Live from Silver Dawn - Copenhagen to Copenhagen, Aug 26 - Sep 5, 2024

[jpalbny]

1 hour ago, drron29 said:

I prefer ones from Tasmania but usually not a large production and more expensive than the NZ ones hence unlikely to be seen on SS.

 

They were worth the trip.

[PinonNoir]

It's late, and we had a full day.  Quick comments, the Sognefjord Railroad Experience was incredible.  I don't think it's named correctly.  We stopped for lunch halfway through and the hotel we were at called the same tour we were doing as "Norway in a Nutshell".  That's exactly as I would describe it.  If it's an option for you, do it!

 

Dinner at Atlantide was disappointing tonight.  They didn't seem very busy, but our table was neglected twice for long periods of time.  Not good form Silversea!!  The food was still good, but being ignored for 15 minutes while others had their orders taken (while seated after us) was disheartening.  Having to chase down a waiter to get wine, and then take our order, was not something I've come to expect.

Edited September 1 by PinonNoir

[PinonNoir]

On a positive note, here is my blog post for Trondheim, Norway

[highplanesdrifters]

Btw, good luck with your Noma rez.

[PinonNoir]

7 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Btw, good luck with your Noma rez.

Thanks!  We did get into Geranium on September 6, and that is currently considered the best restaurant in Copenhagen. I will cancel it for Noma though!

[Chateaunole-du-pape]

Thanks so much for your detailed, well-written posts. I look forward to perusing your blog as well.

 

Two days ago, somewhat on a whim, we booked a similar itinerary on Silver Dawn for summer 2025. It'll be our first Silversea experience, after two great Regent cruises in consecutive summers. We're getting slightly different ports than you, particularly in the fjords - we're doing Olden and Vik - but there's some overlap all the same, with Alesund, Trondheim and Bergen. I'm particularly glad to see that you are enjoying the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, as I think the concept is really interesting but have wondered how it would be in a region like Scandinavia, as I hadn't yet seen any descriptions of what Silversea does in this particular region.

 

Have you encountered any good French wines from the included list yet? As you can probably tell from my screen name, my tastes skew French, particularly Rhônes and Bordeaux for reds, and Burgundy, Sancerre and other Loire Valley appellations for whites. I'm also drawn to good Bordeaux-style Cali and WA blends, and Rhône blends from Santa Ynez Valley. If you've had anything along those lines that you've found good, please let me know! And if the Barbera d'Asti that you've so enjoyed is still available next summer, I'm sure we'll enjoy that, too.

 

Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your epic voyage! I look forward to following along!

[Fletcher]

12 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

 I will cancel it for Noma though!

Is that the laughable rip-off joint where you spend around $700 per person and after the last microscopic course you leave and ask, 'Right, I'm bloody starving, where shall we go for dinner?'  

Edited September 3 by Fletcher

[lincslady]

Out of interest I looked  Geranium up online, and admit that I thought it sounded like very little food, however fascinating, for a great deal of money.  More like going to an art gallery to look at wonderful pictures.  But would still like to hear what you thought of it.  The Tripadvisor reports were about ten saying it is wonderful, to one definitely thinking it was a pretentious rip-off.

[PinonNoir]

4 hours ago, Fletcher said:

Is that the laughable rip-off joint where you spend around $700 per person and after the last microscopic course you leave and ask, 'Right, I'm bloody starving, where shall we go for dinner?'  

We've been to several Michelin star restaurants, and have yet to walk out of one where we weren't either full or absolutely stuffed.  We've eaten at Arpege in Paris twice, and actually had to tell them to stop bringing us courses because we couldn't eat any more!

 

We go for the food and the experience.  The chefs in these places are true artisans. Yes, it's expensive, but so is cruising on Silversea, and I seem to see a lot of people on this forum willing to spend money on that. Remember, you can't take it with you.

[PinonNoir]

55 minutes ago, lincslady said:

Out of interest I looked  Geranium up online, and admit that I thought it sounded like very little food, however fascinating, for a great deal of money.  More like going to an art gallery to look at wonderful pictures.  But would still like to hear what you thought of it.  The Tripadvisor reports were about ten saying it is wonderful, to one definitely thinking it was a pretentious rip-off.

I will definitely be writing about it in my blog, so please feel free to check it out.  Thanks!

[PinonNoir]

6 hours ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

Thanks so much for your detailed, well-written posts. I look forward to perusing your blog as well.

 

Two days ago, somewhat on a whim, we booked a similar itinerary on Silver Dawn for summer 2025. It'll be our first Silversea experience, after two great Regent cruises in consecutive summers. We're getting slightly different ports than you, particularly in the fjords - we're doing Olden and Vik - but there's some overlap all the same, with Alesund, Trondheim and Bergen. I'm particularly glad to see that you are enjoying the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, as I think the concept is really interesting but have wondered how it would be in a region like Scandinavia, as I hadn't yet seen any descriptions of what Silversea does in this particular region.

