Yippee!!!!

Ngaire and Ken
Arlene and Marc 302
Alice and Kim 303
Marcie and Tom 321
Helen and Jerry 404
June and Ralph 412
Rachel and George

Here is the Voyage Log from this year's trip:

http://www.silversea.com/expeditions/voyage-journals/7517/1/

Day 11 is missing so "next" does not work all the way through; you need to manually go to days 12 and 13.

I plan to be there! 407 currently with Andrea.

Marcie & Tom # 321

Helen and Jerry 406

Frank and Wendy 411

What is the sailing date of this cruise?

Beth, it's 14 days departing 8/8/2017.

I'm wondering if we should switch cabins, most seem to have chosen deck 4. Since we've never been on this ship, what do we know but chose a "view" cabin on deck 3....hmmmm???

Ralph and June 412 Looks like a super group. Really enjoyed the ARCTIC trip with Brayden in 2010 so really looking forward to this trip with June. Polar Bears yeah.

Marcie this is same ship as we will be on in January. sure you know that.

Thanks, Marcie.

I have looked into the view cabins on deck 3 and as I remember, they are nice. Deck 3 is a good place to be. Close to reception and the mud room/zodiac exit area.

Beth EXACTLY the same cabin except for window size and location.

Deck 3 View has a 3ft window and is handy for the boot room, zodiacs and the reception desk.

Deck 4 Vista has a 4ft window and is handy for the dining room.

Honestly both are just fine.

Marcie, we have been on this ship 3x and on both decks 3 and 4. Both are just fine. Cabins on this ship are pretty small but they have everything you need and are very comfortable for an expedition ship.
----------------------
Helen

We are in 306

Susan (and Russ), FANTASTIC! Such wonderful next door neighbors.

Been too long since we've been w/ Susan & Russ. cannot wait!

George and Rachel are on!

Leslie and Brad 415

This is a great itinerary! I like the charter to Longyearbyen, it's a different part of Greenland for us. Even though we have done Svalbard before, we went in June last time, which was probably too early, so we are hoping to see more polar bears and different areas with more ice melt in August. Also like that it ends in Reykjavik; there's always more to explore in Iceland.

Kathy and Al 417

So excited to be able to add our names to this roll call!

Kim and Alice 305
(We are very happy.)

We are lucky to have cruised or safaried with everyone who is on the Roll Call so far! What a great group!

Great news, Kim and Alice!!!! I agree - great group of people!

We are now up to 20% of the ship; we are going to have fun!

Yes we are!!!

going to be great fun! can't wait to see you all!

Anyone else to add to Roll Call?

Last night I was having the best dream...I was seeing a polar bear. But then it started getting really scary because it seemed like he was getting closer and closer and I had no where to hide. I woke up just in time to realize it was Tom's head on MY pillow ! Grrrr....

I love it when I can start the day laughing! Thanks, Marcie! Sweet dreams!

Bumping to see if anyone new for the roll call

Unfortunately we have had to cancel this one. I am sure you will all have a great expedition!

Frank and Wendy.

Nooooo! This makes me sad. We will miss you.

Has anyone started to think about hotels in Oslo? We will only be there 1 night before we board the SS Explorer.

Marcie, no we haven't; waiting to see about air. Will probably use a Hilton property just so we can use points. Unfortunately Scandic which many of us used before Fjords is no longer part of Hilton.

I am sure we will just stay at the Radisson at the airport. Since we have been to Oslo before it makes makes it so much easier to stay right at the airport. That is what we have done in the past.

Radisson works for June and I. Was looking at that just the other day. As I recall Brayden and I stayed there after the last arctic trip in 2010 before heading home. It is very convenient as it is right at the airport. I also suspect our flight to Longyearbyn will be fairly early in the morning. Looking forward to this cruise and the polar bears.

Yes, I saw that Radisson Blu and thought that sounded the best for us as well.

Alice and I will probably go a couple of days early as we have never been to Oslo. I think we will try to depart on her birthday That doesn't use up any more vacation days since that's the weekend.
Is the Radisson Blu location a good base for touring Oslo or not so much?

You can easily take a train into Oslo and do your touring. Brayden and I did that for one day in 2010. I do not recall the cost of the train ride. Think it was about 20 minutes maybe a bit less. If staying in Oslo for a bit Ngaire or others might have a suggestion for a hotel in the CBD which would be better for finding dinner places etc. One might for the last night go to the Radisson at the airport as it makes it so easy the next morning.

Really looking forward to this cruise. It is so much more than a cruise it is really an adventure. Zodiac , polar bears, walrus etc. so much fun. A great group also.

This is a year away and all of us are already putting things in place. Our friends do not understand why we have things set up so far in advance. It is the only way however.

Kim, if you're planning to stay a few days I'd stay somewhere centrally located so you can walk most places. The airport is about 25 miles away.

There is an express train that runs right to the airport every 10-20 minutes - (it takes about 20 minutes - you just insert your credit card in a terminal before you enter) so its easy to get back to, but I think you'd enjoy touring Oslo more if you based yourself in town.

Ah... the airport is 25 miles away... Well, then I would agree we should stay in the central district then move to the airport hotel on the last night. Thanks Ralph and Leslie for the info on the train.

haha Ralph...I already have our flight (cancellable) on Norwegian Air Shuttle, a Dreamliner. They're in Premium Class which sounds more like domestic First since the seats don't lay flat. There's a good chance we'll be flying from NYC after visiting there for a few days so if that's the case it works well. The price was definitely the least expensive and it's non-stop from JFK to OSL.

I just don't want to get on a BA Biz class flight with the bad forward/backward seating configuration and high taxes going through LHR.

Marcie,

You did good. You should have joined June and I on SQ , AKL to LHR via SIN. Ha Ha.

Thought about you and Tom today at lunch. Had an interesting Syrah that was very good. Bought one to take on the ship in a week or so to share at dinner one night. I think it might be interesting for Tom to taste.

Will not be long now.

What looks like the best way to return to LAX from Iceland.

Yes, looking forward to it Ralph.
So far the best I've found is non-stop on Icelandic Air to Seattle, 1 hr 55min layover then non-stop Seattle to John Wayne.

(have to wait until 5:00pm outbound KEF, the earlier flight is too early at 10:30am)