Introduction

This is a blog of the Jazzbeaux cruise to the Norwegian Fjords from August 9 to 26, 2016. We flew to Amsterdam, spent one night there at the Doubletree Hotel near Centraal Station and the cruise terminal, then boarded Azamara Quest for a 15-night cruise along the Norwegian coast all the way to Nordkapp (the northernmost point in Europe) and back down, ending in Amsterdam and a flight home.

During the trip, Jazzbelle kept detailed notes and I [Jazzbeau] took lots of pictures. After returning home, I revised the notes to remove names [to protect the guilty, as they say…] and put it in my voice to avoid confusion. Jazzbelle became “DW” in internet parlance [“Dear Wife”].

My planning bible for sightseeing on this trip was Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports – with lots of input from Cruise Critic, especially above the Arctic Circle where Rick goes silent.

Tuesday August 9, 2016 – On the Road Again

Delta had a computer meltdown early in the morning the day before our flight was scheduled from Newark to Amsterdam, which stopped all their flights for six hours. The cascading effect continued to be felt for several days thereafter, but we were reassured at the news that the first flight to go once the computer was rebooted Monday morning was the Amsterdam to Newark trip. We assumed (correctly) that they use one plane to shuttle back and forth on this itinerary, so we hoped that our flight would be close to normal – and indeed we departed Newark and arrived in Amsterdam on schedule.

As usual we booked Delta’s Economy Plus and found the service to be all we need: early boarding before the overhead bins are all filled up, extra legroom, and Delta’s very acceptable international food and beverage service. If only they would match this level on domestic flights, as they used to back in the day!

Wednesday August 10, 2016 – Sunny Amsterdam Sightseeing

We arrived just before 8 am and were delighted to see sunny skies (even if temps were only in the 50s). [And I can say that I have seen dawn, even if that never happens on land!]

We took a cab from the airport directly to the Doubletree near Centraal Station. Because of our special status with Hilton we were allowed to check into our room before 9 am and stay until 4 pm the next day, and we received free breakfast and use of the “executive lounge.” Hilton Gold status is very nice.

We were in plenty of time for the generous breakfast buffet. And having the extra room time gave DW a chance to take a 70 minute nap, which she finds an effective way to deal with jet lag.

Off we went to follow Rick Steves’ Amsterdam City Walk. An unexpected first stop was the Catholic basilica, the Church of St. Nicholas, which we found when trying to get our bearings leaving the Centraal Station. The sanctuary was impressively updated after Vatican II and the altar was noteworthy: its bronze base depicts a burning collection of logs with flames licking the underside of the table; rising out of the flames is a Eucharistic host which represents the Miracle of Amsterdam. The story goes that a priest visited a dying man to give him Last Rites and the man was so ill that he vomited it out. When his wife cleaned up, casting it all into their hearth fire, the Host was not destroyed.

We walked onto Amstelkring Museum, also known as Ons’ Lieve Heer op Solder [Our Lord in the Attic]. This is a canal house whose top three floors had been converted into a hidden church where Catholics could attend Mass during the Dutch ban on public Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist worship in the late 1700s. A thorough, self guided tour led us from the basement to the top floor up and down narrow, twisting staircases. It showed us where the owner and his family lived, operated a linens business and provided a sanctuary for local church goers.

The Amstelkring Museum was on our “to-do” list as we knew about the restrictions on Catholics there, including the relative toleration that only demanded discretion – but the surprise was that in the course of this walk we managed to visit five Catholic churches, including one Jesuit church [the Jesuits have never been known for discretion…]

A fun highlight was the Houseboat Museum, a former houseboat on a canal in the area where there are many houseboats still in use as residences. One has to like tight spaces!

We also visited the flower markets but tulips were out of season so the only ones to see were silk, ceramic, etc. There was one market that was worth seeing. It had pails of all colors of Gerber daisies, delphiniums, and hydrangeas for sale. Stunning!

