A Seabourn newbie sails Ovation, Norway and the North Cape, June 11 2023

[labonnevie]

6 hours ago, jondfk said:

I'll look silly with the shorts I'm wearing on the plane though . . . 

Oh….I didn’t think about that!

[SLSD]

7 hours ago, jondfk said:

I'll look silly with the shorts I'm wearing on the plane though . . . 

I think you will be glad to have the sports coat.  My husband always wears his on the plane.  He usually takes two sports coats, but this time we are traveling light and he is only bringing one.  He does wear it to dinner in the Restaurant.  It certainly is not mandatory, 

[jondfk]

Well, packing is basically complete, just the last lotions and potions.  We used to travel with "just enough" of everything including meds.  Nothing like 22 days experience in quarantine (see post #1) to reset your standards.  Bring all of your Rx bottles, leave nothing at home.  Just writing the note for the house / cat sitter.  The Danish and Norwegian currency was in today's mail, so the list of "to do's" is down to a small handful.  First flight (SFO - LHR) looks fully booked plus, but the weather looks good on both ends so hopefully all runs smoothly.  We have a 3-hour layover in London which should be plenty (famous last words).  

[SLSD]

8 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Well, packing is basically complete, just the last lotions and potions.  We used to travel with "just enough" of everything including meds.  Nothing like 22 days experience in quarantine (see post #1) to reset your standards.  Bring all of your Rx bottles, leave nothing at home.  Just writing the note for the house / cat sitter.  The Danish and Norwegian currency was in today's mail, so the list of "to do's" is down to a small handful.  First flight (SFO - LHR) looks fully booked plus, but the weather looks good on both ends so hopefully all runs smoothly.  We have a 3-hour layover in London which should be plenty (famous last words).  

The only thing we are nervous about is our connecting flight.  We are all packed except for a very very few odds and ends.  We have our Danish and Norwegian currency, our passports, etc. etc, etc.  We hope to meet everyone on the ship.  

[jondfk]

16 minutes ago, SLSD said:

The only thing we are nervous about is our connecting flight.  We are all packed except for a very very few odds and ends.  We have our Danish and Norwegian currency, our passports, etc. etc, etc.  We hope to meet everyone on the ship.  

I’ll be completely honest, in the before times we would have planned to arrive the afternoon prior (rather than two days ahead) sure, a day in Copenhagen will be nice, but we’d prefer be moving more or less directly from / to.  Travel woes being what they are, extra time is essential.  As you say, basically our only worry at this point.

 

meanwhile the ship is sailing towards Oslo.

 

See you on board!

[SLSD]

7 minutes ago, jondfk said:

I’ll be completely honest, in the before times we would have planned to arrive the afternoon prior (rather than two days ahead) sure, a day in Copenhagen will be nice, but we’d prefer be moving more or less directly from / to.  Travel woes being what they are, extra time is essential.  As you say, basically our only worry at this point.

 

meanwhile the ship is sailing towards Oslo.

 

See you on board!

Yes, the plan for us is to arrive on the 9th.    We have in the past gone three days early with plans to explore a city.  We shipped one bag and, as of yesterday, it had made it to Leipzig.  

Edited June 5, 2023 by SLSD

[nancygp]

2 hours ago, jondfk said:

The Danish and Norwegian currency was in today's mail, so the list of "to do's" is down to a small handful.

We did the Norway cruise last summer and spent time in copenhagen both pre and post cruise.  For the most part, both countries primarily use credit cards, even for small purchase amounts…almost a cashless society.

 

hope you’ll love the cruise as much as we did…it was our first of many seabourn cruises.

 

Nancy

[SLSD]

1 minute ago, nancygp said:

We did the Norway cruise last summer and spent time in copenhagen both pre and post cruise.  For the most part, both countries primarily use credit cards, even for small purchase amounts…almost a cashless society.

 

hope you’ll love the cruise as much as we did…it was our first of many seabourn cruises.

 

Nancy

We got the minimum amount of cash that our bank would send.  I was too lazy to go in and order it in person.  We probably won't use much if any of it!  I remember in Sweden that most businesses had signs that said credit cards only.  We use cash so seldom now in our everyday lives.  I might exchange some of the bills for even small bills at our hotel, if possible.  

[nancygp]

1 minute ago, SLSD said:

We got the minimum amount of cash that our bank would send.  I was too lazy to go in and order it in person.  We probably won't use much if any of it!  I remember in Sweden that most businesses had signs that said credit cards only.  We use cash so seldom now in our everyday lives.  I might exchange some of the bills for even small bills at our hotel, if possible.  

