Hello Everyone,
Thanks for all your comments so far - I've had fun reading and responding to them. Let me know if you have questions about the trip or if there are particular things you'd like me to write about.
Where's Waldo?
It's Friday morning, 9 Jan, and we're about 3/4 of the way from Los Angeles to Honolulu. We should arrive there early Sunday morning.
Seas are calm, but the sky is mostly overcast. Temps are rising, and it's currently 70 deg F (21 C). From here on out it should be shirtsleeve weather. By the time we hit the tropics, I'll probably be wishing for 70 deg days!
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| Our Current Position |
Solo Traveler's Welcome
I've been to two mixers for solo travelers, one last night and another the night before. Both, but especially the first, were well-attended. I learned from the cruise director that there are 81 solo travelers on board, approx. 10% of the passengers (we have just over 800 on board). It's a mix of men and women, pretty close to 50/50, I'd say. I'm not the youngest or the oldest!
I've met some wonderful and interesting folks so far. Everyone is very friendly and outgoing, and all I've met so far are very experienced travelers. Even with the many places I've been, I feel like a rookie! Some are on their second or third long-duration Viking cruise, and my appetite is already whetted for future adventures.
My First Fancy Dinner
On Wednesday evening, after the first mixer, I had reservations with a small group at the Chef's Table. It's an Avant Garde sort of place with delightful presentations of somewhat unusual foods. Each of the five courses was paired with a premium wine.
The food was exceptionally good, made even better by artful presentations:
Main Course - Loin of Lamb
The main course was a perfectly cooked lamb tenderloin served with carrots and a very flavorful reduced jus. Each piece of lamb was served over a butternut squash puree.
Dessert - Brownie with Pistachio Ice Cream
Dessert was a decadently rich, dark chocolate fudge brownie served with a perfectly formed quenelle of vanilla ice cream surrounding a pistachio center.
I was seated with a retired petroleum engineer and his wife, as well as a solo traveler. The solo woman (Winnie) made a career of running her own cooking school, and she was very well travelled. She hosted numerous excursion to France through her school, giving cooking classes in Julia Child's actual house and kitchen. She had some great insights into the food we were eating and told us several stories about her time in France.
Last evening I went to dinner with two other solo travelers, Barbara and Elizabeth. They met each other a year or so ago on one of Viking's "longitudinal cruises". That itinerary runs 80+ days and crosses both arctic circles. It includes an expedition to Antarctica, on of my bucket list destinations. Several others on this cruise also did that one, and they all speak very highly of it. I'll have to check that one out.
Other Activities
I've been attending many of the lectures offered on board. There was one on Polynesian cultures yesterday that gave us good insights into the various islands we'll be visiting, comparing and contrasting each. Another lecturer spoke about the traditions and religion associated with hula dancing. The dances are different in each region, and skew far from the stereotypical lei, grass skirt, coconut bra, and ukulele!
There was a very interesting presentation last evening about the Pacific Ring of Fire and how plate tectonics create the conditions leading to volcanoes and earthquakes. Turns out there are a LOT more active volcanoes in the Pacific than I knew about.
Viking Choir
Yesterday I attended the inaugural meeting of a guest choir. Several of the musicians on board will be coaching an amateur choir made up of about 25 or 30 of us passengers. There will be practices at various times throughout the cruise, culminating in a performance for the rest of the ship near the end of the cruise. Should be fun.
Cooking Classes
I found out that there are numerous opportunities for cooking classes during the trip. I decided to try one this evening from 6-9 PM. If I enjoy it, I'll probably do others as well. Stay tuned...
Behind the Scenes
Those of you who know me know that I'm as much (maybe more!) about the process as the product - I'm always asking, "How'd they do that?" So I inquired yesterday about availability of behind the scenes tours. The guest relations folks told me that there would definitely be some, so they put my name on the list of interested folks. High on my list are the bridge, the galley, and anything associated with the propulsion and environmental systems. Maybe I'll have some cool pictures for you in later posts.
