Just singing in the rain

We got lucky yesterday on our zodiac trip!  Blue skies and mild (55 mild) temps, and our boys in their fetchingly attractive red buoyancy suits…Kathy and I layered up and said “no” to the red jump suit affairs that are designed for people 6’5” and above…and may or may not have been peed in as there are no bathrooms on the zodiac and it is a 3 hour trip…on water..power of suggestion and all.  Besides, they would really make our butts look big.  Eddie and Eric are such rule followers….and usually designed sweat-ers..us girls run cold, in a Texas Arizona way.  The suit fit my BiL perfect since he tops our at 6’7”, Eddie, not so much…just getting into it reminded me of a toddler in a snow suit having to go to bathroom.   Then there is a 50 mph boat ride and Eddie’s floppy lower lid…think dog hanging head out car window.  Have I painted enough of a a picture for you?  Okay, let’s add one more layer to our picture. there are four rows on the bench seats on our vessel.  Logic would suggest that the back seat is better than the front for wind resistance.  Guess where our adventure seeking Bassett hound sat?  Row one…not totally his fault…of the 10 on our vessel, we were the oldest and slowest to the launch.  Eric volunteered to sit front, but the guide/driver said “nope”…a quick look and Kathy and I..we said “nope”.  So, Eddie took one for the team.  The tour was as advertised, beautiful, except for the part of all of the dead pink salmon (end of their season) that did what salmon do swam upstream, spawned then promptly died.  The dead salmon then float back out to sea with the tides and the gulls and eagles (however, they prefer still living) eat the dead salmon, and may do a fly over when the boat spooks them and poop on your head…no extra charge.  Circle of life kind of moment, I guess.  The scenery pretty spectacular…the dodging tankers and commercial boats and slowing for the kayakers…0-60 in just a few seconds, gets the blood flowing for sure.  Kayakers in Vancouver are like surfboards in Hawaii…everyone has one and a Sunny Sunday, do the math…lots of wide swings and speed variations.  

We were back on Granville Island just in time for happy hour.  3:00-5:00 daily at most establishments have a great menu and rationally priced drinks.  The locals know…like the gulls to the dead salmon, feeding starts at 3:00 ends at 5:00, with stupid tourists paying really high prices…like $25.00 (CAD, so 75% US for a drink…but still-same drink is $6.00 CAD before 5:00).  You get the picture.  We decided post blow job (boat trip) we would go to the Vancouver Fish Company and eat fish and chips and beer from the local brewery.  Well, it was busy.  We (meaning our table of 4) slipped through the crack.  Covid Kathy (not to be confused with the screaming red face Covid Karen) has a southern coated sweet humorous way of getting attention and correction of the situation.  Let’s just say there were two managers and two hours of eating and drinking comp(ed)…and our poor little waitress still got a generous tip.  I am not sure how she did it, but a pouty face, and telling the manager she was grumpy equaled no check.  While we were inside, the blue skies turned cloudy and we were singing in the rain waiting for a cab, Uber or Lyft…first one wins.  

  

Our Train in the Rain

After three years of planning and rescheduling our trip on the famed Rocky Mountaineer (RM)  is upon us.  For those of you unaware of our elaborate travel plans, I will quickly recap.  My sister, Kathy’s husband, Eric, retired from Raytheon (think Missile systems) in March of  2020.  Yeah, 2020, the one with mask mandates, closed everything, whispers of the black plague and Ebola…yeah, fun times for sure.  Eric is a life long learner, and student of the world…fancy speak for love of traveling and new adventures.  His dream retirement fantasy went up in a puff of Covid cooties.  One of his bucket list items was a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer.  Knowing that Ed is a train dork and they offer extensive powder puff service, we said “sure, we are all in”.  Of course, if did not hurt that RM was desperately trying to stimulate business by offering really great deals on hopeful Fall 2020 travel.  As the Covid quarantine continued, it was obvious to us that the train might roll but the experience would be somewhat tarnished or limited.  Who wants to take a luxury train with poor service and limited things open…never mind the supply chain issues or lack of liquor…we punted our 14 day trip to 2021, then to 2022 and finally, to 2023.  Remember the stuff about shrinkflation, well, our 2020 Covid reservation for 14 days has shrunk to a 8 day, same price, mind you…with a a couple few “included” evening meals in the hotels we are staying in take out of the equation.  Between fires in Canada, government closure of hotels for tourists so fire victims would have a place to stay and the new threat of Covid (what version is this?), we were unsure if this train would even take the tracks.  So, build in an major upcharge for travel insurance, yeah, this trip has lots to live up to.  

