November 21, 2019: A Stop in Dakar, Senegal
	November 17, 2019: A Stop in Casablanca, Morocco
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Before we get too far into our transatlantic cruise, I want to take some time (and an album page) to talk a bit about the ship we are on- the Viking Cruise Line's ship Jupiter.

About Viking Cruise Line

We ought to begin by talking about the company itself, but the story will be relatively short, because unline other cruise lines that we have been on, whose histories may go back a half-century or more, Viking's story only goes back to 1997, when the company purchased its first four ships in the Soviet Union. Originally, Viking intended to specialize in river cruises and, as you know, these use ships much smaller and much different from those used for ocean cruising.

A Viking Ship on the Danube

The fledgling company had good success with its Volga River cruises (its initial market), but wanted to expand rapidly to other major European rivers, and so in 2000 the company purchased Europe’s KD River Cruises in order to grow its fleet, to leverage their 40 years of river cruising experience and to acquire rights to prime docking locations in key European cities.

That same year, the company expanded into the American market, not by cruising American rivers (although that would come later) by by establishing a sales and marketing office in Los Angeles, California. In the years since, Viking has leveraged its position at the upscale end of the river cruise industry to become arguably the world's leading river cruise line.

Although plans have been delayed somewhat due to the cruise industry hiatus in 2020 (due to the worldwide outbreak of the Covid-19 virus), sometime in the early 2020s Viking will begin to compete with lines like Celebrity Xpedition (the line we took to visit the Galapagos Islands in 2014) and enter the specialty expedition market- notably to both Antarctica and the Arctic, and the North American Great Lakes. Two new ships are on order- the Viking Octantis and Viking Polaris- for this market. These ships will be about one-fifth the size of the Viking Jupiter.

Viking still also plans to expand its river cruising with the launch of Mississippi River cruises in 2022 or 2023. Its first custom vessel, Viking Mississippi, will sail voyages on the Lower and Upper Mississippi, between New Orleans and St. Paul.

Viking's operational office is in Basel, Switzerland, and from the outset was not a Celebrity, or Princess, or Holland-America. Since its inception, Viking has provided destination-focused itineraries designed for experienced travelers who have an interest in geography, culture and history. It has taken the "all-inclusive" route where most everything, including an excursion in every port, is included. This was new for us, and even though our cruise was the most expensive we've taken (except for the Galapagos), it seemed well worth it. This was the first cruise to provide significant educational opportunities; there were four or five guest lecturers aboard, and there were talks on a variety of subjects almost every day.

Viking's Ocean Ships

In 2015, Viking introduced its first ocean ship with the naming of the 930-guest all-veranda Viking Star. One year later, Viking launched its second ocean ship, Viking Sea, which was joined by sister ships Viking Sky and Viking Sun in 2017, Viking Orion in 2018 and our ship, the Viking Jupiter early this year. Viking has yet more ships on order; the upscale cruising market must be good.

The Viking Jupiter

Viking has not taken the "mega-ship" route, and for good reason. Upscale cruisers don't care for many thousands of shipmates, and the kind of service Viking provides simply cannot work at scale. So our ship had only 930 passengers, and all of Viking's ocean ships are of the same size. Not only is the whole experience more intimate, but tendering is eliminated, as these size ships can dock in almost any port, and with so few passengers, you don't have to take up hours for embarkation and debarkation, allowing shore excursions to be longer.

We were impressed with, and you will see pictures of, some of the ship's many amenities (which were all included). First off, every stateroom has a balcony, allowing us to minimize the cost of the cruise. We were in Stateroom 5051 starboard midships; even in the lowest tier, the room was certainly comfortable if not spacious. Greg had a room slightly bigger than ours, but then he didn't get free airfare. All the specialty restaurants are included, as well as the buffet and main restaurant, and there were lots of options to eat on deck. There was a large gym (which we used every day), an infinity pool, a Nordic-inspired spa, a beautiful panoramic Explorers’ Lounge, a planetarium (yes, a planetarium!), book collections and reading nooks throughout the ship, and an elegant three-story atrium.

This was not the kind of ship that would appeal to families with children- and that is by design, since children are not allowed on Viking ocean cruises. (So no "Kid's Country" and no arcade.) Mercifully, there was no casino and relatively little shopping- just a single jewelry and clothing store and a small drugstore-like affair.

All-in-all, the ship was a pleasure. Big enough that there was plenty to do, but small enough not to destroy the feeling we all want to achieve on a cruise- that we are "getting away from it all".

The Viking Jupiter

On this page, I want to put all the pictures that showcase the ship itself; I will put the pictures taken at sea- the pictures that focus more on what we saw from the ship- on a different page. The pictures on this page were taken throughout the cruise, and it really doesn't matter when. So I'll organize them by deck (where applicable). This will allow me to show you the public areas (and our stateroom) a little more logically.

Before we look at each deck by itself, I thought you might find it entertaining to work your way up and down the ship, deck by deck, just to see how the layouts differ. Below is a slideshow with all ten deck plans (Deck A is the lowest). Use the little arrows in the corners of each plan to go up (right) and down (left). (Unlike the actual ship, the slideshow "wraps" in that if you go up from Deck 9, you will be back at Deck A.)

Deck A Deck 1 Deck 2 Deck 3 Deck 4 Deck 5 Deck 6 Deck 7 Deck 8 Deck 9 < >

So let's work our way through the ship, starting at the lowest passenger-accessible deck.

