Norwaylady

B2b testing preformed🫡 We are negative ✔️✔️ the air went out of the balloon of stress😵‍💫😬 Next stop is the jacuzzi, need some warm water to “land” the body.

We keep the routine, coffee pick-up at al Bacio, breakfast delivered and off we go. Did some preparation for our b2b moving process, since we didn’t dock until 11.00. And just had to breath deeply to just adjust for testing🙄🫡 (it’s not like I haven’t been tested the last 2 years…. Believe me, I have😝 Due to work, both me and Mr has been tested approximately 1 a week and sometimes every day at work... and every visit to Longyearbyen needed 2 negative test, 5 trips… you do the math) But it’s a 🤪🙄🫣 process every time. Just before we left, some cookies arrived on the door❤️ Shaped like a 🍁 Really kind😘 Back to Victoria😎 Beautiful weather and really beautiful place for a walk. The city is beautiful. Today plan’s was nothing (maybe get Mr a haircut). Just enjoy the city and (try to) enjoy ourselves. We did walk from Ogden point we’re we docked, walk by the ocean into the city centre, walked onward and crossed the bridge over to Marriott hotel. Beautiful view in to the city centre from there. Walked back to ChinaTown, took a walk around. Mr found a barbershop, so he could get a haircut AND we needed to find a local beer🍺 We had some guacamole and nachos for snack out in the sun and Mr got a beer😎 Then we continued onward to the commercial shopping street and walked by the park back to the ship. It’s been a awful daytime, unpleasant start of the day screwed it all up. I can’t help it, it’s just how a planner feels when you ambush them by important things. (Remember, engineer’s and lawyers like paper and forms in order…) Mr Norwaylady is a go-by-the-flow person, so he’s a happy camper even if his house is on fire😝🤪😅

We will try to enjoy Victoria today. We are docking at 11.00. I just have to say, the letter of testing was really a “make my day” miserable. Mentally I was prepared for testing and when they said no on the b2b meeting my shoulders went down 3 inches. I had to take a rapid test for my own peace and wellness now. It’s negative😌 It’s been very stressful before we boarded the ship and testing for the ship. You know from earlier posting that Mr was selected as random test person. But we were I’ll off covid in late July, so we were given the “free out of testing” card. And the testing for departure was really stressful due to failure at Testifly. You know it’s a new test on the ship. So you do take precautions. No elevator, no buffet, stay away from all people when possible. Wear face masks, wash hand and wear face masks on public transport/tour transport. We been doing all of it. But there’s always some “smart” people who don’t care. Last night, we moved seat’s in the theatre asap when they arrived. A couple was sitting sniffing snotty and sneezing. They were definitely not well. It was a cold/flu or covid. They should not been in the theatre. If my eyes could killed, they would be 3-feet under😅 Thanks for caring about your fellow passengers🤬😡🥵🤯😤

Lovely way to start the day😔😤 as my shoulders weren’t high already.

Today’s cruise compass

Dinner tonight was lobster night🦞🦞🦞 Blu was warm and welcoming❤️ Service is great and we are not suffering in any way. They deliver extremely well every night🥰🙌🏻 They really deserve 10 points for the cruise evaluation. Dinner tonight was good. No tomato sauce or other items that was conflicting for the taste😋 yum yum in my tummy😋 Starters: crab cake, grilled feta cheese, apple salad and Blu Caesar salad. Main course: lobster and pepper steak Dessert: baked Alaska and ice cream Coffee & sambuca. After dinner we went to bed. New day and port of call awaits tomorrow😎

Tonight is evening chick🤩 Love those evenings🥰 But this sailing, I feel a bit under dressed. (Normally I pack the lovely dresses in my closet… but they had to stay at home;) We stayed out in the lovely weather😎 lots of wildlife in the water to watch until it was time to dress up🕺🏻💃🏻 Our housekeeper went up in smoke a few days ago. We don’t know if he is in quarantine or if he is I’ll of something else. They have split our zone to the neighbouring housekeeping. So it’s made up and towels delivered. But you can notice that they have more rooms to take care of. Tonight’s show is December’63. We had a pre show cocktail in Sky lounge. Lots of whales puffing and swimming around us. At 18.30 I received the mail from MoveUp. Bid was not accepted, so we will move 1 deck down and into our concierge stateroom 10xx. We will ask if Blu can help us out, we are still waitlisted for select dining. We are booked on 2.seating 20.30. Not a world class problem, but we need a table in a more quiet zone. Otherwise Norwaylady will have big problems. So we will ask politely if they can help us out. I tried to speak to the concierge about it earlier, she replied: next cruise problem, ask in the evening on the first night🙄 my experience is that it’s not working well on set dining. So we try to solve the problem before it’s a problem😝 Show was okay. Entertainment but not a winner. All ladies received a rose on arrival. Time to head for dinner😉

We are invited to the concierge luncheon.

