Feb. 27.2023 High 30's, but oh! how the wind bites Above the 68th parallel--We are officially "Blue Noses" now!
Knarravik ~ "Good natural port
Located above the Arctic Circle, Narvik is a town of about 22,000 hearty souls. Archaeologists have discovered petroglyphs and other artifacts that suggest people have lived in the area for over 4000 years. If the weather is dreary and cold, Narvik still is situated to be a special place. It's blessed with a year round ice-free harbor, thanks to that mysterious path in the sea called the Gulf Stream. Warm water from the Caribbean flows up and keeps the port of Narvik usable in all 12 months, making it a major transportation hub for the north.
No, I'm not shooting pics in black and white. The area around Narvik seems to be naturally monochromatic.
In the 1870's, iron was discovered in nearby Kiruna, Sweden and Narvik was the nearest, most reliably usable port. So they built a railroad to move the iron to market, thus assuring prosperity on both sides of the Norwegian/Swedish border.
Norwegians never let little things like missed ports or zero color in the landscape get them down!
Conditions deteriorated during the day and all the evening excursions--snow mobiling, Northern Lights searching in the hinterlands, visiting Polar Park (a large zoo for arctic creatures)--were canceled for fear of avalanches in the mountains. We stayed warm and dry on the Venus and enjoyed a solo show by Elmer del Fierro, our assistant cruise director. Viking always seems to promote from within the entertainment teams, so all the cruise directors and their assistants are performers in their own right. And they hire based on personality. We see that demonstrated in all the crew members. Everyone is so cheerful and helpful. One of the Restaurant waiters was on the Star for the World Cruise with us, and even though he wasn't our regular server, he remembered us and came up to greet us this evening.
Each evening in the Explorer's Lounge all the constellations light up above the wrap around the bow wall of windows. It's a lovely feature on all of Vikings ocean ships.
Feb. 28th, Day Two in Narvik
The weather warmed a bit, turning the snow to freezing rain. We donned our multi-layered cold weather gear, reminding each other of poor little Randy from A Christmas Story, who couldn't put his arms down, and we were off! Our excursion today took us on a brief tour of the town of Narvik and then to the War Museum.
It's a tidy little town of wooden houses, almost all painted the traditional red, white or yellow. I saw very few garages and wondered how they kept their vehicles from seizing up in the cold or if they had an electric car, which the government favors, how they kept the batteries from draining while the vehicle just sat on the street.
Our knowlegable guide with a ship killing mine
The War Museum was interesting because Norway's situation during WWII was not a black and white issue. There were some who were sympathetic to Germany, some who were wholly committed to the Allies, and many pacifists who wanted to stay clear of involvement at any cost. Unfortunately, the iron that shipped out of Narvik made it a prize worth taking so those Arctic dwellers had no choice. The war came to them.
The uniforms didn't look very warm to me.
The mayor of Narvik at the time refused to fight when the Germans steamed into the harbor and was later branded a traitor, but he claimed his goal was to lose no Norwegian lives in his town. It reminded me of our guide in Montenegro last year, who claimed she didn't care who won the Serbo-Croatian war so long as Montenegrins could continue living their peaceful lives. An appealing, if naive, position. Not all powers who win are beneficent toward the peoples they subjugate.
Norwegians may have a bloody and brutal history of viking, but after Christianity came to the fjords, they became a much more peace-loving people.
The landscape in this part of the world isn't the only thing composed of shades of grey. The politics of Norway during the war was a complex, nuanced business. Sons of Norway fought and died on both sides, though the Norwegian king was firmly in the Allies camp. But the king was reigning in exile from Great Britain and individual members of the population were left to decide for themselves what to do.
What a terrible time it must have been. Narvik is so very remote. The evil represented by the Nazis is so evident to us now. During a time when information was scarce and always belated, when the plight of a distant people had to be weighed against the lives of your family and neighbors, well...let's just say I can understand how little Narvik decided not to take up arms against the German invaders when they had no hope of winning in their tiny corner of the world until reinforcements arrived.
If you'd like to learn more about Norway's situation during WWII, let me recommend the Masterpiece series Atlantic Crossings. This well-done production chronicles the activity of the Norwegian royal family as they tried to find their way through a world that was coming apart.
Please God, may the we never face another global conflict. But if we are confronted with it, may we know which side to support.
And now, to lighten the mood a bit, here's your chance to win 50 points and the coveted mythical rubber cookie with cement frosting!
I snapped this photo in the War Museum. One of the items was clearly handmade, the other fashioned to last longer with metalwork reinforcing it. They both serve the same purpose.
