Narratives from Navigator in Norway

[cruiseluv]

Beautiful pictures, thank you for sharing! Keep enjoying your cruise!

[fizzy]

This is a wonderful thread.  Thank you.

[flossie009]

Last night after dinner in Compass Rose we went to another show by the talented singer/comedienne Sally Jones.

Very enjoyable and she will also be performing a tribute to Edith Piaf for the SSS Top Tier event this evening before she leaves the ship in Kristiansund tomorrow.

 

 

Today we are at sea.

 

 

 

 

 

The Captain announced earlier that he has increased speed with a view to reaching our next port of call by this evening; this is because a guest has a medical issue that needs shoreside attention. Hope they recover soon.

[flossie009]

Today was a special “Galley Brunch” in Compass Rose, with much of the food laid out buffet style on a walk through the kitchens.

The Chefs and restaurant staff had done an exceptional job of preparation and presentation.

Such variety made it very difficult not to over indulge 😋

The pictures below show only a small selection of what was on offer.

 

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

Of course there always has to be room left for dessert

 

Crepes perhaps?

 

........ or maybe profiteroles?

 

 

The displays made everything very tempting

 

 

 

 

Now, how long till afternoon tea .......... and then dinner? 😮

 

[Ladys Mom]

Everything looks so tempting.  Do they do this on every Navigator sailing or just certain ones?  Or does one have to be at a certain SSS level to be invited?

[Hambagahle]

What FUN !!  And how yummy...  

[Joanandjoe]

10 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Last night after dinner in Compass Rose we went to another show by the talented singer/comedienne Sally Jones.

Very enjoyable and she will also be performing a tribute to Edith Piaf for the SSS Top Tier event this evening before she leaves the ship in Kristiansund tomorrow.

Ah, leading us on.  I was excited to read the review of Sally Jones in the first sentence, since we'll be boarding the ship next Weds., 8/14.  Then I saw in the next sentence that she was leaving the ship.  I hope her replacement is as good!

 

I also hope that the sick passenger is OK.

 

"Keep the ship in good shape for us."

[Maxmann65]

Love this photo. It appears that the life boats are riding on the water and there is an awesome glacier on the right. 

[ronrick1943]

Looks great, can't wait for our next cruise coming up.

 

[flossie009]

13 hours ago, Lady's Mom said:

Everything looks so tempting.  Do they do this on every Navigator sailing or just certain ones?  Or does one have to be at a certain SSS level to be invited?

 

The Galley Brunch was open to all.

It is only offered on a sea day on longer voyages. We have only ever seen it once before, but on one of the other ships.

Explorer has a Sunday Brunch on many of its voyages, when Sunday is a sea day. The set up on Explorer is all in Compass Rose; it was good for this one on Navigator that the Brunch was combined with a galley walk-through.

[flossie009]

The early evening SSS event was very enjoyable. Each lady was handed a single rose on arrival in the show lounge.

 

 

Numbers of SSS members on this cruise:

Silver: 133

Gold: 168

Platinum: 83

Titanium: 29

Diamond: 2

Commodore: 1

A total of 416 previous cruisers; with 283 having reached “Top Tier” (Gold & above)

 

Sally Jones gave another excellent performance for the event.

 

 

 

 

Ray Solaire entertained with singing & puppetry for the 9:30pm slot.

 

Navigator docked in Kristiansund last night around 10:30pm

 

 

[flossie009]

Recent events near the White Sea and Arkhangelsk make us feel better that our visits to Russian ports were curtailed earlier this cruise:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49275577

 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/08/europe/russia-deadly-incident-radiation/index.html

 

 

 

Interestingly Navigator’s change in itinerary was reported by the Soviet news agency:

https://tass.com/society/1072024

 

 

[Hambagahle]

Good heavens -- maybe the radiation was the reason for the change?  You are certainly better off without that.

[seaknots]

good we have 2 report from norway

yours is best but not to tell @boblerm

 

[1982CruzStart]

Susan i believe Sally Jones entertained on our cruise CapeTown in 2018. She was/is fabulous. Best entertainment we had on that cruise. 

 

What a wonderful cruise you are having. Thanks for all the photos and commentary.

 

See you in a couple of months.  

[flossie009]

First thing this morning Kristiansund was looking very grey with rain threatening. Thankfully the sky brightened later to give us another “glorious day” (as Ray would say!)

