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

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2026 May 27; Zeebrugge, Belgium.

May 28, 2026 / / 1 Comment

This is a cruise of short distances and even slower travel as we hopped from Cherbourg to  Zeebrugge. We arrived at 09.00 and that meant that the ship has been travelling on a “two engine” speed which on most ships produce a speed of maximum 16 knots, often a little bit less. Understandable with the current high fuel prices and the also understandable reluctance of the cruise company’s to levy a oil-surcharge  on top of the ticket price. That was done several times in the past, first time during the oil crises of 1973 and the results were mixed.  Passengers (this was before the general term of “guests” came into use) did not like it of course and one or two company’s were even accused of increasing their profit margin by doing it. Holland America laid up two ships in that period, the Veendam and Volendam and could barely keep the other three, the new Prinsendam, Rotterdam and Statendam in service.

Not much of that so far, but saving fuel by adapting the cruise schedule is now a standard part of designing cruises. Hence with these sort of short cruises in Europe, you are stuck with all the same ports,  ports that are close enough for an overnight slow sail. Hence  we are visiting the same ports over and over again, when choosing a 5 or 7 day cruise from Southampton. They could do ports further away, having 2 days at sea, with 2 or 3 ports and then 2 days back, but those do not sell very well as guests mostly buy their cruises based on the number of ports visited.  There are not enough guests out there, who like sea days to fill at sea and thus we do we 3 ports in this cruise and one day at sea. And with 6200 guests milling around, we need the ports to have some space to walk around and see the ship itself.

This is a stock photo with other cruise ships but the current lay-out is still the same. In the big open area next to the ships is a large cruise terminal, for 2 ships, is expected to be built in the future.

And today we had that space as large numbers went ashore after the ship had docked at 09.00 hrs. Zeebrugge still does not have a cruise terminal as in the winter, and on no-cruise ship days, the dock is used for cargo and container operations. Thus there is the compulsory shuttle to the gate as you are not allowed to walk over the dock, or the shuttle to the coastal town of Blankenbergen (11 pounds a ticket) which is a nice little sea-side resort and from where you can take the train to Bruges. There was a plan to start working on a cruise terminal in August 2025, with completion in 2027, but nothing has happened yet. So today, the MSC Virtuosa and the NCL Norwegian Sky, still docked at the cargo pier. Nothing wrong (apart from havinvg to wait for the port shuttle)  as the dock is wide enough to park all the needed busses nicely in a row near the gangway, without interfering with the regular shuttle service.  We decided not to go ashore, due to the expected temperatures today.  Which in the end was a lot more pleasant than the weather guru’s had predicted. Had it been overcast and somewhat cooler, we would have taken the tram called “The Lijn” along the Belgian coast. The whole area here is completely built up with 2nd homes / apartment buildings and during summer time a hive of holiday activity as nearly all apartment buildings have bars, restaurants and small shops on the ground floor. A tram ticket costs 3,– euro for 60 minutes and that already takes you half way up the coast.  It can act as a sort of hop-on-hop off bus without the official designation.

The “Coastal Tram” running along the whole of the Belgium coast. Very worthwhile to do.

We went to inspect the Spa facilties first, with mixed feelings, as with 6200 people on board, one would expect it to be busy all the time. But when we got there it was completely empty. And that was a good thing as it is very small for the size of the ship. There are 20 treatment rooms, hairdressing for men and women, nail bars and everything else but the part with the bubble pool, steam rooms, sauna’s and relaxation area’s for those who do not buy treatments is very small. But we were there by 10 am. and it did not get busy until well after 11 am. The centre bubble bath (I call it that way as it is bigger than a Jaccuzi) was very good, but built for an average size person. Anybody in the lower 5 feet class of height, will have a challenge getting out of it as there are no steps.

The bubble pool, showers and steam rooms, open to the yachtclub clients or payable for the rest of the ship for high price.

So we enjoyed that, but Lesley found that the maintenance in the showers (one not working) and the  shower gel and shampoo would hardly come out . I had expected to have a small centrifuge (spinner) in the dressing room to dry my swimming trunks but that was not there either. For a 6000 capacity it is really far too small.

Ceiling cover today, resembling sky lights in a mansion or old shopping mall.

Then it was time for another walk through the ship, now to see what was going for entertainment while the majority was ashore. There were still a large number of guests on board and the Quizzes were in full swing. I have not been to the kids area yet (it comes with a complete basket ball court) so that is for tomorrow.  The ceiling had changed color again and resembled now some sort of blue skies with a building ceiling.

Apart from having all sorts of gaming  in the sports and youth area, there is also the official kiddies club, called Do-Re-Mi  with MSC. At noon time about 60 of them had been “marched” into a section of the Lido restaurant where they had their own buffet to enjoy lunch. I counted 8 minders on 60 kids so not a bad average. And they were needed as it took some major organizing to get them all lined up behind their own lunch plate.

The Do-Re-Mi-MSC  Club having lunch. Apologies for the quality of the photo but I was not allowed to take pictures any closer for privacy reasons.

Those guests not at lunch were mostly in the pool again. On the first day I posted the open pool, the photo below shows the 2nd pool which is under a magrodome. It is called the Tropic Pool (and Bar) and is much smaller than the outside one. But it follows the same pattern as with the large ships of Celebrity which also have this setup. Big pool outside, smaller pool inside, but next to each other. The forward wall is a “water curtain” wall on which streaming water helps with keeping the temperature down.

The Tropic Pool with Waterwall.

Then it was time for lunch in the yachtclub. We looked at the Lido restaurant which was not that busy at 12.30 but if one can get service with a smile instead of a frown from behind the counter then the choice is not so difficult. As mentioned yesterday, the menus in the Yacht Club are a sort of upscale variation of those in the regular restaurants but it come with drinks included and butlers & waiters that have time for a chat. Today most Yacht Club guests were ashore, or were on the sun on Deck 19 at our own sun deck (with bar and lunch buffet) so we had 4 waiters hovering around our table. They have now no figured out what we did in our previous lives, so they all want to talk.

The Yacht Club dining room. A nice atmosphere and service quality is comparable to Azamara and Scenic.

For us the sport is to figure out where they all come from. It seems that every one is from a different nation. It is not mentioned on their name tags, so we have to deduct it from their first name and the sort of langugages that they speak (those flags are on the name tag). Today we figured out that Nelson Fernandez, who spoke, apart from English, Portoguese and Spanish, must have come from Brazil. Fernandez can be mexican or spanish but  normally they do not speak Portpguese and a first name like Nelson you normally do not find on the Iberian Peninsula, but is not unusual in Brazil. So he was suitably impressed. Then we have a Philipina Lady who listens to the wonderful name of Safety Lin, so she has to go through life with the nickname “Safety First”.

Not missing a single oportunity to make money, the photographers were in attendance to eternalise your movie attendance with a photo (11 pounds)

By 16.00 hrs. we had to be in the Showroom (called Le Grand Theatre) for a full show of the musical Dirty Dancing. These shows are free but you have to pre book on the App  (*) This 4 pm. performance was the full musical lasting from 16.00 hrs .to 17.45 hrs. and was then repeated in the evening twice with 45 minute versions of the high lights of the show. Lesley booked upon boarding (when you booking App gets activated) and the next day it was fully booked. Only to find out that when the show started, the theatre was only 2/3 full. It seems that guests booked all they “might” want to do and then just not show up. The crew running the entry system seems to be used to that as about 5 minutes for the start, guests who had not booked where let in.  The negative part of having so many guests on board is that there is very little respect for rules. When the show started, the access doors were closed but they were constantly pried open and guests continued to walk in. Lesley enjoyed the show but I did not like the combination of the full movie running on the screen and the cast + ships band performing in front of it, performing  along with the movie.

(*) While writing todays blog I just found out that when you are in the Yacht Club you do not have to prebook the shows. There is always enough room in the cordoned off Yacht Club area and the Butler will take you down and by passes the entry scanning. We were supposed to have been told that during embarkation. When taken on board we were directed by the Butler to the Day-lounge and the official routine was (supposedly) that we would have an introduction to the Yacht Club routines by somebody. But that did not happen. We read the website from front to back but there are no Yacht Club details on it, for what you exactly get as perks and what extra service and routines you are giving. Just a more or less generic listing.  So that is the first “dent” we have found into the so far faultless service.

