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After four months aboard ship, today we finally sailed into the final port of our Viking World Cruise, Greenwich, England.
We were scheduled to enter the mouth of the River Thames at 9:00 am, then spend several hours sailing upriver until we arrived in Greenwich at 1:00 pm. At 10:30 am, Russell and fellow lecturer Dr. Tony Waltham began an hour of scenic commentary from the Explorers Lounge at the bow on Deck 7.
The highlight of the sail would come in half an hour, when we passed through the Thames Barrier. In case of delay, we had a good hour of remarks prepared.
That was the schedule. However, at 11:30 am, after an hour of talking, we were nowhere near the Thames Barriers. In the meantime, Russell and Tony cracked jokes, insulted each other, and talked about geology and trivia. They even told the story of the Great Stink of 1868, when sewage in the river was so bad it closed Parliament.
We finally heard from the Bridge that we were a good hour and a half behind schedule. So Tony and Russell took a break and resumed speaking at 12:15 pm.
At 12:30 pm we finally passed the Thames Barrier. This structure is a set of closeable sea walls, built to prevent a possible catastrophic flood in London due to river surges. It was completed in 1984 at a cost of £534 million ($3 billion US in today’s money).
The Viking Neptune is one of the few cruise ships small enough to pass through the Barrier. As far as we’ve been able to research, Viking’s ships are the largest allowed through. In fact, Viking’s first two ocean ships were christened here in 2015 and 2016.
It was late afternoon before we finally docked and passed immigration, and guests were allowed off the ship. We only had time to take a quick stroll around the dock before we reboarded to finish packing.
After four months, our amount of stuff has dramatically increased. We have almost 60 lbs just of souvenirs. Fortunately, we are returning to Viking Neptune in a little over a month for our next contract. We are able to store two large suitcases aboard ship. Even so, we have four suitcases we will check in on the airplane. (These have to be put into the hallway by 10:30 pm for the stewards to carry off ship.) In addition, we will each have a carry-on and personal item.
Tomorrow morning, we will step off of Viking Neptune for the last time this cruise. Unlike most of the other guests, however, we will not proceed directly to the airport for a flight home. Instead, we have been invited to stay with a friend outside of London for the next several days. Fortunately, she has ordered a cab for us tomorrow morning. She has requested a large car, to carry all of our luggage.
