What makes Viking Expeditions unique?

Spend a week onboard a Viking Expedition ship and you'll soon learn the phrase that gets the expedition staff members and crew as excited as little kids - "Today, we get to play with the toys!" The toys in this case are the multimillion dollar subs, speedboat, zodiacs, and kayaks. You may find some of these items on an excursion in a regular cruise but you certainly won't find them stored in the bottom of your cruise ship in an area known as The Hanger traveling along with you for the voyage. Unfortunately, due to US law and lake depth, Viking Octantis was not allowed to use the vessels in any of the US lakes. This left just the one day of our itinerary when we stopped in Point Pelee in Ontario, Canada. Point Pelee's position on Lake Erie was unfortunately also our shallowest lake depth so the famous submarines named after Beatles John and Paul (Octantis' sister ship Polaris has two named George and Ringo) were not able to run on our voyage.

Each vessel had a member of the expedition team who was well versed in that type of vessel and led all of the outings on that vessel. To book a time slot to participate in any of these vessels, you need to book them when you book the rest of your tours pre-cruise.

Unfortunately, after several attempts to set up the kayaks, it was deemed too windy to hold the tour.

Dad and I both signed up for the speedboat tour. You are encouraged to dress warmly for being out on the water but also in anticipation of getting wet. I wore my raincoat with the inner layer that doubles as a cotton jacket while Dad wore his lined rain coat. Neither of us really got wet like we'd expected. 

For this ride, we were required to wear our provided life vests found hanging in our cabin's drying closet. Don't worry about trying to figure out how to wear them as the crew will help you put them on when you arrive. I was a bit concerned beforehand about feeling too constricted or too weighed down in these life vests but honestly, it didn't feel any more uncomfortable than carrying around a light backpack on a long tour. We also used our same listening boxes so we could hear our guide Kit's narration during the ride.

I got a kick out of how the brand of life jackets was "YouSafe!"

We had read pre-cruise that the crew loads you into the speedboat and then it launches down a rolling track into the water. In our case, we were led down a couple sets of stairs (elevator available if needed or preferred), and into the boat that was already in the water and tied up next to the ship. The crew helped each person transfer from the platform to the speedboat much like you would experience going on a ship's tender. As each person stepped onto the speedboat, Kit directed them where to sit taking the effort to make sure everyone got to sit next to the person they were with on the tour. No need to rush or push for that prime seat. 

Each seat is an individual cushioned seat that features a lowering seat when it senses weight, footrests, and joystick style handles to hold on to for safety. They are designed to move with the movements of the boat so while you will feel some motion, it won't be from sliding across a wooden bench seat. We ended up in the first row so we had a great view of the control panel. Kit moved around the front and sides of the boat during her narration so it was easy to hear and see her pointing out things.

Kit pointed out the stretch of woods and shoreline that passengers visited via these vessels who chose to embark on the hiking or birdwatching tours. 

One of the best things about having a tender port on your itinerary is the chance to see and photograph the outside of your ship from on the water. Thank you Viking for featuring my photo from this day on your Instagram stories!

Here's a shot I grabbed of the next tour going out on the speedboat:

What happens when one of the motorized zodiacs breaks down? You get towed back to the ship by another zodiac!

Dad decided to challenge himself after we both felt safe and enjoyed the speedboat tour and try out the zodiac ride. He said it was also very safe and the crew were great about helping everyone securely board the zodiacs. There was an option to get out and step on the shoreline but Dad opted to stay on for the ride back. On the way back, another returning zodiac came by and challenged Dad's raft driver to a race.

Here is a great close up view of Dad's zodiac. There is a solid platform riser to step onto when boarding and getting back onto the ship. Then the crew helps you down to the floor level and escorts you to a place to sit on the side of the raft. There is a strong corded string around the perimeter of the raft for passengers to hold onto during the ride.

On the morning of the last day of the cruise, Viking opened up supervised access to The Hanger so passengers can see, touch, and take pictures of all of the toys and the science lab. Members of the expedition team stood by each of their vessels offering to answer questions and share information about their positions. 

We had a fun chat with Tony Duarte whose position was to lead the kayak tours. We later learned during a nightly "Meet Your Expedition Team" storytime, Tony was on season 10 of Bravo's Below Deck and stuck living on Royal Caribbean's "Perfect Day at Coco Cay" for the duration of the pandemic having just been hired shortly before COVID shut down everything. I may have used the plane ride home to watch the first couple episodes of his season.

We then moved on to chat with Kit and give a more extensive look around the speedboat. 

It's a good thing this tour was always supervised. Some passengers think they can drive!

Lastly, we got to check out (from the outside) the two yellow painted and thus aptly named submarines. Dad enjoyed talking all things technical and mechanical with the gentleman whose one job onboard was to pilot the submarine.