Day 05, Board the Norwegian Viva

We get up early and go for a walk in search of our shuttle location to take us to the ship. Once found, we patronize one of many Patisseries that line the streets and have coffee and pastries.

Then it’s back to the hotel to pick up our luggage to go to the bus stop. We have been told to be there at 9:20 AM promptly. The bus arrives at 9:45 AM. So much for promptness. There was a line of people ahead of us when we arrived at 9:10. But the good thing is we put our luggage on last which means we are first off.

Our boarding time is noon and we get to the ship at 10:30. But we are third in line and security is ready for us at 10:45. We check our bags and wait in a 20 minute line to check onto the ship. Formalities taken care of, we board the ship. Our stateroom is not ready, so, with heavy backpacks on, we start touring the ship. Elevator up to deck 17, stairs to 18, walk around, find the main buffet, arcades and race track, yes, race track! Down to deck 7 and inquire about details at the front desk. Whew!

Back to the buffet for a snack to offset our plans to visit a bar. Looking out over the harbor, the compression effect of my telephoto lens makes the docked boats look interesting.

Then to the front theater where we sign up for one of our paid dinners. Interesting space, the theater is just one big open room! Wonder what it’s like to see a show in here? Now to a bar for a glass of wine. We study the things to do on and off the ship, get events into our calendars and go back to the theater to book another dinner. A salesman sees me with a glass of wine and successfully gets us to book a wine tasting.

One thing we don’t care for (we learned this on Royal Caribbean) is that even complimentary restaurants and events must be booked in advance because the ship is so big. We walk around the ship more and stumble across the Welcome Aboard Party by the pool!

We try to go to our stateroom to deposit our backpacks and find it is still not yet available. So we lug our stuff up to what turns out to be the whiskey bar. They have whiskey and wine. I sit with our bags and Elee walks to the ‘Local Bar’ for a rum drink. She returns with her drink and a small pretzel snack and we are immediately informed by a waitress that food is strictly forbidden in this bar. WHAT? Unheard of! A snack prohibited in a bar? I guess we have learned what bar to not patronize on this cruise! So I note to self to include this in our review of the ship.

Elee walks back to the other bar to enjoy her snack and I hold down the fort. I don’t know how long to wait to find our room available so I sit and relax. Elee returns and we relax together. When our room is finally ready, we are impressed with the size of it!

At dinner, we have fabulous food between seafood for Elee and New York Strip Steak for me which tastes and looks more like Filet Mignon. We meet and chat with several people from Australia. After dinner I get a glass of wine and go back to the stateroom for the evening.