"Sorta" Live from the Explorer in the Norwegian Fjords

[boblerm]

"Sorta" Live from the Explorer in the Norwegian Fjords

 

Should any friends or family members be reading this and become concerned about the title of this thread, no worries, I am (at least as of this writing) still fully 'live.  So wherefore the title?

 

In our BCL (Between Cruising Life), my wife, Jeannie, and I, take great pleasure in traveling vicariously via travel blogs and trip reports, mainly on Cruise Critic.  Last year, I decided that I would try to "give back" by posting reports of my cruises.  And while I find them a lot of fun to do, I have a problem:  due to the speed of my brain and fingers (or, more correctly, lack thereof), I sometimes find that it takes me an inordinate amount of cruising time to do my posts.  And let me just say how in awe I sometimes am when reading the reports from some of my CC brothers and sisters who have figured out how to do great reporting while still getting full enjoyment from their cruises.  But for my part, I find that by the time that I

a) formulate a series of semi  coherent thoughts

b) hunt and peck my way around a keyboard, correcting enough errors to make it quasi comprehensible

c) scroll through my photos (I tend to take an unreasonably large number of photos) and identify those that may be somewhat post worthy and

d) wait................................while................................they.........................load.............................

enough time has gone by that may cause me to miss out on my beauty nap.  Which tends to make me cranky.

 

 

Additionally, I must be ever mindful of the fact that sufficient attention must be paid to my better half, lest some more interesting options for the day's company happens by.

 

One can never be too cautious.

 

On the last trip we took, which was a Uniworld river cruise in France, based on my previous experiences with river cruising and how much leisure time would likely be available, I made no attempt to report live, but rather waited until I got home and reported day by day in retrospect.  While this worked out pretty well, there are some limitations to this approach.  In the event that an incisive, pithy, or erudite thought enter my head🤔🤪🙄, the chances of remembering such hours later are slim, the chances of remembering weeks later are pretty much nil.  Also, there is no opportunity for spontaneous interaction.  For example, if I am already home, and someone should ask me, "who is the chief electro technical officer, and how long will he or she be onboard?".....I dunno.  Should someone request that I "please tell Sommelier Freddy that Clarice and Hannibal say hi and are enjoying his recommendation for a nice Chianti"......no can do.

 

So what I thought I would attempt is a hybrid report of sorts, in which I would post a brief note about our activities, and a few snaps, and try to answer any questions.  Then when I get home, fill in some of the details and add more photos, quite possibly more than you may wish to see.  Hence, "sorta" live.  I have invited those on our roll call to join in, hopefully will get some more input.

 

Bob

 

Edited August 6, 2019 by boblerm

[boblerm]

Here is our itinerary

 

We are staying one night pre in Copenhagen, and one night post in Oslo.

We fly out tonight on SAS out of Liberty Newark, nonstop (hooray).

 

 

[Travelcat2]

Looking forward to your "sorta live" posts and really enjoyed your explanation.  

 

If I did not type around 100 wpm, I could certainly not do the live threads as there are certainly a lot of things going on while on a cruise.  I learned that when my DH takes photos of the food, ship, sites, etc., that when I'm posting them on CC, he seems happier than I am online because I'm posting "his" photos!

 

Whatever time that you have will be appreciated!  

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

Enjoy! Safe travels. Look forward to your blog. 

Sheila

[JPR]

We have done much of this itinerary on Explorer. You are in for a real treat!

[Xerxes10]

I always really enjoy your posts. Keep 'em coming.

[Zqueeze1]

You are already off to a great start and we are looking forward to your reports. Enjoy your cruise. Curious about your flight on SAS. 

Z and TB

 

[Hambagahle]

3 hours ago, Travelcat2 said:

Looking forward to your "sorta live" posts and really enjoyed your explanation.  

 

If I did not type around 100 wpm, I could certainly not do the live threads as there are certainly a lot of things going on while on a cruise.  I learned that when my DH takes photos of the food, ship, sites, etc., that when I'm posting them on CC, he seems happier than I am online because I'm posting "his" photos!

 

Whatever time that you have will be appreciated!  

DITTO  !!  And think of it as "rehearsal" for 14 March 2020 !!

