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

Day 04; 18 April 2026; La Pallice, France.

April 19, 2026 / / 1 Comment

We docked this morning at 07.00 hrs. at La Pallice an industrial port on the West coast of France. This is really a gateway port for visits to La Rochelle, which is a nice old city that was not much affected by the bombing in the 2nd world war. The houses are mainly built of a white sand stone in the old town, giving it the nickname “La Ville Blanche” or white town. The world war was around here as La Pallice has a big 2nd world U-boat port, a massive concrete block providing shelter for docked submarines coming back from their North Atlantic patrols. We had already figured out, hurrah for google maps, that not much was going on in La Pallice so we had gotten ourselves Transfer Tickets for an afternoon visit to La Rochelle. The port had laid on a shuttle service to the entrance of the port (a 5 minute drive) as it is not allowed to walk from the ship to the dock gate. So large number of guests hopped onto this shuttle service and when arriving at the Gate found out that there was nothing there. Some managed an Uber ride or to take the hourly bus but for the majority there was nothing but to take the shuttle back.

A google map of La Rochelle. All the vertical roads are pedestrian shopping areas.

The ship had announced that there would be taxi’s and local busses there but we did not see anything at all, when we came by in the afternoon. Not that we expected anything very much as it was Saturday and then in France the people work a little bit less, and that includes the taxi drivers. (We even only saw very few taxis in down town La Rochelle) So the Ladies at the Guest Services Desk on board, faced a lot of comments and complaints from guests who considered themselves “misled” about the information provided.  These guests had nowhere to go as the ship had only been able to arrrange for 6 buses in total. 4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon for the transfer to La Rochelle.

Another new thing for me. I had never seen a two level Merry-go-around before. Not visible in the photo, but there is a fixed staircase allowing access to the upper level.

After breakfast in the cabin, we moved to the Observatory to give our cabin stewardess the chance to service the cabin. We still have not met her, as she is either hiding in one of the other cabins or comes rushing by in a great hurry. With the suites it is harder to catch the cabin stewards / stewardesses as the cabins are big enough to roll their cleaning trolley into the cabin and then close the door. Then they leave a note on the door knob, saying, “cleaning in progress”. But we will catch her some time in the coming days.

Then a quick lunch in the Lido restaurant followed by assembling in the Auditorium so we could march in a organised column ashore to the buses. The word marching is a little bit over the top here, as we started as the last of the column and were the first to reach the coach, being considered “quick advancing” Infantery. The “cavallery” made up of rollators, wheel chairs and supporting troops, took somewhat longer.

To the left you can see one of the many arches covering entrances to shops. Not many shoppers to be seen as they all stayed off the street in the shade.

It is about a 25 minute ride from the La Pallice dock to the main bus station in La Rochelle. Not very scenic as it is an industrial area but the bus station is right at the edge of the old town so very practical. We had about 2.5 hrs. to walk around the town, have a drink and then be back on board by 18.00 hrs.

La Rochelle is a bit of an odd fish among all the old french towns. First of all it has always been a strong hold of Protestants in a very Roman Catholic country, and still survived and prospered. When greatly reconstructed in the 18th. century they set back the shops somewhat so the pavement in front of the shops was covered by a hangover of the first floor. So a large number of shops can be reached while walking nicely in the shade of the arches, well away from the burning sun. The city walls facing the sea have been very well preserved as well as the Old harbour which is adjacent to the old city center and really the focus point of the night life of the town. From this old port most of the French immigrated to Canada to populate the areas around the St. Lawrence River and the province of Quebec. So if you find that the Quebecois speak a strange version of French; they speak the French that was common around La Rochelle in the 17th. century.

The one street without the arches/ covered walkway, forced everything into the main street, and as one can see, it was busy.

So we followed the throng of visitors and residents that flowed under the arches and along the shops through the old town. To my amazement there were even 2nd hand bookshops her and a real absence of large department stores. Most “names” in clothing and fashion had their own small or larger boutique or had bundled forces in what they call here a “Comptoire” where several brands had joined in together and rented one shop. We saw that for fashion, farm products, wine and some other merchandise. Unfortunatelly, no maritime books for me as an eager collector, what they had was already in my collection, so I have to keep my hopes high for new books in Cherbourg.

Apart from shopping, there are several museums and old buildings to visit, but it being a Saturday, the lines were rather long. Same went for the terraces outside the cafe’s; choch-a -bloc with people enjoying the beautiful weather. Except one cafe, nobody sitting outside. So our first thought was, what is wrong here? Well after some scrutiny, there wasn’t anything wrong. They were just different, there were no ashtrays on the tables. That seemed to have put everybody off. But it attracted us like a magnet and so we sat down and could watch the world go by.

The old port. Protected by two large towers. In the old days a slighly submerged thick iron chain ran between them, keeping unwanted visitors out.

And quite an interesting world it was. The area here is for pedestrians only, except electric buses (free of charge for the downtown area, so we saw a lot of elderly people hopping on and off) and bicycles which were zipping by in large numbers, families on small and large bikes and families with family bikes (3 wheelers with a box on the front for the childeren or the dog). Then things were livened up even more, with a protest march again the occupation of Gaza by Israel. As far as my French goes, it seemed that the main bone of contention that France was supplying Israel with weaponry. That was something I did not know. I knew that France was big in the Arab and African world but that most of the supplies for Israel came from the US, the UK and Germany. So I learned something new again. Who says that cruising is not educational; and here I was, sitting on a French terrace in La Rochelle, drinking a Craft beer brewed in Corse.

Her Ladyship having a diet coke on the terrace.

What was also interesting was that there was still some sort of Guild grouping system in place, as was standard in the middle ages, The road of the goldsmiths, the road of the carpenters / joiners, the road of butchers, etc.etc. You do not see that very much anymore, except in Arabian Souks and in Nothern Europe were you have nowadays the “street of the Real Estate Agents”, as the latter tends to group together to improve business. But here in La Rochelle we found the road of the hairdressers. Within 2 blocks of houses there were 10 of them. Some male or female only, some in combination with beauty services or with massage. Most of them had also their prices on display, so you could even window shop before making your choice.

Our local entertainment for cocktails this evening.

We were back on the coach by 17.25 hrs. and after the regular confusion of guests missing (gone home or having gone back on the other coach) we raced to the ship. And then we had an immigration inspection. It is a requirement in France to carry one’s passport (or in my case my European I.D card) and it seems that the French do check if you do so. And so I ran into a short French moment of confusion……..when they found a Dutchman with an European I.D card on a British ship. How was that possible ? Hence I had to be verified against the ships manifest and then got my card back from a rather mystified French immigration officer. Clearly not comprehending why a Dutch man would travel with a bunch of limey’s. Well he was going to be mystified again at least one more time as there is also a German lady on board…………. Of course there were a few British who had not taken their passport ashore but they were pushed through with a gallic shrug and with body language of “get them back to their island as fast as possible”. A lot of British people do not realize that immigration officers in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain are not very happy at all about Brexit and it shines through during passport check. It has given them a lot more work and on the continent none of them really understands the reason why the split happened in the first place.

When we came to the gangway we had confusion with our ID cards again. As mentioned on day zero, something had gone wrong and our photos had been switched. That was corrected by Guest Services and for the next two days all was well in the world. Now coming back the security computer had found a new variation; both our ships I.D cards had my photo on it. So we went back to Guest Services and the now the manager came out, totally puzzled. The solution was to do a complete reset of the system during the night. We will find out in the next port if it worked.

Back on board it was time to change and watch sail away from the Obervatory again. This evening’s entertainment was provided by Howard Johnson, the resident guitar player. Apart from the late night pianist, all entertainers rotate through the public venues, so if you go to the same lounge every evening, you see eventually all the entertainment coming by. He played a series of 60’s and 70’s songs (Bee Gees, Beatles, Carpenters) while we watched the ship sail out of the bay of La Pallice. For dinner there were many tables empty, guests worn out and going to bed or chosing the Buffet Restaurant. There is one speciality Restaurant on board, Colours and Tastes, which has a very good menu but the space has been upgraded and does not look that great anymore. More about that tommorrow as we have booked Italian night.

During dinner the Dining room Manager came by with an invite  us for dinner at the Hotel Driector’s table. I know that the Captain does not do any tables this cruise, the cruise schedule is too tight to sit comfortably in the dining room, so a management decision had been made to invite us to the Hotel Directors table. That is going to be quite interesting as this Lady worked for a long time for Hebridean Cruises, where we made a cruise last year. See the write up and review on this website, under cruise reviews.

The only thing that marred this, was that some body on the ship had decided to switch the 2nd Formal Night from tomorrows sea day to the port day after and with it the formal table. That does not make sense at all, as now it means that people coming back from shore in St. Malo, have to hurry or go back early , will be tired and having to deal with a tender service (not air-conditioned) and then rush to change into formal gear. Not exactly a gracious experience. Also tomorrow is the repeater party which could have been an elegant affair, if all would have been formal. And most British like to dress up, and now that option is taken away. Now it is casual and that result in a very “personal”  interpretation. I saw a football T shirt in the diningroom the other evening, and that is a Very personal intrepetation of Elegantly.

Tonight there was the Chef’ table (100 pounds a person) in the back of the Colours and Taste Restaurant and we saw that the long table was full with 10 guests. Music was provided by the duty pianist (that is roving pianist with a mobile electronic piano who fills gaps in the entertainment program everywhere) He had set up in the front of the restaurant and provided background music. The restaurant was kept empty for the rest and I wonder if 1000 pounds revenue, with all the extra labour it takes to do a Chef’s table, made up for the lost revenue of having all the other tables closed.

The regular entertainers of the ship. With a sixties themed show.

For the show we had the ships cast again, who brought a compilation of mainly 1960’s music, including the psychedilic costumes that went with it, those were THE thing when Carnaby Street in London was at the top of its game. Again the show was very good and so thought many other guests as they had all stayed up for the show, after a busy day in La Rochelle.

Tomorrow we are  at sea, as the distance to St. Malo is too long to do it in an overnight but as it is not that long, we now only have to run at a speed of 11 knots. Weather tomorrow at sea:  Sunny but breezy with increasing winds in the afternoon, temperatures 14oC / 57oF when not in the wind.

