Norwaylady

Around 14.15 we needed some more shade⛱️😎 So we moved into the Magic Carpet to have some club soda and shade. We had lots of dolphins 🐬 jumping close to us🐬🐬🐬 It’s plenty of them, you really have to work hard to avoid seeing them at least once during the last days😅 Around 15.30 we called it for today on deck. No need to turn into a 🦞🦞🦞. Today’s canapés: It’s Evening Chic🥳 tonight Mr is “bringing” the cats 🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Thank you💙 For me/us, it’s not a reason to book a ship if it’s this or this Captain. (It can change, since I’m a planner😂😂 normally booking far out from sailing date) Same goes for CD. But what we have learned over the years is that the dynamic between CD and Captain plays an important role on how things will be on a cruise. Giuseppe & Captain Matt make each other extremely good and crazy in a fun way🤩 Captain Matt said a very good thing during the “Talkshow/Gameshow” yesterday. The important part of being a team player and wanting to be a part of elevating your team mates. And that the dynamics change when people are replaced by someone else. This is spot on what I believe in! And it made me think about 2 recently scenes onboard different X ships. This is everything Captain Matt talked about! This is one of the reasons he is very respected and seems like a very nice person💙 and he is funny (have just seen him alive😂 have not spoken to him in person) And he glows this in his interactions onboard. My scene is one from Sil and one from Infinity. During our Easter 🐣 trip on Sil, we did a b2b 10+4 and the 4-days sailing is a booze cruise (can’t deny it… average age dropped by 40-50years😂😂) Well, it was packed in Sunset and the crew was working crazy. It was crazy from boarding started and was made house crazy when we were ready for sail away… The lines were long and people was ordering drinks in a hefty speed. Every time a crew was trying to take the route to pick up dirty glasses and empty bottles they received a stack of cards and a million orders. So everyone was occupied constantly, not a second of time to breathe for the crew. A higher ranked person arrived ( this was a younger person) , he started shouting at the crew, pointing out that this was extremely poorly work from the crew. It’s not that hard to keep up by the demand…. You could see on the crew that this was definitely not working… it just made their extremely busy day worse. And this happened also at a later occasions by same person. On infinity in May/June I had the total opposite situation. It was crazy madhouse in Al Bacio on several occasions. But what happened here was that a higher ranked person then on Sil jumped into the situation. Tossing off his jacket and did as a “regular” server. Making coffee, cleaning tables, serving guests. Helping the team out and get thru the humpback together as a team. You could see in the crew that this is so much better way than standing on the side, shouting and pointing on all things that are not perfect.

Charla, looking forward to the rest💙⚓️ You are a great live reporter🤩 I do bite notices in the comment: SS in the future…. I’m shaking my pants🫣 since we will try out the suite life in a SS for the first time in only a few days time🙄🫣🫣🫣🙄

