Jeter02

The pleasure was all mine. 😉

Yesterday we visited Olden, which is just an absolute hidden gem. We we're scheduled to arrive at 7:00 a.m. but ended up arriving 6:30 a.m. after I had my breakfast in the main dining room I immediately headed out around 8:00 a.m. for my independent activity. I prebooked with the Loen Skylift (roundtrip with shuttle) with Olden Adventures. I want to say that the activity in total was roughly about $84 USD per person. However if you buy one ticket you could get the second one I believe for 20% off or at some form of discount at rate. When I pre-purchased my tickets online, they emailed a confirmation email/receipt. If you prefer to wait to check how the weather is before you purchase tickets, you can purchase them right on the spot at the booth outside at the pier. They do have table set up for those that pre-purchase, as they highlight your name off the manifest. After checking in they'll provide you an actual tangible ticket. Lucky for me, because I was out so early thankfully there were no ques for anything. The shuttle bus was already there waiting and as soon as the few of us who were going we were on our way it's about a 15 minute shuttle ride to the Loen skyliift. Loen is the next town over from Olden. It was a very picture-esque drive. The skylift takes you up to the top of Mt. Hoven, which is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking with fjord panoramic views. They do have a viewing platform as well as amazing grounds for hiking trails all around. Loen Skylift does offer some awesome activities if you look on the Olden Adventures website. They offer things such as zip lining, rock climbing, paragliding and base jumping. It truly is an outdoor playground. The paths are well thought out with very visible gravel pathways with different hiking routes. Some areas may be steeper than others but honestly with the views that surround you you quickly forget how steel areas can be. Taking lots of breathers or shall we say admiring the view helps along the way. After spending about 4 - 4.5 hours hiking I took the shuttle bus back to the ship and grabbed some delicious lunch at Alfredo's. Today they may be an extra cheesy pizza which hit the spot. My day wasn't done quite yet, as Olden is so gorgeous I wanted to continue exploring. Therefore after fueling up I went back out to walk around for about an hour and a half. All aboard today was at 3:30, So I made sure to use all my time wisely at this wonderful destination. For dinner tonight I started with vol-au-vent starter, followed by the trout. The trout unfortunately was overbaked a little too much so we traded it out for the chicken scallopini. Lastly I finished my evening meal with the blueberry raspberry tart which was refreshing and delicious. Lots of various activities going on around the ship this evening between vocalists performing in the Vista Lounge along with a comedian hypnotist in the theater. However with the extremely long active day I had I decided to turn in early for the night. I was definitely looking forward to the sea day that we have today to recoup with all the awesome things I've been doing the last few days at all of our different ports. Tomorrow we will be visiting Bruges Belgium before heading back to Southampton. P.S. The weather continues to be absolutely spectacular everyday bright blue skies filled with lots of sunshine. I will say I may have potentially pack things that were completely unnecessary. I've decided that sweater weather is really not the case at least for how the weather has been this cruise. I could easily live in shorts and tank tops. Be advised That last remark is rather subjective as I enjoy the refreshing lower temperatures.

Yes, it's still there, and one of my favorite installations onboard.

