29 July 2025; Bergen, Norway.

The ms Amera docked in Bergen. This dock is normally occupied by fishing boats large and small but it fits the ms Amera although there is an overhang with the bow.

Today we are in Bergen, docked at the Bontelabo dock which is at the end of the South West side of the Bergen old town right behind the old fort that guarded Bergen for centuries. With us in port, apart from several Oil Platform Support vessels and a number of large yachts, were the ms Trollfjord (Hurtigruten), ms Costa Diadema (Costa Cruises) and the ms Viking Saturn (Viking Cruises). The latter we had a good look at as Lesley and I will be taking a cruise on her in February 2026. We have heard some very good things about Viking so we are going to do a Mediterranean cruise. For that cruise we will have to fly, which I do not really like but then in each life some rain has to fall. No rain today in Bergen, although the port is quite famous for it, it was partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid sixties (18 – 20oC) and that is perfect sightseeing weather. We have been to Bergen many a time, also because it is nearly impossible not to visit it during a cruise.

It is the only major port on the west coast of Norway apart from Stavanger, and thus it falls somewhat automatically in the cruise schedule. There is Oslo to the South and Tromso & Trondheim to the north and not much in between, size wise. Hence for those with the urge for a good session of “retail therapy” going ashore is a must. There are some very nice department stores in Bergen and a large range of tourist related shops in the “Brygge”, the old wooden housing area on the west side of the harbour. My Lord and Master was going to hunt for Christmas gnomes. We bought some of a special design years ago in Tallin and here in Bergen and it was always the wish to make the series complete. So the Ladies went to the Christmas store and my friend and I marched around the port up the hill to the Maritime Museum.

As in the old days the “Norwegian America Line” used to sail from Oslo with calls at Bergen and Stavanger so there is a good amount of Ocean Liner history and ships models to enjoy. But those are part of the permanent collection and I enjoyed looking at all those years ago. This time my focus was on the bookshop. 10 years ago they had a nice collection of books, old and new, and as it is so difficult to order books outside the UK (since Brexit the postal costs have gone up dramatically, as for the European Union, the UK is now a 3rd world country) and getting them to my house for a decent price, the hunt is on where ever I get during a cruise. After a 25 minute walk into the suburb of Bergen we came to the museum and there was hardly anything there. A few new books, really focused on the main stream reader and small bookcase with rejects from the Museums library / archive. While I was going through , my friend explained to the lady behind the desk what I was doing and she ran upstairs as “there was some more there”. She came back with an armful and among them 2 books that caught my interest. One a bound year of “Sea Breezes” magazine and a book about Australian coastal steamers. Both surplus to requirements for the museum. The helpful lady wanted 20 NOK for the two, so for 2 Dollars or 2.5 Euro I had at least found something and for a very good price. And then we marched down the hill again and caught up with the Ladies who had not been able to find anything in the Christmas store and were drowning their sorrows with a McDonalds ice cream. Then we decided to split up and Lesley and I went back to the ship.

The shore connection for electricity in Bergen.

When at the ship we saw that the ms Amera had been hooked up to Shore Power. When they exchanged all the engines in 2019, the new setup became Diesel Electric and that makes it fairly easy to switch from “one electric plug to another”. Norway has an abundance of electricity available, and apart from reducing emissions, it also reduces the fuel costs. The fuel costs are quite high for the Norwegian waters, the ships have to run on Diesel fuel instead of Bunker C fuel which is about 15% cheaper if I remember the prices right. So an hour before departure the engines sudden came on with quite a bit of shaking as they had to synchronize the output again so the shoreside electric plug could be pulled out.

The whole outside deck full of tea drinkers, and there were a lot more of them inside, for guests who could not find a seat outside.

I mentioned a few days ago, that there is very little to do on board the ship in port, today there were no activities at all, most likely because all the cruise staff are escorting tours, but for this type of cruise passenger it does not seem to matter as they all go ashore or are happy sitting in the lounges with a drink. So the whole front page of the program is given over to the tours, in clearly large spaced letters, the inside is about still registering one’s credit card, an announcement about ships boat drill and then a lot of advice how to get your Norwegian Tax back on anything purchased. Page three inside is all about the evening entertainment and page four outside all about when the ships venues are open. As one can only eat so much we did not go to the dining room for lunch, but took a few sandwiches from the Gold Room (ex Neptune Lounge) For alcoholic drinks and non alcoholic drinks it stocks the same as the complimentary bar in the cabin so it is handy if you run out during the day.

