7/2/2016 Scandinavian 7 Day Cruise Port Quick Look

[ccrain]

Unlike previous cruises with lots of sea days or cruises just for fun, this was a destination cruise for us. So I’ve not provided a lot of details on what is happening on the ship. That’s because we haven’t sampled much of the night life. Just a few shows here and there, a few entertainers here and there, some dancing, but not much really. Which is what we expected. Up early to tour, down early to catch up on sleep.

 

And since this is a destination cruise, I want to concentrate on the ports and suggestions for people coming on this cruise later on in the season.

 

This particular Scandinavian Adventure went to three of the four advertised ports. Zeebrugen (Bruges or Brussels), Copenhagen and Oslo. (Helsingborg was aborted as it was a tender port due to high winds and rough seas.)

 

In Bruges we used the Princess on your own, which was essentially a roundtrip shuttle. In Copenhagen we did it on our own, and in Oslo we did the morning on our own and in the afternoon we did a Princess tour of three Museums (the Viking Ship, Fram and Kon-Tiki museums).

Bruges

 

You have to taxi, shuttle or somehow get into Bruges from the ship. A shuttle will take you from the ship dock, in the Zeebruggen container port, to the port gates, but taxis and alternative transportation from that point was very limited. We did the Princess on your own, but four a taxi is cheaper and there are plenty of taxi stands in Bruges to get back to the ship. It’s about 30 minutes max back to the ship.

 

The most interesting part of Bruges is very compact and easily walkable, but mobility impaired people will find the cobblestone streets a challenge for wheels, canes and walkers. Watch out for the bikes, cars and horses. You can hear the horses coming, but the bikes and cars are everywhere.

Rick Steves’ book is very accurate, as is the TripAdvisor maps and ratings, but seeing is believing and understanding. On the first trip we did the Princess On Your Own plus a short guided walking tour and a canal cruise. On the second we DIY’ed it. My recommendation is to skip the canal cruise, that water is some of the nastiest I have ever seen, skip the horse and buggy ride (at 50 Euros its rather expensive), and invest in a nice Belgian beer, or two, and lunch after a hard day of walking the sites and shopping for chocolates.

 

Both times we were in Bruges on Sunday. The churches do not open for tourists until 1330 on Sundays. On the guided walking tour we hit the highlights, the market, the towers, the bridges, the statues here and there. They are scattered all over the town as are lots of boutique chocolate shops. Chocolate of every imaginable shape type size and price range. Don’t buy on a whim. Get a sample first, and when you’re sampled out, buy one of each!

 

We tried two highly rated Trip Advisor sites for lunch and beer – Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan and Arthie’s.

 

Huisbrouwerij De Halve Maan is a popular brewery with tours and a full service restaurant. We had 2 each of the Brugse Zat Blonds. Wow! Really, really good unfiltered blonde beer. We had one full menu lunch and a 2 item lunch. Judy had the cold cucumber and tomato soup – and loved it. I had the watercress and mixed green salad with goat cheese, and it was really good as well. For her main, she had the stuffed pepper and I had the Steak. It was a really great lunch. The food was excellent, the service great, the beer fantastic. The only downer was the dessert. It tasted like cereal, had a texture of soggy cereal and had no WOW factor. Oh well. The previous courses were fantastic. As I posted on Facebook I had lunch with a blonde and a brunette! Considering the quality of the food the prices were not bad for a touristy type town. We probably would have spent just as much at any chain, like Old Chicago’s, on beer, apps and pizza in the US for lunch.

 

Arthie’s tripadvisor score was only in the 20’s, but it was close and not crowded, and the menu looked interesting as most things we had never had before. It turned out to be a great choice. We both had the Skull Blond. A good beer. Not as good as we’d had in our travels, but not bad. The food however, was WOW, and I love WOW food. I had the Vispannetje - Voul e Vent - Fish Stew/Chowder. Basically chunks of fresh white fish, salmon and mussels, and vegetables in a heavy crème sauce. OMG. This was so good. Judy ordered the Beenhammetje – Ham with Mustard Sauce - and the mustard sauce would have made an old boot taste good. We both traded plates about halfway through. This was WOW food, the kind that makes us very happy to travel! Very fresh ingredients, freshly made, I can’t say enough about it. You just have to try it.

 

The most interesting, and actually one of the most fun since it turned out ok, was the search for an ATM to get money out of as we were out of Euros. Most the ones in the central part of town were from a bank that would not accept our card. We finally found a UBS bank ATM that did accept our card. Took us about an hour using the little tourist map we got on the bus and going from ATM to ATM. But the tourist map was very useful.