France might be all about wine but the Corsicans make an excellent light IPA.

 

Day 03; 17 April 2026, Pauillac France, 2nd day.

April 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

So what does one do when one is in a port like Pauillac for a 2nd day. We have been extensively to Bordeaux when we were there with the Prinsendam and also docked overnight. We looked at the wine options for today but as we both like white German and Austrian Wine (Veltliner is a firm favourite) and Bordeaux is a red wine area that was not a great idea. Pauillac is not very exciting for the rest as we found out during the first day so we decided to stay on board. A lot of guests had decided to do the same, so the bars and public rooms were buzzing. During lunch (you are asked if, when coming in, you want to have a shared table during lunch as only part of the diningroom is used) and that is most of the time very nice as most British are very chatty and love a good natter, especially when combined with free wine. The people at the table had been on a wine tour and were quite disappointed. Cheap wine was served as samplers and they were then being  tempted to buy a bottle of Chateau Margaux for 500+ euro’s while the same bottle had been seen for 51,– british pounds at Waitrose. (This is an english supermarket chain which is a bit upmarket, providing better service  and also better quality brands).

Our lunch menu for the day. It does not show the free wines, but normally there is a chardonnay, a sauvignon blanc and a red merlot. Then heineken draft beer and a regular sodas, all included.

I do not know if the Lady did not mix up a Grand Cru with an standard “Appelation Controle”, but she considered herself an expert so we had to believe her. Staying on board is easy as a. there are plenty of seats in the public rooms, b. we have a nice suite on deck 7, which Holland America calls Neptune Suites. Fred Olsen kept them the same apart from not having the Neptune Lounge for nibbles. But we get canape’s at 17.00 hrs. every day so with a drink it nicely covers the period until the music (for 2nd sitting) starts in the main lounges.

This is the Library of what was called the Exploration Center with HAL. Now it is dedicated to Sir Richard Attenborough with a large number of nature books to support it. As the Coffee counter is just around the corner, all tables are numbered so you can wait for the drinks while they are being made. There were a lot less tables here during HAL days.s the Library of what was called the Exploration Center with HAL. 

During the morning there was suddenly another General Drill and we wondered why. Was the captain not happy with the drill yesterday, so decided with a repeat or what else ??. Then during the course of the multiple announcements made, we realized that they had Port State Control to verify the ships documents and Solas compliance. A ship normally gets new ships papers each year, issued by Lloyd Register or another approved company (like Rina in Italy or Germanischer Lloyd in Germany). This is normally done after a full ship inspection and drill. The certificates issued are then accepted by the Flag State (in this case the Bahamas for the Borealis) as valid for their adminstration to issue the sailing certificates.

Then there is the Paris MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) who monitors on behalf of the connected countries, the standards on the ships with ad-hoc inspections, normally every six months. The results are listed on the website and if there are deficiencies found by port state officers in Spain then they can be verified by port state officers in Greece. etc.etc. Most of the world is connected to this, except the USA where the USCG does their own thing. Hence when a ship comes to a USA port for the first time it has to go through a full inspection, regardless whether the ship had one a week earlier in a European port. But such is politics.

The Coffee bar. Unchanged from HAL days. But the chocolates and cookies on display are not freebies any more, all is for sale.

So The Borealis had Port State today and they had to go through the full sequence with Fire drill, assembly drill and the boat lowering routine. Then the Port State Officials moved on to checking other vital safety systems, causing the lifts to go out of service for more than 45 minutes, while they were connected to the Emergency Generator. This gets normally done each week and although an announcement is made that the lifts might be out of order, it is normally not the case, as the Emergency Generator can provide enough power to handle all the lifts. Today something must have happened as 45 minutes of no lifts at all is rather unusual. But we sailed on time, so things must have been corrected.

Appetizers for in the cabin. And what is nice that it comes with a explanation so that mere mortals, like us, who are not that posh, also know what we are enjoing.

Let’s correct this, we sailed almost on time. With the departure time being set at 18.45 hrs. and with the ship pulling out at 19.15 hrs. As usual, the delay was caused by late returning tours and we saw several coaches coming from Bordeaux racing towards the ship. We watched it all with great interest from the Crowsnest, called Observatory here, with a nice cocktail in our hand and the String Trio performing in the background. Sailing down the river Gironne is very interesting even if it is only a short distance to sea from Pauillac. Going more towards Bordeaux the river is much smaller but from Pauillac the river hugs the west bank and one is still quite close to land. The Fred Olsen cruise schedule gives arrival in the early morning and depature in the early evening, with no set times. So officially nobody knows when we get there and how long we stay. Although there is guidance from the office of when the ship should get there, to ensure the scheduling of the tours, it gives the captain a fair bit of leeway to decide when he/she will exactly arrive or depart. As we only have 10 knots to speed to make to get to our next port of La Pallice, I think the Captain set departure for just before 1900 hrs. to take advantage of the river situation.

At 19.00 hrs., the river experienced the last of the flood and there was a wind blowing from the sea. So with bringing the stern off the dock, the flood could get inbetween the ship and the dock and helped the ship come easily off the dock. Using the last of the flood and not the full flood meant that the ship was not drifting too far upriver, while swinging around, and not coming to close to the sandbanks. Also 1900 hrs. gave us an hour of sunlight to enjoy the scenery. And thus we saw undulating french country rolling by, with many sites full of vine yards, interspersed with small villages and the occasional church and chateau tower. It took about 1 hr. to get to open sea and from there the ship turned north to La Pallice.

The information we have received from the ship for that port is somewhat vague, which I think has to do with the fact that nobody speaks French, and thus does not pick up the nuances of what is really meant. There is a shuttle from the ship to the port gate. We think is not a ship shuttle but a port shuttle laid on for security reasons as the port of La Pallice is very large. What happens when one get to the Port Gate is everybodies guess but according to the ship taxi’s and a local bus are available. Problem is, it is saturday and then things in France do not always go as announced. Based on having previous experience with French Industrial ports, we booked a n afternoon Transfer from the ship to La Rochelle for 29 pounds each. At least we will get there and we will make it back.

This evenings entertainment Crooner Ben Francis. He is already world famous on the Fred Olsen ships as he has been on the ships before. The rest of the world might be waiting as he had a very pleasant voice. He will be back on the final night of the cruise.

Dinner was a much quieter affair then yesterday as many guests had opted to go to the Lido or did not make it at all due to all the wine tasting. Show time had an un-expected change. We were supposed to have a Lady playing a violin bringing us “music fusion”. However she was stuck somewhere and could not get to the ship. So at last minute a singer was flown in from Chile ( he was on another ship) via England to do the fill in. Not that it mattered as he had a very nice show. His main claim to fame sofar was that he has worked with Michael Ball and Adele in the background choirs.

Tommorrow we are in La Pallice and taking the Transfer to La Rochelle in the afternoon. Weather is supposed to be same as today, temperature around 20oC / 70oF, mostly overcast with a gentle breeze.

 

Day 02; Pauillac for Bordeaux, France.

April 17, 2026 / / 7 Comments

At 07.00 we arrived at Pauillac. The Captain had explained last night that he had never been here but that did not really matter as it was thick fog so he could not see anything anyway. The town is located in the estuary of the river Gironde and the river is still very wide and deep here. So nearly any sort of ship can dock as the length of the berth is 300 meters plus. I came by here the last time in 2010 with the ms Prinsendam but we went up the river all the way to Bordeaux. The Prinsendam could do this as her funnel was lower than the clearance height of the bridge just outside Bordeaux and the length of the ship was just short enough to swing around in the river at high tide. According to the french pilot it “izzzze not possible to zwing on ze low tide az-ze the zhippe will go bumpe”. He spoke english with a distinct french pronounciation. Luckily here at the much wider part of the river, the chance of going “bumpe” is a lot less and thus the good ship Borealis docked without any hiccups.

A left over from the Holland America Line days. Terracotta soldiers. I have no idea why Fred Olsen kept them, but it still looks nice.

We are docked about a 1 mile down river from the town of Pauillac at a rather new berth, so I assume it was put in by the authorities to entice large cruise ships to visit, and then for the guests to go by coach to Bordeaux. There is a smaller dock, more of a breakwater to protect the local marine just outside the town, and that was used by river boats today. We saw their guests lateron marching accross to the road to go and visit a local winery.

A change from HAL days. The whole Explorer Lounge was changed directly after take over, into a chinese tea room and Garden Room. See here the garden side. As nearly all British are wild about gardening , this works very well on this ship even if not expected on a cruise ship. In the morning this place is really full and many guests are examining the gardening books laid out on the large center table.

And that is what Pauillac is all about. Wine, wine, wine. The town itself has over 20 wineries and estates and the local Office du Tourism, is nearly completely dedicated to selling wine and accessories such as bottle openers, which are available in a dizzying variation of designs. Due to the mile travel distance Fred Olsen had laid on a 15 minute shuttle service; first stopping at the train station for those who wainted to take the train to Bordeaux and then at the Tourist office for those who wanted to inspect downtown. With taking the train came the advise,  that as it was a branch line, the service was not very frequent and ” sometimes did not go at all”. Luckily in this case not a big problem as we are here for 2 days so everybody can make it back even when delayed by a train “that did not go. The shuttle service also ran through the night, albeit with a lower frequency but I think not many will have gone ashore during the night as the nightlife here in Pauillac only seems to consist of a Pizzaria staying open past midnight.

The Boulevard of Pauillac following the rivers shore line. As one can see it is not the most exciting place and the road is a main district road which can be very busy. But the place is all about wine and not about regular shopping or night life.

We decided to go ashore around 11.00 once the rush at the shuttlebus was over. The ship was conducting a General drill and we were treated to announcements over the General P.A system. This is understandable for drills but the ship does it for nearly everything. Arrival announcements in the cabin, Cruise directors updates in the cabin, gangway movements due to the tides etc. Luckily this captain is not big on announcements but Fred Olsen has another Norwegian captain who likes making announcements and standard comes into the cabin just before departure. If that is in mid afternoon he upsets those having an afternoon nap. Not for a short announcement but with reading out half of the Berlitz Guide write up for the next port. And that all with a grating Norwegian “Hu-de-Buh” accent. It can really spoil your afternoon nap. Announcements can be made, like it was done during Holland America Line times, over the tv on the “View from the Bridge” channel, but this is not used here and everything comes into the cabin. Maybe appreciated by all the hearing aid owners on board but not by me, I like my piece and quiet when in the cabin. Well that was my rant for the day.

