We slept much better last night, the seas were calmer than we had the previous two days and nights. We also gained another hour back on the clocks so we are now only four hours later than at home, having gained back two hours on the cruise so far. Adding the hour really makes it easier to get up “early”.
Stephanie had said last night that we needed to get up early and go to the gym. We did get up early, I even watched the sunrise, but we opted to walk around the ship on deck 2 instead of using the gym.
It was much nicer walking outside this morning than the other day, it was far less windy and it was warmer. We walked 6 laps which equaled 1.5 miles. It was a pleasant 30 minutes of walking. The only issue is that with the seas, although smaller than yesterday, they were still enough for it to be a little choppy. It just takes more effort to walk when the ship is trying to make you go side to side.
After our walk, we went to Deck 1 to the coffee bar and I got a cappuccino, and we both got glasses of water. We also got some food from the small selection of pastries they keep in a glass enclosed case. I had a blueberry muffin and Stephanie had a plain croissant. It was pleasant, there were hardly any people up walking around in this area, it was just 7:30 AM.
After the light snack, we went back to the cabin and changed out of our walking clothes. We headed up to the Explorer’s lounge just to sit and watch the ocean go by. Stephanie tried to get them to make her a Peach Bellini, made to her specifications, but they just could not get it right today. There was a different bartender here than we had “instructed” the other day, and it just did not go well at all.
Putt Putt Course – CLOSED
We left there and then went up to the Sky Deck, the uppermost deck where the putt putt course, shuffle board and other deck games are located. We wanted to play putt putt, but apparently, that is only available at certain times, there were no balls or putters out for us to use.
We did some more wandering around the ship, it was so pleasant without much wind on deck and a little bit calmer seas. We are still getting some good size swells, about 10-12 ft, but the ocean is smooth as far as any wind generated waves go.
Calmer Seas Today
We headed back to the cabin once again to put on some sunscreen so that we would not get burned if we were outside in the sun. We were not planning on sitting in any deck chairs, but the sun seemed strong when we were outside just walking around.
After applying some sunscreen, we headed up to go to the bar at the World Cafe and found our favorite bartender there, Milos. He made Stephanie a made to order Peach Bellini, and he got it right. I had a Grey Goose and Cranberry and we enjoyed our time there.
After that we went to lunch in the World Cafe, they were having a special British Menu. The food was really good, and the buffet was really crowded, everyone must like that particular food variety. After lunch, we headed back up to the Sky Deck and this time, there were putters and balls available, so we played a couple of rounds of Putt Putt. Stephanie won round one and I won round two, which we modified to play to the next farther away hole instead of the hole that we were on, i.e., we hit from tee one, but to hole two. It was even more challenging with the rolling decks from the seas, but we had a great time.
Drying Off in the Sunshine After Hot Tub Soak
After that, we went to the stern of the ship see if the Infinity Pool was open, and it was. The level of the pool was about 18 inches lower than the top of the glass on the back wall, so the “infinity’ description was not really accurate today. It was now just a pool with one wall in the back made from glass. Not as nice as it would be if it were full, but the rolling seas did not allow the pool to stay full. At least it was slightly heated, not hot, but warm enough to make it tolerable.
Then we got into the hot tub next to the pool and it was just slightly warmer. We decided since we already had on our bathing suits, we would go down to the spa and give it a try. We stopped by the room to drop of a few things and grabbed our robes and headed to Deck 1 to the Spa.
The Men’s and Women’s Lockers are split, and so we both headed into our respective lockers. It was a little tricky for me to figure out how the locks on the lockers worked with the key card, but once I figured it out, I grabbed a locker and put my things into it. Each locker had another type of robe in it, plus some rubber flip flops and a spa towel. I put my room robe into the locker, as well as my flip flops and used the ones from the Spa. I met Stephanie inside the Spa where it is Co-Ed, and we headed to the steam room. Stephanie was the only female in the spa at first, we figured the men must typically go there this late in the afternoon while their wives are getting ready for dinner. It was about 3;30 PM, and hardly anyone was in the spa other than a few men. As is normal on Transatlantic Cruises, and probably so in Viking Cruises in general, the people on board are older, and generally eat dinner early.
After the steam room, we went into the ice/snow room to cool off. After several minutes inside, we left and Stephanie laid on one of the tile loungers while I sat in the hot tub. It was much hotter than the one we were in earlier on Deck 7, this one was actually hot enough to be therapeutic.