Deck A

My description of what's on Deck A, and what we saw and did on that deck, will, as you can see from the Deck A diagram below, short and sweet.

The only passenger accessible "feature" of Deck A is the one ship's facility that no passenger wants to make use of- the infirmary. Since we didn't need it, we never saw it, and consequently never had the need to visit this deck. (Actually, I did walk down the stairs aft just to take a peek one day, as the gangway for shore is on Deck 1, immediately above. All I saw were a hallway and a bunch of closed doors.

Deck 1

We were on Deck 1 multiple times every day. There were lots of venues here that we visited frequently, and this deck was also the location of the gangway to shore, on those days that we were in port.

The Deck 1 diagram is above. For orientation purposes, our stateroom, 5051, was four decks above the aft end of the Shop (where you could purchase clothing items, sundries, and the like). Of course, that means our stateroom was on the starboard side.

The Chef's Table/Bridge

The Chef's Table was one of the three specialty restaurants on board; the other two were also on this deck- the Kitchen Table (a chef-run tasting restaurant) and Manfredi's Italian Restaurant. We ate at the Chef's Table just once. It serves five-course meals from a fixed menu of about ten different offerings.

In the Chef's Table Restaurant

At left is a picture of part of the Chef's Table Restaurant, with the tables set up for the evening service. The one night we were here, we got the only large round table in the front of the two rooms that make up this restaurant. (That's because we were eating with two friends we made on board- Philip and John.

During the day, that sole round table was used by the ship's bridge instructor (I am talking about the game here, not the place where the Captain works), and that was why we were frequently in this restaurant- for the morning bridge lessons and the afternoon bridge games.

We met Bruce Pynonnen on our first sea day out of Barcelona; he was the bridge instructor/game director who, along with his wife Penny, gave two one-hour lessons in the morning and ran the duplicate bridge game in the afternoon. Being an avid bridge player myself, I liked coming to the lessons, just to see how Bruce taught and to answer questions that Fred had. Bruce supposedly did one hour for novices and then one hour for advanced players, although in practice it seemed to me as if the hours were pretty much the same.

Unfortunately, the novices I met here got lost fairly quickly. I could tell that on the first day. After lunch, when the Chef's table was open for anyone who wanted to play social bridge in the one room and duplicate in the other, I encountered six or seven of the novices who wanted to play casual bridge but felt that they had so many questions that they shouldn't even try. Hearing that, I suggested that they go ahead and start a game and let me be a roving instructor or advisor. So we did that for a couple of hours, and I was able to restate and help them understand what Bruce had been talking about earlier. The four people I met that first afternoon had a lot of fun, and told me when we broke up that they had learned a lot. I gave them a link to my online lessons, and said goodbye.

Well, on the next sea day, some people that I had not met the first time came up to me before the morning lesson and asked if I would be doing the same "roving advisor" thing that afternoon; if so, they said, they wanted to participate. I can only imagine that the first-day people told others, because the second afternoon, and on every sea day after that, we had at least two tables going. Sometimes I would sit in, but most times I could just answer questions and do little mini-lessons.

I met a number of really nice people at these bridge games, most notably Mike and Diane Fisher who, as it turns out, live in North Dallas. Towards the end of the cruise, they asked if Fred and I could come visit them sometime and play bridge with them, and we took that as a compliment. (We were able to play once with them in late January, and we were planning another session after we got back from Florida in mid-March, but then the whole pandemic thing hit and here it is mid-June and we haven't yet been able to get together a second time.)

Fred and I enjoyed these bridge sessions very much; they were the highlight of our days at sea. I should mention that on the last sea day, during our afternoon session, almost every one of the people who'd participated in our sessions wandered in, and midway through the afternoon a group of the players came up to me to thank me for taking the time to help them. Then one player gave me a "thank you" card, signed by ten or fifteen of the players, and a gift. I was pleasantly surprised and not a little touched.

Atrium- Deck 1

Like many of the ships we've been on, the Viking Jupiter had a multi-level atrium. But unlike those other ships, it wasn't six or seven or more levels high, but just three levels- decks 1, 2, and three. This ship's atrium is located midships. So what's in this area, just forward of the gangway and the aft elevators? Well, there was the Viking Bar, the Viking Living Room, a small performance area and then stairs leading up forward to Deck 2.

Here is a panoramic view of the starboard side of the Deck 1 atrium; the Viking Bar is at left, part of the Viking Living Room is in the middle, and the passageway leading to the shop, salon, fitness center, and spa is at the left:

Deck 1 Atrium, Starboard Side

As you learned above, there are fewer than a thousand passengers aboard this ship. What this means is that everything is smaller- like the theatre, which only has to seat a few hundred at a time. It also means that many gatherings are much more intimate, and many of these afternoon performances- piano, singing, and so on- were held here on Deck 1 just forward of the elevators. It this area, just forward of the gangway, we found the Viking Bar, the Viking Living Room, a small performance area and then stairs leading up forward to Deck 2.

The Main Stairs Up to Deck 2

If you will refer to the deck plan above, you'll see that the main feature of the atrium on this deck is the wide, main stairway that leads up to Deck 2. You can see it at left, and here decorated for Christmas. The stairs go up almost to Deck 2 and then split to port and starboard. Right on the landing is a large display screen that sometimes showed artwork, but that was often used during performances to show the people performing- so that folks without a line of sight to the performance area could see what was going on.