Thank you! ❤️

Such a beautiful day walking about all through Ålesund, with its quaint and charming art nouveau architecture all around you. Originally the weather started off with low-lying cloud coverage, but I had extreme high hopes and positive thoughts that it will clear up like the entire trip has where our weather has just been incredible. After I finished my power meal of a breakfast in the dining room I started my morning with my trek up the 418 steps to the Alaska viewpoint. Up here you get amazing views of the town, and you can also see the ships and the distance. If you are concerned about hiking up all those steps there is a walking path that you can take which is slightly easier for some. The views are absolutely spectacular along the entire walk up as well obviously from the very top. I ended up waiting on top for about 40 minutes for the clouds to clear up those low-lying cloud coverage started moving out of the way for the blue sky to shine bright as it did. The weather remained absolutely gorgeous with the blue skies throughout the entire day. Once I was done I decided to go ahead and walk about an hour and a half minutes into the next town to attempt a another hiking trail with a great viewpoint. Unfortunately only to find out the trail is under construction, as they're possibly building a new path. Therefore I turned around continued my beautiful walk in this glorious cooler weather which was magnificent, and headed back into town to stroll around. The town is absolutely adorable and great for walking around with lots to see with beautiful buildings of architecture and very scenic in its own right. It's definitely a fantastic city to come visit. After about 4 hours of adventure of the day I headed back to the ship to grab some lunch. At Alfredo's they know the routine surprise me on whatever you want to make for me. Today I had the Tarantins pizza, and it was delicious. Dinner I had a very nice menu selection this evening. I started with the parcel bag of Brie which was absolutely delicious The cheese with the jam was excellent. Then I tried a new version of the grilled pineapple which I've never seen on all my princess sailings It was grilled pineapple sitting on top of honey ricotta. This was outstanding and possibly one of my new absolute favorite dishes on princess. Finally they had some fish that I enjoy besides salmon as I'm not a fan of cod or haddock. Tonight they had red snapper and they did a phenomenal job with the entire dish very delicious. Top the night off with the exotic fruit sunshine cake or whatever it may be called. A nice light refreshing dessert and not too heavy which is what I was looking for. Tonight in the main theater is Jenny Williams with a brand new show as she will be singing request that passengers have submitted throughout the cruise. They brought back one of my favorite entertainment activities back on board the Sky Princess, known as the So You Think You Can Dance competition with the officers. This is an absolute fun activity to watch as they pair passengers with crew members in this evening being the officers. Loads of fun to be had all around. Tomorrow we will be visiting Olden as our last Port of call within Norway.

I've personally not had any problems with getting a table promptly, but yet again I sit down for dinner when the doors open at 5:30. When I finished my dinner I don't see long lines at all of people trying to get in, which is around 6:45 - 7:00.

This is very true! Which is why I did book the tickets the night before for that exact reason. Thank you for making that recommendation, as I forgot to mention that in my daily blog here.

You'll want to spend hours up there. It was absolutely beautiful to see people of all ages and all abilities being so active up there hiking, and exploring. Everyone seem to feel truly grateful to be there to experience such beauty, as we were all in awe. 🥰 You'll end up taking hundreds of photos and videos while you're up there. It does make you feel so small with how big these surroundings look in person. Picture still don't do justice shockingly enough. ❤️

Today was a exceptional day with such tremendous, beautiful weather, and views that took your breath away. Today we docked in Andalsnes as we arrived around 8:00 a.m. I knew today was going to be a busy day as I planned on visiting the top of Nesaksla mountain. I made sure to get in my nutritional breakfast in the dining room with some delicious banana pancakes, and some eggs on the side. Now there are two ways that you can get up to the top of Nesaksla mountain. First you can hike up the mountain top if your heart desires, OR, You can take the Romsdalen gondola up to the top. I actually pre-purchased the gondola tickets round trip. You can also purchase it as a one-way ticket as well. The beauty of pre-purchasing it was going straight into the que, and scan the QR code with no wait to be had in the ticket purchase line. Round trip tickets was roughly about $50. I do appreciate that at the ticket booth they did have maps of some of the trails which I thought was a nice gesture. For those who have not been to Andalsnes before, the Romsdalen gondola is literally right next to where the ship docks, making it extremely easy and accessible to get to. Typically operating hours don't start till 10:00 a.m. but when there's a ship in town they do start immediately as soon as passengers start disembarking the ship which I thought was awesome. So by 8:00 a.m. they were ready to go. I was able to get off rather early around 8:20 and I went straight for the gondola and I had no lines or weight which was very delightful. Once again pre-ordering the tickets is a great time saver which I highly recommend. Once you get to the top of the mountain the views will immediately take your breath away as it is so awe-inspiring leaving you speechless. I want to say I probably spent about 3 hours on top of the mountain as it is vast in space that gives you lots of room to hike climb and explore all throughout with different vantage points. You'll get some jaw dropping photos from on top. After my 3-hour adventure I did decide to walk around town as I went a little bit out of the way just to explore. The weather was absolutely outstanding with blue skies and sunshine it was just overall a fantastic day, leaving my cheeks hurting from my permanent smile. Once I got back on board I knew I needed to hydrate myself with lots of water and I grabbed some lunch at Alfredo's. Decided to get the agnolotti. I love this dish as it kind of reminds me of like a really good homemade mac and cheese. Once I finished lunch my next plan of action was to go swimming in the retreat pool just to cool off and decompress. For dinner tonight they had a great looking menu. I started off with the chicken tikka followed by the salmon as I love When they have dishes that include leeks as they do such an amazing job with it. Finally topping off with my all-time favorite lemon meringue cheesecake which never disappoints. Tonight in the theater we had Dain Cordean performing. He's got a great variety of an act where he'll do some singing, comedy, and magi. He provided a good time as he was very light-hearted making people laugh with ease. also tonight in the Piazza they had the world orchestra brand performance which is such a fun event that they put on that includes the party bands, violinist, as well as the Princess orchestra band. They play different genre of music of all around the world.

