Goodbye St. Louis, hello Viking Mississippi

Our final morning in the hotel at the Chase Park Plaza had us up early not only for a tour but also because we had to have our bags packed and ready for Viking to collect from our rooms by 7AM. This is when we put on the luggage tags showing our name and ship cabin number that Viking sent pre-cruise along with the transfer stickers and sturdy luggage nametags. Our welcome packet's schedule also featured a QR code for us to fill out a survey for Viking solely on the hotel experience. We had plenty to share on that survey as well as our thoughts after the cruise with Viking's customer service. 

We took our couple carry on/personal bags down to breakfast and then headed straight out to our tour bus from there. Today's tour, "Inside Mississippi River Engineering," was at 8:45AM and cost $69 per person. As we sat on the bus waiting to leave, we watched them load a U-Haul style box truck to the top with everyone's luggage thrown in haphazardly and stacked on top of each other. Our bags looked about as weary as we did when we finally reunited with each other on board. 

For reference, here are today's excursion choices:

Inside Mississippi River Engineering (Easy activity level/8:45AM/Duration 3.5 hours/$69 per person) This tour was sold out pre-cruise.

On the Trail of Lewis & Clark (Moderate activity level/8:30AM/Duration 4 hours/$69 per person) This tour was sold out pre-cruise.

Great River Road Exploration (Easy activity level/8:30AM/Duration 4.5 hours/$99 per person) This tour was sold out pre-cruise.

Missouri Botanical Garden (Easy activity level/9:30AM/Duration 4 hours/Included cost) This is the only tour offered both days.

Forest Park & Missouri History Museum (Easy activity level/11:30AM/Duration 4 hours/$49 per person) I hope those who chose this tour got a lot more than the drive by story we did and the already free admission to the museum for that price. 

One thing I noticed about this excursion booking form that was included in our welcome envelope is that it has these three instructions at the bottom of the list:

Kindly adhere to the excursion times and location.

Excursion times are approximate and subject to change, due to circumstances that are beyond our control.

All included excursions will meet in the Lobby on the 1st floor of the hotel.

Two flaws with this small bit of directions - 1) our first day's included excursion did not meet in the lobby on the 1st floor. It was only after we arrived that they told us where to meet instead. 2) There's no other meeting place listed for the non included excursions. 

Our guide for today's excursion spent a good bit of the drive reiterating the same history lesson we'd heard before but in his defense, he had a longer drive to talk through. On the plus side, I'm pretty sure the entire bus used the talk as a bedtime story. 

Our tour visited the Melvin Price Lock and Dam which meant traveling via bus from St. Louis, MO to Alton, IL. Due to security precautions at this government facility, the only places a visitor is allowed unescorted at this site is in the small visitor center's museum. We were all made to store away any bags, purses, or large cameras in lockers with a key attached to a wrist coil we could carry around until it was time to leave. Cell phones were the only camera option permitted. 

I probably got too much of a chuckle out of ending up with locker number 007 

Our escort started off giving us a history lesson about river life on the Mississippi and how the dam system works using the displays in the small museum. It was unfortunately hard to hear him unless you were right next to him. He'd often repeat himself or go off on a tangent forgetting the point he was trying to make. 

They did warn us that there would be about half a mile of walking once we went outside but it was mostly concrete level ground except for a few narrow paths or grooves meant for rolling machinery. We had passengers with walkers, rollators, and canes in our group and no one seemed to struggle with the walk. 

After walking a short distance and taking a ride in a freight elevator together as a group, we walked along the top of the locks stopping every so often to get an explanation of how the locks worked. It was much easier to hear the guide once outside but also got tiresome in the heat and humidity as he gave whole soliloquy answers to every question. 

Looking back at the pathway we'd just walked across - there are metal gates (hot in August) and cement barriers for you to hold onto while walking along. The dark brown stripe was a track for wheeled machines to roll along and sometimes walking on the metal grates was uneven. The middle section to the right of the yellow stripe was level and easy to walk on. 

