I thought maybe you’d like to hear a little more about our ship – – the Viking Sea.  So we’ve taken some photos and I’ll spend this post showing and telling a little more about the ship.

Viking is know for its river cruises, and the ocean ships are new for Viking, having begun excursions only in the last couple of years.  Our ship, the Viking sea, is only a year old.  At 745 feet in length and 930 passengers, the Viking ocean ships are much larger than their sister river cruise ships which carry about 200 passengers.  But they’re not nearly as big as the Princess and Disney cruise ships that are so popular. (Actually I think we’re being stalked by a Disney ship. Every port we come into, a Disney ship follows closely behind!) However, our ship has all of the services offered by the bigger ships, maybe on a little smaller scale, but it doesn’t have the crowds and the lines.

Of course all cruise ships are known for their food. It’s possible to eat at any time during the day and people pretty much do.  There’s a huge double buffet that serves wonderful food of all types for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Their gelato is amazing. Or at least that’s what I’ve heard. 😉 In addition, there are 3 other excellent gourmet restaurants with table service, 4 snack bars and 6 lounges and bars plus a separate restaurant that serves high tea every afternoon at 4.  And if that doesn’t cover it, room service is available 24 hours a day. Chuck has even managed to figure out where he can get one of their oversized sugar cookies any time of the day or night.

There’s a main pool with a retractable dome as well as an infinity pool and jacuzzi. They’re probably smaller than those on the Disney ship, but we have no kids on our ship and we’re old, okay, so we don’t swim as much. There’s a sports deck with exercise equipment and a jogging track (4 laps = 1 mile), 1 large performance theater + 2 movie theaters, a large Scandinavian spa, and shipwide wi-fi.

Below are some photos of our room and typical areas of the ship.

Our ship, the Viking Sea

This is our room. All rooms have king size beds, mini bars, coffee service, and private verandas. There’s more closet space and drawers than we can fill. Large TV and a darling steward who comes in twice a day while we’re gone and cleans our room, restocks the mini bar with sodas, and replenishes our ice bucket and water pitcher and would cheerfully do anything else we ask. He’s adorable.  I’d like to take him home with us!

This is the bathroom. Big shower and lots of storage space. Did I mention that the floor is heated? It’s heaven!

There are endless places around the ship to sit and have a glass of wine, read a book or meet and chat with new friends. You can go to the theater and see a current movie, or listen to a Ted Talks, or hear a port talk with information about an upcoming port.  Or you can just watch an incredible sunset from a comfy lounge chair on the deck or your veranda.

There are many, many areas to sit and chat, or pay cards, or read a book or whatever and stare at the beautiful ocean.

This is the pool area.   The top is retractable and on nice days it’s open.

Here’s another view of the main pool area.

This is the smaller infinity pool and the jacuzzi.

And there are lots of places inside and out for dining.

This is part of the outdoor recreation area.

There’s lots of original artwork around the ship. The art is numbered and the headsets that we use for our shore excursions are also keyed to giving information about the artwork.

These hand sanitizers are found at the entries to the ship and outside of all restaurants, and passengers are asked to use them every time they see one in order to prevent illness aboard ship.  You just put your hand in and it squirts enough onto your hand to “wash” both of your hands.  (Please don’t tell me these things are everywhere.  I know I don’t get out much…)

Well I’ve only broadly covered what’s here, but suffice it to say that it’s a very nice place.

Any questions?