Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Never too old!

Musicus

By Musicus,
in Solo Cruisers

 Share

Recommended Posts

ladysail2

ladysail2

Posted
Posted
I know he is! You can see the "glow" on his face. He is loving life to the fullest. Can't get any better than that, huh?

 

No it can't. I'd love to be back in Switzerland again too. I'm glad to read that his leg injury is trying to heal...!

 

Rock on, Egon!!!!!! :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites
burm

burm

Posted
Posted

What a fascinating thread. The Adventures of Egon has it all: adventure, excitement, suspense, and a hint of romance (Wishful thinking counts. Besides, the cruise is only half over)

 

I am certain that Egon's playing has delighted many passengers. I think MSC should formally hire him!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted (edited)

I distributed my little bags of Swiss chocolates and caught Mandy, my closest friend from the Reception just as she was leaving the ship to return to her native South Africa for several months; Needless to say, there were smiles all over and I also gave chocolates to my room stewards and the doctor and nurse at the Medical Center where I went to on the following day. I have decided to medicate and dress my leg myself from now on and got the necessary wherwithalls from the nurse. The reason is that I have to remove and then put back on the compression stocking as well as the one I have to wear under it and all that takes too much time and also does not always fit in with the operational hours of the Center. It'll be allright, but handling the stocking (with rubber gloves on!) sure is a pain. Hope it does what it's supposed to do and the wound will finally heal up and close and I can go swimming again.

After a day at sea (I played again) I at last was able in Malaga to sent of reports Nos 52 and 53 on which I had worked wheneverI could including on the train, answered a lot of emails and forgot to send some which I had prepared to send to some friends in Bern. Some good soul and reader of my logs on Cruisecritic.com sent an email urging me to use the ship's internet rather than chase McDonalds, but at about US$ 8.50/hr at the lowest rate, I'll rather chase, especially since I spend always 2-3 hrs on line.

On return to the ship at Genova, I had been assigned a new table, No, 676, where I am with 5 ladies and two men, all from Australia. One of the men is a double of Jimmy Durante. Of course we went through the usual champagne/strawberry ritual and afterwards I went with chocolates and two of the strawberries to Angelica who obviously was delighted to see me. I didn't stay and went to bed early. Looming large is the fact that I'll have to move on May 20 to cabin 12075 - something I knew and stewed about already before even starting this adventure but which I just was unable to have changed. But before that I am looking forward to the visit of my "kissin'cousin" Olivia Landsberg who lives in London, and after breakfast and a ship inspection by special permission, we'll go to her mother for Lunch. She is Sylvia, a dear friend who is the wife of my deceased cousin Peter, a noted Physicist who died a couple of years ago. Sylvia lives in a beautiful house with a large garden of her design (she was well known in this activity).

 

May 15 At Vigo, Spain, which I had never even heard before. It lies North of Lisbon and is an important city, capital of Galicia. Right in front of the Terminal Building is a huge very modern shopping center, with most shops closed, because today is Sunday. However I found Wifi there and sent out some emails. In front of the building is a large open area with outdoor cafes and there also was a little fleamarket with maybe 10 stands; I found a little ceramic souvenir from Portugal for Olivia. Behind our ship is one of the competition, Costa, which looks of much older vintage than Poesia (which is only 3 years old).

May 16: I was interviewed twice tonight, once from a Lisbon team of travel agents, and once by the English Travel Channel which even was filmed and I'll eventually get a DVD of the take (will get them to send it to Steve).

 

May 17: The big day of Olivia's visit to the ship! We got to Southampton early, and so Laura, the Concierge, and I walked the long serpentine of ramps off the ship and into the Terminal Building where Olivia was waiting. This of course was the arrival section of the building, but because we would be going back on the ship we had to go to the other end which was the departure area. Laura had Olivia as her guest and obtained a special pass for her to enter the ship, but the English Security would not accept this and insisted that she must have a boarding pass (a plastic card) from the ship because, so their reasoning, that piece of paper Laura had could have easily been produced fraudulently. This caused a major upheaval and it took over an hour until this card was finally produced, heaven knows why. But we were helpless and I was really chafing at the bit and furious. I suspect that the guy that checked the boarding passes (British Security) was overly officious and, who knows, maybe held a grudge abiout the damn tourists, even though I learned that the security had been increased because of a bomb threat in ... Ireland. Anyway, we eventually came aboard, too late for breakfast in the restaurant which I would have much preferred for Olivia, but not too late for the cafeteria which now, a little after 10AM, was fairly empty and quiet. But before that we had stopped at my cabin and I received a big bottle of a 15 year old prercious Scotch Whisky which Sylvia had hoarded for someone worthy of it (like me, no doubt) and got the replacement credit/bank cards and a lot of flags for my scooter and other paraphenalia of patriotic nature to entice people to emigrate to Canada which, with only 30 Million people could well do with augmentation of desireable foreigners.

