After seeing what North Pole ice looked like yesterday we sailed south towards Spitsbergen again. The top of the mountains of the island were never out of view. The air was so cold and clear that we could see the mountain tops over 40 miles away. About half of the mountain ranges were still visible, their basis lying under the horizon of course due to the curvature of the Earth. As explained in my yesterday’s blog, the ice was closer this year than on average as the summer near Spitsbergen had thus far been very cold. Last year when the Prinsendam did the same cruise they had to travel, full speed, another four hours to reach the ice. Followed by an extra four hours to get back again on track. So an extra journey of 160 miles in the same time span available to me. So I decided to deviate into the Gronefjord which is a side arm of Isfjord at which end Lonyearbeyen is located. Continue reading

Today was the highlight of our cruise. Most places we visit on this cruise you can get to by airplane somehow or the other but for what we did today you need a ship. First on the agenda was scenic cruising in Magdalena Fjord. It is an inlet at the North West side of Spitsbergen. Because it is fairly narrow, the ship comes quite close to the glaciers. It is somewhat comparable to College fjord in Alaska, with the same number of glaciers but compressed into a fifth of the space. The fjord twists and turns around two shallow patches and that makes for tricky navigation. But that is the fun part. There are no pilots here to spoil the good fun; this was the sort of cruising I went to sea for. Continue reading

Today we travelled up North; to the Top of the World, as our cruise is called. This meant going full speed as it is a long way to Spitsbergen (or Svalbard as the Norwegians call it) as we also had some sightseeing to do while on the way. The day did not start very promising with high winds from the East and very low skies with fog banks all over the place. The first scenic stop, or better sail by, was Bear Island which is about half way up between the Nordkapp and the south point of Spitsbergen. The island roughly looks as an inverted triangle with some hills and mountains to the south and it flattens off towards the North. Flat: seen in relation to the average height of everything. Compared to the Spitsbergen you would call it flat, compared to Holland you would call it mountainous. With full sea speed it takes about an hour to sail by the island and we did so. Keeping the island on the West side, we could sail in its lee and thus keep the guests on deck fairly well out of the wind chill. Today it was not a cruise, it was an expedition. Continue reading

Apologies for the delay but at the top of the world there is no Internet connection. Capt
Albert, 28 July 2009.

The town of Honningsvag is located just at the east side of the Nordkapp in a sheltered bay. Basically we sail east, then south, then north into the harbour and then dock on an easterly heading. Full circle to get there. It is really located at the top of Norway. We started sailing along the top of Norway in the early morning and passed the Nordkapp at a distance around 07.30. After departure we had a good look at her from nearby. During the night the wind had started to freshen up from the East and that was less good news, as it blew the clouds away and that could mean a greater chance of fog. So I said a little prayer for overcast weather during the day. Continue reading

Hello readers,
Lesley here, Albert’s wife at home in England .

Just in case you were wondering what had happened to Alberts daily entry here is why you are not seeing it.

At the moment they are way above the arctic circle as you will all know and so they will have run out of satellite signal for a few days, the same thing happened to me on a small cruise ship I was working on a couple of years ago when we went so far north.

I expect them to be back in coverage in a day or two.

Norway as part of the Scandinavian Peninsula is a long and vertical country. You have to travel quite a ways to get from the lower point of the country, North of Denmark all the way to the top, South of Spitsbergen. From 58oN to 71oN that is roughly 780 nautical miles as the crow flies. As we are going all the way to the top and beyond there has to be some sea time in between ports to make it possible. We travel of course more than the 780 nautical miles to get to the top as the Norwegian coast is not straight and we have sail around rocks and islands and other protrusions. Today was thus a day at sea while we travelled from Kristiansund to Honningsvag which lies just around the corner (past it) from the North Cape. With a ship you try to sail as much as possible in a straight line and with Norway that works quite well, if you stay about 4 miles off the coast to start with. The coast, laying in a North Easterly direction, then recedes away from your course line and you only have to make the occasional course change to follow the general direction of the coast. Continue reading

