The Virtual Explorers' Lounge

[SantaFe1]

They were always wonderful!
 

[SantaFe1]

20 minutes ago, duquephart said:

 

Probably referring to "spreads" put out in aquavit or pool areas.

[Twitchly]

5 hours ago, SantaFe1 said:

Wow. I don’t remember seeing anything like this. How did you know when it was happening? The Viking Daily?

[CCWineLover]

17 minutes ago, Twitchly said:

Wow. I don’t remember seeing anything like this. How did you know when it was happening? The Viking Daily?

Not every cruise has these "spreads".  We've been on 5 Ocean Cruises and only seen it twice.  Maybe depends on the weather and the itinerary.

[deec]

I imagine it has to be warm weather...had a number during the World Cruise often was "destination" driven and great drinks but on that cruise EVERYONE had free drinks.   One that I remember on the Amazon Cruise but I do not remember the theme.  Sometimes there were stations and other times an actual buffets on the Terrace always fun and lots of work for the crew!

[SantaFe1]

1 hour ago, Twitchly said:

Wow. I don’t remember seeing anything like this. How did you know when it was happening? The Viking Daily?

Yes, these are on sea days, and on  WC there are lots of sea days.  We must have had 6-8 buffets like this.  This one was in South America, where they eat lots of meat, I don’t, but still spectacular.

 

we are on a Panama cruise over Christmas and New Years in two months. I hope they do a reasonable approximation of this.

[Peregrina651]

On 10/24/2021 at 7:34 AM, Tom.in.nc said:

the world cafe just today turn back to serve-yourself.

 

Agreed with one and all who feel that self-service is a potential hazard. These days, I just feel safer when we are served. It's not just Covid but the GI viruses as well.

 

Maybe I'll just bring food prep gloves to use for the self-serve.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2021 by Peregrina651

[deec]

SanteFe....we are doing the Panama Cruise in November...I will let you know!!!

[TayanaLorna]

15 hours ago, CCWineLover said:

Not every cruise has these "spreads".  We've been on 5 Ocean Cruises and only seen it twice.  Maybe depends on the weather and the itinerary.

Other then our Iceland cruise, all our cruises had 2 to 8 sea days.  SA had 8 sea days (2 scenic cruising, 1 unplanned and 5 planned). I had fully hoped we would have the wonderful brunch buffet or a themed lunch buffet like I had seen people post.  We did have 2 special dinners at the Pool Grill but they were exactly the same each time (steak, lobster, roasted potatoes and a very limited salad selection on the small pool grill buffet).  We much preferred to have a steak cooked to order at the Restaurant and the lobster was dry.  It wasnt a spread encouraging photo taking.  However the way we leaned about it was in the Viking Daily sandwiched on the back page with the dining opening times.  Our upcoming TA has 8 sea days - 2 individual and 6 in a row.  Hope Viking does better on this one.

[kanarra]

22 hours ago, Twitchly said:

This reminds me of a question I’ve had for a while. I keep reading about these other buffets here on CC. But I don’t recall any on our cruise a couple years ago. Are these just for warm weather cruises, or on certain ships? On our one Viking cruise (so far), we were on Sky during a spring cruise up the coast of northern Europe. The only buffet I remember seeing was the WC. 

Pre Covid,  they would do a Sunday Brunch in the WinterGarden on Trans Atlantic or Trans Pacific Cruises.  Originally initiated by Executive Chef Gary Potiphar on the Sea,  he is currently on the Orion and hoping this will return on the Grand Hawaii and Polynesia Cruise.

[Twitchly]

55 minutes ago, TayanaLorna said:

Other then our Iceland cruise, all our cruises had 2 to 8 sea days.  SA had 8 sea days (2 scenic cruising, 1 unplanned and 5 planned). I had fully hoped we would have the wonderful brunch buffet or a themed lunch buffet like I had seen people post.  We did have 2 special dinners at the Pool Grill but they were exactly the same each time (steak, lobster, roasted potatoes and a very limited salad selection on the small pool grill buffet).  We much preferred to have a steak cooked to order at the Restaurant and the lobster was dry.  It wasnt a spread encouraging photo taking.  However the way we leaned about it was in the Viking Daily sandwiched on the back page with the dining opening times.  Our upcoming TA has 8 sea days - 2 individual and 6 in a row.  Hope Viking does better on this one.

I vaguely remember seeing lobster and steak as a separate offering once, now that you mention it, and it really didn’t look very interesting. I’ll be interested to see what they come up with for our upcoming Mediterranean cruise.

[Peregrina651]

4 minutes ago, kanarra said:

he is currently on the Orion

 

SWEET!!!  We're on Hawaiian Sojourn. Something to look forward to.

[nanabeth]

Will be on Amazon cruise in January! Would love something like that!

[Clay Clayton]

To all those who celebrate Thanksgiving today, hope you have a great day!  

[CharTrav]

55 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

To all those who celebrate Thanksgiving today, hope you have a great day!  

🦃🦃🦃🦃🦃

[Blackduck59]

On 10/25/2021 at 12:12 PM, SantaFe1 said:

They were always wonderful!
 

 

What a lovely display, I noticed the Mighty Cruise ships episodes on Viking Ocean cruises showed these magnificent displays, implying they are a regular thing on every cruise. Apparently not.

