Adventure of the Seas Iceland & Norway Cruise May 30 2014 Sailing Review

[Iluvcruising2]

After the stop at the waterfall, we continued our drive, only to stop a short while later at this viewpoint.

 

The vegetation here looked a bit like Iceland. Tundra?

 

It would be very scary to get lost here. Thankfully there is only one road to follow.

 

We drive on, and very soon we reach the Trollstigen Visitor centre. See this video. For a while, it didn't look like we were driving on earth. Ok, maybe I am just ignorant. Where I come from, we don't have such scenery.

 

Check out my blog post here for more pictures for the Valldal to Trollstigen visitor centre segment!

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-9-alesund-norway.html

[Iluvcruising2]

And we arrive at the Visitor center. This is the car park. At first, I thought there was ample parking space. But the parking did get quite full.

 

Wait a second, where is the Troll Road? Did I miss it? This was a mystery. Well, the answer is that the Troll Road is after the visitor center, if you come from the direction of Valldal. Check out my blog posts to see the map, and you'll get what I mean. After our visit here, we will drive down the hairpin turns, towards Andalsnes. We will not head back to Alesund via Valldal, instead we take another route.

 

Another view of the car park area, souvenir store, the visitor center and cafe.

 

After a bio-break, we head towards the viewpoints. There are three, and some walking is required.

 

I made some videos as we walked to the various viewpoints. For your convenience, here are the links.

 

Trollstigen Visitor Center Carpark

 

Entering into the National Park area, walking towards the first view point.

 

The First Viewpont (Pardon the crazy guy talking)

 

The Second Viewpoint

 

The third and most famous viewpoint

 

More pictures on this blog post, as well as pictures from the cafe.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-alesund-norway-part-3.html

 

Enjoy!

[bogofman]

I did see some car rentals at the port. Maybe you want to try http://www.europcar.is/

 

or[/url]

 

Hi we looked for europcar at the port in rekyavik but could not find it, where was it?

 

went with hertz in the end, they were renting out of the kiosk in the tourist off/shop at the port.

[Iluvcruising2]

Hi we looked for europcar at the port in rekyavik but could not find it, where was it?

 

went with hertz in the end, they were renting out of the kiosk in the tourist off/shop at the port.

 

Thanks for the info. I thought I saw the Europcar sign but I may have been wrong. Anyway, if hertz rents out of the kiosk at the port, then it should be more convenient than Enterprise Car Rental, where we had to travel some way to the rental office.

 

I assume you could pick up the car at the port and return at the port itself?

[I-Cruiser]

After our Valldal rest stop, we start to head towards the Troll Road. The distance from Valldal to the Trollstigen visitor centre is only 28km. However, the drive was scenic and we stopped twice for photos.

 

We made an unscheduled stop to see a small waterfall. It was good!

 

Here is the waterfall. (Don't know the name)

 

Here is a video

 

Its Gudbrands juvet (or gorge) ;)....The river is called Valldøla.

The gorge is 5 meters wide and 20-25 meters high.

 

Great report - keep it coming!

Edited July 2, 2014 by I-Cruiser

[Sailing Grandma]

I especially enjoyed the pictures in your blog of the Nord Norge. About ten years ago we sailed on her for five days from Kirkeness to Bergen, cruising in and out of many fjords along the way It was interesting to see your pictures of Trondheim as that was one of our stops.

[GC456]

WOW! Such awesome pics! :D

[Iluvcruising2]

Its Gudbrands juvet (or gorge) ;)....The river is called Valldøla.

The gorge is 5 meters wide and 20-25 meters high.

 

Great report - keep it coming!

 

Thanks for the info. Glad you like the review.

[Iluvcruising2]

I especially enjoyed the pictures in your blog of the Nord Norge. About ten years ago we sailed on her for five days from Kirkeness to Bergen, cruising in and out of many fjords along the way It was interesting to see your pictures of Trondheim as that was one of our stops.

 

Great! This was completely unexpected. Thanks to our aft cabin, we could get wonderful views of the Nord Norge pulling in. I was thrilled to when I stepped out into the balcony and suddenly saw this rather pretty looking small ship docking. Great stuff!

 

For the benefit of readers, the short video of the Nord Norge is here (scroll down to the last video)

 

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/06/adventure-of-seas-day-9-sailing-in-to.html

[Iluvcruising2]

WOW! Such awesome pics! :D

 

Thanks for your comment.

[Iluvcruising2]

After we were done with the Trollstigen viewpoints, instead of driving down the Troll road, we did something else.

 

What happened was that on the way to the Trollstigen Visitor Center (coming from Valldal), I had noticed a spot where a number of cars had pulled over, as if there was something to see. But because there wasn't any tourist or clear sign that it was a place of interest, I drove on. Shortly after, we reached the Trollstigen Visitor centre.

