Day 1. May 16 2022

I didn’t have luggage tags. Princess had sent some sort of digital pendant which was used as a door key and credit card on the ship. I figured they would just scan it and print tags but they didn’t.
I knew that my cabin number was 723 but the luggage guy said that there should be a letter in front of it. I gave him my name and he said he would figure it out.

Boarding was easy. Because it was late there was no crowd. The cabin was humid and hot. My steward, Pradip, put his hand up to the A/C vent and said cold air was coming out. I said there wasn’t enough coming out. He said he would put an order in and check on my bags.
I was having trouble with the Princess cell phone app and so I went to the pursers desk. I told her about the a/c and asked if I could upgrade to the plus program which gives you drinks, tips and internet for $40 a day. She said no but she messed around with my phone and I discovered I had internet.

The program said that solo travellers were meeting at 5.30pm. 16 men were sitting together. I asked if they were the solo group and they said pull up a chair. I asked where were all the women they looked at me funnily and asked why I wanted women then went back to talking about pride parades. We also talked about other cruises which is always a big conversation on cruises. The guys listened when I talked but they didn’t really talk to me. I felt a bit excluded and when I had finished my drink I said I had another engagement.

Still no bags. I was feeling crabby and sweaty and so I decided not to go to the dining room and instead ate alone in the cafeteria.

Still no bags. I called housekeeping and waited for Pradip. I started to watch Belfast. An hour later still no Pradip and no bags and still hot. I went down to the purser’s desk again. The lines were long and a lot of people were complaining about their a/c. I spotted an officer and told her about my bags. She told me to check on the other side of the room where there was a pile of bags, including mine. I dragged them to my room to a chorus of “Leaving so soon.”

I opened one case and was relieved to see that my smuggled rum had made it but a lot of stuff was missing. I had packed in a hurry. I had one sneaker. My toothbrush charger was missing along with a whole bag of cables and lenses.

I drank my rum, finished watching Belfast and brushed my teeth. An electric toothbrush is still a toothbrush. You just have to do more work.

Day 2

A new day. I’ve been cruising so often that shipboard life seems normal. Walking down the corridors, the slight roll and of course the buffet breakfast. Such choice. I ate too much and I ate too much fat. From now on I will eat healthily.

Pickleball was fun. The court is regulation size but it stretches the full width of the deck and so there is no room to step behind the end line because there is a net right on it. There is an agreement that you don’t serve deep. I liked the people there. Most of them live in Florida. We
talked about Ukraine but I was careful not to mention Trump or the school shooting.

I unpacked and in the deeper recesses of my luggage I found another sneaker, my toothbrush charger and a bag of cables and lenses.
I ate a healthy lunch and took a nap. It was too late to go to the solo meeting. The schedule shows two meetings, solos and LGTBs both in the same bar and at about the same time.

I was determined to eat in the restaurant. You can eat at an individual or a shared table. I lined up and started to chat to a little old lady. The hostess asked if we would like a shared table. I said yes and the little old lady said no. The hostess asked again. I said yes and the litle old lady said no. The hostess asked if we were together. We said no. We all laughed and I went off to eat with two couples, a nice couple from Maryland and a hugely obese Australian couple who were also very nice. We had a lively conversation. Mostly about travel but also about pet fish, computers and downsizing. Politics didn’t come up and the food was good. This is what I love about cruising.

I went to the show. The Australian couple squeezed into my row. The entertainer was a singer from North Carolina. He had a good voice but to me an annoying personality and the amplification seemed a bit harsh. He ended up by singing “Nessun Dorma” and the audience
went wild and gave him a standing ovation. Imagine if it had been Pavarotti and a real orchestra. They would have died.

Day 3

I don’t have to worry about the a/c. It’s cold and rainy. No pickleball today. I’m glad I have internet.

I got todays wordle in two guesses. Moira and Joan called me thinking that I was still at home. It felt strange to see and talk to them from the middle of the ocean. There are a lot of very old passengers and quite a few old passengers who are younger than me. A lot of couples seem to hate each other especially the ones pushing their partner’s wheelchairs. I suppose you make a deal but I don’t mind being single.

I went to get a snack for my cocktail time and noticed that some people were dressed up. I checked and it is a formal night.

