Saturday June 13 - Copenhagen
It was disembarkation day for all but 100 guest who like us were continuing onto Norway. It was a beautiful sunny day - high of 23℃ - we took the first shuttle at 9:30am into town, about a 15-20 minute drive depending on traffic. We walked around and since we were relatively early we were able to visit the royal place and another royal museum without too many crowds. By mid-day the town was totally full with tourists (there were 5 other large cruise ships in port) as well as locals enjoying the first real summer day. We took the 1pm shuttle back to the boat and had a late lunch on the pool deck as all the new guests joined the cruise.
In the afternoon we attended a couple of presentations - one on the Quests newly introduced “ventures” - i.e. kayaking and zodiac tours - led by none other than Robin West (who was the tour direction on the Silversea Arctic cruise we took some 5 years ago). These ventures look great but are very very expensive (like $200 pp for 1.5 hour kayak trip). Later one of the expedition staff gave a talk on the wildlife of Norway - it was all a bit too long and detailed.
We had dinner in the Colonnade since it was Surf & Turf night and sat with 4 others - 2 ladies from Melbourne and a couple from Toronto (names?? - janette & ??)
Sunday June 14 - at sea
We had a bit of a sleep in since it was a sea day - with lectures and wining and dining stretching out all day. We tried to sort out our tour booking in Flam (next stop) where the famous train ride is the highlight but due to industrial action by the railway company - the tours are in a bit of a schmozzle. We finally sorted this out and stayed with the bus tour in the afternoon.
We did book one of the ventures for Honningsvag - a 4 hour zodiac and hike for $299 pp but found out after booking that the departure was 6:30am so it is under consideration at present - however it will be our only chance to see puffins. After checking with Robin West, he confirmed that the tour indeed started at 6:30am because the ship needed to drop us off before it made it’s way into the harbour some 30k’s away by 10am.
We attended a lecture on our next couple of destinations and one on birds. We lunched in the Colonnade etc etc.
IN the evening we decided to give the captains cocktail party a miss (as it would have been a repeat of the previous week’s but did dine in the MDR as it was formal night and lobster was on the menu.
Monday June 15 - Flam: Mountains & Waterfalls
The ship anchored off the town of Flam, high in one of the Fjords very early. It was a cloudy day with a high of 9℃ forecast but at 7am it seemed warmer. I got up at 6:40am to have a shot at the self-service laundry which worked - all machines were available.
After brekkie we took the tender into town (the Viking Star registered in Bergen had the only dock side position) and walked around the small town. As it turned out there were a number of good hikes available but we were too late to take the long one (3+ hours) so we took the 1 hour one which was very nice - the day cleared to partly sunny. After checking out the local museum and gift shops (where I bought a small day-pack) we went back to the ship for a quick lunch then returned to shore for our afternoon bus excursion. It was nice enough but not really worth the $164 pp - we did see some great waterfalls and travel down an amazingly steep road. There was a coffee & cake stop at a mountain hotel with a beautiful outlook which was great (the lookout that is) - the coffee & cake (which we did not try) was a bus-trip special.
We were back on the ship at 5:45pm - pretty much on the last tender. we rushed through showers and attended the last part of the 6pm Virtuoso cocktail party. We had dinner in the Colonnade - veal chop for both of us - excellent.
Tuesday June 16 - Alesund: Hiking Sugarlump Mountain
We docked at 10am - it was a very cool (high of 11℃ and very cloudy with rain threatening). We set out for the hike up Sugarlump Mountain right after the ship docked - it was a short bus ride to the start of the hike - from sea level to 300+ meters - it took 1.5 hours up - the track was rocky and muddy in places but we made it - well at least 15 of 16 participants (one lady turned around). It took 1 hour down by which time the sun was out - some locals told us it was the first sunny day in 3 weeks. After a quick late lunch we walked into the very scenic town of Alesund and walked up the 418 steps to a lookout (plus 50 bonus steps).
Back on the ship we attended a destination lecture on the Lofoten islands - our next stop. We had DFT in the MDR as we wanted to watch the sail away at 8pm but the ship left a bit early so we missed it and hit the sack.
Wednesday June 17 - at sea
We spent a typical sea day - a a few lectures, trivial pursuit and eating and drinking.
Thursday June 18 - Svolvaer: Zodiac Fjord Exploration
It was a sunny mild day - high of 15℃. We jumped off the ship sharp at 8am - actually it was a tender ride even though the ship was supposed to be pier-side. We found an Avis office immediately and hired the first car they offered us - some sort of 4WD for the record breaking daily date of close to $A300 (including a fill up). We drove to Henningsvaer, Leknes, Unstad and Borge (where we made a very brief stop at a Viking museum) before heading back to town dropping the car off and grabbing a late lunch on the ship.
AT 3:30pm we met in the Club Bar on level 5 with 40 of our fellow guests and the expedition team for our zodiac adventure. We left in 4 zodiacs (Robin West, the leader was our driver) and headed up the Fjords with the plan of doing a scenic tour with a stop on a sandy beach for a walk before heading up Trollfjord - a long very narrow fjord with several impressive waterfalls. The sunny conditions continued through the day so it was not too cold on the zodiac. In the mean time the ship was supposed to make it up the same fjord going the long way around but for some reason it was 30 minutes late departing then when it arrived the captain decided the conditions did not permit the ship to pick us up at the top of the fjord as planned so we all had to wait until the ship left the fjord for the pickup adding another 30 minutes to the adventure - this was all fine except that I and many others were starting to get colder and colder in spite of the midnight sun still shining. We finally re-boarded around 8:30pm and had to really rush to get to dinner before the restaurants closed at 9pm (of course using the 24-hour room service was an option but not one Dieter would have been fond of).