 

Our excursion took us to the Atlantic Road and Halholmen.

After a drive through a 6km tunnel linking the islands and through picturesque countryside we arrived at the dock where a Viking Boat arrived to take our busload across to the small island of Haholmen.

 

Our transport to the island of Haholmen (who knew Viking boats had Diesel engines?)

 

 

This beautiful location, with many restored old buildings, is now operated as a restaurant and hotel.

We were treated to coffee & cake before being shown a film about the owner’s quest to build replica Viking ships and successfully sail them around the world; quite a story.

We then had free time to explore the pretty island before being taken back across to rejoin our bus.

 

 

 

 

[flossie009]

It was then off to drive along a stretch of the “Atlantic Road”, popular with tourists and fishermen.

We made a number of photo and walk-about stops. One can imagine that it all looks very different on a cold windy winter day with the angry seas pounding in to the area.

 

 

 

 

We then drove back to the ship via a different route and were back on board Navigator in time to grab a quick lunch in La Veranda. Today’s specials were “Viking Soups & Stews”.

Edited August 9, 2019 by flossie009

[flossie009]

Kristiansund looked good in the afternoon sunshine as we sailed away from our last Norwegian port.

 

 

 

Tonight we decided to try Sette Mari for dinner. Not usually our favourite venue but tonight was excellent. The layout works very well on Navigator and surprisingly for this small venue there were a number of tables spare tonight.

 

We both had a selection of different tasty starters from the buffet and then I had steak and David had the veal chop.

 

A perfect steak 😋

 

The Veal Chop 😱  (David asked why he had only been given a child’s portion 😀)

 

 

We managed to leave some room for the desserts

 

 

 

 

Tonight the show in the theatre was a visiting quartet of male singers “The Mersey Boys” who performed a variety of 1960’s hits from both sides of the Pond.

 

Edited August 9, 2019 by flossie009

[cAPS lOCK oN]

I had that veal dish at Setti Mare, and can confirm that it tastes every bit as good as it looks. Sometimes the simplest dishes turn out to be the best.

[JPR]

Glad Navigator changed its original Russia itinerary.

 

Could have given a whole new meaning to a “glowing review”...

Edited August 10, 2019 by JPR

[boblerm]

Susan, methinks Kristiansund beats out Kristiansand.

BTW, I asked our tour guide, and the -sand suffix refers to land, and she said the -sund refers to a fjord

[Hambagahle]

26 minutes ago, boblerm said:

Susan, methinks Kristiansund beats out Kristiansand.

BTW, I asked our tour guide, and the -sand suffix refers to land, and she said the -sund refers to a fjord

I think the cognate in English for "sund" is "sound".   Could be a fjord or just a sound (like Long island sound...)  Sand is sand...   We were in KristianSAND once - took a ferry from Denmark and got off there.  Mistakenly spent the night thinking we would see a pretty place.  And got NO sleep because it was Friday and the entire town was in our hotel bar getting drunk.  Then we found out it was only a 3+ hour drive to Oslo - our next stop.   I was kicking myself!!!  Easily could have been in the Oslo hotel in peace and quiet.  You live and you learn!

[flossie009]

For the next two days this blog is renamed as “Sagas from Soggy Scotland”.

 

Today we are in the Shetland Islands, docking in Lerwick.

 

 

A very misty, overcast arrival this morning and the forecast is somewhat “iffy” for the whole day. (Looking at the forecast for the next few days it looks like our luck with the weather has finally run out 🙁)

 

 

 

 

 

So let’s go find some Shetland ponies or maybe call in to the Police House for a wee dram with Jimmy Perez.

 

 

[flossie009]

The weather improved during the day, contrary to the forecast.

We did not take an organised excursion but simply took a walk around the town of Lerwick (apparently known as “Muddy Bay” by the Vikings).

 

We found the cottage made famous by the TV detective drama, Shetland as well as the little beach behind the cottage occasionally used for filming. Not difficult to find as it is now clearly marked on the tourist maps.

 

 

 

 

On our our way back to the ship we called in to the interesting Shetland Museum, which is located in the attractive historic Hay’s Dock. Many exhibits about Shetland life & work, including fishing, farming & weaving.

 

 

By the time we got back to the ship it was remarkably warm & humid ............... meaning that the midges were in the air 😱