Our Viking guide on this excursion pointed out to everyone how after our long drive we were so close to the ship that we could see it parked under the bridge in the distance.

Finally, our Viking guide had to speak up and tell our Melvin Price Locks and Dam guide to wrap things up so we could get to the ship soon. I think by now we were all ready to carry this gentleman along our outstretched arms like the crowd in a mosh pit to get him back to the parking lot faster. As we finished boarding the bus to leave, a large tour group from somewhere else was unloading from their multiple buses. Thankful to our Viking guide and his timing at helping us avoid that crowd.

As it turns out, we hadn't really needed to be in a rush. When we arrived at the Viking Mississippi, our bus joined a line full of every other passenger. Everyone had to stay in one line until they were called to one of 4-5 waiting port employees. The line snaked past the activity desk in The Living Room, out past the Guest Services Desk, out onto the deck, and was starting to loop back up the gangway. Some passengers were trying to ask the crew at Guest Services to check them in and/or ask them questions but the Guest Services team would only insist that they stay in line and come back to see them later with their questions. A few of the department heads were standing next to the line at various points saying hello and chatting up the passengers while we waited including Guest Services Manager Nicholette Davis and Hotel General Manager Sayeed Razavi. The couple in line in front of us asked one of them about suite priority check in and was told they had to stay in this single line. So much for a suite perk of 11AM early embarkation/ check in. While I was grateful for the chance to be in air conditioning for the bulk of the wait, I was disappointed to see that the crew made no effort to help those with mobility issues who were having trouble waiting in this long line. 

Once we reached the port employees, our final step went very quickly because we had done everything through My Viking Journey before the cruise. Thankfully this time Viking had no problem accepting and keeping our same credit card on file. All there was to do was be checked off their master list and be handed the envelope with our keycards. 

No passengers were allowed to go to their cabins until an announcement was made that they estimated wasn't going to come until 3PM. We headed for the River Cafe (Viking's term for the buffet on this ship), and were surprised to find out how small it was compared to Octantis. On Octantis there was a whole grill section, a seafood section, salad bar area, and two sides of proteins and sides options to choose. On Viking Mississippi, you had one row of main foods that had some of the vegetables and sides repeating on each end so people would line up from both ends causing a traffic jam. I learned to be like a buffet ninja swooping in during the gaps because so many people would fight through the crowds using canes and walkers either as weapons or to block you from getting by like they were professional defensive backs in their spare time.

Set out perpendicular from there was a full bar, a small salad bar section, and the dessert section on the other side. You definitely needed to pack a side of patience in this buffet because any backup of lines waiting for the main foods starts running into the backup of people waiting to get scooped ice cream all while blocking the limited space to walk between the two serving sections. There were many tables for two lined up next to this bar/dessert section but it made for close quarters with people standing right next to and bumping your chairs and tables while you ate. Doors to the outside were just after this section leading to the Aquavit Terrace. This outdoor dining space was nice to get away from the noise and crowd but it also meant that we often lacked table service. The grill area is also out on the terrace but they routinely only had one crew member working making it impossible to keep up with the steady line of passengers wanting steaks, baked potatoes, hamburgers, and hot dogs. 

The grill had refrigerated sections that held trays of items for baked potato toppings as well as various cold salads and grilled vegetables. While sounding tasty, one quickly loses their appetite when you saw how many flies congregated on these open containers. Given the frequency of how often those doors to the River Cafe opened and closed, there soon was a constant fly problem swarming around the dishes inside as well as having to be swatted away from our plates on the tables. After I mentioned it among other concerns on the first of many survey papers they leave in your cabin during the cruise, I noticed that food service fans sold for specifically keeping bugs away were placed among the platters inside the River Cafe. I applaud the effort but now we had to dodge flipping fan blades and the flies they failed to keep away while reaching for serving spoons. 

My first lunch onboard - with such limited supply prepared, it was often tough to get a full plate of anything. Today I tried a sampler of chicken parmesan, pasta with chicken, and some already dried out french fries. 

