richwmn Goes around the world in a daze

[richwmn]

April 17 – Zeebrugge, Belgium

 

This morning we came into Zeebrugge, followed closely by Sky Princess. We moored quickly and were cleared by immigration very quickly. At 8:00am we heard the announcement that we were cleared to go ashore. We are again at a dock that is part of an industrial port and is quite a bit from the cruise terminal. We boarded the shuttle right at the ship, and as mentioned by @grapau27 Graham it was just a short ride to the town of Blankenberge.

 

One thing that I noticed was how much of the city seemed new while we drove into town. The shuttle dropped us off next to a park in front of a church. From the church we walked thru the area toward the beach. The area was an urban canyon where the street level of the buildings contain commercial space and the upper levels appearing to contain apartments or condos. The commercial space contained just about any type of business you might need to use, including a small supermarket. For the most part this was a pedestrian area, but every now and then a car would drive thru.

 

The beach area was interesting. Most of the beach contained areas fenced off with names as if they were controlled areas. Each contained some loungers and what looked like a snack or beer bar. It was chilly enough that no one was at any of these locations, and the businesses that would support the beach were all closed.

 

After walking around for a bit we proceeded back to the park where a bus was waiting and we boarded it. A few minutes later we headed back to the ship. When we got to the cruise terminal we had to get off the bus, proceed thru the terminal which included a gift shop, and then get on another bus that took us to the ship. The bus we came in on proceeded to the ship to pick up any guests that still wanted to go to the town.

 

One thing I haven’t mentioned, HAL has been using a table with facial recognition to verify we are passengers before being allowed up the gang plank to enter the ship. We still have to check in using our key card.

 

During the day today equipment was loaded by crane into the midship lido pool area to use for the big Gala Celebration tomorrow in Amsterdam. Because some supplies were loaded today rather than in Le Havre some of the crew is having to work extra to get everything ready. We will be in Amsterdam along with Rotterdam and a celebration of HAL’s 150^th anniversary will take place with all the dignitaries and a group of guests from each ship. The ceremony will be streamed to both ships here (at least). Maybe it will be streamed as well to the other ships and the internet in general.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

April 18 -- Amsterdam Day 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

April 12 -- Amsterdam Day 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

[richwmn]

April 19 – Amsterdam day 2

 

 

Five years ago on the Voyage of the Vikings I visited The Netherlands for two days in July. My pictures and notes from that trip can be found at http://www.wa70.com/vov/Day18.html.

 

Yesterday Zuiderdam arrived on time in Amsterdam for another overnight visit. The previous evening I was feeling a bit ‘puny’ so I determined to use the days in Amsterdam to recover. It has worked and I feel much better and have one more day (at sea) before arriving at Copenhagen, a place I haven’t visited before.

 

It has actually been a couple of nice days on the ship. With the festivities in mind, everyone has been in a very good mood. The mid ship pool area was nicely decorated and the entertainment brought aboard was very good. Most people were nicely dressed in suits or better for the party, a few were not.

 

Last night we ate in the Main Dining Room with Kelly and Jett. It has been very nice getting to know them and having dinner with them several times. It is always a pleasant evening with good conversation and last night was no different. The special menu was good and was prepared well as always.

 

Also yesterday we received another ‘pillow gift’. This one was a duffel bag that folds into a zipper bag about 12 square inches. It looks to be about the size of a sea bag and could prove useful.

 

Today was a nice, leisurely day aboard Zuiderdam. We didn’t have much in the way of activities since it was a port day. We did have a trivia session where the host showed partial pictures of travel landmarks and we had to identify them. Some were obvious like the foot of the Statue of Liberty and the hand of Christ of the Redeemer. Others were much less obvious like the ceiling of the Arch de Triumph. We got 16 of 19 points, so it wasn’t too bad.

 

All aboard today was 4:30pm with sail away at 5:00pm. Everyone was aboard and we left on time just in front of P&O Ventura. It has been an easy transit and we are now at open sea. Copenhagen is next on Friday followed by Oslo on Saturday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

April 20 – at sea destination Copenhagen, Denmark

 

 

 

 

Good morning from Zuiderdam. Our cruise continues with good weather, even if it is a bit colder now. A coffee group that for the first 100 days or so met outside is now sitting at a large indoor table every morning. The last Cruise Critic M&G will take place shortly in the Crows Nest. HAL’s president, Gus Antorcha, is aboard to give a presentation at 2:00pm which will be available on all tvs throughout the ship.