 

Have you encountered any good French wines from the included list yet? As you can probably tell from my screen name, my tastes skew French, particularly Rhônes and Bordeaux for reds, and Burgundy, Sancerre and other Loire Valley appellations for whites. I'm also drawn to good Bordeaux-style Cali and WA blends, and Rhône blends from Santa Ynez Valley. If you've had anything along those lines that you've found good, please let me know! And if the Barbera d'Asti that you've so enjoyed is still available next summer, I'm sure we'll enjoy that, too.

 

Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your epic voyage! I look forward to following along!

We had one French wine from the Rhone region, and it was OK. We've opted for the inexpensive included wines versus the premium wine list, mostly because there are a few hidden gems among them. The best white so far is an Alvarino from Portugal, but we had a decent German Reisling last night.

[PinonNoir]

6 hours ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

Two days ago, somewhat on a whim, we booked a similar itinerary on Silver Dawn for summer 2025. It'll be our first Silversea experience, after two great Regent cruises in consecutive summers. We're getting slightly different ports than you, particularly in the fjords - we're doing Olden and Vik - but there's some overlap all the same, with Alesund, Trondheim and Bergen. I'm particularly glad to see that you are enjoying the S.A.L.T. Kitchen, as I think the concept is really interesting but have wondered how it would be in a region like Scandinavia, as I hadn't yet seen any descriptions of what Silversea does in this particular region.

I'm glad to see you booked a cruise, but does that itinerary include Geirangerfjord??  If not, I would attempt to find one that does.  I'm writing my blog post about it right now, and will finish shortly, but this fjord is definitely the most beautiful one we've been in, and ranks up there with the most beautiful places in the world, IMHO.  You can't go wrong with Norway though!  Every spot we have visited has been beautiful.

 

I don't think SIlversea promotes S.A.L.T. properly.  I thought it was a cooking class venue until after we boarded.  Interesting to note that the Head Somm told me they had special included wines in S.A.L.T., but bottom line, if you want any included bottle anywhere on the ship they will get it for you.  It might take 5 minutes, but they'll find it.  I just wish they had better stemware for red wines, like Oceania does.  They use Bordeaux glasses for all the reds, and we prefer Burgundy glasses.  I know, I'm picky, but wine is a major hobby of mine.

[drron29]

Well we have eaten in Geranium and thought it was excellent. Though one of the chefs was Australian and he basically looked after us with 3 of the courses served in the kitchen instead of the usual 1 at that time.

[lincslady]

I guess I am looking at this from a personal point of view:  I believe the meal consists of some 17 or more tiny courses, and I think I would find it difficult to appreciate a taste in just one or two bites, and even more to remember everything later, which is a big part of the pleasure of a great meal.  I have found that a tasting menu of perhaps six courses, served in the old fashioned way of having appetisers, soups etc., fish/seafood dishes, a meat dish and perhaps two small desserts is as much as I can take in at the time and look back on later.  We will wait with bated breath to read of your experience.  Currently in the UK there are several Michelin star restaurants doing my sort of menu, and now some doing the very small multi-course ones, and of course there is room for all styles if enough of us try them.

[PinonNoir]

If interested, here is my blog post for Geiranger, Norway.

[Chateaunole-du-pape]

3 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

I'm glad to see you booked a cruise, but does that itinerary include Geirangerfjord??  If not, I would attempt to find one that does.  I'm writing my blog post about it right now, and will finish shortly, but this fjord is definitely the most beautiful one we've been in, and ranks up there with the most beautiful places in the world, IMHO.  You can't go wrong with Norway though!  Every spot we have visited has been beautiful.

 

I don't think SIlversea promotes S.A.L.T. properly.  I thought it was a cooking class venue until after we boarded.  Interesting to note that the Head Somm told me they had special included wines in S.A.L.T., but bottom line, if you want any included bottle anywhere on the ship they will get it for you.  It might take 5 minutes, but they'll find it.  I just wish they had better stemware for red wines, like Oceania does.  They use Bordeaux glasses for all the reds, and we prefer Burgundy glasses.  I know, I'm picky, but wine is a major hobby of mine.

Thanks for the quick feedback! And yes, it’s funny how we develop little quirks with wine. I actually prefer Bordeaux glasses for reds - partially because they fit better in the dishwasher, which is much less prone to breaking them than I am when I wash them by hand - while my wife has a thing for Burgundy glasses. We both agree that the bowl has to be big - sometimes we spend more time smelling the wine than actually drinking it.

 

I did look for cruises that hit Geirangerfjord, but there aren’t many next year, especially on the luxury/all-inclusive lines; we started cruising on Regent a couple of years ago, and love the all-inclusive nature of it and similar lines, so I think we’d have a hard time going to a line where you get nickled and dimed for everything. So our choices are already somewhat limited. We’re both still working, which means that really long ones are off the table, and my wife is a high school teacher, so the window during which we can go is only about 6 weeks, when she’s off for the summer. When we saw this one on a flash sale on Saturday and noticed that, despite not getting Geirangerfjord, it hits two other good ones, we decided to go ahead and jump on it. We’ll just have to make it back for Geirangerfjord and Flam some other time; fortunately, just last week it was announced that the zero-emission requirement for cruise ships going to those ports is now not going to go into effect until 2032. So we have some time.

