Sniffin’ Around

We have been onboard the Viking Polaris for 3 days, but there are still little nooks, crooks and crannies that we have not found yet. Or if we have found them once, we may not have been able to return. (Was the Sushi Bar on Deck 5?)

Today is a sea day with no excursions planned, so I have simply been snooping around, scoping out all areas of the ship. One of the new innovations I like about this ship is the way seating is arranged. On the Viking Ocean cruise ships there are quite a few large seating areas—the Library, Explorers’ Lounge, etc. These are great for conversation and meeting new friends, but not great if you just want privacy. On this ship there are still several large sitting areas, but there are also many smaller areas with only a little table or two scattered around. A small space out of the way may contain a single chair. Even the library, a huge area much larger than on our familiar Viking vessels, is divided into smaller areas bound by tall bookshelves. Explorers’ Lounge has a couple of smaller, more intimate areas in the rear. With only 300 passengers spread out over this 600-foot-long vessel, we may go to hang out in the living room and find that we are the only ones there.

There is even a special area within the bow structure of the ship called “The Hide.” There is no bar there, and it is accessible only from one forward elevator, so flocks of passengers would not tend to gather there. This very comfortable space is decorated with objects and photos of famous explorers of past centuries, yet retains a utilitarian ambiance. It evokes the ships of yesteryear when interiors were far less opulent. Large pipes conceal anchor chains that deploy at an amazing 10 meters per second. Even its riveted steel door looks as though it came from some ancient steamer. The are dozens of other private and semi-private cozies onboard, many with a small table for a cup of coffee, a sweet roll and a good book.

All of the ship’s areas are convenient and excessively beautiful. I’m an old guy and my hero days are past, but every time I turn a corner going in some passageway I am surprised by a photo of Robert Peary in an animal skin suit, or another of Shackleton’s crew hauling a sledge across the ice, and I stand just a little straighter and feel a little taller.

The crew of the Viking Polaris treats us like royalty, but maybe inside me, inside each of us, there is still a bit of a courageous discoverer of unknown lands who does not want to be pampered. If there is a tiny fragment of an adventurer, an explorer, a risk-taker in any of us, or even a flicker of curiosity about the natural world around us, this ship will bring it out.En savoir plus