Here's the next bunch of photos. I'm feeling very smug at my ability to get imbedded links in my posts. Thanks and a tip of the hat to the folks who read my blog and helped me with this!

on board

We had a comfortable, port side cabin. Port side was maybe a mini-bummer, since the coastline was starboard. But early one morning, hoping for northern lights (which we never did see because of overcast skies) I saw a gorgeous, orange and grey moonset. So it wasn't a total loss. Also most docks were on the port side, and we had an interesting view of the fork lift guys at every port, offloading stuff which had been shipped north. Lots of furniture, various home decorating soft goods like cushions and pillows, several loads of prehung cabinet frames, and lots and lots of laser printer paper.

Three meals a day were included in the fare - buffet style lunch and breakfast, and a sit down dinner. As I said one or two blogs back - lots and lots of fish. Marvelous array of desserts, very intriguing puddings. Wonderful variety of bread. On our last night aboard, smoked reindeer for those who wanted to try. Breakfast had just about everything you could think of, lunch the same (but cold cuts and sliced cheese only available at breakfast) Fresh fruit only at lunch. We usually had dinner at 8:30, which was often a very long wait after time ashore in cold fresh air. But after a day or so, we realized that taking carryout along when one left the dining room, with various goodies tucked in a napkin, would tide us over; we started doing that. Then later in the week we learned that this is a Norwegian custom, to put left over lunch choices in one's pocket for a late afternoon snack. So we stopped trying to hide the carryout items from the dining room staff, and got big grins in return.

There was a pay as you go cafeteria, a very well stocked bar with an espresso maker (and the only brewed decaf we encountered on the whole trip) a little gift shop which also sold stamps. For some odd reason, I've often found stamps the hardest item to come by in highly visited tourist destinations.

Every bed in Norway came equipped with a soft and warm duvet to sleep under. The cabin had a handy little built in converter for Mr Woodstock's electric shaver.

Some stops were only 15 minutes long, others gave time for a short stroll and some photo opportunities if nothing else. We were amused to notice that some very small towns had dockside "museums" which rolled up shutters as the ship was pulling in, and promptly rolled them back down again as the gangway was pulled up.

It was a pleasant way to travel, and very interesting with opportunities the larger cruise lines could not offer. The coastal steamer can get into every small town with a navigable channel. The larger ships would not be able to dock close enough to make a tender transfer comfortable or worthwhile.