Day 2 at sea

Amazing what a difference a day makes. After leaving Santa Barbara we had a lumpy night and the following day things calmed down and here we are just cruising the Pacific Ocean around 19 knots on our way to Hawaii. The captain announced that we were going to be skirting a storm, so we have diverted to a Southerly route instead of going west. But we should arrive in Hawaii on schedule. He wants to give us the best ride possible. 👍

We had over 460 passengers joining the ship in Los Angeles. Michael had an unbelievable 74 people show up for beginning bridge; that was 19 tables!  They scrambled to get the room set up for that many people. We’ve never had that kind of attendance. We had nine tables for the intermediate lessons – – we only had three tables for the duplicate game! Go figure?! 😳

Since we had such a small game yesterday, both Michael and I got to play. He even got master points. Terry and I just missed scoring because we had a misunderstanding on one hand. For you bridge players, we play cappelletti over 1NT and he forgot and left me in a two club contract and I only had one club. I had 7 hearts!  Oh well, Terry redeemed himself when I opened 2NT and he went right to 7NT. I got to play it and that was fun.

I have had about 30 people in my craft class and quite a few new knitters, most of which don’t have any supplies. That is a little problem that we are hoping to rectify when we get to Honolulu. In the meantime, I’m very busy teaching.

Not only am I teaching, knitting, and bridge, I also did some iPhone instruction to a couple who had new iPhones, but had no understanding of how to use them.

The bridge game today was much better, there were five tables. I was getting ready to play with Terry when a woman walked in five minutes late. And I had to relinquish my seat and let her play. Neither one of us was happy about that. But that’s what we have to do. So I am up on deck seven watching the world go by and knitting. 

Santa Barbara, California

It was a very short distance from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. There is no marina or port big enough for our ship so we anchored out and had to tender to shore. The weather was clear skies and crisp temperatures – – but boy was the wind blowing today.  I finally have a good hair day, and it blows like stink. Speaking of hair, the water on the ship is very harsh and at the end of this cruise, my hair will probably look like straw even though I put conditioner on it. I sure miss my Vancouver water. 

We took the panoramic tour of the city, and the Spanish colonial architecture was absolutely beautiful. The last time we had been to Santa Barbara must’ve been about 40 years ago when we went to a company weekend. I even remember the dress I wore that weekend – – a long, black, cotton peasant dress, which I think was pretty fancy in those days. 

So obviously, I don’t have much memory of the city. The tour was not very inclusive, but we did go to the Santa Barbara mission, often called the queen of the missions, which was built in 1786 by father Junipero Serra. I learned about the missions in grade school that were built along the California coast.  There were 21 of them; I have visited four: San Diego, San Juan Capistrano, San Fernando, and now Santa Barbara.

Here is a short history of the area: the Chumash tribe was conquered by the Spanish, who were then conquered by the Mexicans. It was an agricultural area during the gold rush.  So people found it a beautiful place with wonderful weather and wealthy people started to move there. And there you have it.

After our tour of the mission we were taken to Santa Barbara City Hall.  And then we had to return to get the last tinder back to the ship so our tour was cut short because we started late.

At 5 PM we had an enrichment meeting and then later after dinner we had to go on stage one last time to say who we are and what we did. I do not like doing this. But people were blessedly short in their descriptions as demanded by the cruise Director. It was real fun standing on the stage as the seas were rocking and rolling. No one fell over but people like us who are not used to standing on stage had to work at staying upright. 

Tonight we gain another hour. We have five straight sea days ahead of us before we reach Honolulu. As I am writing this around 10 PM, we are rocking and rolling, but it’s  not too bad. This is our first real bumpy water since we’ve been on the ship.

Los Angeles

Yesterday was a sea day. The highlight of the day was the bridge club championship. My partner, Terry, and I came in second. Not bad as we were playing against a world class player.  I’ve never gotten so many master points on a ship as I have these past two weeks — almost 5 points.  👏👏👏

We met all the other enrichment people for dinner. It was rather noisy, and we were the only Americans and the only one staying on for the whole cruise.

Today we arrived in San Pedro harbor. During the night we had to lay at anchor while the bottom of the ship was inspected for any living organisms. This is a new thing that they’re doing to make sure that no foreign matter is brought into the United States. 

