pete14

First of all Malcolm, I had no idea we had done a U turn this afternoon and so have no answer to your question. From the timing of your post, it seems that it might have been during the Jack and the Beanstalk pantomime performance but I don’t suppose they are connected, unless someone shouted ‘it’s behind you’ so we went to have a look before saying ‘Oh no it isn’t’. Some did have some excitement a bit later as there was a fire alert outside the Curzon Theatre which was quickly and successfully dealt with, so very many thanks to the safety team involved. Not a lot else happened this morning. Gervase gave a talk about poetry, reading some of his own along excerpts from other more classical works. The photography expert gave a talk and the classical guitarist a recital. Mention should go to what seems a dedicated group of people who are learning and producing all sorts of crafts, led by a company called ‘Creative Waves. As I walk past them they really seems to be enjoying developing their creative skills. This evening was Christmas Dinner. For a mass catered meal it was fine. We also had crackers and some of us wore Christmas jumpers, with the waiting staff wearing Santa hats. Anyway, a quick brandy in the Crows Nest to settle my stomach because the sea is a bit lively with the promise of greater liveliness to come, some more chapters that need reading and then to bed for an early night. To finish, from my cracker: Why do elevators tell good jokes? Because they work on many levels

I am not saying the weather is bad but the fog horn is being used. Visibility made worse by fast falling snow.

I am sure you are correct. Investment has clearly been made just for around a dozen planes in and out in a day, mainly small ones. A couple of larger ones to and from Oslo but mainly linking Alta and Tromso. I suppose a country such as Norway with the larger settlements mainly on the long coastline, air and ferry (Hurtigruten ferries) transport is more important than in UK.

A quiet day recovering from the excitement of yesterday. We have been in Alta all day and leave about 01:00 tomorrow morning when those chasing the Northern Lights return. I hope they see them but they may not be as spectacular as last night because it is a bit cloudy. We went into Alta this morning just to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. There is little there although somehow we missed the Cathedral which I have been told is worth a visit. Maybe the very cold weather affected my thinking and vision, certainly nothing to do with the drinks package that early in the morning, We had lunch in the buffet which is quite civilised and with a wide choice of food (but no trays). The afternoon was mainly spent in our cabin reading. We are currently in the Crows Nest. If the lights appear, we will go down to our cabin as last night. It is cloudy but not quite so cold as earlier. Tomorrow is Christmas. ‘Love Actually’ in the cinema, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ in the theatre (Oh no it isn’t) and Christmas Dinner in the evening. Christmas jumpers are encouraged (we were told prior to the cruise that we may need them). Hopefully everybody will feel like eating despite the increased wind strength and sea state. As I sign off, there is another aeroplane coming in to land. Oh the excitement!

Although I had noticed the airport, I was a little surprised to see a plane flying past, just outside the Crows Nest windows, just seconds before it landed. It was probably a bit further away than it looked, but a bit disconcerting.

The flight from Oslo landed at around 12:30. Taken from the ship to show how close we are to the airport and the deterioration in the weather.

There are people on our current cruise who have to use a wheelchair and others who rely on other mobility aids. They seem to be coping quite well, even off the ship. The pavements are packed snow but proper walking boots/shoes with decent grip are recommended. However, there are some icy patches, one of which I nearly slipped over on in Tromso. As David points out, if the lights are visible, as they have been for the last 3 nights but probably not tonight now the weather has turned, you should be able to see them from your balcony. If they are predominantly on just one side of the ship, public outside areas on the other side are accessible unless the decks are closed if it is too icy or too windy.

I am currently in Alta and having no problem using my phone to auto login and post on here, as many know from the thread I started. Hopefully there we be no CC problems when we get home next week

I am using an iPhone X so not a massively new one - they are now up to 15 and X is 10. I am insufficiently technologically inclined to use any special app so they have not been assisted at all. The first two nights, they had little colour, last night they were very distinctively coloured, even when viewed with the naked eye. It suspect that as the weather has changed to arctic cold, cloudy with the odd snow shower with strengthening winds forecast, there are unlikely to be any pictures tonight. Another first though is a plane flying past the windows in the crows nest as the ‘airport’ is just yards away from the front of the ship.

I think that is a fair statement. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? We are here all day tomorrow so provided the weather is good, we may have a repeat performance. Then there is the journey back which I suspect may be less comfortable than it has been so far .

From one Stokie to another thank you. We went to the back of the ship and the green light was dancing around and they were pink around the edges. In the 5 seconds it took me to take my phone out of my pocket, they faded and disappeared. Such a shame.

Taken 20 minutes ago from our balcony on my phone. Pete Junior’s on his posh camera are better but I am happy enough with these (for now)

She is a bit like your favourite tin can but much better. The negatives I have mentioned earlier are not the fault of the ship or its crew. The lights are being elusive tonight which is a pity but in this life, people like us can’t have everything.

