Monday, November 26, 2018- Cienfuegos, Cuba

Monday, November 26, 2018- Ciefuegos, Cuba

We awoke to find ourselves gliding along the channel leading into Cienfuegos, Cuba.  The vegetation included cacti and palm trees growing on strata of volcanic and sedimentary formations.

Our ship set anchor in the harbor, along with the Holland America ship Veendam.  We had breakfast in the World Cafe.  I had steered clear of “Bangers” because on Princess, the English Bangers are usually very bland, but I tried one from the buffet and it was pretty flavorful.  Because we were transferring by tenders to shore today, most of the excursion groups met at the Star Theater and then were escorted down to the tender station by groups.  The process went very quickly.  We sat for less than 5 minutes before we were sent down to the tender station.  

Princess ships have a dock that swings down from the side of the ship that the tenders then tie up to.  The Viking Star simply has an enlarged port just above the waterline, so the tenders come up directly against the side of the ship.  The tenders have large rubber fenders built into their gunnels so you step directly from the ship onto the tender.  The tender ride to shore was less than 10 minutes each way. At customs and immigration, the agents checked our passports and then kept our Cuban Visas since this was our last Cuban port of call.

We boarded similar Chinese built charter buses for our tour.  The buses took us only about 4 blocks to the main city square named José Marti park. This was a spacious and uncrowded plaza with beautiful trees, a band gazebo, statues and city arch.  The square is surrounded by government buildings on one side, private buildings opposite, a cathedral, and a school.  José Marti was one of Latin America’s great intellectuals at the turn of the century who spent much of his life advocating for liberation of Cuba from Spanish rule, and the abolition of slavery.  He ended dying in 1895 as Cubans fought for their independence from Spain.  

 The bus then took us to a government cigar factory where we saw some of the supposedly over 100 steps to produce a hand made Cuban cigar.  Oddly enough, photography was forbidden inside the factory, and there was no factory store selling cigars.  We saw some women grading tobacco leaves based on color, texture, size and potency, stripping out the central stem and separating each leaf into two half leaves.  Then in the rolling room, we watched factory workers create cigars by first laying out leaves specifically graded for the outer shell, then taking other leaves graded for filling, laying them on the shell and rolling it up in a spiral manner. Then they use maple sap as glue to seal up the seams and ends and assemble caps cut from leaf scraps.  The rolled cigars are then placed in a press.  Then a machine was used to test the “Draw” or flow of air through the cigars to make sure that they would smoke properly.  We had heard that workers can smoke all the cigars they want while at work but there was nobody smoking in the factory, or at least the part that we walked through.  The only thing that stank in the factory was the bathrooms, which were worse than porta-potties because it appeared that none of the sewer plumbing was working.  The factory hallways were lined with propaganda posters and pictures of Fidel and Raul Castro.  

 Our next stop was the main shopping district in Cienfuegos, which had a nice pedestrian mall.  Unlike in Santiago de Cuba, we were not mobbed by beggars at all in Cienfuegos, either in the square or shopping area.  There were also Cubans going about their business despite the invasion of their city by two cruise ships.  We could walk into a government commissary where residents redeemed their ration coupons for goods.  There were a lot of empty shelves and the chalkboard with a list of coupon redemption prices for goods was less than 15 lines long.  We also walked a bit through a mall with both government and private counters selling a variety of goods.  It looked more like a flea market than a Walmart, to be sure. 

 

 

One interesting fashion note was that we noticed that several of the female police and customs employees wore patterned fishnet black tights as part of their work outfits. It was at least 90 degrees in temperature, so it’s hard to imagine how wearing any kind of tights would be comfortable.    

We eventually ended right back at José Marti park, where we then went into the recommended government tourist store which sold Cuban rum and cigars.  This store seemed much more legitimate, with uniformed employees and cash registers.  We ended up buying two boxes of Montecristo #2 Petit cigars.  This store did not have the full length Montecristo #2’s, but the cigar salesman said the Petit’s smoke and taste exactly the same as the full length version, only for a little less time. 

The last stop on our tour excursion was Palacio de Valle in the Punto Gorda neighborhood, a formerly grand Villa built in 1913 by an Italian architect with Moorish and other motifs.  We were treated to a Cuba Libre cocktail, which is Coca-Cola, lime and white Cuban rum.  An iron spiral staircase leads up to the rooftop bar where a band was playing, and we could catch a glimpse of the Viking Star in the bay.  

         

From there, the bus took us back to the tender pier, where a small collection of vendors waited patiently for us to spend the last of our Cuban dollars.  We ended up picking up a few T-shirts, and then boarded the tender. We ended up sitting right next to Dr. Carin Bondar, the sexy crocodile biologist lecturer, who enthusiastically greeted us both by our first names.  We did learn that she is actually over 40 and has 2 children.  

  Lunch was at the poolside grill where Janet had them build her a custom bacon cheese burger with guacamole, and Ben ordered their “Norway Hotdog” which featured pickled red cabbage and shrimp salad on a beef hot dog.  

