A Lazy At Sea Day

Today was a sea day and the final one of the cruise. We have been up and down the coast of Norway and are currently in the English Channel. It continues to be beautiful sailing with no white caps to be seen. It has basically been that way all cruise. The last day always means packing all the stuff that we have collected in the past 2 weeks. The clothes are the easy part since you just take everything. We started the morning with the zumba

Calm Seas

class. The 30 minute work out was easy again compared to some of the classes we have done on other ships. Later we saw the display of Diana's most memorable outfits. They were all replicas. She was the godmother of the Royal Princess when it was christened. The display included photos and a short note of the occasion when she wore the dresses. The centre piece was her wedding dress. Packing followed – always a chore on the best occasion. The room stewards have a luggage scale which we needed! We didn't want to be repacking on the floor at the airport. We have seen this happen before. The final line dance class was today. He did Sweet Home Alabama and the Tush Push. That is a new one for Princess cruises. This instructor was much better than some of the ones we have see. Still please put the Electric Slide out of it's misery. Many of the people at the class could do the Tush Push. We were among the the Asians who knew how to dance. Actually it was fun. A light lunch and more packing followed. Again the schedule looks full but filled with bingo (twice), Effy sales (over and over) and spa specials none of which have any particular appeal. We did attend the pre dinner lounge for some sushi meeting some people we have gotten to know on this cruise. Then off to dinner. The food has been consistently excellent. Little things have changed but the quality of the food has remained excellent. This ship did not have the crew talent show as we have seen on past cruises. Instead they had a Royal variety show. Apparently it is a “British” tradition. It was a mixed bag with some of the entertainers taking part. Actually it was quite entertaining. Luggage out and has gone already. We do gain back an hour tonight which is a good thing since we are leaving at 7:40 tomorrow. We will be landing in the afternoon of Canada Day. Happy 150 Canada.

Bergen -A Short Visit

Bergen was our last port of call on this cruise. The ship needs to be in Southampton before they begin a yacht race so our stay here was cut short. The ship required us to be back by

Bergen

12:30 and since we had a long tour scheduled, we were up at 5:30. The first part of the tour was a drive around Bergen. We have been here 3 times before and had always just wandered around. It was good to see more of the entire city and learn about it. The main part of the tour involved a long bus ride along some very narrow roads through the valleys with a number of stops along the way, none of which were of any great interest. The guide was Italian who spoke with a very heavy accent which was difficult to understand. He was very knowledgeable about Norway and the places we were

The Falls

At The Falls

traveling through but at such an early hour a number of people we sleeping. We managed to stay awake. The final stop was at a waterfall about 60 kilometers from Bergen. The waterfall we were at yesterday was much nicer. However the one today had the added feature that you could get to it along a short paved path and that you could actually walked under the falls. That was a new experience. Then back on the bus and the 90 minute ride back to the ship. We just got back and the ship was ready to sail. With the very early morning wake up, we needed down time in the afternoon so a rest was in order which basically filled the entire afternoon. The last formal night was tonight. We saw a comedy singer that

The Town From The Falls

we missed last night. We thought she was funny but others were so so. I guess it depends on your sense of humor. We had lobster for dinner and saw a good production show later. Actually the shows are much better than they have been on previous cruises. The party balloon drop in the piazza followed the show. Sea day tomorrow as we get ready to depart early Saturday.

Skjolden – Not To Be Missed!

From Our Hike

Today we were in Skjolden. It is in the same fiord system as Flam, a port we visited

The Skjolden Fiord

earlier. It is at the end of Skjolden fiord, the longest navigable fiord in the world. It is over 4000 feet deep. A few years ago they trapped a submarine in it but never made it surface. We entered the fiord last night around midnight. As we entered a Holland America ship was just leaving. It took 8 hours before we finally came along side. Princess did their planning as this is picture perfect postcard town itself has only about 200 people. Not much of a town but the scenery is spectacular. Hands down it is the most beautiful of all the stops we have made. If planning a trip to Norway, it must be on the list of places to stop. The steep valley walls, the abandoned farms, the fields of hay and the continuous

At The Falls

greenery add to the beauty. We did not have a ship's tour 
today. We booked a bike tour with Adventure Tours. We were off the ship early for a 2 kilometer hike to a lookout. There were lots of people making their way up the hill. It afforded wonderful views of the valley below. The weather was warm and sunny with partly cloudy very blue skies. After the hike up to the lookout, we met our guide for the 7 kilometer ride through the Morkid valley to Drivande Waterfall. There were 4 other bikers and a wonderful guide. In fact he started the company about 4 years ago. 40% of their business comes from the 15 cruise ships that stop here. The bikes we very new and the ride easy, except for a few ups. No harder than the Clearwater

The Falls

bridge. The bikes were different from our bikes and as Judy tried her bike out in the parking lot, I could see another tumble coming. Once we had the helmets (mandatory in Norway) a level of comfort set in. The only problems were coming down the gravel road from the falls. Our guide stopped along the way to explain the features of the area. At the waterfall we had about 40 minute hike up 1000 feet to the falls. Wonderful with a cool spray from the falls. We had a snack of flat bread, cured meat and cheese while listening to the sounds of the waterfall. Just a wonderfully relaxing place. There were very few people at the falls which is in a national park. An easy bike ride got us back to the ship close to the time that we needed to be on board. The 3 hour trip was definitely one of the

The Fiord

highlights of this cruise. We sailed out of the fiord at a slow pace, enjoying the sheer cliffs as we went. Alaska has the glaciers but this has a different kind of beauty. We stopped at the Effy store for our “free gift” and a glass of champagne. We did not buy any of the thousands of dollar jewelry that they have been really hustling during the cruise. After dinner we stopped in at the country western night. We have an early tour tomorrow so lights were out quickly. 