Ed and I flew to Vancouver from Houston, other than the massive construction project around the airport, it was totally uneventful.  Crossing into Canada and Custom and Border patrol has been 95% automated.  The 5% was when your kiosk picture and passport picture where not the same.  Winner, winner chicken dinner…Eddie’s special Bassett hound eyes triggers a quick, and I do mean quick, look at his passport by a guy marshaling people through the webbed maze lines.  Seriously, not sure if I feel safe with the technique preventing unsavory characters coming into the country….but given what is happening on our southern borders…you know what they say, People is glass houses should not throw stones.  With the government shutdown looming in our travel dates…first of October should be interesting coming back into Houston.  We leave from Canada and arrive Houston…hope Terminal D has the same saissez faire attitude come October 3, or the electronic Global Entry works as advertised.  Yikes!  The Texas contingent of this trip arrived well before the Arizona/Oregon (they are in processes of buying a second home in Portland) contingent.  Ed and I love a Vancouver (and Whistler) and have been here many times, Kathy and Eric have not.  So, we have spent our alone time doing what Eddie likes best…drinking and eating.  We are on the Ocean, waters are cold enough for West Coast oysters…found a Happy Hour deal or two on those…the boy can eat little tiny oysters.  

Packing for this was challenging.  RM issues lots of information about what to bring and not bring…heavy on pounds and dimensions of things.  Given the weather forecast is 100% rain, with a chance of more rain, and really heavy rain…unless it is snow showers…  Our luggage weight was maxed out with shoes, rain gear and the 10-12 pairs of underwear we needed to get through the next 10 days without a laundry.  Yeah, sure, they will be happy to “do” your laundry.  A mere $5.00 a pair for underwear…gee, I could throw it away and buy new along the way for that price.  Eddie suggested that I pack my thongs to save space….I said I would if he would…granny panties for the win.  

Today and tomorrow we are doing Vancouver with Eric and Kathy.  Today, it is a Zodiac boat…50 mph, rubber suits and life jackets…3 hours in the rain in the face, and we are paying for the privilege.  I plan on thinking positive and calling it an ice facial, and no fuss hair day.  I can’t imagine what will be going through Eddie’s head.  Glad I brought a couple extra pairs on underwear.    Stay tuned. 

 

And Just Like That….Poof

Or should I say Puff…as in Puffin.  Today is our last day aboard Neptune, we disembark tomorrow and start the journey home.  Today, we are on the southern coastline of a Iceland near the Westman Islands-an archipelago of 15 islands volcano formed (and still forming-Happy 60th Birthday Surtsey) islands.  It has two active volcanos-Helgafell and Eldfel and only one inhabited town of Heimaey (translated “Home Island”).  The rock islands have been carved by the pounding surf so the topography and pictures are like none other in the world.  After a particularly rough night to get here, take to Bonine tablets and call me in the morning, rough, the sun came out and there were blue skies for the first time in 14 days.  Our previously wet, damp and inhospitable balcony was bathed in sunshine and was perfect for photos and coffee.  

Remember the sister Viking ship, Star that has flanked our sailing the entire time.  Well, our Captain again lost the game of rock, paper, scissor, tender, dock.  Neptune would be moored outside of the sheltered dock in Heimaey, and have to use those orange boats of death to set foot on the Islands.  It is actually only the second stop we have made that had a streets to stroll, cafes and shops to shop.  Star would live up to its name and park inside the harbor and the passengers would simply walk off their ship.  

Why is this group of rock Island of such interest.  Puffins.  Atlantic Puffins, a stout,black