Can anyone guess what these things might be?
And here's the DH's photo montage of our time in Narvik:
“Some people I know are like the Northern Lights. They have their moments that are brilliant and stunning but usually, I find that they are hidden away. And trust me when I say they should be seen much more.” ~ Anonymous
Last night the Venus bucked along on the open North Sea until she was able to slip into the inside passage. Sheltered from the waves by a system of low lying islands, we passed a comfortable night, rocked gently to sleep in the world's best water bed. Everyone on board seems to be taking our change of itinerary with good grace. I've heard no grumbling about it at all.
The chairs on our balcony are wet and slightly coated with ice. These lovely loungers on the pool deck are a wonderful substitute!
But we're all still hopeful that the heavens will part while we overnight in Narvik (which is still above the Arctic Circle) and the Aurora Borealis will rain fire from the sky. So far, we are being overshadowed by a lashing tail of clouds that are wreaking havoc farther north.
Today we're enjoying scenic cruising. With overcast skies, it's definitely a monochromatic landscape, but the area is not without interest. I'm always fascinated with how people live in different parts of the world. In the case of the Narvik area, the remoteness of the place is palpable.
Solitary farmhouse along the inside passage. Our lecturer tells us most of the farms around here are fish farms and judging from the color of the house, this is a prosperous one. There are basically three paint colors used on buildings in this part of the world--red for barns and humble dwellings, a bright yellow for middle class housing, and white for the affluent because ingredients to make white paint must be imported.
We skipped the evening show because if you've seen one '60's review, you've likely seen them all. I'm hoping our cruise director, Heather Clancy, will do a solo show sometime during this cruise. At the introduction to the crew show, she sang three wonderful excerpts from Bizet's Carmen. I'd love to hear more from her.
Instead of going to the theatre, we headed for bed early. I'm still not quite accustomed to this time zone (7 hours ahead of home). Believe it or not, I've been sleeping in as late as 9:30--unheard of for me!
"The best laid plans o' mice and men oft times gang agley" ~ Robert Burns
There's been a bit of a hiccup in our itinerary, but I'll get to that after I share about our lovely morning in and around Bergen. For the first time in our cruising history, we set an alarm so we'd be awake and ready for our early tour. Good thing. We both slept like the dead, but a good cup of coffee and breakfast in the World Cafe woke us up and we were on our way to the stave church in Fantoft.
This may look like a church, but it's actually a shrine to caffeine--a Starbucks!
Sadly, the stave church is a replica. It was burnt down in the '90s during a spate of arson attacks targeting these ancient churches. There used to be thousands throughout the country. Now there are only 20-some. But this church was rebuilt after an appeal for all those who had visited the original to send in their photos so the replica could be as true to the original as possible. It is built of wood, entirely without nails, and coated with tar to seal and preserve the wood. We were not allowed inside.
There are both Christian and pagan symbols on the church, crosses and dragons, according to our guide Emmanuel, though I suspect the dragons are representative of Jormungand, the world serpent, according to Norse mythology.
The church was completely enclosed by a very high chain link fence to protect it from vandals. I was able to snap this pic by holding my camera right up to the diamond-shaped holes in the fence. You can just make out the wire as a fuzzy smudge in the upper and lower left of the photos.
The hike back to the church was through a beech forest over uneven terrain with a fresh coating of snow and ice on the path, but fortunately, no one took a tumble. Then we were off to Troldhaugen (House of the Trolls) Edvard Grieg's summer home.
This was our second visit to Grieg's house but because our guide Emmanuel has a PhD in Art History, he focused on different things for us. This serving piece was designed by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. I had no idea he'd done anything but paintings.
In Grieg's day, a composer had to perform as well as write excellent pieces for others to play. It worked out well for Grieg that his wife, Nina, was an accomplished pianist in her own right and had a lilting soprano voice, so she could perform with him. In fact, he preferred her singing of his art songs to all other sopranos of their day. Emmanuel shared that Grieg suffered terribly from stage fright, so he usually traveled with a number of stuffed animals for comfort. However, his most treasured talisman against a bad performance was a small ceramic frog. He depended so much on that little thing, he had to have it in his pocket every time he went on stage. When it was misplaced once, Grieg delayed a concert by a whole hour until it could be found and safely stowed on his person.
The lucky frog!
We were treated to a concert of Grieg's music in the hall near the house. The pianist was wonderful, a masterful performer, who played Grieg's forceful pieces with great authority and his more whimsical tunes with equally great tenderness. I was enthralled!
