Live/Silver Cloud: Norway Coast/Fjords July 1-16 Reports

[meow!]

I was also on that cruise a few weeks ago and yes, the caviar was there.

We hope caviar will also be available for a Caribbean voyage.

 

Being on a 15-day cruise is a little different than on one of only seven days.

You are reminding us of our Panama Canal voyage aboard the Shadow in December, 2007 .. meow!

[c1952]

Hi Terry and Penny...found your posts and photos. Wow! You do a great job with descriptions and photos for everyone to enjoy. How GREAT that you ended-up in a veranda room for this trip. Perfect! Thanks to someone who cancelled at the last minute...and a good thing we didn't come along, afterall! :) You will love the days and evenings in the Fjords as you sit on the veranda...it's just a gorgeous area. I hope the weather is treating you well, too. Now that I have found you, no need to send personal reports unless you wish to. Please tell Penny hello for us...we look forward to talking when you return home.

[TLCOhio]

Hi Terry and Penny...found your posts and photos. Wow! You do a great job with descriptions and photos for everyone to enjoy. How GREAT that you ended-up in a veranda room for this trip. Perfect! Thanks to someone who cancelled at the last minute...and a good thing we didn't come along, afterall! :) You will love the days and evenings in the Fjords as you sit on the veranda...it's just a gorgeous area. I hope the weather is treating you well, too. Now that I have found you, no need to send personal reports unless you wish to. Please tell Penny hello for us...we look forward to talking when you return home.

 

Appreciate the nice comment from AH in Columbus. Glad you found this posting. Here's more:

 

We have spent an enjoyable day in Tromso, the northern-most major city in Norway.

 

With 63,500 people, Tromso is the seventh largest city in Norway. It is known as the “Paris of the North”, is 186 miles north of the Arctic Circle and is located on an island. The city center of Tromsø contains the highest number of old wooden houses in northern Norway, the oldest house dating from 1789. The Arctic Cathedral, a modern church from 1965, is probably the most famous landmark in Tromsø. Its east wall is composed entirely of stained glass. The Polar Museum is situated in a wharf house from 1837, presents Tromsø's past as a center for Arctic hunting and starting point for many major Arctic expeditions. Tromso is standing on a forest-covered island in a narrow sound, hemmed in by soaring mountains.

 

We took the cable car to the top of Mt. Storsteinen at 1,260 feet for views of the town, islands, mountains and water. It was great! WEATHER:? It’s been wonderful, also. It started a little cloudy today, but they were high cloud and then it opened up to mostly blue skies and great sun. The high today was to be around 65F, compared to an average high of 57F and low of 47F for date in early July. I am on the back deck of the Terrace Café and it is almost hot now, requiring removing my sweater.

 

Among the other attractions here are the Polaria Arctic Center with sea life displays, an aquarium of marine life and trained seals. Tromso’s main street is Storgata with the town square opening onto the harbor. There is a daily open-air market selling flowers and crafts. We are docked in the more industrial area as the closer, central dock area was being re-furbished this year. The town has an 800-bed hospital as it is the regional center for so many services in this farther northern area of Norway and as the access point to much of the Arctic region.

 

Now docked next to our ship is the Prince Albert II excursion ship that Silversea took over in 2008 and has spent $30 million plus upgrading and making it their “style” for such cruises in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. This is the first time these two Silversea ships have hooked up in the same port. We had a tour on-board this ship this afternoon. It only carries about 126 passengers. It has just completed a trip to the Island north of Norway, seeing various polar bears and other wildlife. This ship, given its size, does not have the entertainment and wide range of food options. There are no formal nights. All of the rubber boat excursions, etc., are included without added cost.

 

Wednesday night with Sharon and Izzy from Washington, DC, we had a special Thai dinner prepared and enjoyed in the main dining room next to a great window view as more dramatic landscaped passed us. It was very special with some new friends from this sailing on the Silver Cloud and a wonderful, creative menu.

 

More pictures will be following, plus more on being in the “Land of the Midnight Sun” where we will not have sunsets or sunrises for a number of days. The Internet had some trouble in the Tromso today for some technical reasons associated with other electronics in the port area. The Internet service is now back as we are at sea sailing north to Hammerfest and the North Cape. Catching up now after another busy day.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[TLCOhio]

Here are some food pictures to either make you hungry and/or bring back memories from dining in La Tarrazza. We were seated right next to the back windows as our ship was approaching the dramatic landscapes of the Lofoten Island.

