27 July 2025, Flam; Norway.

Still in the wider part of the fjord at 08.30 am.

Although the days are getting shorter, it is still sun rise around 5 am. and thus a beautiful sail in with the sun shining on the mountain sides of the fjord. I am never much bothered about having a balcony cabin but when cruising here it does pay off and one can enjoy breakfast on the balcony while seeing Norway float by. Or better said the other way around, Norway stands still and we float by. It is nearly 6 hours from pilot station to Flam, depending how much speed the ship is allowed to make. From the pilot station to where the fjord gets smaller you can run at sea speed but as soon as you get in the smaller parts the ship has to slow down to avoid the ships wake hitting the shore side. It would not do to tip a local fisherman out of his/her boat due to pulling a large wake.

The dock in Flam. There is space for one cruise ship to dock. Right on the grassy area are the souvenir shops, and sitting areas for the local hotel and the new Viking brewery. To the left the walkway to train station and in the back (yellow) the super market..

We could dock today as a larger ship scheduled cancelled for unknown reason their call. This is happening more and more that due to port congestion or weather, ships are re-arranging their schedules and show up another day. Port calls are normally reserved 2 years in advance but there are not many ports that charge for the booking up front, so there is a lot of last minute (read 3 or 4 months) re-shuffling going on and that can indeed still happen at the last minute. But the captain was happy to take the spot and docked stern in so our portside cabin was overlooking the port of Flam and with it the local train station which is the main reason we are here. Guests from the ship and tourists coming in by car, will take the scenic train up the mountain and then either come down again in the same way or continue with a bus or coach further inland and that bus then ends up on the Flam Dock side again. Apart from the train station, there are a few small hotels and B&Bs, a small CO-OP supermarket (open today to service all the cars and RV’s coming in) and now they also have a brewery here. Built in the form of a Viking Longhall (modern version as it has WI-FI) which shows the brewing process and beer for sale. Normally that has my great interest but the “Viking” prices charged made me change my mind.

What made me very happy was the fact that my HAL posters were still there. I put them up in 2010 when HAL added the new cabins on deck 8 aft. There was only this bare brown wall which hides the old lifts going down to the dining room from the demolished Midnight Sun Lounge.

So we waited until the majority of the ship had marched ashore and then took the chance to have a good look around. I estimate that Phoenix Reisen has spent since 2019 about $30 million on the ship. In 2019 during a six months dry dock it was roughly $24 million on new engines, new rudders and a lot of pipe work and renewing of all the cabins. Then later on they did more work on the suites and also made the Captains cabin smaller by putting an extra suite in the sitting room space that we always used for parties.

The Panorama lounge ex Crows  nest. All the same except some chairs added to increase capacity.

If we start on the top deck, deck 12, the Crows nest, now Panorama Bar remained the same. Then a deck down 11, the midship pool was taken out and replaced with a wooden decking for deck parties. This area is now called “Schone Aussichten” or “Nice Views”. See the photos on the blog of yesterday with the deck party/lunch.. Then the Lido part at the stern has been spruced up considerably and what was with HAL a semi outside venue is now completely closed in with good air-conditioning. If you then enter the aft staircase, you can see the 17th. ships painting that was once hanging in the HAL explorers lounge has been installed against the bulkhead. So it was not thrown out, as often happen during refit.

Deck 10 & 9 is still the same with all the cabins having been rebuilt, and to my wife’s consternation the self service laundry on deck 8 was taken away. There is another ,bigger one, on deck 6 but from the top deck cabins that is a long way down. For the suites there is free laundry but it is not always wise to send a Ladies dress to the ships laundry as they tend to kill it with kindness. Then on Deck 8 the public rooms start. The show lounge has not changed at all, even the carpet is still the HAL carpet. Front desk is still front desk and the photo gallery on the portside is still the same as is the cinema. The shops have been reduced to only the center large one and the boutique that was on the port side is now the Future Cruise office for Phoenix Reisen. The Explorations library is still there but much less elaborate than in HAL days. Also the large Captains cabins, where I could hold parties for up to 70 guests has been reduced to a regular officer cabin and an extra suite installed. Makes sense from a revenue point of view but not from a service point of view as now they have to block off part of a public room for a party. For the “Gold service” meeting, the Panorama Bar was closed off and tomorrow when we have the “Gold & Silber cabin” party and they do it in the Main Show lounge at 15.30 in the afternoon. We will see if it works, but I like my parties at cocktail time between 6 and 8 in the evening but not in the mid afternoon.

