Airwavey

Well.... actually..... the "close doors" button on our Sky Princess cruise just finished DID work, every time. We quickly learnt that you could close doors the moment a "sharer" stepped out

Just finished 2 weeks on Sky Princess When the steward introduced himself when we boarded he told us we could have an evening service if we wished. We didn't request it. It's not something we've ever felt the need for. When we returned to our room after dinner on the first night our room had been redone, even got our used flannel - we'd just used the one - changed for fresh. And this continued for every night of the cruise even though we hadn't requested it As we are normally independent, back packing, cheap hotel type of travellers it was really nice to have this type of service

Captain's original announcement last night was that who had booked travel through Princess, Princess staff were already working on new arrangements including overnight hotel if necessary. Presume that includes/is the Ez/Air you refer to Independent travellers had to arrange their own changes

We had three 1st at sea day on Sunday 2nd at sea day on Friday end of week 1 3rd was the half at sea day after leaving Berg on 2nd week's Thursday

Currently holding station off the coast of Isle of Wight waiting permission to enter for docking. More on this later. UPDATE - 10.40 and expect to Dock 11am. We left Ålesund on Wednesday in 30 knot winds, and they used 2 tugs for additional control of the ship. The Captain explained this over the tannoy and warned of big swell out in ocean, several metres, and strong wind. As we anticipated, therefore, it was somewhat a "interesting" night at sea that night. Ship was bouncing and rocking all over the place, and quite noticeable up here on deck The 8.15pm showing of 5Skies was basically full around 8pm. A very brave choice of show/topic - computer gaming - given the type/age profile of the passengers. We've seen somewhere, pre-cruise, that it was part of Princess's drive to getting a younger clientele, but I can't see how a blockbuster contemporary show will itself attract a younger clientele - who choses a cruise because of a 1 night show??? It was very slick and high tech though and quite professional. Don't think they had the best choice for make lead singer though. The ship arrived in Bergen on Thursday at 7am as planned - with a notified all back on board of 1.30pm. We were off the boat by 7.10 and headed straight for the Bryggen old buildings area. It took us about 25 minutes to get there as the ship was docked at the Dock furthest away. But being there before 8am meant it was empty of tourists, great for photos. After that we put in another 9 miles around Bergen (another 15 caches). We did return to Bryggen when the shops were open. We also decided not to take up too much time with a sit down fish/shellfish meal at the fish market but shared a hot smoked salmon baguette which was delicious. We were back on board by 1pm. 3 tour buses rocked up late at 1.45, and it was 2pm by the time all the passengers were on board (takes some quite a time to get from bus to gangway). But at 2pm Captain notified us that we were still 2 passengers short. They finally ran down the dockside at 2.10. The final formal evening was lovely. The MDR menu was a real push-out - eg tomato bisque, beef wellington, lobster tail, duck breast with noodles - and even the chocolate special really did look the part tonight. Friday's Sea day was a general laze between the occasional event eg quizzes, eating - there's always eating isn't there - hot tub/swim and lazing in cabin. Where our cabin is, S210 on deck 16, with a glass walled corridor outside our room looking on to the Retreat Pool has been a lovely position. We took a walk around the ship on Friday to places we haven't been eg laundromat, Wedding Chapel, and remarked how enclosed it felt in the inside between-cabin corridors. Also I think the Retreat Pool and its 2 hot tubs above is little found by most passengers even though it is open to all. The info we needed for disembarking was under our door on Friday wake up, as was a new Disembarkation Video on the ship TV. All seems to make sense. In summary Packed bags outside your room by 8pm latest - ours were ready and moved along the corridor by our steward by around 6pm. And they were gone from corridor by the time we returned from dinner. The luggage tag is colour and number coded and we will use this for finding luggage in the terminal. We have a time to go to an onboard holding area eg ours is designated to the Take 5 Jazz Bar, from which we will be called down. At the time all this was happening during Friday morning our notified vacate room time was by 08.30 and go to Jazz for an expected 9.50 call for disembarkation. Breakfast service available in World Market and Estrella. That was all OK... Until around 9.00pm, during dinner, on Friday night. And then the Captain made an announcement The Captain had tried to go fast to make time to get us into port by 5.30. Because he had been informed by port authorities that the Channel