UnDisney Family in denial about Gold Status -Norwegian Fjords - August 16-26 2018

Yay, you're back!

Gorgeous scenery, even if it was raining. Good, hardy Canadian boy :thumbsup2

Oh my...that water looks.......um....yeah......

Can you tell me which ginger candies you get? We are sailing out of NYC to Bermuda later this year and I've heard the waters can be notoriously choppy leaving NY. I wear seabands (which have yet to fail me, I got them when sailing across the English Channel 25 years ago :earseek:) but could always use more tips for keeping seasickness at bay!
 
Day 4 - Alesund

See? I'm back. I'm on a mission!

Okey dokey. After what felt being on the go for a gagillion days in a row, we ended up with a short port day in Alesund (8:30-2:00).

We had (appropriately) realized we'd not be up for anything exciting, so we just planned to walk around a bit. DCL Queen & her crew were more adventurous- going kayaking. We felt no such urges.

Conor and I got DH moving to have breakfast together at Cabanas. I noted that they were serving maple syrup (heated). I tried some.

If you take all-purpose cleaner, add in food colouring and some sugar, I think you get what they call maple syrup. We all tried it, and nearly had to run screaming from Cabanas.

We are Canadian. We are maple syrup snobs. Fortunately, we are also prepared, so we had (of course) travelled with our trusty supply of the real stuff, so we were able to recover.

In case you're wondering... it looked fancy. See? But DO NOT BE FOOLED.

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Our goal was to get off early-ish, look around, mail a few post cards, and then have lunch back on the ship.

Alesund was rainy, but very beautiful. This little area is about a 5 minute (max) walk from port.

Conor was repping his skating club when it wasn't raining.

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A better image from DH

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I suspect you could go out on this or on it anyway at some point... but it was a Sunday, which meant much of Alesund was closed.


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We kind of forgot to write the postcards before getting off the ship, but fortunately, grandpa doesn't care much about handwriting, so we got it done outside, and mailed it in a cute mailbox. (I'm pretty sure we bought the postcards in Stavanger - with stamps - and thus had to make sure we mailed all of them before we left Alesund.)


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Shortly after this, it started to rain in earnest - vs. the previous drizzle. We found a little museum-type-place, and amused ourselves for the 10 minutes or so that it took to pass, and procured a few more souvenirs (had to try to use up the Norwegian currency!)

We were about to head back to the ship, when we saw a sign for a magic shop. Conor has been interested in magic since (sigh) our last cruise when he saw a really great magician, so we thought we'd check it out.

This turned out to be one of those cool, totally unplanned things that you only get if you're willing to, well, not plan.

It's a tiny little shop that is run by a famous Norwegian magician, helped by his teen daughter (also a magician). The man was great, and he showed Conor a few tricks, and although this photo is kind of not great, you can see how engaged he was. It was fun to watch. Said magician was also a very skilled salesman, so we did in fact find a way to use up more of our leftover Norwegian cash...

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Suitably chuffed from this discovery, we headed back towards the ship, but we stopped in a small grocery store. This was actually quite neat, and I bought a bunch of huge chocolate bars to share at work when I deigned to return. Oh and DH managed to get some local beer again.

With that, we boarded the Magic, and had some kind of unmemorable lunch. The remainder of the afternoon was spent as follows:

  • Lounge in cabin admiring FE booty and souvenirs.
  • Poke child until he was willing to deliver either Tsum Tsums, FEs (easy as they were all on our floor), or recipes.
  • Deliver a few things
  • Try to nab a washing machine. Fail.
  • Get coffee.
  • Send kid to the club.

At an appropriate point, we retrieved the kiddo, and got ready for formal night.

Voila Mr. "I am now very interested in dressing up in a jacket & tie" ... in his "I'm a spy" pose (apparently he thinks that spies always dress like James Bond) and then in some kind of ... I don't know... pose. And yes, he insisted on wearing his purple vest under his jacket.

DH and I dressed up, but neglected to get any photos. Oops.

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And, finally, I leave you with the mandatory lounging in a porthole photo.

