Today is our first full day at sea underway onboard the Viking Neptune. We had nice and calm seas yesterday when we left Barcelona, but overnight we had pretty rough conditions, and that continued into this morning. So much for getting back our sea legs and getting used to the sea conditions on what we thought would be the smoothest part of the trip, sailing in the Mediterranean Sea. We are also on a much smaller ship than we have ever sailed on before. Luckily, we were able to get used to the rougher conditions while we were sleeping.
It was 9:00 AM when I woke up and headed out to find some coffee. I went to Deck 1 since I knew there was a coffee machine there and I had them make me a Cappuccino. I drank that sitting at a small table there while working on the blog post from yesterday, trying to catch up.
Stephanie slept in while I was gone and I woke her up when I returned to the cabin at about 10:30 AM. After Stephanie got ready, we headed out to get some breakfast. Unfortunately, it was about 10:45 AM, and all of the normal breakfast eateries were already closed. We did not know this until we got to the World Cafe Buffet, and saw they were already setting up for lunch. The only area open this late was called Mamsen’s and all they served was pastries and waffles, so we ordered a couple of pastries and I also had a waffle. It was all good, but not what we had really wanted for our breakfast.
After breakfast, we just hung out in the Explorer’s Lounge in the bow of the ship, it was right next to Mamsen’s.
We are supposed to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar at around 6:00 PM this evening, and we surely wanted to see Gibraltar this cruise since the other times we have gone by it in the past were all in the middle of the night.
We just spent a lazy day enjoying some wine and watching the ocean pass by.
We ate lunch in the buffet late at about 1:30 PM, we did not want to miss that meal also, but did not want to eat too early because we are going to the Chef’s Table tonight for dinner. We have reservations for 7:30 PM.
We did go to the excursion desk because the excursions for our replacement stop in the Canary Islands were now open, but we could not get any description for the excursions on the Viking App on our phones. At the desk, we found out they were offering two different included excursions, and they had the descriptions printed out on paper at the desk. We looked over the two different excursions and picked the one that had the most walking, mainly hoping it would discourage some of the limited mobility passengers from going on it. With that done, we headed to the Explorer’s Lounge to relax for the afternoon.
Nearing Gibraltar
As we got closer to the hour we were supposed to pass by Gibraltar, it got quite crowded in the Explorer Lounge area, it is a wonderful place to see things from since it is multi level and all glassed in at the bow of the ship. The weather was not perfect, it was somewhat cloudy when we finally arrived at Gibraltar, but at least it was not dark and in the middle of the night. It was nice to finally be able to see it in daylight.
There is a Video of our approach to Gibraltar in the video listing that is assessable to the right of the main page or from the menu at the top of the main page
After we passed Gibraltar we headed back to the cabin to get ready for dinner at the Chef’s Table. While we were waiting for our reservation time, we sat at the Living Room Bar on Deck 1, the same deck as the restaurant, and had a glass of wine. The piano player was playing in the Atrium, and it was nice to listen to while we waited.
Eating At The Chef’s Table Restaurant
We headed to the specialty dining area and were promptly seated. We were given a table right next to a window, and although it was dark, it was nice to see the water passing by with the glow of the ship’s lights reflecting on it. The dining experience was different, there were several courses, all paired with different wines. The theme for this dinner was Asian Panorama.
Dinner Entrée a At The Chef’s Table
It was nothing like we have ever done before, some of the items served were really good, others were just “different”, but overall it was a nice dinner. Every three days the menu changes to one of the four or five different styles in the rotation. We will be going again for a different menu later in the cruise.
After dinner, we went to the World Cafe bar since it is the only one we know that still has some Seagram’s VO. We got one drink there and then we headed to the Torshavn Bar, which only opens at 9:00 PM. We saw the same couple there that we met last night at this bar and had actually also seen them in the Chef’s Table restaurant tonight, although they were a few tables away from us at the restaurant, so we did not get to speak with them other than to say hello as we left.
Milos and Milos, Both From Serbia
The Torshavn Bar is nice until they start the live music, and then it just is so loud that it is hard to have a conversation. We only stayed for a couple of drinks before heading back to the room for the night.
There was a card on the bed notifying us of a time change tonight, we will be setting the clock back one hour and that will now put us at 5 hours ahead of the time at home. This will also help us to make breakfast time tomorrow!!
It had been a nice relaxing sea day.