Then we were off to the fitness center and thermal suite for some guilt reduction and hot/cold therapy.  That snow grotto’s 14 degree temperature is surprisingly refreshing after a half hour on the elliptical and hot tub soak.  Don’t worry, Ben did take a shower between the cardio and hot tub. It is so nice that there is no extra charge for all this, and there hasn’t ever been a crowd when we have gone.   The big screens around the ship had been tuned to NASA’s Mars landing, which apparently went OK.  It was interesting to see all the young and female engineers on the NASA videos and how hard NASA was working to build up this landing as a really big deal. They must have figured out that funding is tied to popularity.

 A guitarist put on a program in the atrium on “Samba and other Bossas”, which are Brazilian musical genres.  It was nostalgic to hear tunes made popular by Basia and Karrin Allyson, but he didn’t do O Pato, the Duck song.  

 The World Cafe featured “Cuban Street Foods” which included a pork sandwich with potatoes and aioli sauce reminiscent of a Peruvian pork sandwich, and what looked like taco bar fixings without the taco shells.  They were also featuring Cuban cocktails, but not for free.  

 Viking put on the Metropolitan Opera’s Aida in HD.  We both struggled to stay awake, and ended up retreating to our stateroom to watch “Three Identicals” on TV.  

 Our itinerary was changed at the last minute to substitute Cartagena, Columbia for Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.  We have been to both ports of call during our first Panama Canal cruise in 2015, and back to Cartagena a second time towards the end of our South America cruise.  We’ll just have to see how the included Viking excursion compares with the two Princess excursions we have previously done.  We have a sea day tomorrow, and then arrive at Cartagena in the late afternoon.  The ship will stay in Cartagena overnight and will depart in the afternoon the next day.  

Sunday, November 25, 2018- At Sea, South of Cuba

Sunday, November 25, 2018- At Sea, South of Cuba

Today, we are sailing between the south shoreline of Cuba and the Cayman Islands.  The waters have turned to the characteristically blue Caribbean water.  This has been a notable change, as there was much more of a green color in the Strait of Florida.  We haven’t seen any of the notorious Red Tide that had plagued Florida for much of the summer and fall.   We had our first breakfast in the Restaurant.  Ben found they had a good chicken congee and shu-mai dumplings available on the breakfast menu, and both were good.  They did not serve the shu-mai with soy sauce, but we didn’t bother to ask for them to bring any because they were gone in a flash.  Janet had eggs benedict, which was perfectly prepared. The Viking version had regular ham, rather than Canadian bacon, which was to Janet’s liking.  The bacon on Viking is also nice and crisp, like Janet prefers. You can also order salmon or New York steak at breakfast as well.  Service was fine.  Our waitress took our order on an iPhone.  They’ve got an App for that! We attended the morning lecture by former Diplomat Rob Warne titled “Cuba- A Struggling Neighbor”.  Although his Powerpoint slides were a bit stale, his presentation was very good, and he spoke with considerable authority regarding Cuba’s transition to Communism, and the social and economic challenges it has had to face.   It was bright, sunny and 93 degrees as we took a few laps around the Promenade deck.  This ship is certainly much less crowded than our past Princess and Norwegian cruises.  There are a couple of people with walkers, numerous with walking sticks, but most passengers seem to be above average in fitness.  The demographic of these Viking Ocean travelers seems to skew towards the recently retired and intellectual.  We are probably near the middle of that demographic, but towards the lower half of the age range.  I would guess the median age to be about 67.  Viking Ocean does not allow any passengers under 18. I doubt there are any passengers on this ship under 55.   We booked a Guaranty Veranda stateroom with the Viking mailed promotion.  We ended being assigned a Deluxe Veranda, which differs from a basic Veranda by virtue that the mini bar is restocked daily with snacks and sodas, and a pair of binoculars is included. The binoculars are like the cheap give-aways we used to be able to get from Drug Reps years ago before the Feds cracked down on gifts to physicians.  They might be suitable for opera glasses, but my Pentax compact binoculars are vastly superior.   The stateroom itself is comparable in size to the Princess standard balconies.  There is a redistribution in the space that eliminates the small hallway between the bathroom and closet on the Princess balcony rooms.  This puts the closet adjacent to the bed, and expands the bathroom to the point where you can actually have two adults in the bathroom (Crowded, but possible).  The shower has glass doors and measures a full 34” square, and there is plenty of room around the toilet.

  On the other hand, there is much less actual shelf and drawer storage space than on Princess.  There is only a single shallow drawer in each night stand with a small open shelf below.  The closet has 5’ of hanging space.  At the end of the closet, facing the hall, are an open shelf above the coffee service, safe, and 3 real drawers below.  The desk (22” x 54”) is quite usable, but doesn’t have any drawers.  The top does pivot up to reveal a storage tray below and make-up mirror, but it’s inconvenient if you keep your laptop on the desk top.  My iPad Pro is light and small enough that I can still access the tray without too much trouble, but you don’t want to be storing anything in there you will need frequently. There are two drawers in the bathroom, suitable for keeping all our toiletries, and there is an ungrounded 120v US styled shaver outlet at counter level on the left end of the counter. We still needed our non-polarized 2 way outlet splitter so that we could plug in our Sonicare toothbrush chargers, but there was no need to bring a night light or extension cord.  This stateroom is equipped with floor lighting controlled by a separate switch next to each night stand, so you can make midnight trips to the toilet with optimized lighting.  