After breakfast toured the ship on two major decks where all the Lounges are, from the impressive Theater at the front of the ship, to the PigalleLounge at the rear, with the 3-deck Atrium in the middle; also of course deck 13 with the swimming pools and Jacuzzis. And then it time to leave because Sylvia was expecting ut and another long serpentine walk which ended in the arrival section, but we had to go to the other end of the building (Embarkation) where Olivia had to deposit her passport as a guarantee that she would leave the ship; and then, to get to a taxi, back we went to the arrival section where we got the additional pleasure of having to walk to the very front of a long line of taxis - by this time I was pretty exhausted by all this running around. Sitting in the taxi was a great relief; it stopped en route at a super market where Olivia bought some roses for me to give to her mother, who was outside the house to greet us when we finally arrived at about 11.30am. So nicr to see her again, as well as the 100year old house (which however does not show it's age and has a modern conveniences). A scotch and soda calmed the bruised me and of course there was a lot for me to talk about of interest to them. Later we had a beautiful dinner prepared by Sylvia, I laid down for 15 minutes, then showed the photographs as slideshows from my Laptop and then it was again time to leave; Sylvia drove (excellently) and they dropped me at the departure section of the Terminal Building, where I sat down after requesting and waiting only 10 minutes for a wheel chair because I really was too bushed to negotiate those darn serpentines again. And so my day was a celebration, my scooter sports a Canadian flag and also a Flag decal on the battery under the seat, I started writing this, took care of the credit cards, had dinner, advanced my watch one hour as we have to, leaving England and now may, or may not, start to write all this in German so that, maybe, I can send it off tomorrow in Zeebrugge, because I am sure I won't be able to get off the ship in Kiel because it's the day I have to move to No. 12075.

　

Edited by yellowbird23
Link to comment
Share on other sites
yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted

Pics to follow courtesy of Joyce...

 

Zeebrugge was very cold and unfriendly and I cruised around a long time with my now proudly beflaged scooter until I finally found a spot where I latched on to a free WiFi signal , could send my reports and deal with 17 emails. But I had to be outside sitting on a bench in three-sided shelter at a tram stop and by the time I was through, I was thoroughly chilled. However I had checked into the very few restaurants and cafes I found open and none of them had internet access. Back in the cabin early in the afternoon, I found an invitation to dine with the Captain tonight - this wil be my second time, but with a different chief. At the dinner, I was told that the present captain will leave in Copenhagen and that the former one, Giacomo Romano would take over again.

 

May 19, Thur.: I had the second Scrabble game with one of our tablemates, who is a math teacher in Australia. Beat her

soundly both times and "taking off her pants" is a standing joke. Since she, as well as most at the table, will stay for another cruise, there will be rematches (only on sea-days). The rest of the day I spent packing for tomorrow's

move, but in the afternoon played again in the atrium with gratifying public response.

 

May 20, Kiel, Fri.. Needless to say, I didn't leave the ship today - moving, despite help I got from the room stewards, and the subsequent unpacking and stowing away was exhausting, not helped any by the fact that my new cabin is much further away from the ship's center where the nearest elevators are for either the cafeteria or restaurant. My back is very sore and I have to lie down for bit periodically. But now, 3pm, it's all done and I am glad that it's over.

 

May 21, Saturday.. Oslo: A beautiful place - at least the parts of the city which I got to see in my quest for a McDonalds, where I landed for a couple of hours in a very crowded place with lots of noisy kids - it's Saturday! On the way back to the ship I got lost and saw more interesting parts of the City. When we left Oslo in the evening, I sat for a long time in the cafeteria which was closed because it had been a Gala Night, as the ship was sailing down the Norwegian coast still in daylight, close to the shores of Fjords and islands with the scenery reminiscent of the Canadian coast going North from Maine to Halifax, as also the Inside passage from Vancouver northwards. However, in Norway's case, practically every citizen seems to own a little cabin, house or even villa in these seemingly remote places and I am told that every 5th Norwegian owns a boat. That figures.

