World Cruise Day 37/152 - Sea Day - It's "go" time!

Cruise day: 37/152
Ports days: 12
Sea days: 25
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 8

Today, we awoke to a partial overcast, moderate breezes, and low to mid-70-degree temperatures for the day.  The Captain has been working hard to scuttle rain in the area and so far, has been doing well.

Let's get the daily stuff out of the way first today - beginning bidding wrapped up in bridge lessons today - we'll see what mysteries tomorrow holds.  In trivia, we seem to have found our place - just out of the running for points.  Dick Tracy's wife's maiden name?  Tess Trueheart.  I had the "Tess" part but couldn't remember her last name.  What world leader convinced his two sons to steal over a billion dollars from their country's national bank?  Saddam Hussein. Where is the longest fence in the world? The dingo fence in Australia at over 3,400 miles.  But, if you look at the definition, a fence is: "a barrier intended to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary" I would argue that the Great Wall of China at 13,170 miles both qualifies as a fence and trumps the dingo fence.  Of course, arguments fall on deaf ears as the trivia master has the final say.  And, it's just a game. :-)

Viking took another shot at the equator crossing certificates.

The year has been corrected to "2022", but the crossing date is still a day off and no names are on the certificate.  Plus, as another guest pointed out, the area of the world where we crossed is covered.  Oh well, in the grand scheme of things, this is a little thing. Still, it seems like one that Viking would get right, especially after two tries.

On a more positive note, the privacy partition on our balcony has been rattling in the breeze and it is a little annoying.  We kept forgetting about it, but today, I mentioned it to Mohammed, our cabin steward.  As I was typing this blog - *buzz* - our doorbell buzzed.  Maintenence was here to fix it.  Three minutes later, the issue was resolved and all was good.  The entire team here at Viking is very responsive and really strives to provide a quality experience for the guests.

Arlona's art endeavor this afternoon was palm trees at sunset. The inspiration is on the right and the outcome is on the left.

I'd call that yet another success.  To recognize how important this is, you have to realize that Arlona is an engineer.  That means symmetry, concrete ideas, process, and no abstraction.  For her to produce quality work like this is incredible.  I think she might have a new calling.

Now for the "go time" discussion. Of course, this means...the bathroom.  But before we go there (pun intended), let's talk about Viking Ocean ships and room types.

All Viking Ocean ships have 465 staterooms divided into six categories:

• Veranda - 270 sq ft
• Deluxe veranda - 270 sq ft
• Penthouse veranda - 338 sq ft
• Penthouse junior suite - 405 sq ft
• Explorer's suite - 757-1,163 sq ft
• Owner's suite - 1,448 sq ft

Besides room size, each jump in category adds some perks like wine, guaranteed dining reservations, earlier access to shore excursions, laundry, and so on.  I want to talk about the bathrooms, but I will only be talking about the first three - veranda, deluxe veranda, and penthouse veranda rooms as they all have the same bathroom design.  I have not been in the next three types of rooms, so I can't speak to those.  I do know that in the Penthouse junior suites and up, the bathroom size increases. Since the vast majority of Viking cruisers will be in the first three cabin types, it seems to make sense to focus there.

If you're a cruiser, you know how the bathrooms are - cramped.  Viking realizes that part of your cruise experience is spent in the bathroom and they designed the room to be livable, dare I say, luxurious.

The first thing you notice is that the room itself isn't cramped.  There is room to move around.  The second thing is the finishes.  The floor and walls are covered in a heavy tile with a textured finish.  It looks like something I'd expect to see in someone's home.

The countertop appears to be made from polished stone or quartz.  The sink is a heavy composite material in gleaming white.

On each side of the sink, there are shelves with a protective bar to prevent items from falling.

The shelves are deep enough to hold larger items.

On the wall closest to the door, we find a mysterious switch with a red "on" indicator.  This switch turns on the heated floor.  I had mentioned that in an earlier blog, but I'll mention it again.  You can turn on the floor and walk in to a lovely warm feeling under your toes.  It's awesome, especially for those middle-of-the-night visits. The red LED also doubles as a dim night light. Some people never figure this out because they flip the switch and nothing happens.  It takes a while - an hour or more - for the tile to warm from underneath.  I flip it on when I brush my teeth before bed and turn it back off in the morning when I wake up.

The toilet isn't your typical cruise toilet.  Well, yes it has that push-button flush on the wall, and yes, it makes a huge sucking sound that sounds like it could inhale whatever you happened to be wearing at the time.  But, there's more.

