- 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: Shore Excursions (page 1 of 4)

2026 August 16; Andalsness, Norway.

August 17, 2026 / / 7 Comments

It is about 40 NM. to sail into Romsdahl fjord via Isfjord. The ship docked at Tinderkaia and from there everything is close by for the tourist. To the lower left you can see the red (course) line out of Alesund. So the ports are not that far apart, there are just these high mountains in the way.

The ship is working its way slowly southbound again and today we are in Andalsness, As we are now used to, it rained again on arrival, and it did not change very much during the day. Rain off and on. Luckily there was no wind so it was chilly but not as cold as it could have been.  The ships dock is located where the old ferry dock used to be and the new ferry dock still is close by. Because of the old ferry connection, the train station is right across from the dock. With the train you are connected to the national rail network of Norway and travelling to Olso from here takes about 6 hrs. including one transfer. First with the regional Rauma Line, which we will partially travel this afternoon with the ships tour, then change at the end of that line (Dombas station) and then it is one other train ride to Oslo with several stops including Lillehammer, well known from the Winter Olympics fame of some years ago. A beautiful ride through the Norwegian landscape and often more reliable than the flights from the little local airport.

Andalsness. Overpowering the dock side is the Norwegian mountaineering centre with a sort of rock wall inside. To the left is the “Gondola Hus”  from where the Romsdal cable car leaves.  Just visible behind it  is the “Golden Train”, called so because the carriages are looking -gold-shiny on the outside. This is the tour train up the mountain. The Red roofed building is the regular Bus and Train station. The small town itself is further to the right.

The ship suffered from that rain and cloud as a new entertainer act was supposed to join today. A tribute act to “Blondi”, but her plane got delayed from England and once on Norwegian soil, the connecting flight to Andalsness was cancelled. So no “Blondi” show  this cruise but another “Westend” act, The Knights of Music” made it to the ship and we will find out in the coming two sea days what they will have to offer.

From the Gondola Hus a cable car (approx. 20+ people in each cabin) goes up to the top of Romdalseggen. From here you can have breath taking views of the area. Today it was mainly looking at Norwegian clouds more than anything else.

 

 

The rain did not stop our Guests, grown up with and trained in the English weather, and thus feeling right at home. As it was Sunday, the town was closed except for the Train & Bus station (with souvenir shop) and one (large) stand alone souvenir shop at the edge of the main street.  Thus most guests were on one tour or the other; up to the top of the mountain with the Gondola, or with the Golden train up the mountain, or with the bus for a 3 hours journey to the troll road (with a lot of 180o twists and turns) and the Troll-Wall, which is the highest cliff -mountain-face in Europe. Because it was Sunday, the Customs Officer who was supposed to come to the ship in the afternoon, to refund VAT charges (The UK is out of the EU) did not come and thus guests who had bought things and had VAT receipts did not get their money back.

A corner of the Medina restaurant with Moroccan tiles and tapestry on the wall.

We decided to mentally prepare ourselves for our afternoon invasion into Norway by catching up on emails with the on board wifi connection. We had bought a one device for the 12 days. you can still use it for another device, you just log on and it throws the last user off. It is very fast, unless a 1000 go on line at the same time, which happens occasionally around 1700 hrs. This time we took advantage of the “fast serving” of the dining room service by going to the open seating in the Medina Restaurant for a quick lunch. As expected it was very quick and thus we could easily make our excursion with the train on time.

The Golden Train at the Bjorli train station. This train station is 575 meters above sea level so the locomotive has quite a pull to get it all up the mountain.  The Diesel locomotive also changes position here. There are toilets (with long lines as nobody wanted to go on the train, being afraid of missing a highlight like a troll running by) but no Station Buffet,  just a pop up. – see below.

The ship had blocked 2 carriages with the other 2 also being also full but with independent travellers. Although the train carriages are new, their outside tries to make it look like a throw back to the days of Pullman carriages but the inside has a regular train layout. So if you are sitting forward facing up the mountain, then you are back facing when going down the mountain.  The only thing that changes location is the diesel train which at the end of our scenic trip “up” moved around to pull us “down” again. This happens at a train station called Bjorli, which is where the tour turns around The regular train service stops here (there are a lot of small (ski) resorts around here) and then continues to the end of the line.

The diesel locomotive changing location at Bjorli. While all railroads in Norway have been electrified, the Rauma line has not although there is more than enough electric power available in the area. The tour guide was a little vague about the why but I think that at certain locations it is just too difficult to get the supporting pylons in place. There is also a regular train travelling on these tracks, connecting Andalsness with the rest of Norway, and is also a Diesel train.

When boarding you receive a “Golden Ticket” in exchange for you tour voucher and then it is a scramble to find a seat as only 2 people can sit at the window. Through out the trip, there is a running commentary but as the narrator is sitting somewhere away from the passengers, he has never been able to update his story with questions asked by the passengers. He narrates all the main stuff, but you cannot ask a detailed question about something he does not explain. See the end of this blog.

Our “Golden Ticket”. I just felt like Charlie and the Chocolate factory when I got mine. But it is a nice souvenir.. The tour which lasts 3 hours, cost about £100,– a person. You can try and book your own, cheaper (about £65,–) but today the train was fully booked. So you would have had to do it way in advance.

The first part of the  journey up the mountain goes  by the Trollstigen, the steepest  cliff – mountain- face in Europe and the train comes quite close it, making it not so easy to take a photo. Plus today there were a lot of interfering Norwegian Clouds around and that made it even more challenging.

I lifted this photo from the Golden train website (thank you) www.thegoldentrain.com, to show what the journey is all about. This is still in the lower part of the valley, where the incline is still quite small. But it shows the Trollstigen cliff wall.

The below photo was my feeble attempt, hampered by the height of the mountain cliff is it is anywhere between 1000 to 1700 meters, so hard to get done from a train. Also the Norwegian rain clouds were not helping. The tunnel at the foot of the wall is for the regular road which also runs through the valley of the river. Apart from Norwegian cars it was mainly Dutch cars coming by,

This is this cliff wall “Trollvegfen”(it runs for quite a distance, see the photo above).

The train follows first the valley of the Rauma River and works its way up the mountain which means it crosses the river bed and then goes through a tunnel, making an 180o loop to keep the elevation of the track reasonable while going 570 meters uphill.

The valley is quite wide and thus full of small farms busy with harvesting during the short Norwegian Summer. This is a shot taken about halfway up the mountain. We saw cows and sheep but to our amazement no ducks in the clear water ponds on the sides of the river. Maybe the water is too cold for any food to grow in.

The biggest danger of living in the valley is the constant threat of avalanches. The mountains are constantly moving and thus eventually rocks come loose.  Last year they had a big one, with a large rock slide of 1.2 km.. from the top of the mountain all the way down the valley reaching river level. It made the train journeys inoperable for a quite awhile.  A house near the train line was spared as the avalanche stayed about 10 feet clear of it. Some people are lucky,

Avalanche path, left over from last year. The horizontal line in the landscape is the Rauma train line and the vertical slit under it, is a newly installed drain works to deal with the water that now comes down the newly created bare rock face path..

We made it without any mishap to the top of the mountain ridge at the station of Bjorli where we had 20 minutes to stretch our legs, visit the toilets and inspect the small museum attached to the station. This museum describes the 1940 derring- do of the Norwegian Army when they managed to get 50 tons of gold just in time out of the Norwegian Central bank in Oslo. It was taken by truck and this train to Andalsness and from there by ship to Gr. Britain; and from there to the USA. By the time they had loaded the last gold on the trucks, the German Army was marching into Oslo, hurrying to the Central Bank.

A re-creation of the way the soldiers guarded the gold while waiting for the train. Simply by sleeping on top of it. Must have been an interesting experience of sleeping in a bedroom worth billions.

My interest went more to the “station buffet” set up outside the train. All the train stations along the route are unmanned (Bookings go by an app on the phone) and thus there is no exsurberant waiting room with refreshment in Biedermeyer style or Jugendstill from the days that the stations were built.  So the train people had a “pop-up” buffet set up. And they sold a lot of coffee (40 NOK a cup)  for those who felt the need to drink coffee on top of the mountain.

The world famous Bjorli train station “pop up buffet” buffet. And being served by somebody in a train uniform.

In the mean time the diesel locomotive went to the other side, now becoming the head of the train, to pull us down the mountain again. So after getting the last guest out of the toilet, we left after 20 minutes. As we now knew what to expect it was a lot easier to be ready for taking a good photo and the Train driver also slowed down twice to make it even easier. (Slowing down while going down hill, is a lot easier than doing it going up hill).

Withso much rain and snow around, there are waterfalls everywhere, including this spectacular one cascading more than 1000 meter down hill.

So we made it back by 15.45 hrs. and were advised to visit the local souvenir shop where you could buy train souvenirs (baseball cap, handbag, and some other trinkets) and who does not listen to the Tour guide ?  The rest of the shop sold exactly the same stuff as the other souvenir shops we visited along the way. Troll, Troll, Troll. The only one I had not seen yet was a fridge magnet with a troll on a motor bike.

The cast show in the smaller venue of “Carmen’s which brings it closer to a cabaret performance.

Back on board it was time to upload yesterdays blog and to get ready  for cocktails. The Headliners were performing again in Carmen’s, and here they have drink service, so we could combine cocktails with some more culture. Tonight’s show was “Top of the Billboards”. Which turned out to be a musical journey of some of the highest scoring songs in the hit-parades. Again a great show. We have not finished the cruise yet, but if this high level quality of performance continues, then this will be the first time that we have not seen a Cast show, in a series of shows, that did not have a dip. Compliments.

Cocktail pianist Paul Cassidy, performing in Charlie’s. The doors into the cocktail venue “Andersons” are wide open, so the music also reaches in there. Same goes for the venue’s around the Atrium.

We had our second dinner in “The Beach House” but as we had to move it from last night, as it conflicted with the Captain’s “Repeater Party”, we had the same menu again. It changes here on a 3 day cycle, so we lucked out. But there was enough variation to still have a very good meal.  I also have to correct myself about my comment, why were we not offered, coffee or tea last time; it says on the menu “please ask for our coffee’s and tea’s”. Why you have to ask, I do not know but it is not volunteered. On the way down I finally managed to get a picture of our so far elusive cocktail pianist.

