World Cruise day 4/152 - it's my birthday and they seemed to notice!

Cruise day: 4/152
Port days: 2
Ports: 2
Countries: 2
Sea days: 2

Today started in the most unusual way.  The cruise director for this cruise, Aaron, seems like a decent enough guy.  Personable, polite, enthusiastic - you know the type.  We had not had the opportunity to meet him but had seen him around the ship.  Let's face it, this is a small ship - you see just about everyone around the ship.

This morning, on our way to the World Cafe for breakfast, the elevator stopped on deck 7 to let us off.  Aaron was waiting to get on the elevator.  As we passed by him, he looked at me and said, "You're having a birthday today, aren't you?  Happy birthday!"  Wow!  I'm masked-up, have never spoken a word to him, and yet, he picked me out and knew it was my birthday.  We were a little blown away.

We attended a beginner bridge class today.  We came away a little disappointed.  The instructor was not what you'd call a natural teacher and the students all seemed a little frustrated at her style.  We plan to go back tomorrow and continue with the training.  She said her goal is that if you finish the world cruise, you'll be an advanced beginner.  Uh...OK...

From there, we once again joined the team we formed a couple of days ago for trivia. While we were runners-up last time, this time, we prevailed in a tie-breaker and won bragging rights until the next sea day - tomorrow - when we will play again.  Did you know the Brazillian flag has 27 stars?

We enjoyed some lunch in the World Cafe and came back to the room.  Let's focus on the room for this blog post.

Viking Ocean ships have multiple classes of rooms.  Veranda rooms, V2, V1 are the lowest category of rooms.  Deluxe veranda rooms, DV6 - DV1 are next.  All V and DV rooms are exactly the same size, 270 square feet.  Position on the ship and minor amenities, like daily restocking of soda in your refrigerator differentiate V and DV cabins.  Up from there are the PV3 - PV1 - penthouse veranda at 338 square feet, followed by the PS3 - PS1 penthouse junior suite at 405 square feet, explorer suite ES3 - ES1 at 757 square feet, and a single owner's suite at 1,440 square feet.  Of course, prices go up according to room category.

We are in a DV4 (deluxe veranda level 4) for this world cruise but will be moving to a V2 (the lowest category) for the Viking Homelands 14-day extension that we booked at the end of the world cruise.  We have a whopping (sarcasm intended) 270 square feet to play with for 138 days and a different 270 square feet for the final 14 days.  Let's take a look at what you get.

Here's a look as you come through the door.  Like many cruise rooms, you enter into a narrow hallway.  On the right, where the shoe rack is hanging, is the bathroom door.

Turning back around, you can see the bathroom door again on the left, as well as the built-in coffee station, shelf, safe (behind the top door), and drawers.  Pro tip - if you don't drink coffee like us, ask the cabin steward to remove the coffee station and gain a shelf.

The over-the-door shoe rack adds valuable storage space and packs small.  Pick one up at Target.

Next, let's peek into the bathroom.  Viking has some of the nicer bathrooms on cruise ships.  Tile floors, showers that are large enough so you don't have to keep your arms tucked in to turn around, good lighting, and so on make their bathrooms a notch above the competition.

A sink with plenty of counter space on either side is also a nice addition.  A couple of drawers and some small shelves round out a pretty decent cruise ship bathroom.

A lot of cruise ship bathrooms have a single electric plug, mainly for recharging razors, inconveniently located in the ceiling.  Viking puts it at countertop level - a nice touch.  See the switch and indicator light right above that?  What's that?  That is the power switch for the...heated floor.  Yes, you can flip that switch and then walk into a soothing warm tile floor.  That is a very nice touch.

Looking back into the room, you can see the flat-screen TV, king bed, a desk, coffee table, and two chairs.  If you look on the left, just under the desk and against the wall, you can see a collapsable laundry hamper - again, Target.  Viking thoughtfully places both USB and AC outlets above the nightstands on either side of the bed as well as at the desk.  With smartphones and C-PAP machines that are all too common with this demographic, that is another nice touch missing from other cruise lines.

Taking a glance back, we see the two-door closet.  There is a top shelf and a rod - no other storage available.  Arlona bought a couple collapsable over the rod hanging shelf organizers- once again from Target.  They collapse into nearly nothing and give us each six small cubbies if you count the top.

The balconies in V and DV cabins are small.  There is just enough room for a table and two very uncomfortable chairs.  The seat depth is very short, so unless you are 4' 10" or shorter, your rear end doesn't fit well in the chairs.  Also, at least on deck 4, we are close enough to the water that the glass beneath the railing is perpetually salt-covered as is our sliding door.  We'll see how much worse it is on deck 3 later on when we move.

Here's a look back into the room from the balcony.  I've pointed out a lot of shortcomings, but overall, the room is reasonably comfortable.  In addition, Viking provides a nice selection of on-demand movies and shows as well as recordings of on-board lectures in case you missed them.

We enjoyed pre-dinner cocktails in the Explorer's Bar and then dinner at Manfredi's - an Italian steakhouse.  All dining is included on Viking, even the specialty dining.  Since they knew it was my birthday, three senior officers (a 4-stripe, a 3.5-stripe, and a 3-stripe - 10.5 stripes in all!) stopped by and wished me a happy birthday.  Then, the waitstaff delivered a rousing Happy Birthday rendition as well as this lovely cake.  We enjoyed it and had the rest sent to the room for later.

In an interesting turn of events, the folks next to us at dinner struck up a conversation. As it turns out, he grew up in Muskegon, Michigan, just like Arlona.  In fact, he even went to the same schools, including Bunker and Muskegon High School, class of 1970 - nine years before Arlona.  He grew up on the same street as one of Arlona's best friends from school.  His wife had lived in Oscoda, Michigan when her dad was in the Air Force - the same place Arlona's sister's husband spend some of his youth when his dad was also stationed at Oscoda.  Funny how things work out sometimes.

Tonight's main show entertainment featured Juliette Primrose, a violinist.  She presented a show that ran from Carlos Santana to American swing, to Led Zepplin to Hava Negila to Fiddler on the Roof to dueling banjos (on violin) to The Eagles.

She was high-energy, entertaining, and seemed to engage the audience.

After the show, we stopped by Torshavn - the nightclub on the ship.  It was pretty crowded and the band had just gone on break.  We opted to return to 4029 and call it a day.  Tomorrow is another sea day and we need our sleep so we can defend our trivia win.