Norwaylady

🙌🏻 yes, it’s on X. (I don’t dare to take her on NCL or MSC😂😂) She loved it last year💙⚓️💙 Then I mentally need to prepare myself and her for a different environment😂 (on the other side, if I just took her to Costa, MSC or NCL, I would save lots of dollars 💵🤣🤣) mr & I have sailed on MSC several times, my warning is, select ship carefully and sail on the smaller ships🙃 And it it’s European service and “flow” of how things work. We had a good time. But comparing X and MSC is like apples and bananas🙃 And I have not tested NCL yet, so I will try it out first before I can decide if this is something for the Queen🥰😝

What time is it? It’s beer O’clock time🤣🤣🤣 Oh YES🍺 That’s the happy place🍺😂😂😂

I will entertain my cruise blues with you💙🙌🏻⚓️💙 So jealous of your sailing💙🙌🏻

United UA2390 MIA-IAH operates on a B737-800. Biz 2+2 ECO 3+3. We are seated on 8AB in economy. Large legroom. Boarding started 13.25. New departure time was set to 14.00. Flight almost completely fully booked. Some single seats. 13.50 we closed the door. Last person arriving was an elderly man… Walking by walker… so crew had to escort him by hand to seat. As a walk of shame😟 the walker was already on its way downstairs. He was probably very late to gate (probably a grumpy old man capable of getting their by my self🤣🤣) And to really make it better for him, he found out that his wallet was probably lost in the security check😣 Oh, lalala🥺 Cabin crew notified purser and captain. We were already late ⏰ (and I know how much 💸💸💸 each minute of delay cost in 💸💸💸) Message was that report it in IAD🥺 We can’t wait for it to arrive….. This old gentleman has 🪽 and higher 😇 on his team today! After the bridge was taken away and ground staff/towing was preparing, gate supervisor was running down the gate, waiving to get eyes to cockpit crew! He had the wallet and zip bag of liquid in hands 🙌🏻 So they took the bridge far enough out, so cockpit could receive it in the window🤩 Lucky 🍀 you! We pushed out of gate 14.05. Heavy traffic and line to get out to the runway. Taxing thru Miami😂 and then finally ready for takeoff 🛫 We were airborne 14.23. Oh hello there Summit⚓️ Crew served beverages and a little snack quickly after take off. Captain came on and said it would be some bumps along our way…. Crew was grounded to seats several times during our flight. It was not crazy. But definitely not smooth as silk🤪 it was up and down, shake a little martini 🍸 and twist to the side😝 I know all airlines have “learned” after LH/ Lufthansa’s carousel tour last year… they were flying from USA to Germany 🇩🇪 and had just started the service onboard after take off in the USA. They hit turbulence hard. Then they needed to do a controlled emergency landing…. The plane was twisted upside down inside and crew members were injured and passengers had food all around them. So after this incident, I feel all airlines has really taken it seriously and be more cautious on security for crew members and passengers if it’s a turbulence situation. We have parked in IAH and rushed off to the United lounge. Mamma Mia this airport is packed😝🤪

you will find me in the jacuzzi

When you are b2b, you need to give in your old cruise card on the gangway in the morning and they will give it back to you later. Because one cruise is one card. So cruise 1 was 23.3-1.4.24 and cruise 2 was 1.4-11.4.24. So then you need 2 cards. So since we do b2b from time to time, this problem happens🤪

-On Inf last year they said so also… but the cards was missing…. - on eclipse they said door delivery and they didn’t turn up mid cruise as said. So they had a search until the last night. Then a guests relation manager was on our doorstep personally delivering them (it was not a reprint, it was the real thing) they had “lost” them somewhere on the way… So card collecting and re-delivery to us it’s a bit Murphyes Law🤪🤪🤪

The spicy Mary was more tempting then the choice of beer offered😂😂 (something tells me they don’t offer that skunk IPA😜)

I spy with my little eye…. Bring on the red carpet! Make the hallway wide and open…… The Queen and I will sail on Inf from Athens in a very short time…. let’s just say I received the guest booklet the last few days💙⚓️🙌🏻 Are we ready for a Queen edition?