There are two 120v grounded US styled and two grounded 220v EU styled outlets at the desk.  One of the EU outlets is occupied by the desk lamp, but there was no need for us to bring any extension cords or splitters for the desk area.  There is a single 120V grounded US styled and 220v grounded EU styled outlets, and two USB ports including one 2A above each night stand, so it is easy to charge both our iPhones and Apple Watches on the night stands with only our lightning cables and wireless watch charging pucks. 

We learned on this cruise that anything with a surge protector built in is a prohibited item on cruise ships. This is because of differences in the way voltage is assigned to pins in outlets can cause surge protectors wired for land use to fail. Fortunately, the extension cords and splitters we have usually packed, don’t have surge protectors, and the way this ship is wired, none were required other than if you wanted to plug more than one Sonicare toothbrush charger in the bathroom. We also learned that heating pads and extension cords are also generally prohibited, but my extension cords and splitters were not intercepted by security, nor bothered by our room stewards.  We did still end up needing 3 additional USB chargers to complete our electrical needs beyond the 4 built in USB charge ports in the night stands. Our bed and bedding are very nice.  The mattress is 72” x 82”, which is probably a king size, and the mattress is just a bit more firm than our Beautyrest Black hybrid mattress at home and the mattresses on Princess.  The pillows are huge, and just the right amount of loft and compressibility for support and comfort.   The narrowest points are through the entry door and between the end of the mattress and wall. Both measure 24”. The door itself measures 26”, but the jamb and hinging narrow the true opening.   The desk and sitting area include a desk chair, two comfy upholstered sitting chairs and a small coffee table.  The balcony is about the same size as a standard Princess balcony, and noticeably larger than a deluxe Norwegian balcony. It has two comfortable outdoor chairs and a table large enough for breakfast for two, but the chairs are not recliners like on Princess. Our balcony has a nice unobstructed view down to the waterline, which will be nice for our Panama Canal passage. We teamed up with a couple originally from Wisconsin who had migrated to North Carolina, and an Aussie couple for noon team trivia.  The first question happened to be “What country is the only one to have six stars on its flag?”  Well, that happens to be Australia.  We ended up with 9/15.  3 teams tied with 10/15 and had a tie breaker question of “How many times does the word Blood appear in Shakespeare’s McBeth?”  They were all way off with figures all under 13, while the answer is 42.  The stakes for Viking Trivia is not very high.  The prize is a round of Mimosas to the winning team.  The most oddball question, which we missed, was “What Jack Nicholson movie has a literal Chinese title of Mr. Cat Poo?  The answer is “As Good As It Gets”.  Hard to see how they managed to come up with that translation. We had classic bacon cheese burgers at the poolside grill for lunch.  They also have onion rings available, but they take longer to get, and the fries are pretty darn good.   Our next enrichment lecture was a photography seminar, which was well done.  It introduced the 1/3 rule, and the basics of composition and lighting.  There will be a series of these talks in addition to hands on seminars later in the cruise.  We may just end up better photographers by the end of this trip. Dinner was at Manfredi’s Italian specialty restaurant.  This was our first specialty dining experience with Viking Ocean, and it surpassed the experience at Sabatini’s on Princess.  The menus were all in Italian, so you had to rely on Google translate (thank goodness for free wifi) and the waiters.  The selection was quite good.  We ended up ordering swordfish and chicken parmesan, along with a number of appetizers and side dishes.  The food was excellent, far surpassing the quality and taste of our last Sabatini’s, although Princess still does a slightly better job on presentation.  Both our dishes were drowned in heaps of arugula leaves.  It was nice to have wine and cappuccino included as well.  The Star Theater presented the Viking Solo Vocalists, a quartet consisting of two males and two females, all from London.  They were very good with singing on par with vocalists on Princess, but without the chorus and dancers that Princess has.  The stage makes good use of their giant LED backdrops and state of the art lighting and fog effects. The show as called Legends, and featured songs of Las Vegas Legends including Elvis, Tom Jone, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Tina Turner, Elton John and Barry Manilow.  We took a few moonlight laps around the Promenade to get Janet’s rings closed before retiring to our stateroom for the night.  We watched the enrichment lecture on Ernest Hemingway in Cuba, taped from earlier in the day. Tomorrow we arrive in Cienfuego, Cuba. We will be using tenders to go ashore and will be doing the included 3 hour walking tour of Cienfuego.  Hopefully, we will be able to procure some authentic Montecristo #2 cigars to take home. 

Saturday, November 24, 2018- Santiago de Cuba

Saturday, November 24, 2018- Santiago de Cuba As we have been in a Port side stateroom as the ship navigated its way clockwise around the east end of Cuba, we have been looking out at the open ocean, but as the ship turned north to sail into Santiago de Cuba, we could see the lush land dotted with pastel colored buildings and terra cotta shingle and steel roofs of Cuba. True to their word, the ship’s crew opened up the bow of the ship on deck 3.  We got there a bit late, and found the railing to be a bit crowded, and we could see that the deck in front of the Explorer’s lounge on deck 7 above was also crowded, as was the sports deck 9.  There is a large Spanish styled fortress guarding the entrance to Santiago de Cuba.  El Morro overlooks the narrow entrance to the harbor. Beyond the fort, the skyline is dominated by giant smoke stacks of an oil fired power plant. One of these was belching dark smoke into the sky and filling the valley beyond with visible smog.  