On one afternoon, Fred took a picture of the performance area from a position at the starboard side of the bottom of those main stairs; even though there were pillars in the way, you can see the performance area where the piano is set up. And below are some additional pictures looking around this "ground floor" of the atrium on both starboard and port sides of the ship:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

One last item of interest here in the atrium on Deck 1 we found under the stairs as we were walking forward. At first, I thought that passengers might be able to cross from port to starboard by going underneath the stairs, but we found this not to be the case. Instead, under the stairs was an interesting mosaic of pebbles. The mosaic was made out of different colored rocks (natural or artificial, I wasn't sure), and while these look like they might be loose, they were actually bound together in an acrylic matrix (I guess so that passengers would pick them up for souvenirs).

The Gym

To complete our tour of Deck 1, we walked forward along the starboard side hallway. You can see from the diagram that on the port side of the ship on this deck there is nothing showing up on the plan- probably because it's either equipment or crew quarters or some other area that isn't passenger accessible. So we just walked forward past the jewelry and cosmetics shop, then past the salon, and finally into the spa/fitness area.

The Gym- Machine Room

Coming into that area, which we usually reached via the forward stairs or lifts, you first pass the reception desk and then find the entry into the three connected room that form the gym. The room closest to the reception desk was apparently for yoga and other forms of stretching and non-weight-oriented exercise. Beyond that was a weight area. Then there was a room with some machines and a bunch of treadmills, and then finally there was the room you see at left, that had various weight machines, ellipticals and treadmills, and the two recumbent bikes (my own exercise of choice).

In the picture at left, you can see the two recumbent bikes way back by the windows and against the far wall. I used one or the other of them for about an hour each evening.

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At right are three other pictures of the ship's fitness area. It was a well-designed and well-equipped area, certainly large enough for the number of passengers aboard. Actually, it was probably overkill for the general profile of passengers on this cruise, since most of them were far from gym rats.

There was an exit door from this series of rooms at the forward end of the three-room section, and this door led to the entry to the large spa. I am not really a spa person, and other than going with Greg one day to see what the spa was like I never used it. But it is here you can find the sauna, the "snow" room, the soaking tubs and pools, showers and lockers, and so on. Again, not really my thing, but I think Fred went to the spa a couple of times with Greg to try some of the facilities.

Deck 2

We were on Deck 2 quite a bit; it was the second level of the three-story atrium, and the stairs down to the first atrium level were from this deck. This was the deck on which the main restaurant was located. Almost every ship has one deck that allows passengers to walk all around the ship outside, and that promenade was located on this deck as well.

The Restaurant

We took most of our meals in the World Cafe on Deck 7; being a buffet, it was convenient for a quick breakfast or lunch, and for many dinners as well. We ate in the specialty restaurants for dinner four or five times, and another four or five times were here in the main dining room, which was called simply "The Restaurant".

Part of the Main Restaurant

As it turned out, neither Fred nor I took any pictures inside The Restaurant, except for a few when groups of us were eating here together. I have a separate section on the page for "Sea Days Aboard the Viking Jupiter where I have put all the pictures we took of us with other friends we made aboard ship, and so you will see the inside of The Restaurant then.

The picture at left was taken on one of our walks around the ship on the outside promenade, which is why it looks a little dim; we were photographing through glass with bright sun behind us.

Again looking in from the outside, here is a table set for lunch.

In the Atrium

As you can see on the deck plans for decks 1 and 2, there are stairs that connect these two decks here in the atrium. Taking those stairs was a lot faster than waiting for an elevator, and so we were on them quite a lot.

The Performance Area

As I mentioned earlier when we were looking around Deck 1, just forward of the elevators there was an open area where, on many sea days, the ship's complement of entertainers, as well as the occasional guest artist, would perform. I will talk more about these performances on the page for our sea days, but since we're on a tour of the ship, I want to show you the performance area. The picture at left was taken from the landing on the stairs.

When there were performance, passengers would gather on Deck 1 to watch, but the stairs were always full of passengers sitting down as well; sitting on the stairs made you feel like you were in a small theatre. Other people would gather along the atrium railings on decks 2 and 3 to watch as well.

Also as I mentioned, Deck 1 was the location for most of the guest services people whose area was on the port side of the ship. On both the port and starboard sides of the ship on Deck 2 there were seating areas for people to read or play games or (on Deck 3) do puzzles and such. This deck was a nice place to relax, but we were busy enough that we rarely took advantage of it.

We also walked through this area on Deck 2 on almost every day we had a shore excursion. The shore excursions usually met in the Theatre (forward, on this deck), and when our groups were complete we would walk aft from the theatre along the starboard side of the ship to the aft stairs, and then down to Deck 1 and the gangway. Here are a selection of pictures taken here in the atrium on Deck 2:

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Other Deck 2 Facilities

Other than the promenade outside, the only other venue where we spent any time at all here on Deck 2 was in the Theater. Part of our sea day routine was to play trivia on Greg's team at noon, and on various evenings we came to shows here in the Theatre as well. And of course, our shore excursions met here, for the most part. The Theater was fairly small, as you would expect with only 950 passengers. My guess is that the Theatre held perhaps 400 people. For the evening shows, the two cinemas on either side could be opened up as well, adding at least another hundred to that capacity.

There was also a nightclub on this deck, which we never went to, and a couple of shops as well.

The Promenade

Of course there were outside areas on the top decks, but the only deck allowing a continuous circumnavigation of the ship was the Promenade here on Deck 2. There were four main doors out to the deck- two each from the elevator/stair lobbies. (We also found two more doors out from the Theater, but really didn't use them.)

