Dec 26 & 27 SEA DAY & PAT's OBSERVATIONS

When we returned to our room last night, our Steward, Nay, had placed a book mark on the book I'd just gotten from the library. Little things like this are so special to me. Nay and the rest of the crew work VERY hard to make us happy, down to the most simplest of details like a bookmark. I told Julie that she'd better be taking good notes!:-)
  
Behind the Scenes Ship Tour: Hotel General Manager, Ronald Schweighardt, provided us with fascinating statistics while leading us through the ships operations & crew life. I could record only a part of the stats!
▪︎ All crew are Union  Members
▪︎ Wine shortages occurred on a tour last year. Ship docked in Hawaii to buy $27,000 in wine at Costco. The check out lady asked "Are you a Costco member?" No! Upon hearing the crew members dilemma, a Costco member offered his card. Can you imagine the reward points he earned?
▪︎ Strict environmental standards include: all bones get crusher up; garbage; any toxic waste, etc. gets offloaded at a specially contracted site at specific ports.
▪︎ Ship maintains a standard speed to save energy.
▪︎ 2 Staff share a cabin
▪︎ To encourage high morale, staff are allowed to bring family members on board while visiting their own countries.
▪︎ 35% of crew must always be onboard when docked
▪︎ Viking ships have an excellent reputation in scoring high marks from the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) which helps prevent and control the introduction, transmission, and spread of GI illnesses on cruise ships.
▪︎ Staff are drug/alcohol tested every 7 days. Violators are immediately fired
▪︎ Staff must have a minimum of 7 hr rest, which is constantly monitored. This encourages employee longevity. Viking encourages promotions from within.
▪︎ Viking ships have 98% staff retention rate

Also, on our Bridge tour today. We found out all windows are bullet proof!

I took a Jive dance class while Julie joined a Wildlife Watch. She spotted the Magnificant Frigates, Masked Booby, flying fish, and a school of dolphin.

DEC. 27: At Sea Caribbean
Heading toward Colombia, South America, specifically Cartagena. If we thought we'd be bored on our sea days, we had another thing coming! Today, we were so busy with exercising, laundry, attending workshops, lectures, dance classes and participating in the first of a weekly LGBTQ+ get together, where we met several guests & future friends. Afterward, we had dinner with 5 lovely men. Lunch today was "A Taste of Mexico", delicious! My "Blind" Wine Pick" for tonights dinner was a red Fontanafredda Raimonda Barbera d'alba Piedmont. This is my favorite so far.

The attached picture shows Julie's side of our State Room. Note her use of the magnetic hooks we brought. I draw the line at the hanging of "delicates" in our living room! 🤣Read more