When arriving back in the cabin, I saw us passing Alesund pilot station again. Andelness has (or had) its own pilot station, so what was the ms Aurora doing here? Pilot or another Medivac? I do not know. Maybe we will get an announcement tomorrow navigational update. During the Captain’s repeater party, I asked one of the nurses about the patient that was disembarked in Alesund some days ago, and he reported that the person was doing fine. .

Tomorrow we have a sea day. Weather should be a lot better than today, maybe even with some sun and as we will have following winds i might be even warm enough to sit outside. As soon as the ship is clear of Alesund it will be  a straight line down from Norway, until about coming abeam of the town of HULL in England and then veer slightly towards the British Coast to follow the shipping lanes to Dover Channel.

I am posting below photo as nobody could tell me what this is for, a door in the bottom of the mountain. I saw at least 3 of them during the train ride. It does not look like that it has anything to do with Electricity generation and our Tour guide did not mention it. So my guess is a: storing equipment for keeping the roads open in the winter or b: military depots as with the terrain it is not easy to get military equipment from A to B.  Anybody any ideas ??

A mysterious door in the bottom of the hill. What secrets could it hide ?

2026 August 15; Trondheim, Norway.

August 16, 2026 / / 3 Comments

Today we are in Trondheim which lays about 40 miles inland, when counting the steamer distance from the pilot station, but it is a fairly open fjord called “Trondheim fjord” so  it does not feel as if we sailed between the high cliffs of a real fjord. The rain remained with us and only lifted briefly in the late morning. It seemed that the “Trundles” (this is what they call themselves in this province) had decided to make the best of it and had descended in great numbers on the local indoor pool located across from the cruise dock. It it called Pir Badet, which translates into something like Bath of pool at the pier. When I was here in the past one of my officers translated it into Dutch as “piere badje”. which is Dutch for very small pool. But it is not a small pool at all, it is a very big one. At the ship side, there are at least 4 wading pools and behind there is at least one 50 meter pool for regular swimming within the lines.

After evaluating the weather and the fact that we have been here so many times we decided to stay on board. We would have gone ashore if it has been dry as the town is quite nice, although similar to all the other Norwegian towns we have visited.  It is comparable to Olso and Bergen but then on a much smaller scale. This city was the first capital of Norway and it kept its importance through the ages. Founded sometime in the 11th. century it has a cathedral and an archbishop’s palace which is now a museum. And there is a music museum as well. It is Norway’s National Music museum with a collections of over 2000 musical instruments from all over the world. 2000 is a lot, but I hope they are still collecting, as there must be more than 2000 out there.

The Pir Badet at Trondheim,this is the only port in my experience of sailing to, where a cruise ships docks opposite a public swimming pool.

Being a larger place, means that there are a lot of tours available. Of course there is the Big Red Bus, always my favourite if you visit a place for the first time. Then walking tours, kayaking tours and many tours into the country. There is even something called an “Arctic Floating Tour”. Here they put you in a cold water survival suit, same as we have on the ships, and you float in the cold arctic water “enjoying a tranquil floating experience”. They offer you a cup of hot coffee afterwards, so it might not be so tranquil, but cold instead.

The ship was docked starboard side along side and we were facing the fjord side. Trondheim fjord is not a narrow fjord. Hence the wide open water. Not on the photo the yacht was too far away, was the Norwegian Royal Yacht “Norge”. There are only 3 countries left in Europe that have a Royal Yacht. Having one in Norway does make sense as it is much easier for the King to get around and into his country with all these fjords and small and remote villages located so far inland.

We were not the only ones how gave Trondheim a miss, the Horizon (Lido) was full  all morning and there was still a  line with people queuing for a hot breakfast past the closing time of 11.00 hrs.  Exe. Chefs that I sailed with always told me that there was a correlation between the amount of hot food consumed and the outside temperature. So in Alaska more “sunny side up” eggs were consumed than when in the Caribbean. Same went for coffee. If that also goes for a P&O ship then today the guests made a good dent in the egg stock on board.

” Seaside Escape”, by Suzanne Marazzi.

As a follow up to yesterday’s Paintings in the Staircase display, here is one of a few hanging in the Atrium section around the Shops. I could not find out very much about this painter, except that she was born in 1971  and thus I also could not find out why the painting is called a Seaside Escape. It looks more like “Contemplating Cocktails”, but then I am not an art expert.

The Raffles Cafe, on a photo taken from the other side of the Atrium. The above painting is hanging in the top left corner.

This painting is hanging in the Atrium opposite the shops but also at the entrance to “Raffles Bar” and lounge. Although all cabins have coffee and tea facilities (A well raised English person cannot face the day without having a cup of tea first) but a lot of guests still like to go out for a morning coffee with free cakes. It is a similar lounge as The “Grand Dutch Cafe” with Holland America or the “Carinthia” Lounge with Cunard. P&O serves “Costa Coffee” in  its lounges and it must be good as the lounge is packed all day.

The Peninsular Club Party invite. We are going up in the world.

For the evening we had another lounge to go to. We returned to Carmen’s Lounge as we were invited to the “Peninsular Club Party”, as we are proud members of the lowest Tier in the P&O repeater club. You need 15 days to get an invite and we have about 40 days, courtesy of trying all the P&O ships from Southampton (except the very big new ones). We were even on the maiden voyage of the ms Britannia which was a most “interesting” experience. So we wanted to go and see how P&O did such a party. We had heard that for this cruise the numbers were not so very high, with many guests being on their first cruise, but they will no doubt catch up in the future.

We both got a nice invite with the promise that we would be entered into a Raffle if we handed our invite in. So our expectations grew considerably. What would the Raffle be, a free cruise, a dinner for two in a Speciality Restaurant? The mind boggled at the options.

With said paper in hand we arrived at 19.50 hrs. at the entrance of the lounge (we have now learned to show up 5 minutes late at each venue after opening time so we do not have to deal with the British love for queuing and indeed the line was gone. We said hello to the captain, had a very short chat about mutual friends working for Cunard, had our picture taken (we still have to figure out how that works for buying) and then sat down to watch the proceedings.

Captain, loyalty team and longest sailing cruise guests on the dance floor for the obligatory photo. Hopefully the cruise couple with get a free copy.

After an introduction from the Loyalty Manager, the captain conducted a sort of One Man show, engaging the audience in a very good way. As mentioned before, he has excellent mic. handling skills and has a very open and gregarious personality.   I used to do the same in a more Reserved way (I am not good in telling jokes, I am better in telling stories, hence the lecturing that I do)  as I also believe that those who pay your salary are entitled to some TLC from the Master of the vessel. But I always felt that the Holland America Line Entertainment was not universally happy with this  because you stick out above the average and that makes your ship stand out.

I hope that P&O let their captains “soar” if they want to, as a captain with a bit of flair for presentation is an asset to the ship. The couple with the highest number of sailing days (2000+) came forward to receive………………. a bottle of champagne. Come on P&O can you not do a little better here. 2000 days x a per diem of £150 a day = £ 300,000 +  so you already made a lot of money from them. So a bottle of champers is a bit cheap……..

Then came the raffle, won by a couple having a cabin somewhere near the dungeons and that was also a bottle of the same champagne. For the raffle, a bottle is not bad, but somebody who has 2000+ days, should then get something better. What amazed me, and what I had not expected from my fellow British guests, was that there were several who took double the free drinks offered. Drank one glass at the party and then took the next one down to the  dining room. The mind boggles……………

If you want to you can make the “Grand Entry” in this dining room by descending down the stairs from deck 7 to deck 6. For those who are not that good in descending any more, there is a door on the side on Deck 6, so you can come down with the lifts to an even level.

The Alexandria Dining room is located under the Carmen’s show lounge. Arriving again 5 minutes after opening time, and yes the queue of eager eaters had just dissipated, we saw when walking in was that half the tables were empty at the least in the forward half of the dining room. That made the service at our table even faster than usual and within 1 hrs. and 10 minutes were were out again.

The banner for the cast show “Unbelievable”.

Then it was up to the show. We had the “Headliners Cast” again, this time with a show called “Unbelievable”. This was a combination of a regular sing and dance show interspersed with the cast doing magical acts. It turned to be very interesting. You do not have to be a David Copperfield or a Houdini to present a good magical trick. The cast members were very good at it as well.  Cast member cut in half, cast member levitating, one cast member going in a cage and six coming out.  etc. etc.

The moment the dancing girls popped out of the box after one of the singers had disappeared into it.

We have now found out that this cast has 8 shows in their repertoire and as a result they doing one every other night. Quite impressive, so we have 5 in the Main Show Lounge and at least 2 more in the smaller Carmen’s show lounge. I am very impressed. I sailed most of my life with American cast and for them it was already stressful to have 4 shows on their list, let alone to do 2 smaller ones as well. But British cast are totally different and do not seem to be phased at all by some more work.  But as this group was selected out of over 1500 applicants when doing their auditions so they cannot be bad, even if they tried to. Compliments once again. Tomorrow they will be in the Carmen’s and we will be there……….

This came on the screen. As you can see most of the audience had already ran away, before I could get this shot. Maybe those who stayed were as flabbergasted as I was.

Every main entertainer / head liner, we had had so far, was allowed to plug their own C.D’s or Music stick (sales table outside the shops)  and I was amazed that P&O would let them. Tonight I found out why. The company does it itself as well. To my utter amazement at the end of the show, a large photo popped up on screen urging the guests to buy the “Exclusive” Unbelievable P&O Magic set. Including a link to U-tube that explains exactly how each trick goes and how to do the trick.   So now I am waiting to see the Head Waiter coming on the stage to plug the Cocktail of the Day, or somebody from the shops, advising that they still have some bottles of Duty Free left……………….  The possibilities are limit less.

Tomorrow we are in Andalsnes. This town has seen cruise ships since the late 19th. century when steam powered ships started making cruises to the “Nordland”. If you see a photo of a ship of the Hamburg America Linie or from Holland America Line in a fjord, then there is a fair chance it was laying at anchor in Andalsnes. It is fairly deep into  “Isfjorden” at the edge of Romsdalsfjord. This sailing in & out goes by steep Fjord walls and that has attracted attention since a very long time. We are having a train tour tomorrow afternoon as this tour is one of the very few her ladyship has not done in her long career.  I certainly have not done it as Andalsness has always been a port where I did boat drills, as the boats are normally in the lee of the ship and thus out of the wind. So I would not be amazed if the captain does the same.

