And just like that: More Sea Days

 We have five days of sailing agin to get to New Zealand.  i must say, Viking tries hard to keep us entertained and fed well. Tonight’s special meal is a Polynesian Buffet with  something for everyone.

A full page of goodness!

Always interesting centerpieces!

Fresh Mahi Mahi grilled in front of us. In the background you can see the aft pool/hot tub. Its always nice to have them set the grills outside and cook for us. 

There’s always fresh fruits and vegetables available.

After a full stomach and a good night’s rest we are ready for day 2 

Nothing beats sitting on the veranda having our morning coffee and watching the blue sea, planning our day. Today we have a “behind the scenes” tour of the ship. Viking is very proud of this new ship and like to show off the “guts” of how the provide such great service.

Our General Hotel Manager Ronald led us through the tour. First up is the amazing kitchens

The room service kitchen. They serve about 180 room service orders daily. I can attest to their great service.. its always on time and tasty.

Each restaurant has its own prep crew.

Even the crew in the kitchen always have a smile for us!

Many of the crew start at 2am baking the muffin, pastries and breads for breakfast.Then on to the pastries and pies, cakes and breads for lunch…There are five restaurants aboard  serving 900+ passengers three times a day plus snacks! 

Ronald is explaining how they order supplies for the ship.  They do their best to anticipate what the passengers might want to eat and drink.  They miscalculated their order for non-alcoholic beer and ran out.. that was rectified recently. They order supplies three months ahead and have them shipped to one of our destinations to be loaded on the ship when we arrive.There is always a few items missing.One order was missing $120K of supplies that were delivered to a dock in Barbados… Only problem ,we didn’t sail to Barbados! Another sisterViking ship docked there got as much stuff on board as they could, but much of the order was left behind and lost.  If the ship is docked at a dock port, there is an opportunity for them to buy local produce and fruit as much as possible. The reason we had the MahiMahi last night was because the chef was able to go to the fresh market in Honolulu and purchase fresh fish to keep on board. FYI, we will go through approximately 180,000 bottles of wine and about 600,000 beers on this journey.

Standing in the intersection of I-95. There is a long, wide passageway that runs the length of the ship. This is the major walkway for staff and supplies to get from one end of the ship to another.  

 a look down the I-95

Next up was the engine room. We were not allowed to take pictures of the room. I can tel you there were lots of computers and gauges.

Below is the engine room door just around the corner

We are so far down under in the ship that the alphabet doesn’t even get  a capital!

On to the laundry!

The laundry is a never ending job. I always imagined someone whose only job was to stand and fold towels,napkins,sheets…. Instead this machine takes damp cleaned sheets,napkins,table cloths,anything that needs folding and drys the item AND folds it in one process!!! I’d love one of these at home! 

And out it comes completely folded and dry!

The ship’s laundry does  all the laundry for crew members.  They feel they want the crew to be able to  spend their time relaxing and refreshing themselves for service to the passengers and not worrying about how to get their laundry done.  So they get theirs done. Some of the executive suites include laundry, so those passengers also get it done here.  All laundry from any room that has had covid is done separately in a machine dedicated to that purpose, away from all other laundry to prevent any cross contamination.  

It is an amazing facility and once again all the crew had smiles on their faces and seemed happy to show off where they work. 

 One distinctly noticed thing about Viking staff is the never ending smiles, kindness and service from every member of the crew.. From the cleaning staff, our room stewards, the deck crew, the wait staff in restaurants, the bar staff, the guest services staff…Everyone! We found out why during our tour.. this was on the wall of the I-95 where every staff member walks..

It reads: Smile and make an amazing connection 

              Take care of yourself,each other and our ship

              Act to create great memories

              Respond,recover and make it right

Viking has been voted one of the top cruise lines for the last two years. They focus completely on their passengers. This is how they provide star service to the passengers. I can certainly vouch that they do try their very best for us. My family knows how grumpy I am in the morning effort I’ve had a cup of coffee…Now my coffee is given to me with a host of fresh smiles and a “good Morning,Madame.. did you sleep well? …I am so very spoiled!!!!