 

More pictures are to come from our visit to Tromso today and the Lofoten Islands yesterday. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

For antipasti on La Terrazza, I had thinly-sliced sea bass with cherry tomatoes and capers as shown below. The capers made the difference in offering that extra spark of taste. Among the various other options for an opener were fried risotto pearls, pecorino cheese pie with balsamic reduction, scampi tail ragout, etc. We were served Prosecco as a starting sparkling wine.:

 

 

 

As a second course, there were two difference families of pasta from which to choose. There were either Corta (short) or Lunga (long) as our options with seven different, total pasta options. I had the meat-stuffed ravioli with zucchini, better and thyme sauce as shown below.:

 

 

 

For the main course, I had the veal scallop Milanese, but had red sauce added to better suit my tastes. Otherwise, for me, it would have been too dry. I was so busy enjoying the food and sights out the back window of The Terrace, that I forgot to take a picture of this delight. Sorry! For “dolci”, it was Tiramisu. What else should you have in a wonderful Italian place? It was as good as it looked. Another dessert option was orange-flavored pancake with chocolate mousse:

 

 

 

Here are some visual examples of the sights as our ship approached the Lofoten Island with their dramatic mountains rising up from the sea. World Cup soccer was also starting as we were dining and we got updates on the score as we were completing dinner. Holland won to the delight of the room’s Maitre D’. We saw the key last twenty minutes of the game from our room.:

 

[Keith1010]

Terry great writeups and wonderful pictures. As you know, I am not a big dessert eater but the dessert looked wonderful. Thanks for taking the time to share your day to day experiences with all of us. Continue to enjoy!

 

Keith

[TLCOhio]

For our trip to the Lofoten Island, we had earlier arranged a rental car to head south for our group of two couples via the area’s one main highway, the E10. Hard to get lost that way.

 

More pictures will be coming on these wonderful Lofoten Islands from yesterday. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

An historic seaport and cod fishing center is Nusfjord. Here is one of its buildings, plus added pictures inside its cod processing building, its birds perched on a large rock, etc.:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we went to the end of the road on this island. It is a village called “A”. In their alphabet, this “A” has a small “o” above the letter. Simple name for a charming fishing town. We had box lunches from the ship and dined on a picnic table on the wooden dock. This was our view with the busy and noisy birds.:

 

 

And in the other direction as we had lunch, here is another dramatic view.:

 

 

 

In this southern most village, here is a unique design for Victorian architecture with this house overlooking the harbor.:

 

Edited July 8, 2010 by TLCOhio

[TLCOhio]

Here are more views of the Lofoten Island from yesterday. THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

These are some of the green cliffs as the sunny came out in a stronger manner to add drama to these sights and sites.:

 

 

 

Here are some of the many wooden racks for fish drying these islands.:

 

 

 

Near the main E10 roadway in the southern part of the Lofoten Island is this historic Flakstad Kirke church that was built in 1780. It has a Russian design/look as certain of its materials were donated by those from that country.:

 

 

 

More rocks and dramatic scenery in the Loftons:

 

 

 

 

 

[meow!]

Wow, this series of pictures are awesome! Thank you so much for sharing.

[newlondon]

Fun pictures Terry, but as I predicted the weather looks as if it is beginning to be unpredictable. The Lofotens are wonderful--we visited on the return trip. Good luck at the NC, hope you have the success we did.

[RachelG]

Wow, your food pics have my mouth watering, and I just ate supper!

[unfathomable]

...as I predicted the weather looks as if it is beginning to be unpredictable....

Ah, predictable unpredictability. Or, putting it another way, northern European weather, :)

[TLCOhio]

Here are a few other visuals in connection with the lovely Lofoten Islands. We will have more visuals from another part of these islands when we dock on July 11 in Slovaer from 1-7 pm.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

Here are two added pictures from the time when we did our DIY drive south on the Lofoten Islands. Nice?:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the Silver Cloud, was getting ready to sail out and then departing Leknes, here are two different view. First, from on shore with small rubber boats in the foreground. Then, with the town in the distance background and other ships sailing in.:

 

 

 

 

As we were approaching Lofoten doing dinner in La Terrazza and on the back of the ship in the Panorama Lounge, here are a couple of more shots, including this red church with its unique shapes.:

 

 

 

 

[TLCOhio]

We are now in Hammerfest. It does not appear to have much as a town to see. Our time is short here and we will explore more shortly.