Weather tomorrow: Overcast with rain showers with a chance of dry spells. Temperatures between 8 and 12 ocC or 46o and 54oF. Chilly but not cold as there is not much wind expected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026; August 10, Olden, Norway.

August 11, 2026 / / 2 Comments

Today we are in Olden, a small town deep inside the Norwegians fjords. We are in port from 09.00 hrs. to 18.30 hrs. This is one of the towns that came to more prominence when the Norwegian Government put -cruise- docks in, in the smaller ports to boost the local economy. In the past Olden was only visited by smaller cruise ships who had to anchor. Now every large vessel can dock here and unload thousands of cruise guests. The town has not grown with the dock and the place is still mainly a stop for taking tours. It was raining today with a low cloud cover so we decided to stay on board. Readers might remember that we were here a few weeks ago with the ms Sky Princess. Then we had glorious weather and did a walk around.

This is the link if you want to read up on it. https://www.captainalbert.com/2026-july-15-olden-norway/

Main reason for the stop are the tours to Briksdal Glacier located about 20 minutes away from the ship and then there are also a number of other tours you can take. like renting a canoe or RIB boat and going to the Loen Skylift which is one of the steepest cable cars in Europe.  Lesley and I went to Briksdal glacier about 15 years ago, when she was working for Page & Moy of the UK and I was travelling with her as a spouse (much to the shock of the Greek Captain of the Ocean Majesty) and was summarly appointed  tour leader of coach nbr 1. (Navigators do not get lost………) Then the Glacier face was just behind the Visitor center but now it has retreated so far that it takes a 45 minute walk to get there from where the coach drops you at the visitor center.  Global warming is even hitting cold Norway very hard and the end is not in sight.

With the Sky Princess we were docked starboard side alongside, so we saw the fjord, Today the captain docked port side alongside and we had a good view of the Souvenir shop from our balcony.

But as you can see from the photo it does not affect the local tourist trade, yet, with all the regular options still available. The tour buses had just left, when I took this photo, and they parked right in front of the ship, where the apron is empty and now the Trolley train is standing. Not on the photo but on the far right is a white marquee where they rent out bikes and a bit further down the road there are also quad bikes for hire.  As was expected a lot of guests marched directly across the street to visit what must be one of the largest souvenir shops in Norway.  The one near downtown is also big  but it is combined with a regular clothing shop.

One thing have not mentioned yet, is that apart from Safety announcements, there are NO announcements in the cabin, it is all nicely kept in the hallways and public rooms. Thank you P&O; finally a British company that respects guests who want to sleep in. With Saga and Fred Olsen every announcement comes into the cabin and at the most un-appropriate times.  Here we have the staff captain making the arrival announcement. It is a P&O tradition that the arrival announcement is done by the bridge and not by the Cruise Director (Entertainment Manager here) and the departure announcement is done by the Captain. In between there might be an Entertainment Manager daily update or a Shore Excursion announcement , but nothing in the cabin, very civilised.

So we had breakfast in the cabin and continued exploring the ship. The ship is blessed with a large number of public rooms and nooks and crannies for sitting down, so it takes a while to get everywhere. Compared to similar ships, such as the Vista Class of HAL and the QV and QE of Cunard, this ship has a very good design for offering the guests on board a large number of locations to while away the day. Especially good for longer cruises.

Our first stop was the Gymnasium and Fitness Room. This is part of the Ocean Spa as I call it (Official name Oasis Spa and Health Club) and has an entrance on Deck 12 where the treatment rooms are located but the Gym is located a deck below and can be reached via a Spiral Staircase. But it has also its own entrance on Deck 11 and  I had not seen that yet. It turned out that it was a bit hidden between the cabin corridors near the main staircase.

The fitness area on Deck 11.

The fitness area is compact but has all the torture machines you normally would expect on a ship. The only thing that made me laugh is that the dumb bell rack is above cabins located on Deck 10. So if you are having an afternoon nap, and somebody drops a dumbbell, then there is not much of your nap left.

Anecdote: Why it made me laugh is that with my own company the captains on the Vista Class suffered from this problem as the Fitness area there is located above the bridge and captains cabin. The dumbbell impact became such of a problem, that the area had to blocked off in the afternoon when the captain had his down time. That of course impacted the service to the guests, so after much deep thought by people in the office,  the Chief Engineers were consulted whether they slept in the afternoon. The chief engineers, being tough guys, all said no we work all day, so the dumbbells were moved to the other side, above the chief engineers cabin.

Next stop Casino. They have one here, not very big and not as well attended as on the ships with predominantly Americans. But it has everything a Casino needs and on this ship it is sort of combined with Champions, the on board pub.

The Casino on board.

Champions is  a lounge that has a Pub / Sports Bar like atmosphere  and there are daily football games broadcast live. Weather permitting of course, so today there was no TV at all, let alone games, as the antenna’s are just under the rim of the blocking mountains.  This place is full all day, with the first punters arriving for a pint around 11 am. and then it continues until “Late” and I expect that might be not “late” but “early the next morning”.

The Champions Bar. The sitting area on the other side, carries along with little booths well along the ships corridor. If you look at the TV screen at the end of the Bar, there is only the test screen as there is no signal coming in, due to the mountains.

Noon time called us to the Medina Restaurant for open seating lunch and we decided on a shared table. We like those  as we always meet interesting people. The only thing I ask the Dining Room host is to make sure that those at the table already have not started eating yet. But they had it well organised, the waiter (although clearly restless) waited until the table was full. It turned out that the 2 ladies at the table had cruise experience, with one lady making 4 or 5 cruises a year. The other two, a very nice couple, where on their very first cruise and quite upset with their travel agent, as the travel agent had advised them that P&O was casual so no Formal and also no Gentle mans jacket needed. Guest services had tried to help them with a jacket but they were out of the size needed. Which suggested that more couples on board suffered from the same mishap. The gentleman was a very small man, otherwise I would have loaned him one of my jackets as I have 5 different ones with me. We suggested that upon returning home they bitterly complained to their Travel agent, as they now missed out on 3 formal nights. Food was extremely fast as usual and seems to work as a conveyor belt in the galley to make this possible. I asked for two scoops of vanilla but I got what was on the menu (one scoop vanilla / one scoop chocolate)  For the cook who does the scooping, it does not take more time to do one or the other, so it has to be with the waiter service. When I wanted to point it out, the waiter was gone already, so I left it.

The pub is named Champions and on the port side of the pub there are two boards listing “champions” in various disciplines. Varying from Lester Piggott (horse racing) to Mark Spitz (swimming) to George Foreman (boxing) to Johan Cruiff (football)

Back at the cabin, the Butler popped up, as somehow he had heard that I had been blogging about the table set-up in the cabin. We had a long and convoluted conversation but in the end it became clear that P&O has no set rules for Butler service. You just ask them what you want and they follow up.  So if we wanted a table cloth he would do that, but the routine was no table cloth if it was cold food and a table cloth (to protect the table) when it was hot food. So now we knew, no table cloth, as on the Breakfast menu there is no hot food, it is more of a continental breakfast thing.

A hot breakfast is served for the Suite Guests in the Sindhu Indian Restaurant in the morning but that closes at 09.30 on sea days and 09.00 on port days and then we are just out of bed. Getting hot breakfast in the cabin is also possible as he just gets it from the Sindhu on a serving tray, but it is not standard to have that Hot food breakfast -but there is no Sindhu-breakfast menu in the cabin, so ordering is complicated again.

But we are happy with what the regular cabin breakfast menu offers.  One has to try to keeps one’s weight down. Our Butler (without being asked)  gets us better fruit instead of the regular offering from the dining room, so we are very appreciative. We do get the dinner menu from the Alexandria Restaurant in the cabin and now we learned that we can have dinner in the cabin if we place the order on time.

So  it was arranged that we would keep everything as is, as we a not demanding people and certainly do not want to put pressure on crew members who are busy already. We have been crew members ourselves for 40+ years. This Butler duty thing is something for shore side management to follow up with, as it is them who keep sending out vague information and Mr. Anoup should not be suffering because of that.  He is doing a good job for what we ask him to do. But I think he got confused by it all as well, because when we came back from dinner, a table cloth had appeared on the table.

An un-expected surprise, a Craft Beer in the Crowsnest.

Dress code for tonight, and every port night, is Evening Casual. And everybody on board seems to understand that this means not to wear T shirts and shorts in the ship after 18.00 hrs. And it works. Gentlemen in jackets are still far and few in between and you can see that those who do wear one, also wear one at home in the evening when going out.

We went to the Crowsnest and it was full of happy drinkers again. This evening the Roving Pianist had been scheduled from 19.15 to 20.00 hrs. so it was very nice to listen to that. Apart from me loving this lounge, it has also something special: Neck-oil IPA Craft beer. A light IPA with a mild citrus taste. It is made by a brewery called Beavertown and I was gobsmacked to see it on board. P&O  are scoring BIG brownie points here. I had found this IPA for the first time last year, when entertaining Australian Friends during a visit to the Norfolk Broads (Lake area near where I live) and then never saw it again. As they also have a fair selection of Gin &Tonic available, her Ladyship had no problems with me carting her up to the promised land for a good pint.

The music stopped at 8 pm. right on time as we had a booking for “The Beach House” which is a speciality restaurant tucked away behind the Horizon Lido Restaurant on deck 12. It has a cover charge of £ 11.50  and we were advised that it was very good. So we booked.  Nice table in the window as the First sitting generated rush was already over.

The Beach House, Speciality Restaurant, aft on Lido Deck, deck 12.

Because it is attached to the very informal Lido Restaurant it is a very informal place, but it suits the menu, which has some quite unusual perks to it. Giving it a sort of Beachy Atmosphere. See below, the dpi of the upload is high enough that if you want to copy & paste it out to your laptop you can easily read the entries.

The menu of the Beach House. It is not a large card but enough for 2 visits and with some very nice dishes.

