Seven years late – I have finally finished producing the videos of our cruise in 2011 from Dubai to Dover with our friends Cathie and Philip. It was a fun trip.
The playlist starts in Hong Kong
Only five years late, is the video record of our visit to the Loire Valley, Paris, Norway and the Baltic
and to bring you right up to date, our visit to the Far East in 2012:
Enjoy at your leisure!
As we prepare for our 2014 sojourn, this video shows brilliantly what the Geiranger fjord had to offer when we visited last year.
We will be re-visiting some places, but not Geiranger. We are sure however that we will see magic scenery.
Other videos from the 2013 trip are here.
The sun called us at 0445 – brilliant red, but too early for a snapshot. Quite a picturesque approach along the fjord to Oslo where we docked at 1000. The pier was very close to the city, near Akerhus Castle and the Resistance Museum.
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We walked into the city past City Hall and the National Theatre up to the Royal Palace. Down past museums and the Art Gallery and along to the Cathedral. Back to & inside City Hall – which has a very austere external appearance.
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Then to the Nobel Peace Centre and along to Aker Brygge (shopping and restaurants) before heading back to Emerald Princess.
We were entertained after dinner by a young (electric) violinist, and Accent.
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A travelling day and a transfer to Emerald Princess at the Frihavnen pier just north of the Langelinie promenade. Easy boarding by 1315. We saw the Maitre d’ re our dinner table (and were surprised later to find he was able to organise our table with a window view astern; a large table was not possible due to a full passenger load. We sailed for Norway (again) at 1800, this time for Oslo – which is roughly the same latitude as Bergen. We saw – in the distance – some castles in (Royal) Northern Denmark, and the Swedish coastline on the starboard side for several hours.
The Captain warned us of rough seas overnight. We take on the pilot at 0600 before entering the Oslofjodem; around 0800 we are to transit the Droback narrows and then on through the picturesque fjords to Oslo by 1000.
Tonight we visited Crooners briefly to hear the pianist/singer, before adjourning to the Explorers lounge for singing/dancing to Accent.
Some observations:
We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Copenhagen.
Our last day at Sea this cruise! We had an easy day, took in the cooking demonstration and the technical presentation, missed the back stage tour and avoided the life at sea presentation. Champagne and nibbles in Grapevine where we found out that Mallory had been promoted to Cruise staff for her next contract. Dinner with the Baked Alaska parade followed by the Cruise Show, a re-visit to the ventriloquist (same show!) and bed.
We arrived in Southampton along with five other cruise ships, including the Queen Mary 2 which we sailed past as we docked.
An orderly transfer to Heathrow, an ordeal with security, and a flight to Copenhagen that was one hour late. Arrived in Copenhagen in the middle of a baggage strike and waited two hours for our bags.
Just as well our wait-listed reservation at Restaurant Geranium did not come off!
Bergen appeared to be quite spread out as we sailed in early this morning to our pier in the industrial port. And so it was!
We disembarked after breakfast by shuttle to Festplassen near the city centre. A short walk to the city centre, then to the fish markets with its Monkfish, King Crab, giant prawns, caviar, lobster etc. We walked on to the Mt Floien Funicular, negotiated the queue and arrived at the summit.
There we enjoyed the view over the fjord, and the expanse of Bergen. A short walk from the bottom to Bryggen – Bergen’s equivalent of The Rocks in Sydney. Many of the buildings are timber built but with a cladded exterior.
Back through the markets in search of Cloudberry jam and a Norwegian specialty cheese, caramelised goats cheese. The former was in jars too big for us, and the brown cheese looked unappetising but Joy has been unable to taste a sliver, at least so far.
We sailed for Southampton at 1400.
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See the Norway Image Gallery on this blog
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and there are more on our Flickr pages
The head wind, patches of rain, and cool temperatures persisted through the night and much of the day. Compared with the Diamond, this captain is less than informative in his midday briefing.
A lazy morning ahead of another wine tasting, the Captain’s Cocktail Party, a formal dinner followed by the production show, “Disco – Blame it on the Boogie”, and Crooners.
We passed back out of the Arctic Circle this afternoon.
Tomorrow we look forward to scenic cruising in the Geirangerfjord and warmer weather.
We woke early to take in the scenic cruising as we headed first to Hellesylt, & then to Geiranger.
Before breakfast, Les ventured up to Deck 16 and opened up one of our favourite viewing platforms until our arrival in Hellesylt where some excursions left us.
After breakfast, we headed to the stern on the port side for the transit from Hellesylt to Geiranger.
Our 1pm excursion took us by bus through Geiranger, along Geirangerfjorden and up firstly to Flydalsjuvet, a great rock overhanging the fjord. On through the Flydal Valley and up the steep, winding toll road to the summit of Mt. Dalsnibba. At 4,757-feet above sea level, the summit of Mt. Dalsnibba offered great views of the village of Geiranger, the fjord with its steep cliff and waterfalls, glacial peaks, the wild Flydal River Valley, and the remnants of snow that remained.
