Dave's Live from Eurodam Trans-Atlantic, Aug. 27 - Sept. 12, 2013

[Bemis]

Thanks for posting this - I'm looking forward to seeing firsthand the progress of the ship. Did you happen to see the search and rescue ship coming alongside as you departed Stavanger today? (other post, made before I found this thread?)

 

And if you happen to see a female cruiser from New York city with long hair happily crocheting somewhere aboard, tell Barbara hello from Brooklyn :)

[rajkr74]

Dave, we are enjoying your Live posting from the Eurodam. We were on her in May on the Baltic and really enjoyed her. Your pictures are great but you have to leave the photos of the food out.....makes me too hungry. ;)

 

Your explanation and complaints of the leg room on your plane flight over there did not get a lot of sympathy from me. I have to live it all the time at 6' 9".

 

Keep the pictures coming we truly enjoy them.

 

Rick & joyce

[erewhon]

Great review, thank you.

[JamesEM]

I never have eaten pheasant, hopefully it will be on the menu when DW and I sail this Fall, by the way, does it taste like dark chicken?

[RetiredMustang]

Friday, August 30, 2013, Bergen, Norway

 

Another day begins! Here is today's program:

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Fri., Aug. 30 (Cont).

 

We approached Bergen in heavy fog which changed to light rain. We are now inport and cleared to go ashore. The rain has stopped, but it is still foggy. It's starting to get lighter.

 

I hope the weather improves. We have an excursion to take the funicular to the tope of the mountain, and a walk through the old section of town.

 

Here are the pages from the Explorer port guide:

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

... Did you happen to see the search and rescue ship coming alongside as you departed Stavanger today? ...

 

We had just arrived in the Silk Den. It was a helicopter evacuation. The helicopter came up the port side and went to the bow (which we could not see). I presume they lowered a basket and crewman.

 

The helicopter the flew off and around the ship a bit, I presume to allow the ship staff and helicopter crewman to prepare the patient in the basket. The helicopter returned to the bow for a few minutes, and then lifted off and headed to shore.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

...

Your explanation and complaints of the leg room on your plane flight over there did not get a lot of sympathy from me. I have to live it all the time at 6' 9".

 

Keep the pictures coming we truly enjoy them.

 

Rick & joyce

 

Rick,

 

I actually thought of you when we were on the flight, thinking how much harder it would have been for you.

 

Glad you are enjoyin g the thread and photos. I do OK, but I don't have the great camera, or the skills, that Joyce has. I remember her fantastic shots from Noordam in February.

 

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

I never have eaten pheasant, hopefully it will be on the menu when DW and I sail this Fall, by the way, does it taste like dark chicken?

 

It tastes like quail! :D Actually, it does resemble chicken since it also is a bird. It tastes a bit more wild, and is leaner meat.

 

Dave

[Copper10-8]

Dave; Jeff Burghart, a very funny guy! Watch him do his Jack Nicholson imitation:D

[whogo]

I never have eaten pheasant, hopefully it will be on the menu when DW and I sail this Fall, by the way, does it taste like dark chicken?

 

It tastes like quail! :D Actually, it does resemble chicken since it also is a bird. It tastes a bit more wild, and is leaner meat.

 

Dave

The game birds served on HAL are farm raised and less gamey than wild birds.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We had just arrived in the Silk Den. It was a helicopter evacuation. The helicopter came up the port side and went to the bow (which we could not see). I presume they lowered a basket and crewman.

 

The helicopter the flew off and around the ship a bit, I presume to allow the ship staff and helicopter crewman to prepare the patient in the basket. The helicopter returned to the bow for a few minutes, and then lifted off and headed to shore.

 

Dave

 

Hope the evacuated passenger is all right.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Hope your Bergen excursion turned out all right.

[RetiredMustang]

Fri., Aug. 30, Bergen (Cont.)

We had an enjoyable morning, with the weather cooperating … I didn’t say it was great, just that it cooperated.

We had booked the ship’s Bergen and Mt. Floian excursion. They had three buses, with about 30 people in each one, but they took slightly different routes, so we weren’t all at the same places at the same time.

We started with a windshield tour of the areas around the old harbor, including a stop for a Kodak moment near the end of the southern peninsula. I took a shot back to the old harbor; the clouds were starting to lift a little:

Then, a bit more driving and history from our guide, before finishing the bus portion at the funicular station. We rode the funicular:

To the top of the line, on a ridge that overlooked the harbor. At the top, there was the funicular station with (surprise!) a gift shop:

There was also a restaurant, be we did not have time for me to see if the Danish word for beer I learned years ago was the same word in Norwegian, as we only had half an hour on top.

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Fri., Aug. 30, Bergen (Cont.)

At the top of the funicular, there is also a wide area for lots of people to get the great shots that thousands before us have gotten. The clouds had lightened, and we almost had a shadow here and there. I took a shot of the old harbor, with the cruise ships in the port (us, Fred Olsen Line Black Watch, and Ariana from I don’t know which line):

I also have been playing with camera and discovered a setting called “panorama” so I tried it out. After a few screw-ups, I got some to take. Here is one that shows the sweep of Bergen. You can also see that there is a Pincess ship in the commercial harbor area, but I did not catch the name:

We then took the funicular back down to the city, and our tour guide gaggled us to the square near the fish market. She said there would be 15 minutes free time, and then she would tell us about the Hanseatic port buildings in the Brygge section along the northern waterfront. She had already told us about the Brygge on the bus tour, so we told her that we had smelled enough of the fish harbor and would find our own way back to the ship.

