Southampton, England and a New Cruise

Welcome to Southampton!

Strange building

Some haze in the air today

Docked smack dab in front of the Tesla building

Turnaround days when you don't have to go through immigration and don't have an excursion or need to run errands are some of my favorite days. I did have one thing to take care of, though. Muster drill. Passengers are required to watch the video and visit the muster station when they embark and then every 30 days afterwards. Even though I'm at the 30 day mark I never received a separate notice but went ahead and watched the video and visited the muster station anyway. Except the guy manning my muster station told me in transits didn't have to check in. I told him I knew that and I went into the every 30 day muster thing and he still told me I didn't need to. We went back and forth a few more times with me saying I needed to and he saying I didn't. I was about ready to tell him to just scan the damn Medallion anyway but realized I could do it without his permission. So I did. And he muttered an oh when it checked me off his list.

Once I got through that fiasco, I spent a bulk of my day watching all the activity happening on the docks. I always find it so interesting and enlightening. 

Fill 'er up!

I watched this huge crane unload scoop after
scoop of something. A grain maybe?

Cans and cases of ???

New carpet for somewhere on the ship

Here comes the luggage

Unwrapping new rope for the docks

The weather is nice but we do have some smoke out there and it continued to thicken throughout the day. A benefit of losing my sense of smell and taste is I can't smell the smoke a bit. Although I guess my lungs probably know about it.

So where are we headed on this new cruise? North to Norway! Unfortunately, Longyearbyen was removed a few months back since they aren't accepting large ships. Tom Cruise wanted to use a helicopter for filming his newest Mission Impossible movie there and was turned down, too. If you are turning down Tom Cruise, you are serious about protecting your environment.

No Longyearbyen but have added Gravdal, Norway and Edinburgh, Scotland

Up first, a sea day. Then Haugesund on Wednesday. See you then!

Falmouth, England

Welcome to Falmouth, England. Sort of.

Every passenger whether staying onboard or going ashore had to go through a face to face immigration inspection today by the UKBF. (I had to look it up...United Kingdom Border Force). We were all assigned times and even though we were to arrive at 7:00 AM today, my scheduled time wasn't until 9:45.

The officials boarded late but the process went faster than expected and I got in ahead of time. Officials took a quick look at the passport, ship personnel had us scan our Medallion, handed us a card saying we had been cleared, and we were on our way to go get a tender ticket.

But no one was going anywhere yet. The fog horn blaring all night was a signal things were going to go a bit awry today.

Can you see the one lone tender out there?

All those folks on all those shore excursions which should have left at 7:00, 8:00, and 9:00 were waiting. And waiting. And waiting. It wasn't until 10:00 when the fog cleared enough to launch and load the tenders. 

Yes, there was land out there!

When the Captain announced the journey each way was going to be 45 minutes I decided to pass.

90 minutes on a tender 

+ at least another 30 minutes in loading and unloading 

+ probably 30 or more minutes waiting in line 

+ a short day anyway

= not enough time to leisurely explore Falmouth on a scooter

I’ll be back here again later this summer so I was okay with it and decided to stay onboard and take a little rest with the balcony door open. Listening to the lapping waves while breathing the cool damp sea air (as opposed to the frigid Arctic air) put me right to sleep. It was the rest my body needed. 

Let's be honest, it's the rest my body is needing every single day. They say I should be getting better any day now and I'm definitely better than I was at my sickest, but I'm still so very tired. And the darn missing taste and smell is getting frustrating. I'm taking advice from all over the ship as some of the crew who have been with me this past month are trying to help me heal as well. The buffet is keeping me stocked with big bowls of lemons. Straight fresh lemon juice is the key to getting the taste buds activated, one says. Lukewarm water with fresh lemon says another. Lots of vegetables says another. Another tells me every time I take a bite I need to train my brain to remember what it tastes like - and toilet water thoughts are not an option! I've been following it all. My cabin steward keeps me supplied with pool towels and blankets so I can sit on the damp balcony, bundle up with blankets, and get fresh air. He's also given me a warm fuzzy blanket I use to take my frequent naps on the bed. And he hand delivers the Princess Patter every night even though I haven't made it to one activity. 

Someone is out there living life today

Despite my Super Sensational Solo Summer Adventure not exactly going as planned I'm still happy to be here and can't think of a better place to heal than on a ship at sea.

We received certificates for our Arctic Circle Crossing

Tomorrow we're in Southampton where this cruise will end and another will begin. Some passengers will be leaving, others joining, and many will be staying on for the next journey like I am. There were several excursions available to London tomorrow, but since I've spent several days there before I went ahead and cancelled mine. It's a long drive and I need to save my energy for higher priority ports on the next cruise. To Norway!

Time zone changes so far: I think I missed one when I was sick so I'm giving up trying to keep track.