I never knew Grieg was so unsure of himself. If you listen to his music, it's not the least timid or shrinking. It goes to show that you can visit the same place twice and come away with different impressions of a place and its people.
View from Troldhaugen. We enjoyed a rare rainless day in Bergen! Like Seattle, it gets "misted" with regularity.
Once we were back onboard, we had lunch at the Pool Bar. Their Viking burgers are a treat! Then we sailed away from Bergen, unaware that trouble was brewing in the Arctic.
Hurricane force winds and 50-60 ft waves are bearing down on Alta and Tromso, our first two scheduled stops. At least three other cruise ships (none of them Viking ships) were caught up in the storm, trying madly to scramble away from it. Our captain made the prudent decision to alter our plans because safety comes first.
So we are heading to Narvik, a tiny town sheltered in part of Norway's inner passage and fjords. We may escape the winds and punishing sea, but cannot escape the cloudy skies. Our chances of seeing the Northern Lights has dwindled considerably.
But we're on a lovely ship. We're sailing into a port in a part of the world we have not known. We're together.
It's more than enough.
Here's our new itinerary (graphics courtesy of our friend Dave!)
More soon...but until then, here's a photo montage from the DH!
The fly-in from Amsterdam to Bergen was lovely. There was a little cloud cover, but we could clearly see the ragged coastline ("all the fiddly bits" as they say in Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy!), covered in brilliant white against the deep blue of the sea. This leg of our trip was the only portion where we didn't have premium economy, but it was blessedly brief in comparison to the 8+ hours overnight. FYI, the comfort plus section on that long haul was more like domestic first class than coach. When I stretched my arm forward, I could not touch the back of the seat in front of me and there was one fewer seat in each row than in the back of the plane, so we really did have more space without paying business class prices. (I truly am my father's daughter, and he's...thrifty, shall we kindly say?)
The DH is holding our dinner menu for the overnight flight on Delta.
We were met by a friendly young man who helped us to the waiting bus and then disappeared with our largest suitcase, which I was relieved to see made all the transfers along with us! It would reappear later in our stateroom. We however whisked off to the heart of Bergen's harbor and the beautiful Viking Venus. Embarkation was seemless and we only had to show our passports, not our CDC cards.
Bergen is a very old city, but it's been rebuilt so many times, due to fires, explosions in the harbor, and other general misfortunes, it looks quite modern in places. But there are rows of quaint, brightly painted buildings along the wharf that date back to the Hanseatic League (a medieval trading syndicate) times.
The Brygga, the historic trading district
Embarkation was seamless. We only had to show our passports, not our CDC cards. After individual safety briefings given by a crewman in the Star Theater (who acknowledged when I asked that even if I wear my life vest correctly, I'd only have a few minutes to bob around in the North Sea)! Then we went to Cabin 3021 to watch the requisite video muster drill on our stateroom TV. So much nicer than the "cram everybody together on the Promenade Deck" muster drills we used to have to do pre-Covid.
Exhausted as we were, we determined to stay awake in the hopes of resetting our body clocks. So after we unpacked, we donned our swim suits and went down to the thermal suite to soak in the thalassotherapy pool and get horizontal on the stone loungers for a bit. It was a slice of heaven!
Supper was in The Restaurant, where we were served by a fine young man named Vlad. I had a steak and the DH chose the sea bass. After dessert, we had just enough time to make our way to the Star Theatre for the evening show at 8:30. It features Tor Jaran Apold, a hypnotically lyrical violinist, who played from the "Norwegian Songbook," renditions of songs from his childhood. They were almost universally sad, yet in a satisfyingly melancholy and hauntingly beautiful way. (As someone whose been married to a son of Norway for almost 47 years, this music explains a lot about the Norwegian psyche!)
Unfortunately, my eyes kept drifting closed and I jerked back to wakefulness several times. We were in bed by ten and it's a good thing we set an alarm for our early excursion because I don't think I moved all night.
Dad to young son: "Look at all those airplanes! They go all over the place!"
Son to dad: "Oh...I thought they all went up."
I know I said my next post would be from the Viking Venus, but we have a few hours in Atlanta between hops and I thought I'd share some thoughts about how to make the flight portion of a cruise vacation less stressful.
All Righteousness Fulfilled: For most folks, this means having the right ID. I choose to think of myself as "special," because a passport and CDC card is not enough for me. After being held up by Delta agents in NYC for a couple of hours in 2019 over whether I was allowed to bring my POC's onboard, the DH went on offense. He meticulously contacted Delta, OxygenToGo and KLM (the carrier we're using for the last leg to Bergen) and got emails documenting that he'd jumped through all the hoops. Once he presented the printouts of said emails, our check-in went swimmingly. So if you represent anything out of the ordinary, do the agents a favor and make sure you've done your homework. They want to get you checked in as badly as you want to be checked in, but if you don't have the right stuff in the computer or can show that you do, their hands are tied.