Dinner was really interesting. I ate with a British/American couple from Florida, a Canadian couple and a Phillipino widow. We were all dressed in our finery. Our conversation touched on politics but nobody made emphatic statements or argued. We were very careful. The Canadian couple worked for a non-profit and spent the summer on their yacht which in my mind made them limousine liberals. The other couple were, I think, right-wing. The guy had worked for the US
government. He had worked in Yorkshire at the secret base near Harrogate. He quoted the founders and I recognised some of the quotes from right-wing facebook pages. I mentioned that I had become acitizen after Trump was elected and I told the story about my neighbors and election signs but I didn’t say which sign was mine. The Phillipino woman supported the new president Marcos and said that she had been sitting with his mother last week. She was kind of cute and we went to the show together and are planning to explore Halifax together.

Day 4

A lazy day. I walked past the gym a few times and I didn’t look to see if pickleball was going on. It’s cold and foggy. Eating and reading is the order of the day.

I called Carol, the Phillipino lady, and woke her up from a nap. We didn’t talk much. I think she’s used to getting her own way. We agreed to meet for breakfast tomorrow before our Halifax date.
Again dinner was great. Dinner at a shared table is the whole point of cruising to me. Tonight I ate with three couples. A couple from California, a couple from Hawaii and a couple from New
Jersey. The Californian woman was born in Canada and was thinking of moving back because of the problems in the US. Her husband was very quiet and also very drunk. They both used walking sticks. The Hawaiian husband had been a college football coach but was quite pleasant. His wife was very nice and I found her attractive. The New Jersey couple were the most interesting. The man had been a navy pilot and was involved in the Iran hostage rescue. He was pleasant and told jokes. He claimed that the hostages were released on Reagan’s inauguration day because the Iranians were afraid of the tough new president unlike the weak Carter. I didn’t mention Iran/Contra.

Day 5

I waited outside the food court and I did a couple of walk throughs but no Carol. I decided to eat. I remembered the mixups with Ann on the QM2 and I also thought it may be for the best not to get into an entanglement. While I was eating, of course, Carol popped up. She had been up early and had already eaten.

It was hot and humid in Halifax. Nothing like I had expected. Carol is quite practical. She thought the hop on hop off bus was too expensive. Which it was at 65 USD. Normally it’s about 30 euros.

We walked down the boardwalk and took pictures. Carol likes to have her picture taken. We went to a little park and a basilica. We went to a store where I bought sunblock and a bottle of gin which I poured into Carol’s water bottle. We talked about our lives. She has been married twice. Once to a drug addict and once to an abstaining professor in order to get a green card. A few warning signs flashed. We drank a slide of beers at a little brewery. We sat in the shade. It was very pleasant.
We had cocktails in Carol’s cabin. She has a balcony but it was too cold and windy to sit outside.

It looked as though Carol had had a few cocktails earlier. We drank gin and lemonade. Carol had taken a gummy on our walk and now she brought out a litle pipe and smoked buds. She made a separate pipe for me. We took our drinks to one of the bars where a band was playing and people were dancing. We danced but not very well. We went to dinner. In line were the two couples we had eaten with the night we met. Carol was getting animated. Maybe too animated. We left our old friends to join another table. They were very nice. A lesbian couple from California and a hetero couple from Georgia. The ladies were
very California left and the Georgians were maybe a little left of center. I ordered a bottle of wine.

Carol was drinking fast. One of the ladies had been a 911 operator and the other a teacher in Los Angeles. That became the topic of conversation. During dessert Carol got up and excused herself. She said to me that she felt very drunk. I let her go.

I went to the show. The entertainer was a Canadian comedian. He started the show by telling bad old jokes but then he selected members of the audience to come on stage and perform improv with him. It was very good. It might have been rehearsed. The audience volunteers were cleverer than the comedian.

Day 6

I messaged Carol to see if she was OK. She said that she was and was going to lunch. She apologised and said she suddenly pooped out. I said I was glad she was well. I think that’s the end. I have to remember that I’m 75, 76 in a few days. It’s easy to think like a teenager, especially on a cruise ship.

It’s cold and the sea is getting higher. I can feel the motion and it makes me want to sleep. Every time I start to read I nod off. I went up to pickleball but it was windy. A few people were playing. I ate lunch and napped.

