I`m talking cruising here! Previously me and Sue have done a couple of smaller cruises, around Cuba and on the Nile, as well as two proper cruises which both happened to be with Royal Caribbean around the Med and the Baltics / St Petersburg. We hadn`t planned on doing a Norwegian Fjords cruise until a "not to be missed offer" dropped on our mat from the company sailing under the Dutch flag, Holland America, on the MS Ryndam. I say Dutch but of course they are under the banner of Carnival Corporation as are Costa, Carnival, princess, Cunard and a few others. With Royal Caribbean International being in the Royal Caribbean Line , along with Celebrity and Azamara amongst others you ca se that there are not many different players in the cruise line industry. Norwegian Cruise Line own many of the others and then you have MSC, Fred Olsen, the luxurious Silver Sea and Crystal. Anyway this was a great deal sailing out of Harwich so had to be done.
The journey to Harwich is so easy from Leeds compared with getting to flights from London or sailing from Southampton - unfortunate then that both RCI and Holland and America pull out of that port for good after this season! Leaving at 8 we were in the boarding queue at 1 and on the boat by 1.40 and in for our first lunch in the splendid Lido buffet. Consistently great food here at breakfast and lunch - though we never tried the 10.30 - 11.30 "supper" which offered what looked like another 3 course meal! Having gone for successively smaller boats we wondered what might be in store for us but need not have worried. facilities and service were excellent throughout. No golf / climbing walls and the like but great facilities throughout.
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| Great bars with some fantastic entertainers |
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| Art gallery and art auctions. We took the free champagne but didn`t bid for such as this! |
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| Great cookery demos in the Culinary Kitchen Theatre with recipe cards and samples |
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| Free Microsoft based computer / photography training |
The usual towel folding shows from an excellent room attendant - with bedtime chocolates - but no tea making facilities in the he room - the only negative could find.
Gala dinner menu which of course we dressed up for. Only made 1 of the 2 gala dinners as Sue was ill for the first after a crossing with 5 metre swell left her feeling a little off for 24 hours afterwards.
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| Starter of giant prawn cocktail |
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| Fillet steak and lobster for me - wow! |
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| Veal for Sue |
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| This guy`s job was to dish out the ginger, figs and dates as you left dinner! |
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| The Ryndam`s Library (2 rooms) is evidently second only to the Queen Mary in terms of of sea based libraries with it`s own librarian. |
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Onboard entertainment was great too. The HAL singers and dancers put on 3 great shows with fantastic costumes which was supplemented by a good comedian one night ad a less good singer / entertainer the other. In the bars there were some great acts too including a singer / pianist who did songs from West End shows and such as Queen medleys featuring a unique version of Flash Gordon which was great.
After the rough North Sea crossing all was well in Norway and the fjords and soon we were at Bergen. Some complain about Bergen always being a stop but we`d never been and loved it. The wooden building of Bryggen were my favourites along with the Floibanen funicular up Mount Floyen and the Fish Market at the harbour front.
The shops and colourful wooden buildings of the Bryggen area of Bergen were lovely to wander through with expensive shops occupying little corners here and there. Everything is expensive in Norway - probably double our prices at least.
Gorgeous colours and structures in Bryggen
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| Interesting Starbucks and restaurant |
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| Even McDonald`s looked nice. |
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| View from top of Mt Floyen with our boat on right. |
A few of the tolls on the mountain top!
And back down in the town our favourite cafe, the Krok og Krinkel Book Cafe and some interesting street art.
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| Market square |
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| The Fish Market - now shops, stalls and restaurants |
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| Even the drains look good! |
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| In the new town |
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| Back to Bryggen |
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| Statue to Cod on which Bergen made it`s fortune |
Setting sail we moved on to Gerainger Fjord which was just amazing! Moored at the end of the fjord we took a trip up to the peaks of Mt Dalsnibba. Getting up there in a 53 seater coach was an experience with other cars and even double decker buses to pass on a series of hairpin bends but the weather and views were fantastic. Shots from a compact just cannot get across the vastness and scale of the fjord experience.
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| Early morning going into the fjord |
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| Later in the day |
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| The Suitor Waterfall (the bottle) |
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| 7 Sisters Fall - but not enough rain for 7! |
The story goes that after failing to attract the 7 sisters the suitor took to drink and the fall shows as a bottle exploding with drink.
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| Up Mt Dalsnibba with out ship a speck in the water |
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| You could hire these 1 seater eco cars to go up the mountain too. |
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| The story goes that each rock pile is a troll caught out in the daylight. |
In the town
With Bergen Geraingerfjord was probably our favourite. So vast and such great weather.
Day 3 was a short hop to Alesund. This town burned down in one of Norway`s worst ever fires in 1904.As a favourite of King Wilhelm of Germany he helped by sending ships / money to help rebuild which was done in an art nouveau style. We just strolled around and I made 3/4 of the climb for view of the town from on high. Beautiful place.
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| Art Nouveau museum |
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| Narrowest house in Alesund |
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| The walk up that hill centre left got me this shot of the boat moored. |
Sorry - couldn`t resist this shot!
Eidfjord the next day was the cue for more stunning scenery with a trip up to a Nature and Wildlife centre and the Voringsfossen waterfall. Ongoing works to improve viewing platforms meant less than great views of the falls to get a shot that summed up it`s size and majesty.
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| Viewing from the bridge |
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| Particularly impressed with the turn and dock manoeuvre at this port |
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| Great way to bring an abandoned telephone kiosk into use as a library |
After that it was another day`s cruising back to Harwich in much calmer waters. Food was just too good and tempting and as ever there was the Dishman scrabble tournament with me winning 7-4 this time over the week.
So - would we recommend it? certainly would. The Norwegian Fjords is breathtaking and just cannot be appreciated fully in these shots. We felt like we were in the big country lands of Canada and South Africa at times. Hell we even had the weather for it with temperatures ranging from 16-21 c and sunshine every day. Crew said that we were so lucky to get weather like this in September - especially in Bergen where it rains 1 day in 2! We would definitely sail with Holland America again too. So many lovely touches including representatives of the crew / cruise director lining up to see us off the ship in Harwich. Really nice touches and did I mention the food! ;-). 6 types of eggs benedict in the Lido buffet at breakfast where it was really a semi-buffet with orders being fresh cooked to order. Ice cream available from 11-5 with some of the most marvellous flavours. proud that we only partook of one afternoon tea which was available 4/5 times. Not sure where else I`d like to cruise as I see it as a convenient way of seeing lots of places over a week in a travelling hotel and some places I`d want to spend more time at but this one could not be faulted. The MS Ryndam has been sold to P & O Australia and so will only be seen down there now. 21 years old and were amazed to see the ongoing maintenance / painting at every opportunity despite it being sold and on it`s way to Singapore after it had left us in Harwich to take others off to the Med. Shame as we probably gave it the best review of any cruise so far - although Cuba remains my favourite.
