My husband, who is an excellent sailor, has always wanted to do a long cruise. I, on the other hand, was less enthusiastic as I tend to get seasick in rough waters. However, when a cruise-discount company posted an unbelievable price for a balcony room on a transatlantic cruise coming up in three months, we pounced. Plus, Norwegian Air flew the two of us from Boston to Copenhagen for less than $800 total. Since we did not book through Royal Caribbean, I feared our cabin assignment would be less than optimal. Was I wrong...we had one of the best balcony rooms ever!

Embarkation was very smooth and we were boarded early. Over half the passengers on-board were diamond level and above (as were we), and the entire Congo Bar of the Safari club was reserved for us each evening with free drinks, music and finger-food. Food and entertainment during the cruise were good, and we loved the super-salad bar available in the dining room for lunch during at-sea days. We even got to see the northern lights.

Having spent a week in the gorgeous country of Iceland ten years earlier, revisiting the Golden Circle during this cruise was an unpleasant surprise as the famous sites are mobbed with visitors now. Fortunately, our eight-hour independent tour out of Akureyri (which we missed seeing years ago because of the weather) was wonderful and much less crowded!. We toured the Norwegian cities of Oslo and Kristiansand on our own and really enjoyed them both. Having been to Halifax before, and with three ships currently in port, we booked a tour to Peggy's Cove and the Titanic grave site. Good thing it was a ship tour as our bus barely got us back to port in time. Getting off the ship in Boston was a mess, but we made our flight so all's well that ends well.