A Sisters‘ Summer Sailing to Scandinavia - update: After Cruise Day 2: Tivoli

@dizneeat you better stay away from the video. It features a lot of Brent!!

:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:(thanks for the warning - he definitely is someone I do not want to meet again)

There was WAY too much to comment on, so I just want to add that I am all caught up. Your "adventures" (hiking and sightseeing) were really interesting to read and I just loved to see all the pics.
What a great idea to have dinner at Cabanas. It is such a nice place to have a quiet dinner and I am all with you on the AP "drawing" show. While it was neat the first time around it got old soon.
 
Yes, you picked that one as your favorite on the way to Geiranger already. But it was even more impressive in the afternoon. It was my favorite, too.

Well, it's good to know that I'm consistent! :rotfl2:

By now we were getting a bit exhausted from all the sightseeing we had done so far.

I know that feeling...:rolleyes1

A quick look on the TV however told us that the view did not seem to live up to the hype our Commodore had try to create the evening before (yes, talking about Bergen’s archipelago was once again devoid of any emotion).

It's pretty, but you're right--it doesnt' compare to the previous day's scenery.

Hiking in Cornwall on many vacations there we had come across many life boat stations along the coast. And a lot of them have high up launch points. I think the speed they gain from such a launch helps them to overcome any strong currents and waves that might be around in bad weather (i.e. the conditions you need a life boat). But this one was quite impressive!

Interesting. I was wondering why they were so high up.

The Leprosy Museum - St. Jørgen Hospital http://www.bymuseet.no/en/museums/the-leprosy-museum-st-joergen-hospital/ Yes, this sounds a bit strange.

That's an understatement!

Fløibanen http://floyen.no/en/floibanen/ This is the funicular that goes up on Mount Fløyen.

Always good to put the fun in funicular!

Tschuu-Tschuu is German for Choo Choo.

:rotfl2::rotfl2: I don't know why this tickles me so much, but it does.

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The sign on the lamp post read: “Drive carfully, active kids are playing”. We were very impressed how active Norwegian kids were with their sand box games!

Wow, Norwegian kids get really cool toys to play with!

Sykkel is Norwegian for bike (both words come from the same root, just the different languages chose different parts of the word for the abbreviation).

I'm assuming it's pronounced "cycle", similar to English?


This made me think of the Haunted Mansion.


That's a beautiful street. Looks like a fun place to explore.

I find it fascinating how every country seems to have its own system for the same purpose, be it light switches, door knobs, faucets or toilets.

::yes:: Many ways to solve a problem!


Hi Katharina!

Norway is a country with two “languages”. Or, better, there are two versions of written Norwegian. Both are equally valid.

Interesting! I had no idea.

And then we found my street!

Excellent! You can start charging rent!

I was really glad we went there. I learnt a lot about leprosy but also about hospitals and treating sick people in the past. Leprosy was always something out of the bible or something happening in India, I didn’t know that it was so prominent in Europe and for such a long time in Norway especially.

I remember that the island of Molokai in Hawaii was also the site of a large leper colony. I believe the site is still active, if memory serves correctly--but as you said, leprosy is certainly not the issue it was in the past. Truly a global disease, though.
 
I hope they bring them back, I must get there some day and a cruise would be perfect. My grandma went on a cruise to Norway and it is one of the favorite trips of her life.

This is just my ideas, no official rumor or such. But I am thinking that once they have the new ships, they will send two ships to Europe for the summer season. One for the Med, the other for all kind of cruises in Northern Europe. I think what they are currently doing is testing the waters with new itineraries to fill a full season. If I am right, then I am pretty sure that in 2021 at the latest we will see Norway cruises again. Of course, with the way DCL raises the prices, who knows if we will be able to afford them by then anymore...

How bizarre the breakfast wasn't super fresh that morning.

Alison had a very good explanation: They prepare everything for the opening, so it has already been sitting out for a while.

The tour of Bergen is fantastic! I think I'd like to do exactly what you did on this day. The museums are fascinating. Great idea about buying the passes before going. The beauty salon had some strange contraptions!

It all worked out very well! And those electric curlers or what they are do look frightening!!!
 
You ladies are quite adept at getting up early!

Yes, quite different from those trip reports with my other travel companion... :rotfl2:

I think I know what happened with the food being tepid at the opening time of the buffet. They put everything out all at once and since the cooks can't make everything all at once, some of the things will be fresher and hotter than others. I was up at Cabanas when they were preparing to open the buffet one morning and they had all the trays of food sitting out covered in plastic wrap just waiting for opening time. You're more likely to get hotter food when they are mid buffet and you see someone switching out an old plate for a new hot one.

