Live from Journey Norway Cruise

[Grandma Cruising]

Bob, I’m so pleased to hear you finally got your luggage, and I assume Micheline & Luc also got theirs today.

 

Sorry I’ve not posted about the cruise for a while - WiFi is a bit hit & miss in Norway - none at all when we’re in the Fjords.

 

Tuesday 2 July contd.

We had dinner in Discoveries tonight again, after a couple of drinks Discoveries bar  - we both had the Tandoori Lamb Loin which was delicious.

Afterwards we went to the Caberet lounge to see Mel Mellers, an English comedian & magician. He was clever and very funny.

We had an early night as we had to be up earlyish for our Flam train excursion.

 

Wednesday 3 July

We woke up to just as we heard the anchor chain going being lowered as we anchored in Flam at 7am,

along with the Crystal Serenity and Pullmantur Zenith. The outside temperature was shown as being 5C/43F and it certainly felt cold when we went out on the balcony.

We had breakfast in Discoveries again, then got all our cold weather gear on to go to the Caberet lounge to get our tour number stickers and get the tender to Flam. When we got off the tender we saw that the station is right next to the harbour. Our guide was awaiting us and took our group to the train and onto the two carriages reserved for Azamara. We saw there was still snow on the tops of the hills and the guide told us that there had been heavy snow overnight and many major roads across the top were blocked - he said he’d never known that to happen before at this time of year in the 30 years he had lived in the area.

The guide gave us information about the railway - it was started in 1920, took 20 years to complete, runs for just over 20 kilometres and in parts has a gradient of 1 in 20.

The scenery from the train was amazing - see the photos below. There was a short photo opportunity stop at the Kjos waterfall where a lady in red was singing to lure unwary travellers - or so the story goes! We got off the train at the last but one stop, Vatna-Halsen, and had coffee and waffles with jam & cream in the Vatna-Halsen hotel. Afterwards the guide took us on a short walk to a viewpoint, where we watched 

some brave souls taking the Flam zipline in the rain!

When we got back to Flam we got the tender back to the boat and went for lunch in the Patio.

Edited July 5, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[uktog]

37 minutes ago, bob278 said:

We will definitely cross-pack in the future!  When we first started cruising we did but got overconfident over the years with no problems.  Garry had a really small carry-on because the SAS website said their weight limit was too low for her regular one.  I noticed that at the last minute so she raced to get the essentials in the small one.

 

She has informed me that she will take that one from now on as she always packs a full change of clothes and, if we have to pay for gate-checking it, I should be prepared to pull out the credit card.

Good call Garry - flex his plastic if need be but don't go short on the bare essentials 🙂

 

[Grandma Cruising]

After leaving Flam at 2:30pm the Journey sailed up Flam Fjord and into Naeroyfjord to Gudvangen where we stopped for a short time to pick up passengers who had taken an excursion that started in Flam and finished in Guvangen. Along the way we stopped twice for the chef to go in the service boat to small villages to buy goats cheese and fresh strawberries and raspberries. Naeroyfjord is very narrow and the Fjord walls were very close to the ship on both sides.

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

 

 

 

Wednesday 3 July contd

We booked an appointment with Leisl, Future Cruise Manager, for later on then a had a restful afternoon. When we saw her Leisl was unable to give us a quote for the cruise we’re interested in - Athens to Dubai in October 2020 because there was no WiFi/satellite reception. We told her that the cruise had vanished from Azamara’s website (though it is still being sold by a British TA). She’s going to get back to us with more information and (hopefully) a quote.

 

We had dinner at Prime C. Our booking was for 8pm, but although we were there before 8 for a drink first, our table wasn’t ready until after 8:30, not a brilliant start. However the meal was excellent. The appetiser was a smoked salmon roulade. I had the special starter - curried shrimp with quinoa salad. For mains my DH had a ribeye steak and I had the rack of lamb - everything was perfectly cooked and very good.

We just caught the end of the show, which was Jump, Jive & Swing by the singers and dancers.

Again the seas were quite rough overnight.

 

Thursday 4 July

A misty, wet morning as we sailed up the Geiranger Fjord, just behind the Pullmantur Zenith, anchoring an hour early. The Zenith had the use of the mobile dock.

We had breakfast in our room, then had an early lunch at the Brunch that was served in Discoveries from 10 -12:30.

 

As we had arrived an hour earlier than expected, those of us who did not have Azamara excursions were able to leave on the tenders before those on the excursions  This is the first Azamara Cruise I have been on where there have been tender tickets. We had to go to Discoveries bar when we were ready to leave the ship and were given a ticket. We were able to get on a tender very quickly.

Geiranger is a very pretty little village - the whole area is a world heritage site. Once onshore we decided to take the walk alongside the waterfall which was beautiful. You walk on a metal walkway which has lots of steps - no I didn’t count them! The waterfall is tremendous, very powerful. We walked back to town from the top of the waterfall by the main road. Every so often cars came past us covered in stickers saying ‘The Garbage Run’. They were all decorated and honking their horns loudly. We looked it up and found out that it’s a fun rally where all the cars entered have to be at least 15 years old and worth less than €500. Apparently they are run all over the world, and the cars we saw were in the Scandinavian version that is open to Norwegians, Swedes & Danes.

