Live from Silver Dawn June 15 to 29

[gnome12]

Today started out well. We had a lovely view from the first viewpoint, where we could see the Norwegian Prima at the seawalk and the Silver Dawn at anchor. Unfortunately, when we got to the top of Mt Dalsnibba it was foggy and cloudy and we couldn’t see anything. The same as the Eagle Bend road. Somewhat disappointing. I think people that had morning excursions had it better. Our bus was the last one back; we came back with the tent and all the equipment that had been on the dock. 

[jgmc]

Are there any kids on this cruise?

[gnome12]

7 hours ago, jgmc said:

Are there any kids on this cruise?

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

[jgmc]

I hope they are all well behaved!  

[Tothesunset]

2 hours ago, jgmc said:

I hope they are all well behaved!  

It's the adults that often need behaviour lessons. 

[Tudorcruisers]

I hope you have a great trip and enjoy Silver Dawn.   I join the ship in July and am so looking forward to being onboard again.    Is Bruno still the cruise Director?   I thought all children/teenagers were still in school at this time of year which is when I usually travel purely for that reason 🤣

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, jgmc said:

I hope they are all well behaved!  

I have barely noticed them, so obviously not a bother. 

1 hour ago, Tudorcruisers said:

I hope you have a great trip and enjoy Silver Dawn.   I join the ship in July and am so looking forward to being onboard again.    Is Bruno still the cruise Director?   I thought all children/teenagers were still in school at this time of year which is when I usually travel purely for that reason 🤣

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. 

[Lois R]

1 hour ago, Tudorcruisers said:

I hope you have a great trip and enjoy Silver Dawn.   I join the ship in July and am so looking forward to being onboard again.    Is Bruno still the cruise Director?   I thought all children/teenagers were still in school at this time of year which is when I usually travel purely for that reason 🤣

Hi,  middle of June many schools are already out. If you are going in July? There might be families on board too. Just depends on the cruise. I have sailed plenty of times where there were maybe a 1/2 dozen kids on board and also where there were multi-generational families too. 

Not often, but it happens.

[Tudorcruisers]

Hi Lois R.   I am in the U.K. and schools here don’t finish until the end of June and  I stupidly never realised otherwise for other countries.  I usually cruise in May and we rarely have ever had any children onboard and also as Silversea don’t encourage children this was another reason we book with them.  This next trip is July which is a first for us and was just how the ports we wanted worked out and due to rarely having children onboard we booked without thinking and only afterwards realised July could have a lot of children.  

[Lois R]

29 minutes ago, Tudorcruisers said:

Hi Lois R.   I am in the U.K. and schools here don’t finish until the end of June and  I stupidly never realised otherwise for other countries.  I usually cruise in May and we rarely have ever had any children onboard and also as Silversea don’t encourage children this was another reason we book with them.  This next trip is July which is a first for us and was just how the ports we wanted worked out and due to rarely having children onboard we booked without thinking and only afterwards realised July could have a lot of children.  

Hi, not stupid, honestly. You just didn't think about it. Usually there are not "a lot of children" on board.....as you said, it is not really the SS demographic.  Hopefully you will have an enjoyable cruise😃

[gnome12]

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. 

Edited June 20 by gnome12

[Aussieflyer]

23 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

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. 

What was the reason given? Too windy or too much fog to get in safely? Interested to know.

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, Aussieflyer said:

What was the reason given? Too windy or too much fog to get in safely? Interested to know.

Too windy to get in safely. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, gnome12 said:

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. 

 

2 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Too windy to get in safely. 

That would have made it unsafe to be in a helicopter too.

[gnome12]

11 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

That would have made it unsafe to be in a helicopter too.

Probably.

[gnome12]

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. 

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. 

Edited June 22 by gnome12

[gnome12]

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. 

[gnome12]

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. 