As an example, I had as a starter:  Sea Salt Pork crackling with 3 dips.  Crackling is something very English that is normally served during the Sunday Roast Lunch at home.  A bit comparable with Pork Belly but then without the fat. I have never seen this twist on something that simple but it was very nice.  Main course: Sizzler plate made up with Chicken Tinga  & Tiger prawns with Stir Fried Rice and vegetables and with flour tortillas and guacamole dip. So here we had a fusion between an Asian stir fried dish and Mexican sides. Again never seen before but again extremely good.  And the rest of the menu is similar. Known foods but re-created in a very unusual way. We thought that the cover charge was more than worth it. And when asking for plain vanilla, 3 scoops, I got that well.  So less conveyor belt and more personal service. Hence we have booked for another night. The only strange thing is they do not serve coffee or tea at the end of the dinner, but maybe the menu designer could not come up with an unusual twist for a cup of green tea.

The main show tonight was the 2nd performance of the Harmony group “Tiptronic”. Again less people in the audience than last night. I think that the cold weather is taking its toll. But those who were there enjoyed again a very good show. This time with songs from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Evergreen’s we all know, but revamped in  an harmony singing package that I have never come across.  So another good  show tonight.

A shot with my small smart phone of the show.

Tomorrow we are in Alesund. Which is basically on the other side of the mountain but as there is not a ship tunnel or a canal, the captain has to go out of the fjord, and then a bit further up go back in again. Still it is only a short distance, so the good ship Aurora trundled the 90 miles back to sea with a speed of 12 knots. On occasion the rain lifted somewhat so the guests could see some of the very beautiful scenery.  Temperatures won’t be much higher than  today, so around 13o C / 56o F  but there is a chance that the weather system has moved away far enough so that we will get some dry hours during the day. We will be together with the Aida Nova of the German / Italian (but also owned by Carnival Corporation) company Aida Cruises. 180,000 tons and a max. capacity of 6600 guests. So Alesand will be invaded tomorrow by around 7500 cruise guests not counting the crews. I hope they are ready for it.

This is a diagram from the “From the Navigator” T.V channel. Although it has no information one can see that it is a long sailing out to open sea.

 

 

 

 

2026; August 09, Haugesund, Norway.

August 10, 2026 / / 1 Comment

Today we are in Haugesund Norway (I have also seen spellings with two a’s and two s’, but I have taken this spelling of the Harbour masters office opposite our dock). It is a bit of a peculiar place as it is not that well known to the general outside world as it has always have been outside the focus point of most cruise ship company’s. That is now changing as the “Apartments of the Seas” are taken over all the prime berths in the well known cruise ports, so company’s with smaller ships have to look for new opportunities or just be lucky that a major port berth is free.

This was the view that greeted us this morning when we arrived at 0900 in the morning. Pouring down with rain and strong winds gusting. And it did not improve until 3 pm. in the afternoon, 90 minutes before sailing.

In the good old days, the company’s could simply book a berth in a port and that was it. But now with the so much larger ships, the amount of tourist tax that comes in, and the amount of ship’s tax (due to the size) that is coming in, has changed the whole picture.  Harbour Masters are now much more focused on returning a profit for their local port, then was the case years ago. And they will bump a smaller cruise ship if a late booking for a big one comes in. So  ports like Haugesund are now coming into prominence, even if there is less to do.

The grass at our apartment building since the hose-pipe-ban. Our garden director had marshalled “the troops” , all in their 80’s for watering the plants by hand, as that is still allowed under the hose pipe ban. We have invested about £ 10.000 in perennials and and we do not want to lose those. The two green spots are caused by the wind bowing over the fountain spray from the ponds. (Under a hose pipe ban, the ponds are also allowed to operate so the Fis-hies do not die)

And with good reason as the place has a lot to offer, but due to the horrible weather we decided to stay on board. All that rain here and all that drought in England, with hosepipe bans. I think it is time that Norway starts exporting water to the UK instead of gas. There is already a gas pipe running to the North of the UK from Norway so they only have to switch from gas to water.  When we walked the ship later in the day, a lot of guests had made the same decision to stay on board and the lounges were packed. The ship must have made a killing with bar sales, as the British do not sit in a lounge without  a drink in front of them.

This is what Haugesund looks like during a sunny day. The main town is located around a channel where in the old days the herring fishermen used to dock. Somewhere around there is the longest pedestrian / shopping street in Norway. (Photo courtesy, somebody on the internet)

Still there were a few hundred brave people, who packed in Anoraks and backpacks braved the weather and even sat on top of the open Hop-on-Hop-off  bus.  There is also a trolley service with pulled carriages which cost £75,– for 90 minutes and goes around the town with a few stops. The town also claims to have the longest pedestrian street in Norway, which no doubt would have been very exciting were it not that today is a Sunday so all the shops were closed.

Although the P&O shore excursions are very reasonable compared to some other company’s it is still expensive as Norway is a very expensive country.   £ 6.50 for a standard ice cream cone ashore, is my idea of being expensive.

This is the big thing on the tours. Leaning against St. Olav’s church is St Mary’s sewing needle. It is an old dolmen (from before the church was founded)  and it is only 7.5 cm away from the church wall. Legend has it, that if  the needle would touch the church, then Norway would fall apart. So the Authorities are very alert as nobody wants to go back to Sweden. (Photo courtesy, Visit Norway.com)

Haugesund with a population of 47,000 people, is where Norway, or Viking Land, really started. The nearby church dates back to 1250 AD, dedicated to St. Olav’s, once a local king, who got promoted to Saint for spreading Christianity in this area. For the Norwegians this is an important area as here King Harald Fairhair  is buried. He was the first local leader who united all the tribes and little kingdoms in the area of what is now modern Norway. There is a national monument nearby at Haraldshaugen, raised in 1872 commemorating the 872 battle of Hafrsfjord which brought this first unification. Then the Swedish invaded and it took the Norwegians until 1905 to become truly independent by fully separating from Sweden.

The “Playhouse” movie theatre, concert hall and congress center.

So we decided to give all this cultural excitement a miss and stayed on board. The Cruise Director seemed to have anticipated that and had laid on more activities, which were very well attended.  Morning stretch, Guided meditation, Creative Waves (= arts and crafts and today was skyline silhouette making), Short tennis, Morning trivia, Shuffleboard, Interactive gaming, Archery. etc.etc. and this was only what was going on until noon time. Very Good.

The Playhouse auditorium now taken now with a photo taken from the stage.

As mentioned the ship has a very nice array of public lounges. The Curzon Main show Theatre (bow), The Playhouse (midships) for movies and intimate concerts and Carmen’ (stern) for  band playing and dancing. Then there is another larger lounge with stage and bandstand  called, Masquerade, which mainly acts as a Disco but is also used for daily activities. So enough public areas, outside the regular lounges and bars,  to find a space for all 1800 guests to do something.

The stage of the “Masquerade Lounge”.

According to guests who consider them P&O experts, and we have already come across a lot of them, this lounge is also used by the Cast members giving solo- performances. so we will keep an eye out for that as they are often very talented but seldom get the chance to spread their wings.

So we worked our way up to Top Deck to see how the Lido Lunch would work in the Horizon Restaurant and we ended up first at the Crystal Pool. Every hotel, resort and cruise ship has the problem of people blocking sun loungers. They sit there and then go for a very long lunch or something else, but keep blocking the lounger for hours without returning. Germans and British are in general blamed for it but Italians and Spanish are very good at it as well. And no doubt the Dutch and the Belgians are not much better.  So P&O has the stretcher police. But of course done in a very nice way.

The “Stretcher police”.

The way it works is as follows: The policy is called the “Lonely Lounger routine”. There are signs that advise  that you are not allowed to reserve a sun lounger and if you do it will be cleared after 30 minutes. But because the “official duty” of the towel man is to provide hand towels and to replace them when needed, he is not considered a “nasty person” by the crowd present. So there is very little arguing when he does clear personal stuff away.  Our towel man said then he had only come across issues during short Caribbean cruises when the public tended to be different.  I think this is a wonderful policy and it seemed to work very smoothly as well. Compliments.

The Lido Grill, which was at least today, a complete let down. The glass cabinet holds desserts and then to the left is a ice cream parlour but you have to pay for the ice cream

By now it was lunch time and as there was no waiting line, we decided to visit the Hamburger Grill outside the (Lido) Horizon restaurant on Deck 12.  This turned out not to be an unmitigated success. The service was very fast, less than 5 minutes between ordering and having the Cheese Burger on the table, but we had to look very carefully to see a small veil (yes, as in see- through veil) of cheese on the top of the patty. And it was not even hot; how it could cool down so fast from being freshly cooked will remain a mystery forever. Then we found out, the waiter could not be bothered to explain, that you had to get the condiments yourself from the counter. Those condiments were limited to chips (french fries for the Americans) a slice of tomato, a bit of lettuce and a 1/4 of a cucumber. We were aware that P&O is not the greatest on food but this beat it all.

Then you have to buy your ice cream. There is no free ice cream in the Lido or anywhere else on board, except in the dining rooms. This Lido ice cream comes from Jude’s which is  a famous name in England; a company which produces very creamy ice creams.  But 3 scoops / balls on a coronet sets you back £ 4.20 and that goes against all my principles. For the amount of money I paid for this cruise, investing in one of the top suites, ice cream should be complimentary.

By 13.00 hrs. it was still raining and Haugesund still did not look very exciting.

Fearful about putting on weight, we decided on a deck walk. The ship still has a wrap around deck, where 3.2 times around is a mile. It is quite tight at the bow and at the stern but in the middle, under the lifeboats is is really wide and spacious. Something that we now see less and less. This Deck 6 has cabins and public rooms but the designers kept the open deck space while the newer ships have either no space to walk around (except for a track around the funnel) or it is very tight. This as the designers have decided to “optimize pubic room space” for an increase of “revenue opportunities”. The Aurora is from 2000 and in those days, the designers where not yet immersed in “synchronising internal brand opportunities”, so the ship has very nice open decks.

The starboard deck 6 open deck space under the Lifeboats. A throwback to the days of the five star premium market ships built before 2010.

