In today's video, I'll give you a preview of my next cruise...
On a very different type of cruise ship than I've ever sailed on before...
Viking's newest ship, an expedition ship, built for exploring the world's most remote destinations.
I'll give you a tour, and preview my upcoming 9-day cruise.
But my cruise on Viking Octantis won't be in Antarctica...
I'll be exploring somewhere much warmer...
The Caribbean... my favorite place to cruise!
Thanks for joining me here in my backyard for this little preview video of my upcoming Viking expedition.
I've been on three Viking Ocean cruises previously.
The first one I paid for myself...
And then Viking saw what great publicity they were getting from my videos...
And they invited me on two more cruises, at their expense.
Now they just recently rolled out their new expedition ship, Viking Octantis...
Designed specifically for cruising the polar regions and other remote destinations...
And they've invited me to come aboard, at their expense again, to check it out.
Let me start by giving you a little tour of the ship.
I want to start by showing you what is probably the most amazing part of the ship...
Remember, this is an expedition ship...
So, guests are constantly heading out on small boats to visit icebergs...
And penguin colonies, and things like that.
That can be a cold, awkward, and even sometimes dangerous experience on traditional expedition ships...
But Viking Octantis has a fully enclosed marina inside the ship...
For launching zodiacs and other small expedition craft.
They call it The Hangar.
This is such a smarter way to embark and disembark excursion craft...
Than the way it's done on most expedition ships!
Guests embark and disembark from a flat, stable surface inside the ship...
Shielded from the wind, waves and weather outside the ship.
And then once everybody's safely aboard the craft...
It's launched down an 85 foot slipway out the back of the ship.
And that whole process makes boarding the excursion boats, and exiting from them later...
So much more safe and comfortable for the guests.
Now depending on the type of craft you'll be boarding...
And the weather conditions outside that day...
You'll either board landing craft here in The Hanger...
Or here, in the tender embarkation area right next to the ship's elevators.
But let's go back and look at The Hangar again...
Because I want to point out one very unusual thing you might have missed in this shot before.
Look at that yellow thing with the 01 on it.
Do you realize what that is?
That, my friend, is a submarine!
Now, I don't know exactly how they use this...
Maybe it's only for some kind of scientific research, but I doubt it.
I'm thinking that this thing is going to take guests down for a look at what's under the water.
Right? Why else would you put that on a cruise ship?
Well, I'm looking forward to finding out...
And when I get back, I'll give you a full report.
I do know that just like the other expedition craft...
You board the submarine inside The Hangar...
And then they launch it out a big hatch that opens up in the side of the ship.
I sure hope I get to try this out while I'm onboard!
Now on my previous Viking Ocean Cruises...
One of my favorite parts of the ship was at the very back of the ship...
Where they had an infinity pool that looked out over the ship's wake...
It's a signature feature on Viking Ocean Cruise ships.
There's also a hot tub back there, right next to the infinity pool.
I spent a lot of time back there in that area on my previous Viking cruises.
Well, on the expedition ships, there's something similar, but uniquely different.
You can see it in this shot.
What we're looking at here is three different pools at the back of the ship.
A caldarium, a tepiderium, and a frigidarium.
You know, the Scandinavians, they love to go from hot to cold.
So, you've got a hot tub...
A warm pool...
And a cold pool.
I will bring a pool thermometer with me on this cruise...
And report back to you the exact temperature of each of those pools.
Now that warm pool is very unique becuase it is actually an indoor-outdoor pool.
Here is a shot from inside where you can go down those steps in to that warm pool.
And the glass opens up to allow you to go from inside to outside, while you're in the pool.
I should also point out in this shot of the pool from inside the ship...
That this whole area has a glass ceiling above it that can be slid open when the weather's warm...
Or closed up when the weather is less than perfect.
Now I know you're probably thinking "that's the smallest pool I've ever seen on a cruise ship!"
Well, that was not the main pool.
Remember, this ship is designed for cruising in the polar regions of the world, like Antarctica.
Here is the main pool.
It's located within the ship's spa, completely indoors.
From my experience on other Viking ships...
I can confidently predict that the water is heated to a little over 100 degrees.
And I should point out that there's no extra charge to use that pool within the spa.
It's available to all passengers, at no extra charge.
They do not nickel and dime you with extra charges on Viking...
Like some other cruise lines do.
Now even though this is a small ship, compared to all the other cruise ships I've ever been on...
There are four different dining venues to choose from onboard.
This is the main one. It's simply known as The Restaurant.
This is elegant onboard dining...
