A Day Upon the Waves

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The bow of` the ship hit the wave with a boom that rang through the vessel's theater. On the stage, the lecturer continued his history of the Iceland to Russia WW2 convoys without a pause. Boom! A few of the passengers in the audience looked wide eyed at each other. Boom!  I struggled to stay awake and lost the battle.

I roused to groggy wakefulness, when the captain made an intercom announcement to assure guests the booming noise was nothing to be alarmed about.

I awoke next to Denny tapping my knee. The lecture was over.  Rats, I really wanted to hear this lecture.  It was a significant piece of history I'd never heard of before. Oh, well, I needed urgently to get back to our cabin to finish my morning nap. I hadn't felt this drowsy since coming out of a surgery.

I woke up for lunch well rested an alert. Should I take another Dramamine? Was I feeling seasick? Nope. Not even a twinge of discomfort. Actually, I was not seasick when I took the first pill last night nor the second one this morning. Both were precautionary measures.  I could barely walk without stumbling into someone, but no queasiness.  I decide to try my luck without it. Turns out I don't get seasick. No matter how rough. But I'm definitely taking Dramamine the next time I have insomnia.

A day at sea is always a time to partake of the various delights any cruise ship has to offer.  One of my favorites is High Tea at 4:00.  The scones are hot and delicious. Tip: skip the  cucumber sandwiches.

Viking Cruises has a pretty tame agenda compared to the other major lines like Carnival, Princess, and Royal Caribbean. No ice skating rink. No bowling alley. No mini-golf course. Climbing wall? Most people just climb the stairs. No male  legs contests. No towel animals on your bed at night. But they have lectures.

Wonderful lectures. We had a resident astronomer who led star gazing sessions. Those who didn't leave early, like we did, even saw the Northern Lights. A presentation on the Hubble telescope photos was breathe taking. There were history lectures on William the Conqueror,  Canadian WW2 pilot training and missions. A Cambridge professor gave several lectures on Greenland and arctic expeditions.  And joy of joys there was a writer who taught a series of workshops on the craft of writing travel blogs. In all, there were 7 university professors on board each one presenting at least one class on each of our at sea days. Both Denny and I were overjoyed.