Embarkation on Queen Victoria

Sunday 22nd June 2014

This was about the lastest last-minute cruise one could get! My friend Judith was interested in this cruise as she felt the need for a break. I've been hoping to get to Norway and Iceland at some time so I was interested if the price was right. I was happy to wait for the last minute as prices often come down then. I was also prepared that if they didn't come down, I would go another year. Meanwhile I did all my planning and researched the ports and was mentally prepared to pack if all went well. The cruise was due to leave on the Sunday. On the Wednesday before, I phoned Cunard and spoke to my cruise consultant, Laura, to ask if the price was any lower. She checked up and said it couldn't be reduced. I said I was in no hurry and could wait until Friday. On Friday morning she phoned to offer me a reduced price. It was within my budget so I accepted. Then came a rushed two days getting everything ready and packed!

Judith had offered to pick me up on her way down the A34. We ended up leaving a couple of hours earlier than planned, as I remembered that the roadworks in Southampton can sometimes cause problems and delays. We had no problems and checked in at 12.30. However, it was best to be safe. (Coming home, it took us 45 minutes to get out of Southampton!) Because of my late booking, they did not have a key/security card ready for me. I had to wait for 5-10 minutes for one to be made.

I always feel welcome on board Queen Victoria. I know so many of the staff and they remember me. As I walked on I saw the female Head Waiter from the Main Dining Room. She immediately said 'Ah, so there'll be one couple dancing in the ballroom tonight.' A moment later I saw Volodomyr, the ballroom dance teacher. He greeted me with a big smile and obviously remembered me from 18 months ago.

My first stop on the ship was to Reception as I'd discovered I'd been put in 'the room from Hell', right next to the room I'd started in on my previous cruise. The problem is that it's very noisy when leaving port and entering port, and that noise went on for 2 hours last time. This meant the first day was very uncertain while I waited to hear. I didn't know if I should unpack or not. I spoke to a different receptionist that night and his advice was to unpack. He said he would put in a further request for me, after I explained to him how the noise affects me, and my health issues. (In the end I heard the next day that they could not change my room.)

In the corridor I was greeted by one of the stewards who'd looked after me on a previous voyage. I told him about my new room and how noisy it would be, to which he replied, 'Oh no, you like to wake up after 11. I remember!' 

The next stop, of course, was lunch! How lovely to have food waiting and not have to prepare it myself. We went to lunch in the buffet restaurant, but after that I visited the main dining room as I had not been assigned to a table. The Maitre d' looked at me and said, 'You like a big table. I remember.' He assigned me to a table for ten.

One important (but boring) event on the first day is a safety session, finding out what to do in the event of an emergency and practising putting on a life jacket. My emergency station was in the theatre.

Dinner that evening was an opportunity to meet the others at the table. At first I was not sure how interesting it would be, as conversation was slow. However, by the end of the cruise I decided that it was the liveliest table I've experienced. We had three couples, three single ladies and a seat that was empty for all except two evenings (when a staff member joined us, on special assignment to the ship for three days).

The dancing that evening was good. All four Hosts could move around the floor and were competent dancers. I gathered that the International-style dancer did not think much of the American-style dancers, while one American dancer did not think much of the International one! I found that all of them danced differently, but all were enjoyable.

Unfortunately about 10pm I tripped over my own feet and fell flat on the dance floor. I got up again and danced, to make sure I was not stiff, but did not stay long after that. I was weary as there were not many single ladies and I was being asked for most dances. I refused more dances in one evening than I'd refused on the whole of my previous cruise. (While more single ladies arrived on subsequent nights, I still had more dances than usual every evening.)

First sea day

Monday 23rd June

The clocks went forward an hour. I went to bed at midnight (which became 1am) and finally decided to get up at midday. I'd woken a few times but felt too weary and tired to get up. I didn't know if it was the result of preparing for the cruise in a hurry or if it was the new sleeping tablet that the doctor had prescribed. (It had seemed okay at home though.) 

I made it to the end of the cha cha lesson and then to lunch, but went back to bed at 2pm and listened to a story and dozed until 5pm.

I thought I could start on my diary before dinner and found to my horror that Microsoft Office would not work. The last time I had used it was on my last cruise, and I had no problems then. I have no idea what has gone wrong but everything this time will have to be typed on stickies or Word pad and then copied into emails to send to my home computer, to be recopied into Word. 

The Black and White Ball was on in the evening and I wore my new black jersey dress with gold beading. I'd had the hem taken up for my short height in the weeks before leaving, and hoped that the length would be right and I would not trip over again this night! I managed okay.

Great dancing again in the ballroom, but the quote of the night was from a very strange lady (who later became a friend) who stopped on her way out and told me: 'I like your hair. Don't change it. NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS. It's gorgeous.' Quick, where's a mirror?!