BON VOYAGE

Gerry

[boblerm]

Thank you Jackie, Sheila, Gerry, Z, Xerses10 and JPR.

Jackie, do you give typing lessons?  I think I must have have cut class when typing was taught in grade school😯

[briar14]

Anticipating your reports! What beautiful places you will be seeing. We have good friends on your cruise and for the past few months have been boring them with many “you can’t miss this” suggestions. Have a wonderful trip!

[boblerm]

briar14, would love to hear any "you can't miss this" suggestions!

 

We are in the SAS lounge in Newark now, and Z, so far so good, it is a very nice lounge.

 

It is rather serendipitous that we came to be taking this cruise.  Last summer, Jeannie and I took great delight in reading Mr. Rumor's trip report on this itinerary.  After reading his descriptions and looking at his great photos, we knew we would want to do it at some point.  (Rich, if perchance you are reading this, thanks again!)  But on checking the 2019 schedule, we had a conflict.  We were booked at this time on the Scenic Eclipse for a circumnavigation of Iceland.  The Eclipse was to be a luxury yacht, a new project by Scenic, which is a luxury river cruise company. The brochure that we received in mid 2017 looked fabulous, and it was being talked up by Ralph Grizzle of the Avid Cruiser web site.  It was set to be launched in September 2018.  The cruise that we chose was in August 2019, almost a year for them to work out any kinks in this new endeavor. 

In July 2018, we learned that due to shipyard delays the new launch date for the Eclipse was to be January 2019.  A bummer for those who were booked on the earlier cruises, but we were not too concerned for ourselves, still 8 months before our cruise.  In November, we learned that there was yet another delay, now it was set to launch in April.  OK, now we were concerned.  Further research revealed that the shipyard was in receivership, construction had come to a halt.  There was  a thread on the "Other Cruise Line" section of Cruise Critic, in which some posters who seemed to think that they knew what they were talking about (don't we all?) were saying that there was zero chance that the ship would launch in April. in fact it may never launch.  We wanted to do this cruise, but didn't want to get shut out at the last minute and not have a chance to book something else.  But we learned that if we cancelled the cruise and the ship did sail as scheduled, we would lose our deposit, and the cost of our non-refundable air.  So we figured that we'd best sit tight.  In February, we got the word- our cruise was defunct, the new launch date was to be the cruise after ours, August 15.

We immediately checked into the Norway itinerary on Regent, and happy days, there was still availability, we were able to secure our preferred suite category (F1) in a prime location.  While we still are anxious to do Iceland, we are stoked to be taking  this cruise!

As a postscript, we were made whole by the Scenic company by getting our refund back, plus being reimbursed for our airfare, and the insurance policy that we had taken out for the cruise.  Also, by all indications, the Eclipse will, in fact, finally launch on the 15th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[DeepFreeze63]

"So what I thought I would attempt is a hybrid report of sorts, in which I would post a brief note about our activities, and a few snaps, and try to answer any questions.  Then when I get home, fill in some of the details and add more photos, quite possibly more than you may wish to see.  Hence, "sorta" live.  I have invited those on our roll call to join in, hopefully will get some more input."

Great idea; I lke your style and will emulate it in February for our Splendor Inaugural cruise.

 

ps: I'm in the 10WPM category; but DW is a semi-professional photographer.

[flossie009]

Looking forward to your blog.

Hope you have as good a cruise, and weather, as we are enjoying in Norway 😎

 

I can’t help but notice that on Friday, 09 August you on Explorer will be in Kristiansand, Norway while we on Navigator will be in Kristiansund, Norway. Two different places some 850km apart. Could be confusing for anyone reading the two blogs that day.

 

 

Have a safe & comfortable journey.

Edited August 6, 2019 by flossie009

[Wendy The Wanderer]

Love this idea, thanks for this, one of my dream itineraries! 

 

I rarely have time to spend on writing details of our cruises, but I'm looking forward to our WC in 2021 since I too am a touch typist and I will have, for the first time, a full-sized keyboard of my own!

 

Looking forward to your reports, I like your style!

Edited August 6, 2019 by Wendy The Wanderer

[boblerm]

16 hours ago, DeepFreeze63 said:

ps: I'm in the 10WPM category

Me too, except that half the words are likely to be mispellleddd.

