We had an early 07:00 AM start today. We met in the ship’s theater, for our assigned bus number for the Beaches of Normandy excursion. We usually do not use the ship’s shore excursions, but I had difficulty in finding an available private guide who could meet us in LeHavre and supply us transportation to the D-Day Beaches area. Most companies wanted us to make our own way to Bayreuth, located about 2 hours from LeHavre by car, or 3 ½ hours by train. Things were quite organized, and the groups on each bus were kept to a maximum of 40 passengers. This actually allowed us to spread out and have 2 seats per person in the back of the bus. Tom even had the entire last row to himself, which afforded him the opportunity to ... read more

We woke up to our first rainy day on the cruise. Captain Thor reported the day would bring cloudy skies with periods of rain. So, we put on our rain gear and headed into the brand new cruise ship terminal. I went to the information desk and signed us up for the free tour at Gassan Diamonds in the center of Amsterdam. We had to wait a few minutes, but they sent us two passenger vans to transport our group to their factory. There was quite a bit of traffic at 9:00 AM due to Amsterdam’s narrow streets and the rainy weather at rush hour. We were ushered into the reception area and buzzed through a couple of thick glass security doors, before being met by a sales representative. He took us into the work area, ... read more

We were already docked at the Hamburg cruise ship terminal when we woke up. It was another beautiful, sunny day, but cooler in the upper 50’s. Billy and I stopped up at the Windjammer Café for breakfast, where Susanna trapped his thumbs under a full glass of orange juice, so she could feed him. We hopped on the $5.00 USD cruise ship shuttle that dropped us off in front of the main town square. Our intent was to catch the double-decker bus tour in English, to tour the city. However, we found out that out of the bus tours that run every minutes, only one out of four were in English. By the time the English speaking tour bus reached us, it was too full to take on any other passengers. Luckily, there was a food, ... read more

We woke up to a cool, clear morning and enjoyed the view from our balcony as we cruised past a windmill farm at the entrance to Copenhagen harbor. We docked at Langelinie Pier, which is located a 20 minute walk from the city center. We gathered up as a group and were some of the first passengers to disembark, so we could meet our walking tour guide, Brett, from Copenhagen Walking Tours. We found him waiting for us at the gangway exit. He thanked us for bringing the beautiful weather. He said the past few weeks had been very cool and rainy. We considered ourselves blessed to have such a warm, sunny day. We walked along the scenic harbor front and made our first stop at the polar bear statue. It was here that we ... read more

A wonderful, relaxing day at sea was welcomed by all the passengers today. It gave us some time to re-charge our batteries after the long travel day yesterday. It was a bit bumpy at times, as the North Sea winds kicked up 12 foot ocean swells. Chatty Captain Thor Thorvoldsen did a wonderful job of keeping us updated on sea and weather conditions throughout the trip. We met with a group of about 75 members from Cruise-Critics at the Hollywood Odyssey Lounge in the Royal Viking Crown. During previous cruise critic postings, it was decided that all members should wear crowns and tiaras, since we would call ourselves the “Royal Jewels”. Most of the attendees complied and it was a fun event hosted by the Cruise Director Clo from Cork, and the shipboard group coordinator, Tracy. ... read more