Two pictures taken at about 4:45 this afternoon. They were taken on my phone which may explain why they are faint. Hopefully some more vivid ones later.

He wasn’t able to bring with him many books to sell so I may have to rely on the kindle

Some images, not all the correct way up but just put the water at the bottom and the sky at the top

This has been the most magical morning and one that I will never forget. Breakfast was good (fruit and yogurt followed by kedgeree, then toast and jam) sailing towards Alta. Costa coffee on the drinks package with breakfast. Weather was bright but oh so cold with slight windchill making it colder. As we were in a fjord, from our balcony, we could see water and a huge ‘wall of snow’ as we sailed by. After a while, I looked out over the water whilst wondering what to do this morning and saw a couple of ‘fountains of water’ breaking the surface. Could it be possible that there were whales lurking below us? Not long after, a message from the bridge told us that whales had been sighted. We all quickly put on coats, hats and gloves and dashed out onto the balcony. We stayed there for around 75 minutes, gradually getting colder and colder but during that time, we must have seen over 30 whales, probably humpback, Orca and minkes (according to a further announcement from the bridge). A few whale spotting boats had gathered which is a fair sign of the presence of whales. On occasions, there were lines of 5 or 6 water spouts close together followed by sightings of the whales that had made them. An incredible sight and one I don’t suppose I will ever see again. I didn’t take any photos of them because I wanted to see them properly, not through the lens of a camera. Pete junior took loads though, some of which I will try to share at a later date as the best go from his camera to his laptop and then to my phone. Even though mere words are not enough to fully convey the experience, hopefully you at least have had a flavour of it. Even though we were getting colder by the minute, a combination of the temperature and the equivalent of an open fridge freezer all along the side of the fjord, we had no thought of going in to warm up for fear of missing something. As we got closer to Alta, the show was over so we set about getting warm in the Cabin whilst keeping our eyes open through the window. We decided to opt for lunch via room service as we continued to thaw out. Whilst eating, I looked out of the window and saw a large bird of prey being mobbed by three or four brave smaller birds. Once it had asserted its authority, it was joined by a colleague and they circled around the water in front of us looking in the water for food, probably fillets of frozen fish. As their tail feathers were white, I can only assume they were white tailed eagles. I suppose even such magnificent birds of prey have to catch their own food. I have put some ‘scenery’ pictures below which I think will confirm just how cold but beautiful the surrounding actually are. update - the uploading of pictures failed, probably due to the internet. I will try again later.

We requested a refund for Sunday and as I prebooked the package, it was back in my bank next morning (£14). I do believe that unless you have a dodgy device to provide channels others can’t access, that the GP was not available to us online, certainly not on Sky. Sport24 plus had it but it didn’t seem to be available to us and the picture quality for that channel in cabins is worse than dire. Thanks for your report which embellished my musings.

There are three of us Jean. We did have an evening meal, a 10 ounce fillet steak. Mind you, we had to cook it ourselves. A good job they had made the desserts for us. The ‘Great Beach House Bake Off’ may have got a bit messy.

On Aurora at the moment. The lunch was a sit down meal and the quality was very good. Lots of free wine as well

After the beautiful Glasshouse lunch, we had pre booked the Beach house this evening so were duty bound to go there despite not being hungry. I have to say I had the best cooked 10 ounce fillet steak whilst having the facility to keep the chips etc hot as well. Pete junior had the same (which he cooked all on his own) whilst Mrs Pete chose a sizzler with giant prawns. As Pete junior had to attend a teams meeting at 7:30, we had no choice but to sit in the Crows Nest so we didn’t disturb him. Either that or a local group from Tromso in the theatre or Mission Impossible in the cinema. No contest. For Junior’s teams meeting, he had to tether his computer to his phone because the ship’s internet seems to be down again. We have already had a day refunded because it wasn’t useable, maybe another visit to reception will be in order tomorrow. There is so much good about this cruise for the few niggles to spoil but it is frustrating that they do not seem to be able to rectify them. The internet was sold to us as being something it is not, hopefully when starlink is introduced, the problem will disappear but it shouldn’t have been advertised as a much better service before they can offer it. We leave for Alta at about 1:00 am after the Northern Lights chasers get back.

I think shortest day is Dec 21. If not, someone will correct me. We are only one hour ahead although on a cruise, it hardly matters. P&O could invent Pando time on a 18 hour day of 75 minutes in an hour and it wouldn’t matter.

According to Horizon, today in Tromso, sunrise was 9:56 am and sunset 13:01 pm.

For autocorrect, read even though you don’t want it to, it will change it to how you don’t want it to be.

The peas were beneath the fish. Whole ones, which I prefer, not masquerading as guacamole as a certain politician once said. As for photos, I take no lessons from anyone, which is why they generally don’t work, although the ones above seem OK. The problem was that the plates weren’t all round, especially those not made in the Potteries.