Yes, no test. I have asked twice and No. And at the meeting they said no testing.

B2B meeting was uneventful. We were given the envelopes for transit and a booklet of excursions available for next cruise. But not possible to book anything before next cruise has started. No fruit or refreshments. No pre booking of specialty dinners or other benefits. No raffle or other fun events. As of now we haven’t received news from MoveUp…. So it looks like we will be moving out of AQ to Concierge. We will “survive”😅🤣🙌🏻🥰❤️ (but I will be happy if we can stay in AQ;)

Sea day🤩🥳 Resting day😅 We slept inn and started the day at Milos lecture 09.30. He is always fun and have a great humour for our taste. After the lecture, it was time for some continental breakfast. Coffee & croissant🥰 Well, al bacio was packed and line long. We found a empty table on the sushi on 5 side of the atrium. Good location to follow the entertainment downstairs, archery and dance class. BUT don’t expect service. I know this is a “dead” spot for service. Yep, no server in sight….. So after 20.minutes, I went to the line. After 32.minutes we had delivered coffee and croissants to our table🙃 Christian & the rest of al bacio team works very hard and they are very nice. Since this is a colder cruise, it seems like it’s even more crowded then normal😅 It doesn’t ruin our cruise😜🥵😤🤯 I’m not going anywhere today🤣🤣🤣 We had coffee and some croissants, blood sugar is rising and the day has officially “started” Archery was fun overlooking. No it’s time to take a walk outside and get som steps logged🙌🏻 Grand tour is running track-stairs up to deck 16-down to running track-up stairs to lawn and round sunset bar🙌🏻 At 14.00 it’s b2b meeting.

Thank you! we are probably a good “half full glass”😅😂 We are open minded that it often can be fixed or change to something similar or better. I have worked in hospitality industry , airline. Believe me, I know what shore excursions can meet or guest relations😝 One of the reasons we enjoy life is, 1. we have played our cards good and have the chance. Work, holiday and travels can be combined. 2. Both Mr & Mrs Norwayladys grandparents died young 50% didn’t reach their plan. Mr lost them to cancer at 61/64 years old. And Mrs lost them at 65/70. AND comment from both was: when we get retirement, we will travel the world! Yepp, you get the picture🤥

Todays cruise compass It’s sea day in the inside passage

Tonight’s show was on fire. The eclipse orchestra is really good. Dinner in Blu was good. The service from Made & Seine is very good. All servers and sommelier’s do a very good job. Nothing wrong on service. Tonight’s menu is the weakest by now. It’s lots of good choices, but for our liking it’s not great. It’s missing the things we really like or it’s covered in tomato sauce. For starters we had: cobb salat, the mushroom risotto ball and the hot soup craw fish. Main course: halibut and short ribs Dessert: blueberry apple turnover Food was okay/not bad. The risotto ball was good, cobb salad good. The soup smelled delicious but tasted okay/smell and taste not matching. Main course was okay. Short ribs was tender and good. The halibut is okay. The fish itself is perfectly cooked. Perfectly seasoned and pan fried. But what is up to the tomato-sweet chilly sauce it’s drowning in? The fish is perfectly done, but the sides and sauce is killing it. The dessert was good, but it needs a scoop of vanilla ice cream. After dinner we called it for the night.

We arrived back on the ship around 15.30. We were hungry after the tour. So we took a walk to the salad buffet in ocean view and had a late lunch and coffee on the terrace outside. The weather is beautiful, so it’s nice to sit outside eating and enjoy sail away from Princess cruises. After the lunch, we went down to relax and prepare for the evening. Tonight’s show is Domenic Allan. I have to send a huge thank you to shore excursions, all tours we attended in Alaska has been excellent. Great local guides. And when things got cancelled, we were able to find a substitute that fitted our needs and wishes. They listened when we said what we wanted and adjusted the options for our wishes. Today we were a bit sceptical, but it turned out to be a great experience and tour. We feel the value for money on the tours has been excellent and we are not regretting booking everything thru celebrity on this sailing. We had a pre show drink in Sky lounge. Enjoying the sail-away from Ketchikan. The sun was shining and it was really beautiful, so relax and just enjoy the scenery.

