M/S Polarlys

September 10, 2009 Thursday
M/S Polarlys

We managed to get to the train station and from there to the airport with oodles of time to spare and Don was a happy camper!! All his preparations paid off and he was comfortable. LOL

Checking in at the Oslo Airport was really easy and it is virtually all automated. You walk up to a machine like the kind where we get boarding passes and it not only gives you a boarding pass but also checks your bag(s) and gives you a routing ticket to affix to the bag(s). Then all you do is take whatever you want to check through up to a counter and put it on a moving belt and off you go to security. Their security is the same as ours except that they do not make you take off your shoes.

The plane to Kirkenes was a small jet and was only half full. I had envisioned that nearly everybody on the plane would be taking the ship but this was totally wrong. There were only about 6 of us on the plane that were going to the ship. I have no idea how the rest of the passengers got to the ship except that a fairly sizeable number took the round trip from Bergen. There also is a group of Grand Circle tourists who joined the ship in Kirkenes and arrived by bus.

The ship is small (capacity of 750 passengers) and only has about 300 passengers this trip. First thing I did was go up to the area where drinks were served and ask for hot chocolate. I got my cup of chocolate and then was told the cost!! Oops!! Didn’t realize they were charging for coffee, tea, cocoa, etc. after the noon meal! That little piece of information was given to us at a meeting that took place shortly after we departed!!!

We made our way up to the top of the ship and got seats smack in the middle of the front of the ship and we sat there and watched as we departed Kirkenes and started on our trip. The water was very rough and I was feeling a bit queasy but still managed to make it to lunch and eat some of the lunch fare. Looks like the food may be okay on this ship.

This little boat is a combination ferry, mail boat, cruise ship and general means of communication between all these tiny villages on all these tiny islands up north here. It will be making 34 stops as we move south to Bergen and I’m determined to see whatever there is to see at each port.

Well, we just got back from our first port of call and we were laughing so hard I could hardly write. We had put on our warm jackets and were right at the front of the line to get off when we docked. Little did we know that it had started to rain, a blowing, cold rain that just penetrated right through you. It was all I could do to get Don off the gangplank, let alone to get him to walk all the way to the abandoned fort that is the highlight of this village!! We managed to get about a block up the street and Don spotted a sign that pointed to the left that said “souvenirs” and he suddenly had a great urge to go shopping!! Now this is NOT the Don that I know and love and I started to laugh. He said, “Hell, I’ll do anything to get out of this damned cold.” He nearly pulled the door off its hinges but to no avail. The shop was closed so off we again started for the fort. He made it another block and suddenly made an about face and announced that he was heading back and I could do “any damned thing” I wanted to do. By that time I was pretty fed up with the weather too and so we both came back to the ship!! We were both in hysterics by the time we boarded and I’m pretty sure that the ship’s crew thought we were nuts. I told them that we had thought it was cold on board the ship but now it was looking pretty warm!!

I had to blow dry my hair and when I came out of the bathroom, Don was sitting on our couch with a big wool blanket wrapped around himself! He is dubious about getting off at the next port in three more hours!! In fact, I may not get him off the ship for the rest of the voyage!!

He is now wrapped in his wool blanket, on his knees, peering out the cabin window!!

About 3pm I started feeling like something was wrong but I couldn’t identify what it was. My stomach was gnawing on my backbone and I just was feeling icky. I finally decided that I needed to lie down and I felt ever so much better when I was down so by 4pm I was all curled up under two blankets in bed and I just knew that I would feel better if I was any place but on this floating bobber in the middle of the sea. I was SEASICK and it is the first time I’ve ever been afflicted with this. Not fun—not fun at all. Don brought me a bowl of soup for dinner and I got that down and it actually felt pretty good although what kind of soup it was is anybody’s guess. It was a creamed something or other with a most peculiar taste but not terribly unpleasant and it was warm, so I was happy. I went to sleep and didn’t wake up until 1:30am!! Just long enough to peek out the window and see that it wasn’t dark outside and the I went right back to sleep until morning.