 

Wondering what we had missed, I had decided to backtrack - go back at most 10 minutes by car, if we couldn't find the place, we would then resume our original course.

 

It was a great thing I decided to back-track. In less than 5 minutes, I spotted the same place again with a number of vehicles pulled over. We parked safely, got off, and this was what we saw.

 

Snow! And people were down there, playing in it. I guess it should be safe? Anyway, we decided to go down to play too!

 

My kids wanted to run down this, to see how far they could go! Fortunately, common-sense prevailed and I didn't allow them to go beyond about 10M from this point. I have no idea whether the snow would melt their feet and some avalanche may occur? (Hey, we are from the Tropics, no experience with snow at all)

 

We played in the snow for about 20 minutes before getting back to the car. You can see cars pulled over, and the passengers were out taking photos and walking around the place. Don't miss this part if you do the Troll Road! It is about 5 minutes drive from the Trollstigen Visitor centre, in the direction of Valldal (i.e. do not go down the Troll Road). I don't know the name of this place, there were no signs. If anybody knows, please share.

 

So next, we drive down the Troll Road! Here is a video. Frankly, it wasn't too difficult. Just do it slowly and carefully.

 

The family was tired now and I decided to give the Troll Wall a miss and start the drive back to Alesund. We would pass the outskirts of Andalsnes where we stopped at a cafe located within a petrol station for some food.

 

More pictures on my blog.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-alesund-norway-part-4.html

[Iluvcruising2]

Earlier in the day, when we were leaving Alesund, I noticed signs on the road

to Mt Aksla Viewpoint. So, I decided to drive to the viewpoint on the way back. It took a while to get up as you had to drive through residential estates. The last part of the road was extremely narrow, only one way.

 

The Ho-Ho bus came here too. It had to, given that this was a popular tourist spot.

 

This was the view from the parking lot. You can see the ship, and the cafe.

 

This was the view from the viewpoint. Awesome, even though it was cloudy.

 

Here are some videos I took:

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

Part 3

 

This was inside the cafe, which was rather empty when we were there.

 

We stayed at the viewpoint for about 20 minutes, taking photos, videos and using the toilets. Thereafter, it was time to head back to the ship. But first, we would drop off the car at the car rental office.

 

A picture of the onboard NAV.

 

Do check out my blog post for more pictures and descriptions!

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-alesund-norway-part-5.html

[Iluvcruising2]

I put in 19L of Diesel just before returning the rental car. There was a Shell station just next to the rental office.

 

This is the rental office, from the main road. The Shell station is just beside it, so you don't need to worry about finding a petrol station to fill up just before returning.

 

Overall, the experience of renting from this Avis/Budget location was very pleasant and easy. We could drop off the keys easily and return to the ship. Very hassle-free. Definitely recommended. Email them directly for the best rates. Booking through the website, the rates looked a bit high. However, when we emailed them with our specific requirements, they were able to offer us a better deal! You can find their email contact on the AVIS website, Alesund downtown location.

[scubacruiserx2]

Here's another picture of the Aksla viewpoint. Thanks for bring back some great memories of the Troll Road !!

 

 

[Iluvcruising2]

Here's another picture of the Aksla viewpoint. Thanks for bring back some great memories of the Troll Road !!

 

 

 

Awesome picture! I noticed 2 ships in port, one noticeably bigger than the other.

[Iluvcruising2]

After we returned the car, we walked back to the port, boarded the ship, washed up a bit and went for MDR dinner.

 

This was the menu for the evening.

 

Cream of mushroom soup.

 

Escargots, available every evening with the new menus.

 

Tonight, the Mixed Grill was available.

 

This was an interesting dessert, in a very familiar mould!

 

For more pictures, please check out my blog post.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-9-alesund-main.html

[Iluvcruising2]

After dinner, we got off the ship to take a nice walk around Alesund Town. All these were closed now. When the ship docked in the morning, passengers could buy local tours from here.

 

It was a short walk to the Town Centre, via an underpass. It is well sign-posted, so you won't get lost

 

Here is a video clip of some of the things we saw during that nice evening walk.

 

Town Center.

 

I noticed quite a number of hotels and there were some tourists wandering around too.

 

Managed to find this bed of flowers, even though it was early summer.

 

More pictures on my blog:

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.com/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-9-alesund-part-6.html

[Iluvcruising2]

The next day, we would be in Molde, Norway. The ship docked at 8am and would sail again at 9:30pm. So, we had plenty of time. We were here on a Sunday, and almost everything was shut. So, what were we going to do?