would be closed at 5.30 because of the - ANNUAL! - Round the Island yacht race. Expected docking time now 11.30. As a result those with Princess ongoing travel arrangements eg flights, will have new arrangements made by Princess including possible overnight on Saturday. Those travelling independently will need to make new arrangements. Don't expect to make any Heathrow flights before 5pm or Gatwick before 5.30. Making cabin ship telephone free for use, and WiFi too though only use this if you need too so as to allow bandwidth for those who need to sort out new arrangements. Essentially everything pushed back by 4 hours. The queue at Guest Services, which we could see from the Piazza whilst having coffee, was horrendous. This morning, Saturday, new info was beneath our door. Our new time was now to vacate room by 1pm and meeting time 2.05pm. Around 9am this morning Captain updated us again. We may get in slightly earlier. And as of now, 09.56, he had just said - in what was a decidedly curt and unapologetic manner - that he anticipates 11am docking. And all because of a yacht race WHICH PRESUMABLY HAS BEEN IN THE DIARY FOR MONTHS!!! For us it just means we set off to drive back to Devon 4 hours later. For independent flight passengers the consequences for many will be horrendous. As we finish some random things we have found out in the last couple of days that would have been useful to know earlier:- - can get free "lemonade" (American "home made" style with lemon bits in) rather than plain water.... and glasses of cola - oaty biscuits to go with the cheese, if you ask - the grey terminals either side of Customer services gives you a print out of your account so far - if you ask you can get a baked potato with MDR meal - MDR menu a starting point eg can get starter AND pasta and main and pud,.... and mix/match other items - Breakfast tea comes from a thermos and can be stewed, but have seen others get it as tea bag in a cup which is more controllable. Or bring a tea bag down from room and ask for hot water to make at table Other observations peeps may find useful:- - Haven't used our electric adapter, which works with any known electrical sockets, plus has 4 USB B and 1 USB C socket. The only power we have used has been from the USB B outlets built into the bedside lamps which we've used to charge phone, camera, power brick (Photo of sockets) - WiFi - Using straight Google as browser was best. Firefox, DuckDuckGo - crappy, Twitter - crap, Facebook - crap. Still think it is vastly oversold and overpriced at $100+. - Room was well soundproofed - from the corridor outside, from the balcony /sea outside, and from next door rooms either side - hardly heard a peep . Even the chairs being set out on the open deck above barely noticed - Television Live had the following available channels BBC World News BBC - Random programmes with no selection/choice eg Dr Who, Doctors, Father Brown, Bargain Hunt... Sky News Sport 24 Sky Sports News CNBC - business news Prime One - no idea, random dramas? National Geographic Bridge Cam - need to be on this to normally hear disembarkation messages - World Market - no trays, have to hand carry all or do return journeys. - If you keep a manual list of your spend to x-reference to your account print out your job will be easier if you note where you made that sirens eg Estrella, Vista Lounge, International Cafe etc. All our billing was accurate - the room temperature control was very responsive. Could go from cold room to warm room very quickly - from what we could see on returning to boat crew smoking is far aft, deck 4? - level with keel of the lifeboats. Our last bill printout last night was $748 (after deducting paid for gelato and my Medallion accessory ). That is for alcoholic drinks, tea/coffee speciality, and daily Crew Appreciation. In addition we separately paid $105 (?) for a single WiFi. Someone earlier said it would have cost us £840 - say $1030 currently - at the old £30 pppd rate to go Premier. So $750 actual spend has saved us a bit of money, ~$280. Or around 28 extra alcoholic drinks?? But we accept that on the package we would have probably willingly have had more to drink, so can in hindsight see the value in it... especially as you don't need much extra drink to make it worthwhile.. We are leaving an additional tip for room steward though still confused if this currently goes to him or if he has to hand it in to a pool. So, that's it for now. Will we cruise again? Maybe. It's still not our holiday of choice, we are more rucksack/no luggage in hold of plane/doing it independently type of travellers. But maybe if there was a v. cheap offer, to somewhere interesting, in the sun, we might do again. That said we are "planning" an Antarctica cruise for Xmas/New Year this year. And here's to 3 weeks backpacking in Albania in September. Happy to answer any follow up questions NB - "Why are some of our photos upside down? “ I wish I knew. They are all the correct way up in my phone album but some turn when I post. Sorry! And it won't let me upload the ones I've chosen today.