We had to go through immigration and customs at 9am this morning. Everyone, including the crew, has to go through this inspection, and no one can go back onto the ship until everyone has been processed. We did not even have to show our passports. They take our picture and then ask us our full name and if it agrees, then we just go on, I guess passports are going to become passé at some point as facial recognition is taking over. 

We then took a bus ride to Santa Monica. It started off rather cold at about 42° and the sun warmed up to about 60°. Overall, it was a very pleasant and beautiful day.  Michael and Terry took off for the nearest Walgreens where we had a prescription to pick up, and Terry‘s wife and I took a stroll down the Santa Monica pier.  This is a spot where the famous Route 66 ends. I have many fond memories of Santa Monica, walking the beach with my cousins and going to POP, Pacific Ocean Park, where there was an amusement park, and some of the attractions are still there. When the fellows arrived back from their errand, we had a nice lunch at Bubba Gumps.  It was then time to head back to the shuttle for a drive through the LA freeway traffic back to the ship.

Tonight was a welcome celebration with the chairman of the board of Viking, Torsten Hagen.  I even had my picture taken with him. Today was turn around day where half the ship’s passengers got off and the new group got on.  A lot of new faces to learn as well as some old ones that we’ve seen on previous cruises.

 

Another Perspective

 I did not write this.  This was written by Marilyn Hoeffner, who is on our ship.  I thought this would make interesting reading.  She must have a lot of time on her hands to write this  BTW, the seas have increased and we are moving around  it’s not bad, but we have had flat seas the entire trip so far  

Finding our rhythm at sea – what do we do with 54 sea days?

The first half of our trip is heavily loaded with sea days.  The beginning segment from Ft Lauderdale to Las Angeles is 17 days long. There are five stops and a day transiting the Panama Canal, leaving 11 sea days before we arrive in Los Angeles.  After leaving Santa Barbara on the 10th of January, we have a 5-day cruise to Oahu, HI, followed by another five days to French Polynesia (Bora Bora, Morea, and Tahiti) and another four days to New Zealand.  So, how do we spend our time during all these sea days?

The choices are numerous as we find our rhythm aboard Neptune.

Ship Board Activities:

In addition to mealtimes, there are many things to occupy your time on board, no matter your interests.  It is impossible to do everything that is offered. Here are some of the things available:

Leisurely Activities and Hobbies:

Viking Ocean ships have an outstanding design, providing comfortable places to enjoy various activities.  The Atrium is a three-story living area in the ship’s center with an open center and a grand staircase.  Various sitting areas around the open center are organized in a living room style with comfortable leather couches and chairs.  There are also different game tables spread throughout.  Some are electric, allowing players to play Scrabble, Bat Gammon, Texas, Texas Hold’em, and other electronic card games.

Additionally, there are round tables set up around the atrium for people to play cards, scrabble, or work on jigsaw puzzles, all supplied by the ship.  If you have some work to do, like writing a blog or catching up on emails, there are many comfortable corners to hide away and get your work done.  Right now, I am sitting on the Aft Fantail on deck two with a shaded roof, protected from the wind, listening to the ocean’s churn as we steam north.  As I write, I have a 180-degree view of the Pacific but haven’t spotted any whales yet.

To guide your way to finding a rhythm at sea, the Daily Newspaper is printed and delivered the evening before with all the available activities for the day.  There are:

1. At least four lectures a day on everything from nature, photography, history of the areas we visit, and adventurists such as Mike Dawson, who has successfully rowed across the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.
2. Game activities such as Mahjong and Bridge with Bridge instructions for beginners and intermediates.
3. Crafting workshops and gatherings such as knitting, crocheting, and painting.
4. Reading: the ship has hundreds, if not over a thousand, carefully curated books tucked in nooks and crannies throughout the ship available to be enjoyed by all.
5. Leisure time relaxation: either on the main pool deck, the rear infinity pool deck, or up on the sun deck, where there are more outdoor games available to play. No pickleball, though, which is too bad.
6. There is music to listen to day and night in the various lounges like the forward trendy explorers lounge or the atrium.
7. Need an afternoon pick me up? Head to high tea at 4 pm in the Wintergarden lounge overlooking the pool deck. Enjoy tea, coffee, and soft drinks while listening to classical music and munching on delicate sandwiches and tasty treats.
8. Don’t forget team trivia every day at sea; it is at 12:15 each day in the forward Explorer’s lounge. Bob and I have been so busy we haven’t made it to one yet, and we usually enjoy playing while cruising.
9. Baggo competitions are popular on the first floor of the atrium each morning, drawing decent crowds daily. In much of the U.S., Baggo is called corn hole, but Baggo is played with only one target platform.
10. The gym and spa area are my favorites. The gym is well-equipped and spacious, and the spa area includes steam rooms, saunas, a Viking snow Room and plunge pools.  This takes up about two hours of my day, as well as many others,
11. Of course, there are also spa services, such as beauty treatments and massages, which I indulged in and was delighted with the quality of the massage. I’ll be back!
12. It is fun to meet other people and learn about their backgrounds and cruise history while doing all these things. Many of these world cruisers are frequent flyers on cruise ships and have been worldwide.  Thinking of your next trip, there are probably twenty people on board who can share their experiences wherever you are thinking about going.
13. There are two walking/jogging tracks around the ship. Decks 2 and 7 are set up as ¼ mile tracks, so there is no excuse not to get your steps in while enjoying fresh air.
14. Not into running, the atrium bar on deck 1 is fully stocked and a favorite place to congregate with others and grab a coffee, snack, soft drink, or cocktail.

Entertainment:

Throughout most of the day and evening, there is music playing somewhere onboard.

You’ll enjoy:

1. Jeno and Geza are a classical duo of pianists and violinists playing daily in the atrium, during High Tea in the Wintergarden, or up in the Explorer’s lounge.
2. Sergii is an additional classical pianist who plays around the ships’ lounges at different times.
3. After dinner, Jinky and Ralph entertain us with various old and new pop songs, usually found in the Torshavn lounge, until late into the night.
4. The Viking Neptune Entertainers are featured most nights in the Neptune Star Theatre. Each night has a different theme, a 50-minute show that includes show tunes, country night, pop songs, and more.
5. Viking also brings on guest artists to mix things up weekly. This week, Mike Mentz, a great singer-songwriter, performed several of his songs but also beautifully stylized versions of several cover songs by Springsteen, the Beatles, and even Whitney Houston.
6. Last night, Vikings’ famous cruise director, now corporate office superstar Heather Clancy, performed, and wow, she was terrific. Combining her incredible opera voice, great sense of humor, and knack for storytelling, she had the entire crowd on their feet by the end of the evening.  We also had a show of Columbian folk dancers on board one evening.  So, we never know what entertainment delights are around the corner.
7. I can’t forget to mention the fantastic Neptune band playing with all these artists in every musical style, never skipping a beat. They go from operettic classical to rock or country without missing a beat.  The pianist Niko is excellent, and the rest of the ban are no slouches.  We are glad they will be with us for the entire cruise.  These guys had the whole ship booging on New Year’s Eve for hours as all the Viking entertainers took turns keeping us hopping up on the pool deck. It never gets boring to us.  We love all sorts of music and appreciate the hard work all the performers put into every performance.

Food:

There are several food venues on the ship, where you can get everything from a poolside snack to an elegant tasting menu.  One of the nice things about these restaurants is their design.  Like the rest of the ship, the design of the restaurants provides a more intimate dining experience wherever you are eating.

The two main restaurants are:

1. The Restaurant (Deck 2) is most famous for dinner but sometimes open for lunch and breakfast. The Restaurant is an elegant restaurant with clothed tables and excellent wait staff. Offering a menu with everyone’s favorites on the left side(steak, salmon, chicken) and a daily menu on the right with new dishes every evening.  We are free to mix and match from either side of the menu.
2. The World Café (Deck 7)– is a casual buffet-style restaurant. This restaurant is also in a U-shape with two servicing areas on each side and a bar in the aft that overlooks the infinity pool area.  It accommodates even the busiest rush without too much trouble as their staff keeps our drinks coming and our plates are cleared and always with a smile.

