Travel Live: Cruising characters

Patricia Greig lives the good life onboard the Viking Sea. Photo / Supplied

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Patricia Greig is currently cruising from Barcelona to London on the Viking Sea's christening cruise. She will be posting updates throughout the trip.

Cruising the Mediterranean today gave us the entire day to explore the boat - which is quite spacious, with many nooks and crannies to discover.

I'm not going to lie, there were a lot of naps after last night's extravaganza at the Viking Sea's nightclub Torshavn. The drinks were flowing and my new friend Aussie W and I found great joy in the rock n roll dance moves of many of our fellow guests on the dance floor.

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The first time I met Aussie W he was tucking in to two mains. Here he is in his element with a vast array of puddings, from creme brûlée to cheesecake at The Restaurant on board Viking Sea - Patricia #nzhtravel #travel #cruising #treats #pudding #johnfarnham #dessert

A post shared by Herald Travel (@nzhtravel) on Apr 26, 2016 at 2:04pm PDT

Aussie W is an interesting character with a bizarre obsession with John Farnham and the ship's hot/cold spa treatments. Otherwise known as Nordic bathing, Aussie W gives himself his own ice bucket challenge on the daily, going from sauna to snow grotto repeatedly until he gets a bit light headed. We both went for a Swedish massage this morning at Liv Nordic Spa, and it was possibly the most relaxing massage I have ever had, melting away last week's Belfast gin binge.

We whiled away the rest of the day beside the pool, snacking on fries at the Pool Grill, where Aussie W enlightened me with fun facts about Cold Chisel, which is not a male strip troupe, to my surprise.

One of the best parts about a cruise ship is that there is a constant supply of food. Honestly, I have lost my appetite there is so much to eat, from steak to scampi. Following dinner in The Restaurant, we indulged in all of the deserts possible, including peanut butter pie ice cream and strawberry short cake. A few beverages courtesy of my favourite sarcastic bartender, Vladko, helped with digestion, and it was back to Torshavn for a Sweet Home Alabama cover or two.

- nzherald.co.nz