Not so sure that's it We were 40 minutes late leaving Bergen - late passenger arrivals And whenever I checked ship progress during the day we were typically doing 19.7 knots. Doesn't sound like an engine problem to me

At around 9.20 this evening there was a Captain announcement. The entry channel to Southampton past the Isle of Wight is going to be closed from 5.30 am due to Round The Island race. Have had the ship going fast enough to try to beat 5.30am deadline but now know won't be able to. So won't be fixing until 11.30am. People who have flights booked via Princess will have new arrangements made for them. People with independent arrangements will need to contact their TA. Anyone with a Heathrow flight earlier than 5pm / Gatwick 5.30pm will not make it. Ship cabin phones being given free access for calls. Free Internet for everyone, but encouragement for those that don't need to be on line to stay off to give bandwidth for those that need it. What a balls up for those with timed ongoing travel. Surely this race was in the diary months ago?!!! And there are 4 or 5 ships due in on Saturday morning. If they all miss the 5.30 deadline or all be fun having them all jostling for docking position at the same time. And the land side departures should be fun. And you can guess what the atmosphere on board ship is like A LOT of very angry passengers

All MUTS films here on the Sky Princess also available on the cabin TV.

Our Crown Grill meal last week was very nice, and worth it

Hi all Currently Wednesday in Ålesund, a quite delightful town, with three days blog to catch up on. Push off from Tromso on Sunday was around 9pm. We think there was a second medical emergency delay as a "crew medical team report to the theatre" call went out. This didn't delay our already announced late arrival into Gravdal/Lofoten Islands, and we moored up from around 10.30am. They started handing out tender tickets, done casually from a table set up alongside the Seafood Bar, from about 10am. But it was 11.30am before we boarded the tender. Organisation at the ticket issue was not as efficient as it could have been. When we arrived, around 9.45 the seats in the bar were taken by earlier arrivals. The staff then set up two identical "Tender Tickets" signs, one at each end of the bar. For some undefined reason the seated passengers became a queue with its front at the second placed sign, next to where we sat. Like it or lump it we maintained our position and so were in the first batch of issued tickets. For "novelty" they batch tickets by City names - we were Sunderland. But as I said earlier it was still 11.30 before we got on to the tender, and about 20 minutes for crossing and unboarding. On top of that the Dock is 3/3.5km from both Gravdal and Leknes, but in opposite directions. Shuttle laid on by Princess, but $19.95 pp again, and, we think, only went to Gravdal. We had a privately organised group tour, with Lofoten Lights. Passable, but rushed - insufficient time taken for photo stops, and inappropriate location for the driver's 50 minute compulsory stop. Some lovely scenery though. The tour got us back at around 5pm. The captain had already announced that the last shuttle would be 7.30. We had thought of using the time to go into Gravdal or Leknes but concluded time would be too tight/rushed. That evening we had a burger & chips/chicken burger & chips from the poolside bar, but went in to World Market to eat them as it was somewhat blowy and cold outside Both were fine as burger & chips go, but I certainly wouldn't call them "gourmet", the burger was particularly ordinary. Tuesday was a welcome chance for a lie-in, 9am, before breakfast and then Quizzical. A walking track walk and lunch, then we gave Scattergories a try, in the Take 5 lounge. Not the best organised or controlled. Particularly frustrating as Pip had put a lot of effort into entries for one category - famous people - and then host decided to ignore that category as it would take too long to mark. After some time watching the ballroom/Latin dancers strutting their stuff in the Plaza - how do they know the specific moves for each dance? —we had our 2nd quiz of the day, which we won..... ish. Joint top with 3 others, but didn't win the tie break. Hot tub and a swim in the Retreat Pool which acted as if it had its own wave machine as it moved in the swell. We had booked a late meal - 9.10pm - in Sabatinis for Tuesday, as it was summer solstice night, though with all the clouds the sun didn't really "perform". We had tried, via the Medallion app, a few days ago, to change our booking to earlier. But it would only offer us 5.30. We were immediately disappointed when we turned up therefore to find only 4 other tables occupied. And about 15 mins into our meal there was only us. Nice window table, but maybe with the heavier swell not best for enjoying a meal. Regarding being the only ones in we did feel decidedly rushed throughout the meal. No sooner had each course been finished then it was cleared and the next course set in front of us. In summary it wasn't the best meal on board ship, far from it. We both forewent the soup/salad starter choice. The spicy dip appetiser was nice. Pip - zuchinni and squash tempura with a cheese topping and crostini was OK, though the cheese was melted on the crostini not the veg as described Paul - Bell peppers, salad, anchovies. OK but too cold (as has been all cold served dishes on the trip) Pip - Broad tagliatelle with ox cheek reduction. Tasty, but some wide sinew had slipped through Paul - lamb tortaloni - Lamb mix was dry. Pasta on the thick side. Sauce, or the cheese on it, far too salty (and I like salty things) Pip - chicken with rosemary & lemon sauce, asparagus and mashed potatoes. Chicken, although beaten, was tough. Felt boiled rather then grilled. Asparagus - the tasty ends had been cut off. Mash had a skin on it, too long under heat lights. And the sauce.... like wallpaper paste. Paul - veal, marsala sauce, spinich, potatoes. The veal had to be really cut, and was chewy. Marsala sauce was harsh. Pip - pannacotta, fruit compote, shortbread biscuit. Pannacotta was too cold. The "shortbread" was a flavourless pastry, totally unworthy of the name "shortbread" Paul - zabaglione - wasn't made to order. It was lukewarm. Nice flavour and froth however, and fruits underneath. And if the waiter had asked us one more time "Gunpowder?" when offering to grind pepper onto each course I would have put the grinder where it would have had a real grind. Finished evening with a pleasant coffee in International Cafe listening to the string duo and the pianist. Sometime earlier in the day, around lunchtime, our toilet had refused to flush. Couldn't find our steward at that time. Reported it to Guest Services, all sorted by when we got back to our room later in the afternoon. Docking at Ålesund was on time this morning and we were off board by 8.10. A really lovely place. Town centre barely 10 mins walk away, and the rest of the town very compact. We spent a pleasant 7 hours walking around and out was a productive caching day (16 caches). Tonight is the two showings of 5Skies the 2nd big production show of the cruise. Going to make sure we get in early. During various previews on the Wake Show we know -they only do it on a port day as it takes all day to set up -it cost $2m to develop! -rehearsals in Los Angeles took 4 months

Hi 3150 ish 2400 brits 450 USA

It has been very hit and miss for me But I recently stopped accessing Web by my preferred browser Firefox and went online by straight Google from my android phone and links seem to come up better & quicker But direct to Twitter is rubbish. Best area? Princess Theatre has been best when I've been in there

Monday 20.32 In World Marketplace. Captain has just announced that they have a number of asymptotic covid cases on board. They and identified contacts have been isolated. As a result they have introduced COMPULSORY Mask wearing (usual caveats - not when eating or drinking or in cabin) String recommendation when ashore, public transport etc Separately - medical emergency requiring transport to hospital so departure delayed for at least a further 45 minutes. No expected delay to our arrival in Ålesund after tomorrow's at sea day

