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

[RetiredMustang]

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2013, Stavanger (Cont.)

We pulled in on time, following a cruise ship into harbor of a line that I had never encountered – Pullmantur. The ship’s name is the Empress. It flies the flag of Malta, and has Valetta registry. After we pulled in, Queen Mary 2 entered the harbor.

Here are the pages of the Explorer port guide booklet for Stavanger:

We had an early shore excursion, to boat up the Lysefjord. We met in the Main Stage until our tour was called, and walked out, getting stickered on the way. We walked a short way up the wharf to a tour boat. (I took this photo not at the beginning of the tour, but at the stop during the excursion, but is shows the boat better):

We left Stavanger harbor and sailed out past some islands to the mouth of the Lysefjord. The walls of the fjord are steep and high, and are granite, mostly light-colored. The guide said Lyse means “light”, and it was the color of the granite that gave it its name.

We sailed under a bridge at the mouth of the fjord, and the cliffs rose up ahead of us:

We saw several things the guide pointed out, including “the Pothole,” which was formed by water flowing around a large boulder. The guide said people on the fjord used it as a bath:

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2013, Stavanger (Cont.)

We then sailed to the base Pulpit Rock, one of the most famous attractions in Norway:

 

 

 

 

We then went on to Whiskey Waterfall, which got its name from a German running/bootlegging whiskey, according to the guide:

Shortly after, we reached the turnaround point, about a third of the way up the 42-km long fjord. Here is a view further into the fjord:

We had embarked under overcast skies, but the clouds broke here and there as we went, and the sun peeked out now and then. By the turnaround point, the weather was worsening.

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2013, Stavanger (Cont.)

On the way back, we stopped at a small bay that had a café with tables set up inside and out for us:

They had platters of waffles, with sour cream and strawberry jam for us to help ourselves to. We then went to the benches which had hot coffee and tea. This photo was obviously taken after we all went through the line:

We reboarded the boat and headed back to Stavanger. Many people who had been outside on the top deck on the way up the fjord rode back inside. Many of those of us who were topside on the return trip also went below as the weather lowered around the hills and villages:

and the boat captain turned on his windshield wipers. About 20 of us without the sense to get inside remained topside all the way in, though … a sort of a “Goobers in the Mist” moment.

When we returned to port, DW and I had thought to walk about Stavanger for a while, but the mist had turned to light rain, so we came back aboard. The shore excursion was scheduled to do an afternoon run as well, but I don’t think the participants had as nice a time was we did. We were cold at times, but we didn’t get rained on, and mist/fog was not covering the cliff tops.

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful review!!

[bradpole]

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2013, Stavanger (Cont.)

We pulled in on time, following a cruise ship into harbor of a line that I had never encountered – Pullmantur. The ship’s name is the Empress. It flies the flag of Malta, and has Valetta registry. After we pulled in, Queen Mary 2 entered the harbor.

 

Enjoying your live reports, thank you for taking the time to do so! I've often wanted to do a TA Crossing similar to this one.

 

Pullmantur is Spanish based cruise line owned by Royal Caribbean, in recent years their fleet consists of many former Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Ships.

 

Empress was previously the Empress of the Seas, and prior to that Nordic Empress.

[aliaschief]

Gets better every day. Really enjoying your review. Though it is a pain typing one handed after yesterday's repair of my left hand!:(

[Copper10-8]

Love Norway! Keep up the good work Dave!:)

[cruz chic]

Beautiful! Thanks for today's update.

[leonidas]

Very nice!! Great pictures!!

 

Kind regards,

Gina

[CoronaCRZR]

Dave, wonderfull review and beautiful pics.

I will have to put this trip on my bucket list of cruises.

Can't wait to see more.

Thank you for taking the time to do this.

 

Ted

[NoobCruise]

About 20 of us without the sense to get inside remained topside all the way in, though … a sort of a “Goobers in the Mist” moment.

 

 

Lol We did this in Juneau while whale watching in Stevens Passage. It was raining pretty good. It was just me, DH, and a young teenage girl outside. We had to wear our sunglasses because the rain combined with speed stung our eyes and blinded us. I think everyone inside thought we were crazy, but we had a great time!

[RetiredMustang]

Dave can you ask if the gallon of water is an American gallon or an Imperial gallon. Before we switched to metric we operated in Imperial measurements and a lot of us oldies still do.

 

Sapper,

 

I asked Samantha, the Culinary Arts specialist, and she said it was a U.S. gallon.

 

Dave

[cruz chic]

Sapper,

 

I asked Samantha, the Culinary Arts specialist, and she said it was a U.S. gallon.

 

Dave

I hope this means she'll have a nice pot of pea soup ready for me when I visit in Oct:D;):p.

[RetiredMustang]

Thurs., Aug. 29, 2013, Stavanger (Cont.)

The weather slowly improved through the afternoon, but not soon enough for us to go back ashore. I hope the people on the shore excursions made out OK.

Dinner again had several things I could have ordered. I would like to be able to “hold” one for a later night so I could have that instead of the always-available steak some night. I know there will come a night when I don’t want any of the featured dishes and would like to say “I’ll have the braised beef ribs from three nights ago.”

Here are the menus:

Tonight, I finally decided to have the pheasant. It was two game birds two nights in a row, but I figure I could always make braised ribs or weiner schnitzel myself if I wanted, but pheasants are hard to find at Harris Teeter.

Pheasant, as served on HAL:

More later,

Dave

[sapper1]

Sapper,

 

I asked Samantha, the Culinary Arts specialist, and she said it was a U.S. gallon.

 

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. When I am using a cookbook I just check what country the book was published in to guide me but when the recipe is just given to me I always ask.

[PatMc]

Noticed the dessert menu---

Are they now charging for after dinner cappuccino?

 

Last year when we were on the Noordam, it was complimentary.

 

[innlady1]

For some time now, there has been talk of being charged for after dinner specialty coffees. It seems random, however. Although perhaps now it is fleet wide.

[trub]

ah yes pheasant is a lovely bird - looks nicely cooked too.. mouth watering.

 

keep it up dave - great photos,

 

thanks

[RuthC]

Love your pictures of Lysefjord. Of the sun ever shines there, you can't prove it by me. I've been up that fjord by catamaran and cruiseship twice each. It's always alternated between almost raining and really raining.

But it's still a gorgeous ride. Didn't you stop to play with the mountain goats? They practically boarded the catamaran last time I was there. Fun.

 

I want those braised ribs for dinner, and pistachio ice cream for dessert, please.

[lizziebargain]

Thank you for the posts-my Mum , sister and aunt are aboard for 28 days so nice to see your pics. I just Skyped with my sister aboard the Eurodam and she mentioned one passenger had just been helicoptered off the ship so here is wishing them a speedy recovery!

[Lovely other]

Thankyou for you lovely posts, i enjoyed the photo's of norway which hopefully will be our destination next year.

 

i'm particularly enjoying the menu's. my husband and i don't see each other for many weeks at a time so we have turned your menu's into a game where each evening we choose what we would have for dinner from your menu ...fantasy dinner dates.

 

looking forward to tomorrows update

 

mx

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Those dinner pictures make me want to cruise tomorrow.

[sppunk]

Oh my god that banana soup sounds amazing. I pray that is offered in three weeks when we are onboard!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Noticed the dessert menu---

Are they now charging for after dinner cappuccino?

 

Last year when we were on the Noordam, it was complimentary.

 

 

It was already started on our cruise in March.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Oh my god that banana soup sounds amazing. I pray that is offered in three weeks when we are onboard!

 

I have had the banana soup a couple of times the last couple of years -- yummy.