Cruise Day 11
Tuesday, August 1, 2023
Today is a sea day and a day of rest for us. Even though we didn’t get off the ship
yesterday, we spent almost the entire day out on the deck, so we missed out on
our usual relaxing time. 😀
Because of the hour of lost sleep, we slept in later than usual and didn’t really do much this morning. We did go to a lecture on Prince Christian Sound that was quite interesting and found out about a lot of things we didn’t know about. It turns out that the route through Prince Christian Sound is actually the preferred route when ice isn’t blocking the way as the prevailing winds along the southeatern coast of Greenland can cause rough seas and be quite treacherous.
The little village we passed by has a population of around 100 and is slowly losing its population. There is no water or sewage system, and their water has to be shipped in and their waste has to be shipped out. Surprisingly, they are also a stop for small passenger ships of adventurous people. It would be very interesting to visit that small, isolated village, but our ship is far too large with way too many people.
After lunch we attended another lecture on our upcoming port of Isafjordur, Iceland. So far, the lectures have been very interesting, but they aren’t really port talks like we have had on previous cruises, but a more generalized lecture on some history or other information with only a casual mention of the port itself. As I said, interesting, but if you want to spend some time exploring the town or area, you’re on your own to do the research. On previous cruises, they always have talks on the ports themselves and what there is to see and do either on a ship excursion or explore on your own.
We spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on our relaxing time and looking at some of the pictures we’ve taken during the trip so far. We had our usual dinner in the main dining room. One reason we like the fixed time, seating dining is that we get to know the dinner stewards as we have the same two every night. Our waiter is Supri and his assistant is Alfred or Big Al as they call him. Supri is very excited as he will be going home in a week when we reach Rotterdam. He is at the end of an eight-month contract and as you can imagine, he is very excited to see his wife and children.
It is a real sacrifice they make to spend six to eight months away from their families, working seven days a week and rarely having the opportunity to get off the ship, and yet always remaining friendly and greeting us with a smile. When we asked them about it, they say it is difficult, but it is worth it to provide for their families as they can make a lot more money on the ship than they can in their home countries. They also get to spend two or three months between contracts with their families, so they have learned to live with this sort of lifestyle.
We haven’t exactly been winning in the casino, but we have been winning a little and enough to be able to play a little longer instead of losing all of our daily allowance in a hurry.
It was an early bedtime for us again as, for the second day in a row, we will lose another hour of sleep tonight. Tomorrow we will be in Isafjordur, Iceland, but our scheduled tour doesn't begin until 1:00 PM so at least we don't have to get up early. We did have some good news tonight that we will docking there instead of tendering in which is very good news.
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| We didn't see much sun today, but the seas were very calm and we had some interesting layers of clouds. |
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