The old Explorers Lounge looking forward.

The biggest changes made are to the old Explorers lounge area & the casino & the Java Cafe & small bar on deck 8. It has been completely changed. The Casino was removed as Germans do not gamble and replaced by 10 cabins. The the Java Cafe & bar area and the Explorers lounge have been completely ripped out and made into “the Piano Lounge” and it has a large bar. Now many more guests can enjoy this venue and listen to the piano player & singer. Originally this lounge was called the Casablanca Bar and the old Ocean Bar, the Harry’s Bar. Both names taken from the movie Casablanca with Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. Then for some reason the name was changed to Piano Lounge & Piano Bar and they do have a duo playing and singing there.

The new Piano Lounge with bar. The photo  taken from the same location as the photo above. The lounge curves around to the portside at the end.

On deck 7, the old Ocean Bar is now Harry’s Bar. The bar itself has been made larger, the band stand re-arranged, and all the partitions removed so there is more place for sitting. In the starboard forward corner an enclosed Smoking Room has been put in, with glass wall so you can see who is working on a slow suicide. In the afternoon and evening there are two older gentlemen playing (They look a bit like motor cycle lovers with a mid life crises) and they play a mixture of German pop and dance music. Obviously they must think that their public has hearing issues as last night it was very loud.

Harry’s Bar. With Royal Viking this was a dining room. With HAL it was remodeled to the Ocean Bar with band and dancefloor, but with the bar hidden behind a screen. Phoenix has now opened everything up. It has a bigger band stand and much more seating.

Phoenix needed to make these two rooms bigger as Germans go much more for drinks in the afternoon and after dinner drinks and dancing than the Americans with HAL do, and I think they did a very good job, Two very nice lounges, who serve their guests well.

Deck 6, 5 and 4 are cabins again with on deck 5 in the forward staircase there is a multi purpose room, which with HAL was mainly for crew training, incentive group meetings and Club HAL. Now this is a “Kreativ Room” which on this cruise seems to consist out of “Sit & be Fit”. For that purpose a hard wooden floor has been put in while with HAL it was carpet. And then finally, “hurrah” they put in 4 new tenders. That meant installing new davits to hang them from which is quite expensive but they did so.

The menu at Pichlers.

We went for pre-dinner cocktails to the Piano lounge, which was completely empty. We are now getting the hang of the German flow. They were either watching the scenery on departure outside or they marched directly into the dining rooms or Lido. I wonder if they are indeed afraid that the kitchen will run out of food. Then they all congregate in the lounges afterwards where the bars were doing a roaring trade. We had a booking for Pichlers which is the old Holland America Line Pinnacle Restaurant and it is still exactly the same. The system works in a German way, everybody comes in between 18.30 and 1900 which gives the staff time to take your drinks order. Then when everybody is in, they close the doors, ……….yes they close the doors………… and then you get served a set menu served. If there is something you do not like or cannot eat (like milk in a dish) then they will get you something from the dining room. Food is free, drinks, water, tea and coffee you have to pay for. With a specialty restaurant you do not expect to pay for tea and coffee but here you do and they do not tell you. But once having experienced this, you know and can be ready to make a more quantified decision next time. The food was very good and the service very smooth. Even with a full house, there were enough waiters to make it all work perfectly.

That meant of course we missed the show but when we came out, “Die Beatles Show” was still going on, in the theatre, here called “Die Atlantik Lounge”.  Again this was a revue show, so same cast as last night, and again it was very bad. 3 of the four singers are not too bad to listen to , but the sound system, the  back stage lighting and set-up,  and cheography of the dancers is not good at all. Maybe Phoenix should only have bought 3 new tenders and spent some more money on the shows. On the other hand the guests did not seem to notice and were enjoying themselves so what can I say. We will have to find out eventually what quality of the shows are on “Mein Schiff ” and “Aida” but it cannot be that bad. That concluded our day, so time to translate the daily program to Lesley and plan for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are in Sandane from 0700 – 1300 hrs. then a 60 mile jump to Floro for an evening call. Sandane, is an anchor call, so with tender service, but Floro is docking. We have never been to neither of the two places so we want to step ashore, even if it is only for 5 minutes. Weather for tomorrow, it calls for overcast weather with rain on the mountain but that rain normally has a tendency to come down the mountain at some time during the day. Who cares, the cabin is equipped with 2 large umbrellas so we can handle weather. Temperatures around 61 oF / 16 oC. and maybe somewhat higher.