TSA Pre-Check: For most people this is very good value for money. The DH and I paid for the "Known Traveler" designation and for the most part it's great. We get to use the shorter line for our TSA scan. We don't have to remove our computers or liquids from our luggage. The DH didn't even have to take off his shoes.
But because of Herkimer and Percival, my Portable Oxygen Concentrators, I received a very thorough pat down (as in only my DH touches me in some of those places). It's embarrassing but evidently necessary, if I want to remain attached to my source of supplemental O2 and keep these sensitive pieces of equipment from being x-rayed. I don't know if it would damage them, but I can't take the chance. I had to remove both my sweater and my shoes. And both Herkimer and Percival were subjected to a swab test. (I'm happy to report neither of them had been up to anything nefarious!)
I went into this screening with a much better attitude than in the past, so I didn't let it get to me. I knew what to expect, and if it feels degrading to me, imagine how it must be for the poor TSA agent who had to screen me so intimately.
Expect Surprises: In my case, it was a happy surprise. I'm accustomed to using Herkimer, my bigger POC for flights, but this time since our trip to Atlanta was only a little over an hour, I thought I'd give my purse-sized unit a try. Hurrah for Percival! Not only did he give me enough O2 to maintain healthy stats, I only had to have him on the 2 setting instead of the 3 or 4 I usually have to set Herkimer at. This means he can deliver O2 for over 9 hours. I'm topping off his charge and plan to use Percy on our overnight leg to Amsterdam, which we'll board in about 3 hours.
Download the Airline's App Before You Fly: This is the first time the DH has done this and we were delighted to be able to see that our bag was loaded onto the same plane we were in St Louis! Now it's told him our checked bag is off the plane from STL and waiting to be loaded onto the one we'll board to Amsterdam. It'll ease my mind if once we're on, we can see on the app that our bag is too!
Thanks to our friend Dave (of Dave and Kristy fame, our World Cruising buddies!) who texted the DH this shot of the Viking Venus. It's already in the Bergen harbor waiting for us. And since all the Viking ships follow the same lovely deck plan, we expect to feel right at home!
Something most people don't know about my DH is that he has a poet's soul. Every now and then, he writes a love poem to me and I thought you might enjoy this one of his because it's inspired by our many ocean journeys together... .
The Sea is Calling...
The sea is calling,
my soul can hear it's cry.
I feel the pull of the tides rushing out,
calling to new adventures, new experience.
Waves pound on the sand,
undertows pull at my heart to places unknown.
Gulls give their forlorn cries,
while fish dance across the swells.
Vast vistas of water and sky,
beautiful sunrises over exotic places,
Sunsets erupting in glorious colors,
moonbeams dancing across the waters.
Come with me to new adventures,
hold me tight as we explore new lands.
Discover ourselves on the vast, ceaseless waves,
grow in our love as we build new memories together.
No wonder I can't wait to run away with this man!
The next blog I post will probably be from Bergen, after we've run the gauntlet of TSA and plane hopping, and are settled happily in our cabin on the Viking Venus! I promise to give you a tour and keep you up to speed on our small doings as we go in search of the Northern Lights...
...if there are any communication satellites circling the Arctic.
Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of your house. ~ George Carlin
Honestly, I try mightily not to pack the whole house. Okay, now I try not to. For our first world cruise in 2018, I confess I pretty much emptied my closet.
Since then, I've discovered the wonders of a "capsule wardrobe." I'm sure you've seen those packing mavens on YouTube who can travel the earth with just a carry-on. They amaze and dismay me, but I have borrowed a few of their ideas.
Every piece of clothing must go with more than one other piece!
Pick a color palette centered on one or two neutrals to help with this match up.
Jeans go with everything, and you can wear them more than once without washing them.
Layers make it easier to change up your look.
Limit the number of shoes you pack to 3 or less.
So for this trip, the DH and I are sharing one 50 lb suitcase.
Then too, I'm in fear of not having our bag make the jumps from St Louis to Atlanta to Amsterdam to Bergen on Thursday. I followed the misadventures of another pair of cruisers who were on a two week voyage around the British Isles and Iceland while their suitcases remained safe in Dallas. They didn't even pack a carry-on, so they arrived at embarkation with just the clothes on their backs. None of their meds, no jackets, not even a change of underwear!
