Friday, October 6, 2023

Voyage of the Vikings Redux - My Final Thoughts

This cruise was just what we needed.  While our previous two cruises to Africa and South America were wonderful and visited much more exotic places than the Voyage of the Vikings Cruise, they also presented many more challenges.  There was the unrelenting heat and humidity, unstable governments, dangerous ports and other uncertainties that we faced on those cruises.  That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy those cruises, we loved them and visited many interesting and unforgettable places and wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything, but they were very stressful, and that’s why I said this cruise was just what we needed; a chance to relax a little.

The most stressful thing about this cruise was getting to and from Boston.  Once we were on the ship we didn’t have to worry about customs and immigration at the ports, we weren’t warned about dangerous situations in any of the ports and felt very safe everywhere we went.  Most of the places we visited were small towns and villages with only Rotterdam and perhaps Belfast being the only large cities.  Also, despite the fact that we had a lot of cool and, at times, rainy weather, it was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of Africa and South America.

This was the first time we have taken a cruise that we have taken before, and we wondered whether we would be disappointed and it wouldn't live up to our memories, but that didn’t happen.  We did visit six ports we hadn’t been to before and enjoyed revisiting the ports we had been to previously.  We love visiting Iceland and Greenland and wish we could spend more time there.  The Shetland Island and the Isle of Lewis were very pleasant surprises, and we really enjoyed our visits there.  And even though we have been through Prince Christian Sound four times now, we never tire of it.  Its dramatic and pristine beauty makes it the most beautiful place we have ever seen.

As far as future travels, I’m not sure right now as we have only one thing planned.  We keep talking about a road trip, but things keep coming up and postpone any planning for that.  I have also started looking at river cruises, but nothing definite there either.  I don’t know, I guess we’re slowing down a bit in our old age.  The one thing we do have planned is a 28-day Alaskan cruise next June that is a roundtrip out of Seattle.  It visits most of the usual Alaskan cruise ports, but it also goes all the way up to Nome while crossing the Arctic Circle.  We also visit Kodiak Island, Dutch Harbor (in the Aleutian Islands), and several other lesser visited places.

That’s it for now and we’ll see you on down the road.

Voyage of the Vikings Redux - Debarkation and the Trip Home

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Today is going to be a very long day for us and neither of us slept very well last night so the day didn’t start off too well.  We got up at 7:00 AM and after getting ready, had our last meal in the Neptune Lounge.  Instead of going through customs in the terminal, we are going to do a face-to-face meeting with customs in the World Stage on the ship.  This was great news as the terminal in Boston is a bit small and on our last visit in 2016, it was very hectic and crowded.

We had previously filled out a questionnaire on flight times and then the ship sent out a debarkation instruction sheet assigning group designations based on the time you needed to get off the ship to catch your flight home.  People who carried their own luggage off the ship were in the first group followed by those with early flights.  We didn’t have an early flight, but we had signed up for an airport transfer that included a tour of Boston to help us kill some time, so we were in one of the early groups; the fifth group to leave.

Each group was first called called first to the immigration meeting and again when they could get off the ship.  We were called just before eight for the immigration meeting and made our way to the World Stage for that.  It was very well organized, and we were quickly done and then returned to our room to wait to be called for our debarkation.

While we waited, our room stewards, Mus and Annus, stopped by to say goodbye and we had a nice chat with them.  They were some of the best room stewards we have had and did an excellent job.  Our group was finally called to debark, and we made our way to the gangway and off the ship.  This was also well organized and instead of the usual mass of people trying to get off, it was an orderly process, and we were quickly off the ship.

Once in the terminal we had to find our luggage, which took a while as there was a lot of luggage to look through.  We finally found our luggage and a porter to help us carry it out.  Two of our bags would be shipped via Luggage Forward so we found the representative just outside the terminal door and turned over those bags to him, and then made our way to the bus for our tour / airport transfer and, hopefully, our last bus ride for a while.

Our tour of Boston was supposed to leave at 8:30, but things are never on time on debarkation day, so we didn’t actually get going until a little after nine.  The first stop on our tour was right back where our trip started in Boston, the Copely Square Fairmont Hotel and Trinity Church.  This was mostly a bathroom break as the hotel doesn’t mind tourists using their bathrooms.  Val and I mostly just stretched our legs a little bit as we had spent a lot of time here already.

