Destinations

Category: Destinations (page 4 of 12)

2025 Oct. 14; Oban, Scotland.

October 15, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

In 2010 I was at anchor with the ms Prinsendam (II) at Oban. Tendering in windforce 10. But as we had a sheltered anchorage right under the cliff off a small island just outside the port entrance, we could do it. The tenders hugged the harbour wall to stay out of the wind and swell we had a good day. (At least for Scottish standards). Around 10 am. we were asked by the harbour master to stop the tenders as the ferries were coming out and the Hebridean Princess was going in. I had heard about her, never seen her, and had heard only rumours about what the little ship did. I sort of an kept eye on her as I found it amazing that this litte ship, of a one ship company, could survive. But it did. From 1996 onwards. It even acted as a private yacht for Queen Elizabeth and family in 2006 and 2010 after she had lost the Royal Yacht Brittania.

Fast forward to 2025 and in the spring we got an offer in the post with an early discount, too good to miss, so we signed up, That is not that simple as all the cabins on board are different. Located over 4 decks and the largest cabins do not necessarily have the biggest bed. Some cabins have a bath, some a shower, some a combination. As we had no idea what to expect, we booked the Torringdon Suite, an inside cabin, on the lowest deck (former car deck)………… but with a 6 foot bed.

The Kelpies. There are 2 ways of going North into Scotland, following the west coast route or the east coast route. Our Sat Nav decided that we were going West and thus we drove past the Falkirk Wheel (see cruise review of the Nieuw Statendam) and the Kelpies. Here an action shot taken at 70 mph. from the car by Lesley, as this section of the road is the last stretch of a dual carriageway.

Oban is halfway up the Scottisch West coast so it takes a bit of doing to get there. We cannot fly to Glasgow from where we live but you can if you come from London. (The ship sends a coach to pick people up from Glasgow airport) Taking the train in the UK is fraught with challenges as you never know if you get there on time, plus for us it would entail several train changes. So we took the car, 5 hours to Newcastle with a night in a hotel and then 5 hours across and up Scotland to Oban. The wider roads/ motorways, disappear near Glasgow and then it is a regular, sometimes small A road for the rest. (Think 40 miles an hour maximum due to villages, roadworks, tight corners and opposing traffic). By 16.30 hrs. we pulled up at the Northern Lighthouse Pier in Oban where the ship was docked. Offloaded the luggage and Lesley and then I went with 4 other cars, by following a taxi , to a covered & secure car storage in the middle of the town. Then the 4 drivers piled into the taxi and were taken back to the ship, were Tea was waiting. All very civilised.

Before I start the cruise, I need to explain a bit about the ship, as it is a one ship wonder and more of a Five to -seven star happening than a run-of-the-mill small luxury cruise ship.

The ms Hebridean Princess was built as a local ferry in 1964 but refurbished to a very high standard in 1989.

2025 Sept. 24, Dubrovnik; Croatia.

September 25, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

It is only 110 miles from Kotor to Dubrovnik so a slow speed run all the way.

Today we are in Dubrovnik also in Dalmatia and Croatia but at an another location than planned. We were supposed to anchor in downtown but last night the captain came on the tannoy and advised that there was a frontal system expected to come over Dubrovnik in the course of today and that would make anchoring in downtown dangerous. So the ship would instead dock at Gruz, which is the commercial harbour of Dubrovnik, and a shuttlebus would be provided to take everybody to downtown. A decision I fully concur with but it requires a little explanantion.

The downtown anchorage of Dubrovnik. You have to drop anchor in the only section that is free of underwater cables called Lokrumski Prolaz.

Being at anchor in Dubrovnik is great for the guests as it is a very scenic tender ride sailing to the tender dock with the ancient city towering above you. It is not that great for a captain as the water is about 90 meters deep so a lot of chain has to be paid out to even reach the sea bottom and then the sea bottom is mainly stone so the anchor itself does not dig in very well. A bit of wind and the anchor starts dragging and the ship goes with it.

In all my years of coming here with my own ship, I never had the chance to anchor here in the first place as the anchorage was always booked/blocked by the Costa Line cruise ships. They even put the very large ships there. And not seldom there was a cry later in the day when the wind picked up and the anchors dragged. A lot of uncouth Italian could then be heard over the VHF working channels but they kept doing it.

This is the nautical map of Gruz. The commerical port of Dubrovnik. The ships dock at the pier with all the black dots under the yellow circle. That yellow circle basically indicates that you should not block that area as A. there is a lot of traffic coming through and B. on occasion the Bora wind comes funneling down the river canyon in front of the dock.

So we always docked at Gruz which has a very nice cruise ship dock (for 2 big ones or 3 small ones) and then it is a 15 minute bus shuttle to the North Gate of Dubrovnik old town. This is a very sheltered port and nearly always open to the ships. Sometimes you have to wait for a few hours until the Bora wind stops blowing. That is a wind that forms on the Hungarians plains and then picks up velocity when coming down the river gorges. I had that myself a few times but normally the pilot gets advance warning and we waited outside until approx. 11 am or so until the wind eased off.

Today no Bora and thus we were arlongside by 09.00 hrs. behind us was the Mariella Explorer which is an old Chandris / Celebrity ship owned by Tui and sailing for the English market. Yesterday we had the Mein Schiff 6, also from Tui but sailing for the German Market. We decided not to be bothered with taking the shuttle as we have been here many times and Her Ladyship had no intention of getting wet. Luckily for the guests the rain did not come through until 17.00 hrs. and by that time it was cocktail time anyway.

So I used today to have a walk around the ship tp take some photos. I will post a few each day. The resemblance with the ms Prinsendam is striking although the Renaissance Class of ships were all built some 12 years later. But the Royal Viking Sun was a trendsetter, mainly due to the fact that the company let the ship be designed by the guests who travelled with Royal Viking and not a President with “a vision” surrounded by a group of V.P’s and Directors who all had to say yes in order to get a good appraisal by the end of the year and their $5,– a day salary increase. I have an very extensive history about the Prinsendam II under the ships subdirectory on the website which explains the why. But when walking around I saw small RVS design touches that were similar everywhere.

The R Three as the Pacific Princess. Looking amazingly good with a white hull.

The ms Azamara Onward was built in 1999 in France as the R Three for Renaissance cruises as part of a series of 8. They did not have names as such, only numbers, as the company said that nobody remembered the name of a ship that they had sailed on anyway, only the company product. Renaissance went bankcrupt after 9/11 in 2001 as they had been paying off their building loans with the cash flow generated during the cruises. With air travel coming to a near standstill and a heavy reliance on the American market, the bookings dried up and that was it. Several other companies snapped up some of this fleet of handy little ships, great for intense -small- port cruises. The R 3 or R Three went to Princess Cruises and became the Pacific Princess for cruises to the islands in the South Pacific. In 2021 the P.P. was sold to Azamara Cruises and after some refurbishment renamed into Azamara Onwards. She has a tonnage of 30,277 grt. A length of 180.00 metes and a width of 25.5 meters. There are 4 main engines connected to 2 propellors giving a speed of 18 knots. She carries between 670 and 688 guests in lower beds and 826 when all sofa’s and couches are filled. (Although it might now be less as the company seems to have been tinkering with the size of the sofa’s) And there is the crew capacity of 373. If I understood the captain correctly, the current number of crew on board is 343.

Deck 11 top deck with sun deck loungers.

There are 11 decks and the highest one is the roof above the Living Room, which is like a Crowsnest (HAL), or Commodore Club (Cunard). Here there are stretchers behind a glass wall to keep the wind away and a steward to take drinks orders. Then on the deck below is the “Living Room”. which is one of the 3 main public rooms on board. (The other two being the show Lounge = Cabaret lounge, and the night club = The Den)

The “Living Room” with the photo taken from the fwd. port side, next to the bandstand (located between the dancefloor and the front windows) looking aft.

The place has on the starboard side a section bordered off for puzzles and games and opposite on the portside a similar section acting as a library with about a 100 hard cover books. (There are another 20 books downstairs in “the Den” for cooking and travelling). This place opens at 14.30 in the afternoon and then also offers nibbles for those who missed lunch. These nibbles / tapas continue through cocktail and evening time. Music is there from the early evening onwards and there are also on occasion small shows. It normally closes around midnight.

The portside of the Atlas Bar, for people who do not want to sit at the bar.

Behind the Living Room is the outside deck looking down on Deck 9 with the swimming pool. It offers a jogging track around the open well. Opposite, under the funnel is a space called “The Atlas Bar”. This used to be a multple purpose room called the “The Drawing Room”. Since some time Azamara is experimenting with this space on all the old R ships. Here on the Azamara Onward they have installed a cocktail bar, called The Atlas Bar. This is for high end cocktails. (If they are included in your “Ultimade Drinks Package) then it is all free, otherwise you just pay the going rate. They do not do beer or the simple mixes like I to drink, so a place that is lost to me, but it is well designed and hopefully it will work. Sofar, but this is a 7 day port intensive cruise, it has been very quiet.

The Bar side of the Atlas Bar.

More interiors tomorrow.

