February 13, 2022. 71°F/22°C

#myvikingstory

We’re in Montevideo Uruguay for two days since weather conditions scuppered plans to move on to Punta del Este tomorrow as originally planned, which means we can take advantage of two excursion experiences.

We woke late, already docked, and looked outside to see that the cityscape comes right up to the harbour.

There’s lots of interesting architecture, some of which we’ll explore in the afternoon, but what really captured our interest was the activity going on right beside our ship.

On arrival this morning there were NINE tanker trucks lined up ready to refuel us for our upcoming Atlantic crossing, and provisions being unloaded from FIVE trailers! Neither we nor the ship are at risk of going hungry on the transatlantic journey. We can only imagine Chef Thomas’ “shopping list” !

As we headed out on our afternoon excursion, we looked back at the ship and saw Albert, our steward, on the washing and squeegeeing our balcony. I guess that partially explains the skid below.

Uruguay is also a crew turnover day. One of my (many) favourite young women on board, Rosina, leaves today for a 2 month vacation at home in South Africa, before beginning her next Viking contract on Viking’s expedition ship Octantis on its Great Lakes itinerary in May. I’m going to miss Rosina’s cheerful greetings and sparkling eyes that let me know there’s a smile under her mask, but know that the new staff coming on board (having already undergone a 2 week quarantine period) are going to be wonderful. The more we talk to crew members, the better we understand their cheerfulness. They all work incredibly hard, but truly do enjoy working for Viking, who have a reputation for treating their staff well. Just last night, one of the resident entertainers shared with us that they had been kept on full pay throughout the entire pandemic cruise shutdown period, and that they wouldn’t switch cruise lines even if they were offered a higher salary, because Viking was a “family” that had cared for them in challenging times. THAT is another reason we’re loyal to the line!

Viking is keeping us well supplied with food and drink, but also with incredible service.