Another shot of the boulevard of Pauillac. How a British telephone box ended up here, I do not know but there was no telephone inside. Maybe once in the past it had a direct line to the UK, especially for British home sick tourists. Who will ever know how it came to end up so far into the French Country side.

Company’s are nowadays required to make regular announcements to keep the guests informed and knowing the ship intimatelly, I could follow the proceedings quite well. Fire on B deck with the assembly of the teams outside the Engine Room meant that the fire was in the cold room/ store room area as the assembly station always has to be 2 vertical sections (e.g. 2 firescreen doors sections) away from the fire. The area of the fire is called the HOT zone, the first area away, the WORK zone (only people in breathing apparatus allowed) and the 3rd zone is called the SAFE zone, where everybody is allowed to assemble and support the teams who are going to tackle the fire.

The shuttle service was extremely well organised with English speaking traffic controllers at both ends of the route and the shuttle service ran on its 15 minute cycle, even during French Lunch time when it is not uncommon for a shuttle service to be completely shut down for an hour. By the time we arrived at the Tourist office and the end of the downtown boulevard, most of the town had gone for lunch so shops and all related were closed. The cafe’s on the boulevard were all open and were doing a roaring trade with about 50% French and the rest English and American customers. Unfortunately the mussles are not in season yet (July to January) otherwise we would have gladly joined in. You can of course find restaurants who serve mussles (frozen) all year around but this is sort of frowned upon by many french restaurants.

This is the main historic highlight of the town, the church of Saint Martin, rebuilt in 1826. They charge 5,– Euro admission but unless you are really into churches, not the most exciting place to visit.

So we walked the front streets and the back streets and did not see a single (french) soul. The church of Saint-Martin is a bit of a strange happening as it was a rebuild of a previous church. This one was razed down when it became too small and then by using materials from another church down the road, a new church was cobbled together in mid 19th. century Greek Style. It resulted in a very austere design and definatelly did not have the “wow factor”. But because of living in England we are spoiled anyway as even the local church in our local back garden is from the 12th. century with all the stories to tell that come with it’s history. Then her ladyship wished to inspect the local supermarket to see if the prices were similar to those in England. They were. Petrol prices were higher than in the UK but that had mainly to do with the amount of tax levied on the basic petrol price by the French Government. For the rest the prices were much higher than recently, courtesy of Ball-room Johnny and his activities in the Middle East.

I could not resist this photo. It seems that the local authorities are really concerned that somebody would steal heir bottle bank, so they put a fence in front of it. But it was still used.

By 14.30 hrs. we were back on board and decided to test the pizza’s in the Fresco restaurant. That was a resounding success with the caveat that the free wine and beer for lunch does not extend to outside eateries on board. So I have to find out how it works for the small restaurant at the hamburger bar starboard forward of the Inside pool as it is inside.  Somehow it does not make sense but we do not really care whether it is free or not. How much free “chateau plonk” and Heineken beer can you drink anyway ??.

The outdoor “All Fresco” sitting area for the Pizza place. I like the layout much better than with Holland America as it looked a lot less gloomy.

Then it was time to upload the blog and to get ready for cocktails at 19,00 hrs. For tonight we selected the Piano Bar on deck 5 with the Resident Piano Man Paul Burton. He has been with Fred Olsen for a very long time and a firm favourite of the guests. Or as he says himself, I am very popular with guests, waiting / killing time, before going to dinner. He prefers to play music, at least in the early evening, of composers long dead, and also tells then something of the background of these old songs. So this evening he dissected two songs from the movie Casablanca (Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman) and I found out that the music in this movie was on average much older than the movie itself. It was just repackaged for that movie. One is never too old to learn something new. So he promised to continue to reveal  more of this useless and irrelevant information during the course of this cruise.

Dinner options for the Lido buffet evening meal. It is a buffet line, but not much self service as the cooks are handling the plates and also the tongs for rolls etc. It all helps to prevent Noro-virus from spreading.

Dinner was of the regular good standard and as expected it was a much less hectic affair tonight. Guests where not marching in en-masse when the doors opened and I think quite a few went ” for casual” to the Lido restaurant, called “The View” here on the Borealis. Dress code was casual today and indeed a lot of T-shirts were observed but many gentlemen, including Yours Truly, still opted to wear a jacket or a more stylish tropical shirt.

The show tonight were the 4 singers, mentioned before. We are now all confused as the ship gave the impression that they had just boarded but tonight we found out that they had been at sea already for nearly 6 months. What is nice with Fred Olsen is, is that the company does not enforce standarization that much so all the ships are equal in entertainment quality with the program strictly controlled by a manager in the office. Hence the 4 singers could sing tonight their own favourites and as we have learned through the years, if you let them sing their own favourites, songs that work the best for their type of voice, then you always get a very good show. Tonight was no different.

Tomorrow is our 2nd day in Pauillac with more tours to Bordeaux and the surrounding country side. Most tours are half day but there are 2 tours of 7 and 8 hours long, giving more time in Bordeaux. Temperatures are expected to go up a bit, sunny with a maximum of 23oC / 74oF here on the river; so Bordeaux. more inland, will be a few degrees higher.

Day 1: At Sea, 15 April 2026.

April 16, 2026 / / 2 Comments

Today we have a sea day, while sailing from Southampton to Pauillac which is a small wine village on the west shore of the river Gironde, at the edge of the Medoc, a French wine region in the Bordeaux area. There is a weather front coming over and that gave us this morning gale force winds of up to 35-45 knots and combined wind and swell of about 3 meters. Which is high enough to make the ms Borealis move about somewhat. (The S and R class are not affected by any sea movement up to 2 meters but when it goes higher the ships get slowly affected). We were slightly affected this morning and the ship had put out the sea sickness bags in the staircases. Weather improved rapidly after lunch time with the depression moving away and the sun came out and visibility got better very quickly.

The Fred Olsen Fleet. BS = Borealis, BT = Bolette,  BL = Balmoral

While sailing south we are hugging the french shore line  around the coast of Normandy and Britanny and although following the shipping lanes (a sort of highways at seas) we were close enough to the french shore to be able to use our mobile phone with land coverage. If you are not careful, the moment the ship is more than 3 Nautical Miles from shore, it goes to Martime Coverage and that can be quite costly. So it is important that have you phone on airplane mode when not seeing any coastline around you while at sea, even when you have global roaming.  We did not see much of the French coast but that was mainly due to the Frontal Weather system which brought rain with it as well.

Cruise schedule for 8 days. Soutahmpton – Pauillac, La Pallice, St. Malo, Cherbourg, Southampton.

This cruise we are going to Pauillac where we stay from 07.00 hrs in the morning to 18.45 hrs the next evening, giving the guests an ample chance to take one of the wine tours. Then it is a short hop to La Pallice (For La Rochelle) were we are from 07.00 to 20.00 hrs. Then we have a sea day, followed by a full day call at Saint Malo. That is a tender port with the ship anchoring in the estuary. The next day is a full day call at Cherbourg and from there is goes back to Southampton. We have now observed that the ship is not completely full and that might be the  reason that we have new joining cast and singers on board with support staff; and a whole technical team for renewing the lighting in the show lounge. I estimate that about 50 cabins have been handed over for that operation. Most of the entertainers have taken the chance to have their nearest family on board, who are present in full force wherever these new singers are performing. Fred Olsen seems to have taken on a new Entertainment Company, to train these people but we have not found out yet what that exactly entails.

The “Fresco” on the aft Navigation deck with the pizza place.

So what has Fred Olsen done with the ship during the most recent upgrade? They have finally (re) opened the pizza place which HAL had on the aft navigation deck. Insiders might remember that HAL had the brain wave to remove the aft -outdoor- pool on both the Rotterdam and the Veendam so it could add more cabins. The pool area was then reduced to a wading pool. This no doubt increased revenue for the ship but the operational results where not that great. The wading pool never worked as most of the guests were not able to “step/climb” over the rim of the pool and there was nowhere to store your personal stuff, so when sitting on a stretcher in the wading pool, guests blocked a second sunlounger away from the pool for their towels and bags. Then common sense prevailed and none of the other ships underwent this treatment. But the remodeling did give the chance to make a bigger outside serving bar on the starboard side and to install a pizza kitchen / outlet on the portside. When the ship was handed over to Fred Olsen in 2020, the status of the pizza ovens was considered to be in a too bad a condition to re-open when sailing started again in 2022. So the place stayed closed until further notice. In the last dry dock in Autumn 2025, the area was completely renewed and is now in full swing again. Holland America prepared full size pizza’s there (handed out in a pizza box) but here it is slice only, but freshly made and of excellent quality. For the rest they also do other small bites such as cheese and ham croissants etc.etc.

The next thing is that they have remodeled is the library by removing the easy chairs and putting more regular tables and chairs in so there is more seating for the Cafe. The Barista counter of HAL is still there, but Fred has gone one step further and have changed it into a complete cafe same as on their other ships. You can still sit there and read a book but instead of reclining (and falling asleep) you sit now straight up to read your book or magazine.

The Crowsnest / Observatory which under HAL had declined to an “indepth” shore excurions study place, which never really worked that well as all the machinery broke down very rapidly, has now been fully restored to a day and evening lounge. The bandstand is back and all evening there is entertainment. Hurrah.

I believe on other HAL ships where the crowsnest was also converted to an EXC indepth shored and port immersion area, this is also rolled back somewhat to what the Crowsnest used to be, with a new dedicated library on one of the lower decks.