  Lining the channel into the harbor were ramshackle houses that looked as improvised as any we’ve seen in South America.  There does not appear to be many people visible to watch the passage of our cruise ship, which had to make a hard turn to starboard in front of the power plant to head into the city harbor where we were going to tie up.  The streets are pretty much deserted aside from an occasional pedicab and bicycle.  It was 94 degrees on our balcony at 10:30am as the ship secured its lines to the wharf.  There was a huge cue of buses waiting for us.    Disembarkation was easy with a single gangway from the A deck, which was just a few feet above the level of the wharf.  This made for only a slight inclination.  We did tap our room cards on a podium situated near the exit.  We also had to have our Cuban tourist Visa and passport on us.  The blazing sun greeted us as we stepped down the gangway.  The Customs and immigration building had x-ray machines and metal detectors, but it was obvious that the x-ray machines weren’t functioning, and the people manning the security station just waved everyone though the metal detectors, which alarmed on virtually everyone.  Security theater.  There were several rows of desks manned by customs agents who dutifully copied information from our Cuban Visas and Passports by hand before stamping our Passports.  They then handed us a laminated recycled “Transit Card” which we had to keep until we returned back to the ship.  Unlike on the Viking River Cruises, where Viking had their own fleet of dedicated modern tour buses, at Santiago de Cuba, the buses were of Chinese manufacturing with a charter company logo on them. The buses were comfortable enough, and thankfully air conditioned, though not as nice as the Viking buses we rode in Europe. The buses were filled to about 80% capacity, so there were a few empty seats.  There was also a small toilet in the back of the bus which was functional, but dirty.  

The tour route took us about a half hour from the wharf to the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity in Cobre.  It is said that in the 16th century, 3 fishermen lost at sea during a storm came upon an apparition of the Virgin Mary floating on the water.  This apparition guided them safely home, and became a 2 foot high golden statue of the Virgin Mary that now adorns the central altar.  

She is considered the Patroness of Cuba, and has even had 3 Papal visits.  Ernest Hemingway donated his Nobel Prize medal, which he won for “The Old Man and the Sea” to the church and there is an enigmatic collection of medals, pendants, medical devices, locks of hair and many other items in display cases that are “Gifts of appreciation to the Virgin Mary”.

Our tour bus then took us back into town, slowing down but not actually stopping, at a few viewpoints of the harbor, and then around Revolutionary Square where giant sculptures of machetes pay homage to revolutionaries that fought for independence from Spain and slavery.  It was disappointing that we didn’t get a chance to stop and get out of the bus to take pictures, and the bus windows were dirty enough that it was hard to get any decent pictures through them.  We did actually stop in the historic city center at Cespedes Park and the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption.

All throughout the drive, our guide was telling us how great the communist socialist system was for Cubans.  Nobody, except for party officials, owned much of anything or had any money, but everyone is cared for with free health care and education.  He did point out their hospitals and university.  He bragged how Cuba had something like 19 medical schools, and how even some Americans have sought to attend them.  I’d really have to question the quality of a Cuban medical education.  Besides, doctors in Cuba get paid the same 400 pesos a month as the custodians who sweep up the office.  He emphasized that nobody goes hungry because the State provides rations of necessary basic goods and nobody goes homeless.  All this came under suspicion as we got out of the bus and were immediately set upon by packs of beggars in the city center square.  

We were puzzled by the large number of seemingly normal appearing people in their 30’s to 50’s that would approach us with smiles, and then ask us if we were Americanos.  If we replied in English, they immediately started hounding us for soap and shampoo.  You can imagine our great confusion to have all these seemingly normal people suddenly become aggressive asking for soap and shampoo.  Did they actually think we were Avon salespeople with soap and shampoo in our backpacks?  We fled immediately into the relative safety of a government tourist shop with cigars and rum.  It also happened to have air conditioning and would accept US dollars, but at a 15% exchange fee.  We were surprised to find that even though they had Montecristo #2 cigars for CUC$9.65 each, they were unwrapped and from an open box.  The sales lady offered to slip 2 or 3 into cardboard sleeves for individual sale, but wouldn’t sell us a sealed box.  We did end up picking up some Havana Club rum and Santiago de Cuba rum, but can only bring back a maximum of 1 liter per person.  We ended up spending $40 total for a 700mL 7 year aged dark Havana Club rum, a 500mL 3 year light Havana Club rum and a 700mL Santiago de Cuba dark rum. While our guide had recommended this shop as the best government tourist shop, it was pretty shady because they didn’t use a cash register, and didn’t issue any receipts.  And all transactions are cash- No American plastic (Visa, MC, Debit or Credit) is allowed anywhere in Cuba.

We then walked with our guide through the pedestrian shopping district in town, which although the guide was really excited by all the name brand merchandise (Reebok, Nike, etc), it was pretty run down and dirty.  There were a few enthusiastic sales people who operated private enterprises recently allowed by the Cuban government under tight restrictions since a severe economic crash in the early 1990’s.  

