- 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)

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)

 

 

2026 Feb 15; Day 3 VilleFranche, France, for Monaco.

February 17, 2026 / / 2 Comments

To get to Monaco, you can anchor in front of Monte Carlo (Hercule or Fontveille) harbour, dock at the cruise ship pier, anchor at Villefranche or at Cape Ferrat in France. For reasons not entirely clear we went to Villefranche, while we found out later that the downtown Monte Carlo Cruise Pier was not in use that day. The reasons for that can by myriad, especially in France when dealing with a Sunday situation. The only nice thing for the afternoon tour was, that it included for each tour a 45 minute drive, as Monte Carlo was part of the excursion.

Villefranche bay. From anchorage nbr 1 it is only 5 minutes to a very nice tender dock, right in downtown.

My Lord and Master had decreed that she now has approved Viking  Cruises and had found out that there was an North West Passage cruise (partly, just in & out) in 2028. Under the well established rule, if we book now and early then we save money by speadning it ………………, so we had a meeting with the Travel Consultant. And we booked a 13 day in 2028 from Nook in Greenland, up and into Baffin Bay with the expedition ship Viking Polaris. So that takes away my pocket money for the next 3 years.

To recover from the shock I decided to forget my diet and invest in some comfort food by visiting the Pool Grill for a BBQ hamburger. That is all cooked a-la-carte and was very good. As mentioned before, the food is very good on board but somewhat limited in volume and variation, compared to the exuberiance of some other companies, like Holland America Line and Celebrity. But the quality is very good.

One of the 4 ships tenders. Well laid out and easy to operate with all the latest gadgets

For the tour we had to take our bla-bla boxes again to receive a lot of useful information while walking through Monaco. The ship has the best tenders we have encountered so far, it was just a pity that the tender drivers have not been trained very well in using the latest gadget called “the bow thruster”. That is a great gadget but you have to have a little bit of forward momentum for it to work optimaly. When going astern the pivot point of the tender goes back and that negates the positive force of the thruster somewhat. So both on arrival and depature from the Villefranche dock there was a lot of See-Sawing to get the tender alongside. With extra waiting while everybbody was seeing the show, but eventually we got there.

Monte Carlo / Monaco is very small, and downtown is even smaller. Our walking tour Started at number 19 and ended at nbr 22, and that is not more than a 15 minute walk.

The coach drive to Monte Carlo goes along some very narrow roads and a few times we were right on the edge of where we could look down an awful long way.  Because the tour is included in the cruise package, we were not expecting it to be very intensive and we were right. But it was a nice walk from the coach (parked in  a 5 story underground parking garage under the Oceanographic Museum) through the botanic gardens into the local Cathredral where the Grimaldi’s (The Princes of Monaco, who rule the Principality) are buried and then for a photo-op at the main palace.  Then 1 hour of free time and back to the ship with a promise that the coach would do a full lap around the Formula One circuit.

The late 19th. century Cathedral. Homebase for the Royal Family of Monaco.

The Catheral is from the mid 19th. century so not so old but is very interesting with many side chapels dedicated to various Saints.  The past rulers of Monaco are buried here, starting with the churches completion.

The grave of movie starr Grace Kelly, or Patricia Gratia as she was known in Monaco.

Only the direct Monarch and his spouse and those in directe line are buried there, the rest is buried somewhere else. One “mass grave” had the remains of those who ruled before the Church was completed. (So for modern times, Prince Rainier is there, so is Princess Grace and the next one will be the current ruler Prince Albert, wife and oldest child)

The main Monte Carlo harbour, called Hercule, is not the only one. Just to the West is “Fontveille” which a much smaller and quieter affair. This photo was taken from the lookout point in the Gardens just under the Cathedral.

Monaco is only 4 square kilometers in size, so if you do not break on time, you are out of Monaco and back in France. Hence Monaco has the euro and a lot of French rules & Social Security accepted. But is has local police, local taxes (only the Monegaskan Passport holders are tax exempt, who make up 20% of the population) and local driving rules.