I will be looking for your report in February!

 

[boblerm]

16 hours ago, flossie009 said:

I can’t help but notice that on Friday, 09 August you on Explorer will be in Kristiansand, Norway while we on Navigator will be in Kristiansund, Norway. Two different places some 850km apart. Could be confusing for anyone reading the two blogs that day.

 

 

Too funny!  Could be confusing for me as well.  

I  have been following you and know that you have been having a great cruise, hope it continues to be(no doubt it will.)

[boblerm]

Wendy, thank you for your kind words.

 

We were very pleased with our flight on SAS.  The business class cabin was very pleasant, the seats quite comfortable.  The food very good, and the coffee actually drinkable!

 

We are staying at the Hotel Nimb, which is adjacent to the Tivoli Gardens, to which hotel guests are given free access.  Of course, this is a little like saying that Regent offers “free” excursions.

We arrived at the hotel at about 8AM, naturally the room was not ready.  The Gardens open at 11, so I attempted with very limited success to follow Rick Steves’ walking tour of Copenhagen.  (I mentioned earlier that I seemed to have missed typing class in grade school, apparently the same is true for map following skills).

 

Got back to the hotel at 11, room still not ready, so we strolled around these lovely gardens for a while.  We went on one ride , sort of a “It’s a Small World” featuring scenes from Hans Christian Anderson tales.  We had lunch, and got a call at about 1 that the room was ready.  We  checked in and snoozed for a bit. We will dine at a hotel restaurant tonight, and are eagerly looking forward to boarding the beautiful Seven Seas Explorer tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by boblerm

[maryogreen]

Bob, What a wonderful plan B! So glad everything worked out well for you. Your "sorta live" analysis really made me smile. We loved your back-from-Uniworld postings on the CC River Boards. Please know that no matter how this voyage unfolds – live, sorta or otherwise – your commentary is always a delight and greatly appreciated. 

Bon Voyage!
Mary

Travel Blog: https://www.themodernpostcard.com

[Hambagahle]

Nice to have you "on this side of the Pond" Bob!!  And to know that SAS was OK.   Enjoy Copenhagen, beer and schnapps!  And if you haven't already planned to do so - DO take a harbour cruise.  the city is lovely seen from the water and it is an extremely pleasant way of passing an hour or so.

Gerry

[Bellaggio Cruisers]

We flew on SAS last August from EWR to Copenhagen. It was a very pleasant flight. Similar itinerary as we did. I know you will enjoy. 

Sheila

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review and photos.

[ronrick1943]

Well have a great time and we'll be looking forward to reading about your cruise.

[califsealion]

Looking forward to reading about your trip, not matter how live it ends up being!

[frankdp]

Your pics remind me of our visit to Copenhagen several years ago.  We stayed at the lovely Scandic Palace, also very close to Tivoli.   Looking forward to following your amazing trip!   Bon voyage!

[boblerm]

Mary, Sheila, jimbri, Ron, califsealion, frankdp, thanks so much for your well wishes. Gerry, we didn't have time to fit in a harbour cruise, but next time for sure. 

 

 

We had dinner last night in a restaurant in our hotel, Nimb Brasserie. A fabulous meal in a lovely setting, overlooking Tivoli Gardens.

 

 

We had a visitor 

 

 

There is a rooftop bar with nice views.

 

 

Our hotel 

 

 

This morning, walked down to Nyhavn, only got lost perhaps twice. OK, perhaps thrice. But hey, for moi, not too shabby.

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived at the pier at 11:45, easiest  check in ever, no wait at all. We were checked in by Nell, one of the lead singers. 

 

As many cruises as we have taken, the thrill that we get when first setting foot on our ship is as strong as ever. And even the more so when it is our very favorite ship!

 

Jeannie and I have several cruise traditions, the best one being toasting our cruise with a glass of champagne with Grand Marnier on the pool deck when we first board. 

 

 

The schedule for this evening :

 

Muster at 4:15 (always more fun than a barrel of monkeys)

 

Sail away at 5:00, we generally enjoy sail away in the Observation Lounge 

 

Dinner in Prime 7 at 7:30

 

Production show at 9:30, Broadway in Concert. 

 

Happy campers, we. 

 

Bob