It's a Wrap

I have not commented much on the days at sea (we had five on this cruise) but they truly are a highlight of Crystal cruises. We particularly love a well-balanced itinerary that leaves enough time to rest and recharge and this trip was perfect in that regard.

Our days at sea vary each cruise and the weather has a lot do with that. This cruise in particular makes you want to keep going since darkness never comes. Most days begin with a workout; the Promenade Deck is fantastic for jogging or for brisk walks and Crystal has Walvests and Nordik Walking Poles available. Alternatively, the fitness centre is fully equipped, open 24 hours and there are complimentary yoga, pilates, spin cycle, etc. Other activities include complimentary golf and dance lessons.

On the less active side, the daily Reflections is full of stuff, from Bridge, art, language and computer lessons, to all kinds of seminars and lectures. In other words, something for everyone.

There are also plenty of areas around the ship to lounge, in and out of the sun, a Lido guy always at hand and ready to bring us pretty much anything our hearts desire.

And there are so many eating choices!! The food on this cruise has been consistently excellent, regardless of venue, and we try to make it to the Palm Court for high tea often. That's why we need to hit the gym or the Promenade Deck every day :)

The entertainment on the ship is top notch too. The caliber and variety of the performers and shows is great and our days often end with a show and some dancing.

All in all this has been a fabulous cruise to an outstanding destination, which brings me to Norway and its people. We headed north from our first stop in Bergen, stopping in big cities and tiny towns along the way, until we reached the North Cape where the sun never set for four days, and then headed back south to our disembarkation port in Dover.

A few observations: the natural beauty of Norway and its fjords in the summer, the vibrancy of the colours and the multitude of waterfalls, belie the harshness of the environment its people must endure; including the long, long, months of darkness and cold, particularly in the northern part of the country. In certain areas flat farming land is scarce and farms seem to cling to the steep cliffs flanking the fjords. Notwithstanding the challenges there is a clear sense of prosperity, there is money to go around and pay for social programs and the overall financial health of the population. The economy relies heavily on immigration, particularly for unskilled labour (17% of the population are immigrants or children of immigrants) and the country's riches come from oil (of which there is lots and lots), shipping and fish.

Norwegians are hardy people. They need to be to thrive in this beautiful but harsh environment where so many highly educated and skilled people compete for few jobs and life is super expensive. The long, cold -snowy or rainy depending on where you live- winters can be depressing and the summers unpredictable. We did not meet a single surly Norwegian, in fact we met a lot of mild-mannered, happy going Vikings!

We've been back for a couple of weeks now and I'm still in withdrawal. This was one of our best cruises overall and I highly recommend this itinerary. Now, we start planning for our next trip!

 

Stavanger

For a brief moment I'm transported to the Caribbean, Hot pink, canary yellow, royal purple, seafoam green; a veritable rainbow surrounds us in the pedestrian friendly shopping streets of Gamle Stavanger, or Old Town, in stark contrast to the streets on the opposite side of the port where little white-clad cottages fly the Norwegian flag. The Stavanger Cathedral or Domkirke dates back to 1125 and backs onto a man-made lagoon within a nice city park.

It's third largest city, Stavanger is known as the Oil Capital of Norway. Once again we marvel at the thriving yet traditional feel of the city, just as we have in every place we've stopped at over the past couple of weeks. We spend a few hours walking about town and then head to the port to board a tourist ferry for three hour cruise of Lysefjord. Having been to so many fjords in the last few days this is one excursion we could have passed on; we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time staring at a hole on the rocky cliff known as Vagabond's Cave and some more time looking up at Pulpit Rock, recently made famous in Tom Cruise's latest cliff-hanger, Mission Impossible 6. From below Pulpit Rock is quite dramatic, an almost perfect square box jutting out from the top of the cliff; but the real excitement is at the top, 350 metres up, which daring souls get to after a six kilometre hike. In all honesty we were just tired and hungry; the cruise was actually really nice, the ferry super new, clean, comfortable and the scenery striking.

