The latest information we have been provided, is that on departure Suez Canal on April 3rd, we are bound for Lisbon, with an ETA sometime 11th April.
Way too early to know if we will get shore leave and/or flights home.
The Viking Sun inter-departmental baggo challenge is heating up, with many departments squeezing in extra practice sessions. Today was our 2nd match, with the above photo showing Judi during round 1, on the lowest stair.
Today, all 8 of us volunteered to assist Beven and the Cruise Staff completing an inventory of all the books and returning them to the correct locations. Apparently, it normally takes a couple of weeks, as Viking ships have hundreds of library books in multiple locations. It is also on the honour system, so no checking out books on Viking, as you are free to select any book, at any time. Yet again, Viking passengers are treated like adults.
We also entered the Red Sea this morning and cleared the high risk area by early afternoon, so smooth sailing now towards Suez.
Another busy sea day with our team’s first competitive match in the Inter-departmental Baggo challenge. For pre-dinner drinks this evening, we met in the Atrium, enjoying some relaxing music from the classical duo.
We have a busy day today, with the inter-departmental Baggo Championship starting, but fortunately the Vikings (Officers + Pax) have a bye today, as 7 of us are attending a French Cuisine cooking class, with Chef Roberto. In addition, we have optional daily temperature checks, and then this evening, Josh’s inaugural performance with “Rock Through the Ages”. Continue reading
View from our balcony
Our first full day at sea aboard our private yacht, with crew ratio of 57 crew members for each of the 8 passengers. What a totally unique situation. While Viking may unfortunately be unable to qualify for the longest World Cruise on record, they may qualify for the best passenger/crew ratio.
It is a sad day, as all our US friends departed the magnificent Viking Sun last evening, leaving only 8 Canadian passengers and about 460 crew, so each passenger has about 57.5 amazing crew members tending our every need.
Once the charter flight was wheels-up and enroute to Newark (NJ) via Madrid, we fired up the boilers and set the sails, resuming the Magical Mystery Cruise. Lines were cast off, as we departed Dubai about 06:15.
After breakfast, we had an excellent chat with Norbert (GM) Tomasz (Chef), Beven (Cruise Director) and all other department heads, who advised the Viking Ocean way of business, is to continue the full operation, even for only 8 of us. That’s a little over the top, so read on to determine what we requested and agreed.
We arrived in Dubai on 22nd March, with a number of passengers departing daily, as Viking booked every available seat on departing Emirates aircraft. Yesterday, Emirates ceased operations, so the remaining 90’ish pax await the private charter flight that Viking is arranging.
After another day of waiting, we finally received news this evening and some people disembarked this great ship, but sadly, not us.
Another group of passengers left the ship last evening, for flights to North America and Europe, so our numbers continue to steadily reduce, but today is the last day that Emirates is operating. As of now, Judi and I are in a group of about 90 Canadians and Americans that have no flights scheduled, prior to Emirates shutting down their operation. Every available seat is booked.
Viking have arranged for a charter flight to get us home and we are scheduled to depart the ship this afternoon.
The 2019/20 Viking World Cruise is ending and disembarkation has started, with all of our Australian passengers departing in the middle of the night for flights home. In addition, a number of Europeans and North Americans also departed, with Viking filling every available seat on Emirate’s flights. Unfortunately, as we didn’t make the disembarkation list, we were unable to catch our flight this morning.
For those of us waiting for flights, we received another challenge, as Emirates announced they were shutting down flights effective midnight on 24th March, so only 2 days remaining. As per a couple of days ago, the local authorities have mandated we must depart Dubai with Emirates, which just happens to be owned by the Dubai Govt.
We spent the entire day, secured alongside the berth in Dubai.
The Viking Sun docked in Dubai at 01:00, where the 2019/20 World Cruise is coming to a premature end. With termination of the World Cruise promulgated yesterday, life continued on board with the farewell performance from the ship’s crew and entertainment team.
Check out the photos for an unexpected Senior Officer on the guitar, as Beven sings during the Farewell Performance. Continue reading
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