette tours - they offer an itinerary that is a few days short of 4 weeks. 

Edited January 18, 2021 by OnTheJourney

[Jim Avery]

34 minutes ago, OnTheJourney said:

Have to say that this is one part of the world I have no interest in doing by cruise (well, maybe if I lived closer). I think a comprehensive land tour of both is the best way, especially since Australia is so large. Been on my bucket list for a long time - but thinking will probably do both with Collette tours - they offer an itinerary that is a few days short of 4 weeks. 

Probably need to do both.  As you say, Oz is massive.  Our tour guides at the various east coast ports were unanimous in saying 95% of the population of Australia live within 50 miles of the coast.  Whole lot of miles and miles in the interior.....

[Frenchberet]

On 1/16/2021 at 12:52 PM, MSEm said:

FrenchBeret

We were also on the NZ/Australia cruise that got stopped  We are now booked on the Bali to Sydney with a Melbourne post cruise. We will have 1 night in Sydney before flying to Melbourne.

 

 

 

Hi MSEm!  Good to hear from you.  I enjoyed meeting you and hope you are both doing well.  It’s been quite a year.  Glad you will be able to spend some time in Australia.  We had a nice excursion planned to see the koalas and kangaroos in Melbourne, sorry we missed it 😕 Hope you enjoy your trip!
 

Our next cruise will be Russia & the Baltic Sea in June 2022.  

[MSEm]

We are very well , Thank you. we got the 1st vaccine shot on Jan 13. Tried to get appointment but appointments slots were full.  Names went on "waiting" list.  We got the call to be at the vaccination location within 30  minutes  2 people had appointments and were "No Shows". 2nd shot on Feb 10.

Booked for VO Bali to Sydney in Nov 2021. Also planning a post cruise stay in Sydney and then to Melbourne.

Know you will enjoy Russia and the Baltic Sea.

[zalusky]

I really wish Viking would include a Phillip Island stop like Oceania and Seabourn do.  I am looking at another down under cruise and that is one of the big thing making me look at the other guys.

 

Seeing the penguins at night requires a late departure and most lines don't stay in Melbourne long enough and its a real pain to get back and forth to Phillip in time.

[harbourside]

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

I really wish Viking would include a Phillip Island stop like Oceania and Seabourn do.  I am looking at another down under cruise and that is one of the big thing making me look at the other guys.

 

Seeing the penguins at night requires a late departure and most lines don't stay in Melbourne long enough and its a real pain to get back and forth to Phillip in time.

I wish they would include Milford and Doubtful Sounds in New Zealand , like most of the other cruise lines. 

[zalusky]

9 minutes ago, harbourside said:

I wish they would include Milford and Doubtful Sounds in New Zealand , like most of the other cruise lines. 

Agree.  We also did a Celebrity Solstice sailing in 2016.  We paid for the optional overnight excursion that dropped us off in Milford sound where we caught a bus and drove to Queenstown for an overnight.  The next day we drove to Dunedin.  There were side excursions to a sheep shearing and a bungy jump.

 

We really enjoyed it and considered it a must do.   

 

It would be nice to see a version of this and other things for the upscale lines.  

 

Oh well thats why we have to look around.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

I really wish Viking would include a Phillip Island stop like Oceania and Seabourn do.  I am looking at another down under cruise and that is one of the big thing making me look at the other guys.

 

Seeing the penguins at night requires a late departure and most lines don't stay in Melbourne long enough and its a real pain to get back and forth to Phillip in time.

 

The Orion may not stop at Phillip Island, but Viking is aware of the stop, as both 22 & 23 World Cruise are making an evening stop before Melbourne.

[zalusky]

1 hour ago, Heidi13 said:

 

The Orion may not stop at Phillip Island, but Viking is aware of the stop, as both 22 & 23 World Cruise are making an evening stop before Melbourne.

 

I saw that.  Here is hoping they might add it to future itineraries as well as vary the New Zealand Itinerary some more.  It might be nice to have a back to back where they add in more South Australia such as stops in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island followed by some more New Zealand stops.

[harbourside]

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

 

I saw that.  Here is hoping they might add it to future itineraries as well as vary the New Zealand Itinerary some more.  It might be nice to have a back to back where they add in more South Australia such as stops in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island followed by some more New Zealand stops.

Yes, it would be nice to vary the New Zealand itinerary, also the Australian one.  Auckland to Perth would be great.  Then Perth to Singapore.  This would be good to do the West Coast of Australia  .The Australian and New Zealand itinerary is pretty basic at the moment.    As a New Zealander I only want to cruise local at the moment  (Australia/New Zealand plus some of the South Pacific ).  My Southern Atlantic crossing was cancelled and I have doubts about rebooking it.  Age being the main factor. Long, long flights.  Viking does not have a lot to offer in my region at the moment, but I would prefer to travel with them. Only been on one Viking cruise, but longing to do another.l

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, zalusky said:

 

I saw that.  Here is hoping they might add it to future itineraries as well as vary the New Zealand Itinerary some more.  It might be nice to have a back to back where they add in more South Australia such as stops in Adelaide and Kangaroo Island followed by some more New Zealand stops.

 

Noting it was a new port, I read up briefly. Certainly looks interesting. Hopefully Viking will expand the calls to the local cruises.

[Clay Clayton]

On 1/18/2021 at 11:09 AM, Jim Avery said:

Probably need to do both.  As you say, Oz is massive.  Our tour guides at the various east coast ports were unanimous in saying 95% of the population of Australia live within 50 miles of the coast.  Whole lot of miles and miles in the interior.....

Your comment reminded me of how dumbfounded we were when we flew from Sydney to Uluru.  Three and half hour flight and after the first 45 minutes when we passed the Blue Mountains there was nothing until we landed.  Just endless red dirt. 

[Sunflower & The Scientist]

We were on the second cruise Viking did to NZ and Australia, so were part of a learning curve, missed some ports, and there was some disorganization, but we'd do it again in a flash.  We did two excursions without any difficulty.  Sometimes it took a bit of planning ahead, but wasn't difficult.  We did all excursions through Viking and the trick was getting them organized time wise when purchasing them online.  We made sure we had all our options listed prior to going online.  

 

There were people who had excursions paid for at ports we missed that were not Viking excursions.  They were having difficulty getting them cancelled and refunds since other ships were not missing the ports on the same days.  

 

Australia's weather changes from one day to another so you just have to be prepared.  The day before our arrival it was 115.  It was in the mid 80's but horribly windy our first day there.  (early January) 

 

You won't regret going!