When we got back on the bus, I asked about the soap and shampoo.  He explained that during the crash of the 1990’s, Cubans couldn’t get much beyond the most basic of survival supplies like rice and beans, and for years, there was no soap or shampoo.  Well, now it has become a colloquialism to ask for soap or shampoo when you want any kind of hand out, so it was just another form of begging.  If everyone is well fed, housed, educated and given free health care, then why were there so many packs of aggressive beggars chasing us American tourists?  That was very unpleasant.   From there, we reboarded the bus and then drove around the former Moncada Garrison, which is now a public school.  This is where a pivotal battle took place when Castro overthrew the Batista government.  You could see bullet marks on the facade of the building.   We got back to the ship with about an hour to spare before the ship was scheduled to depart.  Security and customs getting back to the ship seemed another show of security theater.  We basically just had to hand our “Transit Card” back to an agent and head back onto the ship.  Viking’s security staff was equally lax, not checking any bags, and simply waving us past the non-functioning x-ray and metal detection equipment once we tapped our cards on the podium.  Princess does a much more vigorous job of checking everyone’s room cards at least twice before allowing you up the gangway, and screening is TSA quality where you have to put your cell phones, change, cameras and watches into your backpack or a tray before you go through the metal detector, and your stuff all goes through a working X-ray machine.  You even get wanded if you set off the metal detector. We headed up to the buffet for lunch and found the staff making Cubano sandwiches on the outdoor Aquavit Terrace on the stern of the ship.  That was something we have been looking forward to, but they turned out a bit disappointing because aside from the pork, ham and cheese that were grilled on the panini press, you had to add your own condiments including the pickles and onions.  But they were still good, especially with a cold beer or soda.  

We watched the sail away from the comfort of our balcony, and this time we had a great view of the El Morro fortress guarding the entrance to Santiago de Cuba bay.  As we cruised by the fortress, a bunch of young rowdy people were partying on a nearby breakwater, and made quite a cheerful ruckus to impress their American visitors.   We then enjoyed a visit to the ship’s thermal suite.  We discovered that you can’t really swim in the big swim spa- the current isn’t nearly fast enough, and there are bars that slope from the front wall that you can lie your back on in the slow warm salt water current. It is deep enough that you can skull and tread water for a bit of a workout. Janet was able to get her Apple Watch exercise ring closed doing that.  We then tried out their steam sauna (super HOT), snow grotto (feels so good after the steam sauna), jacuzzi hot tub, and overhead bucket dump (not ice cubes, but just room temperature water).  The lockers are so nice and convenient with a swim suit dryer, and they give you a nice robe and slippers to use.  The slippers are washed and disinfected after each use.  They even had disposable swim trunks you could use, but they were like Speedos made of thin footie material that wouldn’t provide much modesty.

  We attended a lecture on the Geology and Biology of Cuba and the Caribbean, which somehow managed to start with plate tectonics and end up with Triangular Trade.  You never know what you’ll learn on these Viking cruises.  The entertainment does seem to rely more on intellectual pursuits.  No casino or dancing girls on these ships! We had our first dinner in the ship’s main dining room simply called “The Restaurant”.  It’s surprising that this was our first meal in the main dining room so far into the cruise.  While Viking markets that you can “Come as you like- There are NO FORMAL NIGHTS”, there is a dress code in the main dining room and specialty restaurants that is essentially business casual or better.  We were certainly underdressed, but still welcomed into the dining room. We got there nearly at 8pm, but had only a 5 minute wait, and they poured us glasses of complimentary wine to enjoy while we waited.  They have quite a selection of complimentary wines you can choose from.  I had a Merlot, while Janet had a Malbec.  The dining room is simple and elegant, like the rest of the ship, but it’s hard wood floors and Scandinavian decor made it a loud and less intimate dining experience than the main dining rooms on Princess ships.  We found the service to be good, and the food to be quite good as well, but we both agreed that the breads and rolls, service, desserts and ambience were better with Princess.  Still, it was several steps up from Norwegian.  Janet had venison, while Ben had the local Cuban version of lamb stew.    We got done just in time to find a seat in the back of the Star theater for the first Magic show of the cruise featuring Greg Moreland. While he didn’t have any big “WOW” magic in his act, his show was very entertaining and hilariously funny.  It was like getting a comic and magician rolled into one.  There was some pretty good audience participation, and he did some of the mentalist tricks with the entire audience that is always impressive.    

Friday, November 23, 2018- At Sea North of Cuba

Friday, November 23, 2018- At Sea North Cuban Coast

We started the day with breakfast at Mamsen’s, a small counter next to the Explorer lounge on deck 7, just one deck up from our cabin 6016 on deck 6.  We were finally able to taste authentic Norwegian Brunost, which is an iconic brown cheese made from whey, milk and cream.  We had it served with authentic Norwegian waffles (thin and slightly sweet), whipped cream and fresh raspberries and blueberries. 

The quality of the fruit was excellent.  The Brunost has a slightly caramel taste and a texture like American cheese. I can see why it has become a staple item in Scandinavian diets.  They also served a fresh smoothie of the day, which was carrot and mango.  That was yummy, and I was able to have a cafe latte at no extra charge.  They also served a variety of danish and cinnamon rolls, although not the horizontally rolled ones we recently sampled in Finland.  The pastries were fresh and well prepared. 