We continued onto the local branch of the Hermitage Museum but it was too near closing time to invest in 50 Euro admission, and this year’s exhibit of portraits from the time of Catherine the Great wasn’t that appealing. Maybe next year…

We took the tram back to Centraal Station and our hotel, where we rested before meeting 16 other members of the Cruise Critic roll call for rijsttafel dinner at Restaurant Kantjil en de Tijger. An enjoyable and tasty experience!

Once back at the Doubletree, the two of us went to the top floor to enjoy views from the 11th floor Sky Lounge. The views were great, but the crowd was too young and hip for us!

001 St. Nicholas RC Church

002 St. Nicholas RC Church

Thursday August 11, 2016 – Rainy Amsterdam and Embarkation

We awakened to rain and temps around 60 degrees, but were well prepared. After the breakfast buffet we set out for Centraal Station to catch the Metro/subway. We wandered through the flea market on our way to Gassan Diamonds where we had a guided tour showing us professional diamond cutters at work and then offering all of us the opportunity to buy loose or set stones, watches, etc. Our big purchase was a new battery for my Timex. One of their watchmakers installed it for 5 Euros [probably a shock to both the watchmaker and the Timex – but despite the low battery I’m happy to report that it kept on ticking!] We did a quick walk through their gift shop and headed back to the Metro.

We tried to visit the Church of Aaron and Moses but its gates were chained. [Unlike the church of St. Peter in Chains in Rome, which was open and the chains were inside…]

[A few observations re Amsterdam: smell of pot often perfumes the air, herring for sale on some of street corners, watch out for the bicycles!]

Back to the hotel to pack up and take advantage of free Internet. We checked out around 3:00 and a cab took us to the cruise terminal minutes away.

We boarded the Azamara Quest in record breaking time [small ships are wonderful that way] and were able to go directly to our cabin. Luggage followed shortly. And the muster drill right after that! Followed by the Cruise Critic social, where we met some of the ship’s officers and spent lots of time chatting with Jan and Tom from Brisbane re their travels in Africa. [We were warned ahead not to shake hands with crew but to exchange fist bumps to ward off norovirus. It seemed to work, as the ship stayed “n”-free and we stayed healthy.]

The two of us then explored the indoor public areas of the Quest, which is a sister ship to Oceania Insignia, the first cruise we took since our honeymoon back in the BC era [Before Children]. A few things seemed familiar, but after the major updating Azamara did earlier this year this ship seemed much lighter and airy.

We had dinner in Discoveries Restaurant. Excellent meal and service (Paolo and Darryl). I had potato soup, DW had celery slaw with shrimp, bacon and blue cheese plus a spinach salad with tomato and mozzarella. We both thoroughly enjoyed perfectly cooked filet mignon served with sliced pumpkin, shredded squash and a potato cake. Dessert was rum raisin gelato for me and profiteroles for DW. She walked two miles indoors, weaving through the corridors. [It wasn’t like the smooth sailing earlier this year in the Mediterranean: much smaller ship, and the North Sea! But the seas and the ship settled down later.]

At 1:00 am, DW was only one on deck 10 for the promised meteor showers [which didn’t show anyway…]

Friday August 12, 2016 – At Sea in the North Sea

Sea day! Overcast with a rare showing of blue sky. We did not venture out.

We had breakfast buffet at Windows Café. Then we headed to the Cabaret Lounge for Robert Hick’s informative and entertaining talk on Norway’s history. It was followed by Simonetta’s pitch for Land Discoveries in Bergen, Flam and Geiranger.

DW had buffet lunch in Windows—sliced veal and salad. I popped into the Art Auction to check out the guaranteed free art work just for attending, only to discover a mandatory $35 shipping charge. What a shark! [The main thing Azamara could do to improve their product would be to evict Park West, which cluttered the ship with their crappy “art” and took over the Living Room for their repeated auctions.]

Rally Dave, a friend I had met through the Cruise Critic Roll Call, dropped by to discuss our upcoming shore excursions.

DW and I went to Beatles Trivia. We teamed up with a couple from Britain and made a nice showing (18 out of 20) but didn’t win. Back at 5:00 for History trivia. We were on team with Pam and Gerry, and Yvonne. We tied for first place because we got an extra point for enthusiasm.