Specialty Restaurants:

1. Manfredi’s is our favorite. There is no need to worry about getting in; people constantly change their minds, so there seem to be openings most nights.  We have eaten there three times and have always been delighted with our meal.  This is an Italian-themed menu with a daily special fish and pasta.  So far, I have had the steak Florentine (excellent), Short ribs (excellent), and chicken parmigiana, which was also great.  Bob’s choices have all been delicious as well.
2. The Chefs Table features elegant (some say foo foo) tasting menus. The goal of this restaurant is to delight its guests with many different flavors from around the world with interesting pallet cleansing offerings between courses.  It stretched our pallets the night we went, but we enjoyed it.  The menu seen here was interesting, with the steak being one of the best steaks Bob and I have ever had.  Each course is paired with a specific wine, which always puts me in a happy place, but it was lost on Bob, who had his beer and diet coke.

Causal Restaurants:

1. The gill up on the pool deck. Grab a hamburger, Philly Cheesesteak, Hot dog, fries, salad, Tuna, or other items.  All are cooked expertly by one of the chefs.
2. Mamsen’s – found on Deck 7 next to the Explorers lounge, offers typical Nordic breakfast treats, sandwiches, and dessert treats: morning, noon, and early afternoon. I have not tried Mamsen’s, but Bob grabbed a snack there one day and enjoyed it.

Room service is available 24/7, which many people take advantage of, especially if they are not early risers.  We ordered the other morning for a 6 am delivery before we went fishing.  It arrived right on time, hot, and with everything we needed.  Note: Be sure to write any subtleties you would like with your menu, such as toppings for oatmeal, condiments, etc.

Laundry:

Need to do some laundry?  Every deck with rooms has a launderette with four free washers and dryers, two Ironing boards, and a few laundry baskets.  A soap machine dispenses the exact amount of detergent with a button push.  They can get busy, especially early in the morning, but I haven’t had any trouble getting our laundry twice.  Why did I have to do laundry twice already?  Because we are having too much fun and changing three times a day.  Gym clothes, casual daytime clothes, bathing suits, and elegant evening clothes for dinner and after-dinner entertainment.

Considering I am not shopping, cooking, or cleaning, I am ok with doing some laundry.

Get into your rhythm:  After a day or so, it seems everyone got into their rhythm onboard the Viking Neptune by doing the fun things that interested them.

Bob and I usually have breakfast around 8:30 and hit the gym and spa in the morning. We may sneak in a lecture in the morning if there is one we are interested in.  After, we head for lunch in the World Café and often split up in the afternoon.  He does a few work calls, and I head off to write somewhere for a few hours.  We also may head to the theater for an afternoon or evening lecture before dinner around seven or 7:30ish.  On any given day, we may hit one of the pools in the afternoon and snooze, listening to the sounds of the ocean go by.

After dinner, we usually head to the theater to see the evening show, grab a nightcap in one of the lounges, and listen to music.

Ask ten other people, and you’ll get ten different answers: light jogging on the deck in the morning or afternoon, playing bridge, or Mahjaung.  The bottom line is there is plenty to do if you are interested and plenty of way

Cabo San Lucas

Last time we were here was in 2018, and things have not changed. Today we went to shore via tender. The weather was absolutely magnificent – – not hot and not humid. I don’t ever remember being here on such a beautiful day like today.

Neither Michael nor I had any excursions today so what we did was just walk around and pick up a few things that we might be short on – – like pills.  Michael didn’t get enough of one of his prescriptions and I am having to use more of what I have so I needed more. Every third store in the port area where the tourist congregate is a pharmacy.  It used to be really cheap, but not anymore. We browsed the tourist shops and Michael picked up a really cool T-shirt. We then had lunch at Señor Frogs.  What both of us noticed was the lack of crowds. Where was everybody? Last time we were here it was so thick with people it was hard to walk.