Anyway - watching the ship sail up the fjord was a most impressive sight - the onboard guests were all on deck cheering and waving to us as we toasted them with a glass of champagne.
Friday June 19 - Tromso
We did our own thing, being familiar with the town from 8 years ago when we did the Silversea Arctic cruise ex-Tromso. It was one of those partly cloudy/sunny days where every cloud seemed to bring a shower. Nevertheless we took the shuttle bus into town and walked over the big bridge, past the famous Arctic cathedral and onto the base of the gondola which goes up a 350m mountain. We decided to hike up the steeper (but shorter track) and almost bit off more than we could chew - the track was VERY steep, somewhat muddy and slippery - fortunately the worst part went through trees so you could use those to hang onto. By the time we reached the top (thank goodness as there was no way we could have turned around as negotiating your way down this track would have been almost impossible) it was snowing. We took the gondola down and managed to do so without buying a ticket feeling very proud of ourselves - bragging rights in the bar that evening.
Saturday June 20 - Honningsvag & Nordcapp: Puffins, Zodiac & Hike
Today’s port of Honningsvag is close to Nordcapp - the northern most point in continental Europe. We had booked the zodiac tour starting at 6:30am - the ship dropped the expedition team, 4 zodiacs and 40 guests off near Nordcapp before continuing onto Honningsvag. It was cold 9℃, cloudy with scattered showers and a breeze which made the sea a bit choppy but not sufficient enough to cancel the tour.
We zodiaced around Storstoppen island, a bird sanctuary - all in all it was a bit disappointing - while there are 200,000 pairs of nesting puffins they were all flying around making photos next to impossible to obtain. After an hour of going around the island it was then nearly an hour in the open sea to our landing spot at Nordcapp - it was rough and freezing - most thought they would perish. When we finally landed on very slippery rocks it was a very steep rugged trek to the top of Nordcapp (where a visitors’ center and our bus back to the ship awaited us). Starting this trek while numb from the cold and in wet conditions was not ideal - also it started to rain harder just as we landed. The highlight was a herd of reindeer roaming about. We made it to the top in about 40 minutes - others took 1.5 hours - the level of difficulty was grossly understated in the tour description - in fact I was surprised that some made it at all.
The zodiacs were then driven back to the ship by the expedition team - another 1.5 hours in open seas.
Sunday & Monday June 21&22 - at sea
Tuesday June 23 - Olden
We docked in Olden and had booked an all-day tour to the “roof of Norway”. It would have been amazing except it was very cloudy - by the time we reached the summit at 1500m we were well and truly in the clouds - from tourist photos we could tell that the view would have been spectacular. From the top of Mount Dalsnibba we headed down to Geiranger on the Geiranger Fjord where there were 3 cruise ships docked - it was incredibly picturesque - we wonder why our ship docked at Olden and not at Geiranger - the Assistant Manager of tours told us it was because there was more to do in Olden but that did not seem to be the case. In Geiranger we stopped for lunch at the famous Union Hotel - the hotel was lovely but the lunch was your typical tour bus buffet. We then took a ferry (bus and all) to Horindal - along the fjord we saw the famous 7 sisters waterfalls and The Suitor on the opposite side - along the fjord we would see the remains of cliff side farms - now abandoned and some partly resorted by a society. After the 1 hour ferry trip - it was back on the bus and back to the ship with a photo stop at the deepest lake in Europe (Hornidal Lake).
We had arranged to have dinner with another couple from Nevada (Linda and ??) which turned into a pretty late night.
Wednesday June 24 - Bergen - Virtuoso tour
I awoke feeling a bit under the weather so elected to skip the tour - Dieter headed off while I caught a few more zzz’s. At 11am I finally got up and had a coffee and headed out to walk around Bergen - clearly the highlight of all our ports. Dieter returned from the tour a bit late (2:30 instead of 2:00pm) because of mix up with the boat to an island where lunch was served.
We set out immediately for another tour of Bergen - we rode up to the top of the local mountain on a funicular where we had glorious views - the sun was even out for a while. Then we walked around the old town which was amazing with all the old resorted buildings from the days of the Hanseatic League.
We had a very quite evening.
Thursday June 25 - Stavanger
We got up to a drizzly day but fortunately by the time we started our self-guided walking tour the drizzle had cleared to cloud - still cool - low teens. The fjord is famous for Pulpit Rock which is a well known and popular hike - unfortunately the ship was not going to be in port long enough to arrange this tour - as you need to take a ferry then a bus to get to the start of the hike which is 2 hours up then 2 hours back. You can take a ferry along the fjord and view this rock from the bottom but due to the cloudy day we elected not to do this.
We took a self guided tour of the town which has a really great old town - restored homes from years gone by. We finished off with a visit to the petroleum museum - Stavanger is the oil capital of Norway and even though it only has 100,000+ inhabitants there are direct flights to Houston as well as many European cities.
Friday June 26 - at sea
A rest and packing day.
Saturday June 27 - Copenhagen - the end of the line
We disembarked at 9am and took the ship’s bus to Copenhagen airport - checked-in and waited in the lounge for our 12:40pm flight to Frankfurt. Half the people in the lounge were people from our cruise also heading off. We arrived in Frankfurt and took a taxi to our hotel the Grand hotel Hessischer Hof.