Roll Call-Silver Cloud 1-16 July, Norwegian Fjords

[duct tape]

gdlamberth, so, do you love Annapolis or hate it??? USNA.

[gdlamberth]

It's a FANTASTIC place to visit. Love going back for reunions and such. It really is a beautiful little town; but, I don't think I'd want to live there. More about climate than town though. WE used to call the period from mid December to mid March the "Dark Ages" and a lot of that had to do with the weather.

[duct tape]

That's why we cruise in the winter!

[TLCOhio]

In checking past posts, it appears that duct tape has done the Silver Cloud along parts of or all of this Norway Coast. Here are some highlights I thought to be of interest from his two-years-ago posting.

 

From July 12, 2008 by duct tape: "ship looks great, crew is greater, food excellent! The weather up here in Norway is perfect for this time of year...crystal clear skies, balmy temps, lots of sunshine and magnificant scenery. Captain Mino is making some detours to get us better views of things. Last night he even anchored off a glacier so we would have a visual treat to accompany dinner! Judie is the CD and is her usual charming self. HD O'Reilly has everything under control also. Life is good."

 

Julie or TheFerret posted in 2008: "highly recommend the 'Roof of Norway' excursion." Plus: "I've traveled a lot and this is the most stunningly beautiful experience ever."

 

Any other "words of wisdom" or experiences from earlier travelers in this area on Silversea? THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[gdlamberth]

It appears we have 16-18 Cruise Critics and friends on this cruise. So far:

 

Greg (USNA72), Gretchen and Cheryl

Terry (TLCOhio) + 3

Carol Ann (poolcat), husband and mother

Mayflower + 3

duct tape

Dr Jim

 

Any corrections, additions or deletions?

Greg

[TLCOhio]

It appears we have 16-18 Cruise Critics and friends on this cruise. So far:

Greg (USNA72), Gretchen and Cheryl

Terry (TLCOhio) + 3

Carol Ann (poolcat), husband and mother

Mayflower + 3

duct tape

Dr Jim

Any corrections, additions or deletions? Greg

 

THANKS, Greg, for doing the update! My notes also show that RichardMK from the Las Vegas area is planning to be along for this Norway Coast/Fjords cruise. Hopefully, he and some others will log on and update. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[duct tape]

Kinda scary that things you post live on! Add 2 more frequent floaters with mr&mrs duct tape!

[gdlamberth]

So we'll update to:

 

Greg (USNA72), Gretchen and Cheryl

Terry (TLCOhio) + 3

Carol Ann (poolcat), husband and mother

Mayflower + 3

mr&mrs duct tape + 2

Dr Jim

RichardMK (from Las Vegas)

 

So now we're around 20 - 22 or so.

 

Greg

[Conte Di Savoia]

Also me plus one.

[duct tape]

Yea! A good addition!

[poolcat]

Looks like a good group will be going on this voyage. Looking forward to meeting each of you. We have known Richard from Vegas for several years now and are meeting him in Copenhagen the night before we sail.

 

Greg, I will be attending the USNA graduation this May - a family member is graduating. It should be an awesome experience.

 

By the way, I am with Duct Tape on whether or not the "family" being on board is a good thing or not. Past experience, it wasn't.

[poolcat]

poolcat,

No problem. Just looking to see if we were going to be maybe on the same or similar flights. Are you going to take your husband to Tivoli that day/night? Are you spending any time there post cruise? We spent time there pre and post a few years ago when we did a Baltic cruise but still missed several things. We'll be in a cunundrum this trip as to "do we see something new?" or "let's show Cheryl (the Copenhagen newbie) something we really liked last time." Well I guess we all face tough choices:p.

 

Greg, have you been to the Citadel in Copenhagen? It is not far from The Little Mermaid statue and from where the ship will be docked. It is one of my favorite places in Copenhagen and not one of the usual tourist stops. The grounds are historic and might be of interest to you. It is a beautiful, peaceful setting and one that I remember. Easy walking paths - you will forget that you are in a large city. poolcat

[Conte Di Savoia]

By the way, I am with Duct Tape on whether or not the "family" being on board is a good thing or not. Past experience, it wasn't.