One major beef I had with the buffet - if you'll pardon the pun - is how every daily schedule would list the hours the buffet would be open to some degree of offerings. Lunch was listed as 11:30AM-2PM, Coffee and Snacks was listed as lasting from 11AM - 5PM, and a single offering of Pizza in the buffet was available from 2PM - 5PM. The Coffee and Snacks turned out to mean they kept the self serve machines filled and maybe had a tray of cookies out next to them if you were fast enough. Several buses worth of passengers on a Viking excursion one of the days didn't make it back to the ship until 2:30PM. We opted to go straight for the buffet in hopes of finding sustenance and were told "Sorry our manager told us to shut everything down by 2PM. We don't care that you were on an excursion that only just returned. You're out of luck." Apparently multiple busloads were a lot harder to brush off than the few of us who were there asking because all of a sudden the buffet was packed and the galley crew were hustling to get out pizzas and ice cream as fast as it was being dished onto passenger's plates. They were super apologetic repeating over and over about how it would take a while to make more food because they were just called and told about the late excursion return. Funny, feels like someone should have given them a heads up about the incoming need sooner so they could have had time to prepare. Oh wait, that's exactly what we told them before being told too bad, so sad!

Only about 35 minutes later which we spent reading in the Explorer's Lounge after lunch, the announcement was made that our rooms were ready. Much nicer than the 3PM-4PM original estimate we were told. By 3PM, we were back in the Explorer's Lounge meeting our Cruise Director Tim Connor for the first time as he ran through the shore excursion options for the entire cruise. It was a great rundown broken down by each port with times, activity levels, and meeting instructions. He also spent a little time afterwards answering questions.

After taking care of Muster Drill and listening to Tim's Welcome Briefing, we headed back to the buffet for dinner. Teriyaki/BBQ chicken, pot roast, mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, cocktail shrimp, and a roll. 

We briefly explored outside checking out the Infinity Plunge Pool before heading inside for the first of many fun daily trivia quizzes hosted by Tim. A perhaps intentionally hidden tip was that just off to the side on this pool deck space was a large cooler that looks like a wicker towel bin with lid. If you lift up the lid, it's always full of cold water bottles and soda cans. 

We came in second place as a team of just Dad and I. Soon we had a small group of regular players that wanted to team up for the rest of the sessions. There were no real prizes but we enjoyed playing each time for fun.

When we returned to the cabin for the night, we were amazed to find that our cabin steward Arjay had gotten our first bag of included laundry washed and returned to our closet while we were out of the cabin this evening.

Arch and a feeling of dejavu

When we first started planning this trip, there were no formal excursions offered by Viking listed for the hotel days. We found it odd that in an itinerary where both end cities are different than any of our port cities, there was only excursion choices for our days on the ship. We reached out to customer service and the rep insisted that there would never be any excursions rather a rep would be available to suggest things for you to do on your own. 

As the weeks went by, excursion options showed up on the website for our hotel time in St. Louis. One of the excursions mentioned the Gateway Arch but described it more as a drive by. We booked the afternoon version of this tour called "St. Louis, the "Gateway to the West," which was an included tour. If you're new to Viking, they will offer one excursion in each port that is included and is often a general city highlights style tour. This is oftentimes also a walking tour so consider your own personal mobility as well as cost when checking out tour options. 

Our main goal for St. Louis was to experience the ride up to the top of the Gateway Arch. To cover our bases, we went online to the official Gateway Arch website months beforehand and purchased tickets for the 9:30AM tour. We received them in email right away and brought the printouts with us. The website cautions that passing through security can take up to 30 minutes and the tram experience can take 45-60 minutes to complete. Booking one of the first tram rides of the day was our best bet at having the least crowds at the security checkpoint and the least wait at the trams. After a limited but included buffet breakfast at the hotel, we ordered a rideshare to take us to the Gateway Arch. The hotel is only a short drive away and even with a little morning traffic we arrived in plenty of time. 