 

Called the northernmost town in the world, Hammerfest is unlike most of the communities in Norway’s far north. It has paved streets, a main square and park, hotels, shops, a library and a museum. Due to a year-round, ice-free harbor, it has become a major fishing center and a natural starting point for polar expeditions. Its 2005 population is 9,261. Some villages in the world are farther north, but none is larger than 2000 people. In 1891, Hammer fest became the first urban settlement in Northern Europe to get electrical streetlights. This invention was brought to Hammerfest by two local merchants who had seen it at the 1889 Paris World’s Fair. The town was a key **** military base in World War II. It had the main U-boat central supply base to attack the allied supply convoys to Russia. The town was totally destroyed as the Germans finally left on February 10, 1945. American author Bill Bryson begins his European travels, documented in his popular book Neither Here Nor There with a visit to Hammerfest in order to see the Northern Lights, stating that he found the town "engrossing" and that it "had grew to feel like home". Reindeer can be seen wandering through the town and around houses. Hammerfest is 1438 miles north of Bergen.

 

Below are the first group of pictures from Tromso. THANKS for added comments! Let us know any questions or suggestions. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

The Arctic Cathedral is the most famous in Tromso. Here is the front view of this church that seats 700 and was completed in 1965.:

 

 

 

This is the Arctic Cathedral’s interior view of its stained glass window on the east wall.:

 

 

 

From the mountain top, here is the “back” view of the Arctic Cathedral.:

 

 

 

Taking the cable car up to the top of Mt. Storsteinen at 1,260 feet provides great views of the town, islands, mountains and water. With our mid-day weather so sunny, it really helped enjoy this city in such a great setting.:

 

 

 

This is a view of the main part of Tromso’s central city, including the unique winged shape of its public library. The town has a 1000-car garage dug under the mountain for car parking.:

 

 

 

From the mountain top, this is a wider shot of the area showing the dramatic setting of this island city of Tromso and its nearby airport, bridges, mountains, etc.:

 

[TLCOhio]

Here is the second set of pictures from Tromso, including its local museum and from visiting the Prince Albert II excursion ship operated by Silversea since 2008.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

In the Tromso Museum, here are some historic religious items from this part of Norway.:

 

 

 

In this museum, they have reconstructed how the interior of an earlier home in this area would have been built of wood and occupied for daily life in this challenging environment.:

 

 

 

From the deck of the Silver Cloud, you can see the Prince Albert II docked nearby. Many of the passengers and staff did tours of this ship, including seeing video of their viewings of polar bears, etc.:

 

 

 

From the deck of the Prince Albert II, a staff geologist is explaining how this ship operates during trips to and around the Arctic, Antarctica, etc.:

 

 

 

After our tour, here is an English couple on our ship standing next to the Prince Albert II and our tour guide.:

 

 

 

While in port, what happens with the Silver Cloud? Here in Tromso, the staff is painting up the front hull. This shows how it is done.:

 

[Keith1010]

Hi Terry, enjoyed the pictures and the narrative. Did you get a chance to ask any of the passengers on the Prince Albert II what they thought of their cruise and the ship. I know you talked about the limitation in activities/entertainment but was curious if they had any comments.

 

Keith

[dougburns]

TLCOhio; What type of camera are you using? Is it a digital?

[patnlcc]

Can't wait to see Saturday's pictures, Terry. I am in the fortunate position of being more or less in the same time zone as you (UK) so I have a look at your pics as soon as I get up in the morning which is pretty soon after you post!! By the way, caviar was available on our transatlantic in April on the Cloud, but only for purchase!!

[TLCOhio]

THANKS, Keith, for the follow-up question. I didn’t get a chance to talk in detail or depth with any of the passengers on the Prince Albert II, but they seemed very, very happy from seeing their faces and watching them move around on this ship. Their faces said “Lovin’ It!” From talking with the staff, it seems like it is a very special experience on this ship. You might call it more of an “educational” focus for this ship. No dancers or bands. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style. Dinner is ordered and served a la carte style. There a nice bar area, plus nice briefing/theater area, deck places, etc. Everything was nicely done on this ship. It’s smaller, but it seems well focused for those seeking these types of experiences.

 

We are now sailing towards Honningsvag after departing Hammerfest. This town is the gateway to the North Cape and has a population is 2600. Much of this area is treeless tundra with sparse dwarf plants. It is 1300 miles from the North Pole. One of the Nordic countries' main attractions is without a doubt the midnight sun, which can be seen in the North Cape area from the middle of May until the end of July. Then, the sun disappears completely beyond the horizon on November 20, not returning again until January 22. The ship offers tours to the North Cape Hall with a glass-enclosed viewpoint overlooking the Barents Sea. Outside is a giant iron globe. This plateau on the North Cape cliff is only twenty miles away from Honningsvåg and is Europe's northernmost corner, at 71ºC 10' 21'' latitude.

