I’m so impressed!

Day 37/138 2022/2023 Viking Neptune World Cruise. Another sea day…heading for New Zealand.

As you can see from the photo above, we are more than halfway between Tahiti and New Zealand. With swells over 10 feet, we are ‘rocking and rolling’ along in grey skies today and I had to put my sea bands back on my wrists to prevent sea sickness.

The internet today is slower, than slow, so I’m not certain if there will be many pictures in the blog tonight. Sorry. We pause for technical issues in the middle of nowhere in the South Pacific. Another bad night. The coughing is killing my sleep, but I went to see Pedro the Osteopath/Acupuncturist this morning, explained the situation and he did as he calls it ‘an intense’ reset of my immune system and lungs with acupuncture needles. I was on the table with the needles in my back for a full 45 minutes. Pedro warned me to drink a lot of water today because of how intense a therapy he did on me.

I went straight from acupuncture to Team Trivia in the Explorer’s Lounge on Deck 7. We were doing quite well in trivia today until Assistant Cruise Director Michael decided to throw in a bonus question which was ‘Name the kids in order of age from the musical “The Sound of Music”.’ Now I love that movie and I’ve seen it probably 25 times, but I couldn’t remember the names of the kids other than the oldest two. Oh my! That one question was worth 7 points, so unfortunately that bonus question killed us! Team Trivia is certainly giving our memory banks a work out!

In art class today we were finishing up our shadow boxes that we had painted yesterday. I was able to finish my box, as well as work on my turtle which I had worked on in our cabin yesterday. Tomorrow’s project is the last one we have with art teacher Deb and her husband Jim. I will miss them. I’ve learned a lot in these sessions with Deb and appreciate her support and encouragement for my budding art career (LOL!). Deb tasked us with some homework today. Our homework was to walk around the ship and take a photo of some piece of art, a costume, or something else we wanted to draw as well as paint on a card. I’ve got my photo for tomorrow and I think it will be cute once I finish it.

If you remember my favourite photo from a few days ago in Moorea, I used it as an inspiration for the shadow box. Trying to do the Viking logo on the chimney stack of the Neptune was the hardest thing to do because it is so small.

Its not signed yet, so there may be some more enhancements to the sea in the picture tomorrow.

When we were listening to the announcements today at noon, we heard that there would be a ’Crossing the International Dateline’ celebratory toast as we entered the Domain of the Golden Dragon, by crossing over the International Dateline. The buzz around the ship the last few days has been “What day are we really losing?” Is it the 28th or the 29th of January? I don’t think anyone was really clear until we got to the celebration this afternoon at 5:30pm to hear Cruise Director Bruce’s explanation. We have been asked to set our clocks on our phones tonight from January 27th to January 29th, meaning we lose tomorrow January 28th. Bruce asked if anyone’s birthday fell on January 28th and a couple of people ‘fessed up that their birthday’s were tomorrow. Bruce told them that because we are crossing the date line, they get to stay the same age for another year! Anyway, apparently the real reason why we are going ahead a day tomorrow is not because we are really crossing the date line yet, it is because we would be crossing the dateline on Sunday and if we went forward a day on Sunday, the ship’s computers would lose all of our reservations and bookings for all of the guest on the ship, so instead we are ‘faking it’ and going forward tomorrow instead of on Sunday. And the other more important burning question around the ship is “When are the NFL semi-final games happening for us, if we have already changed to Sunday?” I think the answer is that the games will be on Monday for us, but we will have to wait until the Viking Daily tells us when the games will be played.

Richard was my photographer this afternoon while I laid on a chaise lounge away from the melee that was going on, on the pool deck on 7. I’m pretty whipped from restless nights of coughing and actually had a nap before the ceremony this afternoon. The Neptune and all of its passengers and crew are entering the Domain of the Dragon’s empire because we are crossing the International Date Line by sailing west, where Asian nations celebrate the power of the dragon. We were serenaded first by Resident Vocalists, Joji, Jovie and the Viking Band, Ocean Groove, who sang about 3 songs, and then Cruise Director Bruce read us a poem about crossing into the Domain of the Dragon’s Empire, and then proposed a toast with sparkling wine to crossing the dateline. It is nice to celebrate these important, memorable milestones along the way on our World Cruise, because who knows if we will ever be on a ship crossing the dateline again?

I had to run down to the Nordic Spa for my pedicure appointment at 6pm, right after the Crossing the International Dateline celebration. I found out that I only had a regular pedicure booked and not a gel polish removal pedicure as well as a gel pedicure, but the spa attendant made sure that I still got the gel pedicure that I really wanted. Richard booked me another pedicure for 6 weeks, and made sure to book for a gel polish removal as well as a gel pedicure to allow for the proper amount of time to complete the service. Its nice to have my toes looking good again! Richard was waiting for me after my pedicure in the Atrium listening to the amazing pianist Antonina play classics from Carole King, and Leonard Cohen. I wanted to sit and listen, but my evening cough snuck up on me again, and I didn’t want to sit and disturb fellow guests, even though I was wearing a mask, so we headed to our cabin. Just as we were about to get on the elevator Hotel Manager Ronald was getting on at the same time going to the World Cafe for his dinner. Ronald asked me how I was feeling and I said quite poorly because of my cough at night. Ronald was extremely concerned and asked if I had ever tried a hot whiskey, to which I replied “NO”. Ronald said the hot whiskey is an old Irish remedy (his wife is Irish) and that he would send one up to our cabin immediately. WOW! The next thing we knew, 3 stripe Beverage Manager Andre was personally delivering a hot whiskey to our cabin saying “Remember this number 2211”. If you need any special drinks like this, please call me directly and I will have something sent up to you!” DOUBLE WOW!!! Ronald promised me that the hot whisky would make me sweat all night and by tomorrow I would be feeling much better. I can’t say enough about the care and concern from all of the Viking staff, right up to 4 stripe, chief representative of Viking on the ship - hotel manager Ronald! Viking is known for its customer service, but the servant leadership aspect of the customer service is demonstrated right from the top. I’m so very, very impressed! Thank you Viking, Ronald and Andre.

What a drink! We added two packets of honey to the hot whisky drink. There were lots of fresh lemons, mint, cloves, whisky and hot water. The drink was amazing and so far….fingers crossed….I’m not coughing either! Let’s hope this does the trick and helps me get a good nights’ sleep.

So goodnight from tomorrow…I think…we’re still confused…