I started my day walking😎 You know the time is adjusted… less people outside in the early morning🙃 Sun is shining and it will be a great day🤩 Today’s program is filled by several options…. So much to do, so little time🤭 Since Mr was quickly out of bed when I returned from my walk, we could make it to Cosmopolitan breakfast😅 It was not empty there…. Breakfast menu: I had my yoghurt and cereal (cat pellets according to Mr)😆 and I asked for a poached egg, well done toasted bread and some salmon please😇 (Here is where I did a mistake… normally I specifically say 1,1,1 etc😅) I don’t like to throw food and I personally find it better to get 2 smaller servings then 1 gigantic and leave lots of food… (I know the fishes have a snack🐡🐠🐟) It’s something we have grown up in… only take what you’re going to eat. And It’s better to take twice then grabbing a big portion and leave it halfway eaten…. This is very applying for Nordic living and culture. First cruise on X the portion size for dinner was big, I was feeling pretty bad, sending plates out “untouched” since I’m not a big eater… luckily our excellent set-time server learned quickly that I did enjoy the food, but the size was just not my ideal size😅😉 After the downsizing in dinner serving size it’s was a bit better for me… I know not everyone agrees. But from my perspective it was to the better. Well back to breakfast…. Danish pastry, croissants and juice was walked around. They didn’t offer specialty coffee, barista coffee😳 Mr had tea and had regular coffee. (They can keep this coffee…. I will not have a cup more😝 here is my snobby side👻☕️) Mr had fruit plate and eggs Benedict😋 He was a happy camper. Only “complaint” was that one egg was perfectly cooked and the other was all hard boiled. So back to my bonanza.. So I ordered, poached egg, toast and salmon…. Yep, keep it coming🍞🥚🐟 2 toasted bread (looking great toasted👍🏻) 2 poached eggs 1 salmon plate (salmon, toasted bagel, capers, onion, cream cheese and lemon) Oh my😳😆🤭 Let’s just say the fishes will have some snacks…. I put together my order, 1 toast, salmon and an egg on top. One egg was perfect and the other was smiling + to almost hard boiled. My breakfast was good, but I feel a bit bad leaving the rest…. After breakfast I wanted a real cup of coffee… So Mr walked upstairs and I went in direction of Al Bacio…. 💙☕️ real coffee for me🥰👍🏻 Celebrity Xcel was “out” yesterday afternoon…. I had a price check online last evening. I was actually surprised to see that it was priced in that price range… Because Apex, Beyond and Ascend has had wild price in Norway…. So it hasn’t happened😂😂 So if someone would like to join us on Easter 🐣 holiday in 2026. Feel free to join us😂😂😎⚓️ We are waiting for the 25/26 sailings to be rolled out… We really want some good Asian routes 14+days or good b2b 11/14d Asia….. And if they will offer some year round routes in Europe (Type canary island/Moroccan from Barcelona or Las Palmas in winter season). We do keep an eye on what Royal roles out. Specifically on the smaller vessels 🚢 Today is guest volleyball tournament. I’m taking it slow watching😎

I see that I am 1 day wrong😂😂 It’s CruiseCompass for day 10🙂 No it’s time to go for a walk💪🏻🦵🏻😎

CruiseCompass nr 9 Sea day +1h time change. Now on Dubai time

So as we were getting ready for the evening, they called from guest service. They needed to know if we are getting off in Dubai for private events for the day or if we would stay onboard on turnaround day. (Yes housekeeping, you have plenty of time to prepare our new stateroom) We have plans, so we will be out and about😉 (you know… maybe a pair of new shoes😂😂😆) Tonight’s show is production show Feel the funk. Charlie Gitarre 🎸 had the “warm” up session in grand foyer. He is really waking the ship up in mood🎶🎶 Great show, the orchestra onboard really works for their money🤩🎶 (they have played almost every evening in the theatre) They are very 👍🏻 The Edge cast is really on the ball, so ladies and gentlemen, you will have a blast the next months🎶🎵🥳 After the show we had a pre dinner cocktail in grand foyer🍹 The house band Kuta deliver every day live music for everyone around the ship🎵👍🏻 I must say we are very spoiled on live music from lots of great musicians onboard💙🎶💙 We don’t dance (I’m married to a broomstick 🧹) One and only was Waltz in our wedding😂😂 (believe me, I had to drag him for lessons by a private teacher😂😂even the teacher was 🤯🤯🤯😅) Tonight’s dinner was in Cyprus. We were seated in same sone as the last 2 visits, but Mr asked to be moved after seating… It’s nothing to do by service from servers. They have delivered excellent service. It was the location of the table. Squeezed in…. (As the halfway meal in Cosmopolitan earlier) So Mr took action to avoid this issue. We moved to a window table instead. Not boxed in and a little more room🙂 Tonight’s service team: Menu: Mr went for shrimp, mesclun green and Coq au vin. I had mesclun green and trout All tasted excellent and was perfect. The fish was perfectly grilled and soft. The chicken was tender and juicy😋 Dessert: You know what dessert??? The bananas Forster for both of us😋😋 It tasted good, the ice cream was really good and the banana 🍌was not too “green” in taste.