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What you can see there in the porthole is how light it is- that photo was taken at 8:00 p.m., local time. It really was very light until quite late, but we didn't particularly notice anything that affected our sleep, because we were good and exhausted, and because those black-out curtains really work.

Of note... we did snag a washer in here. See- formal night is NOT when people want to be doing laundry. We looked just before we went down to supper- and found 2 free washers. One of us (in formal wear) ducked out of supper between courses briefly to move things to the dryer (the nifty app is very helpful that way- it tells you when your washer is done). We finished supper, and then the dryer was done, so we removed our stuff, and happily folded warm, clean clothes in the cabin as a prelude to falling asleep (wild, are we).

And with that, I've finished with Norway. I haven't reflected on any of the ports on their own- I'll do all 3 together... but now, (because some things never change), I have to move laundry!

Next up - A VERY MUCH NEEDED day at sea.
 
Woohoo! So glad you're back. Bummer about computer and work drama.

Love the skating socks. Also the fact that his expression almost perfectly matches the thug is hilarious.
 
Yay, you're back!

Gorgeous scenery, even if it was raining. Good, hardy Canadian boy :thumbsup2

Oh my...that water looks.......um....yeah......

Can you tell me which ginger candies you get? We are sailing out of NYC to Bermuda later this year and I've heard the waters can be notoriously choppy leaving NY. I wear seabands (which have yet to fail me, I got them when sailing across the English Channel 25 years ago :earseek:) but could always use more tips for keeping seasickness at bay!

It was a great excursion- and after the summer we had in Ontario, none of us were complaining (well, almost none of us) about putting layers on.

I used Gin Gins- they're really strong- so maybe try them first. I was feeling carsick on the way to Toronto, and tried one, and it worked really fast. I got the chewy ones. They helped our friend's teenager too when nothing else did- worth a shot for sure. (They're individually packaged too- so I keep some now in most of our bags when we travel.)

And thanks! Yes, we're back. And now, I should update my signature thingy....
 


I love that you bring your own maple syrup!!
I will not eat pancakes or waffles in Cabanas because the "colored corn syrup' they offer is terrible.
We only use the real stuff here, I maybe smuggling some with us next month :)

Sorry you're snowed in and so cold!
:wave:Waving Hi from a soggy South Florida this afternoon.
 
Woohoo! So glad you're back. Bummer about computer and work drama.

Love the skating socks. Also the fact that his expression almost perfectly matches the thug is hilarious.

That about sums up what he felt about the thugs ... he was not entirely sure about them. However, he chatted up this one just fine, thanks.

We survived - it was more irritation than real drama- for which I am very grateful!


I love that you bring your own maple syrup!!
I will not eat pancakes or waffles in Cabanas because the "colored corn syrup' they offer is terrible.
We only use the real stuff here, I maybe smuggling some with us next month :)

Sorry you're snowed in and so cold!
:wave:Waving Hi from a soggy South Florida this afternoon.

Oh yes- we always bring our own- and it's a staple in our FE gifts (we don't craft very well- but we feed people well). We figure Canadians (and those from Vermont, etc.) are just happy to see the real stuff, and then we educate those who don't know as to the bliss that is real maple syrup.

I'm hoping Florida gets less soggy soon!
 
Reflections on Norway

We really enjoyed our Norwegian ports, but we almost wish it was possible to ditch one of the ports and spend more time at another (hear that Big Mouse?) Basically- it felt kind of rushed overall - as we didn't have long days in port, and so we didn't get to really delve in at any one town/city.

The people were lovely and it was neat when we did venture into places that weren't really touristy. Shopping in Kristiansand was quite fun (outside of the mall, I mean).

Stavanger - or the parts we saw anyway- was also quite neat - lots of interesting stores. We were very, very happy with our fjord tour, and also glad we didn't plan anything else.

Alesund is probably quite interesting from a historical point of view (important place in World War II)- but since it was Sunday, almost everything was closed. Fortunately, we didn't have any grand plans, but you wouldn't want to have saved all of your Norwegian currency for spending here if you happen to visit on a Sunday.