If you lift the soft-close lid, you'll see two button-like additions at the top of the back of the bowl.  These are water jets that shoot water out into the bowl when you flush.  This helps send everything down the drain, keeping the bowl nice and clean.  It is a little thing, but still a nice touch.

Like most cruise ship toilets, there is a warning label affixed to the inside of the lid.  I find this one pretty amusing. Is anyone regularly flushing rings, syringes, pill bottles, coins, bolts, screws, bottle caps, entire bottles, and wine corks?  That one must be a big issue because they put it on there twice!

Again, if you're a cruiser, you probably have the same level of hatred as I do for cruise ship toilet paper. I can imagine the advertisements they run in cruise industry magazines and websites:

While Viking's toilet paper isn't Charmin or Quilted Northern, it is vastly better than the rebranded sandpaper that other cruise lines use.  Again, it's is a little thing, but it really makes a difference.

The gleaming chromed faucet is integrated into the wall and provides a good, splash-less flow of water.

The shower really stands out for me.  First, it is big enough to turn around. The outside walls are thick glass with a curved glass corner.  It looks very nice.

Second, it isn't designed for only short people.  At 5'10" for Arlona and 5'11" for me, we struggle in a lot of cruise and hotel showers.  They are designed for shorter people with no consideration for the taller ones. Here, the showerhead is on a long rail and can be adjusted for a huge range of heights. I can't imagine anyone not being able to find a good height for them.

The handle can be adjusted from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal, so if you like a direct shower, or you are more of a rain head shower person, this will work for you.

The head itself has its own volume control so you can vary from a surprisingly strong spray to more of a rain-like setting.

My only complaint about the showerhead is that the mount doesn't do a good job holding the head steady, so it can rotate a little.  This can be mitigated by sliding the head up to the ceiling and securing it there.  But, that only works if you like a tall shower.

The shower is controlled with a dual-control system.  The volume control on the left controls the speed of the water flow.  The temperature setting on the right controls the temperature.  The temperature control could have a wider range for me.  It jumps pretty quickly from cold to hot, but that's a minor quibble.

I've had a couple people as what the red button is used for on the temperature control.  That is a safety button designed to keep you from peeling your skin off.  If you turn it to full hot, it is designed to not get hot enough to scald.  If you need really, really hot water, if you push that button, it will allow you to turn the temperature control farther and I believe tap into the molten hot magma that rests below the Earth's crust.  OK, perhaps not quite that hot, but it does get hotter than most people find tolerable.

The shower also has the requisite drying string.  The string container resides on the wall closest to the door.

The receiver resides on the diagonally opposite wall.

Another cruiser pointed out that you can also request a shower chair that is designed to exactly fit and can be a lifesaver on rough sea days. Thanks, Susan, for the tip.

Because the bathroom isn't overly large, there was no good way to get a mirror photo without including myself in that photo, so sorry about that.  The mirror nearly fills the wall.  There is an overhead spot that illuminates the sink.  The rest of the lighting comes from two integrated frosted panels on either side of the sink.  This provides nice, soft indirect lighting.

Another cool (pun intended) aspect of the mirror is that it's hot!  When the lights are on, the mirror is also heated.  Turn on the lights, wait a few minutes and put your hand up to the mirror - it will be warm.  This is designed to prevent the mirror from fogging when the humidity is high, like after a shower.  One more nice touch.

Under the counter, we find towel, toilet paper, and tissue storage.  The trash can is concealed behind a door under the sink. There is a drawer on both sides of the sink as well.

The one curiosity that I can come up with is the grab handle.  There is a grab handle behind the toilet, right next to the shower glass.  I cannot come up with any scenario where this would do me any good.  But, hey - there's a grab handle.

The bottom line here is that the bathrooms in Viking staterooms are a notch above those that we have experienced on other cruise lines. And this bathroom is the same as you will find in the lowest-cost room on a Viking oceangoing ship. It is one more way that Viking invites you to explore the world in comfort.  Dang - I sound like an advertisement.  I might have to start charging for this!

The chef prepared a special German brunch in The Restaurant but our schedule didn't allow us to attend.  That was OK because the World Cafe also had German fare with bratwurst, Bavarian meatloaf, pretzels and such.

Dinner featured another noodle bar.  Arlona enjoyed a mushroom risotto and green beans.  I had a really tasty bowl of pork-fried rice.

Arlona has been dragging a bit for the last two days, so we decided to make it one more early evening. The ship's movement seems to be affecting her a little more than normal. We'll read and perhaps catch a movie on the TV.

Two more sea days until we reach Chile.