 

This was the Ro-Ro Fjord ferries that made regular trips. This was taken from our aft balcony. The ship had already docked.

 

Cruise compass. Molde was supposedly well known for its roses. However, we were too early in the season, unfortunately.

 

Just outside the ship. We were pretty much 'parked' in town.

[Iluvcruising2]

The town centre is a short walk away, but it was pretty much closed this morning.

 

Our plan was to take a hike up to the Varden viewpoint. Yes, a hike. It would be a long walk. First, we had to find our way to Romsdal Museum, which we found out was open that day. The start of the walking trail up to the Varden viewpoint was just opposite the museum.

 

Passed by these nice houses as we walked up the slopes towards the museum.

 

That's the entrance to the Romsdal Museum. It probably took us about 20 minutes to get here on foot. We will enter the museum later, on the way back to the ship. First, we want to hike to Varden viewpoint!

 

For more pictures, check out my blog post - Molde, Part 1:

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-molde-part-1.html

[Iluvcruising2]

This was the start of the hiking trail up to Varden panorama peak. It would be 3.2km from here. Not a trivial walk, considering that we have to walk back down too.

 

At the beginning, the path was easy.

 

It got a bit more rocky on the way up, however, it was still very manageable. My kids could do it.

 

It took us more than 1.5 hours to get to the peak. It was quite a walk! This is one view you can get from the peak. Look at the peaks, after peaks, after peaks. Awesome stuff.

 

Check out my video taken at the peak:

 

And more pictures on my blog post (Molde Part 2)

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-molde-part-2.html

Edited July 10, 2014 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

At Varden viewpoint, you definitely can see peaks in every direction on a clear day.

 

There were quite a number of cars. So people drove up too. If you rent a car, it shouldn't be too difficult to drive up too.

 

This chap was enjoying the sun! The eatery was shut when we were there, so we had no access to food, water and toilets.

 

We stayed at the peak for a while, to marvel at the views. Then it was time to walk down! We took about an hour to get back to the Romsdal museum from the peak. The walk down was much easier. In future, if we want the views and still get a walk, one way is to hire a taxi from the port gate to bring you to the Varden peak. Not sure how much the taxi ride would cost but the damage shouldn't be too bad. Then, walk down from Varden peak, to Romsdal and back to ship.

 

Check out this blog post for more pictures and a video.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-molde-part-3.html

[Iluvcruising2]

This being a Sunday, two short videos of the Pasir Panjang choir, a local church that we are currently attending in Singapore.

 

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/church-choir-amazing-grace-and-chinese.html

 

I have shared in earlier parts of the thread, that we are so thankful & blessed that we can travel to so many parts of the world and share our experiences while doing so.

 

Witnessing God's creation is an incredible privilege.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

More of my Iceland & Norway cruise review coming up soon.

[Iluvcruising2]

Romsdal museum was an outdoor museum, similar to the one we visited in Trondhiem. This was a map of the outdoor museum.

 

Inside this wooden house (they were all wooden), we found the workshop of a carpenter. Wood again!

 

Houses like these were the norm. You couldn't enter all of them though. But there were more than enough of such houses to visit.

 

Not sure what this chap was doing. Doesn't look very safe though. Not funny to get injured during a holiday. Oh well, maybe he has great balance.

 

We also visited a wooden church which had this rather large ship replica hanging from the roof.

 

We spent about an hour in this museum before heading back to the ship. More pictures here.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-molde-norway.html

[Iluvcruising2]

From Romsdal museum, we would walk back to the ship via the Green Corridor, a different route from the way we got here.

 

A gorgeous view of the ship!

 

Passed these flowers along the way.

 

The ship looked to be pretty close! We were hungry and wanted to get back for a good lunch after all that walking.

 

See this blog post for more pictures.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-moldenorway.html

[Iluvcruising2]

It was a sunny afternoon. Many passengers were on the sun deck, enjoying the sunshine. It had been a rather cloudy cruise.

 

Check out this video of passengers enjoying the sun deck.

 

Time for our afternoon walk.

 

Made our way to the Town Hall, which was no more than 7 minutes walk from the port gate. This town wasn't big.

 

We visited the church which was next to the Town Hall. Very peaceful inside.

 

Here is a video taken from on top of the Town Hall, near the church, in the rose garden. But no roses, we were too early.

 

This was the bus terminal. We wanted to take the public bus to the Atlantic Road. But no buses were operating on that Sunday, unfortunately.

 

It was a good afternoon walk. Didn't take too long, about an hour or so. Thereafter, we headed back to the ship to rest and prepare for dinner.

 

More pictures on my blog:

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/2014/07/adventure-of-seas-day-10-molde-part-6.html