Makes a lot of sense!! I will have to remember to avoid early breakfasts in the future... Or just pick cold items first.

Good job on ordering your city passes in advance. I never would have thought of that. That worked out well for you to get to the first museum right at opening.

I think we got the idea because on their website they were pushing the ordering in advance option quite a bit. And that made us think that it would be a good idea actually.

The leprosy museum sounds very interesting, whenever I visit anything related to historic medical procedures, I am always amazed at the barbaric processes they used to use!

Yes, I feel very grateful to live in a time of modern medicine and all its advantages.
 


We still broke it... My reasoning was that A) it is very unlikely to get food poisoning from the school bread and B) it really does not matter whether we eat it off the ship and then immediately board it to spread our new acquired food poisoning micro organisms, or whether we transport them onto the ship in our food, eat it immediately after boarding and start the spreading. Luckily no micro organisms were traveling in the school bread so the whole reasoning stayed hypothetical.

Sound reasoning. I approve! #keepsneakysnacking

Here we mainly have the Turkish version of it, the Döner Kebab. But close to my work there recently opened a Lebanese lunch place offering shawarma. The first time there I had to try their falafel, but I am already excited to try the shawarma next.

And yes, there is a difference. I like the Lebanese better myself. I believe we actually had a doner kebab in Nurenberg while there, in fact.


Love me some black powder. The canons used during Civil War re-enactments were quite fun!

And you even like the same waterfall the best as him. But I do too. I guess all three of us have great taste in waterfalls!

Oregon waterfalls are pretty hard to beat and ubiquitous. The Columbia Gorge is chock full of them.

You already know the important stuff about cruising!!

LOL! Priorties.


Super quaint. I like this shot!


Shouldn't that bridge be orange?

Tschuu-Tschuu is German for Choo Choo.

Ok, that's kinda cute. But I love that you noticed it was made from a little town near you.


WE don't see very many pure black slugs here. Mostly the banana slugs or speckled like this:

images


Disgusting creatures. Horrible to step on barefoot at night.

The topic of newspapers is a good one to talk about another fun fact about Norway. Norway is a country with two “languages”. Or, better, there are two versions of written Norwegian. Both are equally valid. One is called Bokmål (book language) and the other one is called Nynorsk (new Norwegian). Bokmål is derived from the Danish language. Norway used to be governed by Denmark until 1814 and during that time Danish was used for official purposes. This had a lot of influence on the Norwegian language and in writing mainly the Danish way of writing was used. However, after the end of Danish government in the 19th century, there was a movement for a true Norwegian language again and a Norwegian poet and linguist developed a new written Norwegian that was based on the rural dialects. This became Nynorsk. Today, both are considered to be equally valid for use in any form.

I had no idea of this history! Thanks for sharing!

Since I speak Danish, I able to read about 95% of Bokmål. Nynorsk is more difficult for me to read. Sometimes I would have to say a word out loud to realise what it is because it just looks different at the first look. It was interesting to see where signposts and such used Nynorsk and where Bokmål. Bergen was Bokmål, in Ålesund it was Nynorsk.

OH, how I know and understand this! When we were first learning to read in Kazakh, we had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. I remember walking all over our village and reading signs and was absolutey stymied by one that read this:

upload_2017-5-6_16-48-46.jpeg

I had to say it out loud and finally, when "got it", felt like the biggest moron on the planet.

Mini Market.

DUH.

The other one was BAP.

What in the heck was a "Bap"?

<sounds it out...>

ooooh.... :rolleyes2

That's a BAR.


Nice!

We learned a lot about leprosy. For example that it is not very contagious and it mainly shows up in poor people. It used to be very wide spread in Europe, but with TBC coming around, it disappeared. Mainly because the poor who would be prone to get leprosy due to being malnourished and unhealthy were killed by tuberculosis before they could get any symptoms from leprosy. People used to think it was a hereditary disease, because it seemed to affect whole families (yes, they were sharing the bad living conditions). But the Norwegian doctor Hansen was able to prove that it was caused by a bacterium. It was even the first bacterium that was prove to cause disease in humans.

Still present in Kaz as well. Mike did a water project in one in our province. They really had formed their own community in there, had families, almost their own small micro economy. Very nice and grateful people.
 
