Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/18/24 (Flam, Norway)

 

Flam and its railway were the main reasons we decided to take this specific cruise, and not the other 14 day cruise which had 3 Norwegian ports and 3 Icelandic ports.  I'm a little bit of a railroad nut, and I love taking scenic train journeys,

But first....

After getting a restful, but short sleep, RQS and I woke up at 4:00 am to see one side of the Fjord passing by our balcony window.  Although I kept her awake, she was happy to see the landscape passing by, with water falls, snow tipped peaks, and silky smooth waters as we cruised through the Fjord leading to Flam.

Neither of us had enough sleep.  But we knew that the Flam railway was a must.  This railway has the steepest incline (up to a 1 in 18 gradient) on a standard gauge railroad in Europe.  And the scenic views from the train are breathtaking.  So, after a hearty breakfast, we were off to the railway station for the Flam Railway: Waterfalls and Waffles excursion.  We were not disappointed.  Instead, we were stunned by the beauty of glacier fed streams, water falls, and the route leading to Vatnahalsen and its namesake hotel.

In Vatnahalsen, we stopped for Waffles and Tea before returning to Flam.  This is where I struck up a conversation with another railroad fanatic who previously rode the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway to White Pass.  Both of us swapped stories about railroads, steam locomotives, and the routes we have yet to travel.   All too soon, we were back in Flam and on to the ship.

According to several cruise bloggers, Flam is a must visit stop on any Norway cruise.  On this I must concur.  The railway can be the highlight of one's visit to the fjords because of its spectacular views, and the railway shore excursion is in the same league as the White Pass and Yukon Railroad excursion in Alaska.

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/17/24 (Haugesund, Norway)

 

I awoke to an overcast day, knowing that we were not on a fixed schedule.  Our ship was due to make port in Haugesund around 9:00 am, and RQS had planned to take an exercise class at 10:00 am.  So RQS joined me for an early breakfast (not eating anything) while I feasted again.  (Reminder to self: Aim to have breakfast in the main dining room next time.)  

Around 10:00 am, RQS went to exercise, while I went to the atrium to relax and catch up on reading the daily news.  (She found that no one but her was at the exercise class, so she had the leader to herself - a private lesson.)  RQS texted me to tell me that she made it up to our cabin when the power went out.  First, it was the lights in the stores (closed for the time in port), followed by everything else for a few seconds.  Then, the emergency power and lights kicked in.  We were told NOT to take the elevators at this time, so I told RQS that I'd come up when it was safe.  Once I heard the ultra low pitched sound of the ships engines kicking in, I went up to the room to meet RQS before having a light lunch.

Shortly after lunch, we took the shuttle bus into Haugesund.  $8/pp (approx.) isn't an unreasonable price to be shuttled into town and back, given the price of gas (or electric) in this neck of the world.

Later on in the day, we went to the main dining room for dinner.  Compared to what we've had in the past on NCL, Princess's MDR now shows itself to be better than what we have been finding on our NCL trips.  Hopefully, our Autumn Bermuda trip will show that NCL has rectified the problems we've seen on previous cruises....

One thing of note:  We chose an all-inclusive package (Princess Premier) which gives us 4 devices of unlimited internet use on this cruise. This is a much better deal than I could have gotten on any other cruise line that I've sailed on.  However, there is a minor glitch.  When we sailed out of the US, we were connected to a United States based IP address, and the ads presented to us were geared to the US market.  However, on this cruise, the IP assigned to us was either UK based or German based.  This means that we've been getting ads geared for the UK and EU markets, some of them in German.  In the Google search results for Linens and Things above, I got responses from European stores with prices listed in Euros.  There are also some sites that I cannot reach due to EU restrictions.  I guess that I'll have to wait until we return to the US to order a new dress from Lane Bryant, or to order a new wig from Wig Outlet.  But what I find most interesting is that I keep getting forced to German sites of international businesses based in the USA.  Even my high school German has proven to be no use here....