I took a standard shot of some of the Brygge buildings, and we went into several of the shops (lots beautiful sweaters costing hundreds of dollars, and lots of three-dollar trinkets … that they were selling for 12 bucks.)

Sadly, there wasn’t an open pub to be found. So we returned to the ship before the rain started again. We made it. Coincidentally, I also found a place on board that was happy to sell me a Grolsch.

The rain only lasted a short while. It is still overcast, but pretty warm, so I think I will joion DW on our balcony, which has a great view of the southern peninsula of Bergen.

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

So glad that the weather co-operated and you had a great tour.

The views are fantastic.

Busy day -- 4 ships in.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Dave, your trip looks wonderful, thanks so much for taking the time to post your pictures and descriptions of your day. My longest cruise to date has been 11 days, and all have been roundtrip from Ft. Lauderdale. Some day (soon I hope) I will retire and be able to cruise to such wonderful places as Scandinavia. This blog of yours gives me a little taste of what may come.

 

Linda

Edited August 30, 2013 by Cruiz'nBaers

[Copper10-8]

Fri., Aug. 30, Bergen (Cont.)

 

 

At the top of the funicular, there is also a wide area for lots of people to get the great shots that thousands before us have gotten. The clouds had lightened, and we almost had a shadow here and there. I took a shot of the old harbor, with the cruise ships in the port (us, Fred Olsen Line Black Watch, and Ariana from I don’t know which line):

 

 

 

 

The Princess ship is Caribbean Princess and the other smaller one is Artania from German operator Phoenix Seereisen, the former Royal Princess from Princess Cruises. That view looks a lot like the view from Alesund, Norway. Have a great time!:)

[cccole]

I am really enjoying your pictures and commentary. It looks like you were lucky to have docked in the Old Harbor, I think I see a large ship on the left of your picture in a much more industrial area. The Brygge buildings are fabulous. Thanks for the entertaining review. Cherie

[Sudriveraine]

Thanks so much for posting this! We'll be on the Eurodam's next cruise Sept.12 out of New York and seeing the menus and daily planners is getting me excited!

[Thebes]

Ahhhhh!!! Bergen , my favorite western Norwegian city. Glad you went up on the train to the funicular. We had a meal at that white restaurant at the top,, very delicious food. Fantastic views from the top. Thank you for the wonderful photos. It reminded me of my previous visit to Bergen in 09 on a land tour. I'm reliving the Bergen experience as you described it :)

I wish you calm seas ahead as you cross over to Iceland & Greenland :)

 

 

Thank you CC family :)

taneous@hotmail.com

[RetiredMustang]

Fri., Aug. 30, Bergen (Cont.)

We were delayed departing for about an hour because a ship’s excursion was late returning. We later learned there had been an accident in a tunnel that prevented the bus from returning to the ship.

We sailed just after 6 p.m., and sailed through a beautiful archipelago en route to open seas. The sun had come out and it was a special transit out from Bergen; certainly prettier than the trip in:

Dinner tonight had a few special dishes marking our visit to Norway:

I had the Norwegian Fish Chowder special dish. It had pieces of white fish, some salmon and bay scallops in a cream sauce. Very tasty:

After dinner, we had a cocktail at the Silk Den, which is rapidly becoming our favorite after-dinner libation location. Then we took in the show of the “Comedy Impression of Jeff Burghart”. We had planned to go, and found him very funny. We especially liked his impressions of Paul Linde and Tom Jones. His Jack Nicholson was also inspired. Thanks, John, for the recommendation. (Still trying to find Doug).

Tonight we turn the clocks back an hour. Yay! We love these 25-hour days on this northern trans-Atlantic. Tomorrow (and the day after) are lazy at-sea days. DW says I don’t have any other kind of at-sea days.

More later,

Dave

[cruz chic]

Thx for the update. Is that all you had to eat? A bowl of soup?

[Typhoon1]

We had just arrived in the Silk Den. It was a helicopter evacuation. The helicopter came up the port side and went to the bow (which we could not see). I presume they lowered a basket and crewman.

 

The helicopter the flew off and around the ship a bit, I presume to allow the ship staff and helicopter crewman to prepare the patient in the basket. The helicopter returned to the bow for a few minutes, and then lifted off and headed to shore.

Dave

 

I'm sure these rescues are practiced on a regular basis. They make it look so easy.

[Copper10-8]

I'm sure these rescues are practiced on a regular basis. They make it look so easy.

 

Yes, countries with militaries (primarily Air Force, Navy and/or Coast Guard) that have available assets to perform aerial evacuation from ships by helicopter (in some countries supplemented by civilian units) train those type of evacs on a regular basis. They have to in order to stay sharp

For shipboard crews, primarily fire, medical and evacuation teams, they also train their procedures on a regular basis however, the actual aircraft/helos are not always available.

A while back, PRDM was in the Gulf of Aden and received an escort from the Dutch air command frigate Evertsen F-805. Both captains used that opportunity to practice/train on a medevac from PRDM using Evertsen's Westland Lynx helicopter

With apologies to Dave for temporarily hi-jacking his thread!

Dutch Navy Lynx hovering above Prinsendam with one of her fire teams getting into position

 

 

Evertsen's Lynx helo lowering its diver to Prinsendam

 

 

 

Practicing sending the basket/stretcher from PRDM to the hovering Lynx

 

 

 

One of Prinsendam's medical officers getting the ride of his life

 

The Royal Netherlands Navy's/HrMs Evertsen's Lynx' diver and medic on the deck of Prinsendam with her doctor a Deck officer/Fire Team leader and, I believe, her Hotel Manager at the time

 

 

Royal Netherlands Navy HrMs Evertsen and PRDM sailing side-by-side in the Gulf of Aden