[Zeery]

@gnome12 have you heard any feedback about the revised troll road excursion? We got an email this week saying that the troll road is closed and so they have modified the excursion. I’m just wondering if it is still worth it? Any feedback you heard would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Zeery said:

@gnome12 have you heard any feedback about the revised troll road excursion? We got an email this week saying that the troll road is closed and so they have modified the excursion. I’m just wondering if it is still worth it? Any feedback you heard would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

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. 

[Zeery]

@gnome12Thank you!

[gnome12]

Two days ago was Flåm. I chose the Næroyfjord cruise which was originally included. However, the boat is now a beautiful zero-emissions beauty, with ramps doing up both sides so there is lots of room at railings for picture taking. The weather on the sail-in wasn’t great, but by the time we anchored it was lovely. 
 

Tendering was a bit of a mess. By the time we boarded our tender, it was almost time for the cruise to depart. Since this is a public cruise, they weren’t too happy to have to wait for us, and we were rushed from the tender to the cruise which immediately took off. The cruise was incredibly smooth, with beautiful views and I thought it was worth the cost.

 

 

After that, we went to the Viking Village at the Gudvagen pier. Our guide really barreled along, and a number of slow walkers would have been left behind if not for some people who waited behind. The guide in the village wasn’t bad, but it was a lot of standing around listening to her with nowhere to sit or even lean within hearing distance. The rest of the time we were able to walk around, but it was all trying to sell you viking style clothing and ornamentation. Not for me. 
 

I had booked the Flåm railway on my own for the afternoon. In fact, I had booked 2 separate return trips through Norway’s Best; one at 1:30 or so and the other at 2:55. Even before the cruise was rescheduled from about 8:30 or so to 9:30, I was worried about making the earlier trip, but also about getting back on board after the second. But when I saw that the ship had added an excursion that obviously used the 2:55 train I checked with the cruise excursion desk and they assured me that I would be able to get a tender back. So I cancelled the earlier trip (cancellations up to 24 hours in advance) and saw the confirmation of my refund the same day. The return trips cost me about CAD$95, about 60% of the US$119 that the ship charges for being walked over to the train and a dedicated carriage.

 

After we got back to Flåm, I wasn’t prepared to tender back to the ship for lunch. I started with a drink and a cinnamon bun, but as I wandered around I found that at the back of the building was a food truck court, with a huge number of choices available. 
 

I enjoyed the trip, but it was really warm in the car. Only a few of the windows open, and it can be hard to get to them. In my public car we had some empty seats; some friends on the same train on the ship’s excursion said that they were fully packed in.

[gnome12]

Yesterday, we were in Bergen. I did the 3 1/2 hour Best of Bergen tour. It was described as moderate, but I found it to be a lot of walking. Both Grieg’s Home/museum and the stave church (a rebuild because the original was destroyed by fire in 1992) are at a distance from the bus parking. 
 

We had 35 on the bus, but they can’t take that in Grieg’s home. And there were a few other people waiting too. They allowed 20 in at a time for the tour; it was useless, not only couldn’t you see anything I generally couldn’t hear the guide. I don’t think that it is a  great option for a group that size. 
 

On the other hand, even though it wasn’t original I found the stave church really interesting. I had read about them, and we saw one in passing from the bus, but this was the first one I had been up close to as well as inside. 
 

We had the option at the end of the tour to be dropped at the Bryggen Wharf rather than heading back to the ship, so I did that. I bought myself a Norwegian sweater, but not a Dale of Norway. This was an Oleana. Pricey, but different, so a final splurge on a splurge of a trip.

 

Today is a sea day, and tomorrow we dock in Copenhagen. The end of a good cruise. 

[Aussieflyer]

Oleana have lovely knitwear. I have a couple of things (I picked up a scarf years ago in Oslo) and there is a shop here that does stock some Oleana where I have bought a couple of other things. 

[ronrick1943]

What a great report, enjoying your post--thank you for taking the time.  Enjoy your cruise.....