Live From Emerald June 18 North Cape & Summer Solstice

Hi All,

The North Cape and Summer Solstice Cruise

Starting this early in that I have a 18 hour shift then a 500 mile drive to catch the ship all going well should get there an hour before sailing, original plan was to finish work a day or two before sailing, like all plans this lasted about a minute, work colleague taken to hospital last week so doing his work as well as my own, his replacement lasted a day, so stress level quite high.

They are a number of great bloggers on this cruise I hope we can all post together, it would be good for CC readers to get different view points on the same subjects experiences etc.

This cruise has had a great roll call, looking forward to a big turn out at our meet.

We were on the Emerald last year so looking forward with interest to seeing the changes, and trying out new experiences,

Have never booked a cruise as late as this before only a few weeks before sailing so no real choice of cabin but very happy with rate paid. Cabin is an obstructed view.

As to the ports have been to the lower ports before looking forward to some amazing scenery again, this time with a better camera and binoculars, however never been as far north as this before.

While we do not book many Princess tours we have booked two quite expensive ones,

Our reason for booking through Princess is these tours appear to carry a degree of risk, and while I have always found private tours in Norway to be of the very highest of standards, if something was to go wrong I think it would be better for Mrs Shogun to deal with Princess. Basically I swim like a lead weight so if one of these high speed power boat things flips over bye bye Shogun.

yours Shogun

PS Four legged Shogun safely delivered to pet sitter only about another nine lady Samoyeds there so think he will be quite happy.

Left the Emerald 2 weeks ago, all great and you have kelvin joy to keep your spirits up. Ps I have left 2 towels a cap and a old edition of top gear magazine on 2 sun beds up by muts on the right hand side so you don't struggle for anywhere to sit. Enjoy the cruise Sogun.

Woops...... Just booked the Crown for another cruise.

Shogun,

I'm looking forward to your review, especially your thoughts on sailing so far north, i.e. rough seas, etc. Enjoy the land of the midnight sun aboard one of my favorite ships!

Thank you for posting your live from thread. I'm following along.

Shogun;

Hope you and Mrs. Shogun have a fantastic cruise. Looking forward to reading your reports.....:):):)

Bob

Ruby, Crown or Emerald always winners for me. Actually the family turned a cruise down in September because it was on the Royal

Hi there Shogun.

So glad you are on this cruise we want the low down on it all!

We have booked this cruise for June 2017. So really looking forward to hearing all about the ports

JackieO

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Wishing you and Mrs Shogun a wonderful cruise.

Have a wonderful cruise. Look forward to your post

Shogun,

Thank you for posting this. Will follow along since we are sailing on a similar cruise on the Pacific Princess next year.

Have a great cruise, and try not to let Mrs Shogun break any cameras this time ;) :)

Looking forward to sailing along with you! Have always enjoyed your comments and opinions. Your cabin is going to get very crowded Shogun ;)

We are doing this cruise next June - hope to get lots of tips - thanks for doing a live!

Hi All

Need a quick cc fix, been a long day, still a few hours to go, thanks for the nice comments, got an e mail from Princess today helpful hints, got phone numbers

if out side US call, in Aus etc sent from Princess UK but what about a UK number for UK folks.:mad:

I see folks have posted that Emerald lost power last month and again yesterday,

wonder if there is an under lying issue, or just normal, after all very large complicated bit of machinery its aloud to have a few little issues from time to time.

yours Shogun

Looking forward to reading all about your trip, we are on the 6th August one.

Have a fabulous cruise

Hi, Shogun. Joining you for the ride. It was so nice to meet you at South Queensferry last week along with your furry child. Have a wonderful adventure.

Teresa

Following along.. Have a great cruise.

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Hi Shogun

The direct UK ship number for Emerald I got off the website was 00870 761 118 492 We'll be on board for this trip. Just having a leisurely breakfast in the Grand Harbour.

Yes the Emerald lost power Thursday night. A momentary glitch as one main went offline. They had to load shed and start up the others as Emergency Gensets kicked in for Hotel Power. Took about 15 minutes to get propulsion back on line and another 15 to 20 for hotel power to come back on from the mains.

Nothing else heard as to why, wherefore or how come. Just a little excitement and a free Muffin for our troubles!

Ship happens...

Just a little excitement and a free Muffin for our troubles!

 

Ship happens...