Dinner was, as always, wonderful. Three couples, two from Florida and one from Michigan. The Fort Lauderdale couple were nice but boring. The St. Augustine couple were probably mid-sixties. The woman was beautiful. I fell in love. Her voice, her mannerism, everything. The
Michigan couple were very interesting. They lived in Hillsdale which is the home of Hillsdale College an ultra-conservative university funded by the likes of the infamous Koch brothers. The college brags that it doesn’t take any government money and so it doesn’t have to conform to a lot of rules such as equal sports opportunities for women. They were proud of Hillsdale College. They were also Trekkies and they had the pictures to prove it. They had been on a cruise with 4,000 other Trekkies and were going on another in November.

Day 7
The sea is rolling. The ship is rocking and we old people are reeling in the aisles. The decks are closed and so there is no pickleball.
Carol asked what I was doing for Reykevik. I said I was just going to walk around. She said she had met a woman solo traveller and they were going on a tour which included the Golden Circle and the natural steam baths of Fontana. I said no. I’ve been there before.
I watched Ukraine beat Scotland and then went to dinner. Three of the people at my table were solos and there was also a large table of solos. There was also a couple from Ft. Myers. One of the solos left saying he had other plans but I worried that I had offended him. I made a little
joke about mistaking the LGBTs for the solos. This was the most boring dinner. I spent most of if talking to an Australian who didn’t like tipping and the Queen. He spoke Calabrian and so did the Maitre D.
The entertainment was the Canadian from a few nights ago. He didn’t do the improv bit. He was mostly boring but a lot of the audience thought he was hilarious especially his jokes about

gerentological sex.

Day 8
I decided to take some pictures around the ship and I asked Carol if she wanted to be my model. I was looking for drama and the feel of the rough sea but I couldn’t get it. The ship is small and not very dramatic. We decided that we might get some pictures at sunset when the light was better and we also agreed to go to the solo group at 6pm.
When I woke from my nap it was almost 5.30. I checked the schedule and saw that the solos were meeting at 5.30.
At dinner I sat with solos again but these solos were more interesting. There was an English woman who had taken US citizenship at about the same time as me because she liked Trump. She was also a royalist and had spent the day watching the queen stuff on TV. The ship had a
special tea to celebrate the queen. I don’t know how they decided who to invite. Another at the table was an American who had moved to Holland in 1965. He was travelling with his sister who had just tested positive for covid and was now in quarantine for 6 days. It seems there’s quite a bit of it on the ship. He said the solo group was dominated by cliques. He had gone to join the LGBTQs but they were too dull and so now there is a new group that meets in one of the bars
before dinner.
The English woman said there were too many women in the solo group and that they were too competitive. I must check it out tommorrow.

Day 9
I woke up at 4.30am, 5.30 if you count the time change. It gets light early because we are so far north. I tried to get back to sleep but just lazed until 8.30. The cafeteria was only half full. Usually, at this time, it is hard to find a table. Maybe the rough sea but, perish the thought, maybe COVID.
It’s cold, damp and foggy. The ship is sounding its foghorn. Very romantic. I sat near the art auction and read my book. I’m always amazed that people buy paintings on cruises. Sometimes for $25,000 or more. But people like to shop and they’re very susceptible on board ship. The salesman is South African and his spiel is like that of a TV infomercial. He gets the audience involved and gives them free gifts and conducts raffles and makes them feel knowledgeable and
sophisticated. It’s always Peter Max or Leroy Neiman or some colorful and popular artist. Carol passed by. She was walking off her breakfast. She said she went to the solos last night and told them how to make it better. I’ll go tonight.
Tonight was the second formal night. Very few men are wearing tuxes these days. I like to wear mine and the ship is the only place I get a chance to. This one is starting to feel a little tight around the waist and so soon I’ll probably be just like the rest.
The solos are dominated by one woman but Carol also likes things her way and directed everyone to circle their chairs. She also persuaded everyone that a group photo would be better taken on the dancefloor than the staircase. I can see a battle brewing. There was another

Carol there. She was quite pretty and definitely interested in me but I didn’t have a chance to talk to her as I was immediately grabbed by Carol and her new friend Mindy. Mindy is a Californian lawyer who lives in Ecuador. She is very interesting. She’s an anglophile and we
talked about books. She may be gay. We went to dinner together and were joined by an Italian man who lives in Germany. He spoke English with a German accent. After dinner we went to the show. It was the ship’s singers and dancers. It had a New Orleans theme. Very entertaining and sexy.
Tomorrow I’m going to talk to the new Carol.