 

Getting ready for work now but will read your Geirangerfjord post with my morning coffee!

 

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, PinonNoir said:

actually had to tell them to stop bringing us courses because we couldn't eat any more!

 

So true. 

[PinonNoir]

1 hour ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

I actually prefer Bordeaux glasses for reds - partially because they fit better in the dishwasher,

We use the Schott Zwiesel Tritan Burgundy glass (18.3 ounce bowl).  They are partially made with titanium oxide, and are super hard to break.  I've broken Riedel after Riedel while hand washing, but have only broken one of the Tritan glasses by dropping it, and we always wash them in the dish washer as they have a fairly short stem.

1 hour ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

We’re both still working, which means that really long ones are off the table, and my wife is a high school teacher, so the window during which we can go is only about 6 weeks, when she’s off for the summer.

My wife was a teacher for 32 years, so I'm very familiar with the "windows" for travel.

 

1 hour ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

despite not getting Geirangerfjord, it hits two other good ones, we decided to go ahead and jump on it

I think you'll be very happy....if you can fit it in pre-cruise I'd try to get up to Tromso and drive the islands in that region for an extra 10 days.  If not you'll have that to do when you do get back to Norway in retirement.

 

1 hour ago, Chateaunole-du-pape said:

fortunately, just last week it was announced that the zero-emission requirement for cruise ships going to those ports is now not going to go into effect until 2032. So we have some time.

Yes, the zero-emission requirement is why we booked this year, but it was near the top of our bucket list regardless!

[PinonNoir]

4 hours ago, lincslady said:

I think I would find it difficult to appreciate a taste in just one or two bites, and even more to remember everything later, which is a big part of the pleasure of a great meal.

I know some people might frown at you, but when we go to a special restaurant I take photos of each course.  Yes, I look like an Instagrammer A-hole, but I do have photos to recall the meal.  I did a thorough review of the best meal we have ever had at a restaurant called "Ocean" in the Algarve region of Portugal.  My  indoor photos sucked back in 2018 since the phones weren't as good with low light, but the memories of that meal remain! 

 

[Fletcher]

Norway had announced a ban on cruise ships in Gerainger Fjord from 2026 unless they had zero-emissions.  They have now pushed this back to 2032.  

[PinonNoir]

On 9/1/2024 at 2:36 AM, drron29 said:

And I agree with you on the Pinot Noir. NZ Pinots don't cut it for me. I prefer ones from Tasmania but usually not a large production and more expensive than the NZ ones hence unlikely to be seen on SS.

We will be in Tasmania in March 2025.  Can you perhaps advise who your favorite Pinot producers are from there?  Thanks!

[PinonNoir]

Here is my blog post for Flam, Norway.  We had some extra time here in Arendal, as there really isn't that much to see here, so I've been able to get somewhat caught up!

[Host Jazzbeau]

In Voss there is a statue of Knute Rockne, the famous Notre Dame football coach, who was born in Voss.  At least, there is allegedly such a statue – we looked around the lakefront but couldn't find it!  And I agree, this is the best shore excursion on a Norway cruise!

[PinonNoir]

36 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

In Voss there is a statue of Knute Rockne, the famous Notre Dame football coach, who was born in Voss.  At least,

 

We didn't see it...we barely saw Voss.

 

Edited September 3 by PinonNoir

[PinonNoir]

Today's port was Arendal, Norway.  It was raining quite a bit, particularly during our Prison Hotel and Cultural Walk excursion.  The excursion spent more time on the former prison than the cultural aspects, but was still interesting to me.  Then again, I watch a lot of OP Live, Jail and 60 Days In, so I'm somewhat of a "this is what happens to the bad guys" follower.

 

The prison was built in 1862, and just shut down in 2020.  Following it's closing it was purchased by a private group including a former inmate, who gives the tour!  He shows up in a prison outfit, and makes a lot of self-deprecating jokes, but a lot of what he talks about are the abuses suffered by prisoners.  The former prison is now a hotel, so you can pay to stay in the same room as the guide, #13.  The front and center positioning of the toilet should make for a few moments of "wow, I didn't know that about you" hilarity, if nothing else!

 

After the prison visit, which our host had to cut off early, or the ex-inmate would have talked until the ship left, we ventured back down the hill and took the Glass Elevator up to the top of a viewpoint.  If you do nothing else, go up to this viewpoint, as it gives you an excellent vantage point over the city.

 

Outside of that there isn't much to do here, unless you want to visit a dozen restaurants or shop for clothes.  There is a beautiful church in the center of town, but it was closed, and appears to be undergoing renovation.

 

We had dinner at S.A.L.T. again tonight.  All is right with the world, we were seated promptly, and we had wine in our glasses quickly!  The Duck starter and Lamb Chop main was excellent!  We had a new Pinot from Germany that was palatable, then switched to what is likely their only decent Rhone wine, which is 60% Syrah, 20% Carignan, and 20% Grenache.  It's produced by Domaine de L'Ostal, and was a 2021.  If I had it to do over again I'd ask them to decant it right off the bat.  I think my new friend Chateaunole-du-pape will be able to stomach it.

Edited September 3 by PinonNoir