Promenade Deck
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| View from the Promenade Deck |
Yesterday the weather was beautiful, so I went for a walk on the promenade deck (Deck 2). It circles the ship and is 1/4 mile around. I did four laps, but my Apple watch said I'd covered more than 1.75 miles! The GPS got confused by my forward motion along sea. I could see the odometer increasing rather rapidly as I walked toward the bow (my motion combined with the ship's progress), but change much more slowly as I headed aft. Stuff like that tickles the engineer part of me.
That's all for today, but watch this space for more!
Cheers,
Jim
Thanks for your posts Jim. I too am fascinated by the ship. Some questions: when and where built? When was last refurb? Propulsion system? MPG 😂 and all the tech stuff
ReplyDeleteHi Mark,
ReplyDeleteWhat I know so far is that my ship (Viking Sky) is one of a series of cruise ships built by Fincantieri in Ancona, Italy, for Viking. Fincantieri is among the largest shipbuilders in the world and does both military and commercial work.
The ship was delivered to Viking on Jan of 2017 and christened in June of that year in Norway. It carries a Norwegian registration. There haven't been any retrofits yet that I know of. The ship (at least the areas I can see as a passenger) appears to be well-maintained and is in outstanding condition.
Propulsion is a pretty standard diesel-electric configuration. There are two completely separate engine rooms (isolated from each other by watertight/fireproof bulkheads) for redundancy. Each room contains two engines (one 9-cyl and one 12-cyl diesel) each driving a generator. The generators power both the propulsion motors as well as the ship's electrical system ("hotel load"). They call it a father-son configuration. Under low-demand conditions, only the "son" engine operates. That way it can operate at/near its most efficient operating load, as opposed to the larger engine, which would have to operate well below optimum output (inefficient) during low demand. When demand increases, the larger engine can be brought online. For peak demands, such as high seas or high speed, both engines work together to power the ship. Electrical power from each engine room is combined in two interconnected but physically separated high-voltage switchboards. The power goes through a control system (pulse width modulation) to power the drive motors.
Normally, both engine rooms operate symmetrically, but if one goes down, the ship can continue at reduced speed to make it to port.
The 9-cyl engine makes 6,760 hp and the 12-cyl makes 9,010 hp. There is also an 1,860 hp diesel backup generator.
In addition to the two main propellers (6 blades, variable pitch, 15 ft dia), there are two 3,800 hp bow thrusters and one 1,900 hp stern thruster for maneuvering in port.
More detail than you wanted to know? 😁
Oh, and as for MPG, GPM is probably a better measure! According to ChatGPT:
DeleteAt a typical cruise condition (service speed of 17 Kts, not max power), a very workable rule-of-thumb is:
~40–70 gallons per nautical mile
(≈ 35–60 gallons per statute mile)
That corresponds to an “MPG” of roughly:
~0.017–0.03 miles per gallon (yes, hundredths of a mile per gallon)
But it varies a lot due to conditions (rough seas, high winds, high/low hotel electrical load).
I think the real question everyone wants to know is, "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow relative to the deck of a cruise ship traveling west at 17 knots?" For purposes of this question assume the sparrow is European as African swallows are non-migratory. Be sure to factor in the Earth's rotational speed at your current latitude. Show your work.
ReplyDeleteWell, A European swallow (Hirundo rustica) has been estimated to fly at about 24 statute miles per hour (≈ 11 m/s or ≈ 21 knots) when unladen.
DeleteThis estimate comes from real-world observations of swallow flight speeds combined with a generous dose of Monty Python–style speculation.
Since you wanted the speed relative to the deck of the cruise ship, Earth's rotational speed at any latitude is immaterial and can be assumed away.
In any case though, the answer is zero because the odds are that at least one of the 803 cruise passengers on board will disregard the crew's admonishment not to feed wildlife. Therefore, the European swallow in question would alight on the deck and enjoy the cuisine just like everyone else on board.