Saturn's Iceland and Norway's Arctic Explorer-July 19-August 2 LIVEish

[PasadenaDave]

Clay, that is one beautiful bowl.  When I see such objects, I hear my father’s voice….”where will we store it?”

[mchell810]

The blue bowl is absolutely beautiful!   I think I'd have tried to get it home (and made sure I had a supply of Kleenex for the tears if it didn't make it 😝)

[Clay Clayton]

6 hours ago, PasadenaDave said:

Clay, that is one beautiful bowl.  When I see such objects, I hear my father’s voice….”where will we store it?”

I wouldn't have to store it.  It would be proudly displayed in one of several places but....

[Clay Clayton]

3 hours ago, mchell810 said:

The blue bowl is absolutely beautiful!   I think I'd have tried to get it home (and made sure I had a supply of Kleenex for the tears if it didn't make it 😝)

We thought a lot about it but were worried not only about breaking it but also about damaging the matte finish.  Especially given we have to go from the ship to train to hotel to subway to airport to hotel shuttle to airport to home airport to parking lot to home😂

[mchell810]

39 minutes ago, Clay Clayton said:

We thought a lot about it but were worried not only about breaking it but also about damaging the matte finish.  Especially given we have to go from the ship to train to hotel to subway to airport to hotel shuttle to airport to home airport to parking lot to home😂

 

I fully understand, with all that it's likely to get damaged.  I have been known to make bad decisions on the fly -- better to remember the piece in the shop than pieces in your luggage 😉

[SVP123]

Clay,

 

Did you do anything else in Lofoten, (since the ship is docked until very late).  Is there a free shuttle from the port?  

[SJD117]

21 minutes ago, SVP123 said:

Clay,

 

Did you do anything else in Lofoten, (since the ship is docked until very late).  Is there a free shuttle from the port?  

I was on the cruise before Clay’s cruise. There’s a shuttle to Leknes (the Lofoten town closest to the cruise pier).

[Twitchly]

I want those red sneakers. Would love to know what brand they are.

 

[Clay Clayton]

14 hours ago, SVP123 said:

Clay,

 

Did you do anything else in Lofoten, (since the ship is docked until very late).  Is there a free shuttle from the port?  

We had planned on taking the shuttle into town but after hearing other folks who said there wasn't much there (even our guide on the morning trip said the same thing) we elected to not go. They said there was one block of shops and a mall. 
 

It was unclear to me why we stayed so late there unless perhaps the guest performer (an opera singer) who boarded  in Tromso was disembarking after her 9pm show🤔

[Clay Clayton]

8 hours ago, Twitchly said:

I want those red sneakers. Would love to know what brand they are.

 

Adidas Pure Boost ZG available it appears on Amazon but can't get it to load so would have posted a link. 

[Clay Clayton]

Awoke to a cloudy cool (short sleeves though) day in Narvik. The town is larger than I expected after watching the movie "Narvik" but I guess in 70+years that is to be expected. We took the complimentary shuttle into town which isn't very far but is uphill.  I rode the next shuttle back while Mike walked around a little further afield than I and then walked back downhill to the ship. We have the included tour later this afternoon which includes the War Museum. Looking forward to that. 
 

I will remember Narvik as a city of flowers and statues. The one of the prone baby is entitled "Peace is the Promise of the Future". It was great to the crew members having some well deserved time off and fun watching them all take pictures in front of the directional sign.  It was also funny to see that politicians in Norway take lousy pictures just like in the US and then post them all over town😂. I had hoped to take a walk through the Fish Market but it was closed on Saturday mornings. Oh well, #nexttime

 

Our friend Scott just left for his DIY Arctic Train trip. Severa roll call members elected to book directly, they decided for the several hundred dollar price difference compared to the Viking excursion they could walk from the shuttle bus stop to the train station and buy their own cinnamon roll and coffee. Looking forward to seeing how he enjoyed it. We discussed going but decided our 7 hour trip from Bergen to Oslo in a few days would be enough train for us😂

[Clay Clayton]

Photos from Mike's longer walkabout in Narvik. Unfortunately he doesn't know what anything was but the little church was interesting in that they used their fellowship hall into a cafe and souvenir shop😂

[charmed1959]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We had planned on taking the shuttle into town but after hearing other folks who said there wasn't much there (even our guide on the morning trip said the same thing) we elected to not go. They said there was one block of shops and a mall. 
 

It was unclear to me why we stayed so late there unless perhaps the guest performer (an opera singer) who boarded  in Tromso was disembarking after her 9pm show🤔

We walked back to our rooms after her show and they were already pulling the mooring ropes.  We actually pulled away from the dock at 9:56, a couple of minutes before the “everyone on board” time.  Apparently, everyone was on board.  

 

The Opera singer will be performing again tomorrow.

[SVP123]

4 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

 

 

Our friend Scott just left for his DIY Arctic Train trip. Severa roll call members elected to book directly, they decided for the several hundred dollar price difference compared to the Viking excursion they could walk from the shuttle bus stop to the train station and buy their own cinnamon roll and coffee. Looking forward to seeing how he enjoyed it.