Here on board, the repeat guests are a bit confused by all the happenings going on. With the showlounge been refitted during day time, the lectures are now in the Auditorium (ex Cinema/ kitchen) but as this place can only take 299 guests, they have to repeat the lecture in the afternoon. That is not always appreciated as a lot of guests want to take a nap in the afternoon. The average age of our guests is the same as with HAL and then you need to re-charge your batteries for to be ready for the hard work of eating again  in the evening. As nearly all the guests are British it means that nearly everybody wants to be out and about for cocktails in the evening, both for 1st and 2nd. sitting. So they need some downtime. The music venue times are adapted to this, with the entertainers taking a break while first sitting goes to dinner (18.00 hrs) and 2nd sitting is still trying to fit in their cruise clothes from last time. Then 2nd sitting cocktails start at 1900 hrs., dinner at 20.00 hrs.and the show at 22.00 hrs. Then between 23.00 hrs. and 24.00 hrs. there is music in the Observatory, the Night Club, the Ocean Bar and the the Morning Light Pub (ex HAL casino area)

The new singers “warming up” the captains party

Tonight was formal night with the Captains welcome on board party, which is still done in the respectable way as HAL used to do until about 2010 -2012. With a Receiving line with all of those who were going to be introduced (and yes with 10 white uniforms in a row, it feels abit like running the gauntlet), free drinks (wine, beer ,G&T, champagne), nibbles (canape’s and hot appetizers) followed by a speech from the Captain.

Captain Stefan Ravneng

We observed this Captain for the first time on the ms Balmoral when he was rather new in function and his speech and presence on stage was quite awkward. But by now, he felt more comfortable, made some jokes and his speech was running smoothly. Fred has the routine that the staff officers introduce themselves and that is great fun to see. With the staff captain being the easiest with handling the microphone, the Chief Engineer having the shortest speech of all (name and where he is from only) and the Cruise Director the longest. Then the champagne toast, followed by the announcement to get out of the lounge, to make room for the 2nd show. That results then in an enmasse march through the ship to the diningroom. They where well prepared as somehow they had managed to clear first sitting out completely by 19.45 so they could handle this 2nd sitting invasion.

We decided not to go to the show, I do not particularly enjoy comedians but to go to a concert of the strings. (see yesterdays blog) For those who sailed with Holland America longtime in the past, we then had the Rosario Strings from the Philipinnes on all the ships, one extended family, that never used sheet music but still could play anything. We have them now here on all of the ships of Fred Olsen. Tonight they had a sort of easy listening concert in the Ocean Bar, partly classical, partly crooner songs, and yes no sheet music or tablet in sight and yes they played everything by heart and to a very high standard.

The 2 male singers of the Singers group on board.

This was followed by a Country and Western hour, performed by the new singers and again, with all the family in attendance. I always have reservations about seeing english people in cowboy outfits, but they sang the songs with a nice american accent. Near the end they decided to do a line dance and then it was time to leave. There is only so much one can take, when a large number of octogenarians, fuelled by aa ample amount of (free) alchohol decide that they were 25 again. Free alchohol comes from the fact that the booze during the captains party was free and also the house wine and beer in the diningroom.

Tomorrow we are in Pauillac. We are suppoed to dock in foggy conditions at about 06.45 and then it should warm and sunny for the rest of the day, with temperatures around 21oC or 70o Fahrenheit.

An attempt at an American Line dance, on a moving ship.

Day 0: Boarding the ms Borealis. 14 April 2026.

April 15, 2026 / / 6 Comments

Fred Olsen keeps refitting the Borealis, (ex Rotterdam VI) and the Bolette, (ex Amsterdam III), after they bought them from Holland America (or officially from Carnival Corporation) for US 20 million back in 2020. Carnival Corp felt it needed to get rid of all the ships in the corporate fleet that were making less then 10% yield on the ship turn over and that meant that the 4 S class ships went and also 2 R-class ships. Also the whole Ecstacy class of Carnival Cruise Lines went and a few ships of Costa Cruises as well. Carnival reduced its costs during Covid lay-up and Fred Olsen got two very good ships for an even better price. We went on the 3 day maiden voyage of the Borealis, for the start up  in 2022 and to get the painting out of the captains cabin to go back to the ss Rotterdam V in Rotterdam. Then came back to see what the Fred product looked like after a year in operation. See both write ups on this website under the heading My cruises and reviews.

The ms Borealis. (photo from wikipedia)

The Borealis went in dry dock just before its 2026 world cruise and then “she who shall be obeyed” expressed the wish to see the ship again, to inspect the latest upgrades. Thus it was decided to go on an 8 day cruise to French ports and as it includes a call at Cherbourg it meant that I could visit my favourite French Maritime Bookshop in the terminal / maritime museum. It is very hard to buy French Maritime books in England, even via the internet, as the french publishers are absolutly not interested to export to the island.

Her Ladyship had booked this cruise while on the last one so we got a good on a suite.  Hence I am now sitting in suite 7038 (portside aft, one but last) to write my daily blog. Fred did not keep the Neptune Lounge which HAL had for the suites unfortunatly , (it is now a sort of emergency command center) and that is still felt as a great ommission. The Germans who bought the Prinsendam II, now Amera, did keep the Neptune Lounge, they call it the “Gold Lounge” and it is very popular. I think if Fred had kept it, it would have been much easier for them to sell the Deck 7 cabins as it would then have offered something extra to the guests, instead of just paying for a large cabin.

Welcome on board by the Strings in the Ocean Bar. As this bar is leaning into the Atrium, the music can also be heared at embarkation level.

But being in a Suite cabin, meant that we could board at 12.30. However upon arrival we found that a lot of later boarding guests had not kept to the advised reporting time and thus the hall in front of Security was choc -a-bloc with no doubt very eager cruisers. It did not help that the lady in charge did not have a microphone, to address the murmuring crowd, resulting in a lot of confused people as her voice did not penetrate the many hearing aids around. The terminal has a P.A system but it seems to be very difficult to arrange a microphone from those in charge. We have seen the same in terminal 101 and that one is used by much larger ships and the apron there before entering the terminal proper is also very small.

The Morning LIght Loung. Which used to be the Casino with Holland America and the first thing Fred ripped out when taken over the ships in 2020.

The good ship Borealis was docked at the Southampton berth 102, the Horizon terminal, which even for only 1200 guests too small at the entrance, so it is important that guests arrive at the time mentioned on their booking and not earlier.

Check In was a fast experience until they saw my Dutch passport. Thus I needed an ETIAS, to get into Europe. This was of course not the case, as the Netherlands is part of the European Union, and it would be the same as having American Citizens needing a Visa to re-enter their own country. Then they realized  that it was about coming back and so I needed an ETA. (UK tourist visum). Not needed either as  I had a “settled status” for the UK, permanent approval to live on the island. Thus they wanted to check that. That is easy enough as long as you can access the UK Government website.  So we did, but again, the request was not correct as that information is supposed to be verified only by an “Official Authority” (like His Majesties Customs and Border Control) and the check- in ladies do not have that status. But you cannot blame them for not having been properly briefed by their boss, who obviously did not know the rules. So we googled my Settled Status file, checked the photo and all was well in the world.

When we came on board security found out that the Check-In Ladies had become so confused with the whole happening that they had entered my photo under Lesely’s name and vice-versa. So we were escorted to the Front Desk for it to be corrected and then all was well in the world. Never a dull moment when travelling.

At the gangway the whole ships staff was lined up, including the Captain, which was Captain Ravegner, whom we had met while on the ms Balmoral of Fred Olsen. (see write up on this website under cruise reviews) There we somehow then ended up at his Captains table and he then remembered that Lesley and I had entertained his whole table as he is a much more reserved Captain than I have ever been.  For this cruise, apart from 1 seaday, tomorrow, and 1 more twards the end there is a French port,everyday so I doubt if we will see him very much out-and-about.

A small show on departure from the singers on board. Slightly marred by the fact that they only faced the bar and kept their backs to the rest of the audience around the pool. The Cruise Director who was present, unfortunately did not see the need to correct this,

Suitcases had made it to the cabin in less then an hour, between Taxi and cabin door and that must be a record for Southampton for a medium size ship. But today we were the only cruise ship in so maybe they had the best trained Longshore men working the ship. We dropped our trolley’s and went for Lunch in the Lido while it was still quiet. Fred has stewards everywhere and they assign you a table when you come in ensuring the restaurant is being filled up from the back going forward. It looks a bit over the top but it works very well as it stops all the chaos of guests running around and blocking each other while occupying a table here and there. Basic wine, soft drinks and Heineken Draft Beer are free  during lunchtime an dinner. For more premium drinks you have to pay or ensure you have a drinks package. Lido Lunch is less exurburant than at Holland America. It sits somewhere just under Cunard Line and is on par with Saga Cruises. (same age group). The dessert lay-out is one of the best I have seen on Four Star ships, so kudo’s. Except, they have taken out the Soft Ice machine at the ice cream station. Maintaining those is a bit of a “pain in the a…… for the cooks but Holland America (served) and Cunard, P&O and Saga (self serve)  so even it under British Flag it must be possible.

This cruise they are changing the complete lighting in the show lounge. Also the old cast is leaving in 2 weeks and a new cast has just boarded so the ship is full of entertainment people and supporting staff.

Then it was time to check our Dining room table as that is always a challenge with Fred. They have the system that the highest repeaters (Diamond and Elite) are assigned teh best tables  the mere mortals like us can only wait to see wht we get, even when you have a Penthouse or a top suite. Then they tend to push the Penthouses and Suites into the Indian Ocean Room (the deck 8 the starboard wing, called Queens Room with Holland America) because “it is nice and quiet there”. Not many suite people like that and as a result they all move out to the main dining room and then the room is assigned to groups or travelling technicians. And those groups do not like to follow the dress code. Indeed we were assigned to this room, so time to take action. The alternative table offered was exactly the same as we had a during a previous cruise so I suspect that this  is sort of preprogrammed. But there is always a manual bypass, so we compromised on a table for 2 overlooking the ocean at the stern. For 2nd sitting at 20.00 hrs.that is not a problem as the ship will be mainly sailing South to North so no sunshine glaring into the diningroom.

Lifeboatdrill is “do it yourself” by watching the Safety Video and then go to your lifeboat outside to be checked off. Then at 17.00 hrs. the Captain came on the Tannoy with some wise and safe words, together with the Cruise Director for completing the Boat Drill requirements.

