TIMELINE OF EVENTS — SATURDAY 23 MARCH, 2019: * The day started off very windy and the seas were starting to become quite choppy. A decision had already been made to bypass our scheduled stop at the port of Bodo due to heavy winds, and this became another sea day. * We attended a Cooking Demonstration held in the main theatre at 10am and noticed all doors to the outside decks had been closed for safety reasons, with notices saying no entry permitted (one door had even blown open in the heavy wind!) and we had been warned to hang onto railings. * After morning coffee in the Pool Bar, we headed up to Level 7 for a 12 noon trivia competition and actually finished 2"! * Following trivia we decided to have lunch on this same level (Level 7) and my husband had trouble carrying 2 bowls of soup the short distance to the table. * Tt was now approximately 1pm and we were starting to list quite violently from side to side - glasses were smashing all over the place, crockery was smashing and chairs were flying sideways with each list. The seas by this point had become dangerously high, with waves smashing above the deck on Level 7. * Itmust have been around 1.15pm — 1.30pm when we lost all 4 engines, the lights began to flicker and we were broadside onto thé"huge waves ~ not a good scenario. Very soon after this the Emergency Alarm was activated and the Captain announced that this was not a drill — he had declared a May Day and we were instructed to immediately proceed directly to our allocated Muster Stations without using the lifts (this allocation had been determined on day | of the cruise during our mandatory drill). This meant we could not access our cabin to retrieve warmer clothing — we were not suitably dressed because it was a sea day and temperatures on board were quite comfortable. * It took quite a while to access the Muster Station on Level 2, all the time hearing the sound of smashing glasses and we needed to hang on to the railings during severe listing. People were obviously scared/screaming/frightened and quite a few people were hit by flying objects. Even part of a ceiling collapsed on Level 7 not long after we had left. * On arrival at Level 2 (the Restaurant) we were instructed to either sit down if we could find a seat - or simply sit on the floor. The crew then commenced handing out life jackets, many of which were already wet due to them being stored outside on deck.* The Captain was making 10-15 minute updates and announced he had requested the assistance of helicopters to begin evacuation. * It was at this point that there was an enormous bang and water began flowing towards us. We ended up standing in about 8-10” of water and it was at this moment that I thought “this is the end — my Titanic moment”. I quickly grabbed my mobile phone, took a selfie of the two of us and sent our two . children a message to the effect we were in big trouble, a May Day had been declared and the Captain had announced an evacuation was being put in place, that we loved them * It was only later that we discovered the water had come inside following a window/door being smashed in by force of the waves. The crew then moved us further forward to try and avoid the water, but by this stage our shoes were sodden and squelching as we walked — the watertight doors had also been closed off. * Due to the request for helicopters we then had to slowly begin the climb back up the stairs to Level 8 and this procedure took us 4% hours, commencing 2.30pm. Obviously by this stage there were many stretcher cases and priority was given for these passengers to be evacuated first. * The helicopters could only carry a maximum of 20 people, much less with stretchers. ~~ * [turned my mobile phone off, gave it to my husband along with a wallet as he was wearing cargo pants and he took the memory card and battery out of his camera in case it got lost. His mobile phone ended up in the water and has never worked since. * The evacuation process was quite orderly in the sense that they were taking groups of 20 people from each Muster Station and alternating the groups that way. * We were both quite chilled at this point due to insufficient warm clothing and finally the crew started handing out towels/blankets. During the slow climb up the stairs the ship was continuing to list badly, which meant hanging on tightly to avoid being pushed over. * The crew also started taking our names and cabin numbers as a record of who was being evacuated and handed out bottles of water and chocolate cookies! * Finally at 6.35pm they called my husband and I, we were told to hold our arms up in the air, hamessed together and up we went — a distance of about 50feet in a howling gale. This was terrifying, but there was little time to think about it and the chopper crew were marvellous, giving us the thumbs up signal because there was no way you could hear anything! . . . . . per Once on board it was a 10-15 minute chopper ride to the makeshift evacuation centre — a gymnasium. The speed with which this was put into place was simply amazing. Nothing was too much trouble. We were met by the Red Cross, handed blankets, had our names, dates of birth, country of origin and any medication needs taken, given cups of tea/coffee and once we were ready they transferred us to a waiting coach for an hour’s drive to the town of Molde, the Scandic Alexandra Hotel. On arrival we were ushered into the restaurant where a lovely hot meal was waiting for us, along with anything we wished to drink! 2 Scotch and sodas please ..... * Evacuations continued overnight until about 4am, at which point they had managed to restart one of the engines, an anchor had been put in place and the weather had eased to the point it was felt the remaining passengers were safe to stay on board — apparently about 460 had been airlifted off the ship. * After dinner we were given room keys, toothbrushes/toothpaste and it was off to bed in what we stood up in at about 10.30pm. Apparently the Chairman of Viking Cruises, Mr Torstein Hagen, visited the hotel at 11.30pm but we did not see him at this point. * The next morning (Sunday 24th) after breakfast it was announced that the Chairman would be holding a briefing at the hotel at 10am, at which point he apologised profusely for the events leading to our evacuation, wished us all well (including the injured) and said special arrangements had been made with the Mayor to open the local shops between 12pm-2pm to allow us to buy essentials. The town does not normally open on a Sunday. The locals had also donated clothing and shoes which we were very grateful for. We were also given a type of credit card pre-loaded with about AUD $400. Neither of us used the full amount and we were able to donate the balance to the Red Cross which I felt was only fitting considering the effort they had put in at such short notice. * Before the shops opened, we were asked to wait in the briefing room, where we were all subsequently interviewed as to what we would like Viking to do next — fly us home or, in our case, organise transfer to Venice for our pre- booked second Mediterranean cruise. * While at the shopping mall Mike and I were interviewed by local TV and this led to us being recognised for days afterwards, with people we had never met congratulating us on being so positive after such a frightening experience.