That's so not happening to us.
So we each have a mini-capsule of pieces in our carry-ons that, in a pinch, will see us through the whole two weeks we'll be gone. Rather than take up space on this post, I've made a Packing Page that'll always be available on the blog.
The packing experts on Youtube always have the latest and greatest bags to recommend. They have matching packing cubes and a charger for your cellphone built in to the handle. I, however, will stick with my trusty old reliable. I can't tell you how old this piece is, more than a decade I'm sure, but it always fits in the overhead without a hitch and I know how to use the limited space to best advantage. And if it's a little shabby-looking, well, that just makes it like the Velveteen Rabbit. It's "real" because it's been played with so much!
Because we have to be aware of weight in our big suitcase, I didn't roll the clothes. (You really can fit more in if you roll!) I didn't smoosh and squoosh things into every crevice like I did when we had a 70 pound limit on our bags when we traveled business where baggage fees are waived. We're flying premium economy this time, so we'll pay for our single 50 lb checked bag to ride along.
Of course, in addition to our carry-ons and our checked bag, we are also traveling with medical equipment. We each have a shoulder bag for cpaps, and of course I'm bringing Herkimer & Percival, my portable oxygen concentrators. The DH will be carrying a backpack that holds all the extra POC batteries (which are wicked heavy!), the power cords, extra canulas, and charging cords for our cellphones and computer. All told, once we check our big suitcase, we'll still have 6 items to wrangle from the Midwest to Norway.
Fortunately, none of the medical devices count when it comes to what you can bring on a plane, so only the DH's backpack will count as his "personal item." My hands will be too full with the POC's and my rolling carry-on to have a personal item.
Anyway, the lion's share of everything is packed. I'm still using a checklist, trying to dispel the sense that I'm forgetting something vital...
It is the DH here. In preparation for our Northern Lights cruise next week, I spent the afternoon yesterday making sure that there will be no problem boarding our flights.
The last thing we want is to have a mad rush to the airport only to be told that we can't get on the airplane! I thought it might be informative to let you know what is involved in this process, plus I can document what I had to do for reference on our next flights.
First of all, Viking booked all of our flights for us. Not only can they get better rates on the international flights, but they will also guarantee that we get to the ship before it sails. From St. Louis to Bergen we are traveling on Delta Airlines. On the return trip from London we are flying on American Airlines. However the fact that Viking did the booking does not relieve me of the duty to check with the airline to make sure that everything is correct.
First I went to the airline websites to verify the passenger information. The first thing I noticed was that our Known Traveler, passport and Frequent Flyer information weren't in the airline reservation, so I went back to MyVikingJourney.com to make sure that all of the information was correctly entered there. It takes a little while for any updates in MyVikingJourney to get to the airlines, but eventually I was able to see all our passenger information correctly reflected in the airline reservations on both Delta.com and AA.com. I also updated both websites with emergency contact and day-of-travel contact information.
As most of you know, the DW travels with a Portable Oxygen Concentrator (POC), and she uses it while we are in flight. This is especially true of longer/international flights. So my next step was to ensure that we won't have any problems boarding with her POC's in tow.
I first went to the reservation on Delta.com. Our outbound trip starts in St. Louis (STL) to Atlanta (ATL). We have a 5 hour layover in ATL before we fly to Amsterdam (AMS). After a 2.5 hour layover in AMS we will head to Bergen (BGO). The first 2 segments are operated by Delta Airlines, but the third flight is operated by KLM.
We have had trouble boarding Delta flights in the past, so I knew that there were a few hoops to jump through to get approval. It took a while to find, but I finally searched the Delta website for "POC", and it took me to a page for Medical Devices. I learned that we needed approval for the POC from a company called OxygenToGo. On the top of the main page of the OxygenToGo website there is a tab for the Delta forms that need to be submitted. It took about 5 minutes to fill the form out and submit it. We received a call from OxygenToGo about 15 minutes after that, and DW was able to give them all the information they needed, and get approval for her POC. They sent this approval in an email which I printed.
However since the last segment is operated by KLM, they couldn't give me approval for that segment. I called the general KLM reservation phone number, but after waiting on hold for about 5 minutes they couldn't help me. I was instructed to send an email to mail.saphir.medicaldesk@airfrance.fr (note that KLM and Air France are managed by the same support office). I explained the situation to them, and gave them our itinerary and record locator. They got back to me the next day via email with approval to carry and use the POC on the flight from AMS to BGO. I also printed this email.