Day 10
I slept late and because we lost another hour last night it was even later. I’ve used the last of my clean underwear. I went to the laundermat but it was crowded. You can see how long a machine has left in its cycle and the idea is that you bring your laundry when that cycle is done but of course other people also have the same idea. I decided I can do my laundry tomorrow when most passengers will be ashore.
I went to the jacuzzi and talked to a beautiful, young Russian day-trader. She has had covid three times. Most people seem to have had it while I was cloistered for two and a half years. She said her two children have had it but her husband, who is older and obese, has not. I perked up when she said her husband was older and obese but then I remembered that so am I.
The new Carol didn’t come to the solo group. The old Carol stopped by rather gingerishly and said she was going for a pizza. I talked to a good looking Scottish woman but she went off to eat in the cafeteria with a few others who were going to the early show and then to karaoke.
There was no line at the dining room and so no one to share with. The Maitre D’ said that I could host a table and I was seated, but after a few minutes he came back and said there was no queue and took me to a table where three men were seated. They all seemed to be gay. A
retired doctor in his late fifties or early sixties, an American retiree who lived in Tijuana and and an Indian who lived in California. We were joined by a couple from Georgia. The conversation was bright. We spoke mostly about royalty. The Americans loved the royals but they tolerated my republican views. The Indian was circumspect. The conversation became strained when abortion came up. The doctor said that old men were deciding the fate of women’s bodies but the Georgian husband said it wasn’t about women’s bodies but about the murder of innocent children. We decided not to go there and changed the subject.
The doctor is the third most prolific passenger on Princess Cruise Line, or maybe only on this particular cruise, and has his own table which is always ready for him at 7pm. He never has to queue.
The entertainer was a Niel Diamond tribute singer. Earlier he had approached the solo group and asked if we were going to the show. I was on to him and said no we had heard it was rubbish and someone else asked him to sing something. He’s a hustler and he’s quite good.
Sunset is at 11.30 tonight.

Day 11
Reykjavik has grown since my last visit. There are hundreds of new office and apartment blocks all looking like giant lego creations. There are two main tourist roads that I don’t renember and the area where Mary and I stayed has been subsumed. The church is still there. When I visited the last time I was warned about high prices but didn’t notice that they were any higher than at home, but this time they are. On every menu soup started at $20. I paid $20 for a three mile bus trip into town and back. I didn’t spend a penny more. I had planned to buy some
wine and vodka but because it was Sunday the liquor stores were closed. Tomorrow is a holiday and they are expected to be closed again. Iceland may have a drinking problem.
The captain announced a change in mask wearing rules. We have to wear them indoors except when eating or drinking. He said all the Covid cases on board were asymptomatic but if that were the case why would anyone get tested?
I had my first repeat dinner but it wsn’t too bad. The theater was packed even though Covid is raging. The entertainer was a comedian. He was quite good at times but he finished up by juggling. He wasn’t a bad juggler but still.
The bars were empty and so I went back to my cabin. It’s as bright as mid-afternoon. It’s hard to think about sleeping and the TV has lost its signal. Maybe I’ll read.

Day 12
Isafjordur. It was cold and bright. We went ashore via tender. The sea was as flat as glass which was good because a lot of the passengers have mobility issues. It’s a little town of 2,500. Our passengers and crew outnumber the populace and so you had thousands of retirees and hundreds of young Phillipinos wandering around with nothing to do. The museum was closed because it is a holiday. The cruise line runs some tours but they are too expensive. Hundreds of dollars. Tomorrow I may look for a tour when I go ashore. I thought that today I would see an old fashioned fishing village but it was not to be.
I had dinner with two couples who were volunteer tax preparers. They talked a lot about tax preparation but on the whole were quite interesting. The biggest drama was my lost bottle of wine. Last night they couldn’t find it for ages and when they did I noticed they had the wrong cabin number on it and so I was surprised and a little angry that they had lost it again. I had almost finished my soup before they found it in the dining room upstairs. I hadn’t realized I was in a different
dining room. They all look the same.
The entertainer tonight was an English singer named Paul Baker. He claims to have won an Olivier for his role in a musical called ‘Taboo’ written by Boy George. He wasn’t so great but he sang good songs. His pianist boyfriend is the entertainer tomorrow and they are friends of the doctor I ate with the other night.

