LIVE On M/S Rotterdam to North Cape, June 1-22

[Iamthesea]

Learned something new! 😁   

 

That reminds me.  When we were gathering our luggage in AMS, I saw two rodents running from one baggage turnstile to another. 🤔

[Fred321]

Just a quick note on using the old HAL headquarters hotel. We used it once a few years ago after disembarking the previous Rotterdam. It was a unique building and a pleasant stay but if you are planning a few days in Rotterdam either before or after your trip, it is not very convenient to the main attractions in the city or around the area.

Would strongly recommend the Rotterdam Marriott. Right across the street from the main RR station and all of the tram lines. Cafes and Restaurants galore in walking distance and you can take a tram or uber/taxi to the ship for a reasonable price. Enjoy your trip.

[Mike B Landlubber]

45 minutes ago, Fred321 said:

Just a quick note on using the old HAL headquarters hotel. We used it once a few years ago after disembarking the previous Rotterdam. It was a unique building and a pleasant stay but if you are planning a few days in Rotterdam either before or after your trip, it is not very convenient to the main attractions in the city or around the area.

Would strongly recommend the Rotterdam Marriott. Right across the street from the main RR station and all of the tram lines. Cafes and Restaurants galore in walking distance and you can take a tram or uber/taxi to the ship for a reasonable price. Enjoy your trip.

Marriott certainly appears a great option. I liked the atmosphere of the old building, and a water taxi ride will put you most any central location you choose. Matter of taste and choice.

[TheEmerson]

For the Hotel New York, if you have physical issues bringing the luggage up the steps, there is a lift (mainly for wheelchairs) in the front at the restaurant entrance that is available.    While I did not use it, I saw others that did request it.

[Mike B Landlubber]

We’ve had a couple of port calls now and I’ve taken some HAL excursions. In Oslo, I took an excursion on Great Norwegian Explorers. It was basically a bus ride to three related museums that share the same area. One museum devoted to Thor Heyerdahl, best known for the Kon Tiki expeditions, one devoted to the FRAM polar expeditions, and a general Post-Viking maritime museum. We got admission and a short time in each museum. There is a Viking museum there which is currently closed and wasn’t included. This was OK, but I would’ve preferred to do it on my own and control my own time.
 

From Kristiansand, I took an excursion focused on nearby Lillesand. We had a very short time to explore Lillesand, not enough time. it was followed up with a boat tour along the coast back to Kristiansand. We saw some nice coastline, mostly to forwarded to the weekend homes of people in the region scattered among pretty but not amazing rocky wooded coast.

 

Overall, I would say both of the excursions were OK but not anything amazing.

 

Today I explored Stavenger on my own a little bit. It is a nice town. There was a historical Maritime museum that looked good, but I did not go in. The weather was dreary, and we were getting sprinkling and I chickened out and went back to the ship. I curiosity that I’ve never heard of, it appears if you are a noble peace prize winner you get to go to Stavenger and have your bare feet recorded in concrete as if you were a Hollywood movie star!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 5 by Mike B Landlubber

[Iamthesea]

4 hours ago, Fred321 said:

Just a quick note on using the old HAL headquarters hotel. We used it once a few years ago after disembarking the previous Rotterdam. It was a unique building and a pleasant stay but if you are planning a few days in Rotterdam either before or after your trip, it is not very convenient to the main attractions in the city or around the area.

Would strongly recommend the Rotterdam Marriott. Right across the street from the main RR station and all of the tram lines. Cafes and Restaurants galore in walking distance and you can take a tram or uber/taxi to the ship for a reasonable price. Enjoy your trip.

 

Being 66 and 72, we had no trouble walking over to the tram station and getting to the Centraal train station. Once there, we met a guide that walked us all over town to see the main attractions. On another day, we took the same route and hopped on a train for Haarlem and Amsterdam.

 

Not only did we eat at the hotel, but the bridge from the side of the hotel took us to a few restaurants on the other side of the water where we enjoyed lunch.  Very easy!    Across from the port (which we walked to for embarkation) were a coffee shop and a little store.  I believe that there was another eatery along the stretch to the tram station.  And according to our guide, there is a really nice steak restaurant in the tall building behind, and to the side, of the hotel.  His daughter works there.

 

As mentioned, one could also Uber or taxi if unable to walk very far.