So, we want to take you around the 1/4-mile circumnavigation of the ship. To do this, I'll anchor the description on three movies, each covering a different section of the walk. Here is another Deck 2 diagram showing where the movies were made:

The first movie begins port midship, just outside the doors located at the forward elevator lobby, and will, in one continuous shot, take us aft, around the stern, and a short ways forward again. The second movie is just an interlude made from the stern of the ship. The third movie begins starboard forward and will take us through "the tunnel"- which is as close to the bow of this ship as you can get. (Sadly, no "King of the World" this time) Alongside and between the three movies I'll put some of the still pictures that we took, in case you want to see them. Don't worry that the movies and pictures weren't all taken the same day; that matters very little.

Port Forward to Aft Starboard (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

In the first movie (player at left) you'll see that the lifeboats and equipment are midship, and the deck cuts inward to go around them. We pass the atrium windows and the aft elevator lobby doors before jogging back out again to alongside The Restaurant. Just before the jog back out, Fred got a picture of me filming.

These pictures were all taken on the port side of the ship on "filming day" and at other times (almost all in the morning):

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Although the movie above takes you across the stern and back around to the starboard side, we came to the stern on a number of days. It is a nice place to be, and simply watching the ship's wake stretching to the horizon behind us was oddly restful.

The View Behind (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

On one particularly nice morning, when we came around the stern on our peripatetic excursion around the ship, I sat down in one of the deck chairs and just watched the wake; it was a bit hypnotic. I decided to make a short movie, so you can use the player at left to experience it for yourself. Unbeknownst to me, while I was making the movie at left, Fred was making a movie of me:

Fred's Movie At the Stern (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

I am not sure why, but on every ship we've taken that has a deck like this one where passengers can walk all the way around the vessel, people always walk counter-clockwise; they walk forward on the starboard side and aft on the port side. Even here, on the Viking Jupiter, where there were actually very few people walking around and almost no one jogging, people still followed a counter-clockwise path. So when you get to the port side of the stern, you will come to a pair of baffles which, as I said in my movie of our walk aft, are either to block wind from coming around the corner of the stern or perhaps to slow people down so that particularly joggers won't slip making the turn onto the stern itself.

As I said earlier, the stern was a pretty neat place to be- particularly on nice days like the ones on which the pictures on our walks were taken. I'm sure that lots of passengers come here and take the obligatory picture of themselves with the ship's wake stretching out behind them- like my picture of Fred.

At right is a good picture of pretty much the entire stern; Fred took it from the port side, of course, on one of our morning walks around the deck. Even this early, a number of passengers have taken advantage of the beautiful weather to come out here and relax.

I want also to include here a few more pictures taken here at the stern on various days. Each of them shows some different aspect of this part of the ship:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Of course, on the starboard side of the stern there is another set of baffles and when we left the stern we walked through them and could then look ahead along the starboard side of the ship.

The Starboard Side of the Ship

As you can see at left, the lifeboats are found here midships, and they are hanging between decks 2 and 3. (There are also numerous inflatables aboard.) We had our original lifeboat drill on this deck, but it seems as if to board the boats you go up those stairs to Deck 3. We are still aft, and the doors behind Fred lead inside to the stair and elevator lobby, right by the entrance to The Restaurant.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

I think all the machinery having to do with the lifeboats is pretty interesting and I stopped here on our walk to take a close look and take some pictures. Although there was a sign that said that only crew should ascend the stairs, I went up anyway just to see what I could see.

Sure enough, it looked as if the boarding of the large lifeboats would be from that deck, and I could also see the launching mechanism for them, and also for the inflatables. On a lot of ships, there are staterooms on the deck that has the lifeboats outside; these rooms are advertised as "obstructed view" rooms (and of course they don't have balconies). Here on the Viking Jupiter, though, Deck 3 has public spaces in this midship area (the third level of the atrium) and so they don't have any of these lower-class staterooms.

I might also mention that this ship does not have interior staterooms (except for the crew, of course); nor do they have staterooms that just have windows. All of the passenger staterooms have balconies, as is also true on other upscale cruise lines.

A Walk Through the "Tunnel" (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

As we continue around the deck, the last segment is "the Tunnel" (which I do not know is its official name). But since we are on a low deck, we have to go through the ship to get to the port side. I thought the transit was worth a movie, and you can use the player at left to watch it.

The tunnel is fairly narrow, and so I imagine that joggers particularly have to be careful and check the mirrors that are up by the ceiling to make sure no one is coming head-on into them. Anyway, we walked through the tunnel a few times and took pictures on various days. Here are some of them:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Well, that's a circumnavigation of the ship on the Deck 2 Promenade, so let's head back inside via the aft stair doors and go up to Deck 3.

Deck 3

The main feature of Deck 3 is the third and top level of the Atrium:

As you can see, most of Deck 3 is staterooms, but here on the third level of the Atrium there are public seating areas, reading nooks, and so on.

Although the two movies below were actually taken from the stair landing down on Deck 2, I am going to include them here, to complete the series of pictures and movies that we took here in the Atrium:

A Choir of Passengers and Crew (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

A Pianist Performs (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

Decks 4, 5, and 6

None of these decks have any public areas- only staterooms:

We were in stateroom 5051, starboard side, midships. Our stateroom was the most common size, smaller than most of those we've had by a few square feet, but it did have a balcony and all the standard amenities. This time, I didn't do a movie tour of the stateroom, but just took a series of still pictures. Here is that gallery:

The Starboard Passageway

(Picture at left) Coming out of our stateroom, you turn left for food and right for entertainment (including the gym). This picture was taken as I was walking aft from the forward stairs.       (Picture at right) Every stateroom has a balcony; this is the view from ours, looking ahead on a day at sea. Sitting on the balcony in the afternoon with a Bailey's in hand was always a treat.