Our return flights are on American Airlines from London Heathrow (LHR) to Chicago (ORD) and on to STL. I again started on the AA.com website by searching for POC. According to their website, AA's only requirement is that they be notified in advance. I called the general American Airlines reservation number. They had a call-back option which I took, and about 15 minutes later they called me back. The reservation agent couldn't help me, but they forwarded me on the Special Services desk. After another 5 minute wait, the agent came on the line, and was able to put the appropriate information into the reservation.
With waiting for call-backs, searching websites, filling out forms and answering questions, that all took the better part of 3 hours! But if it means that we have less hassle at the airport during the boarding process, it will be worth the time it took. We are really excited to head off to the airport next Wednesday!
It is such an honor and joy to travel with my DW. I hope that we are able to continue traveling together for years to come. Her POC's enable us to do this type of travel, and I am glad to jump through a few, minor hoops in order to make sure that we have a smooth trip.
One final step that I am going to be doing over the next 5 days is to check each of the flights to see their on-time performance. This along with watching the weather will let me know what to expect when we get to the airport.
Then when we check in I need to make sure that our boarding passes indicate that we can go through the Pre-Check TSA line. That is a lot faster and simpler way to do the TSA screening. I also want to see if there is a chance we can get on the upgrade list, especially for the international portion of the trip. Fingers crossed for a smooth boarding process!
Stay tuned for more updates on our Search for the Northern Lights adventure!
“Don’t ever confuse motion with progress.”
— Robert Louis Stevenson
One of our commenters has asked that I do a comparison of different cruise lines. It's taken me a while to figure out what I want to say about it. I've been blessed to travel on a number of lines and had incredible experiences on all of them. The last thing I want to do is dissuade anyone from traveling on any particular line because of something that I disliked. Everyone has different things that are important to them. Some folks need a casino, a rock wall, laser tag, duplicate bridge play, pool games and bingo. For me, those things are sort of "meh." I'm a self-confessed musical snob, so my classical leanings make others yawn. Some people enjoy formal nights, other's cringe when they see it on the daily program.
So consider the source and take everything I'm about to share with a grain of salt.
My first cruise ever was in the early 80's on Costa-3 days, Miami to Nassau & back with my sister. She was a travel agent then on a familiarization trip and was able to take me with her for the amazing price of only $15! We had a great time, but we both decided it's not so much fun to stroll in the moonlight with your sister. She hasn't cruised again, but I was bitten by the cruise bug and never recovered.
Since then, all my cruising has been with the DH (and sometimes with my parents and our kids)--4 days on the now defunct Dolphin line, 7 days on American Hawaiian shortly after 911 (It was the next to last cruise for that historic line that once hosted presidents and Hollywood stars), 12 days on Carnival, 21 days on Cunard, 28 on Norwegian, 86 on Holland America, 127 on Princess, and 133 days (after our next 12 day Search for the Northern Lights cruise) on Viking. All told we will have enjoyed 421 days afloat on various cruise ships.
It's long enough to learn what we like and what we...like less.
We're starting to think about another extended voyage, possibly in 2025. We'd love to go sooner, but a total eclipse of the sun is scheduled to roll through our backyard in April 2024 with over 4 minutes of totality and we're expecting lots of family and friends to visit. Besides, the USA won't see another solar eclipse until 2052, and then only in Florida. I suspect I'll be otherwise occupied by then, so this is my last chance to see it!
So for purposes of comparison, I'll focus on Cunard, HAL, Princess and Viking, the lines we've cruised with longer than a week at a time.
Fixed dining--I don't want to make a reservation unless I'm going to a specialty restaurant.
Excellent live music throughout the ship, leaning heavily classical! Concerts, recitals, & a 12 piece orchestra for dancing in the Queen's Room!
Shows in the theatre featuring West End revues and even ballet!
Informative and entertaining lectures
Free launderette--even the soap is included!
Room service without an extra fee (at least that's true at the time I'm typing this!)
Art and dance classes included (there's a small one time fee for paints and brushes)
Lots of sea days! We love them!
Formal nights--Elegance is fun to try on now and then, and if they get to be too often for us, we can always stay in and order that free room service!
In the early days after Covid when cruising was just beginning to reopen, many lines would not allow me to sail due to my use of a portable oxygen concentrator. However, Cunard has recently lifted that restriction on a case by case basis, so they are still in the running for our 2025 plans.
Love how the elevators tell us what day it is!