You are most welcome!

All three main dining rooms are a little different decor-wise but it's the same identical menu no matter where you decide to dine at. For me personally I always like the midship Deck 6 dining room just because it's easy access with my cabin not being too far from it (Estrella). It's just out of habit of years and years of sailing Princess and always eating out of that dining room. Do be advised that breakfast and lunch is only served in the midship deck six dining room Estrella. As all three of them are open for dinner otherwise. Cielo is all the way in the back of the ship because it shares the galley kitchen with Estrella. To get the Cielo you have to walk on Deck 7 all the way out and then take a secret staircase that will take you to explicitly Cielo. Lastly, Soleil is on deck 5 midship.

DO NOT push the "Quote" button. It creates a copy that the next person cannot properly update. DO select and copy ALL of the text (including the instructions and the list) up to COPY TO THIS LINE . . . from the most up-to-date list (the most recent reply with the list).  Go to the bottom of the latest post, to the "Reply to this Topic..." box to create a new post. Paste your copied text into that box. Make your modifications to the list. Add change notes at the bottom. Click the "Submit Reply" button just below the list you are modifying. Confirm that everything is correct! You can edit for up to 20 minutes. Ship Captain Cruise Director Entertainment Director Director Restaurant Ops CARIBBEAN Vincenzo Lubrano Jody Miles Robert Boyd Oscar Perego CORAL Gavin Pears Aaron Hawkins Sara Romera Joachim Rothe CROWN Christopher Lye Olivia Guthrie Michael Kujawski Mariusz Czemarmazowicz DIAMOND Stefano Ravera Natalie Costa & Mikiko Ikemoto Samantha McDonough DISCOVERY John Smith DuVaul Gamble Matt Thompson Silvio Zampieri EMERALD Martin Stenzel Fernando Duran Geof O'Rourke Rui Pereira ENCHANTED Mario Ciruzzi Gary Golding Ron Goodman Francisco Patricio GRAND Michele Bartolomei Jayson Douglass Callie Smit Giuseppe Franchina ISLAND Paul Slight Karen Rogers Sue Rawlings Daniele Rosafio MAJESTIC John Foster Kevin Tugwell Marissa Wurms Douw Steyl REGAL Tim Stringer Sophie Gideon Martyn Moss ROYAL Andrea Spinardi Corinne Steel Caitlin Messerschmidt Claudio Giuliani RUBY Mario Tani Cole Bockman Lauren Meyer Jacques Ghennai SAPPHIRE Todd McBain Fernando Cunha Matthew Joseph Mario Propato SKY Marco Fortezze Dan France Matt Barnard Ciprian Hoidreag <COPY TO THIS LINE SO THERE IS SPACE TO TYPE "CHANGE NOTES" AFTER THE CHART> Crown Captain, Christopher Lye Discovery Captain, Tony Ruggero, joining July 23rd

