SLSD

A first look at the town of Honnigsvag as Sojourn docks this morning. I believe that Honnigsvag is the northernmost city in Norway. We arrived about 30 minutes ahead of schedule in spite of getting a late start. Yesterday, leaving Tromso, we sailed close by for about an hour and a half as a medical situation was evaluated. Finally, the captain told us that we were lingering so that a passenger could go ashore for treatment. I believe they were taken off the ship by tender.

We are approaching Honnigsvag this early morning. We will be going to the North Cape today. Here are a couple of photos I snapped just now from our balcony. One photo includes a Hurtigruten cruise ship. Has anyone here sailed with them? I have to say that we are tempted--understanding fully that they are not luxury ships.

A personal observation about dress on Sojourn for our four week cruise. Over the several years that Mr. SLSD and I have been cruising, we have seen dress on Seabourn become progressively more casual. My comments are mostly about dress in The Restaurant for dinner in the evenings. I remember when most every man wore a jacket (sports coat as we call them in the United States) and tie for dinner. Now, it appears that most men do not wear a jacket in the evenings. Or course this depends on the cohort that are onboard that particular segment. I did notice that the men on the second 7 day leg of our voyage were a dressier group--with more jackets at dinner among the men. Last night in The Restaurant, jackets were rare. And, not a tie to be seen (at least by me). Even Mr. SLSD is wearing a tie now only on Formal Night. I think people tend to dress in the way that they are most comfortable and in the way that seems most usual to them. Mr. SLSD is used to wearing a jacket to any "white tablecloth" type of restaurant and perhaps others are not doing that these days. Mr. SLSD has stopped wearing a tie on an everyday evening in The Restaurant as others are not wearing them. He did make an exception for dinner on our wedding anniversary. So what are men wearing in the The Restaurant for dinner? Most are wearing a long sleeved shirt (some short sleeves), or a sweater or a knit shirt of some kind. Women's dress in the restaurant is all over the map--and I could not even begin to adequately describe it. On this particular cooler weather cruise, I've seen many women wearing sweaters and slacks to dinner. Very few dresses --mostly slacks and tops of all sorts. Daytime dress seems unchanged over the years. The change has been in dress in the evenings.

Tonight, we had dinner in The Restaurant as it was rainy and Earth and Ocean was not the best venue for the evening. Our entrees were Sole and a Pasta dish. After dinner, Damian, the bartender, entertained us at the Obs Bar. At 9:30, we attended a show in the Grand Salon called "The Midnight Hour". Curiously, there are now six Seabourn dancers on Sojourn and only two singers. In our opinion, this doesn't really work. It means that two singers are singing every single song in a show and the small space is filled with six dancers. We miss having four singers and two to four dancers would be plenty. However, the dancers are truly exceptional. We have been told that Seabourn is going to be changing things up a bit and hiring only singers who can dance and dancers that can also sing. I hope that will not mean a dilution of both talents.

Ha! I meant to type that they do not hesitate to prescribe Paxlovid!!

We remembered that walking Tromso last year was a fun experience. Just so OTHERS will know who have not yet been to Tromso--Tromso also features a fine history/natural world museum, a well known "Arctic Cathedral" and tramway which takes you up to a breathtaking overlook. We did these things last year in Tromso and still had plenty of time to walk through the city and have lunch.

Our fellow passengers always say some things that make me laugh. A few years ago, one friend called dining in the Colonnade at breakfast and lunch "feeding at the trough". Just reporting that got me in a lot of trouble here. Last year, a friend said that the ship has a "nursing home vibe". You know who you are. This year, one of our Australian friends has said that some passengers are "zombies". I think she is referring to those who never look at you, speak, or alter their expressions--all while on vacation!

Just a few comments to maintain my credibility as a Seabourn cruiser reporter. The service in the The Restaurant in the evenings has been very slow. I tend to think the issue is in the kitchen and not with the wait staff as the waiters have been apologizing to us. The service at Earth and Ocean has been very good. It slows down a bit when that restaurant is busy. Also, I am not terribly impressed with the Pool Bar. At some times of day (late afternoon) they need to staff up. And, I would not order anything complicated from them. Room Service has not been perfect. They have been on time, but sometimes have not included my iced tea. I always write in with stars and underlining "iced tea" on our hangtag for breakfast. Since I don't drink coffee, the iced tea is important to me. When they do bring it--it is served in a carafe which equates to two good sized glasses. All in all, the service has been very good. I mention the things above so that you will know that they are noticed and that I am not a complete Pollyanna. We have told there will be some Norwegian beer aboard. We haven't had the opportunity to check that out yet.