Time to leave for our tour🙃 We meet the most “enthusiastic” person in the world on the pier…. She pointed us to the second school bus. YES, your reading school bus😊 (Due to late in season, they are lacking bus drivers… so they had called out the school bus to take passengers to different locations for tours) Our bus driver had never driven cruise tours and they were notified this morning. So a first-timer day at work😎 keep that in mind😌 The extremely enthusiastic guide on the pier, arrived on the bus, picked up the tour tickets and said sanctuary to the driver. The bus driver tried to ask, sanctuary…. And the happy, enthusiastic guide just left. So off we went. We stopped at the sanctuary, left the bus and there was no one waiting for us… we went around the building and met a lady. She looked a bit strange on us. “We don’t expect a group now” Luckily our bus hadn’t left the parking yet. So after a little chat, by the lady. We were told: you need to continue all the way into the road/dead end. Then you will be on the correct place. So off we went to the correct place. We meet 2 guides, they followed the group on the walk. One in each end of the group. The walk is mainly on wooden boardwalk. After 2.minutes on tour, we could see a bear. It was going to sleep. We detected a bear in the salmon river. It was hunt for a snack. At one point we had 2 bears in the river and a small sleeper🐻 The tour ends at Alaska Raptor Center. They have a red-tailed-hawk, bold eagle and peregrine falcon. All-in-all a great tour and guides.

New town, new brewery😝 Took the grand walk in the city centre, creek street, harbour, up to the totem museum and ended up at a brewery😅 Bawden street brewing company🍻. A tasting paddle arrived at the table and Mr was happy 😊 Ketchikan has the “jewel” road and the rest of the Caribbean stores…. Yep, shopping is possible😝

Ketchikan Rise & Shine Sun is up and the sky is partly blue😎 Looks like it will be a great day😎 The new tour we are booked on is Bear Country and wildlife expedition. (I am a bit worried that this might not be a winner, but we will be open minded and fingers crossed it will be a great tour;) Some words about the b2b. I asked one if the concierge on day 2. Will you do b2b testing? No, not as of now, she replied. Yesterday I had to barrow a scissor at guest relations. (Needed to cut of a irritating loose washing instruction on my headband😝) I asked again and the lovely British lady looked at me and said: theirs no need to be tested to be able to leave the ship in Vancouver when we return back after your cruise😝 I politely said: we are going onward to Hawaii, will we be tested, since they do on some sailings test b2b? She looked at me a bit, you could see the machinery tic. Then she smiled and said, we have not planned for that. Great that you will sail onward. Another lady in guest relations understood what had happened and she jumped into the situation, said no testing, enjoy your cruise. We are happy to have you onboard. (I know we don’t fit the profile😂😂😂) Today is the usual routine. Coffee pickup at al bacio, breakfast delivered to the room and off we walk🙃🤩😎

Ketchikan program

On return to our stateroom last night, we had received the invitation to the b2b meeting.

Rock City…. What can I say? We have seen this show before, but the cast of this ship is on fire🔥 Great show, you can’t be angry after the show. Dinner was good, excellent service. No beeper, we were seated straight after arrival. We had for starters: gravlax and beef tartare Main course: shrimp pasta and the squab. Dessert: crème brûlée and ice cream The shrimps for the pasta, mmmmm, I can just have the shrimps. No need for pasta. They are really good🥰 ( mr Norwaylady had to ask for some extra shrimps😋) The squab was excellent. Dessert was as expected😋 Ice cream good and crème brûlée good.

Tonight’s program is captain’s club officer party at 17.15 and then show & dinner. Tonight’s show is a production show, Rock City. Captain’s club party went as usual preforming. Drinks and presentation of officers. Great weather and beautiful view out the windows. Lots of whales puffing 🐳🐳🐳 and sea otters swimming around🦦 Perfect timing for the party🥳🙌🏻 Sky lounge is our favourite.

This is how we look when we are not hidden in outdoor outfits and we are ready for an evening😂😝