Norway - A very different Adventure

March 16, 2020 Generally speaking we book our overseas trips about 9 months before embarkation. This was the case for the Viking ocean cruise, "Searching for the Northern Lights", that we booked for March 9 to March 22. This particular cruise met two important criteria. For Lynda, it added another country to our ever growing list of countries we have visited and, for Tim, it was a chance to view the Northern Lights at their spectacular best. At the time of booking, our only concerns were: 1) we would be leaving only 5 weeks after returning from our trip to South Africa, and 2) Tim's mild concern about missing the Big Ten Men's Basketball tournament and the first week of the NCAA Tournament. With these two concerns dismissed the cruise was booked. Because of the South Africa trip we did not spend a lot of time thinking about the Norway cruise other then when it was time to book excursions and reserve special dining on board the ship. The South Africa trip had been a real adrenaline rush for us. It took us close to two weeks to come down from the high of the trip as well as recovering from the exhausting flights getting home. As we were preparing for South Africa coronavirus was just a story on the news that was a major problem in China. While in South Africa coronavirus became a bigger story on the world stage but one that did not resonate with us yet. Traveling home from Johannesburg we were asked several times at London Heathrow airport if we had been in China anytime in the last 14 days and the same question was asked at Chicago O'Hare. In each intance it was asked with the same concern as "do you have anything to declare". Everything changed in the two weeks before our scheduled flight to Norway. Suddenly there were pictures on the television of cruise ships docked and under quarintine or sailing around looking for a country that would let them dock. Coronavirus was no longer a "China" problem. Ten days before our cruise we received an email from Viking explaining that we would be required to fill out a health survey before boarding and that anyone who had been to China within 14 days of our cruise would not be allowed on board. Every day the news about coronavirus and its spread around the world grew. The weekend of March 1 we had our first discussion between the two of us questioning for the if we should go ahead with the cruise. With many questions and few answers, on the Monday a week before we were to leave we called our travel agent. Lora is located at an agency in Atlanta, Georgia. We accidentally met her online in 2013 when we answered an email about a cruise that piqued our interest. She has booked almost all of the cruises we have taken since. Lora is very good at what she does and is a joy to work with. We trust her completely. While she was not able to answer all of our questions she was able to put our minds at ease. Most importantly she told us of several of her clients who had just returned from a Viking ocean cruise and reported that Viking was being very proactive in addressing health issues on board, i.e much hand sanitizing, etc. As the week progressed we constantly monitored the websites of both the U.S. Department of State and the Center for Desease Control for any alerts that might affect us. By this time we were also fielding questions from our family about the advisability of us going on the trip. The Thursday before we left we received another email from Viking. This email informed us that we could cancel our trip up to 24 hours before boarding with no penalty. We would receive a coupon for the cost of the trip that would be good for 24 months toward any Viking cruise. Even as we packed on the Sunday before we left we were questioning our decision to go ahead with the trip. We are not sure what happened as we slept Sunday night, but we both woke up on Monday, March 9, excited and ready to start our next travel adventure. There is a bus service called "Michigan Flyer" that travels between East Lansing and Metro Airport via Ann Arbor. It is quite convenient and we have used it many times. The scheduling did not work out very well for this trip so we drove to Metro on our own. This turned out to be a very fortuitous decision as the service was suspended a couple of days before our return. We were shocked when we entered the airport. There was a fraction of the people we usually encounter. It was quiet without any of the buzz we usually feel from large numbers of harried travelers rushing to their gates. It was the same when we boarded our plane. It had a capacity of 300 customers but was half full at best. It was actually rather stress free. We flew from Detroit to Amsterdam and then on to Bergen, Norway. It was as good as traveling by air can be. Multiple Viking representatives greeted us at the Bergen airport Tuesday morning. Our first surprise was the fact that there was no snow on the ground. The only snow we saw was at the top of mountains. The temperature was in the low 40's and it was raining. There were a number of fellow Viking cruise mates on the flight from Amsterdam to Bergen. Enough to fill two buses. We had a 25 minute bus ride from the airport to the ship terminal. As always when we enter a new country for the first time we marvel at the different landscape as well as the different architecture. We observed an interesting blend of the old with the new; the new being the contemporary scandanavian style that we like. We also commented on the fact that with all of our travels, when we are in countries that have a "Romance" language we have learned to be able to understand signage. (An aside to our young readers: Romance languages are those languages based on Latin.) In Norway we were pretty much clueless trying to figure out signs on buildings. Once at the terminal we were confronted with the health form. The form asked if we had been in China, Iran, South Korea, or Italy during the last 14 days. It also asked if we had any of the following symptoms: high temperature, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat. We also had our temperature taken. Before boarding the ship we were asked on three different occasions to stop and sanitize our hands. Once on board we were reminded why we enjoy Viking cruises. We were offered a glass of champaigne and everyone offered us warm greetings. Our first indication that there had been a lot of cancelations was when we stopped at the customer service desk to check our reservaions for specialty dining. In the past we have been allowed one reservation at each of two specialty restaurants. For this cruise we were able to book two meals at each restaurant. