Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[YVRteacher]

Just now, nhtravels said:

Well I for one will be waiting for any type of book you decide to write!  You inspire me to want to expand my travel plans!  

Please add Norway to any future travel plans!

[YVRteacher]

Continuing the Behind the Scenes tour photos from the galley. Please note that all photos were taken with permission, as were the ones in the theatre and the laundry. We were encouraged to take photos. However, the earlier tour from the same morning with a different Cruise Next employee had the rule of no photos.

 

This first photo is for @shadowmeboy because they are making the Bay Scallops au Gratin

 

Now we know how the cheese cubes are cut so evenly!

 

[Turtles06]

1 hour ago, schmoopie17 said:

@YVRteacher You have a future in travel photography. Those pictures are stunning. I particularly like the one with the sky and the tree reflected in the water...and the one with the little red shed by the side of the water. Those could win an award if submitted in a contest.

 

Mrs. Schmoopie has had several of our travel pictures enlarged and put on canvas. Those would be good candidates.

The photo in post 408 of the old wooden boat laying on its side on the beach in the left foreground, leading your eye to the long expanse of water behind it is perfectly composed and visually stunning. 

[YVRteacher]

This is from Harstad. @ceilidh1 I know you live close to the port, but these people live really close! Imagine a big cruise ship coming by your living room window first thing in the morning.

[YVRteacher]

1 minute ago, Turtles06 said:

The photo in post 408 of the old wooden boat laying on its side on the beach in the left foreground, leading your eye to the long expanse of water behind it is perfectly composed and visually stunning. 

Thank you!

[Cruisewilm]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Yes, I use the MOLDIV app. It’s free! When I notice something repeating I make sure I take 9-12 photos so I can make a 3X3 collage.

Your pictures are amazing!  I am trying the app in advance of our NCL Star voyage with almost all of the same ports in September.  I hope I can master it by then.

Finally a picture with you in it - and you aren't even wearing a jacket!  I looked at weather forecasts and it looks to have highs in the mid 50's when we are there in a month.  You are there in a heat wave!  Day temps look to drop 20 degrees by next week.

What are you seeing for evening dining room attire for the past few weeks? I would like to pack light like you, but usually tend to overpack.  Can I get away with nice jeans or do I have to be more dressed up?

[YVRteacher]

Architecture in Harstad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, I stopped by the real estate office in town.

 

Don’t worry, dad, I’m still coming home to

Vancouver!

 

Edited August 9, 2023 by YVRteacher

[ceilidh1]

6 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

This is from Harstad. @ceilidh1 I know you live close to the port, but these people live really close! Imagine a big cruise ship coming by your living room window first thing in the morning.

OMG - I would never leave my balcony if I could sit and stare at the ships like that. I spend WAY too much time at Canada Place staring at the cruise ships.

[YVRteacher]

1 minute ago, Cruisewilm said:

Your pictures are amazing!  I am trying the app in advance of our NCL Star voyage with almost all of the same ports in September.  I hope I can master it by then.

Finally a picture with you in it - and you aren't even wearing a jacket!  I looked at weather forecasts and it looks to have highs in the mid 50's when we are there in a month.  You are there in a heat wave!  Day temps look to drop 20 degrees by next week.

What are you seeing for evening dining room attire for the past few weeks? I would like to pack light like you, but usually tend to overpack.  Can I get away with nice jeans or do I have to be more dressed up?

Hi! I tried to respond to your earlier post but couldn’t. Please don’t think I was ignoring you!

 

Everyone is dressed casually. Even in Le Bistro. I haven’t seen anyone dressed up on this cruise. Like Alaskan cruises, people are wearing cozy, comfy clothes. 

[YVRteacher]

3 minutes ago, Cruisewilm said:

Your pictures are amazing!  I am trying the app in advance of our NCL Star voyage with almost all of the same ports in September.  I hope I can master it by then.

Finally a picture with you in it - and you aren't even wearing a jacket!  I looked at weather forecasts and it looks to have highs in the mid 50's when we are there in a month.  You are there in a heat wave!  Day temps look to drop 20 degrees by next week.

What are you seeing for evening dining room attire for the past few weeks? I would like to pack light like you, but usually tend to overpack.  Can I get away with nice jeans or do I have to be more dressed up?

Keep in mind I had been walking for hours by this point. It kept raining then sunning then raining again. I could have had a whole selection of jackets in a backpack and worn them all at one point or another.

[YVRteacher]

Also, please let me know if you need advice using the MOLDIV app.

 

Some tips:

-I take photos knowing I’m going to make a collage. I take some where the eye is guided from the left to the centre and others where the eye is guided from the right to the centre. Then I place the photos accordingly. 
 

-I make sure I have a “face on” photo for the middle photo in a 9 square collage
 

-the app allows you to reverse or rotate a photo

 

-you can adjust the frame size and the background colour

 

-once a photo is placed you can adjust the position or size

[www3traveler]

55 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

My next cruise is on the Breakaway for Spring Break.

What are the dates??

Rained here on Monday aand is raining again today.

BIG BIG BIG BIG HUG

[Hogladyrider]

24 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

This is from Harstad. @ceilidh1 I know you live close to the port, but these people live really close! Imagine a big cruise ship coming by your living room window first thing in the morning.

Hmmmm no walking around the house au natural on cruise arrival day unless you are an exhibitionist!

[Turtles06]

15 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Thank you!