Back to the cabin and time to write yesterdays blog and to decide which lounge will get our custom tonight for cocktails.  Also we had found out, that as repeat guests we get 5% discount on what we spend on board, but only after we have finished our On Board Credit. We were planning to buy some Gin before we went home, so instead of doing at the end of the cruise, we did it today, as that depletes our on board credit and then the rest of the cruise we get our 5% discount. Otherwise we might have  used all our On Board Credit first and then paid with our own money for the Duty Free. Since the UK left Europe, the free import rules of how much booze you are allowed to bring in have increased dramatically. It is so far the only positive / benefit I have found about “Brexit” . The shops (operated by a Concessionaire called Hardings of the UK)  had quite a few good things on offer. A high quality Gin (Gin Mare Capri retailing at home for £ 52,–)  for £ 45,–  a bottle but………… 4 for £ 100 which brought it down to £ 25,–  So if a Dutchman sees a way to save a lot of money, in this case 50%, he will jump. So her Ladyship has now been set up with a full liquor cabinet until New Year.  Strange thing was, that we have to go and collect the bottles ourselves on the last sea day, while with Sky Princess (4000 guests) they delivered. Maybe they cannot handle the volume of orders that have been placed, as they have assigned the whole Masquerade Club to line it all up, for when the Assembled Alcoholics come marching in, to pick it up on the last sea day.

The Anderson Lounge on Deck 7.

I fell in love with this lounge the moment I stepped on board. If I would have had a regular house, instead of an apartment, one reception room would have been changed in something like this, or an extension built, so that a poor and worn out gentleman can have a cocktail in proper surroundings at the end of long and dreary day.  So this lounge is a great alternative. There is no direct music but outside is an area called “Charlies” where there is a piano player and the music “wafts” nicely into the lounge from there.

Dinner was  good  but not outstanding and the service was extremely fast again. I clocked 1 hrs. and 10 minutes from stepping into the Dining room until we had, had our coffee and tea and could leave again. The fact that we are sitting close to the bar and the galley entrance might have something to do with it but I am getting more amazed by the day. Maybe I should try to get a 10 minute pause between each course but that might not be good for the waiters mental health, and/or we might get cold food. Although the ship says it is booked to capacity we still have a lot of half empty tables around us and we do not know  why. Partly it might be that guests prefer the Lido, partly maybe because First Sitting and Early Free dining (in the Medina dining room) seem to be very full.

The Ships Dance Company called “The Head Liners” with their Revue show called “Destination Dance”.

But it made us in time for the Show and in finding a good seat. Not so necessary this time as the Theatre was only half full. I think that a lot of the guests were worn out after a full day of rain and wind. (And tomorrow won’t be much better) This show was very good again, with song and dance routines from all over the world, a sort of world cruise in music, and I was amazed in how fast the Ladies managed to do their costume changes.  For the boys it is not so difficult, another pair of pants  and they are ready, but the Ladies have to get in and out of these difficult costumes with feathers, petticoats, change the colour of their underwear that goes with the new costume and that must take some time. But they flew off the stage in a cancan dress and flew back on the stage again in a country and western outfit.   Very Good, as was the previous  show.

We went from South America directly to Paris with a Can Can and then from there to prairie land with a song and dance routine from the musical Oklahoma. There were 4  Can Can dancers, but when I took this photo one just dived behind the screens to come out a few minutes later in a Cow Girl Costume. But she still threw her skirts in the air, so all was well in the world.

Tomorrow we are in Olden, a small town deep into the Norwegian Fjords. For those who have followed our escapades on the Sky Princess a month ago, (see under the right hand lable: My Cruises and Reviews) will remember that we went there as well. The highlight of the place is the souvenir shop across the dock, the large souvenir shop in Downtown and also the large supermarket in Downtown. Tomorrow is mainly for the tours.

How those tours will go, is anybodies guess, as the weather will be much the same as today. Rain and Wind and with low hanging clouds and could be a problem for the tours that go up the mountains. Temperatures around 13oC / 57oF with a bit of luck.

 

 

2026; July 15, Olden, Norway.

July 16, 2026 / / 2 Comments

The ms Sky Princess at the Olden cruise ship dock. Somehow it does not seem  right to have a towering white apartment building dominating the Fjordenland skyline. But easy for guests returning to the ship, you can not get lost.

This morning just before 8 am., we arrived in Olden, which is a large city compared to Skjolden as it has double the number of inhabitants. 500 against the 250 yesterday,. Also Olden is a much older cruise port, ships already used to go here in the 1920’s long before there was a cruise terminal, and even longer since they rebuilt / constructed the new dock here, which is nearly identical to the one in Skjolden and in a whole slew of other small places.  Because they have been in the cruise business for so much longer, the locals have built quite an infrastructure with more tours, hop on -hop off busses and the small “Tsjoek-tjsoek sightseeing trains. And instead of one souvenir shop, it has 5 in a row, straight across the dock, including one with more “posh”souvenir shop in the form of wood carvings, high quality paintings. soaps and fragrances. Bike rental was omni present and a bit further out, the local garage was also renting out quad bikes for the more adventurous.

The commercial centre of Olden:  A Supermarket and a large souvenir shop. The small town itself is just behind it.

The town itself is a 15 minute walk and the local authorities have created a dedicated path all the way to the town and in good planning it also leads past another large souvenir shop and the local super market. (same chain as yesterday). Normally you see in every port crew running ashore to the nearest supermarket to stock up on whatever they ran out of, but not in Norway. All are waiting for Southampton as the Sky Princess docks right opposite downtown Southampton and it is only a 10-15 minute walk to get there.  The prices are simply too high in Norway, England is not cheap for shopping but Norway is 3x dearer on some items.

Olden is much higher on the “tourist trap” ladder then Skjolden, and thus, yes, there was the Big red bus

We did our tourist duty and marched to “downtown” which consists out of a few shops, a small white church and a very large school which serves the entire district. And then we marched back again,  sort of in a formation, with a 1000 others. Olden is one of the best ports for tours in Norway and the coaches were rolling in and out in a very high tempo. The tours on Princess are quite expensive which is not much different to other cruise companies, all with a 100 to 150% mark-up. Right at the gangway (similar to what you see in Ketchikan and Juneau. Alaska) you can get it all much cheaper on the dock side, but you have to keep in the back of your mind to add extra time to your plans to ensure you get back the ship on time. The captain will wait for ships tours to return but not for individual escapades.  Like most companies, Princess sets up a refreshment stand near the gangway but this is the most elaborate one I have so far seen on all our cruises. It even  had the option for Bouillon. Favour of the day seemed to be chicken soup.  Two gangways out as usual made for a speedy return on board.

The Refreshment stand on the shore side. Cucumber Water, Citrus Water, Clear Ice Water, Hot Chocolate, Bouillon and Non ice water. Very impressed.

Back on board it was time to investigate the top decks of the ship where we had not been yet. Deck 16, called the Lido, has the self service restaurant with 2 pools, a hamburger bar and the ice cream stand but then there is also deck 17 and 18 as well. Below the radar mast is another pool, for adults only, and in front of that pool is “The Sanctuary”, which is  a separate area’s where you can rent cabana’s ($100 a day and deck stretchers at $ 25– a day). It comes with a concierge and a waiter. Because you have to pay for it, it is a tranquil area where you can roast in the sun without any noise from the rest of the ship. I think it is also a very nice place to sit during sightseeing in the fjords, Panama Canal and going to Kotor.

The Sanctuary on Deck 18 , nice and peaceful and under a Dome so also with inclement weather you can sit / lay outside.

Around the funnel uptake there is a very large fitness area with all the modern machines you can think of, a large class area and also an area for personal training lessons. Funny thing is that with this large area dedicated to health, when stepping outside you can inhale directly the cigarette fumes of the smoking section directly below. Good planning………………. Then a deck higher there is a basket ball court and what intrigued me very much, was a small golf putting green under the TV domes.

This is the small golf putting area under the two Domes. Great use of an otherwise neglected area.

This is the first ship that I see where the area under the Domes, which is really a wasted space, was put to good use by installing a small putting green. Here we also have the jogging track, as the ship has no wrap around deck under or behind the lifeboats. Older Princess ships still have them, but here the space between the bulkhead and the lifeboats is down to about 3 feet. That is enough for embarkation out of the lounges behind the bulkheads but not safe for regular walking. In front and behind the lifeboats the decks are nice and wide again, for sun loungers, but they do not wrap around. So walking around the funnel is the only option.

The Fitness area is quite large, but as the average age seems to be around 50, there are a lot of guests who want to work out. After a few days on board, I think that everybody would NEED to work out, but that is a different story.

Looking at all that torture equipment made us hungry, so a quick stop in the Concierge Lounge was needed for a few nibbles, and then we had another challenge on our hands. According to our Princess Premier package we were entitled to 2 special desserts. But it did not say what.  But our concierge Lady Dorothy, knew the answer, it was 2 special ice creams from the Gelato Bar.  Let me correct myself, here on board you are not allowed to call “Gelato’s” an ice cream. A Gelato is a Gelato and not an ice cream. Same as a Taco, is a taco and not an Mexican Gyro, even when you buy it in Greece. It turned out that this Gelato was  a “Coupe Grande” of about 12 inches high, which normally costs $17,– a piece. Listing to the magical names of “The Da Vinci”,  “The Godfather” and “The Michelangelo” etc. Small Gelato’s cost between $ 3,– and $ 6,–  Even with the cost price, there was a great demand for “real ice cream”, sorry “Gelato’s” instead of the free soft ice from deck 16. So we had our Gelato, and were instantly happy that we had not gone for a full lunch as it was very good, and extremely filling.

These are not ice creams, they are Gelato’s. The Godfather to the left, and the Leaning tower to the right. They should have been even more impressive with fruit and sticks on the top, but the “Gelato” lady was cutting corners a little bit as she tried to keep the pace up with serving.

Next adventure on the list was to visit the “Captains Circle Lounge”.  According to Princess PR speech “this is an Exclusive venue for Elite and Platinum Circle guests to meet your ships officers and fellow guests with drink offers, delectable delights and live entertainment.”

The guitar player and singer in the daily “Repeater party”.. We think it is very nice of Princess to pay so much attention to their loyal customers with offering a daily get-together. The official “Captain;s Circle party is on departure from Stavanger tomorrow during formal night.

Although is is our first cruise with Princess, we were somehow catapulted into the “Captains Circle”  Platinum one from the top due to our sailing dates with P&O, of which we have done about 10 since the 1990’s. When P&O/Princess split into P&O and Princess, two independent Brands, guests kept the same status in both company’s. Hence we are here repeat guests here as well. So it turned out that Princess opens up the Vista Lounge at the stern each afternoon at 1700 hrs. to their repeat guests. On seven day cruises / in port is was quiet, but on longer cruises / sea days, it is quite busy. Today there were about 50 people there, mainly interested in the nibbles (cheese and salad) and their phones. Drinks are not free, but most had a Drinks Package anyway. The singer from the Crown Bar provided background music. Meeting the officers consisted of the “Chief Financial Officer” being present and the Assistant Human Resources Officer. The latter made a direct beeline for us, as he recognised that the two of us  did not look like the normal crowd.  Ship people recognise each other everywhere. He was from Serbia, and had just flown in from the Diamond Princess in Japan, to fill a gap here. There must have been some planning panic in HR as Japan to Norway is a long flight and he was going home in 4 weeks time anyway. But having been in the business it all made sense to us.