I don't recall the name of the restaurant. It was a modern place right on the water. We chose it as there appeared to be quite a few local people dining. It did not feature typical Norwegian food. There were other choices. The only thing about not taking an excursion in this area is that you miss the gorgeous surrounding scenery which features the islands for which the area is famous. It was easy to do both yesterday--an excursion and a walk around the town. I just tried to look back at The Source for yesterday's other offerings--and of course it won't back up to show me. I DO remember that we took the long Vikings tours last year and loved it. It is one of those 7.5 hour tours. It was magnificent, but of course you are gone all day. Tromso is a better city for walking than Svolvaer, but both would work for spending a day walking.

I'll look back at the offerings. We were there last year as well and chose different excursions this year.

The Lofoten Islands are known for the small islands in the area as well as for the huge mountains which are right up against towns and villages. On our return to Svolvaer this kind of scenery was on display. Once back in Svolvaer, we walked through the city, visiting a World War II museum and stopping for lunch. At the World War II museum, there were a lot of *** era uniforms and other paraphernalia on display including a rather shocking Christmas ornament.

After leaving the gallery, we walked through the village of Hemmingsvaer.

Our excursion out of Svolvaer took us to the small and picturesque village of Hemmingsvaer. Hemmingsvaer has long been known as an artists' colony due to the exceptional quality of the light in the area as well as its dramatic scenery. We were headed to an Art Gallery which is actually more of a museum. The paintings displayed were from the late 19th century to the present with many having as their focus the local area's fishing heritage and mountainous terrain. My favorite contemporary artist at the gallery was Lars Levin, known for his watercolors.

This morning found Sojourn anchored close to the Norwegian town of Svolvaer in the area known as the Lofoten Islands. The day started out rainy and cloudy.

Our doctors do not hesitate to prescribe Covid if we are going on a trip. They prescribed it for us last year as well as this year. My doctor said it is not in short supply and is readily available. He prescribes it like he would any other medication that a traveling patient might need. My husband's doctor is at a medical school, while my doctor is a solo practitioner in the same city. We are both long time patients of our doctors.

Sojourn stopped at the port of Bronnoysund, Norway--population 5,000 (7,000+ in the metropolitan area). Seabourn provided a shuttle into this small town and we took advantage of this in the morning. In the afternoon, we took an excursion to a very large Herb Garden. We enjoyed the herb garden (others appeared to not enjoy it) as well as a serving of homemade cake with coffee in the owner's 200 year old home. I've included some photos below of Bronnysund, its surrounding area, as well as of the lovely herb garden, turf roofed buildings and some photos from inside the home. Our tour also included an organ concert in the local stone church. The organist played a very old pipe organ and played classical as well as Norwegian folk music.

Last night's entertainment in the Grand Salon was a pianist, but the real star of the show was our cruise director, Robert, who sang a song from Les Miserables.

We remain very fond of Earth and Ocean for dinner. Last night, the weather was perfect and the restaurant was completely full. We had what I think was the best meal of our cruise. While the venue is casual, the food can be a bit sophisticated. Below are some of the menu items at our table.

Yes, Harry, not Larry as I posted. Thank you for the correction.

