Live from the Viking Sky (Ft Lauderdale to London) December 20, 2023 - May 6, 2024

[WhereInTheWorldIsKarla]

World Cruise, Port: Geelong (Melbourne), Australia
Twelve Apostles, Koalas, and Cockatoos
We went on “The Great Ocean Road and the Twelve Apostles” Viking excursion from Geelong (Melbourne), Australia today.  Highlight for me was seeing 3 Koalas in the wild. Luckily our bus driver was able to pull over. Enjoy.  Feel free to save/share

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mariners]

Fabulous photos, and loving following along.  I am finding it a bit difficult to figure out who is on each ship for the World Cruise as it appears to be one big World Cruise party albeit with a few differences in itinerary and dining.  Thanks so much for taking the time to post.

[HUNKY]

Karla - was the Twelve Apostles excursion included or paid?

 

Seems Clay & Mikes was a bust.

[WhereInTheWorldIsKarla]

2 hours ago, HUNKY said:

Karla - was the Twelve Apostles excursion included or paid?

 

Seems Clay & Mikes was a bust.

It was a paid excursion, listed at 10 hours (we went over about 30 minutes) and covering 150 miles to drive The Great Ocean Road. It cost $229.  We received a box lunch with numerous sandwiches/wraps, fruit cup, and dessert while in Apollo Bay. Some people opted to eat in one of the numerous restaurants instead.  We had about 7 stops (including the Twelve, lunch and 2 comfort stops).

[cnd crsr]

Karla, your photos are spectacular! Thanks for sharing.

[kcpvwill]

Has there been an announcement about re-routing round Africa or not?  

[UWDawg]

1 hour ago, kcpvwill said:

Has there been an announcement about re-routing round Africa or not?  

No

[SJD117]

2 hours ago, kcpvwill said:

Has there been an announcement about re-routing round Africa or not?  

What’s the rush? That part of the cruise is two months away!   😁

[Heidi13]

2 hours ago, SJD117 said:

What’s the rush? That part of the cruise is two months away!   😁

 

If the itinerary is changing, my preference is to know ASAP, so I can start planning and conducting a risk analysis on the new ports, to determine my preference for private tours, or being stuck with shore-ex.

 

On both our World Cruises, even with 25 hr days, it didn't leave much extra time for research and planning, so starting those tasks now will provide more days for researching. Hopefully, missing less current activities and providing a greater knowledge of the new ports, increasing the probability of enjoying those ports.

[kcpvwill]

On 2/12/2024 at 12:28 AM, Hanoj said:

 

Announcement: due to the overwhelming popularity of bridge and galley tours, enhancing the authentic cruise experience, and the inordinate difficulties of rerouting around the southern tip of Africa (made more challenging since competing lines did so sooner), Viking is pleased to offer a new onboard experience called “Damn the Torpedoes - Full Speed Ahead,” honoring the American Navy’s first full admiral David Farragut. This will provide guests who wish to remain onboard the Sky and Neptune world cruises an opportunity to make history instead of passively learning about it as “we stay the course undeterred through the Red Sea and Suez Canal.” Viking Resident Historians will be provide expert commentary, including salient readings of Moses’ exodus from Egypt and accounts of the Battle of Mobile Bay. Copious amounts of popcorn, canapés, and libations will be complimentary. 

 

#realworldcruise  

Assuming this is not a Viking announcement then, but a joke.  

[Hanoj]

3 hours ago, kcpvwill said:

Assuming this is not a Viking announcement then, but a joke.  

 

I certainly hope it's but a joke. If not, and I've become clairvoyant, I will need to use greater care.😏

 

[UWDawg]

Just announced... We won't be able to port in Eden... winds are too high.  We were approaching, but then I noticed we turned around.  10 minutes later the announcement was made by the captain.  So we will now have a sea day and head towards Sydney.

 

Happy Valentine's Day ❤️

[Clay Clayton]

9 hours ago, SJD117 said:

What’s the rush? That part of the cruise is two months away!   😁

Some of us have private overnight excursions planned for which final payment is due next week.  If we aren’t making it to Mumbai I would like to know now rather than have to deal with insurance company/credit card to get my money back. 

[Clay Clayton]

A reminder that anyone is welcome to join our pub crawl tomorrow (Friday 16 February) at 

Fortune of War

137 George Street

The Rocks

 

We will gather between 1 and 1:30 pm and  plan on leaving there no earlier than 1:45 pm to crawl elsewhere. We will plan on taking the next to last shuttle back to White Bay, so hopefully we will be able to enjoy three or maybe four pubs. 
 

Any questions, feel free to reach out to me - Stateroom. 5054 or via email BigNCBear@aol.com

[millybess]

That would be lovely!  I wish we could get there in time to join you.