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/16/24 (Sea Day #1)

What can I say about sea days, save for that the most important thing one can do is relax.  We were glad that we had this day to rest, as our bodies were on New York time, and we were now sailing in Central European time.

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The first thing on our docket was a "Deluxe Balcony Breakfast for Two."  Although we could have had a table set up for us on our balcony, we chose to have this spread set up on a table in our cabin.  There was an Assortment of Pastries, a Melon dish, a Smoked Salmon dish, and Quiche Lorraine to eat, along with coffee, orange juice, and sparkling wine to wash it down.  We were stuffed to the gills before 10:30 came around, and there was no way we were going to have lunch at a normal time.

After a chance to rest, we went to afternoon tea.  Although this might not have been as fancy a presentation as is done on one of Princess's sister lines (Cunard), it was well worth the effort to enjoy this sea day activity.  Once done, we proceeded to Rudi's Catch (Princess's specialty seafood restaurant) to change our scheduled time for the first of our specialty dinners.  Princess's app forced us to choose an 8:30 pm dining time, while we wanted something earlier.  Luckily, the restaurant we chose had quite a few openings for 7:00 pm, and we jumped at that slot.  Then, we took another short nap, still dealing with our body clocks being out of sync with local time.

Around 6:15 pm, we started to get dressed for a formal night. I surprised RQS by wearing a tie with my male "casual formal" garb (read: blue blazer, dress grey slacks, and a button down shirt), while I'd have rather been presenting as Marian in a nice LBD with pearls.  (She joked that she'd help me practice with this, and I said - no thanks....)  Then, it was off to Rudi's.

Princess made a big mistake with the design of Rudi's Catch on this ship.  Both their Steakhouse and Italian restaurants are separated from places where people gather (and where music is performed) by a sound blocking partition or wall.  This is not the case with Rudi's Catch.  It is right off the main atrium, where a band playing loud music can make it impossible for anyone to have a conversation. Most importantly, the volume of this music makes it hard for restaurant staff to communicate with both its patrons and other staff members.  (Princess should fire the people who made this design decision, and find a way to separate this restaurant from the noise from the atrium as soon as possible.  But I digress.)

As much as I enjoyed my meal at Rudi's on my last cruise, I was wishing we were somewhere else for this meal.  We enjoyed an appetizer with a small lobster tail.  I had chosen the Three S (shrimp, scallops and salmon) main course, while RQS chose a dinner portion of lump crab cakes - a big mistake, as the crab cakes had no flavor.  (Later on, I said that RQS should have ordered one of the main courses and not eat everything.  But RQS hates to waste food without good reason.)  Neither of us were impressed by the Crepes Suzette we had for dessert.  In short, we could have skipped this dinner and had gone to the buffet for a better meal.  Hopefully, this restaurant will do better on our second visit later on in the cruise.

Once done with dinner, we called it a night.  

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If you've gotten this far.... HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/15/24 (Leaving for Southampton and starting our cruise)

 

This was one of the most uneventful parts of our trip so far, and yet I feel that there is something important to note....

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London traffic makes New York, Chicago and Los Angeles traffic look like their drivers are running in the Indianapolis 500.  Given the distance between Heathrow Airport and London's central district, it took 2+ hours to reach out hotel.  Going to Southampton was worse, as it took 3 hours to reach the cruise terminal - an hour of that inside metropolitan London itself.  This is one city in which I never will under any circumstances drive any motor vehicle, nor should any one else do so unless s/he is a bus driver.

Arriving at the cruise terminal, I was impressed at how quickly we were processed, given that Princess Cruises' computers were acting up and that they both had to find our Medallions and warn us that our security photos might have to be retaken onboard the ship.  (We were lucky - we scanned onto the ship without problems.)

Our first stop was to our cabin, where we found a plate of chocolate covered strawberries waiting for us.  Once we watched the muster video, it was off to the grill for burgers and dogs before checking in at our muster station.  But this was not the only thing we had to do.  RQS had bought an extra pair of specialty dinners that were not being recorded on the folio.  First, we had to nap, as we were still suffering from disruption to our sleep schedules.