It was indeed the chatty Monika, fresh with a new child during lockdown Ken the cruiser - no, didn't notice the satellite dishes

Hi all Sunday here as I start this latest update, berthed at Tromso awaiting push away. So we have had a further 3 days since the previous post. We made it in to Thursday night's late night Tom Binns show where he gave a very full Vista Lounge his alta ego Ivan Brackenbridge (inappropriate) Hospital DJ. Given that his act consists of taking the p*** out of people with ailments and playing inappropriate clips from records, coupled with the average age of the ship's audience, I'm not surprised the ship's entertainment director gave it a "no complaints" intro. Really, a laugh a minute though. Since the previous post we have had a further 4 evening meals - two MDR, 1 World Market and the Crown Grill. The MDR is still acceptable and varied. The World Market has some great choices from evening to evening. Last night I had two very generous large spoonfuls of saute shrimp, with some rice from a counter in another section, as a starter! The Crown Grill was delicious. The starter that Pip wanted though was not available, nor was one other. The starters being seafood heavy do not suit Pip when the other choices are unavailable. Both our steaks - one rib eye, one fillet - were done perfectly. But, there are no sauces offered and the fillet would have benefited from some lubrication eg some bearnaise or the like. Pip's key lime pie bar in the Crown Grill was the first creamy dessert that has delivered a hit of flavour. Every other flavour dessert had been lacking the advertised flavour, be it strawberry, mango or lemon. My chocolate choice was OK but nothing as grand as the examples shown in the Chocolate Journeys video on the ship TV. They are still having problems providing most of the listed by-the-glass red wines from the wine list. The Crown Grill manager blamed it on "supply issues caused by the war"!!! What! How does the Ukrainian war affect the ability of Princess to access and load their wines?? We have also had an Estrella afternoon cream tea. As serious partakers of cream teas across the SW of England where we live, we found this a slightly strange affair. Everyone piles into one corner of Estrella when the doors open at around 2.55. The waiters then come around the tables in no particular order - depending on where you sit you may be served your scones, or sandwiches, or jam & cream, or cakes 1st, 2nd or 3rd... You only have a side plate sized plate to fit it all on to. The plate was warm, so the whipped cream melted. The items themselves were nice. The scones weren't a typical English scone, closer to a muffin in texture. And it wasn't clotted cream. And then everyone trundles out at around 3.45. The gelato ice cream has also been sampled and very nice too. And even a single scoop was very generous. Friday's Sea day went smoothly. Some time during the day the cabin steward bought around a Crossed The Arctic Circle certificate for each passenger. Evening Formal Night saw most people partake again. Saturday was Honningsvåg for the North Cape. On arrival we had a 4 hour morning tour with Blue Puffin Tours, organised via our Roll Call group. A really great tour. Excellent guide, very knowledgeable, very enthusiastic. The tour included a (her) fishing village, a king crab fishing village and 1.5 hours at the North Cape, as well as a 'view' and a Reindeer photo opportunity stop too. Really highly recommended. We spoke that evening to someone who had done the afternoon ship's tour. The ship was late pushing off because of issues with that tour. Apparently on the several busses to the Cape they had been instructed to catch any bus back, last one at 4.30. Surprise, surprise too many waited for the 4.30 and they had to send out another bus to get them. Hence our +30 minutes late departure. Also that ship's tour wasn't 'guided' - no commentary, no photo stops, nowhere else visited. Essentially just a shuttle to/from the Cape. And nearly the same price as the "full guided tour" that we had with Puffin. The return cruise past the North Cape, in the bright evening midnight-sun, with a Hans Zimmer concert on the screen behind was magical. And enhanced by spending that hour watching several pods of whales passing by between us and the shore. No noticeable breeches, but dozens and dozens of blow-hole activity. Had our first real Medallion let down last night. Ordered a latte and a hot chocolate for on deck (Slices) delivery. It took 40 minutes for them to arrive, they were barely lukewarm, and from their looks had clearly been sitting for a very long time - no 'top' to either drink. We sent the server away to fetch 2 fresh ones, which were acceptable around 10 minutes later. Today Tromso will possibly have been a surprise to a lot of people for two reasons in particular. 1 - the port is 4.5 km from the city centre, so around an hour's walk, if you walk. Given the make up of this cruise that would be too challenging for many. Princess provide a constant supply of shuttle buses but they are just short of $20 pp for the day. That seems a bit outrageous. There is a normal bus service nearby, approximately every 30 min on a Sunday. 2 - it's a Sunday stop. Norway, mostly, doesn't open shops on a Sunday. Very few shops were open in Tromso centre. We walked. Having been to Tromso before we had no plans to do any of the major sights. Just across the road from the port though is the Arctic Botanical Garden, the world's most northerly. And it was an absolute delight. Stacked full of flowing alpine plants. We were there around 1.5 hours - we are keen gardeners - and would have happily stayed longer. One of the best gardens we have visited. Back on board, push off from Tromso has been 40 minutes late again. Looking down to the port from our balcony a late "Sightseeing Tour" bus return was again the problem. And the captain has just announced that due to some enforced routing changes we will be 2 hours later arriving in Gravdal /Lofoten in the morning. But we will depart 2 hours later to compensate - 8pm. Fine-ish, but I bet it will make dinner-times interesting. Weather has continued fine but cool, low double figures for temps. No rain though for a few days. However, around 2 hours out from Tromso the captain is using the ship's horn because of the dense sea fog. The paid for WiFi on board ship continues to be poor value for money. Very intermittent and very slow even when it does lock on. Tonight we went for our first shared MDR table. As we are both committed and proud members of the "woke left" it was an interesting experience with the other two couples (who were 10+ years older than us) ✌️🤔

From personal experience of current Sky Princess Midnight Sun cruise - Don't bother trying to upload. It's not necessary or worth the hassle . They check paper copies at embarkation.