Then here in Dubrovnik we were supposed to have an “Amazing Night”. A special outing in line with the upscale cruise experience of Azamara. Well things have been watered down. While on the ship it was announced that instead of going ashore and having this “amazing experience” shore side in an amazing location, the local show would come on board. Well that saves them on paying for a shoreside venue and local drinks as board it is included anyway. In the end it turned out it was no more special than a local folkoristic show which most company’s do once a cruise. A good show, but nothing out of the ordinary that would have made it an “Amazing Night”. So we felt a littlebit let down, same as we were in the beginning of the cruise, when we found out that we did not get what was promised us during booking.

Lateron we went to “The Den” were one of the cast members was performing Country & Western. The place was full to capacity. He was very good and, being from Texas USA, was able to sing with the right “country accent”. The crowd was very appreciative, caused apart from recognizing his talent, also that a lot of the guests had also been busy with recognizing Johnny Walker and friends.

Tomorrow we are in Sibenik, also Croatia, and a much smaller port. Still an imporant city in the Venetian Empire of the 16th. century. The approach to the town, located behind a long island, is through a narrow channel so I have to be out of bed by 08.00 to see this. It rained most of the evening in Dubrovnik but tommorrow it is going to be sunny again with temperatures around 25oC or 77oF. Although there is a dock, we are tendering, so I assume there is another cruise ship in port with us,

2025 Sept. 23; Kotor, Montenegro.

September 24, 2025 / Captain Albert / 3 Comments

Today we are in Kotor, Montenegro which is located at the end of a fjord. From the pilot station, where we arrived at 08.00 it is a 2 hour sailing time to the dock. And it is a very scenic route so we had breakfast on the balcony and watched Montenegro float by.

The fjord has one narrow part where you have a nice view at the local villages. Fully in line with local tradition they built on this very scenic spot a church. I suppose it is a way to stop people arguing who has to right to build a house there. This little place is called Kamenari and provides a ferry service to the other side of the fjord.

The ship had made a lot of noise about the fact that this country is not (yet) in the European Union and thus everybody was warned multiple times that the global roaming on their phones might not work and that one could incur considerable costs. For the North Americans who had packages for Europe, they had to find out if their “Europe” package was the whole of Europe or only for the countries included in the European Union. I never have worries here as my Lord and Master can quote each England package and tariff out there by heart and I am reminded every day whether my phone package works, does not work or where it is subject to expensive tariffs.

For the large ships (Mein Schiff carries about 3000 guests) it is a long tender distance. The area of houses you can see in the photo is the modern part of Kotor where most people live and which has the larger bars, restaurants and shops. The Mein Schiff tender is the brown box at the dock.

There was another ship in port, the Mein Schiff 6, belonging to the German Operator Tui but as she was much too big to dock, she had to anchor quite far out and ran a 6 tender service to the pier where we were docked. Big tender as well, with two big entry doors, so the 300 person capacity could embark or disembark very fast. The pier can handle ships up to about 220 meters length and that normally means nothing over 60.000 tons or 1400 pax. Thus for these little ports it makes sense to come in with a smaller ship. It did not deter the Germans from marching ashore in large numbers and the small old town was full to capacity with 3000 of them, tourists coming for a day tour or staying in Montenegro and about 600 of us.

Old Kotor is a walled city with a moat at the sea side and snuggled against the mountain at the other side. A number of years ago the City decided (see the blue canopy to the left) to put in a under ground crossing with escalators for tourists to get to the old town. There were too many car accidents. The Kotorians are very friendly people but once they drive a car , there is a certain disrespect for the rest of the world that also might be using the road. And of course there is always a number of pedestrians who just cross the street with paying attention to any traffic at all. Together a potential mix to keep the emergency services busy. Now accidents have been reduced to tourists falling down the escalator.

The old town has been completely taken over by souvenir shops, small restaurants and the upper floors of the houses are now all apartments for rent. I did not see many locals living there but they must be making a lot of money from the apartments and shop rents. We just went for a walk, bought another soup spoon and avoided the more expensive goods. There were a lot less jewerly shops than in the other ports but they had been replaced by leather shops. Also ceramics were more prominent. All in all better quality than we have seen before. But the nicer ceramics were the large hand painted plates and how do you get them home ?The problem is that with the United Kingdom out of the European Union, the postal charges are quite considerable. The Ottoman (turks) were in the area for a long time and this considerably influenced the merchandise in the shops as well. Hence the leather, ceramics but also very nice turkish lamps. Which look a bit like Tiffany lamps but are much more detailed.

The wall or ramparts as they are called locally, leading to the top of the protecting mountain San Giovanni. Above the top of the photo on the rim of the moutain is another fortress, serving as a look-out and early defense against intruders.

Most of the old town defences and buildings are from the Venetians days when the City State of Venice controlled much of the Mediteranean and established a very large trading network. They built or improved the city walls and also the ramparts going all the way up the montain. If you want to walk them it is 1350 steps to the top. Maybe ok in the winter but not on a summers day like this.

Kotor Square with Bell Tower. I had to wait a considerable time before the square was somewhat cleared for a photo as it was a very touristy day,

Because the city is walled, you always end back up in the middle of the town which has an open square, overlooked by the Clock tower of the 15th. century. It still rings the hours. More to the back is the Tryphon Cathedral (yes yet again another cathedral with a bishop) that is even older. After looking at so much culture it was time to go back on board. We decided to skip lunch as we had a heavy evening coming, “white night”. This is a signature event of Azamara and we had heard good reports about it and if the buffet was comparable to the Balkan Buffet of a few days ago, we would have nothing to complain about. It runs for the whole evening and the ships crew sets up tables and chairs around the pool, on pool level and deck 10 above (running track). Everybody is encouraged to dress up in white. About 90% of the guests were completely in white and the rest in a variation of white. A few guests had not gotten the memo and showed up in other colors. Here crowd control set in, with “Negative Vibes” and they quickly left the scene to go to the dining room)

Table set-up. Those who are “in the know” arrived early to beat the quickly forming line for the food,

18.15 White Night warm up with DJ Symz (barbed wire techno music)

18.30 Buffet opens (Guests start to line up)

19.00 Get the party started with SensAsia (4 piece band with singer)

20.00 Special Event Crew Waves (crew parade)20.15 Azamara Presents…. The White Night party (Cruise Director, full cast and showband)

21.45 White night After party with SensAsia

10.45 White Night After Party with D.J Symz.

We were dressed accordingly and I was one of the very few gents who wore white shoes (courtesy of my sailing days and in normal life hard to buy) and it was a great party. The setup was perfect with the SensAsia band providing entertainment during dinner. Then most of the crew marched in, waving flags to say thank you (for paying their salaries) accompanied by some wise words of the captain. Then it was dancing time and the band & performers & C.D sang and danced for 90 minutes straight. The dance floor was full and each castmember and also the C.D could showcase their individual talents. Compared to this, Holland America’s Orange party, is a VERY poor relation. This how a deck party should be ran and the entertainers clearly loved it as they could show off their talents. And most entertainers are at their best when they are not hemmed in by corporate restraints. So they went for it here, while making sure that the music remained dance music and the crowd could hop, swing and disco. This was very good………… very very good.

The buffet being prepared. Similar to the “Balkan night” but with more variations in meat and a spaghetti station.

The line up for the buffet.

The crew is coming out, everybody waves their napkins.

The crew assembly and flags at the ready.

With drinks included it is not so difficult to get a conga line going.

The ship sailed at 22.00 and it was a very scenic sail-a-way though the fjord with the lights of the small vilages on the mountains twinkling at either side. Tomorrow we are in Dubrovnik and we were supposed to drop anchor under the walls of the old town. However the weather, with rain storms and wind gusts, is not looking that great so the captain wisely decided to dock at Gruz which is the commercial port at the other side of Dubrovnik. The ship will lay on a shuttle bus service to the entrance of the old town but now from the land side. Weather for tomorrow: partly cloudy with rain and thunder storms expected later in the day. Tl 25oC / 75oF.

As can be clearly seen from this photo, sea air does shrink a men’s T-shir.t

2025 Sep. 22; Split, Croatia

September 23, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

Today we are in Split, also Croatia. That meant sailing “backwards” with the ship during the night as Hvar is very close to Split only 61 kilometers as the Crow flies and an estimated 100 miles depending on how far the captain decided to go away from the coast. Split is the 2nd largest city in Croatia after the capital Zagreb and was in the days of Tito and a united Yugoslavia a major industrial port. With the competition of the Far East most of the heavy industry is now gone and the city is transforming into a service hub with a big focus on tourism. I had not been to Split since 2010 and then we docked with the ship almost into the streets of the old city. Since then they have revamped the ferry port and also put a dedicated cruise terminal next to it with ample space for tour buses etc. But it means that it is now a 10 minute walk to “down town”, but it is a lot easier for the tour buses to get out of the city. Something the operators really like as each bus is charged 90 euro’s if it would drive into, or through the old city.

The view over the port from the ship. Going into th harbour area is now limited to the smaller ships as the new ferry port has expanded considerably into a much more spacious and effective set-up.

We had booked a tour here made up of a scenic tour around the larger part of the city and then a visit to Trogir which is a very small island about 40 minutes outside Split but which has been inhabited since times immemorial. It is only 240 meters wide and about 1500 meters long, but they managed to built 15 churches on it, plus one or two palaces and a lot of regular houses in this space, and a Venetian fortress, which (according to the guide) is the best one preserved in Europe. Most of the regular houses now double up as restaurants and pubs.