The Yacht Club Bar, where the bar tenders knows after one day what you like, so you have to be fast when you want to try something else.

So I managed to slip out without upsetting the audience and went for a drink in the Yacht Club Bar, which was nearly empty. The Butlers were busy, so a lot of Club guests must have been sitting on their own balconies and made good use of the Butler perk that comes with it.

The Ukrainian duo “Velvet” performing every evening, all evening, in the Yacht Club. They wear a different colored costume and hat every night.

We were back again in the Bar by 19.00 hrs. for cocktails as there is always space and there is constant music. A piano player plays for 30 minutes and then we got a duo called Velvet who plays for 45 minutes, and then it rotates again. Also there is nearly constant music in the ship, which I like as on most ships in runs in conjunction with 1st. of 2nd sitting with large gaps in between, so you have to adapt to the ship schedule, instead of the ship being their for your convinience.  I had a little chat with the Velvet duo as I needed permission to post their above photo and it turned out that they were from the Ukraine, They were stuck with constant sailing, as at the moment they could not get home anymore because they did not know if they would be able to get out on time for their next contract. So they went from ship assignment to ship assignment with short holidays in Greece, where somebody let them use a house as long as they looked after the cats. (Quite a few of them supposedly) ………………………………………and that brought the war close to home again.

In the ship the regular 6000 guests marched up and down the central aisle again and still the expensive shops were avoided to a large extent.

This is the Grand Entrance to the “Luxury Plaza” with the expensive shops. Leather Goods, Clothing and Jewellery.  These shops  might work during the American Winter season but it does not looks like it that it works with the current crowd. On the English coast having a much larger pub would have produced more revenue. (There is a English pub on board called Masters of the Sea with a large choice of craft beer and restaurant side for Pub food)

There was a final quiz going on, before several sections of the ship were given over to late night Disco.  One area with Silent Disco and two other venue’s with a live band. We did not wait to see how it would be with the crowds of 6000 on board but it must have been busy.

There is no library on board  but today we found the pocket book exchange. A few shelves near the Future Cruise desks. (That is the most quiet area on board as it does not seem to be very busy with eager bookers so far but that might change on the last day of the cruise which is a sea day)  As one can see from the scant number of books, there does not seem too many eager readers on board either.

The MSC Virtuosa book exchange.

Tomorrow we are in Rotterdam, which is only a very short distance away, so a slow speed to keep the fuel costs down. Weather for tomorrow: Highest temperatures in the late afternoon of 26oC / 79F and sunny all day. That is lower than the predicted (34oC) and that is good as we go ashore to see the Fenix emigration museum located nearby.

Another a small thing that is irritating is the day long storage of the cabin steward trolley. Even when they are not working. They leave it out, because their locker is so small and thus only store it away during the night hours. Apart from this not being “high quality service” it is also illegal, to leave storage in a ships corridor when it is not attended.. No wheelchair will fit through this hole and it is an escape route from the Yachh Club Lounge,

 

 

 

 

2026 May 26; Cherbourg, France.

May 27, 2026 / / 1 Comment

And so started our first day on board the MSC Virtuosa. We had ordered breakfast in the cabin which was delivered by our own Cabin Steward. He had to apologize as there was no magarine on board, so we had to have butter. But we think it has more to do with the fact that all the Stores and Provisions that came on board yesterday had not all been sorted out yet.  I wonder how many cabin breakfasts are ordered if there arel 6000+ guests on board. We think it must be considerable as there were mistakes in our order. So a rush job. A cheese plate is quite different from a meat plate. It is not the same color so you really can not miss the plate. I had also sent up a copy of one of  Holland America books to Captain Lefering as we had sailed together in the grey mists of time with Holland America. At lunch time a nice thank you note came back and with it a little bag with chocolates from the large store on board. These 5 day cruises are very intense for a cruise ship captain so I was not expecting that there would be time for a chat.

The sea side of the terminal which you normally do not see. But the ship is so big that it takes up the whole pier. The black oblong box across the little park, is the end of the French nuclear submarine. Le Redoutable.  There are still plans to restore the old gangways seen on the left but nothing has been happening for a long while, and they are in quite a sorry state.

We decided not to go ashore with the heat it is supposed to go up to 32oC, plus the fact that we have been here many a time and have done all the shore excurions. But we had several thousand guests marching ashore to invade Cherbourg, so we would not be missed. The town had their shuttlebus system ready and they must be used to mega liners visiting as instead of the regular size buses they used bendy-busses, so double the size but still with only one driver. I ran ashore quickly to look in the maritime bookshop but there was nothing new for me. They were doing a good business with selling Titantic – Revell plastic kit models.  They had about 8 different kits for sale, but in the book department there was only a new book out about Le Redoutable, the french submarine which sits in a dry dock basin as a museum next to the cruise terminal.  On the way back I overheard one of the French shuttle bus drivers complaining to the security guard about his guests on the bus. It seems that the whole bus had filled up with black guests and they had started a sing-a-long which was not in line with this french ideas of culture. I would have loved to have heard it  as normally the harmonizing is incredible. When we were last here, there was a sole security guard “protecting” the door from the museum side to the terminal side and was checking ids . She had now been replaced by a single male guard with a gun, who was checking nothing. I just wonder how many passengers a ship has to bring in, before a security guard gets upgraded with a pistol ? Up to 2000 no gun? 3000 – 6000 a hand gun ? over 6000 a machine gun ??. Guiding these large number of guests back on board, was too much for the local staff and hence the ship provided crew to stand in the terminal, to push the flow, to one of the 2 gangways or if needed to the lift. Also inside at the security check when entering the ship, the regular security guards, there seem to be about 30 of them, had help from housekeeping. That is all extra staff that then is not used to provide service to the guests. So we are already figuring out that all the focus is on selling stuff, restaurants, bars and shops and beyond that, you need to be in the Yacht Club to get some personal service.

Entrance to the chocolate shop and factory Jean Philippe..

So we went into the ship, to see what it was like with most guests gone ashore. Well most venues were closed for lunch, with only one general restaurant open for lunchtime and some of the – to pay for- other food outlets opening up in the course of the afternoon when most guests were returning. What was open was the chocolate shop and cafe.  And that brings me to the first main difference with other mega liners as this ship has a large, very large, choclatier shop (and chocolate factory)  on board with cafe area for ordering and enjoying.

Plenty on display and for sale, and not cheap, but then it is a “branded” product by the world famous Choclatier Jean Philipe. Note: the Stiletto shoe on the counter, can be bought and modified for creating your own choclate selection.

The choice of chocolates is very large and most of it seems to be made on board. I counted on this port morning, when all was quiet, at least 10 attendants in function so it must be a large happening. And also a very succesful happening. One thing that intrigued us was that you can order a chocolate shoe (like a high heeled stiletto), select the color of chocolate you want to have it made from, then they poor the shoe and then you can have it filled up with your selection of “bons-bons” as we call it. I did not look at the price but it looked like a nice present regardless. Then they also have the ship as  a silhouette in chocolate and a lot of other stuff.

Buy your own ship in chocolate.

From there we walked up and aft to the Lido Restaurant on Deck 16 after the breakfast here finished at 10.30. We walked through it yesterday and the place was a big mayhem with so many children milling around with special focus on the pizza outlets. I was not amazed that there is no Ice Cream stand in the place; imagine the horror if a 1000 or so childeren descending on that outlet, not counting the adults.

With so many guests being and staying in the Lido for a prolonged breakfast, the staff has barely an hour to clean up and to have lunch themselves. Before lunch starts at 12.00 hrs.

The setup is the same as on any other ship, with 2 identical line ups on the port and starboard side and with sufficient beverage and tea stations. On port days it can handle the crowds without much of an issue but on sea days it is cramped, even with it being such a big ship. It does not call for a relaxed experience but is similar to Holland America and Celebrity during Thanksgiving cruises, when all the families decide to go for lunch at the same time. But here they have that every day.

The crepe and gelati station on Deck 6 in the main parade. The prices are around 7 pounds a cup.