Hello all Excuse the delay. Have been too busy cruising to update 😁 First things first - the generator problems have not caused any other of our stops/itinerary to change at all. Ins & outs to all three stops since the previous post - Skjolden, Olden, Trondheim - were all to published times of in at 8am, out at 4pm. We pushed off on time on all 3 so I'm guessing we had no latecomers holding up departure. And arrival, after tomorrow's at sea day, into Honningsvåg is expected on time too. Breakfast arrived on Tuesday as booked, around 6.45am, slap in the middle of the chosen slot. All was fine with it. A note or two - coffee and tea came in thermos flasks so was hot, and there were 3/4 cups-full in each. The "hot" milk though came in a jug so had cooled somewhat - we had ordered 2 cereal of choice, and also 2 milks. Just as well. We got what we ordered so clearly ordering "cereal" is not automatically interpreted as +milk It was worth getting up early to watch the fjord pass by. Skjolden - a delightful, sleepy head-of-the-fjord settlement of around 250 people. Many trips available away from the village, but not much to "do" there... except walk. The boat moored around 1km from village centre. A lakeside facility on route was offering RIB rides, paddle boards and bikes for hire. The setting is lovely, green and lush. We walked off to the east to start with, a road based, lakeside route for about 2.5 miles with a couple of impressive waterfalls along the way. This was also the route to Wittgenstein's hut, though we didn't quite go that far. On return to Skjolden centre we availed ourselves of the centre's facility - a tourist/swimming /climbing wall/Café building on the water's edge. This was full of cruisers using the free WiFi to surf or make calls. The toilets were struggling with the numbers. We then headed NEast, upwards, to a viewpoint with a magnificent view down along the fjord. We totalled around 8 miles today before returning to the ship. Soleil dining room that evening. All fine. Asked if we wanted private or shared - our preference is for private. We were shown straight in to a table, but no one was waiting and I'm sure a shared would be just as quick. From where we sat we could see another table of 10 being filled gradually with couples willing to share. We are finding, on the whole, that there is plenty of seating if you are away from the really central areas ie away from the Piazza. Overnight I left my phone on to charge without switching it off or setting to airplane mode/data roaming off. In the morning I noticed that I had had 3 messages from my mobile provider. The first told me that they had detected that I was accessing via a ship's WiFi link, and listing what various activities would cost. There were 2 other messages telling me I had incurred costs of ~£5 and ~£9. Oh well, a learning point - remember to engage airplane mode/switch off overnight. We had clearly moved far enough off shore from phone signal! Wednesday was Olden. Slightly bigger that Skjolden - 500 people - and with a small "shopping centre" for those so inclined. We World Market breakfasted this morning, early, ~ 6.50. We still continue to be impressed by the available range. We seem to keep finding things we haven't noticed before eg grits (sorry, urgh) and "biscuits with gravy" which to us brits looks like scones with a white sauce 🤪. Each to their own. Some people on the discussion boards have complained about the layout. Not sure what their problem is. Each item is repeated in a number of locations, when you have walked around it a couple of times it all becomes clear The standard "orange juice" is crap though. Unevenly and over-diluted. Again, no trips away for us - we are only doing 2 "tours" on the cruise - to the Northern Cape, and the Lofoten Islands. First walk around 2 miles through and beyond the village for a couple of miles to the "new church". Then after an ice cream stop another 2 miles northwards, half way towards Loen. Around 6 caches some during the walks. Weather looked a bit drizzly at first but we were soon dropping layers. The boat was berthed just north of town centre so in passing through after the church walk we dropped into our cabin to leave some clothing behind. Observations - -our walk in the Loen direction was not the best as most of the route is without pavement, the road is busy and the traffic is fast -before turning back we were sat across from the Loen Skylift. Don't know what it is actually like at the top, and I think there are some nice walks and treks up there, BUT it's £50! And it doesn't go very high, probably no higher than the Heights of Abraham in Derbyshire. And they want £50!! Before going we had researched that there was a bus route to Loen - the 111 - that went 5 or 6 times during the day. But separately there was a shuttle bus doing a constant out/back from the ship to the Skylift. -popular trips were pre-booked glacier tours BUT there was a constant supply of red double decker 1 hour trip to glacier buses. They are advertised as 1 hour with a 10 minute photo but many are returning empty so I'm guessing they are operating as HOHO and probably give enough time to do the glacier walk at the far end. When we had finished walking Wednesday we had done 8 miles, again. We had a soak, therefore, in one of the hot tubs above the Retreat Pool - we are on deck 17 just outside the Retreat Pool, with the level above having 2 hot tubs. A Medallion order for 2 glasses of Prosecco for delivery to us in the tub was delivered in a couple of minutes. The tub was very warm, almost too much so, but a dip in the Retreat Pool afterwards was refreshing. That pool temperature was very pleasant - more comfortable than the pools we had in holidays earlier this year in Lanzarote and Egypt - and refreshing after the heat of the hot tub. We gave Alfredo's Pizzaria a try on Wednesday. Just turned up and were shown in. The pizzas we had were very nice indeed. Tasty, nice crispy edging. There is an outside eating area but not in use at the moment given the weather. A shame about Alfredo's is the lack of window tables, not helped by having a couple of waiter tables occupying space next to the window. Thursday was Trondheim, one of the few large places visited on this cruise. Off at around 8.30am after World Market breakfast. Did a lot of Geocaching today, and put in another 9 miles. Went to the major city centre sights - cathedral, Archbishops Palace, (but didn't pay for entry), Old Town Bridge, Bike Lift (broken, not working), Bakklandet... and a little bit of shopping, real and window. Stuff is expensive here. Coffee, hot chocolate, and a fresh from the oven hot cinnamon bun cost us ~£13 in a very nice bakers/cafe which had 1/2 baguettes on sale at £12 to £15. And some specialised outdoor clothing shops - trekking trousers at £250, lightweight t-shirt at £80, waterproof coat at £300 anyone?? But they are very nice, and some glorious NON-UK colours. Our first Swirls ice cream when we got back on board hit a refreshing spot. Tonight we are in Estrella for dining and then how we can get into Tom Binns late night, 11.30, R rated show in the Vista Lounge. Hope it will be big enough. Nothing else to report from a Princess Cruises point of view. Staff/service is still friendly and efficient at all times. Room is being serviced twice a day - bedsheets haven't been changed yet. I know because I have "tagged" them. All dining has been delicious.