We both got into the heated and jetted pool, and it was just slightly cooler than the hot tub, and had really strong jets and bubbles, almost too strong to stay seated around the perimeter on the pool’s benches. We did not want to get too dehydrated, so we got out of the pool and headed to our respective lockers to shower. The showers were really nice and powerful. I then used the bathing suit dryer, a small vertical tub that rotates really fast to centrifugally sling the water out of your suit. It actually worked pretty well.
The Only Cloud In The Sky – Maybe A Hurricane Developing
After dressing I met Stephanie outside and we headed back to the room. We sat out on our balcony and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. We drank the last of the wine we had purchased in Barcelona, and were now wishing we had brought more onboard. We did not really know how much to bring onboard, we were never certain how warm the weather would get during the crossing, but if it holds up like today, we will want to spend more time on our balcony listening to Christmas music and watching the ocean pass by. Having brought more wine aboard would have allowed us to enjoy wine while sitting on the balcony. We had originally planned we would grocery shop in Funchal, and when that port got changed, and with all of the last minute ruckus of the tour we did yesterday, we never though about or had time for a grocery store visit in Las Palmas.
We checked the laundromat and found that all of the washers were available, so we put in a load of darks and a load of lighter colored clothes. Stephanie took a short nap and I worked on today’s blog post while the laundry was washing. We have reservations in the Specialty Restaurant, Manfredi’s tonight at 7:30 PM, and we needed something to fill in the time. We wish the reservation was earlier, but we hope to enjoy our first time eating there. At least it was not at 8:30 PM, the earliest time I could pre-reserve before the cruise. If the laundry is done, we will try to go fifteen minutes early, we doubt it will be that crowded.
After showering and getting ready for dinner, we stopped by the bar on Deck 1 and ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio to sip on while we waited for our reservation time. We had about half of the glass and decided to take it with us to finish while we are looking over the wine list in Manfredi’s for something better to go with our dinner once we decide what to order. We got seated in Manfredi’s promptly, and got a nice table for two next to a window. It was dark outside, but we could still see the waves breaking on the sea. Since we are on Deck 1, the ocean really looks like it is zipping by since we are so close to the water’s surface.
The menu in Manfredi’s is mostly fixed, it does not change like the Chef’s Table menu. However, there is always a different pasta of the day specialty dish and a special meat/fish of the day that changes.
We had to get some explanation on how the menu worked. There were appetizers, soups, specials, something called “put together dishes”, main courses, pasta dishes and side orders.
We both ordered fried calamari for the appetizer, and I ordered Pasta e Fagioli soup to have after the appetizer. They also served a variety of fresh breads, fresh parmesan chunks and olive oil/balsamic for bread dipping. We really liked one specific bread, it was rosemary-garlic, and we had them bring us another basket of just those and to take away the mixed bread basket they had originally bought.
For dinner, Stephanie ordered grilled swordfish, and a small side of the specialty pasta of the day, along with grilled asparagus for a side vegetable. I ordered the Florentine prepared rib eye steak, with a side of carbonara Pasta.
The calamari was excellent, as well as my soup. We also both really enjoyed our main courses of swordfish and rib eye steak. Stephanie’s side of the special pasta was much better than my side of carbonara pasta. Hers was hot and very good. Mine was just not that warm, and did not have nearly as much flavor as hers. The grilled asparagus was also very good.
We could not eat it all, especially after having the bread with dinner.
There was a dessert menu, but nothing on it really appealed to us. There was a kind of cheesecake, but it was not anything like a normal cheesecake, it was more like a pie. We ordered that just to try and it had a good flavor, but it was just not cheesecake, which is Stephanie’s favorite. I ordered a glass of Limoncello and it was quite good.
Last Seagram’s VO On The Ship!
We were quite full from dinner and decided to head to the Explorer’s Lounge to relax and let our dinner settle. We had talked earlier to the bartender at the pool bar, Gore, and he still had a partial bottle of a Seagram’s VO at his bar and had told us he would send it to the Explorer’s Lounge since the pool bar closes at 5:00 PM. When we got to the Explorer’s Lounge, we were the only one’s there. We were not sure why, but it was nice and quite. True to his word, the bottle of VO was at the bar and actually hidden in the refrigerator. We think this is absolutely the last VO on the ship, no one has been able to find any more. About 30 minutes after we arrived, more people just all of a sudden showed up.
We met some new people and talked a lot with a couple from the UK. The ship’s piano player arrived and played for about 45 minutes, and that was nice, quiet enough so that we could still continue to talk.
At about 11:00 PM, we headed home for the night. It had been a nice day, a great dinner and some nice time in the Explorer’s Bar.