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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

2026; July 17, At Sea.

July 19, 2026 / / 0 Comments

And thus with an hour back, the last seaday arrived while the ship sped through a peaceful North Sea towards Southampton. The captain announced that he hoped to be docked by 07.00 hrs. but I think he will be a lot earlier as otherwise he would call down the wrath of his Chief Housekeeper very much who has to get all the luggage off so that disembarkation can start on time, which is 07.00 hrs. for the first luggage tag.  By this morning we were passing the border between Denmark and Germany, by 11.00 hrs. We passed, far away, the metropolis of Cromer (my home town is 10 times bigger than Olden) by about 19.00 hrs, we will be in the channel and around 3 am tomorrow morning we will be abeam of Nab Tower for the Southampton pilot station.  After arrival we can leave anytime being in a suite, although they have scheduled for 07.45 hrs. when our colour luggage is off,  with our own transport we do not care very much whatever time we arrive.

Wise words and a nice welcome by the Master of the vessel.

Yesterday the Concierge suddenly popped with an Invitation to visit the Bridge at 09.30 this morning. I did not ask for it, but the concierge had found out what I did in a previous life, so I got one. Lesley was more excited than I was, as since all the Carnival Corporation ship bridges are the same since 2016, there is not much different to observe. It turned out that, although Princess does not do bridge tours officially, if you write a nice letter, you might still get one and the 4 top suites seem to get it included in the cruise package.

The Navigation center of the bridge. At sea, 2 of the 4 stations are occupied. There is a navigator (2nd. or first officer) and a Co navigator (3rd officer) The main duty for the co-navigator is to answer the phone and any alarms so that the Navigator can fully concentrate  to stay on the planned track. They can swap positions if they want to have a break.

So we were all assembled by Anna and Dorothy our 2 concierges, then checked off by the Chief Security Guard and then with the Chief Guard in the lead and -not so chief- guard in the back, we were marched to the bridge. I felt like an illegal  immigrant but the ship remained secure from any threat or hi-jack. There we were received by the Captain for a short Q&A and then handed over to two deck officers for the tour. The captain then disappeared again most likely to pack his suitcases as he is going on leave tomorrow. A 3rd officer and 2nd Sr. did the tour.  The bridge tour was very well organised, we even received a flyer with the pertinent information. Then we were split into two groups and moved to each bridge wing.

To my amazement for a ship built in 2019, the Sky Princess does not have Azi-pods but regular Pitch propellors and two rudders. I wonder why.? Did they listen to an old fashioned captain or was it a budget decision ? Nobody on the bridge claimed to know.

The bridge layout is identical to the Pinnacle class ships and the new  Seabourn ships. So I can assume that the new Carnival and P&O ships are the same as well. The center navigation island has 4 chairs, + one for the quartermaster. There is  GMDSS communication console (for regular and emergency communication) behind it and then on each bridge wing there is a docking console. As the bridge wings stick out from the ship considerably, there is no glass floor as the captain can see the side of the ship without any problems. Princess has a mix of British and Italian Officers a left over from the days that P&O/Princess was one company. In the same way as Holland America has a mix of Dutch and British Officers, a left over from the days that HAL could not get enough Dutch. That problem has raised its head again in recent years as during my last visit to the Rotterdam (VII) there was a Vietnamese Lady Deck officer in the 8-12 watch.

Having two navigators on duty is not a luxury, but a necessity. Just look at this chart of the English Channel. The rules and regulations are getting are getting more complicated each day. And even an overview chart as this one, needs to be kept updated, see the white paper texts glued in.

Then it was back into the ship to see what was going on. Quizzes and games everywhere and all very well attended. With some difficulty we had found out that there was also a lecture, by a world famous actor, that I have never heard of, but when we watched it on TV it was very interesting to learn how one gets  a role, or a walk in, or  a small part.  We found him on the TV on the first seaday but his lecture was a t 09.00 in the morning so we missed it completely. The second lecture was scheduled for 13.00 hrs. in the afternoon, so we were going. Then at the last moment the Cruise Director (28 years with Princess) rescheduled it to 09.30 in the morning  so we missed it again and by 1700 hrs. on our last day it was still not on the TV. It does not seem that Princess is big on lectures but maybe they do more during cruises with more sea days, as you cannot fill all those days with Trivia and games.

Princess has nice touches of history and I liked this one, A small display next to the Guest services desk. A little commemoration of the christening of the ship. The two godmothers of the ship, Captain Kay Hire and Engineer Poppy Northcutt from Nasa who went into space several times. Very appropriate for the “SKY Princess”. (I have uploaded the full dpi of the photo, so if you want to read the text dust expand or download the photo)

We did found out that they play movies on the top deck Screen 3 times a day. Contrary to Cunard they do not hand out head phones, so everybody there has to enjoy the sound. Forest Gump was the movie of the day, to be followed by Lilo & Stitch and the place was full. In Norway you are not allowed to have noise on the outside decks (so there was not even an emergency drill. although that is legally allowed, if done with discretion. So  only on the first and last seadays there was a full day of movies. I did not see popcorn but the bars, soft ice sand and the Hamburger outlet were well attended.

We decided to have lunch in the Concierge Lounge as the small “tapas” make it easier not to get carried away with all that is on offer. Still it was hard enough as they had excellent rolls with barbecue diced chicken in a sauce I had never tasted before. So there was the temptation, but if one is tempted then there is nothing better for one’s Mental Health than to yield to temptation. So I yielded twice.

Tomorrow our cruise is coming to an end and apart from buying 2 bottles of “no Ten Tanqueray Gin” (50 % cheaper than ashore) we have not bought anything so what came out of the suitcase should fit back in. But why does it always seem to be more difficult to -repack on the ship than to pack at home ? Even following the same process step by step. I even put my wife’s formal dresses back in the bubble wrap that I use for coming out. (No wrinkles and creases due to travelling) I do it for the way back as well as it save’s me time not having to iron it all again when at home. I do most the ironing at home, my wife even admits that I am better than her, as I was a sailor all my life. Even with a ship’s laundry available at your finger tips, sometimes doing it yourself saves time and “Housekeeping  Red Tape”

That brought us to cocktail time. We had met some very interesting people on board, multi cruisers and very loyal to Princess, and they explained about things going on that are not in the daily program. or not directly. So one lady always asked for Bible Class, Princess found a Vicar somewhere, and “voila” every morning at 09.00 there was a class in the wedding chapel; and then they do put it in the program.  Maybe I should ask next time if they put a “Real Ale drinking group” together for a daily meet. Same as AA, friends of Dorothy, LHBQT (and all those other letters) and have a RADG meeting in the Take Five jazz bar which is very quiet in the mornings and also have a top secret handshake. I am mentioning Real Ale, as that was about any sort of beers missing. They had New Castle Ale on draft, but that is not the real stuff  than RADG members are looking for.  I found out that there was a veteran’s meeting, (various age groups, from WWII to The Middle East and Kosovo, I went into to pay my respects and asked) but no Masonic meeting. P&O was always great in that, there was even a period that you could not make captain if you were not in it but it is totally different from American Masonic societies so maybe that is the reason.

The final show “Spotlight Bar” first time performed on board, but we did not notice that, it was very good. (Photo courtesy Princess Cruises)

For dinner we went to Pizzeria Alfredo again as it was so very good. To our amazement it was not very busy, (1800 hrs) and also by 20.30 hrs.) it was still quiet, giving the whole Medical department (6 doctors and nurses) the chance to eat out and do some family bonding.  We went early as we  wanted to see the final cast show of the week.  We found out at the end that it was was the first performance ever, of this show, and it was very very good again. Contrary to the first evening, the show lounge was only 3/4 full, but the audience made enough noise to it being not noticeable. This show revolves around music in various bars, you can find in the city. Cocktail bars, Cuban bars, 80’s, 90’s. 2000’s it all came by with very good dancing around and on the tables. The only thing  that was missing was Billy Joel’s The Piano Man.  So in my opinion, married to a wife who knows the London West End shows by heart, Princess Cruises really lives up to the reputation of having the best in the industry.   The 3 shows this cruise were vary varied, so you have to be open to other stuff than just “Mama Mia”, but it was very good.

The “Liars Club”. we did not stay but Lesley from her cruise staff days, liked doing that game show.

Then we made a final round through the ship, and the quizzes were still going on.  Cruise Director and Cruise Staff had assembled in the midships “Princess Live” lounge for “Liars Club”. A golden oldie from the 1980’s but still fun to do.

Tomorrow we will drive home again to the promised land of Cromer Norfolk. The heatwave is nearly gone so it should be a comfortable 5 hrs. drive. After this post, one more will follow with the “Review and Verdict”.

 

 

 

 

 

2026; July 16, Stavanger Norway.

July 17, 2026 / / 8 Comments

For today one more Apartment building was added to Stavanger. Luckily for both the locals and our guests it was only one extra building.

The good ship Sky Princess arrived somewhat early at the entrance to the old port and the captain decided to swing on arrival. Which made sense, as A. it is always better to be docked nose out, so you can get away if an un-expected calamity pops up, and B. they will need the time getting back to Southampton  as it is a long run, and you cannot afford to be late as there are a lot of suitcases to off load with 4000 guests on board (3921 according to the Lady from the Loyalty Desk). Gangways were out by 10 am. and the invasion of Stavanger could start. We were the only cruise ship in port today  so the locals did not have to brace themselves too much. There are days with 3 mega liners in port that the 15000 mark is reached.

Even with one ship in port there was considerable pressure on the facilities. The tour to Lysefjorden with the Pulpit Rock was sold out and here the whole ferry is being filled up. See also next photo.

I took the chance to run ashore and have a quick look at the shop side of the Maritime Museum. I visited the exhibition in the  museum several times through the years, there are some nice models from the Norwegian America Line ships, but the exhibition is fairly static. The maritime history of Stavanger is not that elaborate, having been a sleepy fishing village until well into the 19th. century, before the herring boom and the later oil boom. For the oil boom there is the “Petroleum Museum” on the East Side of the old harbour, which well worth visiting. So the Maritime Museum focuses more on the stuff around fishing. The shop was even smaller than last time and the book section reduced to 2 small bookcases. One with new books and one with second hand books. But nothing there for me, it seems that my collection is getting too all-compassing. I was a bit startled by a question of the sales lady behind the desk. She was on a gap year and helping out here was part of her immersion in the local culture. She wanted to know why I was looking for Maritime Books I said that it looked normal to me, maritime books in a maritime museum. Her Norwegian colleague now collapsed with laughter but the lady herself remained confused even after I pointed out that there were no maritime books on Tik-Tok so I looked for hard copy’s of new maritime books that were not available in the UK. But puzzlement remained, who buys maritime books ?.  So her colleague had some work to do.

They got everybody on board  the tour catamaran but it was standing room only.

We had a tour in the afternoon so we continued our own tour around the ship. Now having a look a the Lido area or the “The Fresh Market Place”. Because of the size of the ship it is open nearly 24 hrs. a day, with breakfast rolling into lunch and lunch rolling into dinner, which is served until 22.30 hrs. They can do this as this self service restaurant is, apart from an identical port and starboard side, also split up in a forward part and an aft part.

The aft part of the Lido restaurant with the “Wake View Bar”.

So while breakfast is winding down in one section, the other section can be set up for lunch. In between the two is an extensive “Pastry Shop”  so that those who get withdrawal symptoms between meal times can still get something.  Scattered around in the area are a few more outside bars which, even in port, were well attended with the nice weather. That Lido continues on the outside, with an elaborate bar and small swimming pool wedged in between. Apart from the Piazza it is one of the most densely populated areas of the ship, where food, booze and sun come together.

