A Cruise Down Under

Viking Mars Cruise Review

ddme

Contributor Level: Second Mate

30 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 4

Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5

14 Night Australia & New Zealand (Sydney To Auckland)

Sail date: December 27, 2022

Ship: Viking Mars

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

This was a great cruise! The one issue my wife and I had was our 2 checked bags never made it to our ship and this was a 15 day cruise. The ship tried to get our bags transferred to our ship during the entire time. I knew where the bags were but to no avail. The ship did offer to do our laundry everyday which we appreciated. They also gave us a small onboard credit to buy any incidentals which we did. The ship also contacted me everyday for status updates. We just went with the flow and didn't allow this to affect our trip. We finally got our bags back 10 days after we reurrned home.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Our bus from the airport, was one of the first to get to the dock, hence embarkation was a breeze!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Food overall was great. We ate at all of the venues over the 15 day cruise. Staff was very accommodating as we had a party of 8. Did Manfredi's twice and The Chef's Table twice. I tried different dishes on this cruise and there was only a couple that I didn't care for.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

This was our third Viking Ocean cruise and this was the first time I used the spa area. It was wonderful. Plan on using this included area on next ocean.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

I thought entertainment was good. We went to just about every show. Pretty full every night. Enjoyed the classical pianist especially in the Explorer Lounge at night.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Brand new ship and the crew was always keeping things shipshape! The only odd thing was that the decks were sometimes not accessible due to constant cleaning and painting.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Heru was our steward and was wonderful. He put ice in our bucket twice a day. He kept our room spotless and he made sure our laundry was ready to go at 9am everyday. Will explain later.

Ship tip

Enjoy being spoiled and be flexible!

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Auckland, New Zealand

5 out of 5

If the weather cooperates, the America Cup sailing yachts are a must. It is demanding as you maybe asked to do some manual labor. No real seating on the boat as such and boat is heeled over while sails are out but what a blast this was. Enjoyable couple of hours. About $250 each but it was worth it.

Thumbs Up 1

Wellington, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Wellington was dropped but Picton was added. We went to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Center. This was a WW1 Aviation Museum. It had many life size dioramas of New Zealands involvement with WW1 aerial battles in France.

Thumbs Up 1

Sydney, Australia

5 out of 5

We were originally docked in the industrial area and were able to move to Sydney International Dock the first night. Right across from the Sydney Opera House. WOW! Woke up to that view!

Thumbs Up 0

Melbourne, Australia

4 out of 5

We actually spent overnight here as Tasmania was cancelled. We didn't leave until the following night (New Year's Eve) at 1030 pm. Great New Year Eve party on board.

Thumbs Up 1

Christchurch, New Zealand

5 out of 5

We did Punting on the Avon excursion. Booked this last minute and loved this tour. Perfect sunny day on the river and the adjacent Botanical Gardens! WOW

Thumbs Up 1

Napier, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Rotorua, New Zealand

4 out of 5

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

Traveler Photos

From the Industrial Pier on the Embarkation morning!

9 Comments

bobtuba 1 year ago

@ddme: Wow, sorry about your difficulties, but good on you, it seems you made the best out of a series of bad breaks. For what it’s worth, during my life probably over half of my “bad breaks” involving air travel worldwide occurred at SLC. 😳

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ddme 1 year ago

For Bobtuba We had a 3 stop flight from COS to SYD. We checked in at COS and bags were checked all the way to SYD. On flight to SLC and when we landed, Delta had cancelled our next flight to LAX/SYD. Being Christmas afternoon, they had no other flight available until 2 days later. I was able to find another airline that had a flight going to SFO and then SYD. I was told Delta couldn't tranfer my bags. They told me to go down to baggage claim to see if I could get my bags and then take them to United. So, I went out of security and went to baggage claim. They were slammed as many flights were cancelled. After a hour, I finally talked to a claim worker and then his supervisor. They were overwhelmed and told me that it would take 3 to 4 hours to get my bags and told me (wrongly) that my bags would automatically get to Sydney on next flight the next day. I wasn't the only ones that they told that to. Needless to say, that wasn't true. I was able to track my bags on Delta website and my bags finally ended up in DFW for about a week. Finally, my ship got Delta to fly them to Auckland and then Air NewZealand was going to fly them to Christchurch which never happened. After we got home Air New Zealand call me and arranged for my bags to be flown back to COS.

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bobtuba 1 year ago

So where did the luggage skip the track? Airline issue? Between airport and ship? Or were you using a door-to-ship luggage service?

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Great itinerary. Appreciate your feedback and positive attitude. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

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dixietino 1 year ago

Great attitude, so admirable

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us

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yk07us 1 year ago

I applaud your wonderful attitude and ability to enjoy life. So many people hate everything and give one star to all parts of the cruise just because a port has been skipped or changed.

Thumbs Up 4

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mholl 1 year ago

So cool! Glad you still had such a nice time without luggage, that’s good to hear!

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javawoody 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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