Will catch up on replies later, but I have a new update ready to go up, so will post this now!
 
Cruise Day 6: Bergen - Old houses, leprosy and Freezing the Night Away - Part 4

So, once we were back on the ship, we first went to get some hot tea from the drinks station and then enjoyed our school bread with tea in our cabin. And took some pictures of our cruise progress:

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I then went for a swim while Katharina took some pictures from the upper deck. From there you could actually see the outdoor museum:

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She noticed something that looks like a supermarket right at the dock:

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But unfortunately it seems to be something like Costco, but only available to commercial buyers.

She then went to the Promenade Lounge to catch up on her notes and then we met up to go to the show. Passing through the atrium we saw that they had moved the May Pole Dancing activity that was part of Frozen Night into the atrium from the pool deck where it was supposed to be held due to the weather:

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All the cruise staff CMs were in Norwegian inspired clothing today:

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The show tonight was “Walt Disney - The Dream Goes on” and it was somehow loosely based on Walt Disney’s life. However, we thought the show was rather weak. You can tell that it is not one of the three major production shows for the Magic, but a filler show. I do remember that especially some of the film clips were closer to something on youtube in quality than something a media company should do with their own material.

I can’t even remember, we went to this show….

After the show we ventured on to Keys. Katharina had a drink called Coco Royale: 1800 Coconut, Moet Ice Champagne and Coconut Flakes. I had the Margalicia: Casamigos Reposado, Kalamansi and Orange Juice (don’t ask me what a Kalamansi is!) and Grand Marnier.

I love how they serve the drinks with the little trolley:

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And these are our drinks:

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We took our time with drinking the drinks and were a bit late for dinner (yes, even more rule breaking!! This time my sister thought it was necessary to comment in her trip notes that supposedly I was already in panic about this.)

Today was the new Frozen Menu and I was very curious what it would be like! We got an appropriately “Frozen coloured” napkin. We were in Cariocas tonight, most likely the least Frozen dining room since it is themed to Rio de Janeiro!

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This is the menu:

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It turned out to be a very amusing dinner. It started with the speciality bread being crisp bread (or in Swedish: Knäckebröd):

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Yes, this is very Scandinavian. But it is also the opposite of fancy cruise line food. It is the package that you have in your store cupboard when you run out of the good bread that you buy fresh at your local baker every few days.

The Freezing the Night Away event and the menu had debuted just a few cruises before ours and I had read reports about one appetizer being absolutely horrible on that menu. I was so intrigued, because my suspicion was that for us Germans it would be quite standard food and I wanted to try it. Katharina got the same. It was the Duke of Weselton’s Favorites: Assorted Meats and Cheese with Knackerbrot, Pumpernickle and Pickles.

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And, yes it was something you could be served in a German restaurant under the name of “Brotzeit” (literally translated into “time for bread” and it is a substantial snack or meal, the German equivalent of ordering a sandwich). But I am also aware that most of these things might be a little too exotic for someone who is not used to them. As a kid I would have only eaten half of this plate.

So, let’s talk about what you see: Going from left to right, the first that you see is some type of blood sausage that has pieces of meat inserted in it. There is fatty bacon in it (the white parts), there is normal meat in it and then there is tongue in it. While not my favorite type of sausage (in Germany a sausage is not only the one that you get in link form, but also the one’s you slice up as sandwich meat, like salami or bologna in the US), this one was quite tasty and sliced thinly, it is actually quite inoffensive in taste. If you have thicker slices, you have more ability to notice the slightly unusual texture.

The next one (think pinkish slice) is what I would call Göttinger, but it is also called Bierwurst. This is really similar to a Bologna, but the meat is not cut down as finely, so you have more of a structure. But also less opportunity to hide lots of nasty things in it.

The next smaller pink slice with darker rim is called Mettwurst here in Bavaria, but in other parts of Germany it would be called Teewurst (literally tea sausage). There is no tea involved, it was served on sandwiches with tea. This was one of my two favorite sausages when I was a kid. It is made from pork meat and bacon and has a spreadable consistency. It is really very mild and if you think of it as some kind of meat spread, it is not offensive at all.

Then the last meat is a half slice of Leberwurst (liver sausage). I think this might be the one that is best known in the US as well. I like it a lot.

The piece of cheese is a typical German camembert. It is far milder than the French original. And underneath is the “Knackerbrot”. This is obviously a typo. The Swedish name Knäckebröd is correct and then the German translation for it would be Knäckebrot. Knacker is a German word for a sausage similar to a hot dog.