Diving bird that has a distinctive orange beak during mating season…and these islands are home to one of the largest colonies of Puffins in the Atlantic Ocean.  Of course, there are other places but you better your odds in actually seeing them with orange beaks intact in these more remote inhabited regions.  We were last in Iceland in May 2019-too early for Puffin season.  It is August which is towards the end of mating season, but as the fishing is good, there are a few late arrivals and year around residents.  My hopes were high on seeing these oh so cute and photogenic birds…orange beak or dull grey black.  We had initially wanted to  sign up for a boat trip with a local farmer, fisherman that owns a farm that apparently is a favorite of these birds…his boat is limited to 3 trips a day, 25 passengers each…math word problem. 75 of the passengers that could sign up early (all done according to your cabin classification)-leaving 905 people out of luck…or 980 if you figure out that the passengers on Star called dibs.  The farm offering mysterious disappeared during our excursion window, which I thought was odd, not knowing about Star.  So, we decided that a zodiac boat around the island with a promise to see puffins, terns, albatross, gulls, possible whales and seals was a pretty good bet.  By the time our tickets were issued to our stateroom, the boat had been downgraded yet again to a “boat” more along the lines of a Caribbean boat to look at the sting ray.  Queue grumpy Karen, but I am sure the Viking home office told them that there would be puffin sightings-even if they were stuffed animals.  So,I reminded hopeful.  Let’s recap.  We did a drive by in Newfoundland-rough seas/tender issues.  We Covided by Greenland’s two stops. (I will give allow a * by Greenland, like Antarctic-drive by only).  Now, on our first sunshine, picture perfect stop…wait for it…the Captain pulled the plug on us tendering to the Island.  

We were in the know first.  The first tenders were due out at 9:00 and ours at around 1:30.  As per usual, Eddie gets out of bed late.  So, we had our coffee on the dry and sunny veranda.  We grabbed and elevator to go up to the restaurant, but ended up going down to the A Deck were the tenders are launched from.  The doors open and 4 sad, mature individually with expensive cameras and the impressive long bird lenses got on.   I guess when you get to a certain age, cars are not as important in the toy category- enter expensive camera equipment.  Do not get any ideas, Eddie…we have far too many toys.  Well, our sad faces camera buffs knew the news before the rest of the ship.  There will be no tendering to the islands today.  They were awaiting the first tender when the advanced shipboard tender team arrived back on board…bloody and bruised…and those people are around 30, and live in a ship.  Our four let us know that they saw the discussion in real time,  and the decision to sail on to Reykjavik was being made.  We all rode the elevator to the World Cafe.  Sad, as there would be no puffin sightings by the passengers on Neptune, Star wins again.  We ate on the fantail, as this is the first time you were not shrouded in misty or freezing.  About 30 minutes later, the Captain made the official announcement that we would not be stopping today…followed by the Cruise Director Brian announcing that the would have a list of substitute entertainment to fill our day highlighted by a 2:00 showing of the Weird Al Yankovik starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter).  Wow, now that is a come down…weird Al vs allusive mating orange beak puffins.  I went back inside to select a late morning post breakfast pastry to drown my sorrows with.  Imagine my surprise when there was a gray uprising in the inside dining area.  Was there a food fight or dish banging, not exactly, but there was loud shouting on why Star got everything first and “Not Fair”…I almost thought there would be chanting of “Puffin, Puffin, Puffin”.  One gentleman said this was his 10th Viking Journey and he was going to fill out his Guest Questionnaire with a complaint.  Oh no, the dreaded complaint.  I wonder if the cruise line will survive, perhaps you should sell your Viking stock now.  

We returned to our cabin, and took our seats on the veranda with the thoughtfully provided binoculars and our iPhones and bird watched, imagining that the black winged flapping was our puffins without their colorful beaks.  Puffin, Puffin, Puffin-poof

Taking in the waters of Iceland

 As we continue our circumnavigation of Iceland-or maybe not, it all looks about the same…kinda like the islands in The Caribbean.  Tall rough glacier or volcanos carved mountains, not a lot of trees, deep narrowing fjords that cut to the interior, temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s, foggy, and not much sunshine.  The various mountains farms are dotted with sheep and black wrapped round hay bales.  Black so they can find them in the snow.  The only variation is the small town where the sea meets the rising dark mountain.  Each of the small towns have long hard to pronounce names featuring lots of vowels, similar random consonants and a couple of accent marks for good measure.  These towns have roughly 750 people residents..thinking H-E-B on Saturday.  So, when two(yes, two)Viking ships moor off your banks, the town size at least triples.  We have been shadowed by the Viking Star our entire trip.  Not sure how their trip varies from this one.  Most on Neptune are headed on to Norway after this.  We are disembarking in Reykjavik.  Whatever the case, the locals have been tasked with showing us a good time.  I guess that crazy team from Viking decided to create journey and destinations in Iceland kinda like Princess did in Alaska in the 1980’s.  Like I said before, glad to be on the front end of the creation process.

