Life on the Viking Orion

 We boarded our ship on Sunday, December 16, at the White Bay Cruise Terminal in Sydney. This was Viking's maiden voyage of this two week itinerary.

The all new Viking Orion began service in July of 2018.  She holds 940 passengers and 450 crew.

Our Stateroom, #3006, was large and very well appointed.

We travel light, small rolling suitcase and backpack each. The ship had a free self serve laundry on each stateroom deck. We don't like to check luggage. When we got home we found there were clothes we hadn't even worn. So next time, we pack lighter.

All Viking Ocean Cruise staterooms have a veranda.

Boarding around noon, our first order of business was lunch at the World Café on deck seven. The weather was beautiful, so we opted for lunch outside.

Beautiful view of Sydney and the Harbor Bridge.

Deck 8, top floor.

The main pool and spa on Deck 7 had a retractable roof.

Infinity pool and hot tub were aft on Deck 7.

The Restaurant on Deck 2 was our favorite dinner destination.

Gingerbread House Christmas decorations.

The ships atrium spanned Decks 1-3. Evening background music was provided by a pianist, a string duet or a guitarist.

Live entertainment was offered nightly at 9 pm in the ship's forward theater. The theater was also used during the day for lectures and cultural enrichment. Our favorite speaker was Dr. Alan Wright, a retired radio astronomer, who focused on the night sky in the southern hemisphere. The last evening he hosted a star party in which we observed the Southern Cross only visible south of the equator.

The ship was equipped with a high-tech planetarium called the Explorers' Dome. This is the second cruise ship in the world to offer this feature. The only other ship is the Cunard Line Queen Mary II. There were four one-hour programs offered, two of which were 3-D. Reservations were required and we were able to attend all four.