 

After passing through some fog or low clouds, we have now reached perfect sunny and spectacular weather, as we are about four hours from Honnignsvag. It doesn’t get any better than what we have now for sights and weather on the back deck off of the Panorama Lounge, especially this far north along the Norway Coast.

 

Hammerfest was a nice small stop. It is nothing that super special, but there are a few things of interest in this town. Their “Polar Society” display was very nice with a wide variety of stuffed animals and birds. We bought some things for family in a couple of the shops. It was interesting to watch the Captain move the ship from the dock and head out to the open sea. We went by a large LNG or liquefied natural gas plant that produce for shipment to Baltimore in the USA.

 

More pictures shortly.

 

Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

[TLCOhio]

Our Silver Cloud Captain just did spectacular 360-degree turn at the North Cape as the fog was clearing to allow dramatic visuals. Last night, we arrived early in Honningsvaag and got a rental car for the four of us to go to a small village to get on a 27’ chartered boat. We went to the bird island with millions of puffins, plus eagles, seals and many other birds of all types in massive numbers. It was a once-in-lifetime experience!!! I will be posting many more pictures and details.

 

This is just a quick update before going to a presentation by our ship’s guest speaker about the Vikings. Heading south back towards the Lofoten Island. It's now super sunny and almost warm. Amazing for this far above the Arctic Circle.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

In Hammerfest, here is one of the older Hurtigruten coastal ship in port next to the Silver Cloud.:

 

 

 

This is a flower shop staffer getting things ready in front of her story in Hammerfest. Enjoying flowers during their short summer here is important.:

 

 

 

These kids in the center of Hammerfest are doing a sports camp and training.:

 

 

 

In Hammerfest, they have a Polar Bear Society museum display featuring their famed animal, plus many birds, etc.:

 

Edited July 10, 2010 by TLCOhio

[TLCOhio]

As we do a “sea day” after seeing the famed North Cap this am, here some sampling for life on the ship. We have been very fortunate with continued mostly sunny weather and higher than average temperatures. It is now 54F on the ship as we sail south past Hammerfest and its LNG plant. When on the back of the ship, where the wind does not bother you that much, it can be glorious. We had a great lunch today on the back Terrace, outside, enjoying the weather, sights, people and food.

 

More pictures to come. Working hard to catch up in sharing so much that we have been fortunate to have seen and experienced.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

Here is the Silver Cloud Captain, Mino Pontillo, left, along with the guide pilot from Norway (top) and two staff assistants on the port bridge as were getting ready to dock in Honningsvaag. They looked up and smiled nicely when I asked. As we watched several docking and departures, along with his excellent work around the North Cape, you are super impressed with his skills. I watched these dockings with a retired US Navy Captain who had been second in command at the US Naval Academy. This fellow passenger was amazed at this Silversea Captain’s abilities and dedication.:

 

 

 

Outside of the Silver Cloud’s Panorama Lounge is this wonderful, sheltered outdoor area with nicely-traditional deck chairs. You needed blankets, but it worked well in great comfort for being so far above the Arctic Circle. Some are napping, some enjoying a book and one gentleman has his Kindle electronic reader. Very tech savvy!:

 

 

 

Here is an idea of the views from this back deck as we glided by scenic rock formations and blue skies. Spectacular!:

 

 

 

As we departed earlier from Hammerfest, here was one of the large rock formation and a blue sky as we started sailing to the North Cape of Europe.:

 

 

 

Above the Arctic Circle, this is the “Land of the Midnight Sun”. This picture was taken at 11:47 pm on the upper deck of the Silver Cloud showing wonderful Cruise Director Jimmy Kovel checking out the views. The sun is going down, but it never sets at this time of the summer. It’s 24/7 light.:

 

 

 

With a great wind, here is how the mast of the Silver Cloud looked while at sea along the Norway coast.:

 

[newlondon]

You're so lucky, Terry, to have the chance to see the midnight sun. Many cruisers never see anything except clouds and fog. We had the added bonus of mid-70's temps. Did you take the trip to the cape itself?

[TLCOhio]

Here is the start of what we saw while visiting Honningsvaag and the North Cape area. The Captain, for weather and dock competition reasons (a 2600-passenger Adia German ship was due in), got to this port about three hours early, allowing more time here and better timing the next day to cruise by the northern face of the North Cape.

