Another Live from the Oosterdam? 1/29-2/20

[TravelBluebird]

34 minutes ago, 0106 said:

A bit more information about yesterday.  The Viking ship cancelled the port because of the winds.  The islanders were not expecting us.  Our wonderful captain got us ashore.  There were 55 knot winds when the tenders returned to the ship.

 

The captain truly is wonderful; the night before our cruise arrived, the winds were high and the islanders had to scramble the last minute to get our lunches, etc. ready for our excursions! We had a short period of winds over 50 knots and a very short tender suspension when we were at Port Stanley. 

 

Viking, in my experience, tends to be very cautious with winds in ports. When I took Viking Ocean, we missed Sicily due to winds, and several other ships made it to port that day.

[TravelBluebird]

19 hours ago, FLCruiser97 said:

have a question for some of you guys that have been sailing on this ship. Has anyone noticed if there is karaoke in any of the lounges?

 

I did not see or hear any karaoke while on Oosterdam last month.

[Heidi13]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

The captain truly is wonderful; the night before our cruise arrived, the winds were high and the islanders had to scramble the last minute to get our lunches, etc. ready for our excursions! We had a short period of winds over 50 knots and a very short tender suspension when we were at Port Stanley. 

 

Viking, in my experience, tends to be very cautious with winds in ports. When I took Viking Ocean, we missed Sicily due to winds, and several other ships made it to port that day.

 

The reason for caution is the Viking ships are not as manoeuvrable, as they only have conventional rudders (not high-lift rudders or azimuthing thrusters) and don't have overly powerful bow/stern thrusters.

[TravelBluebird]

14 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

The reason for caution is the Viking ships are not as manoeuvrable, as they only have conventional rudders (not high-lift rudders or azimuthing thrusters) and don't have overly powerful bow/stern thrusters.

 

Thank you—that is helpful information, and something I will take into consideration in the future, especially for certain itineraries. Definitely would not choose Viking Ocean for this itinerary, as the Oosterdam’s maneuverability was key to getting us into certain ports and close in for parts of Antarctica.

[Heidi13]

41 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

Thank you—that is helpful information, and something I will take into consideration in the future, especially for certain itineraries. Definitely would not choose Viking Ocean for this itinerary, as the Oosterdam’s maneuverability was key to getting us into certain ports and close in for parts of Antarctica.

 

For the Antarctica portion, the Viking Expedition ships are a better option, as they are fitted with azimuthing thrusters and have superior ice classification, so can proceed through ice that minimal ice-classed ships, such as Oosterdam cannot.

 

Having less than 500 pax, they can also land pax ashore, whereas ships > 500 pax cannot.

[TravelBluebird]

2 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

For the Antarctica portion, the Viking Expedition ships are a better option, as they are fitted with azimuthing thrusters and have superior ice classification, so can proceed through ice that minimal ice-classed ships, such as Oosterdam cannot.

 

Having less than 500 pax, they can also land pax ashore, whereas ships > 500 pax cannot.

 

I definitely would not compare an Expedition ship with a non-expedition ship; I had assumed the Viking ship that didn’t make it to the Falklands was a non-expedition ship.

[0106]

At another lecture by Mr Sanson on Shakleton.  Although I read several books about the Endurance prior to the cruise, it was interesting.

BTW, no lectures are broadcast into the cabins.  A question was asked about why during the Captain’s presentation.  Ed the cruise director answered, we were told they needed us out of our rooms so they could be serviced.🤔 I will definitely be mentioning this on my post cruise survey.  Many people are having difficulty moving around the ship.  Some suffering from mal de mer are missing out because they remain in their cabin.  

 

[0106]

Another cooking demonstration.  The Pinnacle Grill crab cakes and crème brûlée.  The chef is a wonderful presenter.  Unfortunately, the crab cakes are not to my taste.  As a MDer, my crab cakes contain blue crab,  something to bind the crab meat together  and Old Bay.  These crab cakes had celery, onion, red pepper, thyme, chives and garlic.  How could you even taste the crab meat?

 

Recipe cards are distributing but you can no longer taste the prepared food.

[TravelBluebird]

35 minutes ago, 0106 said:

BTW, no lectures are broadcast into the cabins.  A question was asked about why during the Captain’s presentation.  Ed the cruise director answered, we were told they needed us out of our rooms so they could be serviced.🤔 I will definitely be mentioning this on my post cruise survey.  Many people are having difficulty moving around the ship.  Some suffering from mal de mer are missing out because they remain in their cabin.  

 

I hope as you get further into Antarctica that the lectures will be broadcast in the cabins for those days. We had 1,800 people plus on our cruise, and there was simply no way to fit everyone in the Main theater and Rolling Stone Lounge for the lectures.  Plus, it enabled my husband who had a terrible cold to watch in the room and not infect anyone else on the ship.  

[perrysburg]

2 hours ago, 0106 said:

At another lecture by Mr Sanson on Shakleton.  Although I read several books about the Endurance prior to the cruise, it was interesting.