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and settling into our cabin. We both took short naps. After his nap, Tim took the 15 minute walk from the ship to the town center to find an ATM to obtain local currency. Tim always enjoys exploring new cities, getting a feel of the shops and restaurants. Bergen was no exception other then it was raining the whole time he was out. A quick history lesson. Norway only started to exist as an independent nation in 1905. The hundred years before that it is was under the control of Sweden and the 500 years before that, the Danes. When Norway won its independence the citizens decided they wanted to be a monorchy just like many of their neighboring countries. Of course, they did not have a king so they went out and hired one. The second son of the King of Denmark seemed to have all the right credentials and because he was not going to become King of Denmark he was more then happy to take the job. We know this description sounds a bit flip but it is actually what happened. The good news is that the first King of Norway was actually a good king. He changed his name to the name of a line of kings some 700 years in Norway's past and embraced all things Norwegian. The lineage of the Royal family of Norway continues today from the first king in 1905. We would tell you that first kings name but our Norwegian guide had trouble pronouncing it and an America keyboard probably doesn't have the proper letters to type it. Norway's number one industry was fishing. It was a poor country until 1969 when oil was discovered. Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with around 268,000 citizens. It is a picturesque city situated around two fjiords. On Wednesday morning we took a bus tour of Bergen. It was the type of tour we don't particularly like. There were two stops for photo opprotunities and everything else was a drive by. There were several parts of the town we would have loved to explore on foot as well as a funicular that went up the side of a small mountain that would have had fabulous views of Bergen and the fjiords. That was not to be as our ship left port shortly after lunch on Wednesday. Thursday morning a little before seven, because we were both struggling to adjust to the five hour time difference from back home, we were laying in bed, each reading the latest news on our mobile devices. Of course all the news was about coronavirus. Another cruise ship was in the news so we were discussing our situation and if we trusted Viking to be transparent with us if one of the crew or passengers on our ship was sick. It was at that moment that our Captain came on the intercom and announced that Viking headquarters had decided to suspend all of the Viking ocean and river cruises going on around the world. He had been give those instructions at 4:30 that morning and had turned our ship around and had set course for Tilbury, England where the cruise terminal for London is located. This was where our cruise was scheduled to end. He told us that Viking was in the process of re-arranging flights home for those like us who had booked our air with Viking. The Captain also explained that Viking would also need to change the time that they had reserved to be docked in England. As all of this would take time it might not be until sometime on Saturday that we would arrive in Tilbury. An hour or so after this announcement Tim went to breakfast. One of the senior officers was in the dining room going from table to table talking with the guests. He stopped and talked with Tim, answering his questions as best he could. It was really too early in the process for him to have any definitive information but he was there to talk and reassure the guests that Viking was doing everything possible to ensure our safe return home. We spent Thursday sailing through the inside passage of Norway, seeing stunning scenery. By Friday afternoon we were in the North Sea and we arrived in Tilbury at 2:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon. It was Saturday morning that we finally received our flight plans. We were scheduled to fly the next day nonstop from London Heathrow to Detroit Metro. We were greatly relieved as we knew by this time that there were 13 airports that were allowed to receive international flights. We did not know if Detroit would be one of them. We also decided that once we docked in Tilbury we would try to leave the ship and go into London for the evening. Unfortunately, later in the morning we were told that once we docked we were all required to leave the ship to have a face to face meeting with a British immigration officer and then would be required to go back on board the ship and would not be able to leave until we left the ship for our bus trip to the airport. This was a bit of a disappointment. Sunday morning we left our ship at 7:45 for an hour long bus ride to Heathrow. We enjoyed the views of the English countryside as we reminisced about our many previous trips to the U.K. Unlike Detroit Metro the previous Monday, Heathrow was crowded with everyone trying to get back to the States. When we checked into our flight at the gate we were given a form to fill out. There was a lengthy list of countries that we had to indicate having visited in the last 14 days. Norway was one of the countries on the list. We also had to indicate if we had any symptoms much as when we boarded our ship. There were very few empty seats on our flight home. Upon arriving in Detroit, as we taxied to our gate, the head flight attendent announced that when we arrived at our gate we should all remain in our seats as Customs/Border Patrol personnel may want to have certain passengers leave before others. After a short wait it was announced, with a certain amount of relief, that we could all leave. When we arrived at passport control we went directly to the Global Entry kiosks. We enrolled in Global Entry several years ago and it makes reentering the country a breeze. After having our passports checked the officer told us we would have to go through health screening. While in line we had observed that not everyone was required to go through this screening. The screening was efficiently done. As we walked to the area where we would have our temperature taken an offical walked beside us and went through the form we had filled on the plane. Once our temperature was taken and the health worker was satisfied that we had no symptoms we were given a chart and told to take our temperature twice a day and check on the form if we had a cough or trouble breathing. While they did not come right out and tell us to self quarantine it was strongly suggested we should limit contact with other people. We have decided to self quarantine. This whole process only added 10 or 15 minutes to the whole reentering the country process. With little fuss or bother we were home. Some final thoughts. Viking handled the whole situation as well as can be expected. The personnel on board kept us as informed as they could. The crew continued to work hard to make our cruise experience a good one even when we knew the cruise was being cut short. While everyone was disappointed we heard very little grumbling among the passengers. We all understood the circumstances we were in and made the best of them. Having heard horror stories as we docked in London of long lines at the airports back in the states, we were greatly relieved that the process was handled so smoothly. The fact that Detroit does not handle as many international flights as Chicago or New York undoubtedly makes their job easier. Today, Monday, March 16, looking back at the cruise it seems a bit surreal that we were part of a major international story surrounding a pandemic that was sweeeping across most of the world. Having said that we can assure you that this experience will do nothing to diminish our love of travel.