Azamara does a nice job with trivia. There are two types: “Progressive Trivia” is not, as I feared, about the details of Mayor DeBlasio’s political beliefs – instead it is a series of trivia sessions in which the points cumulate throughout the cruise. There is also regular trivia with one stamp for participating [just like Middle School: every child is winner!] and a second stamp for the winners [just like Junior High School in our day: only winners are winners]; you collect these stamps on a sheet and at the end of the cruise you can buy Azamara logo items at different point levels. The trivia hosts do their best to keep it fun, and the prizes are generous enough that everybody has a good time.

I stopped by The Living Room to sample the tapas for a late lunch, then took my second nap of the day while DW had a quick snooze. [I had worried that Sea Days would be boring, but I can always find a good way to spend time!]

Dinner in Discoveries: I had gumbo and DW corn chowder/red pepper and a small Caesar salad; then I had Tandoori lamb and 1/2 portion gnocchi with cheese filling and DW had veal chop (rich); ending with bananas Foster for me and flourless chocolate cake for DW.

On to the Cabaret Theatre for magician Brett Sherwood. Fabulous illusionist!

DW went up to The Living Room for DJ Eddie, but he wasn’t there. His music was playing and there were fewer than 10 people sitting around. After four songs she left and tried hall walking – two full rounds on deck 7 almost did her in. Quest was rockin’ and rollin’. I slept through it all! [I was disappointed to see that there is still no Olympic Sleeping competition, as I would be a sure winner…]

Saturday August 13, 2016 – Bergen Earns Its Reputation

We are in Bergen. Rain all day! [Bergen has rain approx. 300 days a year – why should today be different?]

We walked to the Bryggens Museum and bought our tickets for the 11 am walking tour. As we were early we headed up the street to St. Mary’s Church, the oldest surviving structure still in use in Bergen. It was locked, but we discovered there would be an Anglican service in English the next morning. The tour was led by a young Norwegian woman with excellent English skills. She first took us through the lower level of the Bryggens Museum showing us the archaeological restoration from the 12th C. and sample rooms of life at that time. We proceeded to the Schotstuene (Hanseatic Assembly Rooms) next door where the Hanseatic/German merchants gathered for warm meals, held court meetings and taught apprentices. We made our way through Old Bryggen alongside the wharf where they had an import/export business and the Hanseatic League dominated this part of the city for almost 400 years. Our final stop was the Hanseatic Museum where the merchants and their apprentices had offices and living quarters.

We walked through the city center on our own past the old meat market and onto the Borsen Building, the old stock exchange to see the 1920s Art Deco-style mural celebrating Bergen’s fishing heritage. [It is now a collection of trendy restaurants.]

We spent a while in the Visitor Center before finishing our own walking tour which took us to the Seafarers’ Monument and Ole Bulls Plass. Ole was a famous and beloved violinist whom women swooned over. [And I do mean “beloved”: legend has it that he fathered 40 children.]

We found the beginning of the tram line, purchased tickets and headed for Paradis [not our heavenly reward, just the name of the tram stop]. We disembarked, asked directions and began our steep ascent to the Fantoft Stave Church. The church is built out of wood and the outside is shingled, which I thought gave rise to the name – but it turns out that the staves are the load-bearing ore-pine posts inside [called stafr in Old Norse; stav in modern Norwegian]

We returned to the Quest and had to eat the buffet dinner in Windows Café as we were going to the AzAmazing Evening at Grieg Hall. The meal was International themed but there were a number of choices. One of the desserts was a delicious gluten free Linzer tarte.

We were bused in the rain to Grieg Hall where champagne and a yummy non-alcoholic apple/grape cider were served. Proceeding into the concert hall, we could sit wherever we chose and were treated to a half hour recital of piano, violin and soprano. [When Azamara started the AzAmazing evening concept they had a medieval night on the wharf in the Bryggen. With Bergen’s rainy climate this was not a good idea, so we were very glad they changed to this indoor event!]

