It was not really the plan to do a blog today as I did not expect much excitement apart from sitting on the Hop on Hop Off bus. That excitement died away quite quickly as the Hop service only runs when there are cruise ships in port. Today there was one cruise ship in port, the Seabourn Ovation, but she is smallish and thus they ran the service only in the morning and not at times that I was going to be about. But the excitement returned as the Seabourn Ovation belongs to our sister company Seabourn so I can get on board with my corporate ID. And that was a chance not to be missed. On top of that the captain was Andy Pedder who had been my chief officer back in the Veendam days. Good reason to have a look, plus a sudden opportunity to talk a bit of business as well.

The harbor of Stavanger is in the middle of the old town and because it is deep the cruise ships really park themselves in down town. So when the big boys are in they really tower over the area. If it is not for the fact that Stavanger is built on the rocks on either side of the port, the cruise ships would completely dominate the sky line. Now at least the hotels and apartment buildings on the hills to the East are still a little bit higher.

The ms Seabourn Ovation. She only came in service recently.

The Seabourn Ovation is not that big but she still dwarfed the downtown port. Which was buzzing as there was some sort of local fair going on. The whole area around the water was taken up with little stands selling local produce and delicatessens and lots of food and drink. Slap bang in the middle was a Dutch cheese cart, manned by Dutch cheese sellers. With their van they travel all over Europe attending these sorts of happenings. Something they can easily do as Norway is part of the European Community as far as open borders and free trade is concerned. They do not have the Euro as a payment but kept the Norwegian Kroner and are thus an associate member.

The Dutch Cheeseman. And they were really Dutch. As you can see, the Stavangernerians like Dutch Cheese. It gave me a very homey feeling to see this.

With the Ovation, (40,000 tons and 600 guests) being brand new, the captain has plaque exchanges in every port, as each port in the coming months will be a maiden port call. Some ports have given up doing this due to the large number of new cruise ships coming in but traditional seafaring countries of which Norway is one, Stavanger is a very important port, and still honor the tradition.

Plaque Exchange. Mr. Anders Bang-Andersen, Director of Cruise Development for the port of Stavanger, Captain Andrew Pedder, Master ms Seabourn Ovation and Mr. Odd Bjorn Bekkeheien CEO of the port of Stavanger.

The size of the Ovation is similar to our ms Prinsendam but where Holland America operates in the 5 star Premium Market Seabourn in the 6 star Luxury segment. Which means a higher crew to guest ratio and nearly everything included in the price, except shore excursions and premium wines and spirits.

By the time I left, the area around the ship was heaving with people who were having a great time at this local fair. I walked backed through the old town and the shopping area to my hotel. While doing so I came through the park and although I am not often around children, I think this is quite unusual; little lawnmowers as toys; what a way to get kids into gardening while they are still young. They are just plastic toys but with a little gadget inside that gives a lawnmower noise when you push it.

Future Gardeners in training. If you give them a fire engine, they want to become a fireman. If you give them a lawn mover then I suppose cutting grass is the only future there is.

Our guests do love Stavanger when we call here, the old town, the petroleum museum, the country side. But not only our guests also those from  other cruise company’s and thus Holland America Line cannot get every ship to go there as the port is sometimes fully booked with 3 or 4 ships inside and sometime they are not the smallest ones.

Tomorrow the Koningsdam will arrive at 08.00 hrs. and I will join around 10 am. to see if I can start spreading “my wisdom” as I have just done on the Oosterdam. The city of Stavanger is having a few very nice days and also tomorrow it should be sunny without a cloud in the sky with temperatures of around 21oC / 70oF.

One more photo of the Ovation. the midships pool area, looking aft. Very quiet as all the guests were ashore. The round blue thing in the top middle is the sky light of the Main staircase. It runs through all the passenger decks and ends up with a glass roof. The Ovation has nearly all the public rooms aft, around this staircase and all the suites more towards the middle and the bow.