 

May 22, Sunday in Copenhagen: Cold and rainy. I didn't go far with my scooter, especially since I wasn't able to find a map of the city. Eventually found shelter in an underpass and was rewarded with WiFi right there. I've checked the itinerary and find that in the next few weeks, I'll be in Copenbhagen no less than 14 times!!

 

May 23, Monday in Kiel: A free shuttle bus to the center of town, where I found a cybercafe and where -besides WiFi, I had a Bockwurst with a nice crunchy roll and a glass of beer for lunch - a welcome change of diet! Then I drove around and eventually landed in a phantastic inside Shopping Center, found a barbershop and got clipped - figuratively as well as literally (In Canada: $13, in Kiel: about $ 25). Big change of passengers as we start an 11-day cruise to Iceland tonight. And Giacomo Romano, the original captain, has returned from his vacation. And, while our first dinner seating had been at 6.30 pm, it has now been changed to an ungodly 5.30pm for some obscure reason. However, I've been advised, that the champagne will be delivered just the same and my Australian tablemates, who are staying on for this cruise, will be able to enjoy it and the strawberries for the second time.

 

May 24, Tues...a Sea-Day. And it was a rough one, with the ship lurching and groaning and people swaying and getting seasick. However, it didn't affect me nor any of my tablemates and we all met at the Gala cocktail party (unfortunately AFTER dinner), where I still absorbed two dry martinis. But now, only 8.30pm, I've decided to go to bed and read "Message for Murder" by Len Webster, who also made the correspondence of some 200 letters which I had with Lois Kepler in the 40's into the book "Snowflake Kisses".

The new Cruise Director, Nicholas, is impossible. His English, as well as his German, are attrocious and hardly decipherable, even if the volume he uses for nhis announcements would be reduced and thus not add distortion.

His assistant Claudia, on the other hand, is quite fluent in several languages but speaks so softly and at low volume that much of what she says gets lost.

 

May 25, Wednesday..Bergen, Norway's second largest city. Cold and rainy. Shuttle Buses are provided free to take people to the centre, but nopne equipped to take wheelchairs or me with scooter. A small Van with a rear ramp eventually takes me and after looking around the interesting city core, I land at McDonalds. Towards noon, I leave but find the road

blocked to where I was to be picked up and had to drive around the block to get there, passing a huge outside stage with an orchestra rehearsing and huge crowds, When I get there, I find everything fenced off and the little square surrounded by a band on one side and crowds of people on all other, in the middle of the square a cheersection of schoolchildren who are obviously very cold waiting for a big moment. From a nice couple next to me I learn that Norway's King and Queen are scheduled to arrive at 12.15! They did, were greeted by Bergen's Mayor and stood listeneing to several pieces of music, including "God save the King" before receiving a small delegation of girls in traditional costumes. And then they are off walking up the road to where the stage with the orchestra is and slowly the crowds disperse and I wonder how I'll get back to the ship since the Van was not able to come to the place to meet me. But as I cruise around I was caught by the (now female) driver of the van who had been looking for me and all was well. And this afternoon I was invited by Wilma and her nsister Beverly for a glass of wine in the Grappolo Lounge (where Angelica plays evenings) and we had a nice little get-together.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bjbear

bjbear

Posted
Posted
Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday weekend with friends and family. Got my flags out all over in memory of two high school classmates who were killed in Vietnam. Will never forget their sacrifice!

 

Pat, hope you and family are also having a wonderful weekend!! I don't post often on here but I read this thread faithfully every day and just want to thank you ( and the picture lady!!) for keeping us up to date on Egon's wonderful adventures. :D :)

 

To each and every one of you who have served so that we might all enjoy this day; a big THANK YOU!!

 

Sue

Link to comment
Share on other sites
yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted
Pat, hope you and family are also having a wonderful weekend!! I don't post often on here but I read this thread faithfully every day and just want to thank you ( and the picture lady!!) for keeping us up to date on Egon's wonderful adventures. :D :)

 

To each and every one of you who have served so that we might all enjoy this day; a big THANK YOU!!