Upon return to the Quest, more food awaited in Discoveries: mini quiches, wraps, pizzas… And or course, desserts.

We then hurried to The Living Room to hear Nathan Parrett [one of the Quest Singers cast] with the ship’s orchestra as his backup band. He has a nice voice, but is not a relaxed performer and it was often difficult to watch him.

DW could walk that night in comfort since we were staying over in Bergen.

Sunday August 14, 2016 – Bergen Without Rain

We had been promised sunny skies for Sunday so we were surprised to awaken to the sound of tires on wet streets outside our cabin. We walked to St. Mary’s for the 11:00 service and sat behind Scott and Shelly. The Mass was for the feast of The Assumption which surprised us [both because it is a Catholic dogma which we didn’t think Anglicans shared, and because the Catholic church celebrates it on Aug. 15]. The priest was very welcoming, but in pre-Vatican II style the altar was at a distance from the congregation and the priest kept his back to us during the consecration. The music was from the Middle Ages. But they did invite everyone for coffee afterwards.

We declined the coffee and retraced our steps from our guided tour the day before so that I could take photos [I hadn’t wanted to risk the camera in the rain]. DW glanced up to see that the fog had lifted from Mount Floien so we headed for the ticket booth of the Floibanen funicular. We weren’t the only ones with that idea and the line went down the street but the wait wasn’t too bad and soon we took the 5 minute ride 1,000 feet up to the summit. We enjoyed the views as we walked all around the paved area, and had our photo taken next to a big troll statue [troll statues are all over Norway] by some other Quest passengers and took theirs. We got a kick out of the colony of 10 goats who were tagged and had GPS boxes on their necks. They were kept in the area by an invisible fence. It is an effort to repopulate the goats on the mountainside. We had a friendly escapade with a London couple traveling on Pacific Princess [another sister ship to Quest from the old Renaissance cruise line].

Upon our descent we walked over to the St. Olaf Cathedral. It was closed and under reconstruction. We headed to Fish Square (Fisketorvet) and looked at the fresh seafood at all the stalls. Samples were in abundance, even of whale meat. It looked like liver (and we heard that’s what it tasted like). No thanks!

As we returned to the Quest we admired a huge, two-masted private sailing yacht, Kashimara. Beautiful!

We had very late lunch in The Patio. I had a Cuban-style pork sandwich and fries; DW a salad and chicken brochette.

DW joined Pam and Gerry for Groups from the 60s trivia, but it was so British oriented that her team only scored 3 out of 20 points. We voiced our disappointment to the cruise director, Russ – who followed up the next day saying that he agreed it was a very hard quiz and would make sure they didn’t use it again. [Openness to complaints and suggestions were a constant on Azamara Quest, and we were very pleasantly surprised by this attitude and the way it improved our experience.]

That evening our dinners were disappointing. I ordered clam chowder, which was barely warm, and my duck was somewhat chewy. DW had veal schnitzel that was blah, and the warm potato/cucumber salad was unappetizing. DW did enjoy her raspberry dark chocolate ganache pie. [Dessert can always save a meal!]

We made it to the Cabaret show Who Wrote the Songs which was entertaining. DW then took a walk and made a new acquaintance with Penny from Australia. A nice long chat interrupted the laps.

Monday August 15, 2016 – Flåm Railway and Sognefjord

We awoke to dry sidewalks and fog halfway up the mountains. We all gathered in the theater for our 7 hour ship’s shore excursion beginning in Flåm [pronounced Flohm – notice the little circle above the a? Norwegian has three extra vowels – and apparently as many opinions of how to pronounce each one!] We were in three (bus) groups and walked a few blocks to the train terminal. We took the scenic Flåm Railway up the mountains via 20 tunnels, stopping halfway to view the mighty Kjosfossen waterfall. The spray from the falls made DW’s hair curl! Next stop was the end of the line, Myrdal, where we only had to cross the platform to board the mainline Bergen Railway. [We will take this train from Oslo to Bergen in 2018 for a cruise that starts there and circumnavigates the British Isles.]