The Balcony View Ahead

This picture, taken from the middle of the living area and looks back towards the door to the passageway. The head is behind the two closets on the other side of the bed.

This picture was taken from near the sliding door to the balcony, and looks at the forward side of the room. There were a couple of chairs and a coffee table, which we moved to be beside the chairs rather than in front of them.

The Desk Area

The Door to the Balcony

One of the people who played bridge with our group in the afternoons (her name was Gwendolyn, I believe) and her husband (who was some sort of British economic attache) had bee upgraded to a corner suite on the ship- Suite 6098. One evening, after we'd eaten as a group in The Restaurant, she asked us if we might like a tour of the suite, and so a group of us, who were curious as to what the large accommodations were like, went to take a tour. Here are the pictures that I took on that tour:

This looks across the suite's living room towards the door to the passageway. In the picture are Ron and Lynn, bridge players from North Carolina, along with Fred and Greg.

This view looks from the doorway to the bedroom and across the living room towards one of two balconies, this one at the stern of the ship.

Most staterooms have a two-foot closet in their entry halls; these suites seem to have something just short of a walk-in!

This particular suite has two bathrooms; this is the one that is off the bedroom.

The suite has a very nice bedroom with a king-size bed, with the door to a second balcony port side:

Here are three more views of the spacious suite:

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Maybe one day we'll splurge on a suite; they certainly are nice!

Deck 7

Decks 7 through 9 are the activity decks at the top of the Viking Jupiter. Even though there are a few staterooms (mostly suites) on these decks, they are given over to public spaces- most of which are on this deck:

For our tour of Deck 7, let's begin aft on the terrace behind the World Cafe.

Aquavit Terrace and Infinity Pool

On this deck, the stern is actually a patio aft of the World Cafe; there are two automatic sliding doors from both the port and starboard sides of the cafe out to this patio, and there are also stairs down to it from Deck 8. It is here that a hot tub and the infinity pool are located.

On either side of these two pools are seating areas- used during the day for sunbathing as well as for outside eating areas serviced by the World Cafe. Here are a series of three pictures spanning the stern of the Viking Jupiter here on Deck 7:

There were always people out here; at mealtimes, it was almost impossible to find a table, it was such a popular place. On some days, there were special chef-created menus served out here buffet-style, and then it was even more crowded. I didn't usually see people actually in the infinity pool, although it was pretty popular afternoons in port.

The World Cafe

The World Cafe is the Viking Jupiter's version of the standard shipboard buffet- a fixture on any ship you are likely to be on. One comment I will make is that with as few passengers as the ship had, the buffet was not the madhouse that it is on other ships. Sure, it might be tricky to find a window table at mealtimes, but since the eating areas are very long and relatively narrow, being right next to the window wasn't necessary. And most seats were arranged to that you could look out the window anyway.

The World Cafe has its main entrance on the port side of the ship, although there is another entrance on the starboard side. The entire restaurant is a large U-shape, with the bottom of the "U" being at the stern (where there is a bar and the two doors out to the patio at the stern). We ate here a lot, and the food (including the free gelato) was uniformly excellent.

This picture, taken from the port aft corner of the World Cafe, looks across the bar area that is between the two doors out to the Aquavit Terrace. You can walk through this area to get to the other side of the buffet where some of the serving stations were different (and where the boiled shrimp and crab legs could be found).

Here is a typical seating area, this one just inside the cafe's starboard side entrance. Seating in the ship buffets is typically a bit crowded, and not as comfortable as in the main dining room, but on our ship the seating was both spacious and also comfortable.

Just Inside the Starboard Cafe Entrance

Guess where the gelato bar is.

The Main Pool Area

The midship area of Deck 7 is occupied by the main pool (aft) and the Wintergarten (forward). The pool area was pretty standard, with a retractable roof over it, lots of deck chairs around it, and covered seating on both the port and starboard sides.

The Area Around the Main Pool

Probably the most expansive picture I have of the main pool was this one, taken from the port side on Deck 8. In the picture, the Wintergarten is at the left, and so aft is to the right. You can see that there are not the rows and rows of chaise lounges for sun worshippers; that's not what the Viking clientele is typically "into". The seating area at right was usually used by the patrons of the Pool Grill and Pool Bar.

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Along both sides of the ship you can see the covered seating areas that offered relaxing areas to sit, read a book or play a game, or just have a drink, read a book or play a game, and have a drink and chill.

At the aft port corner of the main pool area is the Pool Grill, which was a popular place, serving up barbecue, burgers and hot dogs, french fries and onion rings, and a small selection of other dishes for those who wanted something simpler than in the World Cafe. Mostly, though, it was intended for folks in swim suits or other attire not suitable for the World Cafe to get a light lunch; they could get their food and a table right there by the pool. For us, the attraction of french fries and onion rings constantly available was a lure we took advantage of even on days we were getting our meal in the Cafe. Here are a couple of pictures taken at the Pool Grill:

Let's head down towards the Wintergarten by walking forward along the port side of the pool area. Just before going through the doors into the enclosed area called the Lanai, I stopped to make another panoramic picture of the Main Pool and the area around it, and that panoramic view is at left.

