Onwards to Norway

Day 17 - Southampton again
Feeling greatly relieved to get the blog posts all away, as well as St Petersburg photos, we took our leave of Waterstones (which is primarily a book store) after over an hour and only £6.10 for coffee and sticky bun.  We wandered the mall and were surprised how many (up to) 70% off sales there were.  Obviously they had their summer while we were away!   Also made a call into M&S, where they still had the special on Pinot Noir - 2 for £12, which is much, much better than USD54 for a poor one onboard.

Walked back to the ship and straight through the terminal, with just a pause at port security, who love to have men take their belts off.  As I have (or at least had) lost a bit of weight, I actually needed 1 hand to hold my jeans up.  Happily aboard, we once again went to Lido - no real option on embarkation day and then back to the cabin to wait for the library to open.  Vivian got a new book and we called into the cafe on our way back.  Much better coffee today thankfully.

While the rest of the passengers had their emergency drill, we sat on our balcony and watched the port workers (they were all going home!).  Straight after the drill we went down to the excursion office, which had *just* opened.  There was a queue already and unfortunately the Flamm railway was fully overbooked already.  Back in the cabin I looked at the website and that too appeared booked.  The last resort is to try the station on the day, you never know.

We have a new dining table, just one away from where we were, but this time for 6.  And all six turned up (Brits).  We do however have different waiters and service was slow and not particularly friendly but perhaps it is early days.  We went to the show, which was average with singers (not very good) and dancers (the usual) along with the singer from the Queens Room, who I did not like at all.

Day 18 - Sea day & formal night again
While the sea has calmed down a bit, it is still showery and cool.  We just hope that it improves before we reach Norway tomorrow.  Yet another internet disaster - this time it won't allow me to log in.  Managed to see the internet woman this morning and of course the usual reaction is that I have done something wrong,  but upon further investigation, she agreed that I had an active account with 127 minutes left, but didn't know why I had the problem.  She has escalated to the Internet Manager and hopefully I can get back on line after lunch.

An observation of this cruise is that there are a lot more physically impaired  people, with walkers, scooters and sticks almost the norm - certainly more than on the Baltic cruise, and also the majority are new cruisers.  I will not be drawn into any observations on social etiquette or standards, as that would make me judgemental.

We went to the Sunday service once again taken by the Captain, followed by coffee and  poked our noses out into the fresh air, but agreed that we were not really dressed for such.  Much to Vivian's surprise, there is bridge this afternoon, even though we only have 2 sea days.  I am still not connected to the internet and now have to wait until 5.00 to see the internet manager - pretty hopeless really.  I filled in the afternoon attending the ports talk but really didn't learn anything except that all the port towns are really small - & that Flamm is a tender port  so just as well, I didn't prebook privately as undoubtedly ships tours will have priority on the tenders.

Well, the Internet is fixed - it seems that anyone on a back to back was affected, but resolved (obviously if you are reading this).  Despite some reservations,  we have booked a couple of excursion, so all we need now is the weather!   Avoided thd Captain's Cocktail party for the usual reasons, had a most enjoyable dinner and our table mates are great fun. 

As the show is a repeat song & dance, we also skipped that *but* found or at least reestablished our connection with the Commodore Lounge.  This is in Deck 10 at the front of the ship above the bridge.  Panoramic views and the sun was shining, but waves were about 5 metres from the side. We passed through yet more oil platforms, some of which are quite large. We arrive in Stravanger tomorrow morning and hopefully will wake up in time to see the sail in through the 18 mile  fjord (Oh, and yes, that the weather performs).