 

We were onboard with the family for Silver Cloud's first trip to China in 1995. No problems at all....well there were some problems but not with the family, only with some of the Chinese officials but that's another (interesting) story.

[TLCOhio]

Looks like a good group will be going on this voyage. Looking forward to meeting each of you. We have known Richard from Vegas for several years now and are meeting him in Copenhagen the night before we sail.

 

Agree with poolcat/Carol Ann on the "good group". Sorry, I goofed in forgetting to mention earlier Conte Di Savoia. I had previously connected with our expert sailer from Long Island and had him in my notes. On Richard, I sent him an e-mail today and got a response back quickly confirming his sailing on this Norway Coast adventure. He's quite a super Silversea vet with 315 days of sailing with them, including now being on the Silver Spirit going from LA to NYC through the Panama Canal.

 

To add to the detailed specifics for Greg's scorecard, it is TLCohio, Terry with wife Penny, plus Dennis and Janet.

 

I enjoyed the reaction from duct tape about this comments from two years ago: "Kinda scary that things you post live on!" In this Internet age, that can happen.

 

Look forward to hearing from more. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[duct tape]

Just posting so we won't fall to the bottom of the page!

[TLCOhio]

For our Honningsvag (North Cape) port stop on July 9-10, Friday-Saturday, from 7 pm to 2 am, I just discovered yesterday that there will be "competition" at this port. That might affect what you want to consider and schedule through the ship tours or independently. This is a very small town of 2600 people and the taxi-public transit options will very, very limited, especially on this day. The ship offers a tours to the North Cape Hall with a glass-enclosed viewpoint with its giant iron globe overlooking the Barents Sea. The bird safari option through the ship looks interesting. We are considering this potential, either by the ship's tour or doing it independently. It would be good to focus sooner, not later, on your interests and options for this port stop.

 

Also in this port on our day for visiting there will be:

AIDA Luna, 7 pm to midnight, 2500 passengers, German-focused line that is tied to Carnival, they target a younger market and have no other common port stops with our cruise. This ship will be cruising from Hamburg, along the Norway fjords and then to Iceland, Scotland.

 

Europa, in port 6-11 pm, 408 passengers, very upscale, German ship that is part of Hapag-Lloyd Cruises. This cruise will be close to our routing on a couple days, but they will not match any of our port stops during those days. Their sailing starts in Kiel and finishes in Hamburg.

 

Adriana III, built 1972, 264 passengers in this port from 2 pm to 2 am.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[TLCOhio]

Yesterday, I did a posting on the Cruise Critic Northern Europe/Baltics board about the question of what has been the on-the-ground impacts from the Iceland volcano eruption. From England, Denmark and the Netherlands, here are some comments and reports. Airports are still closed in much of Europe and it is unclear if and when there might be more eruptions that could impact travel to and from Europe.

 

INSURANCE? Friday, we finalized our travel insurance. Most good policies have some coverage for any trip interruptions. Hopefully this volcano eruption problem will be history soon, but it points out the need to be covered on any costs or losses from the problems now facing many travelers in Europe trying to get to and/or back from their cruises. We'll hope for the best in late June and July.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Hi Terry. So far in the UK we've only really had a light covering of dust on cars etc. The weather hasn't been affected, in fact the last week has been glorious with a lot of sunshine and the ash cloud isn't visible at all so far. Our situation in the UK is replicated across Northern/Western Europe but obviously continued eruptions and changing wind direction may alter what's happening. On a slightly different note, I appreciated all the advice you've given on the Baltics board and it really helped me to plan our Baltic cruise last August (not to mention your wonderful photos:D). Debbie:)

 

From Danish viking: "So far the ash is not visible from the ground and the sky is not affected."

