Live from the NCL Star July 23-August 15, 2023. Will I survive 23 days without the beverage package?

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, TrumpyNor said:

Djupivogur, Iceland

I had originally plans of visiting both the Black Sands beach and the 34 egg sculptures called Eggs of Merry Bay (Eggin in Gledivik in Icelandic), without really having a look at the map in advance. Turned out those two "destinations" were in opposite directions of eachother, so then we decided on a "nature experience instead of an art experience".  The Black Sands beach is loated by the local airport (small airport strip) – only about 30 min walk from the village. Followed the small road there and took a slightly different path through some "wetlands" back to the village, where we passed the Bondavarda viewpoint that is located very close to the harbour – that was actually a brilliant place to make photos of the ship anchoring in the fjord. 

 

 

 

I got lost trying to find the black sand beach😂

[YVRteacher]

TrumpyNor, please share your photos of the walk to Kirkjufell! You have some beautiful horse photos!

[YVRteacher]

1 hour ago, TrumpyNor said:

Yes, you do. I remember you saying that Olden was one of the few places that you didn't enjoy - and that I suspect was mainly because of the bad weather... 

I couldn’t find good cake in Olden!

 

I want to do both the skyride and the hike to the glacier.

[bluesea777]

49 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

I couldn’t find good cake in Olden!

 

I want to do both the skyride and the hike to the glacier.

 

I would suggest you do the Briksdal Glacier with Troll cars. When Greenland was switched to Norway on our July 2022 Star cruise, the Shore Ex offered limited excursions at a very short time and sold out fast, but I was able to snag a noon tour from an excursion center in the white building on the right as I exited the ship. That tour was one of the best excursions I'd ever been on. Yvonne, your Dad would have loved this excursion as riding on the Troll car was great fun. That included a short hike to the glacier viewing point. I managed to complete the hike with my bum knee. Next time we go to Olden I'm going to drag DH on that excursion (he missed it as he broke some toes falling down stairs on the very first evening of the cruise!!).

 

 

[bluesea777]

I add a couple of photos and a video from the Birksdal excursion …

 

 

 

The excursion center was in the white building bottom right. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of waterfalls along the way. 
 

 

[YVRteacher]

7 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

I would suggest you do the Briksdal Glacier with Troll cars. When Greenland was switched to Norway on our July 2022 Star cruise, the Shore Ex offered limited excursions at a very short time and sold out fast, but I was able to snag a noon tour from an excursion center in the white building on the right as I exited the ship. That tour was one of the best excursions I'd ever been on. Yvonne, your Dad would have loved this excursion as riding on the Troll car was great fun. That included a short hike to the glacier viewing point. I managed to complete the hike with my bum knee. Next time we go to Olden I'm going to drag DH on that excursion (he missed it as he broke some toes falling down stairs on the very first evening of the cruise!!).

 

 

I would love to this! Your photos are wonderful! It was torrential rain the day we were in Olden. I’d love to return.

[YVRteacher]

7 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

I would suggest you do the Briksdal Glacier with Troll cars. When Greenland was switched to Norway on our July 2022 Star cruise, the Shore Ex offered limited excursions at a very short time and sold out fast, but I was able to snag a noon tour from an excursion center in the white building on the right as I exited the ship. That tour was one of the best excursions I'd ever been on. Yvonne, your Dad would have loved this excursion as riding on the Troll car was great fun. That included a short hike to the glacier viewing point. I managed to complete the hike with my bum knee. Next time we go to Olden I'm going to drag DH on that excursion (he missed it as he broke some toes falling down stairs on the very first evening of the cruise!!).

 

 

Your husband and I both need a re-do of Olden!

[GALSews]

Thank you, Yvonne, TrumpyNor and Bluesea777 for your beautiful pictures. We were on the Prime in June and went to some of the places you went. However, it might be nice to go to Tromso and some of the places we didn't get to. My husband's ancestors apparently came from the very northern part of Norway on his mother's side.

[TrumpyNor]

14 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

TrumpyNor, please share your photos of the walk to Kirkjufell! You have some beautiful horse photos!

My walk was actually from Kirkjufell and back in to town... 😉 

Btw, a great and wide walking path the whole way... 

 

Definitely nice surroundings for a walk - if you look closely you can probably spot me in the photo below (photo taken by my "lazy" husband as his busride back to town passed by me on the road below). 😄

 

 

And yes, that walking path goes right by the towns stables. 😍

Luckily this beauty was very happy to pose as my "model of the day".

 

 

 

But some of his "friends" really couldn't care less about me trying to get some good photos...

 

 

 

 

[lgdesign]

On 8/26/2023 at 5:30 PM, YVRteacher said:

I have a sore neck! Not because the seat was uncomfortable but because just as I couldn’t close the curtains on the cruise, I couldn’t slide down the window covering and miss this:

 

Greenland!

I spent the flight with my head turned toward the window, just in awe of this vast planet.

