21 to 25 December 2021

Tuesday to Saturday

 

Tuesday - I was awoken last night just as we were leaving the Port of Los Angeles about 11:40pm.   I got up and went out on the balcony wrapped in a blanket and sat for several minutes to enjoy the sight of the port with all the lights and just the sheer size of the place -- it was magical.   I did not see many ships waiting to dock so perhaps the bottleneck has eased.

 

During our three sea days, we have gotten into a routine.  We fill our tubes with saliva, then I go to the Spa for my 30 minute exercise routine and meet Phil at the World Café about 8:00 am.    After breakfast, we either read,  attend a lecture or I go for a walk.

 

Sunset off the back deck of Viking Orion -- Sea of Cortez

 

Deck Two is the walking deck -- ¼ mile around.   I have been going about 1.5 to 2 miles each day.  However -- I make a concerted effort to stay off the elevator so I’m using the stairs and walking all over the ship.

 

Phil  -- Dinner on the back deck of Viking Orion.

Friday morning (Christmas Eve):  Phil and I are ready to get off the ship and explore our first port -- LaPaz, Mexico.  Our excursion leaves the dock at 8:20 am.  At  breakfast in the World Café, we noticed we were not at the dock and when I looked on Cruise Mapper, the Viking Orion was sitting in the middle of the Sea of Cortez quite a ways north of La Paz.  I wondered if the website was off.  It wasn’t.  

 

Just then, the Captain made an announcement that two passengers tested positive for COVID yesterday.  They have been quarantined.  People who were in contact with them all tested negative. However,  LaPaz will not allow the Orion to dock.  So, we have another sea day -- he will update us at his noon-time briefing.

 

At noon, the Captain doesn’t tell us much (typical of Viking--communication is not their strong suit).  We are told that the couple with COVID are “doing well under the circumstances” whatever that means.  The Captain also said plans are being made regarding our next port of call -- Mazatlan is scheduled for 26 December.

 

On a positive note, the  weather has been great as we’ve been hanging out in the middle of the Sea of Cortez (aka Gulf of California) all day -- sunny and calm with  little humidity.  Phil and I have a wonderful dinner at Manfredi’s where I could not stay out of the bread basket -- next time I won’t even let the waiter put it on the table.

 

Pat and Phil at Manfredi's

 

Saturday -- Merry Christmas!  Another lovely day -- we haven’t moved very far but I did notice that we are not headed for Mazatlan.  Our ship is going straight down the middle of the Gulf of California.   According to Cruise Mapper our next stop is Puerto Vallarta -- apparently Mazatlan doesn’t want us either.

 

At the Captain’s noon-time briefing -- he said that Mazatlan pulled their permission to dock (which, of course, we all knew).  We have been granted permission to dock a day early by Puerto Vallarta so we dock tomorrow morning and stay three days.    He also gives us the same line about the couple with COVID.  I wonder if they will take them off the ship or continue to allow them to quarantine. 

 

Phil and I have a nice breakfast and lunch.  We spend the day reading, playing a trivia version of Name That Tune, and a 4:30 pm port talk on Puerto Vallarta.    Tonight dinner is in the World Café where there will be a Chocolate Fountain -- can’t miss that.

 

Merry Christmas to you all -- and stay safe.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Pat

 

 P.S.  I must give a shout out to all the crew of the Viking Orion who are just wonderful -- and have been taking such good care of us.  They are also quite playful as indicated in the following.

What happened to Phil?

 

 

Monday

20 December 2021

 

Up early to re-pack as we have a car service coming at 11:00 am to bring us to the Viking Orion docked in the San Pedro section of Los Angeles -- I’m on a roll with car services.

 

We have not been enamored with this Hyatt Hotel.  Instead of a restaurant there is something called The Market offering coffee (which is terrible), pastries and  sandwiches (pre-made cooked in the microwave), and various juices and alcoholic drinks in a can.   There is a bar but it’s not open very often.  This is not the Hyatt I remember.   I guess COVID has taken its toll.

 

Our driver, Daniel, arrived at 11:00 am for the short ride to San Pedro.  The first area he took us had two ships -- neither one was the Viking Orion.  The Viking Orion was docked a bit farther away at Berth 46.   Phil and I have never taken a ship from  Los Angeles so our amazement  at the size of this port was showing as we gawked at the number of containers on both sides of the bridge taking us to San Pedro.   How do they keep track of them all?

 

The nice thing about looking for a ship is that it is visible from afar so we found the Viking Orion without too much trouble.   We entered a large vacant parking lot with two tents in front of the ship.   We dropped the luggage at one tent and we walked into the other tent.   The boarding process was simpler than in years past without COVID.   First: we showed our vaccination cards and our negative test results;  Second:  we had our photos taken and an imprint of a credit card, then we were given our keycards and off we went to board the ship.  There was no waiting -- mainly because there were no people.

 

Once on board we were taken to our muster station and given a safety demonstration with a small group.   Then someone accompanied us to the elevator and we headed to our cabin.  Just as we arrived so did our luggage.  In days past one could wait hours for the luggage to be delivered.    

 

Clearly this was not a full ship.  The crew member conducting the safety demo told me there were 400 passengers onboard.   Later, Mira, at Guest Services said there were 340 passengers. The ship’s passenger capacity is 900.   