 

From Ine: "It sounds strange but apart from no airplanes in the sky in The Netherlands we do not notice anything about the ashes. The sun is shining, the sky looks normal, no ashes on cars etc. We live not too far from the airport and are used to hear the sounds of planes in the distance, but everything is so quiet...."

[basedow]

Thanks Terry for your citing these remarks about the weather there. I had been concerned as well about this. (And I didn't know about this particular board which will be very helpful)!

 

May I ask where you find the info about what other ships are docking in a particular port?

 

Thanks so much for all the information you so generously provide! :)

[TLCOhio]

Thanks Terry for your citing these remarks about the weather there. I had been concerned as well about this. (And I didn't know about this particular board which will be very helpful)! May I ask where you find the info about what other ships are docking in a particular port? Thanks so much for all the information you so generously provide! :)

 

THANKS for the thanks and the nice comments! I got some of the ships-in-port info from a website called:

http://www.cruisecal.com

They charge a fee for access, but it was just $3 for a one month visit to get the basic data for our cruise. Their info was not totally accurate and didn't cover all of the smaller or some Europe lines, but it helped to get a start. Some ports will also have a website that lists all of the upcoming cruises planning to visit their location. It does help to plan and know what other ships will be in each port and how that impacts what you might do during each port stop.

 

Are you going to be on our July 1-16 Silversea cruise? Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[basedow]

It sure would have been great fun to be with you all. Last June I booked the Regent cruise, not knowing about SS.

 

We leave June 19 for 15 days. The itinerary is pretty close to SS. I'm suspecting your photos will remind me of our cruise!

[TLCOhio]

It sure would have been great fun to be with you all. Last June I booked the Regent cruise, not knowing about SS. We leave June 19 for 15 days. The itinerary is pretty close to SS. I'm suspecting your photos will remind me of our cruise!

 

Sorry to hear that our San Diego friend won't be along with us on SS. I'm sure you will survive and do very well with Regent. YES, I am aiming to take lots of nice pictures and post them on these boards. Hope to do a as-we-travel posting from the ship. I did that in 2008 with our cruise in the Baltics and for Russia as we sailed Crystal, getting lots of nice comments and interest.

 

INSURANCE/VOLCANO? Things are better in Europe from the Iceland volcano, but there is still lots of uncertainty and slowness in getting many airports re-opened. I did note getting our travel insurance last week and that I have learned that all policies in the all countries do not work and cover the same things. After digging much deeper through Travelex and back to Nationwide Insurance that actually does this detailed policy and its benefit coverage. Their claims people were very specific that a policy bought on Friday would be covering us in late June and July as it would be a "weather problem" that might caused any airline cancellations, if, if and if. It's not the volcano itself as the cause of the currently scrubbed air schedules. It's the weather! Their weather coverage offers no exclusions. Different companies have different policies and benefit details. This matches up to what Travelex had sent to our travel agent on questions they had. The policy details are important and I feel more comfortable after digging through the fine-print and this checking at the source. Nationwide is A+ rated by Best, is based here in Columbus, Ohio, along with the Ohio Insurance Dept. that regulates and monitors them. Nothing is perfect and 100% guaranteed, but I have a better understanding of these details on what would be covered, how I could "rattle their chains, etc., if needed.

 

From an article in today's New York Times, they have this headline: "Insurers See Millions in Claims by Travelers". The article highlights noted: "The travel insurance industry is generally paying claims to travelers stranded in Europe and elsewhere by the drifting Icelandic volcanic ash, treating it mostly as a weather-related event in their policies. About 30 percent of American travelers buy a range of insurance policies that cover cruises, flights and the delays or cancellations that are caused by inclement weather and sometimes natural disasters like earthquakes or extraordinary storms." Several insurance experts are quoted in this story. One noted: "some are treating this as weather, and some as an act of God."

