Just returned from Viking Orion- Australia and New Zealand, plus a pre-cruise to Cairns.
Over all our trip was wonderful. We were so blessed with good weather and mostly calm seas. Our flights took us from KC to Dallas, to Sydney. Then to Cairns for our pre-cruise. I would recommend this pre-cruise because the northern part of Australia is beautiful with the Barrier Reef and rain forest. Our Sheraton resort was also quite luxurious and the town of Port Douglas is a great tourist area. Many artisan shops and reasonably priced restaurants.
Our flight back to Sydney was delayed, so we did not get on the ship until close to 7pm. Others, who did the pre-cruise, wanted to do the evening dinner excursion that first night, but missed it due to the flight delay. The next day, we did the Sydney city tour and had free time in the afternoon. Unfortunately, our bus guide for the city tour was terrible, so we were disappointed that we did not learn more history etc., in Sydney. I did comment on the excursion review that our guide was a spacey 30 something more interested in her dare devil sports, then informing us about the area. Oh well.
Adequit storage space and bathroom size. We chose to spend our money on excursions and extras, instead of upgrading our room, since we only slept in it. We were close to the laundry room.
lovely city with a beautiful botanical garden, worth seeing.
good overview of the town. We did not spend time shopping, we returned to watch the Super Bowl.
see review. Nice experience at Clearview Estates. Highly recommend this excursion.
Included tour took us the main tourist sites. Additional excursion went to the sky tower and aquarium, well worth seeing. Nice of Viking to add the hotel room, see review.