“Vines” the wine bar, located on the Starboard side of Deck 7.

Around the piazza there are a few more public sections, there is a sushi bar, manned by two very friendly cooks who are absolutely not from Japan (one is from Ghana, the other from Guatemala) which you have to pre -book as it is very popular.

Bellini’s. Could not get a clear shot, as this gentleman marched in and did not want to wait a few seconds. The need for a cocktail must have been urgent

Then there are two more bars, Bellini’s which is advertised as a Champagne Bar but seems to be selling more coffee than anything else, and then on the starboard side there is  “Vines Wine Bar” and wedged in between is “Good Spirits at Sea”  a cocktail bar. All three are open from 11.00 onwards but until cocktail time they act also as seating area for those who decided to get their lunch from the “International Cafe”, open 24 hrs. a day.

We went for lunch in  the Lido this time, as I wanted Taco’s and Lesley Spaghetti Bolognese which is made fresh on the spot. Drink service was fast and attentive but then the restaurant was still mostly empty as the tours had not returned yet. We did an early lunch, as we had booked (part of our Princess Premium package) a panoramic tour called “Easy Stavanger”.  We did this tour, with another ship, about 10 years ago and now wanted to see if Stavanger had changed.

It had. A large number of apartment building had been constructed, courtesy of the money flowing in from the oil boom. roads had been upgraded and parking garages tunnelled into the rock on which Gamle Stavanger, or the old city, sits.

Some of the apartment buildings gone up in the last few years. All on land left empty for years and years before the oi came in.

Standard and compulsory stop for all the tours is at the fjord were in 1983 King Olav unveiled 3 , ten meter high replicas of Viking Swords. The sculpture is called “Swords in Rock” or “Sverd ifjell”,  and overlooks the fjord. The life size originals are in a Norwegian Museum. It commemorates the battle of Harsfjord in 872 AD which united Norway of the old days. Then Norway became part of Denmark and Sweden until independence  was managed in 1905.

The monument /sculpture of the three swords at the fjord. The authorities were busy with remodelling the bus top, so there was very little space, so we were lucky to be in the only ship in port.

Our guide was very knowledgable and took us in a very pleasant way through the Norwegian history. You do not often get them like this. He even handed out is own made time frame of Norwegian history with an explanation why the Norwegian land was empty between  542 and the early 600. In 542 there was the great meteor bursts in Siberia and the shock waves flattened most of the trees in Norway as well. So most of the population left only two return 2 generations later when the forests had restored themselves. Then there was 782 when king Charlemagne defeated and massacred  4000 soldiers of the Saxon army where the Norwegians were part of. That gave rise to the Vikings as we have heard of them, and the raids on towns and cities as far as the South of France. Apart from raids they also settled down there (Do not forget William the Conqueror from 1066 was a Viking) and they even made it as far as Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland.

Most farms have mixed land. Grass for the cows, vegetables for the markets and also cereals for bread etc.

What was also of interest was that Norway , with all its ice and rocky mountains, can supply about 80% of their town food. For this the Norwegian Government has to subsidise the small farms in the fjords but as it sits on pots of money (from the old and current oil and gas revenues) but it also has to do it, as most of the Norwegians want fresh and pesticides free vegetables and fruit. The story goes that a few “forward looking” politicians wanted to stop these Government Grants, and found themselves voted out of office. Not something politicians like, so since then it has been quiet. It is also one of the reasons that Norway is not in the European Union but has open borders and agrees to most of the international agreements.

The other large apartment building in Stavanger, if only for the day, blocking most of the view of the old town. The houses in the foreground have been built in old Stavanger style but are modern and are part of a large Marina complex.

So, with the tour we were up-to-date again with what is going in Stavanger. We will check again in a few years time. Back on board we had to get ready for the Captains Circle Party, for repeat guests. Although we are first time Princess cruisers, we had been invited because we are Platinum status based on our P&O days. When P&O and Princess split up a number of years ago,  both side recognised the other sides Day count and thus here we are. Tonight was also formal night and thus we knew that the guests at the party would be decently dressed. According to our Concierge the dress code was also enforced at the party, but it turned not to be the case, so there were still a number of guests in T shirts, shorts and Jeans.

The Officers who came on stage to support the captain with saying thank you.

We arrived 20 minutes late (partly to avoid waiting in line and partly because we were talking to other guests in the Concierge lounge) and the Loyalty manager had already started the proceedings. But there were appetisers and free drinks at the bar, so were ok. The captain did his speech and then the three highest day cruisers (between 862 and 1100) were recognised with a bottle of Prosecco  not champagne. Then  a large group of officers appeared on the stage to say thank you, followed by the most mind boggling thing I have ever seen during a repeater party.  Guests were invited to have a photo taken with the whole group on the stage. Luckily there were only 15 of them but still the whole group of officers had to stay on stage for about 20 minutes, as if they had nothing else to do.  I said to the captain when I met him I told him that was for me a call way beyond duty………………..

A new twist of have your photo taken with AN Officer, to have you photo taken with ALL the officers.

We went for dinner to the Italian restaurant Sabatini’s  for the 2nd time as the food had been so good and there were some 20:10 reservations left. The Food was very good again, the service lacklustre with all the serving staff taking short cuts while serving. (Reaching over the table, delayed serving of sparkling water, changing cutlery before the last dish was cleared away,, etc. etc.) So when the Head Waitress popped up to ask how it went, and expecting compliments, she got a listing of all my observations with the request to do some re-training or a refreshment course) She ran off and 5 minutes later there was the Maitre d’hotel to investigate my complaints. I was not complaining, no moan, moan, as it had been a good meal and I was just pointing out that I was not expecting excuses and “I am so sorry” but a promise that it would not happen again. He promised that he would do some training for the benefit of future guests. Maitre left, and the waiter pops up, apologising for his imperfect service. When I asked him what he was apologising for, he could not say, but the Maitre had told him to apologise…………………… and that was not what this was all about.   So I gave up my little bit of trying to lift Princess to a higher level of quality.

It was formal night, so we went for a photo shoot again. In the Princess Premium package we have included all the digitals of any photo shot we had, and each 3 hard copy’s of the best one.

We did not go to the show, as it was “The Trawlermen”  who had a show of a mixture of folk music and sea-shanties. I know American country music, but I do not think that English Sea-shanties should be sung with an American accent.  The 3rd show lounge Princess Viva, was full again eager guests attending the “Trivia quiz”. followed by a game show with the option to win a real Princess Notebook. In the Vista Lounge there was “family dance” going on, so we went to the Crown Bar for nightcap listening to the in house pianist which was most enjoyable.

Tomorrow we are at sea, mainly cloudy skies are expected with with the ship being at sea and going against the wind it will be a lot chillier than in the last few days, with temperatures. Being around 16oC / 61oF.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026; July 15, Olden, Norway.

July 16, 2026 / / 2 Comments

The ms Sky Princess at the Olden cruise ship dock. Somehow it does not seem  right to have a towering white apartment building dominating the Fjordenland skyline. But easy for guests returning to the ship, you can not get lost.

This morning just before 8 am., we arrived in Olden, which is a large city compared to Skjolden as it has double the number of inhabitants. 500 against the 250 yesterday,. Also Olden is a much older cruise port, ships already used to go here in the 1920’s long before there was a cruise terminal, and even longer since they rebuilt / constructed the new dock here, which is nearly identical to the one in Skjolden and in a whole slew of other small places.  Because they have been in the cruise business for so much longer, the locals have built quite an infrastructure with more tours, hop on -hop off busses and the small “Tsjoek-tjsoek sightseeing trains. And instead of one souvenir shop, it has 5 in a row, straight across the dock, including one with more “posh”souvenir shop in the form of wood carvings, high quality paintings. soaps and fragrances. Bike rental was omni present and a bit further out, the local garage was also renting out quad bikes for the more adventurous.

The commercial centre of Olden:  A Supermarket and a large souvenir shop. The small town itself is just behind it.

The town itself is a 15 minute walk and the local authorities have created a dedicated path all the way to the town and in good planning it also leads past another large souvenir shop and the local super market. (same chain as yesterday). Normally you see in every port crew running ashore to the nearest supermarket to stock up on whatever they ran out of, but not in Norway. All are waiting for Southampton as the Sky Princess docks right opposite downtown Southampton and it is only a 10-15 minute walk to get there.  The prices are simply too high in Norway, England is not cheap for shopping but Norway is 3x dearer on some items.

Olden is much higher on the “tourist trap” ladder then Skjolden, and thus, yes, there was the Big red bus

We did our tourist duty and marched to “downtown” which consists out of a few shops, a small white church and a very large school which serves the entire district. And then we marched back again,  sort of in a formation, with a 1000 others. Olden is one of the best ports for tours in Norway and the coaches were rolling in and out in a very high tempo. The tours on Princess are quite expensive which is not much different to other cruise companies, all with a 100 to 150% mark-up. Right at the gangway (similar to what you see in Ketchikan and Juneau. Alaska) you can get it all much cheaper on the dock side, but you have to keep in the back of your mind to add extra time to your plans to ensure you get back the ship on time. The captain will wait for ships tours to return but not for individual escapades.  Like most companies, Princess sets up a refreshment stand near the gangway but this is the most elaborate one I have so far seen on all our cruises. It even  had the option for Bouillon. Favour of the day seemed to be chicken soup.  Two gangways out as usual made for a speedy return on board.

The Refreshment stand on the shore side. Cucumber Water, Citrus Water, Clear Ice Water, Hot Chocolate, Bouillon and Non ice water. Very impressed.

Back on board it was time to investigate the top decks of the ship where we had not been yet. Deck 16, called the Lido, has the self service restaurant with 2 pools, a hamburger bar and the ice cream stand but then there is also deck 17 and 18 as well. Below the radar mast is another pool, for adults only, and in front of that pool is “The Sanctuary”, which is  a separate area’s where you can rent cabana’s ($100 a day and deck stretchers at $ 25– a day). It comes with a concierge and a waiter. Because you have to pay for it, it is a tranquil area where you can roast in the sun without any noise from the rest of the ship. I think it is also a very nice place to sit during sightseeing in the fjords, Panama Canal and going to Kotor.

The Sanctuary on Deck 18 , nice and peaceful and under a Dome so also with inclement weather you can sit / lay outside.

Around the funnel uptake there is a very large fitness area with all the modern machines you can think of, a large class area and also an area for personal training lessons. Funny thing is that with this large area dedicated to health, when stepping outside you can inhale directly the cigarette fumes of the smoking section directly below. Good planning………………. Then a deck higher there is a basket ball court and what intrigued me very much, was a small golf putting green under the TV domes.

This is the small golf putting area under the two Domes. Great use of an otherwise neglected area.

This is the first ship that I see where the area under the Domes, which is really a wasted space, was put to good use by installing a small putting green. Here we also have the jogging track, as the ship has no wrap around deck under or behind the lifeboats. Older Princess ships still have them, but here the space between the bulkhead and the lifeboats is down to about 3 feet. That is enough for embarkation out of the lounges behind the bulkheads but not safe for regular walking. In front and behind the lifeboats the decks are nice and wide again, for sun loungers, but they do not wrap around. So walking around the funnel is the only option.

The Fitness area is quite large, but as the average age seems to be around 50, there are a lot of guests who want to work out. After a few days on board, I think that everybody would NEED to work out, but that is a different story.

