Cruising the Norwegian fjords without Disney! COMPLETED - Page 21 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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What a lovely day, roaming around that charming town! Fun for Mark to have a fellow silly-photo-lover to play with! And that sculpture park was perfect for them!
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Tuesday 1 May – part four: “there’s someone important here, judging by the security”....
However, on the opposite side of the road was a concrete jungle. We came to the conclusion it probably dates from the 1960s or 1970s (doesn’t most of the worst architecture?). What were they thinking of when they allowed this right by the Old Town?
Realising that there wasn’t much more to see around here, we headed back towards the waterfront. I loved the way that there were Norwegian flags flying everywhere. They’re so striking with their brilliant colours, and the photos we took came up exceptionally vividly today. I can only put that down to the beautiful weather.
From the main square, after getting lots of photos, we walked towards the cathedral. On the way, we saw the Burger King and 7-Eleven. Of course, both were open for business, although so far we’d seen nothing else open.
We got up to the cathedral and it appeared to be closed. We took a few photos around the area, then Cheryl went up to ask someone who looked like a security guy whether the church was open. She was told as there was a mass on. As she was chatting to the guy, I turned round to Mark and said “there’s someone important here, judging by the security”....
Well, I was right. Cheryl came back and told us that, during her conversation with the security guy, he’d explained that the Norwegian Foreign Minister was here at the service.
The security presence outside the church
Now, just behind the church, a protest was going on, although it didn’t have the greatest turnout, as you can see. We’d heard on the news this morning that there were going to be May Day protests in various European countries, most notably Greece and Spain, centred around workers’ rights, so we assumed that’s what this was.
Next: getting up close and personal with the Norwegian foreign minister!
The little shopping area is charming, but that cement-and-glass-monstrosity is a real eyesore. You got such a beautiful day for this pretty town. Just curious-- what were the excursion choices like for this port?
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The little shopping area is charming, but that cement-and-glass-monstrosity is a real eyesore. You got such a beautiful day for this pretty town. Just curious-- what were the excursion choices like for this port?
I honestly couldn't remember what they were like - so I had to look them up on P&O's website.
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Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
UGH! That concrete thing is so ugly, and looks so out of place!
I really think almost anything from the late 60's through most of the 70's could probably be torn down and the world would be a much more beautiful place!
Did it seem as though there would have been many things to go in to, had they not all been closed for the holiday? Or just shops?
UGH! That concrete thing is so ugly, and looks so out of place!
I really think almost anything from the late 60's through most of the 70's could probably be torn down and the world would be a much more beautiful place!
Did it seem as though there would have been many things to go in to, had they not all been closed for the holiday? Or just shops?
If I'm honest, probably not. We went in the couple of things we wanted to visit, as they were open, so I think the visitor attractions were, in the main, open and it was just the shops that were shut.