Blogs from North Sea, Atlantic, Oceans and Seas

Today is Memorial Day – at least in the US. Janet had brought along a “patriotic outfit” and saved it to wear today. We saw a couple of other people wearing something patriotic, but most people looked like they do every other day. At 11:00, the captain made an announcement about the meaning of Memorial Day and called for a moment of thoughtful silence. David was out on deck and practically everyone stopped what they were doing and stood silently. After about a minute they played Taps over the loudspeaker system. It was nicely done. But let’ back up a few hours. We had set the alarm for this morning, and today we actually got up. We went to the dining room and had a sit-down breakfast instead of going through the buffet. It was a ... read more

Just a few weeks ago we were leaving home and starting an amazing cruise vacation. Unfortunately, today we are packing our bags and preparing for the end of our vacation. The Island Princess is headed for Southhampton England, where we will leave the ship and fly back home tomorrow. Today we went to the dining room for Janet to have one more breakfast of Eggs Benedict. We have skipped telling you that she has found chocolate croissants are very good and has one almost every morning, even upstairs in the Horizon Court. David has been having blueberry muffins most morning, and today he had ham and eggs to go with it. Today is also the last day for Janet to mingle with her new stitching friends. Today they had a group "show and share" where everyone ... read more

We need to begin today by correcting an error in yesterday's blog. Nordfjord is NOT the longest fjord in Norway. It is very long but is only the 6th longest in Norway. The Sognefjord is the longest fjord in Norway and more than twice as long as Nordfjord. We wanted to correct this mistake. Our guide must have said something like "one of the longest", and we don't know about other long fjords elsewhere in Europe. Sorry for the mistake. Today we were sailing northeast along the coast of Norway, in the North Sea and heading toward the Norwegian Sea. We were told that the name Norway was derived from the original Norse language meaning "way to the north", as they sailed up the coast. It then began to refer to the land mass itself, and ... read more

We are now on the high seas. Our two ports in Europe, La Harve in France and Plymouth in England started out rainy but cleared up as the days went on. I had planed to explore Devon and experience Devon High Tea but it was a tender port, the seas were rough and my back is aching. So I bailed. Last night I enjoyed a lovely veal chop and capped the evening off listening to the rock group. I so wanted to get up and dance but sanity prevailed. One brave woman got on the dance floor solo and the lead guitarist joined here for a bit. The seas began to get rougher by bedtime. During the night we were rocking and rolling and today there is rain, thunder and high swells. I am thankful for ... read more

Breakfast was up in the Lido, and today being Saturday, Sharon would be attending the Vigil Mass later in the day. It’s never fun waking up to the realization that the time to pack is neigh and what once seemed a never-ending vacation is almost at its end. With the refunds to my account from several tours that I’d canceled I had a negative balance on my cruise account, so I bought the bingo cards today. Today’s crowd was the biggest yet, and even Linda and her husband John showed up, as good Catholics do. But my system of waiting until card sales are nearly through didn’t work today, as it did at our last bingo when Sharon won. We both got to briefly stand; but, the bingo gods weren’t smiling on us today. It was ... read more