Sea Days, Vigo Spain and COVID

 9 May

At Sea

This is an odd situation we are in now. We have a sea day, a day in Spain, and then another sea day.  

On our first sea day we did nothing exciting in the morning.  We rested, watched some news, did a few puzzles.  The usual sea day activities.   But then, we got a call from a good friend and it turns out that COVID has raised its ugly head once again.  Our once squeaky clean and very safe ship (zero cases for 123 days) has now got an outbreak.  Because our friend called us, we decided to err on the side of caution and wear a mask again even though they are no longer required.  

We did some quick math and realized that it is most likely that we don’t have Covid, but to be certain, we decided to go get tested.  Sadly, we had to wait until 5 when the clinic opened again.  

In the interim, we played a game of cards with friends as usual and opted to wear a mask.  Safety first, right. We explained that we may have been exposed, but our friends wanted to play anyway.  It was fun as always.

At 5 we went down and were tested.  They told us they would call with the results in 15 minutes.  An hour later, I called them.  Negative as expected.  We have been being super cautious on land, and while we may have been in close contact with one who has COVID, the doors were always open with a light breeze which may have helped. Thankfully, his wife tested negative.  For anyone who cares, as of today we have now had 14 negative COVID tests.  Here's hoping the next 4 are also negative.

That night we had dinner with the ATW host and hostess and were thrilled to hear that their son has had his play "Six" nominated for 8 Tony awards!  How wonderful for him.  I hope the show wins at least one.  We are in London on the 19th and if we can get tickets, I’d love to go see it.  It sounds like a great play.

10 May 

Vigo Spain

When we arrived, we went out on our scooters in search of puzzles. I had marked 2 puzzle shops to go to and we weren’t disappointed.  We purchased 3 puzzles on this day.  

From there we decided to go get some lunch.  We stopped by a local place on the square and had croquettes and a squid sandwich. Honest, that is what they told us this was. 

While we were eating, I looked over and saw a seagull jump on a table and steal a slice of bread. 

A funny thing happened then, George got up to go to the bathroom and a pigeon jumped on the table across from me. The next thing I knew, it swooped in and grabbed a piece of his squid!  Everyone around had a good laugh as the birds worked out that they didn’t get bread. It was fun to watch them toss the squid around trying to get the breading off.

While there we were also entertained by a guitar player and an accordionist. 

After we left we wandered around the town in search of milk, but sadly there were no shops opened so that was a bust.  

We headed back to the ship to have dinner with the future cruise consultant Cella, and the wife of the friend who managed to catch COVID.  They moved her to a different room as she had tested negative.  It was a lovely evening filled with great conversation. We also learned that there were 29 cases of COVID on the ship. Yep. Mini-outbreak.  For those who actually keep up with this blog, that is over 10% of the passengers!  I think they should just make all of us submit to a test and get it done with. This might help stop the spread.

After dinner we went down to the lounge to watch Cole perform in his first solo show.  It was very good. I enjoyed his singing very much until he sang the last song. That simply didn’t work for me and George was tired so we opted to leave.  

My impression of Vigo can all be summed up in this one butt ugly statue that the local guide was very proud of.  I’m not sure what it is, man? Fish? Bird? After we took a few photos of it George said "Ve go"  A bit later with his same droll humor he said "ve go no more".  If you are here, great, take a look around.  If not, don’t go out of your way to come here.  It’s not a charming city.  But the food was good.  I'm certain the allure of the place is its proximity to Santiago de Compostela. I heard there were great tours going there.  

Aside from that, we did see a fountain, a church, a statue of a horse, and a sculpture we have dubbed "falling from grace".

And we finally opened the liqueur from Israel.  It is very smooth. I'd buy it again.

11 May

Sea day

We were rudely awoken by the health clinic telling us we are considered a close contact and must now be tested for 5 days in a row to make sure we are not COVID positive.  Once we came to life we went down and got tested.  The nurse said she would call only if we tested positive. 

