Settling into our new home...the Viking Sun

Our trip has continued to be smooth sailing. We were in the front row of the plane in plush seats that actually reclined. We have never done this before. After drinks, we were served a wonderful hot sandwich and a fruit cup with regular silverware! We had no idea what happens behind those aisle drapes.

Flying First Class for the First Time

As the plane descended into Miami, ready to land, it suddenly turned on the afterburners and climbed back up as there was another plane still on the landing runway. That was also a first for us. After a short sightseeing circle around the city, we landed without problems.

Room 3017...our New Home 

First ones off the plane and we were quickly escorted onto a private Viking bus, whose driver, even though not a tour guide, talked with amazing humor and facts, about all the things we saw on the way to the ship.




We were greeted with champagne and then quickly unpacked our 190 pounds of stuff into our stateroom, small but very convenient. Everything found its place and all was neat and tidy. 

We ate at the sit-down restaurant this first night and were treated like royalty. Later, there was a pool party with live music and dancing to celebrate the Bon Voyage.  



Our first full day on the ship.  Carol got her latte in bed as Mark briefly hit the exercise room.  Then the Viking renowned lectures began... a fantastic Planet Earth movie on the Atlantic and how the Gulf current affects the weather and sea life, a talk on the Explorers Age from 1400-1800, and also before with Lief Erikson and interestingly enough, a Chinese Explorer who in 1300 had a 400 foot ship and a crew of 100s as he mapped out the Pacific. The Cook and Magellan explorations, each given credit for their discoveries, even though neither made it back to port. Cook was killed on his second trip to Hawaii, no longer felt to be a god and Magellan died in a fight at the Philippines. His crew continued the journey, but only one of the original five ships and 18 of the crew of 270, finished the round the world exploration. Another talk on San Juan, our destination in two days, a talk on diamonds, one on writing, and finally a cello and violin concert in the atrium, paired with slides of Edward Munch's art.

Our First Cooking Demonstration Onboard

We went to our first cooking demonstration where a master Mexican chef made some of her traditional recipes with a gourmet twist. At the Chef's Table that evening we had same foods we saw being made, each course paired with wine. Between the two main courses, our palettes were cleansed with a tropical fruit granite with a red sprinkle on top. Not sure what it was...paprika?  no, a little too spicy. Chili peppers we decided, but later Chef Pia came around and told us they were ground up dried worms, in this dried state a delicacy costing $250 a kilo...brought  from Mexico just for this meal. Another first for us!