Steve and Cathy's Blog

Our ship docks in Honfleur, France at 7:30am. We have already eaten breakfast at Waves Grill, and headed to Sirena Lounge because our 9 1/2-hour excursion to visit the D-Day landing beaches and U.S. cemetery begins at the same time. This is going to be a special day for us. We feel honored to have the opportunity to pay our respects to all the phenomenally brave American, Canadian and British soldiers who landed here on D-Day,

Our ship arrives at 6:30am to this phenomenally busy seaport. Steve is aghast at the amount of freight activity and, if he had his druthers, would have opted for an all-day tour of this port over practically anything. Right across from our ship is the “roro” ship (roll on-roll off ship that is loaded and unloaded using tractors pulling trailers and containers are moved on specially-built dollies rather than handled by crane) Yasmine. It’s actually a

When you think of Amsterdam, nothing comes to mind faster than the word Canals, which is why why we chose the photo above to lead today’s post. Our excursion begins at 8am and is to last 4 ½ hours, so we are up very early to make sure we have time for breakfast in the Terrace Café. The weather is cloudy, but the forecast says it will reach 68 degrees F. today, a welcome change from

The distance from Rosyth, Scotland to Ijmuiden, Netherlands is 383 nautical miles, and, because we didn’t leave Rosyth until 10pm, today is a sea day. As Rosyth was a substitution from Leith because of the events going on in Edinburgh, Ijmuiden is a substitute for our original port of Amsterdam. We were all advised by letter that the reason for this change was “due to reduced water levels that are impacting the operation of the locks

According to today’s Currents, the daily newsletter Oceania prints, Rain showers are predicted, but as you can see from the photo above taken at 1:00pm, the rain never materialized. This was a wonderful gift for everyone as there are important events beginning at 2pm today in Edinburgh. The planning of activities today depends completely on what transportation arrangements are available. Cruise Director Julie James keeps us informed of the changing situation. What finally comes about is

The day starts with a beautiful sunrise. Steve just has to take some photos to share. The sea provides a perfect stage to view the changing sky, which totally dominates and is also reflected in the water. By 1:30, we are sailing quite near the east coast of Scotland. Time for another photo: Well, of course we know that our plans in Edinburgh have been set aside, and that the ship is to dock in Rosyth

Sirena is scheduled to drop anchor in Kirkwall at 9am. Prior to that, we all have to go through immigration because we are now back in Great Britain. As is almost everything that Oceania organizes, this process goes quickly and easily. In fact, Cathy recognizes the immigration official as the same one we had in the Shetland Islands a few weeks back. She is friendly and welcoming. We are one of the first groups to be

We are back to the Faroe Islands again, the last time being on August 26th. At that time, the sea conditions did not allow us to dock in Torshavn, the capital. And last time, our excursion to the Vestmanna Cliffs had been canceled, presumably for the same reason. This time we will make it to this popular destination, although, when we board the bus, the weather looks very unfavorable for going to the tops of mountains

Above is a picture of Cathy in her very favorite part of the ship – the Library. Doesn’t she look at home there? Breakfast in the Grand dining Room, where we had an opportunity to chat with Dining Room Manager Gorica (pronounced Gor eetz’ ah – she’s from Serbia). She has become a friend that we look forward to seeing every day, and we certainly do see her daily because she is everywhere doing whatever it takes to

We have been hoping to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights ever since this cruise began. As good as our luck with the weather has been, an opportunity to do so has eluded us …. until tonight. As the weather forecast this evening has been positive that the clouds would not be there to interfere, Steve ventures up to Deck 11 to join at least 75 fellow passengers to see if our patience will be