Front entrance and exit:

Entire circle center:

We breezed straight through security, our only hinderance being that Dad was required to take off his belt as well as empty our pockets. Security is just across from the ticket desks. Head left if you still need to buy tickets, head straight if you want to chat with rangers at the information desk, and head back toward the doors to the right to enter security. After that it's an easy walk down to the lower level where we stopped to chat with a kind gentleman at another information desk who gave us lots of tips about other things to see in St. Louis. 

We soon headed over to the person checking tickets at the entrance to the south tram as directed on our tickets. Once our tickets were scanned in, she handed us each a boarding pass to hand to the next employee showing we were counted off as being in tram car #2. Each tram rider is required to ride in the tram with a total of 5 people so they count you off as you check in. The only line we encountered was the 15-20 people who had already passed the ticket checker as we all had to wait until it was truly 9:30AM. A young gentleman employee monitoring this next section helped chat up the group cracking jokes while we waited those 10-15 minutes. 

Before we turned the corner to where the numbered trams are boarded, the young gentleman called out our group numbers in descending order to pose for a group picture which could be purchased after the ride. This way, those in the higher numbered trams could file down the staggered steps and get in place without having to push past those of us in the lower numbered trams at the top of the steps.

You are required to step up into the tram car and must be able to crouch down at the same time to avoid hitting your head. Once inside, you can't help but be shoulder to shoulder and bumping legs making all thankful that everyone wore deodorant this morning. While the ride doesn't last very long, it can be uncomfortable if you're claustrophobic. We made the best of it by chatting up the family of 3 after learning that they had spent time where I grew up. 

These pictures were taken after we had returned. When you exit the trams, you walk across the landing until you're past the railing. Then you head up the steps while the next tour group is being held back from descending the stairs on the opposite side of the railing. 

There is a sample of the trams by the bathrooms at the main entrance so you can see how small it is before getting in line to buy tickets. The door is see through glass so you will be able to see the mechanisms and inner metal framework of the arch as you ride. There is lights always on inside and airflow. You will feel some slight rocking and creaking at times as the tram moves along the curves of the arch.

Once you exit the trams at the top, you have about 20 more steps to climb and at one point have to squeeze past the people who are waiting to get into the trams for their ride down. At the top, another employee keeps track of the time reminding the group how much of about 10 minutes they have to look around. This space at the top of the arch is fairly open to move around but all of the windows are narrow rectangles centered in the middle of each panel. There are raised platforms that you can either stand or kneel on if you need some height help to see. Otherwise it's a good bit of leaning over at the waist and resting on your hands or elbows. 

The river side where our ship would have been if it didn't actually dock in Alton, IL. 

There are window panels to look out on both the river and the city sides. To keep the flow of the crowds moving, you exit out the opposite side (so in our case out where the North Tram people come in) and return to your numbered tram once there. They rope a chain across the doorways while your group is inside the peak and then open only the opposite side while giving out verbal directions.

Plenty of space to stand upright and it wasn't too munch of a hunch over for Dad who is around six feet tall. 

You can even get in some facts while enjoying the views.

Moving on to the city side of the arch:

The shadow of the arch on the ground below. That circle in what looks like a grassy field is the circular entrance for the arch. It was wild to realize that all of the museum, theater, trams, ramps, cafe, and gift shop are housed underneath that grassy field.

Once we returned to the bottom, we stopped at the cafe for a soft pretzel to split and two sodas. 

The cafe's tables are flanked by a large mural timeline showing the path taken to build the Gateway Arch as a sign of westward expansion. I couldn't help but notice how there were several references to Lewis and Clark whose path we learned so much about on the ACL river cruise.

We briefly took time to check out the 3-D models on display:

Of course we spent some time in the gift shop where I found a wooden magnet and Dad insisted on buying a wooden Christmas ornament because he thought it would make a nice magnet.

There is a hotel literally across the street from the Gateway Arch so we headed to their entrance before calling for a rideshare back to the hotel. As it turns out, we stopped right in front of the Viking branded tour buses that had just brought the included tour's morning participants to the arch. We joked about trying to hitch a ride until our rideshare arrived. This was an experience that was definitely worth the time and worth getting up early to beat the crowds. We were outside waiting for our rideshare by 10:45AM. 

