Saturday - May 11, 2019 Embarkation on Norwegian Pearl
We got up at 8:00 am, showered, had breakfast, and tried to get an UBER to take us to the cruise terminal. I wasn't able to book one because I didn't have good enough cell service so we had the desk clerk at the hotel order us a taxi. It was a good ride and only cost $20 Euros. As we were leaving the hotel some people who had just gotten off of the previous cruise with NCL Pearl told us that there had been an outbreak of norovirus on the ship. It kind of made us nervous about our cruise. We got to the terminal and were able to check in by 11:30, but they didn't start boarding the ship until after 12:00 because of extra sanitation procedures.
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Final shots while leaving - notice the coffeeshop (aka marijuana shop).
We went in once just to look around. |
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| Final view of the Nieuw Kerk and our hotel. |
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| At the cruise terminal |
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| Cruise Terminal |
After getting on the ship, we ate lunch at O'Sheehan's bar. We ended up eating lunch here pretty often because it was good and very handy to our room. We had to wait in the Bliss Club area a long time before getting into our room because of the extra sanitation measures. We got into our room at 5:15 then immediately had the emergency drill. After that we went to the Summer Palace for dinner. Some differences because of extra sanitation were no salt and pepper shakers on the table, only paper menus, no drink menus, and every time we entered a dining establishment someone sprayed our hands with something for disinfecting. This didn't really bother us because it seemed to keep illness away. We had the Ultimate Drink Package on this cruise. We had wine with our dinner each night as part of the package. We enjoyed the Summer Palace. Service was good and it was also close to our room. After dinner we went back to our room to unpack and put everything away for the next 2 weeks. Our luggage got delivered a little late because of the extra cleaning going on.
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| O'Sheehan's on top and the Atrium Bar area below |
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| Glad to be on the Peal |
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| Bliss bowling alley |
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| Hanging out in the Bliss Night Club while waiting for our room |
After dinner we went to the Champagne Magnum Bar for drinks and listened to Patricia perform. She played the piano and sang older songs. We ended up getting to know her a bit and had drinks with her a few times. After Patricia's show we listened to the Pearl Show Band while we had a few more drinks. We really enjoyed both shows.
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| Patricia performing at the Champagne Bar |
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| Entrance to the Summer Palace |
We got back to our cabin about 11:00 pm and called it a night.
Sunday - May 12, 2019 Sea Day
Mike and I both slept in. We had a good breakfast at O'Sheehan's then walked around the ship. We had lunch at the Summer Palace before just sitting around reading and resting all afternoon. We had dinner at the Indigo dining room. This became our favorite place for dinner. We really liked that it was close to the bars where we got drinks every evening and the servers were the best on the ship. After dinner we went to the Stardust Theater for the song and dance show. It was very good. We enjoy the variety shows like this. We wish that there had been more shows like this.
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| Stardust Theater |
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| Waiting for the show to begin |
After the show we had a drink at the Champagne Bar then headed to our room by 10:00. We enjoyed the quiet, restful day.
Monday - May 13, 2019 Edinburgh, Scotland
We had to meet for our excursion at 7:00 am, so we got up at 6:00 and had breakfast at the Garden Cafe buffet. It was very crowded and the food was not as good as at the dining venues. We only ate here a couple of other times, except for getting the soft serve ice cream. We met in the theater for our excursion and rode the bus into the center of old town Edinburgh. The bus let us off near Waverly Bridge where we bought tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. The weather today was great, in the 60s and partly cloudy.
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| Port at Forth of Firth |
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| Lighthouse at entry point |
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| Municipal Building - notice the cone on the statue |
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| Scott Monument (Sir Walter Scott) near Waverly Bridge |
We rode the bus for about an hour to the Royal Mile. Our plan was to get off here and walk the Royal Mile up to Edinburgh Castle, but it was so crowded with both pedestrians and traffic and the sidewalks had so much filth on them that we decided to get back on the bus at the next stop.
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| Edinburgh Castle |
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| On the Royal Mile |
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| The Royal Mile |
We rode the bus for about another hour, getting off at Charlotte Square. We walked to Rose street which is a pedestrian only street. There were a lot of restaurants on this street and we ate lunch at the Rose Street Cafe. We both had sandwiches that were pretty good.