I don’t believe in miracles😂✨ They say it will change for the better… so fingers crossed😅

it’s a marshmallow thing… taste strawberry 🍓 according to Mr. I don’t like marshmallows or smears😝😅 We haven’t asked… Personally I would preferred a fruit plate🍉 (I’m not sure if they will accept the request… and since I’m allergic to 🍍🍍 it makes it’s more difficult to fix it easy. Since they can’t just take a plate from the room service stack for breakfast) I really enjoy cheese. I grew up in a family that really enjoy cheese. And we had premium quality, due to chefs in family. So I am a bit picky on quality… My experience is that X and royal are getting beaten hard by MSC on the cheese selection onboard 😵‍💫 I do have a look of the cheese offered in OceanView every sailing. On Sil during the Easter they were offering a really good blue cheese. (Probably needed to downsize stock😅 but this was a premium cheese) So then I enjoyed some😋 Mr was also impressed that they did have it😋 He likes cheese, but is less picky then me😂😂😂

We had a relaxing time outside… Sunny and a little wind. So perfect for us😎 We had to attend CD Giuseppe & Captain Matt😄 We went downstairs around 14.30 (last time it was packed) Picked up some coffee and some coconut macaroons. Today’s selection in Al Bacio What I dislike heavy is the freezing 🥶 cold AC they use😵‍💫🥶🥶🥶 (It’s OceanView and the theatre specifically that are 🧊 🧊) Last show by Guiseppe & Captain Matt I looked like a ribbed chicken 🐓 This time I had my wool socks and woollen poncho on🐑🐑🐑🥰 (you know what socks….❤️💚 ) The show did not disappoint😂😂😂 CD Guiseppe & Captain Matt are perfect for this format. Dom was time manager and “helper” A really fun event and both Guiseppe and Captain Matt is “bjudar på” 😂😅🥳🤩🥰 They had a test… of specialty dinners…. Let’s just say Guiseppe had a blast to his tastebuds😋😝 The show was finished 15.55. Today’s canapés had arrived when we returned to our stateroom:

I’m very strict on shoes. My feet and back are Yes/No quickly🙃 And they have a excellent taste of 💸💸💸💸 brands😅😂 My Italian shoes have past away to next life🪦 Super glue would not saved them🙈 I have had them for awhile… The timing was just not great😵‍💫

ACS Custom https://www.acscustom.com/uk/ I order them home in Norway and they have partners to do the in-ear replica. Since they are fitted for your 👂🏻. You can decide colour, clear, in-ear sound, industrial use etc.

Yes👍🏻 I normally do stretching yoga and stretching out after my therapy pool sessions… I go 3x every week to the hot water pool for training 🏋️‍♀️ Its a very good way for me to keep my joints and back happy during the winter 🥶 and when it’s on 🔥🔥🔥 I call my Physiotherapist for help. He has a full education as a physiotherapist and acupuncture education. So we have some tricks to calm it down🤓

So, I was awake around 07.00. I started the day by the newspaper on the bed. Around 08.00 I went up to go for a walk. Then Mr jumped out of bed🤗 HELLO 👋🏻 are you up??? 🤭 Well, now you just have to wait, I will go for a walk. You can walk together by me or relax in bed….. Mr choose bed🤭😅 So I went out and did my walking tour. It was not a full speed walk. My leg and back only allowed 75% of speed. So not complaining🙃 I can at least go for a full walk session😇 So today was breakfast outside on the OceanView terrace. (My own fault… had I known he was early up, I had walked earlier🤪) Mr had his usual omelette, herring and bread…. Today it’s lots of options of entertainment, events on. Something tells me it will be a packed theatre 15.00 for Captain Matt & CD Giuseppe😁 I did some work things before I headed up for the sun deck. Mr ran off before me. I was up around 11.30 and plenty of seating available around the ship. Now it’s time to sit back, relax and enjoy the day🥰😎⚓️

