21 May 2007:

Early Morning to Late Afternoon:

The ship entered the Oslo fjord around 3am and sailed through the dark water as night turned into a hazy, cold morning. My hopes for a ‘sunrise over the fjord’ picture were dashed by the thick grey clouds that stayed with us for all but a few minutes during the day. The weather is finally hinting that we are in the North Atlantic and nearing the Baltic. The sun is hiding and the temperature is in the 40’s with a brisk breeze playing across the deck.

We are only In Oslo for a few hours today and we will be returning on the next segment of the voyage, so we took a short ‘sampler’ tour that was generally uninspiring. I could have done without the trip to the Viking ship museum and the visit to the site of the 1952 Olympic ski jump competition, however, the walk through the statues at the Wegland Park was pretty nice. But when I return in about 10 days, I plan to just do a walking tour of the downtown area.

The Norwegians are a sturdy, prosperous group of people.....sturdy thanks to their dreadful winters and love of hiking in the hills and prosperous thanks to all the North Sea oil discovered back in the 1960’s and 1970’s off their coast. The oil money flowing into the country is enough to support the welfare state that they prefer and raise prices to a level that caused me to forego a shopping expedition. Labor, of any sort, is very expensive....an entry level position at the local McDonald’s starts at $29.00 per hour....skilled labor is much more, so in Norway, if you can do it yourself, then you do.

The sail-in and sail-away through the fjords is very scenic, but once again the lack of sun is preventing any major photo ops. The good news is that this is the last night of the Transatlantic segment of the cruise. Most passengers will be disembarking tomorrow morning in Copenhagen....including everyone at our dinner table. I will be sorry to see the Ohioans leave....they proved to be fine folks who took on much of the burden of dealing with James Bond these last 2 weeks. You haven’t heard much about them in these emails because they are ‘normal’ people...the sort that inhabit my world....and also because there has been soooo much other material to work with on this voyage. But, just in case they ever stumble onto this posting on the web, I wanted to say “Thanks for the help and for the company” to Lorraine and Ralph; you were great people to sail with.

We have sailed 5452 nautical miles from Fort Lauderdale and have 236 miles to go to our next port of call in Copenhagen.  

Evening:

As soon as we leave the fjords and re-enter the North Sea, the sun breaks through the clouds and taunts us.....now that there is nothing but sea water to photograph.

No real news to report after dinner. Everyone was fairly subdued since they are all leaving the ship in the morning, issues like packing and airline connections dominated the discussion. So, this segment of dinner time conversation ends with a whimper rather than a bang and we are now done having social intercourse with the SuperGlues and the Bonds. We can only wonder what conversational treats await us at tomorrow’s dinner time.

A brief post-dinner trip to the casino left me slightly ahead on blackjack; money which I quickly pissed away on the ‘Pushie-Scrapie’ machine....that damned machine should be outlawed!! It is a menace to society...but it fascinates me.

A note to people doing ‘Back-to-Back’ cruises: Order the duty-free liquor from the onboard shop on the first segment of your cruise....the bottles will be delivered to your cabin on the last full day of the first segment of your cruise, thus re-stocking your liquor cabinet ‘just-in-time’ for the second part of your voyage.

When I left the casino and headed to the cabin I met Carmen, our cabin steward, in the hall way. She stopped me to mention that during our stay in Russia, a few days in the future, they would not be able to provide clean towels each day.....apparently the local laws prohibit doing laundry onboard....or distributing laundry...or something of that nature....probably some arcane rule left over from the Soviet era. In any event, she said she would try to give us a few extra towels prior to arriving in St. Petersburg. She thought this would be necessary because she ‘noticed that I showered twice each day’....which apparently is significantly more than 98% of the other passengers....so I may be using a stash of illegal towels during my brief, two-day stay in the Evil Empire.....but I do so knowing that my excellent personal hygiene has not gone unnoticed by the crew of this vessel.   

Upon returning to the room I find that my new cruise card (room key/charge card) for the next segment of the trip is waiting for me on the desk. I am now a “Platinum” member of the Princess Cruise Line’s Captain’s Circle. This great honor is bestowed on anyone making 6 or more voyages on a Princess ship. It is denoted by a platinum colored cruise card and carries with it many unique and special privileges.....the most important of which is that you get to flash it when making purchases and other, less well-traveled, cruisers will envy your exalted status. But, I am still 10 cruises away from the supreme “Elite” status that conveys true power and privilege....namely Free Laundry and Complimentary Mini-Bar Setup. Now there is a goal worth striving for.

And with those noble aspirations spinning in my brain, thus ends the final evening of the Transatlantic journey of the Star Princess.