7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
After we got off the ship, Internet access was somewhat hard to obtain, so I'm wrapping this up post-trip in sunny Minnesota.
We left the Rotterdam around 8 AM on the 24th. The cruise line had all the passengers assigned numbers for departure so the whole complement of passengers weren't trying to leave the ship at once. I have no doubt that the crew on the ship has some serious work on that day. The Rotterdam sails for a Baltic cruise the same day so the majority of the rooms have to be cleaned and a million other tasks performed before the ship sails in the late afternoon. Overall, we were all quite impressed with the level of service aboard. I have absolutely no complaints with the customer service aspect of the trip. I have no other cruise experience to compare this to, but I can't imagine it getting much better. The food was pretty decent, for the most part. The variety of food and the presentation of it were both excellent, even if the execution wasn't always spot on. The ship itself was always clean and very comfortable: truly a resort hotel on the water. Most of you know that I've long had a fascination with the old ocean liners of the past, so this was pretty much the modern equivalent to the trans-Atlantic crossings of old. The only thing closer would be a trip on the QM2. The Rotterdam is run by a company that has a long history (although it's really just a nameplate for a corporate cruising conglomerate) and they had many reminders of the romantic ocean-going past throughout the ship, whether it was artwork from older vessels or pictures in the hallways of previous Holland-America liners. That was nice. And, even though the shipboard experience was very pleasant, I was ready to do something else after about 10 days. YMMV.
After we got off the Rotterdam, we took taxis to our hotel in downtown Copenhagen. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city and wondering what on Earth we were all going to do without all the on-board food! That afternoon, Rob caught his flight home to NY. On the 25th, we spent the day at Tivoli Gardens, which is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world (1843). The place is quite lovely and has lots of interesting events as well as a good assortment of rides which amused the nephews.
We had to make it an early night due to the fact that our flight was at 5:55 the next morning. We left our hotel about the same time as the local bars were closing; 4 AM. We flew to Amsterdam and then back to MN.
So, it's good to be home. I'm still fighting some jet lag, but adjusting to local time OK. That's about all I've got for now. If there's something anyone's curious about, be sure to ask. Thanks for following along!
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Kristiansand
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
Kristiansand was a bit of a low key sort of day for us. Once again, we had no planned excursion and spent the late morning/early afternoon walking around the downtown/retail shops area. The weather was much better with some periods of actual sun! We didn't really make it to any notable sites, but had a nice time hanging out in the area. We headed back to the Rotterdam for our departure around 4 PM for Copenhagen. Tonight we're sailing through a rough stretch of sea that lies between Norway and Denmark. There's a lot of wind and the ship is really rolling a lot (nothing serious, but there's quite a difference between this and the calmer waters. The waves outside are really something to see. Here's a shot Bruce took while I was videotaping some ocean action.
Of course, tonight is our last night aboard the Rotterdam. We're all getting packed up and ready to leave the ship early tomorrow morning. The Rotterdam continues on to the Baltic area with a mostly new group of passengers and they won't stay in Copenhagen more than about 8 hours. That means we need to be out of here early. We'll be taking taxis to our hotels and hopefully be able to work in some sights tomorrow. We're all sorry to be leaving all the luxuries and comforts we've had here for the past 14 days, but I'm ready to be headed home.
Kristiansand was a bit of a low key sort of day for us. Once again, we had no planned excursion and spent the late morning/early afternoon walking around the downtown/retail shops area. The weather was much better with some periods of actual sun! We didn't really make it to any notable sites, but had a nice time hanging out in the area. We headed back to the Rotterdam for our departure around 4 PM for Copenhagen. Tonight we're sailing through a rough stretch of sea that lies between Norway and Denmark. There's a lot of wind and the ship is really rolling a lot (nothing serious, but there's quite a difference between this and the calmer waters. The waves outside are really something to see. Here's a shot Bruce took while I was videotaping some ocean action.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Stavanger
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
Stavanger is our second to last stop before Copenhagen. We don't have a planned excursion today, so we're free to go explore the city. Stavanger is a big oil/gas town: much of the offshore platform work comes from here. It seemed appropriate to visit the Norwegian Petroleum Museum, which was recommended to us. We walked about six blocks to get to the museum, which was interesting. Alas, it's Sunday so pretty much all retail, save for bars and restaurants, are closed. The shops we saw indicate a somewhat trendy, modern populous (and probably prosperous if they work in the oil business).
