Day 2 – Anchors away

It is not the destination of a journey that counts, but the journey itself.

And that is so true on a cruise. We reach our first destination in Norway on Tuesday morning, so plenty of time until then to explore the ship and get used to life on board.

A cruise to the Norwegian fjords is very popular, not only because of the beauty of the fjords, but also because of its accessibility. For a cruise to the Mediterranean, you often need a plane ticket to reach the port of embarkation, Norwegian fjords cruises often depart from the Low Countries i.e. Belgium or the Netherlands.

Yesterday afternoon,  the Koningsdam departed at 4 p.m. in a cloudy Amsterdam when the lines were released, the anchor was lifted figuratively and tugs gently lead the Koningsdam out of the port while a big crowd was watching  both on the quay and on the water. The Koningsdam sailed on her own through the channel of Ijmuiden before we went into the lock  to bridge the difference in height of 90 cm with the North Sea. After the sea pilot escorted us the first kilometers, the Koningsdam set sail onto the North Sea for Norway, leaving the mainland behind us.

Above this particular part of the North Sea, however, lies a depression that makes for not optimum sailing conditions. For someone like me who quite easily falls prey to seasickness,  it will be exciting hours. After dinner at the restaurant, a preview of the things we are to see and one hour in the BB King Lounge, we crawl safely under our blankets and hope for calm waves ... against all odds. In the end, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The ship rolled  but in my bed  it was quite ok.

Today is a day at sea. Tonight we reach the Norwegian coast. At 8 am we wake up after a rather pretty quiet night in our verandah stateroom no. 5064 on the Gershwin deck. The weather is beautiful… if you like rain, wind and cold weather We take our breakfast on the Lido deck, where the Lido Market is, the famous sumptuous buffet of Holland America Line. Literally everything is here. We have bacon, eggs and fruit salad.

The entertainment program is extensive onboard and customized to a somewhat more saturated audience. No animation teams here that you find on other cruiselines. A selection of today’s activities ranges from a workshop on digital photos, learn how to work your digital camera, flower arranging to cooking workshops, ...

I try a fully sponsored by Microsoft digital workshop that will teach me more about working with a digital camera. This workshop will hopefully help me the next days.

Meanwhile, the weather begins to deteriorate. We defy a north wind at speeds of 7 Beaufort. It starts to bother me, my stomach gets upset. For lunch I take soup and a tiny cheesecake dessert in Lido Market. That’s all my stomach can handle. It is a shame as the lunch buffet is impressive. You can make your own sandwiches, have a  salade made, there are several kinds of meat, poultry and vegetables. The dessert buffet is a gem. Eddy goes for the full buffet on the Lido.. At 2 pm there is a meeting scheduled with the Canadian captain. Captain Darin Bowland is not only the current captain of the Koningsdam, he is also fleet captain. This maiden voyage of the Koningsdam to the far north, is not really the easiest. Especially maneuvering in the fjords  requires some experience. I suspect, that HAL wanted to take no risk of a second Titanic tragedy and therefore the great man himself is put in command  for this trip. In the large theater  the captain awaits us for a chat with the passengers where mimosa’s are served. He first gives an explanation on the technical details of the ship, navigation, etc ... Afterwards he answers questions from the audience.

We get to see a presentation of the bridge and the engine room. Meanwhile, we feel the stabilizers do their job. We now come really into heavy weather. The waves are getting bigger and bigger, with white foam on it. Due to the inovative technology of the stabilizers, the Koningsdam only slopes six degrees instead of the usual 15 to 20 degrees. A bit too much for me. After the presentation I just make it to our bathroom. Yes I am officially seasick....

We have learned much about the cutting-edge technology on board. The ship has a total of 89,000 horsepower, he is a giant in every way. The ship was built to navigate as economically as possible, not to be the fastest. With one press of a button the whole world knows that we are in trouble. ..

After a good nap I take a pill to try to get through the evening. It is gala night and I want to be there. Meanwhile the waves calm down, the medication is doing its jog and I can enjoy a tasty dinner: shrimp cocktail, followed by tenderloin and a chocolate souffle. We hurry to the theater for the big show tonight: HAL’s  own production with music and dance, called One World. They take us from the desert to the far north, from the Grand Canyon to the African savannah and everything in between.

In the meantime  after 28 hours, we have land in sight as we perceive the Norwegian coast in the distance.

We leave for the Billboard on board, a special music program designed by Billboard for the Koningsdam, which is played by two pianists (the dueling pianists as it were) They do not only play a setlist but meanwhile also play requests from the public.

By now, the weather has cleared up completely and we finally see the sun ... at 10.30 pm. A little later we see  one of the last sunsets of the days that follow.

Around 1 am tonight, the Koningsdam will take a big turn towards the inside passage of the fjords.