After our nap, it was off to the main dining room (MDR) for dinner, where we had an enjoyable chat with two families residing in the UK.  Towards the end of dinner, I got on my soapbox a little and mentioned that the populist, right wing, authoritarian trends we're seeing in the west shouldn't be unfamiliar, as they are the same as what happened in Europe in the 1920's and 1930's.  (RQS said that I didn't go too far or too heavy on the topic.)  Luckily, I didn't offend the families, as I was feeling no pain after two glasses of wine and a double espresso with two shots of Sambuca.

Finally, we were off to Guest Services, where our claim of having 4 paid for specialty dinners was confirmed.  We could now rest easily for the evening. And, boy did I need to rest - this was the first time I could say that I wasn't sober enough to drive in years.  I'm glad I left that task to the ship's captain....

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/14/24 (Visiting the Tower Bridge and Family)

 

Neither RQS nor I wanted to get lost in the London Underground while staying for a short time in this large city.  So we decided to stay near our hotel and see some nearby sights.  Luckily, the Tower Bridge (often mistaken by tourists for the homely nearby London Bridge) and the Tower of London were near enough for us to spend a nice afternoon in the UK's capital city.

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We had no fixed plans for the day, and got moving a little late - but not late enough to enjoy the breakfast that came with our room.  With our stomachs filled to capacity, we walked from our hotel to the bridge, then started to explore the neighborhood on the other side of the bridge before returning to the bridge for a tour.

As many people know, the Tower Bridge is one of the most iconic sights in London, next to the Parliament building and Big Ben.  But many people don't know that one can go into the bridge's towers and walk across 70 cm thick glass panels to a tower on the opposite side of the Thames.  And that's where we encountered a family of "Karens."  

(Someone from the family of "Karens".)

One feature of many tall tourist attractions is a glass floor, where people can stand or sit on it to have their pictures taken.  The Tower Bridge has one of these floors, and many people dawdle while getting in their "important" photos.  While transiting the walkway between the towers there was a large family (I presume to be French, given their lack of concern for others) hogging space over a glass square.  When they shifted slightly, I posted RQS on the glass and started to take my picture.  And then the "Karen Family" decided to move into our square as I was starting to take my photo.  I was a little annoyed belted out (in my deep, rich, loud Mario voice) to STOP!  They were taken aback.  No one had ever challenged them for being inconsiderate before.  (Being a New Yorker does come in handy sometimes, as we don't have to care what some unknown "other" thinks of us.  Heck, the "F-Word" is only a mild intensifier here, with no one thinking the word is profane when Samuel L. Jackson utters it in this city.  But I digress.)  I got my picture, and then we left the walkway 10 minutes before these Karens.  (You should have seen them give us the "stink eye" as we rested in the gift shop.  But then, I don't care what my lessers think.)

Next, it was back to the hotel to rest, and wait for my niece (and husband) to come over for dinner.  We went to a nearby French restaurant (don't ever say that I claim that all things French are bad) and had a nice dinner.   All too soon, it was time to let my niece go to her sister in law's birthday party, and we bid each other farewell until next time.... 

Norwegian Fjord Cruise Vacation - 06/13/24 (Flying into London before the cruise.)

 

As I've mentioned before, this would be my first trip overseas and I would experience a lot of unknowns. But first, I feel that I should mention that this trip is being taken as Mario for convenience, as I'm not sure of how foreign governments (especially the UK) will deal with a visitor presenting ID for one gender while presenting as the other.

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RQS and I had a 7:15 pm flight to London, and everything went smoothly with our luggage.  However, I did have a problem when going through the TSA scan process - the machine was producing a false positive in my groin area.  The agent wanted to go through his whole spiel that if I had any contraband that I could be subject to the law, while I simply wanted to give him permission to do what he needs to do.  Something that should have been quick and easy had me telling RQS to watch my bags while the fellow did his thing.  This could have escalated into something bad had not a cooler head prevailed.  But I digress.

