Travel to Iceland: This is Friday, the 13th of August 2021. It’s the last day of a cruise on the Viking Sky which circled around Iceland on a seven-day ocean cruise. Being Friday the 13th, and only somewhat superstitious, I was nevertheless unnerved when both of our shore excursions were cancelled, and the captain decided to hasten our return to Reykjavik because of some ocean turbulence that precluded safe passage to shore by tenders. Unfortunately, we were not able to see some beautiful sights on an island off the southern shore of Iceland called Heimaey. Not to be undone, some rearranging of the daily schedule to fill the now created “sea day” allowed for a lecture on global warming presented by a very articulate scholar from Washington University, St Louis until he started shaking and later collapsing at the podium in what appeared to be the classic presentation of a stroke. Oh, my God! But he survived to see another day…..
I’m writing this short piece for three reasons; to say something brief about Iceland; to say something brief about Viking Cruise Line, and to say something brief about ocean cruising during the pandemic.
Iceland is a beautiful and safe country worth one’s time and curiosity to travel. The Icelandic language is no fun to try to navigate but fortunately, most people that you encounter will speak perfect English. Lots of diverse scenery – glaciers, waterfalls, volcanic parks sculpted into identifiable trolls, volcanic mudpots, and a land that has been carved and shaped by the opposing forces of its volcanic origin weighed down by megatons of meandering, imposing glaciers smoothing out the surface contour of the land. Animals of importance include the indigenous artic fox, the miniature, majestic horses that have populated the landscape, the important economic engine yielding eiderdown ducks, the beautiful black and white guillemot, the hovering gulls, the artic terns, and our favorite national bird, the puffin. Besides Reykjavik, the other decent size city worth touring is Akureyri on the northern coast, the so-called Iceland capital of the north. COVID restrictions on our Viking cruise precluded our exploration of this city, choosing rather to go on a long nature excursion, leaving little time for any city tour. But truly, every small town we visited in Iceland was unique and enchanting and the neighboring vistas worthy of attention and appreciation.
Reykjavik is particularly quaint and attractive. With over 60% (230K) of the country’s roughly 360k population, it has a little of everything with not too much of anything. Walking streets, cars not too plentiful - politely waiting for pedestrians to cross, shops, landmarks worthy of attention like the magnificent church that hovers tall at the end of a famous, bustling walking street, shops of all kinds, restaurants of both local and international flavor, a Sub Way, but no Starbucks, a beautiful harbor and some peaceful and serene walking paths along the ocean front, some beautiful sculptures, and old house that Gorbachoff and Regan had their powwow to end the cold war, and a very famous hot dog stand that is almost never devoid of long lines of patrons from near and far getting their daily fix. And not to forget the hot spring natural pools open to the public as well as visitors that are famous in Iceland – including the Blue Lagoon which – even after three trips to Iceland, I have never frequented because it is unnecessarily and oppressively expensive.
Reykjavik - it’s the kind of city that is walkable and kind, easy to get around, and one that a few days or more of visiting will be more than satisfying. You didn’t need to take a cab or a bus, or a metro or an uber; walking was the way to go and enjoy what the city had to offer.
So - coming from a state with 1.3 million people, I was expecting that Iceland would partner with several other countries for commodities and services with only a little more than ¼ of the population of Hawaii. Well, wood is imported because they do not grow any trees that are construction grade, but it’s quite amazing the litany of services and activities that Iceland offers. Several well-equipped hospitals, a University, a medical and dental school with funded research programs (secondhand info), a law school, an airline, an artist colony, just about anything you can think of – it felt like a city with 5 million people rather than the paltry population of mostly Icelanders sprinkled with a minority of immigrants from Poland. However, one thing that Iceland lacked is crime. Only two murders committed by foreigners in the past few years sits as an outlier to the previously perfect record of civil obedience and a shared culture of community décor. Iceland was certainly safe, and comfortable, and the summer months are perfect for visitors to enjoy long days of whatever adventure awaits their fancy. We included navigating both an ATV along some beautiful inland scenery as well as a kayaking experience which was fun and exhilarating. I almost forgot – the ocean is clean of debris; the harbor is clean of debris; you would need to have a garbage detective to find any refuse either on land or in the ocean. What a pristine and enchanting country.