No phone call until 11!  Then my heart stopped. Which one of us was sick and didn’t know it?  It turned out it was someone from the food and beverage department. I had requested fresh milk instead of UHT milk.  They cannot provide it for me because fresh milk poses a health risk.  So does raw fish but they serve sushi.  Ah well. When we land in Brest tomorrow we are on a milk run.  

We had lunch as usual and then retired to our room.  I was supposed to get a massage, but the waves are a bit much for me today and I postponed it.  I sit here typing this with a glass of ginger tea in one hand and a green apple in the other. 

The main excitement of the day was bidding on yet another Berrocal auction.  Invaluable has a live auction service and I watched it carefully at 6 pm in the hopes that we would win.  Torso Del General II made in 1964, sold for more than double my bid.  Just a bit higher than I wanted to spend on it.  Oh well, next time. :) Our stock would need to go much higher for me to get into that bidding war.

The rest of our day went as usual.  So, until next time Happy Puzzling and Smooth Seas.

Sea days and Ashdod Israel (COVID testing only)

 April 7

Apart from missing Malta, the excitement today was to have yet another COVID test done.  Don’t ask me how it slipped by the ship that we need a negative test 72 hours before entering Israel-It’s on their webpage and in emails being sent out.  Anyway, at 5:45 we were given the bing bong to head to the insignia lounge to get our swab done.  The rest of the day proceeded as does every other sea day.

April 8

Another sea day.  Ho Hum.  We had a good lie in today.  Arose at noon for lunch and then went up for a game of cards with friends.  I’ve taken to making sandwiches for myself.  You can’t go wrong with mortadella and provolone. 

We were told there was an all chocolate afternoon tea so we went up to take a look.  If nothing else, we would listen to the string quartet.  Horizons was packed!  I guess like us, others were looking for something to do on this added sea day. Even though it looked ok, we decided to pass on it and have a good dinner instead. 

We ate dinner in Toscana with a few other friends this evening and I wish I could say more about the day, but I’ve got nothing.  Oh, I did get a small printed invitation for the ladies lunch being held tomorrow.  

We watched a Will Smith movie called King Richard about the Williams sisters.  I recommend it as an interesting look into their early lives.  When we returned to the room there were a couple of DVD’s waiting for us.  How wonderful!   I love cookbooks and the DVD’s will be fun to watch.

I had an epiphany of sorts.  I grumble about the quality of the food I’ve had on the ship.  I know, I know all those die hard Oceania fans will boo me for saying it is NOT the best food on the seas but I stick to my opinion.  Anyway, the ship was supposed to resupply in Malta-remember, the port we didn’t get to.  Because of this, we have run out of fresh berries, there is no fresh milk, the romaine lettuce is gone, there are no mushrooms, and these are only the few items we’ve heard about.  I feel sorry for the wait staff having to explain this to the passengers.  Some act as if it is personal and snap at the staff.  

Sorry, my epiphany.  I have often said had I not been born in the time and place that I was, I would not be where I am today.  Meaning to say, if I were born in the middle ages, or in a third world country, I would not have been able to be educated to the extent that I was, nor would I be sitting here writing about this cruise that we are on.

Current world events have me now realizing how fortunate I am to have a place to lay my head each night, to know where my next meal will come from, and to realize that I can travel where and when I want within reason.  My heart breaks for all of those people in the Ukraine who have been displaced or who have lost family members.  There is no excuse that any reasonable person can find for the atrocities that are being committed by the Russian military and its leaders.  I sincerely hope this conflict ends soon.  These people have been through enough.  

April 9

Today was the ladies lunch.  There was a cute little doll on the table for each of us, but other than that it was just a lunch attended only by ladies.  There were no invitations sent out, there was no special menu.  Nothing.  It didn’t matter, the company was wonderful.  As it turned out, the general manager decided that since this wasn’t sponsored by Oceania it would not be accommodated.  This didn’t stop our hostess.  She went ahead with it anyway.  Good on her!  I hear she will be putting in a formal complaint later.  It seems everyone is at the end of their ropes with the way the ATW passengers have been treated.  It’s an expensive cruise that has been changed more times than we can begin to think about.  How hard would it have been to allow this small pleasure?  

