9 Sea Days!! - Uruguay to Cape Verde Islands-- Feb. 15-23

 9 Sea Days!! - Uruguay to Cape Verde Islands--

Tours of kitchen Galleys, the Captain's Bridge, and backstage of the Theater, girls night out, guys night out, plus a myriad of entertainment.

At first it sounded like a prison sentence, but nine days at sea turned out to be chock full of fun, activities, and tours on the ship, as we sailed to Cape Verde off the northwest coast of Africa. 

It actually went by very quickly. Weather has been beautiful and seas have been calm. No covid cases on board, so all is well.

Cape Verde, once part of Portugal, has been independent since 1975.

The Cape Verde archipelago is a group of 10 volcanic islands with a year round temperate climate, turquoise seas, rugged volcanoes, and beautiful landscapes.

Mindelo, where we docked, is the capital of Sao Vicente Island. Mindelo seems to have more poverty areas with million dollar views, not a regular stop for cruise ships.  But since we are not on a normal itinerary, we stopped for fuel, provisions, garbage drop off, a chance to get on land, some sightseeing, mountain climbing (by bus) and free time to roam about.

Above photo borrowed from Viking

Captain and his Crew's bridge

The wheel!!!! 

Look at Dave's smile!! Backstage Theater dressing room

Lighting behind stage

Equipment room behind stage w piano 

1st and 2nd Officers, Cadet, and lookout

Theater seating from stage

Such organized,clean galleys

Crossing the Equator -- again

Crossing the Equator--Again!! 

We have crossed back into the northern hemisphere. The ship celebrated its Atlantic Crossing and a second Equator Crossing with a fun filled "County Fair".

 Its very special and unusual to cross the equator twice on one trip. First time was a few weeks ago in the Pacific heading south, this time heading north past the west coast of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean.  

Each ship department (medical, restaurant, guest services, engine rm., spa, housekeeping) had a booth and a test of skill. Face painting, water balloons, towel folding, dart boards, water basketball, live entertainment, corn dogs, other "county fair" food, drink, and prizes. We won a good one -- a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne!!

It was a quiet ship after the Fair, while the guests napped and the hardworking crew cleaned up. Such fun on another beautiful day.

Captain Olav, us, and our penguin towels. 

Gen. Mgr Johann, Fin. Officer Chris, us, and Cruise Director Aaron

Kent and me before testing our skills at nerves of steel surgery

Michael and me w more penguins and beer

Montevideo, Uruguay - Feb. 13-14

 Montevideo, Uruguay - Feb. 13-14

Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, has a scenic setting on the estuary waters of the Plata River and on the open Atlantic Ocean waters. This cultural capital is a mix of Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, African, and indigenous people.  The world's longest carnival, 40 nights, is held each year in Montevideo. 

Montivideo is a lovely city with great architecture, lots of small parks, statues, and beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and the Plata River.

We've been so good about maintaining our Covid free status, that the Captain announced we could go ashore in Uruguay in independent exploration. Pror to this, we had been in a "Viking bubble", only going out with prior approved and vaccinated tour guides. It felt great to wander around on our own. We still were careful to wear masks, as the penalty for bad behavior (getting Covid) was to be 14 days in an isolated cabin on the ship. In addition, the better our record, the more future ports are open for us to explore on our own. 

A change in schedule gave us an overnight stay in Montevideo, so the ship's entertainment crew hired a professional tango dancers team, Tango Uruguay, to come on board to entertain us for the evening's show in the Star Theater. It was fabulous. 

We could never see a better tango performance than we saw right here, at the birthplace of tango, Uruguay. Such a sensous, sultry dance. The Tango originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. What a wonderful treat!!

Local McDonald's, beautiful bldg.

Tango Uruguay

Crazy Hat Party, a Super Bowl Party, a Valentine's Day Party

 A Crazy Hat Party, a Super Bowl Party, a Valentine's Day Party, and another trivia team win!!

What fun we are having on the ship! Our trivia team had its 3rd perfect score!!

We were invited to a 10 person private dinner with a Crazy Hat theme. I borrowed Eiffel Towers from the restaurant's French night and and tassels from Asia night to make our hat creations, even lighting up the Eiffels (someone thought they were witch hats from Wicked). Our General Manager, Johann, heard about the party and decided to join us, but only after he requested that Damien, Asst. Cruise Director, crochet him a hat to wear to the party. What a fun guy Johann is. We voted on best crazy hat and mine won!! Prizes were a large bag of M +Ms, some small bottles of gin and Valentines stick ons for our door-- a perfect prize for me and a very fun evening.

 

Super Bowl Party was set up on pool deck with big screen rights to show Super Bowl (also showing in all cabins, if desired). Viking paid $100,000.00 for this. Dave told ship's Finance Officer, Chris, that Viking could have saved the money and shown us old people a rerun!! The crew threw a great party, complete with chili dogs, sliders, nachos/fixings, wings, fries, shots of many colors, depending on which team you were cheering for. Forgot to take photos.

Valentine's Day was also special - again the pool area was set with tables all over. For dinner, each couple was served salads, delicious breads, a HUGE grilled Tomahawk steak, 2 grilled lobster tails, w spinach, sauce, and mashed potatoes. This was followed by a special fabulous heart shaped dessert for each. The live entertainment, songs, music and dancing went on for hours, all around the outside pool area while sailing north in the Atlantic on a beautiful warm evening.

Brandy Alexanders rimmed w chocolate

Tomahawk steak and lobster tails

Damien, Poppy, Beth, Sarah-Leanne

Damien, Lynn

After all of that we went up to top deck to view the clear skies and the Southern Cross star constellation. This is a treat to see because the Southern Cross is only seen while in the southern hemisphere.
We returned to our cabin to find a red rose and macarons on our bed.

       

Trivia Team, Man Overboard, wins again.

Jessie and Dave

Four brightest stars are the Southern Cross