Travelicious

Land ho!

The message about the change of schedule for tomorrow indicates that people should be able to begin leaving the ship around 7:30. I am going to set my alarm for that time, get showered, and grab a light breakfast. Hopefully most will already be ashore by then. The only must do while in Reykjavik is to eat at the famous hot dog stand. We’ll probably try to get Pookie in to a dentist, but if it doesn’t work out the Fixadent seems to be doing the job for now. Otherwise I just want to walk around and see what there is to see. Had I known we would have a full day we would have joined one of the big tours. Oh well. A hot dog and a walk about it is! 😆

We are still trying to find the right balance of when to eat. We are definitely only doing 2 meals per day. Of course, activity level is also greatly decreased from last week, so that doesn’t help. Luckily, we will be in Reykjavik tomorrow and will get some walking around time. Looks like there is about a 20% chance of rain in the afternoon. We should be able to deal with that. We were scheduled to arrive at 2:00 in the afternoon and to depart at 1:00 in the afternoon on Monday. Not ideal times. However, we were notified this evening that we will arrive at 6:00 a.m. due to a medical emergency. Today we actually got up early and went to The Local for breakfast. There was NO LINE! In fact, there were probably only 5 or 6 tables that were occupied while we were there. It was wonderful! And peaceful. We chilled in the room after breakfast and told the steward we did not need service today. It was a mostly sunny day for a change, so we opened the balcony door to enjoy the sights and sounds. A little to chilly in the wind to just sit out. We went out for a walk around deck 8 and then drinks around 2:30. There were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine. There were even some using the pools. Too cold for me! We went to Belvedere’s and both had a Moscow Mule, which was nice and light. For the next round, I had an amaretto sour and Pookie had a whiskey sour. People started lining up for the Commodore Room around 4:45, and it was getting loud, so we headed to the Observation Lounge, where we were actually able to get a seat. We had another Moscow Mule while waiting for Food Republic to open. This one wasn’t as good, but somehow we managed to finish it. Having eaten at Food Republic before, I decided we should pay rather than use a dining voucher. We started with 4 items, and would order more if still hungry. We were both stuffed after sharing the 4 items. Pookie also had 5 ounces of warm sake. I tried a sip. Some things don’t change. I didn’t like Saki 40 years ago and I still don’t.

Finally getting a nice photo of the ocean and some blue sky.

Here’s something I love about the ship in public restrooms: Left is soap, middle is water, and right is DRYER! Maybe not much of a big deal to some of you, but amazing to us country bumpkins!

Breakfast at Hudson’s. No photos, as I forgot to bring my phone. We arrived around 9:20. Service was not great, but not complaining. Slot pull with $100 entry returned $220 each! Great time for all who participated! I a as already lost profits, but not initial investment. Dinner again in Hudson’s. I had lemon-pepper shrimp and Pookie had spinach/ricotta stuffed pepper. Both were very good. For dessert, I had lava cake and Pookie had apple strudel. Mine was cheesy, but need to request without strawberry gelatin/ ook. Pookie said her topping was good, but apples somewhat hard.

My bad! We haven’t tried Metropolitan yet. I meant Belvedere.

It’s a no in Metropolitan.

Unfortunately, having slept so late today, we missed the bar crawl organized by @Taxvp. Sorry! Hope y'all had a great time!

First, bacon-wrapped shrimp from last night: Next, tonight's dinner at Le Bistro: Tonight's dinner was compliments of Amex, which provides a dinner at Le Bistro and $200 non-refundable OBC. When we were seated, we were told the meal comes with one appetizer, one main, and one dessert each. We decided to get and split the beef tenderloin for a $10 upcharge and the lobster thermidor for a $25 upcharge. We were shocked to find out there was no upcharge for using the Amex credit, as opposed to the FAS dining credit. They swiped the card for the wine, but did not bring a ticket to sign for anything additional. We even stuck around for a few minutes to make sure we were good to go.

We were able to catch the early showing of Donna Summer last night, and loved it! Her music always makes me happy. After the show, we had a late dinner in the Commodore Room. Unfortunately, there is a problem loading photos today, but the bacon-wrapped Cajun shrimp with cheesy grits was the highlight. So good, and highly recommended! After dinner, Pookie got a lemoncello and I got a cosmopolitan, and we headed to the casino. Pookie is not much of a gambler. She lost a very small amount in a slot machine, played a little coin pusher, and was done. I was winning pretty big when she was heading back to the room. I should have cashed out and gone too, but, alas, I did not. I did quit with only a small loss and cashed out a decent voucher, so it wasn’t so bad. I also didn’t drink too much, which is probably the biggest win of all. The daily time changes seem to be catching up with us. The ship was really rocking last night and this morning, which makes me sleep exceptionally well. We didn’t crawl out of bed until after 1:00 this afternoon. By the time we were ready to leave the room it was a bit after 2:00. I wanted a salad from the buffet, as we have a 5:30 reservation at Le Bistro tonight. It was still a madhouse after 2:00, and the salad bar was closed. We headed to The Local, got a beeper, and waited for about 15 minutes. Why are all of these people eating lunch so late? We each had a Caesar salad, and headed back to the room, where our room steward said he needed about 5 more minutes. This guy probably thinks we are the laziest guests ever! He may be right. We are chilling for a bit and will head out for a pre-dinner cocktail around 5:00, then dinner. I suspect it will be an early night away from the casino. I agree with the assessment of those who say the Prima is not ideal for a cold weather cruise due to limited indoor public spaces. The outside deck on 8 is closed again today, although it is about 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. Still no sun, but at least it is not foggy today so we can actually see the ocean. I would really like to sail the Prima again, or the Viva, in a warmer setting. The ship itself is great. It is all the people in my way that is the problem. 🤣

Hopefully, but she was a little cold at one point today.

Can’t find anywhere onboard that makes them. Not even the whiskey bar.

Weather wise, I haven’t seen the sun since New York. It is cold, rainy and foggy. Deck 8?is pretty chilly from people going outside and those sliding doors opening. Probably need to put on my long Johns!

Oh, and I just discovered that Pookie did not really bring any warm clothes. 🙃