Svalbard Adventure Begins

 The Svalbard Adventure Begins

 

At 0300 Saturday morning the Bayview Limousine arrived and Miriam and I headed to SEA airport to begin the journey to Tromso, Norway where we will board the Seabourn Venture for a 25 day cruise to Svalbard, Greenland and Iceland.  We arrive in Tromso about 24 hours after departing our house in Bellevue.

 

Our first task will be to take a monitored rapid antigen test to show we are negative for Covid, a requirement for boarding the ship.  We arrive several days ahead of ship departure to allow for lost luggage and trip delays.

 

When we arrived at SEA at 0330, the check-in gates were not yet open, so we waited in a long line until the United staff arrived, about 0345.  We had ordered a wheelchair for Miriam, but those were not available until 0400.  TSA pre-check was also not available until after 0400, but by the time we had checked in, the wheelchair arrived and the security screening process thru pre-check was a breeze.

 

Miriam and I headed to the United Lounge where we had a breakfast snack until it was time to board.  The lounge opens at 0415 and we entered at 0417, so the entire process took less than one hour, a far cry from what we were expecting based on the local news reports.

 

We have been tracking the ship progress on MarineTraffic.com, and the Seabourn Venture is now underway from Rotterdam, showing Tromso as the next destination.

 

The flight began boarding at 0535 and we departed essentially on time.  The Cascades were visible, all the way from Mount Baker to Mount Hood.  About one hour into the flight we started to encounter moderate turbulence and the seat belt sign was on for most of the rest of the flight.  However, even with spectacular thunderheads all around us, the winds aloft were favorable and we touched down at Newark 40 minutes ahead of schedule.  The outside temperature had soared to 97 degrees, but the terminal was comfortable.

 

The wheelchair arrived after most of the passengers had deplaned, but we chose to take the United shuttle bus between Terminal C where we landed and Terminal B, where SAS flights depart.  The shuttle is fast, but no elevator at the Terminal B shuttle stop, so Miriam had to climb 40 steps up to the departure floor.  The SAS lounge was still relatively empty, so we were able to get decent seats and boarding passes for the next two flights.  Within 30 minutes, the lounge was crowded, but not as bad as outside the lounge, where even empty seats were scarce.  The perils of summer travel, we guess.  There was a reasonable selection of snacks and beverages, free wifi and a lot of children, noisy and excited.

 

Arriving at the gate with Miriam in a wheelchair we found the gate changed and no plane.  The gate was changed again, and then again.  The crew was waiting just like the passengers, until finally a plane was towed to the stand and flight preparations began.  We were supposed to leave at 6:55 pm and ended leaving at 7:45 PM, then sitting pushed back for another 20 minutes.  Our Apple Airtags showed our luggage had made the connection and was on the aircraft.

 

Business Class on the A330 was excellent, very nice individual pods with lay flat beds and large flat screens.  The two meals, dinner and then continental breakfast before we arrived in Oslo were both good, with a selection of entrees and appetizers.  After dinner the crew dimmed the lights and asked if we wanted to be awakened for breakfast or sleep until the last minute.  Both Miriam and I slept for about 4 hours.

 

Business Class Lobster Appetizer

Main Course was Chilean Sea Bass

 

Business Class Pods

With the late departure from Newark, our connection time in Oslo had shrunk to 40 minutes, but the wheechair service took shortcuts to the head of the lines for both immigration and security screening to enter the domestic flight part of the airport.  When we arrived at the gate the plane was nearly all boarded and departed about 15 minutes after we arrived.  The plane was a Boeing 737-800 in an all-economy configuration with 6 across seating and totally full.  The only concession for business class was complimentary beverages and a small snack.  Our Apple Airtags in our luggage were active and showed the luggage was also on the flight.

On the SAS flight to Tromso

 

In two hours we touched down in Tromso and were parked on the tarmac.  No jetways, just airstairs which Miriam had to negotiate.  The wheelchair was at the foot of the stairs and Miriam was wheeled onto the bus for a ride to the terminal and baggage claim.  Our bags showed mup on the carousel in less that 3 minutes after arriving.  Heading to the taxi stand there was no line and by 12:15 PM we were walking in the door of the Radisson Blu hotel near the waterfront and close to the cruise ship terminal.  Our room looks down the street to the terminal, only about 500 feet away.

 

View from our hotel room to the cruise ship terminal

After much needed naps we logged on to the Emed.com website, took out our Seabourn approved Emed Covid test kits,

and completed our video monitored Covid testing.  As expected, we both tested negative and have the official test results to show Seabourn in two days.  Had we tested positive we would have had to return home after 5 days of isolation.

 

We are now ready to board Seabourn Venture with all required testing, vaccination requirements, and health assessments complete.