Most people looked and acted Scandinavian, tall, fair skinned, polite, and formal, well-educated, and informed and proud in large part of the country they inhabited. But there were some scattered long hairs, painted and tattooed outliers, and a variety of social conscious champions lurking around, particularly in the “bit city” of Reykjavik, in contrast to the folks inhabiting the smallish fishing villages that we passed as we circled Iceland, who lived off the land, whose façade was exemplified by that of a rugged, strong Viking who was up to the task, and more. Google places to visit in Iceland to get the specifics of where to go in Iceland. You can’t go wrong spending 1-2 weeks there enjoying a little of everything, city life, the ocean, hot springs, diverse and interesting cuisine, with the knowledge that you will be treated fairly and honestly and although expensive, it is worth your time and effort. Oh, one last – last thing, we went to the Perlan, a well-intended hybrid museum and adventure facility with a planetarium – simulating the northern lights, and an ice cave that was both fun and enlightening.
Viking Cruise Line: We were pleasantly surprised by the customer service that we received on our Viking Sky cruise adventure through Iceland. Virtually every request was considered and most were granted. One morning I asked for a sesame seed bagel despite the many plain ones available in view to select from. It took about 10 minutes to find one but I was amazed at the effort. I certainly consider myself a high maintenance traveler – I really have to give Viking cruise an A+ for customer service. Viking can be considered in the upper echelon on cruise lines along with Crystal, Regents, Silversea, etc. The cabins were roomy, the food good to excellent, the lectures well done, the entertainment adequate, and I give the ship a B+ for its décor and facility. We loved this guitar player who played a variety of songs from the past – my past – Paolo is his name, a remarkable musician that played for about four hours a day – we even danced to his music which was very fun! Viking seemed to be very well organized and there was almost no incident where we had to wait even a smidgeon of time to get served for anything. The corollary is that our cruise was only 2/3rds filled, ostensibly due to last minute cancellations that the pandemic brought on and the imposition of a strategy the Viking cruise line mandated to keep its guests safe and happy – unless you were one of the unlucky ones………..
Russian Roulette: Cruising during the pandemic was like playing Russian roulette. On our cruise, everyone was vaccinated but we were required to provide saliva samples very day for COVID19 PCR testing. Four of the ~670 guests became positive during the course of the cruise. At the moment they were identified, they were isolated and eventually removed from the ship to spend the next two weeks in quarantine. BUT, in addition to them, close contacts, as determined by plastic pendants that served as individual GPS devises, which were mandated to be worn at all times, identified potential close contacts. What was sad was that this group also had their remaining cruise cut short - with the choice to either hunker down exclusively in their room for the remainder of the cruise or leave the ship. In either case, there was no further recompense. In total, this affected about 25 individuals, mostly contacts from bus outings during planned excursions. It was purely a matter of luck or more aptly bad luck for those individuals to be fingered for removal. While the chance was relatively small, it was enough of a danger that many potential cruisers decided to cancel their trips at the last minute. Strangely, this distraction didn’t consume my otherwise programmed A type psyche and I figured we would live with whatever happens. Thankfully we escaped unscathed with negative COVID tests throughout. The other issue is that I spent countless hours navigating the required documentation needed for arriving in Iceland, returning into the US, and into Hawaii. One small error or omission and you are screwed and the consequences disastrous. For example, I was tracking the flights from Reykjavik to Newark and most of the flights in the near future were fully booked, and certainly lacked any possibility for the excellent business class seats that we reserved several months ago. Happily, I am writing the final sections of this document on the flight just about to land in Newark, New Jersey, the first leg of our trip back home to Honolulu. Yes, this was quite the adventure……
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