Camembert or Brie is my most favorite topping on Knäckebrot. It was very nice of DCL to have researched that beforehand.

So, all in all, we did enjoy this appetizer and I can assure you there is nothing totally bizarre about it. If you are the type who orders the snails when they are on the menu to try them, this really is not worse. You might not like it, but there is nothing to lose. If you want a rather authentic example of German sausages, this is a great opportunity. Of course they might have made this selection less “exotic” by now. Our server did warn us about it when we ordered it and would have preferred us to not getting it. Servers are often afraid that if you don’t like the food, it will reflect badly on them.

We also had a salad, the Andersen Baby Field Greens with Vanilla, Apricots, Brioches Croutons, Candied Walnuts, and Lingonberry Dressing:

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This was tasty, but really just a salad.

For our main course we seem to have ordered the same again (very unusual for us to not try different things and split them), the Anna’s Honey-Mustard Marinated Salmon with Sautéed Spinach, New Potatoes and an Aquavit-Sour Cream Sauce:

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I remember this being a very tasty salmon dish.

We then got the very cute dessert menu:

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I have no idea why we have pictures of three desserts and who ordered them. I only remember that I ate one of them, the one I would call the most special.

So, we have the Oaken Warm Apple Pudding Cake served with Butterscotch Cinnamon Sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream:

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And then Frozen Yogurt Romanoff Sundae:Fresh Strawberries marinated in Cointreau, Vanilla Frozen Yogurt and Chopped Pistachio Nuts:

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And finally Pannekaken – Norwegian Pancake: Pancakes rolled in with a Sweetened Lingonberry Cream Cheese

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I am wondering if we maybe got the pancake because we wanted to try it amd the other two desserts were the ones we really wanted to eat? It turns out that the pancake is the only one that I remember. It was good. But the filling was too cheesy for my taste.

I’m quite sure I wouldn’t have orderes the Sundae, so I guess I had the Apple thing. But I would lie if I told you how it tasted.

After dinner we went for a quick stop to our room to change into some warm clothes for the Freezing the Night Away Party. Since it was going to take place on the pool deck, we wanted to make sure that “Freezing” was only in the name and not our feelings during the party.

There we saw the most bizarre towel animal of the trip. We have no idea what this could be:

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We managed to get a decent spot for the party on the pool deck:

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There was some dancing and visits from some Frozen characters:

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There was some singing as well and the party ended with Queen Elsa singing Let it Go and snow falling down on us.

The party started at 10:15pm and as you can see, it was not dark yet.

We were not fans of the party at all. It was really quite boring in our opinion. We are not the biggest fans of Disney shows in the first place, but this just seemed to be mainly showing clips of the movie on the screen.

I guess I am not a Disney Party person, at least not in this cold and with a very full stomach!

After the show we headed straight to bed. Maybe that was a mistake as there was an adult after party in the bar and someone told me about it the next morning and it sounded more fun than the main event. However, we were really tired and felt like we needed a good night’s rest.

At some point this evening we also had a message from the port adventures desk on our telephone. We had spoken to a CM there this day or the day before about our adventure in Ålesund and how we were not really happy with some aspects of it. We felt that DCL needed the feedback since it was the first time for them doing this cruise. So, we got a voice mail by one CM asking us if we could please stop by the port adventures desk and ask for him as he would like to speak to us in person. By the time we got the message he was no longer working, so we did not get to speak to him that day. But we were told his hours for the next day.

By the time we went to bed, you could tell that we had moved into less quiet waters again and there was quite a bit of movement. Katharina also started to feel like she might have caught a cold and was afraid that she might have a bad night.

Luckily I don’t remember that either.

Up Next: Cruise Day 7: Relaxing, Dunking and Muddling
 


How lovely to get in a swim that afternoon.

Thank you for the in depth description of that appetizer. Nothing I would order but interesting to hear about. I remember enjoying that menu.

The party was a bit weak. I thought it was cute but needed more. I don't remember that they showed any clips of the movie so perhaps they changed that bit.

The Walt Disney show sounds bizarre. Not that they're short of material for Walt... That should have been a fabulous show.

I'm impressed they contacted you about the excursion. Hopefully you were able to talk to them about it.

Maybe it's a towel dolly or angel. Too funny.
 

Those are actually very classy! I like them!