Free Muffin! Thanks for the chuckle...;)

Good to see that the Emerald left port on time and is now enroute to Norway. Just waiting for Shogun to report if he made it with his "one hour to spare". :confused:

Have a great cruise!

Shogun;

Keep checking in. I enjoy reading of your exploits.....:):):)

Bob

To save precious electrons, brain cells and, most importantly, internet seconds, I am taking advantage of Shogun's offer to blog on his Live From thread...so here goes.

June 19. 2016 – At Sea To Stavanger

Overcast, a little windy, slightly choppy seas. Cool, but not cold. On the past cruise the Patter was pretty much wrong every day. The forecasts off the cell phones when we get into ports were pretty much spot on.

So now from the cruise embarkation patter. Kelvin Joy is the CD with Matt Thompson as the ED. Mario Propato is the Matre De and Martin Stenzel is the Captain. Adam Gorst is the Hotel General Manager and Giuseppe Pollara is the Executive Chef.

This cruise is even busier than the last. We have only 4 sea days and lots of ports. This is the Summer Solstice Norway cruise. We have Stavanger, Fiaam, Olden, Trondheim, Honningsvag, Tromso, Gravdal, Alesund and Bergen. Time skipped ahead 1 hour last night and won’t turn back until the final night of the cruise. Three formal nights, all sea days, tonight, Friday the 24th and Tuesday the 28th. Only one tender port this cruise – Gravdal on the 27th.

For production shows on this cruise we have I Got The Music; Disco…Blame it on the Boogie; What a Swell Party; and, Magic To Do. For movies we have Star Wars; Eddie the Eagle; Hail Caesar; Concussion; Daddy’s Home; Spectre; The Martian; Man from UNCLE; The Hunger Games; Creed; Brooklyn; and, Bridge of Spies. For Guest Entertainers we have Comedian Jeff Stevenson; Vocalists Peter Cutler, Peter Howarth and Alison Ward; Hypnotist David Knight; Paul Burton is the Pianist in Crooner’s; Comedy, Magic and Variety RJ Lewis, Gary Thompson and Mike McClean; Piazza Performer Lisa Lottie; and a Novelty act of Creative Duo. The R&R Band in Explorer’s is Starwave. The Rhumba Duo is in the Wheelhouse. The X-trio is doing gigs in the Piazza and the wheelhouse – central European type folk music with accordion and strings.

The Skywalker’s lounge is going to be packed this cruise. There are over 1400 elite, platinums and suites on the ship. The hotel manager is going to try and keep it in Skywalkers.

Turnaround day was nice. Unlike the ones in the US, where you have to go through immigration, you get your new card the night before and do what you want. Both cards are functional all day. We went out and beeped out with the old card, beeped back in with the new card – even the photos transferred with no problem. The ship docked in the Mayflower terminal. The furthest one north along the river just before the container port. About 2 miles to the center of town. Lots of taxis available at the port even when we got off late. (Judy got her 20% off sushi massage that morning.) Oh, BTW, the spa is now staying open till 2300 at night.

The quickest and easiest way into town is once outside the port gate, turn right on the main road (West Quay I believe) till you get to Ikea. Then cut through the Ikea parking garage and into the West Quay mall which puts you in the town center above Bar Gate. All the things you need are right there. The Odeon movie theater is also very close to the right of the gate as well. There is also a McDonalds with free wifi to the right about 2 blocks and several starbucks in town. Most restaurants and shops in the downtown area have various forms of free wifi as well. We ended up at Slug and Lettuce for fish and chips, but the fish was way too greasy for me. Fryer temp was way off. Had a nice cold hard cider that was really, really good though.

The plan for this cruise is a mix of DIY and Princess tours. Reviews on private tour companies were hit and miss, and there is just not a lot of them around. We booked the Lysefjord cruise on our own, the Flam train on our own, some select Princess tours in the those out of the way ports and are going to DIY it in the rest. I’ve marked points of interest in Tripadvisor to go see, a couple of restaurants in each port and we have a list of ‘stuff’ to pick up for relatives and friends – and we have to try some Aquavit!

That’s it for the morning. Later!

Hi

Thanks to both of you for your posts so far and taking time to blog.

I notice you said that Adam Gorst is Hotel Manager on your cruise. We know Adam very well from previous cruises and I wonder if either of you could ask Adam if he will still be on Emerald when we embark on 20 August. We sailed on Emerald in May and Peter Hollinson was HM then so Adam is obviously at the start of a contract.

Many thanks in advance for any info.

Enjoy the Emerald, we did.