I became curious about the changes, and I realize how hard it is to try and describe them in words, so I post here the maps of the initial trip, the one it was changed to the first time, and finally the one we are now supposed to be on but are really not.  My apologies for one of the fuzzy images, but I have that map on my computer at home, not on my laptop

First Map: The original ATW cruise as posted in 2020.

Second Map: The first set of changes on the ATW cruise as posted in Late-2021

Third Map: The second set of changes on the ATW cruise sent to staterooms on 20 January, 2022

Fourth Itinerary No map available: As of 7 April, 2022 we have had 7 cancelled ports with no replacements and 14 changed destinations from the second update.  

I spoke to four ATW couples who have had enough and are getting off in Athens.  I was too polite to ask if they were getting a refund for the unfinished part of the cruise.  If anyone knows, please tell me. It’s not important, but I am curious. After looking at the 3 maps and my notes on where we have been so far, it's no wonder they are getting off.  I can't blame them.  I think we who are staying on are riding on a Ship of Fools. If I get grumbly about the changes let me grumble.  This has been one wild ride!

We got word in the noon time announcements that 100% of the crew and passengers are still COVID free. Along with 3 reminders to wear a mask, wash our hands, and be careful.  I think the new cruise director is a hypochondriac.  If not, he’s just paranoid.  Morning announcements, noon announcements, and evening announcements all repeat the same 3 reminders.  I’m sick of hearing them.  Many, myself included, are also curious why if we are 100% COVID free, and the EU doesn’t have official guidelines about wearing masks (it’s all country based), then why are we still masked up and spoken to as though we are children?  Three times a day?  Really?  Overkill I think.

While I was at the ladies lunch George played bridge with a friend.  I thought that was wonderful for both of them. They will become regular partners on these lunch days.  George enjoys the game but I don’t.  I want to stay married to him.  I did learn how to play 4 years ago, but I’m not a good bidder and it lead to "discussions" about my bad playing.  Did I mention that George has a hard time counting cards?  It’s best we don’t play together.

At 5:45 we went to yet another 'party'.  The interesting tidbit today? We go through an awful lot of laundry.  13 tons of bed linens, 30 tons of towels, and around 40 tons of laundry-sorry, I think that is per week but don’t remember for sure. 

We had dinner in the Grand Dining Room tonight and I have to say it was the worst pork chop I have ever had.  Seriously.  I asked for it to be pink inside so it would be moist and juicy.  It was as dry as the bone inside it.  It’s not the fault of the chef I don’t believe. My thought is you can only work with what you are given and I don’t believe this to have been a good cut of meat.  Right, Stop that Roxanne. Remember your epiphany from yesterday.  You are lucky to have dry meat.  

We returned to the room and began to watch La Dolce Vida.  What a wonderful old black and white movie this is.  It is highly appropriate to watch when on a cruise around the world. Another one I would recommend. 

10 April

At 6 am we docked at Ashdod Israel.  We are at a container port again. Not the view I wanted to see when I finally made it here.  First thing in the morning we woke up and went down for yet another COVID test.  I guess one wasn’t enough or perhaps the Israeli government doesn’t trust the cruise ship.  Better safe than sorry though.   

Around 11:30 we got back our negative results and went up for lunch.  After that I went and got our bus number tickets.  And then we waited….At 1:50 Leslie came back on the intercom and told us they are still waiting for 100% negative test results.  I’m beginning to have this feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach.  I pray no one on board has covid, but I’m beginning to lose hope with that.  Our tour is 6 hours long.  We now have 8 hours until departure, the odds are not good that we will actually see Jerusalem on this trip. Fingers crossed.  At 2:30 he came back on and asked the guests of one state room to report to reception.  Oh no!  We are down to 7 hours left in this city.  I think I will be looking at things to do in Ashdod.  If all else fails and we really do get off this ship we can scoot around the town.  

Hurray! at 2:40 in the afternoon we finally got the go ahead and can get off the boat! Oh happy day!

Until next time, Happy Puzzling and Smooth Sailing.