Here is a summary of our second Viking world cruise. Just like with the 21/22 we did not get to do the original itinerary. ON the 21/22 we ended up going around South America instead of across the Pacific. The good news about the 23/24, at least for us, was that we go to do everything on the 23/24 that we did not get to do on the 21/22 and right about the time the itinerary changed was right when we were getting to all the places we have been before. It was fun going around the Cape of Africa although I wish we could have seen more of Africa but realize a lot of Africa is not set up for tourists, especially not “senior” tourists. Not being able to make Victoria Falls was a hug blow. Granted before the trip I had no idea it was a possibility but then we rally got excited about seeing it. The honestly did try to get us there but the weather was not with us.

Viking took care of us and the crew is AMAZING! Our biggest criticism is communication. They really don’t do a good job and they wait too long to tell you things. Rumor has it everything has to come from corporate so even if you are on the boat and want to tell the passengers something you have to run it by corporate for approval and that is usually not given. It will be interesting to see how the company progresses now that they are selling shares.

We wanted to give you some numbers and statistics:

• We visited 23 countries ( 7 of which we had not been to before. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, South Africa, Namibia, Senegal and Morocco)
• We sailed 37, 712 miles from Fort Lauderdale
• Kathy read 28 books and I read 16 books. (I played a lot of Mah Jongg and 3 of the books I read were 500 plus pages……just sayin)
• We did laundry 12 times. (I sent 1 item to be laundered, the pair of pants I wanted to wear home).
• We each received 4 official certificates suitable for framing, transiting the Panama Canal, crossing the equator, crossing the international date line, completing the world cruise. We did not get one for sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Ironically we have done all of the things we got certificates for already the only thing new to us was the Cape of Good Hope.
• We spent 4 nights off the ship which is new for us. 2 nights in Bali, 1 in Vietnam and I in Singapore.
• We did 2 safaris
• I dove 13 times in 5 different countries
• We both learned a new skill, Kathy learned how to felt and I learned how to play Chinese Mah Jongg.
• We had 5 haircuts in total. Kathy got 2, 1 in New Zealand and 1 on the ship and I got 3, New Zealand, Singapore and Morocco.
• We did 67 days at sea out of 139. So not quite half.

The ship supplied the following numbers for us. When you consider that the boat was half full for part of the trip it does seem pretty impressive.

• 171,634 Eggs used
• 25, 124 pounds of beef consumed
• 45, 746 pounds of chicken consumed (equivalent to 8,000 whole chickens)
• 34, 773 bottles of wine
• 4554 gallons of beer
• 6, 359 bottles of assorted premium spirits
• 3348 gallons of ice cream
• Last but not least 30,960 rolls of toilet paper

Impressive numbers if you consider that a lot of people got off in Sydney and more got off in ports after.

We have now been home for several days and almost everything has been washed and put away. As usual I bought way too many t-shirts and I think I have finally learned my lesson. Now I want to clean out everything and get rid of stuff.

We did manage to catch some sort of crud on our return. Not sure if boat crud still lingered or being up 24 hours but both of us started coughing again and congested. We got on antibiotics as soon as we got home and after lots of rest we are feeling better. Thinking we will be almost back to normal by the weekend.

We do not see another Viking world cruise in our future although we applaud Viking for changing their 24/25 world cruise itinerary now and adding places like the Maldives and Seychelles. I know that you should never say never but right now it is a pretty firm “No”. Viking really does have the best value for the world cruise. While we did a lot of excursions on our own through Viator or TripAdvisor we also did a lot with Viking. Our total bill at the end of the world cruise was 20.00 dollars. We did give a lot of extra tips but all gratuities, wi-fi, alcohol, speciality restaurant visits were included in the original price. You really don’t get nickel and dimed to death. Kathy did a few massages and we both did pedicures which are extra but Viking gives you a very healthy ship board credit as part of the package. And we just cannot say enough about the crew, so many we now consider friends and hope to see again.

As a last note we received a lovely e-mail from Viking thanking us for staying on and trusting them to complete the world cruise. As a thank you they have given each of us a 3,000 dollar voucher to be used on a future cruise. We are assuming that everyone who completed the world cruise got this and it was unexpected and a very nice gesture. So I guess we will be sailing with Viking again somewhere.

Thank you all again for following along and all the comments and encouragements. Not sure if we will blog all our travels but if we do we will post it here with the new link. Our next adventure is July 2nd when we fly to New York to pick up a Princess ship and sail from NYC to Barcelona on a 31 day trip.