 

The Explorer lounge has an upper level on deck 8 that is a sort of library/museum/reading room full of interesting objects.  There are gorgeous fossils, giant crystals, and even a spectacularly displayed meteorite suspended horizontally in midair by a magnet.There are also models of boats used by Thor Heyerdahl including the Kon-Tiki, which was a balsa wood raft used to travel from Peru to Polynesia in 1947. There is also a model of the Viking burial ship that is on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway, which we had seen in person during our Baltic cruise in July.

 

 

 After breakfast, we did a little guilt reduction at the fitness center.  At 9AM, we were able to find an elliptical and reclined cycle without waiting. I did a jog around Lake Merced on the elliptical. 

Next on the itinerary was a cooking demonstration done in the Star Theater where they prepared Thai shrimp and shrimp quesadillas with freshly made guacamole and salsa.

Our first Viking Trivia was held at noon, where we sat with a gentleman who grew up near Olympia, attended the UW, and then did graduate school in Massachusetts.  Then he worked in Washington DC, and now lives in Orlando. We managed to miss winning by 2 points, missing the capital city of the Faroe Islands (Torshavn), how many points the crown of the Statue of Liberty has (7), the use of crocodile dung by ancient Egyptians (contraception), which Bond movie first featured Lady Judy Dench as “M” (Golden Eye), and what is collected by a deltiologist (postcards).

 

We visited the poolside grill for lunch and found that they offer a variety of gourmet burger and hot dogs.  We had Pancho Villa burgers, which featured a 5oz angus patty, blue cheese, habanero aioli and arugula.  They were served with excellent seasoned fries and cole slaw.  

The 4PM guest lecture featured Captain Paul Eschenfelder, who is a political consultant for governments in the Americas, who did a review of the history of Cuba, but he really managed to avoid any uncomfortable political subjects, instead managing to talk about all the “old” cars, which are invariably Franken-cars with bodies that look like 1950’s era Chevy’s and DeSoto’s, but under the fiberglas and bondo skins are Russian and Toyota mechanicals.  

Afternoon tea in the Wintergarden was filled to capacity, but the wait staff offered to serve us tea in Mamsen’s instead, so we managed to have tea.  They serve a very attractive tower platter with finger sandwiches and sweets, as well as scones.  The highlight was the actual tea, served in individual pots with loose leaf tea of your choosing from many different varieties.  We each had Earl Gray, which was very aromatic.  However, the overall experience in Mamsen’s was inferior to the Princess tea service because we missed the white gloved waiters hovering over us.  They did have a live violin/cello duet playing in the Wintergarden, which was very elegant.  The tea cakes and finger sandwiches were on par with the Princess teas.  We met a couple from North Carolina over tea who have a daughter-in-law who is a Professor of Epidemiology at the UW, and head of the department.  It’s possible Ciara may end up taking a course from her. 

 

At 5:30PM, we attended a lecture on Cuban Crocodiles, which are the only crocodiles with 4 chambered hearts.  Most other reptiles have 3 chambered hearts.  Those cuban crocodiles were also very clever, hunting in packs to bring down giant land sloths the size of elephants in the era preceding the last ice age.  They are very endangered, but what threatens them is invasion of American crocodiles who interbreed, creating hybrids. This lecturer looked more like a stage dancer than a college professor, and was a very charismatic and dynamic speaker.  Janet said she was just showing off. 

 

A remarkably full moon rose over the horizon as we walked a few laps on the Promenade deck, and then ended up at the Aquavit Terrace on the stern for a Caribbean cuisine buffet, which probably undid all our exercise efforts for the day in one fell swoop.  They had blackened fish, jerk chicken skewers, spicy Caribbean crab cakes, jerk pulled pork and vegetable seafood soup.  The soups on this cruise have all be quite good.  

 

We closed the evening with the Captain’s reception in the Star Theater which introduced the management staff, the Viking lounge band, which looked like an all Filipino outfit, and the Viking Vocal Soloists, who did a couple acapella Billy Joel medleys.  The lounge band was quite good and the vocal soloists were of equal caliber with the vocal soloists on Princess, but perhaps better looking.  They did pass out free champagne, but since the beer and wine are free flowing during dinner, the champagne isn’t that big a deal, but it was a better tasting champagne than some of what we have encountered on Princess.  

 

Tomorrow is our first Cuban shore excursion.  The ship’s port of call lecturer is saying that this is the very first time any cruise ship of this size has attempted to enter the port of Santiago de Cuba. All other cruise ships have previously had to anchor out and shuttle passengers via tenders into the harbor, which has been a half hour ride each way.  We will have a local pilot on board and transit of the harbor entrance is limited to daylight hours, so we must leave at 4PM prompt to make it.  The ship’s crew says that they will open-up the bow for passengers to view the transit- and they say it’s extremely rare for them to grant passengers access to the bow of the ship.  It’s usually a crew-only area of the ship.  So a few firsts.  Hopefully, we don’t end up on the world news for getting stuck in the channel.  We have ordered breakfast on our balcony for the first time tomorrow morning.  Again, something nice that Viking offers without extra charge.

