[Worldtrippers home] [2025 Crystal-Viking]
April 20 and 21 were two more days at sea.
Sunday, April 20, was Easter Sunday. The ship hosted both Catholic and interdenominational services, sandwiched between lectures. If you went to everything, you could have spent five continuous hours sitting in the Star Theatre.
Russell gave a lecture that morning. And Gail hosted her third and final genealogy workshop. She has now had the rare opportunity to host all of her workshops in the large theatre, and will (hopefully) leave with video recordings of all three. She has now finished the genealogy part of her contract, but she continues to meet with guests on a one-on-one basis.
This is the most unique world cruise we have ever sailed on, in terms of guest involvement. There are guest-run activities ranging from Bible studies to ukulele lessons. It’s like being in a 55+ active community at sea. Even before the cruise sailed, guests started forming activity planning committees. There is even a guest directory that has gone through several updates and editions.
Every Viking ship has a “Crew Welfare Fund.” This is normally funded by part of the guest tips, and goes toward things that will enhance the crew’s life at sea (for instance, a video game console for the crew recreation room).
This cruise has done something we have never seen before. The planning committee decided to host a live auction among guests, with all proceeds going toward the Crew Welfare Fund. People were encouraged to donate whatever they wished for the live and silent auctions.
Gail decided to donate two of her 3D needle-felted creations: a koala and a kiwi that have traveled with her on two previous world cruises. Despite the many hours of work she spent creating them, she thought she would be lucky if they fetched $30. Gail also spent hours writing a cute story about them for a description.
The committee was so taken with Gail’s donation, they decided not to put the items up for auction. Instead, they put them into the only drawing for the event. For $10, you could purchase a chance at winning both the koala and kiwi.
The “Crew Appreciation Fundraiser” was held this morning (April 21) at 10:00 am in the Star Theatre. Though Viking was not officially allowed to sponsor the event, the senior officers and crew helped set everything up and manage crowd control. It was standing room only. Guests donated artwork, crafts, souvenirs and bottles of wine.
The drawing for Gail’s critters sold about 100 tickets, meaning she individually raised about a thousand dollars in donations. All told, the fundraiser was an enormous success.
One thing we love about world cruises is the unique sense of community that builds over several months aboard ship. This fundraiser is just one more example of that uniqueness.
