November 26, 2019: A Stop in Recife, Brazil
	November 21, 2019: A Visit to Dakar, Senegal
	Return to the Index for 2019

On this particular album page, I'd like to tell you a bit about our shipboard routine on those days when we were at sea, or otherwise not on a shore excursion. As far as pictures are concerned, you'll see views from the ship at sea, views of the ship itself (when docked, of course), and also of the ship's decorative elements (which we only had time to appreciate when we were at sea.

The Viking Jupiter

In this section, I want to put some views of the Viking Jupiter as seen from the outside. Of course, these views will all be taken dockside (not having had a drone with us for anything more professional).

Fred and I and the Viking Jupiter

In the picture at left, you can see how svelte the Viking Jupiter is compared to some of the ships we've sailed on. First of all, its beam (breadth) was only two-thirds or less of ships like the Mariner of the Seas that we took last year, almost making it feel like a very, very large private yacht, rather than a floating city.

This ship was also six decks shorter than that last ship, but of course you would expect that, given that this ship carries only about 25-30% of the passengers that larger ships do. But that's Viking's "brand"- smaller, more intimate, ships that can take the time to cater to individual passengers.

Also in the picture at left, you can see the bridge itself- the dark band of windows three decks down; the level with the two "flying bridges" on either side. Immediately above was the open deck in front of the lower level of the Explorer's Lounge, and the top band of windows were those you could look out of on Deck 8 where the planetarium was. You can also see the planetarium dome sticking up above the Sports Deck (Deck 9).

The intimacy of this ship was apparent all the time, as we would see the same people frequently. On other ships, the buffet was huge, and you'd have to be eagle-eyed and have a good memory to see passengers (other than the ones you might be traveling with) over and over again. Here on the Viking Jupiter, though, Fred and Greg and I would often run into the same passengers, so often that we learned their names.

The benefits of having such a small number of passengers were also very apparent in the ship's main dining room- the Restaurant. On all the ships we've been on up until now, the main dining rooms have been cavernous, able to accommodate half of the entire complement of passengers at one time. On these ships, the main dining room was open to all passengers for breakfast and lunch and all at the same time. (A relatively small number of passengers like to take the time for a full service at breakfast or lunch; this took too much time away from daytime activities, and of course was impractical on days in port when most folks are on excursions.

Let me interrupt my explanation of the benefits of a smaller ship with two more pictures of the Viking Jupiter taken from one of the docks we stopped at that allowed passengers to walk up and down the length of the pier, enabling us to get good pictures:

Getting back to the main dining rooms on the larger ships, we find that the cruise line has to assume that at dinner, a very large percentage of passengers might patronize the dining room, and so it had to be capable of seating about half of them at once so that all passengers could be accommodated in two "seatings"- usually 6 to 8 and 8 to ten. (It's true that there were always some passengers who might choose the buffet, one of the specialty restaurants, or room service, but every passenger is assigned a dinner seating and a particular table when they book their cruise.) Hence the cavernous nature of main dining rooms on 4000-passenger ships.

But here on the Viking Jupiter, with onlty 950 passengers, things were done entirely differently- and in a way I liked very much (and a way, I thought, that made much more efficient use of resources). The Restaurant (the main dining room) wasn't cavernous. It was no bigger than a typical restaurant that could seat 200 or so people. The Restaurant was open for dinner from 5 to 10, and all you had to do was call up and make a reservation for any time you liked and any size party- just like in a traditional restaurant. This allowed you to tailor your dinner time to your other evening activities, rather than having to shoehorn your evening in around your scheduled dinnertime. (I also thought this more efficient, avoid the empty tables that often resulted on other ships when a large number of passengers chose to eat elsewhere or not at all on some nights. As a consequence, we ate in the dining room rather more this cruise than on other ships.

There was one other interesting thing about the exterior of the ship that I thought I would mention. In the picture at left, you can see one of the lifeboats that hang from the underside of Deck 4, and which you walk around and under when you are on the ship-circuiting promenade on Deck 2. There were two of these large, enclosed boats on either side of the ship, and another, seemingly different kind of lifeboat (perhaps inflatable) between them. You can see both kinds of lifeboats here. I never got around to asking a crewperson what the capacity of each of these lifeboats was, but it didn't seem to me that the six boats could hold a thousand people- much less the crew. So I assume that there were other inflatables that could be deployed in case of a total evacuation of the ship. Thankfully, we never had the occasion to find out.

Incidentally, one of the reasons why I took that picture from the dock was to show you just where our stateroom was. If you can't figure out how that picture identifies our stateroom, just click on it and I will show you.

Ship Decoration

On many of the ships we've been on, there have been displays of artwork or other objects, usually connected in some way with the cruise line's history. When we were on the Oosterdam (Holland-America), I recall that much of the decoration aboard ship- artwork, sculpture, and so on- had a Dutch theme. Here on the Viking Jupiter, much of what we saw around the ship was Scandanavian- or "Viking"-related.

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In the area around the Atrium, on all three decks, there were display areas that were almost like mini-museums. On view were a wide variety of Viking crafts (some real, some replicas) arranged in display cases organized in small alcoves. During our time aboard ship, Fred and I had occasion to go by all of these display areas.

