A tour of Viking Sea

 We've  been  aboard  2 days  now and  it's  time I gave you  a  run down  of  our cruise  ship, the Viking  Sea.

Viking are best known as a company that does river cruises, but a few years ago  they decided to  branch out into  ocean  voyages as well.  Their approach  is  somewhat  different  in that they are aiming at a very specific market,  namely the sort of older, retired people  who are  predominant  on their river cruises.   At 900 guests maximum  their ocean  going ships are big enough  to  have plenty of  facilities, without  being  the sort of behemoths that the rest of the  cruise  ship  industry  is  currently  churning  out.

No children are  allowed  on Viking ocean ships, so you  won't find families  onboard. The entertainment  is  firmly aimed at the older set. No water slides or karaoke  bars - just plenty of quiet  spaces to relax.

There are 10 passenger accessible decks. The top deck is the sports  deck, complete  with putting  green and a walking track. But it's so hot here in the  Caribbean  that I haven't  seen  anyone  up there.  Deck 8 is an outdoor sundeck thar looks  down into  the main pool area on deck 7

Deck 7 is one of the main entertainment  areas of the ship. There are 2 pools: a small outdoor  one and and an  indoor  one. The indoor  pool sits under a retractable  roof which is  usually  left at least partially  open  when  we're  in Port and it's not raining.  Once the ship is out at sea it gets quite  windy, so they usually  close the roof. There are  also  2 sizable hot tubs.  One outdoor  and  one in the  area with the  retractable  roof.

The pool bar and grill  serves burgers, hot dogs and  salads and it's a very  popular  place  to  eat  in between swims.   Also on deck 7 is the World Cafe, which is the buffet  and is a cut above the buffets on the larger ships -  which often have to  devote a lot of their  offerings  to  children.  There's  also the  Wintergarden, a glass roofed lounge area where afternoon  tea  is  served daily.

Deck  7 is rounded  off  with the Explorer's  lounge and bar, which has a superb view out of the  front of the  ship and also serves interesting  Scandinavian  snacks.

Decks 6, 5, 4 and 3 are all passenger  cabins. Each passenger  deck has  its own customer  laundrette.

Social areas pick up again  on decks 2 and  1 where you find the Star Theatre (mostly  given over to lectures), 2 cinemas and Torshavn (which is the nearest   thing to a nightclub  that you'll  find onboard).  The atrium is an open lounge area that spans 3 decks with a lounge bar at the  bottom.   There is often live music happening  in  the atrium and  also in the  Explorer's lounge, pool area, Wintergreen and the outside seating area of the World Cafe. Music is usually of the classical variety  although the  string duet in the  atrium  did do a stonking version of  the Star Wars theme  the other night.  

There is a spa and about 3 shops selling jewelry and other  upmarket  items  such as unique  Nordic clothing and glass and silver ornaments.  There's also a  tiny shop selling  items  you  might have  forgotten like deodorant  or electrical  adaptors, etc.   The remaining  restaurants are  the main restaurant,  an Italian restaurant  called  Manfredis and a more upmarket restaurant  called the Chef's Table.  All the restaurants  are  free and there is also at least one free excursion at each port of call  - even if its usually  only a walking tour  of  the local town.   Alcohol and tips are extra, but other than that there's  very little of the  nickle and diming that you find on the large cruise ships.  Of course,  this might  be  due to  the fact that a Viking  Sea  cruise  is a lot more  expensive  in the  first place. 

Becky and I  think this is one of the most  beautiful  ships  we've  ever  been  on.