Yesterday was our first Norwegian port on this voyage. It was the city of Trondheim which is a city with 200,000 residents. We chose to take a ship's excursion which was a general overview of the city. Many others chose to walk through the city on their own--and enjoyed it. I was surprised that there was no shuttle provided by Seabourn in Trondheim. While many found walking to the interesting sites to be no problem, I am sure there were many who were not up to the walk. Mr. SLSD and I would have been able to walk to the Cathedral and the Old Town, but didn't. Perhaps we should have--it is hard to say. Our chosen excursion did give us a good view of the city. We started out with a short bus ride to reach a ca. 1958 tram which has been preserved by companies which have owned the tram service and now by the city. We boarded the tram and proceeded through the city and to its outskirts, seeing some residential areas that we might call suburbs. I always enjoy this kind of thing. We also saw forested areas. We also saw a fortress which overlooks the city--but it was encased in scaffolding. I've include a few photos from that site. We also saw the university in the city as well as the lovely homes adjacent which were originally built for professors. These days, the professors can no longer afford to buy the houses as some have sold for 2 million dollars. Following this, we were taken to an overlook of these entire city--then to several other sites and finally to the Cathedral which our guide told us is the most northern medieval cathedral in all of Europe. We did not have time on this tour to go inside and I apologize that my photographs of the cathedral are not ideal--the sun was shining in our faces and we could not get far enough away. That being said, the cathedral was glorious. So many statues of notable people to the people of Norway. I've attached a number of photos so that you can get a flavor of Trondheim if you have not been there. Our guide was 17 years old! She was exceptionally knowledgable about the history of Norway and everything we saw along the way. I was very impressed. She is French--her parents work at the major 40,000 student university in Trondheim and the family is applying for citizenship after living in Norway for 7+ years.

I will ask about 10 days segments when I get a chance. The Dining Room director only mentioned the 7 day segments to me as not having The Restaurant open for breakfast and lunch.

I would assume it is for all the Seabourn vessels. I will ask when I have the opportunity.

We dined at Solis last night. There was no mention of premium wines. We ordered our usual complimentary wines with no pushback or comments. We HAVE experienced pushy wine selling on a previous voyages and I did find it a bit offensive/funny as the waiter really exchanged words with me about it. I only experienced that one time. We are not wine connoisseurs so the complimentary wines are fine for us. I have noticed some new European varieties this summer which I am enjoying. I figure there are notes in our SB profile which say that we never order premium wines.

In my opinion, which may differ from others, I think you would like Encore and Ovation. We have sailed on both classes of ships. We DO prefer the dining room of the O class ships (don't like the plastic ceiling on Ovation and Encore--and the room seems noisier). At the same time, there are a number of things we prefer about Ovation and Encore. Number one--the ships are prettier in our view---especially the Observation Lounge which has a more attractive decor--especially around the bar. It is a bit gloomy on Sojourn, and lighter/brighter on Encore/Ovation. Next, the Solis restaurant on the O class ships is VERY small--and cramped. If you are seated at a table for two, you may be mere inches (on both sides) from the next table. It is akin to dining with others. SO--you have to hope that you find the diners at the next table to be pleasant and even fun to talk to--even if you don't know them. We were fortunate last night at Solis to be seated. next to very congenial people we had already met. Next, the Observation Bar on the O class ships can get quite crowded before dinner. If you don't arrive in time, there will be no place to sit. The pressure is taken off of the Observation Bar on Encore/Ovation as there is another bar--outside of Solis. It is a lovely bar with generous seating. You can go there even if you are not dining at the restaurant that night. AND, the Solis restaurant on Encore/Ovation is spacious AND includes an outdoor area. We have never noticed Ovation/Encore being crowded (except for indoors at the Colonnade and we avoid that). If given a choice, we would sail Ovation/Encore instead of O class because of the extra bar space and the large Solis restaurant AND the Sushi restaurant which the O class does not have. As a caveat here, I will tell you that we are NOT pool loungers. We avoid sitting in the sun, but do enjoy dining around the pool--but not everyday.

Someone asked for the name of the hotel director. Currently on Sojourn, the hotel director's name is Larry Ter Horst. Yesterday, Sojourn held its infamous Block Party for the first time during our 28 day voyage. Some people really dislike this "signature" event while others tolerate or even like it. We fall into the latter category as we tend to be friendly and up for meeting our neighbors. Our next door neighbors on this 14 day segment are from Switzerland and others are from Australia. We had some good conversations as appetizers and some pink punchy stuff was passed through the hallways. I don't care for the pink punch with alcohol, but the gesture is a nice one. In addition, ship's officers passed through the hallways to say hello. We had a nice chat with the assistant cruise director--now called entertainment director. She is from South Africa and previously worked for Crystal Cruises. After Crystal was purchased and began running again, she went back to Crystal, but has found a new home on Seabourn now and prefers it to Crystal she told us.