Just before going through into the port side Lanai, I passed one alcove that looked a little forlorn.

The Wintergarten

The Wintergarten is forward, midships, and is flanked by two enclosed "rooms" on the port and starboard sides. These rooms are labeled "Lanai" on the deck plan, but what they are are enclosed seating areas intended for use by people who perhaps might want a quieter place to read or converse- away from the main pool. I am not sure that except for when afternoon tea was being served, that I ever saw many people in them.

This view looks aft through the Lanai on the starboard side of the Wintergarten. As you can see, things are set up for afternoon tea.

This is a picture taken moments later after I have gone through the doors from the Lanai into the area around the Main Pool.

Now for the Wintergarten. There are four ways into the large room (not counting some of the windows between it and the Main Pool area which actually can be opened). Each of the Lanai rooms has an entry up into the Wintergarten, and there are also two entrances from the forward elevator/stair lobby. I made the panoramic view below just after I came up into the Wintergarten from the port side Lanai:

The Wintergarten

So what, exactly, is the Wintergarten (and I am using the German spelling, although looking around the Internet, people more often than not use "Wintergarden")? On one site, the Wintergarten was described as "an indoor–outdoor lounge that's perfect for afternoon tea", which was the only use I actually saw being made of it during our cruise. I understand that it can also be "booked" for private passenger affairs. I think that on some evenings it is used as a lounge, as there is a food service area at the forward side of the room.

The Wintergarten

The ceiling doesn't retract, but most of the windows can be slid open- hence the "indoor/outdoor" appellation. Here are some additional Wintergarten photos:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Mamsen's Coffee Bar

Continuing forward on the starboard side of Deck 7, you pass the Owner's Suite (that's an accommodation that I would really like to see!) and come into a popular, oft-visited area- the Explorer's Lounge.

The Seating Area of Mamsen's

Mamsen's is a kind of coffee bar. On the port side of the entry to the Explorer's Lounge there is a food and beverage bar, where you can order coffee, tea, and other beverages, and there is a selection of breads and small baked goods that would accompany such drinks. You can pick out what you want and then take a seat in the area you see at left to relax and enjoy. There is a long, thin, artificial fireplace on the aft wall, a divider along the passageway, and of course windows all along the starboard side of the ship. It is a great place to relax, read, or converse. Here are four other pictures taken in Mamsen's:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Explorer's Lounge - Deck 7

The Explorer's Lounge is at the bow of the ship here on Deck 7. It is actually a two-story affair, but we will take a look at the Deck 7 portion of the Lounge as well as the observation area outside in front of the Lounge before we head upstairs to Deck 8. The best introduction to the Explorer's Lounge is my panoramic picture (constructed from a bunch of separate images) that is in the scrollable window below:

I sketched in the position of the bar on the deck plan above; why they left it out I'm not sure. The Lounge is a great place to have a drink and relax, but of course it's the panoramic view out to the bow of the ship that really makes the venue.

The Port Side of the Explorer's Lounge

We came up here a couple of times in the evening when there might be a pianist or guitarist performing sedately for the crowd. Around on the far side of the bar there is another reading/game area, with a large bookcase full of books and games for people to use. That's the picture at left.

During the day, there were always quite a few people here in the Explorer's Lounge, just taking in the view ahead. For my mind, if I was just going to sit somewhere on a day at sea, it would be at the stern where at least you can see the ship's wake trailing out behind.

But certainly at night this was a popular place; we often came up here to listen to one of the performers. But at night there isn't much to see out the windows, although on our first night in Barcelona and our last in Buenos Aires there were the lights of the port all around. Here are some more views of the Explorer's Lounge:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

The Forward Observation Deck

To complete our tour of Deck 7, let's head out one of the doors on either side of the Explorer's Lounge and go out onto the wraparound observation deck. Particularly on sea days, there is a lot of wind, and it would be hard to open a door against it, so both doors out to the observation deck are "man-traps" (you open an inner door and not until that door closes can the outer door be opened).

This is the flying bridge on the starboard side of the ship.

Here is a view along the ship's starboard side.

Just outside these doors, on both sides of the ship, the observation deck ends on a kind of "flying bridge"- a catwalk deck that extends perhaps ten feet out from the side of the ship. At left are a couple of pictures taken from the starboard side. (I might mention that the ship's Bridge is located on Deck 6, directly below the observation deck, and on one of my visits here, I could look down on some of the bridge crew:

Now, from either side door from the Explorer's Lounge, you actually come out onto the observation deck, and of course you can walk all the way across and, if you wish, reenter the Lounge from the opposite side door.

The Viking Jupiter Observation Deck

As you would expect, this was a neat place to be when at sea, although most times the wind was strong enough that hats were ill-advised and even sunglasses might be in danger. But to stand here and just take it all in was really a neat feeling, particularly since on this ship passengers can't get right down onto the bow to play Jack and Rose.

Here are some pictures from our various visits to the Observation Deck:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

The observation deck was also a good place to visit on port days because, depending of course on which way the ship was oriented at the dock, you might get neat views of the port area, like this view of some of the ships docked near us in Recife, Brazil:

Deck 8

Deck 8 is a hybrid deck; the second level of the Explorer's Lounge is forward, with a group of staterooms (most of them larger than the standard) aft of them. Then, heading aft, you come outside and the rest of Deck 8 is open.