For those who want a free icecream, you have to go to a sit-down restaurant. There is ice cream in the outside to the pool bars or you can go to the Crepe & Gelati outlet on Deck 6.  But that is not free of charge.  Prices on board are in English as the ship is homeporting in the UK and a soft ice cornet in the pool area is 3.80 pounds. (We pay 3,– on the beach in our home town, so the price is not that outrageous)

For lunch we returned to the Yachtclub as at least we get personal service there. The menu’s are the same as in all price included restaurants (Menueto, Symphony and Bolero) but In the YachtClub the dishes have been tarted up a little bit with more attention to detail.

This is the Yacht Club day lounge, seen from the Dining room level. Panoramic windows offer a magnificent view and good service does the rest.

The show tonight was a magician so we decided to skip him and walk through the ship after dinner. Her ladyship wanted to inspect the handbags. She only has 100 of them and is missing a small blue evening one that can hold her phone, so we are on a mission. I wanted to see  the ceiling again as it changes twice a day and the 2nd time is at 21.10. (This time co-incides with most guests coming either out of the show or out of dinner). I was not disappointed and with loud sound effects the ceiling changed from fishes in the ocean to thousands of small photos. The handbags were either too big, too small, the wrong model or the wrong color………. or much too expensive and thus my bank account could take a deep sigh of relief.  When looking around, the logo shop, the liquor shop and the parfume shop were doing good business but the expensive shops were empty.

A picture ceiling where the colors keeps changing.

Another bar that makes a great impression on the kids on board is the Robot Bar or better called the “The Starship Club”. Here you can order a drink, cocktail or other mix; your name goes on the TV monitor so you can follow the progress of the drink being mixed. Quite nifty but it is a novelty and the process is quite slow. Hence on the side there is also a regular bar, for “quick orders”. If you order via the robot, you get your glass in a small box honoring the occasion. The staff is quite busy with stopping “little” johnny’s and not so “little” johnny’s from trying to touch the robot and the other equipment. I do not think it is a big money spinner but certainly a nifty gadget and focus point.

The Robot Bar, called the Starship Club.

Apart from entertainment in the lounge, there is also non stop action in the Virtuosa Bar, next to the chocolate shop on deck 6, it has a band in the evening and lots of quizzes during day time.Straight above on Deck 7 there is a similar space called  the TV studio and Bar, also for quizzes and Disco.

This is the Carousel Lounge. Which is during the day time using its LED banners to promote Wellness, which is located on deck 7 above the show lounge.

Then at the stern of the ship, the end of Deck 7, there is “Caroussel” Lounge. This is a 270o circular theatre for special shows such as acrobatics and related. A sort of Cirque due Soleil but then on a smaller scale. This is a pay-for lounge and a ticket sets you back 18 pounds.

Finally there is the Horizon Ampitheatre, a half circle open space on deck 16 at the stern, which is during day time a regular outdoor space but can be used in the evenings for performances. So far I have not seen anything advertised.

And the guests kept marching on. This was at 22.30 hrs.

While walking around, there was a never ending flow of guests, on the way from one place to the other and now all the pay-for venues on Deck 7  (steak house, pub, sushi, etc.etc.) were full.  We decided to retreat to the cabin as her ladyship wants to go to the Aurea Spa tomorrow, and wants to go fairly early, to see if we can beat the crowds. The use of the regular Wellness facilities are included in the Yacht Club price everyday, but no treatments.

Here a better photo from our cabin, in the Royal Suite Class. The machine on the left is an Nesspresso machine and Still and Sparkling water is delivered daily, as is a complimentary fridge with soft drinks and beer. But you only get one small box of Pringles and some nuts free for the whole cruise. Not pictured, but present is a kettle for the British for their cup of tea in the morning. (Photo courtesy MSC Cruises)

Tomorrow we are in Zeebrugge, for Bruges. Weather is expected to be sunny again but now with temperatures of 18oC / 65o F in the morning and rising by about 6 to 7o celcius during the day. Inland in Bruges is will be somewhat warmer. If one does not buy a tour (*) then there is the complimentary shuttlebus to the Gate from where you can take the local coastal tram or try to get a taxi, or pay 11 pounds for a transfer from the ship to Blankenberg. (With Cunard and other more upscale company’s this shuttle is included. So I had hoped that MSC would extend that also to their Yachtclub people but no such luck)

(*) We have now found out that sometimes you can get the tours with a big discount if they have not sold out. One came down from 150 pounds pre cruise to 59 poundson the day,  so if you are NOT that bothered, have a little gamble on sold out/not sold out and save yourself a considerable amount of money.

The lay-out of the cabin with a floor space of 307 square feet. In some of these cabins, the sofa can be turned into an extra 2 beds, but then 2 extra wardrobes are added which takes space away from the rest of the cabin. The two (brown) wardrobes in this diagram, one for hanging, one for laying, offer enough space for one week but not more. So if you do a longer cruise, you either have to recycle your clothes or rotate from the suitcase.

 

 

2026 May 25; Southampton, joining MSC Virtuosa.

May 26, 2026 / / 5 Comments

Today we joined the MSC Virtuosa in Southampton for a 5 day fact finding missing. Her Ladyship and I do not like big cruise ships in principle, with the wall to wall noise, but we hope that we can do it our way with the MSC two class system. When we were on the Silver Spirit (see review under My reviews) we spoke to a gentleman, who sailed with MSC if he wanted to do a short break from Florida. When I remarked that MSC was quite different to Silver Seas, he said: yes you are right but if you book a cabin in the YachtClub you will be ok. So My Lord and Master hopped from website to website and found that the MSC Virtuosa was making a 5 day cruise from Southampton for a very good price. We are visiting, Cherbourg, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. None of these ports we have ………………….NEVER, EVER………… been to of course but we are here to see the ship and the MSC product. And if the noise is too much we can retreat to the Yacht Club.

This is the london ring road. The section we drive is from A1M on the top, to the M3 on the left side midle.

So we travelled yesterday from the metropolis of Cromer to Southampton. Cromer has 15.000 in habitants (including the outlying hamlets) in the winter  but during the holiday season it swells to over 40,000 when all the campings are full; The AirBnb’s are full and B&B’s have filled up. Yesterday the beach was full and there were long lines at the ice cream vendors.  It is not real holiday time yet in England but we have what are called Bank Holiday’s. During the year there are a number of extra free monday’s to make the weekends longer so family’s can get away for a few days. Bank Holidays came in force in 1871, to give bank employees some extra time off and to synchronise the opening times of all the Banks. So all the banks would be open (or closed) on the same days. The name stuck and nearly all professions now recognize these days. There are 8 bank holidays in England (this is including the standard religious holidays such as christmas and new year), 9 in Scotland and 10 in Northern Island.

This photo shows a quiet day on the M25. When we drove it was even better with no lorries on the road as it was a sunday.

Normally (Do not ask me why) it always rains in the UK during a bank holiday but this time we have a sweltering heatwave (30oC = HOT, HOT in the UK) and thus on Friday afternoon half the country went on the move. The train operators decided this was the best weekend to go on a strike and those rail routes which are not striking are under going maintenance. Then it is Cup final weekend for the football teams, and hence it was major mayhem on the roads. Lots of reports of collisions, especially on the M25 (outer ring road of London, where nearly all the traffice, that goes North – South or South North) has to drive on, even if it is only for a short while. When you take your driving lessons in the UK, it does not include learning to drive on a motorway, with 2 or 4 lanes, so there is a fair chance that for some people it is the first time that they are exposed to the concentrated chaos of a multi lane motorway with most cars driving at 70 mph.

The MSC Virtuosa (Photo courtesy User-Geni from Wikipedia). The Yacht Club area we are living in, is around the two black window sections above the bridge.

But we drove yesterday, on a Sunday, and we found that all holiday makers were tucked away in their holiday cubby holes, as the roads were more than half empty. I set my Lexus autopilot on 60 mph/ with lane recognition and could stay on that speed almost the whole way without even having to change lanes. (and nobody honking because I was not doing 70…)  That was a new experience but a welcome one. When we are going back coming saturday, it should be quiet as well.  Hence we managed the 225 miles from Cromer to Southampton in 5 hours including a 30 minute pitsstop and that is making good time for driving on Englands roads. (You can nibble about 15 minutes off, if you do the motorway sections at 70-80mph. per hour, but that is concentrated work and not good for your heart rate and  also not good for the petrol consumption.  So by 16.00 hrs. we were at the Hilton hotel in Southampton. This Hilton is attached to a cricket ground and a golf course. On June 4 there is an international match of the UK against New Zealand, so a week early they were already putting out traffic barriers to avoid wild parking.

