Viking Ocean’s Mediterranean Odyssey Day 5 of 13

Weather Report

Another nice, sunny Mediterranean day – 72 degrees Fahrenheit but it felt warmer.

Today’s Plan

This morning, we originally planned to do the Viking included 5-hour excursion From Tuscany to Pisa. However, we now have a land trip booked in a few months which will also be going to Pisa (and Florence and Rome), so we decided to do something different at this port. La Spezia isn’t the normal port on this itinerary – it replaced Livorno. La Spezia is about an hour from Pisa and two hours from Florence. Livorno is at least 30 minutes closer to both destinations. So, all the tours must be modified from what typically show as examples on the Viking standard itinerary on the website. All the Viking optional tours had lengthy bus rides, so we’ve decided to just stay and explore the port town of La Spezia.

Dave and I also both booked massages in the Viking Spa for today. Tonight, we originally planned to dine at the Chef’s Table, the other specialty restaurant, which has a fixed themed menu that rotates every 3 days showcasing food from countries around the world. However, when we boarded, we discovered that it was a menu which we had already tried and decided to cancel and eat in The Restaurant (MDR) instead.

Viking Daily

DIY Walking Tour of La Spezia

We had a leisurely morning (I had my massage) while most of the ship’s passengers headed to Florence, Pisa, or Lucca for the day. Late in the morning, we took the shuttle from our docking location to the drop-off point entering the port area. We then walked into town towards the town center and just took in this small seaside port town, best known as a jumping off spot for the villages of Cinque Terre. It was a quiet Sunday morning, but the number of people out increased as we reached the city center as it got closer to Noon.

For our first stop in Italy, it did not disappoint in the character of what we expected from the country.

When we returned to the ship – we felt like we were on a private yacht! Hardly anyone was in the World Café for lunch or any of the many other public spaces. It wasn’t hard to find a quiet place to read, work on the blog, take a nap, etc. in the afternoon!

Viking Spa

Dave had his massage late afternoon. All Viking Ocean ships have the Nordic Spa which has a Thermal Suite available to everyone for no additional charge. It includes a heated pool and jacuzzi, saunas, steam rooms, and a snow grotto. Spa treatments like massages and facials are available for a reasonable charge.

Dinner at The Restaurant

Grilled Lobster was featured on tonight’s menu, and we expected a line when we went to the restaurant. There was a line, but not of passengers, it was a line of servers awaiting guests! When we asked where everyone was – the reply was that there were still over 400 (half the ship) on their full-day excursions! Needless to say, service was very good as it was almost like we had the entire wait staff to ourselves.

Evening Entertainment

The assistant cruise director, Lily Wyatt, was the featured performer in the Star Theater tonight in her show “One Night Only”. She has a beautiful voice and has quite the repertoire of UK songs from the 1940s-2010s – everything from Vera Lynn’s “We’ll Meet Again” to Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep”.

Tomorrow, we arrive at the port for Rome, Civitavecchia.