 

On the second trip we also went into the torture museum across the street from Arthie’s. Interesting. Some of it was pretty hokey, but a lot of fascinating history on torture and capital punishment, and some pretty scary examples of torture implements that make you go ooohhhh!

Copenhagen

 

On the first time into Copenhagen we did an Alla independent tour. This was about a 3 hour tour of the highlights of Copenhagen and really gave us a good overview of the city itself. Like Bruges, it’s a very compact city. 2 miles x 2 miles contains pretty much everything you might want to see and do on a first, second or even third visit. We went by the palace, into the fortress, saw the Crown Jewels, went by the guard barracks and walked from City Hall to the town center.

 

Definitely pick up one of the free guide maps when you get off the ship. It will show you everyplace you might want to go, and Rick Steve’s books give you an overview of each place. Tripadvisor reviews were also helpful in picking out what we wanted to do.

 

You can see the ship from downtown Copenhagen. There was a shuttle bus the first time we docked, but did not see one the second time we docked. But its walkable from the ship along the wharfs and docks to the downtown area and the palace area. Copenhagen is also a great DIY place as everything is pretty much in a compact area around downtown. One of the best tips our guide on the first trip gave us was the steeples. If you familiarize yourself with the steeples, you can navigate Copenhagen easily. I would add one corollary to that. From the top deck of the ship you can easily spot and photograph all the steeples. Do that before you leave the ship so that you can gameplan your route.

 

Our second time in Copenhagen was walking, walking and more walking. We headed for the palace along the waterfront to get photos and videos of all the statues and fountains along the way. Once in the palace we noted that no one important was there (no flags on any of the buildings), but had a blast watching the guards scare the careless tourists who leaned up against the walls or stepped too close to them or crossed one of those invisible do not cross lines. It became a game as we would watch tourists come into the square and try to predict if they would get yelled at or not.

 

From there we went to the botanical gardens. Always a great free neat place to visit in any city. This one had some interesting flower arrangements, but more interesting was the vegetable garden spaces. From our previous tour we knew where the guard barracks were for the changing of the guard ceremony, so we were able to see them when they mustered and as they headed out we were able to intercept their route twice and get some great photos and videos. It was the mini-formation typical for when no royalty is in residence. No band, no drums.

 

Did not see the actual changing of the guard at the palace, but headed to our first choice of restaurant , the Amalie, very near the palace. Good reviews on TripAdvisor and they were well deserved. We chose the four course lunch menu. Very reasonably priced with a couple of Pilsner’s each. Amalie only serves lunch and we were able to sneak in between bookings. For the four course meal, figure on at least 1.5 hours, but single course meals will take less. We were able to get in without reservations, but just barely.

 

The food was incredible. The first course was a duo of Herring. One pickled, one in a curry Aeoli (Curry mixed with mayonnaise). I was not aware that pickled Herring was a sweet pickle. Almost a bread and butter spiced pickle and it was fantastic. But topping that was the curried Herring. Judy could not eat any of it, so I had to eat it all. Adding the finely diced red and white onions, and some capers, altered texture and taste. This was really good stuff. Adding the fat, not sure if it was beef or pork, to the pickled Herring altered the flavor profile a little, but we both preferred the pickled herring with just the red onions. The curried herring was great with a little red, a little white and a few capers.

 

The herring course was followed by a fish course of pan fried fresh white fish and a smoked salmon. A mayo based tartar sauce really enhanced the white fish, but a soy based, wasabi, sweet sauce for the salmon stole the show. That stuff was good enough to drink. The fish was so fresh and fried perfectly. The smoked fish was cold smoked and wonderful with the soy based sauce.

 

The fish course was followed by the main course, a pan fried pork cutlet with caramelized onions and a cucumber salad. On its own, this was a fantastically cooked piece of pork, very flavorful, not plain like US pork, but, and this is a little but, the pork was overshadowed by the previous two fantastic courses. (I was still marveling over the curried herring.)

 

The final course was a cheese course with three cheeses, some home made wafer crackers – three different types – and a berry coulis. On their own, the cheeses were very powerful, but when eaten with a bit of berry, a bit of one of the three types of wafers – WOW. The flavor exploded. Being a cheese guy who can’t get out of Whole Foods without spending a fortune on cheese, this was my first cheese as a dessert course on the continent and I really enjoyed it.

