Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/27/24 (Sea Day #5)

 

The last sea day of our cruise.  We have only one more full day after this for this cruise, and then we will be back in Southampton and on our way back to New York.  So, what did we do to start off this day? Laundry, of course!  After a week of cruising, we had enough dirty clothes to fill up the washing machine. Since neither of us wanted to fly back to NYC with a load of dirty laundry, we figured that it was time to kill some time and take care of this chore - just like several other people in the laundry room before us.

The Laundry room was crowded, and we experienced the same problem twice - both the washer and the dryer didn't register our first tokens being fed to the machines.  We had to call guest services to get help, and a gentleman came with extra tokens to be used in feeding the machines.  One wonders why they don't fix these machines in the first place.  But our place is not to wonder why.  Our place is to wash and dry.

After doing laundry, we went down to the shore excursions desk to get some of RQS's questions answered. And then, it was upstairs for burgers and fries.  Neither of us could finish what we ordered, as we've gotten tired of eating as much as we have been doing for the past two weeks.  So, it was back to our room, to rest until attending the Captain's Circle gathering for loyal Princess cruisers.

Around 5:00 pm, we started getting ready for the Captain's Circle gathering.  RQS looked nice in what she was wearing, while my jacket looked like it was hanging on a blob that looks like me when I'm in Mario mode.  It was nice to have a meet and greet with the staff, and I got a chance to chat with the fellow in charge of future cruise sales.  (Our booking was corrected.  Now to wait for this department on the mainland to call me back.)  Although it was a pleasant gathering with "free" drinks and canapes, we couldn't wait to go to dinner.

Tonight's dinner in the main dining room had surf and turf on the menu.  Since we already had too much to eat over the last few days, neither of us chose this option.  Instead, we both chose the Cornish game hen.  It was yummy.  But service was way too slow for our comfort, and we were about to leave just before our tea and coffee arrived.  Yet, we still ended up leaving without finishing our after dinner service, as both of us wanted to get comfortable again.

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/26/24 (Olden, Norway)

 

This is the view from our balcony this morning.  It's hard to believe how close we are to this town, given the ports we've been to on this cruise.  Mind you, we are still docked at a typical pier.  But this port seems much smaller than the ports we've been to in the past.  

Our plan for the day would be to eat a leisurely breakfast, take a shore excursions, then go back to the ship for dinner.  This would be our last day in Norway, so if we wanted to buy souvenirs, this would be the last chance to do so.  But who wants to buy overpriced Chinese-made tchotchkes just to have something that says "Norway" on them?  So we skipped the souvenir shop again and decided to go straight to the tour bus that would take us on the "Easy Nordfjord" excursion.

The Easy Nordfjord shore excursions is best described as a half-day bus trip through some of the most picturesque sites reachable from Olden.  There are several photo stops, as well as a snack provided at mid day.  Since the description can not do this excursion justice, I'll include a few of my photos taken while on this trip:

None of these pictures do the trip along "Panorama Drive" justice.  One could easily get hypnotized by the scenic beauty along the road, as the views were captivating.  Sadly, we had to return to the ship before 3:30 pm, and we made it with 15 minutes to spare.

Once back on the ship, we received a message - our Alaska cruise has been booked.  One problem: It was booked with the wrong fare rate.  Instead of being booked with a Princess Premier fare that includes a better drink package, a better internet package, and a slightly better dining package, we got the Princess Plus fare.  So, I tried to call the Future Cruises desk - with no success.  No one on the ship knew who we were trying to reach, and continued to send us to the wrong department.  (So much for people who do not speak English as a native language.)  So, I walked down to the department, and the gentleman there apologized for his error and sent in a request to Princess's main office in California to fix the reservation.  Of course, we'll end up seeing him again before the end of the cruise, as we both want a better explanation of the concierge package we bought while on the ship....