LIVE from Jewel May 15, 2024 - 27 nights

[twangster]

On the bus to Sugarlump.  

 

 

 

[twangster]

Live from the top of Sugarlump mountain 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

 

 

[Jimbo]

4 hours ago, Hoopster95 said:

Good morning everyone… entering the channel to Alesund

 

 

 

IMG_4146.mov 35.6 MB · 1 download

 

 

 

 

These sail in pictures look alike like sailing into Greenland but just the cities in Greenland are not was well established as the ones you are going into in Norway are. Greenland's stops are just in more remote places.

[twangster]

L

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6 by twangster

[jeffkolyn]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

Today's excursion, Sugarlump Mountain Hike.

 

 

How difficult is the hike?  I am currently booked on it in July, but I am not sure how difficult the terrain in.  I am fine on flatish, but scaling and large rocks may be tricky?  Did they go up and hike down or vice versa?  Loving this thread!

[twangster]

27 minutes ago, jeffkolyn said:

How difficult is the hike?  I am currently booked on it in July, but I am not sure how difficult the terrain in.  I am fine on flatish, but scaling and large rocks may be tricky?  Did they go up and hike down or vice versa?  Loving this thread!

 

Eating lunch.  In a few hours I'll post pics of the terrain.  

[tomcherv]

Seeing all your pictures and videos is making it hard to wait for our turn - only 24 more days until we leave and 29 days until we board.

 

Thanks for the great review and sharing your experiences.

[theorbo]

10 hours ago, twangster said:

 

HDMI inputs are available.  OEM remotes have a source button on them.

 

On this sailing and the previous sailing there have been large enough numbers of Diamond and above so that one free specialty coffee drink from Latte-Tudes has been included. 

 

Thank you - yes, I was referring to the "surprise" free specialty coffee drink for Diamond and above. 

 

9 hours ago, Jomykje said:

We were on the Jewel last year and they have a free sauna and steam room.

 

Great - glad to hear that they still have that. I had forgotten that they had replaced the Thermal Suite with more staterooms on Deck 11 - thankfully I don't think they did this on the other Radiance class vessels. 

 

7 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The small bar there (facing aft) also has the machine to make such coffees. 

 

Super - having an alternative to going to Cafe Latte-Tudes sounded like a good thing and I had noticed in the Cruise Compasses posted that they had called-out a place in the WJ for specialty coffees but I did not remember that from the past. 

[twangster]

1 hour ago, theorbo said:

Thank you - yes, I was referring to the "surprise" free specialty coffee drink for Diamond and above. 

 

The loyalty ambassador stated it kicks in when the count of D and D+ is greater than a threshold figure.  She didn't say what the magic number is.  Assuming there will be consistent high numbers going forward it should still be available in the future.  

[cruiselvr04]

Although it’s not listed we’ve been able to get a free hot chocolate instead of the americano or latte.  It doesn’t hurt to ask. We don’t care for the powdered stuff but like it with syrup and milk. This could be because our last 2 ships (Brilliance and Explorer) had non working machines in the lounge.

[twangster]

This was waiting for us today.

 

[Hoopster95]

Goodbye Alesund

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6 by Hoopster95

[twangster]

Some pics from the sail in this morning.

 

 

 

Not quite sure why this tower is here.

 

 

It looks to be wood pallets.

 

 

 

Tunnels and bridges connect different islands here.

 

 

 

[twangster]

The trailhead after a 25 minute bus ride.

 

 

 

Along our route there were these bags of gravel and field stone.

 

 

 

The bags were placed by helicopters.  Volunteers will distribute the gravel and stones to maintain the path to the top.

 

 

 

 

 

Not long after we turn around to get our first view of the ship in the town.

 

 

 

No smoke.  Jewel is connected to shore power and has powered off the engines.

 

[twangster]

The path is advanced in places.  I was glad I had my hiking boots.

 

 

Before modern times these markers denoted boundaries between jurisdictions.  They were placed at mountain tops to establish lines that controlled who lived in each jurisdiction.

 

 

 

 

We are pretty high up.

 

 

The view down to sea level:

 

 

 

That small bridge we drove over this morning.

 

 

 

[twangster]

 

 

It takes about an hour to come back down.

 

 

The trail is easier towards the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The community where the trailhead is located.

 

 

[twangster]

Back in town I chose to venture around town instead of returning to the ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[twangster]

Right beside the ship was a microbrewery.

 

 

Here I watched the SpaceX Starship fourth test flight on my phone.

 

 

With some fish & chips.

 

 

[TravelTonic]

That tower of pallets is for an annual midsummer celebration they do. We learned about this from one of the servers at the brewery this afternoon  More about it here https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/blog/midsummer/

[twangster]

During the Captain's pre-departure announcement he mentioned the use of shore power here and why there were big cables all over the pier.

 

You can see the big orange cables in this picture and the rig that carries the heavy cables to the ship.  

 

 

 

[twangster]

The Captain also mentioned the transit into the fjord on the way into Flam tomorrow will commence at 1am.  

 

I trust @Hoopster95 will be up to capture it 🙂 

[Hoopster95]

9 hours ago, twangster said:

 

I trust @Hoopster95 will be up to capture it 🙂 

 

Ya right … NOT!  😆

 

I believe Capt also said the “main” part of the fjord transit begins at around 6’ish. Hopefully the weather co-operates once again!  (Knock on wood)
 

 

Edited June 6 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Hey everyone,

I did an excursion today with many CC’ers on the roll Called “Aselund - the Ultimate Sightseeing Tour” by Norway Excursions AS
 

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/tour/alesund-the-ultimate-sightseeing-tour/?_gl=1*1tq38*_up*MQ..&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIoLTC8r7HhgMVPKWDBx144hQPEAAYASABEgLBOfD_BwE
 

For brevity’s sake, check out their website if you wish … I’ll just post some highlights 

[Hoopster95]

Ålesund Kirke (church) and views of various islands including Godoy and Giske which we visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6 by Hoopster95