 

On the airport re-openings and volcano ash impacts, the latest NY Times story is headlined: "As Europe Reopens Skies, a New Cloud Looms". This story has these details: "European authorities began easing six days of severe flight restrictions on Tuesday, but a new ash cloud, reported to be spreading south from the erupting volcano in Iceland, threatened to thwart part of the effort to end the Continent’s worst aviation crisis. The reopening of airspace under a plan agreed Monday by European ministers was cautious and unpredictable. The piecemeal nature of the response has drawn criticism from the airline industry, while passengers have been marooned from Beijing to New York, and many of Europe’s busiest flight paths have been eerily still. The chaos has now lasted twice as long as the three-day closing of American airspace after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Britain seemed to be hardest hit by the continued perils of volcanic ash. "

 

Here are the links to these two full stories with all of their details:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/europe/20trip.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/world/europe/21europe.html?hp

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[TLCOhio]

Our July 1-16 Norway Cruise still seems to be totally sold out with a waiting list. We must done something right and smart picking a popular cruise. The volcano news has been very quiet lately, which is good.

 

The big news in Europe has been the economic chaos around Greece and some other countries. Today the euro was down in value to $1.31, but it has bounced up to about $1.32 this afternoon. That's much different than when we were in the Baltics in late July 2008 and the euro was about $1.58. The UK pound was near $2 then and is now $1.52. The Norwegian Krone is now at 5.9591 to the dollar, while Denmark Krone is now 5.6346 to the dollar. In July 2008, the Norwegian Krone was at 5.08 to the dollar, while Denmark Krone was 4.74 to the dollar. Either in 2008 those values were too "high" or the Europe currencies have fallen much since then.

 

We are now just over two months away from starting this cruise. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[gdlamberth]

An excerpt from our "My Voyages"

 

"We look forward to welcoming you aboard Silver Cloud on July 1, 2010 for your voyage from Copenhagen, Denmark to Copenhagen, Denmark.

 

Your cruise is expected to depart in 60 days."

 

Or to put it another way "59 and a wake up!":p

 

Greg

[TLCOhio]

The volcano ash versus air travel has flared up again. We still have a number of weeks till our flight through Heathrow to reach Copenhagen for our July 1 cruise departs. We wish this hole air delay worry would disappear, but it looks like it is still hanging around. Below are more details on that situation.

 

Currency Values?: This past week, the euro sunk as low at $1.258 yesterday morning. Per the Wall Street Journal, it is now at $1.276. The UK pound is now $1.48. The Norwegian Krone is now at 6.2167 to the dollar, while Denmark Krone is now 5.8249 to the dollar.

 

From the Telegraph in London, here is this story headline: "Volcanic ash brings more flight disruption". The story highlights: "Spain closed nine airports and a further six were to be closed later on Saturday afternoon as a cloud of ash from the Icelandic volcano drifts south over western Europe. Forecasters at the Met Office have also warned that renewed activity in the Eyjafjallajökull volcano sent ash up to heights of 20,000 to 30,000 feet earlier this week and this could bring more disruption to the UK. Northerly winds over the UK could bring the ash back over Ireland and western Scotland on Sunday, they said. Airports in Ireland and Scotland had to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday earlier this week as a result of ash threatening flights in the airspace above."

 

From the Associated Press in the past hour, they have this headline: "Ash delays, reroutes trans-Atlantic flights" with these highlights: "Hundreds of flights between Europe and North America were either delayed or canceled on Saturday due to the spreading cloud of volcanic ash stretching across much of the northern Atlantic, the European flight control agency said. Flights had to be rerouted north over Greenland or south over Spain to avoid the 1,200-miles (2,000-kilometer) -long cloud stretching from Iceland to northern Spain, Eurocontrol said. This will increase flying times by about an hour in either direction."

 

The full stories can be seen at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7695668/Volcanic-ash-threatens-more-flight-disruption.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6470MB20100508

 

THANKS! Terry in Ohio

[duct tape]

We go to Stockholm the 15th of June before we see you in Copenhagen! Everybody keep those fingers and toes crossed!