For reference, the schedule of tours offered for today - even some of these were not on the website beforehand. If they weren't already sold out, you could choose to sign up for any of these tours with the Viking representatives in the hotel.

St. Louis, the Gateway to the West (Easy activity level/8:30AM or 1:30PM/Duration 3.5 hours/ Included cost)

Missouri Botanical Garden (Easy activity level/12:30PM/Duration 3.5 hours/Included cost)

Anheuser-Busch Brewery (Easy activity level/1:00PM/Duration 2.5 hours/ Cost $89 per person)

National Blues Museum (Easy activity level/2:00PM/ Duration 2.5 hours/Cost $99 per person)

Favazza's Dinner On The Hill (Easy activity level/5:00PM/Duration 3.5 hours/Cost $189 per person)

After some time relaxing back in our hotel room, we left a little early to meet the group for the Viking sponsored included tour, "St. Louis, the "Gateway to the West." I'm glad we gave ourselves some time to walk back from the other wing  because we ended up having to go past the Viking desk which was supposed to be our tour meeting place and rush all the way down another corridor to a different wing to meet the buses outside. I'm not sure if it was a case of a lot of people showing up early so Viking started directing everyone to the buses or they just decided to make everyone meet at the buses instead. If that was the case, it would have been a lot more practical to have the buses come around front to pick us up since the Viking Desk was merely around the corner from the front entrance. 

Once on board the bus after all that speed walking, I was ready to get a breather while our guide took us on this long city tour.  The only thing different than we saw on our own this morning was a quick drive through Forest Park hearing about the 1904 World's Fair after which we parked in front of the Missouri History Museum long enough for our guide to tell us that it's a free museum and its most famous exhibit is the Spirit of St. Louis. After that, our city tour was a brief repetitive spiel from our guide that repeated the same facts we learned during the hotel transfer. Our guide had her narration ready to last only as long as it took us to drive from the hotel to the Gateway Arch. She made us all wait in the main lobby space while she retrieved our movie tickets. While there were a couple choices, our tickets only allowed us to watch the Monument to the Dream documentary film and were for a showing that started about an hour after our arrival. These tickets would have cost us each $7. We all had to follow our guide like dutiful schoolchildren through security (just when you thought you were going to get to keep on your belt for the rest of the day Dad!) and then she had to lead us all to where the movie theater was so we could see where to meet for the movie time. I was expecting her to suggest we all synchronize our watches as well.

Dad and I passed the time by wandering through the museum exhibits. The exhibit area is completely accessible and made up into little themed alcoves. The movie theater opened at the back row where there were handicap seats marked off on a level platform so you could easily push a wheelchair past them until you reached a seat. The typical movie theater hinged seats were all in rows after you started walking down steps. 

A kudos to The Gateway Arch Museum for offering these little booklets next to the displays that offered the same information on the placards but in accessible options like large print.

After the movie, our guide instructed everyone to meet her back at the lobby. Several of us beat her back to the lobby and after a while many started walking back up to the bus. She soon arrived and had us all crowded around by these front glass windows waiting for everyone else to show. At least one or two couples informed our guide that they were going to stay in order to do the next scheduled tram ride. They were fine with the idea of having to get their own way back to the hotel. 

When you are stuck standing around waiting so you start trying to take artsy photos:

I didn't realize until watching the movie that the top pieces of the arch were designed so you could see the windows from the outside that we'd looked out from while inside. 

Once back outside, I really started to notice how much the arch turned as it came down the other side. It isn't a simple rainbow horsehoe shape. 

I'm glad we had the opportunity to do the tram ride during our time in St. Louis and that we got to it before the crowds. However, I think it would have been more ideal for us to not have booked the included Viking tour and simply took our time with the museum exhibits after our tram ride while the crowds were still light. Dad had considered buying tickets to do the virtual reality experience but opted out when it seemed like too much of a time crunch before the afternoon tour.