Zhao Shang Yi Dun (Viking Sun) Review

5.0 / 5.0
402 reviews

Best Time of Year to visit South America

Review for South America Cruise on Zhao Shang Yi Dun (Viking Sun)
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scss98
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Nov 2019

Service is outstanding as always. Manfredi's the onboard Italian restaurant is excellent. Chef Table is a bit disappointing at times. World Cafe is consistently very good. The Restaurant is also very good. The wines are not as good as the selections for the River Cruises in Europe, which is a bit surprising given both Argentina and Chile produce excellent wines at a very reasonable cost. The beers are very good in contrast. I have to give a shout out to the bar staff for hosting many wonderful tastings including Single Malts, Bourbons, Gin, Vodka Armagnac and Cognac. There was even a Martini tasing which unfortunately I missed. I wish they would expand to include tequila next time. I learned a lot! The Spa and the gym are among the best I have been. The enrichment lectures were quite informative, Most of the shows were outstanding and a couple were not quite our taste. We had to skip two ports because of weather concerns which is a pity. However, we were rewarded with perhaps the best weather ever for Falklands, Cape Horn and Ushuaia. Extending Ushuaia by one day does not make up losing one day in Falklands and Puerto Madryn. We also lost one day at Puerto Montt because the swells were too rough for the tenders. We noticed another cruise ship able to discharge its passengers because it's anchored closer to shore. Our ship had to give up out initial spot to the other cruise ship and move out further despite getting to port before them. It seems they had a higher pecking order than us. It also seems we spend extra days at sea going no where quick. While cruising the fjord and viewing the glaciers is fascinating, I think we could have easily cut out three sea days. Given the unpredictable weather in this part of the world, I was hoping for a little better contingency planning where we could visit a backup location. I do understand how much work is required to visit a port and arrange for excursions but it would be better than just adding more sea days. The Shore Excursions did have a few rough spots and is local guide dependent. When we compared notes with other passengers, the experience can be quite varied. Some guides spoke much better English and were informative, others not so much and some even skipped stops. While you can't complain too much with the included panoramic tours, one might expect the optional tours to have gone through better due diligence and guide selection. There is some room for improvement here compared to other Viking River Cruises. The Volunteer Point optional tour in Falklands got sold out very quickly and we had to find a local tour ourselves. The Captain did not inform us of his plans to skip Puerto Madryn and proceed directly to Falklands two days earlier than schedule until very late. Our local tour guide actually informed us two days before so we were lucky to be able to plan ahead and make adjustments. Overall we enjoyed the trip very much despite some of issues which were not easy to plan around.

Cabin Review

comfortable and clean. I did ask them to change my mattress as it was sagging a bit and I have a sensitive back. The replacement was quick and perfect. The attendants were superb in attitude and responsiveness, better than even five star hotels. We feel obliged to give them extra tips in addition to the standard daily tip allowance the cruise ship charged us. Being able to sit on the balcony and enjoy the fresh air and scenery is quite wonderful.

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