Travelicious

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. 🙃

After eating way too much yesterday, we skipped breakfast and headed to Indulge at around 11:15 to claim a table for the 12:00 lunch service. We learned yesterday that this was a necessity. I read on my Kindle and Pookie played a game on her phone as we waited. The time finally arrived, and we placed orders for several items, which soon began to arrive one at a time. Again, I forgot to take photos of most items. Sorry. Here’s what I got: We also ordered the bacon-wrapped dates, a salad, soup and one or two other items. Surprisingly, the soup and salad arrived last. It wasn’t too long into the service that people were coming through looking for a table. Someone stood a few feet away and looked at us for a while, then approached to ask if she could have our table when we were done. But “take your time,” she said. Eventually she must have decided to go elsewhere. Then a man circled by a couple of times before leaning on the column next to our booth, right next to me, before asking if we were almost done. We told him that we still had items coming, so he moved on to someone else. It was like vultures, really. There has to be a better way for this facility, which seems to be the only one without a hostess. As far as the food, it was just okay. The best items were the gnocchi and the dates. We won’t go back for lunch, but may try it for dinner if there is a different menu. I guess we’ll either go to Hudson’s or The Commodore Room for dinner tonight. We were waitlisted for dinner with the officers, and received a letter today advising the date and time. We had a conflicting dinner reservation, but were able to get it changed, so we are good to go. Hope we get interesting people. Pookie has never done this and I’ve done it only once. One other oversight has occurred related to Latitudes benefits. We have not yet received our cartons of water, and we should get 2 each. We advised Cruise Next yesterday, and again today. Hopefully they will be delivered before we get to Iceland, as the smaller cartons are easier to take off the ship.

We are staying at the Comfort Hotel at the airport. From reviews, I can’t say it is good, but very basic. Our flight is at 6:30 a.m. the following morning, so proximity is most important to us for this stay.

Back in the land of the living, but still a super lazy day. Basically, we at breakfast in Hudson’s, walked around a while to give our room steward time to make the rounds, only to return to find out I touched “do not disturb” instead of “make up room.” We were sending out the first load of laundry today, so left again to make sure it was collected. We were hoping for a light lunch at Indulge, but every table was taken before they even opened for lunch. We went to the local for what turned out to be a not so light lunch: wrangler burger and Reuben. I also had a Moscow Mule. I saw the last half of Elvis a couple of night ago. It was coming on when we got back to the room, so decided to watch the beginning. Then promptly fell asleep. Dinner was Los Lobos, where they’ve changed the recipe for the chili relleno. Not it is stuffed with quinoa instead of cheese. I like quinoa, but not what I expected. Anyway, it was lots of food and we are stuffed. We each had 2 margaritas, and a decaf cafe Mexicano. I forgot to take photos of the mains before we dug in. A couple of days ago, Pookie mentioned that one of her crowns was loose. This is one she just had redone a month ago. We joked that she should stay away from corn on the cob. So tonight she had the corn cut off the cob, and the crown still came off during dinner. Guess we’ll try to find a dentist in Reykjavik to glue it back on. It is way too early in the trip for this. Fret not, Dear Readers. Despite have a few drinks, I’m not going to the casino and am done for the night. Hopefully we can try Indulge tomorrow.

After the Meet and Greet we had lunch in Hudson’s, then explored more of the ship. It is a beautiful ship, though a bit confusing to get around. We are very familiar with the Away ships, and this is nothing like those. We had dinner at Palomar. I agree with those who have posted that it is not really that good, especially when compared to Onda. Pookie’s assessment was, “I mean, it’s not disgusting.” We have another reservation here later in the cruise. I’m going to change it. She had the Mediterranean salad, which was probably the best part of the meal. I had grilled octopus. We shared the whole fish for two, some kind of potatoes and asparagus. We skipped dessert. Like a big dummy, I decided to get a Sidecar and go to the casino. That Sidecar wasn’t my only drink. I don’t know what time I headed back to the room, but there weren’t many people around as I was leaving the casino. Must have been really late, which I don’t ordinarily do. We were in Halifax today. I did get up, showered and we went out for lunch in town. Pookie had a burger and I had gnocchi. I wasn’t well, though, and came straight back to bed, where I’ve been ever since. Pookie brought some pizza from the buffet, and now I’m starting to feel human again. At least I got that out of the way and the lesson will stick for a while. I’ll be back to normal tomorrow.

Well, someone over indulged last night and is spending the day in bed. If you guessed me, you are correct. Will update here tomorrow.

She is very sweet!

Just popping in for a quick update. We had a great turnout from members as well as officers. Even the captain made an appearance. But the highlight was getting to meet the folks from our roll call at last. Many didn’t put their CC names on the name tags, so I wasn’t sure who they were and didn’t get to talk to everyone, but did meet two Cruise Critic famous people, @mking8288 and @Sugar Magnolia, along with a host of others.

We had a 12:00 - 12:30 check-in time, and arrived at the pier about 12:05 to find that what appeared to be thousands paid no attention to the numerous emails and texts warning to arrive no sooner than noon. I’m pretty sure most of them were not scheduled for 12-12:30. Bottom line was that we stood in line outside for 2 hours. It was a bit chilly, but that is much preferred to bring hot. We finally moved in to a very long line for security. Once we were through security, we were able to skip the long check-in line and head to the Latitudes Priority section with no waiting. We stepped onto the ship right at 2:50, and immediately spotted Penrose Bar. Obviously we wouldn’t get our traditional sit down embarkation day lunch, so we e ordered our first drinks. I had a cosmo and then a Monkey Business, which is pre-made and on tap. It has Screwball whiskey in it and is very tasty. Okay, I’m really not very good at this, as I keep forgetting to take pictures. No photos of yesterday’s drinks, or our cabin before we junked it up. Sorry! I would have forgotten dinner photos if Pookie hadn’t reminded me. Anyway, we were allowed to get into our cabin at some point - I’m guessing a little after 4:00. All luggage was in the hallway. We spotted ours and drug them to the room, got unpacked, and rested for a few minutes before heading to dinner. We had a 5:30 reservation at Onda, which we decided to keep even though we d not be outside for sail away. It was SO good, even the bread! We will go back during this cruise. I can’t remember all the names of what we ordered, except the creamy polenta. This came with a mushrooms in a gravy, which is mixed in with the polenta. We absolutely loved this! Pookie had a pasta with seafood, and I had a ravioli with ricotta and other good stuff to make a great tasting filling. I’ll have to get a photo of the menu next time so I can remember the names. Honestly, after just standing so long yesterday, I was in pain and worn out. Walking is much easier on the body than standing. I decided to call it a day and retired to the cabin. Pookie went back out for another drink or 2. Luckily, I was still awake when she returned so I could remind her to turn off her cellular data and put the phone in airplane mode. Today is the Meet and Greet. It will be nice to finally see our roll call friends. I will probably not post again until tomorrow, as I’m going to use the free internet minutes for a couple of days before purchasing the unlimited package.

We could not have asked for better weather during our time in NY! It was mostly cool and crisp, with a bit of cold and then warming in the sun. Perfect walkabout weather, and no worries of sweating. We're patiently waiting in the room for time to summon the Uber. We've received no less than 10 texts and emails over the last week reminding us not to show up before noon. I wonder if that means we should get there early. 🙃 I suspect, with the late arrival times, everyone will get there at noon even if their check-in time is 3:00. Good times!

@mking8288 sadly, I have not been able to keep up with your live since getting to NYC. Maybe I can catch up over the sea days.

Have a great cruise!