Today it was not very well attended, and most of them present were more interested in their phones than meeting other Princess “Veterans” but they said that on sea days it was often a full house.

Time to change, and then we tried the Crown Bar for a second time. Last time we were hindered by the show in the Vista Lounge which ended during cocktail hours and about 500 people came marching out, but now this smaller show lounge was readied for the football game England against Argentina ( the show in the main theatre was brought forward to 17:30 and 19:30 to have that lounge available as well) so there was not much traffic.  Our favourite waitress Judith popped up again, and with the pianist playing all was well in the world.  With our Princess Premium package we were entitled to several speciality restaurants, and Lesley had pushed the button for “The Catch by Rudi” twice and as the time of 19.30 worked out for us, we went a second time. The ship had been advertising the venue on the App,  but when we got there it was still half empty. No way Rudi could compete with the football game.

Shrimp on the Rocks in stunning glass bowl.

So now we could try something else and I was intrigued by the starter “shrimp on the rocks”. It is devlishly difficult to do something with fresh shrimp and on nearly all the ships you see the same shrimp with similar red cocktail sauce. Also Rudi Sodamin could not come up with something better, but had compensated for this with an extraordinary glass cup filled with crushed ice.

The shrimp hanging from a steel hook above the plate.

Main Course again an intriguing inscription: Three S’s. platter, which was Shrimp, Salmon and Scallops.  I large shrimp, one filet of Norwegian Shrimp and 2 scallops, with Parmesan Fries. Nothing special in the food but again it was the presentation. We had again chosen / wriggled a table near the window, to be away from the Piazza side, which was a good thing, as they had a dance competition going and the crowd roared as loud as during a football match. And all the marble does not help. We were both wondering why Rudi’s outlet was in the atrium as Sabatini’s, the Italian was more forward away from the atrium and opposite the shops. It would have made more sense to have Rudi’s there was well and have had the shops in the Atrium as most of the other (Jewellery) shops were already there. The Sky Princess is a very nice ship but here and there one wonders about the new build planning.

After dinner we poked our nose into the Vista Lounge where the game had just started. Two pop-up drink outlets had been created at both entrances and a British Pub atmosphere started to develop in the lounge, as all was still well in the world with 0-0. While writing this, the next morning, we now know that England is out, and Argentina will go against Spain in the finals. The whole of England will be mourning today, with or without a hangover, but many business will be happy as the Government was planning to declare a National Holiday if England would win the World Cup. There is still a collective memory in the good about the Good Old Days of the 1966 world cup and now the hopes were dashed for another   4 years.

In case you are wondering if there is a Casino? Yes there is and it is a big one. We have not been there in the evening as we do not gamble and. we do not smoke.

We went to the liquor shop as Lesley as contemplating on buying more Gin, but the “tax free” prices are not really tax free, just a bit cheaper than ashore, and cannot compete with the prices on the Ferry to Holland. So we let it be. Although the shops are large, most of the stuff sold is the same as on the other ships. We are now in Norway, so there are trolls and Norwegian clothing (did not sell as we have the heatwave) and Russian lacquer work, including baboeska’s. I think the shop logic is, we are very close to Russia, so it will sell. We did not see much interest, and I think that most guests are waiting until Russia opens up again. We have a lot of Ukrainians on board, including Anna our head concierge, and they all say that the country is getting war-weary, but will not give up especially as the Ukraine seems to be turning the tables on Putin.  The Tourist people in Leningrad must be really hurting with all the ships now going to  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Princess is even starting with home porting in Helsinki, so it can do more ports in 7 days, instead of losing a sea day going from Copenhagen to the Baltic Sea.

Photo shop on board on Deck 6 port side Atrium, everything is digital now but during day hours there is plenty of crew around to help out.

Tomorrow we are in Stavanger and we have a tour in the afternoon. The ship is to be docked by 10 am.  I did not see any other cruise ships scheduled, she will dock in the old port. That might be on the East side (so easy access to the Petroleum Museum) or on the west side with easy access to the old town. If it is the latter, I want to run ashore quickly to see if there are any new shipping books at the Maritime Museum which should be located opposite the stern of the ship.

Weather for tomorrow, Partly Cloudy with temperatures around 20oC / 70oF and a gentle breeze.  The weather people are all confused about what happened to their predicted heatwave.

 

Day 08, 22 April 2026, Southampton, Final Verdict

April 29, 2026 / / 8 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

a. The Fred website listed differently.

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

Day 07: 21 April 2026, Cherbourg, France.

April 26, 2026 / / 5 Comments

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

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

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

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

The old Customs Inspection Counters in the arrivals hall.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Several generations of local dancers and singers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Frank Sinatra junior providing a very good show.

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

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

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

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

Day 04; 18 April 2026; La Pallice, France.

April 19, 2026 / / 1 Comment

We docked this morning at 07.00 hrs. at La Pallice an industrial port on the West coast of France. This is really a gateway port for visits to La Rochelle, which is a nice old city that was not much affected by the bombing in the 2nd world war. The houses are mainly built of a white sand stone in the old town, giving it the nickname “La Ville Blanche” or white town. The world war was around here as La Pallice has a big 2nd world U-boat port, a massive concrete block providing shelter for docked submarines coming back from their North Atlantic patrols. We had already figured out, hurrah for google maps, that not much was going on in La Pallice so we had gotten ourselves Transfer Tickets for an afternoon visit to La Rochelle. The port had laid on a shuttle service to the entrance of the port (a 5 minute drive) as it is not allowed to walk from the ship to the dock gate. So large number of guests hopped onto this shuttle service and when arriving at the Gate found out that there was nothing there. Some managed an Uber ride or to take the hourly bus but for the majority there was nothing but to take the shuttle back.

A google map of La Rochelle. All the vertical roads are pedestrian shopping areas.

The ship had announced that there would be taxi’s and local busses there but we did not see anything at all, when we came by in the afternoon. Not that we expected anything very much as it was Saturday and then in France the people work a little bit less, and that includes the taxi drivers. (We even only saw very few taxis in down town La Rochelle) So the Ladies at the Guest Services Desk on board, faced a lot of comments and complaints from guests who considered themselves “misled” about the information provided.  These guests had nowhere to go as the ship had only been able to arrrange for 6 buses in total. 4 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon for the transfer to La Rochelle.

Another new thing for me. I had never seen a two level Merry-go-around before. Not visible in the photo, but there is a fixed staircase allowing access to the upper level.

After breakfast in the cabin, we moved to the Observatory to give our cabin stewardess the chance to service the cabin. We still have not met her, as she is either hiding in one of the other cabins or comes rushing by in a great hurry. With the suites it is harder to catch the cabin stewards / stewardesses as the cabins are big enough to roll their cleaning trolley into the cabin and then close the door. Then they leave a note on the door knob, saying, “cleaning in progress”. But we will catch her some time in the coming days.

Then a quick lunch in the Lido restaurant followed by assembling in the Auditorium so we could march in a organised column ashore to the buses. The word marching is a little bit over the top here, as we started as the last of the column and were the first to reach the coach, being considered “quick advancing” Infantery. The “cavallery” made up of rollators, wheel chairs and supporting troops, took somewhat longer.

To the left you can see one of the many arches covering entrances to shops. Not many shoppers to be seen as they all stayed off the street in the shade.

It is about a 25 minute ride from the La Pallice dock to the main bus station in La Rochelle. Not very scenic as it is an industrial area but the bus station is right at the edge of the old town so very practical. We had about 2.5 hrs. to walk around the town, have a drink and then be back on board by 18.00 hrs.

La Rochelle is a bit of an odd fish among all the old french towns. First of all it has always been a strong hold of Protestants in a very Roman Catholic country, and still survived and prospered. When greatly reconstructed in the 18th. century they set back the shops somewhat so the pavement in front of the shops was covered by a hangover of the first floor. So a large number of shops can be reached while walking nicely in the shade of the arches, well away from the burning sun. The city walls facing the sea have been very well preserved as well as the Old harbour which is adjacent to the old city center and really the focus point of the night life of the town. From this old port most of the French immigrated to Canada to populate the areas around the St. Lawrence River and the province of Quebec. So if you find that the Quebecois speak a strange version of French; they speak the French that was common around La Rochelle in the 17th. century.

The one street without the arches/ covered walkway, forced everything into the main street, and as one can see, it was busy.

So we followed the throng of visitors and residents that flowed under the arches and along the shops through the old town. To my amazement there were even 2nd hand bookshops her and a real absence of large department stores. Most “names” in clothing and fashion had their own small or larger boutique or had bundled forces in what they call here a “Comptoire” where several brands had joined in together and rented one shop. We saw that for fashion, farm products, wine and some other merchandise. Unfortunatelly, no maritime books for me as an eager collector, what they had was already in my collection, so I have to keep my hopes high for new books in Cherbourg.

Apart from shopping, there are several museums and old buildings to visit, but it being a Saturday, the lines were rather long. Same went for the terraces outside the cafe’s; choch-a -bloc with people enjoying the beautiful weather. Except one cafe, nobody sitting outside. So our first thought was, what is wrong here? Well after some scrutiny, there wasn’t anything wrong. They were just different, there were no ashtrays on the tables. That seemed to have put everybody off. But it attracted us like a magnet and so we sat down and could watch the world go by.

The old port. Protected by two large towers. In the old days a slighly submerged thick iron chain ran between them, keeping unwanted visitors out.

And quite an interesting world it was. The area here is for pedestrians only, except electric buses (free of charge for the downtown area, so we saw a lot of elderly people hopping on and off) and bicycles which were zipping by in large numbers, families on small and large bikes and families with family bikes (3 wheelers with a box on the front for the childeren or the dog). Then things were livened up even more, with a protest march again the occupation of Gaza by Israel. As far as my French goes, it seemed that the main bone of contention that France was supplying Israel with weaponry. That was something I did not know. I knew that France was big in the Arab and African world but that most of the supplies for Israel came from the US, the UK and Germany. So I learned something new again. Who says that cruising is not educational; and here I was, sitting on a French terrace in La Rochelle, drinking a Craft beer brewed in Corse.

