Part 191: Interlude 2

Hello and welcome back to Mortgage Advisor on FIRE. This is the second interlude as I’m typing this on my phone whilst overlooking the North Sea. I’m onboard the Sky Princess, a Royal-class cruise ship and the current flagship of Princess Cruises.  So please forgive any formatting or errors of grammar. 

Weekly Update

On Friday 16th June we had to take Poppy to the cattery. Our sweet little lady was so scared and she put up a fierce struggle. She hid all over the apartment and it broke our hearts. We just wanted her to understand it was temporary and we will be thinking about her all the time. 

Our journey to Southampton was in two stages; a train from Sheffield to London, then a sprint across the city to Waterloo and a train to Southampton. 

The train to London was fine, and we bought an upgrade to first class. I listened to an audiobook (The Man I Think I Know by Mike Gayle) and Oana was reading (The Forcing, I think it was called).  

We were late arriving at London and we had to run through the underground to get to Waterloo for our train to Southampton. The best bit of this section of the journey was the bagel I had; a reuben.

The train to Southampton was annoying. First of all, it was mega busy. Second, a child was being allowed to run riot on the carriage, shouting, screaming, swearing, and generally being an annoying little shit. This made us both grumpy.

Southampton isn’t a mega exciting place. There’s a shopping centre. There’s a cruise terminal. That seems to be about it. Maybe I’m being a bit mean, but I can confidently state the only reason I’ll return is for a cruise.

Saturday

On Saturday we made our way to the cruise terminal. Boarding a ship is much less stress than navigating an airport. Your luggage is taken from you, and you pass through security fairly quickly, and then you’re on the ship.

Normally, your luggage is brought to your room. However, a few hours after departing we had still not received our bags. So, we went looking for them and found them down the corridor, seemingly abandoned.

Our room was not the cleanest, which was disappointing. Nothing major but dust and stray hairs on various surfaces. We were also confused because we were led to believe basic drinks were included. However, unless we wanted to drink water from the tap, no drinks in our room were included, and we could only get water for free from specific restaurants onboard.

Sunday

Our first day at sea and we explored the ship some more and read a little. The minor issues we were having onboard seemed to be building up. As well as the cleanliness and lack of drinks, we had some towels delivered to our room which were dirty, with brownish/reddish streaks on them. I dread to think what this was, and we had to ask for replacements. When we raised these issues with the staff we were met, largely, with indifference.

On a cruise, it’s supposed to be all about the service and it has been very much lacking. If it was just one thing, or a couple of things, it could be excused. But we quickly realised that most of the food onboard is catering for a clientele that is less demanding. Oana and I are, by our own admission, food snobs. We don’t mind the occasional takeaway or burger, but the food on the ship ranges from edible at best, to nausea inducing at the worst.

Another service issue presented itself when we were trying to explore our dining options. A bit of context; the ship has three main dining rooms, and a large buffet taking up much of deck 16. There are a variety of other, smaller, eateries serving hot dogs, pizza, and sandwiches.

The pizza is inedible. Dough that is hardly cooked, and the nastiest tasting pepperoni. The cheese and tomato sauce has a strange taste to it. We managed a slice each and were done.

The hot dogs are the ones you get in jars of brine. I understand some people like them, but I can’t do it.

The main dining rooms serve food that you would expect to see in a hospital; overcooked veg, food lacking seasoning, and meat that is quite tough. It’s all a bit heavy and stodgy.

So, we often end up at the buffet looking for bits and pieces we can face. We normally end up with rice, chicken, and salad. It’s getting old.

Monday

We arrived in Bergen and took a ride on the funicular to get panoramic views of the city. We took a walk around the city centre and stopped to sit by the lake. The temperature was surprisingly hot. I did not expect heat in the mid-20s or low-30s, but that’s what we got. Unfortunately, it was at this point that my knee decided to give out and I’ve been wearing a knee support since. I can barely bend my knee and climbing stairs is very difficult. I’m not sure what caused it, but it’s definitely put a downer on the trip.

Tuesday

Our second port of call was Molde. A very small town but absolutely breathtaking. In the morning we wandered around and grabbed a coffee. Then, in the afternoon we took a coach trip along the Atlantic Road. This was easily our favourite day so far.

