20 June 2019: Alesund, Norway.

Alesund is one of the better ports in Norway at least from a Navigators perspective. It is sheltered from most winds, it has nice docks, we dock with the gangway in downtown and downtown is worthwhile to visit. Most of it is constructed in German Jungendstil style or related to it after a big fire they had here a long time ago.  There are some other good ports as far as shelter or docks or downtown distance is concerned but there are not that many Norwegian ports that have it all together. You might think about Oslo but this port is located at the end of Oslo fjord which is so wide that the wind can still blow the ship all over the place or keep it pinned to the dock. So Alesund is very highly rated on the list of ports that come closest to a Cruise Captains dream of having the best of all. And I fully agree as it even has a Big Red Bus for hop on hop off and for an initial exploration of a city it is one of the best ways to go. Holland America also recognizes that and nowadays you can buy the tickets on board.

Dreaming about the perfect port today were three captains, as we had in port the Mein Schiff 4, the Prinsendam and the Star Breeze. All ships with something special. The Mein Schiff 4, is one from a series which started with 3.  Nbr. 1 & 2 were existing ships transferred by RCI via Celebrity to TUI Kreuzfahrten of Germany.  Same as Renaissance Cruises in the old days (before 9/11 in 2001) TUI does not really believe that the name of a ship matters, just the brand. Thus they work with numbers. I do not agree but then I am DAM –old fashioned when it comes to names. The 4 is a sister ship to numbers 3, 5, and 6 and is about the size of our Nieuw Statendam but carries over 300 guests more. The product is sort of 4 star but very popular in Germany.

The StarBreeze docked next to us. the ms Prinsendam is not a big ship but it can look down upon something that is a lot smaller.  The authorities made sure that the two ships would not mingle by having an enormous steel fence in the middle.

The Star Breeze started its life in 1989 as the Seabourn Spirit one three small top-end luxury sisters (just under 10000 tons with 212 guests), the other two being the Seabourn Pride and the Seabourn Legend. The last one was completed for Royal Viking line as the Royal Viking Queen, subsequently Queen Odyssey before she joined her two other sisters. The Queen was meant to be a running mate for the Royal Viking Sun but due to the size difference that did not work out when she was part of Royal Viking Line, nor did it work out when the Sun joined Seabourn where the three smaller ships had been re-united. All three have been recently sold to Windstar cruises but their design was so successful that the new Seabourn Ships which are 3 to 5 times larger still share many of the smaller ships design features.

I mentioned the town of Alesund as being rebuilt. If you do not want to go out in the country or up the hill or into the water (several of our guests went on a kayaking tour today) then walking into town is really worthwhile to do.  In 1904 basically the whole wooden town burnt down leaving about 10,000 people without a roof over their head. The German Emperor who had been often on vacation in the area, sent as a token of appreciation for the hospitality enjoyed, four warships with building materials. As a result the rebuilding of the town was done in approx. 3 years and thus rebuilt in the same style with a lot of German and Norwegian influences. There is an Art Deco museum in town describing the process. That is still on my bucket list for a visit; but so many things to do, so many things to complete. Even this cruise while mainly being on board for lectures.  I have completed two of those now; Life and Times of the ms Prinsendam Part 1 & 2 and now three more will follow which will underpin the reason why the Prinsendam became what she is now.

The ms Prinsendam will stay in Alesund until 20.00 hrs. tonight and will then sail for Trondheim where we will arrive tomorrow morning at 08.00 hrs. We can stay later as Trondheim is basically just around the corner. We nip out of one fjord and we nip back in the other one.

We were lucky with the weather today, no rain, mainly overcast skies it should have made it chilly but as there was no wind there was also no chill factor.  For Trondheim we are expecting overcast skies with a fair chance of showers but very little wind and temperatures between 12oC / 54oF.

Today’s crew photo is from the Housekeeping Department. Everybody except the Laundry Department. They were all assembled in the Stuyvesant Lounge which we also use as training room.  Topic of the day was how to use the stairclimber to move wheelchairs if the elevators were not working.