Her Ladyship having a diet coke on the terrace.

What was also interesting was that there was still some sort of Guild grouping system in place, as was standard in the middle ages, The road of the goldsmiths, the road of the carpenters / joiners, the road of butchers, etc.etc. You do not see that very much anymore, except in Arabian Souks and in Nothern Europe were you have nowadays the “street of the Real Estate Agents”, as the latter tends to group together to improve business. But here in La Rochelle we found the road of the hairdressers. Within 2 blocks of houses there were 10 of them. Some male or female only, some in combination with beauty services or with massage. Most of them had also their prices on display, so you could even window shop before making your choice.

Our local entertainment for cocktails this evening.

We were back on the coach by 17.25 hrs. and after the regular confusion of guests missing (gone home or having gone back on the other coach) we raced to the ship. And then we had an immigration inspection. It is a requirement in France to carry one’s passport (or in my case my European I.D card) and it seems that the French do check if you do so. And so I ran into a short French moment of confusion……..when they found a Dutchman with an European I.D card on a British ship. How was that possible ? Hence I had to be verified against the ships manifest and then got my card back from a rather mystified French immigration officer. Clearly not comprehending why a Dutch man would travel with a bunch of limey’s. Well he was going to be mystified again at least one more time as there is also a German lady on board…………. Of course there were a few British who had not taken their passport ashore but they were pushed through with a gallic shrug and with body language of “get them back to their island as fast as possible”. A lot of British people do not realize that immigration officers in Germany, the Netherlands, France and Spain are not very happy at all about Brexit and it shines through during passport check. It has given them a lot more work and on the continent none of them really understands the reason why the split happened in the first place.

When we came to the gangway we had confusion with our ID cards again. As mentioned on day zero, something had gone wrong and our photos had been switched. That was corrected by Guest Services and for the next two days all was well in the world. Now coming back the security computer had found a new variation; both our ships I.D cards had my photo on it. So we went back to Guest Services and the now the manager came out, totally puzzled. The solution was to do a complete reset of the system during the night. We will find out in the next port if it worked.

Back on board it was time to change and watch sail away from the Obervatory again. This evening’s entertainment was provided by Howard Johnson, the resident guitar player. Apart from the late night pianist, all entertainers rotate through the public venues, so if you go to the same lounge every evening, you see eventually all the entertainment coming by. He played a series of 60’s and 70’s songs (Bee Gees, Beatles, Carpenters) while we watched the ship sail out of the bay of La Pallice. For dinner there were many tables empty, guests worn out and going to bed or chosing the Buffet Restaurant. There is one speciality Restaurant on board, Colours and Tastes, which has a very good menu but the space has been upgraded and does not look that great anymore. More about that tommorrow as we have booked Italian night.

During dinner the Dining room Manager came by with an invite  us for dinner at the Hotel Driector’s table. I know that the Captain does not do any tables this cruise, the cruise schedule is too tight to sit comfortably in the dining room, so a management decision had been made to invite us to the Hotel Directors table. That is going to be quite interesting as this Lady worked for a long time for Hebridean Cruises, where we made a cruise last year. See the write up and review on this website, under cruise reviews.

The only thing that marred this, was that some body on the ship had decided to switch the 2nd Formal Night from tomorrows sea day to the port day after and with it the formal table. That does not make sense at all, as now it means that people coming back from shore in St. Malo, have to hurry or go back early , will be tired and having to deal with a tender service (not air-conditioned) and then rush to change into formal gear. Not exactly a gracious experience. Also tomorrow is the repeater party which could have been an elegant affair, if all would have been formal. And most British like to dress up, and now that option is taken away. Now it is casual and that result in a very “personal”  interpretation. I saw a football T shirt in the diningroom the other evening, and that is a Very personal intrepetation of Elegantly.

Tonight there was the Chef’ table (100 pounds a person) in the back of the Colours and Taste Restaurant and we saw that the long table was full with 10 guests. Music was provided by the duty pianist (that is roving pianist with a mobile electronic piano who fills gaps in the entertainment program everywhere) He had set up in the front of the restaurant and provided background music. The restaurant was kept empty for the rest and I wonder if 1000 pounds revenue, with all the extra labour it takes to do a Chef’s table, made up for the lost revenue of having all the other tables closed.

The regular entertainers of the ship. With a sixties themed show.

For the show we had the ships cast again, who brought a compilation of mainly 1960’s music, including the psychedilic costumes that went with it, those were THE thing when Carnaby Street in London was at the top of its game. Again the show was very good and so thought many other guests as they had all stayed up for the show, after a busy day in La Rochelle.

Tomorrow we are  at sea, as the distance to St. Malo is too long to do it in an overnight but as it is not that long, we now only have to run at a speed of 11 knots. Weather tomorrow at sea:  Sunny but breezy with increasing winds in the afternoon, temperatures 14oC / 57oF when not in the wind.

France might be all about wine but the Corsicans make an excellent light IPA.

 

Day 02; Pauillac for Bordeaux, France.

April 17, 2026 / / 7 Comments

At 07.00 we arrived at Pauillac. The Captain had explained last night that he had never been here but that did not really matter as it was thick fog so he could not see anything anyway. The town is located in the estuary of the river Gironde and the river is still very wide and deep here. So nearly any sort of ship can dock as the length of the berth is 300 meters plus. I came by here the last time in 2010 with the ms Prinsendam but we went up the river all the way to Bordeaux. The Prinsendam could do this as her funnel was lower than the clearance height of the bridge just outside Bordeaux and the length of the ship was just short enough to swing around in the river at high tide. According to the french pilot it “izzzze not possible to zwing on ze low tide az-ze the zhippe will go bumpe”. He spoke english with a distinct french pronounciation. Luckily here at the much wider part of the river, the chance of going “bumpe” is a lot less and thus the good ship Borealis docked without any hiccups.

A left over from the Holland America Line days. Terracotta soldiers. I have no idea why Fred Olsen kept them, but it still looks nice.

We are docked about a 1 mile down river from the town of Pauillac at a rather new berth, so I assume it was put in by the authorities to entice large cruise ships to visit, and then for the guests to go by coach to Bordeaux. There is a smaller dock, more of a breakwater to protect the local marine just outside the town, and that was used by river boats today. We saw their guests lateron marching accross to the road to go and visit a local winery.

A change from HAL days. The whole Explorer Lounge was changed directly after take over, into a chinese tea room and Garden Room. See here the garden side. As nearly all British are wild about gardening , this works very well on this ship even if not expected on a cruise ship. In the morning this place is really full and many guests are examining the gardening books laid out on the large center table.

And that is what Pauillac is all about. Wine, wine, wine. The town itself has over 20 wineries and estates and the local Office du Tourism, is nearly completely dedicated to selling wine and accessories such as bottle openers, which are available in a dizzying variation of designs. Due to the mile travel distance Fred Olsen had laid on a 15 minute shuttle service; first stopping at the train station for those who wainted to take the train to Bordeaux and then at the Tourist office for those who wanted to inspect downtown. With taking the train came the advise,  that as it was a branch line, the service was not very frequent and ” sometimes did not go at all”. Luckily in this case not a big problem as we are here for 2 days so everybody can make it back even when delayed by a train “that did not go. The shuttle service also ran through the night, albeit with a lower frequency but I think not many will have gone ashore during the night as the nightlife here in Pauillac only seems to consist of a Pizzaria staying open past midnight.

The Boulevard of Pauillac following the rivers shore line. As one can see it is not the most exciting place and the road is a main district road which can be very busy. But the place is all about wine and not about regular shopping or night life.

We decided to go ashore around 11.00 once the rush at the shuttlebus was over. The ship was conducting a General drill and we were treated to announcements over the General P.A system. This is understandable for drills but the ship does it for nearly everything. Arrival announcements in the cabin, Cruise directors updates in the cabin, gangway movements due to the tides etc. Luckily this captain is not big on announcements but Fred Olsen has another Norwegian captain who likes making announcements and standard comes into the cabin just before departure. If that is in mid afternoon he upsets those having an afternoon nap. Not for a short announcement but with reading out half of the Berlitz Guide write up for the next port. And that all with a grating Norwegian “Hu-de-Buh” accent. It can really spoil your afternoon nap. Announcements can be made, like it was done during Holland America Line times, over the tv on the “View from the Bridge” channel, but this is not used here and everything comes into the cabin. Maybe appreciated by all the hearing aid owners on board but not by me, I like my piece and quiet when in the cabin. Well that was my rant for the day.

Another shot of the boulevard of Pauillac. How a British telephone box ended up here, I do not know but there was no telephone inside. Maybe once in the past it had a direct line to the UK, especially for British home sick tourists. Who will ever know how it came to end up so far into the French Country side.

Company’s are nowadays required to make regular announcements to keep the guests informed and knowing the ship intimatelly, I could follow the proceedings quite well. Fire on B deck with the assembly of the teams outside the Engine Room meant that the fire was in the cold room/ store room area as the assembly station always has to be 2 vertical sections (e.g. 2 firescreen doors sections) away from the fire. The area of the fire is called the HOT zone, the first area away, the WORK zone (only people in breathing apparatus allowed) and the 3rd zone is called the SAFE zone, where everybody is allowed to assemble and support the teams who are going to tackle the fire.

The shuttle service was extremely well organised with English speaking traffic controllers at both ends of the route and the shuttle service ran on its 15 minute cycle, even during French Lunch time when it is not uncommon for a shuttle service to be completely shut down for an hour. By the time we arrived at the Tourist office and the end of the downtown boulevard, most of the town had gone for lunch so shops and all related were closed. The cafe’s on the boulevard were all open and were doing a roaring trade with about 50% French and the rest English and American customers. Unfortunately the mussles are not in season yet (July to January) otherwise we would have gladly joined in. You can of course find restaurants who serve mussles (frozen) all year around but this is sort of frowned upon by many french restaurants.

This is the main historic highlight of the town, the church of Saint Martin, rebuilt in 1826. They charge 5,– Euro admission but unless you are really into churches, not the most exciting place to visit.

