I love the beds and linens on a Viking cruise. So much so that on a previous cruise, we stripped the bed looking for brand tags. Found them, looked up the company (it’s German) and asked if we could order a couple sets. Alas, they only sell to the industry and only in batches of hundreds at a time. If I’m honest, it would almost be worth it to get a hospitality license and order enough to last the rest of my life. I even tried to bribe the laundry people on the ship to sell us a set, used or not. They wouldn’t.

So we really look forward to sleeping on our Viking cruises. I know that we always see amazing places and whatnot, but the thirst for a night’s sleep in these beds is real.

Woke up in the morning and sat at my usual spot, along the window at the World Café near the coffee machine, and remembered the Marco Polo cruise we did a few years ago, when I’d sit in this spot, usually the only one in the place, and Doug and Heather, an Aussie couple, would be the next ones in and they’d sit at the round table in the corner. They were super-fun and I missed seeing them on other cruises… and then they walked in and sat in their usual spot! What a great surprise!

Wow. It just took seven minutes to upload that picture. It’s an at-sea day, so everyone is on board and everyone is apparently trying to use the wifi. Connecting at sea is sketchy at best, even though the ship blocks any kind of streaming to save bandwidth, so no Zoom calls, no YouTube, no Netflix, no Spotify or anything like that. Luckily, I downloaded a bunch of Pet Shop Boys and all 35 of the Pete and Bas songs onto my hard drive before we left Singapore, so I can still rock out while I type.

Had a look at all the Chef’s Table menus and chose the ones we wanted to book and did that. I’ll explain Chef’s Table on the first day we’re there. It’s a fun concept and we always enjoy the meals.

While booking with the concierge, I saw a woman wearing a shirt that said “I ❤️ Canada” and I said hello and asked where in Canada she was from. She looked embarrassed, lowered her voice, and said, “actually, I’m American - the shirt is a political statement.” For the benefit of people who may read this in the future, I’ll just say that when I’m writing this, Trump is the US president in his second non-consecutive term, he’s been talking about using economic ruin on Canada in order to get us to become the 51st US state, and the day before I write this, there was an utter shitshow of a media circus in the Oval Office where Trump and JD Vance verbally assaulted Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on worldwide television.

It was the first time I’d ever heard an American tell me they’re American with any measure of shame. I was knocked sideways by it and I’m still stunned. Americans are nothing if not loud, boastful, and fiercely patriotic. But here, off of American soil, it is incredibly obvious to anyone that Americans are not only not admired anymore, but also increasingly despised. It must be quite the shock for travellers, and I feel sorry for them. That’s a new feeling, too.

Conversely, Canadians - who are also fiercely patriotic, but not in any outward fashion - are easy to spot on board, because many of us are wearing Canada t-shirts, have Canada flag pins on our collars, and some have even put small Canadian flags next to their cabin doors. It’s a strange time when it’s the Canadians showing a lot of outward patriotism while the Americans hide.

That’s all the politics there’ll be in these posts - but the moment had such an impact that I felt it was worth mentioning.

Time to hit the spa! (Of course, you’re not allowed to take photos in the spa, but here is a pic from Viking)

That’s the main room, with a ginormous hot tub with jets that allow you to swim in place. There’s also a smaller, hotter hot tub as well. Not pictured are wet and dry saunas, an “experience shower” with nine shower heads (four on each side and a giant rain shower head above), a cold plunge pool, a cold water bucket shower, and a snow grotto. I had done everything on previous cruises except the cold water bucket shower, which I did today. Nordics (Viking is Norwegian) like to do hot/cold “therapy” so the idea is that you sit in the dry sauna, then hop into the cold plunge pool… or you sit in the wet sauna, then sit for awhile in the snow grotto, or you relax in the hot tub and finish off by standing in a shower then pulling a chain, which upends a giant cedar bucket of cold water onto your head. The point, I’m told, is to open up your pores with the heat, then shock them closed again with cold. Rejuvenating, they say. Well, today I finally got up the courage to do the bucket thing and it wasn’t too bad.

After that, it was off to the infinity pool at the back of the ship.

Met a nice man from Vancouver and his wife in the pool, then after they left, a lady from England got in. I said, “hello” and she returned. I detected the accent, but with only two syllables to go on, I misread it as Aussie. She said, “no, English… you’re American?” I said, “Canadian”… and that began an all-out rant from her about Trump and that Zelenskyy circus in the Oval Office. I tried to change the subject a few times, but she felt like she needed to get it out. (Sorry, I said I’d lay off politics)

Lunch time! They were having a “Singapore street food” thing by the pool, which we looked at.

I’m sure it was good, but we just had Singaporean food for the last four days, so we opted for BBQ brisket, reuben sandwich, fruit salad, and dessert. I did my usual Viking thing for dessert: self-made affogato. A scoop of meringue flavoured ice cream, then head to the coffee bar and drop a double espresso on top.

Note to self: Get TWO scoops of ice cream next time. The double espresso basically melted the first scoop instantly. Was still delicious, though!

After lunch, naps happened, then I went out onto the balcony to work on this post a bit while enjoying the sea air.

Fast forward to dinner. We opted for the main restaurant tonight, and asked for our regular table, but someone was already in it. Bastards! We’ll have to work on that. Anyway, Rob had Dover sole, which was de-boned tableside.

Rob said the sole was very good, as well as the crab cake appetizer (and Rob is really picky about his crab cakes!). I had some pomelo spring rolls (delish) and glazed squid stuffed with fried rice over green beans. I don’t know what the sauce was they put on it, but OMFG I would put that stuff on every thing. It was one of the best things I’ve ever had on a ship.

After dinner, we headed back up to the Explorer’s Lounge for espresso martinis and listened to the guitarist who played some Gordon Lightfoot, some Beatles, Mungo Jerry, and other artists from way back. Keep in mind that Viking generally attracts an older clientele - you aren’t likely to hear hip hop or punk on board. We watched the sun set over the horizon… or at least Rob did. I was down in guest services trying to get our eVisas for Tanzania, but when I typed in the website on the ship’s computer, it popped up THIS, which is sketchy as hell, since those are South African flags.

I spent a couple hours yesterday getting mine and I got the approval email today, but when I click to download the landing card, it just times out. Same when I try to log in and get Rob’s visa. Very frustrating. We’ve still got two days to get it done, so fingers crossed. Anyway, by the time I got up to the Explorer’s Lounge, the sunset was almost gone, but I still got one good shot. Someone said that was Jupiter just below the moon there, but I have no way to verify. Either way, it was a nice scene.

Rob has crashed for the night, I’m out on the back of the ship finishing this up while I wait for the laundry to finish, sipping lattes. It’s nice out - humid and 29C (85F) but with a nice breeze off the water. The ocean is smooth as glass, it’s very quiet out here, and pitch black. Lots of stars overhead. I like this time of day on the ship. My watch alarm went off and I went to take the laundry out of the dryer… only to find out that I had set all the options, but had forgotten to press the START button. Wet clothes still in the dryer. Le sigh. Got the dryer started and headed down to Torshaven (night club) to check out the Viking band while I waited. They were OK.

…and that’s it for today, unless you want a play-by-play on me folding laundry. Tomorrow we’ll be ashore and there will be more to talk about.

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