Olden

Tiny Olden, picturesque, postcard-worthy Olden.

After a lovely, relaxed late-risers breakfast of buttermilk pancakes we get off the ship and head over to the Tourist Office where we buy a ride to Briksdal Glacier. It is a lovely drive past glacial lakes, farms and waterfalls. Once there we choose to walk to the foot of the glacier -although there are small vehicles called "Trolls" for those who want to take it a bit easier. The path alone is worth the visit; snowy caps, wild flowers, goats, rainbows and waterfalls greet us at every turn. Finally we arrive at the glacier and spend some time taking pictures and marveling at our luck; we are so fricking fortunate to see the world the way we do. The clouds are starting to roll in but we have unimpeded vistas of the turquoise ice glinting from the top. On our way back to the ship we go past the red Olden Old Church which dates back to the 18th century.

Back on board we make a bee line to the Trident Grill, there is always something delicious waiting. Calvin brings me a nice glass of rosé which pairs perfectly with my salmon, Blake his favourite draught beer and burger. Ben & Jerry's anyone?

Honningsvag and the North Cape

Honningsvag, tiny fishing town of 5,000 people, was obliterated by the Nazis under their “scorched earth” policy as they retreated ahead of the allied forces. No structure was left standing except for the church which apparently, at the whim of a Nazi commander who liked it, was spared destruction.

A blonde girl approaches us with a flyer for an afternoon theatre performance called “Our Northernmost Life”, a singing and dancing show put on by local teenagers to explain how, where the world ends, there starts their life! Unfortunately we had an excursion to the North Cape scheduled for the afternoon and could not make it. By the way, the show has excellent reviews on Trip Advisor.

And so, this is the day on which we finally get to the North Cape or Nordkapp. At 71 degrees latitude, we drive from Honningsvag (with a great tour guide from the Check Republic sharing a ton of interesting info and historic background) for about 50 minutes through barren but striking landscape, occasionally broken up by lakes and reindeer. 7,000 reindeer spend the summer in Mageroy Island (where the North Cape is); they are brought to the island in the spring by ferry as they are too weak to swim from the mainland, spend the summer in Mageroy having babies and getting strong, and then swim back across. We see many reindeer, including lots of babies. We also stop at a Sami (or Laplanders) family ranch who look after the reindeer and sell souvenirs to tourists.

Up and up we go until we reach the Cape. There is a distinct polar chill to the air and the views are quite magnificent. We are lucky to arrive on a partially clear afternoon, we are told that a lot of the time the views are completely obscured by heavy fog. There is a visitor centre where tourists can watch a 15 minute, very well done panoramic movie of the North Cape, buy expensive souvenirs and have delicious pancakes. The Globe sculpture is a magnet for picture taking tourists but a different sculpture, Mother and Child, surrounded by seven disk-like sculptures created by children from seven different countries, is a touching homage to all children around the world.

Later in the evening we sail past the North Cape; nothing between our ship and the North Pole, the calm waters reminding us of another unusual polar sailing some years ago, that one around Cape Horn on our way to Antarctica.

Tromso

Tromso is very cute, colourful and quaint. Part of its charm comes from not having been heavily damaged during WWII (unlike many other Norwegian towns which were literally razed to the ground), and to its roots in the maritime trade. Over 60,000 people live in Tromso, which boasts the world’s northernmost university. Tromso also served as the “gateway to the Arctic” in the 1850s when a number of expeditions were launched from there.

We spend a few hours in town and in the afternoon head off to Whale Island for an ocean kayaking adventure. We suit up and off we go paddling in calm waters and under steel-grey skies. A large metal structure sticking up from the water serves as a landing spot for arctic terns; this is what remains of the Tirpitz, a German battleship bombed and destroyed during the war. 

I spend a lot of time nagging Blake, worried he’ll tip us over as he did while kayaking in Kauai last year. Finally I begin to relax and just enjoy the ride; the scenery is beautiful and the exercise feels good. Our tour guides were awesome.

Next stop: the Nord Kapp