The prime reason that we booked our cruise to Norway was to see the Northern Lights and, after the excitement of seeing them on just the 4th night of our trip, we were able to settle in, sit back and relax to enjoy the scenery whilst sailing from port to port. We were also keen to learn about the history of the remaining places on our itinerary as well as explore the ship further. We had the ideal opportunity as we spent a few days at sea on our way to Tromso, our next stop.

The Cunard Queen Elizabeth is a spectacular ship and I was amazed by the decor. So many decks, so much to do; so much choice from dining to entertainment, relaxing to wellbeing. Everyone is catered for. I discovered the extensive library, the shopping mall, art gallery, casino and countless bars. The photography desk, Garden Room, quizzes held 3 or 4 times a day, and the traditional English Pub.  Boredom was my main fear when booking a cruise, I needn’t have worried!

As we travelled North, the seas were intermittently choppy and at times the upper decks were closed and the swimming pool became a Tsunami; rightly cordoned off from use. Having done a DNA analysis as part of my family tree tracing I understand that I am 20% Norwegian/Icelandic and it occurred to me how brave the Viking explorers/marauders were setting sail from their homeland not knowing if they would fall off the edge, find the land of their dreams or sail home disappointed. 

On our approach to Tromso, we sailed through the fjords but the weather was not in our favour; cloudy and dull with 1″ of snow on the upper decks making walking around the ship quite treacherous although some amongst us were sure-footed enough to start a snowball fight and build a small snowman! We had an early breakfast and, when we had docked (on time as always) we went down to Deck 1 ready for our coach tour of Tromso. Looking at the weather forecast, we were pleased that we had booked the coach trip instead of walking around the city and looked forward to a couple of hours snug and warm whilst being shown the highlights of this Arctic Capital.

(To be continued)

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