As we have booked The Yacht Club, we could board anytime, same as Holland America 500+ days and Cunard Gold and Diamond.  Hence we planned to show up around noon time, a time when normally preboarding starts. MSC had already advised that cabins would not be ready until 15.00 hrs. but for the Yachtclub I expect that it would be earlier as it is a smaller section with better service. How our suitcases would fare would be another story.

The MSC Virtuosa is a Meraviglia -Plus class, a class of 3 ships, MSC Meraviglia and the MSC Grandiosa. Due to Covid her delivery was delayed from November 2020 to February 2021 and after being christened by Sophia Loren the ship started sailing in May 2021. She then sailed in the Mediterannean but is now in the summer time sailing from the UK and in the Winter in the Caraibbean. Tonnage 181,541 (that is about double the HAL Pinnacle class and 25% larger than the Queen Mary). Length 331 meters and 50 meters wide (including bridge wings) and 65 meters high with 16 guest decks.  Total double occupany is 4842 with a max of 6334 with all beds in used. 1704 crew to look after the lot. That is approx. 1 crewmember for 3.5 cruise guests and a space ratio of 37,  which is not bad for a high pax. count.  But after we sailed, the Captain announced that due to the British School holidays, there were 6124 guests on board, meaning that most of the bunk beds in the ship were now also occupied and that dropped the space ratio down to 30.

Embarkation was a breeze, when coming out of the taxi, and walking towards the terminal we were found   by security and directed to a separate check in who took the suitcases and verified who we were. Then security took us directly to security scanning, bypassing a long line of other eager cruisers. Once passed security , we were escorted to a separate check in area, complete with butler, champagne and canape;’s. Then marching behind the Butler (with padle so we would not loose him) we were guided on board, via lifeboat check in, directly to the Yacht club day lounge for lunch. A very painless affair. With the chaos developing behind us, it is almost worthwhile to book Yacht Class , just for avoiding the crowds and having a smooth check-in.

You come on board directly in the main hub of the ship. A two story plaza. On the upper level are restuarants and cafe’s and on the lower shops. The ceiling changes color frequently and that is announced with music.

Lunch was delivered at 6 star standard and then by 13.00 hrs. our cabin was ready. We are in 16005 which is very convieniently – located just off the Concierge desk and the daylounge bar. Suitcases showed up by 1400 hrs. Which was very fast, as after departure at 20.00 hrs. they were still delivering suitcases on the lower decks. Not good of course but it made sense as there is no way that you can handle 6000 suitcases with group of crew pulled out from the 1700 while still having the whole ship going.

Somebody is enjoying the simming pool even on embarkation day………………..

Between 16.00 and 17.00  hrs. we made a round through the ship and observed that the swimming pools on deck 16, were completedly taking over by childeren. The ship employs lifeguards to keep an eye on it all and they were busy trying to keep little johnny’s from “murdering” each other by dive bombing in the pool. Then it was time for cocktails, followed by dinner ( Yacht club diningroom , so no need for booking) and show. For everything outside the Yachtclub you have to make a booking on the App. So we needed an hour this afternoon to figure out how the App worked and how the interactive TV worked to get it all lined up. For the shows, there is a separate section in the show lounge for Yacht Club people, and on request you are escorted there by your butler,He/she has a  bypass card for the lifts, so once in, it does not stop anywhere else. It seems that we might be able to do that with our door cards as well so that will be an experiment for tomorrow.

Section of our cabin. It comes with a small balcony, a large shower and a sitting area next to the bed. The ship has a musical theme, hence the “music” pictures on the wall.

Our Butler is called Dora  and is assisted by a cabin steward. Apart from butlering our cabin, she also has to help out in the bars on occasion, so it seems that she has a very hectic schedule.  In the Yachtclub there is constant music  in the evening, by a piano  player or a singing duo, so there is always something to listen to. Much better than having “to hunt” for where there is entertainment as is the case on other ships and having to adjust your cocktail time accordingly.

The Master of the vessel, Captain Henry Lefering. This photo comes from the MSC website and it looks that he is only one of 3 non Italian Captains in the MSC fleet. He used to sail for Holland America and transferred in 2023.

Dinner was six star service, although with limited entries (but for that they try to get you to go into the ship for the speciality restaurants, where you have to pay. The steakhouse is $55,– a cover)  and then the show was 40 minutes of high-octane Abba. (Three shows a night, so you can choose when booking) Although the ship has 18 guest lifts in 3 banks, around 10 pm. the waiting times can be long as all 6000 seem to be going up and down at the same time. And from the show lounge on deck 6 back to the cabin on deck 16, is a long climb.

The main show lounge. It seats about 800, and hence they do 3 shows each evening. Still not enough for 6000 guests, so you have to book.

Tonight is an hour forward as we are going to France, Cherbourg. We were there 4 weeks ago with the Borealis, so I am only going to run ashore to have a quick look in the maritime book shop. Weather for tomorrow” Sunny 85oF / 29oC, gentle breeze and no cloud inside.

 

Day 08, 22 April 2026, Southampton, Final Verdict

April 29, 2026 / / 8 Comments

The good ship Borealis safely docked at 05.15 hrs. in the morning, to be in time to get the longshoremen on board for the luggage offloading. They almost managed that on the time that Fred Olsen had planned, so it was only with a small delay that the Self-Disembark could leave followed by the color coded tags. And we were off by 08.15 hrs.  The only hurdle was for the early disembarkers; that it was Self Disembark on the paperwork but the Cruise Director called it “Priority Disembark” so half the people who were waiting  for the announcement “Self Disembark” were, understandably confused and did not directly leave.

We were not confused but then we had our regular lable sequence. By 08.45 we were back at the Hotel to collect the car and shortly after we were on the road.

So what is the final verdict for this cruise. We sailed with this ship before and then we had the Penthouse (1 of the 4 on board). Based on that experience, the only thing that was less than before was the stewardess cabin service. For the rest the product is very consistent and for 4 Star very good.

The”glare” test that I do on every ship was high with a “97%”. Some ships make the 100% (Azamara) some go well below (Cunard).

So there are the Pro’s and Con’s of this cruise.

Pros:
1. Nice spacious ship, the space ratio is close to 40 for an HAL – R class ship (1304 pax) and with about 1040 guests on board, there was even more space to walk around and find a seat in the public spaces.
2. Very friendly crew. The “Glare” applied gave a score of 97%, with only one hotel officer, one hotel crew, one deck sailor and one engineer failing to smile and be friendly.
3. Drinks included during lunch and dinner.
4. Dining room open every day, also in port.
5. Proper Captains welcome, and farewell party with drinks and appetizers.
6. “Repeater party” with drinks, appetizers, speech by the Captain. This cruise there were 741 repeat guests on board (or 71% of the total on board) with the majority having done around 100 days. The top scorers this cruise were a couple with 1200+ days.
7. Restoration of the Pizzeria on Deck 9.