Featuring regional cuisine and always-available classics...
Surrounded by sweeping exterior views out those big windows.
On the other Viking Ships I've been on, the food in The Restaurant was very good.
So, I expect the same on their new expedition ship.
There is also an Italian restaurant onboard called Manfredi's.
I'm sorry, I don't have any images of it.
It's an elegant dining venue, similar to The Restaurant, but with a completely different menu.
For a more casual dining experience...
There is a buffet-style restaurant, known as The World Cafe.
It features a wide range of international flavors...
Including premium seafood and sushi choices.
It's interesting that the kitchens on Viking buffets are not hidden out of view.
It's an open kitchen.
You can see them working, and they'll even grill up things on demand.
So, if you want a steak from the buffet restaurant...
It wasn't cooked an hour ago, and left sitting in a warming tray.
They cook it up for you when you order it.
Relax at your table, have a cocktail and some appetizers while they grill your steak.
And the fourth dining option is known as Mamsens.
It features Norwegian specialties including waffles, and split pea soup...
Just like the matriarch of the family that owns Viking used to make back in the day.
Next, I want to show you an area of the ship known as Expedition Central.
I'm pretty sure that this is somewhat similar to the shore excursion desk on regular cruise ships.
But this one is very high tech.
When you're here talking to the expedition team...
Learning about the various expedition activities and the destinations the ship visits...
They are able to use 3D printed maps, digital screens...
And a state of the art spatial data visualization chart table...
To brief you on what all is involved.
There is also a Science Lab onboard the ship.
An onboard laboratory developed in partnership with the University Of Cambridge.
This is not just for show.
Scientists conduct a wide range of meaningful research onboard the ship...
And guests have supervised access to the science lab.
You can see the microscopes, but there's a lot more to it than that.
You see all that empty bench space because they cleaned things up for this photo...
Those benches are where they set up analysis instruments and do some real science.
An excellent example of why it is often said that a Viking cruise is "the thinking man's cruise".
One more thing I want to show you is the gorgeous auditorium onboard...
Inspired by the former venue of the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony at the University Of Oslo.
This is used for lectures, daily briefings, and showing documentaries and films.
Configured as you see here, you've got 270 degree views from the floor to ceiling windows...
But they can also roll down a unique set of window shades to block out all the light from outside...
And there's a gigantic screen that comes down from the ceiling for movies and videos.
Back in the back of the room there's a state of the art 4K laser projector.
Well, I don't want this video to get too long, so I'll end the tour there, but...
Let me tell you about the cruise I'll be doing on Viking Octantis.
I was not fortunate enough to snag one of the very desirable cruises in Antarctica...
That would be a real bucket list cruise, wouldn't it?!?
But as luck would have it, they had an empty cabin that they could offer me...
As the ship repositions from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere.
You see, for the last couple of months, the ship has been cruising in Antarctica...
And the reviews of those cruises have been spectacular!
But now summer in the Southern Hemisphere has ended...
So, they're moving the ship north for cruises in the Northern Hemisphere during our summer.
I'm going to fly to Barbados and board the ship there...
We'll cruise around the Caribbean for six days...
And then the ship will sail north to the USA.
Normally you wouldn't think of doing a Caribbean cruise on an expedition ship like this...
But there are actually some great advantages to doing so.
This ship is so much smaller than the big cruise ships that sail in the Caribbean...
That it can go in to ports that the big cruise ships cannot.
So, on our cruise, we're going to get to visit three different islands that I've never been to before...
And I've been on 30 Caribbean cruises before!
55 cruises total, but 30 of those have been in the Caribbean.
By the way, if you're interested in booking a cruise with Viking, or any other cruise line...
Feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.
Her services don't cost you anything.
Her fees are paid for by the cruise lines.
Now I've mentioned that I've sailed with Viking Ocean Cruises three times previously.
Each of those cruises was really great...
And one of the reasons was that the ships are so uncrowded.
A mega cruise ship like one of Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class ships can carry over 6,000 passengers.
But the Viking ships that I've previously sailed on...
Like Viking Sea, which you see here, carry only 930 passengers.
I really enjoyed the uncrowded nature of the three previous Viking Ocean Cruises that I've done.
But my upcoming Viking expedition cruise is going to take that to a whole new level!
Believe it or not, this ship carries only 378 guests...
And there are 256 crew members to take care of that small number of guests.
So, I think that this is really going to be a special cruise!
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you don't miss the videos I'll be making about this expedition.
If you liked this little preview video...
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I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!