Cruising and more

Back into the real world here again and my how quickly that post vacation glow fades eh? We made home early Sunday a.m. and the day was spent catching up with laundry, mail and the news. Heading back to work on Monday cramped my style and a stop for groceries afterwards followed by supper and a visit from a neighbour who’s living out west made for a full day. Today was frantic, hot and humid at work – not even close to cruising, and I discovered that someone in an ivory tower with way more time on their hands than I have, decided our job title should be Infection Preventionist – but it’s more fun to talk about so here are the highlights at least until the first of the cruise:

We had an uneventful flight over to Iceland and I’d heartily recommend Iceland Air as an option. We were surprised to have to go through security again upon entering the country. Kind of made you wonder what they thought you’d been up to after you’d cleared security in Halifax then flew 4 hrs. hmm. When we finally made it to our hotel (at first none of the cabbies had heard of it as it was called another name) in Keflavik with our female cab driver, which is a common phenomenon there, we were ready to crash. As we stood in front of the reception asking to store the baggage the clerk took pity on us (I’m sure we looked pretty bedraggled) and told us the room was ready. Never have I heard more welcome words. After a nap until lunch we were good to go. We headed off to check out the Viking Ship and had a great visit with the man who had built and sailed the ship from Norway to Iceland, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia then on to the USA. He had been in Lockeport a few years back for the Leif Eriksson anniversary celebrations. Small world. We had a long hike on a trail overlooking the ocean for the afternoon. We stopped at a bar and discovered a glass of beer is over $12 so that was the only one mister had. Headed on back to the hotel and had supper which was nice but nothing special and cost the equivalent of $180. And the worst part was that the man was hungry and headed over to the convenience store for an ice cream bar and bag of candy afterwards. KFC was $22 + for a meal etc. Wow, could only afford 24 hrs there. We were up early, back on the shuttle to the airport and off for London.

Landed in Heathrow before noon and had a short wait until the coach arrived. The drive down to Southampton was just beautiful, very lush green with trees, lots of farmland and quaint towns. We even stopped in front of Winchester Cathedral if you can believe it. A short cab ride from the bus station took us to The Star Hotel, which is an old coaching inn. Think Fawlty Towers and you’re right on track. I swear I expected John Cleese to come out from behind the counter. There was even a waitress/chamber maid who was Polly’s double. It was clean, friendly and reasonably priced – what more could you want? We explored the city a bit – it’s a beautiful old walled city from over 1000 yrs ago with a Bargate – and got some photos. The clerk suggested The Red Lion as a pub for supper and he was sure right – I had bangers and mash and the man had steak and ale pie with two drafts and two G&Ts the total bill was still only the equivalent of $50 and we had to waddle back to the hotel we were so full. Quite the switch from the previous day.

We set out to find the ship the next morning after breakfast (yes in the dining room which was very like the Fawlty Towers) as the shore captain was playing with my head and had me convinced I’d mixed up the days as the Grand Princess wasn’t in. It certainly was, along with at least two other large cruise ships and the pier was a busy place. We headed over to check in and the cabbie told us all his problems on the way over, however the porter said he had no problems as he’d survived three wives, two girlfriends and now had a wife, three kids and two cats. The check in process was very efficient and we were shortly on board with full passenger status. Weren’t really sure if there’d be hassles so were relieved to make it unscathed.

The cabin was an inside one (which we’d been told) in the forward section of the ship. It was a good thing in the end, as the 24 hr of daylight would have made it tough for sleeping otherwise and how much time do you spend there anyway? The cabin steward (who’s name was June and turned out to be a male from Philippines) was very attentive and quickly sent us on up to check out the buffet “oh you haven’t had lunch yet? Go right on up and get something to eat,” he said. I wish someone was turning down the bed and leaving a chocolate tonight as well, but that’s all ended.

After exploring the ship a bit, a muster station drill and then unpacking as the bags arrived it was time for a meeting with the Cruise Director and his Assistant Director. This turned out to be a frantic 30 min. event but I was supported by the very experienced Destination Speaker who was most helpful who said “it’s always like this on the first day” and we were turned loose to “go enjoy yourself, see you on the first sea day tomorrow”. By the time I made it up on the deck we were sailing away through Southampton Harbour and the Dixieland band had been put ashore. After some great views it was time for supper so we checked out the ‘Anytime Dining’ option, which we were assigned meaning you have a choice of two dining rooms at anytime from 6 – 10 p.m. for supper or of course the 24 buffet or snack bar. Decisions, decisions. It was fairly busy when we arrived at the dining room so we checked out one of the specialty restaurants (the steak house for an additional $15 surcharge ea.) and found it almost deserted. Very quiet on the first and last nights the maitre d’ told us so we opted for supper there and it was amazing!!! By the time we rolled back down to the cabin there was no problem with sleeping for sure.

In the morning I attended the destination lecture which the other speaker gave – big mistake made me more nervous – to check out the facilities. The theater was a large venue of perhaps 800 seats, with podium, head mike, large screen and the presentation was taped and shown on the Princess TV channel. There was a production booth at the back of the theatre managing the sound, taping etc. and a tech to manage me standing by in the wings. The marine industry topic was well received and there were questions afterwards so I felt like I was going to make it. What a steep learning curve. Don’t want you thinking this wasn’t a good deal – it was even better than I’d anticipated – details to follow, as I have to get ready for tomorrow. I discovered a term today to describe folks that make things happen – they’re described a positive deviance. I feel like a deviant all right, how positive is another matter.

As a postscript….If you’re looking for a new search engine this one is supposed to beat Google. It’s called cuil (pronounced kewl) and the url is:

www.cuil.com