These big Holland America suites come with ample storage so unpacking was a doddle and did not upset the martrimonial peace as there are more drawers than we could possibily find use for. It is only an 8 day cruise, With the cabin comes a bottle chamapgne (the real stuff, not sprankling wine and canape’s so we had cocktails in the cabin.

All afternoon we had been on the look-out to meet our cabin stewardess but she was nowhere to be seen, No meet and greet, no cabin facility explanation, nothing. Yesterday was the end of a 70 day South America and antartic cruise and with it came a very large crew change, so maybe she was part of that. Will find out in the coming days.

Sail away was very poorly attended, due to the weather no doubt, as it was overcast with rain showers in Southampton and thus the Magrodome stayed closed. That directly affects the quality of the sound (echo’s back from the roof) and that made the interest for the cruise staff and singers acitivities minimal.

Dinner was of a good Fred standard with very fast service as on the first night, everybody “marched” as soon as the doors for 2nd sitting at 20.00 hrs. opened. Again there was free house wine, draft beer and soda’s included with dinner.  We made it more then timely to the show scheduled fot 22.00 hrs. which was a revue show with songs from the movies, such as Blues Brothers, Mama Mia and Les Mesarables, starting with  the Greatest showman music This group of performers will go home in 2 weeks time and they had their performance down pat,  after having been so long on board. Audience was very sparse as most guests had decided to retire early as it was an forward. But they did miss something very good.

Tomorrow we are at sea. Sailing south along the French coast towards  Pauillac. Weather is supposed to be a low gale (35 knots of wind) and we are going against it, so the ship will move about somewhat with combined wave and swell of up to 3 meters. Temperatures in the mid 50’s. or 14 oC.  (subject to rain and wind).

 

2026 Feb 19; Barcelona, going home and Verdict.

February 22, 2026 / / 8 Comments

By 05.45 hrs. some 20 sleepy guests had assembled in the lounge and were by 06.15 on the coach to the airport. The check-in was already open so we could flow straight through. Although early in the morning, Bacelona airport was already very full, with early flights going to the USA and Far East via various hubs in Spain or Europe. That was maybe the reason why we were taken so early to the airport as our flight was not until 11.10 hrs.   But all went well, and flying via Amsterdam brought us back to England by 17.00 Hrs.

The verdict.

This was a very nice cruise on a beautiful ship (if Nordic laid-back is your taste) and with very good service. The weather was not that great but then we do not go on a cruise for sunny weather or to bake in the sun.

The organisation for pre boarding and leaving the ship also went very well, if you keep an eye on the Italian penchant for making everything chaotic.

The drinks package of $ 25,– a person a day, was well worth having, if you enjoy cocktails and drinks in the evening. Wine, Beer and soft drinks are included with lunch and dinner.

There is only one announcement a day, the arrival announcement. For the rest is all quiet, except that on sea days the Captain seems to do a noon time “Voice from the Bridge” announcement. There is all day, soft classical music wafting through the public area’s. Whoever choose the music, did a good job as it was never irritating.

The ship has self service laundry’s on each deck and they are free. They come with Iron Board, a settee and a TV for when you get tired of looking at the the washing machine program. Much appreciated by myself as I always need an ironing board for my shirts after travelling. (Even after having done a training class on U-tube……………….)

There is the Viking Society for repeat guests but there are no medals or tiered levels based on days sailed. You simply get more discount if you sail more. They do throw a party each cruise and it comes with a short show by the Cast.

The Glare, testing friendliness. I do this every cruise, as standard. Looking each officer and crewmember straight in the eye when passing by, with a sort of open eye stare and observe the reaction. The crew  all scored 100%,; all cheerful and friendly. And looking at their body language it seemed to be a happy crew.  Officers were less; only very helpful and friendly when approached but not always when passing by or just being around in general. That gives a total score of 80%.

I did not see any engineers this cruise but the deck department did not always make the cut and also Front desk was lacking. Not when at the desk, “all smiles and concerns then”, but when they walked by.  Special compliments to General Manager Emma Harking from England. So far the most active and the most omni-present Hotel Manager I have seen on our last 10 cruises.

The food was without exception presented and cooked to a very high standard, I just found that for the quality of the cruise and standard the choices were a bit limited in the World Café for the rest nothing what so ever to remark.

So do we recommend Viking? Please read the daily blog and if you want to have a laid-back cruise with good food, nice crew and very little challenges, then yes.   This was a 7 day cruise and the ticket price included flights from our preferred local airport in England.

We had booked the lowest standard cabin, which is still an outside cabin with balcony, as we did not have any idea about what Viking was all about.  Total cost came to £5,468.00 UK pounds, or 4567 in euros or 5490 in US dollars. That gives a British per diem, per person of  290 pounds a day.   AND WE THINK THAT FOR THE SERVICE PROVIDED, WHICH HOVERS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 5* AND 6*, IT IS VERY GOOD.

So we have booked another cruise , on the Viking Polaris in 2028 with what Viking calls The Northwest Passsage but it is more of poking the nose in (Baffin Bay) and then going back again. That is a 13 day cruise from Nuuk in Greenland and as it is a sort of Expedition ship and with difficult flights and a higher cabin catagory, a lot more expensive. But one only lives once…………… and thus we do it while we still can.

Our next cruise is in April, when we do a 5 day return to the ms Borealis (ex Rotterdam VI of Holland America) as My Lord And Master wants to see the latest upgrades they have made. It looks like that Fred Olsen has now completed / restored all what Holland America had but some of it went sort of by the way side after Covid.

I hope you will join us then.

 

2026 Feb. 18, Day 07 Barcelona Day 1, Spain.

February 22, 2026 / / 1 Comment

This morning we docked in Barcelona and were assigned Berth B, while the Costa Tuscani was at Berth D. Between 2010 and 2020 Barcelona heavily invested in new and state of the art cruise terminals which  now run from A to H  and then there are still the 3 small (old) ones at the World Trade Center. Unfortunately the mood in Barcelona has turned against the very large influx of cruise visitors and now there is the plan to demolish 2 of them again.

Cruise terminals in Barcalona

How that will work with nbr. H, I do not know as that one seems to have been built with MSC investments so their very big ships can dock there.  I do somewhat understand the concern of the Barcelonan’s as with all 8 big terminals full: with on average 2000+ guests on board, there are at least 16000 extra people milling around in downtown (and most of them, marching, during some moment of the day up and down the  Las Ramblas If it is a change over port day, then the approaches to the airport are clogged up with tour busses.  So a definite challenge to for the City Fathers, City Mothers and City Persons, (I am very inclusive…. to find a good balance between the needed revenue a large chunk of money for the Gaudi Church (La Sagrade Familia) and other buildings comes from the cruise industry) and still protecting the locals way of life in down town.

Photo of the Atrium taken from deck 3 down to the grand piano (Steinway size B) This is were we will wait tomorrow for the coach to the airport.

We have been to Barcelona many a time, so we decided to stay on board. Also because we have to pack in the afternoon,  we had booked a speciality restaurant booking in the evening, and we have a  coach connection to the airport at 05.45 tomorrow morning. And we were far from the earliest casualties as some guests were leaving at 02.45 in the morning.

The stern of the Viking Saturn. On top the Norwegian flag, as Viking is the last cruise company to have Norwegian registration which must be costly. Under the flag, the “Infinity pool water catcher box” under the deck 7 pool. At the water line, the “duckfoot” an extension with a dual purpose, it improves stability as it increases the surface size of the ship and also it inproves fuel economy as it acts as a “spoiler”, which you often see at the back of sports cars. (Photo courtesy, somewhere on the internet)

But it gave me the chance to walk the ship from top to bottom and to have a very good look at the interior. The outside of the ship is not so much different from the current design of other cruises ships, with a dumpy funnel, a macrodome, balconies all around the superstructure and the public rooms on the lower and the top decks with the majority of the cabins in between. But the inside design of the ship (and those of the other 12 Viking ships as they are all similar) varies considerably from other cruise company’s.

What I think is very cool is the gangway button in the lifts. When you do not know where the gangway is, you just push the button (above deck 8) and it goes to the right deck. I wish all ships would have that.

If the theme of the mega liners of Carnival, RCC,NCL and Celebrity is noise and action, here the theme is Nordic Tranquility. That might not be enjoyed by everybody but the fact that Viking is able to keep churning out a new ship each year (and this year even 2 with LNG propulsion) means that there are more than enough people who do like it.

The deck display next to each lift. Good and easy to read. The  only irritating thing is, it rotates with the gangway deck indication. So you have to wait until it comes around again.

This success is due to 3 things: smaller ships (40 – 60.000 tons is small nowadays), very good and balanced service and an harmonious interior that is consistent through the whole ship.  The ships must have been designed by a team that was given a concise briefing, did their job, and then the results were checked, to see if the briefing was followed. The President, Mr. Torstein Hagen comes from a maritime background and does therefore understand that a ship has to remain a ship, and that the end result should still be a ship and not a coorporate and ego-tripping muddle of Sr.Vice Presidents. And I think that has worked very well on these ships.

This is Deck 2 portside Atrium with sitting areas and game tables, both analog and digital.

The centre of the ships is “The Atrium” but is also called “The Living Room”.  (Saga Cruises has a similar concept).  It is mainly a lounge to sit and relax, especially on level 3. There is no library but there are bookcases full  (with very high quality books) in every corner and on every level. As well as in other lounges like the Explorers Lounge (crowsnest) on deck 7& 8). Game corners  everywhere integrated as a part of the overall concept. And the game corners were very busy, especially with guests travelling together and who enjoyed time together before the afternoon tour or after the morning tour.

Portside Forward Atrium Corner, deck 2. “Viking Museum”.

Then there is a bit of Nordic history (up and until the early 19th. century Sweden and Norway were one country) on level 2. Here is also the Future Cruise Specialist, whose office is hiding behind a very nice Viking Saturn model. Look for the model and you know where it is. The most lively part of it all is on deck 1. Here is Guest services located, but it has no counter. No, there are 6 desks with attendants (number in use depending on expected traffic during the day) so a discussion can take place in a more intimate and professional setting, instead of being “processed” at a long counter with multiple  slots.

