Having been allowed a lie-in until what holiday-Claire calls almost lunchtime……7:30am…..we headed into town. Glasgow was very quiet and yes I know it’s Sunday but, for such a populous city, the streets were mainly devoid of what you may know as people. Great stuff. We had a few hours until we were due to checkout so plenty of time to walk to the cathedral and necropolis. There are plenty of old buildings in Glasgow to photograph, plenty of decay and dereliction too as well as litter bins almost as tall as Claire! What a city! Somehow she didn’t fall in any and didn’t accidentally fall into the cat cafe we passed either…..thank goodness we only had limited time!! Despite the walking last night and lots more today we still never found what could be described as ... read more

Cruise day 16 & 17 Last sea day, a cruise summary and arriving back in blustery Blighty 30th-31st July 2019 Breakfast and then walk a mile. Deck 7 is 1/5 of a mile in perimeter so we plodded circuits round there. The front end is a bit windy today and it was a bit of a challenge to battle through the headwinds. Sitting out on deck after was a bit chillier than recently but then we were heading down the North Sea. The Neptune Lounge is where the talks are and where people fall asleep as it’s so warm in there. We haven’t been in there since the second day, partly due to the falling alseep problem and partly because there have been better things to do. At 11am today though, the executive chef of the ... read more

Cruise day 13 & 14 Trollfjord, sunshine, time lapse and sea 27th-28th July 2019 The day began with the ship going into Trollfjord which is a stunning sight and we navigated slowly into it (no doubt with a pilot steering, not the so-called captain!). Apparently only Fred Olsen ships are allowed in there now and apparently even the glorious weather was courtesy of Fred too. The fjord is a dead end so the ship had to turn with the help of two tenders circling to make sure the depth was okay. It was quite a manoeuvre in a comparatively small space. It gave us more time to take in the amazing views as we craned our necks to take in the cliffs soaring above us. Birds flew past for those that are that way inclined, a ... read more

Cruise day 11 Whales, whales everywhere and British night 25th July 2019 With no alarm set we still made it in time for breakfast and were joined by Andy and Mo. I really am surprised how many super people there are on this cruise so honourable mentions also to Richard, Sonya, Cathy, Pat, Clive, Veronica, Trevor and the Orca gang. There are more but, sorry, I don’t know your names! Our tribe are great and have really helped make the cruise so special. Today has been a sea day as we head to Tromso and we have seen many whales and, the highlight, a dolphin leaping compeletely out of the water. I’ve seen a fin whale, a blue whale and many humpback whales so it’s been pretty special. We haven’t always sat or stood outside as ... read more

Cruise day 9 Longyearben and Svalbard July 23rd 2019 It’s been a long wait but today we finally set foot on Svalbard which is as far north as you can go without being on an expedition. The town of Longyearben is the northernmost permanent settlement with over 1000 residents on the planet. We’ve been waiting a while and spent some money to get here! We had booked a private tour to get the most out of our day and were a bit worried when the guy we had been in contact with told us he had left the company. We were going ashore earlier than anticipated so Claire messaged him and luckily got a reply giving us our guide’s name. The shuttlebus into town took ages to set off and just a few minutes to arrive ... read more