NYC weather: Hi 86F / Low 65F, Rain 50% (Day) – 3% (Eve)

Population: 8.8 Million / 326.7 Million

After our very early morning wake-up yesterday, it was nice to sleep in a bit today in “this city that never sleeps”. We planned to be at the cruise terminal to board as early as possible – everyone can board starting at 11am. The value of the voucher we used for this trip had a caveat requiring usage for a single booking, so that enabled us to book a higher-priced cabin than we normally would have. We selected a Penthouse Suite for which one of the perks is priority access to your cabin at 11am. The lower-priced cabins can also board at 11am, but cabin access isn’t guaranteed until later. 

Our plan was to board, do our muster\safety requirements, visit guest services to see what special onboard activities might be planned that we wanted to sign up for, eat a quick lunch onboard, then walk next door (literally to the next pier!) to the Intrepid Sea, Air, & Space Museum for a couple of hours before returning for the sail away. Veterans get in free, so essentially half-price for each couple. We try harder now to look out for deals for seniors, veterans, AAA members, etc. to save dollars for other things!  We’ve found veterans discounts at some surprising places, too. You just have to remember to ask as we have learned from Keith!

We arrived at the pier about 10:45am where friendly dock workers took our bags and directed us to check-in. We entered the cavernous terminal and were directed to the line for passport control, but there was no line! Passports checked, we advanced to the security screening, then on to the next area where actual check-in occurred to receive our boarding pass and Viking excursion tickets. Again, no line, there appeared to be about 30 people already checked in and waiting to board. By the time we completed that step it was 11am and we walked directly onto the ship. We turned down the welcome champagne and headed directly to the safety briefing where they demonstrated the life vests, then released us to our cabins (since ours was available) to watch the extended safety video.

We did a quick survey of our cabin, dropped our carry-on bags, watched the video, and headed to guest services. This was a great plan as there was a desk open and we were able to walk right up. We inquired about special events occurring during the cruise that we could sign-up for and ended up booking a lecture tour of the Bayeux Tapestry for which Viking displays artwork depicting the real one, a Galley tour, and a Laundry tour. Then we headed to the specialty restaurant to check the menus for Chef’s Table for the nights we pre-booked (we decided to keep those reservations) and add a couple more Manfredi’s reservations. Those tasks completed; we wandered up to the World Café for lunch. The rain had left, and the clouds were dissipating, so we found a table on the Aquavit Terrace overlooking the Hudson River to enjoy our lunch.

We decided to explore a little on our way back to our cabins and took the aft stairs to Deck 8 which walks along the outside of the roof covering the pool area. As we were walking along, an alarm sounded. It wasn’t the ship blasts that we had been warned about in the safety video, so we relaxed a little. A crew member was walking towards us, and we asked about the alarm. He said they were opening the pool roof. We were standing adjacent to the track that it is pushed/pulled along to retract. So, we stayed there to watch. Dave and Keith, the engineers, were especially engaged in seeing how it worked.    

We decided to forego visiting the Intrepid Museum to get unpacked and our cabins in order before our sail away.

The Viking Saturn left her moorings around 5:45pm (about 45 minutes late) and sailed down the Hudson past the iconic skyline of Manhattan, The Battery, Ellis Island, “The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” (which I climbed in my younger days), through the Upper Bay and out under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge into the Lower Bay, then into the Atlantic Ocean headed to our first port, Halifax.  

We witnessed our seaward progression from the Explorers’ Lounge balcony. The Explorers’ Lounge is a two-level area on Decks 7 & 8, directly above the bridge which is on Deck 6. With windows providing close to a 180° view and the outdoor balcony on the main Explorers’ Lounge level on Deck 7, it’s the ideal place to take in the scenery and visit with friends. Viking’s public areas are spacious and provide some of the best views on the ship. One of the things we like about Viking is that once on board, everyone is treated equally, there are no restrictions to certain areas by cabin class!

We decided to wait until 7:15pm to give The Restaurant (the main dining room) time to settle down after sail out. Apparently, lots of other people had the same idea tonight. Our food was good, but the service was extremely slow. It didn’t appear that there were enough wait staff and apparently the kitchen was really backed up, too. I’m chalking this one up to the first night and the later than anticipated departure causing a compression in the arrival times of diners. The Restaurant doesn’t take reservations, so you are seated as you arrive. I’m also thinking a higher percentage than normal may have decided to go to The Restaurant tonight and they might choose the World Café for more dinners in the future. We have Manfredi’s booked for tomorrow night. Hopefully, that will be a better overall experience.  

While Viking has heavily marketed their European river cruises for years in the U.S. (especially as a sponsor on PBS’s Masterpiece Theater), you may not be as familiar with Viking’s ocean cruises. They launched their first ocean ship, Viking Star, in 2015. They carry a maximum of 930 passengers and 465 crew. All guest cabins have balconies – there are no inside or porthole cabins. All current Viking Ocean ships are identical apart from Viking Orion and Viking Jupiter which have planetariums on the second floor of the Explorers’ Lounge. There are now 9 ocean ships sailing, plus a tenth if you count the Viking Sun which was transferred to a Chinese operation and renamed. There are several more ships planned, but they will be slightly larger to support new fuel cell technology. With the increased size in the ship, it appears from preliminary info that Viking is increasing the size of all cabin classes and adding a few additional cabins, but the passenger count will remain below 1000 passengers. I’ll be discussing more about the ship and what we like about Viking as we go.  

Overall, the first day was a success and I give the boarding process an A+. I’ll reserve grading our dining experiences until the end of our trip.  

P.S. Pictures added!