Norwegian Sun Path of the Vikings
Sept. 10 - 26, 2001

September, 2001 marked our 25th Wedding Anniversary, so we wanted a special cruise to mark this ocassion. Norwegian Cruise Line was offering a Trans-Atlantic crossing as the maiden voyage of Norwegian Sun. It sailed from Southampton, England, on September 10th, one day before our anniversary. When we looked at the itinerary, we got excited. We could be in Paris, France on our anniversary. What could be more romantic than that. So, we booked it.

When we cruise from Europe, we like to arrive a couple days before we sail so that we can get used to the time difference and also get a chance to see the local sights. We spent two nights at Thistle Marble Arch Hotel. To read about out pre-cruise adventures, see my London page.

As usual, I will describe the ports that we visited on our cruise. The cruise was an extraordinary one since September 11, 2001 was the day the United States fell victim to terrorism on it's own soil. We were in Paris, France when we learned of the attack on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the crash of flight 93. We had just boarded the bus for the long ride back to the ship. One of the passengers had heard about it in a store. She got the bus driver to turn on the radio. The news was on, but it was in French. The bus driver took his arms and made them look like airplane wings and showed them crashing into something. We still had no idea what was going on. Finally he found a radio station that was broadcasting in English. A pall fell over the bus as we heard the details.

Upon return to the ship, security was high. All our packages were searched and we headed to our cabin. Every television set onboard was tuned to CNN. All night long, people starred in disbelief at the horror unfolding before our eyes. We would be at sea the next day.

The captain and crew did an extraordinary job on this day and the days that followed. They opened the phone lines and emails free of charge for Setember 11-12 so that people could call home and check on loved ones. Since the final port was to have been New York, there were many people onboard from New York, New Jersey, and Boston.

We too got in line to make a phone call. We weren't able to reach our son, but were able to talk to my mother-in-law. The next day we were able to reach our son, who is a reservist in the United States Marine Corps. His fear was that he would be activated and shipped off somewhere before we would return home. He wasn't afraid to go, but he did want to be able to say good-bye. Fortunately, he was not activated before we got home.

Since this was the inaugural voyage of the Norwegian Sun, there were festivities planned in many of the ports we visited. We were warmly welcomed everywhere we went. This was definitely a cruise we will never forget. We will never forget the warmth of the people in these ports.

Read on to learn more about this cruise and the ports of call we visited.

We sailed from Southampton, England (London) with ports of call in