Finger's it will be a good adventure home😂💙🙌🏻⚓️ We really want to get our cards. It’s not as we throw them away. Our stack is beginning to be a little bit bigger now😊 Thank you for following💙

Our Lyft to Mia airport arrived after 5.minutes wait. Drive was uneventful and we arrived on the airport 10.30. Bags dropped off in 2.minutes and security check went smoothly (for us standards😝) only 10. Minutes 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 The text of delay of our flight from MIA to Washington IAD arrived 1.minute after dropping off the luggage🤪😜🫡😅 This is promising😂😂😂🙌🏻 Now we are safely seated in the Turkish Airlines lounge. Last year they did renovations and it was very sparse. Now it’s new and up to TK lounge standards. It’s a buffet bar and hot food for order via barcode. Full service bar and lounge areas and sleeping area. Mr sacrificed to test the facilities😜

So we have a little sticky situation… As we know… all of us collect our cruise cards😅 It’s the only way to document that you was sailing It’s a great way to keep up on your sailings Well, on the b2b meeting last sailing the document officer said it would be delivered to your stateroom on the last sea day….. (I don’t like this practice… we have running down the ship before to get our cards last minute) Last night it was not on our door at 18.00 so Mr went to the concierge desk and they said it will arrive later tonight….. After dinner, at 22.15 still no cards. Mr was attending a meeting on zoom 04.30, no cards on the door. At 07.15 he went downstairs to guest relations. “The cards should be delivered” 🤯🤬😳🥵 We left our stateroom at 07.30 as requested… We meet concierge Freazer in the staircase down to MDR on deck 4. We told him our issue and that this is just a really bad situation and this happens every time they are “mailing them the last night” We said we will go for breakfast and be back at you soon to check if they have received the cards…. In queue for breakfast we were standing behind another couple we knew was b2b. So I carefully asked Sir: A very good morning! May I ask I you have received your cruise card from last week? Yes yes 🙌🏻 they arrived on the door midway through this cruise! 🫠🫥🫡🫠 Yes….. 🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪 Last breakfast onboard…. No more omelette or poached eggs unless I make them myself😝 Service went well and for a busy morning it went smoothly. We went in a little search to Tuscan to find Freazer… We asked in Tuscan and they said he would be back soon… The other concierge showed up and collected numbers to take to the gangway. Mr took a little roam around to locate him. No vision of him. So when the concierge arrived back for a new group, we asked her. She had the cards!!! 🥳🥳🥳 Freazer had to walk out a wheelchair so he dropped off the cards to her💙⚓️😘 On the way to the gangway we passed Freazer👋🏻⚓️💙 Thank You🙌🏻 Then it was straight off and curb side in 5.minutes💙⚓️

Departure Letter

Last dinner onboard tonight😩 Well, the ship & chef want us of😂😂😂 Tonight’s menu It’s THE menu card of the really boring choices…..😝 both I & Mr agreed on that. Well, it ended by shrimp cocktail, arugula salad, beef and Caesar salad for us. The salad of arugula was a bit on the edge of fresh. Just not the Big Bang farewell dinner😝 Dessert Here they saved us😂😂😂 Bring on the lava cake! During dinner service, it was the napkin waving 👋🏻 Crew in MDR has worked very well and service has delivered well. Mr and I discussed it yesterday. It’s actually a very long time since we had fixed seating for dinner AND we have had this “close & private” service. I really had to think about it… Our former EQ cruises have really delivered and CREW has absolutely 💯 made that happen. This time it’s the same case! Really really great job of all MDR crew and our service staff for both sailings.

