All aboard Viking Orion

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19thAugust 2018

The Greek part of our trip is coming to a close as we pack up from our apartment and leave at 12.30pm to transfer to Pireaus to board the Viking Orion for our next adventure. Our prearranged transport arrives on time and we are at the Pireaus cruise terminal by 1 pm. The Viking check in is absolutely seamless and we are on board within about 20 mins.

Officially ,our embarkation time was 2 pm, but there was no problem being early. Whilst our cabins were not yet ready, our luggage was being looked after and we were free to go and have lunch at the buffet restaurant.


Not a bad setting for lunch

Not long after, there was an announcement that all rooms were ready at 1.30pm. We enjoyed our lunch and took our time. By the time we arrived at our cabin, about half of our luggage was already there, and the rest arrived within 30 mins.


We had a quick look around the aft deck before heading to our cabins




The ship is very impressive, very new and tastefully fitted out. There is no casino, and lots of lounge areas to just sit around and enjoy the trip. 

Our cabin is a similar size to that on other cruise lines with seemingly more storage space. Sharon and John are in the cabin next door.





Unpacking is the highest priority, so the next hour is spent getting organized, interrupted by a visit from our cabin steward to see if we have everything we need. He returned with another 10 coat hangers and all was well.

It is now time to explore the ship and check out the spaces we will use most, the restaurants, bars, lounge areas , pools and sun decks. Everything is thoughtfully designed and beautifully finished.


Pianist in the Atrium


Entrance to main Dining Room



We finished our exploring at the Explorers Bay on the 7thfloor in the bow of the ship. It was now 5pm, so we had a few pre dinner drinks before getting ready for dinner.

Explorers Bar


Glass Stairs up to the Explorers Dome


John is doing a bit of exploring from the lounge that houses the dome



Dinner was great, the main restaurant is large and there was no wait to get a table for the four of us. We struggled with the menu as there were so many nice options, but we all happy with what we chose. There is a lot more of the ship to see which I will post in the next day or two, but so far we are very impressed with this ship. We are in Athens overnight and sail tomorrow afternoon. We have a tour booked to see Cape Sounion, which we have seen by sea on our way home on Galileo.

 Before we went to bed we visited the Torshavn /bar night club, where they had a live band playing our sort of music.

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