The indoor Lido Buffet with cakes, savoury’s cookies and everything else that goes with a good cup of tea. Note the empty spaces in between the trays. That is the only difference between HAL and Phoenix here. Less variation, not less quality,

With the tour participants trickling back from shore by the early afternoon, tea time (15.30 – 16.30) at the Lido restaurant was well attended. There is an elaborate tea time every day but as today was dry and sunny, most guests were sitting outside. Tea was served and one could get sandwiches, cookies and cakes (including Sacher Torte) from the buffet stand inside. Again compared to Holland America there is less in abundance of variation but not less in quality and quantity. I can only say that for a 4 star product it is all very good and it runs very smoothly. For those who did not like tea, the bars were doing a very good trade and the new outside bar was slowly filling up. partly with smokers but not all of them.

The NEW outside Bar on Deck 7 behind the dining room. If it was not for the smoking you would find me there very often. Holland America had a small round bar one deck up near the aft pool. It is still there but I was advised it only opens up occasionally as it is too small to handle the traffic.

When I join a cruise ship, I always send a letter to the captain to tell him/her that I am on board. Not that I expect anything but it is very irritating for a captain to find out by surprise, that there is another captain on board. And find out they do, as since Covid and the HAL diaspora of crew with the 6 ships sold, you find ex HAL crew everywhere. I have not seen one yet but I have heard that they are on board, in behind the scene functions. Most captains will then send an answer note (only Cunard is very bad at it) wishing me a good cruise, but sometimes they want to talk to me, even if it was only to find out what sort of “idiot” would take bushman’s holiday cruises, after 42 years at sea. This time there was another interest as the captain was eager to talk to me about the ship and compare changes made since Phoenix took over. So at 1800 hrs. all 4 of us were collected by the Hotel Manager (they do things properly here) and escorted to the bridge. Where we had a long chat about engine and bow thruster power and maneuvering with high winds. We only had a short time but I might have another session with him on the last sea day about certain ports where the ship calls.

Capt. Dariel Valdes and guests, seen here  yesterday during the Gold & Silber party. He lives in Panama but has been with the company for about 10 years.

Then the Hotel manager (also 40 years at sea) decided to invite us for dinner. Hurrah, ……………….free wine,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, That turned out to be very pleasant as he knew quite a few people in the industry so we could have a good time gossiping. (Sailors love to gossip and we are very good at it). Mr. Christian Schneider also owns a Castle in South Germany near Nurnberg that is run by his Dutch wife. A castle that includes a keep and has in total 22 bedrooms. Then I mentioned my plan to wean Lesley away from cruising (eventually) and take her inland in Europe to see a bit of country away from the ports. And I had the plan to do the “Route des Burges” or the “Burg Strasse”. You book each Castle – hotel for one night and then during the day you sight-see to the next one. Staying in an Castle Hotel has two advantages: A: the rooms are normally cooler then a regular hotel (European hotels often have no A.C) and B:there is always ample off street parking as there is normally land around a castle. And all that sort of conversation took up most of the evening.

Singer Olga and piano player Janibek with their show, “Rise Like A Phoenix”. 50 minutes of International European song and piano play. Here the Italian flag is on the screen and Olga is singing something Italian. It was very good.

We could just catch the most of the show by the couple that normally entertains in the Piano Lounge. They had a show in the form of a musical trip around Europe. And they were very good, a real relief from the Cast shows of the last 3 days. Tomorrow we are in the metropolis of Ulvik located at the very end of the Eid – fjord. It takes several hours to get to the end so it would have been an early morning again for the captain. We are the only ship in port and it supposed to be sunny with temperatures around 21oC / 70oF and no wind, which means it will feel a lot warmer.

Hotel Burg in Abenberg near Nurnberg south Germany. Nothing to do with this blog, but maybe nice to see that some sailors have a whole different life on the side. Most of the rooms are in the big castle-keep tower and the rest plus restaurant etc. in the other buildings. The center courtyard in the summers is used for Jousting Competitions and other medieval fun. (Photo courtesy,  Hotel Burg website)