Two of the six front desks. These two are in use on very busy days,

Shore excursion has a small stand there, for meet & greet, but for more indepth issues they take you to one of the Guest Services desks.  Diagonally opposite is the Bar, a combination of a coffee and cake stand and a regular bar.  I think it is located in this corner to be next to the Gangway, so guests can pick up a coffee before going off the ship or have a drink when coming back after an exhausting tour.  Then late afternoon it changes more and more into a bar and there are always 20 – 30 guests present. By 18.00 hrs. the cocktail crowd starts gathering before dinner, for cocktails and to listen to the Resident Pianist or the Classical duo. (The latter alternate between the Livingroom and the Explorers lounge)

The bar in the Atrium. To the left are high chairs & tables for eating your cookies or a lunch time roll. Low chairs and tables are all around the Atirum.

To my amazement it all works here extremely well, there is no noise, just the buzz from polite conversion with a tinkling piano in the background. The fact that the space is 3 decks high has no impact at all on the atmosphere. Where you walk the deck is marble but were you sit it is all carpet and thus no scraping noises and also no echoing noise.

A corner of the “Chefs Table” speciality restaurant.

Behind the Livingroom is on Deck 1, portside is the “Chef’s Table” a speciality restaurant (see further down) with a rotating menu. On the starboard side is Manfredi’s the second speciality restaurant that focusses on Italian Cuisine.  (see write up from some days ago). On the port side there is also the “The Kitchen Table” were there is a separate chefs cooking area and also options to do cooking classes.

The starboard side of “The Restaurant”. As you can see there is art everywhere and the long blueish painting is called “twilight” by Kenneth Blom painted for the ship in 2023.

Then on deck 2, there is the main dining room called “The Restaurant”.. (I think the designers wanted to ensure that a guest would not get confused about its purpose……….) This is horseshoe shaped and runs all the way around the stern. With in the center aft, a table for 14 guests. Indeed the Captains table, although Captains tables are not a regular feature of the Viking program. Normally a Captains table is 10 seats or less, but 14 can work very well, if there are Captain & 3 officers in attendance, you have a host at “each corner” of the round table).  I used to do that in the grey mists of time when on the South Pacific cruises and I resurrected the Captains tables from the old World Cruise days. Officers loved it, much more than having their own table as they knew that the Captain would run the show, keep things under control and would ensure that conversation flowed. (as well as the booze)

The Parfume and gadget shop. There is also a boutique and a jewellery store.

Then going towards the bow, there are the shops, on deck 1 and deck 2 (in my opinion overpriced and with very limited choice) and on deck 2 also the Spa, gym, and beauty salon. This is all very nice but I did not see too many customers. But maybe that was because we did not have any seadays.  On Deck 1 is the show lounge and that is a very clever set up. At each side in the back there is a Cinema and in the evening they pull away the bulkhead with the movie screen and it becomes part of the Show lounge.

The “Star Theatre”. The cinema on the starboard side is open and now part of the Theatre. The port side is still closed as there was a movie in progress.

The sightlines are very good as there are no pillars. (Every show lounge on every ship, can be without pillars, but it depends on how much a company wants to pay. Because a “free view” lounge without deck supports” calls for a heavier steel deck construction and that costs money, but it can be done. The seating rows are benches  and then a row in front of chairs( see the brown pillows in the above photo) and there are small tables in between for drinks. Also that works, unless you have a very – very tall and big person in front of you.  Drinks are served before the show starts from a very nice and large bar in the staircase behind the show lounge. Directly behind the showlounge is the Night Club called Thorshavn.

The Torshavn night club as seen from the entrance. The light stand on the left is fabricated in the shape of trombones. Not original as Holland America has the same one on board on the ss Koningsdam since 2016.

Then you get Deck 7 and 8 (outside deck).  At the bow, is the Explorers Lounge with music in the evenings. The only thing that irritates is  that the constellation display on the wall behind the bar, reflects onto the front windows and thus it is hard to see outside after dusk. But you can solve that by going up one of the 2 glass staircases to Deck 8, where there is no reflection. The music can still be heard as there is a gap with below.

Deck 8, upper level Explorers Lounge. Mainly meant as a quiet study area with lots of books about exploration. Note all the books in the bookcase.They are all real and of high quality.

Deck 8 Explorers, is mainly meant as a quiet place to read or work on the computer. There are nice books and a lot of Nordic heritage on display, including old farm utensils. Above this lounge, on deck 9 outside are games (skittles, ping pong, mini golf) but insulation is very good as I could not hear anything below, although there was a very lively group at the poing pong table with very piercing voices.

The study table at the far right corner has a glass top and doubles up as a historic display case about life in (winterly) Norway.

On the starboard side, deck 7, is a small food outlet (I would call it a small catering hatch that looks after a very small restaurant called  “Mamsens”. This is a Nordic version of breakfast and lunch nibbles based on Nordic specialities. Apart from the waffles, it was a bit too far out of range for our taste interest.

Mamsen is located in the starboard aft part of the explorer’s on Deck 7 and is a very small restaurant.

It was also never very full and the Chinese guests on board where complaining to the chef about why there were no noodles. Somehow they did not grasp the concept, and the chef, a very cheerful lady from Zimbabwe, could not make them understand either.  I listened to  the conversation with great interest, especially when one of the group tried to get into the kitchen to verify if there were indeed no Noodles.  (Maybe “Mamsen” is also a word for noodles in Chinese or Korean ???).

One might expect a “Blond Helga” as cook in a pure Nordic restaurant but here we had a lovely lady from Zimbabwe.  And no, she did not serve noodles.

Behind deck 8 Explorers are cabins and behind on deck 7 Explorers is the winter garden  and then the covered pool. Main focus point of the Winter Garden is “High Tea” in the afternoon. (When the General Manager found out about our experience with “the trolley” from the beginning in the cruise, she was there every afternoon to make sure it did not happen again. On each side of this place are seats and loungers, that Viking calls “The Lanai concept”.

The Wintergarden, a bright and open space.

As a side note, I have never seen a Hotel manager / General Manager so omini-present as this Emma from England. I hope that Viking appreciates it as she was everywhere, where the regular supervisors could not be for a moment. It is always nice to see a hotel manager walking through the diningroom, but he/ she does not need to be there as it is full of supervisors and related. Better to keep an eye on the flow in other areas.  So very Good.

The “ceiling” of the Wintergarden. Nordic pine made to resemble a forest. I wonder if the birds would like it when the Dome is open.

The aft part of Deck 7 has the small “Hamburger Bar”. The product is extremely good but it is a bit limited. Hence guests switch for one lunch between the two venues as the Lido, called the “The World Cafe”, is just  behind it. Again very good food but I had expected a few more options to choose from. There is a very small asian outlet, which is extremely good (Asian Chef). Then there are the regular counters, topped off with a nice ice cream stand.

The World Cafe. This is the portside.

Behind it all, another bar, which is very busy as softdrinks, beer and wine are included at lunch time for everybody. (Same as Saga and Fred Olsen and also most 6 star company’s) Then there is an outside terrace, called the “Aquavit Terrace”,  which today was in use as it was chilly but sunny. The stern of the ship has a infinity pool with in the front a jacuzzi.  To stop the Infinitiy pool water from raining down on the balconies below, there is a sort of box hanging under it. This makes  the ship look a bit weird from the outside. The first time I saw it, I thought it was some sort of cherry picker basket for cleaning windows.

The Infinity pool at the stern of the ship on deck 7.

On deck 8 aft, carefully hidden away from the guests, is a black glass wall under the aft end of the funnel. Inside is a Officer / crew bar. A very clever setup and it would other wise have been a wasted space  and there is also a hidden corner for smokers. For guest smokers there is a smoking section on the sb. side midships but I never saw it very busy.

Guest smoking area on deck 8 sb. side. Still a very civilized way to slowly commit suicide.

That completed my tour of the ship. Then we had to pack. Luckily we had not bought very much, apart from a Soup Spoon in Pisa.  But we still had to go the shops on board as we had booked another cruise with Viking, on the Viking Polaris to the West side of Greenland and Baffin Bay. For that we received $200,– on board booking credit but it had to be spent this cruise on board. Unusual, as it normally goes on the credit for the next cruise that you have just booked. So the shops still made some money as all the “on board bookers” came marching in. Now I am the proud owner of yet another Power Bank, a set of suitcase locks (TSA approved) and some perfume for her ladyship. It made the day of the very friendly Turkish shop attendant who could just scrape in her commission before she left tomorrow to go on leave in Antalya. Her next ship is the Viking Star for another 6 month contract.

The “Kitchen table” on Deck 1, where under guidance of the chef you can take cooking classes and also eat your own cooked food.

We had booked the Chefs Table for 19.00 hrs. on this last day as most other days were filled up. The higher category cabins (all of them, apart from us sinners living on deck 3) could make their bookings from home but the standard Verandah cabins  had to wait until on board. It did not make much difference in the end, accept the early times being booked up. Tonight we could go at 19.00 hrs., after cocktails, and the place was nearly empty. I think the packing and leaving the next day had reduced the enthusiasm for a “last extravagant supper” somewhat. This restaurant runs in 3 set- menu cycles,  Italian, Asian, Californian, but the names might differ somewhat from ship to ship. If you take a future cruise, it might be different again, as Viking has 21 of these options floating around the fleet. 5 courses with wine  included in the cruise fare.

The most puzzling thing on board is this staircase that leads from the back of “The Restaurant” deck 2 to the back of Manfredis Italian and the Chefs Kitchen on deck 1. and it goes nowhere else. It looks like a very posh way for the Dining room manager to commute between his restaurants. The piece of art on the wall is called “paper and wood” by Johanne Ness and Hanne Overland.

With it comes a wine paring of 4 different wines. Also included. If you have bought the drinks package ($ 25,— a day, but going up) then you get slightly better wines. Price wise I think, as wine is very personal, a I preferred the “cheaper” Pinot Noir with the Asian lambchops much more than the Spanish Tempranillo offered. But as far as wines are concerned, I was already very happy that they stored our favourite white wine (Austrian Veltliner, in this case Bereich Wachau) as Veltliner is not always on board. (Azamara has it, but Cunard does not)  So we had a very good dinner and then it was time  to put the suitcases outside as at 05.45 we had to be ready for transfer to the airport.