Air drone photo of Trogir from an unknown location on the internet. The Venetian Fortress is on the lower right off the photo.

And thus we marched off the gangway at 08.30 and were loaded with 16 others onto a 50 seater bus so nobody had anything to complain about of not having a good window seat. Our host was Ariana Grande, and she was very proud that this was also the name of one of the main actors in the movie “Wicked”. And then she rattled on constantly for the next 3 hours. By the end we knew a lot of about the local history but even more about her family, her personal life and what she thought about the break up of Yugoslavia and how the future should go. (No Putin, No Trump, plenty Nato and long live the European Union).

Small streets as in all the old ports in Croatia.

Forty minutes later and we were in Trogir. There is only limited space for vehicles on the island (served by two bridges, of which one dates back to the 12th. century when it replaced an even older bridge) Thus all the buses, tour & local had to park at the bus station just outside the island. This bus was equipped with “bla-bla boxes” which meant the tour guide could use a microphone and we had a little box with a ear piece to understand her. It is becoming more and more standard on tours, so that the escort does not have to shout and the participants do not have to huddle close together (often in warm weather). An additional advantage is that when the escort walks away, the sound gets fainter and you are alerted to catch up before you get lost.

Cathedral of St Lawrence, which took several centuries to complete and is thus is a real mixture of various styles from Romanesque to Gothic and a bit more. As can be seen from this photo also the inside it is a mixture of styles and designs inspired by ideas of the various ages.

We had a walk through the narrows streets and visited the Cathedral of St. Lawrence. It seems that nearly every town has a cathedral, which you can only have, if you have a Bishop in situ, so the whole of Croatia must be absolutely crammed with them. The tour guide had to buy tickets of course, all for the upkeep of the church, and then we got the explanation about the interior all done by local Croatian sculpturs which were basically on par with the great Italians but whose names never made it to Northern Europe.

In one corner was a chapel with an effigy of Saint Lawrence, (his bones are supposed to be somewhere buried in the church) surrounded with disciples and other figures out of Christian history. The designer, builder, and sculptor “Radovan” had his own ideas about serving the church. So he put God in the ceiling, looking down as if he had opened a hatch and with a globe in his hand. And that was a “hint with a hammer” for the church, because when the chapel was built, the church dogma was still that the earth was flat and located the middle of the universe. Somehow the artist got away with it and God kept his globe and finally got in synch with the church teachings in the 16th. century.

God looking down from the ceiling. I do not have the photo upside down, this is really how it looks like.

After Trogir we stopped at a small restaurant / olive farm situated in a defucnt water miil, for a nibble made up of local ham & cheese sandwiches and local wine. The wine was a dry land wine, not that great, but it did pack a punch with an alcohol percentage that must have well been over the regular 12% .. Music was provided by two locals with an accordion and a mandoline. By 12.30 pm we were back again. By now the sun was beating on the down town area and even the locals were complaining that it was getter warmer every year. Climate change is hitting the Tyrhennian Sea very hard (water level is about 30 centimeters higher then 20 years ago and part of the beach areas in use in the old days are now permanently submerged. Luckily the then time government had declared in 1964 that no houses were allowed to be built on beach area, but they all had to be higher up and so no Croatians are of yet affected by the rising water levels but the heat and humidity does have an impact and also the increasing irregularity of the weather patterns.

The empty Patio Cafe. The food did not taste worse because of it. In contrary, it tasted very good, maybe even more because the cook could fully concentrate on only two customers.

For dinner we went to “The Patio” on deck 10 starboard aft of the pool area. This turned out to be a hidden gem and was nearly empty. During lunch time it is the hamburger bar and well attended and in the evening it is a full restaurant with its own menu. And there was nobody there. For the next 90 minutes we had the place to ourselves and thus had a dedicated waiter and a dedicated cook. The food was really, really good, and of course the one-on-one service as well. Near the end of the dinner, the F&B manager, Laze, came by who had already been with the company and the one before, for 18 years. When he found out that we had worked inside the industry, he was very happy to talk shop and remained for about 20 minutes. Then a telephone call from the Exe. Chef called him away.

By now it was too late for the show, so her ladyship wanted coffee and thus we went to the Mozaic Cafe on Deck 5. Here we started talking to other guests and before we knew it, it was close to midnight. Tomorrow we are in Kotor Montenegro. The Azamara Onward will be docking as she is a small ship, while the big boy, Mein Schiff 6 (2534 lower beds) will be far out at anchor. I want to be sitting on my balcony by 08.30 as that is when we go through the narrow and most scenic part of the fjord at which end Kotor is located. Weather for tomorrow: sun, temperatures 28oC /82oF no wind, no clouds.

I am not in agreement with myself yet, of what is better, docked in the chaos of downtownand be close or dock at a nice terminal on the outside (this cruise pier sticks directly into the open sea) and have safe and spacious area to serve the guests. The little carts with the canope’s are tuk-tuk, regular transport in the far East but are now more and more showing up all over Europe. They can be a rip-off & scam, but these were booked as regular ships tours.

2025 Sep. 21; Havr,Croatia.

September 23, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

Today we are in Hvar, which is located on an island just south of Split where we will be tomorrow. This is again a very old town, so old that it has the most UNESCO heritage of any island in the world. (At least according to the Croatian propaganda, who I assume, forgot that the United Kingdom is also an island) They also claim it is the birthplace of organized Tourism in Europe starting in 1868. Easy to claim, but if you consider that P&O was already making cruises in 1851 then I assume we have to take that claim with a pinch of salt as well. Still it is an old place, and a touristy place, and nowadays a preferred place where the Ultra Rich hang out. Jeff Bezos has been seen here with his yacht and also Abramovich. And today they can add Lesley and I to that list who arrived with their own cruise ship.

Hvar anchorage.. Looking at the town from our balcony. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is long distance by tender.

The Azamara Onward had to anchor (Zadrilca Bay) off shore as there is not much of a port here and thus we had to use the ships tenders. It was a 4-tender distance, which means that in order to give a good service you need to run four of them. One alongside the tender platform, one on the way to the shore (10 minute ride), one in the port, and one on the way back (10 minutes). That way you can run a 15 minute tender service and when using that 5 minutes to get people in and out, there is no waiting time. So I was disappointed when I saw that when we went ashore at 11.00 there were only 3 tenders in operation (increasing the time to 20 – 25 minutes) and on our way back at 13.30, we were down to 2, increasing the time to 30 to 35 minutes. Which let me believe that the claim of the Hotelmanager “we give the best service possible” has not reached the deck department yet, who run the tender service.

The main square looking towards the harbour.

When at anchor, one is constantly surrounded by little ferryboats and small cruising yachts (25 – 30 guests) who sail to the various small islands nearby and focus on on sea, snorkeling and swimming. (sun, sea and sex for the younger clientle). They constantly arrive and leave from downtown Hvar. That is most likely the reason why we are anchored so far out as just outside the harbour entrance, the depth of the sea is still 12 meters and the Azamara Onward only has a draft of 7 meters. But local regulations apply. So after breakfast on the balcony and waiting for the tender, we made it ashore by 11.00 hrs.

The other side of the square with the local main Church, St. Stephens Cathedral.

The harbour is surrounded by a boulevard type of dock and this is where the many small ferry’s, small cruise yachts and hotel shuttles dock. The more expensive hotels located on the various islands near the port run their own ferry boats to Hvar. The town itself is situated around the bay called Luka Hvar and has a myriad of small alleyways going up against the hills, where all the shops and restaurants are located. Focus point of it all is the Main Square which is the largest in the whole of the province of Dalmatia to which Hvar belongs. It was even bigger in the past but due to a building boom a few hundred years ago, a series of houses were built against the City Wall and on top of the North part of the square. Here a church was built in the 6th century, rebuilt in the 14th century but most of what can be seen today was remodeled in the 17th century and that includes the Bell Tower. All of Croatia, is full of these churches, as most Croatians are devout Roman Catholics, and they all charge an entry fee. With so much old stuff out there, starting with the Greeks and the Romans and ending with the Austrian Hungarian Empire, there is no way the Government can fund the repair and upkeep of all these churches; and thus the locals have to scramble to find money. Luckily tourism is a great help here and we saw tour group after tour group going in, and going out. Having looked at yet another 15th. century pulpit. (Although it is a very nice one)

The Sunset Verandah. Very popular on sea days and later in the evenings when all are back on board.

After so much culture and with the noon time temperature going up to 30oC / 86oF, we went back to the ship. Now with only 2 tenders running we had to wait 20 minutes inside the tender, before it returned to the ship, full to capacity. As mentioned before, there is food all day, and thus we are trying to avoid temptation and are cutting down on intake. And as long as we avoid walking through the whole Lido Buffet area, that works quite well. To be away from the food, there is the option to sit on the Sunset Verandah outside and aft of the Lido with only a small lunch. When the ship is laying in a good position behind the anchor a cool breeze plays over the the deck and that makes it very pleasant. My problem is that I “yield to temptation” each time I walk by the soft ice machines. These you operate yourself and there is a whole bar of condiments. Inside the Lido there is then another ice cream stand and offers a choice of about 10 flavors served by a cute Philippina with an ice cream sellers cap on. So life ain’t easy.