 

Today we will only have one trivia session, at 4:00pm. The normal 1:00pm sea day trivia is not going on due to other commitments of the staff. The 6:30pm session will be ‘Scribble the Scramble’. This is a game that they show a scrambled word and we get to identify it. It is thirty words, generally themed, with answers after a thirty second period. For me, if I don’t get the word immediately I won’t.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grapau27]

Copenhagen is a wonderful destination Rich.

The Little mermaid, Nyhavn and Tivoli gardens are the main attractions open 11am-22.00pm  as well as the palaces.

Stroget the longest shopping street in Europe is a must for shoppers.

I hope this helps you or any other passengers who have never been to Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen.

 

Graham.

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by grapau27

[richwmn]

April 21 – Copenhagen, Denmark

 

 

Sunrise this morning from my verandah

 

Ships position at 7:00am

 

Position Docked in Copenhagen

 

Good morning! We are now in Denmark and it is again a cool but nice day. We already have tickets for the HOHO bus and I just saw one drive up. It appears that one of the stops is right outside our dock and since the brochure states every 30 minutes it will be easy to time our departure.

 

Yesterday, to some degree, was consumed with the presentation by Gus Antorcha. His talk began at 2:00pm and was available on stateroom tvs. Unfortunately, the system on board strained to keep up with the demand of people watching from their staterooms. The wonders of modern streaming technology. The old cable system would not have had a problem. His presentation lasted for about 30 minutes, then he opened a Q&A session. He answered questions for about two hours. He gave answers without referring to notes and appeared to be knowledgeable about the subjects being discussed. He admitted that mistakes had been made and promised to do better. On a couple of questions he mentioned that a previous President had made the decision and he would look into the reasons.

 

On another note, when I returned from breakfast I found a note that the HVAC in my area would be worked on today between 9:00am and 5:00pm. I haven’t had any problem with temperature in my stateroom and I’m pleased that ongoing maintenance is being done.

 

 

 

View of Copenhagen from my verandah

 

 

[richwmn]

April 21 – Copenhagen, Denmark

 

Went out into town on another great day. It started out interesting. Yesterday I bought tickets for the HOHO bus. I used City Sightseeing since they have done a good to great job everywhere I have used them. For the first couple of hours after we tied up this morning I kept seeing red double deck buses in the parking lot. Turns out that Copenhagen has four Hop On Hop Off Services and they all used red busses decorated about the same. It is like someone bought an old CS bus and put a new name on it leaving the rest of the decoration. Although their website indicated that CS had a shuttle, I didn’t see one but I knew that that ships shuttle went to the Little Mermaid which was a stop on the CS tour. We got to the Little Mermaid just in time to get on a tour which was very nice.

 

At the end of the tour we ended up back at the Little Mermaid and took some pictures. Several people were climbing over the railing to get right next to statue making it difficult for others to take pictures. After the pictures we got on the CS shuttle back to the ship. If we had chosen the ship’s shuttle we would have been back a few minutes earlier but we really weren’t in a hurry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2023 by richwmn

[erewhon]

Your photos of Copenhagen bring back good memories, thank you.

[richwmn]

April 22 – Oslo, Norway

 

 

Ship's position at 7:00am

 

Good morning! It is clear, bright, and chilly today. According to the tv information it is 52°F/11°C with winds at 1.3mph.

 

As you can see from this morning’s position, we have to sail quite a way up a fjord in order to get to Oslo. It has been very pretty looking out the verandah during this time. Our time in Oslo is a bit short, 11:00am to 4:30pm so I’m sure there will be a rush to get off the ship. No mention has been made of a shuttle so it seems this might be a walk off port.

 

Today’s plan is to walk around the port area and into whatever city center is available. There is a HOHO bus available which might also be an option.

 

@erewhon Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed them. I had a good time there.

 

Ship's position at the dock.

 

Today's activities and menus

 

 

 

 

 

Pictures on the way to Oslo

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

April 22 – Oslo, Norway

 

I’m back from a day experiencing Oslo. First thing to say is that this is a city I would like to visit again for a couple of days. It is a beautiful city and deserves some time.

 

Now for the particulars. We were supposed to be able to disembark at 11:00am, but the ship wasn’t cleared until 11:30am. I had already determined that I wasn’t going to go ashore until after noon. When Ian announced that the ship was cleared he also mentioned that City Sightseeing was available and was endorsed by HAL. I have no problem with that. When I got to the ticket stand I found that they were set up to charge tickets to our staterooms – cool! I asked about an offer from yesterday, but they didn’t know about it, ok no big deal. They did offer a discount since I had used their company the day before. Great, but unfortunately they couldn’t put the discounted price on the stateroom. Again, no big deal but curious.

