Day Six: Christmas—Taking Gains and Losses as They Come

December 25, 2025—Christmas Day. Our original itinerary had us calling at the Greek island of Crete today. But because it was Christmas and the necessary port services were unavailable, the ship continued on through the open sea.

It was a welcome chance to rest for a day and explore the ship’s facilities. Viking cruises are open only to guests aged eighteen and over, so without the clamor of children, the ship remains remarkably quiet. On an early-morning walk around the deck, I barely saw another soul. The one exception was this gentleman running headlong into the sea breeze.

While the guests were still resting, the ship’s crew had already begun their day.

They inspected and tidied each of the ship’s facilities in turn, preparing them for the day’s busiest hours.

The ship has four restaurants. One offers table service and another is a buffet; both are complimentary and require no reservation. There is also an Italian restaurant and The Chef’s Table, likewise included in the fare but available only by advance reservation.

The buffet is the most popular: quick and easy, with plenty of choice, and guests can come and go as they please.

A handwashing station stands at the buffet entrance, and everyone must use it before going in. Given the crowds and frequently handled surfaces inside, it is a thoughtful precaution and deserves credit.

When the buffet begins to feel repetitive, there is always the table-service restaurant. Its menu changes daily, but ordering and waiting for each course makes for a longer meal, without quite the same freedom as the buffet.

After breakfast, I headed to the gym for some exercise. The ship also has a Nordic spa, a main pool, an infinity pool, a wraparound promenade, and a sports deck offering light outdoor activities such as bocce, shuffleboard, and putting.

Those not inclined to exercise can visit the atrium, where multifunction touchscreen tables offer chess, jigsaw puzzles, and card games.

Viking’s public spaces are not designed for bustle. The atrium, lounges, and observation areas are distinct yet flow naturally into one another. Vast floor-to-ceiling windows draw the sea indoors, turning every view, near or far, into a landscape.

The ship feels more like a quiet building in motion than a conventional “entertainment cruise.” People settle into separate corners to read, daydream, talk, or watch the sea, keeping just the right amount of distance from one another.

Resident musicians perform live throughout the day in various corners of the ship. In keeping with Viking’s emphasis on “cultural immersion,” the program centers on classical music, jazz, and pieces connected to the destinations. The prevailing mood is serene and elegant, never loud.

With Christmas upon us, the decorations and choice of music brought the festive spirit to its fullest.

At one point, I came across crew members still in uniform, temporarily stepping away from their usual duties to rehearse for the evening’s Christmas show. Seeing them switch roles made me look forward to it all the more.

At lunchtime, I went to the Italian restaurant. Reservations had opened several days before embarkation, but I had not paid attention, so the cruise line assigned me a time automatically, leaving me little choice. Next time, I will remember to book ahead.

This specialty restaurant has a dress code, and the care devoted to its ingredients and preparation lives up to the formality. My first taste of venison was the meal’s greatest surprise.

For food and service of this caliber, most Western guests choose formal attire. It shows respect for the meal, the staff, and one’s fellow diners—and, beyond that, reflects an attitude toward life.

After lunch, a stroll among the art displayed around the ship was the gentlest way to aid digestion. Viking’s ships have been described as “floating art galleries,” with collections whose scale and quality set them apart in the cruise world.

This ship features works by thirty-three Norwegian artists, making it something of a showcase for contemporary Norwegian art. Distributed throughout the vessel, the collection spans traditional oil paintings and prints, contemporary digital art and photography, sculpture, and other media.

Most memorable were the works of Edvard Munch. Viking owns the largest private collection of Munch’s work outside the Munch Museum in Oslo. In partnership with the museum, it also presents “Munch Moments”: alongside the works hanging on the walls, the atrium’s large screen displays a different themed selection of Munch paintings each afternoon, accompanied by classical music. No two days feature the same program.

On a Viking ship, the library is not confined to a single room; it is a cultural design woven throughout the vessel. Books blend naturally into the public spaces, joining the art, music, and pace of life aboard to create places for reading and lingering that feel carefully arranged without ever seeming contrived.

Viking’s founder, Torstein Hagen, once described his vessels as “the thinking person’s cruise.” The onboard libraries are perhaps the clearest expression of that idea. The collection was curated by the renowned London independent bookseller Heywood Hill and is organized around the itinerary and its destinations, encompassing history, geography, art, and literary classics.

Choose a book that catches your eye,pick up a few cold drinks, and settle in before the two-story floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the sea streams endlessly past. Time slows down. This may be the most blissful way to spend an hour aboard ship.

I chose a photography book by Mo Yi, one of the most influential documentary and avant-garde photographers in contemporary China. His work often carries a sense of calm detachment and solitude amid the clamor of crowds. That perspective—immersed in the scene yet standing apart to observe it—felt unexpectedly attuned to the quiet act of reading aboard the ship.

The book quotes Mo Yi: “Art is a process of dialogue between the world and the self, of experiencing oneself and experiencing life.” In this highly digitized age, when our attention is constantly being fragmented, the chance to switch off one’s phone aboard a ship crossing the open sea, open a weighty photography book, and quietly enter that “dialogue between the world and the self” is itself a rare and luxurious experience of being alive.

Having satisfied the soul’s hunger, it was time to tend to the body. I entered the Wintergarden just as afternoon tea began. Soft light filtered through the “Tree of Life” canopy overhead, and before I knew it, my tea for one had taken over an entire table.

After tea, I returned to the atrium, where crew members and guests sang Christmas songs together. Everyone played their part, dressing in festive reds and greens. Voices echoed through the atrium, the mood relaxed and warm, until the whole ship seemed immersed in Christmas cheer.

As dusk fell, the Norwegian flag fluttered at the stern. The day’s reading, music, and idleness were gently brought to a close. Night was arriving, while dinner and the Christmas show waited quietly on the other side of the deck.

The Chef’s Table is a specialty restaurant requiring reservations. It serves a chef-selected tasting menu that changes regularly, unfolding as a complete, carefully paced progression of courses.

Today’s menu was called “Lotus,” a pan-Asian tasting menu featuring Indian spiced potato cakes, Singapore-style spicy soft-shell crab, Thai-spiced roast lamb chops, and Japanese yuzu cheesecake. Each course was paired with a different wine.

The complimentary holiday sweets were delicate and charming, perfectly in tune with the day’s rich Christmas atmosphere and heightening my anticipation for the show about to begin.

Tonight’s celebration took place in The Star Theater, the main entertainment venue aboard Viking Vela.

The Star Theater is a multifunctional venue hosting activities by day and night, including lectures, live performances, and film screenings.

The highlight of tonight’s show was the crew taking the stage. Seeing staff normally busy at their various posts appear in a different guise gave the celebration an added warmth and an authentic festive spirit.

When the laughter and applause had faded, the ship settled once more into the stillness of night and sailed slowly toward our next stop, Athens. Christmas had kept us from going ashore in Crete, but in return it had given us an entire day to savor the cultural world Viking had created aboard ship—to leaf through a photography book, bask in the sun for a while, and let life move at a slower pace.

As the saying goes, when the Creator closes a door, another window will surely open. Doors close and windows open; gains and losses come as they may. All that remains in my heart is gratitude.

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Day Six: Christmas—Taking Gains and Losses as They Come

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Day Six: Christmas—Taking Gains and Losses as They Come

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