Steve and Cathy, Author at Steve and Cathy On The Road

Posts by Steve and Cathy

2022 Caribbean 1-14 to 1-28

JANUARY 14TH MIAMI FL

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Steve and Cathy

Today we board at 1:30pm. We are both feeling more confident by the hour. For Cathy, who by nature has, for weeks, been overthinking every conceivable detail and what could possibly go awry, this is a relief. She is calm. Steve, on the other hand, who has tenaciously held on to the philosophy that “it will be what it will be,” can no longer keep his anxiety under wraps. 7:00am: The photo you see above is

2022 Caribbean 1-14 to 1-28

JANUARY 12TH & 13TH MIAMI FLORIDA

Posted on January 14, 2022 by Steve and Cathy

WARNING: This post might well not be worth reading. We are writing it to recount certain mundane parts of our journey significantly affected by the pandemic and what we did to overcome its impacts. Cathy and Steve start out on the first cruise opportunity since the dreaded COVID-19 upended travel plans for the planet almost two years ago. Normally, we wouldn’t write a post about such a routine part of our journey, but COVID-19 caused us

2019 Northern Europe

July 26th Helsinki, Finland

Posted on August 18, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

Because Nautica would not reach the port of Helsinki until 11:00am, guest lecturer Dr. Sherry Hutt had the opportunity to make a presentation this morning, which of course we attend. As she starts her lecture, she discusses conversations she has on board. One concerned being at the Team Trivia event that is held every Sea Day. She references it this way: “Trivia – the blood sport of cruising!” We all laugh because it is so true.

2019 Northern Europe

July 25th Stockholm, Sweden

Posted on August 17, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

We are at 59.33 degrees north latitude, so sunrise comes at 4:16am today. As lecturer Sherry Hutt suggested, we are up at 5am for the morning sail into Stockholm. We look out over our veranda and think we are in Casco Bay, Maine. I mean, it looks identical to what we see as we cruise Casco Bay on the boat to Cliff Island. Small islands all over the place. Dozens and dozens of summer houses. Sailboats and

2019 Northern Europe

July 24th Sea Day

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

Our journey to Stockholm is only 395 nautical miles, which is too far to reach overnight, so today is a Sea Day, but at a leisurely pace. We wake up at 7am, and it’s 63 degrees and cloudy, but we are traveling at 11.5 knots per hour, far less than our cruising speed of 18 knots. There are plenty of activities available, but we do our usual thing and head for Horizons on Deck 10 for

2019 Northern Europe

July 23rd Copenhagen, Denmark

Posted on August 16, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

Technically, our cruise is ending, but having signed on for the “next” cruise, we are considered “in transit.” We have a day on our own in Copenhagen, as we have foregone the two excursions offered by Oceania Cruises. On our way off the ship this morning, Cruise Director Shawn Carter tells us that, of the 500+ people boarding today, 358 of them are first-time Oceania Cruises passengers. That in itself is quite a change in the

2019 Northern Europe

July 22nd Sea Day

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

The photo above is our last view of Norway, but we are pretty sure it won’t be our last visit. The next morning, we begin to look back at the previous 17 days and start to catalog what we have learned that we haven’t already mentioned in the blog posts for those days. Two quick thoughts come to mind, two about history and another one just personal: Throughout our visit to Norway and Russia, we were

2019 Northern Europe

July 21st Flåm, Norway

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

Before I start this post, let me say that I finally am discovering why I’m so far behind (I am writing this on July 31stabout our July 21stactivities). First of all, we are so fascinated by everything about these places – especially the history which we were not really exposed to in school (Now I know why my father majored in European history in college!). Secondly, I am taking all too many photographs, which I then have

2019 Northern Europe

July 21st Sognefjorden, Norway

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

We will have two posts on this day, and this first one is going to be mostly photographs. We are traveling almost the entire length of the Sognefjord fjord, which runs for 127 miles from the ocean eastward. We will end up in the small town of Flam. The ship’s guest lecturer, Sherry Hutt, told us yesterday that we absolutely must be up by 6:00am, even though our arrival in Flam isn’t until 10:00am, because the

2019 Northern Europe

July 20th Kristiansund, Norway

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Steve and Cathy

We get a surprising welcome when we arrive in Kristiansund harbor around 8:45am. A cannon on the hill of the town is fired three times to mark our arrival, an auspicious and delightful start to our day. It’s a beautiful summer day, with just a few clouds and little wind. Our ship docks right in the town next to a shopping area. Quick factoid: Kristiansund is believed to have been the first location of human habitation