I always pre-book and reserve my dining table at the same time the same table size pre-cruise. I am always one of the first ones at the door every night as I like to usually eat at 5:00 but This particular cruise they start the dining at 5:30 which seems to be the norm here in the UK. I've always kind of learned over the years with Princess with the new dining system as they did away with the traditional seating since the restart of the pandemic that when I get there early it's easier for me to ask and for them to accommodate with a reserved table with the same table and waiter. each evening. They do usually have two lines at the door for reservations and non-reservations and then a separate entrance line for the reserved club class dining which are for those booked in a reserved club class cabin. So yes you can absolutely just kind of walk up and do like it anytime without a reservation but just be aware you might have to wait depending on what time you're looking at for going for dinner. Alfredo's is a complimentary sit down restaurant on board. You do not make reservations for it You just kind of show up they do have little vibrating pagers if there is a line with no tables currently available. They do offer gluten-free pizza/and other dinning menu options as well. It's not a grab and go kind of place. They do have slice which is pizza by the slice up on the pool deck outside. You can however order on the app for a fee, a delivery of a pizza Which comes usually from Alfredo's. But he needs a restaurant to sit down, it is complimentary. If you're flying out of Southampton which really isn't too far from the port at least by taking the train it's definitely not as it's one stop over. Typically the ship gets in about 7:00 a.m. My only concern with a 9:15 a.m. flight for you would be if there's issues with clearance, because you just never know what the ship with customs. May seem a little bit risky. I know with Princess when you input your information such as your flights I know that they will not accept the flights because it's before 11:45 a.m. so I'd probably choose a flight that's slightly later if possible I wouldn't risk the 9:15. Look at it You could book it now the flight but there's always the chance of the airline making schedule changes were they alter the time of the flight.

You'rr very welcome! My problem is is I tend to get car sick, so whenever I can really try to avoid buses or cars it's at bes. Especially if I'm going straight to the airport where I know it's going to be an exhausting long day, as it is the worst feeling feeling nauseous prior to a flight. So knowing me I'd probably would have taken the train back into London and then just taken proper underground transportation or just grab a black cab just to avoid the long 90 min bus ride. I do really well on trains, And I know if I have a private car if I start feeling sick the drivers are always so patient and kind about pulling over so I can take care of my unpleasant deed so we can continue to get to my destination 😊

Today was a sea day and complete oppositse, from the random weather we had yesterday with all the thick fog it was blue Sunshine Skies today like it has been all cruise. Lots of fun filled activities today. Breakfast in dining room has always to start the day. They had one of my favorite activities that they do on board which is life at sea which is always a great talk if you've never been to one before where they go over the life of a crew member. Lunch today I did in the main dining room as the dining room is always open for lunch on sea days. I started with the mixed green apple walnut salad which was delicious. For the entree they had one of my favorite meals that they do as they make it so well which is the turkey scallopini parmesan. And then I treat it myself too in an eclair. The one in the dining room is the proper eclair unlike the ones that they have at international Cafe or upstairs on the Lido buffet. Dinner tonight I had the issue of really not too much tickling my fancy. I tend to eat a lot of seafood on a cruise but two types of fish that I am not a fan of our cod and haddock. And most of the seafood options have been within the cod family. I started off with the prawns followed by the spinach arugula cheese wedge which is essentially like a quesadilla. And I topped off desserts with a blueberry cobbler and I was curious to try the sugar-free chocolate-filled buttermilk crepes. The chocolate mousse in the crepes were lovely very light and it's kind of all I want it was more of the mousse than anything else. And the blueberry cobbler is just always a winner regardless. Tonight in the theater they did a variety show as what they call the Royal variety show. Absolutely phenomenal Dan the cruise director performed blew me at least out of the water. Such a talented fellow. They had one of the singers from the princess singer and dancer production team sing a couple of numbers and had three of the guest entertainers do a little performance. Loads of fun definitely recommend. And later on this evening which I want to try to do if I can stay up late is the '80 seemed Piazza party. Tomorrow we will be docked in Andalsnes, which I'm excited for.