We had to be back on time at the bus, except one couple who arrived / were found by the tour escort  30 minutes late, without much of an excuse, as it is nearly impossible to get lost in this area. “Walk down to the gardens and you cannot miss the entrance to the car park. But it brought us back 30 minutes late to the ship. But now comes the nasty part, the tour escort had talked up this full lap around the Formula One circuit. Then with great aplomb announced where the starting line was and then waffled off about underground traffic tunnels. We never did the full lap. And I was hoping for the full lap because when you go under the hotel, even a coach engine sounds like a roaring ferrari, due to the acoustics.

The F1 Grand Prix circuit of Monaco. We only saw the section V to A1. We have been here before but a pity for the guests for whom it was the first time.

Coming back to where the tender is the driver nearly ran into a leaving bus, could not handle the hand break while going uphill and then refused to make more room for the other busses coming out. Compliments to the lady bus driver of the other coach coming out, she managed to get around our coach with about 1 inch to spare. On arrival at the tender pier we had to wait 20 minutes for the next tender and then other five while the tender driver gave the “not how to dock show” by the wrong use of the bow thruster.

The main palace of Monaco. It is mainly a working palace with the direct family scattered around it in various villa’s.

We were supposed to be all by ourselves but in the aftrnoon the MSC Splendida came in. She had not been able to dock in Marseilles due to strong winds. Apart from the city being a port of call also a number of guests were supposed to disembark and embark, so after arrival a large shore tender came out to arrange that. We had fun and games with the small parking area’s with 900+ guests and 12 busses, so let alone what they will face with handling the approx. 2200 guests on board.

For cocktails we went back to the Explorers Lounge and then to dinner. The company had laid on a barbecue and dancing on the stars on Deck 7 under the Magro Dome. We went to have a look, but the barbecue was very limited so most people got extra from the buffet inside. It turned out that the dancing under the stars was not a continious party but more like a show where the various entetainers all did their own little thing.  As (with the dome closed) the music was deafening we decided to go for a regular dinner. This BBQ gig did not get much of attendance as there are not many high tables around the pool, so one would have to hold the plate on ones knees. We are now spoiled by the “White Night” with Azamara, so this was a bit of a let down in comparison.

So we went for a regular dinner in the diningroom. While waiting for the Maitre to figure out a table we met an American couple who we had talked to while waiting in the show lounge the night before, and decided the share a table. Good company, as they had also travelled the world, lived in Germany, and an enjoyable time was had by all.  Maybe due to the size of the ship, or the international travel experience  most guests enjoy the interaction with other guests they have never seen before. It splits the crowd in a sort of 3 groups. Those who march according to the daily program and do their town thing, the second group who already travel in a group for the duration of the cruise, and a 3rd group, who are by themselves but enjoy cocktails and interaction with other fellow travellers.  So one does not need to be exactly lonely on board.

Tomorrow we are in Marseilles. The weather is supposed to be windy during the night but the wind should die down on arrival, so if the captain is a luckily man he won’t have much programs in getting in. With us is the MSC Orchestra which came in early due to the expected wind during the night. Weather, overcast with rain, temperatures around 11 – 14oC /   49 – 58oF.

 

 

 

2026 Feb.14, Day 2, Livorno Italy.

February 16, 2026 / / 2 Comments

For the 2nd day of our stay in Livorno, the ship had its focus on tours to Pisa.  Yesterday most guests had gone on tours to Florence and Lucca and came back completely exhausted. Public rooms and restaurants were very quiet in the evenings. The tours are on average quite expensive and when reading through them I could not see if they did anything more detailed or different than tours with other company’s.  If no different than the regular ones, then I think they are somewaht over priced. We have several tours during the cruise that are included in the package and which are mainly panoramic bus tours or walking tours with free time. For that purpose each cabin has a “bla -bla-box” with ear piece for each person so you can hear the tour guide without having to be too close or the escort having to shout.  We have seen these “bla-bla boxes ” (as we call them in the UK) on the river cruises and it is very a nice feature. For those not on tour, there is a local shuttlebus service to downtown Livorno.

Air photo of Livorno port. The black line is the track that most cruise ships follow, hardly any other way to do it as the port is large but very compact. Photo courtesy: Capt Alberts blog 17 Oct. 2018.