Yesterday, we went to the Voks Bath on Lake Urrioavatan (yeah, told you there were lots of vowels) which was up and over a very steep Mountain from where our ship was moored. (Yes, yet another tendered stop…which I will have to say Viking does well with their ship design). This is a combination of man made geothermal filled hots tubs from the hot springs below and two lake based infinity pools that are geothermally heated and warmer than the two land based ones.  For those with a wild streak, there is the lake itself that is a crisp 40 degrees.  While this is similar to the famed Blue Lagoon it does not have the mineral content…the guides claim the water is so pure you can drink it.  The big difference is that August brings a summer algae bloom in all four of the warmed pools.   The employees insist that it is healthy for you and your skin.  Eddie gave me one of those looks, like “Yeah, right”. Okay, You have two bus loads of older people, in swim suits, with slick algae bottom-what could go wrong?  Oh yeah, forgot to add the part about you are given a drink-beer, wine, blue raspberry or cherry slushie with vodka…by the time the soup and bread were served, their were lots of folks doing cannonballs off the decking into the lake, lots of wet iPhones.  Wonder if this will be feature on PBS Masterpiece’s Viking commercial.  Looked more like a movie scene from the 1985 movie Cocoon than 80 mature travelers from a cruise ship.  

We all survived, no broken bones, no fountain of youth like in the movie Cocoon…looks more like a nap was in order for most of us than anything else.  While the ship was here until 11:00 PM, there are only three restaurants with a total of 15 tables in town…not seeing this group staying around.  Oh yeah, in the Karma department.  The evening before our trip to the Voks Baths, our room steward thoughtfully placed two beach towels on our bed for our trip to the baths.  You see the little red phones that they all carry have extensive information about everything about you-kinda creepy if you ask me, but glad for the towels.  I reminded Eddie to pack his backpack for the trip…towel, bathing suit-check.  Jacket for tender, bus ride, and walk about-no reminder, no Karen pack…subtitle, but effective.  Eddie was just a few degrees cooler than his fellow cruisers.  Score one for Karma Karen, previously known at Covid Karen.  

Speaking of Covid on ship board.  Other ships usually have a reference to it in the Daily activity sheet (either numbers or percentage of passengers).  Not on Viking, only the red phones know.  But with the number of coughs of denial, dawning of masks, room service trays, and Red Do Not Disturb signs on cabin doors, I suspect the numbers are up.  That and I have seen the ship’s Men in Black Team on our floor frequently.  The ship’s protocol for Covid (or any quarantined illness) is to completely fumigate and disinfect your cabin.  A different cleaning crew is tasked with that function.  They wear total black outfits, black masks and black utility supply carriers.  It is not subtitle…the Scarlett letter sewn on your outfit was only slightly more noticeable.  

Out and About in the Atlantic

 Okay, you TP (Trivial Pursuit, not Toilet Paper) Fans, today’s question for the Geography pie piece and the win. Named for the 19th century King of Denmark, this narrow passageway that is 60 miles long that connects the Labrador and Irminger Seas.  Give you a hint, there is only one village, Aappilattoq (no, I checked my spelling, that is the correct spelling) and Amazon does not guarantee overnight delivery.  The timer is running….no Google or wiki, please.

Just like a small child waiting for Santa, today is the day I am released from Covid jail (yes, the ankle monitor and guest account will be unlocked at 8:00 AM)…the end of my sentence is being marked by a sailing into the 60 mile stretch..which started at 3:00 AM this morning.  Yeah, I was up to check it out, like I said-looking for Santa.  At 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00…there was not much to see except dense fog.  The lonely cry of the ship’s fog horn was the only sounds as the sea was smooth as glass…yeah, pea soup foggy, glass seas..I am a real poet, I know. By 7:00 the fog is lifting, but for the fluffy pillows of fog that sink in between the rock ledged and glacier craved valleys.  Every mile of this passage has been full of new views of glaciers, icebergs, waterfalls and sheered rock mountains that seem to rise from the sea…each one more breathtaking the the previous one.      Ed and I have been fortunate enough to see the natural beauty of Alaska on multiple occasions along with the fjords or Norway, and Chile.  With the more recent of our adventures to these areas, becoming more crowded with cruises ships.  Seems in a world of chaos and noise, we all crave the serene quiet, calm and sense of awe and wonder that the natural wonders bring.  This cruise along with a few other players are forging new journeys into these previously unexplored areas.  I am still undecided about whether this is a good thing or bad…glad we came early in the cycle.      