CruiseCompass Day 9 Sea Day

Tonight’s dinner was in Tuscan. We where seated and served by table: The menu tonight is rather limited for those wanting fish or don’t fancy pork… This is partially the same for yesterdays menu. it’s very boring and limited. So 2 weak dinner sets after each other…. Hopefully the new sets will be better😇 We hade the best neighbours on the table next to us😂😂😂😂 Mr & Mrs Bucket…. Or as Hyacinth would say: Bouquet! Mr & I almost said it synchronised after we where seated😂😂 “Mr Richard “ was on the phone clicking the entire dinner, saying 3 words during the entire time…. And Hyacinth was sitting there just clicking, shooting in some questions. Back to dinner service🤓 Mr wanted Caesar salad, shrimp soup and the duo pork. I went for arugula salad and shrimp soup. Salad was good and arrived quickly on the table. Our soup was delayed. A supervisor came by and said they needed to make a new batch… it will arrive… What supervisor didn’t understand/get was that I had soup as main course and Mr as a starter…. 2.minutes later, the soup arrived. After eating the soup, Mr had his main course. Mr said the main course of pork duo was good. It was juicy and tasty. For dessert, we had some ice cream. We ordered coffee, Mr had a cappuccino and I had a espresso macchiato (you know that petite cup…😝) Mr’s cappuccino was perfect! Really perfect, fluffy foam and soft. Really good. But mine was not an espresso macchiato in any ways…. 🇮🇹 Guiseppe🤌🏻🤌🏻🤌🏻 You need to do a show, how to make Italian coffee☕️ After dinner we ended the evening🥱😴

Tonight’s show is illusionist/magic/comedy Vinny Grosso. Shoe emergency 👡👡👡🚨 😅😱😵‍💫🚨 Guiseppe!!! This is made in Italy 🇮🇹🤌🏻 I was walking in the staircase from deck 12 to 11 and what happened🙈🙈🙈 Mamma Mia😩 Captain Matt, you need to speed up! We need to go shopping in Dubai😩🤩💸👠 So Mr continued onward downstairs and I went upstairs to get another pair of shoes… The black ones🩷 We started our evening in Al Bacio. Charlie was playing in Grand Foyer😊 He is really talented and gets the mood up a notch or two🥰 Around 20.minutes before the show, we moved to the theatre. The show was magic comedy🤣🤩 Mr Grosso did a great job. Hands up 🙌🏻 for he’s “volunteering” guests on stage. They had to “work” for their evening😝

It’s a fun movie🤣🤣🤣 Really enjoyed it! Mr & a lot of other men was laughing loud during the movie😂😂😂 🩷 Go Barbie🩷

We went for Barbie🩷 I sent Mr off to Rooftop Garden to get us a good seat. Cleaver choice of me🤩 Before we moved to movie viewing, the walked around giving out raspberry sorbet 🍧 (I have seen them daily walking ice cream;) The garden was packed and people where laying on the floor on towels and seated on the loose chairs belong to the restaurant. Before Barbie it was Pool deck entertainment, Tug of War. Crew representing their department/team… Let’s just say you know who onboard that do lots of heavy lifting😂😂😂 After Barbie we wanted a little snack, I was to hungry to go all the way until dinner… (since we hadn’t had lunch) We took some pizza on the terrace. As we sat outside, we suddenly had at least 15 dolphins straight out from us. Really happy for seeing them jumping around🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬🐬 After the snack stop we headed downstairs. Today’s canapés:

2 happy campers on Edge 15. April 2019 Key West. Crossing fingers for luggage arrival during our first port of call😇 (the bags arrived 15.minutes before departure of the ship😅) Wearing our new outfit from the super quick shopping stop before boarding day😂😂