Looking at all that torture equipment made us hungry, so a quick stop in the Concierge Lounge was needed for a few nibbles, and then we had another challenge on our hands. According to our Princess Premier package we were entitled to 2 special desserts. But it did not say what.  But our concierge Lady Dorothy, knew the answer, it was 2 special ice creams from the Gelato Bar.  Let me correct myself, here on board you are not allowed to call “Gelato’s” an ice cream. A Gelato is a Gelato and not an ice cream. Same as a Taco, is a taco and not an Mexican Gyro, even when you buy it in Greece. It turned out that this Gelato was  a “Coupe Grande” of about 12 inches high, which normally costs $17,– a piece. Listing to the magical names of “The Da Vinci”,  “The Godfather” and “The Michelangelo” etc. Small Gelato’s cost between $ 3,– and $ 6,–  Even with the cost price, there was a great demand for “real ice cream”, sorry “Gelato’s” instead of the free soft ice from deck 16. So we had our Gelato, and were instantly happy that we had not gone for a full lunch as it was very good, and extremely filling.

These are not ice creams, they are Gelato’s. The Godfather to the left, and the Leaning tower to the right. They should have been even more impressive with fruit and sticks on the top, but the “Gelato” lady was cutting corners a little bit as she tried to keep the pace up with serving.

Next adventure on the list was to visit the “Captains Circle Lounge”.  According to Princess PR speech “this is an Exclusive venue for Elite and Platinum Circle guests to meet your ships officers and fellow guests with drink offers, delectable delights and live entertainment.”

The guitar player and singer in the daily “Repeater party”.. We think it is very nice of Princess to pay so much attention to their loyal customers with offering a daily get-together. The official “Captain;s Circle party is on departure from Stavanger tomorrow during formal night.

Although is is our first cruise with Princess, we were somehow catapulted into the “Captains Circle”  Platinum one from the top due to our sailing dates with P&O, of which we have done about 10 since the 1990’s. When P&O/Princess split into P&O and Princess, two independent Brands, guests kept the same status in both company’s. Hence we are here repeat guests here as well. So it turned out that Princess opens up the Vista Lounge at the stern each afternoon at 1700 hrs. to their repeat guests. On seven day cruises / in port is was quiet, but on longer cruises / sea days, it is quite busy. Today there were about 50 people there, mainly interested in the nibbles (cheese and salad) and their phones. Drinks are not free, but most had a Drinks Package anyway. The singer from the Crown Bar provided background music. Meeting the officers consisted of the “Chief Financial Officer” being present and the Assistant Human Resources Officer. The latter made a direct beeline for us, as he recognised that the two of us  did not look like the normal crowd.  Ship people recognise each other everywhere. He was from Serbia, and had just flown in from the Diamond Princess in Japan, to fill a gap here. There must have been some planning panic in HR as Japan to Norway is a long flight and he was going home in 4 weeks time anyway. But having been in the business it all made sense to us.

Today it was not very well attended, and most of them present were more interested in their phones than meeting other Princess “Veterans” but they said that on sea days it was often a full house.

Time to change, and then we tried the Crown Bar for a second time. Last time we were hindered by the show in the Vista Lounge which ended during cocktail hours and about 500 people came marching out, but now this smaller show lounge was readied for the football game England against Argentina ( the show in the main theatre was brought forward to 17:30 and 19:30 to have that lounge available as well) so there was not much traffic.  Our favourite waitress Judith popped up again, and with the pianist playing all was well in the world.  With our Princess Premium package we were entitled to several speciality restaurants, and Lesley had pushed the button for “The Catch by Rudi” twice and as the time of 19.30 worked out for us, we went a second time. The ship had been advertising the venue on the App,  but when we got there it was still half empty. No way Rudi could compete with the football game.

Shrimp on the Rocks in stunning glass bowl.

So now we could try something else and I was intrigued by the starter “shrimp on the rocks”. It is devlishly difficult to do something with fresh shrimp and on nearly all the ships you see the same shrimp with similar red cocktail sauce. Also Rudi Sodamin could not come up with something better, but had compensated for this with an extraordinary glass cup filled with crushed ice.

The shrimp hanging from a steel hook above the plate.

Main Course again an intriguing inscription: Three S’s. platter, which was Shrimp, Salmon and Scallops.  I large shrimp, one filet of Norwegian Shrimp and 2 scallops, with Parmesan Fries. Nothing special in the food but again it was the presentation. We had again chosen / wriggled a table near the window, to be away from the Piazza side, which was a good thing, as they had a dance competition going and the crowd roared as loud as during a football match. And all the marble does not help. We were both wondering why Rudi’s outlet was in the atrium as Sabatini’s, the Italian was more forward away from the atrium and opposite the shops. It would have made more sense to have Rudi’s there was well and have had the shops in the Atrium as most of the other (Jewellery) shops were already there. The Sky Princess is a very nice ship but here and there one wonders about the new build planning.

After dinner we poked our nose into the Vista Lounge where the game had just started. Two pop-up drink outlets had been created at both entrances and a British Pub atmosphere started to develop in the lounge, as all was still well in the world with 0-0. While writing this, the next morning, we now know that England is out, and Argentina will go against Spain in the finals. The whole of England will be mourning today, with or without a hangover, but many business will be happy as the Government was planning to declare a National Holiday if England would win the World Cup. There is still a collective memory in the good about the Good Old Days of the 1966 world cup and now the hopes were dashed for another   4 years.

In case you are wondering if there is a Casino? Yes there is and it is a big one. We have not been there in the evening as we do not gamble and. we do not smoke.

We went to the liquor shop as Lesley as contemplating on buying more Gin, but the “tax free” prices are not really tax free, just a bit cheaper than ashore, and cannot compete with the prices on the Ferry to Holland. So we let it be. Although the shops are large, most of the stuff sold is the same as on the other ships. We are now in Norway, so there are trolls and Norwegian clothing (did not sell as we have the heatwave) and Russian lacquer work, including baboeska’s. I think the shop logic is, we are very close to Russia, so it will sell. We did not see much interest, and I think that most guests are waiting until Russia opens up again. We have a lot of Ukrainians on board, including Anna our head concierge, and they all say that the country is getting war-weary, but will not give up especially as the Ukraine seems to be turning the tables on Putin.  The Tourist people in Leningrad must be really hurting with all the ships now going to  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Princess is even starting with home porting in Helsinki, so it can do more ports in 7 days, instead of losing a sea day going from Copenhagen to the Baltic Sea.

Photo shop on board on Deck 6 port side Atrium, everything is digital now but during day hours there is plenty of crew around to help out.

Tomorrow we are in Stavanger and we have a tour in the afternoon. The ship is to be docked by 10 am.  I did not see any other cruise ships scheduled, she will dock in the old port. That might be on the East side (so easy access to the Petroleum Museum) or on the west side with easy access to the old town. If it is the latter, I want to run ashore quickly to see if there are any new shipping books at the Maritime Museum which should be located opposite the stern of the ship.

Weather for tomorrow, Partly Cloudy with temperatures around 20oC / 70oF and a gentle breeze.  The weather people are all confused about what happened to their predicted heatwave.

 

2026 July 14; Skjolden, Norway.

July 15, 2026 / / 1 Comment

The ms Sky Princess towering over the small dock of Skjolden.

After sailing in for about 5 hours, to the end of Sognefjord, the Sky Princess docked at Skjolden.  A new pier was constructed here a few years ago and since then the big ships have started to call as well. When going ashore, we saw several First Call plaques in the Security Gate souvenir office. The ms Prinsendam from 2011 (when I was on leave), and then the Delfts Blue plates from the Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam (VII). The dock has been constructed just wide enough for any length cruise ship to be able to put two gangways ashore. Bow and Stern are sticking out and long mooring ropes go to bollards at the edge of the Fjord.   The town is about a 15 minute walk from the ship, which has about 250 or so inhabitants. Downtown is made up of a small Supermarket, the Skjolden Hotel and the Skjolden community center which is made up of a tourist shop, the tourist office,  a small museum,  a community hall and an indoor swimming pool. The latter being used by only 2 people when we were there.

The metropolis of Skjolden with most of the 250 peoples houses in the photo. The first row at the water, just above the curve in the road are Air bnb’s mainly occupied by the Dutch and the Belgians.

Skjolden calls itself “The Gateway to the Norwegian National Parks”, so this is primarily a shore excursion stop for the ship. With full day tours but also a 1 hour shuttle service to the nearest glacier. But a very large majority of the guests opted to march into town and in the case of our Japanese Groups on board, who once again were leading the invasion, to march straight through it as they did not realise that there was not really a downtown.  But the seemed to be impressed by the local bus top, as several took photos when having a seat inside. The route from the ship to the town, led along a number of holiday homes, which were occupied/rented by the Dutch and the Belgians, followed by the option to row in a real Viking boat, do some real Viking Axe throwing or go on a RIB speed boat adventure along the fjord. For the latter one everybody suited up in Survival Suits which for today was a bit over the top as the water was as flat as a mirror.

This is downtown Skjolden with the prominent hotel and visitor center to the left. Not visible but of equal importance the local Co-op shop.

Skjolden is famous for its Cinnamon buns. Sold in the port office and also along the walking road in the two restaurants. The man in the port office said that he baked each day, when there was a big ship in, 540 of them and he normally sold them all. Where the precise number of 540 came from, remained unclear, but maybe that was the maximum capacity of his oven. Interesting to see was also that the souvenir shops were manned by first time immigrants as the lady in port office shop did not look at all like a tall Norwegian Hilde but much more like a seductive Shehezarade.

Norwegians from around Skjolden,from around the turn of the century leaning against their home. Only  one looks like a Viking, the rest could have been from anywhere.

While in the little museum, looking at a wall of old photos which showed farmers living in small wooden farms, I suddenly realised that our (movie) perception of tall blonde Vikings was not exactly correct. Most of the farmers in the photos where not towering Vikings with blond hair and blue eyes, but of small and slender size and had black hair and brown eyes. Even the local family who operated the Co-op store in “downtown” were black haired.  Maybe the Viking imported a lot of Dark haired maidens from their raiding adventures down south, than they are given credit for. No doubt one day a scientist will do a large scale DNA test in the fjords and then find out that the Romans made it up to Skjolden as well.

The local Viking Boat, where against payment, you could row yourself (with 12 others) around the fjord.

So we marched to town and marched back again. We could not get lost as 2000+ of our guests were strung out along the same path as well. The bike rental man did a roaring trade. When we went towards town there were about a 100 bikes waiting, when we came back 1 hour later, they were all gone. He even rented out the option of having a baby box on wheels to be towed behind the bike. This is a safe area to bike as you only come across a few coaches on the road and some locals and tourists, so even if you bike on the wrong side of the road, the other road users are expecting it.

Back on board, we had to face the challenge of where to have lunch as we had not eaten for at least 3 hours and that is a dangerous situation for a cruise ship guest.

Pizza Alfredo. According to the Internet experts, Princess has the best pizza’s on the high seas. I am not an expert but they were very good and very fresh.

Flash back to yesterday. Yesterday with the whole ship ashore we went to Alfredo’s which is a  pizzeria on Deck 7 in the Atrium. Capacity is about a 100 guests but there were only 6 of us, the rest was ashore in Bergen. So good service and with the pizza’s freshly made and not on the conveyor belt system that is needed to keep up with a full house. Even the pizza chef was Italian (or at least he said so) so what else can you ask for ? With our on Board Princess Premium package drinks we can have included drinks up to $ 20,– a glass (with a maximum of 15 drinks a day) so we settled on a Merillo California Pinot Noir, or almost a Pinot Noir as it was slightly blended. It had to stand in for the Bet Gloss a real Pinot Noir, which was out of stock. Some Italian pizzeria’s are embarrassed to serve Hawaiian Pizza but not here, so I was a happy camper to  be able to order a Pizza Hawaiian. And it was excellent. Back to today.

