Day 6 – Honningsvag
Today, we have an activity filled port day at the northernmost tip of Europe, the North Cape (or NordKapp in Norwegian). At 8.15am, the telephone rang…
Me: Hello
Paul: Good morning sir, its Paul your butler. Breakfast is ready. Shall I bring it to you now?
Me: Its morning already? Gosh, Yes please bring it. Thanks.
2 minutes later, there was a knock on the door and Paul was there with a trolley with our sumptuous spread of eggs Benedict, waffles, smoked salmon, sausages, bagels etc.
Paul: Good morning sir. Do you want to eat your breakfast in your balcony?
Me: Neh, it's a bit chilly today. We'll have it in the room. Thanks.
Paul then proceeded to set up the table in the room and before leaving wished us a wonderful day ahead.
North Cape
After breakfast, we proceeded downstairs to the meeting place for our first tour, which was a journey to the North Cape itself. The weather wasn't particularly good but that didn't dampen our spirits. Along the way, we saw many wild reindeers wondering around and the scenery was beautiful. It was amazing that it was so different from just 2 days ago, at Geraingerfjord. Unlike Gerainger, the landscape at North Cape was barren, there was no lush greenery but instead, it was rocky and wild. It impressed upon us the vastness of this little inhabited part of the world and I can only imagine how harsh the weather must be in winter. At the top of the North Cape, we did the usual touristy things like taking pictures of the monuments, sending postcards to ourselves (so that we can have the postmark – "NordKapp") etc. The weather cleared up a bit when we walked to the tip of the Cape and we managed to see out into the open ocean which leads to the North Pole. I said a short prayer to thank the Lord for giving us the opportunity to visit the top of the world and to be able to enjoy his magnificent creation. After slightly less than 2 hours at the North Cape, we made our way back to Honningsvag and to the ship for lunch.
King Crab Safari
After lunch, we took a leisurely walk up the pier again to meet up for our second excursion of the day – the King Crab Safari. YL and I regularly watched "deadliest catch" on the Discovery Channel and wanted very much to see a king crab for ourselves. We met two other "deadliest catch" addicts, Mike and Carol as well and soon enough, were talking about the documentary and discussion about our favourite vessels (which happens to be the Northwestern for Carol and I). I know, we have dull lives! After everyone had arrived, we were kitted up with our "deadliest catch" life suits and were soon on our way to pull up the crab pots. 2 crab pots were hauled up and we were fortunate that there were quite a few crabs of varying sizes in the pots. The largest king crab was approximately 4-5 kgs. After a flurry of activity, we settled down and took some pictures with the crabs and were sent to a nearby island to savour the crabs. There, the guides gutted the crab and cooked the crab legs for all of us in a traditional sami tent. After gutting the crab, he offered the crab roe to us to try. Initially, no one dared to eat the crab roe as it was raw, but after another adventurous German passenger and I started trying it and exclaiming how good it tasted, everyone took the plunge and soon it disappeared.
Once back in the ship, we went back to our cabin where Paul was there to greet us. He also reminded me that we had made reservations at Murano (a specialty restaurant at 8pm that night). YL and I decided in the meantime to take a rest and then head for the Jacuzzi. The weather was cold but we were kept nice and warm in the Jacuzzi enjoying the scenery as the ship departed Honningsvag through the fjords to its next port of call.
After soaking for about ½ hr, we showered and went downstairs for dinner. Dinner was in one word, excellent. We've been to a number of very good restaurants in London and Singapore (and some michelin starred ones) but in terms of service, the Murano certainly tops it all. Cemal, the Maitre D introduced himself and made sure we were very comfortable. Unlike the main dining room, Murano was a small restaurant so the waiters had the time to pay special attention to us. At no point of time did I have to ask for a refill of water or to wait for the attention of a waiter, and anything you wanted could be catered for. We had foie gras, lobster, scallops, cheese scoffle, a fantastic cheese plate, some excellent wine and I even asked the Maitre D to cook his specialty dessert by the tableside. The chef also came out to greet us and discuss about the food later in the evening.
After dinner, we decided to have a cocktail at the Cova Cafe and enjoy the music from the classical quartet before retiring back to our suite for the night.
Day 8 – cruising down the Arctic Circle
Today is a relaxing at sea day. The ship would cruise past the Arctic Circle, visit Svartisen glacier and the Arctic Circle monument.