 

The décor is very formal, very European, either streetside café or inside in the basement of an old house. The service phenomenal and very personable, professional and prompt. Our server would serve with the skill and flair of the waiters you see in the movies (perfect placement of the silverware and perfect placement of the dish for presentation) and then converse one on one with us and explain the dishes, in excellent California English, how to eat them, what went together with what, how it was prepared – just really a great experience.

 

After that lunch we managed to roll back to the ship via the palace area, stopping long enough to see a couple of tourists get yelled at, and then back along the waterfront. Although the ship was not scheduled to leave until 0330 the next morning, when we got back it started to pour down rain, and basically rained the rest of the evening. Our plans to do a nighttime dinner or at least a walk at night were washed away.

 

Oslo

 

Like Copenhagen everything is in easy reach of the port. No shuttles required for the palace and downtown areas, the parks and most of the downtown major landmarks. There are harbor tours from the various piers, Hop On, Hop Off busses and taxi tours. We had the Princess three museum excursion scheduled to leave at 1200. Instead of waiting we went off the ship right away to see the area, scouting around the pier areas, the palace and the downtown parks. That was a great little walk. Lots of little boutique shops and restaurants in the area. Where we docked, the northernmost pier, there is a lot of apartments or condos of various architectures. And a lot of marina docking for boats. A Starbucks as well. We were able to leisurely check out the various statues and building architectures along the way, we both really enjoyed it – along with the obligatory scare the tourist moment at the palace! (Hint – Don’t lean on or touch the barriers!)

 

The Palace grounds had some beautiful flowers and statuary as well as perfectly groomed grass. And it was a beautiful blue sky day. (When we back to the ship for the tour I had to change out the long sleeved shirt for a short sleeve one.)

 

The tours were disappointing. Like the Lofoten tours we had very limited time in each museum. Not enough to really take a good look. This should have been an all day tour, but I suspect Princess is limiting tour times to reduce prices to try and stay competitive with independents. We had a total of 30 minutes at the Viking museum, and after the guide’s lecture, we only had 15. And with the crush of all the other tours arriving on the same schedule, it was a madhouse inside. We had 35 minutes at the FRAM museum, which was not nearly enough to see both ships, interact with the various displays and actually do anything other than walk through the entire exhibit at a brisk pace and then out the door. The Kon-Tiki and RA museums had a bit better timing – 50 minutes. So the bottom line – this tour is not recommended.

 

But if you are into old historical ships, these three museums are fantastic. The Viking museum has 3 complete ships, not reproductions but originals, and a couple of displays of major pieces of two more. Alcoves on the walls above the ships, with steep single file access stairs, allows people to see and photograph the upper decks of the ships. This museum can get very crowded very fast when the tour busses arrive. But at least an hour is needed here.

 

The Kon-Tiki and RA museum is the most current. Google Kon-Tiki if you are not familiar with Thor Heyerdahl’s work. I read Kon Tiki when I was in high school. Kon Tiki itself is on display, as is RA, the papyrus boat. At least an hour is necessary here. More if you want to see the movie which starts at 1200 every day and takes an hour and 10 minutes.

 

Of the three the Fram museum is the best. With both the FRAM and the Gj0a on display in a separate building, plus movies, there is at least 2-3 hours worth of climbing around in the museum to do. There are a bunch of interactive displays as well, a movie and many, many static informational displays. And the café has free wifi and comfortable seating. But there are a lot of stairs to climb in order to see it all, so be prepared.

 

Also, the three museums are quite close together along with the maritime museum. I would cab to the Viking museum first, then walk up the hill to the FRAM museum where the Kon-Tiki and the Maritime museum are in the same complex. Taxi stands and taxis were at both locations. There are also passenger ferries that land at the FRAM museum from the pier area.

 

Oslo is definitely an easy DIY port at very reasonable prices to get around.

[Iowa Traveler]

Thank you for your informative posts. Especially enjoy "your" LIVE reports! You usually find the positive in situations and do not dwell on negatives.

Looking forward to cruising along with you (via computer) in the future!!

[ccrain]

Thank you for your informative posts. Especially enjoy "your" LIVE reports! You usually find the positive in situations and do not dwell on negatives.

Looking forward to cruising along with you (via computer) in the future!!

 

Dwelling on the negative is like complaining about the weather - not much is going to come of it, but as an infamous US comedian once said:

 

When you get lemons, make lemonade, add some vodka, invite some friends and have a party!

[Clarea]

Thanks for the excellent report.:)

[KYteach]

We SO loved your reports. We booked the Midnight Sun and Summer Solstice cruise for June of 2017 solely because of your love reports. Thanks so much for sharing your trip with us!