We tried room service breakfast this morning and opted for the last moment of 09.45 to 10.00 as that is normally the least busy time. They made it just after 10 am. as at 10,00the Captain had decided that this was the most perfect moment to run an unannounced safety drill. (It is a requirement to do every so often a drill that is not announced / publicly scheduled) So room service had the challenge to get their orders ready while the cooks were already trying to run-away.  But it all worked out. The room service menu is nice but not much different then with other company’s. The tray is plonked on the table and that is it. Setting the table is for 6 star or higher.

Stock photo of a self service laundry; from Viking Sky, via Cruise Critic. As the ships are almost identical so are the laundries. Only thing the Viking Saturn had missing was the clothes rail above the ironing boards. When finished with ironing you can fold the boards back against the wall and give more space for the loading  of the machines.

What is nice with Viking is that they have self service laundries on board, one on each deck with 4 washing and 4 dryers and 2 iron boards, free of charge. We had to hunt around for a free iron board as we have groups on board who did a pre-stay in Rome and a large contingent of chinese who seem to have been much longer on the road and now seem to live inside the laundries. (There is also a TV and couch inside so you can watch a movie while doing the washing)  But I like self service laundries on board as I never get my shirts wrinkle free out of the suitcase.

Pisa ” central” from the air. The leaning tower to the top left, the chatedral (Duomo) left, the Baptism church (Baptistry)  to the right and the Cementry (Campo Santo Monumentale) left under. The whole area in green (and very soggy) grass) and is called Piazza del Miracoli. (Photo courtesy, somewhere of the internet)

We went on the afternoon tour to Pisa, which is a panoromic tour with a walk to the leaning tower. The weather felt like being at home, chilly and raining.  The company who provides the escorts is Italian, but they also cover Monaco and further west into France, so we will see them again. The are called Trumpy Tours but the apologetic escort advised that there were was no connection to you know who.

The bus trip lasts about 45 minutes and although it is mentioned that is was going over the motor way, it goes on the regular roads so it is quite interesting even if only for the bus drive. In Pisa they have moved the coach park to another area than before (much bigger) so it is a good 15 minute walk into town. To make things more agreeable they also moved most of the souvenirs shops to remain in line with the new “invasion route” of the coach – tourists so all was well in the world.  (Before you would enter through a Gate at the top right of the photo so the first thing you would see was the leaning tower, now you first see the Baptistry)

The afternoon tour left just one hour of free time and hence not much time to visit anything beyond the square. Luckily there were no long lines, as it is off-season, and the persistent rain kept a lot of people away as well.  If you buy a ticket for the Baptism church, the leaning tower, or the cementary, you get free access to the Cathedral.  The church is in principal free to visit but to reduce (selfie) traffic, they charge unless you have a ticket for one of the other ones, then it is free.

As you can see, with everybody pushing, you do get the Leaning tower of Pisa almost upright. Then the tourists go away for the night and the tower reverts to its original  tilt. And then the process starts again……………….).

Waking / climbing up to the top of the Leaning Tower costs 20 euro and is 296 steps. It is about 15 minutes to get to the top and 15 minutes down and the timed ticket lasts an hour. If you over stay, security will help you very efficiently to get downstairs much faster than you would have normally done. The very top of the tower is off-limits  nowadays. According to our tour lady, this was for maintenance purposes but she also hinted that too many people tried “to fly” from the very top at the “leaning over” side.

There have been a lot of repairs done to the tower to stop it from further tilting over due to the swampy underground and the last repairs have brought the tilt back from 4.8 to 3.8 (or something like that). Several hundred years ago, when the then incomplete tower started to lean, the finishing architects worked it in such a way that the “backside” of the tower got a banana curve which makes it look almost straight. But nobody is interested in that, everybody wants a picture with the leaning side.

Somebody posted this on Reddit and my appreciation to the dog owner as it is not easy at all to get the perspective right with a human being, let alone with a dog. But each gentle push helps the tower to stay upright, so well done doggy.

The latest craze seems to be to have a dog -picture while pushing back the tower. Today I thought I saw a Japanese lady trying it with a small “fiffi” dog, but it is not easy to get a small dog the right perspective with a large tower.