Day 13
Carol and I had a very pleasant day in Akureyri. We wanted to take a tour but taxi tours were all that were left and they were expensive.

We stumbled upon the house of Sigurhaedir Gongukort who was a famous poet and playwright. The house had only opened the day before and we were the only visitors. We got to talk to the people who run the house and also artists who rent workspace there. Icelanders are incredible. They are extremely intellegent and educated yet guileless.
We shared a pipe and went to the botanical gardens. We drank coffee and walked. It was all very mellow and when we got back to the ship we had done over 11,000 steps.
It was a dull table tonight. Carol and Pinot, the German sounding Italian, were there. I don’t like eating with people I know. Pinot is very dull and I had already spent the day with Carol. A woman from California was also at the table and it seems just before I arrived so was her husband. He’d had a temper tantrum and left. Carol felt it was something she had said but the woman said that he had been in a bad mood all day. I would have liked to pry but felt it might be in bad taste and so there were a lot of silences as we ate.
We were entertained by the pianist. He bills himself as a “Pianist/Showman” and idolizes Liberace. He had a candleabra brought on for his last number. He is a good pianist, I think, but I don’t like all the amplification.

Day 14
Another lazy sea day. I walked around the cold blustery deck and decided to watch TV. The signal is getting better and I’m avoiding covid. I watched England v Germany. It might have been taped because the halftime was short. The signal wasn’t so good. It stuttered and stopped. It was quite annoying but I kept watching. The game ended in a draw 1-1. I think England could be good. Good enough to win the World Cup if they get their tactics right.
I’m almost out of rum and so I had a beer before dinner. I talked to an interesting couple from California but I can’t remember what we talked about. Maybe I’ve talked to too many people on the cruise. I saw Pinot skulking about but I ignored him. He really bores me.
Dinner was fun. There was a guy from Ft. Lauderdale who was going to Europe for a few months, a couple from Atlanta who had become good friends with a couple from Florida who were also there. The wife of the Florida couple was English and the husband was from Venezuela. There was also a couple from South Carolina. The husband was Indian and the two had lived in France for ten years previously. The Atlanta couple said that they and the English/Venezuelan couple would shock us but they didn’t. We were all pretty liberal even when the conversation turned to guns. We discovered that the Atlantan wife taught a gun safety program for women and the South Carolinian wife carried a gun when she was a traveling sales rep. We are all looking forward to the Jan. 6 congressional hearing.
The entertainment was the West End singer again. I bumped into Carol and Pinot after the show. She ran over and hugged me. I guess Pinot bores her too. I went to watch karaoke.
There are now three quarantine cabins on my corridor. Three out of thirteen.

Day 15
I’m back in the UK, Lewrick, and it’s my birthday. I wandered around town and took pictures of its imposing stone buildings and fort. I came to a bus station and decided to take a local bus as far as it would go. A few others from the ship had the same idea. The bus was going to Sumberg Airport about 20 miles away and the fare was only &2.80. The driver was a cheerful Londoner who was ready to retire to the Phillipines where he has a four year old daughter. He suggested that we
get off at the stop before the airport where we would find 4,000 year old ruins and a settlement used by Picts, Norse and Scots. Our first stop was the pier where the bus filled up with cruise passengers. The route was scenic with water views on both sides. I felt sorry for the locals when
they got on the bus and had to stand.
The settlement site was fascinating. I joined a tour group by mistake. I asked most of the questions and the guide pointed out, to the laughing crowd, that I was standing in the toilet. I was surprised when they all got on their bus and left.
I met my Trump supporting English lady on the bus back. We made a truce and agreed to share a cab to the railway station in Southampton.
Back in town my doctor friend and his two entertainer chums were walking down the street arm in arm. He smiled in a ‘look at me’ sort of way. I think he likes being the center of attention. Someone told me that anyone can get a fixed table. He probably isn’t even a doctor. He reminds me of one of the passengers on the QM2. She said she had her Rolls Royce on board and she offered people lifts for when we got to Australia. It was all nonsense.
I had dinner with Carol and a Russian couple who I had previously met at pickleball and a Swiss/Haitian couple. Interesting conversation about colonialism, international banking and Ukraine. Everyone except the Haitian woman and me felt that the British Empire had been benign.
To celebrate my birthday Carol and I went to her room to smoke.