Photos for above post

Hi al Up earlier yesterday/Monday 7.30. Into World Market breakfast by around 7.55 and loads of room. But it picked up and got busier by around 8.15. Wet overnight. Decks somewhat awash with water. Thought we had a problem with the shared single WiFi package. Everytime Pip went to swap devices/sign in on her phone it went around in circles. A quick trip to the Internet Cafe - it was because Pip was logging in with her date of birth whereas, of course, the account is in my name/date of birth. So sorted in seconds. WiFi still that slow that if I was staying in a land based hotel with "free WiFi" I'd be at reception complaining about it. The ship's routing looked somewhat strange this morning. When we switched on 'location' on our room TV it showed that we had travelled north until we were level with the Southern tip of Karmoy Island. This is the long island that is west and south of our port, Haugesund. We had then turned eastwards and it looked like we were heading to go through the channel separating the island and mainland. We had then U-turned completely, and headed back out westwards before turning north again. So we did 2 + 1 long sides of a triangle to get to Haugesund rather than directly in on the diagonal, so roughly as shown in picture. No idea of how much time that must have added? Whilst having a coffee/cake in Piazza, at around 10.15 the boat did a very sharp turn, we could feel the floor sloping inside. Captain updated us over tannoy on weather - about 15°C and showers. In the end we docked at around 10.45 and were able to disembark at around 11.30, with a latest return time of 5.30pm. To disembark all we needed was our medallion though there was a displayed notice to take our "Government ID" with us. This wasn't checked though. The Haugesund Town centre was about 950 metres from the boat exit, via a very steep up and over concrete bridge. A shuttle bus was available for those who wanted/needed it at 60 króna for an all day pass (so around £5 based on the exchange rate we had for a purchase today). We walked. At the Dock there was also a land train which for around £25 did a HOHO tourist route of about an hour. Although we wouldn't have done this anyway we didn't know about it until we went ashore. Also at the departure point was a small building with souvenir shop, and a free supply of help-yourself-and-return umbrellas. Useful, as we had forgotten to take ours out with us. There was also a free town map, which had 7 walking itineraries on it ranging from 1 to 3 hours. A digression, for future reference. We do what is called "Geocaching". This involves seeking out hidden caches - typically small containers ranging in size from thumbnail size up to tupperware boxes - which contain a paper log to sign. This is managed and registered by a phone app - isn't everything nowadays. There are 10s of thousands of these hidden all over the world. In the 2 years we have been doing this we have sought out and found around 800 so far. There are fellow cachers with thousands of finds to their name. Geocaching can give a walk a purpose and take us away from the commonly trodden paths. Haugesund is a small, fairly typical scandanavian town. Whilst the centre is not inherently pretty - functional would be a better description - there are some nice individual buildings and several cute statues dotted around the town. A walk around to find/log around a dozen or so caches took us nicely around the town centre. Pip's strava log for our walk around registered a modest 7 miles today. The Town Hall - redhause - is a solid block, but the crisply carved water fountain outside is the star in this area of town. The town centre church is a solid red brick building. Regrettably when we arrived at about 1.07pm visitors were being ushered out. It turned out that it was only open from 11am to 1pm today. We managed to get past the outcoming flow of people and at least get inside for a brief look though not a look around. Well worth a visit. Some idle walk around of the main shopping street - Haraldsgata - filled the rest of our time along with a coffee, with some free and decent WiFi. We headed back to boat to reboard at around 4.15 for some cabin r&r/tea/coffee. The weather during the afternoon was a bit mixed. The umbrella was up and down. It wasn't particularly cold but it was damp. We settled on World Market buffet for dinner tonight. We took the courtesy of cancelling our MDR booking. We looked to eat before tonight's 8.15 show. Arriving at World Market two things struck us 1 - 6pm and although it was quite quiet all the window seats mainland-side were taken for departure 2 - barely 1/4 of the serving stations were open. I guess that from experience and MDR/other bookings they must know that 75% (?) eat in the MDRs and elsewhere. It was Asian night tonight, as in a couple of curries, Korean sesame chicken, Philippine pork, BBQ carved ribs...., noodles..... Pip/curries, me/chicken & beef + rice pudding & pineapple /barleysugar sauce/ice-cream We entered into theatre at 7.30 for the 8.15 Tom Binns comedian show. By 7.50 theatre was filling at the same rate as previous night's 10.15 Rock opera show. Maybe people are coming earlier after seeing how full it got previous night. We enjoyed Tom Binns. We know something of his work but had not seen this character - a spoof psychic - of his before. Later in the week he is doing an R rated late night show which I hope we can get into. An observation - we have seen hardly any children on this cruise yet. Maybe half a dozen at most. Of course it is term time back in blighty. Where we have been able to assume/ascertain we think the children are American where their summer vacation starts ridiculously early (I have a brother who is a naturalised American for 38 years, married with children). Today, Tuesday, visiting Skjolden, we travelled 120 miles or so up the world's longest fjord. We arrived in Port around 7.30( due at 8pm). As we were travelling through the fjord from very-early-o'clock we were up by 6am. We booked an in room breakfast for the earliest slot, 6.30am, so we can breakfast and watch one side of the fjord pass by. It arrived in the middle of the "window", around 6.45 Now using our roaming phone signal to get a good WiFi link. We'll make sure to find a good slot for the sail out.