After the show we ventured on to Keys. Katharina had a drink called Coco Royale: 1800 Coconut, Moet Ice Champagne and Coconut Flakes. I had the Margalicia: Casamigos Reposado, Kalamansi and Orange Juice (don’t ask me what a Kalamansi is!) and Grand Marnier.

Those sound really delicious!

(yes, even more rule breaking!!

Shocking!

Yes, this is very Scandinavian. But it is also the opposite of fancy cruise line food. It is the package that you have in your store cupboard when you run out of the good bread that you buy fresh at your local baker every few days.

Interesting! But I doubt most of those on a cruise or touring, especially if not from Scandinavia would know this.

And, yes it was something you could be served in a German restaurant under the name of “Brotzeit” (literally translated into “time for bread” and it is a substantial snack or meal, the German equivalent of ordering a sandwich). But I am also aware that most of these things might be a little too exotic for someone who is not used to them. As a kid I would have only eaten half of this plate.

YUM!!! I would love everything on there!

Then the last meat is a half slice of Leberwurst (liver sausage). I think this might be the one that is best known in the US as well. I like it a lot.

But especially this! I buy liverwurst once in a while and eat it mostly by myself. Mikki likes it too, a bit. Especially with yellow mustard.

I am wondering if we maybe got the pancake because we wanted to try it amd the other two desserts were the ones we really wanted to eat? It turns out that the pancake is the only one that I remember. It was good. But the filling was too cheesy for my taste.

Again, delicious. But I think for me, it would have been the cheese that made me love it.
 
There was WAY too much to comment on, so I just want to add that I am all caught up. Your "adventures" (hiking and sightseeing) were really interesting to read and I just loved to see all the pics.

I am happy that you enjoyed what you read!!

What a great idea to have dinner at Cabanas. It is such a nice place to have a quiet dinner and I am all with you on the AP "drawing" show. While it was neat the first time around it got old soon.

It is great to hear that others think like me on the AP show. I always cringe when people say that this is the one night that is a must do in the dining rooms. It is a great example of how different people can enjoy different things on the same cruise ship. And it reminds me that my must do might be not someone else's must do. So, when I recommend something, I always try to give some background as to why I liked it. Hopefully then the other person will get a better chance of understanding if they would enjoy it as well.
 
I know that feeling...:rolleyes1

Well, your amount of traveling and sight seeing would make any normal mortal faint...

It's pretty, but you're right--it doesnt' compare to the previous day's scenery.

I find that it is always difficult to follow up splendid scenery with more civilized sights like towns and city as they always fall flat in comparison.

Wow, Norwegian kids get really cool toys to play with!

Thanks for seeing this and commenting!!

I'm assuming it's pronounced "cycle", similar to English?

More like sick-el. (like in sick). But yes, I totally forgot that the English language uses both parts of the word.

This made me think of the Haunted Mansion.

I think it might from the time period that the Haunted Mansion tries to evoke?

I remember that the island of Molokai in Hawaii was also the site of a large leper colony. I believe the site is still active, if memory serves correctly--but as you said, leprosy is certainly not the issue it was in the past. Truly a global disease, though.

I think that it is actually curable today. But those that have been disfigured would still be treated as outcasts.
 
And yes, there is a difference. I like the Lebanese better myself. I believe we actually had a doner kebab in Nurenberg while there, in fact.

They are so ubiquitous here, I am not surprised you had one.

Love me some black powder. The canons used during Civil War re-enactments were quite fun!

I am not a fan of sudden loud noises... But this was far away to not to startle me.

Oregon waterfalls are pretty hard to beat and ubiquitous. The Columbia Gorge is chock full of them.

Need to make a mental note of this... However, I am afraid that we will first plan a spring trip to Yosemite to see the waterfalls there before we make it to Oregon (even though the Pacific Northwest is very much on my list of places I want to visit).

Super quaint. I like this shot!

It does remind me of a scene from an Astrid Lindgren novel (Swedish children books writer, I loved her Bullerby series).

Shouldn't that bridge be orange?

Haha! It is actually not nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge. And far more modern, it opened in 1992.

WE don't see very many pure black slugs here. Mostly the banana slugs or speckled like this:

EEEK!!! I have never seen one that is yellow!! Are they dangerous?? Here they are either black or brown.

OH, how I know and understand this! When we were first learning to read in Kazakh, we had to learn the Cyrillic alphabet. I remember walking all over our village and reading signs and was absolutey stymied by one that read this:

upload_2017-5-6_16-48-46-jpeg.235865


I had to say it out loud and finally, when "got it", felt like the biggest moron on the planet.

