Queen Mary 2 - Fjords & Waterfalls

Queen Mary 2 - Fjords & Waterfalls

All aboard at Soggy Stavanger was a daft 4pm, but there was a missing passenger call so we left almost twenty-five minutes later. Rob decided to stay in the cabin so I went up to the observation deck. At least it wasn't raining - for once! But then, we weren't trying to take photos of her. We finally received tour info for Ålesund so I filled in the names on both forms, cabin number and got Rob to sign his then put both in the drop box. Around 6pm the phone rang saying I hadn't chosen which tour I wanted but no mention of me doing the same for Rob's. So I told him it was Leisurely Ålesund, which he said he'd get on with. Didn't do much until dinner except order room service. It was our second formal night.

Olden was a new port for me but I couldn't be bothered to get up for our arrival, even though I was woken by us turning. What a lovely view we had of Crystal Serenity steaming as we docked, before she went astern to drop anchor. Once she had, it was back to sleep until a more reasonable hour when we went on deck to find it was wet. Up there by the funnel were a lovely couple from the New Forest called Denny and Stan. Stan's a Southampton fan so has great football taste and my friend Fay would definitely have approved had she been with us.

The water went off around the ship about 11.30pm. Lunch in a very quiet Kings Court and there were no plates. In fact, once of the blokes in suits was restocking them! A British woman objected to waiting fifteen minutes for a veggie burger so stormed off with her plate. Because no one bothered asking if you wanted a drink, Rob went to find someone and took so long his lunch went cold. Lack of staff had become as bad as on P&O. Once we'd finished, we passed that veggie burger woman still with an empty plate but now queuing for the normal food. Waiting for the burger would have taken far less time! The plumbing was working again, though the water was green for a while and not as much came out of the tap as before. Then we went ashore. Rob lent me his jacket and, like the one I'd left at home, my cardigan looked like it had moulted when I took it off, though not as badly as mine does. Down jackets are great but I wish the feathers would stay inside. It was quite mild, barely a breeze, making it quite warm in Rob's coat, but cold if I took it off. Rob was having a whale of a time, clambering over everything to get photos of Mary. Due to my knee, I couldn't do what he did so we walked along the road and he helped me down the verge before promptly disappearing for more photos as I gingerly got a few without falling on my arse. I told him I was going to go the other end and would see him back onboard. I managed to get as far as I could before heading back myself. A nice place and I loved the wildflowers, but Flåm, which they replaced with this, is miles better for ship photos plus the area is self-contained.

Rob returned, soaked socks and shoes but delighted with his photos. Serenity and us were due to sail at 6pm but she left before time. We went to the observation deck and waited and waited and waited as nothing happened bar the rain. They were struggling to get the ropes off, managing one. Rob and others went to watch and we turned our bow into the side to slacken the other ropes. There was a huge round of applause and we left almost half an hour late. A lady said if she'd known we would be coming to towns and not really seeing any fjords, she wouldn't have come. There were a lot of unhappy people, with an American trying to drum up a group to complain and demand compensation. I could see their point slightly, as the Americans had paid a fortune to cross the Atlantic both ways with promises of Norwegian ports and amazing scenery only to be disappointed. They had to have booked Ålesund some time in advance to be sure of a berth. I've been on cruises with last minute changes and this certainly was not one of them. It was far too organised.

We found our tour tickets for Ålesund but by now the office was closed. They had put me on the correct tour but Rob on Ålesund Highlights! The opening hours were 4pm-7pm and we couldn't even get anything done about it in the morning as it was the same opening times. Also, there was no way I could prove it was their mistake and I hadn't actually ticked any just like on mine. Neither of us were amused. I've been with other cruise lines whose shore excursion desks are open at 8am on port days (including P&O who flipping run Cunard) so definitely wasn't. If Cunard did likewise it could have been changed. It was another informal night so suited and booted for Rob, which he was increasingly tiring of. If anything was bound to put him off booking his favourite ship again it was all this formality. Also it was the World Club booze up but he didn't want to go to his first one as a Gold member.

And so up at 6am since I had my tour and Rob didn't want to go on the one Cunard put him on. The toilet was playing up, sucking out water and had at midnight but at least the tap was running. Arcadia was ahead of us and we were both due to dock for 8am. I went to the observation deck and we began to turn into the side she was then backed out again. I went to the cabin to see what was going on and noticed we were turning to go in astern so headed down the corridor. We got so far before going forward again so I once more returned to the cabin, fed up with the to-ing and fro-ing. We ended up going walkies with a tug and pulling up behind Arcadia. Commodore Rynd said it was better "than that other place" as though Geiranger were some kind of evil hell on earth. Okay to me it is but that's because there's really nothing to see or do and the number of tours they offer are a fraction of what there was in 2008. But it's better than Ålesund for scenery, which is what they promised us. He also said we docked on the second attempt when the world and his wet dog could see it was third time lucky with the help of a friend.

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