So now today we decided to get some nibbles from our Concierge Lounge as we were not in the mood for a full sit down lunch. But the amount of nibbles and salads available is more then enough to consider it a full lunch. According to our lovely waitress Irma who had the lunch shift, there were never many people there on short cruises and in port, but during a crossing the Lounge was very well frequented.

The buffet in the Concierge Lounge with waitress Irma.

The problem with a buffet like this, even when small, but without anybody else milling around you end up going back a few times, so you still end up with a full meal. Especially if the breaded chicken sandwiches are so very good.  Plus free drinks and impeccable service one can easily while away the hours.

Her Ladyship taking full advantage of what was on offer.

What was missing on the buffet, a nice piece of cake (there were small chocolate cupcakes but not the bigger stuff) So an expedition to the “International Cafe” had to be made. Where they serve Pound Cake in three different versions.  Coffee is $ 5,— but included in our package.

The “International Cafe” on Deck 5.  This is a very quiet moment with only 3 customers inline for coffee. On a sea day I counted 5 waiters serving coffee and 4 bakers serving and re-supplying the sandwiches, cakes and buns.

Today the ship was much busier as the non-tour guests completed their visit to the metropolis of Skjolden in the same time frame as we did and then ran back to secure a stretcher in the sun.  The “World Fresh Market Place” (Lido) was busy and so was the “Salty Dog Grill”. This is the Hamburger Bar. We have not tried it yet but the portions looked very large. But we managed to get an soft ice cream as the crowd with “little Johnny’s” had mainly been replaced with a queue of old “Johnny’s but still eating soft ice.

Then it was back to investigate the ship.

…….to investigate the photo shop if our formal photos were in. You can check them all on the App and then download them, but Lesley has now made it a habit of checking them on the big screen, deleting the bad ones (the photographers post all of what they took) and then later download the good ones. On the big screen you can also mark those you really like and order hard copy’s. We are entitled to 3 hard copy’s with our package and we will make a selection on the one by last day. Unfortunately, for me, the ships photos are not included.

As we were curious, whether the Concierge Lounge was used in the evening for cocktails, we decided to go in at 17.30 hrs. when the free drinks started. and indeed about 10 people where there and a piano player, using the piano in the Wedding chapel, with the doors open towards the lounge.  Then we had a reservation for the general (one of 3) restaurant Cielo at 18.50 hrs. This one is located at the stern of the ship on deck 6. Making a reservation is necessary because of the vast numbers of guests on board. Even with reservations a line had built up.  Following the flow during dinner, it is better to go around 1930 hrs, when it became quieter. But then there is the chance you are late for the Show, which starts at 21.30 hrs. and the theatre doors close promptly.

The aft part of the Cielo Restaurant near the stern of the ship. We had the table for two on the left. For the rest we were surrounded by single ladies.

This was the first main dining room dinner that we did and it was sort of indifferent. The food was good but not special, the service was ok, but not very personable. Again due to time constraints as the staff is friendly enough. But in this case it served us well as we made it to the Theatre just after 9 pm. when the doors opened. And thus we could pick at seat that was up to satisfaction of my Lord & Master.

5 skies show, with the damsel in distress projected in the middle.

Tonight’s show was 5-skies. Something totally different than we have ever seen before. It was basically a computer program based show. The hero gamer had to complete five levels of the 5-skies game, to save a damsel in distress (A digital damsel). So the stage was  very futuristic in setup but the show was extremely good again. We got the show with an un-expected cameo by the captain, as he announced that the ship was gearing up for a medical evacuation. With the order for everybody to stay away from the balconies and no flash camera’s.  Normally  you do not have to announce this in the show theatre but there is always the chance that an important officer or team member is in the show and this is the best way to get them out. The ships crew has either walkie – talkies or beeper but have not progressed yet to beeper phones as I saw the hotel manager, during the day, constantly hunting for a phone each time his beeper went off.  I was impressed that when the captain made the announcement the whole  show stopped and then continued again as if nothing had happened. All music and lights just came back, the cast continued their routine without a glitch. I wonder if that was a built-in routine or the stage crew had been rehearsing it. When the all clear was given after the show by captain again, the same happened in the Atrium, Stop – announcement – Start and no hiccup. Very impressed.

During the medivac the ship was still in the outer reaches of the Sogne Fjord so it did not have to deviate to meet an helicopter somewhere. There would have been an helicopter station nearby as the pilots use helicopters all the time during inclement weather.

Tomorrow we are in Olden, which is located at the edge of the Fajeidtfjorden, which is a branch of the Innvikfjorden which is an inner arm of the Nordfjord system. That means another early morning for the captain for a sail in unless he delegates to the Staff Captain which under BRM navigation rules is nowadays allowed. Weather tomorrow, another sunny day with temperatures in the low 20oC / 68oC. The predicted 29oC/80oF heatwave is petering out quickly so we are having the most perfect cruise weather you can think of.

 

2026 July 13; Bergen, Norway.

July 14, 2026 / / 2 Comments

We did make it to the pilot station at 10.00, and saw the pilot boarding at 09.57. Always nice if you have a cabin in the midships and you recognize the sound of the pilot boat engine. I suppose that will stop when they go electric, but I do not know how good electric engines are versus diesel in bad weather. And they have a lot of that here in the dark winter. Many guests were on the balconies as it was a sunny day with no real wind and 16 knots of relative – ship generated wind- is not something that blows you from your balcony. And it is a scenic ride into town with all the posh houses on the fjords sides interspersed with some industrial activity.  Most of it linked to the North Sea oil exploration. Norway itself derives most of it power needs from White Water but it has large oil deposits and thus sells to the whole world. By 10 am. we were docked with the tranquility of the arrival being broken by announcements of the Cruise Director trying to keep everybody away from the gangway and out of the staircases. In all my years of sailing, I have never been able to figure out what is better: no announcements (so guests are not alerted to the option of going and line up at the gangway) or to make announcements and hope that the guests will listen (mostly they do not).  In port with us was my old ship the ms Maasdam now sailing for Ambassador Cruises as the ms Renaissance and serving the French Market. Later on the Hurtigruten ferry/ cruise ship the Vesteraalens came in. She is officially a mail boat and coastal ferry but a lot of the (few) cabins on board are snapped up by tourists. Especially the Germans as they are heavily focused on it.  Our ship was docked at the Jetkeviken dock, which is a container cargo dock but the regular cruise terminals are too small for a 330 meter long ship. It also means that the walk into downtown Bergen is about 10 minutes longer.

The ms Sky Princess approaching the dock. The terminal facing the sea is the one in use by the local ferries.

As expected, at least 3500 guests marched ashore, so that gave us ample opportunity to inspect and enjoy the ship.  We decided not to go ashore as after a 100+ visits or so, there is not much new to see.  On board we could see a lot more as now there was nobody milling in the way of all the public areas, even if some of them were closed. We even managed to get a free soft ice cream today. There is a complimentary stand on Deck 16 (There is also a Gelato ice cream bar on deck 7, but they charge a considerable amount for artisan Gelato) Yesterday we could not even get near, as there was a enormous pile up of little children in front of it, who were in deep focus on a triple soft ice fix.  (The way that works is, that little Johnny gets a soft ice, rejoins the line, moves through the line while eating the ice cream and is ready for the next one, when arriving at the counter again.)

The Internet Cafe on Deck 7 midships. It is somewhat hidden behind “Collections” which is the chocolate shop. the pocket book exchange is in the back. The two center computer stations have no chairs as they are meant for wheelchair users.

The next discovery was, hidden yesterday by a gaggle of guests who did not know where to go, was the Internet cafe. Complete with printer, so if you have to print out your airline tickets, you do not have to go to the front desk. Here we also found the pocket-book exchange. The ship does not have a library, according to face book, Princess cruises expects everybody to embrace the digital future. But for those who only reluctantly follow modern times, they open up one of the dining rooms for undisturbed reading. In the same way that “The Catch” by Rudi’s restaurant has a section where you can play games. It was only a small pocket book exchange, especially with having 4000 people on board but many might not have found it yet. The only other one I have discovered so far is the one our Concierge lounge but that is not accessible to most guests.

The “Celebration” candy and chocolate store. Although in port the shops were closed, 3 weary shop staff were busy refilling the shelves. Looking at the empty boxes coming out, this shop must be in high demand.

A thing that is more and more coming is the increase of candy and chocolate sales on board. Where a small candy stand was once part of the General Drugstore on board, now a small drugstore section is part of a much larger candy store. If you look at the photo, you see at the top left a read sign hanging from the ceiling: “Spend your on board credit here”. And yes this shop is ideal to get rid of any dollars still left on the account, amounts when not enough left to buy something bigger.

The “Take Five” Jazz Club lounge open everyday from 17,30 onwards.

Another quiet lounge in port is the “Take Five” jazz lounge on the port side, which has a resident Jazz band which plays every evening from 17.30 hrs. onwards. It does not suffer from the “marching crowds” on their way from one show lounge to the other, as it is wedged between  the ships theatre and the photo shop. Main reason is that less people come out of the Show lounge on the lower level and those that do seem to favour flowing / marching through the Casino, which is on the Starboard side. We have not visited  this lounge yet, as we only like old fashioned melodious jazz and are not fans of a Dizzy Gillespy “Glissando’s” going through the sound barrier.

A lonely table in the Piazza, but no goofy’s.

Then we wanted to see what the Cruise Staff did on port days so at noon time we moved to the Piazza for “Goofy Golf” only to find a lonely table but no “goofy’s'” around at all.   There was a cruise staff lady present but she was much more interested n chatting up the Sound Guy then assembling a gaggle of goofy’s to play golf.

But as there was hardly anybody there, I saw for the first time, the center piece sculpture in the lower sitting area.

A double headed bronze sculpture. Located in the lower level sitting area of the Atrium.

I can not tell what it is supposed to be as there was no name plate nearby. And that is a pity, there is a lot of art hanging around the ship but while the framed artwork in the staircases and the corridors all have name plates ( as have the photos in the cabins) the more elaborate art does not.

The art in cabin R604. A photo by a certain Greg S. depicting as shot of the house of Parliament in Budapest and an unknown painting without a description.

I am always very interested in art on board the ships, so I would love to know what this painting is called, who made it, and what it is supposed to mean. Here I can also say that Housekeeping is certainly not into art, as this painting is almost falling out of its frame as the glue around the edges has dried out. But checking that does not seem to be of “perfect cabin set-up” that most ships have.  (Princess has one, as I saw a new cabin steward checking his manual of where the toilet brush should stand. (Left of the toilet when looking in)

We decided to have cocktails on the balcony as it was a very pleasant temperature outside and if you pay for a balcony then you should use it when possible. Our cabin is entitled to canape’s before dinner and what I like is that you have to pre-order them the day before with a sort of Room-Service menu so you can choose out of 5 or  so options. It certainly saves wastage in case people are not in the cabin to eat them, or do not like them.

Then it was time for dinner and as part of our package we had “The Catch” by Rudi included.  We know Rudi Sodamin for a long time. My wife sailed with him in the 1980’s when he was sous chef on the Vistafjord and then for years he was involved with Holland America. That eventually led him to get married to a very rich Dutch Lady that he met during a ms Rotterdam world cruise and with whom he is now living in Monte Carlo. Now he has the “Sel de Mer” restaurants on the Holland America Line ships, “Rudi’s Sea Grill” on the Carnival Ships and “The Catch by Rudi” on the Princess ships.

The menu of “The Catch by Rudi’s” restaurant. The restaurant lay-out is nothing special and I could not get a photo of it, without anybody in it, as nowadays it is so difficult to take photos, especially if there are children in it.