Life production show was on track 🎵 Great show and cast is great. Aerials are really great 🤩 Tonight it was a pop-up from Danny Cannis. Unfortunately for him, the orchestra was occupied on Life. So he had playback music. This show was Broadway oriented and he was shining🤩🎵💙🎵 Really packed and great vibe🎵🎵🎵 At 20.35 he was still not finished. So we had to go to dinner😜

So at some point you need to start packing? Yes😩 Well at 16.30 Mr went downstairs to shower and at 16.50 it was time for me to go on the walk of shame😜 Packing time🤪 All things are stuffed into the suitcase and carry-on backpacks are ready. The last canapés had arrived: Tonight’s show is production show Life. We watched it last week, but we are ready for a last night show🥰 Rock it, till we dock’it🥳💙⚓️

im very happy for asparagus and beets in all types😅 I make a lot of them home. Oven baked, pickled and boiled😊

Around 14.00 we decided for a little lunch. It’s the last day extravaganza, last minute to impress and WOW everyone😜 Well, they did not disappoint me and Mr😁 They had made gravelax😋 it was so delicious 🤤 really good!!!! Turkey, steaks and seafood…. And the big cake table and chocolate fountain…. YEP, all stuffed turkey here😂😂😂😅 I had gravelax and the grilled shrimp 🦐 spicy garlic 😋😋😋 it’s fantastic! Mr had turkey 🦃 it was so juicy and delicious 🤤 So nothing wrong in OV today! Everyone was happy😁

Mr was awake early. The ship rocked noticeably between 04.30 to 07.00. All good for us, but at some of our neighbours it sounded turbulent. So we went downstairs to MDR breakfast at 07.45 and it was indeed a full house!!! Jepp, so loaded that no single tables were given out. So we were loaded into a sharing table of 10. 2 guests left before they were taken our order. They were visibly upset that we had a sharing table. Well, back to the breakfast! We ordered the usual. Mr wanted omelette, fruit and I had my thing. We all got our food together and we were all good 👍🏻 After breakfast we went upstairs, Mr had a little work to do. So I went for my walk outside. I walked for 1.5h before I went downstairs to change. At 11.30 it was the concierge party 🎉. They served drinks, champagne, mimosas, kir, the blue champagne and something else. You have to be in it, to win it? YES.. so I attended, no prizes for me😅😂 They gave away a signed ship model, a bottle of wine and some X logo products. But it was surprisingly well attended compared to last time. It was finished by 11.40. Mr texted me, he was finished ✔️ So he was going upstairs to meet me for a little bit of sun and relaxation.

The herring onboard for breakfast is usually good. Mr likes it and often eats it. but on this cruise it was not visible, it’s probably somewhere in the buffet, but something tells me it’s not the winner of the most popular food😅 Im a big fan of different types of pickled herring, we eat it year round on bred. It’s not an unexpected proverb your friend gave you😁 We have several different proverbs and some are better than others. But for foreigners moving to Norway 🇳🇴 it can be a bit confusing to understand the meaning behind them😂😂 And if you try to translate from Norwegian to English is very hard to translate.

it’s the same salmon they serve in Aqua Spa for lunch. it’s boiled/steamed salmon. Then you take it in the blender carefully or riffle by a fork. You can add sour cream, mayonnaise etc to get it creamy. I like it, I do make this at home for topping for dry bread if I have leftovers from salmon dinner

@countess5 love your pictures😍 we had a little drizzle 🌧️ so we saw the rain ☔️ arrive as we left St Kitts😅

When I make poached eggs at home we like them on a little toast. Either mashed avocado and or smoked salmon and the egg. For us, the sauce is not a thing🤭 Unfortunately they only offer eggs Benedict as a “finished” thing on the breakfast MDR menu. So i Order to build my own food😇 From the menu you need: 1 English muffin 2 poached eggs 1 plate smoked salmon (sometimes if the waiter understands my plan, it will come all assembled together on a plate for me, around 40% of the time) Then I build it together😁 muffin, salmon, eggs Bon appetite!

The sad part of cruising as they say…. Until we meet again⚓️💙

CruiseCompass Day 10 Sea Day