Voyage of the Vikings Redux - Sea Days

Cruise Day 6

Thursday, July 27, 2023

For some reason, we were very tired this morning and slept in until after nine.  The weather outside was very foggy and would stay that way all day.  During foggy weather, the ship blows its horn every two minutes to warn other ships in the area that we are here.  There is a whole procedure that goes on between ships in foggy weather to prevent collisions, and of course now, most ships have radar also.

It stayed foggy almost all day as we sailed towards Greenland.

We ate a late breakfast and spent the rest of the morning reading.  We went to lunch late thinking it wouldn’t be crowded, but we were wrong, it was very crowded.  There was a special station for Mexican food in the Lido Buffet today that we planned to try, but when we arrived, we found a long line waiting to be served so we decided we weren’t that excited to have Mexican food.

After finishing lunch, we made our way to the World Stage for a presentation on the Vikings exploring and settling in Greenland.  We arrived just before it started and found almost every seat taken and had to sit way over to the side up in the balcony and could barely see the stage.  The first time we went to one of these lectures there were plenty of empty seats right up until it started, but I guess that’s no longer the case, so we’ll have to get there early in the future.

After the lecture we returned to our room and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.  We did sign up for a ship excursion in Nanortalik, Greenland that was previously unavailable.  The cruise director had mentioned it in his afternoon update, so we quickly booked it, and it was lucky we did as it filled up quickly.  It is called “Among the Icebergs” and, as the title suggests, is a boat ride out in the icebergs.

We had dinner and visited the casino as usual and once again got back to our room near eleven despite the fact that the Rolling Stone Lounge was dark tonight.  I know this doesn’t seem too late, but normally on board we like to be back in our room before ten, so we have time to relax and wind down before we go to bed otherwise we end up sleeping too late in the morning.

Cruise Day 7

Friday, July 28, 2023

When we woke up today, the fog was gone, but it was raining with heavy winds and large swells.  This has been a very calm cruise so far, but the ship is really rocking and rolling this morning, and it is also very cold.  It was so windy we could barely get our balcony door open and in fact, I actually thought something was wrong with the door until Val told me to push harder.  Luckily for us with all this added ship motion, neither Val nor I get seasick so we kind enjoy the increased ship motion particularly if it’s at night when we are in bed. it sort of lulls you to sleep.

Today was a pretty slow and relaxing day.  We had our usual breakfast in the Neptune Lounge and spent the rest of the morning relaxing.  Yesterday, the Lido Buffet was very crowded at lunch which was surprising.  We usually don’t go to lunch until after 1:00 PM when it is usually less crowded, but the doesn’t seem to be the case on this cruise.  Today we decided to go a little earlier and went to lunch at 12:30.  It was a little less crowded, but that might have been because some people are feeling a little seasick from the rough seas.  It was also very cold in the Lido as wind kept blowing in through the doors to the outer deck.

After lunch we headed to the World Stage for another lecture about Greenland.  This time it was about Nanortalik where we will be in a couple of days.  It was an interesting lecture and we have been enjoying these lecturers.  The lecturers are Tim and Daphne Terrell who, as you might guess, are a husband and wife team.

The World Stage is on one of the lower decks, and while we on our way to the lecture we noticed that the swells were much larger than how they looked from our balcony.  After the lecture I decided to get my camera and go out on the promenade deck, but unfortunately when I got there the outside doors were all closed off and passengers were not allowed outside due to the high seas and winds.  I did get some pictures of the high waves from a window looking out, but it wasn’t the same thing.  Val took a movie with her cell phone that I added below.

The rest of our day was spent relaxing until it was time for dinner.  The only thing I accomplished today was updating the blog.  It was dinner and the casino as usual, but I will say one thing about dinner, so far on this cruise the food has been very good.  On our Grand Africa cruise, the food quality was inconsistent with a very good dinner followed by a not so good one, but we have had consistently good food on this one.  Tomorrow we’ll be arriving in Greenland, and we're looking forward to that.