 

We got on the bus and we left in about 15 minutes. Now I have used City Sightseeing many times in many different cities. Only once was I disappointed, in NYC a few years ago. Oslo was also not up to the service I have received in other cities. I won’t say that it was bad, just not as good as I am used to. There were long stretches where no commentary existed. In other cities that time was used for information about the city, or lesser attractions. Most cities also have background music so at least you are sure the sound system is working. Again, not necessarily bad.

 

When we got back to the ship we walked about half a mile to a shopping area near the dock. It was well attended but not crowded. It is a very pretty area with several things to do. All in all a very good day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by richwmn

[Ellencruise]

Great photos, thanks for taking the time to report

[lazey1]

Your photos of Copenhagen and Oslo are bringing  back very good memories. My late husband and I visited these cities on a Voyage of the Vikings/Baltic Capitals cruise in 2008 in celebration of our 50th wedding anniversary. Thank you very much.

Jane

[zelker]

@richwmn  Rich, if you do make it back to Oslo, you should definitely go across to the little peninsula (Bygdoy) via water taxi to visit the three maritime-related museums - the Viking Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum, and the Fram Museum.  All are fascinating in their own rite and definitely worth a visit. 

[BetsyS.]

lazey1 - Jane - I'm sorry for your loss. It's good that you have wonderful memories.

Betsy

[cccole]

Rich, You answered a question I was going to ask at the end of your cruise: "Are there any places you have visited that you would like to revisit on a land vacation?"  We only spent a night in Oslo in December but the surrounding area looked amazing when flying in and out.  Thank you for letting us cruise with you!!  Cgerue

[cccole]

5 hours ago, cccole said:

Rich, You answered a question I was going to ask at the end of your cruise: "Are there any places you have visited that you would like to revisit on a land vacation?"  We only spent a night in Oslo in December but the surrounding area looked amazing when flying in and out.  Thank you for letting us cruise with you!!  Cgerue

Not sure why Cgerue showed up.  Should have been Cherie.  Sorry for not paying attenttion. 

[richwmn]

April 23 – Kristiansand, Norway

 

 

Position at 7:00am

 

Position of Dock

 

Today's activities and menus

 

 

 

 

 

 

This morning at breakfast we talked about the forecast. It was supposed to be an overcast day with chances of mist & rain all day. I decided to take a day off. Of course it turned out to be another nice day. It is afternoon and there is not a cloud in the sky. The temperature is comfortable but a little cool. It is a bit of a walk to anything.

 

[richwmn]

April 24 – Haugesund, Norway

 

Today is day 3 in Norway, which so far has been a very beautiful country. We arrived this morning on time after an uneventful trip.

 

 

Ship's position at 7:00am

 

Position at dock:

 

Activities for today, menus later

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

April 24 – Haugesund, Norway

 

After an early morning that looked like it might be overcast and rainy today it has turned out to be another very nice day. It is currently 45° F / 7° C and the sun is very bright. We took the HOHO bus from the dock around the city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by richwmn

[StLouisCruisers]

Thanks for your photos Rich.  Haugesund is one of the Norway ports I missed seeing last summer during Covid quarantine on Island Princess.  I would have enjoyed walking around the downtown area I bet.  

[POA1]

Really enjoying your reports, Rich!  Random technical question: When you post your daily menus, are they screen shots? Photos? Lovingly hand-drawn renderings?  Thanks!

[POA1]

Thanks for the answer on the menus. You're probably right about Linux being out of scope for the board.

[richwmn]

April 25 – Eidfjord, Norway

 

 

Position at 7 am

 

Position at the Dock

 

This is a bit late getting posted. We had an announcement yesterday that the internet connection would be bad today and it was. Once we got near the town the mountains on both sides blocked the satellite for the entire time we were there. Even the local data signal was a bit slow from the ship, but was decent while in town.

 

The sail into Eidfjord is beautiful. The mountains are snow capped and the lower portions are green. For the most part it has been a bright sunny day. The city itself is small, we only walked about 3 – 4 blocks from the center of town before we were on the outskirts. There is a little sight seeing train that a few people took to see the highlights of the city.

 

There is a small market which seemed to be well stocked. It is very convenient to the dock. There were also two restaurants that opened around 10:30am or so. Everything was compact and easily walkable. Most of the cars seemed to be electric, and there was a multi car charging station right in the center.

 

The temperature was chilly, but the sun was out. It turned out to be a very nice day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2023 by richwmn

[richwmn]

April 26 – Bergen, Norway

 

 

 

 

Some forecasts are telling us that it is going to rain today. At least one shows it to be overcast all day, but nice. Who knows??

 

We should arrive in Bergen on time today. We are still a little way out, but still have a little over an hour until we are supposed to be able to go ashore. It really should be another nice, but chilly, day today.

 

 

 

Heading toward Bergen this morning