 

2 hours ago, TheEmerson said:

For the Hotel New York, if you have physical issues bringing the luggage up the steps, there is a lift (mainly for wheelchairs) in the front at the restaurant entrance that is available.    While I did not use it, I saw others that did request it.

 

Interesting.  We went in and out of the main restaurant door a few times.  Did not notice an elevator.  I'll file that in my head for our next trip.  😀 Not sure if we will need it, but thank you!

[Mike B Landlubber]

Great to wake up to coming into Skjolden this morning!

[Mike B Landlubber]

 

Rainbow in the fjord!

 

Edited June 6 by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

On 6/4/2024 at 1:35 PM, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Sounds like you are having fun , Who is the Captain , and the Hotel Director ??

The Captain is Eric Barhorst. Not sure about the other.

[Mike B Landlubber]

I had not realized how LONG some fjords are. Yesterday at Skjolden we followed a fjord 120 miles inland! It took most of the night for the ship to steam out.

[Mike B Landlubber]

Raising sheep is an important activity, even in this rugged terrain. 

[TheEmerson]

On 6/5/2024 at 11:34 AM, Iamthesea said:

 

Interesting.  We went in and out of the main restaurant door a few times.  Did not notice an elevator.  I'll file that in my head for our next trip.  😀 Not sure if we will need it, but thank you!

If you look at the picture on their page, you will see a folding lift on the right.  In this case it is folded up at the time of the photo.

 

https://hotelnewyork.com/hotel-new-york/opening-hours/

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

We crossed the North Sea back to Rotterdam to pick up and drop off passengers. Had a much nicer day for the sail away late yesterday afternoon! Some good shots of Hotel New York which even I am getting tired of seeing., 😉

 

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

Our North Sea crossings on this cruise have been a bit bouncy, and we really rocked and rolled last night on the way to Alesund, though in mid-morning it doesn’t look so bad now. The captain has announced we are half an hour behind and our departure time will be adjusted to make up. I am scheduled for a boat cruise excursion here and hope it isn’t too rough! Shot off my tv of our bow camera.

Edited June 10 by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

After a rough night, we had smooth sailing at Alesund, Norway today, though it was a bit cold and cloudy with rain for about ten minutes. I took an HAL excursion called Hjorundfjord Cruise. Good scenery! Once I saw dolphins, but only got one meh shot with a single dorsal fin.

 

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

Today I took an HAL tour highlighting Trondheim by bus and tram. Trondheim has the furthest north tram system in the world. Part of the tour was in a vintage, but not too vintage tram car from the 1950s. We braved some gentle cold rain and saw highlights of the city, and it wasn’t a bad tour, but unless you are heavily into old trams, I wouldn’t make that tour a priority.

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

Almost the Midnight Sun. View from my balcony at 12:19 AM last night. Plus our location at the time.

Edited June 12 by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

We have stopped twice in Rotterdam to pick up passengers for Norway, so there are a lot of Dutch passengers. some of the excursions are conducted in Dutch. I’ve eaten in their Asian specialty restaurant twice on board the ship, and both times I had a little bit of trouble, understanding the staff. Many of them have significant accents and my hearing isn’t the greatest. A few days ago, they seated me and I couldn’t understand a word the waitress said. she gave me the menu and left me to look at it. I opened it up and found it it was in Dutch! And she had been speaking to me in Dutch! When she returned, I told her I might puzzle out some of what these items were, but I prefer an English menu. I guess I just have a Dutch look! 

[Catlover54]

The majority of pax are Dutch (per the roster), so  it is not surprising that they offer Dutch menus.  I didn't know about the Dutch language excursions.

Anyone tall, and/or  large-boned and with whitish hair is Dutch until proven otherwise (or maybe it is just a good bet statistically on this cruise). 🙂

If you go back to the Asian restaurant (Tamarind), ask for the waitress named "Apple".  She is from Thailand, has an accent, but is understandable and very sweet.

 

I am enjoying your posts and pictures. 