 

 

Deja vu!   The same thing happened to me flying home from Iceland a number of years ago.  The views of Greenland (especially the glaciers approaching the sea) were spectacular and I was just too awestruck to sleep or close the window shade!

 

Sadly, the airport chaos at your departure was also deja vu, sigh.  There was a shoulder to shoulder stampede to get on the plane.

 

Can we expect any further comments about your trip?  Did I miss the part about the "souvenir not taken"?  My apologies if so.

[YVRteacher]

I’m still writing that story!

[lgdesign]

10 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

I’m still writing that story!

YAY!!!!

[lgdesign]

And thanks to the OP, TrumpyNor and EVERYONE else who wrote about their recommendations regarding what to do (and what NOT to do) in these ports.  I will be saving this thread for future guidance...and rereading just for fun/laughs!

[MkeCruzn]

On 8/11/2023 at 7:22 PM, 2bc cruisers said:

Thank you for affirming my shopping list 😉 A base layer merino is the one item I am lacking.  I believe all the other essentials are within my closets (I am a hiker) I will give our rain jackets a good look to be sure they have drawstrings on the hood.  
The ports:  embark in Reykjavik, Isafjordur, Akureyri, Seydisfjordur, Djupivogur, Tromso, Harstad, Alesund, Bergen, Lerwick, Edinburgh, Southhampton.  I am the planner. I’ve booked 4 shore excursions, I have some notes and plans for the other ports. Yes, I’m excited for the adventure. Oh and on my shopping list I have chocolates, licorice, something of wool for me, and a troll of some sort for my daughter. 

Looks like we will be on the same itinerary, sailing in 10 days! I am the planner for our group. I have some ship excursions and some independent ones.

[cruisequeen4ever]

On 8/24/2023 at 3:45 PM, YVRteacher said:

I got the job!!! It’s my dream job! I was so happy when I found out I cried. The interview was 45 minutes and was intense.

 

I’m still a teacher librarian (yay!) and in the new position at a new school I won’t be doing all the primary literacy groups, intermediate literacy groups and personal interest project groups I was doing at my previous school. I’ll be able to focus on kids and books! The school has more than double the size of student population and is in a great location. 

You really lucked out with that! At my former school, the librarian led all those same types of groups, was then eventually cut to half time and got fed up and retired. Education has changed so much. 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Your food situation was really bad, yet you maintained such a positive attitude about the trip. It’s hard sometimes to see the good when there’s constant bad, so I’m 

glad you didn’t let the food taint your opinion of the ports and experiences.

 

I can’t imagine the stress of coming home to the pipe emergency, and even then, you maintained a positive attitude. Kudos!! Can’t wait to read about your next adventure! 

[Ottawa Lynne]

@YVRteacher I miss your posts! I find myself wondering how the new teaching/library gig is going?

[LauraAnneC]

2 hours ago, Ottawa Lynne said:

@YVRteacher I miss your posts! I find myself wondering how the new teaching/library gig is going?

I’ve thought exactly the same!

[SenatorsFan]

And if your house has been repaired @YVRteacher.

[Von & John]

Yes to all of the above @YVRteacher

[libtrek]

Yep, I am also suffering from Yvonne withdrawal. I am wanting to plan a June Alaska B2B next year. But, with hubs having Alzheimers, I really have to wait to see how he’s doing before we commit to going. My plan is to wait until April and take advantage of possible sales. Yvonne always has such good advice.

[YVRteacher]

Hi! I’m doing so great. I love my new job and it’s pure joy to work with 300 kids who are ravenous readers. I’m working long hours right now trying to work through backlog (on Monday I worked 11 hours and catalogued 600 books) so come home late, eat dinner, go to bed and do it all again the next day. Had a wonderful dinner with @ceilidh1 yesterday and took my dad to Granville Island today. I bought him ice cream and he dribbled it all over his Tilley shorts. My dad is doing so well. He loves the sunshine and has increased his daily walks around the duck pond to two, although sometimes one of those walks is to the liquor store to stock up on essentials. 
 

Due to the forest fires my water damage has not yet been repaired because the claims adjusters have been swamped. Someone called today to say they are coming on Monday. I said nope. I have a friend from cruise critic coming to stay with me next week plus I work and just can’t do both so the drywall repair will happen in two weeks and the surface stuff will happen sometime in October. September has been a blur, but a joyous blur.

 

I am almost out of Omnom bars and chocolate covered liquorice.  I told my students about Verdens Beste. It’s part of the teacher oath we take to let people know about good cake around the world. Of course, I also told them about dodging reindeer poop. That’s not part of the oath. That’s just good teaching.

 

 

[sansroof]

Glad to hear you are doing well!!! Not sure if Twitter links work here but this made me think of your dad:  Chicago Guinness

[DeclanJohn]

Hi, Yvonne! Hey, if any of your future cruises see you leaving from Seattle and you're in town a bit early, this shop in the Ballard area has your cake!  https://www.scanspecialties.com/pages/cafe-menu-2

[cruisequeen4ever]

I’m glad you’re enjoying your new job, and best of luck getting all the repairs done!