The rest of the tour was from the bus and while much of it we had seen, it was still interesting.  One thing new to us was a drive through Cambridge and Harvard, which is a very nice and historic area.  We also drove by MIT, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as Harvard.  Our guide was very good and a longtime resident of the area.  He was a true New Englander and had many interesting facts and stories about the area and some personal stories about his own experience growing up here.

We completed our tour and then the bus drove on to the airport.  One disappointing thing about Boston Logan Airport was that when it was originally built, they didn’t make enough clearance at most of the terminals for buses to drop people off, so we were dropped off at the only terminal that did allow buses.  There is a shuttle service that runs between terminals, but the buses were full and there were a lot of people waiting for the shuttle.  Several buses saying "drop off only" passed us by and people were starting to get impatient and angry.  Val and I had plenty of time, so we were prepared to just wait it out, but when one of the drop off only shuttles stopped somebody started loudly complaining and the very nice driver said for everyone to get on and he even helped with loading the luggage.  It was a little crowded, but Val and I were just going to the next stop so there was no problem for us.

We got into the terminal and found the American Airlines check-in and found that because we were flying first class, there was a special line with no waiting.  That and with our PSA Precheck, we breezed through check-in and security and were at the gate area before noon.

Our flight didn’t leave until 4:50 PM so we had an almost five-hour wait.  Val and I had anticipated this and cashed in some of our American Airlines Advantage miles for one day passes to their Admiral’s Lounge.  The Admiral’s Lounge is a place out of the main terminal for people in the higher echelons of the Advantage program and for first class passengers who are flying internationally.

It was well worth it, and I would absolutely do it again if we had a long wait for our flight.  It was a very big room with comfortable seating including desks if you have work to do.  There are ceiling to floor windows lining two sides of it looking out on the tarmac and the nearby gate and other activities.  Best of all, there was food and drink available at no cost.  There was quite a variety of food and what we sampled was very good.  There were also very clean restrooms with even showers available if needed.

When we arrived, there weren’t many people there and we found some nice, comfortable seats by the windows where we could see flights arriving and departing.  All the seats also had electrical outlets and USB ports for phone and computer use.  It was a long wait, but this made it tolerable and even enjoyable.

When it got near boarding time for our flight, we made the short walk to our gate and within fifteen minutes, we were on the plane.  The pilot warned us that there would be turbulence, but it turned out to be a very smooth flight.  We arrived in Phoenix right on time, but we had only an hour before we boarded our connecting flight to San Luis Obispo.  Another advantage of first-class seating, you’re not only the first ones on the plane, you’re the first ones off, which was important as our departure gate was quite a ways from our arrival gate.

As soon as we got off the plane, we made the long walk as quickly as possible and arrived with plenty of time to spare.  The flight to San Luis Obispo was fairly short and we even arrived ten minutes early.  Our friend Doug was picking us up and by the time we got our luggage from baggage claim, he was out at the curb waiting for us.  Thanks again Doug, we really appreciated it especially since you had to drive down from Atascadero and it was after 10:00 PM.

It was a little after eleven by the time we got home, and Val and I were very tired.  We had gotten up this morning at 4:00 AM Pacific time so we had been up for eighteen hours, and we were ready for some sleep.  After getting a few necessities out of our bags, we called it a night and slept in our own bed for the first time in almost six weeks.  Travel is great, but it always feels good to get home.

Voyage of the Vikings Redux - Sea Day

 Cruise Day 35

Friday, August 25, 2023

Today we are sailing from back to Boston where it all started five weeks ago.  The good weather of yesterday was long behind us, and the skies were dark and cloudy.  Everything looked a little eerie outside as the ocean was very calm and the light clouds reflecting on the water made everything seem a bit surreal.

With another extra hour of sleep last night, we got up a little after eight and after getting ready, had breakfast in the Neptune Lounge.  We said goodbye to the Neptune Lounge Concierge, Alexa, as we might not see her tomorrow in the hustle and bustle of debarkation.

