World Cruise Day 28/152 – Sea Day – Don’t try this if you’re a NASCAR driver

Cruise day: 28/152
Ports days: 10
Sea days: 18
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 7

Sorry for the late post, but the internet was down last night on the ship.

What comes to mind if I mention the word, “promenade”?  For lots of folks, it evokes memories from grade school gym class and mandatory square dance sessions. “Allemande left, now bow to your partner and promenade…”.  If you’re a cruiser, it makes you think of the deck on your particular cruise ship that contains a walking/jogging track that goes all the way around the ship.  Here on the Viking Star, that means deck #2.

Deck #2 is where you can find the walkers on this cruise, and by “walkers”, I mean people who walk, not mobility assistance devices.  Every day, lots of folks come down to step through a few laps as a means to help keep in shape, and in Arlona’s case, give her carte blanche to eat more of the wonderful food.

Here’s a look at our route today.  First of all, let’s discuss the rules of the road.

For whatever reason, the folks on the Viking Star have chosen to walk this deck in the clockwise direction.  

An interesting aside…with the latest generation being completely unfamiliar with clocks that have analog hands, at some point, will the terms “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, and “anti-clockwise” disappear?  They really don’t have any meaning in a digital clock world.  Back to our story.

I find it really odd that the chosen direction is clockwise.  Where else do you go clockwise?  Track and field events?  Nope – counterclockwise.  Indy 500?  Nope – counterclockwise.  Speed skating?  Nope – counterclockwise. NASCAR? Nope – counterclockwise.  In fact, they say that if a NASCAR driver is chasing you, all you have to do is turn right and you’ll lose them. But here, on the Viking Star, in opposition to most known circular repetitive tracks, we go our own way, against the grain, and we go clockwise!

When we walk, we typically start out on the port (left) side and head on out.  As you can see, several folks were walking this morning.  

As you walk clockwise on the port side, you are heading forward.  As you approach the front of the ship, you will enter an enclosed area.

Inside that area, there are several crew doors, handles, and other ship operation mysteries.  

Continuing farther, you wind up coming out of the enclosed area onto the starboard side of the ship, heading toward the back of the ship.

As you hit mid-ship (on either side), you walk under the lifeboats that you hope to never use, except as tenders.

At the back of the ship, you pass by a couple of windbreaks.

Then, you wind up at the stern, looking out at the wake of the ship – a nice treat every lap.

Today, I completed seven laps or 1.75 miles.  Arlona continued on for three more laps or 2.5 miles.  We did that to clear a few calories to make room for this – lobster salad in a tortilla bowl.

Arlona complete another art project today, this time combining several techniques – her best work yet.

I popped up on deck with my camera as we’d caught glimpses of some wildlife.  As I stood watching, several turtles floated by. 

I also caught sight of two iridescent blue fish with striking yellow tails.  I’m not sure what they are, but their colors were exceptionally bright.  

The highlight of the day was the dolphins.  They were a good distance off the side of the ship, so I’ll apologize for the graininess of the photos.  They were a joy to watch as they jumped completely out of the water, spinning, and playing.

As we enjoyed a cocktail and conversation in the Explorer’s Bar with our stateroom neighbor, we caught yet another impressive sunset at sea.

Then, we made our way to the World Cafe for the Chef’s salute to cheese.  

There were all kinds of cheese samples and cheese-based dishes including a terrific chorizo dish baked with mozzarella and cheddar cheese.  We wound up frittering away the evening with wonderful conversations with Hamed, our terrific cruise consultant as well as nice folks that we met on board.

It is nice that Viking live streams all the evening performances to the stateroom TVs.  We opted to skip the Star Theater and magician Andrew Lee's second performance and watch it in our stateroom.  Once again, it was just OK, so we were happy to be comfy in our room.

Tomorrow is sea day number three of four before we arrive in Costa Rica, again.