We went back to the ship and decided to go to the pool and then realized that there were so few people on board. This would be a good day to do laundry. So laundry and pool is what we did this afternoon. Sounds exciting doesn’t it? 😜

We’ve had some very interesting evening entertainment. The person who is responsible for getting us hooked up with Viking is Heather Clancy. She was a former cruise Director on Seabourn and then on Viking. She is now in the corporate office. She was on board the first leg of this cruise to help the new cruise Director learn the ropes.  She is a trained opera mezzo soprano and gave us a thrilling performance of selections from Carmen and Turandot. She also sang a bit of country and a bit rock. And she was funny. It was a packed house. Tonight the current cruise Director will be performing.  

Tonight was dinner in the Chef’s Table restaurant.  It was a five course menu inspired by the ingredients and unusual tastes of the Asian continent.  Chilled king crab with coconut foam and curry, lobster and chicken shu mai, and Peking duck, and a trio of desserts.  Neither one of us could finish the whole dinner.

I did not take this: a very nice man from Philadelphia let me borrow this. 

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean

Today was day three of four days at sea. The routine is the same every day. Michael gets up early and goes to breakfast, I’m still in bed waiting for my body to work. Michael then teaches his classes in the morning and at the same time I am doing my knitting classes. After our morning classes, we go to lunch and we have about an hour to rest up and then off to Bridge for the afternoon. I have been very lucky in that I have been able to play almost every day with a fellow who actually knows how to play.  We have scored most days. After Bridge, we go back to our room and we either rest up before cocktails and dinner, or occasionally, we will go to the pool. Around 6-7pm we go to dinner and depending on how we’re feeling either go back to our room or go to the show. That is our day at Sea.  

We have one restaurant onboard that does interesting menus every three days. We chose to skip the day that had reindeer soup, and instead, chose to go to one that had a Mexican theme. Below is the menu for that meal.

Beautiful sunset off the coast of Mexico 

Doing what I love — knitting at sea

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

I had escort duty today and this time it was a very pleasant excursion. It was an hour and a half river adventure looking for crocodiles, Caimans, and lots of birds. After an hour and a half ride into the countryside, we arrived near Carara National Park on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. The Tarcóles estuary is noted for mangrove forests, and the mouth of the Tarcóles river is considered to be one of the richest sites for seabirds and shorebirds. In addition to the other critters I mentioned, we were on the lookout for iguanas and lizards.  A big plus was that the weather was absolutely beautiful this morning when we went on this excursion.

So what is the difference between crocodiles and Caimans? Both belong to the same family, but caimans are smaller than crocodiles and have a more V-shaped snout. Crocodiles, on the other hand, are larger and have a more U-shaped snout. Caimans and Crocodiles belong to the same order, but they are distinct. The way one must approach this difference is like monkeys or apes. While all of them are primates, they have differences. As such, a gorilla is different from a chimpanzee.

Caimans are the cousins of alligators, both of them belong to the Alligatoridae family. Crocodiles are distant relatives. Both of them are predators and carnivores. The crocodile, however, has species that live in saltwater, while caimans live in freshwater only.  Caimans are typically found in central and south America, while crocodiles are found in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas.  Both species are Apex predators and have a significant impact on their ecosystems. They are known for their sharp teeth, powerful jaws, and excellent swimming skills.

The Tarcóles River

Brown pelican 

Costa Rica has two seasons: the wet season and the dry season. Some places get up to 20 feet of rain per year – – not inches, but feet. They export bananas, pineapples, and coffee.  They import fuel.  There are three volcanoes in the country. There is 600 miles of coastline on the Pacific side, but only 70 miles of coastline on the Caribbean side.  Our guide spoke excellent English, with very little accent and talked the entire time. He was quite a salesman for Costa Rica.

Michael went on the included tour and did not enjoy it. They rode the bus for 45 minutes to get to an elementary school where they spent an hour watching little kids dance and then they took the bus back. He did not take any pictures as he did was really bored and did not find little children really appealing.  

After returning to the ship and a quick lunch, Michael spent the rest of the day at the pool while I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to nap, but to no avail. We did go to dinner at the Italian steakhouse with friends and after dinner, return to our room to do our paperwork. And we happen to notice that the ship was going in the wrong direction! Long story short, there was a medical emergency, and we turned around and went back to Puentarenas for the evacuation.  As of this writing at 10:11 PM, they are just lowering down one of the lifeboats. We hope that it’s not life-threatening.