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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The buffet in the Concierge Lounge with waitress Irma.

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

Her Ladyship taking full advantage of what was on offer.

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

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

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

Then it was back to investigate the ship.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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