Six (6) Sea Days!!!!!!

 We now have left dry land and have six days of nothing but water and sky! Our next stop will be Vaitape, Bora Bora. It is over 2,000 miles away! Many people do not like sea days but Carol and my other friends and I enjoy them. I am grouping them together because they have many things in common. I will let you know that each, though, have things to set them apart from the others.

Carol and I keep saying we will sleep late but somehow we never do. The ship is very quiet and although we generally turn out the lights about 11 we are usually up between six and seven. It doesn't take long to get ready for the day because we will never be far from our cabin on our Viking Neptune ship. We are on Deck Six, one floor below the Buffet, the Pool Grill, The WinterGarden for Afternoon Tea and Mamsens for morning waffles and light lunches and delicious desserts, and the main pool and the Infinity Pool. Lots goes on on Deck 7.

A short elevator ride down to Deck 2 for the Star Theater for the main shows, Port Talks, Lectures, Trivia, and movies at the forward ship and the restaurant at the aft. In the middle are puzzles and games, electronic game tables and board games. Also a nice niche for the guy who will sell you your next cruise!On Deck 1 Is Manfredi's Italian Restaurant and The Chef's Table for a tasting menu with wine pairing.

Most days we have breakfast at the World Cafe, Deck 7 Aft. Lots of choices. Carol likes salmon in the morning, think Lox. Sometime she has Eggs Benedict. I sometimes have an omelette, but always have a doughnut or filled croissant. Sometimes we go down to Deck One for the Almond Croissant served only in the Living Room or to the Restaurant for a sit down well served breakfast. 

At 9:00 or 9:30 a.m we will go to the Star Theater for a great lecture by one of the speakers traveling with us. Dr. Fuller is the Resident Historian. One day his topic was The Art of  Polynesia, another was The History of Navigation. Topics like that are his forte. 

Dr. Misulis from Vanderbuilt University today spoke on The Birth of the Earth while three days ago his choice was the entire History of Polynesia including its formation.

Lori Bremner is a Naturalist who gives us the overall history and description of every island. She loves nature and explains how all the volcanic plates shift and create islands. She always seems delighted by every aspect of the island. the flora, the fauna, and the coral seas.

Capt. Lou Thieblemont is a retired American Airlines pilot, the Resident Astronomer and seems very knowledgeable about many topics. Sometimes he brings a sophisticated type 'flight sim' program to the Star Theater screen while he starts the engine and flies from one island to the other! He leads star gazing from the top deck and this morning explained how time works and why calendars changed over the centuries. He is always entertaining as is Dr Fuller.

There are four other speakers as well. We have three or four lectures a day! 

There is also a port talk on sea days. Phil, the Cruise Director, is giving them all on sea days because the port days are consecutive. These are different from Lori's talks, these are more practical, however, unlike on many cruise lines, you are not told where to go to Diamonds International and what to buy where. We have been told that Black Pearls are harvested in these islands from the rare Black Lip Oyster. Tahiti raises Vanilla Orchids. Max, the excursion director explains the requirements of the tours to be sure you are able to do them. I actually canceled one because I think now that I know more about deep water snorkeling I may not be fit enough to enjoy the day. And Max always begins and ends and manages to include one or two other corny jokes!

At 12:15 every sea day Carol and I join Fred, a doctor from Colorado, Emily and Douglas a couple from Canada for Team Trivia. It is not Progressive, so scores are not totaled, and the winners get a Viking Mimosa as a prize. Well, our team is still thirsty. We often have a winning score but had changed a couple of our answers for some crazy reasons! Courtney, who was one of the singers when we were on this ship in Canada in September, is now the Assistant Cruise Director! We knew she was being promoted and knew she would be very good at her job. So enthusiastic.

Often there is a matinee movie or in the evening in place of the other entertainment. We have seen South Pacific, Hawaii, The King and I, Ghostlight and Couples Retreat. Carl Wishneusky is an amazing pianist who has entertained us on two evenings. One was even classical music! Joshua Jordan is an illusionist that I will look to find on YouTube. I really enjoyed his performance although magic is not something that I would normally enjoy. I laughed so much!

Our resident singers quartet entertained one evening with Stage Door which is right up my alley - Broadway musicals! Last night Lucas stepped out of the entertainment team and performed solo. At the age of only has 23 I am sure he has a future that will have us seeing him on our stages and TV screens in the future!

On Valentine's Day we all celebrated with Dancing Under the Stars out on the pool Deck. This happens on every Viking ocean cruise but this time it truly was a lot of fun. It seems that the couples on the ship really got into the sweetheart mood and enjoyed the music provided by every one of the entertainment staff. All the musicians were pitching in. The band played, the guitarist from Torshavn took a turn. I think even Yana the pianist played for a bit. Each of the singers and dancers were out on the floor and if they were singer they were mingling and dancing with the crowd. It was a lot of fun.

Philip, the Cruise Director, really did a good job in keeping the party going. If you saw him you would not think Cruise Director, but he seems to manage all the bits and pieces of the puzzle very well Also he has a wonderful singing voice!

So, you can see that sea days can be very busy. I have not even mentioned that I try to ride seven miles on the bike in the gym, use the spa pool and walk a mi;e around the deck every day!  Time to relax and read ... maybe if I write in this blog a little faster!