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| Edinburgh Castle |
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| Charlotte Square |
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| Mike on Rose Street with Edinburgh Castle in the background |
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| Photo together in Edinburgh |
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| Andrew's Square |
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| A building in Edinburgh |
We walked down Rose Street until we got back to Waverly Bridge. We went into the Metro Station area where there were restrooms that we could use. In most of the countries we stopped in we had to pay for the restrooms. These cost 30 pence, but at least were convenient and clean. I bought a couple of plaques for souvenirs and we both had some ice cream before getting back on the bus to take us to the ship. We took the tender back to the ship at around 3:00 pm. This was the only port on the cruise where we had to use tenders.
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| On Carlton Hill - viewed from bus |
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| Carlton Hill from shuttle bus |
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| View of Norwegian Pearl from tender |
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| View of port from tender |
After getting back on the ship, we rested then got ready for dinner. We ate dinner at the Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant. The food was okay, but nothing special. After dinner, we listened to Patricia while having drinks at the Champagne Bar. We got back to our room for the night about 10:00. We enjoyed the day, but Edinburgh wasn't what we expected. It was very crowded and pretty dirty. We wish there had been an excursion that we could have taken into the countryside of Scotland from here. Maybe next time.
Tuesday - May 14, 2019 Invergorden, Scotland
We ate breakfast in the Summer Palace dining room then caught the bus tour to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle at 8:15. The cruise port was in Cromarty Firth. The tour began with a 1 1/2 hour drive through the highlands of Scotland. It was very pretty with lots of sheep and cattle. The weather today was beautiful, partly cloudy with temperatures in the 60s. We stayed at the castle by Loch Ness for about an hour. This was not really enough time to spend out walking, but the views were nice and we enjoyed the walking around the castle and by the loch.
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| Bridge over a part of Cromarty Firth |
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| Another bridge over the firth |
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| Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness |
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| Urquhart Castle |
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| Mary next to Loch Ness |
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| Mike with the castle in the background |
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| A catapult by the castle |
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| Mike looking at an example of a game played in the past |
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| Another view of Loch Ness |
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| Mike and Mary with Loch Ness in the background |
On the way back to the ship we had a driving tour of Inverness and Invergordon. We would have preferred to have more time off of the bus and less time just driving through towns. It still was a good excursion though.
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| Inverness |
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| A typical farm in the highlands |
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| A view of the highlands |
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| A large estate in the highlands |
We got back to the ship at 1:00 pm and went to O'Sheehan's for lunch after we dropped backpacks in our room. After lunch we both napped then took a shower before going to the Summer Palace for dinner. Service tonight was very slow for some reason. After dinner we went to the Champagne Magnum Bar area for drinks and listened to the Funky Roots Band. This was a very good band, the singers were especially talented. After that we went back to our room fairly early. This was a fun day.
Wednesday - May 15, 2019 Bergen, Norway
We slept in because the ship wouldn't dock until after noon. We ate breakfast at O'Sheehan's then went up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch the ship getting into port. We had lunch in the Summer Palace before getting off of the ship. This was another beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 60s. We walked about a mile into Bergen, going by the Rosenkrantz Tower on the way to the Visitors Information Center.
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| Houses by the fjord |
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| On shore with the Pearl in the background |
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| An old church in Bergen |
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| Mary in front of the historic houses of Bergen |
At the information center we found out how to get to the tram up Mount Floyen. There was a long line to buy tickets and to get on the tram, but the view from the top made it worth it. We sat up at the top for about 30 minutes then rode the tram back down.
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| Entrance for tickets to the tram |
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| Heading up the mountain |
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| Mike up on top of the mountain |
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| Had to get a selfie while on top |
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| Mary posing on Mount Floyen |
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| View of the Pearl from the mountain |
We walked around some more after getting back down the mountain. I bought a magnet for a souvenir and Mike and I both had a cup of ice cream. This was a very nice day off the ship.
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| Some pretty flowers in Bergen |
We got back on the ship at about 3:30 and rested for a while before going to dinner in the Indigo dining room. We listened to Patricia's show while having drinks at the champagne bar. We got back to the room about 10:00.
