The First Sea Day
Sailing the Pacific Ocean Aboard The Viking Jupiter
January 26, 2010
We awoke to a weather prediction of clear skies and 59 degrees. Nothing was planned for the day until 6 PM that evening which was a welcome break from the previous five days of traveling and touring. Delivered to our stateroom each evening was the Viking Daily outlining the next days activities in which one can choose to participate or not. So what was there to do?
For those wishing to maintain or improve their physical and mental fitness, there were classes and facilities for:
- Yoga and meditation
- A gym with a variety of workout machines, weights and open floor space for stretching all with a wonderful view of the passing scenery
- The Spa containing saunas, a steam room, snow room, hot tub, cold pool and a therapy pool where you could swim against a current or use the massage jets as well as heated ceramic loungers for relaxing
- Sports deck with putting green and shuffleboard
Use of the Spa or Gym was free, however, one could sign up for fitness classes, have a personal trainer or reserve a space for the Nordic Bathing Ritual for a fee.
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The Fitness Center (gym) |
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The Spa Therapy Pool with Hot Tub in the Corner |
If you needed a bit of socializing as well as a challenge, you could always find a game of Scrabble, Mahjong, Team Trivia, Bridge or Cards to play. A guest could join the Baggo challenge against a team of Viking officers. Crafters who enjoyed knitting, crocheting etc. usually gathered on a sea day and puzzle lovers could always pitch in at the Jigsaw table where finding a piece or two was always appreciated. There were Bridge lessons for Beginner and Intermediate players too.
Viking bills itself as the "thinking (wo)man's" cruise and had a line up of educational lectures from which to choose. The compliment of experts on our cruise consisted of:
- An Historian whose specialty was Archaeology
- An Astronomer
- A Retired NASA Astronaut
- A Military and World Politics Historian
- A Polar Explorer.
Interesting Port Talks were given by the Shore Excursions Manager and Cruise Director so that we could hear about the area we were to visit, know what to expect on excursions and receive information about disembarkation. They were always lively and worthwhile to attend. And if you missed it, preferring to do something else at the time, the Port Talks were broadcast on your room TV.
We were able to enjoy different musicians perform throughout the day and evening in the Explorers Lounge, the Atrium or during Afternoon Tea at 4 PM in the Wintergarden. The pianist, a string duo and the guitarist switched venues and played a variety of musical styles.
I recall during our Caribbean cruising days aboard our own sailboat we hated being anchored in port when the big cruise ships arrived for the day. Not only did the crowds change the atmosphere of the town, but we had to listen to their loudspeaker announcements and music. On Viking we were never subject to annoying loud music piped through loudspeakers throughout the ship nor were any announcements made to disturb us in our cabins. During sea days, the Captain usually made an announcement over the public address system informing us of our sailing track, weather and sea conditions. On Port days we were told when the ship was cleared and we were able to go ashore.
In the evening the Star Theater hosted shows from comedy, magicians/mentalists, singers, dancers and the Viking band with an occasional destination oriented performance by locals. The shows in this theater were as seating allows and people would arrive perhaps a half hour early. Waiting was easy as the Star Theater Bar opened for scheduled performances.
Torshavn, the nightclub, also opened for a late night drink with musical entertainment and sometimes dancing to music by the Viking band. This was the only bar where Single Malt Scotch or the Vintage Armagnac could be ordered.
The Jupiter is one of two Viking ships with a Planetarium showing different programs on its dome as well. As seating was limited to 26 people, one had to make a reservation for a specific day and time in order to see the show. We reserved 3 different shows in the Planetarium.
Our cruise had many sea days and it didn't look like we would get bored or run out of things of interest. We were happy to have no Casino in which to gamble, no rock wall to climb or bungee jumping to do and no one tried reserving a pool lounger by putting their stuff on it at 8 am. We also had no kids under the age of 18, a truly adult cruise.
The above picture shows all our stops in Chile, Argentina, The Falkland Islands and Uruguay. We were to have 9 Port days and 8 Sea days on this cruise. Five of the sea days were to be open ocean passages with little or no sight of land. Three of the days were to be Scenic Cruising where we would sail in fjords, to glaciers and around Cape Horn. We would travel close to but not touch land on these days.
This first open ocean sea day was on the Pacific where we would go from Latitude 33.05 S Longitude 71.62 W at Valparaiso, Chile to 41.47 S; 72.93 W at Puerto Montt, Chile - a distance of 631 nautical miles for this first leg. We were not traveling in the Roaring Forties yet, the strong westerly winds found in the Southern Hemisphere generally between the latitudes of 40 and 50 degrees, so I was anticipating a smooth ride. Careful what you expect is what I learned this day. We had strong winds from the SW, which is the direction we would travel most of the day, and seas of 10-15 feet. When we heard the Captain's announcement, we said "Naw!" as we were estimating the seas at 5-6 feet. Seas look a lot bigger when viewed from the cockpit of our 37 foot sailboat then the upper decks of a cruise ship.
These shots were taken before the wind and seas picked up.
With all the possible activities, we didn't participate in much this first day. Ray worked to transfer photos, we took breakfast and lunch in the World Cafe, attended the 11 AM Puerto Montt Port Talk, read a bit, walked around getting our sea legs, took photos of the passing scenery and just relaxed. I made a trip to the Spa while our friends did their own thing until we all met in the Wintergarden at 6 PM for the Cruise Critic private cocktail party sponsored by Viking.
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Lorna in the Explorer's Lounge reading her book and enjoying a piece of Success Cake |
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| Wintergarden |
The Wintergarden was a gorgeous location for our gathering and Viking did a fine job providing server passed hors'd oeuvres, Champagne or whatever a person liked to drink. About two dozen members attended as well as several Viking officers. We all filled out stick-on name tags with our Name and Cruise Critic Nickname as that is how we know each other on line. It was fun for me to put faces to the Nicknames of people I had met on line having communicated with some of them over a year before our cruise. Even our friends who are not active on CC enjoyed meeting other world travelers and struck up interesting conversations.
The seas must have calmed down a bit or the ship had changed direction lessening movement because I had no problem standing during the cocktail party balancing my drink or serving my own dinner food. We had a leisurely supper in the World Cafe this evening exploring all the different food stations on both sides of the ship. We discovered the Sushi Bar is on the Port Side and the cold seafood bar is on the Starboard Side. Aft was the noodle station where a different stir fry is served up each night. The Gelato bar was Port Side offering different homemade selections each day. Pizza was served in the bakery/bread station on both sides and all other hot or cold items were the same on either side. Important stuff to remember. Much of the food was self-serve so one could take as little or as much as one wanted. The already plated items were small but one could always return for seconds. Dessert choices were maybe two-bite sized so several could be sampled.
After checking out the 9 PM sunset over the Pacific Ocean, we retired to our room to relax a bit before an early to bed. We skipped all the entertainment choices throughout the ship and a nightcap at one of the bars as well. An all day private tour was scheduled for the next day meeting on shore at 8:30 AM and we wanted to be on the first Tender. The Jupiter was anchoring off Puerto Montt because the tide would be too low to pull up dockside - a minor inconvenience. But that meant up early to shower, have breakfast, pack our stuff for our excursion and get down to the Atrium by 7:45 AM the latest. We turned on our room TV to check out the movies playing but soon we nodded off to the relaxing motion of the ship and a good night's sleep.
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