Our daily program. The loose part on the right has a rundown of events by the hour so you always know where and when something is happening. Then for each port you can pick up a local map, produced by Azamara, with local information on the back of it from the Front Desk.

Tonight we had dinner in one of the speciality Restaurants. There are 2 of them on deck 10. One is a steakhouse and the other one an Italian. Cost $ 49,95 a head but we had it included in our package. (When you are in the suites, if is free all the time) You just have to make sure you book on embarkation day. We had nice seat overlooking the stern of the ship while the sun set over the Croatian islands. The food was very good, the service very good, and the complimentary wines not bad either, all in all a very good experience. We had a reservation for 18.30 as the next time was 20.00 so the early dinner gave the option to make one of the shows.

The “Aqualina” Italian speciality Resturant. This is the back part, where we sat overlooking the stern of the vessel. The restaurant seats about 80 and curves around the funnel (and kitchen) on the portside, while the steakhouse does the same on the starboard side. But this location has by far the best view.

The main show tonight was the Assistant Cruise Director Jose Alpizar, who presented a singing show, which I would call a “crooning event”. We already knew he was very good but we opted for Madelaine in “The Den”.

The beautiful and talented Madelaine performing in “The Den”.

She is one of the singers in the cast and gave a solo performance. Beautiful voice but I think that this was the first time that she was doing it, as she was totally focused on the music on her tablet and forgot all about eye contact with the audience. Her boyfriend (The guitar player in the show band) was close by to provide the necessary mental support. So she has to work a bit on her show performance but she will get there as she has a very good presence on the stage during the regular shows. So we enjoyed that and then we decided to call it a day, as tomorrow we are in Split, also Croatia, and we are on tour. We are expected in the Cabaret Lounge at 08.30 for our tour sticker and dispatch to the bus. As mentioned before, there are no announcements so you have to make sure you get there on time yourself. Tomorrow will be another warm day, same as today. But there is talk of rain, when we get to Kotor in 2 days time.

2025 Sep. 20; Zadar Croatia.

September 21, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

It is only 120 miles from Opitija to Zadar and thus we are basically coast hopping from district town to district town

Today we are in Zadar Croatia, a nice old town going back to the Roman Days. When you walk around the pedestrianized roads in the centre of the City, it feels like a mini Dubrovnik. The main difference is that the town has been laid out on the side of the old Roman forum of which has been excavated and some pillars still stand.

But we started the day with enjoying our balcony with a nice cup of tea and fruit. With soo much food going around in the ship we decided to reduce our calorie intake by having only a small breakfast. And then it started to rain. Not from the skies but from the window wash basket running by on a rail above us. Normally with window washing and/or balcony scrubbing you get a notice in the cabin but nothing in this case and suddenly water came cascading down. A shout from me stopped it but by that time computer and cell phone were wet. Luckily not damaged. Other balconies suffered worse and tables, chairs and the cushions were all soaking wet, all along the portside of the ship. Nice for the guests when they come back from shore and have to sit with their bums on wet cushions. So before we went ashore we stopped by our Guest Relation Lady, who was suitably embarassed and shocked. I think we are not her favourite guests anymore, but if you do not let them know, then they can not improve their product. So she was going to have a word with the Staff Captain.

“home made ” rain on the balcony. Refreshing but not good for my laptop.

A very nice thing, at least we like it, is that there are no announcements. There is only the arrival announcement, when at anchor, for open tenders and at departure a few wise words from the captain. For the rest it is all peace and quiet and the ship runs by the daily program. The program is made up of two parts. Basically an A4 (legal for the Americans) size paper folded double with the opening times of all the venues and the regular advertisements for the concesionnaires. (Tonight the highlight was a Sun Glasses pop-up by the shops) then there is an insert which lists hour by hour of what there is going on from early morning to late at night. And that is enough to get around without missing anything. We were very happy with this during our cruise with the Germans on the Amera, six weeks ago, and now we have it here as well. Wonderful.

The St. Donalds or St Donatus Church from around 800 AD. Behind it the Zadar St. Anastasia Cathedral and to the left of the yellow marquee one of the very few Roman pillars still standing. The stones in the foreground are parts of the Roman Forum that was excavated.

Because we are a small ship, we docked in downtown. There were two bigger ships in port, a MSC ship and an Celebrity one, but they docked so far away that they needed shuttle buses to get their guests to downtown. Those buses all stopped in front of our ship; good advertisement for Azamara. Go small and you Go downtown. And we were really in downtown, to the Roman Forum was less than 5 minutes away and the old town, next to it, 7 minutes, Apart from the forum the place is dominated by the Church of St. Donald / Donatus which was built around 800 AD, partially with stones pilfered from the old Roman buildings around the Forum. So in the end there were only a few pillars left standing.

All these stones were once part of various buildings that made up the Roman Forum. Some have inscriptions that are still clearly visible.

Looking at those was enough culture for the day. The Romans ran a very standardized empire, so a ruin in England is the same as a ruin in Germany or in France, Italy or Zadar. With some small local variations of course, Her ladyship was more interested in the little shops in the alleyways. Plenty or restaurants as well and also two Candy shops, so I assume that the Zadarians have a sweet tooth. Thus we had a look at the $ 3000,— gold chains and other jewelry but matrimonial peace was restored as in the end only a soup spoon was bought (we have about 40 hanging in our kitchen at home) and a few bags of Lavender. The south of France is well known for Lavender but the Zadar area is very good as well and apart from little bags, they sold it in combination with a small bottle of essence to revitalize the lavender dish or bag at home.

One off the small streets in Zadar. Quite narrow and some made even more narrow as local restaurants had put their tables and chairs in the street.

By 1500 hrs. we were back, just on time, as it was getting very warm on a sunny and windless day like this. Although Saturday, there were no locals to be seen, only the cruise ship hordes. The locals waited to about an hour before sunset and then came out in droves to see sunset.

Waiting for Sunset. Saturday evening and the locals (and also tourists of course) streamed to the waterside to watch sunset over the islands off Zadar. The light blue circle is called the “Greeting to the Sun” and is 22 meters in diameter. With photovoltaic sun ray absorption it comes to life after dark and then shows vivid swirling colors with an ever changing display. The ship had a organized a “Balkan Buffet” around the pool and set up tables and chairs to enjoy all the food. The buffet was very elaborate and very well done. Also the drinks were flowing freely and a local duo had been hired to provide Croatian music (which seemed to include Beatles & Billy Joel songs as well ………, but who cares, they sounded very good) I think that about 50% of the guests attended, just enough to fill the deck. The rest must have been in the two Speciality Restaurants (Steak or Italian) or had taken room service, as we saw the last tour bus coming back at 18.45 and they all looked quite knackered.

The “Greeting to the Sun” now in full action.

By this time we were sitting down for the Balkan Buffet on Deck 9 & 10 around the midships pool area. Good music, good company with friendly and attentive crew was very really nice. Captain, Cruise Director and Hotel Manager were standing in a far corner but ready to talk to the guests which was appreciated. Azamara makes this a point of their product, so I assume that “being out and about” during part of the day, is calculated into the captains working hours. With Holland America and the 400 emails a day and all the side duties, captains who would like to socialize a bit more hardly have the time, as the job is very much turning into a Process Operator, instead being a Captain in Command and Host of the Ship. It seems that Azamara has gone the other way.

Overview on top deck, just when the buffet opened. All the tables would fill up quite quickly.

On the starboard side of this deck around the pool, which is called The Patio, is a hamburger & ice cream bar called Top & Swirl and here the Executive Chef had created a buffet with several food stations. Salad Bar, Bread and Cheese section, Hot food, Roasted pig station, barbecue and a dessert station.

The dessert section with a wide range of pastries including Backlava, On the photo the pastry chef to the left and the ships Executive Chef to the right.

As the ship has a high space ratio of 42 (= elbow room on the tonnage) it never feels crowded, not even when there are a lot of people milling around. So with half the ship being present there were still no lines to get to the buffet stands.

The buffet area with all the food.

A lot of local specialities were made available which included local sausage in all it forms and shapes, local cheeses and local meat and poultry. The roasted pig made a great impression on everybody as did the barbecued beef..

The barbecue station.

By 2100 hrs. this was all over and we had a look in “The Den” on deck 5 midships where the resident piano player was having a jazz jam session with 3 members of the Show lounge band. As expected it was much too loud for such a small room for people with good hearing, so we vacated to the Living Room (Crowsnest on deck 10) Here the Resident band was playing Beattles music and related, also loud, but this room is really large for the size of this ship and thus we found in the far corner a good spot where we could talk without having to raise our voice. By now we had not eaten for at least 45 minutes and luckily the ship had set up a small buffet so we would not suffer from withdrawal symptoms. Here we met a Canadian couple who we had talked to on the first day and who were up in arms about the on board drinks package that they had bought. Quite rightly so.

complimentary part 1

Complimentary part 2. These two have been copied out of the Beverage booklet in the bars. As you can see it is quite extensive and much more than “some” included as mentioned in the paper work.

