Day 1 - Wednesday 27 March 2024
Pick up from home was at 07:30 and although M25 was busy we kept moving so we were at the airport at about 08.40. Check in was now self-service, via a machine which printed luggage tags which you had to place on your bags and put bags on a conveyor belt.
We got breakfast in the business class lounge and boarded on time. BA434 was scheduled to depart at 10.55 but by time we got in the air and they started serving drinks and we put our watches ahead an hour to European time, it was legitimately lunch time and while we didn't have the offered meal we did have a glass or two of Champagne and landed at 13:05.
The baggage carousel at Amsterdam stopped working after one of our cases came out and we waited about 55 minutes before an operative climbed onto it and it jerked to life and delivered the rest. A Viking person was outside and led us to a people carrier where we were joined by two others then driven 20 minutes to Viking Ve.
We dumped our hand baggage in our cabin and made it to the restaurant before it closed at 15:00. I had a Thai Green Curry from the embarkation buffet.
In the afternoon we took a walk to central Amsterdam. In the past Viking boats moored alongside the Centraal Station but now they moor at the old liner terminal. Centraal Station is visible from it, but it takes 25 - 30 minutes to walk to it.
We chatted to the manageress of Gauchos in Spuistraat and planned to return for dinner that night.
We got back to the boat too late for the mandatory safety drill. Viking Gymir was moored ahead of us, so we went there hoping to see Peter & Sue who were doing the same trip on Gymir a day ahead of us, but they didn't reply to our text.
Back on Viking Ve we decided we were too tired to return to Gauchos that night and so ate in Vikings restaurant instead.
With dinner Joan chose a really excellent Wieninger Wiener Trilogie 2018, a blend of Zweigelt, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.
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