We now had 2 1/2 hours to kill at the airport, and we had a hard time finding both something good to eat and somewhere we could sit down to eat our meal.  There were 100 people in line around the Mickey D's we passed, and we ended up walking halfway to another terminal where we could eat gyros and falafel.  This killed some time, and we walked back to the gate where we'd board our plane.  And this is where RQS's cane became a great advantage for us.

Last year, RQS's leg was injured by someone falling onto her leg on the debarkation day for our Bermuda cruise.  She occasionally carries that cane for support.  The cane often becomes an asset in airports, as she is considered handicapped and in need of assistance.  So, we were able to skip ahead of the line and get on the plane without hassles, with me having no problems finding cabin space for our carry-on luggage.  After 6 1/2 hours on the plane, the cane again became an asset, as we were escorted to the head of the customs and immigration lines and out of the controlled area of the airport before 8:00 am.

Neither of us knew where we were going, but we knew that someone from Princess Cruises would be waiting for us, so that we could be driven to our hotel.  Another couple joined us in the van that took us to the hotel, but I wish we could have driven off without them.  No, it's not because they were unpleasant.  Instead, it was because of how I ended up being seated - facing backwards.  It took 2 hours to reach the hotel, and in a warm car driving a long twisting streets it could have ended up being a disaster.  I was getting nauseous, and I was glad to get out of the van and into the air conditioned comfort of my hotel.

Sadly, we arrived around 10:00 am, and they couldn't tell us that rooms might be available earlier than the official check-in time of 3:00 pm.  So RQS and I retreated to some chairs in the lobby and rested for several hours until we could check in to the hotel.  Once in our rooms, we passed out until 6:00 pm.

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My niece had arranged to meet us for dinner, and we walked over to a nearby restaurant for Fish and Chips.  If there's one thing that the British can do well, it's Fish and Chips.  Yum!  We even had a chance to eat some Mushy Peas.  (They may not be my cup of tea, but they were pleasant enough that I finished the portion.)  All too soon, we had to go to the hotel.  We now knew where the Tower of London was, and we made plans to see it the next day.  If things worked out with my niece, she'd meet us afterward.  If not, we have ways to spend our time on our last day in this city.  (And yes, it's a city where one should spend an entire week there to do a visit justice and to have one wanting more.)

 

By the time you read this....

By the time you read this post, I should be back from my cruise.  I figure that I'll have a lot to write about in the time I was gone.  Did I overcome my anxiety?  Did I really have anything major to worry about?  How did our time in London go with my niece?  So many questions, and I hope to be able to answer them here.

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There's a part of me that wishes that my friends could all get their acts together and live the best lives that they can live.  Unfortunately, I often meet people who can't get out of their own way (such as DCD) or who are afraid to leave their comfort zones (such as MAR).  This can be frustrating, as one invests a certain amount of emotional energy into every friendship, and it's frustrating to see people fail when success should be in their grasp.  For example, do I expect to see DCD get his car on the road?  No.  Given the screw-ups he has had in getting the car out of my parking lot and getting to DMV to register the car, I expect that the car will die of neglect.  MAR has a similar method of failure, as she is unable to follow through on advice given to her to escape her current dead-end career.  Do I expect to see her apply for a job at the post office?  No.  She'll likely make excuses for why she hasn't done so.

The key difference between me and these friends is that I eventually leave my comfort zone to grow.  Going out and about as Marian was scary at first.  But it is now second nature.  The other day, I wrote to the Bermuda board of tourism and found out that I should not have any problems with being gender non-conforming.  However, I am waiting for a response from their Immigration department to be safe. (If I don't get one, I'll ask the security people at the pier when I'm there in Mario mode.)  Growth is not always comfortable.  And by the time you read this, I'll have grown a little as a seasoned traveler..