BTW, no lectures are broadcast into the cabins.  A question was asked about why during the Captain’s presentation.  Ed the cruise director answered, we were told they needed us out of our rooms so they could be serviced.🤔 I will definitely be mentioning this on my post cruise survey.  Many people are having difficulty moving around the ship.  Some suffering from mal de mer are missing out because they remain in their cabin.  

 

 

And in my customer survey I will add that the talks should be broadcast in the rooms for 2 additional reasons: 1. It is unsafe to have people sitting on staircases and aisles from a fire code point of view, and 2. With both respiratory and internal viruses on the ship, they would be smart to allow people to watch from their rooms. (We know they can do it technically because they did it last cruise). I am very disappointed in that decision, and the cruise director Ed could not articulate a good reason why!

[0106]

19 minutes ago, perrysburg said:

It is unsafe to have people sitting on staircases and aisles from a fire code point of view, and 2. With both respiratory and internal viruses on the ship, they would be smart to allow people to watch from their rooms. (We know they can do it technically because they did it last cruise). I am very disappointed in that decision, and the cruise director Ed could not articulate a good reason why!

I agree.  I have sent two messages to “let us know “ on the app stating the same info.

[57redbird]

On the K last year, in order to avoid people sitting on the stairs for presentations, they scheduled a 2nd session in the afternoon to accomodate everyone....maybe that can be done on your cruise.

[0106]

7 minutes ago, 57redbird said:

they scheduled a 2nd session in the afternoon to accomodate everyone.

The main stage is busy all day.

9 Learn to speak Spanish

10 Captains talk

11 1st lecture

1 2nd lecture

2 Cooking demonstration

3 Movie

 

It really needs to be live streamed into the rooms for the people who can’t or shouldn’t leave their rooms

 

 

[0106]

In case you don’t hear from me as frequently…

[NorbertsNiece]

11 hours ago, 0106 said:

......

 

It really needs to be live streamed into the rooms for the people who can’t or shouldn’t leave their rooms

 

 

I raised this exact situation with Cynthia, GSM. She said this is to do with copyright reasons. I believe on your previous cruise they may have been recorded for later viewing @TravelBluebird could confirm. Certainly wasn't on ours.

Edited February 6 by NorbertsNiece

[NorbertsNiece]

That's Oosterdam on the NW of the first image, 0835 their time.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 6 by NorbertsNiece

[0106]

The waves are 30 feet; the winds are70+ knots.  The captain is turning the ship to try to find shelter behind Deception Island.  We have been advised to remain seated for the next 30 minutes.  I’m at the the Main stage waiting for the 10 am lecture.

[0106]

It has just been announced that all Antarctic presentations will be available on stateroom TVs🎉🥳👏

 

This was an incredibly interesting presentation.

[kazu]

6 minutes ago, 0106 said:

It has just been announced that all Antarctic presentations will be available on stateroom TVs🎉🥳👏

 

This was an incredibly interesting presentation.

 

 

Good! And about time.  I’m sure your comments on the LUK helped with that.  

Much safer for all concerned.

[TravelBluebird]

2 hours ago, 0106 said:

The waves are 30 feet; the winds are70+ knots.  The captain is turning the ship to try to find shelter behind Deception Island.  We have been advised to remain seated for the next 30 minutes.  I’m at the the Main stage waiting for the 10 am lecture.

 

Oh no; I hope shelter can be found quickly. We were so lucky, overall, with our weather compared to this; we couldn’t get to Lemaire Channel and had to shelter in place for awhile after that, but our waves and wind were not quite as bad as what you are experiencing now.

[TravelBluebird]

4 hours ago, NorbertsNiece said:

I raised this exact situation with Cynthia, GSM. She said this is to do with copyright reasons. I believe on your previous cruise they may have been recorded for later viewing @TravelBluebird could confirm. Certainly wasn't on ours.

Edited 4 hours ago by NorbertsNiece

 

No, due to copyright reasons, nothing was recorded for later viewing, however, during the Antarctica portion of our cruise, lectures were broadcast live in the staterooms, which was a huge help.

[0106]

We are in the icebergs now.  Bit calmer.  Arriving at Deception island soon.  Just announced bow will open in 15 minutes.

 

 

Edited February 6 by 0106

[NorbertsNiece]

Here you are, 1420 your time.

 

 

Deception Island, hidden by the pink spot, is the caldera of an active volcano!

[cccole]

0106, So happy to be following your cruise.  30 ft waves is more than we encountered on our January 7 cruise.   Yikes!!!!!!!  The captain and crew are amazing.  Hope you are enjoying Deception Island.  I think that we only had main stage lectures on the t.v. while in antarctica.  It was really nice.  Enjoy every nano second!  Cherie 

Edited February 7 by cccole

[0106]

@cccoleThe captain and crew are wonderful!  He was able to get us close enough to Deception Island that you could see the chinstraps with your naked eye.  Seas were much calmer last night.