Dinner with the Brass

This evening we joined General Manager Johann van der Merwe and Guest Services Manager Nico Thiart in the private dining room of Manfredi’s for dinner. These two men have been largely responsible for giving us the best cruise experience imaginable. Also present were our delightful new friends Richard and Leigh Anne, whom we met on the cruise. They live near a place we once called home, and as soon as we met them we immediately connected.

The conversation was lively and the food was superb. After dinner Johann and Nico took us back into the utility area and showed us where the food and supplies are stored. The food freezers are huge cold rooms filled with meats or vegetables. Their temperature is checked multiple times daily. All waste water is filtered repeatedly and treated until it is clear and fresh, and meets requirements for drinkable water. Even so, at the final port of this voyage it will be pumped out of the ship and sent to a wastewater facility. All other waste is repeatedly dehydrated and compressed into little disks, each resembling a hockey puck. They are also recycled. This huge ship is ecologically cleaner than my car.

Johann impressed me with some of the cost-cutting measures he has implemented. A quick walk through the crew’s dining room and kitchen completed our tour. While that dining room is not as elaborate as the guests’, it is clean and airy with large windows giving beautiful views of the ocean outside. Close records are kept of every single thing that comes onto the Viking Polaris and of every thing that leaves it. The result is an increasingly efficient system, which is certainly good for the company. Our dinner was fascinating, but the little after-party was equally amazing. We felt deeply honored to have the company of two such capable administrators. After leaving our officers, we sat for a calm hour in the ship’s Living Room, enjoying a gentle conversation with Richard and Leigh Anne. It was an excellent evening following a fantastic day of quiet adventure aboard the Viking Polaris.En savoir plus