The food was very good, with large portions (The jumbo shrimp looked like the size of a small lobster) and a nice wine list. Service was good, friendly but not very focused, as with the continuous resetting of the tables, it is just a restaurant like the others albeit, with a dedicated menu. Sel de Mer on Holland America started out as a real speciality restaurant with high quality waiters and then it was slowly but steadily was watered down with not so highly trained stewards and having too many guests at the same time for the waiters to serve properly. Here there was no shortage of waiters but they had to keep the pace going to keep it all under control. According  to repeat guests, Princess has been squeezing here  on the product with one full main course removed and the champagne served at the start “watered” down as it used to be in bigger glasses with fruit in the champagne.

This got us through to 22.00 hrs. so we had to skip the show which started at 21.30 hrs. This evening it was an acrobat duo, and her Ladyship prefers shows, so all was well in the world.  When coming back to the cabin, we had another surprise, the TV popped on and showed both our Mugshots on the screen as welcome back. I assume again due to his medallion sending out a signal ahead of our approach.

People who are vain, must love this product as one’s face keeps popping up everywhere.

Tomorrow we are in Skjolden in Sognefjord. And that is a new port for us. It used to be frequented by smaller cruise ships but in 2018 they put in a dock and now the big boys are calling as well. I am looking forward to see how a small town can be engulfed by 4000 invading tourists.

Weather for tomorrow:  Clear Skies, wind still (we are in fjord with steep cliffs on either side) and temperatures with a max. of 27oC / 80oF. so it should be very pleasant to walk to “downtown”.

 

 

 

2026 July 12; At Sea.

July 13, 2026 / / 1 Comment

The Sky Princess. (Photo Courtesy Princess crusies)

Today we are having a sea day so the ship can get to Bergen in Norway. It has to maintain a speed of 19.5 knots to get there on time and I assume that has to do with the fact that it does not fit under the bridge that lets you approach Bergen from the South. S o it can not use the southern entrance & pilot station to the Fjord system in which Bergen is located but has to go to the  northern entrance and then sail south again for 2 hours, to the dock. The captain,  Tony Draper did not elaborate on it. Although he made a nice departure speech it was devoid of much pertinent information.  But watching the crowd while he made his announcement, I did not get the impression that many guests even cared that he made an announcement. The ship is of a size that is it somewhere in between a cruise ship and a floating destination (like the Oasis class of RCI) and then the presence of a captain is pushed more to the catagory of “one of those driving the ship”.  But he has been at sea for 30 years and his first ship was the Island Princess (sister of the Love Boat) the Pacific Princess, a ship I know well as well, as it sailed with us between 1984 and 1986 in Alaska and the winter season to Acapulco.

Captain Tony Draper, Master of the ms Sky Princess. (Photo taken from the ships Daily Program “Princess Patter”)

The Sky Princess came into service in 2019 and of course went out of service again in 2020 when Covid hit the industry. It has a size of 145.282 Gross tons which makes it still a medium sized cruise ship but leaning to the large side. Length of 330 meters with 4 diesel electric engines delivering a maximum speed of 23 knots.  Service speed between 19 and 22 knots, although as with most cruise ships now the service speed lays around 16 knot so the ship can run more efficiently on 2 engines.  Official capacity is 3660 passengers in 1830 cabins (81% with balconies) and a crew of 1200. This cruise we have over 4000 guests on board, courtesy of the school holidays and 1134 crew on board.

This morning we took it slow as we knew that the ship would be large area of “controlled chaos” with over 4000 guests on board. Plus we needed time to figure out how the Princess App works and what you can do with it. Although Princess tries to go digital all the way, it still understands that there are lot of “digitally challenged” people out there and thus there is still a steady stream of paperwork coming to the cabin with all sorts of information and there is still the hard copy of Princess Patter the daily program. (This is named after the daily program on board the first – charter- ship of Princess back in 1965; the Princess Patricia, which was an old ferry . Originally employed between Vancouver and Alaska).  Princess does not stint on things to do on board so going through the densely printed Daily Program takes some time as well. We get fruit in the cabin, and not in small portions and that enough for breakfast after a heavy dinner.

By 11.00 we felt mentally ready to face the Princess world again and went for a walk about and indeed it was very busy everywhere. So if you had not pre-booked for any of the venues then it was hard to get in. Bars and related all had long lines including the International Cafe which s provides free sandwiches and cakes all day, and you only pay for the coffee and drinks. (A bit like the Grand Cafe on Holland America and the Carinthia Lounge on Cunard, but then on a much larger scale; and it is open 24 hours a day. It seems that there are a lot of guests on this ship who wake up around 3 am in the morning and then feel the urgent need make an expedition to Deck 5 to stack up on more calories. We were not surprised that there was a long, long line waiting here and most of those in line were of a weight that should have urged them not to have been in line.

After scrutinising the program we found out that in one dining room (there are three main dining rooms, they are free of charge but you have to book your time) the Estrella, they had a section reserved for Princess Premium guests, and  that includes our cabin. Thus we had to go there to find out what this was. It turned out that the menu was the same but by filtering us out from the rest of the crowd, it was less busy and thus we could have a more relaxed lunch.

With 17 ships, Princess sails everywhere and it has even ships especially designated for the Chinese and Far East market. Which is growing and thus they are dedicating a 3 ships to it.

We were on a mission as at 13.00 hrs., we had to be in the Vista Lounge at the stern to be part of “Cruising with Princess”. Not many people there but the Future Cruise Lady gave a presentation with a little of Princess history, 60 years old this year, what the fleet was made up of,  what new ships were coming and their differences, and where the ships were sailing and how the discount system worked . A sort of “book your cruise” but  without the sales pitch. Also explained was the difference between Princess Plus and Princess Premium the two on board packages that you can buy. We have the premium version which includes nearly everything you want to do.  And if you go to the included speciality restaurants which are all $ 55,– and over, and have a few drinks, then you are already breaking even. Not counting the free internet (for 4 devices, free laundry and a few other things)

Some of the senior hotel staff, participating in the welcome on board games including the Hotel manager.

This was directly followed by “Welcome to new Princess cruisers” happening hosted by the Cruise Director. It was very meagerly attended (we have 1500 new Princess cruisers on board, but only about 50 in the lounge)but turned out to be a nice introduction to Princess with prices given, a few games  and with the participation of the some of the Sr. Hotel Staff. I do not care very much for “Charades” games  but there was free champagne, with refills, so all was well in the world.  Once this was over, we had to run out as it was time for “Bingo”, and we hardly had time to get out of our seats as an tsunami of old ladies swarmed over the lounge all eager to get the best seats in the house.

The digital screen. All the photos you see are from guests whose medallion is in the vinciniity.

Our next mission was the photo shop. As mentioned on day one, we have all digital photos included in our package that we have taken out, so it was time to check what the results were. You can do it from you App. as well and then download them directly but a bigger screen gives more details. Again we came across a nifty thing due to the medallion. Once you come close to the digital display board, your own photos pop up in the rotation of advertised “show photos”. When they take your photo the photographer has a sensor on his camera so the medallion automatically “anchors” the photos taken to your name. All of them appear on the screen and you can delete those you do not want. We are the sinners in the top right.

The whole happening started at 18.15 hrs. with a short show by the cast celebrating drinking champagne.

Then it was time to run back to the cabin to get changed as it was captains formal welcome on board. Princess is really pushing this Formal dress thing but is not getting very far. At least not this cruise. We dressed up but we were in the 10% minority. The most effort I saw was that men had changed into long pants and some of them even made the effort of wearing a jacket and the occasional tie. With such a large ship, I think that Princess has to designate a bar solely for those who make the effort as a sort of thank you. But we like to dress up, so we did. Visited all the Photographers we could find, who were very busy, even with those whose formal consisted out of shorts and a Budweiser T. Shirt.  And then we were lucky to find a space on the edge of the Atrium so we could see the Captains Welcome. 95% of those also around the atrium were still in “beach attire” but nobody seemed to care. I think most guests saw the whole happening as a part of a short show interlude.

The captain advised that this cruise there were 1159 Americans on board and 1134 British and the rest people were from other countries, including 144 from Portugal. He did not go down the complete list (as some captains do, as it is an easy way to get a lot of applause) so I never found out if I was unique with being Dutch.

Captain Tony welcoming everybody on board. I have never seen so many officers introduced. (See the whole circle around the floor) This was done by the Cruise Director but as he only announced name, function and home country it did not take that long. The captain was then the last one to appear, so he could launch directly into his speech.

Which in a way it was, a short show interval, as it was also called  the “Captains Champagne Waterfall”. For this a champagne glasses tower was erected in the Atrium and after the Captains Appearance, the Beverage Manager started poring champagne as a waterfall, down the glasses and guests could join in and have their photo taken. And there were a lot of guests interested.

The Beverage manager on the steps behind the champagne tower starting to pour. A long line was forming on the deck from where I took the photo, of those who wanted to immortailized with the champagne tower.

For us was it was then moving with the crowds towards more food. We had booked Sabatini’s, which is the Italian Restaurant on board. We had already heard that it was extremely popular so we were quite happy to get a reservation at the time of 19.30 hrs. We wanted to be a bit early as Lesley wanted to make the Revue show as Princess has a great reputation for shows.

Sabatini’s is modern in lay-out and nice and spacious. As long you are sitting close to the seaside / windows you are not bothered by the music in the Atrium and you can even hear Andrea Bocelli singing as background music in the restaurant.

The menu is not “designer” Italian for advanced Foodies but features the regular starters and main courses, such as Spaghetti ala Carabonari and other wellknown dishes. The food was extremely good with very large portions. Service was attentive  but fast and the waiters did not have much time for a chat or an elaborate explanation of how it all went. But it was very good. With the large portions we skipped desert which was only two options anyway as we went to the show.

The cast of the Rock Opera. According to the Princess Website  this is a new show and we had the original cast in the show, as seen here on the photo. (Photo Courtesy Princess Cruises)

As mentioned before the Theater is much too small to accommodate all on board, so you have to get in 20 minutes before the start to get a good seat.  There were plenty of ushers around (Junior Hotel officers) to get the crowd to their seats as fast as possible.  With our On Board Package we have preferential seating but all those seats were in the “flat” directly under the stage but then you do not have oversight over the whole stage. But the top rows were still empty and we found out that with such a large stage, the top seats were perfect. At exactly 21.30 they closed the doors and from then on, they did not let anybody in anymore. With good reason as all seats were taken.

I have no photos of the show as we had THAT announcement again but the show called “Rock Opera” was good. It was VERY GOOD, Princess did live up to their reputation with very good singers and very good choreography. Basically it was a mixture of Opera like sounding Musical song, or Opera songs that sounded good on a Rock beat. The cast consisted of 15 members and 6 musicians, all on stage. Very impressed.

A good 50 minute show and by the time it was finished it was 23.20 as we had an hour forward tonight. so we called it a day.

Tomorrow we have the pilot at 10 am and then 2 hour journey through the fjords to Bergen. This might be the last day with cooler weather: 19oC / 67oF and then the British heatwave is expected to descend over South Norway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026 July 11; Southampton, England.

July 12, 2026 / / 7 Comments

We are on our way to our next cruise adventure, a 7 day cruise to Norway with the Sky Princess of Princess Cruises. A completely new company for us and as they have a ship sailing from Southampton, we grabbed the chance and as Lesley managed to get a good deal by booking early, we went for it.  I do not know anything about the Princess Cruises product so it is all going to be completely new to us. The company is a relatively new cruise company, only 60 years young, compared to Holland America with 150 years, Cunard with 185+ years and the oldest one, P&O which started cruising in 1851 and sailing another 20 years earlier. (Although they did not call it cruising in those days but “excursions”.  Princess is also a sub company of Carnival Corporation and was for a while part of the HAL group under the leadership of Stein Kruse until it was decided not too long ago to abolish this holding company again. It had served its purpose and the “brands” where becoming too different to get any “synergy” out of it anymore, to use some management speak.