(Note- take all of the above with a big grain of salt- we very deliberately decided to NOT embark on any fancy excursions- I'm sure others did amazing things.)

All places were very walkable for us- but there were lots of hills in Stavanger in particular.

Oh, and I wouldn't be reporting accurately if I didn't mention that it is quite expensive. Not as expensive (I don't think) as Iceland, but definitely worth considering when planning. Part of avoiding excursions (by DCL or by others mostly) was to save some money here.

And finally- as most people mentioned, because of our schedule and the port-heavy start to the cruise, we were pretty well DONE by the time we got to Alesund- as we had at that point travelled to Toronto on Monday, then flown overnight, then tried to adjust to the time change on Tuesday & Wednesday, boarded on Thursday, then had ports on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, we had literally been on the go for a full week (plus I worked Monday to Monday before we left). In other words, don't expect a day full of thrills on our first day at sea!

Fear not, though- it was still awesome. We just felt that Norway kind of got the short end of the stick on this cruise... but it was still a very nice stick, even at the not-long end if that makes sense... :)
 
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Thanks for the tip on the Gin-Gins, I'll have to try and find them.

I love that you didn't do excursions and explored on your own; it just goes to show you're there to enjoy the ports, it doesn't have to be FANCY or lavish. Although being a port (any port) on a Sunday is usually bad timing because so many things are closed (friends of ours,their first ever Disney cruise stopped in Grand Cayman on a Sunday and they were shocked as they pretty much rolled up the sidewalks that day as they didn't have an excursion booked either).

Oh my gosh, what a handsome, dashing boy you have!!!Friggin' cutiepie!

I see you are off to Hogwarts, next! Though, the bottom is cut off so I don't know when.....:rotfl2:....coz I'm nosy like that :laughing:
 
Day 5 - A (thank goodness) day at sea

We were very much ready for a day of no big plans. Or, rather, I thought we were to have no big plans, but DH and DCL Queen signed me up (with them) for a mixology class, and we had Palo supper. However, happily, these were both taking place in the afternoon, so there was a lovely morning of No Rushing.

I believe our only official thing we needed to do was to take our passports to Guest Services so that the Icelandic folk could stamp them. Very civilized, it turned out (vs. what we ended up doing later in the cruise...) At some point we had to go back and get them too... but that was hardly a chore.

This may have been the day (maybe?) that we got to go to the Gold/Platinum reception. This cruise was chock-a-block FULL of gold and platinum members, so they had us meet in the theatre. We got to see some behind-the-scenes stuff about Tangled the musical, and that was kind of neat. I was a good DCL person so I didn't take any photos. :) Anyhow- if it wasn't this day, it was definitely another day (how precise is that?) and that's definitely how it happened. There were free drinks. I remember thinking mine was vile!

Otherwise, we spent a pretty chill morning. I sat on my deck and read - under my blanket, though it wasn't too bad.

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(Note Sunrise and Sunset times)

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I'm not entirely sure now (as I took no notes on this day - too much like work), but I'm pretty sure Conor and I delivered our various exchange things, and checked out the shops.

We lunched, and then he wanted to find the "secret" pin trading book at the little shop on Deck 3 (bad Gold member am I ... I don't know its name).

This place was usually empty, even on days at sea, and the CMs were always great with Mr. Pin Trade, who was once again sporting Canada Olympic wear. (Really- we did have a rather good Winter Olympics - particularly in Figure Skating. We are still happy about this almost one year out.)

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After that mind-boggling-ly thrilling morning, at some point we decanted the kid into the club, and headed off to mixology.

Now, I had done one mixology class before, and was totally not excited by it. (To put it mildly.) However, DH and DCL Queen discussed with some head waiter or other on day 1 and it turns out that The Best Bartender (sorry- I don't remember who) would be doing this one, and it would not involve my needing to muddle or mix in front of others. Also, know that I am not a particularly big drinker (that's an understatement). So, basically, I was there ... to share my drinks with them. :) It was OK, though. I got to sip on things I liked, and handed off the rest.

I liked this one. Do not ask me what it is. It was yummy. And pretty - with layers.