This deck needs a bit of explanation. In a moment, we will look at the upstairs level of the Explorer's Lounge, which is actually on Deck 8 (that's where the planetarium is located). This part of the Lounge (as well as the planetarium) is walled off from the rest of the ship (at least for passengers). There is no way to get from this area to the rest of the ship without going back downstairs in the Lounge to Deck 7 and then aft through the one passageway that connects the Lounge to the rest of the ship.

So, if you happen to be in Deck 8 Stateroom 8000, and you want to go to the planetarium, you must first go aft on Deck 8 to the stairs or lifts, down one deck, forward through the passageway into the Explorer's Lounge, and then up one of the sets of glass stairs to the upper level of the Lounge and the planetarium. Got it?

With that bit of architectural geography in mind, we can now have a look at Deck 8, and we will begin forward, on the upper level of the Explorer's Lounge.

Explorer's Lounge - Upper Level

This area is really pretty simple; there is not a lot here. There are large windows on the first level, as you saw, but there is also a second row of windows positioned so that people sitting in the chairs on this level also have a good view to look out to the bow of the ship. That makes this area also light and open.

Here we are on the port side of the upper lounge level, and the view looks across the room out to starboard. This level is actually open to the level below; there is a gap between the glass and railing at the forward edge of this level and the ship's forward banks of windows. That is, you can look down below if you go to the railing and look down. I think this was easier from a construction standpoint, and makes the area feel more open.

As you can see, there is a telescope (that actually works) and chairs that are positioned for folks to sit and gaze out in the direction the ship is going. You can do that downstairs, too, but this area is a bit quieter.

So where is the planetarium? Well, I didn't take any pictures of it, but it is behind the wall of blonde wood that you can see at the extreme right of this picture. The planetarium is quite small, with just four rows of seats that can accommodate 22 people when it is filled (as it is for most shows). At the appointed time, the door that is just behind the telescope slides open and the ship's resident astronomer (yes, one of the lecture crew is, if not an official astronomer by trade, at least knowledgeable on the subject) checks reservations as people file in.

The shows are free, although each passenger is allowed only three reservations throughout the cruise, so that everyone can have a chance to see all three of the shows- which we did. There was rarely an empty seat in the small theater. (The ship does allow you to just come to the theater and wait to see if someone with a reservation doesn't show up, but I don't think very many people find it necessary to do that.) The shows are about 40 minutes long, on different topics, and very interesting. Actually, you might have a better idea of what the onboard planetarium is like if I describe it instead as a large, dome-shaped IMAX theatre.

On both sides of the planetarium, as you face it looking aft, are reading areas; the picture at right is of the port side area. Here, you can find books and games, all with more of a scientific theme, in keeping with the spirit of the "Explorer's" Lounge. If I was on this ship for a greatly extended period, I might spend a lot of time here, but on our short 22-day sojourn there was usually so much else going on that it seemed a shame to just sit here and do things that we could just as easily do at home.

Notice the door at right; that door, which has to be opened by a crew member, leads out to the port side flying bridge (actually just a metal grillwork platform with a metal outside stair that leads down two decks to the Bridge and up one deck to Deck 9).

The gangway watertight door at left actually does lead to the hall where the even-numbered Deck 8 Staterooms are located. I was curious whether it offered a shortcut out of the Explorer's Lounge, but it was locked. Then I noticed a sign nearby that instructed you to use the stairs down to the bar area to leave the Lounge. But the sign also said that in an emergency, the door would unlock automatically, which makes sense. There was also another door to the left out of the picture that gives access to the back of the planetarium (so if the ship is going down by the bow, stargazers won't necessarily be trapped) and also to the interior crew areas of the ship.

The Main Pool Overlook

The rest of Deck 8 which, as I said, can only normally be reached by going back downstairs and through the passageway by Mamsen's, is open. And this open part of the deck can, itself, only be accessed via the two main stairways, the two main sets of elevators, and by stairs up from the Aquavit Terrace on Deck 7. For this tour, since we are generally heading aft, we've left the Explorer's Lounge on Deck 7 and taken the forward stairs up to Deck 8. Then we can take one of three exit doors that lead out onto the open area of Deck 8. One of those doors puts you just forward of the housing for the retractable roof over the main pool, and you can look down into the Wintergarten as well.

The Starboard Side Deck 8 Catwalk

This deck has catwalks on either side of the main pool area- like the one at left. I guess that "catwalk" is really the wrong term, as that might denote something much narrower and perhaps without a solid floor. As you can see, these are actually narrow decks, and quite easy and safe to walk on. Notice in the picture that you can also see the track for the retractable roof mechanism.

The Viking Jupiter is the smallest ship we've been on, and on this ship this deck is fairly narrow. On other, wider ships, there have sometimes been multiple rows of chaises up on this level with a pathway between them. You can see that there is not room for that here, as the beam of this ship is much less. So you don't really do much on this deck except to stroll along it. (There is more room towards the stern, but we'll get there in a moment.)

On nice days, this was a great place to walk (you can make a smaller circuit of the ship on this deck as well) and to look out at the ocean or one of the ports. Here are some other aft-facing or port-facing views:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

You might also notice on the forward wall of the aft superstructure there is a large video screen. At night, movies and other stuff are shown here, and it is also used to project activities, like a musical performance, that might be going on by the main pool. A cameraperson can also wander around with a video camera almost anywhere on the ship and broadcast what he is seeing to this screen. One nice feature is that there are wireless headsets for the movies, so even if you are far back, you can hear them perfectly well. (This does make it a little surreal if you are just walking around here. You can see what's happening on the screen, and you can see folks reacting to the action, but you can't hear a thing. Again, a nice touch for the typical clientele of a ship like this one.