Day 16
As I was walking down the corridor the Covids were being fed. One of them, a crusty old woman, opened her door to grab her tray. I froze. She stared at me angrily. “There’s nothing to worry about”, she said. “There are lots I haven’t turned in.” I ran past her door.
Carol is spending the day zooming with her lawyers. I think it’s a family business problem. When she’s not talking to lawyers she’s talking to relatives. She talks in tagalog which turns to English and then back again.
Repeat dinner partners but good conversation. I sat at the doctor’s table again but he wasn’t there. Supposedly he was eating in a speciality restaurant with his entertainer pals. The Indian man from the other night was there but he’s not Indian. He’s from Mauritius. The lesbian couple was there and also a new couple from California. All of us were kind of liberal. At least Democrat. Big topic was homelessness. Minor topics were royalty and tuition forgiveness. We talked so much that I was late for the show. The theater was packed and so an early night.
Today the US announced that we don’t have to have a Covid test before returning.

Day 17
Carol wanted to smoke early today. I didn’t get her message and so she had my share too. I met her in the cafeteria so that I could get her SD card and give her my photographs. She hugged me and sang happy birthday. Pinot popped up. She gave me the card and rushed away. I asked Pinot what he was going to eat for lunch. He said he had eaten already but he wandered around looking at the food. I think he is stalking Carol and she is probably enjoying it.
I shared a hot tub with two very attractive young women. I asked them if they were in the show. They were flattered and thanked me but said they were passengers travelling with their parents. They’d been on a Caribbean cruise before and said that this one was different.
Dinner was with repeats. The nice Swiss/Haitian couple and the Fort Myers couple. The man was very quiet spoken and his wife had Parkinsons. It seems all the men had had careers in computers. It occurred to me that none of the married women on the cruise, except for the gun toters, mentioned their careers. For the first time on the cruise I lost my temper over Trump. It was unexpected and directed at a woman in a wheelchair. I excused myself and left. I saw her at the
show and we smiled at each other.
The entertainer was a Scandinavian singer based in London. She had a good voice and sang opera influenced pop songs. More Phantom of the Opera and more amplification.

Day 18
I had breakfast with Carol. She is going ashore with Pinot and so I am going alone.
It took forever to get on shore. We had to use tenders and it seems that one of them wasn’t working. These tenders are also the lifeboats and so it’s a bit worrying. After we got into the tender it took 30 minutes to get to the dock and then a shuttle bus to get into town.
The weather was wonderful. Sunny and warm. The town was packed but there wasn’t much to see. Shops, cafes, tattooing studios and lots of bunting for the queen’s jubilee. I had planned to go to St. Mawes but there wasn’t enough time and so I went to a castle. It was a long walk uphill and I was with a couple who told me to rest if I needed to. I must look really old. I didn’t rest.
The castle was built by Henry VIII. It was small. More of a fort than a castle but the views were great. It’s only claim to fame was that Charles II sheltered there on his way to France after his father had been executed.
Getting back to the ship was chaotic. Hundreds of old people had to stand in the sun for an hour waiting for a tender.
Dinner was OK. There was an anglophile couple from Florida who had been to the illuminations in Blackpool and knew Poulton-le-Fylde and a South Carolinian couple from Blufton. We didn’t talk politics.

Day 19
Disembarkation. Another sunny warm day. Sandra, the Trump supporting English woman, and I got a taxi to the station and had plenty of time to catch our trains. We were late in getting off because a fire had been reported in the docks. At the station we met an Irish woman with six large suitcases. She had been to her daughter’s wedding in Los Angeles and had gone on a spending

spree before boarding our cruise in Los Angeles. She was supposed to get off in Cobh where her family were meeting her but of course we didn’t go to Cobh. She was angry and said everybody on shore had told her there was no storm and I think she was right. I think the Irish didn’t want the covid.
I talked to a Texan while I waited for my train. He lectured me on the history of Texas. He told me that the English tried to buy it when it was the lone star state and also why the south was the good guy in the civil war. When I told him I lived in Tampa he became upset. He had assumed I lived in England. He called me a Yankee and when I told him I was a US citizen he asked me if I thought I was a real American.