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Somehow I managed to stay awake after this (major challenge for me). We deployed Conor to head off with DCL Queen's boys to supper (big night) and we got all grown-up and went to Palo. Conor was going to either watch movies in our cabin after or go to the club. We had given him an old phone of mine that was Wifi enabled, so he could use the DCL app to chat with us, and we gave him check-out privileges at the club, so this was a very new and novel plan.

Conor was quite miffed that we got the fancy Palo food (perils of raising a foodie). We promised him to take photos, so you all get food pics now!

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I can assure you that after mixology and Palo supper I was well and truly ready for bed. We wandered back to the room and as promised, the kiddo was in his bed, watching movies. It is actually quite neat that we can work on some carefully thought out graduated independence on the ships. The old phone worked wonders.

Perhaps not a thrilling day, but one we needed - to rest up for what was arguably a highlight of the trip- our private tour in Iceland.

That update will have to wait for later this week, though!
 
Thanks for the tip on the Gin-Gins, I'll have to try and find them.

I love that you didn't do excursions and explored on your own; it just goes to show you're there to enjoy the ports, it doesn't have to be FANCY or lavish. Although being a port (any port) on a Sunday is usually bad timing because so many things are closed (friends of ours,their first ever Disney cruise stopped in Grand Cayman on a Sunday and they were shocked as they pretty much rolled up the sidewalks that day as they didn't have an excursion booked either).

Oh my gosh, what a handsome, dashing boy you have!!!Friggin' cutiepie!

I see you are off to Hogwarts, next! Though, the bottom is cut off so I don't know when.....:rotfl2:....coz I'm nosy like that :laughing:

I found the Gin Gins at a local organic store (by fluke) but if well.ca delivers to BC, they have them too.

And thanks- he is keen to dress up now. He's quite annoyed that he can't bring his jacket on our next trip, which is in 19 days. :) It's Hogwarts and more.
 
Yes, I've used well.ca several times so will check them out!

Sounds like the perfect sea day to me :thumbsup2:cool1: Can't wait for your Iceland update!!!!
 
Great update! I'm enjoying seeing the cruise through your eyes. I must admit those first sea days were a blur for my family - we were so tired from touring Copenhagen and Norway that we desperately needed a quiet day. We were on that first ferry to the fjords and it was crowded. DD spent the entire time outside at the front of the ship, DH spent most of his time out there, and I went back and forth since it was pretty cold and wet out there. Looks like you have a great little adventurer there. :goodvibes
 
Conor and I got DH moving to have breakfast together at Cabanas. I noted that they were serving maple syrup (heated). I tried some.

If you take all-purpose cleaner, add in food colouring and some sugar, I think you get what they call maple syrup. We all tried it, and nearly had to run screaming from Cabanas.

We are Canadian. We are maple syrup snobs. Fortunately, we are also prepared, so we had (of course) travelled with our trusty supply of the real stuff, so we were able to recover.

My mother is Canadian so we were raised maple syrup snobs too. Except that I prefer jam on my pancakes/waffles.


At an appropriate point, we retrieved the kiddo, and got ready for formal night.

Voila Mr. "I am now very interested in dressing up in a jacket & tie" ... in his "I'm a spy" pose (apparently he thinks that spies always dress like James Bond) and then in some kind of ... I don't know... pose. And yes, he insisted on wearing his purple vest under his jacket.

DH and I dressed up, but neglected to get any photos. Oops.

My 7-year old wanted us to rent him a tux on this next cruise because he wanted to look like a secret agent. I really considered it but they don't provide them when departing from San Juan.
 
Yay! Glad you're working on the trip report again!

We're from Massachusetts and we are maple syrup snobs too (corn syrup with maple flavoring is NOT maple syrup!) When we brought DD18 back to college after winter break, we gave her a small bottle of maple syrup to use in the dining halls!
 
Hey, hey, welcome back!
t was not warm (sorry- we do Celsius here) - but note my proof that I was up early. :)

15 C, that's about 60 F, yes? I wish we did Celsius in the states. It makes more sense.

Yeah. No one else is actually outside at this point. His parents took photos from inside. :)


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Smart parents, stay inside where it is dry.