On last years trip, we didn’t get any foreign currency for Norway or Denmark.  As my husband had a mild case of Covid on day 10 of 14 and I got it from him the next to last day of the cruise, (isolated in our suite) we spent an unplanned extended time in copenhagen.  When we finally went out and about more, we did have the hotel exchange a small amount of currency.  
 

Nancy

[SLSD]

28 minutes ago, nancygp said:

On last years trip, we didn’t get any foreign currency for Norway or Denmark.  As my husband had a mild case of Covid on day 10 of 14 and I got it from him the next to last day of the cruise, (isolated in our suite) we spent an unplanned extended time in copenhagen.  When we finally went out and about more, we did have the hotel exchange a small amount of currency.  
 

Nancy

We are hoping to avoid Covid.  We may not be as convivial on this cruise as in years past.  We may be mostly sticking to ourselves.  We have a friend who just contracted Covid while vacationing in Italy. He said he was mostly outdoors.  sigh....

[Techno123]

42 minutes ago, nancygp said:

We did the Norway cruise last summer and spent time in copenhagen both pre and post cruise.  

Nancy - did you get a taxi from the port into Copenhagen or was it a Seabourn transfer? Trying to work out whether we will be able to hop off and straight into a taxi to the airport (hopefully without any additional viral passengers) 😁

Edited June 5, 2023 by Techno123

[jondfk]

Susan.  I know what you mean.  Our first cruise back was on O from Tahiti to LA in April of ‘22.  As some may know French Polynesia was quite strict requiring vaccinations and day of flight negative test results.  O also required testing prior to boarding, so, folks had a sense of invincibility with lots of socializing and very few masks, still by the time we reached LA 50 people were taken off by bunny suits.  So yes, we socialize less than we would have in days gone by, no desire to go through another round.  Also not willing to be self confined at home so it’s thoughtful choices for us.

 

[nancygp]

39 minutes ago, SLSD said:

We are hoping to avoid Covid.  We may not be as convivial on this cruise as in years past.  We may be mostly sticking to ourselves.  We have a friend who just contracted Covid while vacationing in Italy. He said he was mostly outdoors.  sigh....

Keep in mind this happened in august of 2022.   My husband had a cough that didn’t sound like his usual daily cough and  didn’t think it was Covid,  We self tested and I was negative and couldn’t tell for my husband.  Again, it was very mild and only detected he was positive when the nurse came to our suite to test him.  The ovation staff was so grateful we isolated and we were treated very well.  I’m sure there were people that were positive that didn’t report or isolate.  Have no idea how we and it might not have been from someone on the ship.  At that time, we each had 4 vaccines, the maximum available back then.  In addition, we flew air Canada and had to mask up on both flights.  Plus, we had to test prior to the sailing.  You need to do what you’re comfortable doing.  We’ve sailed twice on sb since then and all was fine.

 

nancy

Edited June 5, 2023 by nancygp

[nancygp]

37 minutes ago, Techno123 said:

Nancy - did you get a taxi from the port into Copenhagen or was it a Seabourn transfer? Trying to work out whether we will be able to hop off and straight into a taxi to the airport (hopefully without any additional viral passengers) 😁

We took a taxi from the ship to the hotel, very short ride.  While seabourn arranged it because we had Covid and weren’t taking the original transfer to the airport, there seemed to be plenty of taxis available.

 

Nancy

[SLSD]

28 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Susan.  I know what you mean.  Our first cruise back was on O from Tahiti to LA in April of ‘22.  As some may know French Polynesia was quite strict requiring vaccinations and day of flight negative test results.  O also required testing prior to boarding, so, folks had a sense of invincibility with lots of socializing and very few masks, still by the time we reached LA 50 people were taken off by bunny suits.  So yes, we socialize less than we would have in days gone by, no desire to go through another round.  Also not willing to be self confined at home so it’s thoughtful choices for us.

 

It occurred to me that your full cruise reservation at The Retreat might be a way of separating yourself. We'll probably do that in our suite and on our balcony.  I did read about what you went through including the isolation in the US upon your return.  

[PSahoy]

I’m on this upcoming cruise too but unlike the efficient SLSD and jondfk do not even have suitcase out yet (dogs get stressed). I did though get the newish Covid booster (I’m old enough!) but will wear mask on flights, cabs and inside hotel. I hope SB tells us which port we embark from. Currently they list 2 options. Really looking forward to beautiful scenery.