Azamara announces vaguely in their pre cruise paperwork that during the cruise “some beverages are included” but does not elaborate on the what and how many Then they want to sell you, two upgrades. One for $31.95 pp and one for $ 39.95 a person a day. The problem is the complimentary drinks package includes so much that it does not make sense to take the $31.95 upgrade. (See listing below) there is not much extra. Only if you insist that you are going to drink all the premium alcohol drinks, you might take the $39.95. Several guests, including us had the $ 31.95 package included as part of the booking but we cannot pay an extra $ 8,— a day to upgrade to $ 39.95. No you have to pay the full price for the upgrade package. So the inclusion of the $ 31.95 package as a perk in the booking, does not mean anything as if hardly gives anything extra over the complimentary package.

The ship has the “Atlas Bar” on deck 10 overlooking the de pool area. This used to be the “Drawing Room” which name is still on the location diagrams in the staircases. The Atlas Bar is a premium cocktail lounge which is only included if you have the $ 39.95 package, or you have to pay the full price for the cocktails and those are not cheap. So my suggestion is, if you get the $31.95 (called the Premium package) included with your booking, that is fine. If you do not, then it is not worthwhile to pay and extra $ 31.95 to get a few more choices. If you are planning to swill cocktails all day and expensive whiskies and cognacs, then that is up to you for $ 39.95. We found that most guests who did not know the extent of the complimentary package were quite annoyed about this $ 31.95 top up with only marginal extras.

The full 3 package options.

Tomorrow we are in Hvar, also in Croatia, Weather supposed to be as today. Sunshine, hardly any wind and temperatures around 28oC. or 82oF. It is an anchor port and thus we need a tender to get ashore.

2025 Sep. 19, Opatija; Croatia.

September 20, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

Our overnight route from Venice/Fusina to Opatija in Croatia.

Opatija in Croatia is our first port of call during this very port intensive cruise of one port each day, in the 9 day cruise. I always like some sea days in between but this was the only cruise out there that called at all these small ports in Croatia without having to go on five separate cruises to have one each cruise. Not that I mind 5 extra cruises (and my wife is taking care of that with great alacrity) but those cruises can go then to different parts of the world.

Breakfast on the balcony with a nice view. Life ain’t that bad.

We had Breakfast in the cabin and this is very nice with Azamara. There is a very extensive Room service menu, setup with various “menu breakfast options” and then you can also add extra things to it at the bottom. So get a bagel with the standard salmon and cream cheese and capers, and then add (I am Dutch after all) extra cheese to it. Etc. Etc, Options so elaborate which were missing when on board Silver Seas and they claim that they are the best. Very nice also: Room service calls a few minutes before they knock on the door so you can get out of bed or get decent or both. Then 2 stewards come in and set the table. As it was nice weather they set the table on the balcony which was even nicer. So that was a good way to start the day.

Opatija from the ship. The coast of the whole bay is full of hotels and other holiday venues.

Then before going ashore came the hard work. We had downloaded all the relevant information from the Azamara website of what was included in the cruise and our cabin. When arriving on board it turned out that Azamara had stopped quite a bit of the amenities but we booked our Verandah Plus cabin based on what was listed on the Azamara website. So in principle we paid too much as the amenities on board were not that comprehensive. Fresh Flowers gone, slippers “upon request”, fresh fruit “upon request”, daily newspaper gone (It is still on the letter that you get when boarding and still on the website) Wrong name on the welcome letter which listed all these “upon request things”. The website lists “plural” for the free bottle of booze given but this is only one per cabin. (so if there is one person in the cabin, or two, or four, still only one bottle). And then there was yesterday the priority boarding issue. Plus an international newspaper should be delivered to the cabin each day but we have not seen anything yet, as it is also “gone” according to those on board.

Tender dock in Opatija. From here it is a bit of a steep walk up the hill for about 5 minutes to the main street.

The cabin is a Verandah + (plus) but the settee /couch is a 1.5 size and not a full 2, as in some of the regular cabins (there is the space for it, so something happened in the past) and no light above the desk / make up table. The other cabins have 2 spotlights in the ceiling but nothing here. It looks like that somebody decided that only the larger suites on this deck where entitled to a desk lamp and ours was taken away as the plug & switch are still there.

So we requested a meeting with the Guest Relation Manager, which turned out to be a very lovely lady, but of course she could not do anything but promised to look into the website issue and hopefully she will come back to us. The Hotel Manager said during his welcome speech that he and his team were there to ” deal with any issues that the guests might have” so we will see. The Housekeeping supervisor was called out and re-instructed the cabin steward about making sure we had the right welcome letter, that he explained everything and yes that with the free drinks (more about that tomorrow) this also included beer etc. (He claimed yesterday it did not) So suddenly the slippers popped up and the fresh fruit and the free beer. All this stuff sort of make you start the cruise off on the wrong foot.

Then it was time to go ashore, which worked very well. The cruise Director had advised that the first hour would be tender tickets as the tours had to get off, but with 4 tenders for 624 guests it was “open tenders” after only 50 minutes. The distance to the shore was a “3 tender” distance and for most of the day there were three in operation.

The ms Azamara Onward at anchor off the coast.

Opatija was already a tourist place around 1900 and many large villa’s allude to it. Some have been converted to hotels and some to apartments. One or two might still be privately owned. The whole coastal area is holiday hotel area and we saw Croatian cars but also cars from Germany, Poland, Italy and of course a Dutch one. The Dutch will drive all over Europe so they pop up everywhere. (we once saw 5 at the North Cape at the same time). Looking at the shops in the main street, a lot of them were upscale, so Opatiija it is not a Beer & Chips resort.

The main street in Opatija. No pedestrian area as it is a sort of main route, but plenty of shops and restaurants at each side.

Thus after a walk along the beach and then into town, through the main street, we were back at the tender dock 1.5 hours later. Once the tender left , it suddenly was called back because the captain was on the dock. It looked like he had gone for run and did not want to wait for the next tender. Calling a tender back with a Far Eastern tender driver is always fraught with challenges, as a break in routine seems to startle them. In this case it was no different and instead of sliding back along the dock, the driver managed to maneuver himself 2 feet off the dock. Thus the next plan was going astern and bring the bow along the dock and then the captain jumped on and dived into the tender via the front window that is used by the tender sailor to secure the forward mooring rope. And it is a situation like this that makes me angry, very angry…. WHY? Safety and Leadership.

The captain should set the example for everybody to follow the rules, and thus wait for the tender to be safely docked and once the tender sailor says it is safe, to step on board.
Now he jumped on the bow, where only the tender sailor is allowed to be because he wears a lifejacket. Apart from not having a lifejacket, the captain jumped. Jumping is never allowed.
By doing so, he breached at least 2 regulations of the safety protocols (as listed in the SMS (safety Management System) of the company.

Basically this show that the captain thinks he is above everybody else by calling a tender back full of guests who had already been sitting in a warm tender for 10 minutes, as “Master of the Vessel” he did not set the correct example for the rest of the crew by following the rules and regulations and he endangered himself as he could have slipped on the forward deck and have fallen in the water. (One of the reasons that the tender sailor has to wear a lifejacket when handling the mooring ropes). I made Captain Jonas a compliment yesterday because of showing up for the afternoon presentation but in my eyes this behavior is not acceptable. So today he really disappointed me.

Back on board we scrutinized the daily program to see how it went with the food. The Windows Cafe (Lido) is open to 14.30. For those who missed lunch, the Patio (that is the outside part of the Windows Cafe over the stern) stays open to 16.30 Same goes for the Hamburger and Ice cream restaurant (Swirl & Top) also to 16.30. Then on most ships there is a sort of gap until dinner. Not here, as from 14.30 to 19.00 there are Tapas and Sandwiches in the Living room (Crows nest ), so there is a food all the time. Then (also free of charge) is the Mosaic Cafe from 07.00 to 22.00. Then at 22.00 there is a late night snack in the Living Room. So food, in various quantities, rolls on all day long. (And then of course there is room service)

The show, made up of well known crooner and dance songs.

We went for cocktails in the Living Room and then for dinner in the Main Dining room called “Discoveries” on this ship. We came in at 18.30 (moderate traffic) but the whole place was nearly empty. By 20.00 it was full but with still some empty spaces. So no waiting lines at any time. When coming in, they ask you if you want to share a table which we did and we had a wonderful conversation with a Canadian Couple from Toronto who were very busy with spending their children’s inheritance as they had booked 17 cruises in the next 3 years. After this one, their next cruise was on the Amazon with the Volendam of Holland America.

By 20.45 the doors to the show lounge opened with a the ships staff lined up for meet and great. Then the Captains introductions, followed by a full show by the same people as last night. And they were very good again. There are no guest entertainers on board. So the whole cruise we will get a mixture of this cast and cruise staff talents. Something to look forward to.

Tomorrow we are in Zadar, also Croatia, some 100 miles to the south. Weather is expected to be the same, no clouds, sun all day, no wind, temperatures around 27oC / 81oF. Who needs the Caribbean with this sort of weather………………..