We returned to the room and started packing in earnest until our room stewards showed up to clean our room.  Instead of waiting in the Neptune Lounge as we usually do, we decided to head down to the casino to make up for last night.  I actually had some luck for a change this morning and came back with more than I started with, but Val had no luck.

We continued our packing and by lunchtime we had most everything packed up.  We had an appointment with the future cruise consultant to look into a Panama Canal cruise so before lunch we went down and met with her.  The consultant said there were no future cruises like what we were looking for, so it was a waste of time, and we didn’t spend much time there and went straight to lunch.

It was after one when we got to the Lido, but it was still very busy, and we had a hard time finding a table; I guess everyone is eating late today.  Our lunch wasn’t great as the ship seem to be running low on some of the food, but it filled us up.

After lunch, I sat down and updated the blog for the last time until we get home, and then downloaded the rest of our pictures, backed everything up, and then packed up my computer and camera equipment for the trip home.

We relaxed for a while until dinner and then headed off for our final dinner of the cruise.  We said our goodbyes to our nearby table neighbors, Steve and Linda and Corrine and we had a group picture taken.  We have enjoyed talking across the aisle with them every evening and it has made our dinners more enjoyable.  It’s interesting that we met our friends Ken and Mary Beth on our Voyage of the Vikings cruise back in 2016.  There must be something about this cruise that brings people together.

There's Val and I in the front and Steve, Linda and Corrine in the back.
 

After dinner, we made our way to the casino for our last night of play.  Val and I were both having some success tonight and I ended up just a little ahead and decided it was time to cash in.  Before the end of the night, you have to cash out whatever is left on your ship card, so I did that and headed back to the room.  Val decided to stay and play a little longer, so I went back to the room without her.

It got later and later, and Val hadn’t returned, and I began to feel a little irritated as we have to get up early tomorrow and we still had some final packing to do.  Finally, about 10:30 Val shows up and I asked her why she took so long, and she said she just kept winning and ended up with another $1,000 profit for the night, unbelievable!

I have spent quite a bit of time talking about our time on the casino this trip, but on this trip our casino time has been truly unbelievable.  Ship casinos are notorious for having poor odds on their slot machines, but both Val and I have had success on this trip.  My $1,000 win would have been the highlight of any cruise, but not this time as Val’s success was just unbelievable.  Of course, her really big win was the highlight, but she just kept winning more.  She did put a lot back in the machines which normally slows things down, but not this time.  I don’t know what her final total was, but I think she went home with over $9,000.  Her winning streak was the best either of us have ever had either on a ship or on land.  We don’t expect to win as we gamble for fun and we usually lose most or all of our gambling budget, but this trip will be very memorable for us.

This $710 win was the biggest of Val's last evening in the casino, but all total she came back to the room with $1000.  What a trip this has been for Val in the casino!!

All of the luggage except for our carry-on bags has to be put outside our room before midnight to be picked up and we won’t see it until tomorrow in the terminal when we get off the ship.  We still had to do our final packing as you have to make sure you have what you need in the morning.  We didn’t get our bags out until after 11:00 PM so it looks like we won’t be getting as much sleep as we had hoped for tonight.  Tomorrow is going to be a very hectic and long day as we get off the ship and travel home.

Voyage of the Vikings Redux - Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Cruise Day 34

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Today we are in Halifax, NovaScotia in Canada, our last port of the cruise before returning to Boston.  We were docked by 8:00 AM, but Val and I had no set plans for the day other than get off the ship and walk around.  Halifax was the last port on our 2016 Voyageof the Vikings, and we did the same thing today as we did then, we just walked around the port area.  By the time we get to the end of a cruise, we have usually lost our enthusiasm for any more bus rides.

We sailed from St. John's (the blue marker on the far right) to Halifax (the red marker).
 
A closer look at the Halifax area.

We were up around eight but took our time getting ready and getting breakfast.  We relaxed for a bit and then decided to go ashore around 10:30.  It was a beautiful day; there were blue skies with warm temperatures, quite a change from what we’ve been used to.