Hi all As I said previously we pretty much had a chilling day for our first at-sea day. World Market breakfast, World Market lunch, Estrella MDR and Rock Opera this evening. Not sure I said before, for those that are interested in such things, our observations about dress in our first MDR last night - pretty much 'smart' with a few exceptions. Regarding mask wearing - guests are probably at around 10% at most - we are maskless. The crew, who are following CDC instructions, are 100% masked, no exceptions. For some reason, I'm guessing related to the purchased Internet package, my phone has reverted to USA east coast time! And at one stage today, when I logged into The Guardian news website it welcomed me as a visitor from California 🤨 We have walked through the casino, on our way to elsewhere, a couple of times now. We would really like to use it once or twice, just for the experience, but it's just vile. A horrible combination of stale tobacco smell being, presumably, unsuccessfully masked by some foul smelling air freshening. Food wise, at lunch we expected to go light again eg salad, but were both enticed by the fish and chips. And then me by the bread and butter pudding. Tonight was the first formal night, of 3, for the cruise. As we entered the Estrella MDR we were in a sea of black and white. Most had made an effort of some type, many men in dicky bows etc, women in push frocks. Myself, not quite my thing and don't possess the correct garments anyway, but I did run to my best black Nehru jacket and collarless white shirt. We only did piazza/MDR/Theatre tonight so have no idea how 'formal' it was away from those areas. We went, very early, to the theatre for Rock Opera - I've been getting passable Internet connection there. People started to arrive in numbers from around 9.45 for the 10.15 show. It was pretty full by 10 and for the next few minutes guests were infilling into solo seats. Standing room only by around 10.05. The Rock Opera is a full on heavy hitter - rock and musical bangers given a full production work over with some fabulous voices and professional production - think Britain's Got Talent favourite singing tracks, on finals night on steroids. A shame really that it is only on for these two shows for this one night. We'd certainly go again. Still on track for a 1pm arrival into Haugesund, as opposed to the original 8am. A shame, but we haven't booked any trips for the so not greatly affected. When we got back to our room we found out it had been re-serviced - bed made, curtains drawn, new flannels again!, new floor mat in shower. 👍 A change to the evening entertainment for tomorrow (or maybe I just hadn't noticed) but the comedian is Tom Binns aka Ivor Brackenbury The Hospital DJ. We've seen him at UK festivals and watched his TV series and he is funny. Looking forward to that.

Thanks for the link. Appreciated Just to say, on our first BIG trip post retirement - Abu Dhabi, 3 months Oz camper van, 2 months NZ car/b&b/hostels, 1 month Hawaii, Canada - we spent a few days landside in Fjordlands. We had a day boat out into Milford Sound. Really nice but we are expecting far more drama amongst the Norway fjords.

Hi Would have cost us £1120 Crew appreciation is ~£280 Wifi, 2 devices, is worth around £210, though we have only paid for 1 device at around £105. We don't need to be both logged on at the same time So those two total £385 for us Which, therefore, would mean for us £735 more than we "need" to pay just to access unlimited (though it's not unlimited as it's a max 15 drinks per day) drink. A heavy drinking day for us would be to have 3 alcoholic drinks, which we did on departure day, but 1 or 2 on not every day is sufficient for us. So, we concluded it wasn't enough value for us by a long way.