Carlos, our tour guide, told us there was no more room in the passenger car where our group was, so ten of us headed forward and wound up seated in the dining/café car. There were huge picture windows so it turned out fine for the photographers in our group. THE SUN CAME OUT!!! We passed through Raundalen Valley and farmland with sheep, horses and cows in pasture and goats on the hill. Hay was drying on racks. We descended into Voss where we disembarked and walked to the local hotel for buffet lunch. There was venison, herring, salmon, chicken, ham, etc. from which to choose. DW enjoyed their delicious breads with butter and skipped dessert. Everyone else chose differently.

We had time to explore the town of Voss for a bit. So we headed to the local church which used a lot of wood in its interior. Much of it was decorated with pictures of saints and cherubs, The pipe organ seemed fairly new and it appeared to be an active congregation. We walked back to the RR station to see the bas relief was on the wall nearby, which was dedicated to master fiddler Olaf Mosafinn [no word on how many children he had fathered…] We looked for the memorial in honor of local boy made good Knute Rockne, but didn’t find it.

We all boarded buses with local tour guides and headed for the spectacular Tvinde waterfall. Back on board we headed through wonderful scenery of woodlands and lush farmlands till we got to the Stalheim Hotel. There we had more photo ops and the offer of tea/coffee and a delicious lemon curd pastry.

Our bus ride down to the valley was on a one-way switchback road with 13 hairpin curves, called Stalheimskleiva. The driver stopped twice for photos from inside the bus of the Stalheim waterfall and another waterfall whose name escapes us. Our tour ended in Gudvangen where we tendered back to our repositioned ship. Now 6 pm, it was time to sail out of the fjord so I went topside to watch and photograph. DW did laundry and watched when possible through our balcony doors.

The chef redeemed himself tonight! We both started with baked brie and pinot noir-poached pear. Lovely! Then DW had a salad before we both had rare, delicious grilled venison. I finished off with raspberry sorbet and DW had chocolate gelato.

The post dinner show was excellent. The violin duo of Laszlo and Claudia were tops. Russ, the cruise director, caught up with DW to say he had looked into the 60s groups trivia and agreed that it was too esoteric. He stayed and chatted awhile and was surprised DW knew and liked Moves Like Jagger (Maroon 5). We checked out our three photos taken on deck after sailaway and one was acceptable but will not be ordered unless we have onboard credit to use up.

DW walked – it was smooth, but no friendly escapades.

Tuesday August 16, 2016 – Geiranger Fjord & Seven Sisters Waterfall

Gorgeous, sunny day!

We went to Michael Hicks’s lecture on The North Cape. I then went to Visual Trivia: Airline Logos. [We lost, big time. Every country has an airline, and only the team of Brits – for whom trivia is apparently the national sport – knew any of them…]

DW arrived at “Sudoku Challenge” only to find it was not a competition as the participants had anticipated but an opportunity to do a couple of Sudoku puzzles at leisure. She finished them in ten minutes and suggested they rethink this activity. She was not alone in this opinion – and again Azamara responded with a successful solution later in the cruise.

The captain took his time in the fjord and pointed out two well known waterfalls on our way in –the ‘Seven Sisters’ and the ‘Suitor,’ and then the ‘face in the rock’ [kind of like New Hampshire’s former ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ but more of a bas relief].

DW had a scoop of coffee crunch gelato to tide her over, and made a small ham and cheese sandwich to take ashore.