Two of the areas were quite specialized, and these will be dealt with below in this same section. But for the general displays of Viking relics, I have selected the best twenty of the many pictures we took over the three weeks of these displays. I have put these pictures in the slideshow at left.

Just click on the little arrows in the lower corners of each slide to move from one to another, and use the index numbers in the upper left to tell when you've come full circle. You can go backward and forward, and the show of twenty slides wraps around.

The slideshow begins with a detailed scale model of the Viking Jupiter itself. This model was located just outside the Guest Services area.

Enjoy!

One of the alcoves was devoted to the Bayeux Tapestry, and the reproductions of it are found on many of Viking's cruise ships. Here on the Viking Jupiter, these reproductions graced the forward and aft stairwells, with each level in each stairwell having on display one of the "scenes" from the Tapestry. Here is what those stairwells look like with the reproductions on display:

The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 230 feet long and 20 inches tall, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is thought to date to the 11th century, within a few years after the battle. It tells the story from the point of view of the conquering Normans, but is now agreed to have been made in England.

The Animated Tapestry (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

One really neat thing in the museum alcove devoted to the Tapestry was a continuously-running film in which the camera pans across the entire Tapestry. What made it neat was that the Tapestry has been "animated", with many of the scenes coming to life. I made a movie of that film, and you can use the player at left to watch it.

According to Sylvette Lemagnen, conservator of the Tapestry, in her 2005 book La Tapisserie de Bayeux:

"The Bayeux tapestry is one of the supreme achievements of the Norman Romanesque ... Its survival almost intact over nine centuries is little short of miraculous ... Its exceptional length, the harmony and freshness of its colours, its exquisite workmanship, and the genius of its guiding spirit combine to make it endlessly fascinating."

The cloth consists of some seventy scenes, many with Latin tituli, embroidered on linen with colored woolen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's half-brother, and made in England— not Bayeux— in the 1070s. In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.

The designs on the Bayeux Tapestry are embroidered rather than woven, so that it is not technically a tapestry. Nevertheless, it has always been referred to as a tapestry until recent years when the name "Bayeux Embroidery" has gained ground among certain art historians. It can be seen as a rare example of secular Romanesque art. Tapestries adorned both churches and wealthy houses in Medieval Western Europe, though the apparently incomplete Bayeux Tapestry is exceptionally large. Only the figures and decoration are embroidered, on a background left plain, which shows the subject very clearly and was necessary to cover large areas.

We did not photograph all the scenes in all the stairwell, but here are a few representative examples:

Scene 25: Harold and King Edward London, winter 1065 Harold reports to his embassy in Normandy to King Edward

Scene 23: Harold's Oath Bayeux, autumn or winter 1065 Harold swears by oath to leave Duke William the throne of England in Edward's death

Scene 19: The Assault on Dinan Brittany, summer 1065 During the military expedition in Brittany, after attacks on the towns of Dol and Rennes, the Norman soldiers set Dinan on fire.

Scene 17: The Mont-Saint-Michel Summer 1065 Duke William has a dispute to settle with the duke of Brittany, and he invites Harold to join the military expedition. Men and horses sink into the quicksand when they cross the Cousenon River.

We found the third kind of major exhibit up on the third level of the atrium, and it was a display of the Norwegian national costume- the bunad. "Bunad" is a Norwegian umbrella term encompassing, in its broadest sense, a range of both traditional rural clothes (mostly dating to the 19th and 18th centuries) as well as modern 20th-century folk costumes. In its narrow sense the word bunad refers only to clothes designed in the early 20th century that are loosely based on traditional costumes. The word bunad in itself is a 20th-century invention.

The Bunad Exhibit (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls)

The bunad movement has its root in 19th-century national romanticism, which included an interest for traditional folk costumes not only in Norway, but also in neighbouring countries such as Denmark and notably Germany. However, in Norway national romanticist ideas had a more lasting impact, as seen in the use of folk inspired costumes.

In Norway in the postwar era, especially in more recent times, it is common, but by no means mandatory, to wear bunad at various celebrations such as: folk dances, weddings, baptisms, confirmations and especially the May 17 National Day celebrations. In recent years, its use has reached far outside folk dancing, folk music, and particular holidays. Accepted as proper gala attire, it is increasingly common to see people, and especially women, dressed in bunad.

The former Norwegian foreign minister, Thorvald Stoltenberg, made history by presenting his accreditation as ambassador to Margrethe II of Denmark dressed in a bunad.[3] Bunads were also conspicuous among those present at the Blessing of the Reign of King Harald and Queen Sonja, demonstrating that the bunad is now considered acceptable as an alternative form of formal wear even on the most solemn public occasions. Moreover, people tend to wear bunads to festive celebrations such as anniversaries and birthdays, and for religious occasions including baptisms, confirmations and Christmas.

I decided I would go ahead and photograph each of the bunad that were on display, so you can look at them if you wish:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

One thing about this ship, undoubtedly because of its clientele, was the fact that most of the public areas were given over to relaxing, rather than energetic, activities. No casino and no "Kid's Kountry", no waterslide and no basketball. Shuffleboard and mini-golf was as energetic as it got. So, inside space not taken up by shopping and gambling was instead set up for reading and relaxation.