 

We visited the small fishing village of Gjesvaer, about 22 miles NW of Honningsvaag. We had a rental car for the four of us and we traveled a route that was sunny, very dramatic and rising through this stark, but beautiful landscape. There are no trees to be seen this far north. We had packed a picnic lunch with us. We got there early, but our bird rock charter was doing a photo tour with a Polish photographer with 26” lens. He took about 1000 different pictures while on his trip out there.

 

Before boarding, I asked our Captain if we would see any puffins. His reaction? “You’ll see 2.6 million there. There will be so many, it will seem like they are mosquitoes.” That sounded like hype, but it was true . . . and more! These pictures give you only a small sampling of what all we saw. It was birds, birds, birds!!!

 

To do our boat charter, you can check this website: http://www.birdsafari-auroa.no

Our Captain was super excellent for doing a 90-minute tour. It was scheduled for only sixty minutes, but we got more. His boat had a capacity of eight persons, was a 27-feet size and was propelled by 222-horse power engine with thrusters to get closer to the rocks of this protected island where humans are not allowed. For the four of us, it cost us a total of 2000 NOK for the boat charter. We had special “polar suits” to protect against the cold and wind. It was not too cold, but we needed these warmer suits they provided. To be honest, weather is a “crap shoot” here. We were lucky, very fortunate! And happy. We got our car rental through: lene@nordkappbilservice.no

 

What an experience!!!! Loved it! On larger boats, you cannot get as close to the birds as we did, being closer to water level, seeing the gull colony up front and personal, etc. It was great with super weather, until the fog set in hard as we were going back to port. Fortunately, he had a sophisticated GPS, depth screen to guide him back in this “soupy” setting.

 

More visuals will follow from this spectacular location.

 

THANKS for the added, nice comments! For dougburns’ question, my camera is a Nikon D50. I have three different lens. It is digital. I can provide more photo details, if needed or of interest. Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

In the small fishing village of Gjesvaer, here was the harbor scene as we had our picnic at an open table before going on our charter boat to the bird rock areas.:

 

 

 

In Gjesvaer, here was another harbor scene:

 

 

This is the harbor in Gjesvaer with its various small boats shown. Notice the reflections in the water of the boats as the sky was so sunny and blue with the water so calm.:

 

 

This is the first of the puffin visuals, showing their bright orange feet, plus their cute and unique beaks.:

 

 

 

We found five seals on this rock. They slid off of the rock, into the water and then peaked their heads up to say hi to us.:

 

 

 

These are some of these Cormorant black birds at their perching area on this island.:

 

Edited July 10, 2010 by TLCOhio

[mconthehighseas]

Terry, I am new to this thread, but have been following your adventures intently. I am hoping you will have a chance to take cabin photos during your cruise, so we can see how they have storage, seating, etc. set up. I know there are some pics on the Silverseas website, but they never show the balcony or have comments as informative as yours.

 

Mindy, who is thinking about Silversea for next year.

Edited July 10, 2010 by mconthehighseas

[TLCOhio]

After getting our rental car, the store clerk mentioned in passing a warning of “Watch out of the reindeer.” Just casually saying it. Sure. Maybe, we’ll see some in the distance. Two or three, maybe!? You will see the result and our good luck below. Plus, more birds are shown, also.

 

Driving back from seeing the birds, it got very, very foggy. We were going to visit the North Cape Center, but in the deep fog around 10:30 pm, we decided to head back to the ship. We didn’t depart the Honningsvaag harbor until 7 am today. Next, our good luck in seeing the North Cape from the waterside while on the top of the Silver Cloud.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

 

This shows a huge colony of sea gulls along the rocks and deep into the large opening in the side of the mountain.:

 

 

 

Here, the puffin is looking left, allowing a different angle to see their unique beak.:

 

 

 

This is a large flock of white birds with their different coloring at the top. We haven’t yet checked for their official name. Any suggestions from those with bird books handy?:

 

 

 

These various birds, including the puffins, were not just filling the cliffs and water, but the air, also. It was like a scene out of a Hitchcock film. They were not threatening us. Just busy getting food and living their lives.:

 

 

 

On the way to Gjesvaer, here was a small part of the large herd of reindeer we discovered on the way to our boat charter. They believed that all of this territory, including the road, belong to them. The young baby reindeer were especially cute!:

 

[meow!]

This is so nice .. thank you!