Halifax has a nice boardwalk along their harbor front with lots of restaurants and shops and beautiful views of the harbor, and strolling along the boardwalk is what we decided to do today.  It was familiar, but it looked like there had been some new development, so it wasn’t exactly like what we remembered.  We walked quite a ways down the harbor front, checking out some of the shops along the way and just enjoying the beautiful weather.  Besides people from the ship, there were many other people out and about and it looks like Halifax is popular with tourists.


This statue honors the emigrant.  Halifax was a major destination port for people migrating from Europe to Canada.  Halifax was also the destination of the Titanic on it's fateful last voyage.
 
Looking back at our ship.



It was getting near lunchtime, so we decided to have lunch at one of the local restaurants.  We chose what I guess you would call an Asian / seafood fusion restaurant and we had a very good meal.  Val and I shared a large bowl of seafood chowder and also a plate of pork ribs and spring rolls.  We sat out on the patio beside the boardwalk so as we ate we could watch the people and boats going by.

Enjoying the view while waiting for our lunch.



This was quite interesting showing the places the Acadians were sent when they were deported from Canada.  Val read a book about this history of Canada and it was a very sad time, but it is nice to see this monument, and that Eastern Canada remembers the people who were so badly mistreated.    
This statue honors the contribution of the women of the area to war effort in World War II.

This is a statue of Samuel Cunard who was a British shipping magnate and founded the Cunard line.  He was born in Halifax.

After lunch we walked back to the ship terminal.  In order to get back on the ship, you have to walk by a gauntlet of shops that are set up in the terminal.  We browsed through those and then made our way back onto the ship.  We were back in our room by two and relaxed for a bit after our long walk.

We're almost back to the terminal and ship.

We decided to do some preliminary packing, so I got out our bags and Val and I both got started.  The real packing will be tomorrow, but it felt good to get started as packing to go home is my least favorite thing of the cruise.

It was a beautiful day in Halifax, so we spent some time out on the balcony relaxing and watching the various boats go by.  It was soon time for dinner, but there will be no casino for us tonight as we don’t leave port until 11:00 PM.





We gain another hour tonight as we are traveling back into the eastern time zone.  The clocks will be set back an hour and we’ll be on Boston time.  Tomorrow is always the worst day of the cruise as we have to pack and get everything off the ship bright and early.

Voyage of the Vikings Redux - Sea Day

Cruise Day 33

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

Today is a sea day and the cruise is winding down; there is only one more port before we return to Boston and home.  We got plenty of sleep last night so even if we tried, we couldn’t really stay in bed too long and were both up before nine.  We had breakfast in the Neptune Lounge and found Alexa, our concierge back at her post.  She has been sick for a few days, and we have had Carl taking her place.  It was good to see Alexa back and healthy.

The weather is a little better today with partly cloudy skies and mild temperatures.  We actually spent time out on the balcony while our room was being cleaned; we haven’t been able to do that for a while.

Val’s big casino win has caused us a bit of a problem (a good problem).  Because they couldn’t pay us with a check, we have a large amount of cash that I would rather not have to carry back so one solution was to pay off our shipboard account in cash and I did that this morning.  That still leaves quite a bit of cash, but at least it is less than it was.

I spent the rest of the morning writing up the blog for yesterday while Val read and relaxed.  We received our disembarkation packet today with instructions on the procedure to get off the ship.  Instead of going through customs in the terminal, we will be meeting face-to-face with immigration officials on the ship before we are allowed to get off.  It is all scheduled and looks to be efficient, but we’ll see how that goes.

The morning went by fast, and it was soon lunch time.  We went a little later than usual and were rewarded with a less crowded Lido, something we need to remember.  As has become our custom on sea days, we went down to the casino after lunch where I quickly lost my money.  Val was luckier and hit a nice little jackpot and continued to play while I returned to our room.

Val returned a while later and I decided to go down to the outside promenade deck and take some pictures from the rear of the ship.  It was quite windy, but the skies were blue, and the sun was out so it was a nice day.  I returned to the room and downloaded yesterdays and today’s pictures to the computer, backed everything up and then relaxed and read for the rest of the afternoon.