[SLSD]

1 hour ago, nancygp said:

Keep in mind this happened in august of 2022.   My husband had a cough that didn’t sound like his usual daily cough and  didn’t think it was Covid,  We self tested and I was negative and couldn’t tell for my husband.  Again, it was very mild and only detected he was positive when the nurse came to our suite to test him.  The ovation staff was so grateful we isolated and we were treated very well.  I’m sure there were people that were positive that didn’t report or isolate.  Have no idea how we and it might not have been from someone on the ship.  At that time, we each had 4 vaccines, the maximum available back then.  In addition, we flew air Canada and had to mask up on both flights.  Plus, we had to test prior to the sailing.  You need to do what you’re comfortable doing.  We’ve sailed twice on sb since then and all was fine.

 

nancy

On your subsequent cruises did you take measures to stay apart from people?  Or did you socialize as usual?

[SLSD]

22 minutes ago, PSahoy said:

I’m on this upcoming cruise too but unlike the efficient SLSD and jondfk do not even have suitcase out yet (dogs get stressed). I did though get the newish Covid booster (I’m old enough!) but will wear mask on flights, cabs and inside hotel. I hope SB tells us which port we embark from. Currently they list 2 options. Really looking forward to beautiful scenery.

Our suitcases were out for so long that our dog forgot about it.  He will see us leave on Thursday with just small carryons and through the front door.  He is a fortunate dog as he (along with his sister the cat) have a wonderful housesitter coming.  He may not even miss us.  

[nancygp]

14 minutes ago, SLSD said:

On your subsequent cruises did you take measures to stay apart from people?  Or did you socialize as usual?

 

15 minutes ago, SLSD said:

On your subsequent cruises did you take measures to stay apart from people?  Or did you socialize as usual?

 When we returned in October 22, we were somewhat cautious but didn’t stay apart from people,  yet socialized with some people.  When the weather was pleasant, we ate breakfast and lunch outside yet we didn’t do this to stay away from people.  We also felt that having Covid a couple of months prior, we had strong antibodies.  On our last cruise, April 23, we were with quite a few good friends and socialized as usual.  Just like at home.

in addition, if there were any known Covid cases on the ship, the numbers were soooo small.

 

again, do what you’re comfortable with.

 

Nancy

[jondfk]

1 hour ago, PSahoy said:

I’m on this upcoming cruise too but unlike the efficient SLSD and jondfk do not even have suitcase out yet (dogs get stressed). I did though get the newish Covid booster (I’m old enough!) but will wear mask on flights, cabs and inside hotel. I hope SB tells us which port we embark from. Currently they list 2 options. Really looking forward to beautiful scenery.

Sorry, meant to respond to this when you previously posted.

 

The two ports (Orient quay and Ocean quay) are basically 90* from each other in the same area of town.  I’ve been watching arrivals and departures for a few weeks (none SB) and have yet to see any ship use Orient quay though there are 3 ships in on our start date so, maybe…

 

As for Covid boosters we too got the bivalent booster about 3 weeks ago.

 

jon 

 

[PSahoy]

Thanks for clarifying that for me. See you onboard.

[skybluewaters]

Seabourn Ovation will be docked at Oceankaj (Ocean quay) Terminal at quay 331 on June 11.

 

There will be two other ships at that terminal, with a total capacity of ~9,000 passengers, that day.

[jondfk]

12 hours ago, skybluewaters said:

Seabourn Ovation will be docked at Oceankaj (Ocean quay) Terminal at quay 331 on June 11.

 

There will be two other ships at that terminal, with a total capacity of ~9,000 passengers, that day.

Yes, I also found quay 331 listed elsewhere.  MSC Euribia is in port the same day with pax capacity of 6000.  How many will be boarding is unclear as MSC famously boards passengers in major ports nearly every day.  Still, her 6000 passengers are a factor as those not boarding will doubtless be taking excursions in Copenhagen.

[skybluewaters]

47 minutes ago, jondfk said:

Yes, I also found quay 331 listed elsewhere.  MSC Euribia is in port the same day with pax capacity of 6000.  How many will be boarding is unclear as MSC famously boards passengers in major ports nearly every day.  Still, her 6000 passengers are a factor as those not boarding will doubtless be taking excursions in Copenhagen.

 

Good point about the MSC ships.

And Mein Schiff 4 with its 2,500 passengers will be at Oceankaj on June 11.

[PSahoy]

Sounds like a lot of people. Bringing patience.