You should seen his face last time on Edge🤣🤣🤣 When we did Edge in 2019 I had booked b2b (this lady is not flying halfway around the world to sail 7-days on a cruise after a long 🥶 winter… it’s just to short) Mr didn’t know we where doing b2b. He tough we had a cruise and a week in Miami area. I booked Edge the second it was open for booking, so I just booked online what I could get b2b during the Easter and for once, I didn’t look 👀 on the price🫣💸it was way over my price point.🐣. But we wanted to try the new ship, since it was completely different from S/M-class. So that’s why we ended up in a porthole balcony…. It’s was possible to stay in the same location for both sailings. On this sailing we lost our luggage on the way… we had a short connection in Vienna and the bags didn’t make it to MIA😵‍💫 So we had to do a detour to Dolphin Mall on the way to our hotel before our cruise the next day🤪🤪🤪 The ship did an excellent job to get our bags to the ship at first port of call. (only hilarious thing was that Mr had to go to customs together by the port agent to pick up the bags and they did a visual inspection of them… so he needed to lift up all my underwear, everything😂😂) I allied by our stateroom attendant, so the letter of b2b meeting was delivered straight to me and I asked him to please put a set of usual tags and departure letter on the bed. Mr had no clue…. The evening before departure, Mr was a bit stressed…. Seriously 😐 are you not going to pack the suitcases??? We need to prepare them…. That look on his face when I said we are staying for another week 🙂🥹🤣🤣🤣 it was just 🤣🤣🤣 I gave him the envelope of transit cards and said don’t worry! We have plenty of time to pack😂😂😂 So a very happy camper was leaving for dinner and a show that evening🥰

So Day 8 onboard…. I was sleeping a bit longer💙💤 Needed to get some princess sleep💙 I woke up around 07.45. I was not fit-for-running as I walked out of bed. ( I have a Pseudo-sciatica that comes and goes from time to time) it has pinched me on/off for a longer time… So this morning it was just to much to walke it off…. (It normally calms down, so fingers crossed for a walk later) At 09.45 we went for breakfast, OceanView🫠 Mr had his usual things and milk, apricot and cereal. (Aka cat food pellets🐈 according to Mr😜) After breakfast we went downstairs to change into pool deck outfits and deliver our passports. Mr got ready and I waited in line to deliver the passports. (Typically they couldn’t find our paper pieces to give out and putting into the passports… So they need to make 2 manually papers handwritten) They had pre printed for all staterooms, it contained nationality, name and stateroom number. They did not put on a sticker to the backside containing stateroom number, only the paperwork on photo page containing no glue/paper clips. They have done this on all other ships where we have delivered passports (X, RCL, MSC) So fingers crossed they don’t loose that box onto the floor or it tilts to the side🫣 It took 20.minutes to deliver. After the drop off, I went to get ready for outside. It was a turtle 🐢 in the water swimming next to us. It’s a bit windy today, but temperature is warm😎 They are showing Barbie outside in the Rooftop Garden today. I have a plan to watch the second showing 14.00✔️ (haven’t had time to see it in the cinema at home🤪)