We stopped at Djupvasshytta Lodge on the return journey for afternoon tea by the lake, and returned to the pier via the 21km twisty, turning road (that connects Geiranger to Oslo during the summer).
Crown Princess sailed at 1800 back along the fjord and we took the opportunity to view the scenery on the port side up to the seven sisters waterfalls before heading to dinner.
A beautiful sunny day in port.
The ship was not scheduled to sail until 9pm, so we decided to dine at Sabatini’s – which on Crown Princess is situated at the stern of the ship. Conditions were sunny on one side of the ship and gloomy on the other; we also couldn’t understand the direction we were taking. Then all became clear – we rounded North Cape! It stood there in all its glory. The sun was pretty spectacular and Joy managed to capture it after midnight!
The weather deteriorated during the morning as we sailed into a headwind.
We sailed among islands in overcast conditions as we headed for Tromso, itself an island. We docked after 0900 and became the 3rd cruise ship in port.
Tromso is quite a large city and hosts the northernmost university in the world. It also claims fame as a base for arctic expeditions. We got the shuttle into town – the route took in a massive underground road system, complete with roundabouts and cross streets!
Temperature was said to be 10-13oC but accompanied by wind and rain, it was colder than Longyearbyen! We walked around part of the city, visited the Polar Museum (another was closed) and found a fabric shop with some historical costumes.
Today was a leisurely day at sea in varied conditions: misty, cloudy, windy (apparent wind speed was 36 knots), and even sunny (for a moment).
A violinist before Crooners.
Today’s early excursion was an unguided visit to North Cape via a Sami camp. North Cape (71o10’21) is the northernmost point of continental Europe. We’re not sure where that leaves Svalbard (our previous port) which lies North West of Honningsvag.
We saw various herds of reindeer on our journey – it is the moulting season.
North Cape Hall is the tourist centre located atop the 308m cliffs above the Barents Sea. We left the visitor centre until last and posted two postcards from it – hopefully getting the right postmark.
We spent 90 minutes or more trekking across the rocky landscape for some great shots and spectacular views over the Arctic Ocean. It is the last point before the sea ice to the north and has always been an orientation point for sailors. It was also a hotly contested theatre of conflict during WWII.
The weather changes quite suddenly here and so it was the right decision to take an early excursion and to sightsee before shopping.
Back in Honningsvag, we wandered the streets on this Sunday afternoon and found a café for a coffee before returning to the ship via the Ice Bar (it had an entry fee!). At one stage, we walked past a line of crew and passengers sitting on the footpath with their computers & iPads enjoying free internet access; others were in the café but paying a small amount for the same privilege!
For most of the night we sailed through heavy fog with the horn blowing. A little after 0500 we struck land – a landscape of (small) mountains rising from the shoreline with prominent snow pockets. Almost two and a half hours later we were alongside in the port.
Longyearbyen is on Spitsbergen, one of the Svalbard group of islands which has the distinction of being the northernmost place where people live year-round! It is located at 80 degrees latitude or about the middle of Greenland with the Arctic ocean to the north and some 1,250 Km or 750 miles from the North Pole.
It is hard to believe that there were once an abundant population of whales such that boats had to fight to get through them! A pity that man put an end to that in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Spitsbergen has also been the base for a number of Arctic expeditions (by boat, planes and in airships). Coal was discovered in 1612 but the severe climate delayed mining until 1906 when the American Longyear established the Arctic Coal Company. And so Longyearbyen became a company town; the company was acquired by the Spitsbergen Coal Company in 1916 and later acquired by the government which has more recently been transforming the town into a more family oriented city. About half the residents work in mining (the coal deposits are still large and productive) the signs of which were around the port area.
We used the shuttle bus to get to and from the town centre, not all that far away. The weather was a cold 4-5oC, with light rain towards the end of our visit. We walked down to the Svalbard Museum which we found most worthwhile – it showcased all the elements that have contributed to the town: whaling, exploration, coal, & wildlife (Polar Bears, Whales, Svalbard Reindeer, Svalbard Ptarmigan, Arctic Fox). We got there just before one of the ship excursions arrived to make the place over-crowded! We walked back up the slope to the town centre, visited the shops, and returned to Crown Princess for lunch and a rest. Our location prevented internet access and watching the Wimbledon telecast.
The ‘Albatros’ arrived late afternoon and anchored, tendering its passengers ashore.
We left at 1800 heading for Honningsvag (North Cape). The sun emerged as the sailaway progressed and we saw a number of glaciers in the distance until the fog engulfed us again.
A mind reader and Crooners finished a good day.
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