Cons:
1. Operational let down with the shuttle service “to nowhere” in the port of La Pallice, while the company website advised that there would a free shuttle to the center of the nearest town, if the distance to the town is more than a mile. So no compliance by shipboard with company cruise contract.
2. Changing formal from the 2nd seaday to the next port day, against the promise on the website which is part of the cruise contract Only mentioning “Operational Reasons” is not the way to treat the guests who pay your salary. So no compliance with company rules and no explanation.
3. The degradation of the atmosphere of the Colours and Taste restaurant where table cloths have disappeared and people walking by can now do “window shopping” as the large windows into the corridor have no curtains. It reminded me of facilities available in a certain part of Amsterdam, except here you can see “guests in their natural environment eating”.  However the Hotel Director said that more paintings and curtains were coming in next dry dock, sometime in 2027. Why that has to be done in dry dock I do not know, as it is a job well within the capabilities of the ships carpenters. But then every company has it own routines.
4. Lectures were not posted on the TV. We found several from the cruise before (only to be removed 2 days into the cruise) but none of this cruise. And this cruise it was even more important than normal as with the work going on in the show lounge, the lectures were moved to the Auditorium (movie theatre) which seats on 299 instead of the 752 of the show lounge. Somehow ships staff was not aware of the guiding principle of “Leadership is the Management of change”.
5. Free Laundry or reduced laundry price vouchers. We did not get them. When enquiring at the Front Desk it turned out that a “voucher” is not a voucher as in paper voucher but an automatically applied discount by the Laundry Master when sending down the laundry. For the penthouses, it is free laundry, for the big suites, 10%. Why do we need the confusion as this can be so easily explained beforehand.
6. No meet and greet from cabin stewardess on arrival. When we finally met her 3 days later, the excuse was that WE were not there, when she came to our cabin. Correct she came to our cabin at 19.00  hrs. and that was cocktail time. But we were in the cabin all afternoon unpacking, and that is when meet-and-greet normally takes place. Previous visit, when we had one of the 4 penthouses and the time when we were on one of the lower decks, the stewardess was also waiting for our arrival (and as a – penthouse- bonus even the chief house keeper popped up). We also found many mistakes of incomplete cabin service this cruise so not impressed. There was something missing every day.
7. 2nd formal evening moved to a port day, for no apparent reason, except “operational reasons” cited by the ship. The Fred Olsen website states that it should have been on the 2nd sea day but the ship moved it to the next port day which was a tender port with a late departure. During the HD’s table, we asked the Asst HD and he claimed that this “had always been planned this way”. Very strange because:

a. The Fred website listed differently.

b. Guest Services Desk and Dining room knew that it had been changed recently, although they were not told why.

Can somebody teach this AHD and the rest of the ships staff that honesty and transparency works better than obfuscation ?

Fred Olsen Cruises is a typical British Product (which includes Ireland in this case) and thus one sees very few non British, unless attached to a British person like me to my British wife. Would it be a good product for North Americans:, yes  but it helps if you like Great Britain, like to dress up, like cocktail time, and are aware what “bangers and mash” is.

Our next cruise is at the end of May 2026, and will be a 5 day investigation of the MSC Virtuosa. We do not like big and noisy ships but they have the “Yacht Club” cabins with its own bar and dining room, where you can retreat to when the rest of the ship becomes too much. We have never done an MSC cruise but as the ship leaves from Southampton,  why not ???

Dear Readers, hopefully you will joins us again, even if my observations are not always “politically correct”.

 

A final nice touch, as least for shippy people. Fred Olsen ships always had a bronze bow figure. If a ship left the company, then the figure was taken off and stored in the garden of the Olsen house on the Oslofjord until it was needed again. With the Borealis and Bolette it does not look good to put one on the bow, so they have one on the Aft Lido Deck. I still have to find out from which ship this one once came.

 

Day 07: 21 April 2026, Cherbourg, France.

April 26, 2026 / / 5 Comments

The Cruise Terminal which now houses the Cruise ship terminal and the Cite de La Mer, the under water museum.

Cherbourg is a famous port that became world wide known when the Ocean Liners to the new world started calling here. And company’s such as White Star Line (Including the Titanic which did call here, once), Cunard, French Line, United States Line, Hapag-Lloyd etc. made sure that Cherbourg became a household name. Until around 1969, Cherbourg was an important port of departure for French and Austrian passengers travelling to New York. Visits by ships such as the United States, the Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, etc.etc. often made local and national headlines. Holland America never called here until the cruise era started. HAL ships called at the Boulogne Sur Mer anchorage before the 2nd World War and went to Le Havre after the war. It was only when HAL started cruising in Europe again in the mid 1990’s that Cherbourg became part of the cruise schedules. Sometimes as a scheduled port of call but more often as an alternative for St. Peter Port when the wind at the anchorage prohibited the ship from staying there. Cherbourg was very well ready for that event. The routine was that a ships Captain had to go and have a look at the anchorage to see if a tender service was possible, unless the Harbour Master had already closed the port. The latter was the easiest because we could then sail straight on to Cherbourg which is about 40 NM away from St. Peter Port. If the weather was on the edge of possibilities, then the idea was to arrive at sunrise. The Captain would then take a look at the swell and say yes or no. If it was no, then with the good help of the Harbourmaster and his team in Cherbourg we could be docked with gangway out by 10.00, giving the guests a still a  full day. Even when not in the port schedule, those 3 hours sailing between the ports gave the locals enough time to set up the dock, arrange for tours and for the shuttle service into down town.

A display in the building showing the departures in the Trans Atlantic days.

I remember that it was standard, at least for my  ship, to ask those who made this quick follow up possible to be invited for lunch on board, which was always appreciated. That did not always work with the people who manned the gangways and protected the terminal but a few bottles of wine, helped out here. Once Customs found out and wanted to arrest everybody but that was then solved by donating a box of Kendall Jackson Reserve to the Customs office. French customs can be very flexible if you play the game right. The company was always much less flexible as they saw it as bribery, while we on the ships saw it as appreciation. The Hotel Manager had a solution for any discrepancies that might occur in the bottle count. It was called “breakage” and there was often a spike during calls at Southern European Ports. The peculiar thing was that the ship often received gifts from the Port Agents and Tour operators out of appreciation for the business that we brought to the port. So bottles were going both ways. But those were the good old days. Now with soo many cruise ships and soo many mega liners, it has becomed so stream lined that even courtesy visits from the Agent to the “Master of the Vessel” hardly occur anymore.

The old Customs Inspection Counters in the arrivals hall.

When the Ocean Liners left, the Cherbourg Passenger Terminal ended up in the Doldrums somewhat as nobody knew exactly what to do with it. Built in late Art-Deco style it was too wonderful a building to destroy and at the same time it did not have a function anymore. So it was left as it was, with occasional use when warships would visit. Now we can be very happy about that as it is one of the few terminal buildings with a links from where emigrants left and the better heeled passengers went to and from, and is still mostly in an original state.

And guests can see that each time when they go ashore because they have to walk through the Customs Hall with the inspection counters from the 1930’s. Another reason that the terminal was left untouched was the fact that Cherbourg did not need the space. Cherbourg is the largest fully man made harbour in Europe and they could expand outwards and were not limited by rocks, moutains, cliffs or other natural features that confined the size of the port, as we see with a port like Dover. Everything there is cramped in under the White Cliffs.

Then in the 1980’s The City started to develope the “Cite de La Mer” museum focussing on under water exploration and underwater traffic of any kind. So there many kinds of deepsea submarines on display, old, current and feature designs and there is even an large French War submarine in its own dock, which providing a really fascinating  visit.

The main entrance hall, where once the trains came in. Now handed over to Underwater craft.

And that was the reason why I was so excited to visit Cherbourg because in the entrance hall of this museum, which is next to the Maritime Terminal, is a souvenir shop with a bookshop attached to it. Second French Maritime hand books can still be bought with not too many challenges, through Ebay, Bookfinder or Abebooks but for new books it is very hard, as a. French publishers are not really bothered to reach markets outside France and b. Since Brexit the cost for sending a book to the UK, has become very expensive.

I bought not too long ago a Passenger List of the Rotterdam from a voyage in 1963. That cost about 8 euro’s (which is the regular going price between 7.50 and 11 euros) but then postage and customs paperwork (*) added aother 15 euro’s to it. Buying “in bulk” does not help either because when the value goes over 139,– then there might be import duties.

(* since Brexit each individual item imported into the UK or otherwise needs it own declaration for customs. So if it is 10 books the same, it is one customs declaration but if there are  10 different books, then it means 10 pieces of paper. At least when they are new books, when they are 2nd hand or antiquarian, you can cover it with one declaration but then often the value goes up too much. As you will understand Collectors are not very happy with Brexit.)

We decided to limit our going ashore with a visit to the “Cite de la Mer”. It is about a 15 minute walk into town, very pleasant to do today, if you wore a coat, as it was sunny but there was a gale force wind blowing from the North East. The port also lays on a shuttle service to town, which ran every 15- 20 minutes, even through French lunch time. The local community had laid on a dance exhibition in the terminal, between 10 to 12 noon, where authentic Breton and Normandic dances where shown.

Several generations of local dancers and singers.