 

At our stateroom we met our stewardess, Rose, who explained the workings of the cabin and said that she and her colleague, Martin would be taking care of us.  And, most importantly, explained that every day we would be tested in the morning by spitting in a tube which she would be collect.  She gave us each a tube to test immediately -- she came back in ten minutes for our samples.

 

We spent the afternoon exploring the ship and unpacking.  We have been on two other Viking Ocean vessels and since they are all identical, we are somewhat familiar with the layout.  It is a lovely ship with lots of places to go to read or chat or play games.  There are four dining venues for major meals but lots of other places to have coffee, a snack, etc.

 

 

Gingerboard Village onboard Viking Orion!

 

 We picked up a couple of books for Phil in the library,  we confirmed dining reservations and got settled.

 

We had lunch in the World Café (buffet) and dinner in the main Dining Room -- both were excellent.

 

Most importantly, we are impressed with the way Viking is handling the Pandemic and how pleasant and efficient all crew members are.  

 

Our first three days are at sea until Christmas Eve where our first port is La Paz, Mexico.  We are scheduled on the overview excursion --

 

I’ll let you know how that goes --

 

Thanks for Reading and stay safe.

 

Pat

 

 

 

Itinerary for First Segment of our Voyage!

 Saturday and Sunday

18-19 December 2021

At 2:00 am Saturday morning a text came in from American Airlines reminding me of our 6:00 am flight from BOS to LAX.   I tried to go back to sleep -- afterall, we had two alarms set for 3:00 am.  Alas,  my eyes were open wide and I knew this was the beginning of a very long day.  The 6:00 am flight is one of those things that sounds good at the time it is planned but not so much when it comes time to actually get on that 6:00 am flight.

Our scheduled taxi arrived at 3:55 am and,  needless to say there was no traffic to the airport.  We arrived at Terminal B in no time.  But -- where did all these people come from?  The lines were long but we discovered our TSA pre-check was still valid. (They took our money for a renewal in 2019, but because of COVID we never had  the interview).   By 4:35 am we were sitting at Gate B4 with plenty of company.

Flight 2455 was uneventful with an early arrival to LAX.   On the way to baggage claim we passed many anxious passengers about to board flights -- then waited at least 30 minutes for our luggage.  But -- the saving grace was that I decided before we left home that perhaps we should take a car service to our hotel in Long Beach.  I contacted Maria, with apologies, for calling at 4:50pm on a Friday but I just wanted the name of a good car service in Los Angeles.  She insisted on making the reservation which resulted in Fabio picking us up once we had collected our baggage.  Thank you, Maria.

Fabio looked, acted  and spoke exactly as one would expect of someone with his name.   He delivered us to the Hyatt Hotel in Long Beach in record time. There was very little traffic as everyone must have been at the airport.   That phone call to Maria was the best thing I’ve done in a long time.

We were early to check-in at the Hyatt but they did have a room available if we were willing to pay an extra $15 a night for a harbor rather city view.  Even though I was miffed at the upcharge -- I took the deal since we were exhausted and needed to get settled.  Our focus for the day was getting our PCR COVID tests required by Viking within 48 hours of boarding the ship on Monday.  We were scheduled to be tested at a CVS about a mile from the hotel.  There was a hitch -- it was a drive-thru but we did not have a vehicle.

In response to my inquiry, the front desk clerk at the Hyatt was adamant that we could not walk up to a drive-thru window and she said CVS would never get the results to us in time.   She suggested another place which was also free and where she had been tested the day before.   It was on the way to CVS.  Once our bags were secured in our “harbor-view” room,  we headed out on foot for our COVID tests.

We arrived at FCTS which was a storefront with two women inside behind two tables taking information and handing out test kits with nose swabs.  We were told  PCR test results would be available Tuesday but Rapid test results would be available in ten minutes.  We took the Rapid.    We opted not to wait for the results since they would e-mail them to us.   On to CVS where I went directly to the pharmacy and told them we had appointments but no vehicle, the clerk said no problem just get in line with the cars -- so we did.

Long story short -- we tested negative on the Rapid test -- Whew!   Walking back to the hotel we explored the area and settled on the “Auld Dublin Pub” near the hotel for a late lunch/early dinner. 

 

Phil with Scooters which are everywhere!

On Sunday -- I considered going to Mass at St. Anthony’s (about a mile away) but since I was not sure about the protocols for churches in California and we’d seen a number of people going mask-less, I opted to skip it.  After checking out the Outlet Mall across the street,  Phil and I walked over to Shoreline Park along the Los Angeles River and found Bubba Gumps for lunch.   We then went our separate ways.   I walked all over the park to get my 10,000 steps in taking a photo of the beautiful Queen Mary -- which is now closed.   I’m not sure what Phil did although I think football was involved.   During the afternoon we each heard from CVS that our PCR COVID Tests were negative.

 

The Queen Mary

For dinner we went back to Shoreline Park to pick a restaurant.   P.F. Chang’s received the nod,  we sat at the bar where we met Claire, the best bartender, and a great conversationalist.    Claire is in nursing school set to graduate next semester and then going on to UCLA.  She gave me her e-mail to add to my blog list.  

Caroling in California !

  

We’ve had a good couple of days in Long Beach and are now ready to move along.

 

A forlorn Santa at the Outlet Mall!

Thanks for Reading and stay safe!

 Pat