By Sharon Whitley Larsen
As several longtime friends with continuing COVID-19 concerns have been canceling recent cruises, my husband Carl and I (who have not yet had COVID-19 — knock on wood! — and are fully boosted) just completed our fourth cruise within a year.
Our friends had second thoughts after hearing horror stories from others. One, following a back-to-back Mediterranean cruise, came down with COVID-19 in May and had to quarantine at a London hotel for 12 days. Still testing positive — and with COVID-19 tests at that time necessary to enter the United States via air travel — her husband canceled their return flight to San Diego and rebooked via Mexico City and Tijuana — where they walked across the US border and caught a ride home Another friend was quarantined in a tiny porthole cabin for 10 days in May on a cruise from Miami to Montreal after testing positive.
But that didn’t discourage us. In October 2021 we took our first cruise since 2019, from our San Diego hometown to San Francisco, Catalina and Ensenada, Mexico, on the Celebrity Millennium for eight nights with only 950 passengers (capacity 2,400). This past April we booked a 12-night Hurtigruten Expedition inaugural British Isles cruise from Dover, England, with only 222 passengers (capacity 500), including only 17 Americans. Passengers had to wear masks except for outdoors or in the dining room, where our temperature was taken each evening prior to seating. In August we did a repeat of our 2018 all-time favorite — 14 nights on Viking Ocean Cruises from Bergen, Norway, to Montreal (about 900 passengers), with port stops in the Shetland Islands, Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and eastern Canada . On each ship all crew wore masks.
This past October we completed our first Holland America cruise, 14 nights from charming Quebec City to Fort Lauderdale aboard the Nieuw Statendam. Normally the capacity is around 2,600; there were 2,385 passengers (only a few wearing masks) — most from the United States and Canada but others represented from around the world. It was generally an elderly crowd (I saw no children) with dozens in wheelchairs or on scooters or with canes. Despite mobility issues, nothing was going to stop them. Not even a fear of COVID-19.
The masked crew of 970 was represented by 42 nationalities, our Irish captain told us during a packed theater Q&A session: “We had only 99 crew during COVID on the ship instead of the usual 1,000,” he explained. “It was a very lonely time.”
Our stateroom attendants and waitstaff were thrilled to be back at work. During this past year we have tipped them extra and told them how much we appreciated their hard work.
We have been on 30 cruises (the longest 29 nights). During our earlier cruising days, we would book most shore excursions and try to cram in as much as we could. This latest cruise was different: We opted just to play things by ear on a daily basis.
“I just want to relax,” I told Carl as we boarded the ship and headed to our balcony cabin. Normally during a cruise, I might have one massage and facial. This time I splurged and had three massage sessions — from 75 to 120 minutes each — which were heavenly.
The cruise itinerary — most of which we had visited in September 2013 — appealed to us: Quebec City and Saguenay, Quebec; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Sydney and Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Portland, Maine; Boston, Port Canaveral and Fort Lauderdale. Only this time in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States we had timed it right to see the vivid fall colors. We loved nothing more than sitting on our balcony (with jackets and blankets to ward off the chill) and gazing at the breathtaking scenery as we sailed.
One day at a poolside lunch we met a couple from Toronto on their first post-COVID-19 cruise, doing a back-to-back that continued to the Caribbean for another two weeks. A woman from Sacramento on the Halifax hop-on, hop-off bus told me that this was her first cruise in 30 years.
As our tour guide in Halifax commented about those terrifying COVID-19 days: “We didn’t have cruise ships in port for 1,038 days. I counted.”
One thing that Carl and I loved was attending the Lincoln Center Stage each evening, enjoying the classical music by a young string quartet. Following dinner, we would listen to the amazing BB King’s Blues Club band or the talented piano duo.
It’s always a bit depressing leaving a cruise on the last morning. As we boarded the shuttle from the pier to the Fort Lauderdale airport, the effervescent driver called out to us on the mic: “I want to be the first to welcome you back to the real world!” (sigh!)
We can’t wait for our next cruise — in April.
WHEN YOU GO
www.hollandamerica.com
The Holland America Nieuw Statendam is docked in charming and friendly Saguenay, Quebec. Photo courtesy of Sharon Whitley Larsen.
One of the greatest pleasures of taking a cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam is watching a gorgeous sunset. Photo courtesy of Sharon Whitley Larsen.
The author and her husband pose with some of the crew of Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam. Photo courtesy of Sharon Whitley Larsen.
Sharon Whitley Larsen is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
