Cruising

Helsingborg Sweden and Helsingor Denmark

Helsingborg Sweden and Helsingor Denmark

It’s mid May as we write this little article about Helsingborg and already the sun sets at 9:41 PM and rises at 4:55 AM in this part of the world. For us Americans, this kind of behavior is reserved for our Canadian and Alaskan friends almost exclusively, but for Sweden, Denmark, and the rest of the folks up around the Baltic Sea and the North Atlantic, this is how life is, and how it’s always been. Temperatures are in the mid 50s’ and low 60s’ today, which seems to be normal for this time of year. What a hardy bunch of people they must have been in the earlier times when life wasn’t so easy.

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Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, Europe, Travel, 0 comments
Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury is a small medieval village located in the southern part of England near Dover . It’s believed that this area has been continuously inhabited since “prehistoric times”. Today, as a tourist destination, Canterbury is one of the most visited cities in the United Kingdom; probably because of the Canterbury Cathedral and the popularity of Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th century collection of stories, The Canterbury Tales. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, Europe, Travel, 1 comment
Is the Food Quality aboard Cruise Ships Changing?

Is the Food Quality aboard Cruise Ships Changing?

When you read the cruise and travel blogs, it seems that a lot of folks believe that the quality of the food aboard cruise ships has declined over the past few years. Many people complain about the overall quality, but when you really drill down to the specifics, it’s not clear what they mean.

During this cruise we’ve had a lot of time to give this some thought and have made a couple of observations. And of course, we’ve formed a couple of opinions about the quality of the food that we would like to share here.

First, we should make some qualifying statements so you can better understand why we have the opinions we have about cruise ship food. Not long ago, we entered into a weight loss program. More of an overall fitness and wellness program really, but part of the philosophy in our weight loss program was that, since we were going to significantly restrict the quantity of our food intake, we would concentrate on overall food quality to help make up for the lack of volume. It’s been working for us, but we’ve made some changes to our diets as a result and certain kinds of foods are not part of our normal routine anymore. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Cruising, Featured
Communications From a Cruise Ship

Communications From a Cruise Ship

One of the things we’ve quickly grown accustomed to in the 21st century is the ability to communicate with just about any person, any time. We’ve also grew used to the idea that whatever information we want is at our fingertips pretty much instantly. Our cell phones have more computing power than the computers that landed the Apollo capsules on the moon, and we take that for granted. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, 0 comments
Fitness Aboard a Cruise Ship

Fitness Aboard a Cruise Ship

For most cruises, use of the fitness center (gym), jogging and walking tracks, and wellness classes amounts to a token effort. We say this because the length of an average cruise is short enough that missing your normal daily workout during your cruise won’t have a major impact on your overall health. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, 0 comments
Free Style Dining NCL Style

Free Style Dining NCL Style

Free Style means, well, free style. You show up for dinner whenever you want just like you would at any other restaurant. For at least Norwegian Cruise Lines, the days of assigned seating times for dinner is over. You will normally be asked if you want to share a table which is probably because some people prefer to share a table. It’s a good way to meet others. Some folks, of course, prefer not to share. In either case, our experience has been that seating is done almost instantly, depending on the time of your arrival. As with any restaurant, you can expect a wait time if you show up during peak times. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, Featured, 0 comments
Cruise Pricing – What are the Extra Costs of a Cruise?

Cruise Pricing – What are the Extra Costs of a Cruise?

For many people, a cruise is a trip of a lifetime. It’s something folks dream about for years. For a large number of people taking cruises, it’s not something they do on a casual basis. They plan and save until they have enough to make the trip. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, Featured, 0 comments
Journey Across the Atlantic, An Introduction

Journey Across the Atlantic, An Introduction

As an introduction to this week’s series of blog entries, we thought we would start by explaining what’s to come. We’re on a cruise ship that left Miami Florida yesterday evening. We were scheduled to leave at around 5:00 PM, but the ship actually left the dock at around 7:15PM. We were loading supplies until that time. Not to worry though. We’re crossing the Atlantic and there’s plenty of time to make up our lost couple of hours before our first stop in Ponta Delgada, the Azores. Continue reading →

Posted by Donald Fink and Bonnie Fink in Blog, Cruising, Featured