At Sea Headed South

Crossing The Arctic Circle (Sic)

After running around the last 3 days it was a welcome to have a day at sea. The day was sunny but still cool. It was a very relaxing with the typical sleep in. If you are not into bingo, trivia or art auctions there is very little to do on a day like this. It turned out to be a good break before the last 2 ports. I tried to go to a photo seminar but for some reason it did not occur. By then it was time for lunch. I think everyone on ship was in the dining room. We did manage to go to the waltz dance class which was very good. The instructor moves along quite quickly. There was an “outlet' sale event. It is always a good place to find a tee shirt from some area. They had the egg drop contest

At The Captain.s Circle Party

It is the first time that an egg was actually broken. We watch a movie and then readied ourselves for the Captain's Circle party. The most cruised couple has 1800 days cruising on Princess. At 20 (320 days) we are not even in the top 40 on this cruise. It was Italian night in the dining room. Good Italian fare. The production show was a series of songs from the disco era. Tomorrow we will do a long transit of the same fiord we were in on our way to Flam. It is the longest fiord in Norway. We have a bike tour scheduled. Weather looks good so it should be fun. 

A Sunny Day in Gravdal

   After all the doom and gloom of the captain's announcement yesterday we were able to anchor in Gravdal and the tenders were able to operate. In fact the day was partly sunny

Along The Trail

all day, on the cool side with a strong wind. It was a better day than yesterday. We had an afternoon tour meeting on the dock so we decided to go ashore early and just spend the entire day ashore. We caught the tender around 10 and walked into the town of Lofeten. It was about 4 kilometers each way. The Loften islands are a mix of high mountains and flat land. There is a lot of sheep grazing. The walk into town took about an hour along a relatively flat walking trail. The town itself had very little of interest. We did stop at a local pub for a drink. I ordered the locally

Ballstad

bottled beer but never did see the name as the bar keep poured it out for me. It was a nice way to spend a few minutes. Norway is a very expensive place to live. The bottle of beer was about $16 Canadian and that was the going rate the last time we stopped for a drink a few days ago. We were back on the dock for our tour in plenty of time. It was very disorganized. On the ship, tour prep is very precise. Here you had to find the person assigning which buses to take. No central desk, sign, location. Just someone with a clip board. We were off to Ballstad with a guide who was quickly recruited. The town is a fishing village. We got out of the bus and looked at the vessels.

The Beach

Nothing was planned. A bit of a rip off! We then headed north to a large sandy beach surrounded by mountains. Apparently it is the largest one in Norway. The day was partly sunny but the clouds hung on the mountain tops. There was a strong wind In this area many days are foggy and wet. The tour was rated easy and it was that. We took the tour for the photo opportunities and it was semi successful. We caught the last tender back, quickly showered and change and we were off for something to eat. The was a line dance review and I can't believe we did some of the dances. At least we could move around a bit. After dinner we saw the show by Leanne Mitchell, the 1^st winner of the Voice U.K. It was very good with many different

Fun In The Loften Islands

types of music although we thought her “classical” style was the best. We cross the Arctic Circle heading south sometime tonight and I want to get up and take a picture. I missed it the first time. As far as the midnight sun, it is still light out but very overcast – no sun here. We are rocking a bit and the captain gave another warning about the sea conditions. We are at sea tomorrow as the cruise days are slipping away.

A Rainy Day In Tromso

The Bridge

     Today we spent a rainy day in Tromso. This is the first port that we have not been docked

Old Buildings

right in the centre of town. Princess had a shuttle bus service for the 4 kms to the city. We were away early and had a chance to walk around the downtown before we headed to a church service. All churches in Tromso have an 11 am service. Tromso was called “Paris of the North” and was not destroyed in WW2. The result is that the buildings have retained much of their original facades. Being Sunday only the

Arctic Cathedral

souvenir shops were open. We wanted to take the cable car to the top of the mountain, it was the thing to do here. We found the right local bus to get us there. When we arrived the top of the mountain was shrouded in clouds. We figured quickly that there would be no photo ops to be had and decided to simply walk back into town. We stopped at the Arctic Cathedral, arriving just after a wedding. It is a ultra modern structure built in 1965. There are series of triangles of glass, steel and concrete. The inside is very plain except for the stained glass window. It is quite a contrast to the Tromso Cathedral built in 1861 which we visited on our early walk around.     We walked

We Were There

the bridge back to the main part of town, stopping at a photographic museum filled with works by local photographers. It did have a number of interesting shots from the past 100 years. We did try to find a bar to have a local beer but most places were closed. It started to the rain harder so we returned to the ship. The rest of the late afternoon was spent having a cup of tea, a snack a rest. Because of the port schedule on this cruise, the activities on board are limited. Dinner and a production show ended the day. Both were very good. The captain announced that

Bridge Walk

weather is moving in and the seas will pick up later tonight causing us to rock a bit. We are suppose to anchor and be tendered tomorrow and from his announcement it seems that we probably anchor but after that is anyone's guess. There is a wind limit to running tenders in high winds. We do have an easy tour scheduled for tomorrow with photography the primary reason. Even if we get in, the weather could be a problem for taking pictures. As far as the midnight sun we have not seen it in the last day. It remains very overcast.