Thursday - May 16, 2019 Flam, Norway
We ate breakfast in the Summer Palace and got off the ship around 9:45. Flam is not a very big town so it was easy to navigate without a map or directions. We walked through the town then on a trail by a river for about 2 miles. After our walk we sat in a park next to the river just enjoying the views and beautiful weather.
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| View from the ship |
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| A campground in the town |
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| A large waterfall |
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| The fruit trees were blooming |
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| Mary on trail with waterfall in background |
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| The river we walked next to |
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| Both of us with waterfall |
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| A closeup view of the waterfall |
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| View of the fjord from the park |
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| View of the Pearl from the park |
We got back on board about 1:00 and ate lunch at O'Sheehan's Bar. After lunch we went to the Garden Cafe to get ice cream cones and sat outside while eating them. There were beautiful views of mountains and the fjord from the ship.
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| View of Flam from the ship |
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| Mike enjoying the weather and the view |
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| View of fjord from the ship |
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| A view as the ship is leaving Flam |
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| And one more view of fjord |
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| A beautiful sunset |
Later, we went to the Whiskey and Maltings Bar to have wine and beer before dinner. The bartender, Emerson, was very friendly and we enjoyed visiting with him each evening. Emerson even let Mike sample a couple of expensive, top shelf whiskeys for free. We ate dinner in the Indigo Dining Room, then had drinks and listened to music at the Champagne Bar. This was a fabulous day.
Friday - May 17, 2019 Geiranger, Norway
The ship docked at about 11:00 and we got off at about 11:30. While we were waiting to get off the ship we saw a marching band going up the side of the mountain. We found out that this was Norway's independence day. After getting off the ship, we walked on a trail that took us to the bottom of Fossevandring Waterfall. There were some stairs that led to the upper part of the town and to a closer view of the falls, but we didn't go up because of Mike's cough. We were afraid that if he exerted himself too much he might get sick enough that he wouldn't be able to do anything.
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| View from the ship |
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| Mountains with snow |
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| View of Norwegian Pearl with walkway that unfolded to get to the ship |
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| Another view of Norwegian Pearl in the fjord |
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| Portion of Fossevandring Waterfall |
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| Mike in front of waterfall |
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| Mary in front of waterfall |
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| View of the entire waterfall |
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| An orchard in town |
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| Mary and Mike with ship in background |
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| A woman in costume for independence day |
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| A view of the church in the upper part of town |
We sat and enjoyed the views for a while then got back on the ship about 1:00. We had lunch at O'Sheehan's Bar and ice cream cones in the Garden Cafe. While eating ice cream we sat outside and enjoyed the views. We went to our room and rested for a while then got ready for dinner. Before dinner we went to Deck 12 to watch the views as the ship left port. It was late leaving however, so we went on to dinner in the Summer Palace. After dinner we went to get drinks and looked at the views as the Pearl cruised through the fjord.
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| Friar's Waterfall - liquor bottle at the bottom |
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| So many beautiful views as the ship cruised the fjord |
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| One of many waterfalls |
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| Another waterfall |
Later we went to the Stardust Theater for the late show. It was a couple who did an acrobatic show. They were very good and entertaining. After the show we went to the Whiskey Bar for drinks and visited with our favorite bartender, Emerson some more. We finally headed back to our room about 11:00. This was a very good day with excellent weather.
Saturday - May 18, 2019 Sea Day
We got up at 8:30 and had breakfast in the Summer Palace. After breakfast we walked a mile on the promenade deck. We went to Spinnaker and read for a while before going to lunch. We took a nap before going to the Stardust Theater at 3:00 for the Pearl Singers Show. It was okay.
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| Bed in room 9161 |
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| Bathroom |
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| The shower |
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| Hallway with closet, shelves, and drawers |
We went to the Whiskey Bar for pre-dinner drinks and had dinner in the Indigo Dining Room. We sat in the Champagne Bar area for after dinner drinks and listened to Patricia. She had a glass of wine with us during her break. I tried a new drink called a citrus gem. It was a grapefruIt and gin drink and was very good. This was a nice restful day. We called it a night and headed to our room about 10:00. We are ready for the second week of our cruise.