Holland America--We've been on a couple of longish voyages on HAL, a 30 day Polynesian cruise in 2016 and our recent 21 day Seattle-Ft. Lauderdale in 2022. If you have the time to read my posts from both of these adventures, I'm sure you'll notice a change in tone. One was practically giddy and the other disappointed. Not only has covid disrupted cruising, it's played havoc with my expectations. I was hoping for a return to normal, but so many things had changed on HAL, and not for the better. Upcharges in the MDR, reduced and repetitive menus, $25 per person per canvas fees in the art class, arbitrary masking rules--it didn't feel like the Holland America we knew. Still, HAL has some strong points:
Fixed dining
Lincoln Center Stage with an excellent piano quartet performing daily
Engaging mainstage shows
Formal nights--I do love a chance to see the DH in his tux!
That said, one main reasons HAL is probably not in the running for a longer future cruise is that they do not have passenger launderettes. We're short 64 loyalty points of getting free laundry, but even so, some of my clothes have never seen the inside of a dryer. I have to be able to do at least some of my own washing.
First glimpse of the tiny Pacific Princess!
Princess--I used to call this our "Goldilocks" line, everything just about right. Our first world cruise in 2018 on the petite Pacific Princess taught us to love small ships (only 670 passengers.) That voyage was magical from start to finish. Everything was new to us, with the exception of Hawaii and Bermuda, our first and last ports of call. We made some incredible friends and saw so many amazing places. Singing in the passenger choir was a true highlight. The onboard cultural opportunities were wonderful. The Belinda King Dancers who traveled with us and provided 12 productions shows were marvelous. I've never seen such synchronicity in a cruise dance troop. The Princess excursions we took were excellent and varied--better in some respects than the Viking excursions from our 2022 WC!
But I also used to consider Princess a small step down from HAL in terms of quality of experience. By this I mean, included dining choices and onboard entertainment (Princess pipes pop and rock music throughout their ships and, even in 2018, made use of more "canned music" than live musicians.) Since HAL has slipped so, I have to wonder what's happened since our last cruise with Princess. You expect to be pressured hard to buy things if you have a spa treatment, but not elsewhere on board. Is Princess, like HAL, hounding their guests with upselling messages and extra fees?
Then too, the Pacific Princess has been sold and is now the Azamara Onward. The clumsy, badly reconfigured Island Princess is the vessel the line is using for its world cruise now. Among other things, it's missing that lovely aft al fresco dining area we enjoyed so on the PP. (HAL had an approximation of this on the Eurodam, but half of it was reserved for smokers, so if the wind was wrong, the space was spoiled for non-smokers.)
However, a large part of the charm of Princess was in our fellow passengers. They have such an active roll call on Cruise Critic, and everyone was so frank and friendly, it was like a traveling village of people who really got on well. They do have guest launderettes (not free, but at least they are there), and unless they alter their loyalty program again (We've lost our free wifi minutes with them in exchange for a 50% reduction in the cost of an internet package), we'd be Elite by the time we reached Australia and entitled to free laundry service. (Okay, some things I'm happy to send out!)
So it looks like Princess is still on our "to be considered" list, though I think we'd need to take a shorter cruise on the Island Princess before committing to a longer one. Just to see what has changed.,,
Viking--We broke a cardinal rule when we booked our 2022 World Cruise on the Star. It reads:
"Thou shalt not take a world cruise on a line you've never sailed with before."
Adding to that uncertainty, we were sailing into the face of the Omicron outbreak. All the Austral-Asian countries we were slated to visit were closing down. We knew going in that we'd be masked on the ship, on our excursions and rigorously tested every day we were onboard, but we didn't know where we were going until the day before embarkation when the entire trip was stood on its head with a brand new itinerary. (If you check the green header of this blog, you'll see all three iterations of our planned route.)
But Viking proved itself so resilient. (As someone who's been married to a Norwegian for almost 47 years, I might also class this as Scandinavian Stubbornness!) The company was determined to make our cruise work and, more than that, to make it a world class experience. They succeeded on every level.
We were delighted at every turn. Because the ship was below capacity (550 guests on a ship that can comfortably carry 970) there was almost a 1:1 ratio between crew and guests. The service was open-hearted and impeccable. What felt like genuine affection radiated from everyone associated with Viking toward us. We were pampered and protected. "No" was not in their vocabulary.
The calming Scandinavian decor was balm for the turbulent world swirling around us. (Some unkind folk have described the clean, uncluttered design as IKEA on steroids, but I loved it. God save me from the seizure-inducing flashiness of a Carnival ship!) The food was beyond anything we'd ever experienced. The menus were exotic and exciting, but we could always "run home to Momma" for a Viking burger at the pool grill if things seemed too extreme!
