Steve and Cathy's Blog

We arrive at the Solovetsky Islands at 8:00am. Northern Russia is not exactly a hotbed of tourist activity, and there aren’t all that many places to visit, so I guess Oceania Cruises decided on this place for lack of other options. This is our first tender port, so we will be transported to the island on the ship’s lifeboats. This is a pretty long tender – about 25 minutes. We have the morning to catch up

We are traveling the White Sea enroute to the Solovetsky Islands, located within this body of water. The White Sea is entirely within Russia, and much of it freezes from October/November to April/May. Today is a Sea Day, so this will be a quick post. Today is Canyon Ranch Spa Day for both of us. Steve has to use up his shipboard spa credit, and scheduled a 9am appointment for the Euphoric Coffee Scrub (ya gotta

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, …” – Mark Twain We learned of this quotation by Mark Twain from Peter Croyle, the excellent guest lecturer on our last cruise. If there was ever a place that challenged our deep-set attitudes and preconceptions, this is it. We were both raised as Cold War kids, and our objectivity about Russia is nonexistent. It is taking everything we have to lay off the KGB jokes and put

We arrive in Hammerfest at 7:00am, which lays claim to being the northernmost town in the world at 70.66 degrees north latitude. This is disputed by the town of Honningsvag on the North Cape (which we will visit on July 18th). Apparently the disagreement has to do with the central government’s definition of town. Whatever. The temperature at arrival time is 53.6 degrees F.  Our excursion begins at 7:15, so we are up eating breakfast at

The photo above was actually taken at 12:40am tomorrow, July 12th. That’s 40 minutes past midnight and yes, that is the Midnight Sun. Sort of hidden behind the clouds, but it’s there! Steve has set his alarm and awakens at 6:00am to be conscious when the ship crosses the Arctic Circle. Whether the ship is actually crossing at this precise time is irrelevant to him. He just wants to bear witness to something he has wished to

Trondheim was a short trip from Alesund, only 86 nautical miles. Our latitude is now 66.25 degrees north, only 3 degrees from the Arctic Circle. The sunrise was at 3:28am and sunset will be at 11:16pm. It’s cloudy as we dock, but is expected to clear up, with the temperature reaching a high of 63 degrees F. This is a city of 193,666 (as of 2017) was established as a trading post in 997 and served

We are now at 62.50 north latitude, and, of course, the days are getting longer. At this point, it never gets completely dark this time of year. Sunrise today is at 3:58am; and sunset will be at 11:21pm. The rest of the time it’s twilight. This is an interesting phenomenon, and it is wreaking havoc with our sleep schedule. We must close the blackout curtains, otherwise we would never get to sleep. Once they’re closed, we

We have a smooth journey across the North Sea, cruise up some fjords past beautiful islands and arrive in Bergen, Norway at the appointed 9:00am arrival time. We have decided once again to forego any excursions and to just roam the downtown tourist area of the city. We step off the ship around 9:30 and walk the mile from the cruise pier to the Bryggen, the historic waterfront, once the center of commerce when the Hanseatic

We are now at 60.15 degrees north latitude. As we travel, this number will increase, and the significance of our mentioning this will become apparent as we head north. Oceania calls this cruise Northern Regala – and northernis the operative word. Our home in Wallingford, Connecticut is at 41.45 degrees. The Arctic Circle is at 66.56 degrees, and at or above this line the sun does not set for 56 days beginning in late June. To see

As we sleep, our ship heads north through the Irish Sea between Ireland and Scotland, then into the Atlantic. Cathy awakens early (it’s already getting light very early), [four AM! Couldn’t get back to sleep so went up to Horizons for a cappuccino and croissant, very nice way to start the day, so peaceful] and Steve follows around 7:00am or so. The ship is traversing the Inner Seas that run between the Inner Hebrides Islands and