The Hilton hotel in Southampton which is an integrated part of the Utilita Bowl, for cricket games. (Photo courtesy Utilita Bowl)

So yesterday we drove to Southampton and stayed overnight in the Hilton Hotel at the Utilita Bowl, which is one of the biggest cricket stadiums in England. The drive down was interesting with a lot of small hold-ups mainly caused by cars that were overheating  or breaking down due to heat related issues. All the roads nearby the Hotel had Crowd Control Barriers in place, to stop wild parking , as there is the “England Men versus India” game tomorrow. While we were checking in, several die hard fans already arrived with cool boxes in tow, all set to spend a sweltering day in the sun, as the temperature is supposed to go up to 90 oF or 32 oC and that is very hot for England. If you want to spend the money, you can book a Hotel room that overlooks the pitch with your own private balcony. I have not even looked at those prices but they must be considerable. We stayed the night before with a “park your car” deal. That includes a taxi to and from the ship, and that makes life as easy as it gets.

The personal medallion. You do not have to wear it around you neck, it works as well when in the pocket,

So the next day the taxi popped as planned and were delivered at the ship right on time for our check in moment. The roads were busy as also in port where the Ventura, the MSC Orchestra and Celebrity Apex. Also big boys with a capacity between 3000 and 6000 beds. The Sky Princess (sailing with 4000+ this cruise) was docked at berth 37/39 commonly known as the Ocean Terminal. This is one of the bigger terminals which makes check in and going through security somewhat easier. Dropping of the luggage was very easy, there were 4 bays and all were clearly marked with the  cabin numbers and with Stewards directing people very efficiently.  Then I was really impressed in the way Princess handles check-in. There were about 500 guests going through the pipe line at the same moment but it took less then 5 minutes to get to the counter, The Lady took less then 5 minutes to verify our passports and give us our medallion. This is a sort of sensor / boarding pass/ cabin key , all in one and should take all the hassle out of being on board.  Even security was fast, noting that the  handling personnel was a lot younger than in  the smaller terminals. With Fred Olsen we always seem to have an older group  that handles security, and they tend to be too friendly with a nice chat and thus the flow slows down.

Lesley has booked an on board package “Princess Premium” which basically includes everything you normally pay for. Including all on board photos. (all digital and 3 print outs) So instead of avoiding the photographers at all cost we are now planning to stop at each stand to see what the result is. And that started directly in the terminal.

The front door screen, reacting when it senses the medallion. You can push the red button for privacy and your names are on the top. When you approach it shows the “mugshots” of yourselves as used y security.

The medallion kicked in and getting on board was a breeze and went very fast.  As Lesley had booked a Suite on Deck 14 (called Riviera Deck) we did not have to wait for cabins to be ready and could just march in. Here the medallion kicked in again. When about 5 feet away from the door, it senses the medallion and the door unlocks. At the same time the cabin steward can see that you have arrived and are in the cabin, so he/she knows when to go in and when to do meet and greet. It is a bit of big brother watching you but it works extremely well and no need to put your hand luggage down, find you cabin key etc.etc.

Suitcases arrived about 1.5 hours after dropping them off, which is for a big ship with  4000+ guests on board not a bad score at all.  While waiting for them to arrive we went to report at our Assembly station after watching the safety video. The ship had quite a bit of challenges to get the crowd to conform with the requirement as 20 minutes before sailing there were still 559 guests outstanding on the Boat drill record. I wonder how they dealt with that as it questionable that they could reach all of those in 20 minutes. We also have a considerable  contingent of Japanese, Koreans and Portugese on board , three nations who are not known for applying the rules on board as expected. Sometimes because of language barriers, sometimes because of a different approach to time constraint matters. And then there is always a group, who do not listen to any announcement at all, do not read any paper work, but do scream the loudest when something happens or they miss out.

But the ship sailed on time and the captain (more tomorrow) was in a hurry as Norway is a long way away from Southampton, so the ship has to maintain an average speed of 20 knots to get to our first port of call, Bergen, Norway. And we are going to have headwinds of about force 7 to 8.

We did a quick walk around to get a feeling for the lay-out of the ship. Most public rooms are on Deck 5,6, 7, and then on the top levels of 16,17.  You can book all your dining room reservations and other things on line before joining but if you want to change them you have to go to the outlet. We had ended up with two speciality dining options at 21.00 hrs. so we went to change them.  If you do not want to do it yourself, then there is the concierge in the concierge lounge,  which covers our cabin classification. That lounge  also has nibbles and hand food from 07.00 hrs. to 14.00 hrs.and then from 17.00 hrs. to 21.00 hrs. again. Between 1730 and 1930 there are free cocktails as well. It is only a small lounge but the Wedding Chapel is  attached to it and they can open the connecting doors and then there is more than enough space.  The concierge lady is Dorothy from South Africa and there is Irma from Mexico and Mi-luh from Bali (She is Indonesian from Chinese descent) as waitresses.

The Ships Theatre near the bow. There are 2 more show venues but this one is for the main shows. The side lines are excellent. except on the front section, where you have to hope that the person in front of you is not too tall.

The ship is setup is the same as are all larger ships nowadays, expecting that not all guests want to do the same thing at the same time, so only a 3rd of the ships capacity fits in the show lounge and also most of the food and drink outlets around the Atrium are based on a continuous flow  of guests. Thus very much based on the American system of moving along from one thing to the other. While the British tend to linger much more in place with multiple cups of tea and a good natter. On the MSC Orchestra that was a real challenge, so let’s see how it works here.

The Atrium in the center of the ship. It goes up 3 decks and a lot of venues are located around it.

We are expecting that the heat wave will follow us all the way to Norway and thus the top decks with the pools will be very busy. We had a quick look to see what the “Sail Away” party was all about but when we arrived there, it was only a very loud band.  They large screen is in use all day long, with the first movie at 10.30 and then running on into the late evening. Tonight they will screen the football match England – Norway and that should attract a large crowd.( It did when we walked by at 22.30 hrs. with hundreds of fans, huddled together and wrapped in towels and blankets, as the English heatwave is currently not extending yet into the night on a sailing ship.

The view towards the stern on Deck 16 with the large TV screen. As you can see the guests were already out in force to enjoy the nice weather.

After unpacking and cocktails in the Concierge Lounge, we descended into the ship and had another drink before dinner in the Crown Bar on Deck 7 near the Vista Lounge, which is the 2nd show venue. The Crown Bar and lounge has live music at times and an ample seating area but is split through the middle by the walkway into the rest of the ship. So if you want to do people viewing, it is a great location. Here we came across the next impact of the Princess Medallion. The moment the waitress approaches you,  your names, cabin number and drinks package pops up on her tablet. So you get always greeted by name and also informed at once, if you drinks order is covered by the package yes or no. With our package nearly everything is covered, as it goes to $20,– a drink. (We also are entitled to 15 bottles of water a day and we have no way how we are going to drinks those, plus there is free water in the Concierge Lounge as well)

For Dinner we were in the Crown Grill, which has a good selection of food but with a focus on meat. This restaurant has a cover charge of $ 55.– a person but for us it is included in the package. The food is cooked in an open kitchen, although from your table you can not see into the kitchen, only the heads of the cooks bobbing by. The food was extremely good, but the service chaotic. nothing arrived on time or was synchronized with other people on the time. Whether the TOP  is not high enough or they were under TOP, but the waiters (dressed as French Brasserie waiters) were keeping up a constant banter to distract the guests from regcognizing the hiccups in the service.

After dinner I was ready to collapse after the intensive drive on Englands Motorway’s so we have a quick walk around and then retired. We have to go forward one hour for Norway but on this ship they do the time change on formal night.

Tomorrow we are at sea. The weather looks sunny but very windy, but not too much swell so the ship should be fairly steady. Mainly overcast later in the day and chilly in the wind an temperatures around 14oC / 57oF.

 

 

 

 

2026 May 30; Southampton. Review and Verdict.

June 2, 2026 / / 6 Comments

2016 May 30, Southampton, England.

Rotterdam is not that far from Southampton and thus we sailed yesterday at a warp speed of 7.5 knots through a smooth and flat sea. Sun had been shining all day but today was overcast although still warm, so good weather to travel home in. Tomorrow and the day after most of the UK is expecting torrential rain, always a sort of follow up to very warm days here, but it seems that our region of Norfolk (already the driest county in the country since times immemorial) will miss most of it.

By 05.30 am. we were docked and by 07.30 all our luggage was ashore and we could disembark by 07.45. hrs. We were ordered to leave the cabin by 07.30 hrs. but when we complained about this, the Concierge Desk said that they could easily extend this to later. If you can…………………. why even say 07.30 hrs. ?  It is nice to go back to the cabin to brush your teeth after breakfast (which runs to 08.30). That would have been a perfect ending to the cruise.

And so I come to my last blog for this cruise which is my review of these 5 days and the verdict. It is as usual a very personal verdict  as I am not beholden to any secondary interest in the background nor do I feel the need to please anybody. But  if you decide to take a cruise on MSC  I hope what I have discussed  in the past 5 days and now below, will help you with making a well-balanced and informed decision.

The verdict.

We knew that the ship was a high density ship, although it had a good space ratio, due to to the sheer number of people. Most guests will always be milling around in the same area. What we had expected happened, but which helped to see how the ship operated, was that instead of the 4000+ lower bed capacity, it went up to 6200, due to the school holiday time in England. So it was a full house, a REAL full house.

Unless you like mayhem all day long and dense groups of people being together, then MSC is only workable when booking a cabin in the Yacht Club. And that Yacht club is not on all MSC ships, only on the bigger ones. And we needed it badly to keep our sanity.

So lets start with that Yacht Club, as it was really, really good in general.

The dining and the day lounge were perfect with attentive and impeccable service. Over the whole 5 nights, we only came across one issue in the Dining room. They had run out of Port Wine. We found that out on the second night when I wanted a cheese plate. The service being  6-7 star I was expecting that it would have been resolved the next night but it was not. On the one but last night, the neigbouring table asked for Port Wine as well …… still not available, e.g. not on board. They were offered a good quality sherry instead but that is not the same.  I had really expected that Beverage would have  run ashore in Zeebrugge or Rotterdam to get a few bottles as the supermarkets were very close by. We even did that on the Prinsendam (5 star) and I was told the same also on Azamara (6+).  This did not spoil the cruise of course but it showed that they focussed on the product but did not think outside the box. For the rest, perfect dining experience.

Day lounge: Drinks are all included (except some very top premium drinks and wines) and service in the Bar is extremely fast, good and with attention to detail. There is a buffet with nibbles all day long and changed several times a day and there is constant  live (background) music from 18.30 to 23.00 hrs. I wish we would have that on every 6 or 7 star ship that we sailed or will sail on. The is the one aspect where The Yacht Club really stands out.

The Glare: (how many crew react: Smile/greet) when I look at them: 100%.  Perfect score.

Cabin  service was slightly less good. Officially there is a butler and a cabin steward but most of the work is done by the cabin steward who seem to have more cabins than he/she  can really handle. The Butler concentrates on the paper work (very little), the mini bar, running errands, escorting to the evening shows  and also butlers in the day lounge. Every day there was something missing or not completed. To my opinion due to  too many cabins.