A quiet day at sea

Tuesday 24th June

These new sleeping tablets obviously do not agree with me. Once again I struggled to get up at midday. It's fortunate I can hear the Captain's midday announcement in my cabin as I was too weary to look at my watch for the time! I felt sleepy all day and could have happily gone back to bed in the afternoon, but decided not to.

I spent a quiet day - watched the Waltz lesson (and took the man's part with Judith), had lunch, read quietly, went to afternoon tea and then met with Judith at 5 to discuss our port adventures for the next two days.

Once again I was last at the dinner table. I wore my green beaded dress. I'm still worried about the length of it but I love it! I was even more worried when I noticed how the skirt flares out when I dance.

Sequence dancing in the first session was followed by 'Dancing through the decades' with the band in the second session.

It was strange to leave the dancing at 11.30 while it was still light outside. I just managed to catch the last of the sunset at 11.40.

Olden

Wednesday 25th June

I had set my alarm for 8.30 am but was woken at least 2 hours before that by engine noises as we pulled into Olden. I could hear both a high-pitched noise (which a later visit from housekeeping suggested could be hydraulics opening the little hatch just below and ahead of my room where someone stands if extra help is needed guiding the ship into port) and a very loud engine noise. I was shattered by 8am.

The view from my balcony was superb.

Judith and I had arranged to meet up at 10 to explore Olden. It is only a small port with not enough space for two ships to berth. An Azamara ship was in port but had kindly agreed to vacate the berth for an hour so that our passengers could disembark on foot. From 11 onwards it was a tender operation. That meant we could walk off but had to return later in the day by boat (ship's lifeboat).

We had decided to catch the local bus to Briksdal Glacier. I had seen photos online of where to catch the bus (turn left off the ship and walk to the level crossing and wait - no bus stop sign) and had printed off a bus timetable. We saw the 9:55 bus still there when we got off, so decided to investigate details and check the timetable before going to cash some money. We discovered they took credit cards so decided to go ahead, rather than waiting over an hour for the next one. A return trip was around £6-7 for seniors whereas exactly the same trip by ship's tour would have been about £55, and with a local tour would have been over £30.

The roads are very narrow with passing places for the occasional times you meet another car. Just before one tunnel we encountered a traffic jam with too many cars and coaches trying to pass each other and no way for the first vehicle to get past because the last one in the other direction was blocking the tunnel. Our bus driver got out and organised everyone and we were soon moving again.

The coaches and cars all stop at a cafeteria and from there it is a 45-minute walk to the glacier, most of it uphill, or else a ride in a troll car (electric cart) followed by a 10-minute walk.

We chose to walk, and passed some lovely views and waterfalls. I had worn my black woollen jacket and carried my fur-lined gloves, but I soon took off the jacket as the sun was streaming down and I was sweating even without the jacket. It was glorious. I had read that temperatures in our ports at this time of year would average between 6 and 13 degrees. We struck a day when it was over 20 degrees, and we learnt the next day that 20 is the height of the summer heat in Norway!

In places we saw tiny cairns of pebbles placed by other walkers. I wondered if there was a significance. 

I picked up a pebble from the path and placed it on the next flat rock I saw. I wonder if others will add to it. 

The walk felt much longer than 45 minutes and my legs felt like lead after each uphill part. Photographing the beautiful views made a good excuse for a stop. I especially enjoyed the wildflowers.

It was lovely to see the pristine glacier after the dirty one I had seen in Canada. Halfway down the glacier was a slight waterfall, so we could see that it was melting in the glorious sunshine.

The walk back seemed much shorter, more like a pleasant stroll in the sun. Judith checked the app on her phone and it had only been about 12 thousand steps - but with the uphill sections I'm sure we used up more than the 185 calories it said! The 1.30 bus was waiting but we had time for a quick look in the gift shop.

Olden is very tiny and we decided not to take the 10-minute walk to see the few shops there. We thought we'd walked far enough. We looked at the souvenir shops by the port instead. A tender was waiting to get us back to the ship where we had a late lunch.

If you look at the ship just where the black line meets the white, towards the front you can see a little white line on the black. That's the lookout hatch that caused the noisy hydraulic whine when it was opened. My stateroom was just above and to the right, the first stateroom on that floor.

Shortly before we left port, all the noises started up again - the high-pitched whine and various clangings and the loud noise of the motor. I had been advised to phone Reception every time I am disturbed, because then they get multiple reports sent in to Cunard. Someone from housekeeping finally arrived, just one minute after the noises stopped.

The view sailing out of the fjord was magnificent.

After this I was so exhausted that all I wanted to do was go to bed! I was in bed shortly after 6. I knew there was no point trying to sleep because of all the noises from banging doors and people shouting in corridors. I lay in bed and read. At about 8 I felt hungry and had a toasted ham and cheese panini from room service and then went back to bed. I kept the curtains open all night so I could catch glimpses of the long fjord, and managed to get up and look out just at the right time as we passed into the sea. It was strange to see light all through the night, every time I opened my eyes.