Thursday, November 22, 2018: Miami Embarkation and Thanksgiving

Thursday, November 22, 2018.  Miami Embarkation and Thanksgiving Flying a red-eye certainly leaves one feeling a bit foggy and disoriented.  The flight was also pretty bumpy, and Ben had to resort to taking motion sickness meds and deep breathing exercises periodically to avoid rolfing during the flight. We arrived in Dallas-Fort Worth just before dawn.  A full moon was reflecting of a long lake just east of the airport on our final approach. This was our first time to Miami’s International Airport.  They had unique decorations in our arrival terminal consisting of rosettes of various salt water game fish.

There was no drama with picking up our baggage, and Viking representatives were waiting right there at the baggage carousel.  They picked up about 30 passengers and took us to the cruise ship pier, which was not the main cruise ship terminal in Miami.  The driver said that on a Saturday or Sunday, there were usually 10 cruise ships tied up to the main cruise ship terminal at the Port of Miami.  If we had taken a cab, Uber, or Lyft, there’s a significant chance that they would have taken us to the wrong wharf.  That’s a potent argument for sticking with Viking for the air and transfer arrangements. The Embarkation process was very smooth and efficient.  Since the ship only takes on 930 passengers, there’s not the huge anxious and pushy crowd.  Our room key cards have no magnetic stripe, but appear to have an embedded RFID chip and a printed bar code.  The bar code is scanned for embarkation and disembarkation, while the RFID chip allows door locks to work like tap to pay terminals.  This also means the room cards are immune to getting erased by the magnets on devices like iPads and Apple Watches.   The Viking Star is a beautiful and elegant ship.  Walking around, it seems much more like a 4 or 5 star hotel, rather than a cruise ship.  The furnishings are Scandinavian in design with blond woods with modern hardware.  The public bathrooms outside the main theater are a prime example of the high end elegance.  

There are nicely starched cotton towels for drying your hands, and by the door, there is also a paper towel dispenser so that you can open the door with a paper towel for hygenic purposes.  The toilet stalls are floor to ceiling European styled.  And if you wander into the bathroom when nobody else is in there, you can hear birds chirping like you are out in a Norwegian wood taking care of business. No Musak being pumped out of the ambiance speakers. Our first stop was the World Cafe, which is the main ship’s buffet.  It is kept very clean and tidy, and the quality of the food is generally excellent.  I would say it was on par with what is served on Princess in terms of quality and maybe a slight tic up on the elegance of presentation.  The selection is more limited than would be typical on a 2700 passenger Princess ship, and certainly inferior to the selection we encountered in the buffet of the 3500 passenger Regal Princess.  But there were local items and items for any diet, including vegan, Kosher and Muslim. What also separates Viking from Princess is the fact that soda, espresso, beer and wine are all complementary and unlimited.  You can even take cans out of the dining room.  They also have a selection of beers and wines that are pretty good. For example, you can choose from a few lagers, ales including IPA’s, and dark beer.  Oh, and you can get Miller Lite, if that is what you prefer.  We were happy to indulge in Coke Zero and an IPA over lunch.   After lunch, we did some exploring of the ship.  You can walk all the way around the Promenade on Deck 2.  4 laps is a tidy mile.  You can also walk around the top decks, although with some stairs.  There are some pieces of outdoor exercise equipment stationed around the aft of the ship, as well as a nice miniature putting golf course, shuffle board, and lawn bowling.  The ship is just 3 years old, so everything still looks and feels new and well maintained.  There is a small infinite pool on the stern with a glass wall, so you can look out over the ship’s wake from underwater if you are so inclined.  The main swimming pool is a bit smaller than the ones on Princess and Norwegian ships- about 20’ long, instead of 30’.  This main pool area is covered by a retractable roof, like a stadium roof.  It was wide open when we boarded and during the day, but in the evening, when thunder showers were predicted, they did close the top.  

The Spa, which is free to use, has a huge warm swim spa, as hot tubs, a cool lake temperature lake plunge tank, steam sauna, and unique “Snow Grotto”, where you can sit as snow falls around you.  There is also a DIY ice bucket challenge. The changing rooms are very fancy, and the lockers are locked and locked with a tap of your room card.   The fitness center seems to have an ample supply of cardio equipment of very high quality.  The treadmills and elipticals have a motivational display that let you select real world courses to follow.  It’s funny to see cars driving by, and try to chase fit people, while trying to beat the fat ones.   Our first official activity was the mandatory muster station drill.  We were assigned to the main theater.  Nobody had to carry or don life jackets except the staff on the stage.  Viking keeps its life jackets stored at the muster stations and on the life boats, rather than in passenger staterooms.  It was nice not to have life jackets taking up vital storage space in the closet.  The muster drill was quick and painless. The Theater is nice and is equipped with a variety of seating options including individual swivel chairs, standard theater seats, and plush benches.  The main backdrop is a huge LED wall, and there does appear to be a round cut out in the center of the stage, but the stage is certainly smaller and more limited than what the Princess Cruise ships have.  

We had dinner in the World Cafe because we wanted to see the Enrichment Lecture, given by a local Florida college professor on the history of Florida.  He was a dynamic speaker and gave a pretty good talk, but we had a hard time not resting our eyes from time to time due to our jetlag.  