Deck 7. All the public areas are on Deck 1,2, and 7. The Explorers Lounge is near the bow and has a 2nd level (deck 8) at the forward part which can be reached by a glass staircase. You can still hear the entertainment from deck 7 level but is somewhat quieter.

Back on the ship it was time for cocktails and we went to the Explorers Lounge on Deck 7. On the first night there was no entertainment there until 9 pm. but this time there was cocktail music by means of a guitar player, who gave quite acceptable renderings of songs by Arlo Guthrie,  Billy Joel and Gordon Lightfoot.

The Explorers Lounge on the Viking Saturn. More to the left is a nice bar and a lot more seating area. (Photo courtesy Viking Cruises)

By 19.30 we were entering “The Restaurant” (yes a very original name)  and because it was Valentins day all the Ladies received a red rose. That felt me quite discriminated. The Ladies are now all equal to men in society , and that is the way it should be, but it should also work the other way around. If the Ladies get a rose, why don’t the Gents get a chocolate or something ?

The show started again at 21.00 hrs. The lounge is quite spacious with ample room between the rows (so a waiter can get in with drinks) and for the evening they also open the separation doors of the two cinemas’ on either side as well, creating a show lounge for about 400 guests. Tonight was Musical night: “Stage Door” featuring musical songs from the MGM music catalogue. There are no dancers on board and thus they had cheographed the show around the pianist on center stage. Never seen that before but it worked very well.

The Viking Saturn theatre called the “Star Lounge”. As you can see in the photo a lot of pillows have photos of old movie actors on them. We recognized, Valentino, Gloria Swanson and Ingrid Bergman but there were many others. 

Tomorrow we are in Villefranche at the anchorage for the Monaco call. We have an afternoon tour again with a walk-a-bout.  Weather: Overcast turning to sunny with temperatures around 59oF / 15oC.

2026 Sep. 26; Fusina, Italy.

September 27, 2025 / / 5 Comments

Last night we crossed the northern part of the Adriatic Sea and arrived this morning at 0900 at the cruise terminal. We docked at the Cruise Dock, which is not that usual, because when there are 2 cruise ships in port, the smallest one is bumped to the other side, which is technically the Ro-Ro dock. There seems to be a gate in between but I have not been able to ascertain that the small terminal of Fusina services both ships or that a Marquee is rigged up, and/or if one has to go through the confusion of the Ro-Ro terminal.  But we were back right opposite the cruise terminal building from where we will go back home tomorrow.

Internet photo with two cruise ships in. Here we see the Explora I, which is bigger alongside the terminal and the Azamara Onward is banned to what is normally a Ro-Ro ferry dock. The authorities in the enthusiasm in 2022, assigned 4 docks to the cruise terminal but 3 of them are really the Ro-Ro docks. Quay Abbruzzo ( the real terminal), Quay Umbria, Quay Toscana and Quay Marche.

Today is thus really the day to visit Venice. Which can be by taxi (65 euros) or renting a car and it takes about 40 minutes to the Plaza Maritima and from there you can walk into town. Then you can also through the ship book a shuttle that takes you directly into Venice. So while Fusina is a nice terminal it is not that greatly located but as long as the 30,000 ton rule exist for all the “Venice cruise ships”,  there is not much that can be done. There were two other cruise ships in port, the L’Austral which is 10,700 tons in size and thus could dock in downtown Venice  and the other one is the Norwegian Luna, 156.300 tons and that one docked in Marghera which is the industrial port and also where the Fincantieri shipyard is located.  The Viking Jupiter we saw yesterday in Sibenik is today and tomorrow in Chioggia further to the south and that is almost an hour taxi drive to Venice.

The good old days, when there were no limits and cruise business was booming. Four ships at these two terminals and 2 more ships to the left at the other pier not on the photo. so 6 in port altogether/

Today about half of our guests went ashore and the rest made it  a quiet day on board. Not a bad idea as by 11am it was poring down and I do not know if those going ashore had a rain coat with them. Nobody I saw leaving carried an umbrella so they might have gotten wet. Some of the Australian and American guests on board made this cruise a part of a larger holiday period. Makes sense as flying from Australia (26 hrs. with 7 hr. stop in Malaysia or Singapore) or 12 hrs from the US west coast is not really worthwhile for just a seven day cruise. So some had made a river cruise and some were city hopping. (see Paris in 3 days, Europe in 7 days …….. etc.)