2025 September 18; Fusina Venice, Italy.

September 19, 2025 / Captain Albert / 7 Comments

As part of our plan to sail with as many cruise companies as possible, outside HAL, we had Azamara next on our list. So we selected the Azamara Onward which offered a cruise from Venice along the Croatian coast. Apart from Dubrovnik and Split it visits mainly the small ports that are only operationally suitable for smaller ships. The Onward with a tonnage of 30,000 and a capacity of 684 lower beds is a perfect size for these ports (smaller is of course even better). We had booked a Verandah+ cabin, nbr. 8800 which came with a number of extra amenities, which I will explain later. Basically it means it is a Verandah size cabin with some Continental Suite amenities.

The Azamara Onward, ex Renaissance 3 or R3 and ex Pacific Princess.

So we made the expedition from the coast of Norfolk in England to Venice which was fraught with challenges. The flights the day before from our local airport, Norwich International, had been cancelled due to bad weather which would mean congested flights the next day. Then on the day of flying, the ground staff at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam went on strike and thus our flights had to be rebooked. So instead of having a leisurely flight with 3 hours transfer time in Amsterdam in mid morning , we had the late afternoon flight with a 55 minute transfer time (and having to go through border control) to make the flight to Venice. And how good Amsterdam luggage handling might be, 55 minutes is rather short. But on arrival Amsterdam the Venice flight was delayed with 30 minutes so we were in business. And yes on arrival Venice, the luggage was there and we made it to the hotel by midnight.

The next morning, our pre arranged transport was waiting at 11.00 hrs. and we drove to the ship. For those who are planning to take a cruise from Venice, the ports now used are a bit complicated. Since the mayor of Venice decided that only cruise ships under 30.000 tons are allowed to sail through the Grand Canal to the Cruise terminal there, it can be confusing as the ships “claiming to be calling at Venice” are now spread out over ports in the area.

The ships over 30,000 tons are now going to Trieste (2.0 hrs. to the North of Venice) or to Fusina (30 minutes to the south) or to Chioggia (50 minutes to the South) or to Maghera (about 30 minutes to the South) , all measured from the airport. Azamara has been dilly-dallying between Chioggia and Fusina for a while but now seems to have settled on Fusina. The problem here is that they have opened a nice, small cruise terminal but then the port closed off the direct access road to it, to create storage space for imported trucks and vans. Thus with the paperwork now comes the instruction to go to the ferry terminal. What they forgot to tell on the paperwork is that, you drive to the ferry terminal, then keep to the right, drive through a special lorry gate (for the overflow of the ferry terminal lorries not yet boarding) and then via quite a bad road to the terminal. Luckily our taxi driver had experienced this before and navigated skillfully between the juggernauts waiting to be called for the Ro-Ro ferry and got us to the terminal.

The Fusina terminal. Nothing fancy but it is cool and spacious. The far corner opposite is where the priority guests were assembled.

Then more confusion. We had as part of the package, priority boarding, but at the pre-check (where they take your luggage) we were not on that list. Luckily we always carry all the relevant paperwork with us and my Lord and Master went to battle. After being bumped from one check -inn staff to the next, with ever more important people getting involved, they finally realized that they had made an oopsy, somewhere. Thus we were ‘”prioritized”. The priority boarding did not work as intended because when all the “priorities” lined up, a bright spark also opened up the joining line for rest and thus half of the desk ladies could not serve those who were supposed to be served on priority basis.

In the end it did not make that much difference as there were not that many priority guests with only 200 guests in the terminal and with 15 check in staff it went fast anyway. But the principle was not adhered to, —-priority guests first—- as that is what you pay for and when you built up seniority. In total there are 624 guests onboard this out of the 684 lower beds, so a 90% occupancy rate. The rest of those guests trickled in the course of the afternoon. Most of them coming directly from the airport. One group of guests had rented a car and ended up at the wrong Ro-Ro terminal and could not get out anymore. I think they were stuck in the line up for ticket & passport control and that is a bumper to bumper one way line up. So the agent was getting involved and that went with a lot of “Italian” drama on the phone towards what I thought were Americans stuck in a European car and now marooned in a Ferry terminal serving Greece. We did not find out if they made the ship or not before sailing.

Once on board, you are at once directed to booking the specialty restaurants. Not a bad idea if you want to book as with the pre booking options there were not many slots left. Many people had booked in advance , but if you had a complimentary voucher like us, you have to go and confirm date and time. The wait was not long and as welcome champagne was offered when coming on board, it was not much of a “challenge” to wait. Then when we came to the cabin, we found out that we were not on the onboard accounting system on the TV, so we could not watch the safety video. The welcome letter was for Mr. & Mrs. McCarmel and that was definitely not us. So not a good way to start to appreciate Azamara.

The Azamara Onward is small, compared to what is the norm nowadays, and for me a real throwback to the start of my sailing days with the Statendam (IV), Rotterdam (V), Nieuw Amsterdam (III) and Noordam (III). But all was there that was needed. After a quick look around, we found a number of other discrepancies between what we booked and what we got. More about that tomorrow.

The small “newbies” introduction. Hard to see the faces against the sun light in
‘The Livingroom”. But from left to right: Food &Beverage Manager, Captain, Hotel manager, the Cruise Sales manager in the foreground and the Cruise Director to the right.

A nice thing, and something I have never seen before, was a brief introduction for cruisers new to Azamara and where the Cruise Director introduces, the Captain, Hotel Manager and the Food & Beverage Manager. They each gave a short speech to explain the main differences of Azamara compared to other companies. A full staff introduction is then done the next day. This is a port intensive cruise, with a port each day, so on board activities are limited and thus we have to wait and see what is offered outside going ashore.

Then it was time for boat drill and here again a throwback to the old days. No finding your lifeboat /Muster station at your convenience before sailing time; no, we all marched at the same time to one of the two Muster stations. (Show Lounge and Dining room) and yes, they still used clipboards and yes there was a final clipboard for the Muster station leader to call out those who had not raised their hands the first time. But we were all there and then we got the regular instructions over the P.A, wash your hands and you are not allowed to have a kettle (water cooker) or iron in your cabin. We have this cruise apart from 424 Americans also 64 British on board and they do tend to bring a small boiler with them to make their beloved “cup of tea” in the mornings as the water supplied by room service is always not hot enough. (Compliments to Azamara, if you order Room service, the water is piping hot)

Although Venice is old and scenic, nothing around it is. So we had a beautiful view of the largest refinery of Europe (in the 1960s according to the taxi driver) and in the foreground the ferry terminal, which you have to skirt on the right hand of the road to avoid ending up in the Ro-Ro boarding queue.

The first evening the ship hyped up going to the Lido restaurant, called the Windows Cafe for a special Seafood dinner. We went and it was very good but I think that part of the hype was, to reduce the pressure on the main restaurant during the first night. They already have a sign outside the entrance, with moderate (18.30) busy (1930) and moderate (20.30). The busy moment is due to the fact that the show (only one show) is at 2100 hrs., so if you want to see the show, you have to go to dinner at 19.30 at the latest. Azamara,…………If you only have one show, why not at 21.30 ? Entertainers are not known for wanting to go to bed early……………….

We went the show at 21,00 hrs, called the “Cruise Directors Variety Show”. And now we come to small cruise ship cruising, although it is not negative. The show team is made up of the Cruise director, the Asst. Cruise director, the 4 singers of the cast and the two dancers. They all did an act and they were all very good. And they were backed up by a 6 piece band and that for a small ship. Very impressed.

After the show, there was a band in the crows nest, called “The living Room” on this ship and they were the same band who played on the outside deck during sail away. There is a piano player in “The Den” which is a midships lounge with a bar but also acts as a shore excursion lounge and future cruise sales. Behind the Bar is a wall and on the other side is the Photo shop. I will describe the rest of the ship in the coming days but one thing that stood out is that there is no Casino on board. Hopefully this is a trend that will continue as Viking Cruises also has no casinos.

Tomorrow we are in Opatija in Croatia. This used to be the Holiday resort of the aristocracy in the good old days when Croatia and surrounding areas was still part the Hungary-Austrian Empire before WWI. Expected weather tomorrow: Sunny, 28oC / 82oFand no wind.

01 Aug. 2025 Going home & the Verdict

August 9, 2025 / Captain Albert / 11 Comments

My final installment of the cruise comes a bit later then intended because when I got home, real life hit at once. I volunteer as a Director for our Apartment Building and it seemed they all waited until “I came off the ship”. Hence a weeks delay.

This morning the ship docked at Bremerhaven just before 7 am. shortly followed by the ms Amadea also from Phoenix Reisen. There were no disembarkation announcements as everything was in the Daily Program and everybody followed those instructions. Internationally they call this “Silent Disembark” and there was also a “Express Disembark” where you roll your own suitcases of the gangway before regular disembarkation starts. I did not get the impression that this was very popular as it seemed that most guests first wanted to have breakfast. Disembarkation started from the top deck downwards at 08.30 but with only 900 guests everybody was off by 09.00 hrs. or shortly after. The only challenge we had was waiting for a taxi as we got the impression that the “taxi world” thought that disembarkation was starting at 09.00 and not at 08.30 hrs. By 09.00 long convoys of taxis were approaching the dock to deal with the growing line of waiting cruise people. We made it back to the hotel by 09.30 and after retrieving our car and saying farewell to our Dutch Friends (he drives a bit faster than I do, so we do not drive in convoy) we set off for the night ferry back to England. If all goes well, we will be home again by 10.00 hrs, tomorrow morning.

