gnome12

If you wear your Tilley properly (and most I have seen don’t) there is a lace at the back of your head that helps keep it on in light breezes. In heavier winds I adjust to pull down the chin-strap, and in even heavier winds i put the strap behind my ears. And of course, it also works as a rain hat.

I don’t think I have ever bought a baseball cap, but I have used Tilley hats brought from home for probably 20 years. (I am Canadian, but probably not typical.)

Can I politely ask you not to use Comic Sans font. On an iphone it shows up as a completely unreadable cursive font, especially in pale blue. Thank you.

Avalon allows you to pre-pay gratuities so you wouldn’t need to deal with them on board.

I haven’t heard anything on board. I don’t think that we had an excursion there on this cruise. There is, however, a thread about it in the Northern Europe and Baltic Sea forum. Sorry, I’m on my iPhone and can’t easily link to it.

After a rough sea day, we docked this morning in Ålesund. The weather was/is lovely. The included tour was interesting, if a bit rushed. After a quick lunch I spent an hour or so just walking some of the streets, particularly the pedestrian street, and enjoying the jugenstil/art nouveau architecture.

I have no issues with either, but I am not a foodie, nor am I used to luxury travel.

It might be helpful to give your disembarkation date. There might be something going on in central London that precludes the tour, which would probably affect other tours as well as a private transfer.

I boarded the Silver Dawn June 15. I left my hotel (booked on my own) at noon, and boarded before 1 I think. The bus from the SilverSea hotel was there before me.

I wonder how the IPO will affect Viking’s operation? Once you have shareholders to please things can change.

The trip to and from North Cape yesterday was lovely and in beautiful sunshine. Unfortunately, the fog rolled in at the cape, so visibility was severely restricted. Since the weather totally improved, last night I stayed up to watch the non-sunset. This was taken at exactly midnight. Today is an incredibly gorgeous day in Alta. I was somewhat disappointed when SS dropped Trømso and replaced it with Alta, but I really enjoyed my tour. The Northern Lights Cathedral is a spectacular building, both inside and out. Then we went to the Alta Museum. I could have used more time there, I walked the shorter route of the rock carvings which were fascinating, but would have liked more time to explore the exhibits in the museum building itself. Definitely a worthwhile stop. All aboard is very soon, and then we have a day and a night at sea on the way to Ålesund.

I was at Frogner Park just last week. The toilets take kroner, €, and $, and I think £. They now take credit cards as well, as I had no cash with me at all. No scaffolding to be seen at all. I wasn’t bothered by any noisy groups, although there were a lot of people.

Yesterday was Harstad. Moderately interesting excursion to Historic Trondenes. Today we cruised past North Cape, and there were whales all around us. I saw some breaches and tail flaps, and a ton of blow spouts. Please excuse my finger at beginning and end of the video. IMG_1385.mov Sorry, I stopped videoing to just look out at them. Amazing. Off to North Cape this afternoon, then we cruise back around North Cape on the way to Alta.

I was there in November and there were lots of floating markets.

Probably.

Too windy to get in safely.

Unfortunately, we have skipped Leknes. We were almost there but turned around about 5 in the morning. I must admit I am quite disappointed. I was going to take my first helicopter ride, in a place that is supposed to be beautiful. Oh well, things happen. Second sea day in a row.

Yes, and awkward to get to. I went for a walk the day before boarding, and I saw the ship but couldn’t quite figure out how to get there. So I took the bus (I had been in Oslo for a few days so had a multi-day transit ticket) and it was quite a roundabout route from where I had walked to. I don’t think there would be a good pedestrian route to Aker Brygge which would probably be closest.

I have barely noticed them, so obviously not a bother. Current Cruise Director is JP, but he is only a temporary replacement. He is off in Copenhagen. I don’t know who will be replacing him.

Having just been in Oslo take bus 81 to meet up with tram 12. Sorry, I deleted the Ruter App so I can’t tell you exactly where to switch. But the app is great, you can buy your ticket on it and it when you give it the journey you want to do it shows you exactly where to walk to make the transfers. The tram stop for Vigeland Park is Vigelandparken and it is right at the entrance.

Yes, there are a number that I have seen. The youngest maybe 8-10 and at least a number of teenagers.

If the flight is booked on Aeroplan points it will only be on Star Alliance airlines which all operate out of Terminal 1, as far as I know.

I dined tonight with someone who is gluten intolerant. It is on her record, and the waiter went over the menu items with her and told her what she could eat.

If you are not docked in IJMuiden.

I’m currently on the Dawn, and certainly at the buffets and in the Arts Cafe there are gluten-free items labelled. I think the menus mention gluten-free, but I can’t be certain.