Mini Market.

DUH.

The other one was BAP.

What in the heck was a "Bap"?

<sounds it out...>

ooooh.... :rolleyes2

That's a BAR.

This was funny! I can read Cyrillic somewhat and was able to make it out!

Still present in Kaz as well. Mike did a water project in one in our province. They really had formed their own community in there, had families, almost their own small micro economy. Very nice and grateful people.

That is odd, considering that it is treatable now.
 
Thank you for the in depth description of that appetizer. Nothing I would order but interesting to hear about. I remember enjoying that menu.

I am glad that you enjoyed the description! We enjoyed the menu as well. However, on the cruise board it seems to get a bad reputation.

The party was a bit weak. I thought it was cute but needed more. I don't remember that they showed any clips of the movie so perhaps they changed that bit.

Hmm, I seem to remember short clips. But maybe I am wrong. However, I don't think they can make any version that I would think would be worth my time.

The Walt Disney show sounds bizarre. Not that they're short of material for Walt... That should have been a fabulous show.

That is what we were thinking. It was really sad how flat it felt.

I'm impressed they contacted you about the excursion. Hopefully you were able to talk to them about it.

More about this coming up!

Maybe it's a towel dolly or angel. Too funny.

We thought angel as well. And were wondering if it could be an Elsa?
 
Those are actually very classy! I like them!

I really appreciated the effort they put into those new CM costumes. It definitely helped make us feel like this was a special cruise.

Those sound really delicious!

Keys was a great place for cocktails!! I think it ended up being our favorite spot on the ship.

Interesting! But I doubt most of those on a cruise or touring, especially if not from Scandinavia would know this.

I guess so. We just thought it was funny!

YUM!!! I would love everything on there!

I can imagine! The dinner we had at my parents house when you were in Nuremberg was kind of a version of this. And I remember that your family really loved it (despite some of you having just gone through some tummy upset).

But especially this! I buy liverwurst once in a while and eat it mostly by myself. Mikki likes it too, a bit. Especially with yellow mustard.

Never had mustard with my liverwurst. Sounds interesting! You really need to come back to Germany to try more of the really authentic stuff. I think you might be even courages enough to try what is called "slaughter bowl", which has freshly made liversausages that are served warm. Very delicious!
 
Cruise Day 7: Relaxing, Dunking and Muddling - Part 2

The last day oft the cruise was here. Since we had a relatively early night the night before, we ordered room service breakfast for 8am. We set our alarm for 7:50am so that we would be ready by the time they came. But we woke up earlier and were impatiently waiting for our breakfast to arrive:

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Looks like we again only got two tea bags…. We also did not get any plates to put our toast on. Seems like they were a bit confused in the galley.

We then headed to the Rainforest Room. We had ordered two day passes before our cruise. They can be ordered via the Gift and Amenities form and sometimes they do not sell day passes on the cruise, only passes for the whole cruise. By ordering beforehand we ensured that we got what we wanted.

Going there relatively early was a good idea as it was quite empty in there. However, after having been on the Fantasy I have to say that the Rainforest Room on the classic ships really are a bit of a letdown. Even Katharina who did not have the comparison was not impressed. It really is fairly small, the changing room was rather small, too and we ran into issues with the showers being crowded there. I think the Wonder is a bit better now as at least the décor has been updated there. The one on the Magic looked very 1990s. Of course the tile loungers were heavenly and we did get some nice relaxation there.

However, we witnessed something really strange: In the dry sauna there were some people sitting in there who were not only wearing their bathrobe, but even had jeans and shirts on underneath! I do understand that most countries don’t follow the German habit of undressing totally in a sauna (in most German saunas you are required to be “textile free”), but I thought that wearing that much could be potentially dangerous as you could overheat!

When we had enough of the rainforest, I decided that I wanted to try out the water slides. It was a sunny day, but still a bit chilly. However, I am a water rat and the idea of getting off the ship without trying out the slides was not something that I wanted to happen!

I first tried the Twist’ n’ Spout water slide, which is your standard slide. Quite nice. I especially appreciated that the line was inside the funnel. Not only was there no wind, the fumes warmed up the place as well (they were coming out well above me, so I only got the warmth, not the smell).

