Celebrity Silhouette, Norwegian Fjords Sept. 1 2019

[TreacleScone]

22 hours ago, mrsgoggins said:

 

The same elevator was not working for the whole 14 nights of our Ireland/Iceland cruise last month also!  

 

Our cabin was by the aft elevators on our 24 night Scandinavia & Russia cruise in July and all were working then.  That said, the go-up-to-go-downers meant the stairs were a more attractive option...and I could convince myself that the extra exercise justified another scone at afternoon tea. 

[Bimmer09]

10 hours ago, bluwes said:

Norris, Thanks for this great review. We are late to the party as we have just got back from an eventful Edge sailing around the Amalfi coast and the Greek Islands. While on board we booked this itinerary for next August which has an additional day in Geiranger making it an 8 day.

Cant wait for your ports photos.

 Should see some Norway photos tonight or early morning.

Just got home from work 12 hours after I left this morning.

Eventful Edge?

Thanks for reading and letting me know!

Norris

 

[Bimmer09]

Tuesday September 3 2019

Coffee and a cigarette is how my day starts but today it is too windy and damp at the Sunset Bar or the Mast Grill starboard so I made do with the poolside smoking area on Deck 12 Port side where there is some decent furniture and hope of shelter

 

it was windy there too and uncomfortable. Low cloud on the horizon

 

Mountains in the far distance

 

My mood was blue

 

but it was warmer inside

 

 

beautiful job on the Martini Bar decor

 

time for a Grand Cuvee breakfast

 

I make a Full English from the side dishes

 

Fuel for the day ashore is Carol's frittata 

[Bimmer09]

 With a good breakfast in me and several layers of clothing I stationed myself, I think by Sunset Bar for the approach to Bergen and my first sighting of Norway

 

 

 

a trawler goes to find fish for my dinner

 

please don't rain on us today

 

 

 

 

Somewhere up ahead was Bergen....

[Bimmer09]

I can't identify the islands I am seeing as we pass but they are getting me excited to be going ashore

 

 

 

 

I'm taking pictures from both sides of the ship

 

 

Oil rigs

 

Somewhere, over the...

 

[Bimmer09]

 

 

 

Looking back at the rigs

 

 

 

 

The rigs are far in the distance now at center

 

 

 

It's a long approach. Where's Bergen?

[bluwes]

14 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

 Should see some Norway photos tonight or early morning.

Just got home from work 12 hours after I left this morning.

Eventful Edge?

Thanks for reading and letting me know!

Norris

 

It was eventful. It was Captain Kate’s debut sailing on the Edge, and what an amazing job she did. We joked it was like being on a Magical Mystery tour.

Long story short we had issues with high winds in the Aegean. On day four instead of going to Mykonos we went to Athens.Then Kate announced that the following day instead of Santorini we would head to Rhodes.  Which wasn’t on the itinerary We had been previously so not a problem for us.

She then later explained that they were doing all they could to get us to Mykonos and Santorini later in the sailing, as for many people, us included they were the main ports we wanted to see.

So hey folks tomorrow we’re all going to Chania in Crete.Again not on the original itinerary  Turned out to be a lovely port one that we hadn’t visited before, again most people were happy

As a result we lost Kotakolon and Naplion. No big deal for us but some people wanted to visit the site of Olympia.

We eventually later in the cruise managed to get to both Mykonos and Santorini and it was well worth the hassle that the bridge crew had gone through to get us there.

They did an amazing job even though they may have used more fuel than they anticipated. The excursion desk worked tirelessly to set up last minute itineries in the new ports and arrange refunds for those tours in the cancelled ports.

I know other cruise lines that would have just taken the easy option and made missed ports another sea day, so we were really impressed with the way the crew and Celebrity handled things.

 

 

Edited September 25, 2019 by bluwes

[Walt fan]

This looks to be a beautiful port stop.  Cannot wait.  I love the picture of the church in the forest with the mountains behind it.  Wow, simply beautiful. 

[MisterMet]

5 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

 

 

 

Looking back at the rigs

 

 

 

 

The rigs are far in the distance now at center

 

 

 

It's a long approach. Where's Bergen?

Norris,

 

The approach to Bergen reminds me a lot of the coast of New England (minus the oil rigs).  Very scenic.

 

Trip

[lola2013]

With the new C.C. set-up (no notifications when you're trying to follow a thread), I had lost track of you for several days.  So happy that I've found you and Carol again.

I was especially happy to see food porn from LCG...we made two stops there when we sailed on Reflection a couple of years ago.  This December it's Edge and I'm hoping that Rooftop Garden Grill is as good as LCG...mostly looking forward to the scrumptious desert .

We also saw Claire from Holland on Equinox a few years back.  We really enjoyed her performance.

Susan

[JF - retired RRT]

21 minutes ago, lola2013 said:

With the new C.C. set-up (no notifications when you're trying to follow a thread), I had lost track of you for several days. 

There must be something wrong with your "follow", I get multiple email notifications every day for threads that I'm following.

Did you verify that you have the "email me when new content is posted"?

Edited September 25, 2019 by JF - retired RRT

[lola2013]

27 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

There must be something wrong with your "follow", I get multiple email notifications every day for threads that I'm following.

Did you verify that you have the "email me when new content is posted"?

I did...happens (or doesn't happen) to me and a friend of mine.  It was kind of a pain when I'd get a bunch of emails in a day, but now I miss that.