Everything was included--Business class airfare, luggage service for embarkation, an excursion in each port, lavish amounts of on board credit, a Silver Service drinks package (which means only unlimited soft drinks and specialty coffees to us, but amounts to copious choices in alcoholic beverages for our shipmates), pre-paid gratuities, free dining in specialty restaurants, art classes, unlimited access to the Nordic spa (which is only a little bit short of a religious experience!), excellent lecturers, a wonderful entertainment staff as well as high quality guest entertainers, guest launderettes and when we sent a few things out to be washed, there was no charge.
Sorry this cabin tour is in two parts. I got interrupted by my phone, reminding me to "take a pill, take a pill!"
We actually booked an entry level V2 balcony cabin but were upgraded 3 tiers to a D5 balcony!
But as is true with so many things in life, you get what you pay for. Viking was a huge stretch for us financially, though it helped that we were offered a $5000 reduction in fare for early payment, and an additional 3.3% off for allowing the company to debit our account instead paying by credit card. Then at the end of our world cruise, we were given a $10,000 voucher toward a future cruise with Viking, (which is how we're making the Search for the Northern Lights trip for basically the cost of our airfare and extra excursions.) So in hindsight, our 2022 World Cruise was a bargain!
However, Viking has not been immune to the Covid downturn. The other cruise lines seem to be trying to make up lost revenue by nickeling and diming their guests. Viking has chosen to raise its fares. The 2025 Viking World Cruise, while enticing, is now priced beyond our reach. We might be able to do one of its Grand Voyages (their Australia, Asia & Alaska calls to me) but sadly, not another world cruise.
So...which is my favorite cruise line?
The one that takes me where I want to go. And that's sort of a moving target, because the world is ever changing and my travel dreams change with it. Once all the 2025 itineraries are out, I'll revisit this and share what we decide on and why.
Thanks for putting up with my rambling. Please share your questions and comments!
“Complete peace blankets me, and I am still. It's a familiar feeling, yet unknown to me like this before now. It comes in total stillness. Silence. And in this instant I know that Natalee is with God.”
― Beth Holloway, Loving Natalee: A Mother's Testament of Hope and Faith
I know it's not fair to Aruba, but I can never visit this island without thinking of Natalee Holloway, who went missing there while on her senior class trip in May of 2005. She was only a few years younger than my daughters, and my heart still aches for her parents.
Aruba's Dutch connections are displayed in full flower in its charming architecture.
And unfortunately, the last time we were here, probably a decade or more ago, we had an incident with a taxi driver who quoted us one price for an island tour and then a few blocks from the port announced that she'd be charging us a very different, much higher price than the original quote. We told her to turn the cab around and take us back to the ship, gave her $20 and shook the dust of the island from our feet.
It was sad on so many levels because Aruba is a beautiful island.
Consider this a cautionary tale. We've had several excellent private tours picked up on the fly with taxis and independent van drivers--on Bora Bora, Antigua, and Grand Cayman, to name a few. Our local guides were knowledgeable, friendly and gave us a top shelf experience. But we've also hopped into private tours that have caused the hairs on the back of my neck to prickle a bit. On Mo'orea, the guide/bus driver had us slipping and sliding all over a mountainous road and at one point was so stuck in the mud, he asked the men to get out and push!
The more we travel, the more likely we are to stick with a ship's excursion.
But we didn't book an excursion for Aruba. We decided to lubricate the island economy in another way. So after a leisurely breakfast, we disembarked and walked into the market area near the pier. When we travel, we like to bring home gifts for all our family, and sadly, into each life some shopping must fall. (Ask my travel buddy Kristy if you doubt my claim to the title "The Anti-Shopper!") We'd already designated Aruba as our shopping stop because I knew we could find the light, airy caftans my mother loves so much. And when I'm forced to shop, I like to do it with as little mucking about as possible.
Ah! The joys of a sea day!
We had one more lovely day at sea on the Eurodam and, as you can see, we made the most of it! One of the things we loved about our standard cabin was the generously-sized balcony, complete with footstools for both of us. It's rare to get a way to raise your feet on other cruise lines. In this instance, HAL steals the march even on Viking!
When we ventured out to wander the ship a bit, we discovered the pool deck had been invaded by towel animals.
When we first started cruising, each night we'd be greeted by a new towel animal left by our room steward. This custom may be going by the wayside. Norwegian has dropped its turn-down service, and the passenger to guest ratio is being stretched ever thinner on most cruise lines, so who knows how many of our hard-working stewards will have time to create these whimsical creatures?
Thanks for joining us on our Panama Canal adventure. Please stick with us as we gear up for our next cruise--A Search for the Northern Lights on the Viking Venus!
