Cruising the Norwegian fjords without Disney! COMPLETED - Page 26 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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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.
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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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I'm glad the seasickness pills worked so fast and you had no problems after that. What a lovely restaurant and meal! Very surprising to be refused your request for a second dessert on a cruise, and to be turned away from the theater! The ship does look beautiful, though, and it's so nice that you're getting such good service from the photographer and your steward. They all work so hard under difficult conditions and deserve every penny of their tip money and more!
What a great dinner you had! Too bad you couldn't get another dessert! Glad the seasickness tablets worked! Sorry about not getting in to see the show!
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That dinner looked fabulous!!! My mouth was watering the whole time. And I thought you had a early evening reservation because it was so light outside not realizing it was really 9:30pm. I'd be a bit messed up because of that too.
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That dinner looked fabulous!!! My mouth was watering the whole time. And I thought you had a early evening reservation because it was so light outside not realizing it was really 9:30pm. I'd be a bit messed up because of that too.
Your dinner looked absolutely fabulous, especially the dessert! Strange that they wouldn't let you have two desserts, though. I thought all cruise lines allowed that.
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Glad the seasickness pills worked and you were able to enjoy your dinner. Sorry you were refused another dessert and you couldn't get in to see the show.
Wednesday 2 May – part one: I didn’t expect to see that here!
For the first time this cruise, neither of us slept that well last night. I’d describe my sleep as a light one, although I’m not sure why. Perhaps it was the fact that we were rocking a bit more than we had done on previous nights?
As soon as I started to wake up, I got up to check what time it was. It was just past 6:00 am, and the TV showed that we were well down the fjord heading to our destination, so I quickly got dressed and went outside to see the view. It was just breathtaking, with the sun emerging over the fjord. I was amazed at how many other people were out there, given the early hour. I spotted at least half a dozen other people, all with cameras with telescopic lenses. Us cameramen and women are obviously early risers to get the best shot!
There was snow on the mountain tops, reminding me of Switzerland. In fairness, it was roughly the same time of year.
I couldn’t get over the polytunnels they had here, presumably for growing crops. I just assumed that they wouldn’t bother with agriculture here, but apparently not.
As we moved further down the fjord, I retreated inside, discovering I could get photos just as comfortably from the warmth of the room as outside, and I was shooting away every time another new sight came into view. It was just lovely and exactly what we came on this cruise to see.
I had a quick check online, so that I could upload one of the photos I’d taken this morning of the fjords. There’s nothing like tempting people....
We were amazed at the sights we saw, which included what looked like vineyards to us – again, something we didn’t expect to see here.
Some of the properties were absolutely stunning, and although I can imagine that it’s a very hard life here, I can also see the attraction, when you look at how beautiful the places here are.
As soon as the restaurants opened for breakfast at 7:30 am, we headed that way. This morning we went for the Oriental restaurant, one of the sit down restaurants, as part of my quest to try as many of the ship’s restaurants as we could. I liked the decor here...
We were guided to a window table, which happened to be on the other side of the ship to our cabin, so gave us a different perspective. With the way the sun was catching the window though, there weren’t many photo opportunities....
... so, not one to be put off, I headed upstairs to the promenade deck to get some outdoor shots, and I was glad I did. The colours from the sunlight were just beautiful.
At the Oriental, you order your breakfast, so I went for the duo of melon, and the melon was much better quality than I’ve had the last couple of days. Then I had some Scottish pancakes (don’t ask, I have no idea how they differ to any other pancake... ) and maple syrup, although they were a little on the stingy side with the maple syrup for my liking... It was certainly better quality food than we’ve had before, and it was nice to sit at a table with others and watch the world go by.
What a good thing you woke up early. The sun coming up over the fjords is definitely a sight worth catching. The scenery is so beautiful, and the houses and farms scattered about are so picturesque that they add to the beauty of the scene, to me at least. It's amazing that the huge ships can maneuver so deeply into the fjords.
What a good thing you woke up early. The sun coming up over the fjords is definitely a sight worth catching. The scenery is so beautiful, and the houses and farms scattered about are so picturesque that they add to the beauty of the scene, to me at least. It's amazing that the huge ships can maneuver so deeply into the fjords.
I know - I think the captains must have years and years experience to do those trips. I'm betting they start in easier places, then graduate up to that...
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The ship does look beautiful, though, and it's so nice that you're getting such good service from the photographer and your steward. They all work so hard under difficult conditions and deserve every penny of their tip money and more!
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Glad the seasickness tablets worked! 
Sorry about not getting in to see the show! 
Still, your meal looks lovely!
And I thought you had a early evening reservation because it was so light outside not realizing it was really 9:30pm. 
I'd be a bit messed up because of that too.
it's a surreal feeling!
It was certainly better quality food than we’ve had before, and it was nice to sit at a table with others and watch the world go by. 
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