Impressions

[fbhjr]

Of the three cruises we’ve been on, I think this is my favorite.
The crew was right on, in every aspect.
The destinations were things I’ve wanted to see and were on my wife’s bucket list for ages.
The other passengers were not, in general, asses who made it bad to be there. (Except Timmy…)

When we went on the cruise around Africa, we had said that it was clear their best crew went on the expedition cruises to Antarctica and such.
This was one of those expeditions, and was the original ship we had intended to take to Antarctica until Covid delayed it.
And, it proved the point as all of the folks were excellent.

Some of the folks were even the same as on our Antarctica cruise 4 years ago. One of the expedition staff had switched from zodiac driver to historical lecturer, but was still on the cruises.
The other was another one of the zodiac drivers who had been on our ship back in Antarctica. He was very friendly and we had a nice chat with him.
It was interesting to hear his perspective on the whole Covid protocols that had to be followed. As invasive as it was for us passengers, I guess it was much worse for the crew.

Our butler for our room was the least invasive of all of them.
Flynn, the one on our first cruise, had to be invasive. It was still during Covid and he had to take our temperature each day and monitor things.
Nur off Africa was fine and mostly kept out of our way.
Christopher on this cruise was the one we asked the most from. We had the ship do our laundry, twice. We broke a glass in the room and asked him to come clean it.
But, he never seemed to click as much as the other two. The other two I know where they came from, how they got working on cruises and their goals for getting back off of them.
Not Christoper. I know what his name tag said, what was in the business card he left us, and nothing else.
Any time we saw him in the corridors he seemed surprised to see us. The few formal things on the ship we skipped, and he seemed surprised. But, hadn’t checked to see if we were going. Flynn or Nur would have.
Every time I called him on the phone, he’d answer “Hello Mr. Hunt. This is Christopher you’re speaking with.” I did not say “I know, I just dialed your number,” but it was tempting each time.
I don’t need to know details about the folks working there. I don’t mind, but I don’t feel it took away from the cruise. It only stands out as the other two were so forthcoming about themselves and Christoper wasn’t. Just a bit strange, not bad.

I guess we may have consumed all the Diet Coke on board. As the cruise went on Christopher put less and less in our cabin. The first day, 8 cans. Towards the end, 2.
I asked and he said that the ship was low on it. They hadn’t gotten as much as expected in Dublin and had tried to buy some at other stops, but couldn’t get much.
When I went to the market in Norway I noticed the Diet Coke section was empty. I guess the ship got there before me.
It does seem a bit strange to me that they could keep it in supply during Covid to Antarctica or off the coast of Africa, but not in the seas around the UK.

This was the only time we had to consult a doctor on board. I’m very glad they do have an actual doctor on board and she was able to prescribe and provide antibiotics for my wife as it made a huge difference in her health.
I had never given much thought to the health office on board. On the Antarctic cruise we had to go there for our Covid test, but only sat in the very small waiting room.
I hadn’t realized there was a whole little clinic in the rooms behind it. I guess they’re better equipped than I knew. Which makes sense on a ship that goes to places like Antarctica, but I hadn’t looked into that before.
I’m glad they could help her on board as I was worried we would need to leave the cruise to bring her to a hospital. Not needing to do that was a good thing.

I think this trip went through the most currency changes of any we’d been on before.
Euros (Ireland & Netherlands)
GBP (Northern Ireland & Scotland)
3 kinds of kroner (Norway, Denmark, Sweden.)
And, that doesn’t count the US dollar needed at the beginning and end.
I brought home some of each.

The other passengers, with the exception of Timmy, were less of an issue this trip than others.
We said hi to a few folks in corridors and had brief interactions with them. But, few had any longer conversations with. Only in the laundry room where there is literally nothing but laundry machines in a small plain room did anyone even try to discuss bigger topics. And, that was limited to “how many cruises have YOU been on?”
Going to Antarctica we came back with the email addresses of some folks we had visited with there.
Going around Africa we got an extensive background on the folks in the cabin next to us, their histories, their kids and their travel plans.
Here, I couldn’t count the sentences I said to other passengers on my fingers, but if I took off my shoes and used my toes too, I’d be OK.

There were a few characters on board. There was one woman who was part of a larger party who on more than one occasion came into the main restaurant and tried to get the tables reorganized to her standards. Each time she was told “we’ll do our best, but this is an exploration ship and the tables are bolted down, we can’t just move them where you want.”
The first time she kept going higher and higher in the chain of command until every restaurant worker, the head of guest services for the ship and some of the uniformed crew were standing in front of her telling her that they could not move the tables the way she wanted. (From what I could tell, her group had about 20 people and the biggest tables were for 10, so they could not all sit together, and not all by the windows.)
I learned her name was Isabel because as each of her companions arrived she made the whole group play musical chairs to sit where she wanted them to until every single one of them said “enough Isabel, we’re not moving again!”

To be fair to her, the night of the captains dinner, they did put together a bunch of tables to have about 30 people sitting together.
But, they also gave 2 days notice for that to the customers, and probably more to the crew.
So, it wasn’t “my friends will be here in 10 minutes and this is how I want you to move things”, which is what she asked for.

The reason I think it is funny as for the next 9 days, every time we saw her she was trying to organize where people were sitting.
On the zodiacs.
On the tour busses.
At the buffet.
In one of the lounges.
I knew that if I saw Isabel show up, she’d start telling people to move around.
This extended to the last day when I saw her and her friends getting on a bus to the airport and the very last thing I heard her say was “Don’t sit there!” to someone as she got on the bus.

Another was the waiter, Thieriet. I found it challenging to say his name, and every time he saw me he’d ask “have you got it yet?” I’d try and he’d say “close, keep trying.”
The time he said I was closest was when he poured some water for me and I said “thanks!”
“That’s really close!” He replied. I had not thought it was.

And, probably the biggest character was Alin the expedition crew member who was extremely enthusiastic.
When we were out in the zodiacs she reveled in having the fastest one and zoomed us all over the water near that island.
Going back to the ship to get us in line for docking she shouted “piracy!” And rammed one of the other zodiacs. (Softly. No one went overboard…)
She was also one of the leaders when we walked all over Fair island and on the ground in Norway.
She had a story about a bad encounter with a lost sheep. When on Fair island we saw a bunch escaping their field she looked around at us from the ship and said “these are not our sheep and I have learned not to try and stop a sheep from doing what it wants. We walk on!”

Comments

[threemeninaboat]

Is it There-riat like Harriet?

[fbhjr]

It’s close to that. But, it seems to have more of a “reet” end than a “rit” end that I think of with Harriet.
But, I don’t think I ever got it quite right, so don’t trust me on it…

[palusbuteo]

Glad you had a good experience, despite Timmy.


As for Isabel, was she trying to arrange people and everything overall, or, just the group she was with?

I hate control freaks like that

[fbhjr]

She did suggest other folks move to make room for her group. But, she didn't tell them to move herself, she just told the restaurant people "you can have them move so we can sit there." They said "no."

[palusbuteo]

(loud eye roll)

[msmidge]

It sounds like Isabel is part herding dog.

[armiphlage]

"every time we saw her she was trying to organize where people were sitting."

I am imagining a sheepdog on vacation wearing human clothes.

[taz_39]

I feel kinda bad for Isabel. Sounds...difficult to be around.

Alin sounds like FUN. A person who lets those intrusive thoughts win whenever possible and safe to do so :D

It's cool how much attention you've gotten to spend on who you meet and interact with on these cruises. It's a big part of the experience and interesting to hear about.