 

[tcmagnum]

16 hours ago, Bimmer09 said:

and my first sighting of Norway

So Exciting!!  Norway - a goal and I will get there one day.

Enjoy and hope the weather stays dry...

Love all the pictures..

Edited September 25, 2019 by tcmagnum

[Nanjen]

Your photos are bringing back lots of wonderful memories! Rain or no rain it’s a beautiful country! 

[Bimmer09]

I now saw another ship, suddenly revealed to my left on the port side, passing under a bridge. It was an MSC ship

 

Ahead of us as we slowly turned to port was another bridge we would bypass

 

 

we turned to port to follow the other ship

 

we passed under the bridge as going over it wasn't an option

 

 

 

it's a pretty sail-in for sure

 

 

 

There is Bergen!

[pd7277]

8 hours ago, lola2013 said:

With the new C.C. set-up (no notifications when you're trying to follow a thread), I had lost track of you for several days.  So happy that I've found you and Carol again.

I was especially happy to see food porn from LCG...we made two stops there when we sailed on Reflection a couple of years ago.  This December it's Edge and I'm hoping that Rooftop Garden Grill is as good as LCG...mostly looking forward to the scrumptious desert .

We also saw Claire from Holland on Equinox a few years back.  We really enjoyed her performance.

Susan

 

At the top of the thread you will find the title and to the right, either Follow (you are not receiving notices) or Following (you should be receiving notices).  This is where you now sign up for notifications.  Click on it to add your preference for notifications.  Hope this works for you!

 

NEVER MIND, it looks like you know this. Sorry.

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by pd7277

[Bimmer09]

 

That's Aida Bella docked

 

Great ship-nerd view from those houses

 

Mountains! Right in town

 

 

MSC Poesia (Poetry) which we docked beside in Havana in January

 

 

[Bimmer09]

Son of a ship's Captain, born by the sea, I lived by a harbor from age 5 to 15 and this was my 59th week I've spent on a cruise ship so seeing Bergen with its ships and cranes was a heart pumper 

 

 

a fireboat was either giving us a salute or had set itself on fire accidentally

 

 

I needed a double espresso and hit Cafe al Bacio where they were jammed but brought in enough staff to cope

 

 

[lola2013]

11 hours ago, pd7277 said:

 

At the top of the thread you will find the title and to the right, either Follow (you are not receiving notices) or Following (you should be receiving notices).  This is where you now sign up for notifications.  Click on it to add your preference for notifications.  Hope this works for you!

 

NEVER MIND, it looks like you know this. Sorry.

 

Thanks!

[Bimmer09]

Bergen Panorama Tour

One last picture from deck 5 as we had just docked

 

Then to the Silhouette Theater by 12.15 to muster for our tour group. There was already a large number of excursion people there, sitting up high near the exit we would take so when our group was called we shuffled off the ship to the awaiting coaches. We were on the last one along the dock and upon entering found the only seats were in a 3 row at the very back next to the toilet.

There was a man sharing the 3 seats with us, sitting by the window. He explained he was the ship's videographer and was coming along part way. He saw my camera and offered the window seat to me. Nice gesture sir! Norwegian law requires all passengers wear seatbelts.

 

So the following pics will be taken through a bus window, which is not ideal and was a big reason for me not wanting to do a 5.5 hour coach excursion to Hardanger Fjord. I take bus window pics to see what is out there not just the touristy icons. Bergeners going about their daily business in their city. Later we will take an opportunity to leave the bus and explore on foot.

 

Tour busses locked and loaded

 

A pretty square and school kids waiting to cross the street

 

a tram

 

 

 

another big square

 

 

[Bimmer09]

The bus wends its way down to the scenic harbor where the fish market and Briggen live

 

 

so far not a drop of rain

 

a cable laying ship

 

a classic 

 

and another

 

 

 

 

The narrator tells us we will climb up over the city for a panoramic view

[Bimmer09]

On 9/25/2019 at 10:42 AM, MisterMet said:

Norris,

 

The approach to Bergen reminds me a lot of the coast of New England (minus the oil rigs).  Very scenic.

 

Trip

 

Trip, it's great to have you following along on this voyage!

Agreed on the coastline. Rocky and rugged is how I like them.

 Have you written a Navigator review?

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Up, up and away...

The coach threaded its way through some narrow Bergen streets, climbing higher as it did so.

Along the way I couldn't photograph a couple of rope factories, long established as the low brown buildings were 300 meters long. I imagine a machine braids the sisal or nylon fibers and they have to be pulled out by a winch as they grow longer. Never thought about it before.

 

We soon were on high and on a silky smooth motorway for a short spell

 

we stopped at a 20 foot gap in some bushes high above the city

Pristine homes. Some construction happening.

 

Across the bay

 

and the bridge we had sailed under

 

the bus awaits on this 10 minute stop

 

I had hoped the Panoramic viewpoint would be the iconic funicular railway station viewpoint so was disappointed  but luckily Carol had snagged us tickets for that later in the day so all would be well.

[Bimmer09]

We drove back to the city and I took random pics through the window again

 

 

 

 

 

some streets look like they were cobbled together

 

back in the city a crowd gathers to ride the funicular for a bird's eye view of Bergen

 

 

another square with street market stalls

 

this was the 6th Hairdresser's shop along our tour...

 

the coach stops at the harbor for another photo opportunity

[silkismom]

Good grief, where have I been that I missed this cruise? Head must have been###.