Then I ventured on to the Aqua Dunk. This slide is a bit scary. You step into a tube that is going nearly vertically down. There is a platform for you to stand on and you get into position. Once you are in there and standing as required, leaning onto the back wall of the tube, the CM starts the mechanism and the floor you are standing on disappears and you go into free fall down the tube. After the initial shock it actually was not so bad and it was over quickly. I actually quite enjoyed it! The scariest part to me was the floor disappearing. I kind of had nightmares of it getting stuck and then me falling into a too small opening and getting stuck in that. Yes, I am good at inventing the scariest ways of how things could go wrong!

After that I headed back to the cabin to get cleaned up. Our replacement stateroom attendant (our orginal one had hurt her foot and was never seen again after Bergen) had made up the room and we had gotten our prices for Anna’s Chocolate Chase:

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Those were rice crispy treats, not chocolate. But Katharina loves those, so that was fine for us.

We then headed to guest services to inquire how it would work with the gratuities for our stateroom attendant. We were told that they would be split between her and the new replacement one. We both really loved the original one and requested for those for her to be adjusted. This was a bit complicated, but it was all done and we got a receipt that we then could throw into a box that was provided for the gratuity envelopes. We were also ensured that the receipts don’t really matter as it gets charged electronically directly to their accounts anyway. I think giving your CMs the receipts still makes sense for them to verify that the right amount is charged to their account. But I will no longer make a big fuss about making sure that they get the envelopes when they are difficult to find (like some of our head servers have been on that last night).

The next stop was the port adventures desk. While we were there, there was a couple in line that had been on our excursion bus as well and it turned out that they had also contacted the Port Adventures staff about the issues we had experienced. They had the same message as us and in the end them and us got to speak to the CM who had contacted us together. We were told that they did appreciate all our feedback and that they would refund 20% of the price of the excursion to our onboard account. Not only for us, but for everyone who had been on our bus. We thought that was fair. Katharina and I still had enjoyed the day a lot and there was a lot of value in just having the bus take you to all the places. So, for the discomfort and the odd tour guide, we thought 20% off was a good reflection of what we had missed out on.

We then headed to lunch at Cabanas. Of course we got there at the same time as everyone else and it was quite crowded. We still managed to get plenty of good looking food:

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After that we moved down to deck 4 to sit in the deck chairs there and read and enjoy the view.

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It was amazing how quiet it was, there was only a CM painting the ship:

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It was so quiet that Katharina took a little nap:

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At some point it was time for the one excitement of the day: Our Mojito and Caipirinha tasting!

This took place in Keys and we picked a nice table for two in the corner that was already prepared with the ingredients for our drinks:

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The first drink was a classic mojito and we had fun muddling our lime and mint to get a nice result:

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The we had various variations with add ons:

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While we were doing this Katharina was muttering about sugar. All our glasses had no sugar, but agave nectar in them.

The we got to the caipirinha. There the lack of sugar became really obvious. There is no mint in the caipirinha, only lime and raw sugar. However, we got to muddle the lime on its own swimming in the syrup. The result was a really not very tasty caipirinha. Katharina (the mixology expert between us) was disgusted. And started to talk to the CM doing the tasting about it at the end. He told us the following (and I am going to put it in quotes as I am sure that he only used the company line as any self respecting bar tender must know what garbage this is): “Disney wants to be a health conscious company and most DCL guests are very health conscious. Therefore the company has decided to not use any sugar in their drinks, only the far more healthy agave syrup.” Yes, we were not impressed by this. First of all, they used the light variety which just tastes sweet and does not have the additional flavor that raw sugar provides. Also, agave syrup has a very high fructose content. So, it basically is a non processed high fructose corn syrup (not from corn obviously). I cannot see any health benefits from using agave over sugar. And it really makes a difference for a number of drinks. So, the lesson we learned: Never order a caipirinha at Disney. It is going to taste awful for sure because it lacks its defining ingredient.

After all the alcohol we needed a snack to soak it up a bit:

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It really was lovely and sunny today and quite warm. There were even people in the pool today!

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And then we returned to deck 4. I had done a quick stop in the stateroom and saw that we were getting close to the most northern point of Denmark:

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Up there is a lovely little town called Skagen and from there a very long sand bank/dune extends further north until the most norther point. It is one of Denmark’s main tourist sites. Katharina and I had been there in the summer of 1991 when we wanted to do a bike tour through Denmark. However, we gave up in Skagen where our tent got soaked through and we woke up in our sleeping bags lying in a lake in our tent. It was a really rainy summer in Denmark that year! But I am sure we made it out on the sand, which is called Grenen (which means “the branch”) because the thing you do in Skagen is to stand there in the water with one foot in the North Sea and the other in the Baltic Sea. You can tell that two different seas meet there as the waves come from both sides.