 

And thank you for sharing the name of the collage app. I’ve downloaded it and have been playing around with it. Great fun.  I share lots of photos on my review threads, and this will add a nice visual option. 
 

Keep enjoying your cruise! 

[YVRteacher]

The advice I was given for Olden was to wake up early to watch the sail-in. That didn’t happen. Well, I saw a few moments. I can’t bear to close the curtains at night so I did wake up at sunrise (yes, last night was the first night there was a full sunset and darkness on this cruise!)

 Olden is one of three little villages at the end of the 66km Nordfjorden. The actual village is .58 square km with a population hovering around 500.  I’ve taught in schools larger than this! The websites describe Olden as charming, stunning, tranquil and exquisite.  Two of the main tourist attractions are the Loen skylight and the Briksdal Glacier where there are little troll cars that will save sore feet and take you close to the big chunk of ice which is becoming a smaller and smaller chunk of ice. 

 

This is the view from the cabin balcony.

Cabin cows are the best!

 

After a perfectly fine breakfast in O’Sheehan’s I put on all my Canadian be-prepared-for-the-rain clothes and went to a kiosk on the shore. I bought a bus ticket and I am now sitting on the bus. I have no idea where this bus goes or what I will see. I have already told the giant family from Spain to stop shouting.

 

So I’m on a bus.

 

Stop #1

Waterfall

 

 

I wandered away and found this.

 

 

 

Then I wandered in the other direction and found this.

Most people didn’t get off the bus because it was raining. I always get off the bus!

 

[Turtles06]

7 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Most people didn’t get off the bus because it was raining. I always get off the bus!

So do we!  

[YVRteacher]

 Bus tour in Olden

 

 

Forget Scenes From An Italian Restaurant. These are scenes from a bus window.

 

 

I did enjoy this massive lawnmowing creature.

 

 

It’s camping season.

 

 

 

 

Stop #2

For full effect, find a cow barn or random herd of cows. Inhale. That’s what it smelled like here. Beautiful fjord with a side of manure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw a trail and headed up it. 4 women from the bus were ahead of me on the trail. Just as I made a move to pass one of them she whipped down her pants and squatted. I turned around to head back down the muddy path and the three other women all had their pants down and were peeing, right on the path where I was walking. It was already a muddy path and they just made it muddier! This is not an “I have no words situation.” Rather, it is an “I have no words that can be shared here” deal. At the next stop we could get off the bus and walk back to town.  I was first off the bus. 

[YVRteacher]

Once back in more sanitary, less “muddy” surroundings I explored. Explored is code for “took a lot of photos.”

 

 

 

Found a brewery for dad. Sadly it was closed.

 

 

Clearly old barns catch my eye

 

 

 

 

These picnic tables with vases were in a public park.

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Perhaps I should have done the Skylift.  The Skylift leaves from the village of Loen, quickly whisking  people 1011 metres up Mt. Hoven. The two cable cars are named after the ravens Norse god, Odin, kept on his shoulders.  The Ravens represent memory (Huginn) and thought (Muninn.) 

 

Aside: the two gondolas in Juneau (Goldbelt Tram up Mt. Roberts) are the Raven and the Eagle.  The trend in naming gondolas swings heavily toward the bird genre. The person in charge of naming the Grouse Mountain Skyride in Vancouver did not get the memo: our gondolas are called 1 and 2.

 

There is a 6 hour hike you can do with special shoes, a helmet and a harness, 40 people and a guide. It includes this:

Maybe next time.

Olden looks idyllic from the ship and from the town looking out. I think this is a port where you need a plan and a shore excursion or a sunny day and a hike. This was our last stop in Norway and was my least favourite. There was no bakery.

[shadowmeboy]

1 hour ago, YVRteacher said:

Continuing the Behind the Scenes tour photos from the galley. Please note that all photos were taken with permission, as were the ones in the theatre and the laundry. We were encouraged to take photos. However, the earlier tour from the same morning with a different Cruise Next employee had the rule of no photos.

 

This first photo is for @shadowmeboy because they are making the Bay Scallops au Gratin

 

Now we know how the cheese cubes are cut so evenly!

 

Yum!

[Cruisewilm]

NO BAKERY???  😲  

Well, now you know where to move to when you retire and what kind of shop is needed to fill the void there!  And think of how close you will be to those other favorite places in Norway.

Good thing it is not on our itinerary in September.

[Scotswoman]

I can reassure you as to your decision not to do the Loen Lift with the weather such as it was on arrival. I looked at the webcam from the summit several times throughout the day and was really sorry for the people who had ventured up. It was cloudy and misty, the view was only a grey and white silhouette of the brilliant colours and marvellous contours on a clear, sunny day. My husband and I were lucky on our cruise some years ago enjoyed walking the wonderful tracks which leave from the lift, offering truly spectacular views. Something to look forward to on another cruise!😀 To judge by your photos, I assure you that you definitely made the right choice on the day. 

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

Hmmmm no walking around the house au natural on cruise arrival day unless you are an exhibitionist!

This goes for both the apartment dwellers and the cruise ship passengers! 

[YVRteacher]

25 minutes ago, Cruisewilm said:

NO BAKERY???  😲  

Well, now you know where to move to when you retire and what kind of shop is needed to fill the void there!  And think of how close you will be to those other favorite places in Norway.

Good thing it is not on our itinerary in September.

I couldn’t live here. There is no library!

[YVRteacher]

@Cruisewilm which ports are on your itinerary?