A Typical Reading/Relaxation Area near the Wintergarten

There was an actual library down on Deck 2, but there were also bookshelves throughout the ship stocked with interesting volumes. There were also games and such scattered around, including backgammon, chess, checkers, and Scrabble.

Here are some more views of these book nooks:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

Views from the Viking Jupiter

On this page for our sea days aboard the ship is the logical place, of course, to put a selection of photos taken from the ship. At sea, of course, all you really see is, well, sea. But there are sunsets and sunrises (photographs of the latter of which are quite rare due to the very early nature of sunrises) that make the pictures interesting. I suppose that you could count the pictures of ports taken while we were in them, but almost all of those are on the album pages for those port days and the associated excursions.

Sunset at Sea

There's a nice sunset for you; many of the pictures we took from the deck or our balcony were indeed of sunrises or sunset, although on some days the sea itself was the star of the show. Here are the best of the forty or fifty "sea pictures" that we took:

(Click on Thumbnails to View)

We also took some movies of the passing ocean from the deck, but these are not particularly notable- except for the roughest sea day that we experienced. Early that day, we were up on the observation deck in front of the Explorer's Lounge when it was very windy and the sea was particularly rough. Later that day, the weather turned worse and the sea got rougher, and the second movie I made was through the closed door to our balcony.

Rough Seas and a Stiff Wind (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls) I apologize for the wind noise here; you might want to turn down your volume as the pictures speak for themselves.

Better to Film from Inside Rather than Out (Mouseover Image Above for Video Controls) The balcony was wet and slippery, and there was no way I was taking my camera out there. But you can see the waves through the waterspotted glass.

Daytime Performances in the Atrium

You may remember from the ship tour a couple of pages ago that on sea days there were often afternoon performances in the atrium, just forward of the aft elevators in a fairly open space at the base of the stairs leading up to Deck 2. Here are a small selection of pictures from some of those performances:

Fred took movies of some of the performances that we had in the afternoons on sea days, and I want to put a selection of them here, so you can experience the range of performances that we had the opportunity to attend:

"Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

"Fields of Gold" (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

"It Must Be Love" (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

"What I Did For Love" (Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

Friends and Acquaintances

As has happened on every cruise we have taken, we met and made friends with numerous folks onboard. Even further, we have made at least one friend on each cruise with whom we have kept in contact since the cruise. Our cruise on the Viking Jupiter was no exception- notably Mike and Diane Fisher, who actually live in North Dallas. These friends were bridge players, dinner partners, and excursion companions, and in this last section I simply want to introduce a few of them to you:

Here we are at breakfast in the World Cafe. Of course there are Greg, myself, and Fred, but at the right side of the table are Lynn and Ron, two of the bridge-playing cadre. Both Ron and Lynn, who actually live in Asheville, were avid learners, and were happy to have access to the lessons that I've put up online.

Both of them also played with us novices in the afternoon on most days. Two days after we disembarked in Buenos Aires, Fred and I were on our overnight excursion to Iguassu Falls, and were walking with our guide through one of the train stations in the park when I heard a familiar voice call out to us- it was Lynn and Ron, who had also decided to visit the falls.

On the evening of one of our last sea days, a group of us gathered for dinner in the Restaurant, and the large group of us posed for this picture, taken by our waiter.

At left, of course, is Greg, and just behind him is Lynn (see previous picture). I'm next, and then a very interesting couple. Geraldine was one of the afternoon bridge players, and her husband is a trade minister for the British government. Both of them are English, of course, and each had a beautiful accent. The two of them were on their way to Buenos Airs for a conference that Geraldine's husband was attending.

The young lady bending down between Geraldine's husband and Fred was the wife of the gentleman all the way around to the right, and I am embarrassed to say that I have neglected to remember either of their names. Both of them were shipboard lecturers on differing topics, and they also served as assistant-guides for some of the shore excursions, both supplying additional history commentary.

Finally, you can see Fred and, again, Lynn's husband, Ron.

Probably our most frequent companions- for meals and on excursions- were Phillip and his partner, John, whom we met early in the cruise. Phillip is sitting just next to Greg at the left of our table, and John is sitting between myself and Fred at the right.

The couple life in New Englsnd where Phillip is a dentist and John works for a high-end human resources consulting firm. They live in a small town in southern New Hampshire. The showed up on quite a few of our shore excursions, and we saw them for meals quite a few times. Neither was a bridge player, though.

The last picture reflecting people we met on board the ship was a guy that we had seen almost daily, and talked to occasionally, as he was the manager of the onboard jewelry store (for a British company that had the concession). We saw him last on the day we departed the ship, so here is a picture of Edward, Greg, and Fred.

Well, we have a few sea days coming up, so I'll get back to our routine before we dock in Recife, Brazil, on the other side of the Atlantic, in three days' time.

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

	November 26, 2019: A Stop in Recife, Brazil
	November 21, 2019: A Visit to Dakar, Senegal
	Return to the Index for 2019