What is the problem? The Lido where all the ships have to sail through is not that wide and if a ship would not make the turn for what ever reason (technical or human) then it would hit the old port. And most likely at this point where the fairway makes a turn. The port tried to alleviate this with a safety tugboat forward and one aft but a large ship at 10 knots is not that easily stopped. This is the ms Koningsdam of HAL which measures just under 100.000 tons, when this was still the maximum size allowed pre Covid.

We also decided to stay on board as the transfer was not cheap, rain was expected and with at least 4000 passengers on top of the regular visitros would call for another busy day in Venice. Plus there is the additional 5 euro’s Venice Admission Tax, and all together it makes it not cheap just to go ashore with the intention to just go for a walk. And we have been here many, many times. Plus there is the conundrum that we had to pack. The ship has advised that they want all the suitcases out tonight by 21.30, so there is also not the option to pack after the show. Hence we packed this afternoon and it gave me the chance to take some more photos of the interior.

Our Cruise Director Linda Love from Melton Mombray in England. She started out as a dancer and then moved up the ranks to Cruise Director. During Covid she worked in a Garden Center. Unfortunately Azamara has done away with flowers in the cabins, otherwise they would have had an expert on board with extra pay

This morning we had the weekly safety drill of the ship at 10.am and this time there was a crew cabin on fire ,but it seems to have been extinguished to the satisfaction of everybody. Also it has been crew change over day. We saw the first group coming and leaving in Kotor and today and tomorrow there will be a steady stream of crew pulling and pushing suitcases both today and tomorrow. Today the Captains changed and tomorrow it will be the Cruise Director. There are 2 Captains for each ship and I assume also 2 Cruise Directors. We saw the  the Cruise Directors show from last night today on the tv.  All shows are recorded and shown in the cabins. So nothing about this nonsense we see on other ships about no recording etc. At the end of the show, which was very good, all the cast streamed onto the stage with flowers, champagne and compliments.  Hopefully the captain did not see it, as his goodbye during Captains introductions was much more muted.

Yesterday during lunch Lesley had asked if there would be any Spaghetti Bolognaise during the cruise and today in Italy, here it was. Unfortunately bolognaise divided over the penne  and the spaghetti with the con Vongole). But the sous chef popped up again ad combined the two items in one Spaghetti Bolognaise without any fuss. It was a quiet moment in the Windows Restaurant (Lido), so he had time, but still it is a good example of how the crew is focussed on the delivery of the cruise product.

We are flying tomorrow from Venice via Amsterdam to Norwich, with 5 hours overlay in Amsterdam. but at least our suitcases will make it.  As usual I will post my review and verdict in a few days, where I bundle all my observations, complain (=constructive suggestions) or praise. You will get a ping, but otherwise please look mid week. In the mean time, a few photos of “The Den”. We spent a few nights having cocktails  and after dinner drinks there. Nice place with a good piano player.

The Den. The bar tenders, only two, as it was a quiet moment. (Not very usual in the evening)

Apart from the free booze, the main attraction is the entertainment in the evening. Either the Resident piano player (also plays accordion) or a visiting performance by one of the Cast entertainers. All nice and very social.

The Resident piano player, He was really there but his seat was rather low, so he was hard to see.

XXX

 

 

 

 

 

2025 Sept. 23; Kotor, Montenegro.

September 24, 2025 / / 3 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

18.30 Buffet opens  (Guests start to line up)

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

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

21.45 White night After party with SensAsia

10.45 White Night After Party with D.J Symz.

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

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

The line up for the buffet.

The crew is coming out, everybody waves their napkins.

The crew assembly and flags at the ready.

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

2025 Sep. 21; Havr,Croatia.

September 23, 2025 / / 0 Comments

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

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

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

The main square looking towards the harbour.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

Older posts

© 2026 – Captain Albert's Website and Blog –

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