0
0
We were awake bright and early today – we’d stayed at the Premier Inn at Gatwick overnight rather than battle with the M25 and weather on the morning of our flight. Really glad we had as it was a slow drive down to Gatwick and the rain never let up. There were some impressively large puddles on the M25!
We were up, showered and down for Breakfast by 7pm – probably one of the nicest Premier Inn breakfasts we’ve had as everything was freshly cooked. Afterwards, we headed straight over to the airport. The hotel was by North Terminal so needed to use the monorail to get over to South Terminal and then find the check-in desks cum baggage drop.
Jon had checked us in the day before … whether he was too quick, but we’d been allocated seats at the back of the plane! No option to choose seats! At the check in machines, the screen gave us the option to switch seats. He tried to move us to the emergency exit seats (at cost), but the system wouldn’t process this. Next was the baggage drop. My suitcase was impressively underweight – just 19.4kg. It was whisked off quickly. Jon however, was 23.4 kg and rejected by the baggage drop so we needed to see the check-in staff. Suitcase weighed again and they accepted it without any charge!
Jon then asked about changing seats – after a bit of tapping on the machine, we were given new boarding cards Row 15 (emergency exit row). We offered to pay but were waved through. Bonus!!
Our next challenge was security. We had worn our walking boots to save on luggage space, but we had to take these off to go through the scanners. So two roller suitcases, two rucksacks, two jackets and two pairs of boots were sent down to the scanner. We then needed to be scanned …. I just needed the wand waved over me … and was then called over as security had flagged both cases and a rucksack. Meanwhile, Jon was still being patted down and wand waved furiously. I grabbed the rucksack, boots and jackets and talking to security about our case that was being searched … only to be told, Jon was being whisked off to a private room to be searched further! What on earth had he done!!
Luckily he was back pretty quickly – glitch on the scanner that had never happened before. Luckily he got to keep his pants on!!
We found somewhere quiet to sit down and chill for the hour or so before our gate would be allocated. Gate 37 – just a 1/2 km walk away! It was fairly quiet at the gate – we were trying to spot if anyone else were potentially heading onto our Hurtigruten cruise – walking boots and thick coats were the giveaway.
The flight wasn’t full and everyone boarded quickly – we pushed back pretty much on time. It seemed to be a race between us and the Norwegian flight departing at the same time to Stavanger. We left first. Whilst it wasn’t raining, there was very low cloud, so nothing to see at all on the flight on the way up.
Must have had a bit of a tailwind as we landed at Bergen ten minutes early.
First task was to get through passport control. We couldn’t use the EU channel and had to go through the “Other Passports” lanes. Luckily Bergen was only a very small airport so there were about 8 people ahead of us in the queue. The usual security questions … and then had to have fingerprints taken as well as photo.
By the time we’d cleared passport control and walked the mile to baggage reclaim, luggage from the plane was already going around the carousel. Now to find the bus that would take us to the Hurtigruten Terminal. We headed outside and joined the queue. We were told this bus was full and we needed to wait until the next bus. It was noticeably colder than England but not freezing.
We didn’t have too long long to wait. A little confused as some seats seemed to be folded over, but once we’d sat down and looked at them more closely, they were actually baby seats. Quite cool. Traffic heading into Bergen was really busy and slow moving. The bus driver eventually came on to explain that something had happened in one of the tunnels so all traffic was heading this way. Because it was so busy, he decided to reverse the drop-offs, so instead of being the last stop, we were now first (and ahead of the people that were on the earlier bus!
All very quiet in the check-in terminal. Our suitcases were whisked away and we left our other bags in the lockers so we could have a wander. We managed to get some good photos of the ship and wandered around the vicinity before heading back to the terminal.
Once back at the terminal, we headed to the lounge upstairs. Here you could help yourself to tea, coffee and pastries before the attending the safety briefing.
We had barely finished our Danish Pastries and cup of tea when we were called through to the Safety Briefing. Once we had listened to what we had to do in case of an emergency, we were free to board the ship.
Cabins aren’t ready until 6pm so we found the excursion desk and booked the Nordcapp trip out of Honningsvag and King Crab Experience out of Kirkenes. That was all our onboard credit wiped out and some more!
The ship is far smaller than Aurora so not really an awful lot to explore. There is a small restaurant on Deck 4 which is more geared up to feeding the ferry passengers serving burgers. pizza and reindeer sausages. Next to this is Kysten – the fine dining restaurant. It’s here you can go to eat King Crab (they live in a tank in the restaurant … it gets emptier as the trip progresses! The main dining room is at the back of Deck 4. We were pleased we’d been allocated a window table at the very back – not that we would be able to see much as it would be dark!
On deck 7, there’s Multe, the bakery and ice cream parlour along with the Explorer Lounge (Crows Nest). It’s quite big and spacious, although am sure there will be quite a few people falling asleep in the comfy recliners around the windows!
We sat and had a drink (coke zero and lemonade) until we got the call the cabins were all ready. We just had to drop down one deck to our cabin – 616 – an Arctic Superior Room. Suitcases were waiting outside when we arrived. Dinner was a buffet that evening being served from 6-9pm. We moved all our luggage in the cabin and headed off to get some dinner. Breakfast was now an awfully long time ago.
We both started with a traditional Norwegian Fish Soup (amazing) and then tried both the beef and cod from the hot counter with vegetables (and a small spoonful of the vegetarian bean stew). For pudding, a piece of carrot cake and some fruit.
We then headed down to the Orientation briefing given by the Excursions guys – David, Robin and Mats – gave us a run down of how the ship works. You do not have to have your cabin serviced every day – in fact if you don’t, they will donate NOK5 to the Hurtigruten Foundation which supports communities up and down the Norwegian coast.
We quickly unpacked then headed back on deck to watch the sailaway from Bergen. Temperatures had noticeably dropped and it was cold outside. We sailed 30 mins late – not sure if waiting for passengers or other shipping traffic in the area. We entertained ourselves by watching what the dock workers were doing – this strange semi-submersible suddenly appeared out of the water and we wondered what it was for. Cleaning the hull, inspecting the ship (we’ll google the photo when we get a moment!).
As soon as the ships lines were dropped and we were on the move, it got really cold. We know our jackets are windproof, so that would stand us in good stead when we reach the northernmost parts of Norway.
From previous visits to Bergen on cruise ships, we knew we would pass under a bridge about 30 minutes after leaving Bergen, so we were some of the few that toughed it out until then.
A drink in the Explorer Lounge afterwards, I tried the local Elderflower Juice and Jon a Lemonade. Everything is far more expensive than back home. Lemonade/Coke Zero is NOK59 and the Juice drinks are NOK69 – the majority of the drinks served onboard are all locally produced in Norway.
Time to call it a night!