We tendered into port at Geiranger and gathered with Dave and Paige, Tom and Jan, Gerry and Pam before boarding a nicely appointed van which allowed each of us to have a window seat for our private, three hour excursion. Our driver headed up Geiranger Road (Geirangervegen) with its hairpin bends to Mount Dalsnibba at 4,840 feet, passing Dupvatn Glacier Lake with its ice cold, deep, blue waters. From the top we viewed Geiranger Fjord and the surrounding mountains. Nothing from below could even hint at the surreal, volcanic, lunar like tops polished by glaciers. [The previous week buses could not ascend, as there was snow falling – in August!] After a half hour up there, we descended and drove through Geiranger to ascend again on Eagles Road to Eagles Bend at 2,000 feet to enjoy a panoramic view of the village of Geiranger, the Geiranger Fjord and the Seven Sisters waterfall. We were in awe of the bus drivers who could pass one another on these narrow, twisting roads. [Those taking ships’ tours had to choose between either Mount Dalsnibba or Eagles Bend, and were crowded into large coaches – this is the benefit of Cruise Critic Roll Calls where you can arrange with fellow passengers to book a private excursion to do twice as much as less cost.]

Roofs in Norway are substantial: tile, slate, tin, sod with plants growing. Though heavily forested, there are few flowers in evidence aside from the occasional wildflower.

The driver dropped off half our group at the port and took the rest of us as far as the Norwegian Fjordcenter. We didn’t have enough time to go in, but used it as our starting point to hike back to the port alongside a powerful, beautiful waterfall called Geirangerhelga (river).

We dined between Canadians and Chicagoans. Very friendly. We both had vegetable samosas and DW a crab cake. We both had sea bass (very moist) and I got a vegetable croquette platter too. To finish I had apple tart and DW the raspberry chocolate mousse cake.

Another member of the Quest singers, Teacake, had a show tonight. It dragged at first as we didn’t know the Aretha Franklin songs she was doing. After I left [along with a number of the audience], the performance became more enjoyable as it progressed.

DW walked even though it was a little rocky once we had left the fjord.

Wednesday August 17, 2016 – Cruising the Arctic Circle

More beautiful weather!

We went to the Michael Hicks lecture re the North Pole—exploration. DW stayed for the Land Discoveries presentation and I went to the Jazz Brunch. She tried to get back into the cabin but Joseph was making it up, so she went up to The Drawing Room to do a couple of Sudoku puzzles. [DJ Eddie told us in trivia that it isn’t called the Library because they don’t have a Librarian – and I said they shouldn’t call it The Drawing Room because they don’t have a Cowboy. Rim shot…] Returning to the cabin, DW discovered that Joseph had removed two of our ripening pears! [We had a fruit bowl on embarkation filled with apples and oranges, and DW asked for pears and bananas instead. They were quite green on delivery, so we patiently watched them gradually get close to ripe – and then, poof!, they were gone.] We met up for Progressive Trivia in the Cabaret Theatre with Gerry and Pam. Then DW had lunch in Windows and we regrouped for the Arctic Circle Blue Nose Ceremony. King Neptune was unavailable, so he sent a local resident – Santa Claus – to preside. We decided to forego the initiation of having ice water poured down our backs inside our shirts and having our noses painted blue. [We did try the Aquavit, and found it very similar to the after dinner ‘gasoline’-based drink they served on the Camino two years ago. French cognac producers have nothing to worry about…]

We attended the future cruise presentation with Amanda but were not tempted by the 2017 or 2018 offerings. We moved on to Music Trivia: British Invasion joining Pam and Gerry. Together Gerry and DW got 18 out of 20, but the five Brits next to us scored 19. [They won nearly every day.] It was fun nevertheless.

We went to the main lobby on deck 4 to chat with Simonetta about ship’s excursions in the next two ports [because we had On Board Credit that had to be used]. Then we went to our cabin to discuss possibilities, cancelled one and added another.

Javier and Roffy were our wait staff again tonight. I started with manicotti and DW with pear and Gorgonzola salad. We both ordered the chef’s special: lobster tail, shrimp and scallops with drawn butter, haricots verts and risotto. For dessert, I had vanilla/cherry Vaccherin and DW had coffee gelato.

Seated near a window, we had views of the rocky landscape on the starboard side and a full moon. Meanwhile on port side, one could enjoy sunset. Being so far north [we crossed the Arctic Circle at 10 pm] the days are very long and even the sunset is a leisurely affair [unlike the sudden drop at home].

Once again we really enjoyed the violin talents of Laszlo and Claudia. Then DW took her nightly walk.