Spitzbergen via Norway - July 20th - August 4th 2014

Getting there at 11:20 would have meant hanging around for a shuttle anyway. We went to Terminal 1, as Someone Else's cruise liner was on the other one. Booking so late also meant that we got no priority on boarding but were on before 3. Avis had a bun for £3.15 but we still got the free coffee, being Gold members (i.e. frequent floaters). Simon Vickers is the Cruise Director & I saw him as we got on. The bags were ready but we had tea first & only partially trashed our cabin before lifeboat drill. After, we did more unpacking but then, I left Avis to it, as the cabin is not enormous. I went back to the Palms self-service restaurant & chatted to two widows for a while, then saw Kim Brown the Classical Singer go out onto the 1/4 deck. She introduced me to her very tall pianist, Corinne Marsh. Then, I returned my library book from the last cruise. I fetched my camera but it was misty in Dover. We were bunkering (or filling up with diesel oil, which is smelly) & left later than scheduled. We saw Rachel, who has been on 4 cruises with us & Ian, seen before. Mark Shortland, the magician, is also here. Excellent dinner. Company was Auriol & John, Cynthia & Bernard. John was a hoot, a mechanical engineer & Bernard was a radio engineer for GCHQ, of all places.

It was a long way to Kristiansund (not to be mistaken for the much nearer & bigger Kristiansand), so had two days at sea, variously occupied by port talks by William, the Shore Manager & telling us of the attractions & tours, lectures on astronomy, the weather & migrating birds, a Classical recital by Kim, the In-Tune pop group & the Show Team in the evening plus walking round the deck as a gesture to maintaining fitness. Such are days at sea.