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Saturday, October 18, 2025

20251018 Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 14 – Dalian, China

Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 14 – Taking it easy in Dalian

After two weeks of go, go, go, it was nice to have the morning to do absolutely nothing. But that came after a night of bouncing around. We weren't even out in the open ocean last night.

Our route from Tianjin to Dalian, and tomorrow's dashed route to Qingdao

We were getting bounced around like we were lying down on the floor of a bouncy castle, and 100 kids were jumping all around us. We've sailed the world, including the Drake Passage and through 35-foot waves between the Falkland Islands and Argentina, and last night was some of the most violent bangs and shakes we've felt. Wow. The movements weren't large, like the Drake Passage, but they were hard.

 OK, let's talk a little about the ship. As I mentioned, this was Viking's first ship, and it is now owned by the Chinese and operated by Viking. Overall, for its age, it looks very good. The exterior is all freshly painted, and the interior is all Viking and exactly like every other Viking ocean vessel, with one exception. There is no Torshavn. There is, however, 1872. It is in the same place as Torshavn. It has the same goofy trombone lamp. It has the same design. It's open the same hours. It has the same dance and live music vibe. It's just called 1872.

We are in room 3086, a V2, or Veranda 2 cabin - the entry-level cabin on the ship. The room is exactly like every other Veranda or Deluxe Veranda room we've been in. It has been updated with the dresser on one side of the closet. It has a heated bathroom floor. One oddity is that there is no 110V US plug at the desk. There is a mixed design dual 220V plug and dual U.K. plugs, but one is dedicated to the QuietVox charger. There is a two-prong 110V plug on each side of the bed as well as dual USB-A ports and a U.K. plug.

Our room was cold last night - really cold. We had no heat. This morning, we tried to convey that to our extremely polite room steward. The problem was that she speaks no English, and we speak no Mandarin. I was about to grab my phone and open Google Translate when she grabbed her pocket translator. With that, we were able to explain the issue, and she had someone come and look at it. When we got back from breakfast, the blower was finally blowing, and the room slowly got warmer. That hasn't helped our hallway, which has a constant cool blast flowing down it.

Speaking of breakfast, when we got to the World Cafe this morning to chow, we ran into the final couple we were meeting up with on this trip, who we have cruised with before. We met them on our 2022 Antarctica cruise and found out that they were joining this cruise. They set up a dinner in the Manfredis' private room in a few days, so that will be fun catching up with them.

The internet is frustratingly slow. It makes the painful internet we had on our 2021-2022 world cruise seem fast, and that sucked. It will make publishing this blog daily a bit of a chore, so we'll see how that goes.

We were scheduled to dock in Dalian, China, at 10:00. Dalian is a town of around seven million people. It sits across the bay from Tianjin, so that made the rough ride all the more surprising.

Arriving in Dalian

We docked around 10:30, and the ship was cleared closer to 11:00. Our tour wasn't until 2:30, so we had some free time to just relax.

A tug, right outside our window, nudged us to the dock

We decided to get another reservation for Manfredi's before the end of the cruise. When we called, we learned that when you book a Veranda-class cabin - V2 or V1, you aren't allowed to make any advanced dining reservations at all. That was news to us. We've always booked Deluxe Veranda (DV1-6) or Penthouse Veranda (PV1-3) cabins. On Viking, it sucks to be in steerage, I guess.

We had lunch at the Pool Grill and enjoyed a Viking Burger, fries, and onion rings. Ahh, the simple things.

Our excursion today took us into Dalian to ride a vintage tram, see a little of the city, and visit what is known as the Russian Street.

Our first stop was at the historic tram. Electric trams were introduced across China in 1906, but then phased out in the 1970s, except in Dalian. These historic vehicles are still in operation today.


The interior is all wood


The wooden hand grips are suspended from leather straps

The ride was jerky, a little clunky, and a nice, retro experience


They repurposed an older tram car into a gift shop

Our tram

Another, more highly decorated tram

We stopped at a scenic spot for photos.


The Chinese characters translate to "Dalian's heart beats endlessly" (if Google got it right)

Our final stop was what our guide referred to as "the Russian street". Russians controlled this area and built the city in 1899. They controlled it until 1906, when it was conquered by the Japanese. The Japanese controlled it until 1945, when it was liberated, and China took control. This street had multiple buildings that were built by the Russians, and you could see their influence in the design. It was also a shopping street, so we could browse the shops and admire the architecture.




The entry to the Russian street

The original Russian government office building



Definitely not Chinese architecture

Definitely not Chinese characters

Wow, when did snacks get so angry? These were packages of seaweed rolls.


A Russian officer's club that was converted to a Japanese library, and then a Chinese art gallery



The end of our walk on the Russian street

An interesting sculpture on the way back to the ship

On the way back to the ship, our guide, Hebe, said that both she and her husband were only children. This was a result of China's 1979 mandate for couples to be allowed to have no more than one child. That was eventually relaxed in 2016, and couples could have up to two children. In 2021, it was further relaxed, and couples can now have up to three children. If you think about it, from 1979 until 2016, a period of 37 years, nearly two entire generations grew up in China without cousins. How strange is that?

Back on the ship, we headed for the Explorers Bar and enjoyed some time as we sailed from Dalian.

Saying farewell to Dalian

Tomorrow afternoon, we will dock in Qingdao (pronounced CHING-dow), a city with a heavy German influence.

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20251018 Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 14 – Dalian, China

Viking Gems of China and Japan Day 14 – Taking it easy in Dalian After two weeks of go, go, go, it was nice to have the morning to do absolu...