So we walked the front streets and the back streets and did not see a single (french) soul. The church of Saint-Martin is a bit of a strange happening as it was a rebuild of a previous church. This one was razed down when it became too small and then by using materials from another church down the road, a new church was cobbled together in mid 19th. century Greek Style. It resulted in a very austere design and definatelly did not have the “wow factor”. But because of living in England we are spoiled anyway as even the local church in our local back garden is from the 12th. century with all the stories to tell that come with it’s history. Then her ladyship wished to inspect the local supermarket to see if the prices were similar to those in England. They were. Petrol prices were higher than in the UK but that had mainly to do with the amount of tax levied on the basic petrol price by the French Government. For the rest the prices were much higher than recently, courtesy of Ball-room Johnny and his activities in the Middle East.

I could not resist this photo. It seems that the local authorities are really concerned that somebody would steal heir bottle bank, so they put a fence in front of it. But it was still used.

By 14.30 hrs. we were back on board and decided to test the pizza’s in the Fresco restaurant. That was a resounding success with the caveat that the free wine and beer for lunch does not extend to outside eateries on board. So I have to find out how it works for the small restaurant at the hamburger bar starboard forward of the Inside pool as it is inside.  Somehow it does not make sense but we do not really care whether it is free or not. How much free “chateau plonk” and Heineken beer can you drink anyway ??.

The outdoor “All Fresco” sitting area for the Pizza place. I like the layout much better than with Holland America as it looked a lot less gloomy.

Then it was time to upload the blog and to get ready for cocktails at 19,00 hrs. For tonight we selected the Piano Bar on deck 5 with the Resident Piano Man Paul Burton. He has been with Fred Olsen for a very long time and a firm favourite of the guests. Or as he says himself, I am very popular with guests, waiting / killing time, before going to dinner. He prefers to play music, at least in the early evening, of composers long dead, and also tells then something of the background of these old songs. So this evening he dissected two songs from the movie Casablanca (Humphry Bogart and Ingrid Bergman) and I found out that the music in this movie was on average much older than the movie itself. It was just repackaged for that movie. One is never too old to learn something new. So he promised to continue to reveal  more of this useless and irrelevant information during the course of this cruise.

Dinner options for the Lido buffet evening meal. It is a buffet line, but not much self service as the cooks are handling the plates and also the tongs for rolls etc. It all helps to prevent Noro-virus from spreading.

Dinner was of the regular good standard and as expected it was a much less hectic affair tonight. Guests where not marching in en-masse when the doors opened and I think quite a few went ” for casual” to the Lido restaurant, called “The View” here on the Borealis. Dress code was casual today and indeed a lot of T-shirts were observed but many gentlemen, including Yours Truly, still opted to wear a jacket or a more stylish tropical shirt.

The show tonight were the 4 singers, mentioned before. We are now all confused as the ship gave the impression that they had just boarded but tonight we found out that they had been at sea already for nearly 6 months. What is nice with Fred Olsen is, is that the company does not enforce standarization that much so all the ships are equal in entertainment quality with the program strictly controlled by a manager in the office. Hence the 4 singers could sing tonight their own favourites and as we have learned through the years, if you let them sing their own favourites, songs that work the best for their type of voice, then you always get a very good show. Tonight was no different.

Tomorrow is our 2nd day in Pauillac with more tours to Bordeaux and the surrounding country side. Most tours are half day but there are 2 tours of 7 and 8 hours long, giving more time in Bordeaux. Temperatures are expected to go up a bit, sunny with a maximum of 23oC / 74oF here on the river; so Bordeaux. more inland, will be a few degrees higher.

2026 Feb 16; Day 04, Marseille, France.

February 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments

I have been keeping an eye on the weather in the Nord Med., an area which is called “The Gulf of Lions” or Gulfo de Lions. (Lions as in correct spelling) The chance of a strong Mistral wind (funnel wind from the Rhone valley is always present) but regular northerly winds can be a problem is well. Those were blowing during the early mornings and that resulted in the appearance of the MSC ship in Villefranche. But it looked like that by 07.00 hrs. the wind would have died down sufficiently for our ship to safely sail into the new harbour of Marseille.

The port of Marseille. The ships are coming in at the far northern end of the breakwater.  The south side (although much better for windy codiitions) is only used by small craft. (Photo Courtesy” Med-Mediteranee)

The port of Marseille lay out is its own worst enemy as the sail-in channel is perpidencular to the northerly winds, so when the Mistral blows you get a higher number of port cancellations, especially with the cruise ships as they catch so much wind. And it can play havoc with the ferry schedules.  For us the wind had died down and we had no problem sailing in, swinging around and docking. At the other side of the dock was the MSC Orchestra the 2nd cruise ship in port.

We had booked / included in the cruise package / another walking tour, this time of the downtown  Marseille.  To my utter amazement, the tour guide was Dutch, having lived in Marseilles for 20 years being married to a frenchman. To the amazement of some of the fellow guests on the coach, she spoke english by translating Dutch straight into English. I think in english, so my english sounds much more native, She did the same with French, but for English and German she went back again to thinking in Dutch and then giving the english translation, Dutch syntax and idiom included.

Marseille is the largest city in France after Paris with about 2 mln. inhabitants. It is overcrowded and not exactly clean, although the multitude of cultures (many from North Africa and old French colonies) make for fascinating glimpses of how  other cultures live and work. (especially the small markets, each dedicated to their own cultural background with local products and marketeers screaming in their own language).

Palais Longshamp. Great museum collection and great gardens. And the outside is not shabby either. (Photo courtesy: Packyourbags.com)

So we drove around the port, up and down the  streets, and got a good impression of how Marseilles functions. First with a photostop at Palace Longshamp. This is a very impressive building, built between 1831 – 1869 to celebrate the completion of a canal that brought fresh & safe water to the city. It took 30 years due to planning problems and construction costs but now houses several musea.  We stayed on the coach as it was raining, so we let the photo-op go.

The Porte d’Aix in Marseille. Commemorating all sorts of victories the french had in the 19th and 20th century.

A very peculiar thing is that Marseilles has an “Arc de Triomph” (official Porte d’Aix or Port Reial) same as in Paris, about the same size, but looking slightly different on the outside. Officially marking the entry point when coming from Aix-de-Provence, but several governments were involved in the building process and wanted to mark the Arch for several subsequent battle achievements. There was the end of the American war of independence in 1784,  then the French Spanish Expedition in 1824, and when it was completed in 1839, it was to honor “all sorts of victories” so a very multifunctional monument.

Most of the sightseeing tour was along the Corniche (bench in English) which runs along the whole coastline of Marseilles. The road is officially named after the American President John F. Kennedy. It is where the most expensive houses are located, included Gated-Communities, and the best fish restuarants, often in converted houses from the fisherman days. The weather was horrible while driving along the coast so we were quite happy to sit in the bus and let the -french- world roll by. Photostop at the Corniche was the monument for fallen french soldiers in the East Med. and Africa during the First World War. Although we mostly think about Flanders Fields during WWI,there were many more theatres of war. In Eastern Europe, in the Balkan and also in Africa.

The “MonumentAux Morts Des Orients. Erected in 1927.

I took this photo from the coach as you cannot miss the monument, it really dominates the local sky line.  Most people in front of it, were from our busses, as the French themselves waited for better weather to have a look at it.

I felt straight at home. What Macdonalds is for the Americans, is HEMA for the Dutch. So we had to visit.

Then the rest was by Coach, followed by an hour to walk around downtown. And there we found a HEMA. This is a dutch shop /chain that sells anything you need for your house. It is very very Dutch, so finding it in the deep south of France, is about the same as finding a Wal-Mart on top of the Swiss Alps. Even the packaging was in Dutch but it did not stop the French from buying up a storm.

The Atrium bar. To the left is a sitting area with regular tables and from there you can spread out over the 3 floors of the Atrium, which is officially called “The Living Room”

Back on board it was time for lunch and this time we tried the “nibble” selection at the Bar on deck 1 of the Living Room. This is the 3 deck atrium of which the corner on deck 1 also functions as cocktail place and related. It serves small sandwiches with shrimps, salmon and beef and is a great for those who are peckish but do not want to be tempted by being exposed to the Lido outlay (called the World Cafe on this ship)

Wendy the Future Travel Specialist in full swing. We were quite impressed with her as she was able to rattle off every port of each cruise listed in the brochure.

Viking has a repeater program, The Viking Explorer Society,  (On average they have a repeater rate of 60 to 90% on board) and that means that you might get a drinks package and gratitues included on you next cruise depending on the promotion going at the time.  There is no tiered program as with Cunard or Holland America. To recognize everybody there was  a party in the Atrium and although we were not “repeaters” yet, the Future Cruise Lady had invited us. And with free drinks…….. who can say no?  So we got a few wise words from Wendy the future cruise specialist, some more wise words from the Cruise Director and then a short show from the ships cast / singers.  There are no medals or other gifts but the biggest day holder (this cruise 160+ days) was recognized with a bunch of flowers.

As the whole ship decor is “Scandinavian bare” it does not look very impressive during the day time with the tables not being set. But is is very cosy in the evenings.

The evening show was the Cruise Director himself who is also an ccomplished singer. He performed a selection of songs from the last 40 years. We did not go as it conflicted with our dinner reservations in “Manfredi’s” the dedicated Italian Restaurant on board.  And when one has to choose between food and culture, guess what wins.  It is free of charge and the menu is standard Italian restaurant style, as people would expect it shoreside. With a decent range of entries and very pleasant service. It is evey night booked to capacity and with Viking higher cabin catagory’s  you can book  at home, while mere mortals like us, have to wait until on board, and then it depends on space still available. However it turned out not to be a problem and we have also booked the other speciality restaurant, “The Chefs table” for the last night. That one has a set menu.  Then you can book cooking classes for  $60,– a person and for that you also get an apron. They run the classes in the evening so you will eat your own cooked dinner at dinner time. We saw a group of very excited ladies marching out around 9 pm. followed by a group of spouses, drink in hand, who looked rather less excited.

Tomorrow we are in Sete, France. (It is  pronounced Sept, without the t) Weather is supposed to be dry and sunny but with a cold wind blowing from the North giving noon time temperatures of  12 – 14 oC /  54 – 57oF)

 

 

Older posts

© 2026 – Captain Albert's Website and Blog –

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