The Petroleum Museum was actually quite impressive. The whole building's built out over the water to give the feel of an offshore platform. Everything from the geology of oil/gas to the ins and outs of how they do all that deep water drilling and pipeline construction. I found the whole thing very interesting and came away impressed at the engineering (and financial) might that goes into this whole thing. Extracting oil/gas from from the bottom of the North Sea cannot be easy. Did this extravaganza convince me that the US Government needs to give tax breaks to the oil companies? Uh, no... The nephews really liked the place and Dad found it engaging. Now that's success for a tourist attraction and our group!
We grabbed some pizza (yes, some good pizza; the stuff that passes for 'zza on the ship is sub-frozen pizza quality) and watched countless school marching bands go by. Apparently there's a national festival going on here and there were tons of marching bands parading by, even in the pouring rain. That got us all nostalgic. Some of them even had large feathery plumes in their hats that reminded us of Central High School way back when (no, I didn't see any Q-Tip like hats ala' Stevens HS).
We pulled out late in the afternoon and began to head back to sea. First, we took a detour through a smaller Fjord that contains a huge suspension bridge and the famous Pulpit Rock. I didn't get a good shot of the rock (Bruce did), but here's a good one of the bridge the ship sailed under.
After that, we turned around and headed back out on our way to Kristiansand.
Stavanger is our second to last stop before Copenhagen. We don't have a planned excursion today, so we're free to go explore the city. Stavanger is a big oil/gas town: much of the offshore platform work comes from here. It seemed appropriate to visit the Norwegian Petroleum Museum, which was recommended to us. We walked about six blocks to get to the museum, which was interesting. Alas, it's Sunday so pretty much all retail, save for bars and restaurants, are closed. The shops we saw indicate a somewhat trendy, modern populous (and probably prosperous if they work in the oil business).
The Petroleum Museum was actually quite impressive. The whole building's built out over the water to give the feel of an offshore platform. Everything from the geology of oil/gas to the ins and outs of how they do all that deep water drilling and pipeline construction. I found the whole thing very interesting and came away impressed at the engineering (and financial) might that goes into this whole thing. Extracting oil/gas from from the bottom of the North Sea cannot be easy. Did this extravaganza convince me that the US Government needs to give tax breaks to the oil companies? Uh, no... The nephews really liked the place and Dad found it engaging. Now that's success for a tourist attraction and our group!
We grabbed some pizza (yes, some good pizza; the stuff that passes for 'zza on the ship is sub-frozen pizza quality) and watched countless school marching bands go by. Apparently there's a national festival going on here and there were tons of marching bands parading by, even in the pouring rain. That got us all nostalgic. Some of them even had large feathery plumes in their hats that reminded us of Central High School way back when (no, I didn't see any Q-Tip like hats ala' Stevens HS).
We pulled out late in the afternoon and began to head back to sea. First, we took a detour through a smaller Fjord that contains a huge suspension bridge and the famous Pulpit Rock. I didn't get a good shot of the rock (Bruce did), but here's a good one of the bridge the ship sailed under.
After that, we turned around and headed back out on our way to Kristiansand.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Bergen
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
Today we stopped in the city of Bergen. Bergen is a lot larger (over 200,000) than the other ports we've visited and is far more than a tourist destination. The harbor is very large with a lot of active shipping going on. We had some time before our bus tour to hit the shops around the piers as well as the open air farmers and fish markets. They had some incredible fish available; it made me wish I could have brought back some of the smoked salmon I got to try...mmm. Rob and I took a break from the ship's lunch cuisine and got some fish/chips at the fish market. It was fantastic, made fresh to order (I believe it was local cod) and they served it with a bottle of balsamic vinegar which was quite tasty. We had a little time to hit some shops before we had to rendezvous for the afternoon's bus excursion: a tour of the city.
