QM2 is a cruise liner, with all the old fashion style of a cruise liner. No purple carpet and flashing neon here! Big but not crowded, very well organized for shore excursion and disembarkation. Food is good, very nicely done especially the scones in the Grille lounge at tea time.... Service is top notch. The staff is very friendly as are the British passengers, many of which are very well traveled. Great guest speakers and guest artist, excellent big production shows and ballroom dancing on the largest dance floor afloat. North Sea weather can be quite rough, but we had very smooth sailing with "fair-weather" Warner at the helm. Norway is amazing, tho very expensive for buying anything ashore! Go for the scenery of the country. Above the Arctic Circle the sun does not set in the summer which means you can stay up and play longer! Or draw your curtains and have a restful sleep. Our cabin steward kept us tidy, always with a smile. Cabin 10072 is on deck 10 just at stairwell C very spacious with a walk-in closet for me!!!! More that enough storage space if taking a long cruise or someone like me that brings 4 suitcases! We really enjoy the Princess Grille and the goodies that come with "buying up." Enjoyed the Concierge Lounge on deck 9 and the special programs for grille passengers on some evenings. Worth the extra $$$ that really depends on each individual cruiser, for us yes! We had booked this cruise while on board another sailing, thru Yoyo, she is a hoot and even took the time to call us on our first day to welcome us back to the QM2...well done Yoyo. PS: Stayed at the Goring Hotel In London....our new home away from home in London Brilliant!

Stravenger Norway Don't miss the sailing into this gem of a port,and oddly also don't miss the Petroleum museum...amazing we spend about 3 hours learning about off shore drilling, how they transport crews, really interesting what Norway does with all their oil money...it was a clear beautiful day and great for walking the small town. The ships tie up right in the heart of town so easy walking. Olden pop.250 Qm2 passenger 2,500! This was the port for visiting the famous Geiranger Fjord, which was part of the itinerary but changed to Olden...still not sure why but on the all day excursion we came away in awe of the scenery. We took a coach tour from the ship which went up over and around the snake like roads that one would think quite impossible to build...we skirted beautiful lakes, and went up to the 4,000 level where there was still snow...then back down the other side to Geiranger Fjord which is wow! had lunch in a lovely lodge then onto a ferry with the bus for a cruise on the fjord, then back to our home for tea & scones! What a day! Tromso, above the Arctic Circle an oil town. It was rainy and quite cold there 44 degree...we opted to take a shuttle into town and walk to the modest Arctic aquarium, Norway is very keen on protecting their environment and it showed with this little museum, loads of local children learning. The town was having some sort of celebration as there were marching bands, and some sort of costumes Norwegian rowing whale boats..what a hoot! Alesund-northern most European city 77 degrees north. Again we docked right in the middle of of this pleasant town so very easy walking about the streets. It was a bright sunny day nice to be out. We always seek local art galleries for local art but did not find anything we liked to bring home...and Norway is very expensive. The one gallery we really wanted to go into was closed...very independent I guess! Hommingsvag-North Cape. Well above the tree line and very rugged land. It was raining but we did a walk-about before getting on a coach for a drive around the area. The thrill of this port is not the "frontier town" as it was pretty much closed up, guess they don't need any tourist $$$ as there were 2 other ships there as well....anyway a drive around was ok not really much to see except some raindeer along the road...they are much smaller than I thought. The coolest thing is actually being that far north!