Okay, back to reality.  What are the lessons I have learned about Covid Jail on shipboard? Room service and breakfast (lunch and dinner, for that matter) in bed is great, every once in a while…but too much of a good thing does not make it better.  Especially when they struggle to pick up the various food trays…they asked us not to put it in hall, by Day 5, I was total Covid Karen and threatened them with a 90 minute time limit for in room pickup.  After 90 minutes, I put it in the hall.  Take that, just call me a rebel.  As we often slept with dirty dishes in our room (before I went Karen), I refrained from ordering any of the fish dishes.  Additionally what sounds good on a menu, does not always translate to tasty after sitting on a hot tray waiting to be delivered.  Vikings must have not had salt and pepper, but had herb gardens…the food on board lacks basic seasoning (yeah, I am sure, I have not lost my sense of taste) but is regularly dragged multiple times through a spice cabinet. Each dish is a all or nothing crap shoot.    In that same vain of thinking, if corporate offices sends you 2000 one small hole pepper shakers, do not purchase boxes of coarse ground pepper-it is a physic problem with no good answer..we took the bottom stopper off and put the pepper in a spoon to use.  Additionally, salmon regardless how prepared does not constitute a seasoning…there is lots of it everywhere.  However, if the word “wild” is before the word salmon, that is ship code for “we slept in the Atlantic last night”.  Smelly fish dish in room works for “wild”…or that 50 ft balcony at night.  Eddie is not a caregiver…after 47 years, not exactly a stop the presses moment. I guess I thought after more than 500 days on board ships (that could be an Eddie style upgrade, I guessed the number) over the last 25 years and me bringing him multi coffees in the morning (cappuccinos on some cruises lines), food from various locations when he was slow moving before a tour, doing or prepping laundry to be done on board, the lists are endless…he would have volunteered to go get me a cappuccino when he was sprung from jail two days before I was.  When I hinted, he responded that he was good for the morning with coffee.  Hmmm, guess I needed a refresher course in Eddie love language along with Covid.  As Eli’s current expression goes, Karma, baby, Karma.  I am glad we had a balcony with fresh air, be it cold and damp air, it is fresh.  I am old school, air out the cabin daily to blow out the cooties, wipe down the various surfaces with my personal supply of Clorox wipes, take out the trash, request additional towels and put the pillow out to air…my Mom would have been so proud.  Finally, thankful that my brush with Covid has not been any worse…and especially thankful that Eddie took the cure and is back to normal…much better than so many of our other adventures.  

Today trivia answer is Prince Christian Sound.  To think, I did not even have that as a must see location on my bucket list.  Silly old, Covid Karen.  

Greenland

 Well, we are sitting on top of the world, so to speak, moored off the coast of Greenland, surrounded by rocky moss covered islands, with a smattering of icebergs thrown in for effect.  

There is a joke that Greenland should have been called Iceland and Iceland should have been called Greenland….yup, no joke.  Greenland is not Green…with winter temps in the -90’s nothing grows outside, the moss probably is it.  This is the world’s  largest island, actually part of Denmark-those Viking roots are deep-with not a whole lot else going on….for like last 1,000 years.    Doubtful there will be a vote to become an independent country.  Our two stops here are tendered stops, with nothing more than a walking tour with your Viking provided speaker/hearing set up.  Boy, these folks have nailed their target market research.  Free tours with two hearing assisted microphones/headphones in every cabin.  

Eddie is a free man.  The medical center called at 8:00 AM to tell him his covid quarantine was complete, and they had removed the restrictions from his account and he was free to move about the ship, or off the ship if we were in port. They reminded him not to allow me to leave the room…like I am going to make a break for it…to Greenland.    While Eddie is not the type of click his heels, but he has not been in the cabin very much today.  In fact, he was more than happy to take the laundry to the launderette to do the last 4 days worth of clothes…he tried to ignore my first hand tutorial of the system, rolling his eyes like I was micromanaging him.  Nope, he came back and asked for a refresher on how to operate the dryers….he apparently did not have his hearing aides in, as most things came back wet and needed to be hung to dry…but I am not going to complain.  The laundry is done and I sat in bed reading my trashy novel and eating Swiss chocolate from the mini bar that is replenished twice a day.  Covid jail is not as bad as advertised…particularly when Eddie gets out 2 days before me.  