Wednesday

Trondheim was our next stop, and it was a nice enough city. We spent a fair amount of time walking the streets, and also took a walk up the main hill to an old fort. The views, as always in Norway, were stunning. The walk up, and back down, was difficult because of my knee but we took it slow and steady.

One good thing from Trondheim is that I found another Starbucks mug, taking my haul of mugs from this cruise to three; England (from Southampton), Bergen, and Trondheim.

Thursday

We spent the day at sea, and started with a talk about our next two ports; Honningsvag and Tromso. After this, we had a meeting with the Guest Services Manager to discuss all the above issues, and a few more, including; that we had asked for a UK plug adapter and were told it would be delivered. This was three days prior. Also, a bizarre discussion regarding our duvets.

Before the cruise started we had asked our agent if we could have a double bed, but single duvets. It’s just what we prefer. They said it wouldn’t be a problem, but we could explain to the cabin steward and it would be arranged. It took four days to sort. It’s all little things, I know, but little things add up.

Friday

Honningsvag is the northernmost city of Europe. However, it has a population of less than 3,000. It was awarded city status shortly before a change in the laws of Norway meant cities had to have more than 5,000 people.

Considering that we were in the Arctic Circle, I did not expect to be wandering the streets of this small city in shorts and a t-shirt. It was over 30c and at the risk of repeating myself, we were not prepared for this heat!

On Friday afternoon, as we left port, we noticed shapes in the water. We stood and watched for a while, not daring to hope but soon our hopes were realised as we saw whales in the water. For the next hour or so we were treated to several displays by these whales, which are some of natures most incredible creatures. I saw one whale let out a few bursts from its blowhole, and it’s a memory that will stay with me forever.

As we watched the whales, our ship entered a dense patch of fog. We were in the Land of the Midnight sun, so we would not have any darkness. We got dressed up for the sudden cold, windy weather and went for a walk around the ship. The following photos were taken between 9pm and 10:30pm…

Saturday

Tromso was our stop for Saturday. We took an early shuttlebus from the port to the city centre, but absolutely nothing was open. So, we had a walk around to work out what we would do once the city woke up.

Our first activity was to visit the Arctic Cathedral. A bus driver let us on for free. Oana said he was kind, but I suspected he just didn’t care. Either way; free transport. We had to take a bus because the Cathedral was located across the water. It’s a stunning, beautiful building:

Last year we were in Paris for my birthday. We stopped at one restaurant for lunch. I had a club sandwich, with fries, and it came with a sauce which was almost like a mustard-mayo but not quite. I asked the waitress for some more of “this sauce” as I held up the empty pot. She basically breathed fire as she snapped, “it’s mayonnaise!” From that point on, we can’t say mayonnaise like a normal person; it’s just a little in-joke. Anyway, we jumped on a bus to go back over the bridge. We asked the driver if we could get two tickets over the bridge. His response; “but you have to pay money.”

We stood confused for a second. Did he think we were unaware of the concept of paying for transport? Or was the comment about money referring to his belief we wanted to pay with something else? Magic beans? Hack silver? Pelts from animals I’d hunted in the mountains? I don’t know. From now on, the joke is, “it’s mayonnaise! You have to pay for it with money!”

We visited the aquarium to see the seals…

…and then took a walk around the botanical gardens, which were beautiful.

All in all, we enjoyed Tromso. By the time this is published on Sunday we will be at sea. We have three more Norwegian ports; Andalsnes, Alesund, and Olden (which we’ve visited before). Then, a quick stop in Belgium before arriving back in Southampton.

One last thing before I go; the Bank of England base rate… Once again it has been increased which, I suspect, makes a sustained drop in house prices much more likely. There are going to be a lot of people who borrowed as much as possible during the crazy market at the start of covid, who will soon be coming off their fixed rates. There will be people looking at rates many times higher than what they budgeted for. It could get quite messy. As always, if you are struggling financially contact your bank, mortgage lender, or an organisation like Step Change.

Thanks for reading, and apologies again for the formatting and/or any grammatical errors.