 

Sue

Thank you Sue!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
yellowbird23

yellowbird23

Posted
Posted

May 26, Torshavn, Capital of the 18 Faroe Islands. An amazing place and surprising in its diversity with about 20,000 inhabitants of the total Islands population of about 50,000, a self governing nation of the kingdom of Denmark. Very hilly and today very chilly too. Most of the islands are not inhabited, but those which are, are interconnected with ferries and even undersea tunnels. When you consider the remoteness of this location, to encounter this thriving city-town is an eye opener. I found a very modern coffee shop with WiFi , had a hot chocolate (which however cost me some US$ 8 !) because I was quite cold from driving around quite a bit, sent out # 55 and answered emails. Tomorrow is a sea day as we head for Iceland.

 

May 28Akureyri, Iceland , (www.visitakureyri.is/en) located at the end of one of the largest fjords, with about 18,000 inbhabitants, a ski resort in Winter with 7 ski lifts and 23 alpine slopes. An eye opener, especially the brand new community center, ultrra modern, with a state-of-the-art theatre where there are concerts, theatre productions and films, conference rooms, a rtestaurant etc etc. And free WiFi and that's where I am writing this.

 

May 29: Isafj ördur, Iceland. (www.isafjordur.is) It's a cold (40F) and rainy Sunday here in this town of some 4000 people, located at the end of one of the many fjords we have entered. Our ship is however too big to be able to dock at the existing pier and we are anchored quite far away and have been tendered in. After driving around, I have found the Tourist Office, which is housed in a building serving as the cultural center with theater productions and concerts. Again I get the impression of a vibrant community with a surprising level of cultural and social life. The cloud covered hills (or are they mountains?) with still quite a bit of snow seem to hug the town and may well protect it from some storms. There are many places of fame to visit from here, such as the bird cliff Hornbjarg with one of the biggest seabird colonies in the North Atlantic. As I leave the Tourist office, I drive shivering to where the tenders land. It has begun to snow and there is a biting and icy wind. No wonder I can't get rid of this cough. The tender too is drafty with open entrances both sides, battling choppy seas and strong wind. Sure am looking forward to the warmth of my cabin. Later, I go to the restaurant for lunch and the "Manhatten Clam Chowder" is nowhere even close to it and the "potato gnocchi" are completely insipid - the heck with it.

 

May 30: Reykjavik, capital of Iceland with 170,000 Inhabitants (counting surroundings). A sunny, but cool day with an icy wind. A shuttle bus is available for 7 Euros

- the city center is 2-3 KM from where we are docked. I opt to chance driving the distance and there is an excellent pedestrian walkway all the way, but once agin I get pretty chilly. In the city I find the ultra modern library where I sit in warmth and comfort and with WiFi for a couple of hours before heading back - it takes me almost half an hour against the cold wind which penetrates my less than wintery clothing, although a wear a winter Jacket. Once again I am amazed at the capacity of the Scooter battery which still is very much alive, and once again I am glad for the warmth of my cabin. Later in ther afternoon, having found out that the outdoor swimming pools are heated, I went for my first swim again in many months, even with

the compression stocking (as Sabine suggested), but did only 5 laps. In the evening I was surprised by the delivery of a present from Kristina - the book "The Little Prince" - she calls me "My little prince". She is very sweet. But I don't know what she sees in me.

 

June 1: Yesterday was a See-day and I played Scrabble and in the afternoon piano in the Atrium to a pretty large audience. During the night it was very stormy and there has not been any letup this morning. The ship if being tossed around and at times seems to hit a rock, that's how strong the waves are. As anticipated, it was announced that because of the weather we will bypass Lerwick, where we would have to be tendered. So on to Kiel.

 

June 3 : After another See-Day with Sccrabble and Piano, we have come to Kiel and a beautiful, sunny day at last. My Australian Tablemates of the last 23 days leave the ship and me today and I shall miss them; we got to know and befriend each other. But that's the way it always is. And this morning I discovered that during the night someone again stole my nameplate off the cabindoor. This time I'll not get it back, since most of the passengers leave the ship here in Kiel.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
zoncom

zoncom

Posted
Posted

YellowBird or anyone.I am still ticked off at MSCs shabby treatment of him. Do you know if he has ever asked MSC for complimentary internet access? It seems like such a small concession on their part to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Okie1946

Okie1946

Posted
Posted
Should I be reading some place else?

 

There's no posts or anyone asking about him

since June 3rd.

 

What's up Yellowbird23? Have you heard from him?

Is he alright? Hope so.

 

I second the question. Egon is really good about posting once a week and it has been 10 days now. Should we start to worry?????

 

To both yellowbird23 and ladysail2 for keeping up with this thread. I check it everyday, but don't always leave a posting. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...