For the guests the most interesting part was most likely the whole group of small, very small, children in local costumes on display. They were sitting there and remained sitting there for a good two hours while the adults and older children were dancing, singing and playing instruments. My wife and I came back when they were just packing up around noon time and just at the moment when the little ones were all “released from custody” and it was an cascade of French excited noise rolling through the old customs hall, while they all fled together to the outside.

This is one of the latest underwater craft. The US Challenger an underwater craft for one person. The French call it the “American Dildo” ,but I do not know why.

The museum is forever expanding, so when we visit next time, will we probably buy a ticket go inside again. We did so a few years back and the deep seawater tank and the explorers submarines and other exhibits were fascinating. They have now also opened up an Virtual Reality exhibition, where with a headset on, you walk through the ocean terminal in the heyday of Trans Atlantic travel and can experience what it really was like. For the young and young at heart they have set up a display based on the French Comic heroes Asterix & Obelix which are very popular in France, Belgium, The Netherlands but also in England and Germany. But even when not going inside the museum, there is so much equipment in the entrance hall, that it takes more than half an hour to have a look at all of it. The sometimes bizarre contraptions humans use and have used to get to the bottom of the ocean. It is said that we know more about the moon than about the oceans on our planet but if you look at the gadgets needed to go to the sea floor, I am not amazed.

This is one of the latest idea. A craft floating around the world, partially submerged. But because there would be somebody on board  watching 24/7,  they would be able to catch anything unusual, instead of relying on spot checks.

The bookshop was a somewhat disappointment as somebody had decided to “focus” on current affairs and what sold best. Hence there were about 25 different books on Titanic for sale, similar with a load of Titanic children’s book, But I have already over a 100 books about Titanic (from the scholarly level across to popular, to the absurd) and that was not what I was looking for, The real history books were no longer for sale. But I still found 2 books, one a thin on 5 euros,– with photos about the ss Normandie of 1935 and one with the history of the Ocean Liners, not with photos, but with hand drawn scenes of the ships. But done by an expert so the details were all correct. Same as you can see in the paintings of Captain Card on the HAL ships. Apart from nice to look at, they are also technically correct in detail and that is what one does expect if you have a bit of insight in maritime history.

The ships telegraph on the bridge. Now used for photos during bridge tour. It is orginally a mooring telegraph from the Moore McCormack days and came via the Veendam (III) and the Rotterdam (V) to the Rotterdam (VI). The write up is behind the telegraph so those who bother can find out about the history.

This the last day of the cruise and that meant afternoon packing. Luckily we had not bought much so what came out, fitted back in. As part of the Suite package, you get two bottles of liquor included and we had decided on Adnams Copper Gin, which is a very good brand in the UK, but that luckily fitted in the hand luggage. Disembarkation starts tomorrow at 07.45 hrs. and if all goes well we will be back at the car by 08.30 /08.45 and on the road shortly after.  I had asked for a quick visit to the bridge, to see if the ships telegraph, installed by me and Capt. Van Dreumel was there, and yes it was. The Captain was quite eager to have a chat about the background of the bridge, as due to Covid there had never been a proper handover from HAL to Fred Olsen.

 Then it was time to run to the Lido Deck, as the Urbu Band was playing. This is a British Brass band that has been performing for the 8th time on board. As far as I understand they are offered a discounted cruise, when a ship does not sell out, with the request for 2 performances. Good to sit and nice to listen to. There is something different and also wholesome in having a somewhat different entity playing that is not corporately managed and “plastic”, but are just purely playing for the fun of it.

After finishing packing it was time to go for cocktails and in the Observation Lounge one of the ships singers was giving a show, with songs from Frank Sinatra and related. It was very good, and fun to see as a beaming mother was sitting in the first row.

“Frank Sinatra junior providing a very good show.

Final dinner was in the dining room, and two things stood out, A. the number of empty tables, so it must have been busy in the self service restaurant, and B. the number of birthdays today. Although the company must know exactly when a birthday is, as it is all on the manifest, for some obscure reason, the number of birthdays tend to increase towards the end of the cruise. Maybe that is the case, or maybe guests declare having an anniversary ( not on the manifest). Whatever the situation, the stewards were busy running around the dining room, trailing behind the guy with the guitar to sing happy birthday left, right and center.

After dinner was the show, but we had seen the singer from the UK from a few nights ago so we did not go as I needed my sleep for the 5 hour drive home. Driving on the M25 (ring road around London) is challenging by itself but then come the smaller roads into Norfolk with all the side roads connecting, often via blind corners. And there are a lot of “creative” drivers in the English Country side. Then there is “farmer John” on the road with his faithful tractor and that can make things even more complicated.

I have one more post to go and that is the oversight and opinion of the cruise and that will come a day after this one has been posted.

Fred Olsen is one of the few company’s who have a fully operational flower shop on board. There are two florists and apart from looking after the flowers in the ship, they are also available for Guests to buy. The shop has been on board since 2022 ‘s I assume the concept works. But I do know that they are very busy during Valentines Day.

Day 06, 20 April 2026; St.Malo, France.

April 21, 2026 / / 0 Comments

The Old town of St Malo, it looks old but it is mainly rebuilt with new stone after WWII.

The good ship Borealis arrived this morning around 08.00 at the anchorage. This is a more peculiar anchorage as the ship “anchors” on a mooring buoy forward and a mooring buoy aft, by bringing out mooring ropes. Due to the tide which runs between 4 and 5 meters (12 and 15 feet) the ship has to anchor in a sort of under water bath tub to keep enough water under the keel to remain afloat during low water. The ship cannot anchor mid stream as the current there too strong and also the river too deep to bring out an anchor safely. Then also it would swing around on the tide every 6 hours and that it can only do that here by going one way around (towards the town) because if it would swing the other way, it would run aground on the flats. Thus the ship sits at this special anchor location and then tenders sail across the river to the other side where the local port is. The local port is made up of floating pontoons so the boats go up and down with the tide and do not have to adjust their mooring ropes all the time.

The ms Borealis at anchor at St. Malo. This photo was taken from the fish-landing place.

We were given one spot to dock, at the dock of the local pilot boat, and as the ship operated with 4 tenders (1 ashore, 1 at the gangway, 1 going out, 1 coming back) a good routine was kept during the day. I do not think that the captain was aware (he has never been here before) that the bringing out the mooring ropes (4 forward and 4 aft) takes a considerable amount of time, so tender service started a bit on the late side but by 11 am, when we were called for our tender ticket, the schedule was back on track again and it was open tenders by 11.45 am.

The aft mooring buoy with line tender. This boat takes the mooring lines from the ship. one by one, put the eye of the rope on the hook and then the ships winches pull all 4 ropes tight. Same process at the bow Very effective but it takes time.

Thus at 11 am we took the tender over to the pilot dock and from there we were guided through the Ferry terminal into to the ferry carpark and from there we could walk to the old city. The city was old before 1945 but was then extensivly bombed and fought over during the invasion of Normandy.  But after the war, the whole town was rebuilt stone by stone and now most of it, is completely back to what it looked like before the war. It is a well loved tourist spot, not only for the cruise ships, but also for the French themselves. So it is in a way a real tourist trap but a very charming one. The main streets, those who run from Gate to Gate, are given over to shops on the ground floor with apartments above. Living inside the “Muros” as it is called, is norwal way of town life; with normal houses and apartments, some even with parking. The Real Estate prices are not cheap, being around euros 325K for a 2 bed, one bathroom, without parking. And no lifts for the upper floors.

The main street of St. Malo. the street curves upwards as it is all on a hill with the church on top. This street has a very nice mix of restaurants, tourist shops, regular shops and a small super market. Upper levels are Apartments.

Inside, along the South wall, a whole street is given over to restaurants, many of them fish restaurants as local fishermen bring every morning the fresh catch of the night before. This happens right at the West Gate and then little vans take the fish and other seafood to the customers. Unfortunatelly we could not see what was going on in the local market “Les Halles” which are open for business every morning from 0800 to 1230 except on Monday. But there were sufficient shops around who sold all the local provincial specialities to make up for it.

The “Bol Breton” for drinking coffee and choclate the French way.