The Atrium where you come in and go out. The gangway connection is via the outside Promenade deck. The Mermaid is still from Royal Viking days, the Piano is from Phoenix and to get that piano in, they had to remove the Atrium sculpted glass pole installed by Holland America. I wonder if the company saved that one as it was a beautiful piece of art.

The Verdict.

Starting with the most important question: did we enjoy the cruise ?
Yes we did, we enjoyed it very much. Good atmosphere and traveling with fine friends made it a very positive and pleasant experience,

Would we take another one?
Maybe, if they go to a place we have never been. The “maybe” is mainly because it is such a long journey by car to Bremerhaven.

Was it worth the money?
Yes, this is a 4 star product and the cost was in line with it. 4 Star, which I measure on what is available on the buffets for choice. Which is limited compared to 5 star.

What is available for the guests to enjoy who do not go on tour and stay on board. Not much as all the cruise staff is on tour-bus-duty,

What is available in the cabin with bedding, shower amenities, linen quality, change of linen ( new bedding only once in the 7 days)

Is it worthwhile to book a suite? Yes according to my wife and I. Also my Dutch friends who upgraded after their initial booking found the cabin with separate sit and bed area very nice. Then there is a large number of amenities/gifts that come with it. Shoulder bags, logo coffee cups, logo water bottles, logo pins, logo pens, full fridge with free drinks, and nibbles, A posh box with shower amenities for him and her, The Gold / concierge Room, Two TV’s in the cabin. (including international programs), special luggage labels, champagne (by the end of the week we had had 3 of them) Attentive cabin service. Voucher for free massage, voucher for champagne breakfast. Early booking option for specialty Restaurant. We thought it was well worth the money.

What is REALLY different to other (main stream) companies.
A. No announcements in the cabin. Only announcements made are for scenic cruising. Arrival announcement Yes, only one and not in the cabin. All announcements also come over the Bow View Channel so you can just switch it on. Every German reads the daily program and is on time for whatever they are involved in. Compare that with a lot of company’s who are very irritating with announcements in the cabin such as: Fred Olsen, Saga, Celebrity etc. etc. But this was a “peaceful cruise” and if you wanted noise, you went and found it, the peace in the cabin was never disturbed.

B. Official ships tour guides on every bus, in addition to the local tour guides, It is something that company’s used to have in the “good old days”. It must be appreciated by the guests when on tour. This is not the same as we see with other company’s where they put a “crew escort” on board for a free-bie and who then sits the whole tour in a corner on the cell phone or runs off as soon as the bus stops. No these were the professional ships cruise staff, in uniform and helped the guests off the bus and supported the guests in every way needed.

C. Germans on Phoenix do not go for cocktails, they go for after dinner drinks. Thus there is no pre dinner cocktail music in the lounges until about 20.00 hrs. After dinner there is music for the rest of the evening and the lounges are full.

D. Everything starts exactly on the time indicated in the daily program. So if there is a get-to-gether or a party, guests arrive early, so everything can start exactly on time. Dining room from 18.00 – 20.00 hrs., then the serving starts at 20.00 hrs. but guests will have walked in from 19.40 hrs. or so, to find their table and to be ready for the menu.

The Glare.
If you read my cruise reviews on this site, you will see that I always have this entry. “The Glare” is something I do when I walk through the ship. I look each Officer and Crewmember straight in the face with my blue piercing eyes and then wait for the crewmember to acknowledge. The ms Amera crew were extremely good, during the whole voyage, from captain to waiters, sailors to front desk etc. etc. everybody smiled said hello or reacted in another positive way. The only one who failed (3 times) was the Ship’s doctor but he was walking around as if he was on another planet altogether anyway.

Very friendly Captain and deck officers, very friendly Hotel Manager and very friendly and capable waiters (kellners) & cabin stewards and Front Desk attendants. Nice cruise staff but we did not see them very much as they were each day out on tour and then with a maximum of 10 hrs. a day being allowed to work, there is not much time left.

Mr. Uwe Noster, the man of the Gold & Silber level / concierge was a very gregarious man and very helpful, but although he said that he had “desk hours” we were never able to find out when as the hours were not posted in the daily program and also not on his desk itself on deck 8 Atrium.

The Crowsnest, or Panorama Lounge. The only lounge completely left as is from the Royal Viking Days.

Other Compliments.
*The “Schone Ausflugge” lunch on the first and last day on the top deck midships. Apart from the free beer, it was just very nice to be present and enjoy it. Regardless of nationality and background. Holland America has the “orange party” but they tend to cut if off after a few songs but here it just went on………… ………………………….Wunderbar.
*Tea in the afternoon. Much better than expected on a German ship and a lot of guests did partake in it.
*Real ships escorts on the coaches. Much appreciated by those on tours.
*Maintenance. For a 37 year old ship the ms Amera looked very good. As was with Holland America keeping the underside of the balconies up to standard was a battle that one could not win, but the old Lady looked very good, both inside and outside. And it seemed that the crew were genuinely proud of her.
*Duo in the Piano Lounge, very good and enjoyable.
*Service in the dining room and lounges, quick, friendly and always with a smile (and automatically a jar of peanuts) .
*Cabin service for our section (10 suite cabins) very good and un-obtrusive..
*Gold Room, very nice for snacks and coffee drinks if you used it. It was under used, so I would not be amazed if Phoenix takes it away. Before Hal it used to be the Staff Captains cabin but if it stays it is a very nice perk.
* Very reasonable bar prices and a very good wine list

There was a promotion for a drink or cocktail every day. A pint of Guinness for Euro 4.20 / 3.64 pounds / 4.89 US is not bad at all

Points for improvement:
*Get better cast shows and have them choreographed by somebody who knows how to do that. This was awful. Full Stop.’

The backing music (click- track) was too thin and needed padding out and the lighting was from a bygone era. The spotlights on the side of the sound booth were not used while with HAL they formed an integral part of the show.

The cast (no doubt talented) were not good enough. It was a pity that the talented trapeze girl had to work in this show set-up and in a show lounge with such a low ceiling. If somebody from Phoenix reads this, then please look on U-tube and you will be able to see what can be done with such a small stage as Holland America managed it.

*Tender service. It ran extremely well with no delays but antics of some of the drivers…. e.g lack of docking experience…… could be dangerous during windy weather.
*It would help if what is included in the “Gold service” or “Silber service” would be completely listed. There is some under the cabins specifications when you book, there is some that we found out when googling a travel agent site and some we only found out when we got there.
*Same for the suite cabin amenities. Nowhere does it say that you get slippers in the cabin or umbrella’s so we brought them with us,
*Maybe an ice bucket in the cabin for the suites” Our steward found a way around it, but with a double suite, it should be a standard thing.

Can a non German speaker survive?

YES, all the crew speak English and often better than their German. English menus are available in the Dining room, and with Google Translate it is not difficult to translate the German Daily Program. The only thing you have to get used to, is that the cruise is driven by the Daily Program and that there are no reminders for those who do not read programs, or expect to be reminded by announcements. Phoenix really expects that as you have a brain that you use it. I loved that part of the operation as I hate interfering announcements.

During my posts, there is always more texta than photos. My Dutch firends have also a blog running for the friends back home when they are travelling. that has more photos than (dutch) text. This is the link:

https://www.polarsteps.com/RuudvanD/18239437-bremerhaven-en-cruise-amera-naar-noorwegen?s=ea486edc-5129-47a0-a9ae-e71c3a170923

A very nice touch was the thank you letter, see below, we received 7 days after the end of the cruise, something I have not seen any other companies do, apart from trying to have you book another cruise. This felt quite personal as the Captain and Cruise Director laid the link between the ship and the guest, instead of just some vague general / letter / email from somebody in the head office.

Willkommen zu Hause

Sehr geehrte Frau Schoonderbeek,
sehr geehrter Herr Schoonderbeek,

vor wenigen Tagen haben wir Sie an der Gangway von MS Amera verabschiedet. Hoffentlich hatten Sie eine angenehme Heimreise und sind gut nach Hause zurückgekehrt.

Dem gesamten Schiffsteam rund um Kapitän Dariel Valdes und Kreuzfahrtdirektor Joe Liemberger war es eine große Freude, Sie an Bord zu umsorgen und mit Ihnen gemeinsam schönste Reiseziele erleben zu dürfen.

Wir hoffen, dass Sie sich bei uns rundum wohlgefühlt haben und die Reise Ihren Wünschen und Erwartungen entsprochen hat. Am meisten würde uns freuen, wenn Sie sich noch lange an viele schöne Momente und Erlebnisse Ihrer Reise erinnern.

Auch der schönste Urlaub ist irgendwann zu Ende, und nun wünschen wir Ihnen, dass Sie ganz entspannt in Ihren Alltag zurückkehren.
Vielleicht schmieden Sie ja schon wieder Pläne für die nächste Auszeit.
Dem gesamten Phoenix-Team an Bord wie an Land wäre es eine große Freude, Sie recht bald wieder mit einer neuen Reise begeistern zu dürfen. Seien Sie stets an Bord von MS Amera oder einem der anderen Schiffe von Phoenix Reisen auf das Herzlichste willkommen!