 

 

Edited June 13 by Catlover54
Typo

[Mike B Landlubber]

I am a World War II buff, as well as a fan of big things that go boom, so this morning in Harstad, Norway was a major event for me. We visited the Adolf gun, a gun emplacement built by the Germans in World War II. There is one gun of the original four remaining, it is a 16 inch gun (406 mm) about the same size as that used on US battleships, Missouri and Iowa that you may have heard of. The gun ended up on active service for 20 years, a few with the German builders and then it was taken over by Norway after the Germans surrendered and kept in service till about 1962. It hasn’t been fired since about 1960. It’s maintained as a museum, and is still on a Norwegian military base, so we had to have military escort to visit it. Very cool, I will have photos of the interior and other stuff soon. We also visited an old church and a local museum that was very well-presented but just didn’t engage me. For a great late lunch, I had a burger and shake at the Dive-In!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 14 by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

I had put off writing it up, but tonight I decided I needed to…I did a HAL excursion focusing on a king crab meal, called King Crab and Campfire. There was literally nothing to it except going out to a place by a lake, seeing a couple of live king crabs and a staff presentation on them, and going into crude but serviceable buildings to be served. The presentation on live King crabs was impressive. we filed into the buildings to await our food. Things went sour here. The facility was okay, there were some drinks available, I assume with a charge, but we waited 55 minutes for our crab. I have time-stamped photos to prove it! We received two crab legs and a small chunk of the body with some meat per person. And it wasn’t hot! Everyone at my table was vocally, unhappy, and I had the impression that pretty much the whole group felt that way. I was so disenhearted I forgot to take a pic of my meal! Finally, only one of the two buses planned to transport us back to the ship arrived. We waited about 15 minutes without any joy and they allowed us to file on to the single bus. It was tight quarters but in the circumstances, I was glad for it, and it was street legal, no standing in the aisles etc. This evening I received a letter in a envelope marked “shore excursions important information.” The enclosed letter from HAL indicated they had received information on “challenges encountered” during the excursion and indicated we would receive a 30% refund.

Edited June 15 by Mike B Landlubber

[Bimmer09]

Thanks Mike B Landlubber. 

I am doing this cruise exactly a year from now and will skip this excursion, thus avoiding the "challenges".

Norris

[Catlover54]

On 6/14/2024 at 8:18 PM, Mike B Landlubber said:

I am a World War II buff, as well as a fan of big things that go boom, so this morning in Harstad, Norway was a major event for me. We visited the Adolf gun, a gun emplacement built by the Germans in World War II. There is one gun of the original four remaining, it is a 16 inch gun (406 mm) about the same size as that used on US battleships, Missouri and Iowa that you may have heard of. The gun ended up on active service for 20 years, a few with the German builders and then it was taken over by Norway after the Germans surrendered and kept in service till about 1962. It hasn’t been fired since about 1960. It’s maintained as a museum, and is still on a Norwegian military base, so we had to have military escort to visit it. Very cool, I will have photos of the interior and other stuff soon. We also visited an old church and a local museum that was very well-presented but just didn’t engage me. For a great late lunch, I had a burger and shake at the Dive-In!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second floor of the museum has sobering WW2 history exhibits, including information about the hundreds of Soviet POWs and Czechs who had been kept near Harstad and died of hunger and poor care by their German captors, roughly 40-50% mortality  (this of course  doesn't compare with the roughly 2 million Soviet POWs who died on the eastern front due to poor care when masses of Soviets surrendered during the initial phases of Operation Barbarossa). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Catlover54]

48 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Thanks Mike B Landlubber. 

I am doing this cruise exactly a year from now and will skip this excursion, thus avoiding the "challenges".

Norris

 

The crab are impressive in their size, however!  It is good that HAL provided some credit for the botched excursion.

 

In Bodo (ship there today), we had beautiful weather.  We engaged a private guide (who works as an air traffic controller in his day job), and who took us around and about town for six hours, to the fortress above town for great views, and to  see  maelstrom currents (HAL did a RIB boat excursion there). 

He had his own key to an old WW2 bunker we toured with him in town (currently right next to a children's playground),  which was cool.  There is also a very large aviation museum.

 

In case you or others are interested in going private when/if you stop in Bodo, his name is Ola Sakshaug, ola@opplevnord.no, +4790192636.  He also organizes e-bike tours.

 

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

I didn’t see that, but even I admit I was put off by the situation and didn’t give the clearly carefully set up displays a chance. We were crowded and walking through corridors with a single display every few feet. The line was moving slowly and instead of picking out things that interest me and focusing on them, I was forced to focus on whatever was near me until things moved forward. It just isn’t the way I like to experience a museum and I ended up walking through as quickly as I could without paying attention to the exhibits and walking to the church which was our next stop. It was my reaction to the situation rather than the quality of museum that kept me from getting interested. I loved the gun emplacement,  obviously. The church was OK, and in a different situation I might have found the museum more pleasing. I recommend the excursion.