So we walked around in the sunshine and in the town nicely out of the wind, and supported the local economy with a few purchases. One of the local products is the “Bol Breton” a coffee / soup pot with 2 clips to hold it at each side. This small pot is used for drinking coffee or chocolate. They sell them in 2 sizes, with the smaller one for the children. The attraction here is is that you can get them with your name on it. So most shops have a whole wall with racks full of pots with the most common and some uncommon names. So we found an Albert and a Leslie (not the completely correct spelling, as the female way is Lesley with the y at the end) and bought 2. And we were far from the only ones. They were about 11 euro’s each and a lot of french families were doing the same as I expect that little Pierre and little Francoise get through a lot of them.

One of the Tourist shops with a large assortment of “Bol Breton” with different names.

Architecturally the most interesting item is the church of St. Martin in the middle of the town, which features some nice stained-glass windows. But it looked like  that most of the visitors were to some extent much less interested in culture, but much more intertested into sitting on the terraces and having a drink. And out of the wind (hiding behind the walls) this was very pleasant indeed. It takes about 1.5 hrs. to walk all the main streets of the walled city and the city walls prevent you from getting lost so you always end up again at a City Gate and from there you can see the tender dock.

The local fish delivery. Only one dock but the boats came in, one after the other. Ensuring that the local restaurants had an ample supply of fresh fish.

Some guests had taken the Transfer to the large city of Rennes and reported later that they were “sort of underwhelmed” as the shops in Rennes were all closed. And that while the Daily Program advised that they were open. We all are getting more and more the impression that the daily programs are not much scrutinized by management before they go to the printer. We came across the same thing later in the evening, when we looked for music to listen to and found that the schedule in the program was completely different to what the musicians were doing and where they were scheduled to pop up.

The town has been very nicely restored with all the medieval features put back. But if one looks closely (see behind the traffic sign) one can see that a lot of new brickwork was needed.

Back on board, we fell into the “Lido trap” by deciding to have only a small lunch, with an eye on the early 18.00 dinner., but then one walks by the dessert, ice and cheese counter and all good intentions go straight out of the window.

Last tender was at 19.00 hrs. but most guests were back early as we had the Captain’s farewell party. One at 17.00 hrs. and one at 19.00 hrs. But even at 17.00 hrs. (first sitting) only the lower level was full, with approx. 400 guests and I saw a larger number than usual of guests not having dressed up, sitting on the upper level, watching but where there was no service. Courtesy of management deciding to move the formal day/night from a sea day to a port day & with a late departure.

We had been invited to the Hotel Director’s table, a lady who had worked for Fred Olsen, then for Hebridean Princess, and then back to Fred. Contrary to what I am normally used to, she did not host cocktails before dinner but stood in line to say hello at the  entrance to the  Farewell Party. Same thing as with the repeater party, the whole ships staff were standing in the entrance to say Hallo and then to disappear again. Why not socialize a little bit if you are there anyway ? The Farewell party had free flowing wine, beer and G&T’s again, ample appetizers and with the Captain reading out how much food had been consumed and then introducing the “drivers” of the ship as he was always asked who “was driving the ship” if he was not on the bridge. So a first Officer (Croatia), a 3rd officer (philippines) and a cadet (english) were introduced. This was followed by a small group of regular crew, two rows of 10) where the front row were all asked where they were from. A small group as this was all the ship could do during the build up to dinner and cocktail time.

St Malo as seen from the ship. Tender ride to the dock is about 10 minutes.

Then we had dinner at my old Captains table, where I almost got mad at the Maitre’d Hotel, with the table setup. All the males at one side and all the females at the other side. So I Lesley and I shifted seats to bring some balance but with 2 single ladies sitting next to each other, then the Hotel Director and then yet another Lady it still was not as it should be. The opposite of the Hotel Director was the Asst. Hotel Director, nothing against him but one would expect that at least he would be in the ship to keep an eye on the Hotel operations. He showed up too late for the table photo and that sort of proved my point.

For the rest it was a nice experience as everybody was chatting away. All guests were from the bigger suites and half were from first and half from 2nd sitting. Then Hotel Director and Ass.HD excused themselves again to go to the next Farewell Party. I appreciated the hospitality by being invited but WHY DOING ALL THIS on a port day and being rushed with the Farewell Party going on as well.

Tonights show was the crew show, which they do in 2 sittings. We decided not to go, as we know all the philipino “main entries” and secondly it is so widly popular with the guests, why take space away from others? So we looked for some other entertainment and ended up in the Ocean Bar only to find that the piano player scheduled, was playing in the Morning Light pub instead. But it gave the opportunity to see departure with the ship sailing out of port (only a short distance to open sea) and then curving around the anchorage and outlaying islands to head northwards to our final port of call.

Tomorrow we will be in Cherbourg and we will go across the road to the Oceanographic Museum, called the “Cite de La Mer”, to visit the bookshop. The town lays on a shuttle to the town but one can also walk it as downtown is only 15 minutes away. Then between 10 am and 12 noon there is local dancing in the terminal, which is always nice for guests who do not want to venture into town. Weather for tomorrow: Partly Cloudy, with a cold strong wind and temperatures around 10oC / 50oF.

Day 05; 19 April 2026, At sea.

April 20, 2026 / / 2 Comments

So today we had a relaxing day at sea, while on our way to St. Malo. The distance is just too long to do it during an overnight and too short to run at a normal speed. So the ship is trundling along at 11 knots. This is just above minimum stabelizer speed of 10 knots and thus we had a comfortable ride although there was a long running swell from the West. Wind from the North East made it a bit chilly when on the windy side (starboard) of the ship and thus we saw very few guests walking around the decks. With this speed the ship is running on 2 engines, which together have enought output to make a speed of 16 knots. When the Rotterdam VI came into service in 1997, the company opted for one fast ship in the fleet, which could do 25 knots and thus visit more ports on a long cruise in the same time span. Fuel prices put a quick stop to that idea but the Borealis is still capable of doing that 25 knots, if needed.

Suuny but windy day on the ship. This photo was taken on the back of deck 8, where the 2nd pool used to be. The rim is still there but the centre has now been reformed in a sort of rock garden with a small stream running through it. The ring in the foreground is the entertainer stand.

When I was on board the Rotterdam VI, (Captain Bas van Dreumel) for a Fleet Master visit and Covid broke out, the ship was in lay-out “awaiting the end of Covid, which expected in about 14 days” in Puerto Vallarta. Then the challenges with the ms Zaandam cruise occured and the ship was sent to meet the Zaandam to provide extra medical care. Then  we put 4 engines on line (engine 5 was under maintenance) and raced with 23.5 knots towards the Zaandam. Those exploits are documents in the blog archive on this website. And I think that was the last time an attempt with the ship was made to run full out. I asked the first captain of the Borealis about it in 2023, when we went for the 3 day maiden voyage, if they had tried it out during the post lay-up trials and he said that chief engineer almost had a heart attack when it was discussed. But now with fuel costs and related, 25 knots is a dream (or nightmare) from the past. And so far during this cruise the ship has not gone faster then 15 knots, to maintain the schedule and that is nowadays for most cruise ships the same. Even to such an extent that one sees all sort of unusual bow forms appearing on the ships, all designed to have an optimum fuel consumption at lower and average cruising speeds.

Two modern cruise ships bow examples. An MSC mega liner on the top photo and the Icon of the seas (RCI) at the bottom. These bows are to give maximum fuel reduction at a certain average speed and a a comfortable ride when ploughing through bad weather.

We found out yesterday that the formal night (although advised on the website when booking, so one could plan their cruise) had been changed from todays sea day, to tomorrows port day (with last tender to the ship at 1900 hrs.) That caused a lot of confusion and quite some irritation as formals are normally on a sea day. So there is time to dress up, a special effort can be made to  enjoy cocktails and a have a nice stylish evening. Now people, if they want to participate, have to rush back from shore and get ready at the last minute. It will be interesting to see who many fail tomorrow to adhere to the dress code. We tried to find out why the change had been made but none of the crew knew anything than apart from “Operational Reasons”. It looks like  this ships management does not operate much transparancy with their teams, so that they can give a meaningfull answer to the guests. We are having dinner with the Hotel Director tomorrow and if I sit next to her, I will ask, as it does not make sense to me at all.