Tonight is the last formal night of the cruise, so we got into our dressy attire and headed off to dinner.  After dinner we headed off to the casino where my losing ways continued.  Val had some success and stayed longer than I did.  Tomorrow will be our last port of the cruise before returning to Boston.



Voyage of the Vikings Redux – St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada

Cruise Day 32

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

We are visiting St. John’s today another Newfoundland town.  This is our second visit to St. John’s, and we really enjoyed our first visit.  Unfortunately, when we got up this morning it was raining, and the weather forecast says it will last all day.

Here is some information on St. John’s from Google.  St. John's, a city on Newfoundland Island off Canada's Atlantic coast, is the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador province. Its harbour was settled by the British in the 1600s. Downtown is known for its colourful row houses. Above the city is Signal Hill with walking trails and the site of the first transatlantic wireless communication, Cabot Tower, which commemorates John Cabot's discovery of Newfoundland.”  St. John’s population is 114,000; that is quite a bit more than some of the places we’ve visited recently.  We also found out today that the island of Newfoundland is the 13th largest in the world.

The Island of Newfoundland.  St. John's is the red marker on the right, the lower blue marker is Corner Brook and the upper blue marker is St. Anthony where we were yesterday.
 
St. John's Newfoundland.  Its natural harbor with its narrow opening makes it easy to defend which has historically made it a very strategic location.

We are about to enter the St. John's harbor to the left.


This is Signal Hill with Fort Waldergrave at the top guarding the harbor entrance.  This is one of the spots we'll be visiting today.

This area near the harbor entrance is another area we'll be visiting today.

The town of St. John's

Just after we docked, a Canadian Navy ship came in and docked across from us.

We didn’t arrive in port until 10:00 AM so we had a leisurely morning.  We are on a tour organized by Bob and Joan from our Cruise Critic Roll Call.  It will only be Bob and Joan and us so it should be a good tour.  We hadn’t heard anything from them and started to worry a little about the tour status.  We didn’t know their room number and the ship won’t disclose room numbers, so we had to have the Neptune Lounge Concierge call them and then hand the phone over to us.  All was well and the meeting time hadn’t changed so the tour was on.

We are docked today so there is no tender to deal with which made things a lot easier.  We were supposed to meet on shore at 11:00, so Val and I got off the ship and found Bob just outside the terminal gate.  It was still raining so we were in our rain gear and getting a little wet while we waited for our guide to show up.

She soon drove up and introduced herself and we were on our way.  Her name was Mary and although the Honda CR-V she was driving was a little cramped, we all fit in reasonably well.  She seemed very nice, and we all hit it off right away.  Val and I had done a taxi tour when we were here before and expected to see some of the same things, but the taxi driver was not a guide so this would be much better.

St. John's is located on the eastern side of the Avalon Peninsula.  We spent most of today's tour in the town of St. John's, but we did visit Cape Spear the red marker with camera and had lunch at Portugal Cove, the red knife and spoon marker.

Our first stop was one of the oldest areas in town that we had seen as we entered the harbor.  It has colorfully painted houses on the side of the hill running down to the entrance to the harbor entrance. It was once home to the local fishermen, but now it is mostly made up of vacation rental homes as the views are spectacular from there.

A view of the harbor entrance.

Some of the homes perched on the hillside overlooking the harbor entrance.

A look at the St. John's town center from across the harbor.

It looks like this cannon is aimed at our ship.

The area across the harbor entrance.


Next, we went up to the historic Fort Waldergrave at the Signal Hill National Historic Site, a strategic point high above the harbor entrance.  The views are spectacular from up there, but unfortunately, because of the rain, the views were a bit obscured, but we didn’t let that deter us and we went ahead and explored the area.  Mary had timed our arrival for the traditional noon cannon firing which, back before modern clocks and watches, was the way they were able to synchronize their clocks and instruments to the right time.

Part of Fort Waldergrave


This cannon is fired every day at noon.


From there it was back into town into an area called Jellybean Row.  Back in 1892 most of the town burned down and when they rebuilt it, supplies were hard to come by in this remote area, so whole blocks of houses were painted exactly the same color.  This caused some confusion and as paint became more readily available, people added colorful trim and even changed the color, so instead of a single-colored area, there are now a mixture of brightly colored homes and buildings.  The effect was a little subdued due to the dark skies, but it was still very colorful and unique.