The tour took us around the city center and out to the Fantoft Stave Church. Here's Rob practicing for one of his upcoming law lectures at NYU:
We weren't as lucky today with the weather as it rained much of the day (supposedly it rains 265 days or so a year). We didn't get to do the funicular train ride which gets you up into the mountains overlooking the city or the "surprisingly uplifting" Leprosy Museum (description from the ship's daily publication). Apparently, the cure for Leprosy was found here. We headed out to see the former home of composer Edvard Grieg. His house has been preserved and there is a nearby museum devoted to him. A very nice part of the city: it looks over the harbor and has some amazing nature areas and gardens. The museum was everything one could want to know about Grieg, which is saying something. After that, we drove back through the city, seeing some very upscale neighborhoods, and made our way back to the pier where we shoved off.
Tonight's dinner was the last formal dress night and the staff served the dessert, Baked Alaska, with a flair.
A fun little show and the chefs/kitchen staff got a well-deserved round of applause (they must work their asses off on a ship like this). Now, some of us are going to play a little blackjack to top off the night. The trip is coming to a close pretty quickly and while all this stuff has been great, I'll be glad to get home as well.
Today we stopped in the city of Bergen. Bergen is a lot larger (over 200,000) than the other ports we've visited and is far more than a tourist destination. The harbor is very large with a lot of active shipping going on. We had some time before our bus tour to hit the shops around the piers as well as the open air farmers and fish markets. They had some incredible fish available; it made me wish I could have brought back some of the smoked salmon I got to try...mmm. Rob and I took a break from the ship's lunch cuisine and got some fish/chips at the fish market. It was fantastic, made fresh to order (I believe it was local cod) and they served it with a bottle of balsamic vinegar which was quite tasty. We had a little time to hit some shops before we had to rendezvous for the afternoon's bus excursion: a tour of the city.
The tour took us around the city center and out to the Fantoft Stave Church. Here's Rob practicing for one of his upcoming law lectures at NYU:
Tonight's dinner was the last formal dress night and the staff served the dessert, Baked Alaska, with a flair.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Geiranger
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
Another morning, another beautiful Fjord. This time, we've sailed into the Geirangerfjord, one of the narrowest and most scenic. One of the great things about this cruise has been waking up in one of these places. This fjord also as tons of waterfalls, including the "Seven Sisters" one. We got a really good look at it on the way out tonight.
The weather today was really nice. It sounds like we got lucky, weather-wise, and had a day that was mostly free of rain. Our tour bus took us past the town of Geiranger, which is apparently here for the tourist trade, and up the steep mountains to the top of Mt. Dalsnibba, which is 5,000 feet above the valley below, which is barely above sea level. While the snow has melted below, once near the top, the lakes are still frozen and there is snow everywhere. The road was only opened for the season a few weeks ago. The top of the mountain, which has a wicked twisting road, has a spectacular view, with a wind to match.
On the way down the mountain, we stopped at the Geiranger Fjordsenter. It's a nice general visitor center for the area and had some interesting exhibits on what life was like here for the area's first inhabitants. They also served some very good coffee! They had an actual slide show, with real slides! It actually looked quite good. I know some professors at the U who would be proud...
And now, we're back out at sea on our way to tomorrow's destination.
Another morning, another beautiful Fjord. This time, we've sailed into the Geirangerfjord, one of the narrowest and most scenic. One of the great things about this cruise has been waking up in one of these places. This fjord also as tons of waterfalls, including the "Seven Sisters" one. We got a really good look at it on the way out tonight.
 |
| There's nothing quite like getting your face whipped by blowing snow in June! |
On the way down the mountain, we stopped at the Geiranger Fjordsenter. It's a nice general visitor center for the area and had some interesting exhibits on what life was like here for the area's first inhabitants. They also served some very good coffee! They had an actual slide show, with real slides! It actually looked quite good. I know some professors at the U who would be proud...