There is something called a “perfect cabin setup” to ensure it is 100% faultless each day. But if you are under time pressure you can’t.  That was confirmed to me on Southampton day when suddenly our cabin steward got help from a 2nd person.   A butler was there but it was not our “personal butler”,  as our butler was constantly called away by the Concierge Desk to run errands. Those “errands” gives the service that makes the Yacht Club product so good but it is not personal.  Our butler only showed up from somewhere when it was time to take us ashore for disembarkation.

There was a line of about 500 guests trying to disembark at the same time, but with the butler we by passed it all as she took us all the way into the terminal and helped locate our suitcases. That was a perk we have never seen before but with 6000 people trying to get off, it made sense, although it is very time consuming for the butlers. I would have been happy to say goodbye at security.

Main irritating thing for our cabin was on Rotterdam night, when our fruit suddenly disappeared with still a sea day to go and he also took away our front door cabin operating card. The cabin has a hotel lock, so you need to insert your cabin key to get the light on and to get the air conditioning going and keep it going. Our windows were baking in the full sun all day and it made the cabin very warm, so we had arranged via the butler to have a dedicated card. (your own credit card or related does not work it has to be programmed) to keep inserted and keep the cabin cool. He took the card out and yes our cabin had started to warm up again while we were away  So we had to get that card back.
Talking about A.C: a good thing is that when you open the balcony door, the A.C goes off, stopping guests from sleeping with the AC on and the balcony door open. And that is good for saving energy and keeping the temperatures down in the hallways.

An irritant was the MSC Foundation. This is a MSC setup that provides help and support for all sorts of good things in the world. They have a big “outlet store” in the ship, among the shops so you can see what they do. But without telling us they added on day 3, 1 pound to each charge account. So that is 6200 pounds for everybody. The money is for us absolutely not the problem but I do not like to be charged for something I did not order nor perviously agreed to.  I looked through all the whole “App” but nothing there to alert you that it was coming. According to the Concierge Desk, “it was on the pre cruise paper work”. But I could not find anything on line either. MSC does not issue paperwork, it is all supposed to be on the website or on the “App”. They offered to take the money off, and we said no as that was not the  point. But it was irritating that they took money without prior consent.

The cabin itself 16005, was well appointed and the only thing I missed was a power socket away from the desk so I could work on my laptop and charge at the same time. There are 4 sockets at the desk. Two European and two American and two USB ports. Then at each bedside there is another USB port but not so easy to reach as it is located under the rim of the lamp base, meaning it takes some poking around to find the hole while hoping that you have your USB plug the right way around as you cannot seen the socket unless you go on your knees to look under the rim.  There are no hooks in the cabin to hang up your coats if you are on a cruise with colder days. So it has to hang on the back of your chairs. (straight backed but with very little padding)  Another thing we like is a small light in the bathroom so you can see if you have to go in during tthe night. Not there, but the magnifing mirrow has a light and we left that on all night, with the door slightly ajar. Luckily not moving ship this cruise.

The only BIG ommission we had and we are very irritated about it: is that we missed the “Welcome Briefing.” We found out that the idea was, that the butler who brought you on board, would ensure that you received a 1 on1 briefing with him/her or another butler about all the perks that came with the Yacht Club. We did not get one, although we were for more than 30 minutes in the Lounge having our welcome on board drink, but the butler taking us on board did not mention  that is was supposed to happen and nobody came over.

With all the perks going, the Concierge Desk / Butler does not offer anything. They expect you to know from the briefing, or that you will to ask, and ask, and ask.  We had to piece this all together during the first 3 days and when we mentioned it at the Concierge Desk, they were fully taken aback, “startled” is the word, but they did not apologize nor still offer to do a session. And that gave me a firm indicator that they were running on auto pilot within their system. Convinced that their product was wonderful but not stepping outside the box to ensure that it remained that way. We saw the same thing at Silverseas and Azamara.

What was different to Silverseas, Azamara and even Cunard and Fred Olsen, is that you have to pay for your shuttle service in port when in the posh Yacht Club. And that is something that should not be. You get preferential tender service but you have to pay extra for a port shuttle. Nobody we spoke to in the Yacht Club raised their eyebrows if the ticket fare would have gone up by a few pounds to make it included. But it is irritating to have been sold a posh product and then having to pay for transport. MSC could do much better here.

Back to The Glare:

In the Yacht Club, 100%. Always a friendly meet & greet always immediatelly at your side to ask if you want something to drink . This is on the same level as Azamara and Silver Seas.

In the ship 0%. Not a single crewmember looks at you, smiles when walking by, or wishes you good morning or a good day. They are simply too busy and too stretched for time. When you approach them, they help you, help you very efficiently, and then move on to the next person in line, as there is always somebody in line behind you. We saw a few times some very senior hotel staff  in the ship but they were everytime in a huddle, jabbering away in Italian and totally oblivious to the guests around them.

The whole cruise is run by App. There is the daily program and your personal agenda, digitally on the phone, which you can also see on your TV. They have a lot of TV channels, including all BBC reg channels , German, Italian and the movies are not too old. That is really better than many other company’s such as Cunard, Fred Olsen etc. which only show Sky News as British News. Compliments there.  Only complaint was there was no music channel.  Only some sort of barbed wire music on the Bow Camera , which on Holland America it is were they also make the Cruise Director’s  announments.  It is very nice that they are only are only made in the hallways  (Fred Olsen please note) and not in the cabin but it would be nice if you had the option to flip the TV on and go to the bow channel.

On day three we found out that if you do not like the App, then the Concierge Desk will print out the complete daily program for you but they do not offer it. We saw the hard copy’s and then found out that repeat guests had figured that out during a previous cruise.

In the ship there is a large emphasis on retail. Nearly everything has a sales handle and not a service handle. Not my piece of cake but the 6000 guests marching around down stairs did not seem to mind so the product works.

Would I recommend MSC, from my point of view, who likes good service in general and lack of crowds: NO.

But if decide to you go, book the Yacht Club, Day Lounge, Dinning and the private sun deck (with bar and small buffet, and small swiming pool with life guard) are VERY Good. So for that one YES. (We met several guests, who purely live in the Yacht Club and only go down for the Shows and the Spa)

Will we return ? NO.

First of all, we have seen the product now and it is not ours. Secondly I did not like the Concierge Desk. They are really convinced that they are God’s gift to the world and will obfuscate any question they cannot directly answer or do not want to answer. I prefer a straight “I do not know” instead of going around the houses. Plus we never got our boarding meeting on embarkation day and you really need that to find out what the Yacht Club can offer.

Dresscodes: in the Yacht Club. Everything is casual, very casual, except the evenings, then it is smart casual. With that you seem to comply if the gentlemen switch from shorts to a long pair of trousers. They do theme nights but it is not in the pre cruise communication. So Lesley sent an email to MSC asking if there would be a white night (we had heard about on Face book) during this 5 day cruise. There was, so we brought white clothes. The white night popped up on the App for the first night, then disappeared again and then popped up again for Rotterdam night. They put the hour back to the UK on that evening as well, so people could/would stay out longer. On longer cruises they also do formal nights, so we asked the Concierge Desk how that worked, as it was not on the website.

The Answer was:
We do not pre-publish theme nights, we decide during the cruise what we are going to do.

So taking all your formal gear with you is a gamble as during the cruise you might not even HAVE a formal night. The first night was a 60’s.70’s. 80’s theme night and nobody knew about it. I overheard a few ladies in the staircase say that they would have loved to bring their “Abba Gear” with them. For the evening, for the show and for the Disco………………….   MSC really has to do better here.

Final: The Yacht club Dining and Lounge service is extremely good and on par with 7 star cruise ships. Cabin service slightly less but still good.   Outside the “Yacht club bubble”, everything is Sales Driven and with only the basic free / included service in the dining rooms and Market (Lido) Restaurant. Speciality Resturants start at 55 pounds a person.  Also being charged in pounds adds more as when you look on the MSC web site it say $55  so they make more money there.  The Cruise staff seem to do a great job with their activities but with such a crowded ship, not all who want to can participate.

Our next cruise is in coming July with the Sky Princess, Princess Cruises also from Southampton. This is a 3000+ ship, so also a lot of people . But it will not be  as bulky as the MSC Magnifica, where you have to live in splended isolation , far from the Maddening Crowd. I will hope that you will then follow our escapedes again.

 

 

2026 May 29; At Sea, sailing back to Southampton.

May 31, 2026 / / 3 Comments

Today was the last day of our 5 day “expedition” to see a Mega Liner with over 4000 people on board and to sample the MSC product. An un-expected bonus was the 2000 extra, due to the holiday time in the UK. At least we could now see what a “full to capacity mega liner looked like”. And we had the option to disappear back to an oasis of peace, the Yacht Club on Deck 14,15, (cabins only) deck 16 (Sky lounge), Deck 18 (diningroom) and Deck 19  (Outside bar and Sun deck). There is no deck 17 on the ship as the Italians indeed seem to consider that an unlucky number. I wonder if that was already the case in the Roman day as all the Gaul & Germanic tribes could have just painted XVII on their shields and Julius Cesar and his army would have run back to Italy, without the help of Asterix and Obelix. A quick AI – google gives 2 options:

Option 1: In Italy, 17 is considered an unlucky number primarily because its Roman numeral form, XVII, is an anagram for the Latin word VIXI. Translated to English, vixi means “I have lived”—implying “my life is over” or “I am dead.

Option 2: Ancient Rome & Disasters: The destruction of the Roman Legions XVII, XVIII, and XIX in the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest caused the number 17 to be associated with bad omens.

All the pasta is made fresh on board, and there is also a station to press/form the mozarella.

So that piece of history made it also to MSC, whch considers itself an Italian company, although the ships are Malta Flagged and the owner Mr. Aponte lives in Geneva.  But they have a Dutch Captain on the MSC Magnifica so  the whole happening is quite international, especially if you see Indian Cooks, making pasta and being from Madras. (very dark skin color, and I could not get him in the above photo).

The Ampfi Theatre. This is a multi level sun bathing area and when they take the stretchers away, guests can sit on 3 levels watching a show around the pool.

So we went to the one area we had not been to yet, the Horizon Pool and Ampfi theatre. With behind it, the Sport Plex, children gaming area, Do-Re-Mi-land for the small ones, the Sky Lounge (do not confuse it with the one that is part of the Yacht Club) as this one is for the whole ship but Adults Only. And there is also a Smoking Lounge that seats about 20 people focussing on their suicide mission.

This is the bar for the Ampfi theatre area. Waiting times are somewhat longer than in the Yacht Club Lounge.

With  anywhere between a 1000 and 2000 kids on board (nobody could or was willing to tell me how many there were on the ships manifest) the Kids Zone and Sport-Plex was heaving. That is all situated around a teens bar.

This is the kids bar, where various sorts of soda’s can be obtained from dispensers or from the bar stewards. Everybody is given a wrist medallion that you can use to pay for items. I believe parents can limit the amount childeren can spend.

Renting the bowling alley sets you back 45,– pounds for 1 hrs. or 25,– pounds for 20 minutes with an unlimited number of players.

The bowling alley with 2 lanes. I have no idea how this works with keeping score when you play when the ship is moving. And even very large cruise ships can be restless in strong seas.

This area is of course a magnet for a lot of kids and the parents have to be either very rich, or very organised with their budget as the prices charged are not cheap.

One of the Fruit machine, or flipper machine areas in this section. Again very popular.

There is a Formula 1 race simulator (10 minutes) which sets you back 11,– pounds. A 3D-Interactive  cinema which is 8,– for kids and a  VR Hologate Arena which is 12,— for 10 minutes.

This little lady had ended up in a sort of Guardians of the Galazy game and was just asking her father if she could beat the cr….. out of somebody.