As the bumpy seas were caused by a disappearing weather system near the top of Greenland, the waves became less and less during the night and by the time we arrived at the pilot station the ship was only going up and down with a very gentle movement. By coming midnight it should all be gone. It was a regular traffic jam at the pilot station, two supply vessels going in with inbetween another cruise ship, the Deutschland of Deilmann Cruises. This is a cruise ship that operates in the same market segment as the Prinsendam but as it is almost completely devoted to the German market it is not really competition as such. The ship is a little bit smaller than our Prinsendam with 23000 tons but comparable in what it does for cruises. What it was doing today however confused all of us including the pilot. It sailed inside, picked up the pilot and swung around and went outside to open waters again. As per our own pilot, the ship was destined for Molde but for that you can sail inside through the fjords and there no need to be in the open waters. Anyway the Deutschland raced out and we raced in. Continue reading

Bergen is tucked away inside the Norwegian Fjords and as a result it takes a while to get there. Regardless whether you come from the North or from the South, it is a considerable distance to the dock. Thus the pilot boards early to enable a timely arrival. We had a bit of a wobbly night, with a long swell running from the Greenland area where they had had some very inclement weather a few days ago and the swell generated by that weather front came rolling all the way down the Norwegian Coast. We had wind as well, coming from the South West and so the pilot boat skipper decided to wait a bit further inside the entrance before he came alongside.
That was just fine by me, because then I was also completely out of the swell. Once you are inside the mountains on the side of the fjords they provide great shelter from all the elements except rain. The whole coast line of Norway is dotted with pilot stations serving all the various small and big ports inside the fjords. The Pilotage system is divided in area’s as the whole coastline is much too big to take one pilot onboard and keep him onboard for all the calls. Each port that we do this cruise we will stop at a pilot station, get a pilot onboard and disembark him/her again at the end of the call. Same as we do on other cruises, only this time it is all within one country. Continue reading

Today was our first sightseeing day and it was a great day. Most guests are hoping for sunny weather during their cruise but that is one thing you do not want to have when sailing through the fjords. The sun creates glare that makes it more difficult to see the sights, also you cannot see very much at the “sunny side of the ship” and if the sun lasts for a few days you get that hazy stuff called fog and then you do not see anything at all. Overcast is perfect even if it means the occasional shower. You can also watch the scenery from the bar, preferably with a glass of wine in hand. At least that is what my wife and I do when we are cruising in our spare time. Lysefjord is not that far away from Oslo so we trundled up the coast in a nice and sedate way, to be at the pilot station at the Brochure time of 11 am. The pilot had obviously not read that brochure as he came racing out early and was onboard just past 10.30am. Not that I minded we could just do a bit more sightseeing this way. Continue reading

This morning we arrived at our first port of call of what is called the “To the Top of the World cruise” which is a 21 day effort of which we now still have 19 days to do. Last call we had sightseeing in the morning as our arrival was at noontime and departure at midnight. This time we had an early arrival and a 4 pm departure, so we did the sightseeing on the way out. At least for those who have regular sleeping patterns. I also had to enjoy the morning session. We picked up the pilot at 3.30 am to ensure a timely docking at 8 am. The wind had indeed abated during the night and there was only a fresh breeze blowing at the pilot station. By the time we arrived at Oslo it was wind still but raining and it continued to do so throughout the day in fits and starts. This was a Sunday call which meant that all the shops were closed. However with the Norwegian prices, that might have been a blessing in disguise. My chief officer is still crying over a 300 pound Norwegian jacket that he bought, thinking that it was a lot less when he looked at it. Even the prices at the Norwegian Salvation Army are much higher than in the rest of the world. It is simply a very expensive country. However most of our guests are onboard to see the world and so the lack of shopping was not an over riding factor during this call. Continue reading