And now, we're back out at sea on our way to tomorrow's destination.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Trondheim
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
It's just before dinner and we've left Trondheim, where we spent the day. Trondheim is a much larger city, around 160,000 people and 1 in 6 are students. A lot of higher ed going on here. We got up this morning and left the ship for another set of tour buses for a ride around the city which included a section of the streetcar line. The mountains aren't as high near here as they were in the previous stops, but still quite hilly and the ever-present fjord. After the tour concluded, we had some time to walk around the city, which was nice for a change. We went to the cathedral and the city center area. The Cathedral was huge, old, and visually impressive. The city center area was really nice with lots of interesting shops and a surprising lack of American chains. Sure, there was a Mcd and a Burger K, but that was pretty much it, as far as I could tell. Oh yeah, I had a tasty chocolate-covered waffle at a 7 Eleven(!). And no Starbucks. OK, off to dinner.
Around 10 tonight, they did a massive dessert buffet out in the area with the swimming pools, complete with ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, and giant bread carved to look like animals. The nephews were quite impressed. Almost ready to sleep, but even at 12:30AM, it still looks like dusk outside, though the Sun has actually set. I'm mostly used to the schedule now, just in time to jet back to MN for some good 'ol jet lag.
Besides the interesting array of retail in the city, I managed to make it to the Public Library, which besides being a nice modern library, boasts a real archeological dig inside the building.
Fun. I couldn't read the signage, so I'll have to wait until I get back and ask one of my Norwegian-speaking friends to translate it. Today's bus tour guide, like the one in Flam, mentioned the impact being occupied by the Germans in WWII had. This obviously still resonates with the public here.
Oh yes, after I wrapped up my last entry, we *did* in fact see some ocean-going critters: some dolphins. We could actually see them jumping in and out of the water as they followed the ship. Very fun. Another thing we did at sea yesterday was go to the Indonesian High Tea. The staff was dressed in traditional garb serving some very tasty Indonesian teas and desserts. We ended up sitting with the ship's cruise director, who isn't named Julie. She was very pleasant and extolled the pleasures of the Antarctic cruises the line offers. Sounds great, maybe....someday.
I think that will do it for tonight. My sister Meghan had her baby this morning, so I have another nephew to add to the collection! Tomorrow, we dock at Geiranger for more sightseeing.
It's just before dinner and we've left Trondheim, where we spent the day. Trondheim is a much larger city, around 160,000 people and 1 in 6 are students. A lot of higher ed going on here. We got up this morning and left the ship for another set of tour buses for a ride around the city which included a section of the streetcar line. The mountains aren't as high near here as they were in the previous stops, but still quite hilly and the ever-present fjord. After the tour concluded, we had some time to walk around the city, which was nice for a change. We went to the cathedral and the city center area. The Cathedral was huge, old, and visually impressive. The city center area was really nice with lots of interesting shops and a surprising lack of American chains. Sure, there was a Mcd and a Burger K, but that was pretty much it, as far as I could tell. Oh yeah, I had a tasty chocolate-covered waffle at a 7 Eleven(!). And no Starbucks. OK, off to dinner.
Around 10 tonight, they did a massive dessert buffet out in the area with the swimming pools, complete with ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, and giant bread carved to look like animals. The nephews were quite impressed. Almost ready to sleep, but even at 12:30AM, it still looks like dusk outside, though the Sun has actually set. I'm mostly used to the schedule now, just in time to jet back to MN for some good 'ol jet lag.
Besides the interesting array of retail in the city, I managed to make it to the Public Library, which besides being a nice modern library, boasts a real archeological dig inside the building.
Oh yes, after I wrapped up my last entry, we *did* in fact see some ocean-going critters: some dolphins. We could actually see them jumping in and out of the water as they followed the ship. Very fun. Another thing we did at sea yesterday was go to the Indonesian High Tea. The staff was dressed in traditional garb serving some very tasty Indonesian teas and desserts. We ended up sitting with the ship's cruise director, who isn't named Julie. She was very pleasant and extolled the pleasures of the Antarctic cruises the line offers. Sounds great, maybe....someday.
I think that will do it for tonight. My sister Meghan had her baby this morning, so I have another nephew to add to the collection! Tomorrow, we dock at Geiranger for more sightseeing.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The North Cape
7/2012 Update: a series of blog entries from a Norway cruise I was fortunate
enough to take in the Summer of 2008. Although it feels funny to have
relayed trip updates via a blog, it was a pre-Facebook way of telling
friends/family about my travels.
We're at sea again today on our way down to Trondheim, our next stop.