NoCovid NoMore

 Say it isn’t so, after three years of careful living and doing all the best practices of the day (and you had to keep up) we have finally to quote my sister, Kathy, lost our Covid virginity…right here on a cruise ship, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  When we boarded on Monday, Eddie (who we all know picks up any germ just like a Hoover Vacuum) mentioned that his sinuses were giving him fits.  Let us back up for just a moment.  We all know about the trice surgical solution to Eddie’s eye issues.  On Friday, before Saturday blast off, he ran down to the medical center to have the suture loop removed fearing it might come out while we were cruising.  They took some of the other pieces out as his lower lid had an infection.  The waiting room was full..we have had plenty of time to figure this was the smoking Covid cootie gun.  Fast forward to Monday night.  Eddie complained of a headache before bed and has a nagging tickle cough that kept us both awake.  Tuesday and Wednesday, I gave him Sudafed.  During the night, the light bulb went on…Thursday morning would be a Covid test for Eddie-we come prepared-4 test kits.  Why not keep it a secret and just give everyone on board Covid…after all we are on Viking Neptune.  Neptune has been in the news of late due to 50% of the people on board suffering from Norovirus…sharing is caring.  Well, Eddie would be one of those “high risk” individuals and if he was to take the antiviral, Paxlovid or the European equivalent, the window was 72 hours after the symptoms appear.  and we also know Eddie has never met a medication he was not willing to try.  You guessed it, the boy has it.  No fever, but I was called to the medical center to test.  Yup, Did not even have to wait the full 10 minutes for the red line of Covid to appear.  The very fit Norwegian Doctor listened to Eddie’s chest which was clear and said he would benefit greatly from the $800 antiviral meds.  He looked at me and said I would be fine without.  Wow, he said and saw everything he needed to know about or respective medical histories in the 90 second…$130.00 office visit.    Of course, there was a ridiculous charge for the tests, bottle plain cough syrup and Sudafed…all of which we had…kinda of like going to the dentist and getting dental floss and toothbrushes.  

So, we have been in Viking’s Covid Jail in our Cabin.  Meals come regularly at our command.    The medical center indicated we were the only one that had presented with Covid.  There are probably others that had decided to do the don’t ask don’t tell.  I could go on about how it is our responsibility to both the crew and our fellow passengers to be honest and quarantine.  But I have travelled with a sick Eddie far to many times while he has something far worse than Covid…or at least sounded that way.  His cough (family members know what I am talking about, it gets in your spine and makes you cringe) would have had the folks in red jump suits (medical team) on us.  Instead of a Scarlet “C” Letter, they have a ship wide red line in your account and everything is on a computer system and all crew members have a red Viking handset.  If you attempt to charge anything or buy anything, I imagine the security team will take you back to your cabin and lock you in from the outside. Totally surprised they don’t tag you.   So, we are on Day 3 for me, but Day 5 for Eddie.  No further testing, and they are unlocking his account.  He is free to get out of jail.  You might ask what did we miss, not much.  We made the foggy stop in Halifax.  There was a day at sea, then a tendered stop in Newfoundland which was cancelled the morning of as the fog and waves were to great to even attempt boarding…remember everyone is over 50.  I did not mention, but while getting back on the ship in Halifax, a fellow female passenger was leaving in a wheelchair, right leg bandaged, with a steward dragging all of her luggage.  She was headed back to Dallas from Halifax, with a leg broken in 3 places.  So, Covid Jail, I take it.  Her appearance makes me thankful for just having Covid…no whining.  

You all know how Eddie rolls on cruises, a suite, usually with two rooms.  Being this is a smaller ship, and much larger price tag than BC, we opted for a Penthouse Veranda which mean we have 227 sq ft of inside space…another 50 on the balcony-which is always wet, so not a bonus in my mind.  The only thing our PV category gets you is the day you can sign up for their expensive excursions and when you can  book reservations for the speciality restaurants.  6 weeks ago, there was an Explorer’s suite, that fit Eddie’s criteria, but I choked at the price and passed.  If I knew we would have been in Covid jail, oh well.  The excursions that we cancelled due to Covid (to include a 7.5 hour bus/RIB boat to the Ice Lagoon in rubber suits and back, along with a Geothermal bath) will just about cover the cost of our medical care on board.  

The fog has lifted, Greenland Stop 1 is tomorrow.  The temperature is a crisp 50 degrees right now.  As we are old school, we have opened our balcony door and aired out our shoe box, be it a Ilse Jacobsen shoe box, with a Nordic blanket.  Eddie gets the desk, sofa and chair area and I get the bed.  If we are really frisky, we swap.  I am in charge of bathroom passes.  Since Eddie has a get out of jail card, free, he gets to do the laundry.  This should be interesting, or at least entertaining.  

As a footnote, Eddie on Day 5 with the Paxlovid is a 7 with 10 being great. Day 3 I am a 4.5, however, in terms of other things, this is like a head cold.  We will be fine.