The blank bulkheads in the forward and aft staircases are covered with scenes taken from the Bayeux tapestry depicting the Normans (Norseman or Northman or Vikings) coming from Normandy, France, led by William the Conqueror in 1066 and defeating the English/ Anglo Saxon King Harold at Hastings.

Weather for tommorrow for when going home:  Overcast with rain during the day and temperatures aruoud 13oc / or 55 oF.

 

 

 

 

 

https://www.vikingcruises.co.uk/oceans/ships/viking-saturn.html

 

 

2026 Feb 17; Day 05, Sete, France.

February 18, 2026 / / 2 Comments

The last time I was in Sete, was in 2001 as captain of the ms Noordam (III). Then we docked in downtown Sete and we could walk directly into downtown. (50,000 inhabitants). Since then the port has been upgraded with a combined cruise and ferry pier. All very nice, but now you have to take a compulsory shuttle to the Gate, where the bow of my Noordam went 25 years ago. I am all for improvement but the compulsory shuttle service was setup in the French way and thus a bit more complicated than necessary.

Sete dock. A very nice new dock with ample room for the compulsory port shuttle bus and the Ferry docking at the other side. In the good old days we used to dock opposite of where the high apartment building is located and then just walk into town.

By 11.10 we were expected on the dockside and put in a nice sightseeing coach so I was quite happy. We left late as once again there were guests missing and then we drove out of the gate. I was now expecting that this sightseeing coach would drop us off somewhere in downtown for our walking tour. That was not the case, we lined up behind 4 other (shuttle) busses. Then we had to wait because the shuttle busses left every 10 minutes and it was not possible to speed that up, so we had another 20 minutes delay. Once our coach had made it to the official stop, we were allowed to disembark and the walking trip started from here. As the whole trip was supposed to last 2 hours, we had lost 30+ minutes as the tour guide kept the ending time the same. So 1hr.30 minutes instead.

Sete Jousting. This is the red team training boats, there is also a blue team.

Once lined up we marched into town and stopped at each bakery and patisserie for a look in the windows as cookies and pies are the big thing in Sete. Then on the canal there were the “jousting boats”. Once a year in August, there is a jousting duel on the water in rowing boats, a tradition that might even go back as far as Roman Times when Sete was already a port. The photo shows the bare training boats. During the jousting, a sort of bridge / platform is constructed at the stern of a heavier boat and the “jouster” stands on top of it with a pole, trying to push the opposite person into the water. The rowers have to manuver the boat in the best position possible and avoid being pushed into an impossible position so that the jouster cannot do the job.

This is the real happening with the boats that have the ramp with jousting platform.

Although Sete is small, it is a very nice place and it was very pleasant to walk around there; compact but interspersed with canals. Here the fishing fleet of the town is located and our Guide was very proud to announce that little Sete as 3 times as many Tuna fishing boats than Marseilles. There are several canals that go through the city and they are flanked on each side by restaurants serving the fresh catch of the day.

This canal connects the sea with an inland lake and is very popular with small time boaters and fishing enthousiasts. Mussles and fresh oysters even grow on the bridge pillars.

Then it was on to the covered market (Les Halles in french) to look at more cookies but now also at the Fish stands, cheese stands and other local specialtiy boutiques.  And that was the tour. Those who wanted could stay behind, those who wanted to go back to ship could follow the tour guide, although in Sete you cannot get lost.

 

The outside of the fish market. It was restored sometime ago and, an architect was let loose to create an inspring roof, and he came up with a………………………………… a fish net cover.

Then it was waiting again for the shuttle bus. The ID card checking and boarding of the shuttle bus was supervised by no less than 5 security guards. I have never felt so protected when stepping on a bus. We were back by 14.30 and time to take a nap as all that walking (and especially all that eating too much) does make you tired.

The inside of “Les Halles”. It is open every day from 07.00 to 13.00 hrs. and the place to go for “fresh” shopping by the locals.

We had cocktails in the regular atrium lounge , then on to the dinning room again; good food, good service but nothing special, and tonight we were early as we wanted to see the crew farewell and then the “Beatles show”.  Doors opening at 20.30 hrs.  The farewell show opened with a speech by the Cruise Director about how wonderful we were, as we sailed with Viking.

 

The crew farewell show with the -tall- captain in the middle.

Then a short speech by the thus far very elusive Captain. We have not heard a peep from him all week, no departure announcements, nor anything else, but it as it is compulsory to be part of the crew farewell, there he was. I have not been able to get anything out of anybody about what he is supposed to do as far as announcements go, but I do not get the impression that Deck and Engine are very much involved with the guest operation. So the Captain is more a “Chief Bus – driver” than anything else. It feels more  that the guest well-being is solely the job of the Hotel department. Headed by the Cruise Director and the General Manager.  Her name is Emma Smith and she is from England. We spoke several times with her as she is very visible in the ship and indeed “manages by walking around”. Also her office, on the side of the  Atrium with the door open, and directly approachable.

Then  we had a toast, with champagne handed out when coming into the show lounge followed by about 30% of the officers and crew marching onto the stage. Not much different from other company’s, only here with Viking, they pulled it off somehow with having all the crew lined up properly, instead the chaos you normally see. (and believe me it is not easy to do that, as it is not the same crew that is assigned each week, and they all want to stand”next to their friend” instead of being in the right position)

The “Beattles song show”.  I have a lively imagination but I had to stretch my Beattle’s imagination very far…………………. to figure out the connection of striped pajama’s with the Beattles. The Cast felt the same when I complemented them after the show. Why not have them wearing “Sergeant Pepper” costumes to make it a big more colorful ?

The show was about all the Beatles Songs and the singers were extremely good again. The same cannot be said about the person who designed the stage clothes as that was far from comprehensible. Especially after the costume change half way through when the men were dressed in a sort of prison uniforms.  But the show was very good and the Singers rightly received a standing ovation.

Then we decided to go for a nightcap and poked our nose into the Torshavn nightclub.  Quite intimate but again the sound level was a bit too much. So we went back to the Atrium Bar for a nice Brandy Alexander and a portwine.

The Thorshavn nightclub. On the stage the guitar player acting as a warming up act, for the very good, but very loud house band.

Tomorrow  we are in Barcelona for 2 days, with the second day being the dis & embarkation day. Tours will be going all over the city, Gaudi’s church and buildings of course and other city tours but also one to the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, which is a 6 hour tour, and one I had never seen before. Cost for that one was well over $ 300,– and for that price I prefer to watch U-tube.

Expected weather tomorrow : sunny but chilly with temperatures of 13oC or 55 Fahrenheit

 

 

2026 Feb 16; Day 04, Marseille, France.

February 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I have been keeping an eye on the weather in the Nord Med., an area which is called “The Gulf of Lions” or Gulfo de Lions. (Lions as in correct spelling) The chance of a strong Mistral wind (funnel wind from the Rhone valley is always present) but regular northerly winds can be a problem is well. Those were blowing during the early mornings and that resulted in the appearance of the MSC ship in Villefranche. But it looked like that by 07.00 hrs. the wind would have died down sufficiently for our ship to safely sail into the new harbour of Marseille.

The port of Marseille. The ships are coming in at the far northern end of the breakwater.  The south side (although much better for windy codiitions) is only used by small craft. (Photo Courtesy” Med-Mediteranee)

The port of Marseille lay out is its own worst enemy as the sail-in channel is perpidencular to the northerly winds, so when the Mistral blows you get a higher number of port cancellations, especially with the cruise ships as they catch so much wind. And it can play havoc with the ferry schedules.  For us the wind had died down and we had no problem sailing in, swinging around and docking. At the other side of the dock was the MSC Orchestra the 2nd cruise ship in port.

We had booked / included in the cruise package / another walking tour, this time of the downtown  Marseille.  To my utter amazement, the tour guide was Dutch, having lived in Marseilles for 20 years being married to a frenchman. To the amazement of some of the fellow guests on the coach, she spoke english by translating Dutch straight into English. I think in english, so my english sounds much more native, She did the same with French, but for English and German she went back again to thinking in Dutch and then giving the english translation, Dutch syntax and idiom included.

Marseille is the largest city in France after Paris with about 2 mln. inhabitants. It is overcrowded and not exactly clean, although the multitude of cultures (many from North Africa and old French colonies) make for fascinating glimpses of how  other cultures live and work. (especially the small markets, each dedicated to their own cultural background with local products and marketeers screaming in their own language).

Palais Longshamp. Great museum collection and great gardens. And the outside is not shabby either. (Photo courtesy: Packyourbags.com)

So we drove around the port, up and down the  streets, and got a good impression of how Marseilles functions. First with a photostop at Palace Longshamp. This is a very impressive building, built between 1831 – 1869 to celebrate the completion of a canal that brought fresh & safe water to the city. It took 30 years due to planning problems and construction costs but now houses several musea.  We stayed on the coach as it was raining, so we let the photo-op go.

The Porte d’Aix in Marseille. Commemorating all sorts of victories the french had in the 19th and 20th century.

A very peculiar thing is that Marseilles has an “Arc de Triomph” (official Porte d’Aix or Port Reial) same as in Paris, about the same size, but looking slightly different on the outside. Officially marking the entry point when coming from Aix-de-Provence, but several governments were involved in the building process and wanted to mark the Arch for several subsequent battle achievements. There was the end of the American war of independence in 1784,  then the French Spanish Expedition in 1824, and when it was completed in 1839, it was to honor “all sorts of victories” so a very multifunctional monument.

Most of the sightseeing tour was along the Corniche (bench in English) which runs along the whole coastline of Marseilles. The road is officially named after the American President John F. Kennedy. It is where the most expensive houses are located, included Gated-Communities, and the best fish restuarants, often in converted houses from the fisherman days. The weather was horrible while driving along the coast so we were quite happy to sit in the bus and let the -french- world roll by. Photostop at the Corniche was the monument for fallen french soldiers in the East Med. and Africa during the First World War. Although we mostly think about Flanders Fields during WWI,there were many more theatres of war. In Eastern Europe, in the Balkan and also in Africa.

The “MonumentAux Morts Des Orients. Erected in 1927.

