Good day, all! There’s not much to report today as yesterday was a sea day, and I gave my camera the day off except for this photo of a lonely, abandoned oil platform in the North Sea. That’s the only photo I took all day long. (The photo on the top of the page is a pano I took of the Observatory in Greenwich the day before.) But today, we were in Edinburgh, and we had a beautiful sail-in to the port of Rosyth early in the morning, so I hope to have some great pictures for tomorrow.
I want to write a short report about a sea day on Vikings. Yesterday was my 22nd day on a Viking Ocean ship, and it was my first sea day. You see, our cruises in the Med were all port days. So, I had no clue what would happen on a Viking sea day. Yesterday I found out, and the answer is…not a lot. The Daily was full of some lectures, trivia right at lunchtime, some entertainment around the ship, and that’s it. No waterslides, go-carts, ice skating, belly flop competitions, or fully-dressed water volleyball matches against the officers. We got none of that. And that’s why we sail Viking. We aren’t looking for that kind of thing. We wanted what we got. A day of rest (especially for Kathleen and I, who have been on the go for 16 days). It allowed me to work on all those photos I posted yesterday from Greenwich.
Ask me again how I like it in about a week when we have two full days at sea. But in the meantime, we have three straight port days, so I am not sure when you will get the next post about Edinburgh. I need to work on the photos now, so I will sign off and say that the weather here in Edinburgh has been good to us and that as many times as we have been here, we still love this city.
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. —Jacques Yves Cousteau
We’ve only cruised with Viking and once on Oceania’s Vista with sea days on both lines. We enjoyed our sea day on Vista more so than with Viking. There were a few more activities available on Vista (games, etc. to compete for swag) yet still on the relaxed side of things (we eschew the big ship cruise lines for similar reasons) and Vista’s pickle ball and golf amenities (putt putt course and driving range) provided us with more to do. Pickle ball while cruising was played more for the laughs than anything else since the wind severely affected the ball’s trajectory.
We also give a slight nod to Vista for dining on sea days over Viking. We loved the Aquamar Kitchen (nothing comparable on Viking with Mamsen’s being the closest) and liked Waves Grill on Vista better than Viking’s Pool grill. However, we preferred Viking’s Wintergarden (for afternoon tea) and World Cafe buffet to Vista’s offerings for these types of venues.
I love me some sea days…..on any ship.
Get a bridge tour on sea day!
If I were a newbie, a bridge tour might be a great idea. But we have done at least 10, and to be honest, I find them boring. In today’s electronic world, you are basically looking at a bunch of computers that are running the ship.
We (Fraser and I) love sea days, gives one the opportunity to refresh and just do nothing (or have a spa visit). One of the reasons we like cruises that are more than 7 days duration and have perhaps switched allegiance to a cruise line that offers cruises of longer duration.