Where We Run The Gauntlet A/K/A Embarkation, and Experience Our First Little Bumps With A Bit Of Frustration
The morning started off just fine. We got up early to pack up the suitcases and put them outside the door by 7:30, followed by the usual morning routine and breakfast. We opted to check out of the hotel and hang out in the lobby until it was time to depart.
The ship was very close to the hotel:
Basically a drive around the block to cross the street.
Bus pick ups started shortly before 11:00. The confusion: the Viking person called out for “Bus 4 people”, and we didn’t have a bus number. When I asked, I was told that “The bus number doesn’t really mean anything – you can just get on the bus, it’s fine”. We decided to wait for the next bus.
When it arrived, I went on ahead, with Andy following behind with our stuff. I made sure to tell the Viking person that we had no bus number and that my husband was following up behind, so she counted me twice. The woman behind me seemed to be unhappy that we didn’t have a bus number: “Didn’t you come on the tour yesterday?”, she said to me.
“No, we were out on our own,” I replied. She found this to be an unsatisfactory answer. Good news: her opinion doesn’t count!
I got on the bus, with Andy close behind.
Ten minutes later – around the block and make a right – we were encouraged to stay on the bus for a bit. Apparently 3 delayed flights all arrived at the same time, and the security line was very long.
Which it was indeed. We had printed off our ship boarding passes, but that saved us all of 2 minutes.
Finally free of security, there was still more walkways and tunnels to actually board the ship, and there we were! Yay!
And immediately shuffled off to a different deck to listen to a brief “This is how you put on your life vest” demonstration, all while holding a champagne flute and shuffling all our carry ons.
After our first lunch at the “World Cafe”, we were able to enter our rooms and meet our steward, Ricky. Finally, finally, we could relax.
To find out that the remote for the TV didn’t work, nor did the in-room desk phone. Well, we needed to visit Guest Services anyway, because I needed to arrange for accommodations on our scheduled excursions. I had been promised by Viking (multiple times by phone), that the “moderate” level excursions would have a “leisure” version – same excursion, just a separate group for those of us who’d like to take it a little slower. This worked like a charm on our March 2022 Viking river cruise.
The line for Guest Services was, of course, very long: everybody had just boarded and we all had questions
When it was our turn, I explained what it was I was asking for regarding the excursions. The Viking rep’s immediate reactions was: “We don’t do that! We can’t have two different versions of the same excursions!” – extremely uncharacteristic for a Viking customer representative. After several minutes going back and forth, she simply didn’t not accept that Viking had promised me assistance on the “moderate” level excursions. She eventually said she’d talk to the excursion director and get back to me.
Hot on the heels of this experience, we went to look at the “infinity pool”. When Andy asked the nearest employee how it worked, the Viking rep said, “I don’t know”, and seemed prepared to walk away. After a few mimutes of frustration, he figured out he should find somebody who did know, and an officer appeared. He did explain the infinity pool, and it turned out not to be what we thought it was.
Back in the room, Andy had to go back down to guest services to ask about the phone (again). While he was there, he had a brief chat with the excursion director about accommodations. It was clear the director had also no idea what we were talking about. We made an appointment to talk to him again on Friday.
Things started improving with the arrival of the phone guy. He successfully fixed the desk phone, after repeated reboots.
Then it was time for the Hanukkah event – “unposted”, meaning we had to do it ourselves following a script by Rabbi Amy Schneiderman provided by the ship. An electric menorah, some latkes, a challah and 4 bottles of wine. I wasn’t aware that challah and wine were needed for Hanukkah, but it was the thought that counted. I’ll try to remember to take a photo Friday night.
There were about 20 people. We introduced ourselves – Jews from all over the US, including several people from Maryland! It was a lovely service and the latkes weren’t bad either!
We ended up having dinner with Elaine and Robin, two friends from Houston, TX. It was a delightful dinner conversation – those two ladies have been everywhere and done everything!
And when we got back to the room, we had a new TV remote that actually seemed to work!
Tomorrow: Another day in Auckland, hanging out, doing laundry, and arguing with the Excursion Director.
Maryland Meshugas 