I apologize for not posting yesterday as I was completely exhausted by the end of the day. Yesterday we docked in Tromso. We arrived about 8:00 a.m. I did book a round trip shuttle ticket from the port to the city center which cost about $19.95 for a quick 15 min ride. The shuttles do not start until 8:30 a.m. This worked out great for me so I was not rushed for my daily breakfast in the dining room. The shuttles were running every 25 to 30 minutes. The weather was rather foggy and Misty with very low lying clouds so the view wasn't the greatest for a cable car ride up so that did not happen unfortunately. I actually love the dramatic feel of the cold lower 50° f temperatures along with the fog and mist as it just made the town very dramatic and a different feel from all the beautiful bright sunny days we've had. I did have a independent private tour booked this morning. I did a 4 hour Arctic road trip with photography with Northern Soul Adventures via Viator. I love that it was a small group excursion with only eight guests Max. And the price for the amount of hours to be out and about I thought was excellent. Essentially they took us all around Around and outside of Tromso and even did a visit to Sommeroy. So lots of great beautiful landscaping that Norway has to offer which is absolutely stunning on every turn. Lucky for me my tour pickup and drop off with at the same location of where the shuttle bus will drop you off in the city center which is the Radisson Blu hotel. From there I walked across the Tromso bridge to the Arctic cathedral to check out this Scandinavian architectural masterpiece. Afterwards I knew I really wanted to check out the Arctic botanical gardens so I put it into Google and start it my walk. I giggled and chuckled to myself quite hard when I was far into my walk to discover I have paid for a one-way shuttle ticket because the gardens are literally a hop skip and a jump from the ship. If you don't feel like venturing out but you want to do something highly recommend the 2-minute walk from the ship to the gardens across the street. It was one of the most Zen and peaceful places I've been to probably this whole trip. Very relaxing and absolutely beautifully maintained and pruned. The fact that this is open up to the public for free is an outstanding gem of a find. The lesson I learned about the shuttle is if I come back next time just to me under around and if I want to go to the city center I plan on just walking it as it's just a 40-minute walk based into town. Once I got back on board I went to my Alfredo's for my daily lunch and I ordered a vegetarian pizza. Depending on who the chef is making the pizza they don't typically like to do it but because I'm there all the time they had no problem of my request of asking for a pizza half the size. The pizza's in Alfredo are phenomenal but they are definitely shareable pizzas no questions asked. For dinner I had a roasted garlic cream soup, and since nothing on the entree section really tickled my fancy I went for a good old reliable which I have not had all cruise. I ordered fettuccine alfredo with some chicken to be thrown into the bowl for some added protein. For dessert I have my new favorite princess dessert that I've never had before that was absolutely marvelous. The cherry pistachio sable was like nothing I've ever had, I highly recommend to get this one a try. For the showtime in the theater tonight was a comedian. Like I mentioned before I'm not really keen on comedians. Also I was just so exhausted from running around all day and a good way so I ended up going to bed rather early.

Princess introduced the lemon meringue cheesecake when they restarted cruising after the pandemic. It is one of my absolute favorite desserts onboard.

You're going to want to take the train to Southampton Central Station.. You can pre-purchase your tickets through train line so I download the app because I do use it frequently and it's great because I also was able to book my tickets for when we talk in Belgium. And then once you get out of the train station it's so easy to just get an Uber and take that over to the port plenty of people do walk it but I don't feel like lugging my luggage And it's dependent on what pier they are docked at. As for going back I'm actually continuing my stay in London with family so I'm still taking the train. My only other suggestion if you're going to go straight back to Heathrow is to book the shuttle through Princess as that would be one less hassle.

Awe. Thank you. So I actually brought along my good camera, which is just a simple, very small sony point and shoot. I've had this camera for several years and absolutely love it. However it's been extremely glitchy so all these photos have been from my Samsung Galaxy phone.