We opted for a quiet day just to see what was going on in the ship. By 10 am. the lounges were full as everybody vacated their cabins to let the stewardess do their jobs and with all the extra furniture added recently, there was ample space for everybody to sit and partake in what was going on. To my amazement, the Crows nest / Observatory had only 1/3 of the seats occupied. Maybe looking at the sea was not as exciting as going to other activies, who knows. This is day 5 of the cruise and the first time that Bingo popped up. It seems that the British public is much more interested in the daily “pub quiz” than in Bingo. (Although Bingo is quite popular in the larger cities in the UK) When it is time for “The Quiz”, the Morning Light pub, the Sports Bar and the Piano Bar are filled to capacity with eager people to try and win. I never stayed long enough to find out what the first prize is but it is a very popular past time.

The main lounge was open this morning for Church service, conducted by the Cruise Director and his assistant. I have not seen anything publicized about there being a priest, reverend, vicar or something similar on board. The days that on British ships the sunday service was conducted by the Captain (as being the on board representative of the British Monarch who is the head of the Church of England) are long gone. Overhere with a Norwegian Captain it would a bit odd anyway. Then the lounge closed again and the lectures had to take place in the Auditorium. Today’s topics were “How to build a Castle” and where “Cognac and Armagnac” was coming from. So the lighting technicians had time to work again although today there were signs outside saying that the lounge was closed due to rehearsals.

Then we went for lunch and opted for a shared table, same as we did during the first sea day. Today the main topics were a. what went wrong with the shuttle service yesterday and b. the reduction in wheel chairs, scooters and rollators we see on board. The latter might take some explanation as this is fairly new. For years the scooters, electric wheelchairs, rollators and related came on board in and abundance of numbers and sizes, and not only from guests who had booked handicapped cabins. Hence these mobility aids were left in the hallways overnight, causing a danger during an emergency as they blocked the emergency routes. Then the company’s tried to alleviate this by asking the guests when booking if they had a mobility add, and the size (so it fitted through the cabin door)  and that it had to be kept in the cabin. A lot of guests where not exactly truthful in their admissions and thus the problem continued to exist. Then Port State Inspectors turned their attention to it, and now the rule is, the mobility device has to be able to go into the cabin and stay there during the night. If not possible then you are not allowed to bring it on board. And yes, now over the whole cruise industry, guests are being refused on board, during embarkation, if the mobility device was not pre-registered and does not fit in the cabin. Hence the numbers of scooters and very wide electric wheel chairs, seen on board has reduced considerably.

Another topic that popped up was the increase in single cabins. (If you follow Holland America Line, then you will have noticed an announcement recently, that HAL is going to reconfigure a number of cabins on each ship to single occupancy) There is a large increase in single travellers, I think mainly to do, with the divorce rate among the baby boomers ,who have now time to travel, being higher than the generation before who did not, or were not allowed to divorce. The industry has been so far a bit ambivalent about single travellers, who needed to occupy a regular stateroom, marketed for 2 people. And are then charged anyways from 150% to the regular full price. The lack of single cabins on board had to do with the cost of building them as a single cabin needs the same “pipe” facilities as a standard double occupancy cabin. That price lays around $50.000 per cabin during  the newbuild. So although a single cabin can be made smaller, the newbuild price does not come down very much. Hence a lack of interest in cruise company’s to focus on single cabins. But now there is a new trend building momentum, of more and more single travellers, with funds to pay for single cabins. Thus the company’s are now looking into meeting them half way, making the cabins smaller, so more single cabins fit in the same section of deck and then not having to charge 150% or 200% to the single traveller but a more reasonable fare. How this is going to work out in the future nobody knows but it was interesting to talk about it, as one couple at the table, where planning to contine cruising, if one of them passed away. Main concern was, if the wardrobes would stay of a reasonable size, so that single cabins were also of interest during a longer cruise.

Future cruise desk. There is another one at this side but they now only have one person instead of 2. Fred Olsen does not offer much discount or extra’s anymore for booking onboard, so less and less guest book onboard. And thus they have reduced the FCC to one. Serving mainly those who have a hard time dealing with on line booking.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk, to convince ourselves that we could walk off our “built up” calories and to make room for more during the evening. As tonight there were extra appetizers to enjoy as we were going to the repeater party. With Fred Olsen it is called The Oceans Cocktail Party, as the repeat club is called “The Oceans Club”. They have Diamond Elite, Platimum, Gold and Silver levels. As we have done through the years several short cruises, we have now reached Silver level, more than 50 days……………. so party time. We have sailed on the Black Prince, where Fred started its modern cruising, then the Black Watch (ex Royal Viking), then the Balmoral (ex Crown Cruise Lines), followed now by Borealis and Bolette. Everytime mainly to see the ship and how it operated. The party started at 17.00 hrs. so we showed up at 17.15 to let the build up of early & eager free drinks persuers flow in. We had to run the gauntlet again, as the whole ships staff were lined up again in the entrance. This would have been ideal to have had this party in formal set up, but “for operational reasons” all the officers were in regular day uniform. Once the party started they were all gone and we never saw them again. One would think, if they have to be there anyway, then why not stay and do a bit of socializing.  Even the Hotel Director was gone and it is her department.

The Captain reading out the “numbers” for this party, with how many in each repeater day group. Cruise consultant on the side waiting to start her presentation.

The person in charge of administering the program is the Future Sales Consultant, a Lady called Nanomi from the Philippines. She invited the Captain to say some wise words (giving the repeater numbers for this cruise) acknowledging the top days on board, a couple with having 1200+ days. They received flowers and a bottle of champagne and then she showed how Fred Olsen had made their latest advertisement series. What I liked was that she then did not leave, as most of the staff with other company’s do, but she invited guests on the dance floor (the resident guitarist was providing music) and then danced with a large number of single ladies…………… so they were happy and another cruise sold. Compliments as I never have seen that dedication before.

Our future cruise consultant on the dance floor doing a sort of line dance with a gaggle of Ladies.

After the party we had to some time left before we had dinner at 19.00 hrs. in the Colours and Tastes restaurant, so we tried to find our sofar elusive inhouse pianist who we had seen playing at the Chef’s Table but who had eluded us thusfar in any of the public rooms.  We caught him playing in the Morning Light Pub between 1800 hrs. and 18.45. hours providing the sole spot of entertainment in the ship as first sitting was in the diningroom and 2nd sitting getting ready. (The next wave of entertainment started at 1900 hrs. with something going on in all the lounges) It is worthwhile for Fred Olsen to do this, as nearly all British guests go for cocktails and order a drink (or two) instead of what one sometimes see, is that the lounge is full of”concert attendee’s” and not a single drink insight.

The forward side of the Colours and Taste Restaurant.

The Borealis has one speciality restaurant, the Colours and Tastes, located on Deck 4 midships, where Holland America used to have the Marco Polo which later was changed to the Pinnacle Restaurant. When the ship was taken over and came back in service in 2022, they kept the restaurant as is, but now it has seen a refit, and is a lot les atmospheric but also a lot barer bulkheads, also tables and carpets are a lot lighter. We did not like the fact that the windows into the corridor has been changed from framed in 3 partitions with dark wood to a single wide window, that made it look as if the diners were part of an establishment in a certain area of Amsterdam, known for showing off the wares for having a good time.  Also the lack of table cloths did not do it much good, This restaurant has a cover charge of 20.00 pounds a person so a table cloth could be expected instead of a marble colored formica top.

The Italian Menu. Ample choice and very well prepared.

The menu rotates here every 4 days, from Meat Grill, Italian (2 menus) and Far East. This cruise there was only option 1 and 2 going so we went for Italian. Which was very good with attentive service provided by Adi Setiayo from Bali and overseen by the Maitre from India. The latter remembered me from our last cruise, so one way or the other I must have made in impression.

All the Holland America paintings have been removed and replace by the modern Olsen House style. One left over, are these plates who used to be in display outside the Lido midships bar.

We decided to forgo the comedian again and went for a quick round, around the ship and then decided to turn in early as I wanted to work on the blog, as there will be little time tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are in ST. Malo which is a tender port as the tidal difference is about 12 feet or 4 meters. Then a tender platform is much easier to get on and off from, than a steep gangway.  We are expected to start tender service around 08.30 in the morning. We have tickets for 11 am. Weather is supposed to be sunny but windy with temperatures around 14 – 15oC or 59oF. out of the wind.

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.

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