I took this photo from the coach as you cannot miss the monument, it really dominates the local sky line.  Most people in front of it, were from our busses, as the French themselves waited for better weather to have a look at it.

I felt straight at home. What Macdonalds is for the Americans, is HEMA for the Dutch. So we had to visit.

Then the rest was by Coach, followed by an hour to walk around downtown. And there we found a HEMA. This is a dutch shop /chain that sells anything you need for your house. It is very very Dutch, so finding it in the deep south of France, is about the same as finding a Wal-Mart on top of the Swiss Alps. Even the packaging was in Dutch but it did not stop the French from buying up a storm.

The Atrium bar. To the left is a sitting area with regular tables and from there you can spread out over the 3 floors of the Atrium, which is officially called “The Living Room”

Back on board it was time for lunch and this time we tried the “nibble” selection at the Bar on deck 1 of the Living Room. This is the 3 deck atrium of which the corner on deck 1 also functions as cocktail place and related. It serves small sandwiches with shrimps, salmon and beef and is a great for those who are peckish but do not want to be tempted by being exposed to the Lido outlay (called the World Cafe on this ship)

Wendy the Future Travel Specialist in full swing. We were quite impressed with her as she was able to rattle off every port of each cruise listed in the brochure.

Viking has a repeater program, The Viking Explorer Society,  (On average they have a repeater rate of 60 to 90% on board) and that means that you might get a drinks package and gratitues included on you next cruise depending on the promotion going at the time.  There is no tiered program as with Cunard or Holland America. To recognize everybody there was  a party in the Atrium and although we were not “repeaters” yet, the Future Cruise Lady had invited us. And with free drinks…….. who can say no?  So we got a few wise words from Wendy the future cruise specialist, some more wise words from the Cruise Director and then a short show from the ships cast / singers.  There are no medals or other gifts but the biggest day holder (this cruise 160+ days) was recognized with a bunch of flowers.

As the whole ship decor is “Scandinavian bare” it does not look very impressive during the day time with the tables not being set. But is is very cosy in the evenings.

The evening show was the Cruise Director himself who is also an ccomplished singer. He performed a selection of songs from the last 40 years. We did not go as it conflicted with our dinner reservations in “Manfredi’s” the dedicated Italian Restaurant on board.  And when one has to choose between food and culture, guess what wins.  It is free of charge and the menu is standard Italian restaurant style, as people would expect it shoreside. With a decent range of entries and very pleasant service. It is evey night booked to capacity and with Viking higher cabin catagory’s  you can book  at home, while mere mortals like us, have to wait until on board, and then it depends on space still available. However it turned out not to be a problem and we have also booked the other speciality restaurant, “The Chefs table” for the last night. That one has a set menu.  Then you can book cooking classes for  $60,– a person and for that you also get an apron. They run the classes in the evening so you will eat your own cooked dinner at dinner time. We saw a group of very excited ladies marching out around 9 pm. followed by a group of spouses, drink in hand, who looked rather less excited.

Tomorrow we are in Sete, France. (It is  pronounced Sept, without the t) Weather is supposed to be dry and sunny but with a cold wind blowing from the North giving noon time temperatures of  12 – 14 oC /  54 – 57oF)

 

 

2026 Feb 15; Day 3 VilleFranche, France, for Monaco.

February 17, 2026 / / 1 Comment

To get to Monaco, you can anchor in front of Monte Carlo (Hercule or Fontveille) harbour, dock at the cruise ship pier, anchor at Villefranche or at Cape Ferrat in France. For reasons not entirely clear we went to Villefranche, while we found out later that the downtown Monte Carlo Cruise Pier was not in use that day. The reasons for that can by myriad, especially in France when dealing with a Sunday situation. The only nice thing for the afternoon tour was, that it included for each tour a 45 minute drive, as Monte Carlo was part of the excursion.

Villefranche bay. From anchorage nbr 1 it is only 5 minutes to a very nice tender dock, right in downtown.

My Lord and Master had decreed that she now has approved Viking  Cruises and had found out that there was an North West Passage cruise (partly, just in & out) in 2028. Under the well established rule, if we book now and early then we save money by speadning it ………………, so we had a meeting with the Travel Consultant. And we booked a 13 day in 2028 from Nook in Greenland, up and into Baffin Bay with the expedition ship Viking Polaris. So that takes away my pocket money for the next 3 years.

To recover from the shock I decided to forget my diet and invest in some comfort food by visiting the Pool Grill for a BBQ hamburger. That is all cooked a-la-carte and was very good. As mentioned before, the food is very good on board but somewhat limited in volume and variation, compared to the exuberiance of some other companies, like Holland America Line and Celebrity. But the quality is very good.

One of the 4 ships tenders. Well laid out and easy to operate with all the latest gadgets

For the tour we had to take our bla-bla boxes again to receive a lot of useful information while walking through Monaco. The ship has the best tenders we have encountered so far, it was just a pity that the tender drivers have not been trained very well in using the latest gadget called “the bow thruster”. That is a great gadget but you have to have a little bit of forward momentum for it to work optimaly. When going astern the pivot point of the tender goes back and that negates the positive force of the thruster somewhat. So both on arrival and depature from the Villefranche dock there was a lot of See-Sawing to get the tender alongside. With extra waiting while everybbody was seeing the show, but eventually we got there.

Monte Carlo / Monaco is very small, and downtown is even smaller. Our walking tour Started at number 19 and ended at nbr 22, and that is not more than a 15 minute walk.

The coach drive to Monte Carlo goes along some very narrow roads and a few times we were right on the edge of where we could look down an awful long way.  Because the tour is included in the cruise package, we were not expecting it to be very intensive and we were right. But it was a nice walk from the coach (parked in  a 5 story underground parking garage under the Oceanographic Museum) through the botanic gardens into the local Cathredral where the Grimaldi’s (The Princes of Monaco, who rule the Principality) are buried and then for a photo-op at the main palace.  Then 1 hour of free time and back to the ship with a promise that the coach would do a full lap around the Formula One circuit.

The late 19th. century Cathedral. Homebase for the Royal Family of Monaco.

The Catheral is from the mid 19th. century so not so old but is very interesting with many side chapels dedicated to various Saints.  The past rulers of Monaco are buried here, starting with the churches completion.

The grave of movie starr Grace Kelly, or Patricia Gratia as she was known in Monaco.

Only the direct Monarch and his spouse and those in directe line are buried there, the rest is buried somewhere else. One “mass grave” had the remains of those who ruled before the Church was completed. (So for modern times, Prince Rainier is there, so is Princess Grace and the next one will be the current ruler Prince Albert, wife and oldest child)

The main Monte Carlo harbour, called Hercule, is not the only one. Just to the West is “Fontveille” which a much smaller and quieter affair. This photo was taken from the lookout point in the Gardens just under the Cathedral.

Monaco is only 4 square kilometers in size, so if you do not break on time, you are out of Monaco and back in France. Hence Monaco has the euro and a lot of French rules & Social Security accepted. But is has local police, local taxes (only the Monegaskan Passport holders are tax exempt, who make up 20% of the population) and local driving rules.

We had to be back on time at the bus, except one couple who arrived / were found by the tour escort  30 minutes late, without much of an excuse, as it is nearly impossible to get lost in this area. “Walk down to the gardens and you cannot miss the entrance to the car park. But it brought us back 30 minutes late to the ship. But now comes the nasty part, the tour escort had talked up this full lap around the Formula One circuit. Then with great aplomb announced where the starting line was and then waffled off about underground traffic tunnels. We never did the full lap. And I was hoping for the full lap because when you go under the hotel, even a coach engine sounds like a roaring ferrari, due to the acoustics.

The F1 Grand Prix circuit of Monaco. We only saw the section V to A1. We have been here before but a pity for the guests for whom it was the first time.

Coming back to where the tender is the driver nearly ran into a leaving bus, could not handle the hand break while going uphill and then refused to make more room for the other busses coming out. Compliments to the lady bus driver of the other coach coming out, she managed to get around our coach with about 1 inch to spare. On arrival at the tender pier we had to wait 20 minutes for the next tender and then other five while the tender driver gave the “not how to dock show” by the wrong use of the bow thruster.

The main palace of Monaco. It is mainly a working palace with the direct family scattered around it in various villa’s.

We were supposed to be all by ourselves but in the aftrnoon the MSC Splendida came in. She had not been able to dock in Marseilles due to strong winds. Apart from the city being a port of call also a number of guests were supposed to disembark and embark, so after arrival a large shore tender came out to arrange that. We had fun and games with the small parking area’s with 900+ guests and 12 busses, so let alone what they will face with handling the approx. 2200 guests on board.

For cocktails we went back to the Explorers Lounge and then to dinner. The company had laid on a barbecue and dancing on the stars on Deck 7 under the Magro Dome. We went to have a look, but the barbecue was very limited so most people got extra from the buffet inside. It turned out that the dancing under the stars was not a continious party but more like a show where the various entetainers all did their own little thing.  As (with the dome closed) the music was deafening we decided to go for a regular dinner. This BBQ gig did not get much of attendance as there are not many high tables around the pool, so one would have to hold the plate on ones knees. We are now spoiled by the “White Night” with Azamara, so this was a bit of a let down in comparison.

So we went for a regular dinner in the diningroom. While waiting for the Maitre to figure out a table we met an American couple who we had talked to while waiting in the show lounge the night before, and decided the share a table. Good company, as they had also travelled the world, lived in Germany, and an enjoyable time was had by all.  Maybe due to the size of the ship, or the international travel experience  most guests enjoy the interaction with other guests they have never seen before. It splits the crowd in a sort of 3 groups. Those who march according to the daily program and do their town thing, the second group who already travel in a group for the duration of the cruise, and a 3rd group, who are by themselves but enjoy cocktails and interaction with other fellow travellers.  So one does not need to be exactly lonely on board.

Tomorrow we are in Marseilles. The weather is supposed to be windy during the night but the wind should die down on arrival, so if the captain is a luckily man he won’t have much programs in getting in. With us is the MSC Orchestra which came in early due to the expected wind during the night. Weather, overcast with rain, temperatures around 11 – 14oC /   49 – 58oF.

 

 

 

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