There was a beautifully roasted turkey at the carving station, and all the fixings, but we were distracted by the seafood and sushi counter, which featured all you can eat King crab legs, prawns, mini-lobsters, and calamari and shrimp salad.  They also had quite a selection of sushi rolls and sashimi, which were all very fresh and very tasty!  

  We wound up our evening with a showing of Tom Cruise’s latest Mission Impossible Movie, Fallout.  As would be expected, it was full of non-stop far fetched action and entertainment.

 

After returning to our room, we could see an amazing cloud lightning storm on the horizon that lit up the clouds like a fireworks display.  That’s certainly not something you see everyday.  

 

Tomorrow is a day at sea to enjoy all the ship has to offer.  We’ll be looking forward to afternoon tea, and perhaps some time in the spa. And there will be the first Team Trivia game at noon.          

Viking Star Cuba, Panama Canal and the Pacific Cruise

 

Wednesday, November 21, 2018 And so we begin another adventure. Tomorrow, we embark on the Viking Star, a Viking Ocean cruise ship. This will be our first Viking Ocean cruise trip. So far, our favorite cruise line has been Princess Cruises, but we did enjoy our experience on the Viking Atla Romantic Danube river cruise in 2015. The Viking Star is the smallest ocean going cruise ship we have ever booked. It is 745’ long with a beam of 94.5’ and carries 930 guests. The Viking Star was the very first Viking Ocean cruise ship, launched in 2015. There are now 5 ships in their fleet. Her Gross Tonnage is 47,800. This gives her a Gross Tonnage per passenger of 51. This is a measure of the usable space within the volume of the ship per passenger. This compares quite favorably to the Regal Princess 40.1, Island Princess 46.1, and the Norwegian Pearl 39.1. The ratio of passengers to crew is a very low 1.5. This also compares quite favorably to the Regal Princess 2.6, Island Princess 2.2, and Norwegian Pearl 2.2.   The cruise fare prices on Viking tend to cause sticker shock because they appear so much more expensive than other cruise companies, but in all fairness, they do include lots of extras that other cruise companies charge for, such as free Wifi internet, beer and wine with lunch and dinners, free self service launderettes, free land excursions at all ports of call, and free specialty dining, although you do have to make reservations.  All of the Viking Ocean staterooms have verandas, or small balconies.  Viking differentiates the categories of staterooms based on size, location, and included benefits that primarily include being able to make shore excursion and specialty restaurant reservations earlier than lower categories.  We are booked in the lowest category- Guaranty Veranda, so we could not book our excursions until 30 days prior to sailing, and can’t book any of the specialty restaurants until after we board the ship.   We booked our air travel through Viking. They offered a special $299 per person round trip airfare rate, which was about a $400 per person savings.  This fare includes airport transfers, which is very convenient. We like being greeted by a friendly person holding a sign when we arrive.   This, being the day before Thanksgiving, was challenging travel day.  Add to that the fact that blustery cold and wet weather just blew in compounded the headaches of traveling.  We took Whidbey Sea-Tac Shuttle tonight because our flight actually leaves at 12:30AM on November 22nd, just after midnight.  Taking a red-eye to Miami gets us there early enough to board the cruise without having to arrive a full day earlier and paying for a hotel room overnight.  We were glad to have the Shuttle do the driving in the dark and rain because the traffic at the airport was terrible.   Oddly enough, one of the passengers in the shuttle took to laying out on the floor in the aisle to sleep and then talk loudly on his cell phone.  Someone noticed this and started to alert the driver that there appeared to be a medical emergency going on, but they guy said he was just sleeping.  During the short ferry ride from Clinton to Mukilteo, we boarded a brand new ferry, the Suquamish.  It has a larger capacity than the older boats, and was all shiny and new.   Getting through security was a breeze.  Our Nexus Pass membership gives us a Trusted Traveler number that gives us TSA PreCheck, as well as Global Entry privileges.  Sea-Tac has a security station dedicated to Clear and PreCheck passengers (Station 4).  We don’t have to take our shoes off, but they don’t have trays for things that come out of your pockets. They all have to be stuffed into your backpack or carry on.

  American Airlines did let us check our carry on wheeled suitcases at the gate for free.  We did check a larger suitcase at the check in counter for $25.  Even though we didn’t pack any formal wear, we still filled our 2 carry on sized and medium checked bag to capacity.  For a 3 week cruise, our shoes took up more than half the medium suit case when you have work out shoes, walking shoes, water activity sandals and slippers.  We also checked one bottle of wine (a nice Malbec from Argentina) to enjoy during our transit of the Panama Canal.  Viking Ocean cruises actually let passengers bring any wine or spirits they want onboard and they don’t charge a corkage fee.  

Compensation for Air France's Cancellation of our Paris to Seattle flight

I never hurts to complain when it is appropriate.  Since Air France cancelled our flight just two hours before the scheduled departure, according to EU rules, we were entitled to compensation.  That required filing claim forms, which took a bit to figure out, but in the end, we each received checks from Delta Airlines (US partner for Air France) for $700 as compensation.  It's a good thing the EU has laws mandating compensation under these circumstances.  We're not sure the FAA or NTSB has any similar rules in place.  Congress really needs to pass an Airlines Passengers Bill of Rights to prevent further passenger abuses and inhumane conditions on US flights.