I'll confess- he comes by this naturally- mostly I love rain and this type of weather too, though it's brutal on my hair.

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This is a great photo! Pink is a good color for you. My hair likes to be weird when the humidity is high also.

Smiles!
Kate
 
Yes, I've used well.ca several times so will check them out!

Sounds like the perfect sea day to me :thumbsup2:cool1: Can't wait for your Iceland update!!!!

Thanks!


Great update! I'm enjoying seeing the cruise through your eyes. I must admit those first sea days were a blur for my family - we were so tired from touring Copenhagen and Norway that we desperately needed a quiet day. We were on that first ferry to the fjords and it was crowded. DD spent the entire time outside at the front of the ship, DH spent most of his time out there, and I went back and forth since it was pretty cold and wet out there. Looks like you have a great little adventurer there. :goodvibes

Yeah- it was a bit blurry for sure. That's why I'm not sure about things like the Gold/Platinum reception. I know I went to one, though! :)




My mother is Canadian so we were raised maple syrup snobs too. Except that I prefer jam on my pancakes/waffles.


My 7-year old wanted us to rent him a tux on this next cruise because he wanted to look like a secret agent. I really considered it but they don't provide them when departing from San Juan.

Secret agents = well-dressed kids .. who knew? :)

Yay! Glad you're working on the trip report again!

We're from Massachusetts and we are maple syrup snobs too (corn syrup with maple flavoring is NOT maple syrup!) When we brought DD18 back to college after winter break, we gave her a small bottle of maple syrup to use in the dining halls!

Exactly. I'm not sure what that is (corn syrup + flavour) but maple syrup it is not. However, it's probably better than what they served that one day in Cabanas. EEK!


Hey, hey, welcome back!


15 C, that's about 60 F, yes? I wish we did Celsius in the states. It makes more sense.


Smart parents, stay inside where it is dry.


This is a great photo! Pink is a good color for you. My hair likes to be weird when the humidity is high also.

Smiles!
Kate

Yes- that's about 60F. Thanks re: photo! I kind of hate pink, actually, but i like my rain jacket. :)
 
Day 6 - Iceland day 1

Having recuperated a bit on a day at sea, we also had a sort-of slow morning on board, as were not due into port until 12:30. Of course, we were early, so I ended up rushing. :scared:

However, I recovered, because .... ICELAND!!!!!!!

This was truly just amazing.

DH was in charge of sorting out our private Golden Circle tour (again- we didn't go through Big Mouse). I confess I didn't pay much attention to the details, so I was as surprised as the kids when we were led to our ride.

Voila:

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To be clear, Conor is not a short 10 year old. Those tires are almost as big as he is. I was also confused as to why we needed this particular vehicle, but that will become clear later.

Anyhow, our guide, Skully, was great, and, well, it was always easy to find our ride in the parking lots.

So, I'll try to sum up the Golden Circle tour - this is probably the usual tour many people do, but please don't think that makes it ordinary. It was UNREAL. Amazing. Awesome. I have so many photos, it's hard for me to pick some to post.

However, I'll try!

The photo above is from our first stop- just a small store, really, with coffee and bathrooms. We stopped here because we'd have a long-ish stretch before another break for food.

However, even before we got there.. the scenery was amazing. This photo is just from my phone, through a window.

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There are lots of geothermal areas- so lots of cool, otherwordly steam. "Like we're on another planet, Mom!" - that was about right.

Anyhow, the scenery was cool... but then we got to Kerið.

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Kerið is a volcanic crater lake- and it's just stunning. It's a bit of a hike to get up and around, but not bad at all. There is a longer way down if you want to go further down, but we found the top sufficiently amazing.

The colours are just incredible. DH has a good macro lens, so he got a few neat pics of local plant life.

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At this point, it was cool (like 10 degrees Celsius) and a bit drizzly, but not bad at all. You can see that Conor is decked out in layers, like any cool (sorry!) Canadian... so he had on a t-shirt, then a warm pullover (featured later), then his real rain jacket- that's about what we all did. We had rain pants for all, but it wasn't raining or cold enough for that. Most of us had mittens or gloves, though some of us who were 10 kept forgetting them in the beast of a vehicle we drove around in.

