2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip
Day 11/105 - Sailing the Gulf of Alaska, following the Aleutians
Today is a day at sea, leisurely cruising in the Gulf of Alaska. Sea days are more relaxed since there are no shore excursions that make you get up early. Ahh, a day to sleep in until...6:21 a.m.! What?
It was at precisely 6:21 a.m. that Arlona's phone started ringing. A couple of weeks before this trip, we had our annual eye appointments. During that appointment, Arlona ordered new glasses, hoping that they would be in before we left. About a week before departure, sure enough, her glasses were in. Yay! But...when she tried them on, she said she felt sick almost immediately. They had misread the prescription so one of the lenses was very, very wrong. Boo! They put in an order, hoping to get them back before we left. Yay! They didn't come in. Boo! At 6:21 a.m. this morning (10:21 a.m. in central Florida), they called to say that the glasses were in. Yay! We're sailing in the Gulf of Alaska right now and won't be home until the end of December. Boo! But...our friends are joining us in Tokyo through Bangkok and they use the same eye care provider. They are picking up her glasses and will give them to Arlona in Tokyo! Yay!
Honestly, we would have been even more excited if we found out after 8 a.m., but still good news for Arlona.
One advantage of being up that early is that for the first time on this trip, we were up for the sunrise. To be fair, a sunrise really isn't different from a sunset, other than the direction of travel but still, we caught a sunrise.
After breakfast, Arlona attended another crochet lesson from our friend, Emily. We met up at a guest versus guest Baggo (corn hole) match in the atrium. We wrapped up the morning with a reception for members of the Facebook group for this cruise. It was nice talking with folks we knew as well as putting faces with names for some of the people with whom we have had online conversations. Sadly, the woman who created and managed the Facebook group and her husband had to leave the ship for medical reasons so she missed the outcome of her efforts bringing everyone together. They are missed by us all.
This afternoon started like most sea days - with trivia. Today, Trivia Master, Harry, presented food-themed trivia. We had a respectable 12.5/15 but fell short of the win. Did you know that M&M (like the melts in your mouth, not in your hand candy) stands for Mars & Murrie - Forrest E. Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie?
We enjoyed meeting a nice couple from Sydney at lunch - one of the best parts of cruising. After lunch, I started working on the blog when Viking's history of crappy internet service raised its ugly head.
In past blogs, I've complained about the quality of internet service on Viking vessels. There is no way around it. For a leading luxury cruise line, they absolutely miss the boat (see what I did there?) when it comes to usable, reliable internet service. In today's day and age, many people regard internet access as a necessity for communication, finance, work, or other personal reasons. It is no longer a nice-to-have. When you consider Viking's target demographic, that is even more true. So why do they continue to lag behind the industry? Your guess is as good as mine.
Case in point - we sailed on a transatlantic Celebrity cruise this past spring. They used Starlink - Elon Musk's satellite internet service. We were able to stream 4K video in the middle of the Atlantic with no interruptions. Today, on the vastly more expensive Viking Orion, I can't get email to load. It's time, Viking. Modernize. Here's what I don't understand. A Viking IT person working on this ship told me they implemented Starlink. I'm no expert unless you consider my degree in Computer Science and 35-year career in all aspects of IT, but if they implemented Starlink on this ship, they did it wrong and need a lot of help. For all the things that Vkiking does well, they do not do IT well.
Speaking of doing well, we attended Travel Consultant, Hâmed's presentation on all things Viking Cruises. He provided a great overview of their ocean, river, and expedition offerings including all the repositioning options and new itineraries. With all seven continents and 95 countries available, we still think Viking has a lot to offer us for travel.
Our usual Explorers' Bar and World Cafe pattern held true this evening. Right as we finished dinner, the sun was setting so we were able to capture the full round trip of the sun today.
Tonight's entertainment was a welcome change from show tunes - Shawn McMaster, a magician who brings a healthy dose of comedy into his act.
He engaged the audience and gave an entertaining show with modest (to me) magic coupled with laughs and a lot of fun. We enjoyed him.
We were treated to a nearly full moon tonight as a farewell to this sea day.
Tomorrow, we make our last stop in Alaska, Dutch Harbor in Unalaska in the Aleutian Island chain. They are one timezone earlier than we are currently on, yet we aren't changing the ship's time tonight. I'm not sure why, but I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow.
Agree wholeheartedly with you on Viking being behind the curve ball in regards to IT matters. Not their strength for sure, but they do so much better on cruising in style. It’s just a different experience than most other cruise lines. IMHO
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