On this particular day, we were walking aft along the starboard side of the ship, and now would be a good time to show you the view looking forward. In both that last picture of me and the one I took at right, you can see the housing for the retracted roof; much of this housing is located just over the Wintergarten. You can also see, in the picture at right, the stairs leading up to the small area that is Deck 9, but we'll go up there in a little while.

I mentioned before that there were sometimes poolside activities, like performances or dances, and as we get a bit further aft, I can show you where these take place. Here is a picture looking down to Deck 7. We are looking at the area just forward of the video screen, which is high up on the superstructure wall at left. This view also looks directly across to the Pool Grill that you can see in the corner. When something is going on, all the tables forward of the glass partition enclosing the main pool are removed, giving plenty of space. We saw a couple of performers doing their thing here, one passenger group threw an open birthday party with dancing, and there were a couple of special food events as well.

Continuing further aft, you come abreast of the superstructure, pass a set of baffles, and then pass the only smoking area on the ship (which, as you can see, is outside). The last ship we were on, the Mariner of the Seas from Singapore to Barcelona in 2018, actually had a cigar bar and smoking room, but then it was an older ship, and times have changed. When we left the ship in Barcelona, it was taken to Lisbon for a complete overhaul. We understand that smoking- at least by cruisers- is becoming more and more passe, and there are fewer and fewer places on board to do so. Indeed, the Mariner's cigar bar was removed in the refit (as were many of the other more sedate areas of the ship). As a sign of the changing times, that ship now boasts two additional pools and a complete waterpark at the stern. Of course, it isn't serving the Asian market anymore, but is an all-fun all-the-time Caribbean party boat now.

From the smoking area, here is the view back to the stern, which is where our tour of this deck will end.

The Stern

Deck 8 wraps around the stern, as you would expect, and then you can walk forward on the other side of the main pool area, which is what we did. On both the starboard and port sides of the ship there are again wind baffles to shield those sunbathing on deck from the wind caused by the ship's forward motion.

At the stern on this deck there are some nice seating areas making this a pleasant place to be. I mentioned that the stern seating down on Deck 2 was neat, but if you like sunshine, this is even better.

Here on Deck 8, you can look over the folks down on Deck 7 in the infinity pool or lying in the sun, and there are sets of stairs at either side of this deck that lead down there. Here are some more pictures of the stern area of Deck 8:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

We went around to the port side of the ship, through the wind baffles, and then forward again so I can show you the last deck.

Deck 9

Deck 9 is this ship's "sports deck", although with the clientele on this ship, shuffleboard and mini-golf seem to be the sports of choice.

We came down the port side of the ship heading forward, and eventually came to the stairs up to Deck 9. I did not take a picture of those stairs, but they were identical to the stairs on the starboard side. Up at the stop of the stairs, here is the view looking forward. I knew there was some mini-golf up here, and, as it turned out, there was a very small putting section on either side of the ship. The one behind Fred seemed to be pretty flat- not much of a challenge.

Walking a little further forward, past another set of wind deflectors, we could see that this really wasn't any kind of mini-golf setup, but rather just a long, flat putting green, and I saw a box with some putters and orange golf balls off to the side.

In that same picture at left, you can see that beyond the putting green there is a ping-pong table (I wonder how many balls they lose in the wind at sea), and beyond that one of the two large seating areas at the very front of Deck 9.

Nestled alongside the superstructure were more small seating areas. We actually didn't get up to this deck much, but after walking around it I wondered if the area is ever really busy. It was certainly set up nicely, with lots of seating areas. We walked as far forward on the port side of Deck 9 as we could, and then Fred took this picture, looking back the way we've come.

The deck walkway wraps around the front of the superstructure at the front of the ship. There are seating areas at the very front on either side, and these are sheltered from the wind by glass partitions that are a little taller than the average person.

The Sports Deck

When we got to the front of the deck, I had Fred stand right by the forward point of the superstructure and I took his picture with the starboard side seating area behind him. Then I walked to the far corner of the front of this deck on the starboard side, looked back and took the picture at right that shows most of the sports deck.

This picture is interesting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the white dome right in the center of the forward part of Deck 9. One might think that it is a radardome, but this ship's radardome is atop the forward superstructure a bit further back (you can see it in this same picture). No, the dome that is apparently sitting right on the deck is actually the outside top of the planetarium.

You might note all the communications and navigation gear atop this forward superstructure; I have no idea what everything is. But if you look at the left of the picture (the starboard side of the ship), you will see, just aft of this seating area, that there is actually a small mini-golf course (basically another putting green with some lopsided hills built into it). Behind that is the shuffleboard layout.

We came around the starboard side of Deck 9, passed the mini-golf and shuffleboard, and came to the stairs down to Deck 8. We went down those stairs and then headed aft again, intending to take the aft stairs down to the Pool Grill to get some French fries. Almost to the aft entrance from Deck 8, I turned and took this photo looking towards Deck 9.

That should familiarize you with the layout of the Viking Jupiter and the many facilities it had. I want to also take a look, as I usually do, at the ship's decorative elements- artwork and the like- but I will give you a look at those things on the album page for our sea days.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	November 21, 2019: A Stop in Dakar, Senegal
	November 17, 2019: A Stop in Casablanca, Morocco
	Return to the Index for 2019