So we are arriving to day nr 8 of our first part of our b2b. So I wanted to say some words about our experience so far… The infinity balcony This is a hate or love object. You either love it or list it ( see the tv-show reference?) For me, it’s list it! It’s not a real balcony in anyway🤔🤔 For warmer climates: It’s not a real balcony, it’s like having a big window. And since it has a blind and no curtains, it’s not a great deal for us, since I’m awake early and Mr likes to sleep 💤 So I can not sneak outside to read or just enjoying the sea view. If you open the blind, the entire stateroom is lighted up. The glass doors are not that dark. And since the blind is electric, you make noise that you can hear and all other nearby cabins. So I will stick to my porthole veranda or sunset verandas✔️ (you know el cheapo me will not book suites unless we get a great deal😜😅🤓) I will seriously consider booking a window stateroom on Edge class in the front instead of an infinity veranda. (We did see one on a stateroom tour we had during our first Edge cruise, great window) It do not appeal in any way to have breakfast on my “balcony” since it’s not a proper balcony. (This is where I get a little sad 😢 That’s my Number 1 ❤️ on a ⚓️) One place I can see it be a much better fit, is on colder cruises. I think this will work better on Norwegian Fjords/Alaska/Icelandic itineraries. Then you can enjoy the viewing from a big window in warm location. ( I don’t count, we are used to 💙🥶🥶🥶🤣💙) I will be thinking twice about booking further cruises on Edge class ships…. Can’t help it, we love the “golden oldie” millennium class🥰💙👌🏻⚓️ As mentioned before from others, the Edge class do not have a Sky Lounge. The retreat “occupies” the “Sky lounge” view. So you miss an area of front view. (You can go to the gym) but it’s very limited options for front view. This was something that personally was a bummer for taking pictures from our Suez transit. (I needed to work on the curves👌🏻😂) The ship itself is beautiful💙⚓️👌🏻 Crew is working very hard and they have so far delivered excellent service (some hiccups, but not as in ruined holiday🤪). We can see it’s work in progress in some areas, so it’s slowly getting into rhythm onboard for the crew🤓 Some specific details (my inner geek/ attention to details is coming out🧐) -What I can’t understand is why they didn’t change the locks and doorknobs in public toilets during dry dock. When we did our b2b in April 2019 it was impossible for people to understand if it’s occupied or available, due to the solution of locked/unlocked on doors(not the usual 🔴/🟢). And already then, some of the doorknobs were loosely in fit and needed to be tightened up. What I see all over is that several doorknobs are hanging loose. They are not tight/hanging correctly. I have in 2 occasions had 2 ladies in minor panic 😱 knocking on the door saying I can’t get out! Because the doorknob are so loose, so they put it down to open, but you need to push further down ( way more then normal) so the mechanism for opening the door is broken/used up. This specifically apply to toilets on deck 14 and deck 4 . Since they are very close to crowded areas. OceanView (yes, you know my hate object Nr 1) The food selection and presentation is good. (I do have a visual 👀 look) I just hate to hunt down my own food, it’s lots of people and it’s not a peaceful thing for me… So personally it’s 🫠🤪😵‍💫 to have meals her…. But what not to sacrifice for your loved ☝🏿 one🥰😘 Mr! He loves buffet💙 He finds the options and quality good and it’s always lots of things to eat. Mr says the bread selection is very decent for cruise standards (also compared to other X sailings) So he is very happy to have breakfast or lunch here. Senior Officers is out and about. They are visible around the ship. We have seen several of them before…💙 NextCruise has sent some offers to our room in the CruiseCompass. We know it’s a “sale” coming up. Black Friday etc. And its new deployment schedule for 25/26. They have stayed awfully quiet… So fingers crossed they will be more active and bring out the “good” sailings on next part of our b2b. As the development season is starting to roll out🙌🏻 Entertainment has delivered and live music is good. No problem to find live music around the ship. CD Guiseppe is 👌🏻💙 ( love his shoe selection by the way….) WiFi is working fine✔️ Other than this, we are all good 👍🏻 We are happy for our sailing⚓️💙👌🏻 For those who follow from onboard, feel free to say hello 👋🏻 I do not bite and we think it’s nice to meet fellow passengers. (Just don’t tell Mr that we move into The retreat on next part of our journey🤫 he still doesn’t know. He thinks we just move to another location in an infinity veranda as planned from the beginning🤫)

Cruise Compass Day 8, sea day

After some downtime watching CD Guiseppes talk about Italy 🇮🇹 (fun as always😂) it was time to get ready for evening chic✨ We went downstairs around 18.00. Tonight’s show is The Barricade Boys. They delivered a great performance and the theatre was I good mood. Todays dinner was Normandie. Service by: Todays menu: Mr had the beet salad, carrot salad and jerk chicken. I had the carrot salad and saint jacques. For dessert I had ice cream and Mr went for cherry trifle All tasted good and service was good 👍🏻 After dinner we moved for coffee in Al Bacio. Gitarrist Charlie was playing in Grand Foyer. He is really good and everyone was singing along and having a great time🥰🎶 Tonight the ship is buzzing🙂💙🎶