We had an odd hiccup here- our vehicle had somehow rolled a bit while parked and gently nudged someone's rental car- no damage and no injuries, but we had a bit of a delay while things were being figured out. In the middle of all this, in a surreal fashion, my cell phone rang and it turned out to be Conor's piano teacher calling to sort out fall lessons. :)

With that all out of the way... we headed off to a small waterfall, which was nice enough but as it was far less impressive than what came next, I won't use up my photo allotment on those pics. We did all use the bathroom at the little diner, though.

This was a day of many stops... so, next up was a stop to see the Geysir geysers. (That is not a typo.)

Unfortunately, even though DH did his best -we didn't get any great photos of the actual big geyser doing it's thing. However, the whole place was kind of cool... lots of this kind of thing happening.

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At this point, the sun came out! Iceland had barely had any sun for weeks ... but we lucked out. After yet another bathroom break and a hunt for souvenirs, we hit the road again.

We had a short drive to visit some lovely Icelandic residents... ponies!

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These chaps were very nice- and chill. We enjoyed the sun and fed them a bit, and then headed off to Gullfoss - which deserves almost an entire post unto itself, so I'll stop here.

I was trying to figure out the timing of this whole day, when I belatedly remembered that my photos have time stamps. Yes, genius am I.

So- basically- we were on the road right at 12:30 - so clearly we got in at least an hour before that, as it takes the usual amount of time to get off the ship, etc. Stop for first snacks was at 1:00. Crater was at about 1:30 (including the short amount of walking to get to the top) and with our delay in the parking lot, we were at the small waterfall by 2:45. Geysers were at about 3:00 ish, then ponies at about 4:00.

We did not feel rushed at any point- none of these things needed us to be at a particular location at a particular time. We basically decided how long we wanted to spend at each place, guided by Skully. At the actual locations, he mostly just gave us tips as to what to see, and then left us on our own, with a rough agreed upon time to meet up again, and where.

Hope that helps the planners. We still had a lot in store for this day... so stay tuned!
 
I have never gone on a cruise, but we ARE Disney People, and are half-heartedly considering a cruise, and figure the safe and loving arms of our favorite mouse is a good place to start :rotfl:

The Norwegian Fjords or Alaskan cruises would be our preference (no strong desire for tropical-ness, but yes to Cuba), so I was excited to find and read through your report - especially from your non-Disney Person perspective - because if you keep booking it must mean it’s good!

I have anxiety about packing for such a trip, and dealing with a long flight. Not like psychological anxiety, I just mean from a planning point, so it was helpful to read through your experience with that.

Looking forward to reading more!!
 
Conor and I got DH moving to have breakfast together at Cabanas. I noted that they were serving maple syrup (heated). I tried some.

If you take all-purpose cleaner, add in food colouring and some sugar, I think you get what they call maple syrup. We all tried it, and nearly had to run screaming from Cabanas.
:crazy2:
Alesund was rainy, but very beautiful. This little area is about a 5 minute (max) walk from port.
It's always nice when you can walk to town from the port and don't have to rely on any transportation.

This looks like a baby Guinness. We made one of these in our mixology class on my last cruise. They are delicious.

Perhaps not a thrilling day, but one we needed - to rest up for what was arguably a highlight of the trip- our private tour in Iceland.
Sea days are always good when you have an action packed trip to give you much needed rest and relaxation. Your food at Palo looked delicious!

Wow those are some massive tires!

I am so excited to read about your travels in Iceland, I've been wanting to go forever. One day I'll get there.

Your pictures on your tour are amazing! Iceland is so pretty!
 
So, I'll try to sum up the Golden Circle tour - this is probably the usual tour many people do, but please don't think that makes it ordinary. It was UNREAL. Amazing. Awesome. I have so many photos, it's hard for me to pick some to post.

These photos are so amazing. I cannot wait to see more.
 

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