We will also be doing the DIY Arctic Train trip in August.  Can you ask Scott about his trip to the train station from the cruise port.  How far did he have to walk from the shuttle bus stop in town to the train station?  Thank you for posting, can't wait for our trip.

[Clay Clayton]

The War Museum appeared to be very interesting.  Unfortunately our guide was a bit haphazard and simply walked us through pointing to things.  If we were to do it over I would research whether the audio commentary in the museum is available on an app in which case I would have turned off my quietvox OR have purchased the museum's audio headphones and turned off my quietvox. I ended up basically doing a self guided tour with my quietvox turned way down.  

[janetcbl]

5 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We had planned on taking the shuttle into town but after hearing other folks who said there wasn't much there (even our guide on the morning trip said the same thing) we elected to not go. They said there was one block of shops and a mall. 
 

It was unclear to me why we stayed so late there unless perhaps the guest performer (an opera singer) who boarded  in Tromso was disembarking after her 9pm 

Edited July 29, 2023 by janetcbl

[janetcbl]

2 minutes ago, janetcbl said:

 

 

5 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

We had planned on taking the shuttle into town but after hearing other folks who said there wasn't much there (even our guide on the morning trip said the same thing) we elected to not go. They said there was one block of shops and a mall. 
 

It was unclear to me why we stayed so late there unless perhaps the guest performer (an opera singer) who boarded  in Tromso was disembarking after her 9pm show🤔

If there was an excursion to the “Maritime Museum” that may be the reason for the late departure. The museum is located in Svolvaer which is a distance from Leknes. (Good excursion, btw.)

[janetcbl]

Lofoten War Museum, not Maritime Museum….sorry

[slewis7]

My wife and I visited Lofoten with Viking recently.  It is a stunningly beautiful island and we had perfect weather.  We booked a private full day tour and got to see quite a bit of the southern area and I would highly recommend doing this, if anyone following here is visiting in the future.  It was one of the highlights of a wonderful trip!

[SJD117]

3 hours ago, SVP123 said:

We will also be doing the DIY Arctic Train trip in August.  Can you ask Scott about his trip to the train station from the cruise port.  How far did he have to walk from the shuttle bus stop in town to the train station?  Thank you for posting, can't wait for our trip.

I did the train trip earlier this month. The shuttle bus stop is about 1/3 mile from the train station. There’s a very nice cafe at the station if you want to get a bite or a drink before or after the trip.

[wynnsr]

Sherry & I have had a wonderful cruise and met some genuinely fine folks.  Tonight's exceptional dining experience stands above all!  Such good food and service BUT far surpassed by our special dinner companions.  Thank you Clay, Mike, Sandy, Paul, Paul, Mary Ann, Scott, Gary and Robert for making this such a special event.  🙂

[Clay Clayton]

4 hours ago, wynnsr said:

Sherry & I have had a wonderful cruise and met some genuinely fine folks.  Tonight's exceptional dining experience stands above all!  Such good food and service BUT far surpassed by our special dinner companions.  Thank you Clay, Mike, Sandy, Paul, Paul, Mary Ann, Scott, Gary and Robert for making this such a special event.  🙂

Agreed! Special thanks to the Cohens for the champagne for a pre dinner toast! Mike and I enjoyed sure enjoyed the company. 

[Clay Clayton]

10 hours ago, SVP123 said:

We will also be doing the DIY Arctic Train trip in August.  Can you ask Scott about his trip to the train station from the cruise port.  How far did he have to walk from the shuttle bus stop in town to the train station?  Thank you for posting, can't wait for our trip.

In case Scott forgets to respond, he had planned on walking from the complimentary shuttle bus stop in town at the theater (Astro?) which would be downhill going to the train station and would take 15 mins at most.  But the shuttle bus used the train station as a turn around point in town and it stopped and let a number of riders off. Scott suspects someone else taking the train asked the driver to do so.  I know when we went into town at 10:30, the driver didn't stop at the station merely turned around. 
 

After the train, he walked back to the theatre planning on riding the shuttle but the timing wasn't working with him so he walked back to the ship which was about a 15 minute downhill stroll. 

[Peregrina651]

2 hours ago, Clay Clayton said:

Agreed! Special thanks to the Cohens for the champagne for a pre dinner toast! Mike and I enjoyed sure enjoyed the company. 

 

And a lovely time was had by all!

 

Clay, who did you talk to set this up? How far in advance did you do it?

[wynnsr]

Panomax curiosity - The disappointing views (looking at sky and deck) explained as a need to put the camera "down" when going under bridges. Took a look this morning at Neptune's Panomax history while on this itinerary and, sure enough, the same issue in these areas. Seems a small price to pay for the great scenic views we have because we can sail in these types of areas.  Maybe, some day, there'll be a remote, mechanical mechanism to raise/lower these cameras so that future cruisers can see the wonders of nature that await their arrival!