Today we visited Honningsvag, better known as the gateway to the North Cape. Lots of great exploring here including being on top of the world. Very cute thing that they do on the ship is you do get a certificate with your name personalized on it congratulating you making it to the Arctic Circle, which I thought was a nice touch. The weather continues to be absolutely gorgeous each and every day as it is just filled with sunshine. Besides visiting the North Cape I did take some time to walk around town and actually even over to the next fishing town encountering my new friends, Santa's reindeers. I'm assuming they have to be his because this is as far north as you possibly can go in Europe which only means we must be very close to the North Pole. Once I finished my exploring for the day, I did my routine daily swim for the day, followed by a visit to Alfredo's. I'm at the point where I'm there almost daily except for sea days. The lovely chef who helps create the yummy food that we eat in there now just surprises me with whatever creation he feels like making for me for the day. I feel very honored and my tummy and I appreciate his artistry. Dinner tonight had a lot of amazing options. I started off with the vegetable spring rolls. Then I had to try the rhubarbs cold soup and I will say it was absolutely delicious and refreshing. For the main course I opt it for the corned beef brisket. It's at in a bowl of vegetable or beef broth. Not too heavy tasting or anything of those sorts. It was just simply filling in a nice way. I ended my dinner with a slice of lemon meringue cheesecake which is one of my favorites. I did photograph because I have a friend and family you've been asking me what the fish and chips looks like. So the person sitting at the table next to me was so kind to let me photograph it. Tonight show's include the Princess singer and dancers production show of 5 Skies. I've seen the show many times on the Sky Enchanted and Discovery. Instead I got to enjoy a brand new show from last night singer Rob in the Vista Lounge. He did a phenomenal job once again as I enjoyed listening to his voice. Had a fun night with the crew stuff entertainment who put on a pub night which was a bunch of cute challenges and games by splitting the room in half making a night full of fun. Tomorrow we will be visiting Tromso.

English all the way. No issues at all.

This is from the Estrella main dining room. Besides looking fantastic It tasted it extra yummy as well.

Today I had a very quiet and relaxing day at sea. Lots of activities going on around the ship. At the most delicious and fluffiest blueberry pancakes with an Alaskan scrambler simply just scrambled eggs with some smoked salmon in it. Lunch today was held in the main dining room and I know I ordered a starter which I typically don't like to do during lunch because it's so filling but I figured hey why not. I started out with a chimichanga followed by the nori garang. They both wear absolutely delicious and very flavorful. I did catch halfway through of the first contestant of Deal or No Deal, and it was beyond exciting. I felt like I was watching a sporting event as the man who was risking the briefcases won the $1,000 prize. It was definitely a fun watch. Tonight was a formal night and I had an absolutely delicious dinner ate lightly to start with with a Caesar salad but the seafood antipasta salad looked divine kind of wish I did order it but I know there was no room in the belly. And then I opted for the seafood and scallop on tray but I did ask him to discard the scallops and just give me extra shrimp. Super yummy of a dinner finished up with a delectable piece of tiramisu. Tonight's Showtime entertainment included vocalist Rob Houchen, Home has performed on Westend Les Mis. He did a really lovely job and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him. The vocalist on this particular cruise has been hitting the ball out of the ballpark with such great talent. I later than went to catch a little bit of the marriage match game show along with the beginning of karaoke wars later on in the evening. Later than I typically stay up to but with the land of the midnight sun shining so bright, it almost feels like Early in the morning or very early afternoon giving me loads more energy than typical. Tomorrow we will be docking in Honningsvag, where many people will be visiting North Cape.

I'm so excited for you! Typically would ship excursions I feel like if it's a year out in advance it's still too far out I would say possibly maybe at the 9-month mark? I don't remember when they were readily available but I am one who always checks the app or the cruise personalizer for one things to become available to passengers. Just keep your eye open just think of it as a Christmas gift every time you try to click on excursions to see if anything is there. Eventually something has to pop up.

Correct all those delicious cakes come in rolling out. I usually like to go early and take some pictures of it just looking at it fills me up. I'm really good with eating with my eyes.