Hi all Thanks for the reactions so far and to the answers already given I cut off short last night because the show started and then didn't get around to finishing off. So... I said that there felt like plenty of room with 1 exception. That was the first, 8.15 show. I looked in on that and it looked full. No problem as I wanted the 10.15 which turned out to be only 3/4 full. Getting back to timeline. We were in Soleil last night, at our 7pm booking. Straight in and to table. Reasonable/acceptable table spacing, and I also remarked that the table was quite large. We've had plenty smaller in michelin restaurants. Another point - as we were entering at around 6.55 there was a trickle of unbooked others and they were accommodated, though they may have had to share table. Food was really nice. We'd have been, mostly, happy to pay for it. Puddings a bit of a let down. After dinner we retired to 5 Live mostly just to to escape. Quite empty at around 8.45,took in a video call to our son. Internet link, paid for, ~£100, is flaky to say the least. I wanted to see the comedian, Pip retired to the cabin. Comedian was acceptable. To answer question from earlier host said we were around 3100 on this cruise - 2400 brits, 450 yanks,... Felt busier in World Market food for breakfast this morning but able to get a table. But a hint - you may want to get a table then separately each go up for your breakfast. Saves looking for table with food in hand. Plenty of choice for breakfast. Pip impressed that they even had decent fried bread!! I was impressed that I could get cream, brown sugar and cinnamon for my porridge.... and black pudding 👌👌 Plenty of vegan and vegetarian options for those inclined One disappointment to report. On boarding initial info told us they have had a generator problem so top speed is reduced. As a result the first stop, Haugesund, is now timed for 1pm arrival rather than 8am. This is subject to revision so may get change again. Pretty sure that they said it shouldn't affect timings later in the cruise. Just a further observation or two. No robes in cabin. We ordered via the app whilst in 5 Live. In cabin waiting for us when we went back. Medallion app lost all my info or so it seemed. Went to Internet Cafe and sorted in minutes. Just needed to relog in using cabin number Before coming Pip was very iffy about paying the "fixed" crew appreciation, around £280 total for us, and was determined to go and cancel out of it. 20 hours in and she now had changed. Crew is so friendly and helpful and she feels it would be churlish Just chilling today on this at sea day.

Hello all My wife - Pip - and I are on our first ever cruise (though we are somewhat 'experienced' travellers since retirement 5/6 years ago, travelling, pre-covid, for up to 6 months total per year. And as a point of reference too we haven't put a bag into a plane hold all that time either, travelling with one 40 litre and one 30 litre rucksack with max weight of 10 kgs, so packing for this with proper luggage was an experience in itself) We are refugees from the June 2020 cancelled equivalent so have been waiting for this 'first' cruise for a long time. Two advantages of this change though. 1-new boat. If I recall the 2020 was due to be on the Crown Princess 2-we used the +25% uplift (plus a little more) to go from inside cabin to a balcony cabin. I won't take time to discuss any pre-cruise issues in any detail eg the fun and games of the Medallion 🤔 but focus on actualities of the cruise. However, given some of the issues raised in various forums I did take the time to book us a MDR table for two for each night of the cruise - different restaurant /different times each night - even though I know we won't MDR every night. Have booked two speciality dining - Crown Grill and Sabatinis - amongst those bookings too. We are travelling from mid-Devon so we overnighted in Southampton Travelodge, conveniently, we though, just 5 miles/10 mins from the port. And parking booked for `at port' with CPS at a rip off £162 for the 2 weeks!!! This morning, being timex for a 11/11.30 arrival we set off at around 10 am. 2 hours! Yes, TWO HOURS, to do that 5 miles. The CPS guy checked his watch and said "good afternoon" to us. The number of lanes at various distances of from the final port side road were horrendous, and given the direction we were coming from we were at the back of the "traffic zipping" queue. Once at ship side though things were very smooth. Car check in took just a few minutes. Bag drop off was just next to car hand over, and although the first staff person misdirected us another staff guy at the wrong drop off immediately took our wheelie suitcases (25 kg each 🤨🤨) from us and wheeled them to the correct area. The queue in the departure hall looked horrible but it moved very quickly. First stations was check-in /documents check and there were around 30 stations for this. Having quickly established who we were all that was checked was passport, vaccine certs, test certs. Nothing else eg no insurance check. Medallion collection next then on to airport style x-ray security check. Onto boat and straight up to cabin on the Sun Deck, level 17. Approx time from car stopped for parking to cabin around 40 mins with minimal stand-still time. Cabin, next to the hidden pool, is as expected. Roomy enough, plenty of storage space. We did some minimal unpacking from our day bags (rucksacks) and headed off for some victuals and an explore. World Fresh Market Place being just one level below us suited us fine for a salad + pudding lunch. Though there was some very enticing full meals on offer eg roast beef on the bone, pork tenderloin, Chinese, etc. By the time we went back to our cabin, about 90 mins, or luggage was in the cabin. The sail away party at the main pools/movie screen was, for us, a somewhat over-raucous affair, to be passed through for the more sedate wake pool group. After sail away and some more exploring we have to say it doesn't feel over full. Each area we have been in, with one exception, has had space/seats, indoors and outside. We went for our Soleil 7pm booking and were straight in. Meal was really nice. Just the puds disappointed - lemon pie bland, hazelnut soufflé stodgy and heavy. We retired to Take 5 Jazz for another drink and then split around 9.45 me to the comedian /ventriloquist, Pip to cabin (act not to her liking). Show time - will continue shortly