I find it interesting on these shows when the head chef does a shore excursion to the local seafood market and buys fresh fish or prawns or whatever else looks good. I recall one episode (I can't recall what ship was being featured) it was a premium line. The big deal was fresh shrimp/prawns. He bought 20 kilos (about 45 pounds) and they were cooking them at an outdoor grill on deck. It implied everyone was welcome to have as much as they want. Sorry but the skeptic in me says okay so maybe 100 to 150 of the perhaps 900 passengers got any of that fresh seafood. Just like the large fish in another picture, I wonder who got served from that limited supply.

For our upcoming Pacific Coastal cruise the only regional thing that I can think of is Dungeness Crab, that would be a nice treat.

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

What a lovely display, I noticed the Mighty Cruise ships episodes on Viking Ocean cruises showed these magnificent displays, implying they are a regular thing on every cruise. Apparently not.

I find it interesting on these shows when the head chef does a shore excursion to the local seafood market and buys fresh fish or prawns or whatever else looks good. I recall one episode (I can't recall what ship was being featured) it was a premium line. The big deal was fresh shrimp/prawns. He bought 20 kilos (about 45 pounds) and they were cooking them at an outdoor grill on deck. It implied everyone was welcome to have as much as they want. Sorry but the skeptic in me says okay so maybe 100 to 150 of the perhaps 900 passengers got any of that fresh seafood. Just like the large fish in another picture, I wonder who got served from that limited supply.

For our upcoming Pacific Coastal cruise the only regional thing that I can think of is Dungeness Crab, that would be a nice treat.

 

We watched the same episode.

 

The extreme brunch isn't that common, as we had 1 over 4 months, but we had numerous special lunch/dinner events in World Cafe, Aquavit Terrace and the Pool Deck. Generally multiple events each week.

 

Rather than converting to jpg, compressing and uploading some photos, here is a link to ones I posted on our blog

 

https://andyandjudi.com/2020/02/08/day-35-8th-february-2020-at-sea/

[Blackduck59]

Thanks for the link @Heidi13, that looks very nice. Viking is a step up for us from Celebrity so we really are looking forward to this cruise. We are a little concerned that we may be spoiled by Viking and reluctant to go back to the more mainstream lines.

[Clay Clayton]

9 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the link @Heidi13, that looks very nice. Viking is a step up for us from Celebrity so we really are looking forward to this cruise. We are a little concerned that we may be spoiled by Viking and reluctant to go back to the more mainstream lines.

Go ahead and get over your concern…that will definitely be the case! 😂

[Heidi13]

12 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Thanks for the link @Heidi13, that looks very nice. Viking is a step up for us from Celebrity so we really are looking forward to this cruise. We are a little concerned that we may be spoiled by Viking and reluctant to go back to the more mainstream lines.

 

Wouldn't surprise me. Although we had definitely quit Princess before trying Viking, we will never return to a mainstream, unless bringing grandsons.😁

[Blackduck59]

44 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Wouldn't surprise me. Although we had definitely quit Princess before trying Viking, we will never return to a mainstream, unless bringing grandsons.😁

 

We actually cancelled a Princess, East Coast Canada set for Late August next year in favour of this Viking Pacific Coastal. We still want to do East Coast Canada. It won't be with Princess, we just don't feel like Princess is for us. Unfortunately they had the best itinerary for us. Viking doesn't have their itineraries posted for 2023 East coast yet.

[SantaFe1]

Our first Viking cruise was the Eastern Seaboard explorer, NYC to Montreal.  We loved it!  We went in early October and all the leaves were turning.  The Fall 2023 cruises will be out soon, I’m sure.  I bet you’ll find one you like!

Edited November 27, 2021 by SantaFe1

[Liz Masterson]

Whisky neat... 🥃

 

I have sad news. Had to cancell my Viking River Cruise on the Nile. My dear friend and traveling companion was diagnosed with cancer and... while the prognosis is good... needs to seek treatmant ASAP. So no New Year's Eve on the Nile for us.  But plenty of vouchers to plan another trip when she is better...

 

Her concerns and disappointment are of course bigger than mine... but she doesn't drink... so make mine a double... Sigh...

[Peregrina651]

50 minutes ago, Liz Masterson said:

Whisky neat... 🥃

 

I have sad news. Had to cancell my Viking River Cruise on the Nile. My dear friend and traveling companion was diagnosed with cancer and... while the prognosis is good... needs to seek treatmant ASAP. So no New Year's Eve on the Nile for us.  But plenty of vouchers to plan another trip when she is better...

 

Her concerns and disappointment are of course bigger than mine... but she doesn't drink... so make mine a double... Sigh...

 

 

Oh, no! Wish her a complete recovery and a speedy return to traveling.

[Twitchly]

3 hours ago, Liz Masterson said:

Whisky neat... 🥃

 

I have sad news. Had to cancell my Viking River Cruise on the Nile. My dear friend and traveling companion was diagnosed with cancer and... while the prognosis is good... needs to seek treatmant ASAP. So no New Year's Eve on the Nile for us.  But plenty of vouchers to plan another trip when she is better...

 

Her concerns and disappointment are of course bigger than mine... but she doesn't drink... so make mine a double... Sigh...

That is sad news. Here’s to a rapid and complete recovery for your friend and many happy adventures together in the future. 
 

Definitely puts our (probable) upcoming cancellation in perspective.