At 10.30am, our wake up call rang. We decided not to have breakfast in the room today as we wanted to sleep in. The captain announced the night before that we would be visiting the glacier at around 12 noon and the Arctic Circle monument at around 2pm so we thought 10.30am would be a good time to wake up. After about an hour of lazing and watching TV, we took our morning showers and gaveour friends, Alfred and Sally a call and decided to have lunch and enjoy the glacier from our balcony. We went downstairs to the buffet to get some of our favourite foods up and asked Paul to chill our wine and to arrange the balcony furniture to accommodate 4 persons. The glacier was beautiful, it wasn't like Hubbard glacier in Alaska which periodically had blocks of ice crashing into the ocean but was still breathtaking nonetheless. The 4 of us had a good time eating, drinking and chatting about everything and anything that came to mind, stopping only occasionally to take some pictures of the scenery. True to his word, the Captain "set the stage" for us by spinning the ship around so everyone onboard could enjoy the glacier from their balconies. Soon after, we left the glacier and sailed past the Arctic Circle monument. The Captain slowed down the ship so everyone could get a good look and take pictures. This was certainly one of the highlights of the trip.
At about 2.15pm, once we had sailed past the Arctic Circle monument, Alfred and I and both our wives decided to head downstairs to the dining room to participate in the wine tasting presentation. There were 12 wines on display and they ranged from old world reds to new world dessert wines. After about approximately 4-5 glasses of wine, I started to get a bit tipsy and according to Alfred, started talking really loudly. After the wine tasting, we adjourned to the cards room and started a round of mahjong before going back to our room to rest. Paul then brought up an assorted sashimi platter for YL and I which we ate before we took a nap. I have to admit though, the details after the wine tasting session were rather hazy…
In the evening, it was formal night so everyone was out with their best attire. During dinner, I had a nice piece of fillet mignon and the assistant maitre d brought me my favourite creme brulee for dessert. After asking for it the night before, the assistant maitre d ensured that the chef prepared for YL her rum and raisin ice-cream so that she could have it every evening. After dinner, we went to the Casino to try our luck at the blackjack tables and jackpot machines. After a few rounds, we decided to go back to bed as we will be having a busy port day tomorrow at Molde.
Other days
So there it is, a snapshot 2 days of the 12 we had onboard the Celebrity Century. The other things in which we did during the trip included hiking up Mount Varden at Molde (this was a 4 hour hike up and down and it really took some effort!), hiking to Briksdalen glacier at Olden (this is a shorter hike to the face of the glacier), taking a bicycle ride around Olden, walking down from the top of Bergen, taking a funicular up some mountain at Tromso, a visit to the UNESCO rock carvings site, visiting a huskies trainer and his huskies, a road trip to and cruise down Geraingerfjord.
As for the cruise experience, well, everyone onboard was very nice and friendly, the staff was as usual, very warm and service-oriented. The "can-do" attitude for all the staff was really commendable. For example, if we went to a lounge and the seats are all taken up, the waitress would take the initiative to bring in more chairs so that we need not go somewhere else. The entertainment that we watched on board was of quite high quality (though we didn't watch much since most of the time we were taking in the scenery of the fjords). The food at the Grand dining room (the main dining room) was the only disappointment. It was not bad, but really rather mediocre though that didn't really bother us as we were either dining in our suite or at the Murano. I think that a positive attitude makes a real difference to the entire experience. Although refurbished, the Century is one of Celebrity's older ships and I'm sure that there will be those who would be able to find small faults and nit pick on various unimportant matters (like that the ship had a bit of wear, there was a nick in the carpet, the service was not as attentive, etc.) but I think it is that negative attitude which would ultimately ruin their vacation. While we are not easily impressed (we're Singaporeans!), we chose to dwell on the positives and enjoy the pampering on the cruise. We didn't give a toss on whether there was some extra watermark on the mirror or rust along the doorframes (though we noticed it). We just wanted to enjoy our vacation and I guess this was what made the holiday even more enjoyable and fun.
Beating this cruise experience will be difficult but we'll try. We have already booked our next cruise while onboard and I've started to look forward to it. It'll be next year October for 14 nights at the Mediterranean and its called "The Holyland". There we will be onboard Celebrity's sister ship, the Azamara Journey and we will visit Rome, Santorini Italy, Turkey, Egypt (to visit the Valley of the Kings and pyramids), Israel (to visit Galilee and Bethlehem, where Jesus' ministry began and where he was born, and the Wailing Wall), Sicily, Cyprus and Greece (Athens, Rhodes, Mykonos and Chios). Can't wait!
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