Saturday Actually, Friday night, our cruise starts with a panic, the boat cannot dock at Dover due to the high winds and we have to go to Harwich. Maybe the one time you wish you had made all your travel plans through X but of course we had not. However, one call to Woodford and excellent service, we can be taken to Harwich by them and it is no problem Well, we could not have had a better trip up to Harwich from Gatwick, it all worked like clockwork and because X had brought their own team up from Dover, the whole boarding process was very smooth indeed. One of my cases was a little late in appearing but it was clear that Wilfred and Menino our butler and stateroom attendants are going to be stars as they deal with this and soon we are reunited with all the luggage. We actually sailed off 2 hours late but it seemed most of the town of Harwich had come to the sea wall  we later discovered the ships diversion to Harwich had been a big item on the local tv and our departure was shown on air. Oops  I was in my bath robe and had come out of the shower with wet hair to watch so I hope they did not film or deck! First night show, an excellent singer with fender guitar Mario DAndrea  oh dear no 1 CD of the trip has been bought.

Sunday It is clear our butler Wilfred is going to be one of the best we have had. It was his birthday the day before (33rd) and we had brought on board a box of Edinburgh rock for him and he was so happy to get it. He told us he had started as a public areas cleaner with X 12 years previous  real working your way up then! His specialty is Madam, I will make you my special fruit salad for breakfast  we had it this morning and there is no doubting what will be on our menu card every morning from now on. We went on to the CC gathering. Our group had been very active online thanks to Garys hard work. Over 70 at the party and 40 of us doing a two day Red October trip (more about that later) Iris had organized a gift exchange (bring a small gift of your home town/state) and that was a hoot. Off to the mixology class - We had seen Ocho in the Martini bar the night before  he juggles the cocktail shakers and bottles as he is making your cocktails (taught by Sudi). Unfortunately DH is chosen to help and tries to copy. Full credit to the ships laundry for removing the grenadine from his shirt next day. Then on to the first talk by George Jaeger the on board lecturer who was a former senior player in Nato and an expert on Russian and Eastern bloc history and affairs. Suffice it to say, by the last talk of the cruise it was standing room only in the Celebrity Theatre- absolutely fascinating!! Formal dinner tonight - well dressed affair dress code seems to be being observed. Food is good, table mates (4 others from UK and 2 delightful ladies from US) seem to get on well, our only issue is the service. Some chosen words in the ear of the Assistant Maitre D resolved the wine service a few days later, but we never got the level of service we had previously enjoyed from the waiter who never spoke to us other than to take our orders. We had prepaid tips as is often the case for UK guests, so our recourse was in having to give the lowest feedback score to an employee we have ever given in 7 cruises (fair  DH said I should have used poor) at the end of the trip Good show which we had seen before but the staging was different  get the feeling this is the best Celebrity Orchestra we have had (feeling confirmed later) and that Don Fluke I going to be a very competent CD (he was)

Monday Arrive in Oslo and as we came off the ship it started to rain&&&&.and rain&&&&&and rain. However our excursions, though we got wet, were really excellent. We had booked on this Viking Heritage trip which is a flavour of 4 aspects of the culture of Norway. First sport and the Hammenkolmen Ski jump and the view down to Oslo  well we think it was Oslo in the mist; then Arts and the Vigiland Sculpture Park, which was something that surprised us, the statues are all so clever, about life and they all involve naked men and women of all ages and children. We then went on to see three original Viking longships all of which surprised us at the beauty of the carving of dragonheads on them. Our final stop was a Folk Museum where original buildings had been brought from all over Norway and reconstructed including one of only 20 remaining traditional Stave churches  they look like gingerbread houses and you often see them in Christmas pictures. We returned to the ship to dry off and of course as we sailed away the weather started to brighten up. As we only had until 2pm in port, the excursion was the best way to capture the sights of Oslo and we felt it was one of the better value ones we have had. Like all of Scandinavia Norway is expensive! Read more