The Ship, the Food and more….


The Viking Ocean ships are a lot like the Long Boats but more. Long boats have a max of 190 passengers; ocean ships max of 900. The decor is similar (very Scandinavian) and the rooms are similar (all have windows, nothing below water level). There is a spa, a theater, several bars, tons of seating areas, an indoor/outdoor pool with retractable roof, a sun deck, a sports deck and gym (we never went there but the guys had a goal to drink in every bar on the ship. I think achieved Day 2.) It does not feel crowded, little or no wait for elevators, no problem getting seated for meals. Lots of comfortable common areas to gather in. 

Wintergarden and pool area below:


And some shops:


The shops on the ship can only be open while at sea, not in port. Lori is tempted by the jewelry, Deb found some wool slippers she saw in the window (wasn’t sure at first, then went back and bought them!) These lovely Icelandic wool gnomes were $54 each. (My mom just bought a bunch of Easter gnomes at the Dollar Tree for $1.25…just saying.)

Lots of music on the ship. A guitar player in one area, classical piano and/or string in another, dance band in one of the bars. We haven’t heard anything about karaoke yet 🤞.


There are several dining areas, a buffet area, 2 restaurants, a poolside restaurant, outdoor terrace and a Chef’s Table. The food is excellent and they have theme nights based on the city or country we’re visiting. 


Friday night we had reservations at Manfredi’s Italian restaurant. Outstanding! We had shrimp and calamari appetizers, risotto, minestrone, Osso Buco, Carbonara, Branzino and Halibut.  The best part was that they would do appetizer portions of pasta, including lasagna, so we could try things. We ate ours too fast for pics but this is Lori’s steak…and then desserts!


The desserts were amazing but we did stump the waiter when Dave Scroggie requested an appetizer portion of lasagna with his gelato! (Looks a little like carrot cake, but no, that’s lasagna!)


Here we are all dressed for dinner!




And here they are discussing some hypothetical golf question. Dave has been particularly concerned that he can’t watch The Masters on the ship. Mike has solved the problem by Jerry-rigging some VPN magic. Now if we can figure out what to do for Sunday when we’ll be on a bus…,


Adding food pics (especially desserts!):



Apparently berries and whipped cream counts as dessert 🤯😂

Deb’s breaded oysters:


Our travel professional Max Patterson insisted that we must try this Success Cake from Mamsen’s (one of the casual dining spots on the ship). Worth it!



Mamsen’s also has wonderful open-faced sandwiches for something light.

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