 

Beautiful photo BTW.

 

Enjoy!  

[Jim Avery]

Have fun Clay.  Us Neptuners will just have to do one by ourselves...🍺

[Clay Clayton]

If anyone was climbing the bridge at 2:03, you’re welcome😂

[Clay Clayton]

Had a great day today independently in Sydney.  We took the ferry shuttle to Kings Wharf and then walked over to Circular Key to catch the Ferry out to Watsons Bay. 
 

Once we arrived we walked a portion of the Cliffs Trail-this follows the cliffs we saw as we left Sydney the other day and eventually gets to Bondi Beach.  We didn’t go that far-once the trail started downhill we turned around and headed back into Watson’s Bay. 
 

We had lunch at Doyle’s on the Wharf, the less expensive outpost of the well known seafood place on the beach here. We shared a salad with lobster and prawns and Fish & Chips. Very tasty. 
 

We rode the ferry back to Circular Quay and then wandered over to the Opera House.  We had hoped to visit the Botanical Garden again (doesn’t look like much has changed in the 30 years since we were here) but by then my knee was starting to ache (which made sense when I checked and we had walked 4.5 miles) so we decided to head back to the Ferry and ride (rather than walk back) back to Viking’s ferry shuttle stop. 
 

Had a great dinner tonight at Chef’s Table -really enjoyed the Mexican Menu and the company! After which we stopped by to say goodbye to our favorite server Christian who is leaving us tomorrow😢

 

We lucked out and it never really rained today-it’s forecasted that won’t be the case tomorrow so not sure how much of our planned day will actually happen🤞

 

so again, tried three times unsuccessfully to upload pictutes….

[DJVKN]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:17 AM, Clay Clayton said:

Our views as we entered Sydney Harbour this morning about 2:35am.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@Clay Clayton what time did you dock at the pier that you had to get up at 2:35 am? 
Great pictures!

[Clay Clayton]

18 minutes ago, DJVKN said:

@Clay Clayton what time did you dock at the pier that you had to get up at 2:35 am? 
Great pictures!

I didn’t have to get up because we were docking, I HAD to get up cuz my body was calling for the toilet….and we had been told the pilot was boarding about 2am so I looked out …et voila!

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Had a great day today independently in Sydney.  We took the ferry shuttle to Kings Wharf and then walked over to Circular Key to catch the Ferry out to Watsons Bay. 
 

Once we arrived we walked a portion of the Cliffs Trail-this follows the cliffs we saw as we left Sydney the other day and eventually gets to Bondi Beach.  We didn’t go that far-once the trail started downhill we turned around and headed back into Watson’s Bay. 
 

We had lunch at Doyle’s on the Wharf, the less expensive outpost of the well known seafood place on the beach here. We shared a salad with lobster and prawns and Fish & Chips. Very tasty. 
 

We rode the ferry back to Circular Quay and then wandered over to the Opera House.  We had hoped to visit the Botanical Garden again (doesn’t look like much has changed in the 30 years since we were here) but by then my knee was starting to ache (which made sense when I checked and we had walked 4.5 miles) so we decided to head back to the Ferry and ride (rather than walk back) back to Viking’s ferry shuttle stop. 
 

Had a great dinner tonight at Chef’s Table -really enjoyed the Mexican Menu and the company! After which we stopped by to say goodbye to our favorite server Christian who is leaving us tomorrow😢

 

We lucked out and it never really rained today-it’s forecasted that won’t be the case tomorrow so not sure how much of our planned day will actually happen🤞

 

so again, tried three times unsuccessfully to upload pictutes….

Pics-gosh I love a pub with wifi!

 

 

 

[Clay Clayton]

We revisited several sites from our first visit to Sydney today.  We took the included ferry and then walked (death-marched?) to Oxford Street via the Queen Victoria Building, this is an old beautiful shopping arcade.  Oxford Street is the locale of the Sydney LGBT MardiGras parade. The festival opened today but the parade isn’t until next week (#NeptuneGetsEverything). After walking a few blocks and reminiscing, (there is the parking garage we watched the parade from, there is the bar where we drank and danced too much, etc) we grabbed a bus back to Circular Quay and walked into the Rocks (the original site of Sydney) and into The Fortune of War, the oldest pub where we had invited others to join us for an informal pub crawl.  

more on that later. 

[Wavetripper]

On 2/14/2024 at 1:24 PM, Jim Avery said:

Have fun Clay.  Us Neptuners will just have to do one by ourselves...🍺

Jim are you up for a FOW visit day one?

[Jim Avery]

3 minutes ago, Wavetripper said:

Jim are you up for a FOW visit day one?

Yessir! A short walk from the Circular Quay dock.  Fish & chips for lunch....

[Jim Avery]

150 Lashes is a fave ale..🍺