Yesterday, we spent the day in Honningsvag, which is ... oh wait, there's Captain Rik on the intercom...he has a weather report and is telling us we'll be docking around 8 tomorrow morning. The wind/sea is calm today and the ship feels more steady than it did on our way up. Supposedly, some whales were sighted. Okay, he's done. We cross back below the Arctic Circle around 10 tonight and there will be a whopping 3 hours of "night" (I use the quotes since even after sun sets around here, it's still light out) this evening.
We got on some tour buses yesterday and made our way to the North Cape, the point furthest North in Europe. There's a very pleasant visitor center there where you can send postcards (I did) and admire the barren scenery. The only critters I saw, other than tourists, were reindeer.
Near the very edge of the 1000 foot cliff that marks the North Cape, there is a large metal globe. Of course, everyone has to pose in front of it.
The terrain in this area somewhat reminds me of Western South Dakota in winter; barren with patches of old snow. I can only imagine what the winter is like up here Below the visitor center, there's a small set of museum exhibits dedicated to those who first came here and a kooky tiny chapel. The bottom area contains a nightclub with a view of the ocean out of the cliff. Very nice. We then get back on the buses and have some time to check out the town of Honningsvag. It's a small, but pleasant seaside community that is well used to tourists. Rob manages to find a drug store and we wander into a grocery store. It's fun to see what different things they have as well as what's the same as what we have at home. I score some Schweppes Bitter Lemon (longtime unavailable favorite of my Dad) and try a Norwegian Coke (tastes very good). Around dinnertime, we leave Honningsvag and head back out of the Fjord. I must say I've seen a lifetime's worth of snowy mountain peaks, though it hardly gets old, especially with the water surrounding them. Oops, time to grab lunch!
Just got back from lunch and am now sitting on my folks' verandah. The Sun has come out and we can see some islands or chunks of coastline to the South of the ship. The wind and sea is still calm. Someone's smoking nearby...yuk! Since the live entertainment aboard has mostly been unappealing (maybe I'm not the target audience), we've gone to some movies shown in the ship's theater room. The room seats ca. 100 and is quite comfortable. The seating appears to have tablet arms (!) and I'll try and grab a picture for the work crew to laugh at. The main problem with watching movies there is they appear to be showing pan/scan video versions of the movies and them are showing them on a 16x9 projector with the stretch mode engaged. I suspect most don't notice it, but it's a shame in such a nice room though.
It's formal dress night again, the last I think, so we'll be getting out the suits once more for dinner. I'm going to try and hang out on deck for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll spot a large seagoing critter!
We're at sea again today on our way down to Trondheim, our next stop.
Yesterday, we spent the day in Honningsvag, which is ... oh wait, there's Captain Rik on the intercom...he has a weather report and is telling us we'll be docking around 8 tomorrow morning. The wind/sea is calm today and the ship feels more steady than it did on our way up. Supposedly, some whales were sighted. Okay, he's done. We cross back below the Arctic Circle around 10 tonight and there will be a whopping 3 hours of "night" (I use the quotes since even after sun sets around here, it's still light out) this evening.
We got on some tour buses yesterday and made our way to the North Cape, the point furthest North in Europe. There's a very pleasant visitor center there where you can send postcards (I did) and admire the barren scenery. The only critters I saw, other than tourists, were reindeer.
 |
| Ain't that a touristy picture! |
Just got back from lunch and am now sitting on my folks' verandah. The Sun has come out and we can see some islands or chunks of coastline to the South of the ship. The wind and sea is still calm. Someone's smoking nearby...yuk! Since the live entertainment aboard has mostly been unappealing (maybe I'm not the target audience), we've gone to some movies shown in the ship's theater room. The room seats ca. 100 and is quite comfortable. The seating appears to have tablet arms (!) and I'll try and grab a picture for the work crew to laugh at. The main problem with watching movies there is they appear to be showing pan/scan video versions of the movies and them are showing them on a 16x9 projector with the stretch mode engaged. I suspect most don't notice it, but it's a shame in such a nice room though.
It's formal dress night again, the last I think, so we'll be getting out the suits once more for dinner. I'm going to try and hang out on deck for a while. Who knows, maybe I'll spot a large seagoing critter!
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