July 24 -- en route from Copenhagen to Trondheim. A day at sea!

I am going to "play" with the idea of posting random notes as I have time and pass by the club.com room. I will also work on a more detailed log/review and post those in the Reviews section.

I guess since I originally coined "NorFjor723" it is ok if I rename the cruise for this week only "NorFjorNOW."

Thanks to Phil and the notes on Ken Jennings ... our son, Oz, is MOST appreciative to know that his new hero continues to dominate.

Speaking of Oz, I am VERY proud that our 15 (soon to be 16) year old son was willing to go to the "Teen Reception" last night. That can be an awkward setting, especially with only a handful of other teens on board. The "youth counselor" spotted Oz as we checked in and made the instant contact and invitation ... maybe it helped that she is young and attractive!

Meredith continues to make us proud with grace and charm that belie her age of 19. She can (and does) converse with anyone of any age from anywhere about anything.

We love our family time on vacations, and cruises are the best for such time, but cruises also allow us independent enjoyment (or "couple" time for Paula and me) and our kids do not need to be tethered to us (and we know that is not the case with all kids their age, especially on an upscale cruise).

My parents appear to be taking quickly to sea travel ... in fact, they have appointments at the spa this a.m.! Quite different from their last cruise 50 years ago in an inside cabin on the America ... kind of like comparing a flight in 1954 to flying first class on a 777 today.

We are enjoying the "Voyager Contrast." You see, our most recent cruise was in 2002 on Royal Caribbean's Voyager of the Seas with 3,000+ of our closest friends. That was actually a wonderful cruise and perfect for our kids at the time (I retreated to our acre-sized aft balcony!). We are blessed to have kids who enjoy the varied activities of "that" Voyager, and yet "appreciate" the class, excellence, and grace of THIS Voyager.

For those of you who have never seen the fitness room, I can vouch that it exists and the treadmills DO work. I did not lift any of the free weights, but they "looked" to be marked accurately with the correct weight (if I see someone lift a weight I will ask them -- my lifting is limited to wine glasses).

Ed and Pamela were wonderful blackjack tablemates last night and they are VERY good players ... we were stunned, however, by the play of some other passengers (splitting 10s ?!?!).

Betty is the life of the party as we have always heard. What a pleasure to be in the company of someone who enjoys each person she encounters. j As I mentioned on an earlier posting, we three Davis males have the same name, "Ozro Luke Davis" ... we are "Jr." (O.L.), "III" (Luke), and "IV" (Oz). Betty has already tabbed Dad and Oz as "Big O" and "Little O."

John and Priscilla are delightful and warm "neighbors" ... yes, we only live a few blocks from each other. I am sure that we will have to arrange a standing dinner date to relive this cruise and dream about future itineraries.

Ed and Laura have never met a stranger and we know that there are endless conversations ahead.

Until later ....

Luke
NorFjorNOW