After Jellybean Row, we drove around to the other side of the harbor and out towards the entrance where we could look across the harbor entrance at Signal Hill and the homes on the hillside we had visited earlier.  Despite the rain, Bob and I decided to walk further out towards the beginning of the harbor while Joan and Val opted to stay with Mary in the car and keep dry.  At this point, despite our rain jackets, we were beginning to get a little damp.



Looking back across the area we had just visited.


We next took a drive out of town to the Cape Spear National Historic Site.  It was out of St. John’s town area, but we were still in the St. John’s city limits as it has a very large footprint.  Cape Spear was a military installation during World War II and also has a lighthouse.  It actually has two lighthouses, one new one and an older historic one that is no longer used.  The drive was very beautiful through some very scenic countryside.  Mary said she had to be very watchful as there are many moose in the area.  Moose were not originally on the island of Newfoundland, but they were brought in as a source of meat for the inhabitants and because there are no predators on the island they have flourished over the years and now there are too many of them.

Cape Spear would have some beautiful views in clear weather, but today it was shrouded in clouds and a light fog.  The rain had picked up, so Joan and Val only got out for a short time and then they returned to the car, while Mary led Bob and I down to see what was left of the old military installation.  We also stood on the eastern most point in North America, but Mary said that wasn’t strictly true as Greenland is considered part of North America, but Greenland is an island so I’m still sticking with it being the eastern most point.

It was rainy and overcast so the views were mostly obscured.  This is the easternmost point on the North American Continent (not counting the island of Greenland).

The Cape Spear Lighthouse.

The barrel of one of the guns left in the gun emplacements.

One of the bunkers behind the gun emplacements.  We were able to walk in the tunnels between the different bunks and found it dark and damp.

After an interesting, but damp visit to Cape Spear we headed back to St. John’s and to a lunch stop.  Before we went to lunch though, Mary wanted to take us to the highest point in St. John’s.  We had assumed it was Signal Hill, but that was not the case.  We got a full view of the town all the way to the mouth of the harbor including Signal Hill, but once again the rainy weather made the views a bit hazy.


Now it was time for lunch, and we headed off to the town of Portugal Cove on the other side of the Avalon Peninsula for fish and chips at the Landings Eatery and Pub.  This was a little, out of the way place that served delicious fish and chips.  Val and I made the mistake of ordering a two-piece plate each as we had no idea of how big each piece of fish was.  They were actually a full half a cod, and way too much for us to be able to finish.  The “chips” were served Canadian style of being covered in gravy, but they added a Newfoundland touch buy laying them on a bed of bread dressing, very good.  Despite having more fish than we could eat, the meal was delicious; the cod was fresh caught this morning and very tasty.

I took a picture of our group while we waited for our fish and chips.  Going around the table there is of course Val, then Bob and Joan who invited us to join them on this tour, and our wonderful guide, Mary.

It was a late lunch so by the time we finished eating, it was time to head back to the ship.  Despite having a very damp day, we had a great time.  Mary was a fifth generation Newfoundlander and a great guide; she was knowledgeable, funny, and most importantly, she gave us a real idea of Newfoundland life and people.  If you are ever in St. John’s, Newfoundland, I highly recommend Mary and Just Landed Tours.

We were back on the ship by 5:00 PM and immediately got into some dry clothes.  We both had wet shoes and our clothes were damp down to our underwear.  To make the best of bad weather is essential if you are going to enjoy travel.  Today wasn’t the best weather, but we had a great day, and it is always interesting to see how things look when the sun isn’t shining with blue skies.  That said though, some of the views we saw today would have been spectacular under clear skies, but maybe that will be for another visit.

 

One last look at the harbor entrance.

We relaxed for a while until dinner, but we weren’t very excited as we were both still pretty full after our large late lunch.  We ended up just ordering an appetizer and dessert and then called it a night.  There was no casino tonight as the ship isn’t leaving until 11:00 PM.  We will get even more rest tonight as we gain back another half hour and set the clocks back again.