Wir wünschen Ihnen alles Gute und senden Ihnen herzliche Grüße.

Willkommen an Bord! – Willkommen zu Hause!

Ihr

Michael Schulze
Direktor Schiffsreisen
Bonn, den 08.08.25

30 July 2025; Ulvik, Norway.

July 31, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

The Brakkenes Hotel in Ulvik and official Tender port for the ms Amera tenders.

Today we were in Ulvik, a small town located at the end of the Eidfjord which is an extension of the much larger Hardangerfjord. In principle it is one of the “fingers” at the far end of the very wide Hardangerfjord. From sea it takes about 4 hrs. to get there, hence an earlier morning for the captain planning on a 0700 arrival. The first section can be done at 16 knots and then with the fjord getting more and more narrow the ship has to slow down to 10 knots. Then when it ends at Ulvik, the fjord widens in a sort of small lake, large enough for the ms Amera to anchor safely. Being so deeply tucked away into the fjords meant that it was a wind still day with partly cloudy skies and an official temperature of 18oC / 65 oF but with the lack of wind it climbed quite a few degrees.

View of the ship from the tender dock

Ulvik is far removed from anything “big” and the connecting road goes from small village to small village and to get to the first major city is a long drive. Still it is a sought after place for people who travel through the country and thus there are 3 hotels here near the water but one seems to have gone bankcrupt as it looked in a sorry state with most of the inventory still inside. But the town is so remote from the major city centers there seems to be a distinct lack of Hooligans available to cause damage. The biggest and most successful hotel, the Brakkenes, had built a tender dock and thus the tenders run the service from there. Quite a clever idea as quite a few guests, after walking around and seeing that there was nothing to do, went for coffee and cakes and sat on the hotel benches to admire the impressive scenery. And that is the main reason we are here to day, the tour busses/coaches had a good place to stop at the hotels parking space and those not on tour could enjoy the scenery. The Norwegian fjords are scenic everywhere but this area gets one of the highest ratings of the “Fjord experts”. Time simply seems to go much slower here thn anywhere else. I wonder if during the winter, it is almost coming to a standstill………………………
The ship could anchor reasonably close to the tender dock, so we had a 2 tender distance today but they started with 3 tenders to get the tours off as the tender dock was big enough to handle 2. It was interesting to observe the tender drivers as some of them had not really mastered the basics yet and one missed – while it being wind still and current free- the dock by about 6 meters. Hopefully the ship has an extensive training plan in place because I wish them luck in the more windy ports.

This is the main sign to protect the ship from local mayhem. It worked without a glitch.

Ulvik is very small and I counted 4 regular shops, which were all closed as they had decided to go on vacation at the same time. The tourist center opened at noon, four hours after our invasion began in the morning and the only place open and busy was the local CO-OP super market. Ulvik’s claim to fame is to have been the birth place of the Norwegian Poet Olav Hakonson. Hauge. (1908 – 1994) He lived there all his life, was involved in Horticulture and published his first poems in 1946. He is considered one of Norway’s most beloved poets and they turned one of the largest houses in Ulvik into a museum. When walking around we found several “traffic sign” size signs with a short poem of his on it, which you could read while looking at the scenery. Quite a nice way to get people focused on poetry. Main traffic on the road were indeed tourists in RV’s or regular cars and we observed a “column” of Dutch cars coming by who had left the hotel on their way to the next beauty spot. Indeed the most foreign license plates you see are from Dutch people, who due to their language skills have no problem, and no fear, to travel anywhere. Years ago, when I was captain of the Prinsendam, I docked in Kirkeness near the North Cape with the bow overhanging the local parking area and right in front of me, taking up half the parking area, were a large number of Dutch Cars. They then biked the rest of the up to the North Cape. Yesterday we saw a 1960’s Volkwagen “flower power style” camper coming by, indeed manned by hippy- type owners and their brood and they had also made it deep into Norway while driving a 70 year old mini van.

Ulviks famous son, the poet Olav Haugh or Hauge. His poems have been translated into English and can be found on the internet.

So we spent 1.5 hrs. ashore for a nice walk, avoided the ice cream stand (55 NOK for a small cornet) and got back on the tender before the tours were coming back. One thing that makes me smile are the security arrangements in each port. Each dock is supposed to conform with the ISPS regulations (International Ship and Port Facility Security), which includes regulations for fences, screening and supervision. In Sandane they had a sign, and nothing else, that said this is an ISPS port and today, there was nothing except the nice ship security lady with a clicker. It must be wonderful to still be able to live in an area where nothing is needed to be safe. But as mentioned above, Ulvik is too far away for any self respecting hooligan to make mayhem, so all is still well in the world here. Norway has very strict fire arm laws, strict enough that it is not needed for the local police to be armed. To get a license there is an arduous process and then one normally only gets a license if there is hunting involved. Then the police will visit your house regularly to see if the fire arm is safely locked away in a safe inside the house.

The main shopping street of Ulvik and all shops closed. All shop owners seem to have decided to go on holiday at the same time. Not a bad idea maybe, as nobody will be confused of which shop is open or not during the summer vacation season.

Back on board we scrutinized the daily program which came today with a flyer for duty- free orders. I assume the prices are good when compared to the German supermarket but we can do better on the ferry back to england so we let it slip by. As expected nothing was happening on board until the evening as the whole “event staff” is escorting tours each day. Highlight of the early evening was a Jewelry presentation in the shops. We went for the ice cream, still the same stand as in the Prinsendam days, except they have removed the Soft ice Machine. I was in line with a little boy who had brought a ships waiter with him to ensure he did get his ice cream with top ups, as yesterday a guest had emptied the whole bin with whipped cream (Slag-sahne) and he was not going to let that happen for a 2nd time. I fully agreed with him, having the right condiments for your ice cream (and you add those yourself) is a most essential part of one’s daily cruise experience. And it is not to be endangered by one greedy guest. So we spent the afternoon people watching as I still try to get my head around how the “German” flow on board works. We have now learned that they all show up about 30 minutes early before an event, so they are in place on time, that no announcements are needed to get people on time to the right location for tours as they all read the paper work, and that everybody is back on board in time (even ahead of time) so that “Herr Kapitan” does not have to wait. Hence we have departed from all ports, exactly on time.

The ms Amera hall. of fame. As other ships, first -port-call – plaques are being put on the wall. Here my Lord and Master is checking if there is any port she has not been to, as the ms Amera also makes world cruises so the collection is going up quickly. This is outside the Crowsnest / Panorama Lounge where HAL left the collection from Royal Viking Sun in place. from the days that the ports still gave very nice presents.

The one thing still to find out is why the shows are not very well attended. We can understand the lack of “full house: interest as Cast shows are not very good but the show of last night, which was very good, was also only about 3/4 full. We sneaked this evening after dinner into the lounge for another Cast Show (now based on the songs of the Rat Pack). The show was slightly better than before but an Englishman trying to imitate in German, the antics of Dean Martin simply does not work. Again the lounge was not more than half full. The rest of the crowd was in Piano Lounge and Harry’s Bar enjoying the music with drinks on the table (and peanuts so even more drinks were ordered). We have not yet inspected the late evening snack so hopefully we will get around to that tomorrow. Here the “midnight buffet” is at 10 pm. which works perfectly after having had a few drinks after dinner in the lounges.

Ulvik Fjord, which country can beat such a view.We left Ulvik “punktlich” on time at 1800 hrs. and then enjoyed a 4 hrs. sail out through Hardangerfjord. Phoenix Reisen has a company tune, that they play all over the ship during the departure, and it gives a sort of Welcome Back feeling. We had our 2nd dinner in Pilchers Restaurant (Pinnacle Lounge) courtesy of having a Gold star cabin and being able to book ahead of everybody else and it was very good again. This time we were the last ones out and the Maitre had time to talk to us and was full of questions about sailing everywhere in the world. So I had time to give one of my 5 minute lectures again with the pro and cons of the Panama Canal versus the Suez Canal. Knowing the Philipinos and the way they enjoy gossiping, it would have gone around the crew messroom in no time.

Tomorrow we are at sea and on the way home to Bremerhaven. The weather is supposed to be good. Today while tucked away at Ulvik it was blowing wind force 7 in the open sea but it started to die down in the late afternoon so by the time we are in the open, it should be smooth seas again. Then tomorrow smooth seas and sun for a glorious last day with packing. We have received our landing tags for the suitcases, so what can still go still wrong in the world?

- Captain Albert's Website and Blog -

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

Category: Destinations (page 4 of 12)

2025 Oct. 14; Oban, Scotland.

2025 Sept. 24, Dubrovnik; Croatia.

2025 Sept. 23; Kotor, Montenegro.

2025 Sep. 22; Split, Croatia

2025 Sep. 21; Havr,Croatia.

2025 Sep. 20; Zadar Croatia.

2025 Sep. 19, Opatija; Croatia.

2025 September 18; Fusina Venice, Italy.

01 Aug. 2025 Going home & the Verdict

30 July 2025; Ulvik, Norway.

Captain Albert

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