 

We had pre-booked the Geiranger Panoramic bus tour and eventually found out where to join the bus. It was a great tour on a very comfy double decker bus. We went to two view points, one right at the head of the fjord and the other, Eagles Nest, to the side. Both were spectacular, despite the rain & mist. It's only when you get up well above the fjords that you really appreciate the scale of the landscape

 

 

 

 Ack to the ship for tea and waffles with cream & the fresh berries bought yesterday, along with glasses of hot gluwein.

We left Geiranger at 5:30pm and went back down the fjord, stopping for a 360 pirouette alongside the 'seven sisters' and 'suitor/bachelor' waterfalls.

 

 

 

Edited July 5, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising

[Grandma Cruising]

Thursday 5 July contd.

We arrived in Alesund at 10pm and will stay here all day tomorrow. We were due to leave at 5:30 but Captain Johannes announced that we will stay until 8pm.

We had dinner in Discoveries again - I had the destination special - Norwegian Wolf Fish- and DH had Veal Schnitzel. Lovely meal again. We managed to catch the end of Eric's show - the Caberet Lounge was packed to the rafters!

 

Friday 6 July

Much better weather today - warmer and mixed sun and cloud. We had a walk around Alesund, looking at the harbour and the lovely buildings in the Art Nouveau area, then back to the ship for a late lunch in the Patio and a restful afternoon.

[Lottie A]

Glad the weather is improving for you HGC.

I thought Alesund was just delightful when I went there a few years ago. A fire (in the 1920's I think) destroyed a lot of the buildings so they were rebuilt in the Art Nouveau style. It's a pretty, colourful little town with lots of quirky antique shops and lovely cafe's. 

I really must go back! 

[mchell810]

3 hours ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

 

 

What an amazing photo! Just beautiful.

Enjoying all your photos, thanks!

Edited July 5, 2019 by mchell810

[excitedofharpenden]

From Facebook. Chief Engineer Milen. You'll see him running around the jogging track. A real character. 

 

Phil 

[uktog]

And his lovely daughter whom several of us have grown up with is onboard - she loves White Nights

[oddjob16]

We had a fantastic dinner in Aqualina. Yummm

[oddjob16]

Detailed review to follow😊

[hkr1216]

Odd, you had my favorite waiter in Aqualina, Virgilio!   He never stops smiling.

Edited July 6, 2019 by hkr1216

[Grandma Cruising]

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but WiFi has been very hit & miss & very slow when it is working. Apparently we have a broken Antenna. Miami are sending our a technician to meet us either today in Svolvaer or tomorrow in a Tromso, so hopefully it’ll improve then. 

[uktog]

50 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Sorry I haven’t posted for a while, but WiFi has been very hit & miss & very slow when it is working. Apparently we have a broken Antenna. Miami are sending our a technician to meet us either today in Svolvaer or tomorrow in a Tromso, so hopefully it’ll improve then. 

Norway is within your UK providers phone data tariff area so you can so you can use the internet that way. That’s how our friends onboard are keeping in touch.  Hope that helps you

Glad the weather is looking brighter and your crossing the Arctic Circle ceremony looked fun. 

[oddjob16]

https://bjost.no/webkameraer/svolvaer.htm

Looks like you have beautiful weather

[racer8790]

A beautiful day in Lofoten.

[excitedofharpenden]

17 minutes ago, racer8790 said:

A beautiful day in Lofoten.

Is that the entrance to Trollfjord?  Looks like it.

 

Phil

[racer8790]

22 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

Is that the entrance to Trollfjord?  Looks like it.

 

Phil

Yes it is.

[Grandma Cruising]

6 hours ago, uktog said:

Norway is within your UK providers phone data tariff area so you can so you can use the internet that way. That’s how our friends onboard are keeping in touch.  Hope that helps you

Glad the weather is looking brighter and your crossing the Arctic Circle ceremony looked fun. 

Unfortunately we have already exceeded our monthly data allowance!

[uktog]

Just now, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Unfortunately we have already exceeded our monthly data allowance!

Ah that’s something I’ve never managed to do 🙂 

[excitedofharpenden]

4 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

Unfortunately we have already exceeded our monthly data allowance!

You need a 3 PAYG SIM. £20 for a month, 12GB of data and works in lots of countries including Norway. I've had this SIM for ages. Works a treat. Feel at Home data package. 

 

Phil 

[Grandma Cruising]

2 minutes ago, excitedofharpenden said:

You need a 3 PAYG SIM. £20 for a month, 12GB of data and works in lots of countries including Norway. I've had this SIM for ages. Works a treat. Feel at Home data package. 

 

Phil 

We’ve used 30GB!

 

[uktog]

My home package transfers  over to Europe including Norway so it’s only cap is reasonable use. 

[excitedofharpenden]

7 minutes ago, Host Grandma Cruising said:

We’ve used 30GB!

 

Yikes!  What on?  I can go on holiday for a month and never get close to exceeding 12GB. Facebook posts, emails, browsing. What do you use it for?  

 

Phil 

[Grandma Cruising]

We think it was mainly Photos automatically backing up to the Cloud - we must work out how to switch that off.

Edited July 7, 2019 by Host Grandma Cruising