So, my quest was to take a picture of Grenen from the ship. It was not easy. There was some land:

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Then a Celebrity ship passed us:

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And then it started to look more like it:

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And there it is!!

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Can you see the thin yellow stripe between the two ships? That’s it!

Here you can see the tip of it again:

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The day was truly beautiful!

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We saw an interesting ship, maybe a ferry?

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The obligatory deck 4 pictures:

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While I was taking pictures, Katharina was relaxing:

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I really enjoyed this day. It was finally warm enough to spend time outdoors and watch the sea or read or sleep. I was very happy that our last day was such a nice one!

Continued in Part 2
 
Cruise Day 7: Relaxing, Ducking and Muddling

And then the “Oh No, the cruise is nearly over, I need more pictures of the ship”-phase started.

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A break for one last visit to Keys:

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We timed it so that we were there during the first dinner seating and finally had found our sweet spot for when the place was nice and empty!

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We went back to our room to change for dinner and the room was already made up:

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We had gotten a special print for the cruise being the inaugural Norway sailing:

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I have one from our Panama Cruise as well and I really ought to get them framed and displayed.

And then we headed to dinner:

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We started with the bread, which today was Six-Grain Country Bread with a Caramalized Onions and Sun-dried Tomato Dip:

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I had the Sesame Crusted Tuna Sashimi with Wakame Salad, Pickled Ginfer and Soy Sauce.

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Katharina had the Grilled Potato and Goat Cheese Napoleon with Balsamic-Basil Vinaigrette:

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We were kind of surprised by this dish, so took a close up to show what it consisted of:

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If I remember correctly, we were not impressed.

We also had a salad each. The Cranberry Salad with mixed Field Greens, Crumbled Blue Cheese, Sunflower Seeds, Craisins and Cranberry Dressing:

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With the main courses, I am not sure who had what, but I think Katharina had the Roasted Filet of Beef Wellington covered with Mushroom Stuffing wrapped in Puff Pastry served with Fingerling Potatoes, Baby Vegetables and a Cabernet Black Truffle Jus:

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While I had the regional inspiration: Veal Schnitzel, breaded Veal Cutlets, fried in butter served with Roasted Bacon Potatoes and Green Beans:

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I had no idea that our cruise went to Austria – this was obviously a Vienna Schnitzel, inspired by Austria. Which is pretty far away from Norway and Denmark.

We then got the very cute dessert menu:

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And got the last desserts of the cruise:

I think I had the Chocolate Decadence: Chocolate Hazelnut Biscuit topped with rich Chocolate Mousse served with White Chocolate Bailey’s Cream (another regional inspiration where I am not sure which region really inspired this):

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While Katharina got the Old Fashioned Apple Pie served warm with Vanilla Ice Cream:

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We gave our servers their tip envelopes and said goodbye the first time as you never know if you see them during the disembarkation breakfast that is typically totally hectic.

Then we quickly moved outside to see the sunset. Of course for the sunset the clouds had come out to prevent really good pictures. But I am still happy with what I got:

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By now we were getting really close to Copenhagen and it was time for bed!

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Up Next: After Cruise Day 1: Exploring Copenhagen
 
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I had no idea that our cruise went to Austria – this was obviously a Vienna Schnitzel, inspired by Austria. Which is pretty far away from Norway and Denmark.

That is one bad example of our national dish! And good to know that Austria now seems to border Scandinavia (somewhere):rotfl2:

I think I had the Chocolate Decadence: Chocolate Hazelnut Biscuit topped with rich Chocolate Mousse served with White Chocolate Bailey’s Cream (another regional inspiration where I am not sure which region really inspired this):

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Inspiration from planet Chocolate ............ not Austrian this time. :rotfl:
 
I've sort of lost the novelty of ordering room service on the ships. The coffee is horrible and the only thing I really like is the boxed cereal, so I just go up and get stuff at Cabanas, if you hadn't figured that out yet!

Thanks for the honesty on the RfR, I loved it on the Fantasy, but may skip it on the EBPC. We are getting close I hope we make it!

That bit about the agave is bull. Some drinks are meant to be made with sugar.

Dinner looks good, I would have enjoyed the Austrian Wiener Schnitzel! The trip is almost over, but you have another report going!
 

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