The toddler area 5 – 11 years is at least 60 feet long but it it is totaly screened of from the rest to avoid “peeping toms”. It is not free but a good location to park little Johny and little Sandy for a few hours so the parents can have some quality time together. As a result it was really busy there with 3 Youth Counsellors manning the entry desk for the intake of new kids. That is nowadays a lot of work as there are numerous -disclaimer -forms to be filled out.

I could not see who was more excited. The small kids to get rid of their parents or the parents trying to get rid of the childeren.

We walked back through the Lido restaurant which is officially called “Market Place”. It being a sea day, the Exe. Chef had laid on some extra options, Including a chocolate Extravaganza. Not very big but then the cruise prices are not so big either on the lower decks.

With a nice cake on display, there was a considerable line building for photos.

When the photo taking had been done an even larger line was building to consume as much as possible. With around 2000 going to the Lido, it must mean that the cooks must have had preared a very large quantity of it.

The cooks still putting the finishing touches on this small show buffet.

We did not wait to see it all disapearing but went back to our own little buffet area in the Sky Deck Sun area. While walking forward we also saw that the chefs had laid out a small pasta station (small is relative here, as there were 3 chefs and a 2d Maitre cooking pasta “A la Dente”.)  And cooking very fast as the line was building quickly.

The pasta station on the outside deck, next to the big open air pool.

As mentioned , the Yacht Club is on Deck 15 to 19 with the open air sunbathing area and bar on deck 19. All these decks areas are screened off by glass doors, which only open with your cabin door-key-card. If walking from deck 15 is too much, the area has its own lift. You can spend your whole cruise there, without ever leaving and many guests do so, only descending into the maddening crowd for the evening show (With our own seating area) or to go to a speciality Restaurant of which their are several. All around 55,– pounds a person without drinks)

The small buffet on Sky Sun Deck. It is not very big (it only has to serve about 200 guests max)., but comes with its own 3 cooks and no waiting line. Several butlers ensure that your drink is at your table before you have even thought about which roll to select.

After lunch we had something special coming. Last night we spoke to the table next to us and the couple told us they were especially on board to see their small grand daughter dancing. It turned out that MSC has an arrangement with one or more English dancing schools, who get a discounted cabin fare, can bring their own school on board and are then allowed to perform for 45 minutes in the show lounge. Good business as with each child/dancer, a whole whole extended family comes with them.  So we decided to go.

The show was called “Celebrate” and was of very high quality for an age group of dancers between 11 and 17 years old.

We were very  pleasantly surprised at the quality and also the stamina of all the dancers. There was certainly professional potential there. As a matter of fact one of the professional cast on board, came from one of the dance schools that had performed on board in the past. The Auditorium was filled to capacity and at the end a standing ovation was their rightful thank you.

Then it was time for getting the suitcases packed as they had to be out by midnight but also we have to be out of the cabin by 07.30. As that was the official disembarkation time for the Yacht Club. But breakfast is open until 08.30, so were are going first as we have a 5 hours drive coming, on busy roads. Expected weather tomorrow: sunny, 26 oC / 79oF  and as it is a saturday, their will be a lot of weekend traffic.  My final blog, review and verdict about the cruise, will be on Sunday evening, or Monday morning.

2026 May 28; Rotterdam, Netherlands.

May 29, 2026 / / 3 Comments

So today we were in Rotterdam and came across a bit of weird MSC organisation. We were supposed to dock at 07.00 hrs. but the clearance announcement only came at 09.00 hrs. So why ? It turned out that when the ship is cleared early they only make the arrival announcement in the public area and not in the passenger corridors.  According to the concierge desk this is, so the childeren are not woken up too early. But they do not update the daily program on your App, that just gives the official arrival time.

We docked with the bow inwards, which meant the ship will swing on departure. In the distance we can see “De Hef” a bridge which in the old days used to go up and down. Now they have added a new crossing under it. Just visible behind the tall black tower is “Het Poort Gebouw” or the “Gatehouse” that was the office of the HAL between 1889 and 1901. Then they moved to the Wilhelmina Kade where we are docked now.

So if we had gone to the gangway at 07.00 hrs. we would have to have to wait another 20 minutes while they connected the gangaway etc.  But if you patiently waited for the announcement then you would have gone ashore 2 hours late. So we are slowly finding out that the organisation for the whole setup is not that perfect. According to the website we are asked to vacate the cabin by 08.00 hrs. on disembarkation day, according to the concierge desk it is 07.30. When we pointed out the difference, the concierge desk said: you are reading the general information, “We are the Yacht Club, we do things differently, you have to wait until you get the disembarkation paper work in your cabin during the last day”.  Which now seem to mean we have to get out of the cabin earlier than company policy. So we will see. When we asked why so early, as embarkation for the next cruise only starts around noon time, the initial answer was “we want to have the cabins ready by 10 am. “…….. Ok, if so, then why do we have to wait on the ship to 13.00 hrs, before the Yacht Club cabins are ready. Then they backtracked and started waffling.  The background behind all of this, is that there is simply not enough crew on board, to do the cleaning of the cabins, do the luggage and provide a regular cruise experience on disembarkation day. So they tweak the schedule around it and hope you do not notice.  Does it affect the enjoyment of the cruise, not really. Is it irritating when things do not make sense, yes.

On Deck 16 – 18 and 19 aft are the childrens and sports areas. The ship has a 2 level sports court on the portside for football, basketball and volleyball.

So we had Rotterdam to day, and our main plan was to go to the Migration Museum in Rotterdam, that opened last year in the Fenix building.

This is a sculpture located in the Yacht Club Lounge. In quite a few nooks and corners of the ship, this more of this sort of art tucked away.

The ship has a musical theme as the red thread in the lay-out although it is very subdued. Each deck is named after a composer, our deck 16 is named after the french composer Debussy, and there is a portrait of each composer on his own deck. (There is no female composer selected, only the very big names) Then the decoration in the cabins has a musical theme and here and there in the ship is a bit of art that has a connection to music. Then there is a series of silver sculptures scattered around the ship but here there are  no tags with them to explain what they mean. In the Tropic pool are a number of tropical animals to highlight the tropical character but that is about it. MSC policy is obviously not about enrichment as such, more about actiivities and non stop fun.

Lunch on board with todays specialities. Standard there is always Ceasar Salad, A hamburger or spaghetti.

After a nice and quiet lunch in the Yacht Club restaurant, we walked off the ship, went around the Holland America old head office, now Hotel New York to the Fenix building. There is now a bridge from the Wilhelmina Kade to the south side of the Rijnhaven, which in the old days used to dock the Holland America cargo ships. The Fenix is a complex that in the grey mists of time used to be the cargo sheds of Holland America from when they opened a service to the Gulf of Mexico and Cuba and also to the west coast of North America. Around 1926  they built a new Warehouse called “San Francisco”. At that time the largest shipping /storage warehouse in the world. It went through several transformations when the traditional Liner service of Holland America faded away and has now been re-opened with this museum and next to it a  multi functional meeting place called “Het Plein”. (vilage square as in meeting place or The Common in english) It is only a 10 minute walk from the ship by crossing the pedestrian/walking bridge in front of Hotel New York.

This is an artist impression of the Fenix, witb on the top the silver “Tornedo” which is a look out post for very nice views over the port. (Google photo from the internnt, owner unknown)

It opened in May 2025. I had heard both positive and negative comments about the place, so we decided to have a look. Once we arrived we first went to the top deck. To have a look at  the msc Virtuosa and the port suroundings. Although the museum had more than a half a million visitors in its first year it was very quiet today.

The Silver Helix, or Tornedo, runs up through the building from the entrance to the top floor. You can walk or take the lift.

From here we had indeed a wonderful view  and it also gave an impression of how big the MSC Virtuosa is. During the heydays of HAL, 3 passengers ship would dock where there is now only space for one mega liner.

The Wilhelminakade. You can see the stern of the msc Virtuosa, the tall tower of the Harbour masters office; then the old Holland America head office, now Hotel New York and then to the right, the new Holland America Office which houses HR, Europe Sales and Purchasing. The yellow boats are the Water Taxi’s that run a regular service through the city part of the port of Rotterdam. Behind there is now a pedestrian and bikers bridge, where once was open water for the cargo ships to sail through to go to their docks.

That kept us busy for about 2 hours. It is not an emigration / immigration museum as such, like a museum that tells the whole routine from Rotterdam to the New York. For that you are better off in the” Emigranten Museum” in Bremerhaven which gives a much better intrepretation.

The photo section of the museum with photos of refugees, migrants and immigrants from all over the world. It is all about leaving people behind and saying good bye. There are only a few photos from the Emigration Days from Rotterdam. And to my amazement also nothing about the period 1945 – 1952 when The Netherlands and Indonesia split up and a lot of Dutch and Indo Dutch had to leave their roots behind.

It shows more of a worldwide issue of humans having to leave their place of birth, due to displacement by war, famine , genocide etc.etc.  Then the other 3 sections are giving over to artists interpretation of how travel took place and the stories of individual migrants with their experiences.

This is the Art part of the museum. The bus on the left is an artist interpretation of a bus in New York used by migrants when going to work etc. Inside there are life size pupets symbolzing the various cultures and races that form the melting pot. Please note the very strong concrete ceiling from the days that tons of cargo were stored here, before being loaded onto the ships.

It was quite interesting but I missed the connecting story with it all, there are flyers, there are little pedestals with text, you can buy a photo book but I did not get a holistic feeling of full absorbtion when taking it all in. For 18 euros a head the price is not that bad but I did not get a kick out of it, and found even some photos wrongly labelled. At least those that I recognized and had to do with emigration of the old Ocean Liner Days.

So it was back to the shp, for cocktails and dinner, followed by the show. Which was a very “high octaine” dance show. There was a lot of modern music in there, not my interest as such, but I can give only compliments to the dance team. They were VERY VERY good.

Tonights show. with light and sound effects, including fake fireworks.

Tonight was also White Night. We had heard about it on the grape vine but the website did not give any indication if it was going or not. So Lesley did a chat on the MSC website and the answer was yes. Hence we made sure we had an all-white outfit with us, including shoes etc. When the cruise started, the announcement popped up for the first evening on the App, then disappeared again, and then re-surfaced for Rotterdam day.

We tried to find out from The concierge desk how it worked with these special nights as the first night was switched to 60’s, 70s’ and 80’s. and we did not know about that either. I overheard a lady in the ship complaining about that as otherwise she would have brought her “Abba Dress”. Also MSC seems to do formals on the longer cruises. According to the Concierge team, it is not policy to announce these nights pre cruise, because it is decided on board. So you have to take your formals with you and then hope for the best. But if you fly in, then it would help to know, for packing and staying under the suitcase weight.  The mind boggles.

The Cruise staff lining up to start the party. They kept going for a good 30 minutes and then invited everybody to join them downstairs. But with 6000 party goers downstairs already, none of us followed.

But we were prepared for White Night which was late evening in the ship with a “warming up” party in the MSC Yachtclub Sun Deck and Bar, what is normally the day sunning area.  So after dinner we went up and there was a group of the cruise staff giving a little show and then got everybody going with a sort of line dancing.   It was nothing compared to the Azamara White Night but it was still very enjoyable, and I think the best they can do on such a large ship.

They did get the party going and many of the Yacht Club guests joined in. Even some of the butlers hopped into the fray while the rest of them kept the glasses full.

Then it was time to turn in as tomorrow we have a full sea day, with lots of things to see and to try and figure out how disembarkation will work. As so far there has been nothing on the App. and nothing on the TV.

So tomorrow we are all day at sea. And we will be going at a very slow speed. Weather, mainly overcast and hazy, but with a nice temperature fo 24oC / low seventies.

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