Tricia’s Travelogue

First, an update on Charlie.  He’s feeling much better, thanks to antibiotics and lots of rest. He had a brief follow up visit with the doctor, who said his lungs sounded better. Rachel and Rob joined us about 11:00 yesterday, after boarding the ship. They took this photo before boarding, after a long walk to the terminal.   We all enjoyed a good lunch in Chops Grille, where I had a Caesar salad topped with a filet, one of my favorites and offered only at lunchtime.  After lunch, Rachel and Rob retrieved their bags from our room and went to theirs.  They found this sign on their door: The sign was all Charlie’s idea to commemorate their 25th anniversary, and I thought it was very sweet and clever. The four of us went to Izumi for the hibachi dinner, and we had the same chef we’d had on the last cruise, Ferdinand.  Same jokes, too!  It was very lively, but not too loud, and the food was good.  Rachel took this photo of the chef at work. The little chick...

Yesterday was spent mostly encased in fog, with the foghorn sounding every two minutes. The poor pool bartenders were all suffering from headaches! And that also meant no photos. Charlie felt bad enough to see the ship doctor yesterday morning. They ruled out flu, Covid, and RSV, then gave him a nebulizar treatment before releasing him with antibiotics and DayQuil. He felt exhausted all day, and the antibiotics made him sick. We had room service for lunch AND dinner. Thankfully, he slept well and feels much better today. We had a nice breakfast in Chops Grille (for suite guests), then went downstairs for the back-to-back cruise process.  It was the most efficient yet! They scanned our keycards, marched us around the Star Lounge, then issued and scanned our new keycards.  Done! We were free to return to our stateroom. Now we’re waiting for Rachel and Rob to join us once they’ve boarded. The captain has already announced that we’ll be skipping the first port due to mechanical is...

Our ship was delayed arriving in Rotterdam by maintenance issues, so it was 3:00 p.m. before passengers could leave the ship.  The all-aboard time was 6:30, so many excursions were cancelled. Charlie wasn’t feeling well, so we opted to stay on board.  (He thinks it’s bronchitis and is at the doctor right now.) But we did enjoy a lot of time on our balcony on the long approach to the city and at sailaway. Here are a few photos. Interesting architecture! Arrival at last! The bridge ahead is a drawbridge, and we got to see it go up and down several times. In the second pic, you can see it’s up (right side of photo). This bus boat went really fast!   For the meal report, we ordered room service salads and quesadillas for lunch on the balcony, and we returned to Giovanni’s for burrata salads and minestrone (Charlie) and pasta bolognese (me). Today is our final sea day, as we make our way back to Southampton. Tomorrow Rachel and Rob will join us for a cruise to the Norwegian fj...

Sorry for no post yesterday, but we stayed on the ship and enjoyed a lazy day.  We did manage to go to the gym, and we walked up and down a lot of stairs, so we burned a FEW calories! The first photo was of a long line of windmills we spotted from our room. This was our balcony view yesterday, in Hamburg’s industrial port, which was huge!   We enjoyed sitting on our balcony as we departed Hamburg, watching the scenery.  The first one below is where the Elbe branches.   Charlie took the next three photos especially for Patrick, a lifelong aviation enthusiast. Airbus plant Note fuselages lined up Finished planes  Our captain announced last night that due to mechanical issues, we’ll be arriving in Rotterdam late today, at 1:00 p.m., with a boarding time of 7:00 p.m.  Charlie is fighting sinus issues, so our outing may be brief.  That’s all for now!

Last evening, from the suites lounge, Charlie managed to capture a video of a sea plane taking off beside our ship. Fun to see! We returned to Izumi for dinner, but for the sushi, not hibachi.  There were THREE hibachi tables of eight underway, but they were winding down, so it wasn’t too wild.  We both had dumplings and the shrimp and veggie tempura (sorry, no pics), then I had the champagne lobster roll, always good.  Charlie tried the spicy crispy tuna roll and really liked it. After dinner, a show was about to begin in the Royal Theatre, so on a whim, we went in and found seats.  It was a group of five men, The Boulevards, performing “vintage” rock and roll music.  They were excellent musicians and funny, too.  The lead singer has portrayed John Lennon in five shows in England (they’re all British). We were glad we’d gone. This morning we awoke to strong winds (as high as 10 on the Beaufort scale, including the ship’s speed), and the barf bags are in pl...

Apparently I slept through quite a storm last night, as more than two dozen people in the Facebook group for this cruise left comments such as, “Do you feel and hear the ship groaning and the wind howling??” Charlie confirmed that it was quite something, and he had to get up and stuff towels by the balcony door to muffle the whistling, as well as secure banging doors.  Meanwhile, I slept soundly for nine hours…. Here are a few more photos from Oslo and our departure last evening.  Charlie took this one, featuring (top center) the Holmenkollen ski jump, the world’s only steel ski jump, where many of the largest ski jump competitions are held. The ship left Oslo as we were having dinner in Chops Grille, and the scenery was spectacular.  I loved seeing the traditional colors of the houses on the islands. I found this story about the paint choices. After checking the Copenhagen weather forecast of 29 mph winds and “feels like” temps in the mid-40s, we bundled up for the day....

The days are long right now!  The sun rose at 3:55, and Charlie took this photo last night just after 10:00. The approach to Oslo this morning was very scenic! I took this short video about 9:30. I like this one that Charlie took as we sailed slowly towards the port. As you can tell, it was a rainy morning, so we prepared for a wet day.  But by the time they cleared us for going ashore at 11:00, it was mostly sunny, so I grabbed my sunglasses.  The Oslo port is very walkable, with modern condos lining the area before we reached a shopping and business area. We found a place to eat lunch on the waterfront, Olivia’s. We had salads and a delicious pizza with artichokes, olives, red onions, and ham. Here’s a look at the Akershus Fortress, dating from 1299, a medieval castle and royal residence. It now houses the prime minister’s office. After lunch we enjoyed people-watching and returned to the ship. Tomorrow we’ll be in Copenhagen, but that port requires a shuttle from the p...